1 . My mother always told me, “You should explore your own country before stepping out into the world. ”However, it seems like a tough mission to travel all across its expansive surfaces. But luckily for me, Via Rail Canada offered youths between the ages of 18 and 25 the chance to ride the train across Canada for the month of July. The ticket was a bargain $150. My best friends Trevor, Joel and Jeremy and I immediately jumped at the opportunity and secured four tickets on the great Canadian railroad.
For a group of 20-year-olds, this was like the first flight of young birds from the nest. When we approached the train station in the morning, our 22-day adventure from Sudbury to Vancouver was to begin. Eyes baggy from lack of sleep, we jumped on board as if it was the train to Hogwarts in Harry Potter. Although the thought of three full days on those tracks covering close to 3, 000 kilometres crushed our spirits a little, what happened next caught us by surprise.
The three days on board turned into a summer camp on rails. At night, we would climb up the glass-domed train car, which gave us a scenic view of the starry night sky, untouched by the harmful light pollution. Before we knew it, the warm sun rays beating down on our faces woke us up for another day on the rails. To my surprise, a sea of golden grain fields dominated the landscape we were in the Canadian Prairies.
Another day slipped away and we set up for another night in the dome. And this time we were greeted by night sky painted by a fantastic thunderstorm. Lightning was striking at an incredible rate. The spectacular and memorable light show left everyone in the glass bubble in complete disbelief.
Arriving in the Rocky Mountains was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. Before the train adventure, if I could have skipped the travel and arrived at the destination, I would have. That is no longer true. I’ve learned that the journey can be more enjoyable than the destination.
1. What has made the author’s train adventure across Canada a reality?| A．The encouragement given by his mother. | B．The appeal of the scenic views in the country. |
| C．The discount ticket offered by Via Rail Canada. | D．His great courage to challenge a tough mission. |
| A．They were excited about the coming train journey. |
| B．They left their parents for the first time in their life. |
| C．They never thought of having a train adventure. |
| D．They were hooked by the magic story of Harry Potter. |
| A．A brain in lack of imagination. | B．The glass-domed train car. |
| C．A summer camp on the train. | D．The sightseeing bus. |
| A．Opportunities are hard to get. | B．Enjoying a journey counts a lot. |
| C．Splendid scenery attracts young people. | D．The traveling experience is not real to him. |
2 . Mirroring body language is a way to bond and to build understanding. It is a powerful tool that we use without even knowing it.
The most obvious forms of mirroring are yawning and smiling. When you see someone yawn, you are likely to yawn immediately. Smiling is also pretty contagious-seeing a smiling person makes you want to smile too.
Mirroring body language is a nonverbal way to say “I am like you, I feel the same”. Research shows that people who experience the same feelings are likely to trust, understand and accept each other.
Women have the natural ability to pick up and understand body signals. Therefore, it is not surprising that a woman is more likely to mirror another woman than a man is to mirror another man. That's why women are regarded as better talkers, even if they might not really have more close friends.
It is interesting that when a man tries to mirror a woman's body language while she is talking, he may seem to her as caring, intelligent and attractive.
Mirroring body language is an excellent way to build trust and understanding quickly. If you want to set up a connection with a new person, mirror his or her gestures, sitting position, tone of voice and talking pace. This will make them feel that there is something about you that they like.
While mirroring body language gains you acceptance, you still need to take into consideration your relationship with the person you are mirroring. If you are in a lower social position and are mirroring the body language of your boss, he will view you as arrogant. However, if you want to defeat those who are trying to prove superior to you, mirroring their body language will help defeat them and change their position.
1. What does the underlined word “contagious” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Affecting each other. | B．Powerful to show one's feelings. |
| C．Attractive to the others. | D．Being gentle to people around. |
| A．send wrong messages | B．hide true feelings |
| C．win others' acceptance | D．avoid misunderstanding |
| A．You will appear very attractive. | B．It will help to soften his position. |
| C．You will seem unacceptably proud. | D．It will be a good way to build trust. |
| A．It is important to copy the others' gestures. |
| B．Why women are regarded as better talkers. |
| C．Men is not good at nonverbal communication. |
| D．Mirroring body language can be a useful tool. |
3 . I speak Spanish, because I was born in Spain. But then at primary school I had to learn Russian, and at high school, I was taught how to speak German. But I always wanted to speak English.
At last I came to America. Everywhere there was English! But even if I heard and felt its presence, it was hard for me to understand it and express myself in it. The few lessons of English that I had taken in Spain gave me only a chance to introduce myself, and I didn’t even know how to buy things and ask directions.
To talk to somebody, I went to a high school to take a course in English for foreigners. Disappointingly, it took almost an hour to get through the process of introducing ourselves. Everyone had to learn something that I had already known from my books – the English alphabet (字母表) and numbers. I thought it was a waste of time, so I quit.
After a month, I tried again, but this time at college. After 15 minutes of introducing ourselves, a teacher gave us a lecture about the history of English. Then we were told that it was very important to know English in an English-speaking country. It took three hours for the teacher to tell us this. Again, I quit.
But I didn’t stop looking for something or someone that would help me to achieve my goal, and I found a tutor from Literacy Volunteers of America. But I still wasn’t happy with the classes. And when it was my turn to give a speech, I was happy to use all the long, complicated words that I had learned from one of my English books. When I had finished, my tutor said “Well, I think I have to learn English before coming to teach you!” This time, the tutor quit!
1. How many languages has the writer learned?| A．Two. | B．Four. |
| C．Three. | D．Five. |
| A．Because no one wanted to talk to him. |
| B．Because everyone had to learn the English alphabet and numbers. |
| C．Because the lessons were too easy. |
| D．Because the courses were prepared for the natives. |
| A．happy. | B．crazy. |
| C．serious. | D．friendly. |
| A．The writer learnt many foreign languages. |
| B．The writer tested the teachers’ English abilities. |
| C．The writer researched different ways of learning English. |
| D．The writer tried to look for a proper way to learn English. |
4 . Along with silk and paper,gunpowder is another invention by Chinese and the Silk Road helped it spread to the West. The dating of gunpowder is as early as 850 AD. The Chinese used gunpowder to make fireworks and for signal flares. Gunpowder was also thought to have been used in medicine and in alchemy(炼金术). This invention seems to have been discovered in China by accident —by alchemists when doing experiments.
The gunpowder used for military purpose was first recorded in 919 AD. By the 11th century,explosive bombs filled with gunpowder were introduced and used in China. The words “fire cannon” “rocket” and “fireball” appeared time and again in the official Song history as well as two other books written during the same period.
The first detailed description of using the “fire cannon” in warfare was in connection with a battle fought in 1126 when the Song army used it against the invading enemy. The so-called “ fire cannon” was a tube made of bamboo filled with gunpowder which, when fired, threw a flaming missile towards the enemy. According to a description of a battle scene in 1132, it took two persons to carry a “fire cannon”, and the cannons were fired from a moving platform. And this platform had to be moved close to the wall of the besieged(被围攻的) city.
Gunpowder reached Japan, the Islamic countries and then Europe in the 13th century, and the Arabs improved gunpowder for military use. The early account of gunpowder in Europe was recorded by English philosopher Roger Bacon in the 13th century. One century later the Arabs used it to attack the Spanish town Baza and the next year in 1326 Florence ordered the manufacturing of cannon and cannon balls. From Italy the making of gunpowder soon spread to other European countries, and by the 1350s it had become an effective weapon on the battlefield.
1. Gunpowder was discovered _________.| A．by alchemists when they had an accident |
| B．by alchemists after studying it for a long time |
| C．accidentally by alchemists |
| D．experimentally by alchemists |
| A．Convenient. | B．Heavy. |
| C．Useless. | D．Simple. |
| A．“fire cannons” at early times would be less helpful if they were far away from the object |
| B．alchemists devoted themselves to the study of gunpowder |
| C．the Silk Road spread to the West because of the invention of gunpowder |
| D．the first detailed description of using “fire cannons” in warfare was in 1132 |
| A．Powerful Fire Cannons | B．Four Inventions of Ancient China |
| C．The Discovery of the Alchemy | D．Gunpowder |
5 . Scientists have found an unusual way to prevent our planet from overheating: move it to a cooler spot. All you have to do is send a few comets（彗星）in the direction of earth, and its orbit will be changed. Our world will then be sent into a safer, colder part of the solar system.
This idea for improving our climate comes from a group of US National Aeronautics and Space Administration（NASA）engineers and American astronomers. They say their plan could add another six billion years to the useful lifetime of our planet—effectively doubling its working life.
The plan, put forward by Dr. Laughlin, and his colleagues Don Korycansky and Fred Adams, needs carefully directing a comet of asteroid（小行星）so that it passes close by our planet and sends some of its gravitational energy to Earth.
“Earth’s orbital speed would increase as a result and we would move to a higher orbit away from the Sun,” Laughlin said.
Engineers would then direct their comet so that it passed close to Jupiter or Saturn. The comet would pick up energy from one of these giant planets. Later its orbit would bring it back to Earth, and the process would be repeated. In the short term, the plan provides an ideal way to global warming, although the team was actually concerned with a much greater danger. The Sun is certain to heat up in about a billion years and so “seriously endanger” our biosphere—by cooking us. That’s why the group decided to try to save Earth.
The plan has one or two worrying aspects, however. For a start, space engineers would have to be very careful about how they directed their asteroid or comet towards Earth. The smallest miscalculation（误算）in orbit could fire it straight at Earth—with deadly results.
There is also the question of the Moon. As the scientific American magazine points out, if Earth was pushed out of its current position it is “most likely that the Moon would be stripped away from Earth,” it states. This would change our planet’s climate.
1. If the plan is successful, Earth will have a working life of _________ years.| A．12 billion | B．6 billion |
| C．18 billion | D．24 billion |
| A．A few comets are moving to the direction of Earth. |
| B．Earth’s working life is coming to an end soon. |
| C．Earth will become too hot for mankind to keep alive. |
| D．The moon is moving farther away from Earth. |
| A．Earth might be moved too far away and man might be frozen to death. |
| B．The comet might hit Earth and man might lose the moon. |
| C．The comet might hit Jupiter or Saturn and never return to Earth. |
| D．Earth’s working life might be greatly shortened. |
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
| Waiter / Waitress A job as a waiter or waitress is a good choice for 16-year-olds. Not only can one earn $9-$12 an hour, but they can also get the tips (小费). Most people that visit a restaurant don’t just have good food. They come here to relax and have a good time. Besides serving food quickly, a young waiter who talks to them politely with a smile on his face will make the diners enjoy their time at the restaurant. |
| Work in a library If one is fond of books, working in a library is another suitable choice. Besides the pay is good, it offers a lot of free time when students can actually sit down and finish their homework. So on returning home, they would have time to hang around with friends or just relax. So working in a library is an excellent part-time job for teens, especially for school students. |
| Internet jobs There are many ways of making money through online jobs like clicking on advertisements, visiting sites and signing up with them. However, such online jobs don’t pay well. A better Internet job for teens is to complete online surveys. These are quite simple surveys that usually ask one about his/ her opinions and ideas. Many companies use these ideas to make products designed for teenagers. |
1. A student who is busy with his research paper will probably choose to work ______.
| A．in a restaurant | B．in a library |
| C．on the Internet | D．in an IT company |
| A．tell us the importance of doing part-time jobs |
| B．advise teenagers how to choose a part-time job |
| C．teach young people how to make lots of money |
| D．introduce his/her experience of doing part-time jobs |
| A．The teens have more free time. |
| B．They can pay less to the teens. |
| C．They need advice to make products for teens. |
| D．The teens usually express their true opinions. |
7 . Nothing could stop Dad. After he was put on disability for a bad back, he bought a small farm in the country, just enough to grow food for the family. He planted vegetables, fruit trees and even kept bees for honey.
And every week he cleaned Old Man McColgin's chicken house in exchange for manure(肥料). The smell really burned the inside of your nose. When we complained about the terrible smell, Dad said the stronger the manure, the healthier the crops, and he was right. For example, just one of his cantaloupes filled the entire house with its sweet smell, and the taste was even sweeter.
As the vegetables started coming in, Dad threw himself into cooking. One day, armed with a basket of vegetables, he announced he was going to make stew(炖菜).Dad pulled out a pressure cooker and filled it up with cabbages, eggplants, potatoes, corns, onions and carrots. For about half an hour, the pressure built and the vegetables cooked. Finally, Dad turned off the stove, the pot began to cool and the pressure relief valve sprayed out a cloud of steam. If we thought Dad's pile of chicken manure was bad, this was 10 times worse. When Dad took off the lid, the smell nearly knocked us out.
Dad carried the pot out and we opened doors and windows to air out the house. Just how bad was it? The neighbors came out of their houses to see if we had a gas leak!
Determined, Dad filled our plates with steaming stew and passed them around. It didn’t look that bad, and after the first wave had shut down my ability to smell, it didn’t offend the nose so much, either. I took a taste. It would never win a prize in a cooking competition, but it was surprisingly edible, and we drank up every last drop of soup!
1. Why did Dad clean Old Man Mocolgin’s chicken house regularly?| A．To earn some money for the family. | B．To collect manure for his crops. |
| C．To get rid of the terrible smell. | D．To set a good example to us. |
| A．It is popular among the neighbors. | B．It contains honey and vegetables. |
| C．It looks very wonderful. | D．It tastes quite delicious. |
| A．To attract. | B．To upset. | C．To air. | D．To shut. |
| A．He is an experienced cook. | B．He is a troublesome father. |
| C．He has a positive attitude to life. | D．He suffers a lot from his disability. |
