1 . Learning to say “yes, and”

When I first heard about the improvisation (即兴交流) class, I was hesitating. As a quiet and shy girl, I feared improvising in front of strangers. However, I knew I wanted to work as a science communicator after finishing my Ph.D., so it seemed like a perfect chance to learn how to speak and communicate with others effectively. I signed up, knowing the experience would give me help.

During our first class, we learned an important concept of improvisation: “yes, and.” It means that, as improvisers, we’d better accept what fellow performers say. If someone says that rhinos (犀牛) are librarians, for example, then rhinos are librarians. We do not question the logic; we say “yes” and then continue with the scene as if nothing is wrong.

The first few scenes were hard, but as weeks turned into months, I became more comfortable and even started to enjoy our classes. I became better at listening, relating to my conversation partners, and communicating clearly in the moment. Once when I was giving a presentation about my science, an audience member surprised me with a question that didn’t grow out of the information I’d presented. Instead of getting confused and nervous, I took the “yes, and” approach—accepting the question and letting my mind focus on why it was asked. That helped me find an appropriate answer. I got pretty excited about it.

The benefits of improvisation go beyond communication. Before attending the class, I would get stuck when my experiments produced unexpected data, thinking that I had made a mistake. But now, instead of getting discouraged, I will stay open to the possibility that the results are real, keep exploring the data and end up identifying a new type of cell—one that isn’t behaving as expected.

I think all scientists can benefit from this lesson. If the data say rhinos are librarians, then it’s worth finding out whether rhinos are, in fact, librarians. As scientists, our job isn’t to challenge data that support, a preconceived story, but to say “yes, and.”

1. Why did the author attend the improvisation class?

A．To get a different experience.

B．To finish her Ph.D. at university.

C．To give up her job as a science communicator.

D．To improve her speaking and communicating ability.

2. What was the author’s change after attending the improvisation class?

A．She formed her own idea quickly.

B．She came up with lots of creative responses.

C．She paid more attention to the logic of answers.

D．She became a good listener before giving an opinion.

3. The author mentions applying the “yes, and” approach to her scientific experiments to ________.

A．explain the process of using the method

B．prove the benefits of the improvisation class

C．share her own research experiences with readers

D．attract fellow scientists to attend the improvisation class

4. What can be inferred about scientists from the last paragraph?

A．They should attend the improvisation class.

B．They should question all preconceived ideas.

C．They should carry on research by admitting earlier data.

D．They should try to improve their academic knowledge.

2 . 4-Day Classic Beijing Tour

The 4-day classic Beijing tour is designed for tourists who come to visit China for the first time. It covers the most popular and typical places in Beijing, fully displaying the scenery, culture, history, local lifestyles and features, food and drinks, business, etc. to you.

Day 1: Arrival in Beijing

Your guide meets you at Beijing Capital International Airport, and helps you check in at your hotel.

Enjoy Peking duck as welcome dinner.

Accommodation: Downtown Beijing

Day 2: The Great Wall & the Summer Palace

Start your day at the most famous part of the Great Wall, the Badaling Great Wall. Leave the downtown for the Great Wall at 8 am. Since it is a long drive to the Great Wall (about 2 hours' riding), have a break at the Beijing Bona Jade Museum on the way. Lunch will be enjoyed in a local restaurant. In the early afternoon come back to the city and have a sightseeing (观光) tour of the Summer Palace.

Suggested activity: Beijing opera shows (Liyuan Theatre, 19:30-20:30 every evening)

Accommodation: Downtown Beijing

Day 3: Beijing city sightseeing & the local experience

Your guide meets you at the hotel at 8 am and set out for the day's touring: Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City.

After visiting the two sites, have a break and get ready for lunch.

Hutong visit: see some traditional arts of the old Beijing, such as paper cutting and kite making, and visit a local family.

Accommodation: Downtown Beijing

Day 4: Beijing Olympic sites

Visit the Olympic sites: the Bird's Nest, the Water Cube and the Olympic Green, showing the fast developing modern China. Enjoy some free time after visiting the sites.

After lunch, it is shopping time and then the tour is over.

1. Whom is this advertisement aimed at?

A．Experts who study history and cities.

B．People who are interested in touring.

C．Kids who were born in other cities.

D．Foreigners who are new to China.

2. What should a tourist do if he wants to enjoy Beijing opera?

A．Visit the Summer Palace on the first day.

B．Go to Liyuan Theatre in the evening.

C．Go sightseeing in a Beijing hutong.

D．Live and eat downtown in Beijing.

3. On which day can tourists enjoy the city's traditional arts and local lifestyles?

A．Day 1.

B．Day 2.

C．Day 3.

D．Day 4.

3 . As Internet users become more dependent on the Internet to store information, are people remember less? If you know your computer will save information, why store it in your own personal memory, your brain? Experts are wondering if the Internet is changing what we remember and how.

In a recent study, Professor Betsy Sparrow conducted some experiments. She and her research team wanted to know the Internet is changing memory. In the first experiment, they gave people 40 unimportant facts to type into a computer. The first group of people understood that the computer would save the information. The second group understood that the computer would not save it. Later, the second group remembered the information better. People in the first group knew they could find the information again, so they did not try to remember it.

In another experiment, the researchers gave people facts to remember, and told them where to find the information on the Internet. The information was in a specific computer folder (文件夹). Surprisingly, people later remember the folder location (位置) better than the facts. When people use the Internet, they do not remember the information. Rather, they remember how to find it. This is called “transactive memory (交互记忆)”

According to Sparrow, we are not becoming people with poor memories as a result of the Internet. Instead, computer users are developing stronger transactive memories; that is, people are learning how to organize huge quantities of information so that they are able to access it at a later date. This doesn’t mean we are becoming either more or less intelligent, but there is no doubt that the way we use memory is changing.

1. The passage begins with two questions to ________.

A．introduce the main topic	B．show the author’s attitude
C．describe how to use the Internet	D．explain how to store information

2. What can we learn about the first experiment?

A．Sparrow’s team typed the information into a computer.

B．The two groups remembered the information equally well.

C．The first group did not try to remember the formation.

D．The second group did not understand the information.

3. In transactive memory, people ________.

A．keep the information in mind

B．change the quantity of information

C．organize information like a computer

D．remember how to find the information

4. What is the effect of the Internet according to Sparrow's research?

A．We are using memory differently.

B．We are becoming more intelligent.

C．We have poorer memories than before.

D．We need a better way to access information.

4 . 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。

The origin of facial makeup used in Peking Opera can date back to more than 1,400 years ago,     1    leading actors used to wear masks. As the operatic arts developed,     2     (perform) gradually took off their masks and painted colorful patterns on their faces instead, so people could better see    3     (they) facial expressions.

Chinese Opera facial makeup is a special makeup method    4    Chinese cultural characteristics.     5    painting technique for Chinese facial makeup in dramas is closely related to the character's personality. Over the years of development, it    6     (become) an important part of Chinese culture.

There    7     (be) four roles in facial makeup, sheng, dan, jing, and chou. Chinese facial-makeup is    8     (extreme) stylized in the colors and patterns used, but no two painted faces are alike. For example, there are more than 100 face-painting styles    9     (design) for Xiang Yu, the hero in Farewell My Concubine, and each one is different. Various types of Chinese facial makeup enable the audience    10     (know) a character easily and get more involved in the appreciation of the performance.

5 . Toni Morrison was an American writer who received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her novels, Beloved, Song of Solomon and others explored the way African-Americans search for freedom and identity in a country obsessed (受困扰的) with skin colour. Morrison was nearly 40 when she published her first novel The Bluest Eye in 1970. The Nobel Prize committee described her writing as “language itself, a language she wants to liberate from race”. Her novels discussed America’s past, focusing on black history and the effects of slavery and racism. She called her characters “the unfree at the heart of the democratic experiment”.

In 1988, she won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Beloved, the story of a mother who kills her baby daughter rather than permit her to return to slavery. It became a best-seller and was later made into a film. Many Americans admired her as the country’s greatest writer, including former President Barack Obama.

She was born in 1931. She attended Howard University, an all-black university in Washington, DC. At Howard, she read African, British and American literature, including writers William Faulkner and Virginia Woolf. After a short marriage, she became a single mother of two sons and worked as a book editor in New York.

Several publishers rejected her first book The Bluest Eye, but it impressed The New York Times’ book critic John Leonard, who believed Morrison was an important new voice. He said her writing was “so full of pain and wonder that the novel becomes poetry”.

Morrison enjoyed her literary fame and was proud of her Nobel Prize.

1. What are Toni Morrison’s books mainly about?

A．Women’s equality and rights.	B．The development of America.
C．The literature of America.	D．Black history and racism.

2. Which of the following helped Toni Morrison receive the Pulitzer Prize?

A．Beloved.	B．Song of Solomon.
C．The Bluest Eye.	D．The New York Times.

3. Why is former President Barack Obama mentioned?

A．To show Barack Obama’s support in literature.

B．To prove Toni Morrison’s greatness as a writer.

C．To stress Toni Morrison’s contribution to America.

D．To remind readers of the skin colour of Barack Obama.

4. What can we infer from John Leonard’s words?

A．He thought highly of Morrison.

B．He rejected the book The Bluest Eye.

C．The book The Bluest Eye made him painful.

D．Toni Morrison’s book was hard to understand.

6 . I remember the day when I first learned to ride a bike. It was a frightening, yet fun experience. My granddad was the one who taught me and he helped me when I got hurt. The first time I got on a bike, I had no idea what I was doing, and just about everything went wrong. My granddad told me to just put my feet on the pedals and start pedaling (骑自行车). He also told me he would hold onto the back of the bike the whole time, yet he didn’t.

As soon as I started trying to balance myself, he let go. I happened to look back just then. I was scared, to death that I was going to fall and hurt myself. When I was scared, my mind went blank from pedaling, and I just wanted off. I forgot how to use the brakes (车闸) and fell right off the bike. My granddad kept encouraging me to get up and try again, and after about 15 minutes, 1 finally stopped crying, got up and tried again.

As soon as I started pedaling again, my pants got caught in the chain, and I fell flat on my face and hit my nose. Since that happened t my granddad decided to call it a day and try again the next morning. The next morning I woke up bright and early, and was very eager to try to ride my bike. My nose felt better, so I wasn’t that afraid of falling anymore.

Though I knew there were a lot of difficulties on the way to mastering the skills in riding a bike, I believed I could do well with my granddad’s help. After all, riding a bike was what I wanted to do eagerly.

1. How was the author when he was on the bike first?

A．He didn’t know where he would be going.

B．He thought balancing himself was easy.

C．He was nervous and didn’t know what to do next.

D．He put his feet on the pedals and started pedaling.

2. What does the underlined part in the passage mean?

A．Remember what happened this day.

B．Make the author feel happy.

C．Stop practicing bicycling.

D．Go on to ride a bike.

3. What is the author’s attitude towards his granddad?

A．Supportive.	B．Grateful.
C．Indifferent.	D．Negative.

4. Which of the following could be the title for the passage?

A．The Experience of My First Riding a Bike

B．The Difficulty I Met with My Granddad

C．The First Time I Got My Own Bike

D．The Great Moment When I Stayed with My Granddad

7 . 假如你是红星中学高三(1)班学生李华。你的英国笔友Jim对中国的数字化生活很感兴趣，来信询问相关情况。请你给他回邮件，内容包括：
1. 介绍你身边的数字化生活；
2. 阐述你的看法；
3. 询问对方情况。
注意：1. 词数不少于80；
2. 开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Jim,
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

8 . Most kids can walk into a library or bookstore and find hundreds of books to read. But it’s not that simple for kids who are blind. They read in a different way. Jenny Lee and other braille (盲文) transcribers take the printed words of a book and change them into a code of raised dots. Blind people can read these dots with their fingers. To know what braille feels like, take a ballpoint pen and press hard onto a piece of paper. Now turn the paper over and touch the raised dot made by the pen point.

When Lee first saw the dots of the braille alphabet, she wondered if she’d ever be able to read and write them easily. She took a class and practised hard for about six months before she passed the final exam: she had to convert 35 pages of a book into braille. Today, Lee works for a publisher. One of her jobs is to change children’s books into braille.

To do this, Lee first types the story into a computer and then uses a computer program to translate it into the braille code. Next, she looks over the translation several times to make sure it’s mistake-free. After that, a copy of the braille story is printed with a special printer. Then Lee and a proofreader work together to find and correct any mistakes. When a book is ready, many copies of it are printed. Afterwards, some are sold through websites and others are sent to libraries.

Sometimes, going over a story again and again gets tiring. That’s when Lee takes a break. Several of Jenny Lee’s co-workers, who are blind, use guide dogs. When the animals aren’t working, Lee likes spending a few minutes with them. To her, playing with dogs “is always a pick-me-up in the middle of the day”.

“I love this mission,” Lee says. “Through my brain power and my fingers, I am putting the dots into some kid’s hands.”

1. How does the writer explain what braille feels like?

A．By explaining what braille words look like.

B．By describing how blind people read books.

C．By asking readers to experience it themselves.

D．By giving examples of different braille words.

2. What was Lee’s first reaction to braille?

A．She was excited to get a new skill.

B．She was amazed at the clever idea.

C．She realized she could teach it herself.

D．She believed it would be difficult to learn.

3. What does the underlined word “pick-me-up” in paragraph 4 most probably mean?

A．A discussion to release work stress.

B．Something to improve one’s appetite.

C．Something to help restore one’s spirit.

D．A free ride accompanied with a guide dog.

4. What does Lee think of her job?

A．Profitable and hopeful.	B．Tiring but meaningful.
C．Relaxing and helpful.	D．Boring but challenging.

9 . Skillshare is a video lesson app which has become highly popular nowadays. It will likely appeal more to older kids (age 14+) since classes focus primarily on professional development with topics like digital design, technology and marketing. There are also plenty of art and music classes for more creative learners. Read the developer’s privacy policy for details on how your kid’s information is collected, used and shared, and any choices you may have in the matter, and this privacy policy applies to all users.

What is it about?

Skillshare has a large database of online lessons taught by industry experts. Kids can search for a class by topic or by entering key words. Each class contains a series of video lessons that are taught as a lecture. Some classes have only a few lessons, while others have 10 or more. In fact, one guitar class has more than 100 lessons. Many classes include projects, and most end with a brief Final Thoughts lesson to sum up the class content. There’s a review section where users can leave advice. Kids can watch the lessons within that class directly from the app. They can also save classes to watch later, and any classes they begin are automatically saved to a watch list. Many classes are offered in the free version of the app, and a paid version gives users access to a much more extensive class list—more than 28,000 lessons.

Is it any good?

All the teachers in the app are passionate about their work, so it’s an excellent way to foster the same passion in your kids, as long as there is a genuine interest in the content being offered.

What kind of membership are you interested in?

1 month	6 months	12 months	36 months
$14.99 per month	$12.99 per month	$10.99 per month	$6.99 per month
You can cancel any time.

Email address for contact: skillshare@gdpr-rep.com

1. The passage is intended for ______.

A．kids

B．parents

C．teachers

D．industry experts

2. How much should you pay monthly for an annual membership?

A．$14.99.

B．$12.99.

C．$10.99       .

D．$6.99.

3. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Skillshare allows curious older kids to learn at their own pace.

B．The privacy policy is limited to the registered members of Skillshare.

C．Subscribers can only cancel the order within one month of its purchase.

D．Each class has more than 100 career-related lessons in the Skillshare app.

10 . Remember when your mom told you not to eat too many candy bars or sweets because they can cause tooth decay (蛀牙)? However, it turns out that chocolate can be more salutary to your teeth than you might expect. Recent studies show that chocolate can effectively fight against tooth decay, as if we need another excuse to eat chocolate.

Chocolate offers protection like fluoride, a main ingredient in most household toothpastes. Not only does chocolate protect our teeth, but it can do so very effectively. Studies show that chocolate has compounds that provide strong protection for teeth. One of the compounds in chocolate, CBH, is shown to protect even more effectively than fluoride.

Tooth decay happens when bacteria work to turn sugar into acids in our mouth. This is why eating foods with high sugar content can lead to more tooth decay. The compounds in chocolate, however, are anti-bacteria and can fight against bacteria in your mouth. The CBH compound in particular also works to strengthen tooth enamel (牙釉质), and protects against tooth decay.

Does this mean you can cat as much chocolate as you want without worrying about your teeth? It depends on the types of chocolate that you like. The protective effect of chocolate is most effective when you chew on cocoa beans. Of course, this option is not very appealing to; most people. A more tasty option is to choose dark chocolate with little sugar content, ideally no more than 6 to 8 grams per serving. For other types of chocolate with higher sugar content, the effect will be lessened. However, because of the protective compounds, it is still better for your teeth than other sweets and desserts containing the same amount of sugar.

1. The word “salutary” in paragraph 1 means?

A．Beneficial.

B．Harmful.

C．Familiar.

D．Useless.

2. What can we know about the compound CBH in chocolate?

A．It can help chocolate cure tooth decay.

B．It can effectively stop teeth from decaying.

C．It may protect teeth better than toothpastes do.

D．It may soon replace most household toothpastes.

3. How does chocolate fight tooth decay?

A．By breaking down acids.	B．By building up compounds.
C．By fixing up tooth enamel.	D．By fighting against bacteria.

4. What's the main idea of the text?

A．Chocolate plays the role of toothpaste.

B．Chocolate protects against tooth decay.

C．Chocolate is the best choice for teeth protection.

D．Chocolate is healthier to teeth than other sweets.