1 . For most kids, back-to-school time is usually bitter-sweet. The bitter part is saying goodbye to carefree, unscheduled summer days. The sweet part is saying hello to a new school year and school friends.

This exciting time is filled with smells of new books, paper and pencils. Children might wear a new set of clothes. And, of course, there are the first-day-of-school pictures that parents share with family and friends.

However, going back to school can also be a stressful time for children and families. Every kid must make the transition from easy summer life to routines, schedules and homework. Families will have financial concerns. Parents often need to pay school fees or to buy new school clothes, sports equipment, musical instruments and school supplies.

Back-to-school stress is different for different ages. Younger children may feel scared to leave their families. Making new friends and dealing with bullying can also cause stress for them. Older students may be stressed about their appearances, grades and getting into a good college.

However, parents, teachers and children can all help to make the transition back to school easier. Mary Anne Aidala, an award-winning teacher, advises parents to focus on the basics — let kids get enough sleep, eat healthy foods, and turn off electronics before bedtime.

Lori Bambina has been a teacher for 22 years. She teaches first grade in NY now. According to her, routines and knowing what a teacher wants in the classroom help to reduce stress in kids. So, she focuses on the class routine during the start of the new school year. “Well, for the students, I have my classroom set up with a very clear system. So, I will introduce the system. Then I will revisit the system because at this young age they enjoy routines. And that routine is very comforting and will not cause them stress if they know exactly where things are located and what type of behavior is expected of them.”

1. Back-to-school time can be stressful for parents because ________.

A．teachers will set many challenging tasks for them

B．they don’t know how to reduce stress in their children

C．they need to organize everything well for their children

D．they have to spend a lot of money for the new school year

2. When older students go back to school, they may ________.

A．be unwilling to go to college	B．be worried about their studies
C．be afraid to leave their parents	D．have difficulty making friends

3. Lori Bambina believes students will feel less stressed ________.

A．the classroom is decorated beautifully	B．teachers have low expectations of them
C．they know what they are expected to do	D．they have a good relationship with teachers

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

A．Causes of back-to-school stress	B．Mixed feelings about going back to school
C．Getting school life back to normal	D．Dealing with back-to-school stress

2 . A couple of weeks ago, my grandfather was explaining his favorite expression. "Nothing is ever easy? The following day, as I tried to complete my day's work, I happened to notice a bumblebee（大黄蜂）on the skylight（天窗）.The skylight was particularly high up, but I thought removing the bee would take no more than five minutes. An hour later, the bee still remained. All that had changed was that the living room was a mess and that 1 was dizzy from looking up into the sunlight. I did not expect to waste an hour on an insect so tiny, but by doing so, I understood what my grandfather meant.

It is not only time that we tend to underestimate — we don’t account for unexpected costs. We often imagine what can work in our favor but we seldom think of all the negative things that could a fleet us. However, it is important to remember that your day or week or year might nor go as planned, and that is completely normal. It is perfectly acceptable to feel challenged—even at a task you thought was simple—because that is part of life.

If you can accept that nothing will ever be easy, then life might seem slightly more manageable. In middle school. I thought high school might be easier because I could choose the classes I wanted to take. In high school I thought college might be easier because I could have a schedule（计划）best suited for myself. Yet each time, I was both wrong and disappointed. After accepting that school wouldn't（and shouldn't）be easy. I found myself with a more positive altitude and improved results.

Of course, there should be preparations made to account tor expenses or time. Doing so can only help you accomplish your goals in a better way. However, there is no need tobeat ourselves upwhen something stands in our path. Maybe we cannot see a bee coming our way, but we can always give ourselves the extra time to catch it.

1. Why did the author mention his experience of removing a bee?

A．To share something unforgettable with us.

B．To lead us to what the author learned from it.

C．To show the unexpected costs it caused.

D．To tell us how easy it is to waste our rime.

2. Why do things often turn out to be different from what we expect?

A．We often don't take lime seriously.

B．We tend not to have enough money.

C．Unexpected things can happen.

D．It is easy to feel challenged.

3. According to the text, what does the underlined phrase "beat ourselves up" mean?

A．lo hit or kick ourselves hard, many times

B．to blame ourselves too much

C．to encourage ourselves to work hard

D．to give up ourselves

4. What is the author's purpose of writing this article?

A．To encourage people to make greater efforts.

B．To explain how to make preparations.

C．To tell us what to do when something gets in our way.

D．To persuade us not to expect things to be easy.

3 . They are probably the longest-standing and biggest rivals (对手) in international sport— Chinese badminton player Lin Dan, with his deadly smashes (扣球) and drop shots, and his Malaysian rival Lee Chong Wei, who is known for his spirit and determination.

Over the years, the two have competed with each other many times, and both have experienced victory and defeat. But Lin beat Lee the first two times they faced each other in the Olympic Games—in Beijing in 2008 and then in London in 2012.

And that was inadmissible for Lee. In fact, according to BadmintonBlaze.com, Lee once said that if he had the choice between winning an Olympic gold and beating Lin, he would absolutely choose victory over his old rival.

And he eventually did, at the 2016 Rio Games. When he beat Lin that day, Lee dropped to the floor, covered his face with his hands and looked around the stadium like a gold-medal moment although Lee eventually lost out in the final to another Chinese player, Chen Long.

All the years of trying to outdo each other have not only driven Lin and Lee to surpass (超越) themselves as players, but also developed a special friendship between the two.

They care for and encourage each other. They invited each other to their own weddings. And right before this year’s Malaysia Open, Lee, who wasn’t able to compete there on account of his nose cancer, wrote on social networking site Facebook, “My friend Lin Dan, you have my best wishes for this Malaysian Open. If I were to hope for a non-Malaysian to win the men’s singles title, I hope that it’s you my friend, my greatest rival.”

Lin and Lee are now pushing 36 and 37 respectively—ages by which most athletes would have retired—but they are planning to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, in the hope that they can play each other once again.

It’s as Badminton Association of Malaysia vice president David Wee once said of the two, “they bring out the best in each other”.

1. Which phrase can best describe their relationship?

A．Familiar strangers.	B．Friends and enemies.
C．Colleagues and rivals.	D．Teammates and competitors.

2. What does the underlined word “inadmissible” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．Unacceptable.	B．Inescapable.
C．Unexpected.	D．Impossible.

3. What did Lee’s reaction at the 2016 Rio Games indicate?

A．He mistakenly believed he had won the gold medal.

B．He was confident to defeat Lin Dan next time.

C．He didn’t care about the Olympic gold medals.

D．He took his victory over Lin most seriously.

4. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Lin ranks second to Lee in the world badminton.

B．Lin is sure to compete against Lee at the 2020 Olympics.

C．Lee has no intention to quit playing badminton in spite of his nose cancer.

D．Lee wished Lin to win the men’s singles title in this year’s Malaysia Open.

4 . America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while - then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending sometimes deeply into both families.

Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality easily.

Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans are that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.

For Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!

1. The writer of this passage must be __________.

A．an American	B．a Chinese
C．a professor	D．a student

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families.

B．Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives.

C．Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy.

D．Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break.

3. The underlined words “generous with our time” in Paragraph 3 probably mean ____________ .

A．strict with time	B．serious with time
C．careful with time	D．willing to spend time

4. Which of the following is most probably the suitable title for this passage ?

A．Friendship between Chinese	B．Friendship between Americans
C．Americans’ hospitality	D．Friendship between Chinese and Americans

5 . Air pollution is the world's top killer, a new global air quality index revealed last year. According to the World Health Organization(WHO), 4. 2 million people die each year from outdoor air pollution, and 91 percent of the world's population lives in a place that exceeds the WHO's guideline limits. With that in mind, Imperial College London has teamed up with biochemical tech startup Arborea to test out its biosolar leaf technology, while also demonstrating how sustainable solutions can address the vital environmental and social issues of today in real-world conditions.

So, what is a biosolar leaf and how does it work? The secret is algae(海藻). Arborea researchers developed a cultivation(培养)system that allows microscopic plants like microalgae to grow on large solar panel-like structures that can be installed on land, buildings, and anywhere with a roof in a built-up city to improve the surrounding air quality. Inspired by the natural process of photosynthesis(光合作用)，the biosolar panels allow the microorganisms to absorb CO2 from the surrounding area and generate breathable oxygen back out again. And they help produce a nutritious, sustainable plant protein with tiny environmental impact—— Arborea's other focus——at the same time. "When I founded Arborea? my goal was to cope with climate change while addressing the critical issues related to the food system," Arborea founder and CEO Julian Melchiorri said. "This pilot plant will produce sustainable healthy food additives while purifying the air, producing oxygen and removing carbon dioxide from the surrounding environment.”

Melchiorri has already had some success with his astonishing project, the world's first living bionic chandelier(仿生吊灯)，which uses the same technology. The light of the chandelier stimulates photosynthesis of the microorganisms on the leaf-shaped modules, absorbing the CO2 inside and releasing oxygen back into the room. The chandelier currently holds pride of place in London's Victoria and Albert Museum's permanent collection.

1. Why did the Imperial College London cooperate with Arborea?

A．To study the reason for air pollution in London.

B．To search for the new sustainable energy.

C．To trial the new technology of Arborea.

D．To settle the social issues.

2. What can be learned about the biosolar leaf?

A．It functions just like solar panels.

B．It imitates the natural process of photosynthesis.

C．It is aimed at producing sustainable healthy food.

D．It has been applied in large amounts in our daily life.

3. What is the best title for the text?

A．London's pride—the chandelier

B．The secret of algae found recently

C．An astonishing project benefiting Londoners a lot

D．World's first biosolar leaf to take on air pollution

4. Which column of a web page is the text probably taken from?

A．Environment and marine biology.	B．Society and development.
C．Science and technology.	D．Bionic design and modern life

6 . A woman from the United Arab Emirates has regained consciousness after spending 27 years in a vegetative state (植物人状态). Munira Abdulla was aged 32 when she suffered a brain injury after the car she was riding in was hit by a bus in 1991. Her son Omar revealed her fantastic recovery in an interview with The National.

He described how the accident occurred when he was four years old and needed to be brought home from kindergarten. Ms Abdulla's brother-in-law drove her to school to collect Omar and the family were driving home, with mother and child in the back seat, when they were hit by the bus. As the bus hit, Ms Abdulla threw herself around her son to protect him from the impact. While she suffered a severe head injury, he escaped with just a bruise. Omar described how his mother was left untreated for hours because the family were unable to call for help and there was little traffic, before she was transferred to a clinic in London.

There, doctors diagnosed a vegetative state, meaning she was completely unresponsive but able to feel pain. She was transferred back to the UAE and put on a breathing machine and a feeding tube to keep her alive, spending the next few decades hooked up to machines. But in April 2017, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, heard of her case and gave her family a fund for treatment. Ms Abdula was flown to Germany where she underwent surgeries to repair her muscles while being given medication to improve her sleep patterns.

Around a year later she began making strange sounds, and within three days she called out to Omar using his name, "It was her! She was calling my name, I was flying with joy；for years I have dreamed of this moment, and my name was the first word she said," he said.

1. How old was Ms Abdulla when she came to life?

A．27.	B．28
C．32.	D．59.

2. What can be inferred from paragraph 2?

A．People there lacked skills of first aid.

B．Omar’s uncle suffered a slight injury.

C．The traffic accident happened at a quiet place.

D．Ms Abdulla forgot the emergency phone number.

3. Why was Ms Abdulla sent to Germany?

A．To receive free treatment.

B．To recognize her son's voice.

C．To meet Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed.

D．To have operations and improve her condition.

4. What's the text mainly about？

A．Every mother's child is an angel.

B．Children are what the mothers are.

C．A mother wakes up from unconsciousness.

D．An accident makes a mother in a vegetative state speak.

7 . For the first time, a generation of children is going through adolescence with smartphones ever-present. Jean Twenge , a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, has a name for these young people born between 1995 and 2012："iGen". She says, “Members of this generation are physically safer than those who came before them. They drink less they learn to drive later. " "But psychologically," she argues, "they far more easily get hurt. It's not an overstatement to describe iGen as being on the edge of the worst mental health crisis in decades.''

Today's teens are just not spending as much time with their friends face-to-face where they can really read each others' emotions and get that social support. And we know from lots of research that spending time with other people in person is one of the best predictors for psychological well-being and one of the best protections against having mental health issues. They're more likely than young people just 5 or 10 years ago to say that they're anxious, and that they have symptoms of depression.

How much of a factor is parenting? “Parenting is playing a role. Many parents are worried about their teens driving, and going out with their friends and drinking. Yet parents are often not worrying about their teens who stay at home on their phones all the time. But they should be worried about that. I think parents are worried about the wrong thing," Professor Twenge remarked.

She proposes several helpful solutions, "The first is just awareness that spending a lot of time on the phone is not harmless and that if you're spending a lot of time on the phone, then it may take away time from activities that might be more beneficial for psychological well being, like spending time with people in person. And then for parents, I think it is a good idea to defer giving your child a smartphone as long as you can.”

1. What does iGen refer to according to the text?

A．Generation with high intelligence.

B．Generation in information age.

C．Physically strong generation.

D．Psychologically healthy generation.

2. How can today's teens avoid mental health crisis?

A．By making more friends online.

B．By seeing psychologists frequently.

C．By reading others' emotions constantly.

D．By communicating with friends face to face.

3. What should parents concern according to Professor Twenge?

A．Their teens' chatting with classmates.

B．Their teens' poor school performance.

C．Their teens' addiction to smart phones.

D．Their teens' staying out with their friends.

4. Which can best replace the underlined word “defer" in the last paragraph?

A．Put off.	B．Approve of.
C．Think of.	D．Insist on.

8 . Coffee is an important part of Italian culture and since arriving here over six months ago, I have drunk a lot of it!

Of course, coffee is also very popular in the UK but coffee culture in Italy is a completely different story. In Italy, when you order a coffee in a café or bar ( 酒吧), you are served with a tiny, bitter espresso. This is“normal (正常的) coffee” for Italians and they are not so interested in the huge coffees that we drink in the UK. If you want more than one sip (小口) of coffee in Italy, lungo is a good choice. It is espresso with a little more water added, but still served in a small cup. In addition, while takeaway coffee is quite popular among Brits, it is not very common at all in Italy, especially in non-touristy areas. Generally, Italians prefer to drink their tiny coffees while standing at the bar and, for many, this short break is an important part of their day.

Usually, breakfast in a bar in Italy includes a coffee and a pastry (酥皮糕点). I have been spoiled for choice with lovely cafés in the Italian town I'm living in. These cafés sell different kinds of mouth-watering pastries - either plain (无馅料的) or filled with cream, chocolate, etc - as well as delicious coffee. Cappuccinos are very popular at breakfast time and, for me, a creamy cappuccino and a pastry with chocolate is the perfect way to start the day.

Finally, I have found that coffee in Italy is so much cheaper than coffee in the UK. Normally, an espresso or a macchiato (an espresso with a drop of milk) costs around a euro and a cappuccino about €1.50! They are small, of course, but this means that in Italy it is possible to go out for coffee every day without breaking the bank.

1. How is Paragraph 2 mainly developed?

A．By time.	B．By space.
C．By example.	D．By comparison.

2. Which coffee will you get in Italy if you order one without special instructions?

A．Espresso.	B．Lungo.
C．Cappuccino.	D．Macchiato.

3. What can we learn about the coffee culture in Italy?

A．Takeaway coffee is very popular among Italians.

B．Italians are very often seen drinking huge coffees.

C．Italians like to take short breaks from work for coffee.

D．Coffees are often served along with pastries during breakfasts.

4. What does the author think of Italian coffee?

A．She loves its bitter taste.

B．It is too expensive for her.

C．It is a good choice for breakfast.

D．The cup it is served in is too small.

9 .

Too much TV-watching can harm children’s ability to learn and even reduce their chances of getting a college degree, new studies suggest in the latest effort to examine the effects of television on children.

One of the studies looked at nearly 400 northern California third-graders. Those with TVs in their bedrooms scored about eight points lower on math and language arts tests than children without bedrooms TVs.

A second study, looking at nearly 1,000 grown-ups in New Zealand, found lower education levels among 26-year-olds who had watched lots of TV during childhood. But the results don’t prove that TV is the cause and don’t rule out that already poorly motivated youngsters(年轻人) may watch lots of TV.

Their study measured the TV habits of 26-year-olds between ages 5 and 15. Those with college degrees had watched an average of less than two hours of TV per weeknight during childhood, compared with an average of more than 2.5 hours for those who had no education beyond high school.

In the California study, children with TVs in their rooms but no computer at home scored the lowest, while those with no bedroom TV but who had home computers scored the highest.

While this study does not prove that bedroom TV sets caused the lower scores, it adds to accumulating findings that children shouldn’t have TVs in their bedrooms.

1. According to the California study, the low-scoring group might ________.

A．have watched a lot of TV	B．not be interested in math
C．be unable to go to college	D．have had computers in their bedrooms

2. What is the researchers’ understanding of the New Zealand study results?

A．Poorly motivated 26-year-olds watch more TV.

B．Habits of TV watching reduce learning interest.

C．TV watching leads to lower education levels of the 15-year-olds.

D．The connection between TV and education levels is difficult to explain.

3. What can we learn from the last two paragraphs?

A．More time should be spent on computers.

B．Children should be forbidden from watching TV.

C．TV sets shouldn’t be allowed in children’s bedrooms.

D．Further studies on high-achieving students should be done.

4. What would be the best title for this text?

A．Computers or Television

B．Effects of Television on Children

C．Studies on TV and College Education

D．Television and Children’s Learning Habits

10 . My family lived in Triumph, Idaho, the USA an old mining town with a population of 33. All of the kids at my age were boys. People of all ages always looked out for me, but they also brought me some embarrassment.

I was born at home. The doctor overseeing my arrival was a family friend. Dad had then been a soldier serving in the navy and figured we should save some money.

At first, my parents didn't have a name for me. My name on my birth certificate still read Baby Girl. And that's what they called me until was almost 4. When they planned our first train trip to Mexico for vacation, we needed passports which made it easier to come up with a name. My father liked the sound of Picabo, an old Native American settlement in the south. My mother and father agreed on Pieabo.

As child, was afraid of the dark, but it was manageable. Another fear was the Rhode Island Red Each time I went out to the hen house to get eggs, he always pecked(啄) me as if I had stolen the eggs laid by his lover. I began carrying a stick to keep him away. However, he was always following me. Later we became good friends. I also liked playing hide-and-seek with him.

Our house was one of four that stood next to each other on an upper street in town. It was a one- story white cottage with no basement and no foundation， but Dad dug cellar地窖). All of our heat came from a wood-burning stove, where our food was cooked over an open flame. Both of my parents were great cooks.

1. Why did people in the town take care of the author?

A．she was the only girl of the same age.	B．She was the daughter of a miner.
C．Her father was a doctor's friend.	D．Her parents were living in the town.

2. Why did the parents decide to name the author?

A．To have the sound of Picabo.	B．To go on foreign trip.
C．To make an agreement with each other	D．To realize the author's wish.

3. What do we know about the Rhode Island Red?

A．He always stole the eggs

B．He loved following the author's parents.

C．He was a rooster friend of the author's.

D．He played hide-and-seek with his lover.

4. What might the author think of her childhood life?

A．Boring	B．Inspiring
C．Embarrassing	D．Pleasing