1 . As the temperatures drop, now is the perfect time to start thinking about a winter snow holiday. As you'll want to know the places where snow falls during the coldest months, we're here to help with our pick of the best snowy places to visit this winter.

LOFOTEN, NORWAY

With much fewer people around, it's a great time of year to experience the fishing villages. There's plenty going on, too. Take a wildlife and nature trip to experience spectacular landscape and birdlife and join in a Northern Lights hunt after the sun sets.

WHISTLER, CANADA

If you want snow, the Whistler town is your place. The largest skiable area in North America, Whistler covers 32 square kilometers over 2 mountains. It's so perfect for snow activities that it co-hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics.

HARBIN, CHINA

Nowadays, there are many artists, sculpture (雕刻) fans from Asia, Europe, North America, Africa and Oceania gathering in Harbin to join in sculpture competitions. The sizes of the sculptures keep growing. Almost half century, the city's natural resource of ice and snow has been fully explored to provide joy and fun for visitors to the city.

LAPLAND, SWEDEN

Of course, this list wouldn't be complete without a shout out to Lapland. Deep inside the Arctic (北极的) Circle，Lapland makes for a perfect family winter getaway. It’s home to the unusual Ice hotel where you can sleep on a bed made of ice in a hotel constructed entirely out of, you guessed it, ice! It's also the location of the Abisko National Park, known as one of the best places in the world to see the Northern Lights.

1. When is a best time to visit the fishing villages in Lofoten?

A．Spring.

B．Summer.

C．Autumn

D．Winter.

2. Which place would a sculpture lover most probably choose to go?

A．Lofoten.

B．Whistler.

C．Harbin.

D．Lapland.

3. What do Lofoten and Lapland have in common?

A．They are both intended for family trips.

B．They are both fantastic fishing destinations.

C．They are both perfect bird-watching places.

D．They are both suitable for a Northern Lights hunt.

2 . To solve a big environmental problem, chemists in the Czech Republic have been thinking small. Really small. Their new minirobot has one purpose: to help clean up tiny bits of plastic polluting waterways across the globe.

Each new robot is no bigger than the tip of a sharpened pencil. They are magnetic (有磁性的) and shaped like stars. When sunlight hits them, they produce chemical reactions that push them through water in a specific direction. When they find a piece of plastic, they stick to it and start to break it down. When the light goes out, they let go and are free to be used again.

“This work is great,” says Douglas Blackiston at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. He’s a biologist who did not work on the project but knows about such devices. He’s been designing robots out of living cells, including some that might help with pollution cleanup. Speaking of the new one, he mentions that, “These robots can eat plastic. They chew it up. Or they can recover it and be collected with a magnet. Scientists love robots with all these capabilities. ”

Chemist Martin Pumera at the Czech University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague led the project. He studies ways to build microrobots. About a decade ago, he says, scientists began developing tiny bots that could move themselves in water. Then, they had to find them a mission and thought “Let’s make them do something useful.” Since then, Pumera has focused on the problem posed by microplastics, which are everywhere—from the bottom of the ocean to air blowing onto ice atop mountains. They’ve turned up in drinking water, both bottled and tap water, and some studies estimate that trillions of pieces of plastic end up in the world’s waters. The plastic has many sources, from drinking straws and shopping bags to laundry and cleaning wipes. Plastic doesn’t easily degrade or fall apart, and that’s always been one of its appeals.

Pumera says his final goal is to make cheap and environmentally friendly robots that can be used anywhere in the world.

1. What do the new robots mainly do?

A．To collect tiny bits of plastic in the sea	B．To push the pollution in water away
C．To help do research into the plastic	D．To deal with the plastic in water

2. How do the new robots get powered?

A．By stars

B．By plastic

C．By sunlight

D．By living cells

3. Why did Pumera take part in the project?

A．Because of public attention to the plastic

B．Because of the challenges from the plastic

C．Because he was asked to do so by other scientists

D．Because he was inspired by the invention of microrobots

4. What is the best title of the article?

A．Small robots, big dreams	B．No plastic in water anymore!
C．Robots, winners against plastic	D．The fight between robots and plastic

7 . Summer is a great time to go on holiday in Australia, especially after the long lockdown. Since overseas travel is still impossible, local spots have become hot destinations. In January, my friends and I went to the Great Ocean Road for three days’ trip and it was an amazing trip!

The Great Ocean Road is known for its beautiful coastline. During our trip, we enjoyed an amazing view of the ocean. On the first day, we went to the Split Point Lighthouse at the start of the road. The lighthouse has a “red hat” on the top. After climbing to the top, we could enjoy a breathtaking view. Looking from above, the waves lapping the shore divided the ocean and land into two halves.

Although the road hugs the coastline for its full length, the landscape (地形) changes from area to area. At first, we saw many surfers, swimmers, and other beachgoers. There are lots of beaches where people can enjoy the water. Right next to the beaches are small towns equipped with holiday houses and seafood restaurants, so it’s convenient for people who want to stay there for a few days with their family.

However, as we explored the Great Ocean Road further and reached the area around Port Campbell, we saw its famous limestone structures. People gave them names based on their shapes, such as the Twelve Apostles and London Bridge. The stones might have been accidentally sculptured by nature into certain shapes, but it was the human imagination that gave them a soul!

1. What is the Great Ocean Road famous for?

A．The limestone structures.	B．The coastline.
C．The Split Point Lighthouse.	D．The beaches.

2. What does the name of Twelve Apostles relate to?

A．The sculptor’s imagination.	B．London Bridge.
C．Its appearance.	D．Port Campbell

3. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．The author stayed in the holiday house at night.	B．Visitors weren’t allowed to swim in the ocean.
C．Australian don’t like to travel abroad.	D．The weather was cold in January.

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A．A trip to Port Campbell.	B．An amazing coastline.
C．Beaches and ocean.	D．A trip to the Great Ocean Road.

8 . For ten years, Hingorani and I have shared a wall. In all these years, we shared nothing more than that wall.

Hingorani lost her husband around eight months ago. Now, the 82-year-old former headmaster of Mumbai’s Jai Hind College lives alone in the apartment next door.

Knowing it would be difficult for her to manage things without any help, I started dropping by. When I found out that she loves meat and chicken, I went with a plate of butter chicken and kulchas. And we started to talk of course.

As we started to talk, I realized how different she was from what I had thought. And that’s where our friendship really began. I found that she related to me in a lot of ways — both of us married of our own free will, and she, too, was a working mother, We spoke about her relationship with her two sisters who live abroad and how they connect with each other every day.

Her liberal thinking, the way she raised her daughter, her love for her culture and stories of her teaching days — including how the boys at her college gave her a hard time — all made for great conversation. I never felt we were generations apart. She, too, loves my company and looks forward to my crazy stories without judgment. I tell her about the challenges I face when raising a child. A chat with her is like a warm hug at the end of a bad day.

Hingorani has become part of my daily life. I look forward to either having a cup of tea with her on her balcony or enjoying a glass of wine on a Saturday night. Our connection is pure. Our friendship is not limited by age. Instead, it is strengthened by the circumstances.

1. Why did the author begin to visit Hingorani?

A．She felt lonely living alone.	B．She was curious about the neighbor.
C．She had extra food to share with the neighbor.	D．She wants to lend the neighbor a hand.

2. What did the author realize after talking with Hingorani?

A．They had a lot in common.	B．They both had two sisters.
C．They had different thoughts.	D．They had known each other for years.

3. What can we infer about the author from the last two paragraphs?

A．She lives a very relaxing life.	B．She is good at raising children.
C．She enjoys the old lady’s company.	D．She has no other friends except the old lady.

4. What would be the best title for the text?

A．I Found a Great Friend Beyond Age	B．I Saw Cooking as a Useful Bonding Tool
C．A Great Conversation Saved My Life	D．My New Friend Taught Me to Cook

9 . A new study shows that eating nuts and peanut butter may help prevent one form of the disease diabetes (糖尿病). Adult-onset or Type Two diabetes affects about 135 million people around the world. The disease results when the body cannot produce or use a substance called insulin (胰岛素). Insulin is produced in the organ (器官) called the pancreas. Insulin helps turn sugar in foods into energy.

The Journal of the American Medical Association published the findings. Scientists from the Harvard University School of Public Health in Cambridge, Massachusetts completed the research. They studied more than 83,000 women for 16 years. The women were 34 to 59 years old. None of the women had diabetes, cancer or heart disease when the study began. During the study, more than 3,000 women developed diabetes.

The women answered questions every four years between 1980 and 1996. The researchers asked what they ate, including information about nuts and nut products. Some of the women ate nuts five days a week. The size of each serving weighed about 30 grams. Or, they ate a serving of peanut butter five days each week. Other women in the study did not eat nuts or peanut butter. Those who ate nuts five times a week were more than twenty percent less likely to develop Type Two diabetes than the women who did not eat nuts.

Although the study involved only women, the researchers believe eating nuts would also be good for men. The scientists say more research is needed to confirm the findings. But the study suggests that the fats in nuts may improve the way the body makes and uses insulin.

Nuts contain magnesium, which helps balance insulin and levels of sugar in the blood. The fats in nuts also may improve the body’s ability to process sugar in the blood. People who suffer from diabetes have too much sugar in their blood and urine, the body’s liquid waste.

1. What can we learn about the women involved in the new research?

A．All the women had to answer questions every week.

B．Some women were not allowed to eat nuts on purpose.

C．Some of them suffered from diabetes because of the research.

D．Women who ate nuts regularly had lower risk of having diabetes.

2. What do Paragraph 3 and Paragraph 4 mainly focus on?

A．Who did the findings.	B．What happened to the women.
C．How the research was carried out.	D．How much nuts women should eat.

3. What helps prevent diabetes according to the new research about nuts?

A．Insulin in nuts.

B．The fats in nuts.

C．Sugar in the blood.

D．People’s urine.

4. What’s the author’s purpose by writing the passage?

A．To show the importance of insulin.	B．To introduce a new study about eating nuts.
C．To introduce a new way to deal with diabetes.	D．To encourage people to eat as many nuts as possible.

10 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Some teachers can have a great impact (影响) on us. Last year, in my second year of high school I had Mr. Smith as my teacher,     1     I will never forget. He was an     2     (amaze) teacher and was always ready to students and helping them achieve their greatest potential. I was not necessarily     3     best student when it came it writing compositions. Mr. Smith helped me and was always ready to answer my     4     (question), and I was grateful     5     it.

I remember the day of taking my final exam, I was the last one still writing in the exam room as always,     6     (review) my test paper. Everyone else     7     (leave) the room already except Mr. Smith. After turning in my exam paper, I started to leave the room,     8     I decided to turn around and say what I intended to say. I told him I sincerely thanked him for his great help and expressed my love for his lessons. Deeply     9     (touch) by my praise, he said he was proud that I had     10     (true) enjoyed his class.

This is him. He really knows how to inspire his students.