1 . Through art, one transmits feelings to others. This transmission of feelings can be a valuable thing. Imagine, for instance, a very special time and place — the kind that occurs for only a few seconds, and only once in a generation. Art, in the hands of a master, can capture (捕捉) that moment, preserve it and deliver it to people.

Feelings being communicated have value, and this is what makes art worth your time and energy. Here’s a personal example: There is a set of four paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago; they show groups of people discovering magnificent (宏伟的) ancient ruins. When I see these paintings, I feel what it is like to discover such things. I see that other men have done great things … I see that such things are possible, and I think that I, too, am capable of such things.

Seeing these paintings is a different experience for me than reading words. Both are valuable, but they are different. And I get the same type of experience when listening to good music. Art affects me differently than words, but both are strongly beneficial to me.

One way or another, art should deliver something positive to you. So, trying hard to understand and appreciate art that doesn’t move you is probably a waste of your time. It’s true that appreciation of some things may be learned, but trying hard to like something you really don’t, because people say you should, or because people will think you’re uncultured if you don’t, is foolish. Either art contributes something to you or it’s not worth your time.

1. How does the author support his idea in the first paragraph?

A．By listing an example.

B．By making a comparison.

C．By introducing a concept.

D．By describing a phenomenon.

2. What does the author say about seeing the paintings mentioned in Paragraph 2?

A．It is a unique experience.

B．It proves the importance of art.

C．It excites his interest in exploring art.

D．It deepens his awareness of his own abilities.

3. What kind of art might the author encourage us to appreciate?

A．One that is easy to understand.

B．One that is favored by most people.

C．One that moves us in a positive way.

D．One that saves our valuable time and energy.

4. What’s the text mainly about?

A．The value of art.

B．The purpose of art.

C．How to appreciate art.

D．How to express emotions through art

2 . In Yu Chenrui’s creations, wood comes alive. Yu is an automata (机械人偶) maker. Wooden figures in his creations move as if by magic.

Automata look like humans or animals and give the illusion (错觉) of being able to move on their own. The automata have its origins in ancient Greece. Indeed, the name comes from the Greek word automatos, meaning “moves on its own”. Automata were the first complex machines produced by man, and the mechanical principles haven’t changed for thousands of years.

Interested in handicrafts as a boy, Yu first encountered automata designed by Kazuaki at an exhibition in 2015 when he studied at college. “It was like meeting a like-minded friend,” Yu says. As an art and design major, he began to learn the craft by himself and, with the support of his tutor Lu Ying, he kept studying and examining automata at school. Now the hobby has become a career.

When he graduated in 2016, Yu got a job at an advertising agency in Beijing. While working as a designer, Yu kept exploring and advancing his skills in wood carving. Despite the job’s good salary, it was not enough to compensate for (补偿) not following his true passion. Finally, in 2018, Yu quit his job and returned to his hometown Chengdu to open his automata workshop.

Many of Yu’s creations are built with a source of wisdom, a sense of humor and are inspired by observations of real life. Woodcutter and Worm is inspired by his own experience of finding a wormhole while he was cutting wood. The piece shows a creature with its eyes wide open the moment the log (木头) in which it lives is being cut in two.

Yu knows that there are many more creative ideas waiting to be expressed. “It feels quite good to be fully devoted to automata creation and I am still searching for myself,” Yu said.

1. What can we learn about automata?

A．They can move on their own.

B．They are totally made of wood.

C．They first appeared in ancient Greece.

D．They change significantly over time.

2. What inspired Yu Chenrui to make automata?

A．His childhood hobby.

B．The art work designed by Kazuaki.

C．The advice from his tutor Lu Ying.

D．His experience of studying at college.

3. Why did Yu Chenrui leave the advertising agency?

A．He wanted to return to his hometown.

B．He wanted to seek what he loved.

C．He didn’t get well paid as a designer.

D．He didn’t like to work in that company.

4. What does the author want to show by mentioning Woodcutter and Worm?

A．Yu created his art works seriously.

B．Yu’s creations are very humorous.

C．Yu is a person with great wisdom.

D．Yu got inspiration by observing life.

6 . How can fire or hot things be a danger in the house? Matches, of course, are always dangerous in the hands of young children. A wind comes, sparks are blown onto the roof of a house, and the whole building may be burnt to the ground before you can even call the Fire Brigade. Kerosene lamps (煤油灯), too, can be very dangerous. Quite recently there was a bad accident in a village house. The mosquito net over a baby’s bed was blown against a lamp and caught fire. The bedclothes and even the clothes of the baby were burnt before the fire was discovered. Besides, it’s very dangerous to burn wood or garbage next to your house.

　　Young children often reach up to a table to take a pot down by its handle. If the pot is full of boiling water, you can guess what will happen. Similarly, when a baby’s bath is prepared, cold water should be put in first. If any hot water has to be used, it should be put into the bath after the cold water but not before it.
　　Many fireworks can lead to blindness and other injuries. Wooden spears or swords should be used only by children with sense enough not to injure other people.
　　Very young children often have to be watched very carefully. They put everything they find into their mouths to see whether it can be eaten. Medicines have to be put out of their reach. A pill or some ointment which might be harmless to a grown-up can be very harmful to a baby.
　　If there are stairs in your house, do not put a mat at the top of them unless you want to crash down the stairs on your shoulder or head. Make sure, too, that your mats do not have curly edges. These are dangerous for the very young and the very old: those who cannot see as well as we can. If there are any deep holes in or near your garden, see that they are filled in or properly covered up.
　　This blacklist of the dangers in and near a house is not complete, but it is enough to remind you to be careful. If you want to take a risk, do it on the sports field or, when you are older, by serving your country in the Army.
1. A house fire can start with        .

A．children playing with matches

B．burning rubbish near the house

C．the mosquito net being blown against a lamp

D．all the above

2. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the text?

A．Children may get injured when playing games.

B．Children may put something harmful into their mouths.

C．Children may play with matches and cause fire.

D．Children may get hurt when reaching up to a pot full of boiling water.

3. What does the writer suggest people do?

A．Put a mat on the stairs.

B．Use mats without curly edges.

C．Hide the mats so that the very young and the very old won’t see them.

D．Use a mat to cover the holes in or near the garden.

4. What’s the purpose of the text?

A．To warn people not to let children play by themselves.

B．To show that fire or hot things can be a danger in the house.

C．To remind people to be careful with the dangers in and near the house.

D．To tell people the mat is another danger in the house.

9 . Redefined Meat, an Israeli company, recently created the world’s first 3D－printed steak called Alt－Steak.

Using its own 3D－printing   technology,Redefined Meat has been able to create a meatless steak that features the appearance and taste of the real thing. The company was apparently able to achieve all this by working with chefs, food technologists and Swiss flavor company Givaudan. The Alt－Steak is created by mixing Redefined Meat’s Alt－Muscle, Alt－Fat, and Alt－Blood plant－based formulations (配方)in several layers. The end result is a high－protein，cholesterol－free (零胆固醇的) steak that looks, cooks and tastes like real meat.

“The importance of using 3D－printing technology to achieve texture (质地), color and flavor—and the combinations between them—cannot be overstated.By using separate formulations for muscle, fat and blood, we can focus on each individual aspect of creating the perfect Alt－Steak product,” Eshchar Ben－Shitrit，CEO of Redefined Meat, said.

“Since day one of the company, we have been working on creating a tasty and affordable plant－based   alternative   to   steaks,”   Eshchar Ben－Shitrit added.   “In order to ensure that a lot of people accepted and welcomed it, we knew that creating an alternative meat product that was both high in quality and nutritional composition would require new technologies and production processes never seen before in the food industry.”

Alt－Steak is described as an   “extremely complicated food” where protein, fats, natural colors and flavors and more are arranged in a precise manner to make them perform like the equivalent (相同的) elements in a cow’s muscle.However, this alternative meat product comes with the advantage that it can be produced much faster than the real thing.

To promote its alternative steak, Redefined Meat recently invited Israeli chef Assaf Granit for a tasting. Granit said that the taste of Alt－Steak was   “almost identical” to the original, adding that, in his opinion, eight out of ten people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a real steak and an Alt－Steak.

1. What is the main feature of Alt－Steak?

A．It is full of protein and cholesterol.	B．It has high quality and nutrition.
C．It is cheaper than a real steak.	D．It can be made into different colors.

2. How did the company promote its Alt－Steak?

A．It published an article about the Alt－Steak in a newspaper.

B．It gave free samples to some restaurants.

C．It held an eating competition in the city.

D．It invited a chef to taste and comment on its Alt－Steak.

3. What can be concluded about the company Redefined Meat from the text?

A．It created the alternative steak on its own.

B．It is the only company that has created the 3D－printed steak.

C．It worked on an alternative steak from the first day.

D．It produces the 3D printers at the same time.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．The Difference Between a Real Steak and a Fake One

B．How to Fulfill the Demand of Vegetarians

C．The World’s First 3D－Printed Meatless Steak

D．The Importance of 3D－Printing Technology

10 . Maria (1718—1799) was a famous Italian mathematician.She was described in a book as follows：“Maria was a child prodigy (神童)，but was also shy. ”

She stayed at home, teaching the younger children and following her own studies. When her mother died after giving birth to twenty­one children, Maria took over the running of the household. At the age of twenty she started a ten­year project, a book bringing together the work on calculus (微积分学) of Leibnitz and Newton titled Analytic Institutions. Sometimes she would have trouble with a problem, but her mind went on working even in her sleep; she would sleepwalk to her study and back to bed. In the morning, she would find the answer to the problem waiting on her desk. Her book made her famous; she was living proof of what she had argued at nine years old that women had a right to study science. But Maria had other interests in her life apart from mathematics.She had always worked with the poor people in her area, and she had asked her father for separate rooms and turned them into a private hospital. She worked at the hospital (and another) until she died at the age of eighty­one. Maria wrote an important book on mathematics, as well as another unpublished book. She ran a household of over twenty people, and she worked for people who had not had her luck and opportunities. Each one of these things was remarkable, but she did them all.

1. We know from the text that Maria         ．

A．was a maths teacher when she was young	B．lived a rich life in her childhood
C．was born in a large family	D．was too shy to teach others

2. It can be inferred from the text that         ．

A．there were some good schools for children when Maria was young

B．women were not allowed to study science when Maria was a little girl

C．women had equal rights to learn anything as boys did

D．Maria had the ability to make enough money to bring up her brothers and sisters when her mother died

3. According to the text，Maria was so devoted to maths that she         ．

A．forgot everything when she was studying

B．spent over ten years writing her most famous book

C．never slept while doing researches

D．would go on with her study in her dream

4. We know from the text that Maria was also a       woman.

A．kind­hearted

B．beautiful

C．well­born

D．rich