1 . On October 3, 1945, a ten-year-old boy stood on stage at a contest. One of his teachers had encouraged him to enter the contest after hearing him sing one morning. He placed fifth.
A few months later, he received a guitar for his 11th birthday. What he really wanted was a bicycle. Two of his uncles gave him basic guitar lessons. But he didn’t like singing in public. He was too shy.
Yet something inside kept pulling him back to music. In 1948, his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. The boy would spend every moment of his free time on Beale Street, the heart of the Memphis Blues Scene. He’d often bring his guitar to school. Yet his eighth grade teacher gave him a C in music. She told him that he had “no gift for singing”.
In 1953, the young man walked into the offices of Sun Records. But the record went nowhere. He tried out for a local singing group, but failed in the audition. He told his father, “They told me I couldn’t sing.”
Then Sam Philips, the owner of Sun Records heard this young man’s record. Sam invited him back to the studio and asked him to sing as many songs as he knew. Yet even then, it was not going well. The young man was about to go home when he suddenly picked up his guitar and started singing a 1946 Blues song, That’s All Right. Philips immediately began taping; he knew this was the sound he’d been looking for. Sun Records released the album. No one had ever heard anything like it before.
Within three years Elvis Presley（猫王）was an international superstar.
1. What did the boy hope for as the 11th birthday gift?| A．A guitar. | B．A birthday party. |
| C．A bike. | D．A music lesson. |
| A．He eventually gave up singing. | B．His teacher encouraged him. |
| C．His family sent him to a music school. | D．He was still addicted to music. |
| A．A short performance. | B．A previous plan. |
| C．A singing contest. | D．A new record. |
| A．Actions speak louder than words. |
| B．Two heads are better than one. |
| C．A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
| D．Where there is a will, there is a way. |
2 . Do you like running enough to make it a habit? Tierney Wolfgram does; she has made running a lifelong career and isn't stopping.
In February, the 16-year-old from a high school, US, competed at the 2020 US Olympic Trials. She finished the marathon(42.195 km)with a time of 2:42:47 as the youngest competitor in the race and ranked 76th out of 390 runners. However, the cross-country(越野的)season was postponed to winter because of the COVID-19. So she jumped at the opportunity to train for another race-the Parkway Marathon in California. In November, Wolfgram broke the Women's American Junior marathon record with her time of 2:31:49. The old record was 2:34:32, which had stood since 1984.
“I'm completely stunned, ”said Wolfgram's coach. “I knew she was going to break it, but she really showed out！”
During the run, Wolfgram once hit a wall pretty hard, but she overcame it to finish. “I guess I can say I gave it my all, ”she told Runner's World. “When I finished, all I was thinking was I felt super happy,” Wolfgram said This was only her third marathon. In 2018, when Wolfgram was 15 years old, she ran her first marathon just because she wanted to see if she had the ability to do it. “I believed that I would get faster as the distances got longer. . . I'm still glad that I did it. ”
When preparing for that first marathon, she ran up to 120 miles per week. Although her parents didn't have any background in running, they helped Wolfgram train. At first, her dad would take her out in the morning and run about 13 miles. The distance would gradually increase each day. On top of her runs in the morning, she would do cross-country practice after school.
Now Wolfgram will consider attending the Olympics Games in 2024 after it's scheduled.
1. What can we learn about Wolfgram from Paragraph 2?| A．She was the champion at the 2020 US Olympic Trials. |
| B．She put off the cross-country season for the COVID-19. |
| C．She broke an Olympic marathon record in November. |
| D．She prepared for the Parkway Marathon in California. |
| A．Doubtful | B．Worried. | C．Shocked. | D．Interested |
| A．Her parents' encouragement. | B．Her desire to prove she could do it. |
| C．Her coach's support and help. | D．Her hope to break the national record |
| A．Sports. | B．Lifestyle | C．Culture. | D．Opinion |
3 . Growing up, we are constantly reminded that young people are heavily affected by technology. We are the “antisocial club”, those who prefer to text our friends in the same room rather than make eye contact with them. And even though never-ending studies reveal to us the extent of our social media addiction, we should at least consider that it’s not only our young people’s problem any more.
There’s the rise of the Instagram mums, who like to post an abundance of cute baby pictures, share their mom feelings along the way and show their wonderful lifestyles. They are the so-called “Facebook mum generation”, a growing group of parents that like to overshare.
While all of this might be fine, and even a little humorous, new research suggests that parents’ technology addiction is negatively affecting their children’s behavior. According to the study, 40% of mothers and 32% of fathers have admitted having some sort of phone addiction. This has led to a significant fall in verbal interactions within families and even a decline in mothers’ encouraging their children.
There is no denying that I get annoyed when receiving the words “I’ll be with you soon” from a parent, when all I want to do is ask one question. But, at the same time, every day leaving the room to wait until my father is finished with his “serious business” (Farmville), has now become the norm. Whether you want to escape your disturbing children for a bit, or want to stay up late flicking through Twitter, know that wanting to do all of these is normal. We, your children, know how addictive it can be and how difficult it is to switch off. But before telling us to put our phones away at the table or even worse, listing statistics of how damaging social media can be for us, maybe lead by example, considering how much time you spend on the phone and how this is impacting your children and your relationship with us. Maybe in this way we can work on our addiction together.
1. From Paragraph 1, we can know that teenagers nowadays ________.| A．enjoy socializing with their friends | B．send messages to their friends every day |
| C．hate to make eye contact with their friends | D．are heavily addicted to their mobile phones |
| A．Boring. | B．Selfish. | C．Funny. | D．Meaningful. |
| A．security | B．standard | C．routine | D．custom |
| A．To share the author’s own experience with the readers. |
| B．To call on parents to get rid of their own media addiction. |
| C．To reveal that parents are always addicted to mobile phones. |
| D．To show the author’s dissatisfaction with parents’ phone use. |
4 . When you walk with a backpack, do you know how the things inside move from side to side? Now scientists have figured out how to tap into that movement to produce electricity.
Picture a pendulum (摆锤) fixed to a backpack frame and stabilized with springs on either side. The pack’s weight is attached to the pendulum, so the pendulum swings side to side as you walk. Then a machine is driven by that swinging movement, and spits out electrical current to charge a battery.
Volunteers carried the pack while walking on a running machine and wore masks to measure the flow of O2 and CO2. Walking with the slightly swinging 20-pound load, the device (设备) did not significantly affect the volunteers’ metabolic (新陈代谢的) rate compared to when they carried the same weight fixed in place. In fact, the energy-harvesting pack reduced the forces of acceleration they’d feel in a regular pack, which might mean greater comfort for a long hike. And the device did produce a steady trickle (涓流) of electricity. If you up the load to 45 pounds, the swing of the pack could fully charge a smart phone only after 12 hours. The details are in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
The device produces electricity from human movement and has been identified as a workable solution to providing a renewable energy source for portable electronic devices. It is particularly useful for those who work in remote areas, as these people often carry a lot of weight in a backpack for their exploration.
But here’s a real conundrum: the energy-harvesting device currently weighs five pounds. The researchers say that’s about four pounds too many to be a smart alternative to batteries. So they hope that more research lets them lighten the load, to ensure the pack charges you up without weighing you down.
1. What does Paragraph 2 mainly talk about?| A．How the device works. |
| B．What the device looks like. |
| C．Who the device is designed for. |
| D．Why scientists designed the device. |
| A．It greatly affected the volunteers metabolic rate. |
| B．It harvested energy as the volunteers walk. |
| C．It failed to produce steady electricity. |
| D．It was useless for a long walk. |
| A．Problem. | B．Method. | C．Bond. | D．Decision. |
| A．Increase the charging speed of their device. |
| B．Find smarter alternatives to batteries. |
| C．Reduce the weight of their device. |
| D．Put their device on the market. |
5 . At present, I was diagnosed(诊断) with a kind of attention disorder. It made school difficult for me. When everyone else in the class was focusing on tasks, I could not.
In my first literature class, Mrs. Smith asked us to read a story and then write on it, all within 45 minutes. I raised my hand right away and said, “Mrs. Smith, you see, the doctor said I have attention problems. I might not be able to do it.”
She glanced down at me through her glasses, “You are not different from your classmates, young man.”
I tried, but I didn’t finish the reading when the bell rang. I had to take it home.
In the quietness of my bedroom, the story suddenly all became clear to me. It was about a blind person, Louis Braille. He lived in a time when the blind couldn’t get much education. But Louis didn’t give up. Instead, he invented a reading system of raised dots(点), which opened up a whole new world of knowledge to the blind.
Wasn’t I the “blind” in my class, being made to learn like the “sighted” students? My thoughts spilled out and my pen started to dance. I completed the task within 40 minutes. Indeed, I was not different from others; I just needed a quieter place. If Louis could find his way out of his problems, why should I ever give up?
I didn’t expect anything when I handed in my paper to Mrs. Smith, so it was quite a surprise when it came back to me the next day-with an “A” on it. At the bottom of the paper were these words: “See what you can do when you keep trying?”
Inspired and touched, I began to keep trying hard in my study and struggled against attention disorder. I believe one can find his way out of predicament with determination and efforts.
1. The author didn’t finish the reading in class because .| A．he was new to the class | B．he was tired of literature |
| C．he had an attention disorder | D．he wanted to take the task home |
| A．He had good sight. | B．He made a great invention. |
| C．He gave up reading. | D．He learned a lot from school. |
| A．Angry. | B．Impatient. | C．Sympathetic. | D．Encouraging. |
| A．sorrow | B．destination | C．difficulty | D．fortune |
6 . "Smile!" I shouted, holding a yellow sign up on a busy street in Seattle. We were three thousand miles away from home on a Random Acts of Kindness and Volunteerism Road Trip. We had two aims. One was to try out our new "Smile!" signs and see how much kindness and joy we could spread in Pike Place Market. The other was to raise $80 by doing street performances, enough for gas to Portland and a small hotel room.
We weren't sure how people would react (回应) to our signs. I nervously raised up our signs and shouted, "Hi, there!" to a young couple. They looked over and felt confused. Then they read our signs and broke into a smile. Before long, some tourists wanted to take a photo with us and some strangers stopped to ask us about our signs.
In fact, we paid so close attention to our "Smile!" project that we forgot the other aim. Before we knew it, the sun was setting, and we had no money for our trip to Portland. We sat down to watch a blind musician play the guitar while thinking about what to do. He was packing up when a passing crowd kicked down his change bowl. He stumbled (绊倒) into the crowd. We rushed to help him, but another man moved more quickly to help him.
Once the musician had his money safely returned, we ran over to meet the strange helper and said, "We just wanted to praise you for your good deed." He smiled, looking at our signs. "Your trip reminds me of something similar I once did when I was young," he said. "Look! I'd like to donate (捐赠)." We told him, "No, thanks! We are fine. We've collected plenty of money." We lied. "Please let me donate. It will make me feel like I'm a part of this adventure," he insisted. And then the stranger opened his wallet and pulled out four $20 bills. The money was exactly what we had intended to raise that day. We were astonished. It seemed as if he had known somehow.
1. What's the main purpose of the road trip?| A．To spread kindness and joy. |
| B．To invite more people to join in the trip. |
| C．To raise money for a trip to Portland. |
| D．To encourage people to take happy photos. |
| A．Disappointed. | B．Worried. | C．Interested. | D．Moved. |
| A．Because he felt pity for the author. |
| B．Because he wanted to join in the project. |
| C．Because he hoped to help the homeless. |
| D．Because he felt sorry for his impoliteness. |
| A．Tired. | B．Satisfied. | C．Frightened. | D．Surprised. |
7 . We humans like to conquer.
For the same reason that soccer players want to hold the World Cup trophy(奖杯) and tennis players crave a Grand Slam win, mountaineers dream of reaching the highest peak on the planet — Mount Qomolangma, which towers about 8,844 meters above sea level.
“Everybody wants to stand on top of the world,” Mirza Ali from Pakistan who had just “conquered” Mount Qomolangma, told the Los Angeles Times.
However, this desire to conquer has become so strong that we have begun to travel in the wrong direction.
During this year’s climbing season—from March to May—at least 11 climbers died in the Himalayas, making it one of the worst seasons on record. And the fact that many of the climbers were inexperienced is one of the major factors(因素) contributing to the tragedy, according to USA Today.
“They don’t train very hard. They underestimate(低估) Qomolangma,” Jangbu Sherpa, who has been working as a guide on Mount Qomolangma since 2006, told NBC News. “There are lots of climbers who just want to check the box so that they can say they’ve been to the top of the world.”
This ignorant attitude of climbers also leads to other problems—apart from putting their own lives at risk, of course. According to HuffPost, the mountain’s cleaning group collected 12 tons of trash—including food wrappers(包装袋), and oxygen tanks—left behind this climbing season. This once holy(神圣的) and peaceful corner of the world has, as The Atlantic reporter Margret Grebowics put it, “lost its magic”.
Perhaps what we should do now is restore meaning to the activity itself—real meaning. And for Alison Levine, a US mountaineer who reached the summit(山顶) of Mount Qomolangma in 2010, the meaning doesn’t come with the summit itself, but with everything that led her up to it.
“When I did make it to the summit, what I realized is that standing on top of a mountain doesn’t change you and doesn’t change the world,” Levine told the NPR. “It’s really about the journey. The journey is the most important thing on any mountain.”
It’s true that we humans like to conquer. But the first step of conquering anything is probably to learn to conquer our own greed(贪婪) and ignorance.
1. What does the underlined word “crave” mean?| A．have no interest in | B．have a strong desire for |
| C．be optimistic about | D．be likely to win |
| A．Not having enough training and experience. |
| B．Not bringing enough number of oxygen tanks. |
| C．Not having professional climbing equipment. |
| D．Not being accustomed to the cold weather. |
| A．Being on top of the world. |
| B．Being able to change the world. |
| C．The journey to reach the summit. |
| D．The spirit to conquer the summit. |
| A．Regretful. | B．Critical. | C．Encouraging. | D．Doubtful. |
8 . Many facts suggest that children are overweight and the situation is getting worse, according to the doctors. I feel there are a number of reasons for this.
Some people blame the fact that we are surrounded by shops selling unhealthy, fatty foods, such as fried chicken and ice cream, at low prices. This has turned out a whole generation of grown-ups who seldom cook a meal for themselves. If there were fewer of these restaurants, then probably children would buy less take-away food.
There is another argument that blames parents for allowing their children to become overweight. I agree with this, because good eating habits begin early in life, long before children start to visit fast food shops. If children are given fried chicken and chocolate rather than healthy food, or are always allowed to choose what they eat, they will go for sweet and salty foods every time, and this will carry on throughout their lives.
There is a third reason for this situation. Children these days take very little exercise. They do not walk to school. When they get home, they sit in front of the television or their computers and play computer games. Not only is this an unhealthy pastime, it also gives them time to eat more unhealthy food. What they need is to go outside and play active games or sports.
The above are the main reasons for this problem, and therefore we have to encourage young people to be more active, as well as steer them away from fast food shops and bad eating habits.
1. The author thinks that children are becoming overweight because___ .| A．their parents often cook meals for them |
| B．they are too busy to go out and play |
| C．they can't choose what to eat |
| D．there are too many fast food shops around |
| A．Those who often take exercise. |
| B．Those who often walk to school. |
| C．Those who often watch television. |
| D．Those who often have meals at home. |
| A．force | B．guide | C．divide | D．cover |
9 . After a lot of local and state warnings, investigations and bans of hoverboards (平衡车), the federal government issued a statement on Wednesday. The message: Many of the machines are a major fire risk.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the recall (召回) of more than a half million hoverboards. The safety commission said that the battery powered machines had been the cause of at least 60 fires. The announcement affects 10 companies that make or sell the products, including Razor and Swagway, two of the leading manufacturers.
Hoverboards, which do not actually hover or fly and bear a slight resemblance to a skateboard, have been the subject of regulatory examination in recent years. Officials have banned them from airplanes and sidewalks, and the safety commission opened an investigation last fall because of reports of fires and explosions.
The risk of fires from the machine’s electrical system and battery pack has attracted the most attention from the safety commission, which says it will now turn its focus toward the risk of falls and other accidents. The agency is worried that flaws (缺陷) in the board’s design could lead riders to lose their balance.
There is no federal safety standard specific to hoverboards. Underwriters Laboratories(UL), a standards setting and testing organization, came up with voluntary electrical requirements for self-balancing hoverboards as a result of the safety commission’s investigation, said Elliot F. Kaye, the chairman of the CPSC.
He urged consumers to return any hoverboard that did not reach the standards set by the company. However, part of the problem, he explained, was that many hoverboards had been sold by temporary stands such as those in malls or college campuses—fly-by-night sellers that can be harder to track down or contact. “That is a deeply frustrating aspect of it,” Mr. Kaye said. “Somebody can just put up a stand, order a bunch of products, disappear, and there’s nobody there to take responsibility when things go wrong.”
1. Why will so many hoverboards be recalled?| A．They are likely to cause fires. | B．They aren’t easy to use. |
| C．They don’t actually hover or fly. | D．They caused many traffic accidents. |
| A．standard | B．similarity | C．tendency | D．response |
| A．The recycling of hoverboards. | B．The popularity of hoverboards. |
| C．The price controls of hoverboards. | D．The balance risk of hoverboards. |
| A．sympathetic | B．neutral | C．disapproving | D．indifferent |
10 . Gym class was not considered important at the private school I attended from kindergarten to Grade 6 and the words "movement skill development" would have caused brows to wrinkle.
For Grades 7 and 8 I moved into the public school system. It was the early 1980s and we had to wear green gym shorts and white T-shirts with the school crest(饰章)on them. We had to climb ropes. We had to go for long runs in the valley beside the school and excuses were not allowed.
My mom, also somewhat of a "non-sporty mom", wrote me notes to get me out of this nightmare once a month. And when she didn't, I sometimes forged my own. One day I arrived for gym class with my note explaining why I could not participate. It was signed by my "mother". There were at least two classes of Grade 8 girls sitting on the side of the hill when I boldly(冒失地) presented my note. The PE teacher asked me why my mother's signature looked so messy. What I said next might be the finest example of just how stupid I was when I was13: "It's messy because she signed it while she was driving."
My classmates giggled(傻笑) nervously. I thought maybe I had pushed things too far but wasn't at all prepared for what happened next. The teacher grabbed my ear and dragged me all the way up the millions of stairs, through the miles of hallways, and into the principal's office. That was where my memories from junior high gym class ended.
The next year I went to the first day of Grade 9 gym with a positive outlook, high hopes, and good intentions. But all I ended up developing was the habit of hiding in the girls' bathroom for the duration of the class.
When my counsellor(辅导员) called a meeting between me and the gym teacher later that year, I remember the teacher looking at me and saying, "I wouldn't know this girl was in my class if I hit her with my car."
1. What is the author's impression of her gym class?| A．It was great fun before Grade 6. | B．It was dull and terrible all the way. |
| C．It helped her improve sports skills. | D．It was tiring but interesting at public school. |
| A．improved | B．gathered | C．created | D．discovered |
| A．She told a lie to the teacher. | B．She had an argument with others. |
| C．She made the same mistake repeatedly. | D．She was too careless in signing her name. |
| A．At the beginning of Grade 9. | B．In the early eighties. |
| C．In the middle of Grade 8. | D．During Grades 7 and 8. |
