1 . “What if I told you that I murdered Basil?”
“You couldn’t murder anyone, Dorian. He probably fell into the Seine from a bus. By the way, where’s that wonderful portrait he did of you? Oh! I remember now. You told me years ago that you sent it to Selby Manor and that it got lost or stolen on the way. What a pity! I wanted to buy it. I wish I had now.” Lord Henry said.
“I never really liked it,” said Dorian.
“How have you kept your youth, Dorian? You must have some secret. I’m only ten years older than you are, and I’m wrinkled and old. Please, tell me your secret. To get back my youth, I’d do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable.”
When Dorian arrived home that night, he sent his servant to bed, and sat down on the sofa in the library. Then he began to think about his life.
“I’ve been an evil influence on my friends, and I’ve ruined the lives of many good young people,” he thought, “Ah! Why did I pray for the portrait to grow old, and for me to stay young? I worshiped beauty and eternal youth, but they ruined me. It’s better not to think of the past. Nothing can change that. I must think of the future. James Vane is dead. Alan Campbell is dead, too. He shot himself one night in his laboratory.”
“I’m safe now,” he continued. “Basil painted the portrait that ruined my life. I can’t forgive him for that. Everything is the portrait’s fault.”
He began to wonder about the portrait. “If I’m good, maybe the portrait will become beautiful again,” he thought. “I’ll go and look.”
He took the lamp from the table and went upstairs. As he unlocked the door, he smiled. “Yes, I’ll be good,” he thought, “I won’t be frightened of this portrait any more.”
He went upstairs to the room and locked the door. Then he pulled the purple cloth off the portrait. He gave a cry of pain. The portrait was more horrible. His face looked more evil. There was new blood on the hand and on the feet.
Dorian trembled with fear. Dorian looked round the room and saw the knife that stabbed Basil Hallward. It was bright and shining.
“This knife killed the artist, and now it will kill the artist’s work,” he thought.
He grabbed the knife, and then he stabbed the portrait with it.
1. What do we know about Lord Henry from the passage?| A．He doubted slightly whether Dorian murdered Basil. |
| B．He would do whatever he could to get back his youth. |
| C．The portrait he wanted to buy was stolen by Selby Manor. |
| D．The truth about how Dorian kept his youth was hidden from him. |
| A．Dorian admitted he was badly affected by his friends. |
| B．Alan Campbell shot himself one night in his laboratory. |
| C．Dorian blamed his sufferings on the portrait and Basil. |
| D．Dorian wanted to kill himself so that the portrait could become normal. |
| A．Admired. | B．Deserved. | C．Maintained. | D．Ignored. |
| A．Because the portrait aroused too much curiosity of his friends. |
| B．Because the portrait reflecting his soul made him suffer great pain. |
| C．Because he was jealous of the portrait which would never grow old. |
| D．Because he thought the portrait would take his youth and beauty away. |
2 . Standing on the shore of a lake. I can’t help but marvel at the tens or hundreds of thousands of small rocks that surround my boots. They were all created from hard surfaces, their edges softening over time.
And I wonder, can we learn from a pile of rocks?
Even the tallest mountains have worn down; none are as tall as they were 1.000 years ago. And much like a rock, I’ve found my attitude has softened and my desire to better understand others has expanded with each trip around the sun.
Once I too was a sharp rock covered in pointy edges. Today, after decades of the waters of life coursing over me, my edges are softer and more understanding. I’m less likely to judge and more interested in learning how we can exist together.
But I’m not a rock. I’m a human being filled with all the drama built into my DNA.
Two years ago, while traveling in the Pacific Northwest, I watched a restaurant owner ask several people to leave for not wearing masks. Not forceful and not rude. On the door read a sign: “Please wear a mask before entering our restaurant. We don’t like it either, but let’s all do what we can to get through this together.”
The group of young men wished to argue about the note.
I sat watching, understanding both sides. I’ve been those guys before, using my youthful edges to chip away at the world. What I lost, however, was the ability to grow from experiences by looking through the eyes of others. In learning to be more open, I’ve also found more happiness and success.
You can fit more rounded rocks in a jar than those with sharp edges. The former look for ways to adjust and make room for others; the latter never give an inch to accommodate others.
Time, like the waters rolling against once sharp stones, changes us by washing away our resistance to seeing the world from another’s point of view.
I placed a rounded stone into my jacket pocket. Mother Nature is holding class again.
1. What does the author compare the rocks to?| A．People’s abilities. | B．People’s personalities. |
| C．What nature offers us. | D．Challenges we come across. |
| A．They were dissatisfied with the owner’s attitude to them. |
| B．They were unwilling to do what the owner wished them to. |
| C．They intended to skip out on the bill due to the poor service. |
| D．They were not allowed to leave the restaurant for their rudeness. |
| A．We should adjust to new conditions. |
| B．Be brave when in the face of difficulties in life. |
| C．It’s necessary to consider the feelings of others. |
| D．Being open and understanding brings you more happiness. |
| A．Changing with Time | B．Learning from Nature |
| C．Growing from Experiences | D．Seeing from a Different Angle |
1. What’s the purpose of the experiment?
| A．To test the size of different people’s lungs. |
| B．To hold the air that you blow out at a time. |
| C．To know the amount of air your lungs can hold. |
| D．To measure how much water you can blow out once. |
| A．To hold the air you blow out. |
| B．To show the size of the bottle. |
| C．To measure the air you blow out. |
| D．To display the process of the experiment. |
| A．The experimenter blows out air harder. |
| B．The experimenter takes a deeper breath. |
| C．Less water is left in the bowl after the experiment. |
| D．Less water is left in the bottle after the experiment. |
4 . The short film Piper, released by Pixar in 2016, won the 89th Academy Award for Best Animated Short film. Piper was written and directed by Alan Barillaro, previously working in the animation department. It’s a wonder that he had the fortune to win Oscar for his first film.
The short film follows a baby bird named Piper, as she learns and overcomes her fears of finding food at the seafront. Piper is encouraged to peck（啄）at the sand beach but gets wet through with water from a wave. Discouraged by the terrible wave, she hopes to get food from her mother but fails. After gathering up the courage again, she meets a hermit crab（寄居蟹）who shows her not to be scared of the ocean but to embrace it. Finally, she discovers the secret of the ocean and feeds herself even her family. It’s a story about facing challenges and not being discouraged by failure. Like Piper, we can always find solutions and come out stronger than ever before.
Somehow Pixar manages to fit all of these into a five-minute-long short film, without using any spoken language and entirely by animation. Movements and personified facial expressions are what drive this story in this film. Much like the nature documentary, the continuous pulling of the shallow focus adds the sense of realism. The clean and clear animation allows for even the slightest micro-expressions to be picked up by the audience. And the music is consistent with Piper’s emotions, making the audience feel the same way.
This film and lots of others by Pixar make us laugh and cry all the time. By fitting a simple story with simple characters, we are led through challenges to a satisfying conclusion for our characters. It’s one of the best short films in a long time.
1. What is the storyline of the short film?| A．A mother instructs her child to find food. |
| B．A bird overcomes fears and grows independent。 |
| C．A bird family tries to adapt to life at the seafront. |
| D．A sand beach offers food to the birds living nearby. |
| A．Animation and music. | B．Sound and virtual scenes. |
| C．Movements and speeches. | D．Clear pictures and vivid lines. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Critical. | C．Favorable. | D．Negative. |
| A．A documentary. | B．A review. | C．A story. | D．An essay. |
5 . Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.
I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy—ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of my life for a few hours for this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness—that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what—at last—I have found.
With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean (毕达哥拉斯) power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.
Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery (嘲弄) of what human life should be. I long to alleviate (减少) the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.
This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.
1. Which would be the best title of the essay?| A．The suffering of life. | B．The truth about love. |
| C．The forces driving me. | D．The power of knowledge. |
| A．The shining stars. | B．Great winds. |
| C．A bottomless abyss. | D．A boundless ocean. |
| A．It relieves loneliness. | B．It brings ecstasy. |
| C．It provides a glimpse of heaven. | D．It leads to a marriage. |
| A．He regrets that he could not free himself of pity. |
| B．Human love is ultimately disappointing. |
| C．Heaven is merely a poetic invention. |
| D．A loving person naturally wants to relieve the suffering of others. |
1. What was the purpose of the concert?
| A．To attract governments’ attention to education. |
| B．To collect money for poor children. |
| C．To save some sick children. |
| A．Governments should do something for poor children. |
| B．Children should make a living by themselves. |
| C．Famous singers should help poor children. |
7 . George Nakashima always insisted that he was a simple woodworker, not an artist. Even though major museums exhibited his works and the director of the American Craft Museum called him a national treasure, Mr Nakashima rejected the label of artist. For almost fifty years he simply went on shaping wood into beautiful chairs, tables, and cabinets.
Nakashima had a clear goal. He intended each piece of furniture he made to be as perfect as possible. Even making a box was an act of creation, because it produced an object that had never existed before. Initially Nakashima used local wood, sometimes from his own property. Later, he traveled to seek out English oak, Persian walnut, African zebra wood and Indian teak. He especially liked to find giant roots that had been dug out of the ground after a tree was taken down. Nakashima felt that making this wood into furniture was a way of allowing the tree to live again.
Most furniture makers prefer perfect boards, but Nakashima took pleasure in using wood with interesting knots (节疤)and cracks. These irregularities gave the wood personality and showed that the tree had lived a happy life.
He never failed to create an object that was both useful and beautiful. One early piece Nakashima designed was a three-legged chair for his small daughter, Mira, to use when she sat at the table for meals. The Mira chair became so popular that Nakashima later made both low and high versions. Another famous piece, the Conoid chair, has two legs supported by bladelike feet. Always, Nakashima's designs were precise and graceful, marked by a simplicity that revealed his love for the wood.
As the years passed, Nakashima's reputation grew and his work received many awards. His children Mira and Kevin, now adults, joined the team of crafts - people in their father's studio. Nakashima's dream of integrating work and family had come true.
1. Which of the following best describes Nakashima?| A．Generous and outgoing. | B．Honest and simple. |
| C．Capable and friendly. | D．Creative and modest. |
| A．His art work made trees live again. |
| B．He used precious wood materials. |
| C．His chairs were beautifully designed. |
| D．He was devoted to making furniture. |
| A．He loved his work and family. |
| B．He made chairs of the same style. |
| C．He sought for a simple life and art. |
| D．He was lost in researching the wood. |
| A．They had an art studio of their own. |
| B．They still lacked the ability to create art works. |
| C．They had a common interest with their father. |
| D．They enjoyed the same reputation with their father. |
8 . Society has certain standards for beauty. But Romanian photographer Mihaela Noroc, who spent nearly four years shooting
She believes that beauty can
From a
Her encounter with Ala, a student at a self-defense school in Jordan called “She Fighter”, left a
In Iran, Noroc met Norocmet Farnoush, a woman who lives in
| A．targets | B．concerns | C．outlines | D．portraits |
| A．appealing | B．refreshing | C．challenging | D．deleting |
| A．take on | B．focus on | C．fold up | D．turn out |
| A．itself | B．yourself | C．himself | D．herself |
| A．adapt | B．cater | C．acknowledge | D．change |
| A．as | B．that | C．who | D．how |
| A．Advocated | B．Inspired | C．Stimulated | D．Privileged |
| A．tradition | B．photographer | C．school | D．beauty |
| A．headline | B．reaction | C．edition | D．catalogue |
| A．struggling | B．confusing | C．disappointing | D．enterprising |
| A．employed | B．engaged | C．enabled | D．emphasized |
| A．perform | B．seek | C．carry | D．spread |
| A．only | B．originally | C．readily | D．really |
| A．concrete | B．lasting | C．subjective | D．vague |
| A．camera | B．book | C．café | D．screen |
| A．demanding | B．decreasing | C．amazing | D．abusing |
| A．false | B．explicit | C．valid | D．two |
| A．after | B．by | C．beneath | D．with |
| A．passion | B．contribution | C．substitution | D．ambition |
| A．dynamic | B．noble | C．natural | D．elegant |
9 . Hi, everybody. Over the past couple months, most of the political headlines you’ve read have probably been about the government shutdown and the launch of the Affordable Care Act. And I know that many of you have rightly never been more frustrated with Washington.
But if you look beyond those headlines, there are some good things happening in our economy. And that’s been my top priority since the day I walked into the Oval Office.
After decades in which the middle class was working harder and harder just to keep up, and a punishing recession that made it worse, we made the tough choices required not just to recover from crisis, but to rebuild on a new foundation for stronger, more durable economic growth.
Five years later, we have fought our way back. Our businesses have created 7.8 million new jobs in the past 44 months. Another 200,000 Americans went back to work last month.
The American auto industry has come roaring back with more than 350,000 new jobs – jobs churning out and selling the high-tech, fuel-efficient cars the world wants to buy. And they’re leading the charge in a manufacturing sector that has added jobs for the first time since the 1990s – a big reason why our businesses sell more goods and services “Made in America” than ever before.
We decided to reverse our addiction to foreign oil. And today, we generate more renewable energy than ever, more natural gas than anybody, and for the first time in nearly 20 years, America now produces more oil than we buy from other countries.
We decided to fix a broken health care system. And even though the rollout of the marketplace where you can buy affordable plans has been rough, so far, about 500,000 Americans are poised to gain health coverage starting January 1st. And by the way, health care costs are growing at the slowest rate in 50 years.
And one more thing: since I took office, we’ve cut our deficits by more than half. And that makes it easier to invest in the things that create jobs – education, research, and infrastructure.
Imagine how much farther along we could be if both parties were working together. Think about what we could do if a reckless few didn’t hold the economy hostage every few months, or waste time on dozens of votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act rather than try to help us fix it.
In the weeks ahead, I’ll keep talking about my plan to build a better bargain for the middle class. Good jobs. A good education. A chance to buy a home, save, and retire. And yes, the financial security of affordable health care. And I’ll look for any willing partners who want to help.
Because of your hard work and tough sacrifices over the past five years, we’re pointed in the right direction. But we’ve got more work to do to keep moving that way. And as long as I’m President, I’ll keep doing everything I can to create jobs, grow the economy, and make sure that everyone who works hard has a chance to get ahead. Thanks, and have a great weekend.
1. Which of the following is not the reason for people’s frustration with the government?| A．The government shut down |
| B．Unemployment rate |
| C．The addiction to foreign oil |
| D．The launch of the Affordable Care Act |
| A．To show that American goods and services are very popular. |
| B．To indicate that American people should be dependent on themselves. |
| C．To show that the employment rate has been increased. |
| D．To show that American auto industry enjoys high technology. |
| A．To abolish | B．To protect |
| C．To strengthen | D．To weaken |
| A．American people have every reason to feel frustrated with the government. |
| B．Health care costs are growing at the slowest rate in 50 years. |
| C．The president feels sorry that the economy is not moving in the right direction. |
| D．Some government officials don’t agree with the president on the medical care system. |
Part 3
NARRATOR: As soon as Goneril has got all she can from her father, she begins treating him disrespectfully. When Lear wants to speak to her, Goneril tells her servant, Oswald, to say she is sick. She encourages her staff to be disrespectful towards Lear and begins complaining about the hundred soldiers Lear has brought with him. However, King Lear soon has a friend by his side. The Duke of Kent, who Lear ordered to leave Britain, cannot abandon his king. He therefore comes to Lear disguised as a servant called Caius and asks for a job.
(Enter Lear, several of Lear's soldiers and Kent disguised as a servant.)
LEAR: OK, Caius. I'll give you a trial. And if you prove to be good at your job, I'll keep you on as my servant. (Oswald enters.) Hey, you there. Where's my daughter? (Oswald ignores the king and hurries out of the room.) Hey. What's going on? Call him back. Is he deaf? (A Soldier rushes out after Oswald.) It's as though the whole world has gone to sleep. (Soldier reenters.) Where's that servant? Why didn’t he come back when I called?
SOLDIER: Sir, he answered me very rudely and said he would not come back.
LEAR: I don’t believe it!
SOLDIER: Sir, I am sorry, to tell you this, but it seems to me that you are not being treated with the respect due to a king. Everyone here, including your daughter, is behaving very coldly towards you.
LEAR: Mmm. I suspected the same, but I kept telling myself it was my imagination. Please tell my daughter I wish to speak with her. (Soldier bows and leaves. Oswald enters.) Ah, come here my man and answer me. Who am I?
OSWALD: My lady's father.
LEAR: Your lady's father? Is that all I am to you, you dog, you slave! (Lear raises his arm as though to strike Oswald.)
OSWALD: I'll not be hit, my Lord.
KENT: (Kent kicks Oswald's feet out from under him.) And you won't be laid flat on your back either, I suppose. Now get up and get out of here. (Oswald leaves.)
LEAR: My thanks, Caius. I can see you will be a most valuable servant.
(Enter Goneril.) What's up, daughter? You always seem to be frowning lately.
GONERIL: Is it any wonder that I frown when your soldiers are continually drinking and fighting? I thought when I told you about their behavior you would make them behave, but now I hear you have insulted Oswald. I do believe you are encouraging your soldiers in their bad behavior.
LEAR: Is this my daughter scolding me?
GONERIL: I have had enough of your soldiers. They are expensive to keep and you don't need them. Besides, their drunken behavior and bad manners are disgusting. You will send half of them away. And unless you want me to get rid of the rest of them too, I suggest you teach them how to behave properly.
LEAR: That's a lie. My soldiers are good men who know how to behave properly. I won't stay here to be insulted. I still have one more daughter. She'll scratch out your eyes when she hears how you've treated me. Men! Get my horses ready and collect my baggage. I'll leave immediately. I won't stay where I'm not welcome. (Lear and companions leave.)
NARRATOR: Lear sends Kent on ahead to the castle of his other daughter, Regan, to tell her that he will soon be arriving. Goneril sends her servant Oswald to Regan to tell her side of the story.
1. Who does the underlined “him” probably refer to?
| A．Kent. | B．Oswald. | C．Lear. | D．Soldier. |
| A．To find a chance to meet Goneril. |
| B．To share some of the king’s wealth. |
| C．To find a job in the court. |
| D．To serve and help his king— Lear. |
| A．Sisters. | B．Couple. |
| C．Sister and Brother. | D．Brothers. |
| A．A wise king and father. |
| B．A cold-hearted father. |
| C．A cruel and selfish king. |
| D．A stupid and a bit stubborn man. |
