1 . The Ghost Bridegroom
At the time of this story, there was a great family gathering at the castle to meet the promised bridegroom of the Baron’s daughter. An arrangement had been made between the Baron and an old nobleman of Bavaria, Berton, for a marriage between their children. It would increase the importance of both families. The initial plans had been made in the usual way: the young people were engaged without having met each other and the date set for the wedding.
The young Count (伯爵) Von Altenburg had been recalled from the army and was on his way to the castle to meet his promised bride. Messages had been received from Wurtzburg where he was accidentally delayed. The messages indicated the day and time when he might be expected to arrive. The castle was in a fever of preparation to provide him with a suitable welcome.
Anne had dressed with particular care. Bertha and Wilda had selected her clothing and quarreled all morning about what she should wear. The young lady had taken advantage of their arguments to wear exactly what she wanted and had chosen very well. She looked as beautiful as any young bridegroom could wish for, and the excitement made her look even lovelier. The two aunts constantly directed her, as single aunts usually take a great interest in the love affairs of others. They were giving her the final instructions on how to behave, what to say, and how to greet her intended husband.
Hour by hour passed. The sun, which had been so warm over the rich forests of the Odenwald, was now setting along the tops of the mountains. The Baron went to the tallest tower in the castle to see if he could see any sign of the Count and his escorts.
Once, he thought he saw them. The sound of horns came floating up from the valley. A party of men was seen far below, riding slowly along the road. It was a false alarm, for when they reached the foot of the mountain, they suddenly rode off in a different direction. The sun, by now, had set, and the bats began to fly about in the evening light. It was getting dark, and the only movement on the road was the occasional worker returning home.
1. Which is the right relationship of the characters in the novel?| A．Von Altenburg was the Baron’s son. |
| B．Anne and Bertha were the Baron’s sister. |
| C．Anne was Berton’s only daughter. |
| D．Von Altenburg was Anne’s intended husband. |
| A．He accepted his intended marriage arranged without his knowledge. |
| B．He was eager to meet his intended wife so he retired from the army. |
| C．He wouldn’t have been welcomed by the bride had he arrived on time. |
| D．He didn’t like the marriage, so he purposely delayed going to the castle. |
| A．The sun was so warm over the rich forests of the Odenwald. |
| B．The Baron went to the tallest tower to see if he could see any sign of the Count. |
| C．The sound of horns came floating up from the valley. |
| D．The sun had set, and the bats began to fly about in the evening light. |
| A．What happened to the bride. | B．What happened to the bridegroom. |
| C．What happened to the Baron. | D．What happened to the aunts. |
2 . Years of exposure to Americans has, at last, convinced me of something about their food culture. I now think they’re correct in one of life’s great dilemmas: when eating at a restaurant, it is really fine to politely send your food back if it is not what you ordered, or covered in cheese when you asked for no cheese, etc.
Of course, the idea makes me feel anxious; the British fear of making a scene is planted in my soul. But what persuaded me, in the end, was realizing how self-centered that fear actually is. Are you really such a big deal that your no-cheese request will embarrass your fellow diners, ruin the waiter's day, and send waves of shock through the kitchen? Face it: you're not. Instead, you're in the situation of what might be termed “egocentric reticence (以自我为中心的沉默).”
Egocentric reticence raised its head again the other day in a study about gratitude, which found that people underestimate how much delight a thank-you note can bring. The psychologists Amit Kumar and Nicholas Epley had people send grateful messages to someone who'd made a difference to their lives. Again and again, they found, senders assumed their words would lead to less happiness and more awkwardness than they really did, and that recipients would judge their letter-writing competence cruelly, too. Even in the seemingly selfless context of expressing gratitude, senders couldn’t help giving too much weight to their own perspective. So if you stop yourself from sending someone a thank-you note because you're worried you'll make them feel awkward or annoyed, you are letting egocentrism prevent an action that would have made both of you happier.
The most acute form of egocentric reticence, surely, is extreme shyness. “Shyness is just egotism out of its depth,” famous actress Penelope Keith once told an interviewer. The quote was later regarded as a line the writer Sadie Stein credits with curing her own shyness. “For some reason, the clear cruelty of that quote was what I needed, ” Stein wrote. “OK, I thought... No one is looking at you.”
1. Before contacting Americans, the author thought sending restaurant food back was ________.| A．certainly a customer's right |
| B．fine to do just in some cultures |
| C．acceptable but not worthy sometimes |
| D．embarrassing and would cause trouble |
| A．hesitate to do something due to self-centered reasons |
| B．keep sending waves of shock to others |
| C．be ignorant of other people's feelings |
| D．do something extremely embarrassing |
| A．People may regard sending grateful messages unimportant. |
| B．It's common for Americans to send a thank-you letter. |
| C．It's important to thank others after being helped. |
| D．People often take a thank-you note for granted. |
| A．We sometimes need shyness to behave well. |
| B．We should pay no attention to other people's thoughts. |
| C．We can overcome our shyness by removing our egotism. |
| D．We should avoid being exposed to other people's focus. |
Donnie was my youngest third-grader. He was a shy, nervous perfectionist. His fear of failure kept him from classroom games that other children played with wild abandon. He seldom answered questions in class because he was afraid he might make mistakes. Written homework, especially math, reduced him to nail-biting frustration (挫败感). He seldom finished his work because he repeatedly checked with me to make sure he hadn’t made a mistake.
I tried my best to build his self-confidence, and I repeatedly asked other colleagues for good advice, but nothing changed until midterm, when Mary Anne, a student teacher, was sent to our classroom. She was young and pretty and she loved children. My pupils, Donnie included, liked her very much. However, even enthusiastic, loving Mary Anne found it hard to deal with this little boy who feared he might make a mistake.
Then one morning we were working math problems on the blackboard. Donnie had copied the problems with painstaking neatness and had worked out answers to some of them. Pleased with his progress, I left the children with Mary Anne and went for art materials. When I returned, I found Donnie was in tears because he had missed the third problem. My student teacher looked at me in despair. Suddenly her face brightened. From the desk we shared, she got a box filled with many pencils and two erasers.
“Look, Donnie,” she said, kneeling beside him and gently lifting the tear-stained face from his arms. “I’ve got something to show you.”She took out the pencils and erasers, one at a time, and placed them on his desk. Donnie looked a little confused, wiping tears from his eyes.
Paragraph 1:
“See these pencils and erasers, Donnie?” she continued.
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Paragraph 2:
The eraser became Donnie’s prized possession.
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A Detroit businessman has created the world’s first mobile bowling alley by changing a semi- trailer(半挂车)truck into
“The mobile bowling alley's design took years
Luxury Strike Bowling
With rentals starting at $500 for two hours, the business is so successful. The businessman is already working on a second mobile alley,
5 . Sixty percent of Americans play video games daily, according to Techjury. In order to escape from the reality of quarantine (隔离), more people have turned to video games and VR (virtual reality) has become more popular than ever.
The world of VR isn't new to the gaming industry. It has been an ongoing concept for years, dating back to the 1800s. NASA popularized VR technology in 1989, bringing light to advancements that had never been seen before, and in 1991, SEGA introduced VR to gamers.
Gaming companies such as Oculus and HTC have redefined gaming by allowing players to involve themselves deeply in the world of VR through personal headsets. VR users are able to socialize through chat rooms, create 3D art and exercise through heart-pumping gameplay. Once a user puts on a headset, they are immediately transported into a virtual world. This allows the player to have a better experience compared to simply staring at a TV with a game controller.
Although VR has many positive aspects, using virtual reality too much can cause health problems among users. When using VR, it is common for people to lose spatial (空间的) awareness. Therefore, users are encouraged to play in an area that is clear of furniture and other objects causing potential danger. Eye strain can also be caused by using VR too much, so it is important to limit your time playing in virtual reality and take breaks in order to minimize the possibility of experiencing negative health effects.
How VR will develop in the future is unknown to us. However, new advancements for it are on the way. Teslasuit, a company specializing in VR equipment, is creating haptic (触觉的) suits for VR gameplay. These suits will allow users to feel aspects of VR while in game and will increase involvement, build 360-degree awareness and engage muscle memory. There are an endless number of possibilities that users can experience and create in VR, and the boundaries of the virtual world are limitless.
1. The second paragraph is mainly concerned with _______.| A．the function of VR |
| B．the origin of VR games |
| C．the history of online games |
| D．the future of the gaming industry |
| A．do physical exercise together in nature |
| B．have a more realistic gaming experience |
| C．enjoy better-quality pictures and sounds |
| D．play games without disturbing others |
| A．contact. | B．Movement. | C．Opening. | D．Damage. |
| A．Negative. | B．Objective. | C．Confident. | D．Suspicious. |
Bazette is a good doctor at our local hospital. One day, he got off work as usual. On
Over an hour’s time, the local firefighters
In the Life Flight ambulance, Dr. Bazette did first aid on the driver for over 20 minutes, and brought him back to life in preparation for the quick journey back to the local hospital,
A passer-by shared this in her article and praised Dr. Bazette’s virtue in our district newsletter. His
7 . Avi Loeb, a scientist, believes that we are not alone in the universe. The belief fits with Loeb’s alien (外星的) spaceship theory that at least one alien spaceship might be flying over the orbit (轨道) of Jupiter, which won the international attention last year.
Astronomers in Hawaii found the first known interstellar (星际的) object in late 2017. It was a bit of light moving so fast past the sun that it could only have come from another star. Almost every astronomer on the planet was trying to figure out how the object, called “Oumuamua” got to our far-away, part of the Milky way galaxy. “One possibility is that ‘Oumuamua’ is debris (碎片) from an advanced technological equipment,” Loeb said. “Technology comes from another solar system just showed up at our door.”
“‘Oumuamua’ is not an alien spaceship,” Paul Sutter, another scientist wrote. He suggested Loeb was seeking publicity. Most scientists think “Oumuamua” is some sort of rock. They think it could be an icy wandering comet.
Loeb says that “Oumuamua’s” behavior, means it can’t be a block of rock shaped like a long photo. He thinks it's more likely an object that’s very long and thin, perhaps like a long pancake or a ship’s sail. Loeb says that if someone shows him evidence that contradicts his beliefs, he will immediately give in.
Loeb believes himself a truth-teller and risk- taker in an age of very safe, too-quiet scientists. “The worst thing that can happen to me is that I would be relieved of my management duties, and that would give me even more time to focus on science,” Loeb says. He said he wouldn’t mind giving up all the titles he had and returning to the Israeli farming village where he grew up.
1. What does Loeb say about “Oumuamua”?| A．It is an icy comet. |
| B．It looks like a long photo. |
| C．It is actually some sort of rock. |
| D．It may come from another alien civilization. |
| A．Searches for. | B．Depends on. |
| C．Turns to. | D．Goes against. |
| A．He is foolish. |
| B．He is unsatisfied with his titles. |
| C．He is a firm believer in scientific truth. |
| D．He is uncertain about his career future. |
| A．Have Aliens Paid a Visit in Spaceships? |
| B．Do We Really Know about Space Theory? |
| C．Scientists Are Working on High Technology |
| D．Astronomers Are Encouraging Space Travel |
8 . Riding a Mobike on the street, you might hear people speaking Chinese aloud.
In the past, most Western people thought Chinese products were cheap and unreliable.
“They are beautiful and offer some unique features American phones don't have,” CNN once said about Chinese smartphones.
| A．But things have changed greatly. |
| B．What is the biggest problem with many Chinese brands? |
| C．Many Chinese brands are also becoming more popular. |
| D．Turning to the right, you may see a Chinese restaurant. |
| E．There are many restaurants providing Western foods in China. |
| F．Chinese food has been enjoyed in Western countries for a long time. |
| G．In fact, you might see similar things in many other cities around the world. |
9 . Each nation has many good people who help to take care of others. For example, some high school and college students in the United States often spend many hours as volunteers in hospitals, orphanages (孤儿院) or homes for the aged. They read books to the people in these places, or they just visit them and play games with them or listen to their problems.
Other young people volunteers go and work in the homes of people who are sick or old. They paint, clean up, or repair their houses, do their shopping or mow their lawns. For boys who no longer have fathers there is an organization called Big Brothers. College students and other men take these boys to baseball games or on fishing trips and help them to get to know things that boys usually learn from their fathers.
Each city has a number of clubs where boys and girls can go to play games or learn crafts. Some of these clubs show movies or organize short trips to the mountains, the beaches, museums or other places of interest. Most of these clubs use a lot of high school and college students as volunteers because they are young enough to remember the problems of younger boys and girls
Volunteers believe that some of the happiest people in the world are those who help to bring happiness to others.
1. Where can you often find volunteers in the United States?| A．At a bus-stop. | B．In a park. | C．In a hospital. | D．In a shop. |
| A．They mow their lawns, do their shopping and clean up their house. |
| B．They cook, sew or wash their clothes. |
| C．They tell them stories and sing and dance for them. |
| D．They clean, wax and repair their cars. |
| A．It’s the name of a club. |
| B．It’s a home for children who have no brothers. |
| C．It’s the name of a film. |
| D．It’s an organization for boys who no longer have fathers. |
| A．Because they can still remember what they felt when they were younger. |
| B．Because they like younger boys and girls. |
| C．Because they know how to do the work. |
| D．Because they have a lot of free time. |
1. 表示道歉；
2. 爽约的原因；
3. 补救措施。
注意：
1. 词数80左右；
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Peter,
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Yours,
Li Hua
