1 . Devon Gallagher, a college graduate from Philadelphia, wants the world to know exactly where she’s been while she’s on her worldwide vacation in a special way. The traveler, who was born with a bone disease, had her right leg amputated (截肢) at the age of four. Although the amputation caused inconvenience for Gallagher early on, she now sees it as nothing short of inspiration for living her best life.
To spread that message. Gallagher has gone to social media, where she shares photos of her travels across the world, but instead of simply using a geo-tag(地理位置标签), she writes her location on her artificial leg before taking a picture.
Now she has been taking pictures across the Continent, which show her cycling over the canal in Amsterdam relaxing on a wall overlooking the city of Barcelona, posing with a waffle in Brussels, taking in the beautiful Parthenon temple in Athens and enjoying a river ride in Budapest, all with the well-known locations written on her artificial leg.
“I get a new leg every two years and I can choose the design on it. One day I had a sudden thought to get a chalk-board,” Gallagher said. “My mum and grandmother didn’t like the idea, but my friends thought it was great and told me to go for it, so I did.”
Gallagher said people often stare when she’s writing on her leg, but once she shares the photos, she receives only positive feedback(反馈), “My leg hasn’t stopped me from doing anything I’ve wanted to do,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s my determination to prove to myself that I can do it, anyway, I’ve been able to keep up with people at my age and lead a pretty great life.”
Gallagher shows us that you should never let anything stand in the way of your dreams. And if life gives you an artificial leg, make art.
1. What message did Gallapher want to spread in her special way?| A．She enjoys her travelling across the globe. |
| B．She suffers little from her leg’s amputation. |
| C．she looks on her misfortune as another form of blessing. |
| D．She has exactly fallen in love with posting photos online. |
| A．the continent | B．the pictures | C．the leg | D．the location |
| A．helpful and ambitious | B．friendly and generous |
| C．determined and creative | D．independent and sensible |
| A．Never Too Late to share | B．A Special Artificial Leg |
| C．An Outstanding Photographer | D．Gallagher’s Summer Holidays |
2 . One of the greatest sources of unhappiness, in my experience, is the difficulty we have in accepting things as they are.
When we see something we don’t like, we wish it could be different. We cry out for something better. That may be human nature, or perhaps it’s something ingrained(根深蒂固的) in our culture. The root of the unhappiness isn’t necessarily that we want things to be different. However, it’s that we decided we didn’t like it in the first place. We’ve judged it as bad, rather than saying, “It’s not bad or good, and it just is it.”
In one of my books, I said “You should expect people to mess up and expect things to go differently than you planned”. Some readers said it’s too sorrowful to expect things to go wrong. However, it’s only negative if you see it as negative and judge it as bad. Instead, you could accept it as the way the world works and try to understand why that is.
This can be applied to whatever you do: how other people act at work, how politics works and how depressing the news media can be. Accept these things as they are, and try to understand why they’re that way. It will save you a lot of sadness, because you’ll no longer say, “Oh. I wish bad things didn’t happen!”
Does it mean you can never change things? Not at all. But change things not because you can’t accept things as they are, but because you enjoy the process of changing, learning and growing.
Can we make this world a better place? You can say that you’ll continue to try to do things to help others, to grow as a person, to make a difference in this world. That’s the correct path you choose to take, because you enjoy that path. Therefore, when you find yourself judging and wishing for difference, try a different approach: accept, and understand. It might lead to some interesting results.
1. The author believes that we feel unhappy maybe because ________.| A．it is our natural emotion in the life |
| B．culture asks us to be different from others |
| C．everyone has their own opinions on things |
| D．we dislike something in the beginning |
| A．Acting well at work and in politics. |
| B．Feeling depressed for the news media. |
| C．Accepting and understanding what has happened. |
| D．Saying something negative when bad things come. |
| A．Help others and make a difference. |
| B．Enjoy what you have to do in the work. |
| C．Judge yourself and make a wish for you. |
| D．Try a new way when making the world better. |
| A．Accepting can make our life happier and better. |
| B．Expecting things to be different gives us hope. |
| C．Traditional culture becomes root of unhappiness. |
| D．Judging good or bad is important for our world. |
3 . When I was sixteen years old，I made my first visit to the United States.It wasn’t the first time I had been abroad.Like most English children，I learned French at school.And I had often been to France，so I was used to speaking a foreign language to people who didn’t understand English.But when I went to America，I was really looking forward to having a nice easy holiday without any language problems.
How wrong I was！The misunderstanding began at the airport.I was looking for a public telephone to give my American friend Danny a call and tell her that I had arrived.A friendly old man saw me looking lost and asked if he could help me.
“Yes，” I said，“I want to give my friend a ring.”
“Well，that’s nice，” he said，“Are you getting married？But aren’t you a bit young？”
“Who is talking about marriage？” I replied.“I only want to give my friend a ring to tell her I’ve arrived.Can you tell me where there is a phone box？”
“Oh！” he said，“There is a phone downstairs.”
When at last we met，Danny explained the misunderstanding to me.
“Don’t worry，” she said to me，“I had so many difficulties at first.There are lots of words which the Americans use differently in meaning from British.You’ll soon get used to all the funny things they say.Most of the time，British and American people understand each other！”
1. Where was the writer from?| A．He was from America. |
| B．He was from France. |
| C．He was from England. |
| D．He was from China. |
| A．he wouldn’t have any language difficulties |
| B．he would not understand the Americans |
| C．the Americans might not understand him |
| D．he would have difficulties at the airport |
| A．means the same in America as in England |
| B．means “call somebody” to the old man |
| C．means “be going to get married with somebody” |
| D．has two different meanings in America and in England |
| A．the old man and the boy |
| B．the Americans |
| C．the British |
| D．the French |
4 . Humans and gorillas shared evolution for 23 million years. Their paths separated only six million years ago. Research on how gorillas communicate can help us understand human language development.
Understanding how the brain works helps us see a connection between language development and non-verbal signs. These signs or movements include things like the way we move our hands or bodies or the different expressions our faces have in different social situations. A new study on gorillas showed that the right side of the body is controlled by the left part of the brain and it is also the location for language development.
Two cameras were used to film all of one ape’s movements. One of the first results was that gorillas use their right hands more when they are doing actions with their heads or mouths at the same time. This shows that there is a connection between how our brain works and the reason we use one side of our body more than the other. In addition, we can use the results of the study and our knowledge about brains to help us understand more about how language first developed in humans.
Dr Forrester, who did the study, says the results can be useful in other ways, such as understanding language development in children. For example, some children have serious illness called “autism” which can stop them communicating normally with people. It might be possible to use the same study method to find out which children have this illness when they are very young. Doctors will then be able to start treatment early.
1. Which of the following may have a connection with right-handedness?| A．Communication. | B．Intelligence. |
| C．Social position. | D．Social success. |
| A．The right side of the body. | B．The mouth. |
| C．The left part of the brain. | D．The front part of the head. |
| A．Photographers of gorillas. | B．Zoo keepers. |
| C．Researchers on movement. | D．Children with illness. |
| A．prefer to use the right hand instead of the left hand |
| B．have a complex form of non-verbal communication |
| C．help us better develop our language abilities |
| D．share the same body language with humans |
5 . Would it surprise you to learn that, like animals, trees communicate with each other and pass on their wealth to the next generation?
UBC Professor Simard explains how trees are much more complex than most of us ever imagined. Although Charles Darwin thought that trees are competing for survival of the fittest, Simard shows just how wrong he was. In fact, the opposite is true: trees survive through their cooperation and support, passing around necessary nutrition “depending on who needs it”.
Nitrogen (氮) and carbon are shared through miles of underground fungi (真菌) networks, making sure that all trees in the forest ecological system give and receive just the right amount to keep them all healthy. This hidden system works in a very similar way to the networks of neurons (神经元) in our brains, and when one tree is destroyed, it affects all. Simard talks about “mother trees”, usually the largest and oldest plants on which all other trees depend. She explains how dying trees pass on the wealth to the next generation, transporting important minerals to young trees so they may continue to grow. When humans cut down “mother trees” with no awareness of these highly complex “tree societies” or the networks on which they feed, we are reducing the chances of survival for the entire forest “We didn’t take any notice of it.” Simard says sadly. “Dying trees move nutrition into the young trees before dying, but we never give them chance.” If we could put across the message to the forestry industry, we could make a huge difference towards our environmental protection efforts for the future.
1. The underlined sentence “the opposite is true” in Paragraph 2 probably means that trees ________.| A．compete for survival | B．protect their own wealth |
| C．depend on each other | D．provide support for dying trees |
| A．look the largest in size in the forest |
| B．pass on nutrition to young trees |
| C．seem more likely to be cut down by humans |
| D．know more about the complex “tree societies” |
| A．how “tree societies” work | B．how trees grow old |
| C．how forestry industry develops | D．how young trees survive |
| A．Old Trees Communicate Like Humans |
| B．Young Trees are In Need Of Protection |
| C．Trees Are More Awesome Than You Think |
| D．Trees Contribute To Our Society |
Computer connections of the World Wide Web and Internet also use satellites. Many of our TV programs come to US through satellites．Airplane pilots also sometimes use a satellite to help them find their exact location．
We use satellites to send television pictures from one part of the world to another．They are usually 35，880 kilometers above the equator．Sometimes we can see a satellite in the sky and it seems to stay in the same place．This is because it is moving around the world at 11，000 kilometers an hour—exactly the same speed that the earth rotates．A satellite must orbit the Earth with its antennae(天线) facing the earth．Sometimes, it moves away from its orbit. So there are little rockets on it which are used to put the satellite back in the right position．This usually happens about every five or six days．
Space is not empty! Every week, more and more satellites are sent into space to orbit the Earth．A satellite usually works for about 10-12 years．Satellites which are broken are sometimes repaired by astronauts or sometimes brought back to Earth to be repaired．Often，very old or broken satellites are left in space to orbit the Earth for a very long time．This is very serious because some satellites use nuclear power and they can crash into each other．
1. Which of the following is NOT done by satellites according to the passage?| A．Sending information for weather forecast． |
| B．Taking photographs of the Earth． |
| C．Sending TV pictures． |
| D．Providing food for airplane pilots． |
| A．35,880 kilometers per hour． | B．335,880 kilometers per hour． |
| C．11,000 kilometers per hour． | D．110,000 kilometers per hour |
| A．In order to take photographs． |
| B．In order to stay in a certain position in the orbit． |
| C．In order to move away from its orbit． |
| D．In order to send television pictures． |
| A．A satellite． | B．A little rocket． |
| C．A satellite seems to stay in the same place in the sky． | D．The satellite puts the rockets in the right position． |
| A．A satellite usually works for about 10-12 years． |
| B．Every time a satellite gets broken, it is brought back to the Earth to be repaired. |
| C．A broken satellite is never left in space. |
| D．They often crash into each other. |
