1 . Once there was a famine in the town. A rich and kind baker sent some bread to twenty of the poorest children. He said to them, “In this basket there is some bread for you. Each of you can have one loaf every day until the hard days end.”
The impatient children couldn’t wait to gather around the basket. They shouted and fought for the bread because each wished to have the largest loaf. At last they went away without even thanking the good gentleman. But Shirley, a poorly-dressed little girl, did not join them. Instead, she remained standing modestly in the distance. When the other children had left, she took the smallest left in the basket, kissed the gentleman’s hand and went home.
The next day the children were as rude as before. Poor shy Shirley still took the smallest loaf . When she got home, her mother cut the bread open. Many new shining pieces of silver fell out of it. Her mother was very surprised and said, “Take the money back to the good gentleman at once, for it must have got into the loaf by accident. Be quick, Shirley! Be quick!”
But when the little girl gave the rich man her mother’s message, he said, “No, no, my child. It was no mistake. I put silver pieces into the smallest loaf to reward you because you are a kind and honest girl. Go home and the money is yours now.”
1. From the story, we know the twenty children lived a ________ life.| A．happy | B．rich | C．poor | D．comfortable |
| A．shouted at them | B．stood modestly |
| C．joined them | D．laughed at them |
| A．buy some food | B．give it back to the rich man |
| C．hide it quickly | D．tell her father the news |
| A．it’s not important to say thanks to others | B．fighting with others can help us get more |
| C．a kind and honest person will be rewarded | D．Shirley’s mother doesn’t like silver |
2 . My family and I never talked about school as the ticket to a future. I was in the classroom, but I wasn’t there to learn to write, read or even speak. When it was my turn to read, I wanted to hide. I was 13 years old, but I already hated being who I was.
I had an English teacher, Mr. Creech, who knew I couldn’t read. In one of my first lessons the teacher said that anyone who had a reading age below six had to stand up. I felt so embarrassed. But at the same time, it made me realize that I needed to change the situation. I was determined it wouldn’t happen again. Later that day, Mr. Creech encouraged me and promised he would try his best to help me learn to read. From then on, I never gave up practicing reading.
Then when I was 41 years old, one day, I planned to fly back to Texas to visit my friends and family. On my way from the airport, I saw Mr. Creech buying himself a drink. I rushed over and reached into my pocket to pay for him. “Do I know you?” he asked. “Yes, sir, you do know me,” I answered excitedly. “My name is Anthony Hamilton. You taught me English.” The look on his face told me that he remembered the boy he’d once encouraged.
“I’m so glad I had a chance to see you,” I said. “And Mr. Creech, I have great news to share.” I told him I had learned to read. But that wasn’t all. I had become a published author and an active speaker. “The next time you get another Anthony Hamilton in your classroom, please encourage him to read as well,” I added.
The experts say what once worried me has a name: dyslexia (诵读困难). But I can tell you it was a lack of desire for education.
1. Why did the author want to hide?| A．Because he felt sorry for himself. | B．Because he hated being laughed at. |
| C．Because he couldn’t read at all. | D．Because he didn’t have a ticket. |
| A．Considerate and dutiful. | B．Demanding and enthusiastic. |
| C．Emotional and dedicated. | D．Friendly and ambitious. |
| A．Because his reading age was not long enough. |
| B．Because his parents didn’t teach him how to read. |
| C．Because he was afraid of reading before the class. |
| D．Because he didn’t have inner driving force to learn to read. |
| A．The author was grateful to Mr. Creech. |
| B．Dyslexia made the author unable to read. |
| C．The author had become an active speaker. |
| D．Mr. Creech taught two Anthony Hamiltons. |
3 . The popularity of Chinese-owned video-sharing service TikTok(抖音)continues to grow among young people in the United States. In 2019, experts say the service more than doubled its American user base to 37 million. TikTok is especially popular with teens and young adults.
The service lets users create and share their short videos that they think interesting and useful. Many of them are under 15 seconds. The TikTok app offers a wide choice of sounds, brief parts of songs and special effects tools to help create a video. Some TikTok-based memes(表情包)are very popular. Videos often include popular songs from well-known artists and TikTok has even helped launch the careers of new music stars.
TikTok is considered a competitor to the video-sharing app Snapchat, as well as Facebook's Instagram service. Snapchat and Instagram also mainly interest young users with a wide mix of photos and videos centered largely on fashion, pop culture and humor.
Last year, TikTok was the second-most downloaded app from Apple and Google stores. Only WhatsApp was downloaded more. Research company Sensor Tower guesses people have downloaded the TikTok app 1.65 billion times.
TikTok has been used by many major companies to reach young people who use little or no traditional media. One of those companies is American-based e. l. f. Cosmetics(化妆品). The makeup company's chief marketer, Kory Marchisotto, said that TikTok is "where the Gen Z party is". Gen Z is a name used to call the generation born between the late 1990s and the early 2000s.“That's where they're all hanging out," Marchisotto said.
Companies appearing on TikTok can make money through advertising. Often, the companies create user "challenges" as part of their advertisement campaigns. TikTok users created 3 million videos that received more than 4 billion view.
1. Which word can best describe the videos created on TikTok?| A．Traditional. | B．Boring. | C．Various. | D．Serious. |
| A．TikTok. | B．Snapchat. | C．Instagram. | D．WhatsApp. |
| A．Challenge their competitors. | B．Make advertisements. |
| C．Hold music concerts. | D．Promote users' abilities to make videos. |
| A．TikTok Keeps Growing Among US Youth | B．How to Share Short Videos |
| C．Facebook Achieves Great Success | D．Companies Benefit Much from Videos |
4 . Inventor, physicist, surveyor, astronomer, biologist, artist... Robert Hooke was all these and more. Some say he was the greatest experimental scientist of the 17th century. In the course of his work, he cooperated with famous men of science like Isaac Newton, and the great architect, Christopher Wren.
Hooke’s early education began at home, under the guidance of his father. He entered Westminster School at the age of 13, and from there went to Oxford, where he came in contact with some of the best scientists in England. Hooke impressed them with his skills at designing experiments and inventing instruments. In 1662, at the age of 28, he was named Curator of Experiments at the newly formed Royal Society of London — meaning that he was responsible for demonstrating new experiments at the society’s weekly meeting. Hooke accepted the job, even though he knew that the society had no money to pay him!
Watching living things through a microscope was one of his favourite pastimes. He invented a compound microscope for this purpose. One day while observing a cork under a microscope, he saw honeycomblike structures. There were cells — the smallest units of life. In fact, it was Hooke who invented the term “cell” as the boxlike cells of the cork reminded him of the cells of a monastery．
Another achievement of Hooke’s was his book Micrographia, which introduced the enormous potential of the microscope. It contains fascinating drawings of the thing he saw under the microscope. The book also includes, among other things, ideas on gravity, light and burning that may have helped scientists like Newton when they were developing their own theories on these phenomena.
Hooke made a valuable contribution to astronomy too. A crater on the moon is named after him in honour of his services to this branch of science.
1. We can infer from Paragraph 2 that Hooke is ________.| A．friendly | B．sociable | C．creative | D．helpful |
| A．He liked designing experiments. | B．His family needed his support. |
| C．He wanted to please the famous scientists in England. | D．His parents couldn’t afford his education. |
| A．Hooke went to Oxford in 1645. | B．Hooke was well paid in the Royal Society of London. |
| C．Hooke made a contribution to medicine. | D．Hooke’s book Micrographia may have helped Newton. |
| A．Hooke was the greatest experimental scientist of the 17th century |
| B．Hooke was good at making discoveries |
| C．Hooke’s contributions were not limited to one field |
| D．Hooke was one of the greatest astronomers |
5 . One of the easiest ways to stop the spread of disease is to simply wash your hands. Twenty seconds of handwashing with soap and water can reduce illnesses and save lives. But, many people, especially children, do not have good handwashing habits. One problem is that children do not wash their hands often enough or long enough. Children may think that it is a tiresome thing to do.
To help handle this problem, two businesswomen from India created a product to turn handwashing into a fun activity. Amanat Anand and Shubham Issar created a tool called SoaPen, aimed at teaching kids good handwashing habits and encouraging kids to wash their hands with soap appropriately and regularly.
“It’s such a simple habit to do, but the fact is that people aren’t doing it, and it’s resulting in actual deaths---which is shocking. So, we decided to come up with a fun method, said Issar.
As the name suggests, SoaPen is a pen made out of soap. The children draw on their hands with the soap pen and then wash the drawing off. If they don’t spend enough time washing it off, the colors remain on the children’s hands. Issar said it makes sure that children take enough time to wash their hands. This may be especially helpful in a classroom. Often a teacher does not have the time to make each child wash his hands properly.
Kids actually wash their hands for the proper amount of time because they’re drawing on their hands. To obliterate the drawing, they actually wash their hands instead of just going under water and, you know, a one-second wash and off.
Good news is that the school children in Mumbai, India, will soon most likely wash their hands after handling a pet. Issar and Anand stated that SoaPen to be created everywhere will help promote good habits through handwashing in the city across the globe.
1. Why is SoaPen invented?| A．To teach kids the importance of handwashing. |
| B．To make money from children consumers. |
| C．To help kids wash their hands correctly. |
| D．To rid kids of some kinds of diseases. |
| A．SoaPen is designed for classrooms. |
| B．Handwashing is anything but little. |
| C．Some teachers ignore kids’ health in school. |
| D．Kids don’t know the right way of handwashing. |
| A．Remove. | B．Reserve. | C．Learn. | D．Show. |
| A．SoaPen has become popular worldwide. |
| B．Kids’ health should be paid more attention to. |
| C．SoaPen has been applied in Mumbai schools. |
| D．The inventors think SoaPen has a bright future. |
6 . A British friend told me he couldn’t understand why Chinese people love eating sunflower seeds（嗑瓜子）as a snack so much. “I’ve met a lot of older Chinese and many have a crack in their front teeth, I believe that’s from cracking the seeds,” he said.
I had never noticed the habit, but once he mentioned it, I suddenly became more aware. I realized that whenever I’m watching TV or typing a report, I always start mindlessly cracking sunflower seeds. My friend doesn’t like sunflower seeds, and, to him, it seems unnecessary to work so much just to get one small seed.
When we were young, the whole family would usually get together for Chinese New Year. Then, we all lived close to one another, usually in a small city, and sometimes even neighbors would go door-to-door on Chinese New Year’s Eve to check out what every household was making.
I remember my parents would be in the kitchen cooking. Out in the living room, a large table would already be laid out, complete with fancy tablecloth, ready-made dumpling fillings, and dishes full of candy, fruits and sunflower seeds. Some of the dishes were to be offered to our ancestors later, while others were for neighbors and children to eat before the evening feast. I must have learned how to crack sunflower seeds back then.
I don’t think it’s right to criticize one’s choice in food or eating habits, no matter how strange they may seem.
It’s not only in China. When I went abroad, I found people had all sorts of strange habits when it came to food. In Denmark, they put salted red fish on bread and eat it for dinner, no matter how much it ruins your breath. They think it’s。delicacy（美味佳肴）, and it’s connected to their certain culture. I think it’s a wonderful tradition.
1. Why can the British friend not understand when he found Chinese love eating sunflower seeds?| A．Because the seeds are too hard to crack. |
| B．Because he thinks they art harmful to teeth. |
| C．Because he doesn’t think the seeds are good. |
| D．Because he doesn’t thinks the seeds are worth eating. |
| A．The families get together for it. | B．Eating sunflower seeds is related to it. |
| C．The traditions of celebrating it disappear. | D．Children can eat delicious food on that day. |
| A．indifferent | B．critical | C．understandable | D．doubtful |
| A．It is good to form healthy eating habits. |
| B．Eating habits come from a certain culture. |
| C．Changing your eating habits will change your life. |
| D．One kind of food doesn’t necessarily suit everyone. |
Be careful what you say around your dog．It might understand more than you think．
A border collie named Rico recognizes the names of about 200 objects, say researchers in Germany．The dog also appears to be able to learn new words as easily as a 3-year-old child．Its word-learning skills are as good as those of a parrot or chimpanzee．
In one experiment, the researchers took all 200 items that Rico is supposed to know and divided them into 20 groups of 10 objects．Then the owner told the dog to go and fetch one of the items and bring it back．In four tests, Rico got 37 out of 40 commands right．As the dog couldn't see anyone to get clues, the scientists believe Rico must understand the meanings of certain words．
In another experiment, the scientists took one toy that Rico had never seen before and put it in a room with seven toys whose names the dog already knew．The owner then told Rico to fetch the object, using a word the dog had never heard before．
The correct object was chosen in seven out of ten tests, suggesting that the dog had worked
out the answer by process of elimination（排除法）．A month later, Rico remembered half of the new names, which is even more impressive．
Rico is thought to be smarter than the average dog．For one thing, Rico is a border collie, a breed （品种）known for its mental abilities．In addition, the 9-year-old dog has been trained to fetch toys by their names since the age of nine months．
It's hard to know if all dogs understand at least some of the words we say．Even if they do, they can't talk back．Still, it wouldn't hurt to sweet-talk your dog every now and then．You might just get a big, wet kiss in return!
1. From paragraph 2 we know that __________．
| A．animals are as clever as human beings |
| B．chimpanzees have very good word-learning skills |
| C．dogs are smarter than parrots and chimpanzees |
| D．dogs have similar learning abilities as 3-year-old children |
| A．Rico is smart enough to get all commands right |
| B．Rico can recognize different things including toys |
| C．Rico has developed the ability of learning mathematics |
| D．Rico won't forget the names of objects once recognizing them |
| A．Rico has a better memory partly because of its proper early training． |
| B．The purpose of the experiments is to show the border collie's mental abilities． |
| C．The border collie is world-famous for recognizing objects． |
| D．Rico is born to understand its owner's commands． |
| A．To train your dog． | B．To talk to your dog． |
| C．To be careful with your dog． | D．To be friendly to your dog． |
8 . Suppose you want to buy some new clothes or a new TV. Or maybe you need some work done on your car. How can you find the best price without shopping all over town？Ads can help you. Ads can show you lots of prices. And you don’t have to go anywhere to see them. Just open a newspaper or magazine，and you’ll find plenty of ads. The following is an ad about TV sets for sale. Please read it and answer the questions below.
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．Five. |
| A．You can buy any kind on July 14th. |
| B．The service time is 9-9 every day except Monday. |
| C．The larger the screen is, the higher the price will be. |
| D．The lowest price is more than 300. |
| A．The date of the American National Day (July 4th). |
| B．The postcode of the area where the store is. |
| C．The phone number of the store. |
| D．The names of the TV sets. |
9 . “Congratulations, Mr. Jones, it’s a girl.”
Fatherhood is going to have a different meaning and bring forth a different response from every man who hears these words. Some feel proud when they receive the news, while others worry, wondering whether they will be good fathers. Although there are some men who like children and may have had considerable experience with them, others do not particularly care for children and spend little time with them. Many fathers and mothers have been planning and looking forward to children for some time. For other couples, pregnancy was an accident that both husband and wife have accepted willingly or unwillingly.
Whatever the reaction to the birth of a child, it is clear that the change from the role of husband to that of father is a difficult task. Yet, unfortunately, few attempts have been made to educate fathers in this resocialization process. Although many books have been written about American mothers, only recently has literature referred to the role of a father.
It is argued by some writers that the transition (转化) to the father’s role, although difficult, is not nearly as great as the transition the wife must make to the mother’s role. The mother’s role seems to require a complete transformation in daily life and highly innovative (革新性的) adaptation, on the other hand, the father’s role is less demanding and immediate. However, even though we mentioned the fact that growing numbers of women are working outside the home, the father is still thought by many as the breadwinner in the family.
1. According to the author, being a father ______.| A．brings a feeling of excitement to some men |
| B．makes some men feel proud and others worried. |
| C．has a different meaning for those who have daughters |
| D．means nothing but more responsibilities |
| A．criticizes (批评) fathers for not taking enough responsibilities in bringing up their children |
| B．excuses the American writers for ignoring the difficulties of being a father |
| C．supports the idea that the chief (主要的) role of a father is to earn money for the family |
| D．complains about the lack of social program to help husbands get used to the role of a father |
| A．change her life style in a highly innovative way |
| B．stay at home to take care of the baby |
| C．make a complete change in her everyday life to deal with the new situation |
| D．help her husband in his resocialization process |
| A．have an easier job to do | B．have to make more difficult adaptation |
| C．have to shoulder more responsibilities | D．can usually do a better job |
10 . My wife and I spent two weeks in London last year. We went there in the autumn. We think it is the best season to visit England. The weather is usually good and there aren’t too many tourists in October.
We stayed in a small hotel in the West End. It was convenient as we did most of our sightseeing on foot. Taxis were too expensive, we couldn’t understand the bus routes, and my wife didn’t like traveling under the ground. She said it made her feel sick.
We went to look at the places which all tourists visit. We saw Buckingham Palace and the National Gallery. We went shopping in Oxford Street and spent too much money. What we liked most, though, was going to the theatre. We didn’t have the chance to see such wonderful plays at home. A lot of people say English food is bad. We didn’t think so. It is true that most of the restaurants are French or Italian or Chinese, but we had some very good meals.
In fact, we enjoyed our holiday so much that we have already booked again for this year. We are going to take our umbrellas, though. I’m sure we’ll need them sometimes.
1. The couple chose a small hotel in the West End to stay in because _________.| A．taxis were too expensive | B．they could go sightseeing on foot |
| C．the underground made the wife feel sick. | D．all the above |
| A．booking in the hotel | B．finding the bus routes |
| C．going sightseeing on foot | D．having meals |
| A．were satisfied with | B．disliked |
| C．were a bit unhappy about | D．regretted |
| A．They thought English food was bad. | B．They will visit London again. |
| C．They visited London last October. | D．They didn’t take their umbrella last year. |
