1 . Maryland has plenty of attractive history, with many of its sites kept in good condition. Here are four of the best.
Fort MacHenry (Baltimore)
When the British attacked Baltimore in 1812, the buildings became important to the city’s self-protection. Francis Scott Key, a Washington lawyer, watched the battle through the night. He was so moved by the sight of the American flag still flying by dawn’s early light that he penned a poem, which would become the US national anthem (国歌). Visitors can learn about the history by films and introductions offered here.
Casselman River Bridge (Grantsville)
This beautiful stone bridge was built in the early 19th century, serving as an important link on the National Road in the past. It was the nation’s first major highway, connecting the Potomac and the Ohio River. It is a popular area for fly fishermen, photographers, and history lovers. The nearby Spruce Forest Artisan Village has historic houses, small hotels,and recreated buildings.
Washington Monument (纪念碑) State Park (Boonsboro)
The largest stone monument on the top of South Mountain, built in 1827, is the nation’s first-ever monument honoring George Washington. During the Civil War, the Union Army used this high point as its signal station. Today, you can climb up inside and enjoy attractive views of the surrounding Maryland countryside. There are many historical things related to the monument and the Civil War battle of South Mountain.
B&O Railroad Museum (Ellicott City)
This small building is the nation’s oldest surviving railroad station. Dating from 1830, it was the B&O Main Linens first stop out of Baltimore, 13 miles distant. According to a local story, it also was the finishing line for machines replacing all horses within the year. Today, the station is a museum showing the early first years of America.
1. What can we know about Francis Scott Key?| A．His poem was used as the US national anthem. |
| B．He liked recording wars by poems. |
| C．He fought in the war of 1812. |
| D．His protection of the American flag moved people. |
| A．has convenient transportation | B．was designed to honor a soldier |
| C．played an important role in wartime | D．is the earliest monument in the country |
| A．Fort MacHenry. | B．Casselman River Bridge. |
| C．Washington Monument State Park. | D．B&O Railroad Museum. |
2 . In middle school, math was my least favorite subject. I understood history. I loved English. However, math never made sense to me, no matter how many times I worked through a problem. I wanted to be good at math, but I didn’t think it possible.
I started taking classes offered by Art of Problem Solving (AoPS) during the summer after my eighth-grade year. I had to admit that in my first class I felt like I was completely unqualified (不合格的) to be in the class, surrounded by so many smart kids. There were times when I felt lost in a sea of materials that I could never hope to understand. But slowly and surely, a few weeks later, AoPS taught me how to love the process of learning math. I went from being a kid who hated math classes to begging my parents to let me take an extra math class on Friday nights.
The most common wrong idea I hear is that people who are skilled at math come by their skills naturally. Many of my high school friends laughed at me for being a math nerd (书呆子). People thought that math came easy to me, when, in fact, the exact opposite was true. Math was not easy for me to learn. It was something I worked hard at.
Math is often viewed as a subject you either “get” or you don’t. But most of math is not about natural talent. If people approach math thinking they can’t be good at it, then they have set themselves up to fail. Just like any other skills, success comes with practice. There are many great mathematicians in this world, but we should remember they all had to start at the beginning just like we do.
The skills we learn from problem-solving in math can be useful in our lives. So don’t give up math. Just remember that you can learn math well if you have a right attitude towards it and work hard enough.
1. What can we learn about the author when he was in eighth grade?| A．He considered math a challenging subject. |
| B．He missed math classes on purpose. |
| C．He failed to study hard in math. |
| D．He showed little interest in any school subject. |
| A．Math was not interesting at all. | B．He should turn to others for help. |
| C．He wasn’t qualified for math classes. | D．Math learning could actually be attractive. |
| A．He was really good at math. | B．He made few friends at school. |
| C．He brought music joy to his classmates. | D．He should find a new way to learn math. |
| A．Using it in real life. | B．Attending after-school classes. |
| C．Learning from great mathematicians. | D．Practicing with a positive attitude. |
3 . Facebook appears to be extending its controversial (有争议的) colored posts to comments. The company is testing a feature that would allow users to comment in a variety of different colors. Much like the colored-post feature, this is allowing users to choose from a variety of background colors to overlay (覆盖) their comments on.
Facebook confirmed the test, telling The Next Web, “We’re always exploring new ways for people to connect and have conversations, so we are testing new features on comments.”
Facebook users, however, don’t seem to be interested in the new color choices. Comments regarding the new feature on Twitter were negative overall.
Last December, Facebook first started introducing colored posts with a feature that allows users to choose colors for their text. While it appears to be an image, it’s actually still in text form and the text can be highlighted and copied.
“We’re making people’s text posts more visual,” a Facebook spokesman said.
Starting today, people can update the background color of their text-only posts on Android. The feature’s latest update lets users choose a background color.
“Whether you’re looking for vacation recommendations or informing a group of the address for a party, the text-based feature allows you to update your contacts in a fun and personal way,” the spokesperson said.
Giving users a more customized (定制的) way to share updates is likely part of Facebook’s strategy to get users back to posting more updates personal to themselves.
As videos and news articles have begun taking up more of people’s needs, people have become less comfortable posting their own, raw content among the professional videos, photos and writing.
1. What does Facebook want to do?| A．To make its posts meaningful. |
| B．To make comments colorful. |
| C．To allow its users to comment. |
| D．To forbid users’ comments about posts. |
| A．Strange. | B．Enthusiastic. | C．Supportive. | D．Critical. |
| A．It will have unexpected effects. |
| B．It costs the company a lot of money. |
| C．It will be fun and personal for the users. |
| D．It provides the only customized way to chat. |
| A．To make the comments easier to understand. |
| B．To let people make more friends through it. |
| C．To make it the most popular chatting website. |
| D．To attract its users to make more personal posts. |
4 . Sunflowers are something most of us usually think about in August, but with the arrival of the seed catalogs(分类), winter is a good time to start thinking about which ones you might want to grow this coming year. Most gardeners are familiar with the tall giant sunflowers. But there are three or four dozen other varieties.
First, you need to understand that sunflowers don’t all bloom at the same time. In my trials I grouped. them according to bloom time. Early means they bloom in late July or early August. The mid-season ones bloom in mid-August. The late season sunflowers usually flower from late August to early September.
For the early sunflowers, in my trials Pacino was one of the best one year, but was not as striking this past year. It has yellow flowers, about four inches across, and is about two fee high. Other low-growing, early choices are the yellow Sunspot, Del Sol, or Dwarf Yellow Spray. The latter has a lot of branches as its name indicates. Double Dandy is an early, low, red and yellow combination.
For the mid-season choices, this past year my best performers included three varieties that attain heights of five feet—the red-orange Claret, the strikingly dark red Moulin Rouge, and the gold Sunny. Two four-foot sunflowers that I’d recommend for home gardens are the red-yellow combination Ring of Fire, an All-America Selections Award winner, Lemonade, with its interesting mix of light and yellow petals(花瓣).
If you are looking for a late season variety, my favorite is Titanic, a double gold, four-foot tall variety that bloomed much of September and into October in my trials this past year. Other good choices include the light yellow Valentine, the gold Soraya, and the double gold Giant Sungold. This winter, as you leaf through(翻阅) the seed catalogs as the the snow gently falls outside your window, think about summer sunflowers. Thoughts of these flowers are sure to warm the coldest of winter days.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．There are many different varieties of sunflowers. |
| B．The writer likes the tall giant sunflowers best. |
| C．You can try to grow sunflowers in winter. |
| D．Sunflowers only bloom in August. |
| A．Sunny. | B．Claret. |
| C．Moulin Rouge. | D．Dwarf Yellow Spray. |
| A．It is two feet high and about four inches across. |
| B．The color of it is a combination of red and yellow. |
| C．It can only be planted in the southern areas of America. |
| D．It usually blooms much of September and into October. |
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．Five. |
5 . While going to the aquarium（水族馆）is a great way to learn about sea animals, some have raised concerns about the animals' quality of life. But Edge Innovations, a company in New Zealand, has a very special way to solve the problem.
Edge Innovations is working with American creators of some of Hollywood's most famous animals to develop robot dolphins that look like almost exactly the same as real-life animals.
The ocean park industry has had falling interests for over ten years because of ethical（道德的）concerns and the cost of live animals, yet people's hunger for learning about and experiencing these animals is still as strong as ever. Developers believe that it's time to make a change in this industry and that this method shows humans' mercy and brings more interests at the same time.
One robot dolphin could cost an aquarium at least $ 26.3 million. But the robot would be controlled by humans and be able to play with humans as a regular dolphin would. The price at the moment is very high, but Edge Innovations notes that since the robots last longer than a real animal, the returns will be worth the price.
The robot dolphin weighs just about 600 pounds but is amazingly life-like. According to The Guardian, a test audience was actually not able to tell it apart from a real dolphin. As for aquarium visitors, the developers forecast that they won't mind not seeing a "real" dolphin. "For people in New Zealand, for me, I prefer natural animals," said Li Wang, the business developer for Edge Innovations. "But when we think about the new generation who spend far more time than us playing electronic games online, we think the robot dolphins will be accepted.”
The development of robot animals may be the future of zoos and aquariums, making it easier for animal lovers to enjoy nature in a kind way.
1. What is Edge Innovations doing?| A．Designing robot dolphins. |
| B．Stopping animal shows. |
| C．Improving dolphins' living conditions. |
| D．Making Hollywood films about dolphins. |
| A．Why the ocean park industry closes down. |
| B．How the ocean park industry can develop. |
| C．How robot dolphins can succeed. |
| D．Why robot dolphins are created. |
| A．Their price is too high to be accepted. |
| B．They look smaller in size than real ones. |
| C．They save aquariums' cost in the long run. |
| D．They can serve longer than creators thought. |
| A．Robot Dolphins Are Coming |
| B．The Rise and Fall of Robot Dolphins |
| C．The Aquariums Are Facing the Ethical Problem |
| D．Robot Dolphins Will Bring an End to Ocean Park Industry |
6 . A mother has taken her celebration（颂扬）of great women in history to the next level—by dressing her baby daughter up as some of the most famous women of all time. Jenelle Wexler, a hair stylist from Chicago, the USA, came up with the idea when she noticed similarities in appearance between her four-month-old baby, Liberty, and a Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
Wexler took photos of Liberty who was dressed up as the Mexican artist. And after that, Wexler wanted to go on with what she did. "The pictures came out wonderfully, and soon after that, I thought about other women in history that contributed to the benefit of women and people as a whole," she says.
Wexler takes the photos with her iphone. Up until now, she has dressed Liberty up as a series of famous women, including Marie Curie, Coco Chanel, Madonna and Amelia Earhart.
Once she decides which woman she would like Liberty to play, she researches the person and learns about some of the historic achievements this woman has made. Wexler checks photos of each woman, which she then uses to design clothing and setting that will show their character and achievements.
It takes Wexler around 20 minutes to take each photo, and for every dress-up activity, Wexler usually takes nearly 50 pictures in total. "Liberty has acted 34 women of influence," she says. She just wants to draw people's attention to those who should really be admired in our society—there are so many great women who need to be remembered and have their stories told.
1. What made Wexler dress Liberty up as Frida Kahlo?| A．Frida Kahlo is popular among women. |
| B．Wexler admires Frida Kahlo very much. |
| C．Liberty and Frida Kahlo looked like each other. |
| D．Wexler wanted Liberty to be an artist like Frida Kahlo |
| A．Show how the dress-up activity goes on. |
| B．Offer some suggestions on picture-taking. |
| C．Value women's contributions to the world |
| D．Introduce some research on famous women |
| A．She enjoys taking photos to record life. |
| B．She devotes all her time to her daughter. |
| C．She works hard to protect the rights of women |
| D．She puts lots of effort into the dress-up activity. |
| A．To introduce some excellent women. |
| B．To advise people to take pictures of kids. |
| C．To call on people to remember famous women. |
| D．To choose proper role models for young people. |
7 . While it's not impossible for birds to fly in the rain, they usually choose not to. You may see birds fly for a few seconds in poor weather, but most of them prefer to stay put on rainy days.
Why does rain make it harder for birds to fly? You might imagine that moving through the air while being pelted by raindrops would be pretty unpleasant. However, it's not the rain itself that makes flying difficult. Instead, birds are influenced by the drop in the air pressure that comes with most rainstorms. When pressure drops, the air is less thick, which makes it harder for birds to fly. Moving through the sky in areas of low air pressure takes a lot of energy.
Most birds need to eat several times a day—rain or no rain. Luckily, most birds' feathers（羽毛）are highly waterproof（防水的）, protecting the skin beneath. Many birds can also make oil that they can spread over their feathers to further protect themselves from the rain. Most birds don't like rain. In fact, in a 2010 study, a team of researchers studied birds living in a Costa Rican rainforest. They found that the birds had higher levels of stress hormone（应激激素）on rainy days. That may not surprise you. After all, many animals feel stressed out during storms. Pet owners often find that rain and thunder make their animals nervous. Some animals are so strongly influenced by nature that they almost seem to forecast the future.
No one really knows how many birds die during a storm or series of storms. But the number is certainly higher than usual. They fly into trees or windows; they get lost over the ocean or a large lake; their food sources are made more difficult to get but, at the same time, they need more food to get warm. However, if rain continues for some time, birds will have to challenge the storm.
1. What makes it harder for birds to fly in the rain?| A．The wet air. | B．Food shortage. |
| C．Raindrops. | D．The low air pressure. |
| A．Cleaned. | B．Hit. |
| C．Frightened. | D．Protected. |
| A．Why birds can fly in the rain |
| B．How birds are influenced by rain. |
| C．How birds survive long rainy days. |
| D．Why birds' feathers are waterproof. |
| A．Birds will develop the ability to fly in the rain |
| B．Birds fly only when necessary on rainy days. |
| C．Birds have nowhere to hide in rainstorms. |
| D．Birds need less food on rainy days. |
8 . Forty-nine years ago, on April 22,1970, twenty million Americans took to the streets to voice their concern about the deteriorating environment. The movement led to Earth Day.
Unfortunately, our planet is in worse shape now than it was when Earth Day was first celebrated. The good news is that it’s still not too late to reverse (转变) climate change if we all do our part. This Earth Day, take the first step towards helping our planet by participating in one of these fun activities.
NASA is putting our planet up for adoption so you and your friend can claim a portion of the planet as your own. The space agency has divided the globe into 64,000 sections, each about 55 miles wide. All you have to do is type your name into NASA’s “Adopt the Planet” site to claim a certificate that will give you the location of your slice of paradise (天堂) complete with details of its environment. NASA hopes that this exercise will stimulate interest and care in our planet.
Search giant Google is also trying to engage the public with an updated Google Earth focused around Earth Day events. Through a new Voyager feature, users will be able to discover stories from around the world, learn about new places by reading “Knowledge Cards” and send postcards.
If you happen to be anywhere near the nation’s capital on April 22, join the millions that are expected to participate in the Earth Day March at the National Mall. The mission of the event that will feature guest speakers and musical performances is to mobilize (动员) citizens into taking action by promoting this year’s Earth Day theme: climate and environmental science literacy.
While participating in the above-mentioned activities is a great idea, it is just the beginning. All that is required are small lifestyle changes. Planting a tree or two, going meatless just one day a week, or switching your plastic water bottle for a reusable one will go a long way to help reverse the damage we have caused.
1. The underlined word “deteriorating” is the closest in meaning to ________.| A．cleaner | B．better |
| C．worse | D．colder |
| A．air quality | B．ancient history |
| C．local customs | D．tourist attractions |
| A．They can create “Knowledge Cards” online. |
| B．They can discover stories from around the world. |
| C．They can receive postcards coming from Google. |
| D．They can adopt a slice of paradise in the world. |
| A．dream big | B．fly high |
| C．go meatless | D．start small |
9 . Rosie Dutton teaches a weekly class for 10- and 11-year-olds. During a recent class, Dutton used apples to brilliantly explain the effects of bullying.
Rosie Dutton started out by showing the class two perfect-looking apples. But unknown to the students, she had dropped one of the apples repeatedly on the floor. She picked up the dropped apple and began insulting (侮辱；损害) it.
“I started to tell the children how I disliked this apple, that I thought it was ugly and it was a horrible color,” Dutton wrote. “I told them that because I didn't like it, I didn't want them to like it either.”
They passed that apple around in a circle and the kids joined in on the insults. Then, Dutton took a completely different approach with the other apple.
“We then passed another apple around and started to say kind words to it,” the 31-year-old wrote.
She eventually cut both of them open to reveal that the apple that had been insulted was bruised (青肿的) inside. The apple that received praise wasn't.
“When people are bullied, especially children, they feel horrible inside and sometimes don't show or tell others how they are feeling,” Dutton wrote in her post. “If we hadn't cut that apple open, we would never have known how much pain we had caused it.”
“Unlike an apple, we have the ability to stop this from happening. We can teach children that it's not OK to say unkind things to each other,” the 31-year-old explained in her post. She later added, “More and more hurt and damage happens inside if nobody does anything to stop the bullying. Let's create a generation of kind, caring children.”
1. What didn't the students know in advance?| A．She had dropped one apple repeatedly on the floor. |
| B．She had dropped two apples repeatedly on the floor. |
| C．The two apples were perfect-looking in appearance. |
| D．She had picked the two apples from the same tree. |
| A．By reading famous sayings. | B．By listing the numbers. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By quoting some examples. |
| A．brave | B．considerate |
| C．active | D．honest |
| A．One woman found an incredible way to teach a history lesson. |
| B．People have the ability to stop bullying from happening again. |
| C．A teacher encourages students to put what they learned to use. |
| D．A teacher uses a bruised apple to show bad effects of bullying. |
