1 . With the commercialization of so many holidays, we often forget the true meaning of the day we are celebrating. The National Retail Federation estimated that in 2018, the average person spent more than $180 on Mother’s Day with a total forecast at over $23 billion spent on the day. Mother’s Day, the day to honor the special women in our lives, was initially created as something very different.
The origins of Mother’s Day can date back to ancient Greek and Roman times when festivals honored the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele. Later, 16th century England celebrated Mothering Sunday with celebrations on the fourth Sunday of Lent. In America, our tradition began in 1908 with a woman named Anna Jarvis. While not a mother herself, she established the day to honor her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, who had passed away three years before.
This commitment to pay honor to and help other women ran in the Jarvis family. Living in West Virginia before the Civil War, Ann had an idea for a community-service based program to help mothers in need of assistance. This concept developed into the Mother’s Day Work Clubs, a program that taught women how to care for their children.
In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared Mother’s Day an official holiday. The yearly celebration would take place on the second Sunday in May. Anna’s original idea of Mother’s Day was a day to honor her mother Ann, but once it became a nationally recognized day, things changed dramatically. The idea of celebrating mom on Mother’s Day caught on quickly and became heavily commercialized with cards and flowers.
After seeing a Mother’s Day Salad on the menu in the John Wanamaker tearoom(茶馆) in Philadelphia in the early 1900s, Anna realized the day had become nothing but a marketing scheme. She then began to hold protests, and demand face-to-face meetings with the president.
In the end, she spent decades fighting a no-win battle to claim back the day as her own using every penny of hers. She died at age 84 in 1948, blind and alone in a hospital.
1. Which is the correct order of the following events?① Mother’s Day became an official holiday
② England celebrated Mothering Sunday
③ Mother’s Day became heavily commercialized
④ Anna Jarvis established Mother’s Day
| A．④①②③ | B．④②③① |
| C．②④①③ | D．②④③① |
| A．Because she hoped to meet with the president. |
| B．Because Mother’s Day had been heavily commercialized. |
| C．Because Mother’s Day Salad appeared on the menu without her permission. |
| D．Because she would fight a no-win battle to claim back the day as her own. |
| A．By providing examples. |
| B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By following the order of time. |
| D．By following the order of space. |
| A．Why the Founder of Mother’s Day Came to Regret Her Invention? |
| B．How Mother’s Day Commercialized? |
| C．How We Deal with the Commercialization of Mother’s Day Correctly? |
| D．Why Mother’s Day Commercialized? |
2 . It was the homecoming parade in Rockwall,Texas,and cheerleader Tyra Winters,was riding on the top of one of the school's floats(彩车）。As it slowly made its way down the wide road,the 17-year-old enthusiastically waved at the crowd,all the while soaking in the music,laughter,and applause.
All of a sudden.a horrific scream sounded.Looking down,Winters saw a two-year-old on the sidewalk gasping for air.his extremely worried mother begging for help.The boy,Clarke Hornback Lad been sucking on a piece of candy when it slid down the back of his mouth,lodging in his throat and blocking his windpipe.
＂I see a little bright red face and his mom's begging,Someone help me,someone help me.'"
Winters told KTVT."There was no coughing;there was no breathing,Clarke's mother,Nicole Homback,later told news station NBCDFW.He was just gasping for air."No one seemed to know how to help.
Except for Winters.A senior with dreams of becoming a pediatric surgeon,she had learned the Heimlich maneuver and CPR.Knowing that the clock was ticking,she leaped off the moving float and ran to the child.
By the time she got to Clarke,his face had turned purple."I got him!"she yelled to Nicole as she grabbed the boy from her."I tilted him and gave a good three back thrusts,"she told the local CBS station.
Soon,the boy coughed up the piece of candy,gasped,and began breathing again.Without another word,Winters handed Clarke back to his mother and ran back to her float before it could leave her behind.
It all happened so fast,Nicole never had time to thank the teen.Winters' s heroic actions left Nicole speechless."I don't really have any words,"she says."The words that you would say to anyone who does something for you is' thank you.' But that doesn't seem good enough."
1. What does the underlined word"lodging"mean in Paragraph 2?| A．Stuck. | B．Caught. |
| C．Slid. | D．Found. |
a. The boy coughed up the piece of candy, gasped, and began breathing again.
b. Winters leaped off the moving float and ran to the child.
c. Winters was riding on the top of one of the school's floats.
d. Winters tilted the boy and gave a good three back thrusts.
e. The boy, Clarke Hornback, had been sucking on a piece of candy, blocking his windpipe.
| A．c-a-d-b-c |
| B．c-e-b-d-a |
| C．b-d-a-c-e |
| D．a-e-d-c-b |
| A．It happened so fast, Nicole had no time to thank the teen. |
| B．Nicole didn't want to say anything about the incident. |
| C．Nicole was grateful for Winters' s heroic actions. |
| D．It is always good to learn more knowledge. |
| A．Helpful. | B．Mean. |
| C．Organized. | D．Determined. |
3 . This month, when earthquakes rocked Southern California on back-to-back days, it was a shocking reminder that we may one day experience the “Big One,” a quake with the power to kill and destroy. However a few people saw something else: a photo opportunity.
Tourists flocked to a large crack in a highway to see evidence of the damage for themselves and, of course, take a quick selfie(自拍).
It was only the latest example of how our modern love of sharing photos we take of ourselves in notable situations is colliding with nature and the world, often in confusing and even dangerous ways.
In Canada, a sunflower farm barred visitors last year after selfie-seekers destroyed flowers and left the land looking like a “zombie apocalypse.”(僵尸启示录) In Spain, a man was gored in the neck last weekend while trying to take a video selfie at the annual running of the bulls in Pamplona.
The selfie phenomenon entered the mainstream after Apple and other phonemakers added front-facing cameras starting in 2010, the same year Instagram and other photo-sharing apps were becoming popular. From 2011 to 2017, more than 250 people died while taking selfies, according to a study by researchers in India, which had by far the highest number of such deaths, followed by Russia and the United States. Many died after drowning, falling or being attacked by an animal. Most were under the age of 30.
It’s easy to be uncomfortable with selfies and even mock them, especially when they’re risky or in bad taste. But some researchers have explored different questions: Why do we take selfies? Can they ever be a healthy form of expression? Can selfies be used for good?
1. Why does the author mention the earthquake happened in Southern California?| A．To show how severe the earthquake is. |
| B．To warn the readers of the dangers in the earthquake. |
| C．To introduce the risky behavior of the crazy selfie takers. |
| D．To show how scared people are when earthquake happened. |
| A．there are too many visitors. |
| B．the farm used to be devastated by selfie seekers. |
| C．the sunflowers are supposed to be well protected. |
| D．the farm owner did not want others to enjoy the beautiful sunflowers. |
| A．the US, India, Russia. | B．Russia, the US, India. |
| C．India, Russia, the US. | D．India, the US, Russia. |
| A．Positive. | B．Negative. |
| C．Ambiguous. | D．Uncaring. |
4 . One day in March, seven years ago, during happy hours at a bar in my hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas, I made a surprise announcement to my friends: I was going to shut down my law practice and attempt to travel around the globe in a year. What’s more, I would do it without taking any flights or making a single advance reservation (预定) of any kind. My announcement drew mixed reactions from my friends. Some offered support and encouragement, while others were more doubtful.
Once I had said the words, there was no turning back. I took months to shut down my law practice and get things in order. Once I set off on my adventure in December 2008, I found travelling without using planes was not easy. Trying to circle the globe in 16 months (it took me a bit longer than the initial 12 months I planned) made it even harder. Even so, travelling overland was the most amazing way to truly understand the immensity (浩瀚无际) of our wonderful planet.
I took three consecutive (连续) overnight buses to travel 3,000 km through Argentina, from Ushuaia to the capital Buenos Aires. I would look out of the windows for hours continuously at the completely plains, as if humans had never touched it.
It took seven consecutive days and nights on trains to get from Moscow to Beijing, each day spent staring out of the windows for hours as the Siberian plains swept by. Sometimes, I wouldn’t see a village or a human being for 10 hours. Later in my journey, it took 22 days on a cargo freighter (货船) to get from New Zealand through the Panama Canal and back to Philadelphia, to finish my round-the-world adventure.
It turned out that travelling with no reservations was far less difficult than I had imagined. Pulling into a city on a bus with a backpack, looking in a guidebook for a few suggestions of accommodations (住所), and then finding an empty room was never much of problem anywhere. It also kept me flexible (灵活) and open about all my travel plans, which is advice I give everyone who asks—plan for less than you think you should.
1. The author’s trip was special in that ________.| A．he made it at the expense of giving up his job |
| B．it hardly cost him anything |
| C．he did not make advance booking or travel by air |
| D．It was a global trip |
| A．Jane 2009 | B．December 2009 |
| C．February 2010 | D．April 2010 |
① Moscow
② Philadelphia
③ New Zealand
④ Ushuaia
⑤ Beijing
⑥ Buenos Aires
| A．⑤④①⑥③② | B．④⑥①⑤③② |
| C．④⑤①⑥③② | D．⑤①⑥④③② |
| A．Challenging but pleasant. | B．Dangerous but wonderful. |
| C．Boring and disappointing. | D．Costly and painful. |
5 . Like many little school girls, Savannah Hart was given the chance to take home her class “pet” — in this case, a sweetly tattered(破烂的) toy monkey named Harriet.
What happened next could be the subject of a children’s storybook: the 5-year-old from Australia took Harriet on a summer trip to Buckingham Palace when things went wrong.
While visiting Queen Elizabeth’s home, the little girl misplaced the toy, and her family assumed(假定) that Harriet would be forever stuck at the bottom of the palace’s lost property collection. But after a teacher at Savannah’s school, Woodside Preschool in Australia, wrote a letter to the Queen to see if the well-worn Harriet could be located, determined palace employees set to work to find it.
Helped by the letter and photos taken during the monkey’s tour around the U.K. with Savannah’s family, Harriet was found and returned to Savannah. But Harriet didn’t come back alone on the 9,000-mile journey from London to Australia — the monkey was also accompanied by Rex, a stuffed corgi dog sent from the palace.
Before leaving the U.K., Harriet even spent some time helping out with palace tours and was given the royal treatment.
“We aim to give every visitor to Buckingham Palace a memorable experience, and after we had found Harriet the monkey near the Family Pavilion(亭，阁), she spent some time helping out the Visitor Services team before heading home,” said a spokesperson for the Royal Collection, which runs the visitor experience at Buckingham Palace over the summer. “We hope Harriet enjoyed telling Rex the corgi dog about her adventures on the journey back to Australia.”
1. According to the text, what can be learned about Harriet?| A．Harriet is Savannah’s home pet. |
| B．Harriet is a sweetly tattered toy dog. |
| C．Harriet has been to the U.K.. |
| D．Harriet has a teacher named Woodside. |
| A．A teacher and her family | B．A teacher and the palace employees |
| C．Her family and the Queen | D．All of them. |
a. Savannah’s teacher wrote a letter to ask for help.
b. Savannah took Harriet on a summer trip to Buckingham Palace.
c. The palace employees set to work to find Harriet.
d. Harriet was given the royal treatment and came back with Rex.
e. Savannah misplaced Harriet and her family thought it would be never seen.
| A．beacd | B．daecb |
| C．dceba | D．adcbe |
| A．Harriet spent some time helping out the Visitor Services team |
| B．Harriet took Rex back together with him and enjoyed telling him stories. |
| C．Whoever visits Buckingham Palace will have a memorable experience. |
| D．The Buckingham Palace employees aim to provide visitors with good service. |
Ken Roberts, the man who found the rabbit, had been looking for it nearly two years. Although he had been searching in the wrong area most of the time, he found it by logic, not by luck. His success came from the fact that he had gained an important clue at the start. He had realized that the words “One of Six to Eight” under the first picture in the book connected the rabbit in some way to Katherine of Aragon, the first of Henry VIII’s six wives. Even here, however, Williams had succeeded in misleading him. Ken knew that Katherine of Aragon had died at Kimbolton in Cambrideshire in 1536 and thought that Williams had buried the rabbit there. He had been digging there for over a year before he came up with a new idea. He found out that Kit Williams had spent his childhood near Ampthill, in Bedfordshire, and thought that he must have buried the rabbit in a place he knew well, but he still could not see the connection with Katherine of Aragon, until one day he came across two stone crosses in Ampthill Park and learnt that they had been built in her honor in 1773.
Even then his search had not come to an end. It was only after he had spent several nights digging around the cross that he decided to write to Kit Williams to find out if he was wasting his time there. Williams encouraged him to continue, and on February 24th 1982, he found the treasure. It was worth £3000 in the beginning, but the excitement it had caused since its burial made it much more valuable.
1. The underlined word “them” in paragraph 1 means .| A．readers of Masquerade | B．treasure hunts |
| C．Henry VIII’s six wives | D．red herrings |
| A．Two stone crosses in Ampthill | B．Stevenson’s Treasure Island |
| C．Williams’ hometown. | D．Katherine of Aragon |
| A．to tell about what happened in 1773. | B．to serve as a road sign in Ampthill Park. |
| C．to show respect for Henry VIII’s first wife. | D．to inform people where the gold rabbit was. |
a. Henry VIII’s six wives b. Katherine’s burial place at Kimbolton
c. Williams’ childhood in Ampthill d. Katherine of Aragon
e. stone crosses in Ampthill Park
| A．a-b-c-e-d | B．d-b-c-e-a | C．b-a-e-c-d | D．a-d-b-c-e |
7 . In many countries of the world, people can confidently tell you the meaning of their town or city, but most people who live in Manchester, Oxford or Birmingham would not be able to explain what the name of their city means. The name of every British town and city, however, has a long history.
Two thousand years ago, most people living in Britain were Celts. Even the word “Britain” is Celtic. Then the Romans arrived and built camps which became cities called “castra”. This is why there are so many place names in England which end in “-chester” or “-caster” – Manchester, for example.
The Romans never reached Wales or Scotland, and many place names there are Celtic (凯尔特语的). For example, Welsh place names that begin with “Llan” come from the Celtic word for church.
After the Romans left Britain, it was attacked by tribes (部落) called the Anglo-Saxons who were from the area of Europe that is now Germany and Holland. Without the Roman army, it was impossible to protect the country from these people. The names of their villages often ended in “-ham” or “-ton”. Some got their name from the leader of the village, so Birmingham, for example, means “Beormund’s village”.
The Anglo-Saxons were farmers and the landscape was very important to them, so we have villages called Upton (“village on a hill” – a good place to build a village) and Moreton (“village by a lake”, where floods could make life tough). Place names that end in “-ford” (a place where you could cross a river) also describe the location of Anglo-Saxon villages.
Twelve hundred years ago, the Vikings came to England from Scandinavia. They traded with the Anglo-Saxons but lived in their own villages. These often ended in “-by” or “-thorpe”. The name “Kirkby” means “a village with a church” and Scunthorpe was the village of a man called Skuma.
Finally, in 1066, England became Norman – the Normans gave us the place name “grange”, which means farm.
And how about London? Experts cannot agree. The Romans called the city Londinium, but they were not the first inhabitants (居民). People once believed that the United Kingdom’s capital city got its name from the castle (城堡) of a King called Lud, but this is very unlikely. Our best guess today is that the name comes from a Celtic word meaning a fastflowing river. Like a number of British place names, its history is lost in time.
1. The origin of British place names is unfamiliar to many local people because of ______.| A．the death of ancient languages | B．their lack of interest in the names |
| C．the long lost history of the names | D．the frequent changes to the names |
| A．beside a river | B．near a castle |
| C．on a hill | D．with a church |
| A．The Celts — The Romans — The Vikings — The Normans — The Anglo Saxons |
| B．The Celts — The Romans — The Anglo Saxons — The Vikings — The Normans |
| C．The Romans — The Celts — The Vikings — The Anglo Saxons — The Normans |
| D．The Romans — The Anglo Saxons — The Celts — The Normans — The Vikings |
| A．It is short for Londinium. | B．It’s from the term for a river. |
| C．It is puzzling and hard to confirm. | D．It comes from the castle of a King. |
8 . If this isn’t true love then we don’t know what it is. High school sweethearts Leonard and Hazel Cherry passed away last Thursday just hours apart, a sweet ending to their 74-year together.
The couple were married in 1942 in Muldoon, Texas. Following their wedding ceremony at the start of World War II, Leonard enlisted in the Army Air Corps and became a B-24 bomber pilot. Luckily for the couple, he was never far from home as he was stationed at Carswell Army Air Corps Base in Fort Worth training others how to fly. Meanwhile, Hazel was a stay-at-home mom taking care of their only son, David. Once the war was over, Leonard worked as an auto body repairman in Fort Worth before opening an auto repair business in 1949, which the couple ran together for 31 years. The couple finally moved to Woodstock, Texas in 1980 to be close to their son and grandchildren.
In their final days, Leonard who was 95, was placed at the St. Catherine Center, a hospice (临终安养院) in Waco, Texas, while 93-year-old Hazel, who was in good health, had just moved into the village at Providence Park, a facility right next door to her husband’s.
Then on October 27, Leonard passed away just before 1 p.m. and his wife died just 10 hours later at 11 p.m.
“Every time I began to think about it, I began to smile because of how much they loved each other. In my mind my grandfather was waiting for her in heaven with open arms,” Craig Cherry told KWTX. “Even in his ninety-fifth year, he still, when he talked about her, had a sparkle (闪烁 的光) in his eye. A memorial service for them is scheduled for this Friday and I’m sure there won’t be a dry eye in the house.”
1. What is the correct order for the events in the story about Leonard?① Leonard got married.
② Leonard became a bomber pilot.
③ Leonard moved to Woodstock, Texas.
④ Leonard opened an auto repair business.
⑤ Leonard worked as an auto body repairman in Fort Worth.
| A．①②⑤④③ | B．①⑤③④② |
| C．②①③⑤④ | D．②①⑤④③ |
| A．Because she wanted to live independently. |
| B．Because she wanted to receive medical care. |
| C．Because she wanted to accompany her husband. |
| D．Because she wanted to be close to her son and grandchildren. |
| A．he felt happy because they lived long |
| B．Hazel died because of her deep love for Leonard |
| C．everyone would feel extremely sorrowful for the loss |
| D．the couple had affection for each other only at their advanced age |
| A．The Loving Couple | B．The Long-lived Couple |
| C．A Sudden Death of Hazel | D．Die Hours Apart for Love |
9 . A Wolf in Danger
What is happening to the timber wolf (森林狼) today?
Native Americans and early settlers often went to sleep to the sound of a lonely lullaby (催眠曲). It was the song of the wolf howling in a distant forest. There were many wolves then. One kind was the North American timber wolf.
Wolves are important to the balance of nature because they eat sick and weak animals. In Colorado, people tried to help deer by shooting wolves. But then there were so many deer that many of them starved to death.
The timber wolf is on the endangered special list . Animals on this list are in danger of disappearing from the earth. People drove the wolves away by cutting down the forests to build houses, towns, and highways. Timber wolves are now found only in Canada, Alaska, Michigan, and Minnesota.
This special animal may soon disappear from our forests forever. Then, its lonely howl will never be heard again.
1. Animals that are in danger of disappearing from the earth are called a(n)_______species.| A．endangered |
| B．living |
| C．alive |
| D．lived |
| A．are an endangered species |
| B．eat sick and weak animals |
| C．no longer live in forests |
| D．help the farmers |
| A．in many parts of North America |
| B．only in Colorado and Canada |
| C．in towns and cities in Alaska |
| D．in many parts of Africa |
| A．People built towns and highways. |
| B．The timber wolf was driven away from its home. |
| C．People cut down the forests. |
| D．Timber wolves are endangered species. |
10 . As e-cigarettes become more popular, fewer people are taking up smoking traditional cigarettes. But can e-cigarettes, an electronic nicotine delivery system, help people quit smoking altogether? The answer is probably yes. A study led by Matthew Carpenter, a professor at the Medical University of South Carolina found that e-smokers tend to smoke less and have increased quit attempts.
In the pilot study, Carpenter evaluated e-cigarettes in terms of usage, product preference, changes in smoking behaviors and nicotine exposure. Ninety subjects were evaluated：45 were randomized to use e-cigarettes, and 45 were randomized to a control group. Everyone was followed over a period of four months. The study was published in Cancer Epidemiology in November and is one of the few randomized studies in the U. S. to examine the effects of e-cigarettes.
Results showed that when smokers were given e-cigarettes, uptake was strong. Many participants rated the e-cigarettes similar to their usual product, suggesting that e-cigarettes might give smokers a suitable alternative to combustible（燃烧的）cigarettes. E-cigarettes offer significantly less exposure to harmful toxicants and therefore are safer. People using e-cigarettes throughout the study smoked an average of 37 percent fewer cigarettes, as compared to those in the control group, showing a positive effect when making the switch and potentially serving as a tool to help smokers quit.
That's good news for Carpenter and his colleagues. Smoking is the leading cause of cancer and has a negative impact on the effectiveness of cancer treatments. People who quit smoking, regardless of their ages, have substantial gains in life expectancy（预期寿命）compared with those who continue to smoke.
Carpenter cautions that while e-cigarettes may help people smoke less or even quit, they are not for everyone. "It is important to protect non-smokers, particularly adolescents, from starting any nicotine-containing product. "
More than 1,500 varieties of e-cigarettes are now available, including different looks, high-tech power settings and many flavors. All these make them more appealing to kids. In fact, e-cigarettes are more popular than conventional cigarettes among youth. "All these should raise our alarm bells," he said.
E-cigarettes were only recently regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Largely manufactured overseas, the quality control process varies, he says. Without enough information to answer the long-term public health issues of e-cigarettes, researchers like Carpenter are aware of the importance of further studies on the latest tobacco trends. Combustible cigarettes have been around for many decades. E-cigarettes have not, and the science has a lot of questions left to answer, he said.
1. Which of the following is TRUE about Professor Carpenter's experiment on e-cigarettes?| A．The test groups include conventional smokers, e-smokers and non-smokers. |
| B．E-cigarettes expose smokers to fewer poisonous substances. |
| C．Many participants don't think e-cigarettes as good as traditional ones. |
| D．It is one of the few studies to test the effects of smoking. |
| A．most e-cigarette smokers will finally give up smoking |
| B．there are more e-smokers than traditional smokes in the USA |
| C．many adolescents are attracted to e-cigarettes due to their low prices |
| D．carpenter is worried about the e-cigarettes' popularity among children |
| A．E-cigarettes are faced with many problems and need more study. |
| B．The U. S. government should strengthen its regulation over e-cigarettes. |
| C．Smokers should be cautious because of e-cigarettes' low quality. |
| D．Researchers are concerned about e-cigarettes' harm to people's health. |
（①to ⑦represent Paragraphs 1 to 7）
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
