1 . I decided to ski to the North Pole. It was after I saw a(n)
When the application form
Over 500 individuals
I had also shown my real self, and in a place like the Arctic, you have to be yourself,
I realized that by being myself, I could
| A．notice | B．report | C．announcement | D．advertisement |
| A．run | B．ski | C．drive | D．fly |
| A．enjoyed | B．ignored | C．accomplished | D．received |
| A．survive | B．suffer | C．exist | D．hide |
| A．passed | B．appeared | C．arrived | D．returned |
| A．female | B．male | C．proud | D．brave |
| A．determined | B．confident | C．excited | D．satisfied |
| A．waited | B．looked | C．applied | D．cared |
| A．train | B．pick | C．develop | D．challenge |
| A．everyone | B．someone | C．anyone | D．no one |
| A．heights | B．silence | C．loss | D．changes |
| A．left | B．missed | C．saved | D．lost |
| A．skiers | B．team | C．men | D．individuals |
| A．catch up with | B．stay away from | C．look out for | D．get rid of |
| A．as | B．if | C．unless | D．though |
| A．talents | B．experiences | C．lessons | D．qualities |
| A．try | B．fail | C．succeed | D．improve |
| A．excellent | B．first | C．noble | D．extra |
| A．admitted | B．predicted | C．remembered | D．imagined |
| A．allow | B．inspire | C．require | D．promise |
2 . My wife and I moved into our home nine years ago. We have a yard a “rock garden”. There the rocks appear to be just thrown up onto the dirt as if someone were in a hurry to finish. Very often when we have more flowers, Denise or I would plant them between the rocks, just to bring some color to the area.
Last summer I found, in the rock garden, a tiny little plant that I could not immediately recognize. I knew I didn’t plant it and Denise said she didn’t either. We decided to let it continue growing until we could find out what it was.
Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the strange plant, it appeared to be a sunflower. It looked thin and tall with only one head on it. I decided to baby it along and weed (除草) around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something unusual. The sunflower had not started where I saw it begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the sun.
If a tiny little sunflower didn’t let a big rock stand in its way of developing, we too have the ability to do the same thing. If we believe in ourselves like that little sunflower, we can reach where we aim to go and get what we need for growth.
We need to believe in ourselves knowing we have the ability to achieve our goals. Like the sunflower, it knew it had the ability to get over the rocks because it had faith in itself that it would succeed. Stand tall like the sunflower and be proud of who and what we are, then other things will begin to support us. We will find a way to go under or around any “rocks” in order to realize our goals.
1. The family planted flowers in the yard ________.| A．to attract visitors | B．to remove the rocks |
| C．to please their neighbors | D．to make the area colorful |
| A．to see how long it could live | B．to see how big it could grow |
| C．to find out what it actually was | D．to know if his wife had planted it |
| A．it was very thin and tall | B．it had only one head on it |
| C．it grew on top of a big rock | D．it began to grow under a rock |
| A．rocks cannot prevent us from success |
| B．we can get over difficulties if we trust ourselves |
| C．we should take good care of the rock gardens |
| D．sunflowers are able to grow everywhere |
| A．Stand Tall Like the Sunflower | B．The Sunflower and My Family |
| C．Being Proud of the Sunflower | D．The Secret of the Sunflower |
3 . My dad, Greg Newman, had wanted to be a race car driver, but things didn’t work out for him. So I guess having a son who could become a race car driver was the next best thing. Don’t get me wrong — Dad didn’t push me into racing. In fact, when I was about 10 years old, my dad was afraid that driving a car wasn’t my dream. So he took the racing away from me. I wasn’t very happy with that decision. It wasn’t long before Dad realized that racing was what I loved.
At four, Dad bought me my first Quarter Midget (袖珍赛车) and that’s really where it started for us. Back then, Dad coached me. He would stick out (伸出) his foot in the path of the race car, and then tell me to exactly hit his foot. By repeating this again and again, Dad believed that I would be faster and sharper on the race track.
Dad worked really long hours at his car repair business to make money so that I could race each weekend. I can remember that every night before he turned off the lights in the garage, Dad would tell me: “Don’t forget to kiss your race car good night.” He was trying to teach me that if I show respect, it’s returned. He wanted me to show thankfulness and respect for my race car and for all the hard work that we and many others had put into the dream.
My dad, my mom and my sister gave up a lot of things to help me race. For us, there was no better moment than winning the 50th running of the Daytona 500 in 2018. That evening in February 2018, I knew I had gotten a good push. I could hear the excitement. My father couldn’t speak a word, and when he got to Victory Lane (车道), he nearly knocked me over and gave me such a big hug.
1. Why did Greg Newman stop his son to race when his son was 10 years old?| A．Because he thought racing was dangerous. |
| B．Because he worried that his son didn’t like racing. |
| C．Because he didn’t want his son to fail like he did. |
| D．Because he couldn’t afford the money. |
| A．training his son to race |
| B．working hard to make money |
| C．buying his son a mini racing car |
| D．changing his job as a race car driver |
| A．To improve his son’s skill. | B．To help his son to be braver. |
| C．To have fun with his son. | D．To make his son more careful. |
| A．get help from his family |
| B．treat the race car as his son |
| C．feel grateful that he could follow his dream |
| D．develop a close relationship with his race car |
| A．disappointed | B．surprised | C．sad | D．excited |
4 . When I lived in Spain, some Spanish friends of mine decided to visit England by car. Before they left, they asked me for advice about how to find accommodation. I suggested that they should stay at “bed and breakfast” houses, because this kind of accommodation gives a foreign visitor a good chance to speak English with the family. My friends listened to my advice, but they came back with some funny stories.
“We didn’t stay at “bed and breakfast” houses,” they said, “because we found that most families were away on holiday.”
I thought this was strange. Finally I understood what had happened. My friends spoke little English, and they thought “VACANCIES” meant “holidays”, because the Spanish word for “holidays” is “vacaciones”. So they did not go to house where the sign outside said “VACANCIES “, which in English means there are free rooms. Then my friends went to house where the sign said “NO VACANCIES”, because they thought this meant the people who owned the house were not away on holiday. But they found that these houses were all full. As a result, they stayed at hotels!
We laughed about this and about mistakes my friends made in reading other signs. In Spanish, the word “DIVERSION” means fun. In English, it means that workmen are repairing the road, and that you must take a different road. When my friends saw the word “DIVERSION” on a road sign, they thought they were going to have fun. Instead, the road ended in a large hole.
English people have problems too when they learn foreign languages. Once in Paris, when someone offered me some more coffee, I said “Thank you” in French. I meant that I would like some more. However, to my surprise, the coffee pot was taken away! Later I found out that “Thank you” in French means “No, thank you.”
1. The writer’s friends in Spain wanted to get advice about ________.| A．the chance of learning English | B．the way of going to England |
| C．the traffic rules in England | D．finding places to stay in England |
| A．it would be convenient for them to have dinner |
| B．it would be much cheaper than staying in hotels |
| C．they would be able to practise their English |
| D．there would be no problem about finding accommodation there |
| A．they misunderstood the signs outside the door |
| B．there were no such “bed and breakfast” houses in England |
| C．they found there were no free rooms there |
| D．people there were away on holiday |
| A．fall into a hole |
| B．have to take a different road |
| C．find that the road is blocked by crowds of people |
| D．have a lot of fun and enjoy yourself |
| A．he doesn’t want any more coffee |
| B．he wants to show his appreciation |
| C．he just wants to express his politeness |
| D．he wants to have some more coffee |
5 . I live in a big city with a lot of homeless people. Luckily there’re small ways of helping them and you needn’t have a lot of
He was a poor farmer from another country. After a while, I discovered that his
I met him last year
I just couldn’t bear the thought of (不敢想) this nice, young man being
I met him on my own birthday as I was going shopping. I had hoped to meet him so I had carried the scarf and a piece of my own birthday
| A．work | B．energy | C．money | D．experience |
| A．In | B．On | C．Besides | D．By |
| A．realize | B．ignore | C．know | D．recognize |
| A．selling | B．reading | C．covering | D．buying |
| A．hobby | B．house | C．height | D．birthday |
| A．long | B．shortly | C．ever | D．even |
| A．stopping | B．helping | C．praising | D．thinking |
| A．foolish | B．excited | C．clever | D．worried |
| A．calm | B．happy | C．alone | D．hungry |
| A．Suddenly | B．Luckily | C．Badly | D．However |
| A．scarf | B．cap | C．sock | D．glove |
| A．when | B．because | C．so | D．and |
| A．different | B．dry | C．wet | D．clean |
| A．present | B．cake | C．song | D．party |
| A．light | B．pain | C．sight | D．tear |
6 . Only humans speak using words. But all animals can communicate in one way or another. Maybe you have heard about the way bees dance around to send messages to each other and the way dogs make loud noises in different ways to give warnings.
Do you know that animals can communicate through infrasonic (次声的) sounds? This is how it works:
Humans hear low sounds like thunder rumbling (雷声轰鸣) in the sky. But we don’t hear sounds lower than these. However, elephants can hear many lower sounds, and they use them to communicate with each other. This is known as infrasound.
Another surprising thing about infrasound is that it travels over several kilometres. Sounds which have a higher pitch(音调), like the ones people can hear, don’t travel through walls, leaves, trees and so on. And that is why we can’t hear sounds from more than 100 metres away. But infrasound is much ‘stronger’, and things like grass and trees have no effect on it. Because of that it can travel much farther. Elephants can hear infrasonic calls from four kilometres away!
There have been reports that people were watching elephants feeding or resting when the elephants all ran away for no reason at all. It is clear that they heard a warning call from a long way away, but the people didn’t hear the sound. In places like a zoo where you can get nearer to animals, it is a bit easier to sense when infrasonic sounds are made. When you stand near mother elephants with their babies in a zoo you may notice a weak rumbling in the air every few minutes — not loud or strong, but clearly noticeable. They are infrasonic calls — the mother elephants “talking” to their babies.
1. Why does the author mention bees and dogs in Paragraph 1?| A．To show humans are special. |
| B．To introduce animal communication. |
| C．To compare different kinds of animals. |
| D．To tell us an interesting story about animals. |
| A．belongs to high sounds |
| B．can travel longer distances |
| C．is higher than the sound of thunder |
| D．gets weaker when traveling through walls |
| A．The people watching also heard the warning call. |
| B．The people could hear lower sounds than elephants. |
| C．The elephants were frightened by the people nearby. |
| D．The elephants communicated through infrasonic sounds. |
| A．live in the wild | B．go to the park |
| C．stay closer to animals | D．watch elephants feeding |
| A．Wild Elephants | B．The Animal World |
| C．Talking Through Infrasound | D．Dog Communication |
7 . NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KIDS 2020 PHOTO COMPETITION!
Woo-hoo! Get your cameras and smartphones at the ready, because it’s time for this year’s NG KIDS photography competition.
What you need to know
Competition is open only to legal residents (居民) of the UK and Ireland who are between the ages of 7 and 14.
We have THREE categories (类别) in the competition — animals, people and environment (a new category started this year). You can enter as many categories as you like but just ONE photo per category, please!
All photos should be sent through our website. If you’ve not already registered, you or your parent will need to do so at natgeokids. com/uk/ photocomp — it will only take a minute to do!
You can submit (提交) ONE photo for each of the three categories. Photos should be in JPEG format, between 1MB and 5MB in size. Enter at natgeokids. com/uk/photocomp.
Before you submit your photo, make sure you rename it with your full name and the category you are entering. For example, Joe-Bloggs-Animals. jpg.
Don’t forget to tell us your full name, date of birth and the title of your photo!
The prizes
Our Star Prize is a family holiday in Morocco!
And that’s not all! Each category winner will win a number of prizes too, including an amazing Nikon COOLPIX W150 camera, which is built to go anywhere.
The closing date is 23:59 (GMT) on 21 October 2020. Winners will be notified (通知) before 18 November 2020.
1. How is this year’s competition different from that of last year?| A．It has a new category. |
| B．It lasts about one month longer. |
| C．It is open to kids from around the world. |
| D．It will give more than one prize to winners. |
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．five. |
| A．be 14 years old or older |
| B．submit their photos on its website |
| C．get their parents agreement |
| D．Give their photos an amazing name. |
| A．The photos can be submitted on 18 November 2020. |
| B．All the winners can go for a family holiday in UK. |
| C．It will take a long time to register. |
| D．One must rename the photo with full name and the category. |
| A．A research plan. | B．A science report. |
| C．A nature magazine. | D．A tourist guidebook. |
8 . Parents should stop blaming (责备) themselves because there’s not a lot they can do about it. I mean the teenager problem. Whatever you do or however you choose to deal with it, at certain times a wonderful, reasonable and helpful child will turn into a terrible animal.
I’ve seen friends deal with it in all kinds of different ways. One strict mother insisted that her son, right from a child, should stand up whenever anyone entered the room, open doors and shake hands like a gentleman. I saw him last week when I called round. Sprawling himself (懒散地躺) on the sofa in full length, he made no attempt to turn off the loud TV he was watching as I walked in, and his greeting was no more than a quick glance at me. His mother was ashamed. “I don't know what to do with him these days,” she said. “He’s forgotten all the manners we taught him.”
He hasn't forgotten them. He' s just decided that he' s not going to use them. She confessed (坦白) that she would like to come up behind him and throw him down from the sofa onto the floor.
Another good friend of mine let her two daughters climb all over the furniture, reach across the table, stare at me and say, “I don’t like your dress; it’s ugly.” One of the daughters has recently been driven out of school. The other has left home.
“Where did we go wrong?” her parents are now very sad. Probably nowhere much. At least, no more than the rest of that unfortunate race, parents.
1. This text is most probably written by ________.| A．an expert in teenager studies | B．a headmaster of a middle school |
| C．a parent with teenage children | D．a doctor for mental health problems |
| A．the change from good to bad that ' s seen in a child |
| B．the way that parents often blame themselves |
| C．the opinion that a child has of his parents |
| D．the advice that parents want their children to follow |
| A．lazy | B．quiet | C．unusual | D．rude |
| A．pay no attention to them | B．are too busy to look after them |
| C．have come to hate them | D．feel helpless to do much about them |
| A．Parents have no choice but to try to accept it. |
| B．Parents shouldn’t pay attention to the change at all. |
| C．Parents should work more closely with school teachers. |
| D．Parents are to blame for the change in their children. |
9 . When having a meal, a European usually holds the knife in the right hand, and the fork in the left. He uses the knife and fork with his both hands. He keeps his knife and fork in his hands until he finishes eating.
But an American, on the opposite, may use just one hand whenever possible and keep the other hand on his lap. He uses the fork in his right hand to pick up fried potatoes. When he has to cut his meat, he changes his fork to the left hand and cuts it. Then he puts down the knife and changes his fork to his right hand to pick up the sliced meat. Then, perhaps, he will suddenly think of his coffee or orange. So he has to put down his fork in order to drink his coffee or orange. Now you can see, an American is busy all the time at the dinner table. By the way, Europeans usually have their coffee after meals, but many Americans prefer to have coffee during the meal.
If you are present at a formal dinner, you might be confused to find so many forks, knives and spoons put before you. You might be at a loss to know what to do with them. Don’t worry. The rule is simple. You just use them in the order in which they lie, beginning from outside towards the plate. The small fork on the outside on the left is for salad. The spoon on the outside on the right is for soup. There is another little knife, called a butter spreader, on a bread-and-butter plate on the left. As the bread is passed, each guest helps himself and puts his pieces on the small plate. Next to the soup there will probably be the blunt(钝的) knife for fish, which is smaller and blunter than other knives.
1. When do Europeans usually drink their coffee?| A．Before meals. |
| B．After meals. |
| C．While they are having their meals. |
| D．They never drink coffee when they eat. |
| A．to use whichever you like when necessary |
| B．to use them from the outside to the inside |
| C．to use them from the inside to the outside |
| D．to use them from the middle to both sides |
| A．a fork | B．a spoon | C．a knife | D．a plate |
| A．soup | B．salad | C．butter | D．chicken |
| A．Eating Habit in America |
| B．Eating Habit in Europe |
| C．How to use Forks, Knives and Spoons |
| D．Dining Customs of the West |
10 . Homestay in Sydney, Australia
| Linda： Our large house is in Sydney，about 200 meters from Macquarie University and 400 meters from the train station. The train ride is about 30 minutes to the CBD. Now we only have a small bedroom for a female student. The cost is $260 per week, which includes all meals when at home and laundering (洗烫) of clothes. Email：markalarms@optusnet.com.au |
| John： I have a lovely single room for homestay (male, nonsmokers only). The apartment is located across the road from a bus station. A sports field is only a twominute walk away. The room is for both short and long stays. The cost is $220 per week, including breakfast and lunch on weekdays. There is no washing machine at home. Do your own laundry in the apartment block’s facilities. Email: ainsley_ gilkes@yahoo.com.au |
| Eric： I live in the northern suburbs (郊区) of Sydney—quiet for studying and relaxing, yet close to Macquarie University & NCELTR & SIBT. The subway station is nearby. All facilities of the house including a living room with a TV can be used. Owners are very open and friendly, and treat students as part of the family. The prices include all meals (breakfast，lunch and dinner) and cleaning. The fee is $300 per week. Email: mineanny@hotmail.com |
| Rose： Hi，everyone！I have one room for homestay (girl students only) in a house which is very close to Macquarie University (SIBT) & WSU in the northern district of Sydney. There is a bus station across the road. Travel time to the center of the city is 40 minutes by train. We only have one homestay at a time. Therefore, our family can take good care of you. The fee is $230 per week. We are looking forward to having you in our home. Email: cliqi9239@hotmail.com |
| A．find suitable roommates |
| B．advertise rooms for homestay |
| C．find a suitable room in Sydney |
| D．introduce some good hotels |
| A．A male student studying in Macquarie University. |
| B．A male student who doesn’t like cooking. |
| C．Two girls who want to share a big room. |
| D．A girl who often goes to the CBD. |
| A．can smoke in the apartment |
| B．can use John’s washing machine to wash clothes |
| C．is provided with breakfast and lunch on weekdays |
| D．has to walk a long way to get to the sports field |
| A．mineanny@hotmail.com | B．markalarms@optusnet.com.au |
| C．cliqi9239@hotmail.com | D．ainsley________gilkest@yahoo.com.au |
| A．Linda | B．John | C．Eric | D．Rose |
