1 . The word "orange" describes both a color and a fruit. Which one came first might be surprising. "Orange" when used as the name of the fruit came before "orange" as a word to describe color. While the shade itself existed before the fruit, there was not a name in the English language for the color. Before the introduction of the fruit to English-speaking countries, the color was usually described as a shade of red or yellow.
In the early 16th century, Portuguese traders brought oranges from India to Europe. The Europeans had not seen the bright colored fruit before and didn't have a name for it. The fruits were named "narancia" by Italians and "narange" by the French and were sometimes referred to as "golden apples" by English speakers.
"Orange" was first used in a phrase to describe shades of colors, including in a third-century Greek text translated into English, in 1576. It describes Alexander the Great's servants as dressed in "orange colour velvet （天鹅绒）In 1578, a Latin-American dictionary defined "melites" as "a precious stone of orange color”. While orange represents the color of the objects, it needed the word "color" to follow it in order for the meaning to be clear. In the mid-1590s, Shakespeare described a beard as "orange tawny", one of the first instances of "orange" without the word "color" as part of the expression. Tawny is a brown color often used on its own. Orange was not yet a color, just a shade of brown.
In 1616, in an account describing varieties of tulips （郁金香）that can be grown, orange was used as a stand-alone color. When Isaac Newton performed his experiments on the color spectrum （色谱），he listed it as one of the seven basic colors. After almost half a century, orange was recognized as a color on its own.
1. Which is the right time order of the appearance of "orange"?| A．As a fruit→as a color→the shade itself. |
| B．The shade itself→as a color→as a fruit. |
| C．The shade itself→as a fruit→as a color. |
| D．As a color→the shade itself→as a fruit. |
| A．Melites. | B．Narange. |
| C．NaranciA. | D．Golden apples. |
| A．My ball is a melite. | B．The ball is orange colour. |
| C．The orange ball is beautiful. | D．I have an orange ball. |
| A．How to plant oranges | B．The spread of oranges |
| C．Orange used as a color | D．Shakespeare and oranges |
2 . Curtis Whitson knew the water fall was coming. He'd rafted down the Arroyo Seco, a river in central California, before. But this year was different. Heavy snow and spring rains had turned the usually manageable falls into something fierce. And this year, instead of his friends, Whitson's companions were his wife, Krystal Ramirez, and his 13-year-old son, Hunter. As the three of them approached the falls late in the afternoon of the third day of their camping trip, Whitson could tell from the increasing roar of water in the narrow canyon that they were in serious trouble. There was no way they’d be able to rappel down(绕绳下降) the rocks as planned.
“The water was just gushing through there with tremendous force,” recalls Whitson.
They could wade to the shore, but would anyone find them there? They had no mobile phone service, and they hadn’t seen a single person in the past three days.
As he considered what to do, Whitson hit on a bit of luck-he heard voices coming from the other side of the falls. He yelled, but the sound of the rushing water drowned him out.
We have to get these people a message, Whitson thought.
Then he spotted his green Nalgene water bottle. Whitson grabbed it and carved “Help!” on it. Ramirez also reminded him that he had a pen and paper, which she'd brought to play games with, in his backpack. Whitson knew it was a long shot. But he scrawled “We are stuck here at the waterfall. Get help please!” and pushed the note into the bottle, throwing it over the waterfall perfectly.
“All right, that’s all we can do,” Whitson told Hunter.
It took 30 minutes to navigate back upstream to the beach where they made a fire. With no reasonable expectation that their message in a bottle would find its way to anyone, they spelled out SOS in white rocks. As the evening wore on, they placed a headlamp with a flashing light on a ledge (岩石突出部) . Then, just after midnight, they heard a helicopter hovering above them. Whitson ran over to the headlamp and started flashing it at the helicopter. He, Ramirez, and Hunter were waving and hollering when they heard the magic words: “This is Search and Rescue. You have been found.”
It was a moment of pure happiness as the three chatted with the officers who had rescued them. Together, they marveled at the unlikelihood of it all. Two men had seen the water bottle in the water. When they picked it up, they noticed the writing on it - “Help!”.
A few days after news of the rescue broke, one of the hikers contacted Whitson.
That’s when he learned the story. There were actually two little girls hiking with the men that day. It was the girls who first spotted the bottle and swam to get it. Whitson is planning on having a big barbecue to meet the hikers-and thank them.
1. Which was NOT the trouble the Whitsons faced?| A．The water falls were fierce. |
| B．There was no mobile phone service. |
| C．All of them were not experienced in rafting. |
| D．They had to rappel down the rocks. |
① They spelled out SOS on the rocks.
② Whitson squeezed the note “Get help please” into the bottle.
③ Whitson yelled to the other side of the falls.
④ Whitson carved “help” on his green bottle.
| A．③④②① | B．②③④① | C．①④③② | D．④③②① |
| A．It is a fantastic idea. | B．It’s a big challenge. |
| C．It’s a wild attempt. | D．It’s a long exploration. |
| A．to celebrate their survival |
| B．to show gratitude to the hikers |
| C．to have a family union |
| D．to meet and thank the rescue officers |
3 . Planning to go to a gym? If you are one of those who have spent many days planning to join a gym or to attend it regularly, then why not choose some home exercises? Here are some home exercises without equipment.
Jumping jacks
This one is the best home workout without weights, which is a great exercise that will work your hands and legs. Perform this exercise by standing with your feet placed together and arms at your sides. Now tuck in your abs (收腹) and jump by bending your knees. At the same time, move your feet apart as much as you can and raise your hands to bring into line with your shoulders. While you come back you must be in a starting position, feet together, hands at sides and knees bent. You must land on your heels and again jump.
Jogging
Jogging is one of the best home exercises without weights. You don’t need to have a lawn or jogging track at home to perform this exercise. There are many benefits of jogging. It will work your entire legs. Moreover, it is a classic cardiovascular (心血管的) workout. Make sure you wear jogging footwear even if you are jogging at home to avoid any stress on your feet. Also, you can gradually increase the jogging time and speed.
Rotating (旋转) exercise
Start by rotating your wrists, clockwise (顺时针方向地) and anticlockwise. Now, alternately rotate your feet in the same fashion. Now place both your hands on the shoulders and start rotating your shoulders clockwise and anticlockwise. Place an exercise mat and lie flat on your back. Now lift your left leg and rotate it clockwise; do not bend your knees. Now rest the left leg, lift your right leg and rotate it
Anticlockwise
It is necessary to set a perfect mood for exercise which will help you stick to the exercise routine and excitement. Make sure you wear proper exercise clothes to perform the workout with ease. Also, putting on your favorite music will make your exercise session more lively. If you get bored with exercises, just dance, after all it’s also one of the best home exercises.
1. While jogging at home, you__________.| A．may exercise your body entirely |
| B．had better choose a pair of proper shoes |
| C．should find a space as the jogging track first |
| D．must stick to a fixed time and speed |
| A．Hands-legs-back-legs. |
| B．Wrists-hands-feet-shoulders. |
| C．Wrists-feet-shoulders-legs. |
| D．Hands-shoulders-knees-legs. |
| A．a good mood and atmosphere |
| B．a good coach |
| C．a professional teacher |
| D．a good timer |
4 . The clockwork radio is the only radio that doesn’t need electricity. It works by turning the handle (手柄)for a minute. Nowadays, thousands of these radios are made every day. They are bought by people in some places, where there isn’t any electricity. The clockwork radio was invented in 1991 by Trevor Bayliss, a British inventor. He had the idea within half an hour while he was listening to some news in the radio about Africa: some Africans were dying of AIDS and there was no easy way to send them information about the disease. The first one he made ran for 14 minutes before needing to turn the handle again, but one year later, it improved. However, people didn’t know it until it appeared on a television programme called Tomorrow’s World.
At the beginning, no one would help Trevor develop his idea for a new kind of radio. Finally, in 1994，his invention was shown on the TV programme, and afterwards, a South African businessman watched it and decided to help him. The first Freeplay radios were built in South Africa in 1995. Since then, the radios have been a great success. And then Trevor has become famous. He has been given many awards(奖品)，including one from Nelson Mandela.
Mr. Bayliss, whose latest project is a wind-up walking stick, created a website offering inventors suggestions on patenting (专利)and marketing. After that, he also invented electric shoes, which produce electricity as you walk. And the self-weighing suitcase is also his invention- you pick it up and the handle tells you how much it weighs. That’s very useful when you go to the airport.
1. When did the radio appear on Tomorrow’s World?| A．In 1991. | B．In 1992. | C．In 1994. | D．In 1995. |
a. He invented electric shoes. b. He met a South African businessman.
c. His clockwork radio was welcomed by people. d. He improved his radio.
| A．acdb. | B．bcda. | C．cadb. | D．dbca. |
| A．To introduce his ideas about inventions. | B．To help inventors with their patents. |
| C．To sell the clockwork radios. | D．To show his awards on it |
| A．The invention of the clockwork radio. | B．The good use of the clockwork radio. |
| C．Mr. Bayliss’ patent protection. | D．Mr. Bayliss’ inventive ideas. |
5 . I once heard this tale in India, where it is told as if true—though any naturalist would know it couldn’t be. The country is India. A colonial official and his wife are giving a large dinner party. They invite army officers and their wives, and a visiting American naturalist.
A spirited discussion springs up between a young girl who says women are no longer the jumping on a chair at the sight of a mouse and an army officer who disagrees and says, “A woman’s reaction in any crisis is to scream. And a man has more control than a woman.”
The American scientist does not join in the argument but sits and watches the faces of the other guests. As he stares, he sees a slight strange expression come over the face of the hostess. She gestures to the servant standing behind her chair and whispers to him. The servant’s eyes widen. He turns quickly and leaves the room. Of the guests, none except the American notices this or sees the servant place a bowl of milk on the balcony just outside the open glass doors.
In India, milk in a bowl means only one thing: bait (诱饵) for a snake. The American understands there must be a snake in the room. His eyes move across the room but see nothing. He realizes the snake can only be in one place — under the table.
His first reaction is to jump back and warn the others. But he knows any sudden movement will frighten the animal into striking. He speaks quickly, the tone of his voice so arresting that it quietens everyone. “I want to know what control everyone here has. I will count three hundred—that’s five minutes — and not one of you is to move a muscle. Ready!”
The 20 people sit like stone images while he counts. He is saying, “—two hundred and eighty—” When out of the corner of his eyes, he sees the snake make for the bowl of milk. Four or five screams ring out as he jumps to close the balcony doors.
“There is your proof!” the host shouts. “A man has just shown us perfect self-control.”
“Just a minute,” the American says, turning to his hostess, “How did you know that snake was in the room?” With a faint smile coming across her face she replies: “Because it was lying across my foot.”
1. What can we conclude from the passage?| A．Women are afraid of mice. |
| B．The army officer’s opinion is wrong. |
| C．The American suggests playing a game for entertainment. |
| D．The hostess has had previous experience catching snakes. |
a. The American’s eyes sweep the room but he sees nothing.
b. The American suggests the guests playing a game.
c. Following the instructions, the servant puts out some milk.
d. The hostess is staring ahead, a slight strange look appearing.
e. The American shuts the balcony doors safely, and several screams are let out.
f. The snake edges its way to the bowl of milk.
| A．d,c,a,b,f,e | B．a,b,c,e,f,d |
| C．d,f,a,b,c,c | D．f,e,c,a,d,b |
| A．The American. | B．The army officer. |
| C．The girl. | D．The hostess. |
| A．A Heated Argument | B．A Striking Dinner Party |
| C．An Unbelievable Story | D．A Smart Hostess |
6 . We're so attached to plastic, but we're careless consumers. Waste plastic is entering our ecosystems and food chains with untold consequences. Cleaning up our polluted world of plastic may seem a noble, but thankless task. However, some people are seeing economic opportunity in the mission.
Plastic Bank, a social enterprise from Canada, is monetizing plastic recycling while empowering those most affected by the waste. It works to prevent waste plastic from entering oceans by encouraging people in developing countries to collect plastic from their communities in exchange for cash, food, clean water or school tuition for their children. After collection, plastic is weighed, sorted, chipped, melted into balls and sold on as“raw material”to be made into everything from bottles for cleaning products to clothing.
“I saw in large quantities; I saw an opportunity,”CEO David Katz told the audience at the Sustainable Brands Oceans conference in Porto, Portugal on November 14.“We reveal the value in this material,”he added.
Plastic Bank was founded in 2013 and launched on the ground operations in 2014 in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western, Hemisphere, where close to 60% of the population live under the poverty line. As result of poor waste disposal and recycling infrastructure (基础设施)，plastic waste enters rivers or is burned and poses the health threats to the local residents.
The company says i has over 2,000 collectors working in the country, with its full- time collectors on average 63% above the poverty line thanks to the income they make from the project. Through its app based payment system, many collectors now have bank accounts for the first time, and are able to ultimately escape ultra poverty.
“Nothing we're doing is against the laws of physics,”said Katz. “All the technology exists for us to solve and save the world. It's only creative thought.”
1. What is Plastic Bank aimed to do?| A．Test out creative ideas. |
| B．Discover new material. |
| C．Promote plastic recycling. |
| D．Stop people using plastic. |
| A．Purchasing- collecting—recycling. |
| B．Exchanging collecting—purchasing. |
| C．Collecting- exchanging—reproducing. |
| D．Persuading consuming—reproducing. |
| A．Haiti attaches great importance to recycling. |
| B．Many locals benefit greatly from the project. |
| C．Collecting is an efficient way to recycle waste. |
| D．The project has solved unemployment in Haiti: |
| A．Companies stand to ban plastic consumption |
| B．Technology finds its way to kick off poverty |
| C．David Katz speaks at the conference in Porto |
| D．Plastic Bank is fighting against plastic waste |
7 . Being a young boy, I began to learn what people said was not always what they really meant or felt. And I knew it was possible to get others to do what I wanted if I read their real feelings and responded suitably to their needs. At the age of eleven, I sold rubber door-to-door after school and quickly worked out how to tell if someone was likely to buy from me. When I knocked on a door, if someone told me to go away but their hands were open and they showed their palms (the inside surfaces of their hands), I knew it was safe to continue because they weren't angry although they may have a dismissive(不屑的) attitude. If someone told me to go away in a soft voice but used a pointed finger or closed hand, I knew it was time to leave.
As a teenager, I became a salesperson, and my ability to read people earned me enough money to buy my first house. Selling gave me the chance to meet people and study them close and to know whether they would buy or not.
I joined the life insurance(保险)business at the age of twenty. And I went on to break several sales records for my company, becoming the youngest person to sell over a million dollars’ worth of business in my first year. This achievement allowed me to become a member of the well-known Million Dollar Round Table(MDRT), which recognizes the world’s top achievers in life insurance. I was lucky that the skills I’d learned as a boy in watching body language while selling could be used in this new area, and were directly related to the success I could have in any business closely connected with people.
1. Which of the following meant the author must give up the rubber sale?| A．A customer’s gentle voice. | B．A customer’s open palms. |
| C．A customer’s finger shape. | D．A customer’s sign of anger. |
| A．To prove the magic of his studying body language |
| B．To show off his unusual insurance-selling achievements |
| C．To attract more people to buy his life insurance |
| D．To simply let readers know about his good luck |
①He bought his first house
②He got the chance to meet people and watch body language
③He became a member of MDRT
④He broke the first sales record for the insurance company
| A．①②④③ | B．②①④③ | C．①④②③ | D．①④③② |
| A．The study of selling products. | B．The life insurance business.. |
| C．The research of body language. | D．The work for the MDRT |
| A．intelligent but overconfident | B．open-minded and determined |
| C．thinking and sharp-eyed | D．grateful and gentle |
8 . Recently, Whitewater Middle School students in the US looked at 200 pounds (90.7 kg) of food. Their classmates threw it away after a meal in the cafeteria. They found the remains of pizzas. They saw untouched green salads and pieces of bread bitten only once. It was，they said, both disgusting and educational.
"You don't realize how much food waste you're making till you see it," said student Cody Gist.
To deal with this problem, Whitewater added environmental science as a school-wide program this year. Teachers are guiding their students through research on the ways food is linked to environment, poverty, and people's health.
The school changed to compostable (可用作堆肥的)paper trays (托盘)as well. Working with Every Tray Counts, a US nonprofit group, the school hopes for a change from disposable trays to compostable paper trays.
This isn't just an exercise at school. Whitewater is joining a network of schools, businesses and neighborhoods. They try to make composting as mainstream as recycling.
"The larger issue is protection of landfill (垃圾填埋场)space," said Laurette Hall, an environmental management official. The area has enough space to last for maybe 25 more years, she said. That isn't as much as it sounds in such a rapidly growing area.
Principal Beth Thompson said students advise each other on new ways to deal with trash.
"Students understand why it matters so not one student refused to do extra work when throwing away their waste," Thompson said.
Whitewater teachers make sure students know how their own eating habits are part of bigger problems. In environmental literature class, students read books such as Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal.
Mollie Lyman works with several language arts classrooms. Their classes discuss such issues as how poor neighborhoods often have less access (使用权)to healthy food.
Lyman says she wants students to ask some basic questions: "What do we eat? What do we waste?”
1. Why did Whitewater Middle School students look at the food?| A．To prepare students for the environmental science course. |
| B．To find out the calories of different kinds of food. |
| C．To see how food was connected with other problems. |
| D．To check what foods were most popular among students. |
① Introducing a new course about the environment.
② Using compostable paper trays in the cafeteria.
③ Setting up a group called Every Tray Counts.
④ Joining others to make composting common.
| A．①②④ | B．①②③ | C．①③④ | D．②③④ |
| A．People don't want to protect landfill space. |
| B．Students don't know how to recycle trash. |
| C．There won't be enough landfill space in the future. |
| D．Students don't understand the waste problem. |
| A．To tell readers how important it is to save food. |
| B．To share how a US school is making an effort for the environment. |
| C．To encourage schools to have environmental protection classes. |
| D．To call on students to care about poor people. |
9 . Ieoh Ming Pei, one of the last great modernist architects, has died aged 102.Although he worked mostly in the United States, Pei will always be remembered for a European project: his redevelopment of the Louvre Museum in Paris in the 1980s.
Pei was the first foreign architect to work on the Louvre in its long history, and initially his designs were fiercely opposed.But in the end, the French — and everyone else — were won over.His glass pyramid outside the Louvre, completed in 1989, is now one of Paris' most famous landmarks.
Pei was born in China in 1917 into a wealthy family.His father was a banker.His artistic mother—a calligrapher and musician—had the greater influence on him.Despite not speaking English, he moved to the US at the age of 18 to study at Pennsylvania, MIT and Harvard.He worked as a research scientist for the US government during World War Two, and went on to work as an architect, founding his own firm in 1955.He carried on working well into old age, creating one of his most famous masterpieces—the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar—in his 80s.
He has designed buildings, hotels, schools and other structures across North America, Asia and Europe.His other work includes Dallas City Hall and Japan's Miho Museum.His style was influenced by his love of Islamic architecture.His favoured building materials were glass and steel, with a combination of concrete.
He won a variety of awards and prizes for his buildings, including the AIA Gold Medal, the Praemium Imperiale for Architecture.In 1983 Pei was given the fifth Pritzker Architecture Prize for giving the 20th century some of its most beautiful interior spaces and exterior forms.He used his $100,000 prize money to start a scholarship fund for Chinese students to study architecture in America.In person, Pei was always neatly dressed, good-tempered, charming and unusually modest.
1. What do we know about Pei and his work on the Louvre Museum?| A．The French approved of his designs at first. |
| B．Pei was the only foreign expert employed by the Louvre. |
| C．Pei made use of glass in his designs. |
| D．Pei retired after completing the work. |
①He received the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
②He founded his own firm.
③He created the Museum of Islamic Art.
④He worked as a research scientist.
| A．①③②④ | B．④①②③ |
| C．④②①③ | D．①④③② |
| A．Productive and humorous. | B．Generous and modest. |
| C．Determined and outgoing. | D．Attractive and responsible. |
| A．Louvre Pyramid Architect Dies Aged 102 | B．Prizes Awarded to Pei |
| C．Landmarks Created by Pei | D．A Famous Architect Passed Away |
10 . One advantage of the Internet is shopping conveniently online for clothes; one disadvantage of the Internet is also shopping conveniently online for clothes.
“Nothing fits,” said Lam Yuk Wong, a senior in electrical and computer engineering at Rice University. “Everyone says this. They order clothes and they don’t fit. People get very unhappy.”
Wong and her design partner, Xuaner “Cecilia” Zhang, are Team White Mirror, creators of what they call a “virtual (虚拟) fitting room”. Their goal is simple and consumer-friendly: to let online clothing shoppers have a perfect fit and a perfect look when shopping every time.
Both women are from China, Wong from Hong Kong and Zhang from Beijing. They both order most of their clothing online. They got the idea from their own experience as consumers and from listening to the complaints of friends and relatives. “They say, ‘The color is wrong’ or ‘I got the right size but it still does not fit.’ We want to make it like you’re in the store trying on the clothes,” Zhang said.
Using a Kinect developed by Microsoft for use with its Xbox 360 video game player,
Zhang scans Wong and turns her image into, in effect, a virtual model, keeping Wong’s dimensions (尺寸), and even her skin and hair color. “We put the clothes on the shopper’s 3-D body models and show how they look when they are dressed,” Wong said. So far, Wong and Zhang have adapted the software to show dresses and shirts, and they are now working on shorts.
Asked if she thought men as well as women might be interested in using their virtual fitting room, Wong said, “I think their wives will care about this, so it will also be important to men.”
1. Why is shopping conveniently online for clothes a disadvantage?| A．Clothes bought online may not fit. |
| B．Students may easily get addicted to it. |
| C．It attracts more online clothing shoppers. |
| D．It causes shoppers to waste too much money. |
| A．the Xbox 360 video game player | B．a program at their university |
| C．some shop-owners’ complaints | D．their shopping experiences |
| A．scanning—trying on clothes—getting images |
| B．trying on clothes—getting models—scanning |
| C．scanning—getting models—trying on clothes |
| D．trying on clothes—getting images—scanning |
| A．It is perfectly developed. |
| B．It will have its market share. |
| C．It is limited to women shoppers. |
| D．It is like a kind of video game player. |
