1 . When I was in senior high school, I was greatly fond of playing volleyball and thus signed up for the school team whose coach was Mr. Forest. At that time, being skinny was a fashion for all teenage girls. I also had such a dream. Besides training as hard as possible, I reduced my eating amount to an awful degree. Soon I began losing weight, which thrilled me, and I even grew to love the tiredness and light-headedness that came with my poor diet, for those feelings meant that I was winning.
As the season progressed, things became bad between Coach Forest and me. He felt that something was wrong with my health. He talked with me about my eating and was angry that I wouldn’t listen to him when he tried to make me eat. He tried to persuade me in a determined way and so we fought constantly. Then my hunger started to affect my performance. I was so tired that practice and games were becoming a struggle. One afternoon, with deep hurt in his eyes, Coach Forest asked me what I had eaten and I told him nothing at all. He looked at me, disappointment in his eyes, and walked away.
A couple of weeks later I attended a formal dinner for our volleyball team. I stood there as my coach managed to say something nice about me. Then I realized that I had ruined my senior year by being disrespectful, and I had probably ruined his mood as well. So that evening I wrote him a letter, making a sincere apology and thanking him.
Then one Saturday, as I was in the library, someone gently patted my arm and said softly, “Linda Walter, how are you doing?” I looked up and saw the familiar face. “Thanks for the letter,” he said. “It meant a lot.” When I think of a coach, I think of someone above me, someone who gives instruction, but not a friend. But Coach Forest is different, and, like any other good friend, he dealt with my problem in a determined way even when I hated him for it at that time. I didn’t deserve his kindness, but he selflessly gave it regardless of my terrible attitude. I will forever be grateful for his help, and for his unexpected friendship.
1. When the author ate a poor diet and had a sense of tiredness, how did she feel?| A．Anxious. | B．Nervous. | C．Ashamed. | D．Very excited. |
| A．She didn’t quit her idea. | B．She followed his advice. |
| C．She left the volleyball team. | D．She apologized to him. |
| A．She felt sorry for eating too little food. |
| B．She decided to improve her performance. |
| C．She felt sorry for her being disrespectful and was grateful for Forest’s care. |
| D．She wanted to build a closer relationship with Forest. |
| A．My Apology to My Coach | B．Unexpected Friendship |
| C．A Strict Volleyball Coach | D．A Fight Between My Coach and Me |
2 . Hip hop is a form of musical and artistic expression that started in urban (城市) areas in New York in the 1970s. The expression comes from joining together two words with special meanings. “Hip” means cool or current while “hop” refers to the style of dancing.
Kool Herc Campbell is considered very important in starting hip hop culture. He was from Jamaica and used the Jamaican tradition of poetry and speech over music. He started playing music and speaking poetry at outdoor basketball courts to give encouragement to the young dancers. This speech soon came to be known as “rapping”.
Then hip hop as a culture started to develop and spread throughout some areas of New York City. This culture featured graffiti (涂鸦) art as well as its own unique style and music. Artists and rap musicians came to consider hip hop as a new urban culture. As it grew in popularity, newspapers and magazines started reporting about it.
In the early 1980s, bands and musicians started experimenting with electronic instruments to make a new sound. Hip hop was starting to mature (成熟) as the art of making music in new ways spread. Rap artists also started to change their style. Many rappers talked about urban problems, showing their disappointment in drugs, unemployment, and unfair treatment by authorities such as the police.
Recently, hip hop has spread globally. In Europe, it has also become a way for many young people to express their anger at social problems and environmental issues. In many parts of Asia, hip hop has been adopted as a form of music for business, produced only with consumers in mind. Many people believe that this is not “real” hip hop music and argue that many countries have simply borrowed the “look” and “sound” of hip hop without really understanding the culture behind it.
1. Why does the writer introduce Kool Herc Campbell?| A．To inform us that he was the founder of hip hop. |
| B．To tell us how he became a world-famous singer. |
| C．To prove that he combined music with American poetry. |
| D．To explain why he inspired artists to explore urban culture. |
| A．Solving urban problems. |
| B．Developing its unique style. |
| C．Spreading around the world. |
| D．Using advanced musical instruments. |
| A．The culture behind it has changed. |
| B．It can easily cause negative emotions. |
| C．It sounds totally different from its origin. |
| D．Some people use it for improper purposes. |
| A．Hip Hop around the World |
| B．The Rise and Spread of Hip Hop |
| C．Hip Hop: The Most Popular Art Form |
| D．Kool Herc Campbell: The Father of Hip Hop |
3 . We often purchase food that's been mass-produced and that’s travelled many miles before it ends up on our plate. So for some, growing their own food is a better option — and it tastes good too!
From growing vegetables in little pots on your balcony to tending to a small plot of land, called allotments, there are many ways to produce home-grown food. Allotments are a typically British idea, and they give people with a small or no garden, a space to plant and care for fruit and vegetables. It can be backbreaking work digging, weeding and watering the soil, but the result is fresh and organically grown produce.
The recent COVID-19 pandemic lockdown means demand for allotments has seen a renaissance (复兴). Miriam from the University of Sheffield told the BBC that people with allotments have been spending a lot of their time on their plots, growing plenty of fresh fruit and veg — which, at times, have been challenging to source in supermarkets. She says “Coronavirus has... highlighted to people the fragility (脆弱) within our globalized food system. In a time of crisis, interest in self-sufficiency rises.”
But for those with limited space, a solution to grow your own veg lies closer to home-using pots. Once you can lay your hands on some compost (堆肥), you can plant seeds. Sheila Brand lives in a third-floor flat. She has managed to grow tomatoes and aubergines and is already harvesting raspberries. She said excitedly: “Oh it’s got a new leaf!”
As well as the benefits of saving money and enjoying tasty food, gardener Mark says “growing your own from a balcony or window ledge not only improves your wellbeing and immediate environment, you can actually grow a lot of veg.” So, maybe it’s time for us all to get planting and develop our green fingers!
1. What is the characteristic of allotments?| A．Mass-produced. | B．Organically grown. |
| C．Typically American. | D．Only growing vegetables. |
| A．The outbreak of coronavirus. | B．The challenge from supermarkets. |
| C．Globalized food system. | D．The rise of self-confidence. |
| A．attract more readers to read the passage | B．offer a clear idea of the text structure |
| C．call on more people to stay at home | D．serve as an example of problem solving |
| A．It is very economical to buy food from the supermarket. |
| B．There are many advantages of growing your own food. |
| C．Planting can make our green fingers green and tender. |
| D．If you want to have delicious food, you must grow on your own. |
4 . It s good to share, right? Growing up as kids we are told to share our toys and not be selfish. We also live in an age where discussing our feelings is encouraged. But when does it all become too much? With new fashion trending all the time, such as dance challenges and wearing a pillow as a dress, the question is: when can sharing become oversharing on social media?
What is oversharing? The term has become related to social media，but it doesn’t only belong to this platform. Imagine you head to a party and you meet someone. Within five minutes they have told details about their personal life. While some of us may try to escape these people, according to marriage therapist Carolyn Cole, this form of oversharing could come from a strong desire to connect with someone. But how does this translate to social media?
Dr. Christopher Hand, a lecturer in internet psychology, says the more details people share, the less sympathy (同情)we express when things go wrong. This could be due to a belief that we attract our own negative experiences the more we share them. It seems that sadfishing, the idea of searching for sympathy by oversharing, is generally considered as negative rather than the cry for help it could actually be.
However, Dr. Hand’s research also seems to suggest that the more we post on a platform, the more socially attractive we become—if the posts are positive. Even back in 2015, Gwendolyn Seidman PhD, said that we should avoid complaining and being negative online. We should also control clear of showing off or bragging (吹嘘), as it’s now known—especially about our love lives. It makes sense—if your date is going "that well”, would you really have time to share a photo with text?
So, how can you know if you are oversharing? Well, why not ask your friends in real life. They would probably be more than happy to tell you if your posts about your breakfast or your gripes about your lack of money really are too much.
1. The phrases ''dance challenges" and -pillow dresses" in paragraph 1 are used to prove_____________.| A．a dislike of oversharing | B．an enthusiastic interest in oversharing |
| C．social media becoming free | D．oversharing being forbidden |
| A．Need to connect with people. | B．Curiosity to know others. |
| C．Desire to help others. | D．Ambition to succeed. |
| A．Sadfishing is generally considered as positive. |
| B．We might be in danger when bad things happen. |
| C．People don't feel sorry as much when things are wrong. |
| D．become more socially attractive no matter what happens. |
| A．Negative. | B．Neutral. | C．Positive | D．Indifferent. |
| A．Future. | B．Dates. | C．Desire. | D．Complaints. |
5 . Whoosh!
I sailed by person after person on the track.
I'm a runner. Well, technically a jogger. I often run near my home, most people on the track walking, therefore my speed, meager in running terms and faster than walking.
My speed and endurance(耐力)seem amazing to the walkers. Some will come and walk for an hour. I'm running when they come and still running when they leave. I have whooshed by them twenty or more times.
As I circled the track with my long steady strides passing the walkers like lamp poles, I got to feel puffed-up. You don't have to tell me, but after the constant whooshing past far younger people, it goes to your mind.
Then he came.
He was short, perhaps five feet three. He didn't look like much of a runner. I saw him get out of the car and stretch as I whooshed by a couple holding hands.
He started running a few feet ahead of me.
He was fast. I sped up to keep up. At last, I had someone to pace myself against. After half a lap I was on his heels but my breath was coming harder and heavier. After the first lap I was gasping but still on his heels. After a lap and a half my foot started hurting.
I slowed down and got back to my pace. The pain in foot went away. I could breathe again without sounding like I had a lung disease. He sped away.
In a fairly short time, whoosh! He went past me.
In life, there will always be those slower and faster. Some have natural ability, and some have trained harder. For some, speed is simply their destiny.
The point is we each have our own speed and we often end up hurting ourselves and pushing ourselves to the point where the breath is knocked out of us because we are trying to keep up.
I learned several lessons that day.
1. What does the underlined word “puffed-up” in paragraph 5 probably mean?| A．Superior. | B．Breathless. |
| C．Dissatisfied. | D．Energetic. |
| A．He was suffering from a lung disease. |
| B．He decided it was not a fair competition. |
| C．He got hurt in the foot when trying to keep up. |
| D．He realized he was just trying to outrun someone else. |
| A．Don't judge the capabilities of others by how they look. |
| B．Don't run fast when you should be running slowly. |
| C．Don't run your race to the best of your ability in life. |
| D．Don't have somebody else be your pace setter. |
| A．Running: Keep up with others. |
| B．Speed: Run you own race. |
| C．Endurance: Say no to “give up”. |
| D．Destiny: Accept the fate. |
6 . A 4K restored 3D version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone has been released across the mainland theaters in China on August 14th, 2020.
Despite it being sort of an "old film" which was first released 19 years ago, its charm has stood the test of time, making it a classic that can always offer new attractions in different times.
Are you ready to learn some fascinating “secrets”? Here we go!
Real owls trained for 6 months
Despite Harry's owl, Hedwig, being portrayed as female, the bird was actually male. It took a falconer(驯鹰者)six months to train the owls in the film to learn how to hold letters in their beaks. Some commenters once said they were more interested to know how the owls learned to stay awake during the day.
Emma too beautiful for Hermione
If J.K. Rowling had met Emma Watson before she spoke to her, she may not have been cast. The author recalled: “It was really lucky I spoke to Emma on the phone first before I met her, because I fell absolutely in love with her. When I met her, and she was this very beautiful girl, I just had to go, 'Ok, ok. It's film. Deal with it'. I'm still going to see gawky(笨拙的), geeky Hermione in my mind.”
Rowling refused to play Harry's mom
That's what the filmmakers once wanted. The invitation would be fitting, as she always considered Harry her fictional son. However, Rowling declined. She later explained: “I really am not cut out to be an actress, even one who just has to stand there and wave. I would have messed it up somehow.”
Rupert Grint's audition(试镜）
When Rupert-who starred as Ron-was 10, he auditioned for the role by submitting a video of himself dressed as a female drama teacher and rapping about how much he wanted the role, “Hello there, my name's Rupert Grint, and I hope you like this and don't think I stink(讨厌).”
1. Why did Emma Watson get the chance to play in the film?| A．Emma is too beautiful. |
| B．No other actresses applied for the role. |
| C．Rowling made a deal with Emma before they met. |
| D．Emma left a good impression on Rowling on the phone. |
| A．It is typical of owls to stay awake at night instead of in the daytime. |
| B．Emma is an awkward and silly girl in Rowling's mind. |
| C．Rowling disliked playing Harry's mom who had to stand there and wave. |
| D．Rupert played the role of a woman teacher in the film. |
| A．19 | B．27 |
| C．36 | D．45 |
7 . Faced with a declining population and workforce, Japan has been increasingly turning to robots for help. Over the years, the robots have carried out a large number of human tasks, including building products and providing care for the elderly.
However, the robots currently being used by companies, like Walmart and Amazon, are only able to perform single, repetitive tasks, such as stacking boxes. Model-T, on the other hand, has a wider range of movement and is able to hold, pick and place objects of several different shapes and sizes into different locations, making it ideal for convenience and grocery stores, which sell a large variety of items.
Model-T robots are operated from a distant location by human “pilots” wearing a virtual reality (VR) headset and special gloves, which allow them to feel the product the robot is holding in their hands and guide it to the right shelf.
The VR-controlled robots are ten times cheaper than automated robots, because they don’t require advanced programming and are easier to develop and maintain. And their easy-to-use controls require little training. Tomohiro Kano, a general manager in charge of development at FamilyMart, believes this will enable the chain to recruit workers who would typically not work in stores.
Though Model-T appears to be getting rapidly through the experiments, it is not quite ready to enter the workforce. Besides being a lot slower than humans, it is also only able to lift packaged items, and cannot get hold of things such as fruits and vegetables. The company is working to improve the weaknesses and hopes to introduce a faster, more skillful Model-T within the next two years. They believe that in addition to the stores, the robots could also be useful in hospitals, allowing doctors to do operations from remote locations.
1. What is one of the features of Model-T according to the text?| A．It works much faster than humans. | B．It can easily hold all kinds of objects. |
| C．It can be operated from a distance away. | D．It is harder to produce than an automated robot. |
| A．The low price of Model-T. | B．The easiness to operate Model-T. |
| C．The low-level programming of Model-T. | D．The strict training for maintaining Model-T. |
| A．Model-T is now being massively produced. |
| B．Japan’s workforce will be reduced by Model-T. |
| C．The weaknesses of Model-T have been overcome. |
| D．Model-T may be used in wider fields in the future. |
| A．Technology. | B．Economy. | C．Lifestyle. | D．Environment. |
8 . According to a new US study, couples who expect their children to look after them in old age should hope they have daughters because daughters are twice as attentive as sons overall.
The research by Angelina Grigoryeva, from Princeton University, found that, while women provide as much care for their elderly parents as they can manage, men do as little as they can to get away with and often leave it to female family members.
Her analysis of the family networks of 26,000 old Americans concluded that gender (性别) is one of the most important things that decide whether or not people will actively care for their elderly parents.
In a paper presented at the annual conference of the American Sociological Association in San Francisco, she concludes that simply having a sister makes men likely provide less care. Using data from the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study, a study which has been tracking a cross-section of over 50s for the last decade, she calculated that women provide an average of 12.3 hours a month of care for elderly parents while men offer only 5.6 hours.
"Sons reduce their relative caregiving efforts when they have a sister, while daughters increase theirs when they have a brother."
"This suggests that sons pass on parent caregiving responsibilities to their sisters."
In the UK, the 2011 Census (人口普查) showed that there are now around 6.5 million people with caring responsibilities, a figure which has risen by a tenth in a decade.
But many are doing so at the risk of their health. The census showed that those who provide 50 hours or more of care a week while trying to hold down a full time job are three times more likely to be struggling with ill health than their working counterparts (同事) who are not carers.
1. According to the finding of the research, from which of the following families will the old probably enjoyed the best care?| A．The parents with two sons. |
| B．The parents with one daughter. |
| C．The parents with two daughters. |
| D．The parents with one daughter and one son. |
| A．By giving out some questionnaires. |
| B．By tracking some of the American families. |
| C．By doing some research on a nursing home. |
| D．By analyzing some of the American family networks. |
| A．Angelina led the study of Health and Retirement Study. |
| B．Angelina analyzed various data and researches to get the finding. |
| C．Caring responsibilities are a heavy burden to most Americans. |
| D．Most male families will not take on the responsibility of looking after the old. |
| A．Many care providers work longer hours than others. |
| B．People should give up their job to care for the elderly. |
| C．People shouldn't pass on caring responsibilities to others. |
| D．Many care providers might have potential health problems. |
9 . We humans used to think that our ability to use tools made us different from all other animals. But then we found out that chimps use tools, too, such as sticks to gather distant snacks and rocks to hammer open nuts. And some birds use tools — like brainy New Caledonian crows (乌鸦), which can collect multipart tools to solve puzzle boxes presented to them by researchers.
Now we’ve learned that a different group of birds — seabirds — can also use tools. Scientists spied on Atlantic puffins, the distinctive birds with bright orange beaks (鸟喙). And in 2014 the observers spotted one floating on the sea off Wales, scratching (抓挠) its back with a stick. Then, in 2018, the researchers caught another tool-using puffin on camera, on Iceland’s Grímsey Island. In the short video clip, a puffin can be seen grabbing a stick with its beak and then using it to scratch its chest — perhaps to remove one of the seabird ticks (蜱虫) living on the island that summer.
The details about puffins’ superb ability are in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Study author Annette Fayet told Scientific American in an e-mail that these two instances don’t prove that seabirds are highly intelligent — though they could be smarter than we thought. But what is certain, she says, is that puffin populations are crashing, and it’s largely the fault of us and our tools — which have led to overfishing, climate change, marine pollution and the presence of invasive species, all of which make seabird life harder. It would be nice to keep puffins and other birds around and find out just what else we don’t know that they’re able to do.
1. What do we know from the first paragraph?| A．Chimps are smarter than other animals. |
| B．Crows are the cleverest birds in the world. |
| C．Some animals are smarter than originally thought. |
| D．Mammals and birds are cleverer than other species. |
| A．To float on the water. | B．To treat some diseases. |
| C．To kill island insects. | D．To make use of a stick. |
| A．They possess high intelligence. |
| B．They have been endangered for long. |
| C．Their number is decreasing very fast. |
| D．Their existence affects other sea animals. |
| A．It is necessary to protect seabirds like puffins. |
| B．Humans are to blame for some species’ extinction. |
| C．Scientists have known more than they need about birds. |
| D．Enough evidence has been collected to prove puffins’ value. |
10 . At 5:12 am on April 18, 1906, people living in San Francisco were awakened by a 40-second earthquake. After a 10-second stop, an even stronger earthquake struck, lasting 25 seconds. Survivors saw the ground move in waves as high as three feet. The earthquake damaged streets, and streetcar rails.
Fires broke out soon after the earthquake, caused primarily by overturned stoves (炉子) or damaged electrical wiring. Because the city’s water mains had suffered more than 300 breaks, no water was available (可用的) to fight the fires, which rapidly burned beyond control. To control the fire, firefighters began to dynamite (炸毁) buildings in its path. Unfortunately, this method sometimes spread the fire. By the evening of April 18, 1,700 soldiers had arrived in San Francisco to help both local people and the firefighters.
After burning uncontrolled for three days, the fire finally burned itself out by the morning of April 21. More than 28,000 buildings had been destroyed, resulting in about $500 million in damage.
Although the official number of deaths was 311, it is now believed that about 3,000 people were killed. About 250,000 people (two-thirds of the city’s population) were left homeless. They were forced to live in tents (帐篷) in public parks.
Among the earthquake’s survivors was the famous Italian opera singer Enrico Caruso. On the night of April 17, he had performed (表演) the role of José in Georges Bizet’ s 1875 opera, “Carmen,” and had been scheduled for another performance on April 18. Caruso was so shocked by the earthquake that he made up his mind never to return to San Francisco again.
Ansel Adams, age 4, survived the earthquake along with his family, though their house and many things were damaged. An aftershock threw young Adams face-first into a garden wall, giving him what his friend Cedric Wright would call an “earthquake nose.” Describing his broken nose, which was never repaired, Adams would later joke, “My beauty was damaged forever. But he felt the power of the quake, which he called his “closest experience with terrible human suffering.”
1. What made it difficult to control the fire?| A．Damaged streets. |
| B．Fallen buildings. |
| C．The big problem of getting water. |
| D．The low number of firefighters. |
| A．Dead bodies could be found in public parks. |
| B．More than half of the locals had to find shelter. |
| C．Over 250,000 people had to live on the street. |
| D．About 28,000 buildings survived with little damage. |
| A．Completely lost. | B．Very frightened. |
| C．Really annoyed. | D．Extremely sad. |
| A．He was laughed at by his friend. |
| B．His family members were hurt badly. |
| C．His looks were unexpectedly changed. |
| D．He got injured while trying to protect his nose. |
