1 . Jamie Wardley is a special kind of artist—an ice sculptor. He first trained as a sand sculptor. Later,he learnt about ice sculpture. Now he does sand sculpture in the summer. And in the winter, he sculpts ice.

When sculpting ice,Wardley has to work in cold temperatures. If the weather is cold enough, he can work outside. But winter in the United Kingdom is not always very cold. So often he works in a large freezer where the temperature is about -12℃.

Wardley enjoys sculpting ice outside in the winter. When he sculpts in the open air, people can watch. They can be part of the creative process.

Wardley makes ice sculpting sound simple. But the tools Wardley uses are sharp and dangerous. And the ice is very heavy. Each block of ice weighs 120 kilos. And some larger sculptures are made from several combined blocks of ice. Sometimes ice sculptures can be as big as buildings. In Kemi, Finland there is an ice hotel called the Snow Castle. Each year, Wardley helps build the Snow Castle.

Inside the Snow Castle, the temperature is -50℃. Even the dining tables are made of ice. So you have to wear winter clothes when eating and wear a hat when sleeping. “The ice hotel is built every year in January. Then it melts in April. Each year we rebuild it and create a new design,” Wardley said.

The Snow Castle is a large and amazing work of ice, but Wardley's smaller ice sculptures are special too. One winter, in the city of Bradford, the UK,Wardley created several small sculptures. He used the sculptures to tell a story which contained an important message about goodwill and understanding.

Ice sculptures are temporary works of art. When the temperature rises, they will melt. But that does not mean that their beauty is lost. The sculptures from that day in Bradford have now melted away, but their message of goodwill, understanding, and acceptance remains.

1. According to the text, Wardley________.

A．loves sand sculpture more than ice sculpture	B．sculpts ice in a large freezer in the summer
C．worked as an ice sculptor in the beginning	D．enjoys carving ice outdoors in the winter

2. What words can best describe Wardley's sculpting?

A．Easy and amazing.	B．Special but difficult.
C．Boring and dangerous.	D．Simple but temporary.

3. What do we know about the Snow Castle?

A．It lies in the city of Bradford, the UK.	B．It is too cold for people to live in.
C．It requires to be built every year.	D．It is built between January and April.

4. What does the author think of ice sculptures?

A．They never melt in people's hearts.	B．It takes time to understand them.
C．Their beauty doesn't last forever.	D．They add more beauty to Bradford.

2 . I was with my mom one day as we took a walk while window shopping. We both knew we wouldn't be buying much. I remember I was looking up at the people we passed as we walked. Ladies wore 5-inch heels and bright clothes. Men wore expensive perfumes and creams that wiped away the wrinkles on their faces. An uneasy feeling started to settle in my chest. I could deny it no longer and I was ashamed of my mom.

We were in a high-class neighborhood. We lived in a small, expensive apartment building at the edge of our county. Mom chose to move there because she knew the schools were good. I realized for the first time that we didn't belong there.

I could see the heavy lines around my mom's eyes and mouth. She wore cheap clothes and worm-out shoes. Her eyes were tired from working long hours to make ends meet, and her hair was too gray for her age. She was nothing extraordinary, yet at that moment, she stood out because she was just so plain. I didn't want to be seen with her although there was no one important around to see me anyway. I felt embarrassed about being at her side. We were standing in the middle of a high-end store, and she was holding a sweater.

Mom said, “Anna, this will look good on you. Do you want it?” It Was much too expensive, but I almost thoughtlessly answered “Yes”. Then I took a closer look at the small, tired woman with a big smile and a sweater in her hands, happy to be giving me something so nice. My words died in my throat. Her clothes were worn and old because she spent her money buying me new ones. She looked so tired because she was busy working to provide for me. She didn't wear jewelry or perfumes because she was content with spending what little money she had on me. Suddenly, my mom was beautiful and extraordinarily wonderful in my eyes. I was no longer ashamed of her, but of myself.

“Do you want it?” Mom repeated.

“No, thanks,” I replied.

1. Why did the author describe the passers-by while window-shopping?

A．To stress her mother was plain.

B．To show she envied rich people.

C．To suggest she was curious about others.

D．To indicate she was in an expensive neighborhood.

2. What most likely made the author feel uneasy?

A．Studying at a top school.	B．Going window-shopping.
C．Being seen with her mom.	D．Living in a small apartment.

3. What did the author mean by “My words died in my throat” in Paragraph 4?

A．She was afraid of being blamed by her mom.

B．She was too excited to say anything about the sweater.

C．She felt her mom was so ordinary that she stopped speaking.

D．She failed to speak after realizing her mom's great sacrifices.

4. What can be the best title for the passage?

A．Misunderstanding Mom	B．Refusing Mom's Kindness
C．Feeling Ashamed of Mom	D．Going Shopping with Mom

3 . Laura Stone is the founder of Sydney by Kayak（皮划艇）, a company that offers guided kayak tours of Sydney Harbor in Australia. Not only did their business increase during the COVID-19, but one of their tours is actually more popular than ever.

A few years ago, Laura was paddling in the harbor when she noticed trash floating in the water. For reference, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) estimates that about 8 million tons of plastic end up in our oceans each year, causing big problems for wildlife and local plants. Laura was so shocked by the garbage in the water that she decided to dedicate a few paddles each week to trash cleanup. Incredibly, her clients were immediately on board with the idea, so Sydney by Kayak now leads four to five garbage-collecting tours every week!

At the start of the COVID-19, Laura thought her business would drop off as many others had. Instead, desperate for purpose and a way to get outdoors, people flocked to her “Clean Up Kayak” tours. They now routinely take about 441 pounds of garbage out of the harbor each week! “We've been quite surprised, even through the COVID-19, we've been very busy,” Laura said. “Because they can't travel, people are looking for something to do. That is not just good for them, but also good for the environment. ”

Each tour begins with participants preparing with some working tools. Some people come back many times for the satisfaction of collecting trash from the harbor. Julie Greening, for example, has done about 10 tours so far and says “every little bit is worth it”. “We're 7 billion people on this planet, so everyone does a little, but of course it's going to help, ” she said. “It's got to. ”

1. What can Laura's company mainly do?

A．Sell Kayak and paddles.	B．Provide the kayak guide.
C．Seve tourism information.	D．Organize outdoor activities.

2. How does LAura get the idea of doing a cleanup on the water?

A．Reading a report about pollution.	B．Hearing of the appeal of the UNEP
C．Talking with her clients on a tour.	D．Seeing the floating trash in water.

3. What surprised Laura most during the CDVID-19?

A．Business continued dropping off.

B．Helping cleaning up the garbage.

C．Business increased because of garbage-cleaning.

D．About 441 pounds of grabage were cleaned per week.

4. What can be infered from the last paragraph?

A．Garbage cleaning tools are popular in Syney.

B．People actively participate in the garbage-sorting.

C．The public had a sense of enviornmental protection.

D．The idea of using tools wins support from government.

7 . Today, Mars is a frozen desert with a thin atmosphere, too cold for liquid water to remain on the surface. Overwhelming evidence exists that Mars had liquid water oceans roughly 4 billion years ago. The question that drives our interests isn’t whether there’s life on present-day Mars. We are driven instead by asking whether there was life on Mars billions of years ago, which seems significantly more likely.

But if water existed on the Marian surface before, how was it possible? Mars is further away from the sun than Earth, and billions of years ago, the sun didn’t throw off as much heat as it does now.

The planet’s protective magnetic field mysteriously disappeared around 4.2 billion years ago as Mars cooled after forming. The sun’s solar wind then blew away the Martian atmosphere. leaving behind the thin one the planet has today.

Scientists believe the atmosphere was a key component for a warm, wet Mars that may have once hosted life. To have made the planet warm enough for liquid surface water, its atmosphere would likely have needed a large amount of greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide specifically.

Currently, we don’t know the carbon dioxide content of Mars ancient atmosphere. So the researchers turned to the Nordlinger Ries crater（陨石坑）in southern Germany. It was created by a meteorite（陨石）impact 15 million years ago. That geology and the chemistry of the site act as a good similar for the Martian surface.

Researchers will study the pH and nitrogen that might have been in ancient Martian water, which will show the carbon dioxide content in its ancient atmosphere. That will throw light on whether Mars was once warm enough to support life.

The Mars 2020 rover（探测器）will land in a similar crater next year, collecting samples that will be returned to Earth in a future mission. It could be 10 to 20 years before Mars samples are brought back to Earth. We might know the answer to one of the first questions once these samples are distributed to labs in the US and throughout the world.

1. What are people more interested in about Mars?

A．Whether there was ever life on Mars.	B．Whether there is life on Mars now.
C．Whether there was ever water on Mars.	D．Whether it is possible for life on Mars.

2. The Martian atmosphere was blown away by solar wind, because Mars ________.

A．was too cold	B．had no water on it
C．lost its magnetic field	D．was too far from the sun

3. What do researchers want to find out in the Nordlinger Ries crater?

A．How this crater was formed.

B．Why Mars is not suitable for life.

C．Whether there is any life sign on Mars.

D．How much carbon dioxide is in Mars’ ancient atmosphere.

4. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．Mars samples will be brought back to earth in 2021.

B．Many countries take part in the research of Mars.

C．It takes at least ten years for people to reach Mars.

D．Mars samples will help discover all the secrets of Mars.

8 . Some time ago, in my class I was about to fail a student for his answer to a physics question when the student claimed he deserved a better score. The examination question sounded “safe”.

“Show how it is possible to determine the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer（压表）.” The student had answered: “Take the barometer to the top of the building, attach a long rope to it, lower the barometer to the street, and then bring it up, measuring the length of the rope. The length of the rope is the height of the building.”

I argued that a high grade should prove his competence in physics, but the answer did not confirm this. I suggested that the student have another try. Immediately, he worked out his answer: A second best way is to take the barometer to the top of the building. Drop the barometer, timing its fall with a stopwatch. Then, using the formula to calculate the height of the building.

I was shocked by his answer. His method gave me not only a broken barometer but a U-turn in my teaching philosophy. I gave him full marks.

On his leaving my office, I recalled that he suggested there could be a better answer. So I asked him what it was. “Oh, yes,” said the student, “There are many ways. Probably the best,” he said, “is to take the barometer to the basement and ask the superintendent （楼管）. You speak to him as follows: Mr.Superintendent, here I have a fine barometer. If you tell me the height of this building, I will give it to you.

At this point, I asked the student if he really did not know the conventional answer to this question. He admitted that he did, but said that he was fed up with high school instructors’ trying to teach him how to think, and to use the so-called “scientific method”. He just wanted to solve the problem in a practical manner, not just answer the question in an expected way. Hearing this, I really had nothing to do but give the boy a firm handshake, feeling thankful that I hadn’t failed him in the first place and even more thankful, neither had he.

1. Why did the author want to fail the student in the first place?

A．The student challenged his authority.

B．The student’s answer was not practical.

C．The student didn’t show his academic ability.

D．The student had a poor performance in physics class.

2. Which of the following can best describe the author’s new teaching philosophy?

A．Without love, there is no education.

B．A man becomes learned by asking questions.

C．Teaching is to make two ideas grow where only one grew before.

D．You can lead your horse to the river, but you can’t make it drink.

3. What made the student abandon the conventional answer?

A．Lack of physics-related knowledge.

B．Ignorance of the teacher’s expectation.

C．Intention to deeply impress his teacher.

D．Disapproval of existing teaching concepts.

4. What can we infer from the text?

A．The superintendent was a greedy person.

B．School education restricted this student’s thinking.

C．The teacher appreciated the student’s answers finally.

D．The examination question is a lough physics problem.

9 . “My P.E. teacher taught me maths.” It has been a common joke for years but when a P.E. teacher applied for the head-teacher job, many parents worried that “the joke could come true”. Some parents asked, “Does the P.E. teacher know maths and English? If not, how is he supposed to tutor the students?” But there were still parents who believed P.E. teachers had more time to discipline the students since they didn’t have many classes.

This concern is actually a “subject bias”, that is, choosing a P.E. teacher as the head-teacher is not good for the students’ grades since he doesn’t know Chinese, maths, or English. It is acceptable for Chinese teachers, maths teachers and English teachers to be head-teachers because these subjects are important to entrance exams and scores. Such a concern reflects parents’ anxiety in the current educational environment, which tends to link the head-teacher’s responsible subject with the facts whether the school cares about the class and the children’s performances in the subject.

Many people care about their kids’ academic performances only. They don’t care about their kids’ P.E. performance at all. Even if kids have P.E. classes, parents care little. P.E. teachers are in humble position and their classes are often occupied by other teachers. Of course, if students, P.E. performance is related to grades and entrance exams, parents won’t mind “a P.E. teacher being the head-teacher”.

At the moment, P.E. is gradually included in entrance exams.

In terms of high school entrance examination, Guangzhou will launch a new high school entrance exam which includes P.E. performance and Health examination in 2021, raising the score to 70 points.

In terms of the college entrance examination, universities having the right of independent enrollments added P.E. tests to their entrance exams in 2019. This practice is seen as an important signal that the assessment of physical fitness and athletic ability, which are important aspects of a student’s overall quality, may be included in the college entrance examination in the future.

We hope that it’s a trend for P.E. teachers, music teachers and art teachers to become head-teachers.

1. By saying “My P.E. teacher taught me maths”, what does the author intend to show us?

A．It is just a joke that seldom happened in reality.

B．P.E. teachers hardly assist students in maths.

C．P.E. teachers are good at teaching maths..

D．Parents doubt the ability of P.E. teacher.

2. We can infer from paragraph 2 that a P.E. teacher          .

A．is of little benefit for students’ academic performance

B．is humbler than Chinese, math or English teachers

C．reflects whether the school cares about the class

D．gets unfairly judged due to the current educational system

3. Why does Guangzhou raise proportion of P.E. performance in high school entrance examination?

A．To raise students’ awareness of physical health.

B．To call on parents to pay attention to P.E. teachers.

C．To test the overall ability of high school students.

D．To make P.E. teachers equal with other teachers.

4. What opinion does the author hold towards P.E. teachers working as head-teachers?

A．Neutral.	B．Unexpected.
C．Supportive.	D．Critical.

10 . Almost every family buys as least one copy of a newspaper every day. Some people subscribe to as many as two or three different newspapers. But why do people read newspapers?

Five hundred years ago, news of important happenings--battles lost and won, kings or rulers overthrown(推翻)or killed--took months and even years to travel from one country to another. The news passed by word of mouth and was never accurate. Today we can read in our newspapers of important events that occur in faraway countries on the same day they happen.

Apart from supplying news from all over the world, newspapers give us a lot of other useful information. There are weather reports, radio, television and film guides, book reviews, stories, and of course, advertisements. The bigger ones are put in by large companies to bring attention to their products. They pay the newspapers thousands of dollars for the advertising space, but it is worth the money for news of their products goes into almost every home in the country. For those who produce newspapers, advertisements are also very important. Money earned from advertisements makes it possible for them to sell their newspapers at a low price and still make a profit.

1. The phrase “subscribe to” in the first paragraph means“________”

A．go to the newspaper stand and buy	B．send their own news stories to
C．agree to buy for a specific period of time	D．become faithful readers of

2. Before the time of the newspaper, ________

A．bad news traveled quickly and good news slowly

B．few people cared about events that took place in faraway countries

C．kings and rulers were often overthrown or killed

D．news was passed from one person to another

3. The author seems to agree that money spent on advertisements is ________.

A．wasted	B．not much
C．well spent	D．of no use to anyone

4. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Five hundred years ago it took a long time for news to reach other countries.

B．Newspaper advertisements turn people’s attention away from their products.

C．The news that we read in newspapers is mainly about new products.

D．When newspapers are sold at a low price, the newspaper producers will lose money.