1 . When I was young, my mother didn't have the money to send me to school, but she thought it was important for me to keep up with education. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself. But because she had to go to work, the only time she could do it was at 4:30 in the morning.
We need every one of you to develop your talents and your skills so that you can help us old folks solve our most difficult problems. If you quit on school—you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country. No one's written your destiny（命运）for you, because you write your own destiny. You make your own future. That's why today I'm calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education and do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending some time reading a book.
But whatever you decide to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it. I know that sometimes you get that sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work—that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star. No one's born being good at all things. You become good at things through hard work. You're not a good athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don't hit every note the first time you sing a song. You've got to practice.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．The writer's home was very rich. |
| B．The writer's mother was a teacher. |
| C．The writer was born in a poor family. |
| D．The writer didn't like reading books. |
| A．To quit on their country to earn more money. |
| B．To offer help to the old people who have difficulties. |
| C．To write their own new destiny by working as TV star. |
| D．To spend some time writing books about their own life. |
| A．Because everyone's future is determined by themselves. |
| B．Because everyone's future is to do simple work. |
| C．Because everyone should do their homework. |
| D．Because everyone should pay attention in class. |
| A．By rapping. |
| B．By playing basketball. |
| C．By being a reality star. |
| D．By working hard. |
2 . Teens Aren’t Getting Enough Sleep And Schools Are Partly to Blame
Most kids are severely sleep deprived, and early school starting times aren’t helping.
Across the country, only 17.7 percent of middle and high schools start classes after 8:30 a.m.. The average school start time for middle and high schools around the country is 8:03 a.m., according to a new analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The AAP advises that schools start after 8:30 to help teenagers get 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep a night — the amount the AAP says is ideal. Currently, less than a third of high school students sleep 8 hours a night, says the CDC analysis.
The analysis uses 2011–2012 information from the Department of Education to gather the start times of about 39,700 schools. Alaska has the latest average school start time at 8:33 a.m., while Louisiana has the earliest at 7:40 a.m.
Sleep-deprived teenagers are more likely to suffer from depression, use drugs, get low grades and be overweight. Even though schools often face obstacles when trying to delay school start times due to traffic and scheduling concerns, some have made progress recently.
After Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts delayed school start times in 2008 from 7:55 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., the private school saw a number of benefits. As the Huffington Post previously reported, the school’s 2014 viewbook noted that students earned higher grades; ate more breakfasts, visited the health center far less frequently; and performed better in athletics. Teachers reported that first-period discussion classes were uncharacteristically lively from the beginning bell.
Half of parents whose teens attend schools that start before 8:30 would support a later start time, according to a 2014 survey from the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.
1. The benefits of enough sleep for students don’t include ________.| A．earning higher grades | B．eating more breakfast |
| C．visiting the health center more frequently | D．performing better in athletics |
| A．making a comparison | B．using examples |
| C．presenting research findings | D．quoting diagrams |
| A．The earlier schools start, the higher grades students can get. |
| B．All schools should start after 8:30 across the world. |
| C．Nine hours of sleep a night is the most ideal choice. |
| D．The lack of sleep may lead to various terrible problems. |
| A．A research report. | B．A health guide. |
| C．A class presentation. | D．An official document. |
3 . Music died here last spring，or rather，it was killed by members of the school committee who ignored the importance of music and drama as part of the high school curriculum.
The committee decide that teaching students how to take a standardized test is more important than a curriculum in which students can explore their interests in the arts.Because the school system is running out of funding，it needs to make sure that students pass the test or even more money will be lost.If students fail the state standardized test，it is not the fault of drama and music classes.They are failing because the“academic”classes are in deficiency in a way.
It is painful to think of how many students will be discouraged from singing，acting，and playing instruments because school programs are no longer offered.Many families cannot afford private music lessons，and many potential musicians and artists may not find their callings if they are not exposed to the arts in school.The fact that the school committee thinks the arts are not worth the investment will certainly make some students believe the arts are not worth their time or support and the cycle will continue.
Teaching for a test does not shape students into well rounded people.It blocks the natural sense to create and express feelings through the arts—there is more to life than the analytical thinking that math and English provide.What happens after a test？Sure，a student might graduate，but they will have limited knowledge—certainly not a good preparation for the real world.
1. Music and drama are removed from the high school curriculum in that________.| A．some students fail the state standardized test |
| B．fewer and fewer students love to attend them |
| C．the school curriculum has been changed |
| D．the school is afraid of losing financial support |
| A．Not enough. | B．Too many. |
| C．Too boring. | D．Not proper. |
| A．motivate students in creativity and expression |
| B．make students roundshaped people in future |
| C．provide students with careful thinking |
| D．prevent students from graduating from high school |
| A．Humorously. | B．Bitterly. |
| C．Excitedly. | D．Mildly. |
4 . Are you interested in working with animals? Now here comes the CHANCE. Kirby Wildlife Park has set up the unique Keeper Experience package. The fantastic experience is available to anyone over the age of 18 who is reasonably fit. We regret that for health and safety reasons, participants who are pregnant, in a wheelchair or suffering from illnesses cannot take part.
A typical day
9:15 Arrival
9:30 Health and Safety Briefing
10:00 Apes and Monkeys
While cleaning out the enclosure (围场) you will find out about how enclosures are enriched with novel items and new smells to stimulate the animals′ senses and imitate their natural environment.
12:00 Lunch
14:00 Big Cats
As one of the highlights of this volunteer experience, you will feed the cats and learn about their nutritional needs. The keeper will give you an introduction to how cat behavior can be read to get an idea of their welfare and health.
16:30 Meet the Team
Meet more of the staff and learn how you can get further involved with work at the park. Learn about our animal adoption plan, what it takes to be a good keeper and where to obtain the right qualifications for a career in animal welfare.
Booking and cancellation
The Keeper Experience is available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year, and must be booked at least two weeks in advance. Full payment is needed when booking.
Cancellations must be made more than fourteen days before the event. Otherwise, you won′t receive a full refund.
1. What kind of people can experience working with animals in Kirby Wildlife Park?| A．A pregnant woman. |
| B．A man who is quite healthy. |
| C．A teenager sitting in a wheelchair. |
| D．A student under the age of 18. |
| A．At 12:00. |
| B．At 9:30. |
| C．At 10:00. |
| D．At 16:30. |
| A．a booking should be made over two weeks before the event |
| B．people are allowed to cancel a booking with a full refund at any time |
| C．cancellations need to be made on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays |
| D．participants can have the unique experience every day throughout the year |
5 . How does running a marathon and burning over 1, 000 calories per hour without even getting off your sofa completely sound? That's exactly what BionicGym, an advanced wearable neuro-stimulator (神经刺激器), claims to help you achieve.
Let's be honest, we've all seen similar devices in sci-fi movies or teleshopping advertisements before, but they're really not that effective. However, BionicGym creator Dr Louis Crowe says this product is truly revolutionary.
Crowe says he came up with the idea for this unique neuro-stimulator over 16 years ago, when he would get into the cold Atlantic ocean so he could observe the effects of shivering (颤栗). He discovered that as he got colder he didn't shiver faster, but he shivered at the same rate. He also found that this natural way of burning calories allowed a person to burn a lot of calories without actually doing any exercise.
Crowe did more research on how to use shivering as an effective training and weight-loss tool, and developed BionicGym. He's teamed up with Dr Barry Broderick to bring it to market. To do so, they need some funding to redesign the device. Then it has to be approved by regulators. BionicGym may be ready for sale by November this year. But people seem so impressed by the abilities of BionicGym to give them a workout while resting on a sofa that they seem to have no problem parting with $ 300 for the chance to one day try it out. Crowe's crowdfunding campaign had a goal of $ 20, 000, but with 11 days to go, it's already passed the $ 287. 000 mark.
In a promotional video, Crowe presents a graph showing that used at top levels. BionicGym can burn around 1, 100 calories per hour, and get your heart rate up to around 180 bpm-beats per minute. Crowe warns that using the device at top levels makes for a very tough workout, requiring previous training. Beginners or older people can use it at lower levels and make their way up to the tougher programs.
1. Why does the author mention the question in Paragraph 1 ?| A．To express his doubts. |
| B．To introduce the topic of the text. |
| C．To describe the benefits of running. |
| D．To compare different calorie-burning ideas. |
| A．A sci-fi movie. | B．His imagination. |
| C．A teleshopping ad. | D．His own experience. |
| A．It's hard to win a chance to try using BionicGym. |
| B．BionicGym can't win regulators 'approval easily. |
| C．The public show great enthusiasm for BionicGym. |
| D．BionicGym's future will be determined by its funding. |
| A．It especially appeals to old people. |
| B．It can meet the needs of different people. |
| C．It is tough for beginners to use the device. |
| D．It can burn around 1, 100 calories every day. |
6 . Somewhere in the warm, clear waters off the coast of Australia, a mature bottlenose dolphin is swimming with her daughter. It's dinnertime. But, instead of chasing down a fish in open waters like she usually does, mom swims over to a basket sponge (海绵)growing on the ocean floor. In a quick move, she breaks off a piece of the sponge, then fits it closely over her mouth. It's hard not to wonder what that watchful youngster might be thinking about all this. Are you going to eat that sponge? Are we playing?
With the sponge secured on her beak, the older dolphin starts sweeping her head back and forth across the ocean floor. She's looking for fish like the sand perch （沙鲈），which hide themselves on the floor of the sea under the sand. As for the sponge stuck onto her mouth, it allows her to clear away the sand without injuring herself on broken pieces of coral, or maybe even suffering the sting （刺痛）of the scorpion fish. The extra work it takes to catch a fish like the sand perch is worth it because they tend to be fattier. And for a dolphin, fattier means more nutritious.
Sure enough, after a few minutes, a sand perch comes out. The fish dashes off for a few yards and then hesitates, waiting for a moment before burying itself in the sand again. In that brief pause, the elder dolphin shakes off the sponge, surfaces for a breath, and then comes down and catches the sand perch before it can rebury itself. She then passes it to her daughter. And with that, the younger dolphin hasn't just gotten a good meal ； more importantly, she's learned a powerful hunting technique - one that years from now, she'll pass along to her own children.
1. Which word best describes the young dolphin's feeling in the first paragraph?| A．Anxious. | B．Curious. |
| C．Scared. | D．Relaxed. |
| A．To chase down fattier fish. | B．To play with her children. |
| C．To protect herself from being hurt. | D．To hide herself under the sand. |
| A．She waits for the right time. | B．She hides under the sand. |
| C．She sets a trap for it. | D．She makes use of space. |
| A．Guidance of an experienced elder. | B．Reliance of a young dolphinonher mom. |
| C．Theprocess of catching fat fish. | D．The powerful hunting technique. |
7 . When I was six, Dad brought home a dog one day, who was called “Brownie”. My brothers and I all loved Brownie and did different things with her. One of us would walk her, another would feed her, and then there were baths, playing catch and many other games. Brownie, in return, loved each and every one of us. One thing that most touched my heart was that she would go to whoever was sick and just be with them. We always felt better when she was around.
One day, as I was getting her food, she chewed up (咬破) one of Dad’s shoes, which had to be thrown away in the end. I knew Dad would be mad and I had to let her know what she did was wrong. When I looked at her and said, “Bad girl.”， she looked down at the ground and then went and hid. I saw tears in her eyes.
Brownie turned out to be more than just our family pet. She went everywhere with us. People would stop and ask if they could pet her. Of course she’d let anyone pet her. She was just the most lovable dog. There were many times when we’d be out walking and a small child would come over and pull on her hair. She never barked (吠) or tried to get away. Funny thing is she would smile. This frightened people because they thought she was showing her teeth. Far from the truth, she loved everyone.
Now many years have passed since Brownie died of old age. I still miss the days when she was with us.
1. What would Brownie do when someone was ill in the family?| A．Keep them company. | B．Look at them sadly. |
| C．Play games with them. | D．Touch them gently. |
| A．would eat anything when hungry | B．loved playing hide-and-seek |
| C．felt sorry for herself | D．disliked the author’s dad |
| A．She was treated as a member of the family. |
| B．She played games with anyone she liked. |
| C．She was loved by everybody she met. |
| D．She went everywhere with the family. |
| A．Caring. | B．Annoying. | C．Brave. | D．Curious. |
8 . Laungi Bhuiyan, a pensioner from the Indian state of Bihar, has become known as “Canal Man” after it was discovered that he spent 30 years of his life digging a 3-kilometer-long water canal, all by himself, using hand tools.
The remote village of Kothilawa had always suffered water shortages, with most of the rainwater falling in the nearby hills flowing into the river, instead of towards the village. This was one of the reasons why some villagers moved away, but Laungi Bhuiyan made up his mind to take matters into his own hands, so he stayed behind. No one offered to help, so for three long decades he dug the 4-feet wide and 3-feet deep canal himself, using only whatever hand tools he had.
Kothilawa is surrounded by forests and mountains. During the rainy season, the water falling from the mountains used to flow straight into a river flowing through the area, but ever since Laungi Bhuiyan completed his 3-km-long canal, it’ s been collected in a pond near the village, allowing locals to raise animals and even irrigate crops, without worrying about water shortages.
Ever since word of his impressive achievements started spreading on social media, Bhuiyan has been nicknamed “Canal Man”. A Twitter user shared his unbelievable story and called Indian billionaire Anand Mahindra, asking him if he would support the Kothilawa hero by making a tractor available to him. “I think his canal is as impressive a monument as the Taj or the Pyramids. I’ d consider it an honor to have him use my tractor,” the billionaire replied.
While many have taken to social media to praise Laungi Bhuiyan for his perseverance（毅力）, some said that had the Government done the job it was supposed to, the Kothilawa man needn’t have worked hard for decades, and locals would have benefited from the water canal much sooner. Others went as far as to suggest his work be recognized, and that he be provided with compensation.
1. Why didn’t Laungi Bhuiyan move away from Kothilawa with other villagers?| A．He didn’t want to have his way of life changed. |
| B．He had great difficulty making a living elsewhere. |
| C．He decided to fix the problem of water shortages himself. |
| D．He wouldn’t separate from the village he’ d lived in for decades. |
| A．Irrigating crops and raising animals. |
| B．Channeling rainwater into the pond. |
| C．Transporting water from a nearby river. |
| D．Storing rainwater during the rainy season. |
| A．He thought highly of Laungi Bhuiyan. |
| B．Laungi Bhuiyan’ s canal is a place of interest. |
| C．He would complete the canal with Laungi Bhuiyan. |
| D．His tractor would greatly ease Laungi Bhuiyan’ s labour. |
| A．Laungi Bhuiyan would be compensated with the help of social media. |
| B．There were different voices on Laungi Bhuiyan’ s decades-long work. |
| C．Laungi Bhuiyan’ s work was highly recognized by Indian authorities. |
| D．All people were not satisfied with Indian authorities’ performance. |
9 . Several years ago, KenKeegan organized a gathering in Las Vegas, with a group of architects involved, who were asked what it would take to design a public school which used 50 percent less energy, cost much less to build and obviously improved students learning. “I think half of them fell off their chairs,” Keegan says.
Keegan is in charge of the management school facilities for Clark County, Nevada, a district roughly the size of Massachusetts. By 2028, 143,000 additional students will enter the already crowded public-education system. Keegan needs 73 new schools to house them. Four architecture teams have nearly finished designing primary school prototypes. With the intention of constructing their schools in 2019, the district will assess how well the schools perform before allowing the winners to conduct their designs in 50 to 70 new buildings.
Green schools keep emerging all over, but in Clark County, which stands out for its vastness, such aggressive targets are difficult because design requirements like more natural light for students go against the realities of a desert climate. “One of the biggest obstacles is getting the right site orientation,” Mark. Mc, a director at SH Architecture, says. His team recently completed a high school in Las Vegas. “You have the same building, same set of windows, but if its orientation is incorrect and it faces the sun, it will be really expensive to cool.”
Surprisingly, the man responsible for one of the most progressive green-design competitions has doubts about ideas of eco-friendly buildings. “I don’t believe in the new green religion,” Keegan says, “Some of the building technologies that you put forward are impractical. I’m only interested in those that work.” But he doesn’t mind if some green features inspire students. He says he hopes to set up green energy systems that allow them to learn about the process of harvesting wind and solar power. “You never know what’s going to start the interest of a child to study math and science,” he says.
1. What can be inferred from the architects’ reaction in Paragraph 1?| A．Half of them lost balance in excitement. |
| B．Disbelief was obviously seen. |
| C．Most of them expressed little interest. |
| D．They burst into cheers. |
| A．Assessment－Construction－Design. |
| B．Assessment－Design－Construction. |
| C．Design－Construction－Assessment. |
| D．Design－Assessment－Construction. |
| A．The large size. | B．Limited facilities. |
| C．The desert climate. | D．Poor natural resources. |
| A．questionable | B．out of date | C．advanced | D．practical. |
10 . A local grocery store here has been remodelled and not a single one of the changes is good for those of us who shop there. The grocery aisles have been rearranged with some going in one direction and others going in another. The aisles have been pushed closer together, making it harder to get through them. It seems like all of these changes have been for the purpose of slowing the shoppers down so they will make more impulse buys. As I walked through the store today, no one was smiling and everyone was unhappy about it.
The change that bothered me the most, however, was in the check-out aisles. Only a few cashiers were left working with huge sections changed into self-scanning check-outs. It saddened me to see this. I knew that people were probably going to lose their jobs because of this change. I got in a cashier aisle and patiently waited while I saw some other people struggling to figure out how the self-scanning machines worked. I swore at that moment never to use one myself even if I had to wait longer every time I shopped there.
When I finally arrived at the front of the aisle, I saw the cashier was someone I knew. I greeted her with a smile. She smiled back with warmth and kindness that touched my soul. We chatted happily while she scanned and bagged up my groceries. I felt a friendship and a connection with her that warmed my heart. I wished her well before I left.
Machines can do a lot for us, but there are many things they can't do. They can't smile or love. Only we can do that. It is time that we should realize that profits aren't more important than people and that machines aren't more important than us. It is time that we should learn that loving each other and this world is what life is all about.
1. What may account for the store's changes?| A．To make more profits. | B．To satisfy the shoppers. |
| C．To offer more products. | D．To make shopping easier. |
| A．It will attract more customers. | B．It has reduced the cashiers' burden. |
| C．It has brought shopper more convenience. | D．It will make many people unemployed. |
| A．Calm. | B．Glad. | C．Angry. | D．Surprised. |
| A．Machines or Us? | B．Why Use Machines? |
| C．Are Changes Necessary? | D．How Does the World Change? |
