One day, when I was 7 years old, my father was standing in line to buy tickets for the circus for me.
And there was only one family in front of us. I was deeply impressed by them. There were eight children, all probably under the age of twelve. You could tell they didn’t have a lot of money.Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean. The children were well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents, holding hands. They were excitedly talking about the clowns, elephants, and other acts they would see that night with their brothers or sisters in a low voice.
I could sense that they had never been to the circus before. It promised to be highlight of their young lives. The father and mother were at the head of the pack, standing proud as could be. The mother was holding her husband’s hand, looking up at him as if to say, “You are my hero.”
He was smiling and responding in pride, looking back at her as if to say, “You got that right.”
The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly responded, “Please let me buy eight children’s tickets and two adult tickets so I can take my family to the circus.”
The ticket lady gave the price. The man’s wife let go of his hand, her head dropped, and his lips began to shake. The father leaned a little closer and asked, “How much did you say?”
The ticket lady again quoted the price. The man didn’t have enough money.
How was he supposed to turn and tell his eight children that he didn’t have enough money to take them to the circus?
Actually, we were not wealthy in any sense. So, I understand how the kids would feel. I felt sorry for them.
注意:1. 续写词数应为150左右;2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Seeing what was going on, my dad put his hand in his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill and dropped it on the ground.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When my mom announced that my dad had fixed the old car in his garage, I felt excited—I had wheels! I called my friend Steph and made plans to have dinner at her house the next day.
The following morning, I woke up early and put on a black skirt and jacket. “Aren’t you dressed too lightly?” Mom asked. “There’s a snowstorm coming.” “I’ll be inside,” I replied as I headed out.
As I began the forty-minute drive, I was in high spirits. However, halfway there it started to snow like mad. Cars slowed. The sound of a siren announced the approach of an ambulance and I pulled aside to let it pass. As I inched back into my lane, the traffic light ahead turned red. I stopped.
When the light turned green, I pressed on the gas, but the old car died. I tried to start it. One click, then nothing. Before I could do anything else, two young men raced over from the nearby sidewalk. I rolled down my window a little.
“Give us a second,” one of them said, “We’ll help you out of here.” Soon, they began pushing the car. With their guidance, I steered into a parking spot in front of a grocery store. “You’ll be fine now,” they said, and before I could even thank them, they walked into the grocery store.
The snow was falling faster now. I called Steph on my cellphone to cancel our plan. Next, I called my parents to come and get me. Now all I had to do was wait, but I was very hungry and cold. I sighed, regretting not taking my mom’s advice.
Just as I sat waiting in the car, I noticed a man walking towards me. It was one of the men who had just helped me. I rolled down the window at once.
注意:
1. 续写词数应为80左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
After a brief greeting, he told me this was his parents’ store.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Every October, my neighbor Ollie and I would enter the Halloween costume contest (服装比赛) in our neighborhood park.And each year the theme was different, such as “Superheroes” or “Far m Animals”.But this year’s theme was not so specific.It was just “Be Creative”.
Walking home along the road lined with tall trees, the two of us had a heated discussion about what “Be Creative” meant.We looked back on the themes we had really enjoyed.For “Superheroes”, we made costumes of Super-Force Flying Eagle.And for “Farm Animals”, we were dressed as a cow and a horse.Ollie even put a pair of wings for the horse, saying that he’d love to see a “flying horse” eating grass with a cow on the farm.
“Now that’s the creative spirit we need for this challenge!” I said.“Maybe, since we don’t know exactly what we want to be yet, we should start by choosing some cool costume-making materials.”
Just at that moment, a falling golden leaf happened to have landed on Ollie’s shoulder.“I’ve got it!” Ollie said joyfully, picking up some fallen leaves from the ground.“We can make costumes out of leaves and pretend to be trees.I can ensure, no one will be a tree as great as me.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” I said.“I like your creative idea and I have just got a perfect way to be another tree.”
We filled up two bags with different kinds of leaves: Ollie’s grandma, Abuela, an experienced tailor (裁缝), helped us with tons of excellent costume-making supplies and we started to work.When we were done, we each tried on the self-designed costumes and they were really wonderful.On the morning of the contest, we got up early and spent hours making preparations.We arrived at the park early and waited for our turn nervously and eagerly.
注意:
1.续写词数应为80个左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
The big time came for us to go onto the stage.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Zhang Pihe, a Bai woman from Dali, is introducing the Bai culture to visitors who come to Hequn Village in Sangzhi County, Hunan Province.People watch how she
Up to now, a great many visitors
About 700 years ago, some Bai people came to Hequn Village from Dali.After that, they were too busy making a living away from their homes
Brought up and deeply influenced by the Bai culture, Zhang hopes she can help protect and pass it down.So when she moved to Hequn Village, she started her lifelon g career.“I hope to take advantage of the traditional cultural resources of the Bai ethnic group to help the
On her arrival, Zhang set up the Bai tie-dyeing room,
“I have more confidence in spreading our Bai culture,” said Zhang.
Young Chinese bring hanfu to the world during Spring Festival
Young people dressed in hanfu, the traditional clothing of the Han ethnic group in China,
An initiative launched in late January by Xiaohongshu,
The first two weeks of the initiative saw some 10,000 Xiaohongshu users share their photos
Many young Chinese people working or studying overseas also invited
Hanfu, as well as other traditional forms of Chinese costume,
Analysts say the rise
From: chinadaily.com.cn
6 . As we all know, swimming is great fun. But it often comes with
Griffin Emerson, a 6-year-old child, swam in an apartment block’s pool. He enjoyed the pool’s
All that came about as no one else, including his mother, seemed to
However, one young man, Noah, did find Griffin in the pool. He told his friend Weston to call 911 at once. And Noah
Noah made it to Griffin, caught him and
Griffin’s mother was
A.difference | B.attention | C.danger | D.limitation |
A.curious | B.ordinary | C.relaxed | D.experienced |
A.prevent | B.identify | C.watch | D.suffer |
A.quiet | B.common | C.shallow | D.separate |
A.run | B.move | C.jump | D.climb |
A.recognize | B.notice | C.consider | D.persuade |
A.struggle | B.complaint | C.speed | D.escape |
A.side | B.center | C.bottom | D.corner |
A.hurried | B.regretted | C.continued | D.waited |
A.catch up with | B.keep track of | C.drive away | D.check on |
A.tied | B.directed | C.dropped | D.pulled |
A.recall | B.describe | C.perform | D.explain |
A.Sadly | B.Luckily | C.Obviously | D.Surprisingly |
A.familiar | B.patient | C.generous | D.grateful |
A.paid forward | B.brought in | C.taken over | D.looked into |
7 . Mathea Allansmith isn’t your typical grandmother. She’s the oldest woman in the world to have completed a marathon. She was 92 years 194 days old when she crossed the finish line at the 2022 Honolulu Marathon, setting the record for the oldest female to complete a marathon.
Mathea, now 94, of Koloa, Hawaii, USA, stays in shape all year round by running seven days a week, no matter what the weather is. Come rain or shine, she covers 36 miles every week, even when she’s on holiday. The retired doctor didn’t take up running until she was 46 years old —after a friend suggested running two miles per day.
“The Honolulu Marathon is my favorite marathon mainly because it doesn’t close the gate at a certain time, which allows even the slowest runner to finish the race,” she said. “It’s one of the best races. Fantastic registration (注册), set-up and management make it a joy to run the race.”
Mathea, who doesn’t allow her age to slow her down, thinks she is the happiest person when she’s on the road. She enjoys running for miles and waving and saying hello to the people she passes. To stay in shape, Mathea keeps a steady training routine (惯例) . “I train all year round but increase the mileage 18 weeks before a marathon,” she said.
Mathea said it was her career as a doctor that allowed her to understand how her body and mind respond to diet and exercise. “I see the direct relation between moving and health,” she said. “It is important to reduce stress rather than ignoring it without a plan on how to do so. Of course, exercise of any kind is a natural stress reducer.”
Mathea thought getting through the finish line and winning a Guinness World Record title was the excitement of her life. “My family completely surprised me after the 2022 Honolulu Marathon, in which I achieved the world record, by wearing matching T-shirts stating my achievements,” she said.
1. What do we know about Mathea from the first two paragraphs?A.She used to be in poor health. |
B.She is the oldest to win a marathon. |
C.She runs daily regardless of the weather. |
D.She was encouraged by her patient to run. |
A.It gives winners the best awards. |
B.It provides runners with quality service.. |
C.It has no time limit for runners to finish. |
D.It allows runners to set a world record easily. |
A.Her professional experience. | B.Her training courses. |
C.Her views on stress in life. | D.Her hobby from young. |
A.Practice makes perfect. |
B.Interest is the best teacher. |
C.Age is no barrier to success. |
D.Ups and downs make one strong. |
8 . Books are the most valuable cultural heritage. However, there are many ancient Chinese classics suffering from different degrees of damage due to various reasons.
Bai Yuzhi,a post-90s restorer (修复师) at the Wuhan Library,graduated from Wuhan University in 2016 with a major in restoring ancient books. She is now the fourth generation of restorers at the Wuhan Library, Bai started practicing this technique during her after-class activities at college in 2014.
Bai has restored about 10,000 pages of ancient books in her over 10 years of work. The most difficult part of the restoration, according to her, is keeping everything under exact control over every stage.
With the advancement of science and digital technology, the methods for protecting ancient books have become more various.
A.The task of restoration is demanding. |
B.Sometimes the book is badly damaged. |
C.Bai works in reader service for ancient books. |
D.This led to a new field—restoring ancient books. |
E.She officially became a restorer in February 2019. |
F.Recording the content of a book demands a restorer’s patience. |
G.She gave an example of the challenges in preparing a suitable paste. |
9 . Help? Teen Line Is Here
·CALL800—852—8336 Nationwide (6:00 p.m.—10:00 p.m.)
·TEXT TEEN to 839863(6:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m.)
·EMAIL US at teenline@org.com
Are you a teen looking for help?
Opening up to someone can be scary. Talking about what you’re dealing with is often hard, but at Teen Line we do everything we can to make it as easy as possible for you. Our only goal is to help you in whatever way we can.
What to expect when you call or text Teen Line?
When you call or text Teen Line, another teen will be there to listen, understand, and answer your questions. Many of our callers are talking to someone about what they’re going through fur the first time. Our teen listeners are aware of that and try to make you as comfortable as possible.
When you call or text Teen Line, we won’t judge you or tell you what to do. We will listen to you and work with you to find a way to improve your situation.
Who is going to answer your call or text?
Our volunteers, who are high school students from Los Angeles, California, will answer your call. Our volunteers —who we call “Listeners”—receive over 100 hours of training from mental health professionals so that they can respond and understand the needs of the teens reaching out.
What topics can you discuss with us?
Listeners are ready to talk about anything you are going through. The most common topics teens reach out about are relationships, anxiety, depression and loneliness.
1. Who is the text written for?A.Teachers. | B.Parents. | C.Teenagers. | D.Adults. |
A.They will tell the caller what to do directly. | B.They will work with the caller to solve the problem. |
C.They will turn to professionals for help. | D.They will only listen to the caller. |
A.They haven’t received much professional training. | B.They are high school students in New York. |
C.They only talk about how to deal with relationships. | D.Then can’t answer your call after 10:00 p.m. |
10 . While screen time is known to affect sleep, new research suggests that interactive (互动的) activities, such as texting friends or playing video games, put off and reduce the time spent asleep to a greater degree than passive (被动的) screen time like watching television, especially for teens.
The team studied the daytime screen-based activities of 475 teenagers using daily surveys. They asked the teens how many hours they had spent that day communicating with friends through social media and how many hours they spent playing video games, surfing the internet and watching television or videos. Finally, the researchers asked if they had joined in any of these activities in the hour before bed.
Next, the team measured their sleep time for one week. The researchers found that the teens spent an average of two hours per day communicating with friends via social media, about 1.3 hours playing video games, less than an hour surfing the internet and about 1.7 hours watching television or videos. For every hour throughout the day that they used screens to communicate with friends, they fell asleep about 11 minutes later averagely. For every hour to play video games, they fell asleep about 9 minutes later. Those who talked, texted or played games in the hour before bed lost the most sleep: about 30 minutes later.
Interestingly, David, lead author of the study, said the team found no obvious relations between passive screen-based activities and sleep. “It could be that passive activities are less mentally exciting than interactive activities,” said Anne, co-author of the study. “It’s a tricky situation,” she said. “These screen tools are really important to everyone nowadays, so it’s hard to put a limit on them, but if you’re really looking out for a teenager’s health and well-being, you might consider limiting the more interactive activities, especially in the hour before bed.”
1. Which of the following belongs to interactive screen activities?A.Seeing movies. | B.Watching videos. |
C.Texting friends. | D.Surfing the internet. |
A.Lucy who watched a three-hour movie before going to bed. |
B.Jack who had a 30-minute video chat with his brother before bed. |
C.Sam who played computer games for two hours throughout the day. |
D.Amy who chatted with her friends on WeChat for one hour in the morning. |
A.Frightening. | B.Awkward. | C.Hopeless. | D.Encouraging. |
A.Screen time activities cut down our sleep hours |
B.Interactive screen use reduces sleep time in teenagers |
C.Passive screen use is better than interactive screen use |
D.Parents should prevent children from using social media |