We moved here a few days ago, and I don’t know anyone, not one person, at the new place. Dad says things will get better. He says I’ll take to city living just like I took to climbing trees and playing ball. I look out the window of our new apartment.
“This was a good move for us, Sonny,” Dad says, “You’ll see.”
“I miss the guys,” I say. “I miss Michigan. I miss” — I gaze up and down the street — “trees.”
“Los Angeles isn’t a bad place,” he says. Then he tells me about a park he saw down the street. “It has a couple of basketball courts. Get out there and sweat today. You’ve kept yourself inside too long.” I nod.
That afternoon, I grab my basketball and head down the street to find the courts. Dad was right about being kept inside too long. It’s about time to shake the cobwebs(蜘蛛网)off my basketball legs, see if I can still dribble(运球)with both hands, and remain a good shooter. I walk past all the shops with bars on their windows. This is home?
When I get to the courts, I see three guys shooting around. They’re playing some kind of one-on-one, taking turns with the third guy in. Two of them are taller than me, but one is about my size. I can tell that the short kid knows how to play by the way he handles the ball, dribbling well with either hand. But the other guys are too tall for him. One-on-one isn’t his game. He needs someone to pass to.
I go down to the other basket to shoot around. I’m pretty cold at first. But after I warm up, the old feelings come back — the proper knee bend, the feel of releasing the ball just right.
“Hi, there.”
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。
I stop and turn around, catching sight of the short kid.
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Without hesitation I accept his invitation to play in the upcoming League Cup.
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2 . Templer was a tour guide in Zimbabwe, leading a canoe (皮划艇) safari down the Zambezi River. During the expedition, Templer’s canoe
Things were going the way they were supposed to go. Everyone was having a pretty good time. Eventually, they
Templer tried to steer (率领) the group safely around them. However, the third canoe was off the planned
Despite the unpleasant experience, Templer
| A．made | B．found | C．led | D．wound |
| A．encountered | B．interrupted | C．saved | D．killed |
| A．unfortunate | B．unexpected | C．uncertain | D．unnecessary |
| A．speed | B．angle | C．vision | D．distance |
| A．line | B．control | C．course | D．duty |
| A．watch | B．comfort | C．stop | D．rescue |
| A．leaning over | B．turning away | C．looking up | D．calming down |
| A．hearts | B．fingers | C．heads | D．thoughts |
| A．appeared | B．flowed | C．froze | D．erupted |
| A．free | B．empty | C．hurt | D．skinny |
| A．risk | B．avoid | C．permit | D．finish |
| A．surface | B．bottom | C．bank | D．sky |
| A．hoped | B．continued | C．refused | D．hesitated |
| A．habitat | B．safety | C．conservation | D．suffering |
| A．readily | B．finally | C．casually | D．simply |
3 . The secret to stress relief: Why rest isn’t a waste of time
Stress is a modern epidemic, but among all the stress management strategies we are forgetting one essential remedy (疗法) — taking time for rest. For a long time, psychologists focused almost exclusively on what went on between our ears.
The most recent insights have revealed that our mental health is determined to a large extent by our physical condition. Studies have shown that our brain processes “psychological” pain — such as the kind that arises out of social exclusion — the same way it does physical pain.
It’s apparent that there is no clear division between body and mind in the case of stress. You suffer more from stress when you are suffering from a flu. If you have a bad night’s sleep, everything is more stressful the next day. But good news is that you can combat it by looking after your body.
When you decide to do something about your stress levels, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to turn your whole life upside down — quit your job, move to another country and so forth.
| A．The body was not their responsibility. |
| B．The first step is to take better care of your body, instead. |
| C．In fact, you can even take an aspirin for that kind of pain. |
| D．For example, physical exercise helps to relieve depression. |
| E．You should ask if the health problems are caused by stress. |
| F．They all concentrate only on anxiety, depression and as such. |
| G．Getting enough rest is not just something we should do when we are exhausted. |
4 . Vitamin C for a cold? A good dose of Vitamin D on a sunny day? We all know that vitamins are critical for our health, but how did they get their names and when were they discovered in the first place?
American nutrition scientist Elmer McCullum conducted a variety of feed experiments with different animal populations and discovered that an “accessory” substance contained in some fats was essential to growth. That fat-soluble (脂溶的) substance became known as Vitamin “A” for “accessory.”
McCollum and others also conducted further experiments with rice-bran-derived nutrient, naming it Vitamin “B” after beriberi, which can cause heart failure and a loss of sensation in the legs and feet. Eventually, it turned out that the substance known as Vitamin B was a complex of eight water-soluble vitamins, which were each given individual names and numbered in order of discovery.
The custom of naming vitamins alphabetically in order of discovery continued. Today, four fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) and nine water-soluble vitamins (Vitamin C and the eight B vitamins) are considered essential to human growth and health. Only one vitamin bucked the oh-so-logical naming system: Vitamin K, discovered by Danish researcher Carl Peter Henrik Dam in 1929. The substance should have been in line to be called Vitamin F given its discovery date. But Dam’s research revealed that the vitamin is essential for blood coagulation (凝固) — known as Koagulation in the German journal that published his research — and his abbreviation for the vitamin somehow stuck.
It’s been decades since the last essential vitamin — Vitamin B12 — was discovered in 1948. It now appears unlikely that scientists will ever discover a new essential vitamin. But even if there’s no Vitamin F or G in our future, that doesn’t mean nutritional discovery has stopped completely. If the golden age of vitamin discovery was an appetizer (开胃菜) of sorts, scientists are devoted to the main course — a rapidly evolving understanding of the ways food shapes our lives, one microscopic substance at a time.
1. What can we learn from paragraph 2 and paragraph 3?| A．Vitamin A is a water-soluble substance. |
| B．Vitamin B was named after a kind of disease. |
| C．The eight B vitamins got names from their functions. |
| D．The subjects of McCullum’s experiments are home. |
| A．Created. | B．Destroyed. | C．Broke. | D．Followed. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Unclear. | C．Doubtful. | D．Confident. |
| A．How Do Vitamins Influence Our Health? |
| B．Who Discovered Various Vitamins for Us? |
| C．Why Is There a Vitamin K but No Vitamin F? |
| D．How Many Vitamins Are Still Left to Be Discovered? |
5 . One night two millennia ago, a Han Dynasty general sent a square-shaped collection of bamboo and cloth into the air above enemy territory in central China. He was trying to measure how much earth his men would need to tunnel through to tear their enemies’ defense line.
It is one of the most famous early stories of kite-flying. Similar devices were later used by other Chinese armies; they launched them after dark in whipping winds in hopes that the noise would scare off enemies, and used them to deliver threats via missives (信函) tied to the kites’ tails.
Today, of course, these delicate aircraft — built from light wood or plastic frames shaped to create lift, covered in a thin material such as paper or silk, and piloted via long strings — are considered as toys. In the 1990s and early 2000s, kite-flying experienced a boom in the American West and parts of Europe, due in part to the popularization of kites surfing. Groups of kiters began to take interest in its lore (知识).
Thus a wave of younger artists have been inspired to pioneer new forms. In Austria, Anna Rubin, often employs ancient methods for her art, including hand-splitting the bamboo for the frames and using hand-pressed natural fibres to cover them. She wants to carry on traditions she fears may be lost by a culture fixated on the future, but she’s equally inspired by the joy of work. “Everyone should, once in their life, make a kite and fly it,” she says.
And in New York, visual artists Jacob Hashimoto, assembles massive installations from dozens of palm-size kites to hang from the ceiling of his studio or gallery. He inherited (继承) his interest in kite-making from his father. “The kite-making is a pan-cultural practice that makes it a beautiful, democratic thing,” he says. “In many ways, it’s a global property — we all own the relationship between us and the sky.”
Their work is a reminder that kites offer us a means to defy gravity. In the hands a willing flier, they give us a way up and out.
1. What was the kite used for in ancient China?| A．A tool of warfare. | B．A kind of recreation. |
| C．A sign of good luck. | D．A way of communication. |
| A．They are lightly structured. | B．They are widely used in Europe. |
| C．They are less popular in China. | D．They are considered as a science. |
| A．The popularity of kites in Austria. |
| B．Her enthusiasm in Chinese culture. |
| C．Her father’s encouragement and support. |
| D．Its pleasure and her sense of responsibility. |
| A．To remind us that kites will lose their cultural value in the future. |
| B．To tell us some young artists are taking kite-making to new heights. |
| C．To list some examples of the difficulties promoting kites in the world. |
| D．To show that only a few people consider kites worthy of preservation. |
6 . Cycling has become more than a habit for “Granny Mave,” as Mavis Paterson is known. It has become essential for her very being, her very reason for living after all three of her adult children passed away within four years of each other — Sandy in 2012, Katie in 2013 and Bob in 2016.
It was in memory of her children that the 85-year-old grandmother set out on her latest endurance challenge in May, cycling 1,000 miles around Scotland, beginning from the Mull of Galloway, before heading north, tracing the outline of the country until she reached the Mull of Galloway again.
“If I didn’t have my bicycle, and this is terrible to say, I don’t think I would want to live,” she told CNN Sport.
Paterson cycled every day for a month around Scotland, navigating its undulating (起伏的) landscape, exposed roads and unpredictable weather. Every day, she woke up early and set out riding — covering up to 50 miles a day — and raising money for British-based charity Macmillan Cancer Support.
Cycling has provided some comfort, some way for her to cope with unimaginable loss. All along the route, Paterson recalled other cyclists coming out to keep her company, offering “terrific support,” some of them riding with her for several days at a time. Such support was a constant throughout Paterson’s odyssey (跋涉) across Scotland, ending in a crowd at the finish line who had gathered to cheer her on.
“I know people have got on their bikes and thought, ‘If that old lady can do it, I can do it.’ And also people who have been a bit depressed and thought, ‘Oh gosh, I shouldn’t be like this. Look at poor Mave, she’s lost all her children.’ So a lot of people have taken up cycling because of my cycle rides and just inspired people apparently,” she said.
1. Why did Paterson start her cycling around Scotland?| A．To keep exercise and improve her health. |
| B．To take up the hobby of her three children. |
| C．To recover from the death of her children. |
| D．To be the oldest lady to ride around Scotland. |
| A．It is highly profitable and well-received. |
| B．It requires great effort and determination. |
| C．It needs professional training and equipment. |
| D．It aims to raise money for the disabled people. |
| A．The support Paterson asked others for. |
| B．Some achievements Paterson achieved. |
| C．The challenges Paterson set for herself. |
| D．The friendship Paterson got along the way. |
| A．A cyclist. | B．A sponsor. | C．A hopeless mother. | D．An inspiration. |
7 . Over the past decade, more and more travelers have been embracing the idea of slow travel. One of the most popular methods of slow travel, if you have the time, is by rail. Here are our picks for some of the best train rides in the world.
The Glacier Express
The Glacier Express takes more than eight hours to cross the 180-mile journey between Zermatt and St. Moritz in Switzerland at an average of 18 mph. The classic red train journey brings you to Europe’s mountains at their very best — with views of snow-covered forests and peaks included!
The Nilgiri Mountain Railway
Running through Tamil Nadu State, the train is the slowest in India due to an extremely steep gradient on the route. It takes nearly five hours to cover a distance of 46 km. Clearly nobody uses the NMR to get from A to B, but for the sheer joy of riding in a train that passes through 16 tunnels, 250 bridges and 208 steep curves on the richly biodiverse Western Ghats mountain range.
No. 6063/6064
With a length of 257 kilometers, the highly popular “small-and-slow train” route winds through the Qinling Mountains, linking 13 stations at the highest cost of 39.5 yuan. Villagers take the train to sell their vegetables in nearby counties to add to their families’ income. Helping poverty alleviation and carrying students to schools, the rail line, running for over 60 years, is a guarantee of and witness to the wish for a better life of the people along its route.
Royal Scotsman
With the full length of 1930 kilometers, the Royal Scotsman marries Edwardian elegance with the comforts of a five-star country house. The train includes elegant lounges, comfortable suites, and an open observation deck. The 9-coach train carries a just 36 passengers maximum with a passenger to staff ratio of 1:3. One of the coaches is the amazing Bamford Spa offering something of a palace on wheels.
1. Why do people choose the Nilgiri Mountain Railway?| A．To view the snow-covered forests. |
| B．To travel from one place to another. |
| C．To experience the amusement of riding. |
| D．To study the geography of the Western Ghats. |
| A．The Glacier Express. | B．No. 6063/6064. |
| C．The Nilgiri Mountain Railway. | D．Royal Scotsman. |
| A．Its luxury. | B．Its route. | C．Its history. | D．Its convenience. |
African students who participated in a Chinese agricultural development program have returned to their home countries, aiming to use
In the Science and Technology Backyard program, which
Phiri and other African students, together with their teachers often engaged in conversations with farmers in the fields. Jiao Xiaoqiang,
Fortune favors the brave!
At the age of three Jenny had trouble in hearing what others said. Unfortunately, after several surgeries, Jenny was found having a severe foot disease at seven. She could not put pressure on the back parts of her feet, so she walked on tiptoe (脚尖), and when the pain became unbearable, someone had to carry her. Once when she suddenly experienced sharp pain, her friends got her up and carried her from class to class.
All through her primary school, and on into high school, Jenny suffered, yet never complained. She took her medicine and wrapped her feet in steaming towels until the pain was reduced. As soon as she could bear the pain Jenny immediately carried on, as though she was free of pain. She always wore a smile on her face and expressed her love for others.
Jenny had never been a cheerleader or competed in a sport. She could not even take part in a gym class, though she took the same health class four years in a row, through which she could pass with a substitute credit each year.
Jenny continued to have one surgery after another on her ears all through school. Her hearing improved and she taught herself to read lips. She also carried a pillow(枕头)to school so that she could relieve the pain when she sat down. Gradually, Jenny began attending every football game, cheering the team on.
Then came her senior year. She saw documents about scholarships on the school website when visiting it one day. According to the statement, she would be considered for scholarships; however, school activities, especially sports, could often mean the difference between receiving an award and losing out. She continued to read other notices and found an ad from the football team, which stated that the football manager was seeking for an assistant, who would take on ancillary( 辅助的)services like taking charge of the team’s belongings, handing out water and towels and cheering them up.
Jenny decided to seize the chance.
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When asked why the team did so well that year, a player spoke of Jenny.
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10 . For over a decade, Zubin Kanga, a pianist, composer and technologist, has changed the limits of the forms of musical performances. He has both organized and performed shows that have pushed barriers, with motion sensors, artificial intelligence (AI), live-generated 3D visuals and virtual reality among the technological advancements used to unlock new possibilities of music and performances.
Kanga’s approach to employing cutting-edge technology was first informed by the relative limitations of his chosen instrument. “The piano is a very accurate technology,” he says. “From the early 20th century till now it hasn’t really changed at all. It’s an amazing instrument, but it does have certain limitations in terms of the types of sound you can create.”
One of the early works is Steel on Bone, composed by Kanga himself. He performs the piece using MiMU multi-sensor gloves. “I can put up one finger, and that’ll produce a particular sound,” Kanga explains. “And then I can control that sound just by moving my wrist through the air — I can do that with lots of different gestures.”
“For Steel on Bone, I’m actually playing inside the piano with these steel knitting (编织) needles, and getting all these interesting effects on the strings. Then I’m using samples of them. Sometimes I’m using live delays and operating them. The sound can change depending on how my hands are moving. It allows me to make a very theatrical piece, and people can see this immediate connection between how I’m moving — these very big, almost conductor-like gestures through the air — and the way the sound is changing,” said Kanga.
This is just the start, and Kanga goes on to be enthused with the use of motion sensors to make music, the possibilities that AI offers composers as a tool, and how virtual reality could transform performances and more.
1. What do technological advancements do for music and performances?| A．Remove music barriers. |
| B．Bring new performance forms. |
| C．Popularize musical performances. |
| D．Make performances professional. |
| A．To indicate its stability. |
| B．To prove its rare accuracy. |
| C．To show it has a long history. |
| D．To clarify why he uses technology. |
| A．By moving his hands in the air. | B．By pressing the piano keys. |
| C．By beating the steel knitting needles. | D．By making very small gestures. |
| A．Technology: When It Replaces Music |
| B．Virtual Reality: Future of Performances |
| C．Zubin Kanga: When Music Meets Technology |
| D．AI Music: From Composing to Performing |
