1 . Sora observed in amazement as Weilun picked up two large metal cans. She followed Weilun with a pail (桶) of clothes, watching him carry the two cans effortlessly. They were large and were covering Weilun’s small frame.
Sora’s father had sent her to the village to learn about rural life. Sora had never once done any household chores back home. She did not understand why her father would always chant “Where is your willingness to learn?” whenever she asked him if she could stay home for the holidays. Her father had given her a checklist on the life skills that she needed to learn, one of which was to wash clothes. She recalled washing a table cloth after an art lesson in school. That was a piece of cake, she thought. So Sora refused Weilun’s offer to help. Weilun then went to fill the large cans with water at the far end of the river.
Suddenly, a big bird dived from the sky when Sora placed the last piece of clothing back in the pail. Sora released her grasp of the pail in shock. Then she was relaxed to find it was aiming for a worm near her. But the clothes were drifting in the river. Weilun immediately came to help and Sora shifted the blame to the bird.
He pointed at the detergent foam (洗涤剂泡沫) on the surface of the river. “Don’t tell me you rinsed (漂洗) the detergent from the clothes in the river. Don’t you know that it may kill the river creatures? You caused the problem, not the bird!” Sora looked down in shame. “You think that you know everything, but you actually don’t.”
Sora closed her eyes to let Weilun’s words sink in for a moment. She finally understood the meaning behind her father’s chants. She walked towards Weilun and whispered, “Could you teach me all the life skills that my father had planned for me to learn?”
1. Why was Sora amazed?| A．Weilun was too small in size for the two large cans. |
| B．Weilun was willing to help his parents do some chores. |
| C．Weilun managed to carry the two large cans easily. |
| D．Weilun was willing to accompany her to the riverside. |
| A．She thought it was an easy task. |
| B．She had learned how to do it. |
| C．She wanted her father to be proud of her. |
| D．She wanted to learn new things by herself. |
| A．The bird was diving for food. |
| B．The bird was attacking her. |
| C．Sora was rinsing the detergent in the pail. |
| D．Sora was shocked to find a worm in the pail. |
| A．She wasn’t capable of living on her own. |
| B．She really lacked the willingness to learn. |
| C．Life skills could be learned in the country. |
| D．Her father wanted her to learn from Weilun. |
2 . After beating bone cancer, Hayley Arceneaux thinks rocketing into orbit on SpaceX’s first private flight should be no problem at all. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital announced the 29-year-old doctor’s assistant will rocket into space later this year.
Arceneaux, a former patient at St. Jude, will become the youngest American in space, beating NASA record-holder Sally Ride by over two years. She will travel with businessman Jared Isaacman, who is using the spaceflight he bought to raise money for charity. Two other yet-to-be-chosen space flyers will join them. Arceneaux will be the first person to launch with a prosthesis an artificial device that replaces a missing or injured part of the body. When she was 10, Arceneaux had an operation at St. Jude to replace her knee and a piece of metal was put in her left leg. She still limps and has occasional leg pain.
“My battle with cancer really prepared me for space travel,” she recently told The Associated Press. “It made me tough, and then also I think it really taught me to expect the unexpected and go along for the ride.” Arceneaux wants to show her young patients and other cancer survivors that “the sky is not even the limit anymore.” “It’s going to mean so much to these kids to see a survivor in space.” she said.
Isaacman announced his space flight on February 1, promising to raise $200 million for St. Jude. As the flight’s self-appointed commander, he offered one of the four seats aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft to St. Jude. The hospital chose Arceneaux from among its many workers who had once been patients. The idea was that one of them could represent the new generation, noted Rick Shadyac, president of St. Jude’s financing organization.
Arceneaux was at home in Memphis, Tennessee, when she got a surprising call in January. She was asked if she would represent St. Jude in space. As a lifelong space fan who loves adventures, Arceneaux has traveled widely and loves roller coasters. Isaacman, who flies fighter airplanes for fun, considers her a perfect fit. The launch is planned for this fall at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, with the spacecraft orbiting Earth for two to four days.
1. Which statement is true about Hayley Arceneaux?| A．She works where she used to be a patient. |
| B．She is an adventure hater. |
| C．She is the youngest American in space. |
| D．She is the first woman space flyer. |
a. She received a surprising call. b. She was diagnosed with a serious disease.
c. She was chosen to rocket into space. d. She was operated on at St.Jude.
| A．a c d b | B．b c d a | C．b d a c | D．c a b d |
| A．To carry out medical research. |
| B．To explore space. |
| C．To expect the unexpected. |
| D．To collect money. |
| A．Generous and strong. |
| B．Caring and optimistic. |
| C．Brave and honest. |
| D．Patient and representative. |
3 . You can pay a fortune to travel around the world. Or you can pay nothing at all. Here are some places you'll never regret visiting. They won't cost you a dime.
The British Museum, London(U.K.)
You need to go here to see the Egyptian mummies, the ancient Greek Marbles and so many other treasures. It's open every day, and unlike most other attractions in England that cost much money, it's completely free.
National Mall, Washington D.C.(U.S.A.)
You can walk a pathway from the Lincoln Memorial to the severe Vietnam Veterans Memorial and to the Washington Monument with other sights in between. Do you know you can go up in the elevator to the top of the Washington Monument? Tickets are free, but pay a small fee to reserve them in advance to avoid being disappointed.
Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris(France) .
This great treasure of the world simply can't be missed. The great stained-glass rose window alone is worth the visit. The Sunday Mass with the Gregorian chant was like stepping back in time. Admission is free every day, but you're welcome to leave a donation. There are also free tours a few times each week. You'll pay extra for tours of the bell tower or the crypt.
National Museum of Ireland , Dublin and Mayo (Ireland)
Want to see bog bodies, gold ornaments, Viking artifacts and learn about rural Irish life? All four branches of this museum are free to visit, including museums devoted to archaeology, natural history, decorative arts and history and country life. The museum of country life in Tur lough Park, Mayo, is devoted to Irish rural traditions, while the natural history museum is especially famous for its collection of insects.
1. Where can you visit the ancient Greek marbles from the passage?| A．National Mall, Washington D.C. | B．The British Museum, London. |
| C．Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris. | D．National Museum of Ireland, Dublin and Mayo. |
| A．Lincoln Memorial. | B．Vietnam Veterans Memorial. |
| C．Notre-Dame Cathedral. | D．The top of the Washington Monument. |
| A．National Museum of Ireland, Dublin and Mayo. | B．The British Museum, London. |
| C．Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris. | D．National Mall, Washington D.C. |
4 . In previous recessions (经济衰退), billionaires were hit along with the rest of us; it took almost three years for Forbes’s 400 richest people to recover from losses caused in 2008’s Great Recession. But in the coronavirus recession of 2020, most billionaires have gotten richer than ever before.
Billionaires increased their new billions just as millions of other Americans ran into terrible financial problems. More than 20 million people lost their jobs at the start of the pandemic. Food banks across the country are preparing for another great increase in demand. Why are American billionaires doing so well while so many other Americans suffer? People may find part of the reasons from the following fact. Stocks (股票) are overwhelmingly owned by the wealthy, and the stock market has recovered from its early-pandemic depths much more quickly than other parts of the economy.
But some billionaires are also benefiting from economic and technological trends that were accelerated by the pandemic. Among these are the owners and investors of retail giants like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Dollar Tree and Dollar General, which have reported huge profits this year while many of their smaller competitors were defeated completely as the coronavirus spread.
Then there are companies that have bet on the rapid digitization of everything Eric Yuan, the chief executive of Zoom, became a billionaire in 2019. Now he is worth almost $20 billion. Dan Gilbert, the chairman of Quicken Loans, was worth less than $7 billion in March, now he commands more than $43 billion. But there is a great deal of stratification (层化) even among billionaires—richer billionaires got even richer in 2020 than the poorer ones did. Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s funder, was worth about $113 billion at the start of the pandemic. Now he is worth $182 billion. Two years ago, Bezos was the only “centibillionaire” on earth—the trendy neologism (a new word) for people whose wealth exceeds (超过) ￥100 billion.
1. What does the author mainly tell us in the passage?| A．Food banks are not enough in the United States. |
| B．The richest kept getting richer even in the pandemic. |
| C．The stock market recovered before the pandemic started. |
| D．400 richest people recovered from losses in the pandemic. |
| A．The American inequality. |
| B．The recovery of stock market. |
| C．The effect of the pandemic. |
| D．The food shortage across the country. |
| A．The decline of digital games. |
| B．More money lent to people by banks. |
| C．The trend of technology acceleration. |
| D．High profit earned by smaller companies. |
| A．It is a new title in the stock market after the recession. |
| B．It is a new way of solution to poverty through the world. |
| C．It is a newly established company during the pandemic. |
| D．It is a new term for people whose wealth exceeds $100 billion. |
5 . My 12-year-old daughter, Lauren, came home from school yesterday, proudly waving her grade book to me. She had been awarded A-1 in most subjects such as mathematics, language arts and science—a great achievement! Then she sadly pointed out that her perfect score was damaged by a B-1 in French and a C-1 in Physical Education.
I asked her what the scores meant. She said that the letter showed the achievement(成绩) and the number showed the effort. That moment I realized that the grades were misleading. I reached out my hands and gave her a big hug and told her in my mind she had a perfect score. It didn’t matter that her grade in French was a “B”—the “l” showed that she had tried her best. That is something to make any parent proud.
Everybody is different. Everybody has different potential(潜能). Not all of us will become linguists(语言学家) or sports stars. But without 100％effort no potential can be achieved. If I see a salesperson fail at sales, the first thing I want to examine is the effort being put in. If there is a problem with effort, the salesperson has no future. But if I see a salesperson isn’t successful with l00％effort, he or she is worth my effort in helping. Maybe a bit of training or some advice from a more successful person will help. I know that 100％effort, focus in the right direction, will always bring a result whether that is an “A” or a “C”. As long as you make 100％effort, you are great.
1. The author’s daughter was weak in _______.| A．maths. | B．science. | C．chemistry. | D．physical education. |
| A．High grades make parents proud. |
| B．Grades are important to children. |
| C．People hold a wrong idea of grades. |
| D．High grades show great achievements. |
| A．will give him training. |
| B．is willing to offer help. |
| C．will find an easy way for him. |
| D．may think he has no future. |
| A．trying his or her best. |
| B．achieving good grades. |
| C．having different potential. |
| D．giving other people useful advice. |
6 . The door of a small cage opens up and a bird flies into a large enclosure (围场). The bird lands on a tree and moves its red head to the side, as if it is surprised. “That’s what it feels like to be free,” said Juan Camilo Panqueba, who works at a wildlife center in the Colombian city of Bogota, far from the Caribbean coast, where the bird usually lives.
Birdsong contests have taken place all over the Caribbean for hundreds of years. Although catching any wildlife is not permitted by the law, wildlife trafficking (非法交易) still happens a lot in Colombia, as the officials were too busy fighting with the drug trade, nongovernment fighters and other dangerous groups. Until recently, they did not enforce (强制实施) the law. Now, as dangerous groups have fallen and with the drug trade mostly destroyed, officials are taking another look.
Three weeks ago, Colombian officials saved birds from a group. The group was mostly people who had recently moved to Bogota from the Caribbean and Venezuela. Officials accuse (控告) the group of setting up a songbird competition on social media. In a closed Facebook group, crowds cheered and recorded the loudness and the number of calls from each bird. The owner of the winning bird received＄100, and people who correctly predicted the winner could also win money. Environmental officials say the birds were badly hurt, because they were kept in the small cages and forced to listen to loud music all day long to make sure they can sing. In the wild, the birds sing to protect themselves or find a mate. “For them, it was like cruel harm,” noted Juan Camilo Panqueba, who works at Bogota’s wildlife center. There, he and others care for birds and more than 1, 000 animals.
Colombians have grown to understand the importance of wildlife, and officials are working to end animal trafficking.
1. Colombia has lots of wildlife trafficking because ________.| A．there was no law to protect wildlife |
| B．people from other countries kept coming |
| C．Colombians are people that like birds very much |
| D．the government didn’t have enough time to carry out the law strictly |
| A．It’s a new form of entertainment. |
| B．The birds were badly treated during the contest. |
| C．Finding their mates was what birds sang for. |
| D．All the owners of the birds can win a prize. |
| A．There will be less and less harm to wildlife. |
| B．Government officials will keep the wild animals. |
| C．Birdsong contests will be more and more popular. |
| D．Many wild animals will die out because of the trafficking. |
| A．The bird training methods are important. |
| B．There are many kinds of wildlife in Colombia. |
| C．Colombia has introduced laws to stop the harm to wildlife. |
| D．Birdsong contests did a lot of harm to birds and Colombia is trying to stop it. |
7 . Turtles have an unfortunate habit of eating plastic objects floating in the sea. These then cannot be broken down and digested, and may ultimately kill them.
It is widely assumed that this special liking for plastics is a matter of mistaken identity. Floating plastic bags, for instance, look similar to jellyfish, which many types of turtles love to eat. Yet lota of plastic objects that end up inside turtles are not similar to jellyfish. Joseph Pfaller of the University of Florida therefore suspects that the smell of micro-organisms (微生物) which grow on floating plastic objects fools turtles to feed.
Researchers at the University of California noticed that certain chemicals, which are released into the air by micro-organism — colonised plastics, are those which many seabirds sniff to track down food. These chemicals mark good places to hunt because they indicate an abundance of the seaweed and bacteria. Since turtles are known to break the surface and sniff the air when swimming towards their feeding areas, Dr. Pfaller indicated that they are following these same chemicals, and are fooled into thinking that floating plastic objects are edible.
To test that idea, he and his colleagues set up an experiment. They arranged for 15 of the animals, each around five months old, to be exposed, in random order, to four smells delivered through a pipe to; the air above an experimental area. The smells were: the vapour from deionised (去离子) water; the smell of turtle-feeding meal; the smell of a clean plastic bottle; and the smell of a similarly plastic bottle that had been kept in the ocean for five weeks to allow seaweed and bacteria to grow on it. Two of the smells-the smell of meal and that of five-week-old bottles-proved far more attractive to the animals than the others.
On the face of it, then, the turtles were responding to the smell of old bottles as if it were the smell of food. In an unpolluted ocean, pretty well anything which had this smell would be edible-or, at least, harmless. Unfortunately, five-week-old plastic bottles and their like are not.
1. What is most people's opinion on turtles' special habit?| A．Turtles prefer jellyfish to plastics. |
| B．Turtles enjoy the taste of plastics. |
| C．Turtles like being fed with plastic tools. |
| D．Turtles choose to eat plastics for a mistake. |
| A．Fit to eat. | B．Pleasant to smell. |
| C．Far to reach. | D．Easy to digest. |
| A．Many seabirds can track the food. |
| B．Most animals find food through smells. |
| C．Two smells are especially favored by turtles. |
| D．The favored smell leads turtles to seek for food. |
| A．To explain why the ocean is polluted. |
| B．To ask for people to feed turtles proper food. |
| C．To arouse the awareness of protecting the ocean. |
| D．To show his agreement on Dr. Pfaller's research. |
8 . Dancing can be magic. At least it is to 11 - year - old Anthony Mmesoma Madu from Nigeria when he dances ballet. A video of Anthony's pirouettes(单脚尖旋舞) went popular, turning him into a star, and earning him a scholarship. Anthony's story has inspired millions and offers hope for the future.
It began on a cold, rainy day in a narrow passage outside untidy Lagos. But Anthony seemed unaware, pirouetting barefoot. His dance teacher took a quick video, posted it on social media, and went back to teaching.
Actress Viola Davis saw the video and tweeted: “Reminds me of the beauty of my people. We can imagine, and love... despite the obstacles that have been put in front of us. Our people can fly!”
In the past few weeks, some 15 million people from around the globe watched madly as Anthony danced across the smooth pavement. Thanks to this support, he received a scholarship to study with some of the world's best ballet dancers at New York's American Dance Theater.
Famous male ballet dancer Calvin Royal II was also moved by Anthony's dancing. He reached out from across the world to Anthony and his classmates at the Leap of Dance Academy in Nigeria He told the young dancers on a video chat, “You are not only changing your world there, in Africa but you're changing the hearts and minds of so many people.”
Many people in Anthony's community have never seen a boy dancing ballet before. But now, his love of dancing is paying off for Anthony, his teacher, his classmates, future Nigerian dancers as well as boys who love ballet.
1. How did people worldwide first know about Anthony probably?| A．On TV. | B．Over the radio. | C．On the Internet. | D．In the newspaper. |
| A．A teacher. | B．An actress. | C．A dancer. | D．A host. |
| A．He danced very well. |
| B．His teacher helped him a lot. |
| C．Lots of people pay attention to him. |
| D．His academic achievement is great. |
| A．Thankful. | B．Favorable. | C．Amazed. | D．Caring. |
9 . Two teenagers are lost at sea off the coast of the United States for six days on their small sailing boat. Without any food and drink, the boys drink sea water. They try slipping into the ocean to cool off, but sharks drive them back onto the boat. At night, they use a single wet suit to keep warm.
This is a real story of two American boys. Driscoll and his best friend, 18-year-old Josh Long, were found six days later and more than 100 miles from where they had set off from Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, on April 24. The boys had lost a lot of water and were tired, but otherwise in pretty good shape.
They set out fishing on a 4.3-meter sailboat on a windy day when the National Weather Service had warned small boats to stay out of the water, but they didn’t care. They realized they were in trouble almost immediately and tried to swim back to shore, pulling the boat along with them. Within hours, they were far out to sea.
“We lost our fishing equipment, ” Driscoll said. “So we couldn’t catch any fish. ” The boys’ hopes faded with each day passing. They stood on their boat every time they saw another boat, waving and shouting, but without success. One night they were woken up by water coming into the boat. A large ship was very close to them.
A coast guard boat set out to look for them. The boys got up and made some noise. This time, they were heard.
“What we have is a completely surprising story of survival that’s going to be studied for years to come, ” said Richard Goerling, Long’s uncle, “I think the boys have a book to write. ”
1. The two boys got lost at the sea because _______.| A．they were not good at boating |
| B．they were separated from their parents while boating |
| C．they didn’t take the warning from National Weather Service seriously. |
| D．they went far into the sea to catch fish |
| A．suffered cold at night |
| B．lived on the fish they caught |
| C．fought against sharks |
| D．swam in the water to cool themselves off in the daytime |
| A．the boys were saved on April 30 |
| B．the boys went to the sea to go surfing |
| C．the boys were sleeping soundly when the boat passed by |
| D．some boats had found the boys but refused to offer help |
| A．the boys will write a book |
| B．something can be learned from the boys’ experience |
| C．children’s safety should be paid more attention to |
| D．the boys did very well when facing danger |
10 . Scientists have created an "artificial leaf" to fight climate change by inexpensively changing harmful carbon dioxide into a useful alternative fuel. The new technology was inspired by the way plants use energy from sunlight to turn carbon dioxide into food.
Scientists call it an artificial leaf because it mimics real leaves and the process of photosynthesis(光合作用). A leaf produces glucose(葡萄糖) and oxygen. Scientists use an artificial leaf to produce methanol(甲醇) and oxygen. Making methanol from carbon dioxide, the primary contributor to global warming, would both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide a substitute for the fossil fuels.
The key to the process is a cheap, fully used red powder called cuprous oxide. Engineered to have as many eight-sided particles as possible, the powder is created by a chemical reaction when four substances are added to water that has been heated to a particular temperature. The powder then serves as the catalyst(催化剂), or trigger, for another chemical reaction when it is mixed with water into which carbon dioxide is blown and a beam of white light is directed with a solar simulator(模拟器). "This is the chemical reaction that we discovered," said Wu, a professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering, has worked on the project since 2015. He added, " Nobody has done this before." The reaction produces oxygen, as in photosynthesis, while also changing carbon dioxide in the water-powder solution into methanol. The methanol is collected as it evaporates when the solution is heated.
Next steps in the research include increasing the methanol yield and commercializing the patented process to convert carbon dioxide collected from major greenhouse gas sources such as power plants, vehicles and oil drilling. "I'm extremely excited about the potential of this discovery to change the game," said Wu, "Climate change is an urgent problem and we can help reduce CO2 emissions while also creating an alternative fuel."
1. What is the function of an artificial leaf?| A．Turning carbon dioxide into a solid fuel. | B．Changing a chemical reaction into food. |
| C．Producing much glucose and oxygen. | D．Making methanol and oxygen cheaply. |
| A．It's a powder containing four substances. |
| B．It should be directed with a solar simulator. |
| C．It's a key substance to cause another chemical reaction. |
| D．It's used to collect methanol from a chemical reaction. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Wait- and- see. | C．Skeptical. | D．Negative. |
| A．A short story of an artificial leaf. | B．An advertisement for a famous company. |
| C．A report in a science journal. | D．An introduction to a science fiction. |
