1 . Obviously television has both advantages and disadvantages.
In the first place, television is not only a convenient source of entertainment, but also a comparatively cheap one. With a TV set in the family people don’t have to pay for expensive seats at the theatre, the cinema, or the opera .All they have to do is to push a button or turn a knob, and they can see plays, films, operas and shows of every kind. Some people, however, think that this is where the danger lies. The television viewers need do nothing. He does not even have to use his legs if the has a remote control. He makes no choice and exercises, no judgment. He is completely passive and has everything presented to him without any effort in his part.
Television, it is often said, keeps one informed about current events and the latest developments in science and politics. The most distant countries and the strangest customs are brought right into one’s sitting room. It could be argued that the radio performs this service as well; but on television everything is much more living, much more real. Yet here again there is a danger. The television screen itself has a terrible, almost physical charm for us. We get so used to looking at the movements on it, so dependent on its pictures, that it begins to control our lives. People are often heard to say that their television sets have broken down and that they have suddenly found that they have far more time to do things and the they have actually begin to talk to each other again. It makes one think, doesn’t it?
There are many other arguments for and against television. We must realize that television itself is neither good nor bad. It is the uses that it is put to that determine its value to society.
1. Television, as a source of entertainment, is ______.| A．not very convenient | B．very expensive |
| C．quite dangerous | D．relatively cheap |
| A．Because TV programs are not interesting | B．Because TV viewers are totally passive |
| C．Because TV prices are very high. | D．Because TV has both advantages and disadvantages |
| A．it keeps us informed | B．it is very cheap |
| C．it enables us to have a rest | D．it controls our lives |
| A．its quality | B．people ’s attitude towards it |
| C．how we use it | D．when we use it |
2 . Award winning film Ballad from Tibet by Chinese director Zhang Wei was screened in New York City in March.
The film tells the story of four visually impaired kids from China’s Tibet going on a journey for their dreams.
Based on a true story, Ballad from Tibet is about the four Tibetan kids — Thupten, Sonam, Kelsang and Droma — achieving their dreams against all odds.
Thupten is a 10-year-old boy partially sighted in one eye and blind in the other. His doctor says that there is a chance that he could completely lose his sight, but there is an operation that could offer a 50 percent of saving his vision.
His teacher firmly suggests that he should have the operation right away, but Thupten is afraid and wants to see the world before his life is plunged into total darkness.
Along with his three friends who also suffer from blindness, Thupten goes on an exciting adventure. Together they decide to go to Shenzhen in South China’s Guangdong Province, a city more than 37,000km away from Tibetan capital Lhasa.
The reason for the children’s decision to go to Shenzhen is their love of music. They are all talented and want to sing their hearts out in front of the national audience by participating in a Shenzhen - based reality show.
The foursome’s trip is indeed fun, but also turns out to be dangerous. Luckily, help is on hand along the way in the form of a wandering family, a shepherd, a motorcycle club, and a TV producer’s assistant.
Ballad from Tibet has won the award for Best Children’s Feature at the 13th China International Children’s Film Festival in November 2017, and earned nominations at 17 different international children’s film festivals in Germany, Canada, Japan, Greece, Australia and India.
1. What does the underlined word “impaired” in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．Amazed. | B．Strengthened. | C．Shortsighted. | D．Damaged. |
| A．They want to take part in a Shenzhen - based reality show. |
| B．They long to earn money there to support themselves. |
| C．The teacher advises them to go there to pursue their dreams. |
| D．They want to look for their parents there. |
| A．The operation can completely save Thupten’s vision. |
| B．Thupten’s teacher goes on the trip with them. |
| C．Thupten wants to realize his dream before he totally loses his vision. |
| D．The four kids get much help from Thupten’s teacher on the way to Shenzhen. |
| A．Successful. | B．Negative. | C．Awful. | D．Surprising. |
3 . The broad range of activities that are available for Activities Week (Wednesday 15th – Tuesday 21th January 2020) are listed below:
Formula 1 jet car racing (F1R)
●Design, build and race your own miniature F1 car．As a team you must take on individual roles to build the fastest car．Do you have a gift for design? Are you interested in aerodynamics (空气动力学)? Are you super competitive? Let your car do the talking on the track, where milliseconds count．
●Leader: Mr. Williams
●Cost: £20
●Deposit: £20
●Other: could lead to national championship jet car racing
●Places: 30
Photography Workshop (PHO)
●Learn how to take, edit and present photographs like a professional．Unlimited access to the latest Adobe software and use of a proper DSLR Nikon camera．There will be a trip to Paignton Zoo where you will put your newly learned skills and knowledge to the test．The week will conclude with an exhibition of your work．
●Leader: Mr. Tyrer
●Cost: £22
●Deposit: £22
●Other:
●Places: 45
Parkour (PKA)(跑酷)
●This activity will involve 3 days of intensive and exciting Parkour training indoors, starting with the basic skills and gradually progressing as the week goes on．You will then have the opportunity during the last 2 days to put your new skills to use and will create and edit your very own Parkour film as well as getting the opportunity to watch some of the popular movies with Parkour in．
●Leader: Mrs. Perkins
●Cost: £46
●Deposit: £20
●Other: only 12 places so you may not get a place if you did this before
●Places: 12
Story Tellers (STO)
●What’s your story? Explore creative writing through a series of visits, including Exeter Museum and Dawlish, as well as a trip on a steam train to Dunster castle in Somerset．Then, back at school, workshop and explore those ideas with expert help from author, Emma Carroll.”
●Leader: Ms. Steed
●Cost: £70
●Deposit: £30
●Other:
●Places: 25
1. Which of the following activities can take the most members now?| A．Formula 1 jet car racing (F1R)． | B．Photography Workshop (PHO)． |
| C．Parkour (PKA)． | D．Story Tellers (STO)． |
| A．writing | B．sports | C．photography | D．design |
| A．entertain themselves | B．learn how to communicate |
| C．gain some kind of skill | D．know what to get in life |
4 . SPORTS EVENTS
BASKETBALL
Central Sports Centre, City Road.
All Stars vs Rockets, Saturday 8:30 p.m. $12
Northerners vs Tigers, Sunday noon $14
BUSH WALKING
Meet at Wanda Station, Saturday 9:00 a.m. sharp for 3-hour walk to Canary Mountains. $7, call 341-5432.
Meet at Westley Station, Sunday 9:00 a.m. sharp for a full day walk to Wombak Valley. $5, call 341-8643: Bring your own lunch.
SOCCER
St Martins Sports Centre
St Martins vs Doonsberg, Saturday 2:00 p.m. $8
Eastside Central vs Light Hill, Sunday 2:00 p.m. $8
Neill Park Recreation Centre
Neill Park vs Robinson, Saturday 2:00 p.m. $11
Essen vs Springwood, Sunday 2:00 p.m. $11
LAWN BOWLS
Tans Town B.C
Tans Town vs White Vale, Saturday 9:00 p.m. $10
Wake Hill B.C.
Wake Hill vs Coils, Saturday 2:00 p.m. $9
1. _______ sports events are to be held at Saturday 2:00 p.m. according to the passage.| A．Two | B．Three | C．Four | D．Five |
| A．handbook about tour | B．notice about sports |
| C．magazine about ball matches | D．blog about match reviews |
| A．All Stars vs Rockets and the bushwalking at Westley Station |
| B．Wake Hill vs Colls and Essen vs Springwood |
| C．Neill Park vs Robinson and Eastside Central vs Light Hill |
| D．St Matins vs Doonsberg and Northerners vs Tigers |
5 . A simple project to help a family in need stopped Luck Mickelson in his tracks. In 2012, he and his family were inspired to build and donate a bunk bed, one bed on top of the other, after learning there were local children who slept on the floor. Shocked to discover how widespread this need was in his community, Mickelson founded Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a nonprofit that builds and delivers beds to children in need.
Born and raised in Idaho, Mickelson, now 41, had a thriving career. He coached his kids' sports teams and fished in the nearby river. But when he met children who were sleeping on the floor, his peaceful life changed course.
Using safety guidelines and his daughter’s bunk bed as a model, Mickelson started buying wood and supplies to build beds with his own money. He recruited friends and family members to help around the holidays. As the word spread, interest and involvement from his and other communities flooded-along with Mickelson's bunk bed output. "That first project, we built 11 bunk beds in my garage, "he said. "The next year, we did 15. Then it doubled every year. In 2017, we built 612 bunk beds.”
With the motto "No kid sleeps on the floor in our town”, the nonprofit and its more than 65 branches have built and delivered more than 1,500 free beds to children across America. But along with the rapid growth, Mickelson was faced with a tough choice: advancing his career or his nonprofit. He chose the latter and went from making "great money to zero money". He's never looked back. "I found that the need I have isn't financial, "he said. “The need I have is seeing the joy on kids’ faces, knowing that I can make a difference.”
1. Why did Mickelson set up Sleep in Heavenly Peace?| A．To get more donations. | B．To make a big fortune. |
| C．To inspire his community. | D．To donate beds to kids in need. |
| A．He originally had a very good career. | B．He changed his career from time to time. |
| C．He used to sleep on the floor when he was a kid. | D．He had his own fish farm. |
| A．They showed little interest in it. |
| B．They were supportive and involved in it. |
| C．They were doubtful about the safety of the bunk bed. |
| D．They volunteered to buy beds with their own money. |
| A．Ambiguous | B．Defensive. | C．Positive | D．Cautious |
6 . Doing away with naps (小睡)disturbs children's ability to process and remember the information they learn at school, researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst argued in a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The researchers examed the memory retention (保留)skills of 40 preschool students by playing a memory-like game with them during regular school hours. In one condition, the kids took their regular classroom nap after the memory game, averaging 77 minutes of sleep. In the second condition, children were kept awake for the same amount of time.
Researchers examed the kids' recall (回忆)later that same day and the following day, and found the nappers remembered about 75% of what they had learned in the game-a full 10% better than the kids who went without a nap.
“While the children performed about the same immediately after learning in both the nap and wake conditions, the children performed significantly better when they napped both in the afternoon and the next day,” the study authors wrote. “That means that when they miss a nap, children cannot recover this benefit of sleep with their overnight sleep. It seems that there is an additional benefit of having the sleep occur in close proximity (临近)to the learning.”
As evidence increases to support the positive effects of attending preschool on future school performance, some parents and educators have questioned whether in-school naptime should be replaced with more learning.
These results provide some of the first scientific evidence for the benefits of naps, said study author Rebecca Spencer, professor of psychology at UMass Amherst. “Until now, there was nothing to support teachers who feel that naps can really help young children. There had been no specific science behind that,” Spencer said in a statement. “We hope these results will be used by policy makers to make educated decisions regarding the nap chances in the classrooms. Children should not only be given the chances, they also should be encouraged to sleep by creating an environment which supports sleep.”
1. What's the percentage of the non-nappers' recall in the next day?| A．10%. | B．55%. | C．65%. | D．75%. |
| A．Overnight sleep makes up for missing naps. |
| B．It's better for kids to nap after their learning. |
| C．Learning happens in both the nap and wake hours. |
| D．Kids generally have better memories in the morning. |
| A．Guaranteeing the kids' naptime while at school. |
| B．Allowing kids to attend preschool at a later age. |
| C．Replacing in-school naptime with more learning. |
| D．Creating a lively classroom atmosphere for kids. |
| A．The character of childhood memory is different. | B．Children should plan their sleep properly. |
| C．A game is designed for preschool children. | D．Naps are important for kids' learning. |
7 . A sad mother whale continued to carry her dead baby for a fifth day on Saturday, which is a rare occurrence in nature and is believed to be grieving (痛心的).
The whale, known as J35, is a member of the endangered (濒临灭绝的）family of killer whales, gave birth to her baby on Tuesday only to watch that it die within half an hour. "The baby was so newborn that it didn't have blubber(鲸脂）. It kept sinking, and the mother would raise it to the surface," said Ken Balcomb, a scientist with the Center for Whale Research on San Juan Island, Washington State. Since then, she's been carrying the baby's body around on her nose, diving to pick it up again when it falls off. She was last sighted in the early evening on Saturday in Canadian waters.
Scientists have documented grieving behavior in other animals with close social bonds in small groups observed carrying newborns that did not survive. The baby whale was the first baby born in three years to the endangered species (物种), the Center for Whale Research said.
"More than 24 hours of grieving is a rare occurrence," says Ken Balcomb. "It is horrible. This is an animal that is a sentient being. It understands the social bonds that it has with the rest of its family members. She carried the baby in her womb (子宫）from 17 to 18 months, she is bonded to it and she doesn't want to let it go. It is that simple. She is grieving."
Researchers have been growing more concerned about the fortune of killer whales, who face three major challenges to their survival as a species: toxins(毒素）, traffic and lack of adequate food. The most recent survey has found that they number just 75 in the area. For the last three years there have been no new babies born to the killer whales in the Pacific Northwest.
1. Why has the mother whale dived repeatedly in the past five days?| A．To avoid possible danger. |
| B．To feed her baby underwater. |
| C．To prevent her dead baby from sinking. |
| D．To play with her newborn baby sometimes. |
| A．She swam a long distance to save her baby. |
| B．She showed unusual grief over her dead baby. |
| C．She formed social bonds with her baby. |
| D．She proved herself highly intelligent. |
| A．Sensitive. | B．Powerful. | C．Dangerous. | D．Stubborn. |
| A．What Problems Killer Whales Are Facing | B．The Killer Whales Died From Lack of Food |
| C．Rare Whales Were Found in Canadian Waters | D．Grieving Whale Carried Dead Baby for Days |
8 . Today I am here to tell you a story of death, new life and revenge（报复）. Three years ago today, the city council of Redondo Beach California ordered the death of my 30-year-old pepper tree. Its roots had begun to destroy the pavement in front of my house. They even made me pay for the damages to the sidewalk and for the tree removal.
I loved Clyde. I was beginning to get an old man, and planting something that I knew would live well beyond my lifetime was something very special. I took very good care of him. I gave him a stick to rest on when he was a young child, and I watched him grow. Just as Clyde was becoming strong and healthy, expanding his root system, and making his own way in life, the mayor took it upon himself to kill my beautiful children.
Mayor Steve Aspel. You killed my child. For this, you will pay. Two years and seven months ago, I secretly planted 45 California Redwoods and 82 Giant Sequoias in various parks, and yards of state around your city.
Today, each of their root systems will be at least 30 feet in diameter, deep in the soil. You may have noticed the trees growing in front of city council, or that new one in your backyard. That’s a Giant Sequoia, and its growth will begin accelerating rapidly in the coming months.
You killed Clyde, but I have replaced him with over 100 living giants. In a few years, they'll begin breaking heights of 100-300 feet and live well beyond 2,500 years. To remove even one of them at this point will cost well over $ 1,500... And you would pay the bill, just like you did to me 3 years ago today.
Good day to you, sir. May your city be overrun by trees. And may Clyde rest in peace.
1. Why did Steve Aspel order the killing of Clyde?| A．To protect the pavement. |
| B．To make his backyard prettier. |
| C．To make room for other trees. |
| D．To take his revenge on the author. |
| A．The childhood of Clyde. |
| B．His skills in gardening. |
| C．The suffering of Clyde. |
| D．His deep affection for Clyde. |
| A．He asked Steve Aspel for compensation. |
| B．He planted many more trees secretly. |
| C．He cut down many trees to take revenge. |
| D．He stole trees from the mayor's backyard. |
| A．Regretful. | B．Curious. | C．Proud. | D．Surprised. |
9 . A walk through the galleries of Quebec's Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) places individuals face-to-face with some 43,000 artworks ranging from Chinese ceramics (陶瓷制品) to Inuit sculpture.
While the visiting is an incredible cultural experience, a group of local physicians will soon be able to prescribe(开处方) museum visits as treatment for some illnesses.
Hélène Boyer, vice president of a Montreal-based medical association, explains that museum visits have been shown to increase levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter (神经传导物质) known as the "happy chemical" which helps to lift mood.
According to Boyer, the small increase in hormones(荷尔蒙)associated with enjoying an afternoon of art is similar to that offered by exercise, making museum prescriptions ideal for the elderly experiencing pain that prevents them from regularly joining in physical activity.
The museum visits are designed to improve traditional methods. As Bondil notes, spending time in a peaceful environment can provide a welcome distraction. "What is most important is this experience can help them escape from their own pain," she says. "When you enter the museum, you escape from the speed of our daily life."
"I am convinced that in the 21st century, culture will be what physical activity was for health in the 20th century," said Bondil. " Some people would do well to recall that just in the 19th century, sports were believed to do harm to the body. Just as doctors now prescribe exercise, they will be able to prescribe a visit to the MMFA."
1. What does Hélène Boyer think of museum visits?| A．They can cheer people up. | B．They can reduce physical activity. |
| C．They can slow down our life pace. | D．They can increase levels of art appreciation. |
| A．Stop them concentrating on pain. |
| B．Stop them focusing on traditional methods. |
| C．Encourage them not to be absent-minded. |
| D．Encourage them to slow their steps while walking. |
| A．Physical activities were popular in the 19th century. |
| B．Sports are considered to be harmful to the body. |
| C．Ideas of treating illnesses are changing over time. |
| D．Doctors prescribe museum visits regularly now. |
| A．Museum visits are ideal for the elderly. | B．Happy chemical helps to lift mood. |
| C．Peaceful environment helps escape pain. | D．Cultural activities will promote health |
10 . NEW YORK—Gordon Parks, who experienced the struggles and victories of black America as a photographer for Life magazine and then became Hollywood's first major black director with " The Learning Tree" and the hit "Shaft," died Tuesday, his family said.
Parks, who also wrote fiction and was a gifted composer, died at his home in New York, according to a former wife, and nephew Charles Parks.
"Nothing came easy," Parks wrote in his autobiography(自传)."I was just born with a need to explore every tool shop of my mind, and with long searching and hard work, I became devoted to my restlessness. "
He covered everything from fashion to politics to sports at Life from 1948 to 1968.
But as a photographer, he was perhaps best known for his photo essays on the effects of poverty in the United States and abroad and on the spirit of the civil rights movement.
He went through a series of jobs as a teen and young man, including piano player and railroad dining car waiter. The breakthrough came when he was about 25 , when he bought a used camera in a pawn shop (典当行) for $7.50. He became a freelance (自由投稿的)fashion photographer, went on to Vogue magazine and then to Life in 1948.
" Reflecting now, I realize that, even within the limits of my childhood vision, I was on a search for pride, meanwhile taking measurable glimpses of how certain blacks, who suffered from racism, were against it," he wrote.
When he accepted an award from Wichita Stale University in May 1991, he said it was "another step forward in my making peace with Kansas and Kansas making peace with me."
1. Which of the following jobs didn't Gordon Parks do?| A．A photographer. | B．A director. |
| C．A composer. | D．A politician. |
| A．Parks thought not everything was easy. |
| B．Parks was later fond of exploring every person. |
| C．Parks worked at Life for 20 years. |
| D．Parks married only once. |
| A．His photo essays. | B．A used camera。. |
| C．A pawn shop。 | D．Vogue magazine. |
| A．a short 一 story collection. | B．a popular science magazine. |
| C．a research paper. | D．a newspaper. |
