1 . Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite food. And reading is my favorite hobby. When you are deeply absorbed in a book, you stop paying attention to what’s going on around you. People describe it as being “lost in a book”. It’s a wonderful feeling, but it can be risky.
One day I was home alone doing two of my favorite things: Eating a huge plate of spaghetti and meatballs and reading. At the time, my family had a pet bird, a big white cockatoo named Luke. He was free to leave his perch (栖木)and fly around inside the house. Luke enjoyed “talking” to people, but he wasn’t trained to use real words.
As I was reading and eating, Luke was talking to me, but I was lost in my book. So Luke decided to get closer. He flew from his perch, and before I knew it, he’d landed right on top of my spaghetti and meatballs!
I was so surprised that I didn’t even have time to think. My reaction was the same as yours would be: I shooed (发出嘘声赶走)him off my food! This wouldn’t have been so bad except for one thing: When Luke had landed on my plate, he had grabbed (抓住)my spaghetti with both feet. So when Luke took off again, the spaghetti-still in his feet-went flying everywhere, landing on my shirt and hitting me in the face. Red sauce splattered (泼溅)up the wall and onto the ceiling. As I pulled noodles out of my hair, Luke flew back to his perch, dropping spaghetti sauce all the way.
He wasn’t hurt, except for his dignity-the sauce in his beautiful white feathers turned him orange for several weeks. So next time if you find a spy novel at the library with red, spots on two pages near the middle, you’ll know that I’ve read that book ,too!
1. What do we know about Luke?| A．He is lost in reading a spy novel. |
| B．He is good at communicating with people. |
| C．He is fond of eating Spaghetti and meatballs. |
| D．He is permitted to fly freely inside the house. |
| A．I reacted properly to Luke’s behaviour. |
| B．Luck was attracted by my Spaghetti. |
| C．Luck made the room in a mess. |
| D．I was addicted to my reading. |
| A．Puzzled. | B．Humorous. | C．Anxious. | D．Annoyed. |
| A．Love Me, Love My Dog | B．More Food Hurts the Body |
| C．Reading Can Be Dangerous | D．Fine Feathers Make Fine Birds |
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 . Journey Back in Time with Scholars
Classical Provence(13days)Journey through the beautiful countryside of Provence，France，with Prof. Ori Z. Soltes. We will visit some of the best-preserved Roman monuments in the world. Our tour also includes a chance to walk in the footsteps of Van Gogh and Gauguin. Fields of flowers, tile-roofed(瓦屋顶)villages and tasty meals enrich this wonderful experience.
Southern Spain(15days)
Spain has lovely white towns and the scent(芳香)of oranges，but it is also a treasury of ancient remains including the cities left by the Greeks，Romans and Arabs. As we travel south from Madrid with Prof. Ronald Messier to historic Toledo，Roman Merida and into Andalucia, we explore historical monuments and architecture.
China’s Sacred Landscapes(21days)
Discover the China of “past ages,” its walled cities，temples and mountain scenery with Prof. Robert Thorp. Highlights(精彩之处)include China’s most sacred peaks at Mount Tai and Hangzbou’s rolling hills，waterways and peaceful temples. We will wander in traditional small towns and end our tour with an exceptional museum in Shanghai.
Tunisia(17days)
Join Prof. Pedar Foss on our in-depth Tunisian tour. Tour highlights include the Roman city of Dougga，the underground Numidian capital at Bulla Regia, Roman Sbeitla and the remote areas around Tataouine and Matmata，uique for underground cities. Our journey takes us to picturesque Berber villages and lovely beaches.
1. What can visitors see in both Classical Provence and Southern Spain？
| A．Historical monuments. | B．Fields of flowers. |
| C．Van Gogh’s paintings. | D．Greek buildings. |
| A．France. | B．Spain. | C．China. | D．Tunisia. |
| A．White towns. | B．Underground cities. | C．Tile-roofed villages. | D．Rolling hills. |
4 . Some parents will buy any high-tech toy if they think it will help their child, but researchers said puzzles help children with math-related skills.
Psychologist Susan Levine, an expert on mathematics development in young children at the University of Chicago, found children who play with puzzles between ages 2 and 4 later develop better spatial skills. Puzzle play was found to be a significant predictor of cognition(认知) after controlling for differences in parents’ income, education and the amount of parent talk, Levine said.
The researchers analyzed video recordings of 53 child-parent pairs during everyday activities at home and found children who play with puzzles between 26 and 46 months of age have better spatial skills when assessed at 54 months of age.
“The children who played with puzzles performed better than those who did not, on tasks that assessed their ability to rotate(旋转)and translate shapes,” Levine said in a statement.
The parents were asked to interact with their children as they normally would, and about half of children in the study played with puzzles at one time. Higher-income parents tended to have children play with puzzles more frequently, and both boys and girls who played with puzzles had better spatial skills. However, boys tended to play with more complex puzzles than girls, and the parents of boys provided more spatial language and were more active during puzzle play than parents of girls.
The findings were published in the journal Developmental Science.
1. In which aspect do children benefit from puzzle play?| A．Building confidence. | B．Developing spatial skills. |
| C．Learning self-control. | D．Gaining high-tech knowledge. |
| A．Parents’ age. | B．Children’s imagination. |
| C．Parents’ education. | D．Child-parent relationship. |
| A．They play with puzzles more often. |
| B．They tend to talk less during the game. |
| C．They prefer to use more spatial language. |
| D．They are likely to play with tougher puzzles. |
| A．A mathematical method. | B．A scientific study. |
| C．A woman psychologist | D．A teaching program. |
5 . Chicken is America’s most popular meat. Many people assume chicken follows a simple rule-of-thumb: Pink chicken turned white means “done.” It’s similar to how we cook other meats. But is this true? To study how cooks at home follow safety recommendations, researchers filmed 75 households in five European countries. From a random but nonrepresentative sample, they also conducted an online survey of nearly 4,000 households in the same countries that say they cook chicken.
Worried that chicken would dry out, most home cooks determined doneness by color and texture (口感) inside the meat, they found. Few bothered with thermometers (温度计), claiming they took too much time, were too complicated to use, didn’t fit in the chicken or weren’t necessary (although easy-to-use thermometers are inexpensive and widely available).
In additional lab experiments, the scientists injected raw chicken breast with bacteria (细菌), which cause millions of sicknesses, thousands of hospitalizations and hundreds of deaths each year in the United States. They cooked the breasts until they reached core temperatures ranging from 122 to 158 Fahrenheit, and they discovered something surprising. At 158 degrees, but not lower, bacteria inside the chickens’ cores was reduced to safe levels, and when cut open its flesh appeared dull and fibrous, not shiny like raw chicken. But meat began changing from pink to white far below this, and most color change occurred below 131 degrees Fahrenheit. Sometimes, the chicken’s core would be safely cooked, but unsafe levels of bacteria still existed on surfaces that hadn’t touched the grill plate.
So what are you supposed to do?
Dr. Bruno Goussault, a scientist and chef, recommends buying and cooking breasts and legs separately. Bring the breast’s core to 165 degrees Fahrenheit, he said, and the leg to between 168.8 and 172.4 Fahrenheit. If you really want to safely measure temperature for a whole chicken, insert a pop-up thermometer into the thickest part of the leg before roasting it, Dr. Goussault suggests. By the time it pops, the breasts will have long cooked. They will likely be dry and far from his standards of culinary (烹饪的) perfection. But you’ll be sure to, as Dr. Goussault says in French, “dormir sur ses deux oreilles,” or, figuratively, “sleep peacefully.”
1. Why didn’t home cooks measure temperature with a thermometer?| A．They could not afford it. | B．It affected the taste of the meat. |
| C．It was not available in supermarkets. | D．They thought it was too much trouble. |
| A．was free of bacteria | B．still remained pink |
| C．appeared to dry out | D．was reduced in size |
| A．The meat does not taste best when bacteria free. |
| B．The leg becomes fully cooked before the breast. |
| C．A whole chicken requires a higher temperature. |
| D．The thermometer should be placed inside the breast. |
| A．Food safety. | B．Simple lifestyle. |
| C．Cooking skills. | D．Kitchen equipment. |
6 . The baggy yellow shirt had long sleeves and four extra-large pockets. It was faded (褪色) from years of wear, but still in good shape. I found it in 1963 when I was home from college on Christmas break, looking through bags of clothes Mom planned to give away. Seeing me packing the yellow shirt, Mom said, “I wore that when I was pregnant (怀孕) with your brother in 1954!”
“It’s just the thing to wear over my clothes during art class, Mom. Thanks!” Then I put it into my suitcase. The yellow shirt became a part of my college wardrobe (衣橱). I loved it. After graduation, I wore the shirt the day I moved into my new apartment and on Saturday mornings when I cleaned.
The next year, I married. When I became pregnant, I wore the yellow shirt. I missed Mom and the rest of my family, since we were in Colorado and they were in Illinois. But that shirt helped. I smiled, remembering that Mother had worn it. That Christmas, I repaired one sleeve, packed it in holiday paper and sent it to Mom. When Mom wrote to thank me for her real gifts, she said the yellow shirt was lovely.
The next year, my husband, daughter and I stopped at Mom and Dad’s to pick up some furniture. Days later, at the kitchen table, I noticed something yellow tied to its bottom. The shirt! And so the pattern was set. On our next visit home, I secretly placed the shirt under Mom and Dad’s mattress (床垫). I don’t know how long it took for her to find it, but almost two years passed before I discovered it under the base of our living-room floor lamp. The yellow shirt was just what I needed now while refinishing (重新整修) furniture.
1. After college graduation, the writer used to wear the shirt when ______.| A．she had art classes | B．she cleaned the new apartment |
| C．she searched her wardrobe | D．she played with her brother |
| A．the shirt was too old to wear | B．the writer stayed with her mother |
| C．the shirt comforted her in feelings | D．the writer finished her college education |
| A．The shirt was cleaned and well hidden. | B．The shirt was often hidden and found. |
| C．The shirt was kept by the writer’s mom. | D．The shirt was found before refinishing furniture. |
| A．My Mother’s Big Secret | B．My Lovely Yellow Shirt |
| C．My Favorite Clothes at College | D．My Family’s Yellow Shirt |
7 . From my earlier memory of Mother, it seemed quite natural to think of her as different, nor of everyday things as Father was. In those days he was a young-looking man. He did not hesitate to make friends with children as soon as they were able to talk to him and laugh at his stories. Mother was older than he was. She must have been a woman of nearly forty, but she seemed even older. She changed little for a long time, showing no indication of growing old at all until, towards the end of her life, she suddenly became an old lady.
I was always inquisitive about Mother’s age. She never had birthdays like other people, nor did anyone else in our family. No candles were ever lit or cakes made or presents given in our house. To my friends in the street who talked delightfully about their birthday parties, I would repeat my mother’s words that such celebrations were only foolish.
“Nothing but deception,” she would say. “As though life can be marked by birthdays. It’s deeds, not years, that matter.”
Although I often repeated her words and even prided myself on not having birthdays, I once could not help asking Mother when she was born.
“I was born. I’m alive as you can see, so what more do you want to know?” she replied, so sharply that I never asked her about her age again.
In so many other ways Mother was different. Whereas all the rest of the women I knew in the neighboring houses took pride in their housewifely abilities, their new furniture, the neat appearance of their homes, Mother regarded all those things as of little importance. Our house always looked as if we had just moved in or were about to move out.
1. How did Father impress the author?| A．He liked writing stories. | B．He talked a lot. |
| C．He was a very young man. | D．He was popular with children. |
| A．looked quite young | B．looked like an old lady |
| C．looked younger than she was | D．looked like a 40-year-old woman |
| A．Certain | B．Curious. |
| C．Cautious. | D．Confident. |
| A．She was lazy. | B．She was strict. |
| C．She was proud. | D．She was special. |
8 . Popular Houston Events
Brick Fest Live LEGO@(乐高积木）Fan Experience by Brick Fest Live
$22.50-$39.50
October 20, 10:00 am; October 21, 5:00 pm
NRG Center
The event is filled with attractions and activities designed to inspire, educate, and entertain people. It is for LEGOR lovers of all ages to roll up their sleeves and play with over a million LEGOR bricks! Now it comes to Houston for the first time!
Houston Fairytale Ball by Pretty Princess Parties
$20-$65
November 17, 9:00 am; November 18, 7:00 pm
Norris Conference Centers
Meet all the princesses at the Houston Fairytale Ball. This event is full of magical moments you won’t want to miss! Dance with Cinderella. Read with Rapunzel. Share snacks with Tinkerbell. All of our princesses travel to Huston this time, excited to sing, dance, and play with your little ones! Our event focuses on making sure your little ones feel royal throughout all of our activities.
Sickle Cell(镰状细胞）Education and Research Day by Texas Children’s Sickle Cell Center
Free
October 6, 11:00 am:-3:00 pm
Kingdom Builders’ Center
It is an event for families of children with sickle cell disease. It provides families in Huston the opportunity learn about managing sickle cell in fun ways. There is a theme every year and this year’s theme is “The Greatest Me” and we look forward to seeing your family here! To make sure your child gets a T-shirt you must register (登记) no later than September 3.
2019 KIDFITSTRONG Fitness Challenge by KIDFITSTRONG
Free
November 4, 11:00 am-6:00 pm
Playgrounds in Houston
It is the nation’s largest mobile fitness event traveling from coast to coast aimed at keeping kids active and healthy. Kids of all ages have a chance to take courses designed to challenge speed, strength, and general physical fitness. The event is free to the public and features a variety of activities for the whole family to enjoy.
1. What event can you enter in early November?| A．Brick Fest Live LEGOR Fan Experience |
| B．Houston Fairytale Ball |
| C．Sickle Cell Education and Research Day |
| D．2019 KIDFITSTRONG Fitness Challenge |
| A．NRG Center. |
| B．Norris Conference Centers. |
| C．Kingdom Builders’ Center |
| D．Playgrounds in Houston. |
| A．Brick Fest Live. |
| B．Pretty Princess Parties. |
| C．Texas Children’s Sickle Cell Center. |
| D．KIDFITSTRONG. |
| A．They last for two days. |
| B．They are free of charge. |
| C．They are family-friendly. |
| D．They focus on health problems. |
9 . Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium
Located in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD, the all-new Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium is one of Victoria’s leading visitor attractions and is really an unforgettable outing for the whole family. Having 12 amazing zones of discovery, it is the very place that you cannot miss when you visit the city.
Opening Times
Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium is open from 9:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. every day of the year, including public holidays. Last admission is at 5:00 p.m., one hour before closing.
Location
Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium is located on the corner of Flinders Street and King Street, Melbourne. It is situated on the Yarra River, opposite Crown Entertainment Complex.
Train to Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium
Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium is a short walk from either Flinders or Southern Cross train stations.
Tram(有轨电车)
The Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium tram stop is located on the free City Circle Tram route and also routes 70 and 75. City Circle trams run every 10 minutes in both directions.
Shuttle Bus
The Melbourne City Tourist Shuttle is a free bus service, stopping at key tourist attractions in and around the City. Running daily, every 15 minutes from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m..
Car Parking
While there is no public car parking at Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium, there are several public car parking lots available only a short walk away.
Wheelchair Access
Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium provides people in wheelchairs with full access to all 12 zones. Each floor also has wheelchair accessible toilets.
Terms
Tickets will be emailed to you immediately after purchase or you can download and print your tickets once payment has been accepted. Please print all tickets purchased and present at the front entrance of Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium. No ticket, no entry!
1. What do we know about Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium？| A．It has 12 the most attractive places in Melbourne. |
| B．It allows visitors to enter from 9:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. |
| C．It is opposite the Yarra River. |
| D．It is located at the center of the CBD in the city. |
| A．Free car parking. | B．Wheelchair access. |
| C．Internet connection. | D．Transportation service. |
| A．are free to all visitors |
| B．can be purchased by email |
| C．needn’t be checked at the entrance |
| D．can be emailed to you after purchase without delay. |
10 . You can remember the face, but can't put a name to it. Many of us have been caught in this embarrassing situation. But researchers say it is often easier to remember someone's name than what they look like.
Twenty-four volunteers were shown 40 pictures of strangers, paired with random(随机的) names. They were given time to memorize the faces and names before being tested on which they thought they had seen before.
The participants could remember up to 85 percent of the names but only 73 percent of the faces. When they were shown a different picture of the same person, the participants could recall only 64 percent of faces, according to the study, led by the University of York.
That may be because faces are only recognized visually(视觉地), while names can be both spoken and written down so appear in our visual and audio memory. When people were shown famous people, they also remembered their names more accurately than their photographs. Co-author Dr Rob Jenkins, from the university’s psychology department, said, ''Our study suggests that, while many people may be bad at remembering names, they are likely to be even worse at remembering faces. This will surprise many people as it is against our initial understanding. Our life experiences with names and faces have misled us about how our minds work. '' Remembering names gets harder with age, leading to many uncomfortable moments for middle-aged people when they run into people they know.
But to study whether names are harder to recall than faces, the researchers, whose findings are published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, used a ''fair test'' where the participants were presented with strangers' names and faces.
1. What can we know according to the research in Paragraph 3?| A．It is certain that names are harder to recall than faces. |
| B．Remembering names is more easily than remembering faces. |
| C．Most participants can remember the face not the name to it. |
| D．The participants can recall 73% faces of the same person. |
| A．Age will weaken the ability to remember names. |
| B．Unlike faces, names are only recognized visually. |
| C．Faces can appear in our visual and audio memory. |
| D．Rob Jenkins has proved people can remember faces better. |
| A．Clear. | B．first. |
| C．Unusual. | D．Creative. |
| A．People can't remember strangers’ names and faces. |
| B．Recalling names is more difficult than remembering faces. |
| C．The researcher uses the same method to study another problem. |
| D．Whether names are harder to recall than faces is further proved. |
