Hi there! My name is Asha and I'm from Tanzania. Like most teenagers, I start my day early and end it late. After school, I study at a night school to prepare for the university entrance exam. When I have time off, I prefer to be outdoors. I love nature and animals. I'm quite upset about how we treat the environment, so I do my best to help. I volunteer to plant trees and I'm a member of our school's Nature Club.
Samika, Bangladesh
Hi! I'm Samika and I'm 15. I wish I were a student, but I'm not. I had to leave school when I was 13 so that I could get a job and help my family. I work in a garment factory. It's unbelievably hard work and the days are so long. Although everyone works hard, we still find time to play and laugh together. At times like these, the world feels like a wonderful place.
Frieder, Germany
Hi, Frieder here. So, I'm 16 and I go to a high school in Munich. I'm not crazy about school—listening to a teacher isn't my thing—but I know I have to get an education. It's very difficult for young people to find a job in Europe, so I worry a lot about the future. Oh, and I'm a gaming nerd. I love Internet games so much that I have started a gaming club in my school. Maybe I'll see you online—my screen name is Fast Freddy.
1. From the passage, what can we learn about Samika?| A．She has never felt happy because of her hard work. |
| B．She works after school to support her family. |
| C．She dreams of going to school. |
| D．She works long in a toy factory. |
| A．He studies hard to get well educated. |
| B．He tries his best to help protect the environment. |
| C．He has started the Nature Club in his school. |
| D．He prefers to go outdoors and love animals. |
| A．Because jobs are hard for the youth to find. |
| B．Because he has no money to pay for his education. |
| C．Because he cannot find a job on the Internet. |
| D．Because he doesn't listen to his teachers. |
2 . One morning, Ann's neighbor Tracy found a lost dog wandering around the local elementary school. She asked Ann if she could keep an eye on the dog. Ann said that she could watch it only for the day.
Tracy took photos of the dog and printed off 400 FOUND fliers (传单), and put them in mailboxes. Meanwhile, Ann went to the dollar store and bought some pet supplies, warning her two sons not to fall in love with the dog. At the time, Ann's son Thomas was 10 years old, and Jack, who was recovering from a heart operation, was 21 years old.
Four days later Ann was still looking after the dog, whom they had started to call Riley. When she arrived home from work, the dog threw itself against the screen door and barked madly at her. As soon as she opened the door, Riley dashed into the boys' room where Ann found Jack suffering from a heart attack. Riley ran over to Jack, but as soon as Ann bent over to help him the dog went silent.
“If it hadn't come to get me, the doctor said Jack would have died，” Ann reported to a local newspaper. At this point, no one had called to claim the dog, so Ann decided to keep it.
The next morning Tracy got a call. A man named Peter recognized his lost dog and called the number on the flier. Tracy started crying, and told him, “That dog saved my friend's son.”
Peter drove to Ann's house to pick up his dog, and saw Thomas and Jack crying in the window. After a few moments Peter said, “Maybe Odie was supposed to find you, maybe you should keep it.”
1. What did Tracy do after finding the dog?| A．She looked for its owner. | B．She gave it to Ann as a gift. |
| C．She sold it to the dollar store. | D．She bought some food for it. |
| A．By breaking the door for Ann. | B．By leading Ann to Jack's room. |
| C．By dragging Jack out of the room. | D．By attending Jack when Ann was out. |
| A．Sympathetic. | B．Doubtful. | C．Tolerant. | D．Grateful. |
| A．It would be given to Odie. | B．It would be kept by Ann's family. |
| C．It would be returned to Peter. | D．It would be taken away by Tracy. |
3 . Here are four books which will make young readers want to continue turning the pages.
Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee
Outrun the Moon tells the story of a fifteen-year-old girl and her determination to succeed, even in the face of disaster. Mercy Wong’s life is completely turned upside down when an earthquake destroys her home and school. Mercy is determined to help her broken city heal. Outrun the Moon is a heartwarming story about the determination of a teenage girl. It’s the winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature.
OCDaniel by Wesley King
This first-person narrative is told from the perspective of Daniel, a 13-year-old who tries to hide his obsessive compulsive disorder as he struggles to fit into the world of middle school. Then he gets a note that puts him in the middle of a mystery that may change everything. Full of heartbreak and joy, as well as important lessons and themes, OCDaniel is a thrilling novel that will definitely make you cheer for Daniel and eagerly turn the pages.
Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed
With dreams of becoming a teacher one day, the main character, Amal, is living a simple, ordinary life in her Pakistani village until a terrible incident forces her to become a servant for the village’s landlord(地主). Her new life is a struggle, at times heartbreaking, but she stays strong. After many struggles, she finally returns to her loved ones and works towards her goals.
Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson
This novel tells the tale of six students who meet weekly to speak from their hearts about issues that are affecting them, from race, prejudice and privilege to immigration. As they express the feelings and fears that they hid from others and try to make sense of the world around them, the kids show the effectiveness of talking to others.
1. What is Outrun the Moon about?| A．A boy has difficulty fitting into the world. |
| B．Some students have a free talk every week. |
| C．A girl helps repair her city after the disaster. |
| D．A woman tries her best to become a teacher. |
| A．Outrun the Moon. | B．OCDaniel. |
| C．Amal Unbound. | D．Harbor Me. |
| A．They are the bestsellers. |
| B．They are suitable for teenagers. |
| C．They are award-winning books. |
| D．They are based on true stories. |
4 . Robotic surgery is one thing, but sending a robot inside the body to carry out an operation is quite another, which has long been a goal of some researchers to produce tiny robotic devices being capable of traveling through the body to deliver drugs or to make repairs without the need for a single cut, the possibility of which has just got a bit closer.
However, unlike the plot of one film—which featured a microscopic crew and submarine traveling through a scientist's bloodstream—this device could not be put into blood vessels because it is too big. While other types of miniature swallow able robots have been developed in the past, their role has mostly been limited to capturing images inside the body. In a presentation this week to the International Conference, Daniela Rus and Shuhei Miyashita of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology described a robot they have developed that can be swallowed and used to collect dangerous objects accidentally taken in.
To test their latest version, Dr. Rus and Dr. Miyashita designed a robot as a battery hunter, which might seem to be an odd task, but more than 3,500 people in America alone, most of them children, swallow the tiny button cells used in small electronic devices by accident every year. To start with, the researchers created an artificial esophagus (食道) and stomach made out of silicone. It was closely modeled on that found in a pig and filled with medical liquid; the robot itself is made from several layers of different materials, including pig intestine (肠),and contains a little magnet. This is folded up and wrapped in a 10mmx27mm capsule of ice. Once this reaches the stomach, the ice melts and the robot unfolds which is moved and guided with the 1se of a magnetic field outside the body. In their tests, the robot was able to touch a button battery and draw it with its own magnet, and during dragging it along, the robot could then be directed towards the intestines where it would eventually be gotten rid of through the anus (肛门). After it, the researchers sent in another robot loaded with medication to deliver it to the site of the battery bum to speed up healing.
The artificial stomach being transparent (透明的) on one side, the researchers can see the batteries and visually control the robots. If not, that will require help with the help from imaging system, which will be a bit more of a challenge, but Dr. Rus and Dr. Miyashita are determined to succeed.
1. According to the passage, the robot operation will probably be able to ________.| A．travel through a scientist's bloodstream | B．photograph the body to convey to the doctor |
| C．enter the body to deliver drugs or make repairs | D．operate on a person outside the body completely |
| A．the researchers did the experiment on a chosen animal |
| B．the robot took necessary drugs besides a little magnet |
| C．digesting the swallowed batteries is difficult for children |
| D．the actual size of the robot may be larger than the capsule of ice |
| A．The surgeries will cost patients. much money. | B．Patients will suffer less for some surgeries. |
| C．Fewer children will swallow the button cells. | D．A robot will be invented traveling blood vessels. |
| A．An Experiment on Robot | B．Tiny Robot, Significant Role |
| C．The Fantastic Robotic Voyage | D．The Exploration of Robot Technology |
5 . The fitness center offers a variety of activities for members of all ages throughout the week.
Activities for Monday 12 July, 2017:
Learn to swim. Classes for preschool children aged five and under start at 10 am. Classes last 30 minutes and parents must attend with their children. Don't forget to book in advance, as places are limited, and to pack some warm clothes for after the lesson.
Woman's aerobics（有氧运动）. Sessions are for one hour and begin at 10:45 am, led by Melissa. Come along and join us every Monday for an exhilarating hour of exercise and fun. Leave your kids at the nursery and take time out for yourself. Wear a tracksuit or something similar.
Lunch time yoga. Take a break at lunchtime （1:00-2:00 pm） for an hour of meditation and yoga. Enjoy the peace and quiet of our meditation room, and relaxing sessions designed for active people with busy lives. Use your own mat（垫子）for floor work or huy one from us with some money.
Family Shootaround. 10:00-5:30 pm. Family Shootaround is open for members and guests to bring the family out for basketball. Half court games are only during this time. There are no full court games during Family Shootaround hours. All participants must sign in at the front desk and wear a wistband during the play.
1. When will Melissa be working?| A．From 10:00 am to 10:30 am |
| B．From 10:45 am to 11:45 am. |
| C．From 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm. |
| D．From 10:00 am to 5:30 pm. |
| A．Lunchtime yoga. | B．Women's aerobics. |
| C．Learn to swim | D．Family Shootaround. |
| A．The need to sign in |
| B．The need to book in advance. |
| C．The need to bring something. |
| D．The need to become a member. |
6 . On Monday, I stopped my car in front of my daughter Juliet’s middle school. She jumped in the front seat, feeling down. She asked me to help her study for her science test.
“Dad, I need to memorise a unit about the Reproductive Cycle of Plants. And I can hardly make it.”
“You know memorising seems like the best way to study, but in fact you can do better in tests if you work on trying to understand the material.”
Juliet was open to my advice. It was Monday afternoon and we had two nights to study before the test on Wednesday. I suggested a plan. “Tomorrow night, you are going to teach the material to me. Tonight, read the unit. Prepare to teach.”
Asking her to teach me was an unusual idea but I was determined to do it. Studies show teaching somebody else is a very useful way to learn. Even if you don’t do the teaching, the act of preparing to teach leads to more learning than just trying your best to memorise the material.
On Tuesday afternoon, Juliet sat down with her science book facing me and said, “Okay Dad, let’s study.” I wanted her to teach me. But false starts happened. I couldn’t be too hard on her. So instead we started with me asking her some simple questions. She knew some but not others. When she didn’t know the answers, I encouraged her to check the book.
She started checking things that didn’t make sense. And she was actively seeking to test her understanding. I was happy to see it. She wasn’t memorising; she was trying to make sense of things, which was exactly what I had hoped she would do.
1. Why did Juliet feel down?| A．Because she failed her science test. |
| B．Because she had trouble memorising a unit. |
| C．Because she knew nothing about planting. |
| D．Because she couldn’t follow her teacher. |
| A．Memorising. | B．Testing. |
| C．Questioning. | D．Understanding. |
| A．Making her check the book. |
| B．Using simple questions to test her. |
| C．Encouraging her to read the unit. |
| D．Asking her to teach me the unit. |
| A．A Creative Father |
| B．An Unexpected Test |
| C．Learning from Teaching |
| D．Preparing for Teaching |
7 . Things To Do in Los Angeles on Labor Day weekend, September 18-20, 2020
Families will find fun things to do with your kids this weekend from September 18th to 20th. Make some art, visit a museum, enjoy a drive-in movie, and more!
Bowers Museum
2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana, CA 92706
The Bowers Museum is now open and ready to safely welcome your family. Current exhibitions include Inside the Walt Disney Archives: 50 Years of Preserving the Magic, a 10,000-square-foot traveling exhibit that features more than 400 objects. Timed tickets will be required. Make your reservation online.
The Virtual Orange County Children’s Book Festival
3857 Birch Street, Suite 414, Newport Beach, CA 92660
The Virtual Orange County Children’s Book Festival begins on Monday, September 14th and continues until Saturday, September 26th. A variety of activities are planned including story times, illustrating demonstrations, interactive activities, discussion panels, and much more. Check the website for a complete schedule of events.
Sawdust Art Festival: An Outdoor Marketplace
935 Laguna Canyon Rd., Laguna Beach, CA 92651
The Sawdust Art Festival: An Outdoor Marketplace opens this weekend on Saturday, September 19th from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. The Outdoor Marketplace will be open on weekends only, and advance tickets are required. Families will have the opportunity to safely shop, watch live art demonstrations, and enjoy outdoor dining and live music. Tickets are available online. Admission is $10 for adults and free for kids 12 and under.
Drive-In Movies at the Mall: The Princess Bride
500 Lakewood Mall, Lakewood, CA
Enjoy a drive-in screening of The Princess Bride at the Lakewood Center Mall on Saturday, September 19th. The movie starts at 8:00 pm and the parking lot is not accessible until 7:00 pm. A free goody bag will be provided to each car. Tickets are available online.
1. Which of the following does NOT require tickets?| A．Bowers Museum. |
| B．Sawdust Art Festival. |
| C．Drive-In Movies at the Mall. |
| D．The Virtual Orange County Children’s Book Festival. |
| A．Appreciate live music. | B．See drive-in movies. |
| C．Enjoy dining indoors. | D．Watch free art demonstrations. |
| A．6:25 pm, September 19th. | B．7:25 pm, September 19th. |
| C．9:00 pm, September 19th. | D．8:25 pm, September 19th. |
8 . Antioxidants (抗氧化剂) in coffee are thought to help protect against stroke — but too much must raise blood pressure, which increases the risk, according to Japanese researchers. Similarly, green tea could also be beneficial for preventing the shocking event, caused when a blood vessel(血管) in or serving the brain is blocked.
The study looked at the drinking habits of more than 83,000 healthy adults, aged 45 to 74, whose health was tracked for 13 years on average. They found that people who drank at least one cup of coffee a day had about a 20 percent lower risk of stroke, compared to those who rarely drank it. To get an equal effect, about four cups of green tea a day were required.
All results were adjusted to take into account differences between the groups in age composition, gender, smoking, alcohol, weight, diet and exercise. Dr. Yoshihiro Kokubo, lead author of the study, published in the journal Stroke, said, “The regular action of drinking tea and coffee, largely benefits cardiovascular (心脏血管的) health.”
Their results for coffee were similar to that of “study of studies”, presented at a European conference, which found that one to three cups a day was associated with a 14 percent reduction. For three to six cups, there appeared to be a similar but weaker association, but there was no benefit from drinking six or more.
Exactly why coffee and green tea appears to lower stroke risk is unclear, although antioxidants are thought to be at work. However, the science is by no means cut and dried. Caffeine raises blood pressure, and there have been indications that too much coffee can raise stroke risk because of this.
Dr. Dale Webb, from the Stroke Association said, “We welcome this study which suggests that the benefits of antioxidants in coffee and green tea may offset the potential harm from caffeine.” He thought, the results show higher consumption of green tea and coffee might reduce the risks of stroke. “We would like to see further research to understand these findings,” he said.
1. What may lead to a stroke according to the first paragraph?| A．Higher blood pressure. | B．Drinking a cup of coffee a day. |
| C．Blocked blood vessels in the brain. | D．Antioxidants. |
| A．The study mainly focuses on middleaged people. |
| B．Drinking one cup of coffee a day benefits health. |
| C．Those who seldom drink coffee are healthier. |
| D．Drinking tea contributes to stroke. |
| A．He saw more findings of this study unsatisfiedly. |
| B．He understood the difficulty of this study. |
| C．He appreciated the achievements of this study. |
| D．He was disappointed to find no following research. |
| A．Drinking coffee raises blood pressure | B．Drinking tea reduces stroke |
| C．Drinking coffee equals drinking tea | D．Drinking tea or coffee properly matters |
9 . Throughout history people have always been surprised at the intelligence of some birds.Crows (乌鸦)are such an example.Crows’brain is only about the size of a human thumb,so how smart could they be?
While a crow’s brain may seem small compared with a human brain,what matters is the size of the brain in relation to the size of the animal.According to Professor John Marzluff at the University of Washington’s Aviation Conservation Lab,a crow is actually a flying monkey.Whether is is a friendly monkey or more like a bad one in The Wizard of Oz depends a lot on what you have done ot it(or any of its friends).
Can you tell one crow from another?In this way,a crow may be smarter that you because it can recognize human faces.Marzluff’s team caught some crows,made marks on them and released them.Members of the team wore different masks.Crows could attack people wearing a mask,but only if the mask had been worn by someone who had troubled them.
If you think two crows that are watching you and crying to each other are talking about you,you are probably right.In Marzluff’s study,even crows that were never caught attacked scientists.How did the crows describe their attackers to other crows?Their communication is poorly understood.The intensity(强度),rhythm(节奏),and lasting time of crying seem to form the basis of a possible language.It turns out that crows can pass on anger to their children—even the little crows attacked masked scientists.
Another case about crows’great memory comes from Chatham,Ontario.Around half a million crows would stop in Chatham during their regular travel,putting the farming community’s crops in danger.Head of the town declared war(宣战)on crows and the hunt began.Since then,the crows have,when passing Chatham,flown high enough to avoid being shot.However,this didn’t stop them from leaving all over the town.
1. Why does Professor John Marzluff call a crow a flying monkey?| A．Because it looks like a monkey | B．Because it is as friendly as a monkey |
| C．Because it is as intelligent as a monkey | D．Because its brain is the same size as a monkey’s |
| A．had caused some trouble to them | B．were in Marzluff’s team |
| C．worked on scientific study | D．had done harm to their babies |
| A．Crows never forget | B．Crows’communication |
| C．Crows’brain development | D．Crows are smarter than we have imagined. |
10 . Every animal species carries unique viruses that have specifically adapted to infecting it. Over time, some of these have jumped to humans — these are known as “zoonotic” viruses.
As the population grows, we move into wild areas, which brings us into more frequent contact with animals we don’t normally have contact with. Thus viruses can jump from animals to humans and they can spread between humans, through close contact with body fluids (体液) like blood or urine.
Because every virus has evolved to target a particular species, it’s rare for a virus to beable to jump to another species. When this does happen, it’s by chance, and it usually requires a large amount of contact with the virus.
Initially, the virus is usually not well-suited to its new host and doesn’t spread easily. Over time, however, it can evolve in the new host to produce variants that are better adapted.
When viruses jump to a new host, a process called zoonosis, they often cause more severe disease. This is because viruses and their initial hosts have evolved together, and the species has time to build up resistance. The new host species, on the other hand, might not have evolved the ability to tackle (应对) the virus. For example, when we come into contact with bats and their viruses, we may develop rabies or Ebola virus disease, while the bats themselves are less affected.
It’s likely that bats are the original source of three recently emerged coronaviruses: SARS-CoV (2003), MERS-CoV (2012) and SARS-CoV-2. All of these jump from bats to humans via an intermediate animal; in the case of SARS-CoV-2, this may have been pangolins (穿山甲), but more research is needed.
1. Why is it rare for a virus to infect another species?| A．The new host can deal with the virus. |
| B．The new species builds up resistance. |
| C．Every virus can’t adapt to the new species. |
| D．Each virus develops to target a specific species. |
| A．The resistance of the old species. |
| B．The ability of the new host species. |
| C．The process of the viral infection. |
| D．The reason for the virus variation. |
| A．SARS-CoV. | B．SARS-CoV-2. |
| C．Not mentioned. | D．MERS-CoV. |
| A．Humans should not move into wild areas. |
| B．Wild animals are actually our best friends. |
| C．A virus can spread from animals to humans. |
| D．A virus can vary to infect another species. |
