1 . Avi Wortis, known simply as Avi, writes historical novels. Historical novels mix historical facts with storytelling skills. These stories take place in the past. The main characters are not always real；they exist only in stories.
Avi decided to become a writer when he was a student in senior high school. This was quite a decision because he did not write well in school. He had a problem called dysgraphia, a writing disability. The problem caused people to spell words wrongly. Avi always enjoyed reading. He read many types of books as a child. Avi believed that reading is the most important activity for a person who wants to be a writer.
Avi also believes that strong characters make strong stories. He creates characters that can help to bring his ideas to life. His books often deal with questions about life. Writing stories lets him explore many sides of a subject. His favorite part is to make improvements in his writing. For him the hardest part is writing the first draft (草稿)．
Avi's first book was published in 1970.He has since written more than 45 books. Most of them are for youngadult readers. Besides historical novels, he writes comedies (喜剧), short stories about adventures, animals and so on. Fighting Ground，which was published in 1984, is an example of Avi's historical novels. This attractive story takes place during the American Revolutionary War.
1. We learn from Paragraph 2________.| A．why Avi liked reading | B．how Avi became a writer |
| C．how Avi developed characters | D．why Avi decided to become a writer |
| A．Writing the first part of a novel. |
| B．Finding an attractive character. |
| C．Making improvement. |
| D．Writing the first draft. |
| A．seldom changes his first drafts when writing |
| B．published his first story in 1984 |
| C．believes in the importance of good characters |
| D．thinks reading is not important for writers |
| A．To introduce a writer of historical novels. |
| B．To show how a historical novel is written. |
| C．To describe an important historical novel. |
| D．To discuss how to become a writer. |
2 . Today, the Chinese traditions of Qixi have combined with Western celebrations of love and romance. Lovers often use flowers, chocolates, sweet gifts or grand declarations to express feelings deep in their hearts.
But this year, you could let your love take off by traveling with that special someone on a romantic adventure. Where should you travel? Find inspiration (灵感) from these four romantic movies, which all took place in breathtakingly beautiful places. Choose one as the ideal setting for your own real-life love story.
Trevi Fountain in Rome
Trevi Fountain is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world. It has appeared in several notable films, including Roman Holiday. In the film, Ann (played by Audrey Hepburn) has her hair cut a barbershop near the fountain, which becomes the style-setting “gamine” haircut in fashion history.
Empire State Building, New York
The Empire Sate Building is an American cultural icon and has been featured in more than 250 TV shows and movies. In the comedy-drama Sleepless in Seattle, Annie (played by Meg Ryan) writes a letter to Sam (Tom Hanks) suggesting meeting on top of the Empire State building on Valentine’s Day. After twists and turns, they finally see each other on the observation deck on top of the building.
Somerset House in London
Located in central London, Somerset House is a popular filming location with its exterior featuring in several big budget Hollywood films. In the winter, its central courtyard is turned into an open-air ice rink, as seen during the well-received film Love Actually.
Daocheng, Sichuan Province
Daocheng is a county in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, located at the eastern Hengduan Mountains. This magical place combines the beauty of snow mountain, glacier, lake, grassland and waterfall. After the film I Belonged to You, Daocheng grows to be a major tourist attraction, a remote sacred place for unchanging love.
1. What does the writer suggest lovers do this year to express their love?| A．Seeing romantic movies. |
| B．Using grand declarations. |
| C．Sending flowers, chocolates or sweet gifts. |
| D．Taking a romantic adventure. |
| A．Roman Holiday. |
| B．I Belonged to You. |
| C．Gone with the Wind. |
| D．Love Actually. |
| A．Trevi Fountain. |
| B．Empire State Building. |
| C．Somerset House. |
| D．Daocheng. |
3 . A 4-year-old boy was given the chance to celebrate his favorite holiday early this year after a neighborhood in Illinois heard that he would miss the chance to trick or treat because of a vital Surgery (手术).Sonny Mead,who put on a Superman costume for the special day, hit more than 20 hours along his special trick-or-treat route and was even treated to a ride in a fire truck.
“He thinks today is Halloween,” Jackie Mead, the boy’s mom, told Fox 2 Now on Wednesday. “We let him pick his costume, and up until today he was going to be Spider-Man, and then he decided that he wanted to be Superman because he wants superpowers.”
Sonny was diagnosed with craniosynostosis (颅缝早闭), which causes the skull bones to fuse prematurely, affecting brain growth. Sonny had pieces of his skull removed to give his brain more room to grow in 2015, and the bone was supposed to grow back but never did.
So on Friday, doctors will use a 3-D printer and bone from a dead body to rebuild Sonny’s skull. His recovery is expected to take between two and six months, meaning he’ll not be able to trick or treat when Oct.31 comes.
But once Amanda Richert heard that her friends son would miss out on the trick-or-treating fun, Goshen Meadows citizens, in Edwardsville, Illinois united in a group to make sure he had a chance for the trick-or-treat fun. Sonny’s mother said their reaction was overwhelming.
1. Why was Sonny Mead given a Chance to celebrate Halloween early this year?| A．Because of his brain growth. |
| B．Because of an important surgery. |
| C．Because of Sonny’s strong wish. |
| D．Because of the request of his neighborhood. |
| A．Sonny Mead had the chance to trick or treat with the help of his neighborhood. |
| B．Sonny Mead chose a Spider-Man costume for the special day at last. |
| C．Sonny Mead will have pieces of his skull removed on Friday. |
| D．Sonny Mead had his skull rebuilt with a bone from a cadaver in 2015. |
| A．disappointing | B．interesting |
| C．easy-going | D．moving |
Do you ever throw away food at home? Have you ever thought about
Many people in the UK are trying to do something about this imbalance and make use
More cafes like this are being opened in other parts of the UK such as Bristol and Manchester, and it is now becoming a worldwide tendency. This is a(n)
5 . One of the biggest reasons people drop an exercise program is lack of interest.
When picking the right type of exercise, it can help to consider your workout personality.
It’s a good idea to talk to someone who understands the exercise, like a coach or fitness expert at a gym.
Doctors know that most people benefit from regular exercise, even those with disabilities. If you have a health problem or other concern (like being overweight or very out of shape), talk to your doctor before beginning an exercise plan.
Considering the benefits to the heart, muscles, joints, and mind, it’s easy to see why exercise is wise.
| A．Without fun, it is hard to keep it up. |
| B．You also need to plan around practical considerations. |
| C．You have to make a list of your favorite exercises, too. |
| D．He or she can get you started on a program that’s right for you. |
| E．Different types of exercise can strengthen different muscle groups. |
| F．And the great thing about exercise is that it’s never too late to start. |
| G．For example, you may like to work out alone and on your own schedule. |
6 . Night owls, people who stay up late and struggle to get out of bed in the morning, are more likely to die sooner than morning larks, the first study into their death rates has found.
New research by the University of Surrey and Northwestern University in the US found that people who naturally stay up late were 10 per cent more likely to die within the six-and-a-half-year study period compared to those who preferred the morning.
Researchers say that the ongoing stress of operating in a traditional 9-5 society was having a huge effect on millions of people and could be shortening their lives.
“This is a public health issue that can no longer be ignored,” said Malcolm von Schantz, a professor of chronobiology at the University of Surrey. “We should discuss allowing evening types to start and finish work later, where practical. And we need more research about how we can help evening types deal with the higher effort of keeping their body clock in line with sun time.”
The research involved nearly 500,000 Brits aged between 38 and 73 and found that around nine per cent considered themselves evening people, while 27 per cent identified as morning types.
In the new study, Scientists found owls had higher rates of diabetes, psychological disorders and neurological disorders. But the team has previously shown that whether someone is an owl or a lark is half genetic and half environment, meaning there may be ways to keep body clock issues under control.
The team recommends that night owls can help themselves by trying to become exposed to light early in the morning and not at night. Keeping regular bedtimes, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and trying to do tasks earlier in the day can help to reset body rhythms.
The study was published in the journal Chronobiology International.
1. What does the underlined word “their” in Paragraph 3 refer to?| A．Night owls’ | B．Morning larks |
| C．Researchers’ | D．Scientists’ |
| A．People who stay up late may die before age 7. |
| B．Staying up late is no longer a public health issue. |
| C．When people should start work will be discussed later. |
| D．More research is needed to help solve the problem. |
| A．Get up early. | B．Make full use of morning hours. |
| C．Get exposed to sunlight more often. | D．Go to bed at a fixed time. |
| A．To tell the differences between two types of people. |
| B．To introduce readers the result of a new research. |
| C．To warn night owls of their bad genes and environments. |
| D．To argue morning larks usually live longer than night owls. |
7 . When we think of a generation gap we usually think of conflicting tastes in music, or pastimes. But now the generation gap is handwriting. After one teacher in Tennessee discovered that she had students who couldn’t read the assignments she was writing on the board, she posted it on the Internet saying handwriting should be taught in schools.
Opponents claim that handwriting has become out of time in our modern world. Typed words have become a primary form of communication. Once a practical skill, handwriting is no longer used by the vast majority of Americans. It is no longer taught in schools, and some claim that the time that it would take to teach it could be put to better use, for instance, by teaching the technical skills.
But even in today’s world there are still plenty of reasons to pick up a pen and apply it to paper. Many American institutions still require original signatures, for instance, signing for a registered letter and buying a house. And original signatures are much more difficult to forge（伪造）than their digital counterparts. There is also strong evidence that writing by hand is good for the mind. It activates a different part of the brain, and improves fine moving skills in young children. People also tend to remember what they write by hand more than what they type, and the process of writing by hand has been shown to stimulate ideas. Not only that, studies have shown that kids who write by hand learn to read and spell earlier than those who don’t. Not to mention, handwriting is pleasing, as is evidenced by the fact that no one has ever typed a love letter. And handwriting remains popular as an art form.
Yes we live in a modern world, but we live in a modern world that is based on fundamental values.
1. What did the teacher find in her class?| A．Her students had a big generation gap with her. |
| B．Her handwriting was too terrible to understand. |
| C．Some students could not recognize her handwriting on the blackboard. |
| D．Some students’ handwriting on the blackboard was too difficult to tell. |
| A．Handwriting is very easy to remember. |
| B．Handwriting is beneficial to the brain. |
| C．Handwriting can help one buy a house. |
| D．Handwriting is an art form out of time. |
| A．What people write by hand is not easy to fake. |
| B．Lovers often write love letters to each other. |
| C．Handwriting is unnecessary in our modern society. |
| D．Technical skills are more important than handwriting. |
| A．Opposed. | B．Objective. |
| C．Unconcerned. | D．Supportive. |
8 . When I was about twelve, I headed to a restaurant for dinner with my family. It was winter, and on that night, the wind was really blowing hard.
As my mom and I headed to the restaurant from our car, a girl about my age and her mother came up to us. They asked if we had any spare change. My mom right away asked where they lived. They pointed to an old car in a parking lot across the street. The girl said there were six of them living in that car.
My mom said she had something to do after handing the people a few dollars. She sent me inside the restaurant with my dad and my three siblings (兄弟姐妹). But she didn’t come. Later, I found out she had gone home and put all the food in our cupboards into a few bags. Then, she brought that food over to the car and handed the bags to the family. I wasn’t there when that happened, but I can only imagine the joy it brought to those people.
A few days later, when I actually found out about what she had done, I asked her why she helped those people. She told me that they were not lucky. I remember the face of that girl who had asked us for change. She was the same age as me, yet we looked so different.
Here I stood, dressed in almost new clothes, headed to eat in a restaurant and then back home to the bedroom I shared with my younger sister. I remember thinking that the other girl didn’t have any food to eat and she was heading back to a cold car shared with five other people.
After painting this picture in my mind, I understood why my mom had done what she did. I will never forget what she did that night, and how she taught me one of the best lessons I ever learned.
1. From the passage, we can know the writer’s mother was _________.| A．humorous | B．determined |
| C．kind-hearted | D．selfish |
| A．the poor family had no place to live |
| B．the poor girl was older than the author |
| C．the writer’s mother didn’t know how to cook |
| D．the poor girl lived near the restaurant |
| A．It was a winter morning when the story happened. |
| B．There were six people in the writer’s family. |
| C．A few months later the writer found out what her mother had done. |
| D．The writer couldn’t understand what her mother did. |
| A．To tell us why to help poor people. |
| B．To give an introduction to her mother. |
| C．To tell us to show love to others. |
| D．To talk about a social problem. |
Recent research shows that listening to music improves our mental well-being and boosts our physical health in surprising and astonishing ways.
Music reduces depression
More than 350 million people suffer from depression around the world. A study by Hans Joachim Trappe in Germany demonstrated that music can benefit patients with depressive symptoms, depending on the type of music.
Research shows that taking music lessons predicts higher academic performance and IQ in young children. In one study, 6-year-olds who took keyboard or singing lessons in small groups for 36 weeks had significantly larger increases in IQ and standardized educational test results than children who took either drama lessons or no lessons.
Music keeps your brain healthy in old age
A study with healthy older adults found that those with ten or more years of musical experience scored higher on cognitive tests than musicians with one to nine years of musical study. The non-musicians scored the lowest. Business magnate Warren Buffet stays sharp at age 84 by playing ukulele.
| A．To help them achieve academic excellence, encourage them to sing or play an instrument. |
| B．Musical training can help raise our IQs and even keep us sharp in old age. |
| C．Music raises IQ and academic performance. |
| D．It’s never too late to play an instrument to keep you on top of your game. |
| E．Meditative sounds and classical music lifted people up. |
| F．Music strengthens learning and memory. |
| G．Music can make you happy every day. |
10 . 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 |
