1 . THE EARTH DAY: Thursday April 22nd 2:30 to 5:30
1. What will the participants do?
| A．Compete in a quiz about plants. | B．Assist the gardeners to plant trees. |
| C．Hunt animals in the botanical garden. | D．Play a game with the help of some clues. |
| A．$15 | B．$20 | C．$40 | D．$60 |
| A．Vanilla Orchid and Angel’s Trumpet. | B．Angel’s Trumpet and Voodoo Lily. |
| C．Voodoo Lily and Lemon Grass. | D．Lemon Grass and Vanilla Orchid |
1. What do we know about the man?
| A．He is surprised by what the woman says. |
| B．He trains old people to do physical exercise. |
| C．He is interested in reading geography books. |
| A．In the field. | B．In the park. | C．In the desert. |
| A．They can run for days. |
| B．They drink water while running. |
| C．They wear special running shoes. |
| A．We don’t think we can. | B．We lack determination. | C．We’re born different from them. |
3 . FIFA, soccer's governing body, will seek to expand the Women's World Cup from 24 to 32 teams and double the prize money.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino wants more teams for 2023, but knows FIFA must work quickly "We will discuss it as a matter of urgency and se if we can already decide to increase for 2023, in which case we should reopen the bidding process and allow everyone to have a chance to organize or maybe co-host for some of those who have been bidding already for a 24-team World Cup, ""Nothing is impossible and based on the success of the 2019 World Cup, of course we have to believe bigger and to do what we should have done already probably some time ago, "Gianni said before the July 7 final between the United States and the Netherlands. The U, S. women's team won 2:0, which helped the growth of women's soccer.
Gianni earlier prioritized（优先考虑）enlarging the Men's World Cup. He pushed for a jump from 32 to 48 teams for the 2026 World Cup that the United States co-hosts with Canada and Mexico. A bid to speed up the process of expansion for the 2022 tournament in Qatar failed in May. That event will see teams dividing a $440 million prize. In addition, club teams, meaning professional teams, that let their players participate in the Cup will receive a total of $S209 million.
However, women's teams earn much less for competing at the women's event. FIFA plans to double the prize money and will spend more to prepare players and pay clubs releasing players. Gianni said that share would total $100 million. Gianni said FIFA would double its spending on women's soccer to $1 billion. Later, he said that most of it will not be going directly to players. Most of the money would be reserved for soccer federations（联合会）to request for specific projects that would require approval from FIFA.
1. What's urgent for 2023 according to FIFA's president?| A．Deciding on who to bid for it. | B．Choosing a country to host it. |
| C．Reforming the bidding process. | D．Discussing whether more teams to attend. |
| A．It's a men's event. |
| B．It allows 32 teams to participate. |
| C．It contributes to the expansion of women's teams. |
| D．It doubles the prize for women players. |
| A．To encourage people to engage in soccer. |
| B．To arouse public concern for the Men's World Cup. |
| C．To show the importance of the Men's World Cup. |
| D．To stress the need to increase funds in women's teams. |
| A．It's compulsory for clubs to release players. |
| B．Women players will earn more than men. |
| C．FIFA attracts more attention to women's events. |
| D．FIFA will not reject soccer federations' proposal? |
4 . Indoor Skydiving
Have you ever dreamt of flying? Have you ever wanted to experience the excitement of skydiving, but didn’t want to jump out of a plane? Indoor skydiving has opened up a whole new world for you to try flying.
Indoor skydiving is an activity, simulating（模拟）the free fall of a skydive. That means you learn to fly in a column of air produced by a wind tunnel （风道） inside a limited area. Before flying, you need to wear certain equipment to protect you. And each of you is equipped with an instructor that helps you learn to control your body while flying. But you aren’t trained to be more aware in the sky as a normal skydiver.
To be an indoor flyer, you can be at all ages. Fear of height or lack (缺少) of experience won’t stop you from trying. The only real limitation preventing people from flying is weight limit. Countless physically challenged flyers have safely flown with the help of experienced instructors.
Although indoor skydiving gets its name from skydiving, the similarities between the two are actually very few. The one they are in common is in the sense that they both share the freedom of flying.
However, in traditional dives, skydivers usually step out of a plane from more than 10,000 feet high, while indoor skydiving just needs flyers to lean forward and lie on the air. Also, being an outdoor activity, skydiving depends on the weather. The wind, rain, or snow can cancel your plans to jump. Indoor skydiving removes this effect from the picture. Normally, a skydive lasts just between 45-60 seconds, but tunnels allow skydivers to fly longer and as much as they like.
While most people put skydiving in the must-do list, indoor skydiving is much more than that! What used to take skydivers tens of thousands of jumps and years of experience can be learned in a relatively shorter period of time. Skydivers could be trained at lower cost compared to being trained in the sky. Because people of all ages can fly, children are quickly becoming some of the most talented skydivers. Thus, all these will certainly benefit the development of skydiving.
1. What do indoor skydivers need to do before flying?| A．Jump out of a plane. | B．Become aware of the sky. |
| C．Produce a column of air. | D．Put on protecting equipment. |
| A．Their age. | B．Fear of height. |
| C．Their weight. | D．Lack of experience. |
| A．The sense of flying. | B．The cost of training. |
| C．The length of free fall. | D．The dependence on weather. |
| A．The future of skydiving depends on children. |
| B．Indoor skydiving is beneficial to skydiving. |
| C．Fewer people show interest in skydiving. |
| D．Indoor skydiving will replace skydiving. |
It was a cold winter. After work, I returned home. I started to take my coat off, when my son Justin ran through the door of his room. He shouted, “Dad! Dad! I’m going to play baseball tonight.”
“Where at?”
“I don’t know! It’s downtown somewhere. Dad, it’s just downtown. We’ll find it.” I pulled my jacket back on. He took the baseball glove. It fit his left hand; he was left handed—not a good match. “So where are we going?” I asked.
“ I don’t know, Dad.”He ran to the door. “It’s downtown.” Saint John was not a big city. There were only a few blocks in either direction. “ I think it’s in the south end, Dad.” My son stared at me and held his glove. “ We’ll find it.”
We crossed the city center and entered the south end. We saw a few kids with gloves on their hands. “ I guess we’re heading in the right direction, son. Those kids look like they are ready for a baseball game.”
Justin’s eyes were sparkled with excitement, “ See? I told you, Dad.”“ I always believe in you, Justin.” I replied with a big smile. We found the field. The wind froze the parents through to the bone, but the kids failed to notice it. Their minds were on baseball.
It was a rag-tag group of boys and girls, just enough to form three teams. It was a poor league and there were no uniforms. They were lucky to have shirts that matched. They played in T-shirts and jeans. The young kids had no idea where the ball was to be thrown. I would have laughed, but my son was one of the ones throwing the ball to the wrong base. The three teams battled with each other, won and lost. The coaches, who were actually just elder kids, were patient. It was a game and they treated it that way. At the same time, they taught and encouraged the younger players.
Paragraph 1:
I heard that they would take part in the city baseball competition the next summer.
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Paragraph 2:
Nine months later, in winter, they attended the second city baseball competition.
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