1 . My work started in 2003 at my local animal shelter’s Adoption Department. It seems like such a long time ago. In the 13 years that have passed, more than 50,000 animals have passed the doors of the shelter. Most of them, I do not remember. But occasionally there are animals who stand out. Tabby was one such animal.
Tabby was one of the many homeless dogs. What’s more, she was blind and deaf. Tabby’s chances at adoption seemed remote at best. But one day a woman named Loretta came to the shelter. Her son, Gary, who suffered from epilepsy (癫痫) had seen Tabby’s picture on the shelter’s website. They were interested in meeting her! Most boys would want a puppy, a dog who could grow with him and run through grassy fields on summer days. Tabby would never be able to do that. But as they say, "love is blind". After meeting her, they decided to adopt Tabby!
If Tabby’s story had simply ended with her successful adoption, it would still have been something very special indeed but it was what happened after her adoption that some might label as "magical" or perhaps even miraculous. As Gary and Tabby did everything together, they became so "in tune" with one another that Tabby began to telegraph Gary’s seizures (疾病发作) before they occurred, giving his family a warning that one was about to strike. What’s more, Gary seemed to be having fewer and fewer seizures since Tabby’s arrival.
How could it be? There are some things that happen in this world that challenge all logic and understanding. Sometimes, the best that we can do is to accept a miraculous thing, which we didn’t attempt to explain. Because when you try to explain it, you lose the beauty and wonder of it all.
1. Which sentence can be used to describe Tabby?| A．She was so lovely that she could be easily adopted. |
| B．She suffered a lot from the disease-epilepsy. |
| C．She was so strong that she could run very fast. |
| D．She was homeless and couldn’t see or hear. |
| A．Amazing. | B．Typical. | C．Interesting. | D．Special. |
| A．Gary learnt about Tabby from a magazine. |
| B．Gary was cured in the company of Tabby. |
| C．Tabby could indicate a seizure before it struck. |
| D．Most boys would have the same decision as Gary. |
| A．Love is Blind: a Miraculous Dog | B．Give Me Food: My Dear Master |
| C．Love is Everywhere: a Poor Dog | D．Take Me Home: My Dear Boy |
2 . Many English learners have difficulty deciding what kind of English accent they want to have.A US accent,perhaps imitates(模仿) a Hollywood star speaker?Or maybe you want to imitate the British accent of a BBC news reader?
Young British people find the US accent attractive while young US people like a British accent.Especially when the person speaking is of the opposite sex(异性)!Let’s listen to what they have to say.
StephenYang,17,fromLondon,UK
A US accent is cute,especially when a girl speaks it.Whether it’s Jessia Alba speaking or the girl-next-door,the way US girls speak has a sweet tingle(感觉) that is really fashionable.A girl from Texas recently moved into our neighborhood.Her Texan twang(鼻音) had all the boys here on their knees within seconds of meeting her.
To me,accents reflect the attitudes,characteristics(特征) and lifestyles of the people.
JenniferSun,16,fromNewJersey,US
From watching English actors like Daniel Radcliffe,my friends and I have developed a soft spot(好感) for British men.Some are attracted to the qualities of English males,while others admire their sense of style.
Everyone,however,agrees that the most appealing aspect of an English man is his accent.For example,many American girls watch HarryPotter movies over and over again just to listen to the actors speak.
The English accent seems almost like art.
1. In Stephen Yang’s opinion,accents just show .| A．the beauty of the language |
| B．how the language is spoken |
| C．the fashion of the day |
| D．the cultural differences of the speakers |
| A．strange | B．exciting |
| C．attractive | D．fashionable |
| A．learn the acting skills of these stars |
| B．imitate the actors’ accents |
| C．learn the magic performed by HarryPotter |
| D．know more about British English |
3 . Johnny Cash was born in 1932 in the southern state of Arkansas. His parents were poor cotton farmers. As a school boy, he began writing songs and he performed on radio programs. After high school, he joined the United States Air Force and served as a radio operator in Germany.
He returned to the United States in 1954 and formed a band with two friends and performed at local events. They began recording for Sun Records in Memphis. One of the songs Cash wrote became the first country music hit record for the company. It was “Cry, Cry, Cry.”
Johnny Cash performed all across the United States and Canada. By 1958, Johnny Cash was a successful recording artist, songwriter and singer. He was invited to perform at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.
Johnny Cash won many awards, including eleven Grammy Awards and the Kennedy Center Honors. He was elected to both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
He died on September 12, 2003, in Nashville at the age of seventy-one.
Fans say that Johnny Cash's music was important because it told simple stories about life and death. They say he cared about social issues and continued to express support for those who are poor and without political power. One of the last songs he recorded was one made popular by the rock and roll group Nine Inch Nails. It is called “Hurt.”
1. Johnny Cash returned to the United States after ________.| A．he finished high school | B．he formed a band |
| C．he served in US Air Force in Germany | D．his song Cry, Cry, Cry became famous |
| A．Johnny Cash performed his famous song Cry, Cry, Cry at the Grand Ole Opry |
| B．Johnny Cash didn't care about social problems |
| C．Johnny Cash's music was only loved by his fans |
| D．the Grand Ole Opry is a place where famous singers hold their concerts. |
| A．Beat | B．Failure | C．Strike | D．Success |
| A．he won many awards in his lifetime |
| B．he often performed in the Grand Ole Opry |
| C．his songs expressed support for the poor people with no political power |
| D．his songs were sung by the rock and roll group Nine Inch Nails |
4 . Since 2007, the American Psychological Association (APA) has conducted a survey of different aspects of stress in America. This year's analysis focused on teens, and on a 10 point scale, adolescents ranked their stress at 5.8, compared with a score of 5.1 reported by adults.
“What is even more disturbing,” says Norman Anderson, CEO and executive vice president of the APA, “is the fact that most teens knew their stress levels weren't healthy—they said 3.9 was probably more desirable—but did little about it.” In fact, the survey revealed that 42% of teens aren't doing enough to manage their stress.
The researchers were concerned about it, since unaddressed stress can lead to both short-term mental-health issues such as depression, as well as lay the seeds for long-lasting conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure in adulthood.
What’s causing teens to feel so anxious? Eighty three percent cited school as a source of stress, including concerns about their future after high school and worries about college. For some, family financial issues also caused anxiety, which wasn’t surprising since previous studies found that parental stress can pass down onto children, even at very young ages.
“This branch of population is not taken seriously sometimes,” said Katherine Nordal, of the APA, “we wanted to shine light on some of the problems we know teens are having and whether they are successful at coping with them or not.”
“Clearly,” said Anderson, “we have work to do to manage stress overall. Stress levels among Americans continue to be high, but coping mechanisms(机制) remain ineffective,” Teens reported doing everything that they probably shouldn't in order to relieve stress—they aren't getting enough sleep, which can add to anxious feelings, and they're less physically active. Exercise is among the best ways to reduce stress, but the survey found that teens were beginning to rely on sitting activities, such as surfing the internet, engaging in social media or watching videos, to relieve stress.
1. From paragraph one, we can learn that___________.| A．no survey has been carried out among teens before |
| B．different aspects of stress mainly existed in adults |
| C．10 percent of the teens are involved in the survey |
| D．compared with the adults, teens are suffering more stress in different aspects |
| A．The government took some measures to reduce teens' stress. |
| B．Most teens took it for granted and did nothing about it. |
| C．42% of teens thought it natural to some stress. |
| D．Most teens were worrying about their stress levels. |
| A．sorrow | B．surprise | C．unhappiness | D．depth |
| A．America's Teens Outscore Adults on Stress |
| B．America Teens' Education in High School |
| C．American Adolescents' Mental and Physical Health Issues |
| D．Modern Psychology Teaching among America's Teens |
5 . This is the story of three plastic bottles, empty and abandoned. Their journeys are about to diverge, more or less influencing the fate of our planet.
Bottle One, like hundreds of millions of tons of other plastic bottles, ends up in a landfill. This huge dump expands each day as more trash comes in and continues to take up space. As plastics sit there being pressed among layers of their junk, rainwater flows through the waste and absorbs the chemicals it contains, and some of those are highly poisonous. Together they create harmful matter called leachate (沥滤液）, which can move into groundwater, soil and streams, poisoning ecosystems and harming wildlife. It can take Bottle One 1,000 years to rot away.
Bottle Two's journey is strange. He floats on water that reaches a stream, a stream that flows into a river, and a river that reaches the ocean. After months lost at sea, he's slowly drawn where trash accumulates, a place known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Here the ocean's currents have trapped millions of pieces of plastic waste. There the water becomes a cloudy plastic soup. Some animals, like seabirds, get stuck in the mess. They, and others, mistake the brightly colored plastic things for food. Plastic makes them feel full when they're not, so they starve to death and pass the poisons from the plastic up the food chain. For example, it's eaten by fish, and the fish are eaten by us.
But Bottle Three is spared the cruel suffering of his brothers. A truck brings him to a plant where he and his companions are squeezed flat and pressed into a block. The blocks are cut and torn into tiny pieces, which are washed and melted, so they become the raw materials that can be used again. As if by magic, Bottle Three is now ready to be reborn as something completely new.
For this bit of plastic with such humble origins, suddenly the sky is the limit.
1. The underlined word “diverge” in paragraph 1 probably means| A．develop |
| B．disappear |
| C．conclude |
| D．vary |
| A．He will expand when pressed among layers of their junk. |
| B．He might poison or even endanger different forms of life. |
| C．He can be easily recognized by seabirds and taken for dangerous food source. |
| D．He will go through chemical changes and be recycled into new materials soon. |
| A．In a science magazine. |
| B．In a tour brochure. |
| C．In a product description. |
| D．In a geography textbook. |
| A．Fates of Plastic Bottles |
| B．The Significance of Recycling |
| C．The Shame of Wasting |
| D．High-Tech of Dealing with Waste |
6 . The Chinese word "Shanzhai" means a small mountain village, but it becomes an accepted name for fakes (假货), after "Shanzhai Cell-phones" produced by small workshops in southern China became popular in the mainland market over the past two years. Now besides "Shanzhai" electronic products, there are "Shanzhai" movies, "Shanzhai" stars and even a "Shanzhai" Sprin Festival Gala, a copy of the 25-year-old traditional show presented by CCTV on Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve.
"Shanzhai" has become a culture of its own, meaning anything that imitates something famous. In Chongqing, "Shanzhai" version "Bird's Nest（鸟巢）" and "Water Cube（水立方）" woven by farmers with bamboo attract(吸引) wide attention from tourists. Both are copies of the famous Olympic buildings in Beijing.
A literature critic said that taking the "Shanzhai" Gala as an example, when the traditional CCTV program becomes less and less attractive to the audience, the "Shanzhai" version appears timely to attract people. "Although it is often connected with poor techniques and operation, 'Shanzhai' culture meets the psychological needs of common people and could be a comfort to their minds," he said.
To the mainstream（主流） culture, the rise of "Shanzhai" culture is a challenge and a motivation（推动）. People believe different kinds of cultures developing together is a perfect way and it is for the public to choose.
1. The Chinese word "Shanzhai" may have started with_______.| A．electronic products | B．fake(假的) cell-phones |
| C．Spring Festival Gala | D．Olympic buildings |
| A．anything that are copies of something famous |
| B．products with poor techniques and quality |
| C．the action that a person imitates famous people |
| D．those similar names to famous brands |
| A．is stopped by "Shanzhai" culture |
| B．is the challenge of"Shanzhai" culture |
| C．may develop faster because of the challenge of "Shanzhai" culture |
| D．will be replaced by "Shanzhai" culture |
| A．偷窃 | B．做广告 |
| C．仿造 | D．欺骗 |
7 . The situation of the world’s plants is not good. One fifth of the kinds of plants are in danger of disappearing, according to a report.
“Plants are very vital to human beings,” said Kathy Willis, who led the new report. “Plants provide us with everything—food, fuel, and medicine, and they are very important for our climate controlling. Without plants we would not be here.”
The good news is that deforestation rates around the world have dropped largely since the 1950s. However, this report on the health of plants around the world shows that there is much more to be done.
The report predicts that there are now 390,900 kinds of plants. And about 21 percent of those plants are in danger of disappearing. “The good side is that we’re still discovering lots of new plants, about 2,000 each year,” said Dr. Willis. “The bad side is that we’ve seen a huge change in land cover, mainly caused by cultural activity, with a little bit of climate change in there as well.”
Human activity has a great effect on the danger of plants disappearing. As humans cut down forests to make room for agriculture, towns and cities, biodiversity is lost. This could not only affect our own food supply directly, but also affect the food web.
1. What does the underlined word “vital” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Useless. | B．Friendly. | C．Equal. | D．Important. |
| A．New plants are more than ever before. | B．About half the plants will disappear soon. |
| C．Many new plants are found every year. | D．Plants mustn’t be used to produce medicine. |
| A．We have made little progress. | B．There is a long way for us to go. |
| C．We have achieved our goal. | D．There will be nothing we can do. |
| A．Biodiversity Being Lost | B．Human Social Activity |
| C．Environment Protection | D．Nature Climate Change |
8 . Little Tom down the street calls our dog “The keep dog”. Zip is a sheep dog. But when Tom tries to say “sheep”, it comes out “keep”. And in a way Tom is right. Zip is always bringing things home for us to keep! I'll tell you about some of them.
Zip’s first present was a shoe. It was made of green silk.
We didn’t know how Zip found the shoe. But after a moment, Mary, my big sister, told me the shoe had a strange smell. I nodded(点头) and held my nose. “What do you think it is?”
“It smells like something for cleaning. I think someone tried to clean a spot(污点) off the shoe. Then he put it at the door to dry.”
“Along came Zip. And good-bye shoe!” I said. “We should take it back.”
“We can’t ”, said my sister.
“Maybe little Tom is right,” Mary said. “Maybe Zip is a keep dog!”
1. The writer and Mary didn’t know .| A．what Zip’s first present was | B．how Zip carried its first present home |
| C．who owned Zip’s first present | D．what Zip’s first present was made of |
| A．the dog likes keeping things | B．the dog likes playing with shoes |
| C．he doesn’t know the dog’s name | D．he can't pronounce the word “sheep” well |
| A．its color | B．its smell | C．its size | D．that it was a silk one |
| A．keeping things for itself | B．bringing things for other to keep |
| C．not letting it run about | D．taking care of a small child |
9 . A simple gesture can be formed into a child’s memory so quickly that it will cause the child to give a false answer to a question accompanied by that gesture. A new finding suggests that parents, social workers, psychologists and lawyers should be careful with their hands as well as their words.
While memories of both adults and children are easy to react to suggestion, those of children are known to be particularly influenced, said lead researcher Sara Broaders of Northwestern University. Kids are used to looking to adults to tell events for them and can be misled even if not intentionally.
Previous research, for example, has shown that detail-loaded questions often cause false answers; when asked, say “Did you drink juice at the picnic?” the child is likely to say “yes” even if no juice had been available. It is not that the child is consciously lying, but rather the detail is quickly formed into his or her memory.
To avoid this problem, social workers have long been advised to ask children only open- ended questions, such as “What did you have at the picnic?” But an open-ended question paired with a gesture, briefly meaning a juice box, is treated like a detailed question. That is，children become likely to answer falsely.
And it isn’t just a few kids: 77% of children gave at least one piece of false information when a detail was suggested by an ordinary gesture. Gestures may also become more popular when talking with non-fluent language users, such as little kids, Broaders said as hand movements can impart meaning of unfamiliar words and phrases. “It certainly seems reasonable that adults would gesture more with children. ’’
In general, Broaders advises parents and other adults to “try to be aware of your hands when questioning a child about an event. Otherwise, you might be getting answers that don’t reflect what actually happened. ’’
1. What can we know about gestures from the text?| A．They are rarely used by people. | B．They have certain effect on children. |
| C．They have not any function at all. | D．They are often used by social workers. |
| A．Children are easy to tell lies. | B．These gestures are very attractive. |
| C．Their memories are affected easily. | D．These gestures are used frequently. |
| A．Where are you going Lucy? |
| B．What will you have for lunch? |
| C．Did you see anything else last night? |
| D．Did you cheat in the last English examination? |
| A．Pass on. | B．Tell apart. |
| C．Confuse. | D．Separate. |
10 . Airports will soon add a new layer to their security procedures. Several airports in Europe will start giving lie detector tests to passengers. Special lie detector machines will use artificial intelligence to test travellers.
The lie detector machines are backed by a European Union project called iBorderCtrl. The first machines will be at border checkpoints in Hungary, Greece and Latvia. Airports in these countries will carry out tests on the lie detector machines this month.
Travelers from outside the EU countries will have to take the test. They will look into a webcam and answer questions from a computer-animated immigration official. The computer- produced animation will change to match the race and language of the traveler.
A European Union spokesperson said the virtual border guard will scan passengers' faces and analyze their micro expressions. They will use these expressions to find out if the passenger might be lying.
A human security guard will take over if the lie-detecting software detects a security risk. The procedure will firstly divide passengers into two types. Low-risk travelers will be asked basic information in the lie-detection process while high-risk passengers will get more detailed questions. A psychology expert doubted if the system would work. He said, “If you ask people to lie, they will do it differently and show very different behavioral cues than if they truly lie...This is a known problem in psychology.”
1. Where will you see this special lie detector machine?| A．At a border checkpoint in Italy | B．At Greece airports |
| C．In iBorderCtrl offices. | D．In Hungary security department |
| A．supported | B．produced | C．Tested | D．sold |
| A．By scanning passengers’ brain. | B．By looking into a webcam |
| C．By analyzing facial expressions. | D．By distinguishing abnormal mood. |
| A．indifferent | B．supportive | C．opposed | D．skeptical |
