1 . What is talent? Are you born with it? Or does it seem to develop over time? Before I start, I’d like to say that one thing everyone agrees on is that the most skilled musicians have worked hard to get there.
While it’s true that a few of us had enough “talent” to avoid extra practice to do just as well as those who did, those who worked hard easily beat us. It is, in fact, very likely that if some of us “talented ones” had actually been practicing and improving our skill, we would have achieved a whole different level.
Another aspect of talent seems to be heart and passion (酷爱). The people I see who are the most talented musicians are crazy about music. They eat, breathe, and live music and they make an extraordinary effort to make it part of their lives. As Remus Badea said, desire for the musician-to-be is significant for them to be successful. This desire is easily found in those considered to be talented. When you want and love something so bad, it drives you and your entire character can be shaped around it. Such determined passion seems to produce incredible skill and talent.
The third aspect (方面) of talent is having talent around you. When surrounded by talented musicians, it only seems natural that you start to catch up to their level Take a look at almost any group of musicians in history. The more talented people in the group the more talented the group is as a whole. A great example of this is the relationship between audio producer and artist. The artist turns up to the studio with their song, and as they work through recording it, the audio producer will often suggest various changes to the song to make it better.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 2?| A．Pride goes before a fall. |
| B．It’s never too old to learn. |
| C．Practice contributes to talent. |
| D．Talent determines achievements. |
| A．Passion. | B．Character . | C．Skill. | D．Talent. |
| A．To introduce what real talents are. |
| B．To explain how a song is composed. |
| C．To prove talents need team spirit. |
| D．To show the benefits of being with talents. |
| A．Music has no limits. |
| B．Musicians are born with talent. |
| C．Music favors the talented. |
| D．Musicians are created, not born. |
2 . Once there was a famine in the town. A rich and kind baker sent some bread to twenty of the poorest children. He said to them, “In this basket there is some bread for you. Each of you can have one loaf every day until the hard days end.”
The impatient children couldn’t wait to gather around the basket. They shouted and fought for the bread because each wished to have the largest loaf. At last they went away without even thanking the good gentleman. But Shirley, a poorly-dressed little girl, did not join them. Instead, she remained standing modestly in the distance. When the other children had left, she took the smallest left in the basket, kissed the gentleman’s hand and went home.
The next day the children were as rude as before. Poor shy Shirley still took the smallest loaf . When she got home, her mother cut the bread open. Many new shining pieces of silver fell out of it. Her mother was very surprised and said, “Take the money back to the good gentleman at once, for it must have got into the loaf by accident. Be quick, Shirley! Be quick!”
But when the little girl gave the rich man her mother’s message, he said, “No, no, my child. It was no mistake. I put silver pieces into the smallest loaf to reward you because you are a kind and honest girl. Go home and the money is yours now.”
1. From the story, we know the twenty children lived a ________ life.| A．happy | B．rich | C．poor | D．comfortable |
| A．shouted at them | B．stood modestly |
| C．joined them | D．laughed at them |
| A．buy some food | B．give it back to the rich man |
| C．hide it quickly | D．tell her father the news |
| A．it’s not important to say thanks to others | B．fighting with others can help us get more |
| C．a kind and honest person will be rewarded | D．Shirley’s mother doesn’t like silver |
3 . Want to know what we can do to help make our city a better place to live in? Why not take part in “Clean & Green weekend”? Join us, and you can make new friends and help protect the environment at the same time.
Park Life
Do you like playing and relaxing in the park with your friends? If so, why not take the chance to come with us and tidy up the park when you go? To add some fun, there is a gift for the person who collects the most rubbish! Meet us at the south entrance to Taohe Park at 9 a.m. next Saturday if you want to join in.
The Air You Breathe
A great way to make the air we breathe cleaner is by planting lots of trees！It is a fact that trees slowly filter (过滤) a lot of pollutants (污染物) from the air. So come and help us plant some new ones in Fenhe Park at 2 p.m. next Sunday.
War on Graffiti(涂鸦)
Some people think graffiti is cool. Well, it is not! The best way to stop buildings from becoming totally covered in ugly graffiti is to fix it as soon as possible. And that is exactly what we are going to do. We are repainting the school walls from 1 p.m. on Saturday. You don’t have to bring any tools, just remember to wear some old clothes!
1. The main purpose of “Clean & Green Weekend” is to ________.| A．have a nice weekend | B．offer the chance to have fun |
| C．help students meet old friends | D．make our city more beautiful |
| A．draw pictures well | B．bring some tools with us |
| C．wear some old clothes | D．wear some new clothes |
| A．on a school notice board | B．in a fashion magazine |
| C．in a travelling magazine | D．on a hospital notice board |
4 . Being trapped in an elevator(电梯) can be one of the worst experiences of one’s life. Some people who have such experiences may be afraid to use elevator again. In fact, there are some useful tips to follow when people are in trouble with the elevator.
First, take deep breaths and keep calm. Too much fear will add to your panic(恐慌) and make you too nervous to think clearly. Tell yourself to be patient and believe that nothing is impossible.
Secondly, use the emergency(急救) call inside the elevator or your mobile phone to let people outside know your are stuck in the elevator. There is an emergency call on the wall of each elevator. You may use your mobile phone to give light and find it. The phone number can be found around it.
Thirdly, putting on messages on Wechat(微信) is also a good idea to allow more people to find you are in need of help. If help hasn’t come, knock the door hard to get attention from other people in the building.
Fourthly, move less and try to relax. Even if the workers have known your situation, it may take them a long time to repair the elevator and bring you back to safety. Instead of keeping moving all the time, you are advised to keep still and relax yourself as much as possible, or you will make yourself tired out. Make sure that you are fine when the door is open.
1. According to the passage, when in trouble with an elevator, you should________ first.| A．Keep calm and think clearly | B．do nothing but wait |
| C．shout out for help | D．try to break the door open |
| A．tired | B．kept |
| C．troubled | D．trapped |
| A．they can spend their time easily |
| B．their situations can be known by more people |
| C．they can become less nervous |
| D．they can make more friends |
| A．To introduce how to use an elevator. |
| B．To teach us how to save ourselves when trapped in an elevator. |
| C．To warn us not to take an elevator. |
| D．To tell us an elevator often goes wrong. |
5 . Remote technologies will play an increasingly-vital role in driving the education industry, as the COVID-19 pandemic(流行病) forced the world to go remote, according to an industry insider.
“Remote technology is continuing to empower (授权) online education, with large migrations online. With the continuous application of new technology methods such as big data and artificial intelligence, students’ learning outcomes have been significantly improved,” said Wang Yan, chief architecture officer at Zuoyebang(作业帮).
“Technology and outcomes are two major challenges that companies face when they transform from offline to online. The education industry is facing the largest traffic challenge ever,” Wang said.
To upgrade the infrastructure(基础设施), Zuoyebang has continued to upgrade its technology, changing from its original single cloud service to multiple cloud services and from mostly using third-party live broadcast systems to now relying on an independent system.
“For online classes, only live-streaming can achieve a real interacting(交互式的) effect, which can get both students and teachers more involved. It is impossible to achieve such outcomes through recorded and broadcast lessons,” he added.
The Beijing-based company developed a complete set of live-streaming architecture based on the ZRTC agreement. It can fully support classes, including one-on-one tutoring and six-to-six small interactive classes. In the five weeks from February 3 to March 9 last year, Zuoyebang has helped 275 teachers bring 1,832 classes to more than 33 million primary and middle school students across the country.
1. Which technique is most beneficial to students who have online classes?| A．broadcast lessons | B．live-streaming |
| C．face-to-face lessons | D．recorded lessons |
| A．Remote technology is a key driver for education. |
| B．The company has upgraded its technology to overcome its challenge. |
| C．The company that has livestreaming architecture can only support classical big classes teaching. |
| D．Zuoyebang has helped thousands of primary and middle school students to have online classes. |
| A．Worried | B．Negative | C．Opposed | D．Confident |
6 . In middle school, math was my least favorite subject. I understood history. I loved English. However, math never made sense to me, no matter how many times I worked through a problem. I wanted to be good at math, but I didn’t think it possible.
I started taking classes offered by Art of Problem Solving (AoPS) during the summer after my eighth-grade year. I had to admit that in my first class I felt like I was completely unqualified (不合格的) to be in the class, surrounded by so many smart kids. There were times when I felt lost in a sea of materials that I could never hope to understand. But slowly and surely, a few weeks later, AoPS taught me how to love the process of learning math. I went from being a kid who hated math classes to begging my parents to let me take an extra math class on Friday nights.
The most common wrong idea I hear is that people who are skilled at math come by their skills naturally. Many of my high school friends laughed at me for being a math nerd (书呆子). People thought that math came easy to me, when, in fact, the exact opposite was true. Math was not easy for me to learn. It was something I worked hard at.
Math is often viewed as a subject you either “get” or you don’t. But most of math is not about natural talent. If people approach math thinking they can’t be good at it, then they have set themselves up to fail. Just like any other skills, success comes with practice. There are many great mathematicians in this world, but we should remember they all had to start at the beginning just like we do.
The skills we learn from problem-solving in math can be useful in our lives. So don’t give up math. Just remember that you can learn math well if you have a right attitude towards it and work hard enough.
1. What can we learn about the author when he was in eighth grade?| A．He considered math a challenging subject. |
| B．He missed math classes on purpose. |
| C．He failed to study hard in math. |
| D．He showed little interest in any school subject. |
| A．Math was not interesting at all. | B．He should turn to others for help. |
| C．He wasn’t qualified for math classes. | D．Math learning could actually be attractive. |
| A．He was really good at math. | B．He made few friends at school. |
| C．He brought music joy to his classmates. | D．He should find a new way to learn math. |
| A．Using it in real life. | B．Attending after-school classes. |
| C．Learning from great mathematicians. | D．Practicing with a positive attitude. |
7 . Fu Cong, a Chinese-born pianist, died on Monday at a hospital in London, where he had lived for many years.
A lover of classical music from a young age, Mr. Fu began taking piano lessons when he was 7. He made his first stage appearance in 1952. The concert caught the attention of officials in Beijing, who selected him to compete and tour in Eastern Europe. Mr. Fu soon moved to Poland, where he studied at the Warsaw Conservatory (音乐学校) on a scholarship. To prepare for the fifth Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1955, he practiced so hard that he hurt his fingers and was nearly cut from the first round of the competition.
Mr. Fu was one of the first Chinese pianists to achieve global fame when he took third place in the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1955. He also won a special prize for his performance of Chopin's mazurkas. Almost overnight, he became a national hero. To China, Mr. Fu's recognition in a well-known international competition was evidence that the country could stand on its own artistically in the West. Chinese reporters came to interview Mr. Fu, while many others went to his father, Fu Lei, for advice on child-raising.
In 1981, a volume of letters written by his father, was published in China. Full of advice, encouragement, life teachings and strict paternal love, the book Fu Lei's Family Letters became a best-seller in China. Besides influencing a generation of Chinese, Mr. Fu's words resonated (引起共鸣) long after his death with the person for whom they were intended.
“My father had a saying that 'First you must be a person, then an artist, and then a musician, and only then can you be a pianist,'" Mr. Fu Cong once recalled in an interview. "Even now, I believe in this order-that it should be this way and that I am this way.”
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．Fu Cong's achievements in music. | B．Fu Cong's stage performances. |
| C．Fu Cong's experiences of learning music. | D．Fu Cong’s efforts for competitions. |
| A．It earns Chinese arts a place in the West. |
| B．It promotes the spread of Chinese culture. |
| C．It proves Chinese people's love for music. |
| D．It enables Chinese art education to be recognized. |
| A．Fu Lei's Family Letters. | B．Young people of China. |
| C．Fu Cong and his family. | D．Readers of Fu Lei's Family Letters. |
| A．It's easy to be an artist. |
| B．It requires various qualities to be a pianist. |
| C．Everyone should develop an interest in art. |
| D．Talent is of greatest importance for a pianist. |
8 . Math holidays everyone should know
In recent years mathematicians and scientists have begun campaigns to mark certain dates in celebration of significant principles and here are a few to add to your calendar
Mole Day
Mole Day is celebrated yearly on Oct. 23 from 6: 02 a.m to 6: 02 p.m.. The idea of a celebratory day was put forward by a chemistry teacher in 1991 and has been honored every year since. It celebrates Avogadro's Number, which is a basic measuring unit in chemistry. Each Mole Day has a specific theme.
Pi Day
The grandaddy of mathematical and scientific holidays, however, falls every year on Mar. 14. The date, 3/14, represents the first three numerals in the calculation of pi, so the date is known annually as Pi Day.
Pi Day was founded in 1988 by a physicist. The observations spread to the point where on Mar. 12, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution declaring Mar. 14 as National Pi Day.
Fibonacci Day
Nov. 23 marks Fibonacci Day, a special day that celebrates the man known as Fibonacci who developed a mathematical idea called the Fibonacci Sequence, in which every number is the sum of the previous two numbers. So, for example. 11/23 marks the day because 1+1 equals 2, and then 1+2 equals 3（the date being the 23rd）.
Square Root Day
Square Root Day is a holiday that heartily honors those dates where the combination of day and month and year form square roots: e.g. 2/2/04 and 3/3/09. The last Square Root Day was 4/4/16. The holiday was created by a high school teacher Ron Gordon. Square Root Day has its own website where celebrants can gather before the next holiday.
1. How is Mole Day similar with Pi Day?| A．They both have themes. | B．They are yearly holidays. |
| C．They fall on the same day. | D．They are created by a teacher. |
| A．Mole Day. | B．Pi Day. | C．Fibonacci Day. | D．Square Root Day. |
| A．10/23/22. | B．11/23/23. | C．3/12/29. | D．5/5/25. |
9 . An international group of electronic music composers is taking beats from the dance club to jungles and forests and back, all to help save nature's greatest singers. A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean is a new album that includes the sounds of endangered birds. The album will come out next month, whose proceeds will go directly towards efforts to save birds.
The whole project was born out of this idea of trying to combine birdsong, electronic music and conservation. A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean was organized by activist, music producer, Robin Perkins. He invited artists from each of the endangered birds 'homelands to build their own songs around the birds’ songs. There are contributions from ten artists in eight different countries.
First single Black Catbird was created by The Garifuna Collective, from Belize. Al Obando, guitarist and producer of the group, always took in national parks and viewed birds when on the road with the band. “There are no trails, and there are no signs there to tell you about what you reseeing,” Obando says. “So we're trying to do something for the birds and nature tourism.”
Another musician who responded to Robin's call is Tamara Montenegro, an artist from Nicaragua. She was shocked to hear of the serious situation of the Guardabarranco after being approached: “This beautiful creature I grew up adoring also faced the influence of the systematic human activities”. In response, she created a song inspired by this bird and the challenges it faces to live naturally.
The new album is the second edition, following on from A Guide to the Birdsong of South America, produced by Robin in 2015. That first album has raised, to date, over $15,000 benefitting conservation projects in South America. As with the first album, all of the money from the sales of the new album will support specific organizations, including Birds Caribbean.
1. What does the underlined word “proceeds” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Profits. | B．Budgets. | C．Challenges. | D．Effects. |
| A．He created a hit single himself. |
| B．He was fond of observing birds. |
| C．He was the organizer of the new album. |
| D．He did a lot for birds in South America. |
| A．It was friendly to humans. |
| B．It was beautiful in appearance. |
| C．It was losing its living environment. |
| D．It was facing challenges from other birds. |
| A．To collect money for a project. |
| B．To popularize electronic music. |
| C．To recommend some famous artists. |
| D．To introduce a new album of electronic music. |
10 . You should see the photo. I'm sitting in red dirt, wearing an ugly purple T-shirt. My hair is wet with sweat. Flies buzz around my head. I'm on a school trip with 20 parents and 20 kids.
It was an odd choice for a holiday. I like sitting by the pool with a cola, not flies and frogs. I like being alone and quiet, not a busload of kids. I like freshly washed sheets, not dry-looking blankets.
But here's the thing about that photo: I am smiling!
The trip sounded good when I signed up. Guides would take us into the heart of the place, and I would see a new part of Australia, learn about local culture and bond with my youngest daughter. I would also bond with 40 strangers.
In Darwin, we got onto a bus. The kids were loud and I hated making small talk. But later, when I looked out at the vast, empty land, I was surprised at and moved by its beauty. At a national park, we enjoyed a natural swimming hole. Kids and parents had a great time. Then we got to the outback. The cabin(小屋) I shared with my daughter was a brick cell, full of geckos and crickets, but too dark to see them. On our last night, a water pipe broke. We awoke to a mess. Usually, I would have complained and asked for a refund, but it just seemed normal to be dirty It didn't matter. Indeed, it was impossible to say clean. We were hiking in red dirt with temperatures of 35 degree. Sill, I felt a kind of energy I hadn't experienced in years.
I love that photo of me in the dirt. I look messy, but also happy. Sometimes, it's another way of traveling .There is beautiful scenery .There is dirt. There is always someone to talk to, someone to laugh with.
1. What were the author's usual trips like according to the article ?| A．Cheap. | B．Adventurous. | C．Comfortable. | D．Crowded. |
| A．Their living conditions were fairly poor during the whole trip. |
| B．Their journey was relaxing without too much sightseeing. |
| C．The scenery on the trip disappointed them to some degree. |
| D．The parents seemed to enjoy themselves more than their children. |
| A．Impatient. | B．Delighted. | C．. Disappointed. | D．Exhausted. |
| A．It's important to choose your trip wisely. | B．It's beneficial to travel with your children. |
| C．It's worthwhile to step out of your usual experience. | D．It's advantageous to travel different places. |
