1 . In the book The Best Little Girl in the World，Kessa has a serious eating disorder (进食障碍) called anorexia nervosa. But she is not alone. Many people have this eating disorder.
In the beginning of her story, Kessa is a normal 15-year-old girl. She is good at many things，especially dancing. She has danced for many years and loves it. One day her dance teacher tells her to continue eating right, but maybe lose a few pounds. Once Kessa hears this, she takes things too far. Instead of cutting down on snacks and junk food, she decides not to eat at all. She does not eat breakfast, lunch or dinner. She begins losing weight and becomes slimmer (更加苗条的) and slimmer. But she loses weight to a point where she is unhealthy.
As her poor eating habits continue, her parents start getting as much help as possible to cure their beautiful daughter. But it is just as hard for Kessa’s parents to deal with her disorder as it is for her.
Every day she exercises to lose more pounds and plans what and when she will eat. Her parents try everything, but Kessa decides not to have any fat on her body. Kessa’s doctor and parents finally take her to the hospital. She is now so thin that she can hardly walk. There, she is given good care.
In the rest of the book, Kessa goes through a lot of trouble in order to cure her eating disorder. This book, I think, can help to prevent people from doing this to themselves. It shows the trouble that people go through just to be slimmer, and all the terrible things they must experience to be cured. It is a book I think every teenager should read.
1. What does Kessa do to lose weight?| A．She stops eating. |
| B．She eats less junk food. |
| C．She has three small meals a day. |
| D．She dances many more hours a day. |
| A．It is caused by her dance teacher. |
| B．It’s too serious to be cured. |
| C．It makes her suffer a lot. |
| D．It’s an unusual illness. |
| A．how to cure eating disorders |
| B．the importance of eating right |
| C．a girl’s fight against an eating problem |
| D．why so many people have eating disorders |
| A．share a moving story with readers |
| B．give teenagers some advice on eating habits |
| C．tell parents to take good care of their children |
| D．warn people not to make the same mistake as the girl |
2 . After Stewart and Debbie Wilder lost their son, Cameron, in 2013, the last thing on their minds was decorating for the holiday season. “We haven’t put anything up in three years. It has all stayed boxed up,” said Debbie.
But in December 2016, the house was lit up for Christmas, with little lights cheerfully lining the rood and eaves(屋檐). It wasn’t the Wilders but a stranger Carson Zickgraf, the founder of CZ Enterprises LLC, who finally made the house shine. “I started crying,” Debbie says about seeing the lights for the first time. “It was really special.”
Zickgraf has been donating his light-stringing services to brighten the lives of families affected by losing their children, especially during the difficult holiday season since 2015 and has decorated the houses of more than two dozen families so far.
He started the project by chance. He was hanging lights on a home when the owner mentioned that some neighbors were having a hard time that holiday season because their son had recently died. Then he had an idea. “I sent my crew there to decorate that house too,” he says. The family was delighted. In fact, he had two friends who had died young, and he’d always wished he could ease the pain for their loved ones. Now, he’s found a way.
“There’s something special about Christmas lights. They warm the spirit.” Zickgraf knows his efforts can’t completely remove the pain from these families, but he can make the holidays a little cheerier. “I wish I had a bigger company so I could do more houses,” he says.
1. How was the Wilders affected by the loss of their son?| A．They didn’t feel like decorating their house for Christmas. |
| B．They were the last to put up some decorations at Christmas. |
| C．They had no one to help decorate their house for Christmas. |
| D．They had the belongings of their son boxed up at Christmas. |
| A．To make more houses brighter. | B．To expand his own business. |
| C．To relieve the victim family’s pain. | D．To memorize his dead friends. |
| A．Enthusiastic and optimistic. | B．Courageous and smart. |
| C．Ambitious and generous. | D．Considerate and helpful. |
| A．Lights warming the spirit | B．A person brightening houses |
| C．Families going through sufferings | D．A business hanging lights |
3 . My daughter was being thrown out of the sixth grade. The teacher said, “She may not be up to what we’re trying to accomplish.” He was really saying she didn’t have the intelligence. I got mad because I knew she was smart, just as my father had known I was smart when I was failing in school. We had her tested. I decided to get myself tested as well, and found that the troubles she was having were exactly what I had had — dyslexia. By then I was a successful television writer, and had won an Emmy Award for “The Rockford Files.”
If I had known earlier that something beyond my control could explain why I was a low achiever, I may not have worked so hard in my late 20s and early 30s. I was writing and writing. I was working for no other reason than to hear people praise me, because I did badly in all my courses.
I once asked a friend who had always gotten an A, “How long did you study for this?” He said, “I didn’t. I just glanced at it.” So he must be smarter. I began to ask, “What will happen to me when I’m not good at anything?” Despite my doubts, I did become successful, and people now say to me, “So you’ve overcome dyslexia.”
No. You don’t overcome it, you learn to compensate for it. Some easy things are very hard for me. Most people who go through college read twice as fast as I do. I avoid dialing a phone if I can, because I sometimes have to try three times to get the number right.
Despite my weaknesses I view dyslexia as a gift, not a curse (诅咒). Many dyslexics are good at right-brain, abstract thought, and that’s what my kind of creative writing is. And I can write quickly, and can get up to 15 pages a day. Writing is my strength.
The real fear I have for dyslexic children is not they have to struggle in school, but that they will quit on themselves before they get out of school. Parents have to create victories for them, whether it’s music, sports or art. You can make your dyslexic child able to say, “Yeah, reading is hard. But I have other things I can do.”
1. The writer decided to get himself tested as well because he________.| A．wanted to know if they had the same problem |
| B．didn’t believe his daughter had the problem |
| C．had to take a regular medical examination |
| D．accepted that his daughter was not smart |
| A．struggled and got better grades |
| B．didn’t work hard when he was young |
| C．was praised for overcoming dyslexia |
| D．was thankful not knowing of dyslexia earlier |
| A．is less intelligent | B．always fails in school |
| C．reads more slowly than normal people | D．performs worse in left-brain activities |
| A．Clumsy birds have to start flying early. | B．God shuts one door but opens another. |
| C．Never judge a person by his appearance. | D．No one can make a good coat with bad cloth. |
Innovative Designs for Accessibility
Deadline: 2020-04-30
Award: $ 7,500 CAD
Open to: University students
The Innovative (创新的) Designs for Accessibility student competition challenges students across Canada to use their creativity to develop innovative, cost-effective and practical solutions to accessibility barriers for people with disabilities. (Read more)
Clean Tech CompetitionDeadline: 2020-04-13
Award: $ 28,000
Open to: Students 13-15 years old
The Clean Tech Competition is a unique, worldwide research and design challenge for pre-college youth. The competition is designed to build a deeper understanding of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) related concepts, recognize outstanding talent, and prepare the next generation of globally competitive innovators. (Read more)
Agile Robotics CompetitionDeadline: 2020-04-10
Award: $ 17,500
Open to: Adults
Agile Robotics Competition is a simulation-based (仿真) competition designed to promote agility(灵活) in industrial robot systems by employing the latest advances in artificial intelligence and robot planning. The competition will be held virtually (虚拟的), so there is no need to travel to compete. The competition will use the Gazebo simulation tool. (Read more)
Wearable Robotics Innovation ChallengeDeadline: 2020-04-24
Award: $ 5,000
Open to: Everyone
The Wearable Robotics Association is inviting entries that represent the most innovative new ideas in wearable robotic technology. The review committee will select as many as ten finalists. The one considered to be the most innovative will be announced at the conference and will receive $ 5,000 to accelerate the new technology. (Read more)
1. Which competition favors competitors with a creative mind in helping the disabled?| A．Innovative Designs for Accessibility. | B．Clean Tech Competition. |
| C．Agile Robotics Competition. | D．Wearable Robotics Innovation Challenge. |
| A．To make a research about STEM. |
| B．To encourage university students to be innovators. |
| C．To help students prepare for the university. |
| D．To find talented teenagers and develop their ability to innovate. |
| A．They are open to everyone. | B．Every competitor can get an award. |
| C．They are held in April. | D．They are held virtually. |
5 . When you have looked through our brochure(手册) and have chosen two or three cottages(小木屋) you would like to stay in, please phone our Holiday Booking Office. The number is: 01225 892299.
31st March to 20th October
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Thursday 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Saturday closed
Sunday closed
21st October to 30th March
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Thursday 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Sunday closed
When a reservation(预订) has been made, it will be held for 7 days. We will give you a holiday reference number and ask you to complete the holiday booking form and return it, with a deposit(订金) of ONE THIRD of the cottage rental.
IF WE HAVE NOT RECEIVED YOUR COMPUTED AND SIGNED BOOKING FORM WITH A DEPOSIT WITHIN 7 DAYS, WE REGRET THAT YOUR RESERVATION WILL BE CANCELLED.
When we receive your booking form and deposit, your reservation will be confirmed-we will send you a Booking Confirmation, together with advice on how to reach your holiday cottage and the telephone number of a local contact so that you can get further details on the cottage before leaving home.
ARRIVAL
Please do not arrive at your holiday cottage before 3:30 p.m. or later than 7:00 p.m.
DEPARTURE
On the morning of departure, please leave your holiday property(住所) by 10 a.m. to allow caretakers enough time to prepare the property for the next visitors. We ask that you please leave the property as you found it. Please do not move the furniture as this can cause damage to the furniture.
LAST-MINUTE BOOKINGS
If you wish to make a last-minute booking, please telephone the Holiday Booking Office to check availability. If your reservation is made within 10 weeks of the holiday start date, full payment is due when booking.
ELECTRICITY
In most Wessex Cottages electricity must be paid for in addition to the holiday price. In some cottages, electricity is included in the rental and in very few there is no electricity at all.
1. What should you know about your booking?| A．The reservation can be made on weekends. |
| B．You need to fill a form before booking. |
| C．A deposit of one third of the cottage rental is needed. |
| D．The reservation of a cottage will be kept for 7 hours. |
| A．At 9:30 a.m. | B．At 9:00 a.m. |
| C．At 4:30 p.m. | D．At 5:00 p.m. |
| A．There is no electricity in many cottages. |
| B．Electricity price is more expensive than the holiday price. |
| C．Electricity is included in the rental in most cottages. |
| D．You don’t need to pay for it additionally in some cottages. |
| A．Full payment is unnecessary when booking. | B．Cottages may be unavailable. |
| C．The cost is lower than before. | D．Additional charges may be made. |
6 . I was in the seventh grade, and we had moved to New Jersey in November. By then, everyone already had had their own friends, and no one wanted to talk to a new girl. To make things worse, they put me in ''Section L''. I found out later that everyone called Section L ''Loserville''. It was sort of an open secret that it was the section for troublemakers and not-so-smart kids. When I found out, I wanted to scream. I had always been a good student and had amazing friends, and now everyone thought I was a loser!
I did text my friends in Illinois almost every night, especially my best friend, Ana. At first my friends wanted to hear all about it. But then some stopped texting back once I said something about how miserable I was. One night when I was texting with Ana, I complained about another friend who had just done that. Anas texts came really fast for the next few minutes and they surprised me. She said that she was tired of hearing about how bad everything was in New Jersey, too. She said she did not want to hurt my feelings but that I needed to stop feeling so sorry for myself all the time, and I had to try to make things better.
The next day, I thought a lot about what Ana had said. She was right!
I wish I could say that everything changed overnight after that, but it didn't, I was still stuck in ''Loserville'', and some people were still mean (苛刻) to me, even though I tried to just stay out of their way.
But what did change was me — I stopped feeling so sorry for myself and did something about making friends. I signed up to make sets for the school play. I met a lot of new people there, and suddenly I had friends to say hi to in the halls!
I still miss Illinois sometimes, but life in New Jersey isn't so hard anymore. Even though I couldn't change my situation, I could change my attitude — and that made all the difference.
1. ''Loserville'' is a section for ________.| A．smart students | B．low achievers |
| C．class leaders | D．new comers |
| A．Ana didn’t text back to her | B．she was a good student |
| C．her friends hurt her feelings | D．she was unfairly treated |
| A．She managed to go back to Illinois. | B．She ended the friendship with Ana. |
| C．She began to make friends with others. | D．She fought back with her classmates. |
| A．Everlasting Friendship | B．Say Goodbye to ''Loserville'' |
| C．An Incident at School | D．Unhappiness in ''Loserville'' |
7 . On a rainy winter day, several decades ago, a British artist named Christopher got on a train in Oxford to go to London. When he began his journey, he never knew that it was the beginning of almost 40 years of accidents and near death experiences.
During the journey, the train fell into an icy river, killing 12 passengers. Christopher managed to swim back to the river bank. He only had a broken leg.
Two years later, Christopher was on a plane from London to Manchester when a door suddenly opened and he fell out. A few minutes later, the plane crashed; 27 people were killed. Christopher was so lucky that he landed in a haystack (干草堆).
A few years later, he was hit by a bus, but again had no serious injuries. Then a year after that, he was driving on a mountain road when he saw a truck coming straight at him. He drove the car off the road, jumped out, landed in a tree — and watched his car fall 100 meters down the mountain.
''There are two ways you can look at it, '' Christopher said. ''I'm either the worlds unluckiest man, or the world's luckiest. '' When a reporter asked Christopher what he thought, he chose the ''luckiest'' one.
Two years ago, aged 71, Christopher bought his first lottery ticket (彩票) in 50 years and won more than 2 million. After this, a TV company in America said they wanted him to make an advertisement. At first he accepted, but then he changed his mind. Christopher said he would not fly to Los Angeles for the filming, because he did not want to push his luck. Who knows? If he had accepted the invitation, maybe he would have had another accident. But Mr. Christopher is a lucky man. If he had had another accident, he probably would have survived that too!
1. What happened in the plane accident from London to Manchester?| A．Christopher fell out of the plane. |
| B．Christopher fell into an icy water. |
| C．Christopher landed in a tree. |
| D．Christopher was the only passenger to survive |
| A．worried | B．confused |
| C．doubtful | D．fortunate |
| A．Because he was not good at filming. |
| B．Because he had enough money. |
| C．Because he was sure of another accident. |
| D．Because he didn't want to risk his life. |
| A．A man with nine lives |
| B．The unluckiest man in the world |
| C．A man who traveled around the world |
| D．A man who earned ￡2 million in a lottery |
8 . A few years ago, a doctor gave a wrong prescription to a 9-year-old boy because he had accidentally clicked the next medicine listed in the drop-down menu. Unfortunately, the boy died.
Dr. Gidi Stein heard the story and felt forced to do something. “It was like killing someone with a spelling error. He just clicked on the wrong button…Stein said. “One would have thought there’d be some kind of spell-checker to prevent these terrible things from happening. But apparently this is not the case.”
Several things were immediately obvious to the 54-year-old Stein, who had previously studied computer science. “If you look at this problem from a bird’s eye view, there were so many places down the line where this decision could have been stopped-from the physician to the pharmacy (药房) even to the mother. All of them had all the relevant information to have the judgment that this was just the wrong drug for the wrong patient. For Stein, it represented a systematic failure.
Stein compared this with credit cards. “If you use your credit card in the daily routine over time, a pattern emerges of how we use our cards : the grocery store, the gas station in our local town. If your credit card would appear tomorrow in Zimbabwe, it would be unusual. The credit card company would call you and say, “‘Hey, was that you?’”
But nothing like that existed in the field of prescription drugs. So Stein set up a company called MedAware. He came up with a machine learning outliner detection system. In other words, he trained the computers to realize if a doctor accidentally prescribed the wrong medicine.
The system is already used in hospitals and doctor5 s offices. To date, MedAware has used their technology to help nearly six million patients in the United States and Israel.
1. What caused the boy’s death?| A．The doctor’s carelessness. | B．The doctor’s poor medical skill. |
| C．The failure of the computer. | D．The incomplete health care system. |
| A．He was annoyed and put the blame on the doctor only. |
| B．He was regretful and tried to prevent similar accidents happening. |
| C．He was embarrassed and mistook it as a systematic failure. |
| D．He was confused and detected the mistakes in prescriptions himself. |
| A．Credit cards are available for doctors’ prescriptions. |
| B．Instructions in using credit cards are offered to users. |
| C．The boy might have been saved with the technology like credit cards. |
| D．MedAware’s technology will benefit the patients in Zimbabwe. |
| A．MedAware’s technology helps doctors choose right medicine |
| B．MedAware’s technology checks the prescriptions doctors make out |
| C．Medical industry worldwide has enjoyed MedAware’s technology |
| D．The boy? s mother was not to blame for his death during the accident |
9 . I must have always known reading was very important because the first memories I have as a child deal with books. There was not one night that I don’t remember mom reading me a storybook by my bedside. I was extremely inspired by the wonderful way the words sounded.
I always wanted to know what my mom was reading. Hearing mom say, “I can’t believe what’s printed in the newspaper this morning,” made me want to grab it out of her hands and read it myself. I wanted to be like my mom and know all of the things she knew. So I carried around a book, and each night, just to be like her, I would pretend to be reading.
This is how everyone learned to read. We would start off with sentences, then paragraphs, and then stories. It seemed an unending journey, but even as a six-year-old girl I realized that knowing how to read could open many doors. When mom said, “The C-A-N-D-Y is hidden on the top shelf,” I knew where the candy was. My progress in reading raised my curiosity, and I wanted to know everything. I often found myself telling my mom to drive more slowly, so that I could read all of the road signs we passed.
Most of my reading through primary, middle and high school was factual reading. I read for knowledge, and to make A’s on my tests. Sometimes, I would read a novel that was assigned, but I didn’t enjoy this type of reading. I liked facts, things that are concrete. I thought anything abstract left too much room for argument.
Now that I’m growing and the world I once knew as being so simple is becoming more complex, I find myself needing a way to escape. By opening a novel, I can leave behind my burdens and enter into a wonderful and mysterious world where I am now a new character. In these worlds I can become anyone. I don’t have to write down what happened or what technique the author was using when he or she wrote this. I just read to relax.
We’re taught to read because it’s necessary for much of human understanding. Reading is an important part of my life. Reading satisfies my desire to keep learning. And I’ve found that the possibilities that lie within books are limitless.
1. Why did the author want to grab the newspaper out of mom’s hands？| A．She wanted mom to read the news to her. |
| B．She couldn’t wait to tear the newspaper apart. |
| C．She couldn’t help but stop mom from reading. |
| D．She was eager to know what had happened. |
| A．her own way to find herself |
| B．her eagerness to develop her reading ability |
| C．her growing desire to know the world around her |
| D．her effort to remind mom to obey traffic rules |
| A．explore a mysterious land |
| B．develop an interest in learning |
| C．get away from a confusing world |
| D．learn about the adult world |
| A．The Pleasure of Reading | B．Growing Up with Reading |
| C．The Magic of Reading | D．Reading Makes a Full Man |
10 . Whenever I heard strangers singing out loud, whether it was in the supermarket or on the street, I used to think how annoying it was. That was until a few months ago.
Recently, my daughter Zoe started her second year of middle school with a new sense of awareness, asking me to fix the "little girl" pattern on her wheelchair seat. Not wanting her to stand out at school, I spent hours filling in pale yellow stars with a black marker, eager to erase whatever childish signs I could. Shortly after, Zoe got really sick and had to miss 20 days of school. This meant our days were filled with rushing between hospital appointments and meetings with the school, as we tried to make sure she didn't fall behind on her schoolwork.
I felt pulled back to a time when she was little and her sickness was a huge part of her life. Back then, it seemed like Zoe lived in hospitals, as she spent so much time in them. No matter how sick she got, however, she always had a positive attitude. But this was different: Zoe was no longer singing like she normally did. Zoe usually sings all the time, whether she's playing, riding in the car, or just doing her homework. There was no need for a radio in our house； Zoe provided the music for us. Consumed (被折磨)with my motherly worries, it was more concerning to me than her sickness.
One day, however, I heard her beautiful voice as I was cooking dinner. I stopped what I was doing and just smiled. “Pure delight. ’’ I thought to myself. Her voice slowly grew stronger, and soon, both the car and the house were filled with her music once more. How had I not noticed her singing had completely stopped, weeks and weeks ago? Now, thankfully, she's back in school, smiling and singing, and I'm thankful for each and every song she sings.
These days, whenever I hear a stranger singing a song to themselves, I don’t get mad. Instead, I smile, as I know that by singing out loud, they're simply sharing their happiness with the world.
1. When did the author feel bothered?| A．When hearing strangers singing. | B．When her daughter started middle school. |
| C．When fixing stars on the seat. | D．When her daughter became sensitive. |
| A．Considerate and helpful. | B．Competitive and hardworking. |
| C．Optimistic and strong-willed. | D．Self-aware and modest. |
| A．Zoe's love for music. | B．Zoe’s falling behind at school. |
| C．Zoe's silence during her sickness. | D．Zoe's slow recovery from her sickness. |
| A．A way to get rid of stress. | B．A way to express love to others. |
| C．A way to communicate with others. | D．A way to share joy. |
