1 . The newly-elected president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro says that his country should withdraw (退出) from the 2015 Paris Agreement, and that Brazil’s rainforest protections are standing in the way of economic success. During the election campaign, he promised to ease protections for areas of the Brazilian Amazon set aside for native people and wildlife. Are Brazil’s rainforests in danger?
The Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, is called “the lungs of the planet.” Each tree takes in and stores carbon dioxide from the air around it. Billions of trees pull up water through their roots and release water vapor into the air, forming tiny drops of water. The Amazon creates 30 to 50 percent of its own rainfall. Carlos Nobre, a climate scientist, says that it is almost impossible to say Just how important the rainforest is to the planet’s living systems.
Some of Bolsonaro’s support comes from business and farming groups. One supporter, Luiz Carlos, noted that farmers “are not invaders, they are producers.” He blamed the past government for supporting rainforest protections at the cost of farmers. “Brazil,” he said, “will be the biggest farming nation on Earth during Bolsonaro’s years.”
Paulo Artaxo, a professor of environmental physics at the University of Sao Paulo, says that if Bolsonaro keeps his campaign promises, then “deforestation of the Amazon will probably increase quickly — and the effects will be felt everywhere on the planet.”
Other scientists warn that if the Amazon and other tropical rainforests lose too many trees, this could affect rainfall in other areas. Without enough trees to support the rainfall, the longer and bigger dry season could turn more than half of the rainforest into a tropical grassland.
1. The first paragraph is intended to ________.| A．draw people’s attention to the disappearing rainforests |
| B．ask people to ease the protection of rainforests |
| C．attract the public to the newly-elected president |
| D．to complain about the new government's withdrawing |
| A．produce much farmland |
| B．examine people’s lungs |
| C．change the earth’s living system |
| D．destroy farmers’ crops |
| A．The new president’s supporters care less about farmers. |
| B．Scientists are concerned about the protection of rainforests. |
| C．The rainforests will stop the economic development in Brazil. |
| D．The past government is to blame for the destruction of rainforests |
| A．a newspaper |
| B．a magazine |
| C．a guidebook |
| D．a textbook |
2 . Some high school students think it useless to receive higher education. Therefore, they choose not to go to college. If you're one of them, think again. Here are some reasons why you should go to college and receive a good education there.
Schools and universities are the first places to get knowledge. We take that knowledge later on to build our careers after graduation. More knowledge will be gained after you start working, but without education, that job will not be within easy reach. Knowledge leads to knowledge.
While limited within the walls of the educational places, we openly explore other cultures of the world! We come to know that ours is not the only culture. Other cultures have valuable things to share, enriching our own. Education also makes us want to travel and exchange with various cultures, getting more experience.
When there's a recession in the economy（经济）, those who attended college will be more likely to find a new job than those who only finished high school and have a limited skills set. The more education you have, the more chances you will get to improve the quality of your life as you have a better job and earn a higher salary.
When you're skillful and knowledgeable, you gain access to people of similar backgrounds and tastes. It means a good education leads to excellent networking. Good networking can benefit you a lot in your later life.
A good education makes you a more interesting person. You can talk about ideas and events instead of just other people and what's on sale in stores. An educated person doesn't gossip（说闲话）, having a preference to discuss ideas and listen to what other people have to say.
1. What can we learn about college education from Paragraph 2?| A．It offers you a chance to study abroad. | B．It can allow you to gain more knowledge. |
| C．It can improve the quality of your daily life. | D．It encourages you to travel around the world. |
| A．change. | B．drop. | C．growth. | D．support. |
| A．You can gossip about others’ affairs. | B．You are likely to study well at school. |
| C．You can work well with your coworkers. | D．You get to know excellent people with similar interests. |
| A．The benefits of attending college. | B．The exchange with other cultures. |
| C．The access to good networking. | D．The ways of college education. |
3 . When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Doctor Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard, but was always very kind.
When Doctor Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. He had some interesting theories about planting trees. He hardly watered his new trees, an attitude which flew in the face of conventional wisdom.
Once I asked why and he told me that watering plants spoiled them because it made them grow weaker. He said he had to make things tough for the trees so that only the strongest could survive. He talked about how watering trees made them develop shallow roots and how, if they were not watered, trees would grow deep roots in search of water.
So, instead of watering his trees every morning, he’d beat them with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the trees’ attention.
Doctor Gibbs died a couple of years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I'd watched him plant some 25 years ago. They were tall and strong.
Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I often pray that their lives will be easy. But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to change my prayer. I know my children are going to encounter hardship. There’s always a cold wind blowing somewhere. What we need to do is to pray for deep roots, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won’t be torn apart.
1. What did the author think of Doctor Gibbs’s planting trees at first?| A．Perfect . | B．Puzzled. |
| C．Amused. | D．Impractical . |
| A．He let them grow quickly. |
| B．He beat them to get their attention. |
| C．He helped them search for water. |
| D．He read a newspaper near them. |
| A．Kind and wise. | B．Calm and brave. |
| C．Careful and ambitious | D．Strict and devoted. |
| A．Elders are treasures. |
| B．Two heads are better than one. |
| C．A man without distant care must have near sorrow. |
| D．Only those who bear the most become the highest. |
4 . Musicals in Washington’s Historic National Theatre in 2020
The Last Ship
$49—$154
THE LAST SHIP, inspired by Sting’s 1991 album “The Soul Cages” and his own childhood experiences, tells the story of a community in Tyne and Wear. Sting will star and perform the role at every performance. It features an original score with music and lyrics by Sting as well as a few of his best-loved songs: “Island of Souls” “All This Time” and “When We Dance”. Learn more at TheLastShipMusical.com.
Recommended for ages 13 and up.
Run time: Approximately 2 hours, 30 minutes.
The King’s Speech
$54 — $104
THE KING’S SPEECH is based on the true story of King George VI’s struggle with a speech problem and the friendship he formed with his doctor, Lionel Logue. With the Nazi threat coming and civil unrest at home, royal secrets explode around the King as he appeared onto the world stage.
Recommended for ages 13 and up.
Run time: Approximately 2 hours, 50 minutes.
Blue Man Group
$64—$124
At BLUE MAN GROUP, you’ll rock, laugh, and party! As three blue men explore our world, together we’ll discover music, comedy and surprises at every turn. It is perfect for audiences of all ages and cultural backgrounds, and returns to D.C. with new music, fresh stories, custom instruments like never before.
Recommended for ages 4 and up.
Run time: Approximately 1 hour, 30 minutes
Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
$54—$114
Donna Summer was a girl from Boston with a voice from heaven. With a score featuring more than 20 of Summer’s classic hits including “Love to Love You Baby”, “Bad Girls” and “Hot Stuff”, this electric experience is a moving tribute to the voice of a generation.
Recommended for ages 13 and up.
Run time: Approximately 1 hour, 40 minutes
1. In which musical can you enjoy the song “All This Time”?| A．The King’s Speech. | B．The Last Ship. |
| C．Blue Man Group. | D．Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. |
| A．Tuesday, Feb. 11. | B．Friday, March 27. |
| C．Sunday, May 17. | D．Wednesday, July 22. |
| A．$49 — $154. | B．$64 — $124. | C．$54— $104. | D．$54 —$114. |
When the Lebanese director NadineLebaki was doing research for her filmCapernaum (何以为家), she interviewed many children
The question was, “ Are you happy to be alive?” Sadly , the
The 2-hour film begins with a story about Zain,
Besides, most of the other actorsfound it easy for them
6 . Some of the world’s most famous musicians recently gathered in Paris and New Orleans to celebrate the first annual International Jazz Day. UNESCO( United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) recently set April 30 as a day to raise awareness of jazz music, its significance, and its potential as a unifying(联合) voice across cultures.
Despite the celebrations, though, in the U.S. the jazz audience continues to shrink and grow older, and the music has failed to connect with younger generations.
It’s Jason Moran’s job to help change that. As the Kennedy Center’s artistic adviser for jazz, Moran hopes to widen the audience for jazz, make the music more accessible, and preserve its history and culture.
“Jazz seems like it’s not really a part of the American appetite,” Moran tells National Public Radio’s reporter Neal Conan. “What I’m hoping to accomplish is that my generation and younger start to reconsider and understand that jazz is not black and write anymore. It’s actually color, and it’s actually digital.”
Moran says one of the problems with jazz today is that the entertainment aspect of the music has been lost. “The music can’t be presented today the way it was in 1908 or 1958. It has to continue to move, because the way the world works is not the same,” says Moran.
Last year, Moran worked on a project that arranged Fats Waller’s music for a dance party, “Just to kind of put it back in the mind that Waller is dance music as much as it is concert music,” says Moran. “For me, it’s the recontextualization. In music, where does the emotion(情感) lie? Are we, as humans, gaining any insight(感悟) on how to talk about ourselves and how something as abstract as a Charlie Parker record gets us into a dialogue about our emotions and our thoughts? Sometimes we lose sight that the music has a wider context,” says Moran, “so I want to continue those dialogues. Those are the things I want to foster.”
1. Why did UNESCO set April 30 as International Jazz Day?| A．To remember the birth of jazz. |
| B．To protect cultural diversity. |
| C．To encourage people to study music. |
| D．To recognize the value of jazz. |
| A．Jazz becoming more accessible. |
| B．The production of jazz growing faster. |
| C．Jazz being less popular with the young. |
| D．The jazz audience becoming larger. |
| A．It will disappear gradually. |
| B．It remains black and white. |
| C．It should keep up with the times. |
| D．It changes every 50 years. |
| A．Exploring the Future of Jazz. |
| B．The Rise and Fall of Jazz. |
| C．The Story of a Jazz Musician. |
| D．Celebrating the Jazz Day. |
