1 . Last summer holiday, Aunt Emily took us to a safari park (野生动物园), not far from Liverpool.
I was very happy to go as I had never been to a safari park before. It’s a very interesting park, full of wild animals running freely.
When we got there, we bought our tickets and drove into the park. We were very excited at the thought of going to see the lions. But to get to the lions’ place we had to go through the monkeys’ land first. And that was an unforgettable experience because they climbed all over the car, ate apples and bananas, and threw all kinds of things at us. They seemed very unfriendly.
Anyway, we went on our way to the lions’ place where we had to lock ourselves in the car as we knew lions could be dangerous. A lion came up very close to us. Then it was on the bonnet (车盖). It looked calm but we felt terrified. Aunt Emily, who isn’t very brave, started to call for help. The kids started crying. Only my brother, George, stayed cool. I sounded the horn (喇叭) but nobody heard us.
In the end a guard arrived in his car, and the lion just got off our car and started smelling the guard’s hand as if nothing was the matter.
1. Which animal did the author want to see the most?| A．The lions. | B．The elephants. | C．The monkeys. | D．All of them. |
| A．Because the monkeys might steal things. | B．Because they were afraid of being robbed. |
| C．Because the lions might be dangerous. | D．Because something was wrong with the car. |
| A．Excited. | B．Bored. | C．Interested | D．Scared |
| A．Aunt Emily. | B．George. | C．The guard. | D．The author. |
2 . Priest (牧师) had a cat that climbed up a tree in his backyard and then was afraid to come down. The priest persuaded (劝说) and offered warm milk, etc. The kitty would not come down. The tree was not strong enough to climb, so the priest decided that if he tied a rope to his car and drove away so that the tree would bend down, he could then reach up and get the kitty. He did so, checking his progress in the car again and again, then worked out if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be bent enough for him to reach the kitty, But as he moved a little further forward, the rope broke.
The tree went “boing!” and the kitty at once sailed through the air out of sight. The priest felt terrible. He walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they’d seen his kitty. Nobody had seen a lost kitty.
So, he prayed, “God, I just give this kitty to your keeping.” And then he went on about his business.
Several days later he was at the grocery store, meeting one of his church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was amazed to see cat food. Before this woman was a cat hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her, “Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?”
She replied ,“You won’t believe this.” and told him how her little girl had been begging her for a cat, but she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the child begged again, so the mom finally told her little girl. “Well, God gives you a cat, you can keep it.” She told the priest, “I watched my child go out in the yard, get on her knees, and ask God for a cat. You won’t believe this, but saw it with my own eyes. A cat suddenly came flying out of the blue sky, with its paws spread out. and landed right in front of her.”
1. The priest drove his car to bend the tree in order to ________.| A．get his kitty down from the tree | B．play with his kitty happily |
| C．offer the kitty some warm milk | D．see if the rope was strong enough |
| A．Because he knew clearly that she didn’t like a cat. |
| B．Because the woman was his church member. |
| C．Because he thought she would live on cat food. |
| D．Because he couldn’t imagine she had her own cat. |
| A．God. | B．Her neighbor. | C．The priest. | D．Her church member. |
| A．A Flying Cat | B．A Lucky Girl | C．God Sent a Cat to a Girl | D．An Unlucky Priest |
My parents came to the US from India in the 1960s, along with other immigrants from India. Back then, there were few Indians anywhere around the US. My father came to Kansas,where he would get his Ph.D. Six months later, my mother came with the three of us kids — my sister, my brother, and me. We were just six,five and three years old then.
It was the very first winter when we were in Kansas. It was so cold,but we didn’t have heavy coats or warm clothes. We didn’t have a concept of how cold it really could be in the Midwest, and there was a new surprise every day. We didn’t have a car or anything like that, and my dad didn’t have a US driver’s license. But anyway, my father was studying for his Ph.D., and he would walk up and down a big hill to and from the campus on a regular basis.
Since I was three years old, I didn’t go to school, but my sister and brother were in school. My father had to walk down the big hill to take them to school every day and then walk back up the hill to go to university.After about three weeks of living like this, a woman called Valerie,whose son John was in the same class as my brother, started noticing them. On a very cold snowy morning,when they went to school as usual,Valerie passed by. She pulled up and said, “I see you on the way every day. Don’t you feel cold without coats?”My father responded,“We didn’t expect the weather would be so cold in Kansas.”Valerie said,“Maybe I can take your daughter and son to school. Would you like a ride?”
Paragraph 1:
Hearing that, my dad nodded with great joy.
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Later, Valerie and her family became so dear to my family.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________4 . If someone said they’d pay you 1,800 dollars to stay off social media for six years, would you do it? Could you?
Sivert Klefsaas did just that. “I thought it was awesome,” Sivert told CNN Tuesday, “I thought, ‘Ah what’s 6 more years?’”
In 2016, Lorna Goldstrand Klefsaas challenged her 12-year-old son Sivert to stay off social media until he was 18. If he completed the challenge, she’d award him the cash on his eighteenth birthday. On February 19, 2022, Sivert claimed his prize.
Lorna was inspired by a challenge she heard on the radio called the “16 for 16”, where a mother gave her daughter 1,600 dollars when she turned 16 if she stayed off social media, she told CNN. She decided to up the ante (提高赌注) to two extra years and 200 dollars more.
Sivert said it wasn’t too difficult to live without social media, and he didn’t think about it much during the six years. As a 12-year-old, Sivert said he wasn’t using social media much anyway. The only app he had prior to the bet was Snapchat — which he deleted a day after trying it out.
“I wouldn’t say there was ever a time when I thought I was about to break,” he said. “As it went on, it was more of a proud thing.” He also had his friends keep him up to date on the latest information or trends. “I got to avoid all the unnecessary drama that was on there,” Sivert added. It also meant he had more time to focus on his grades and sports instead, Sivert told reporters.
Now 1,800 dollars richer, Sivert told CNN he hasn’t thought about what to buy (when he was 12, he joked he’d get a house), but it’ll likely be something for his dorm room at the University of Northwester St. Paul, which he’ll attend in the fall.
1. What made Lorna get the idea of challenging her son to stay off social media?| A．A TV programme. | B．A CNN programme. |
| C．Her neighbor’s example. | D．A radio programme. |
| A．Too difficult. | B．Satisfied. | C．Critical. | D．Unhappy. |
| A．A mobile phone. | B．More friends. |
| C．Concentration on his study. | D．Being admitted to university. |
| A．A teen stays off social media for 6 years |
| B．Social media have bad influence on teens |
| C．Teens are increasingly addicted to social media |
| D．A mother challenged her son to stay off social media |
5 . After a serious earthquake happened, a father left his wife safely at home and rushed to his sons school, only to find that the building where his son studied had collapsed and looked like a pancake.
He was shocked. He didn’t know what he should do for a while, then he remembered the words he had said to his son, “No matter what happens, I’ll always be there for you!” And tears began to fill his eyes. He started digging through the ruins.
As he was digging, other helpless parents and the firemen arrived and tried to pull him off the ruins, saying, “It’s too late! They’re all dead! There’s nothing you can do!” To them he replied with one line, “Are you going to help me now?” And then he kept on digging.
No one helped, however. He went on alone because he needed to know for himself, “Is my boy alive or is he dead?” He dug for eight hours…12 hours.….24 hours.….36 hours.. then in the 39th hour, he pulled back a rock and heard his son’s words. He shouted his son’s name, “ARMAND!” He heard back, “Dad!?! It’s me, Dad! I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you’d save me and when you saved me, they’d be saved. You promised, ‘No matter what happens, I’ll always be there for you!’ You did it Dad!”
“What’s going on there? How is it?” the father asked.
“There are 14 of us left out of 33, Dad. We’re frightened, hungry, thirsty and thankful you’re here. When the building fell down, it made a triangle, and it saved us.”
“Come out, boy!”
“No, Dad! Let the other kids out first, because I know you’ll get me! No matter what happens, I know you’ll always be there for me!”
1. The underlined word “collapsed” probably means_________| A．fallen down | B．shaken violently | C．stood by | D．gone off |
| A．he was mad | B．all the children had died in the earthquake |
| C．he was too dangerous to others | D．it was not his job to dig |
| A．Fourteen. | B．Thirty three | C．Forty seven | D．Nineteen. |
| A．it took the father one day to find his son and other students |
| B．his wife died in the earthquake |
| C．his son was the last one to come out of the ruins |
| D．the son didn’t believe his father would come to save him |
6 . When Su Bingtian was first added to the track and field team of his junior high school, what he did most was not training or competing, but carrying bags for his senior teammates and watching them running.
Nobody, including Su himself, would believe the small boy could one day become the first Asian man to reach the 100m final at the World Championships, running side-to-side with the fastest sprinters in the world.
Born in a rural area in China’s southeastern province of Guangdong, Su started training in athletics in 2003. After 12 years of fast progress, Su emerged from a bag-carrier to the fastest man in the world most populous country, breaking the national record after he clocked 9.99 seconds at the IAAF Diamond League Eugene leg on May 30. He is the first and only Chinese that have ever dipped under the 10-second barrier. He attributed such progress to a revolutionary technique change starting from last winter.
When Su first began to train in sprinting, he had been using his right foot to start off. But he always found his third step a little bit weak and unsteady which would affect his intermediate running and the whole rhythm. After consulting with his coach Yuan Guoqiang, China’s first national record holder, Su has changed his way to start with his left foot going forward first.
“It was like a desperate gamble, a brand new start for me. I knew if it works I would find some room to improve, otherwise it could lead to the end of my career,” Su said.
“To be honest, I am not fully prepared for such pressure and intensive media coverage. I will learn to deal with it as soon as possible. But training and competing will always be my priority,” said a determined Su. “I hope my story can encourage those young people to believe that Chinese can also run fast. I do not think I am a hero. I am just a step-stone, like my coach Yuan, a step-stone to pave the way for more youngsters to push the speed limit for China.”
1. What does the second paragraph imply?| A．Su Bingtian has a gift for sprinting. |
| B．Su Bingtian achieved success through hard work. |
| C．Su Bingtian seems not be talented in sprinting in his youth. |
| D．Su Bingtian ran the fastest in the world. |
| A．His competitive spirit | B．His family support |
| C．His training strategy | D．His experience |
| A．Determined and modest | B．Ambitious and honest |
| C．Competitive and desperate | D．Popular and tough |
| A．He hopes to inspire other young sprinters. | B．He is not ready to be a champion. |
| C．He feels regretful for the speed. | D．He enjoys training and competing. |
7 . Four Chinese Language Learning Apps
Du Chinese
Du Chinese is an app that helps to improve your Chinese reading skills. You can read by yourself or listen to a recording and read along. The characters and pinyin layout (布局) look very comfortable. You can easily turn the pinyin on and off and switch Chinese characters between Simplified and Traditional. It supports English translations for angle words and sentences.
The materials are graded from HSK (汉语水平考试) level 1 to 6°. It is easy to find material for your level.
Zizzle
If you have trouble memorizing Chinese characters, then Zizzle will definitely help you. This app breaks down characters into their component parts. Then, hey use images and a short story to help you remember these components. Most of he stories are funny enough to be memorable. It presents an effective, novel, and fun way to learn and memorize Chinese characters. If you are a total beginner, I can safely say you will know hundreds of characters in a few days and be able to read them confidently.
Hello Chinese
Hello Chinese is a powerful learning tool that can help you overcome the fear of learning Chinese. This app focuses on daily life topics. It starts from basic pinyin, so that even if you are a total beginner or have absolutely no background in Chinese, you can still learn with it. What is special is that this app allows you to listen and record your own voice, and to help you check automatically if your pronunciation is correct.
Chineseclass 101
Chineseclass 101 has an extensive collection of listening materials covering all levels. Each lesson has notes that include the key grammar point broken down clearly along with Chinese cultural insights. The lesson dialogue will help you understand real life conversations in China and will definitely help you improve your listening skills. It also offers an interactive voice recorder tool, which lets you record your pronunciation and compare it to that of a native speaker.
1. What do we know about Du Chinese?| A．Its materials are graded by difficulty. | B．It can switch among several languages. |
| C．Its users are basically school students. | D．It is designed for language tests. |
| A．Du Chinese and Zizzle. | B．Chineseclass 101 and Zizzle. |
| C．Zizzle and Hello Chinese. | D．Du Chinese and Hello Chinese. |
| A．They offer reading materials on daily life. | B．They are targeted at advanced learners. |
| C．They teach useful listening skills. | D．They help improve pronunciation. |
With a fascinating past and more than four hundred years of history, St. Augustine is one of the nation’s oldest cities and a
In 1513, an explorer found this land,
Apart
After the city recovers, visitors shouldn't overlook it. It has suffered much in history. Hopefully, visitors will come and perhaps support the coast recovery while discovering Florida’s
9 . In a lot of other states in America, warm sunny days mean lazy afternoons are spent on the beach. In Oregon, people pack hiking shoes with their bathing suits. Here are 3 incredible hikes for you.
Cascade Head Preserve
Distance: 6.8 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Nearest Town: Lincoln City
Managed by the international nonprofit The Nature Conservancy, the Cascade Head Preserve is an excellent hike that typically marks the division between the north and central Oregon coast. There are upper and lower trailheads (小道的起点), with about 3.4 miles of trails between the two.
Cape Lookout
Distance: 5 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Nearest Town: Tillamook
Of all the capes on the Oregon coast, Cape Lookout might be the most famous, projecting 1.5 miles into the ocean. Visitors can tackle the five-mile, round-trip hike to the tip of the cape where they can enjoy several incredible views over the Pacific Ocean. Separate trails lead down to South Beach and the Campground.
Clatsop Loop Hike
Distance: 3 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Nearest Town: Cannon Beach
There are several trails that traverse (横越) Tillamook Head at Ecola State Park, but the Clatsop Loop Hike is known for its breathtaking Cliffside views and quiet forested paths. Take the seaside trail from Indian Beach to the Hikers Camp, then take the forested path back.
1. Which is the dividing line between the north and central Oregon coast?| A．Tillamook. | B．Cascade Head Preserve. |
| C．Cape Lookout. | D．Cannon Beach. |
| A．Go camping in the wild. | B．Go hiking through the forests. |
| C．Kill time on the beach. | D．Enjoy views over the ocean. |
| A．The vast forest. | B．The easy hikes. |
| C．The amazing views. | D．The quiet seaside. |
10 . A young man was about to go to the office when he received a phone call from a nurse who told him his father was injured and in hospital. So he
The nurse
Throughout the night the young man
Sunrise
| A．jogged | B．rushed | C．jumped | D．slid |
| A．left | B．forgot | C．remained | D．removed |
| A．more | B．better | C．worse | D．finer |
| A．in favor of | B．in search of | C．in fear of | D．in memory of |
| A．despair | B．joy | C．relief | D．anxiety |
| A．called in | B．turned in | C．took in | D．broke in |
| A．directed | B．connected | C．appointed | D．joined |
| A．roared | B．shouted | C．whispered | D．whistled |
| A．faintly | B．positively | C．passively | D．generously |
| A．turned | B．tended | C．led | D．adapted |
| A．confirmed | B．announced | C．recommended | D．ensured |
| A．received | B．reserved | C．revised | D．rejected |
| A．advancing | B．approaching | C．amounting | D．assuming |
| A．obvious | B．impressive | C．impossible | D．necessary |
| A．reading | B．writing | C．drawing | D．demanding |
