In the age of the smart phone, there seems no reason to ask questions about: the weather forecast, a business’s phone number or directions, which can all be
This isn’t the first time that great changes
Try to be respectful no matter
2 . Around the World
Here is big news from Around the World.
Science Fiction Museum opens
Chengdu, China
The Chengdu Science Fiction Museum has opened its doors to the public. China’s newest museum—a star-shaped building on a lake was built in 12 months. Technology sped up the design and construction of the 635,070-square-foot museum, which has galleries, educational spaces, and cafés.
Day of the Dead is celebrated
Mexico
Thousands of people lined the streets of Mexico City to watch its annual Day of the Dead parade. The holiday was observed from October 31 to November 2 to remember and celebrate loved ones who have died. During this time, the dead are believed to return to the world. Families welcome them back with offerings, such as their favorite food.
Modern art at ancient pyramids
Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
A modern art exhibit at the Pyramids of Giza, titled Forever Is Now, has returned for a third year. This year’s show is the biggest yet and features works by 14 artists. The free event aims to celebrate ancient Egyptian culture with modern skills. Artists were careful not to harm the 4,500-year-old World Heritage Site.
Schools close due to heavy air pollution
Delhi, India
Elementary schools in Delhi are closed for at least one week because of the city’s poor air quality. The amount of harmful materials in the air has reached nearly 100 times the acceptable limit. Delhi is often very polluted in November because that is when many farmers burn their remaining crops. To reduce the smog, officials in the city have banned polluting vehicles, construction work, and the use of fireworks.
1. Where can you visit a museum on the lake?| A．In Chengdu, China. | B．In Mexico City. |
| C．At the Pyramids of Giza. | D．In Delhi, India. |
| A．To build the newest museum. | B．To hold a modern art exhibit. |
| C．To celebrate the Day of the Dead. | D．To avoid the harm caused by air pollution. |
3 . GENETIC testing cannot tell teachers anything useful about an individual pupil’s educational achievement. That is the conclusion of a study that looked at how well so-called polygenic scores for education predict a person’s educational achievements, based on a long-term study of thousands of people in the UK. “Some people with a very low genetic score are very high performers at age 16. Some are even in the top 3 percent,” says Tim Morris at the University of Bristol, UK.
And while Morris expects the accuracy of polygenic scores for educational achievements to improve, he doesn’t think they will ever be good enough to predict how well an individual will do. Even relatively simple qualities such as height are influenced by thousands of genetic variants, each of which may only have a tiny effect. It has been claimed that polygenic scores can be used to make useful predictions, such as a person’s likelihood of developing various diseases. One company is even offering embryo screening (screening of an unborn baby in the very stages of development) based on polygenic scores for disease risk.
Some researchers — notably Robert Plomin of King’s College London — think that schools should start using polygenic scores for educational achievement. In most cases, the scores may reflect qualities such as persistence as well as intelligence.
To assess the usefulness of polygenic scores in education, Morris and his colleagues calculated them for 8,000 people in Bristol who are part of a long-term study known as the Children of the 90s. The participants’ genomes have been queued and their academic results are available to researchers. Among other things, the team found a correlation of 0.4 between a person’s polygenic score and their exam results at age 16. But there would need to be a correlation of at least 0.8 to make useful predictions about individuals, says Morris. Plomin, however, argues that the results support his opinion. “A correlation of 0.4 makes it the strongest polygenic predictor in the behavioural sciences,” says Plomin. “It’s so much stronger than a lot of other things we base decisions on. So it’s a very big finding.”
Morris says schools already have access to other predictors that are more accurate, such as a pupil’s earlier test results. Looking at parents’ educational achievements is also a better predictor of a pupil’s academic results than studying their genome, his results show. Providing teachers with an extra predictor based on genetics would just confuse matters, says Morris, and the cost cannot be justified.
1. In paragraph 2, Morris talks about “height” in order to tell readers that________.| A．some qualities are hardly affected by any genetic variants |
| B．some qualities are influenced by thousands of genetic variants |
| C．genetic scores are useful in predicting one’s potential diseases |
| D．genetic scores can help children improve their scores at school |
| A．By providing opposite examples. |
| B．By explaining how the genome works. |
| C．By listing findings from another scientist. |
| D．By presenting facts and data from research. |
| A．useful in telling you how intelligent and persistent children are |
| B．useful in predicting people who might struggle academically |
| C．stronger compared to other factors in behavioural sciences |
| D．strongly correlated to children’s academic achievements |
4 . I always had a nice cup of tea every morning in my country in Indonesia.
| A．I didn't say anything. |
| B．One day I had a cup of tea at the university tea room. |
| C．It gave me a great feeling in the morning. |
| D．Finally, I found a nice coffee shop with many people queuing (排队) to order. |
5 . Mark Twain, a great writer and speaker, was famous for his humor. Many people liked to listen to him talk because he liked to tell some interesting stories to make people laugh all the time.
One day Mark Twain was going to a small town because of his writing. Before he was going to leave, one of his friends said to him that there were always a lot of mosquitoes (蚊子) in the town and told him that he’d better not go there. Waving his hand, Mark Twain said, “It doesn’t matter. The mosquitoes are no relatives of mine. I don’t think they will visit me.”
After he arrived at the town, Mark Twain stayed in a small hotel near the station. He went into his room, but when he was just about to have a rest, quite a few mosquitoes flew about him. The waiters felt very sorry about that. “I’m very sorry, Mr. Twain. There are too many mosquitoes in our town.” One of them said to him.
Mark Twain, however, made a joke, saying to the waiter, “The mosquitoes are very clever. They know my room number. They didn’t come into the wrong room.” What he said made all the people present laugh heartily.
But that night Mark Twain slept well. Do you know why? That was because all the waiters in the hotel were driving the mosquitoes away for him during the whole night.
1. Why did Mark Twain’s friend warn him not to go to the town?| A．Because it was not a safe place. |
| B．Because there were no relatives of Mark Twain. |
| C．Because there were a lot of mosquitoes there. |
| D．Because he wanted to do something there for his writing. |
| A．Many mosquitoes in Mark’s room. |
| B．Their small hotel. |
| C．The room not being very clean. |
| D．The lock of the door going wrong. |
| A．the mosquitoes were very clever without coming into the wrong room |
| B．the mosquitoes knew Mark Twain’s room number |
| C．Mark Twain gave the waiters some nice presents |
| D．Mark Twain made a joke |
| A．Mark was well looked after in the hotel. |
| B．No mosquitoes troubled Mark in the night. |
| C．Mark didn’t have a good sleep that night. |
| D．There were not mosquitoes in the hotel any longer. |
Chuck and his elder brother Peter lived with their dad Kyle and their grandfather Stan. One evening, Chuck and Peter asked their grandfather about the number one activity on his bucket list(人生愿望清单). “I was going to rebuild my dad’s farmhouse and maintain it. It’s a shame I could never do it, ” he sighed. Stan worked hard as a car mechanic, but his earnings were never enough to maintain such a huge farm.
Months passed and there was no mention of the farm again. Stan and Kyle continued working in their car repair shop, while Chuck and Peter worked downtown. On Stan’s 75th birthday, Chuck and Peter decided to give him a surprise.
“Grandpa, ”Chuck started, “this year we decided not to give you a cake for your birthday. ”“Ah, wait and see, Grandpa. I think you’re going to like this a lot better than a chocolate cake, ”Peter added.
At that moment, Peter excitedly brought out his laptop and flashed a 3 D model of a modern farmhouse. Kyle and Stan stared at the computer screen. “What are we looking at?”Stan asked his grandsons. “We know how much your dad valued his farm and how much you wanted to honor him by maintaining it. Chuck and I raised money to fix the farmhouse and the farm, ” Peter said with a smile.
Stan covered his mouth with his hand. Tears instantly streamed down his face. “You’d do that for me?” he cried. “Grandpa, you’re the best grandfather on earth, ” Chuck told him. “We do absolutely anything for you. There’s nothing else you need to say but to assure us that you’ll help us rebuild the farm, Grandpa! You too, Dad!”
Kyle and Stan nodded their heads. “Absolutely. When we’re done, I’ll throw a barbecue party! My dad said that if I ever get to maintain the farm, we should throw a barbecue party, ” Stan said excitedly.
注意：
(1)续写词数应为 120左右；
(2)请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Every day after that, Chuck and Peter set out to work on the farmhouse.
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That Sunday, they decided to host a barbecue party and invite their neighbors.
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7 . Albert was mad about computer games. He could spend hours in front of the computer. When people encouraged him to leave the screen to have a normal life, he would respond “this is my window to the world. There is much more here than you realize.”
Among all his games, he especially liked a rabbit-catching game. He was a real expert at it. He once even won the champion of an online rabbit-catching competition.
One day, as usual, as soon as he got home, he ran to his room to play computer games. But this time he found the computer was not there. Yet in its place there was a box, on which a card said, “Gift for Game Winner.” When he opened the box, he found a real rabbit in it. His parents then came in to tell him that they bought him the rabbit in place of the rabbit game because his computer was sent for repair.
Albert loved the little rabbit immediately. He liked playing with it and even gave it a name. He studied its diet and habits. Days later, he actually began to enjoy the company of the rabbit. And he also enjoyed sharing his stories and his growing knowledge about rabbits with his parents, friends and teachers.
Now, Albert is no longer mad about computer games. He prefers learning and discovering new things about animals. He also uses the computer to do that. When someone asks him why he stops playing computer games, he points to his pet and says,“This is my window to the world. There is more than you realize.”
1. Albert was an expert at ________.| A．catching rabbits in the woods | B．keeping different kinds of pets |
| C．online computer game competitions | D．computer game of rabbit-catching |
| A．They gave him a real rabbit as a gift. |
| B．They bought him a new rabbit game. |
| C．They replaced his computer with a box. |
| D．They told him to stop playing computer games |
| A．He starts to like the shop that sold the rabbit. |
| B．He prefers discovering new things about animals. |
| C．He likes playing computer games with the rabbit. |
| D．He is no longer good at playing computer games |
| A．His parents | B．Computer games | C．His pet rabbit | D．Knowledge about nature |
8 . From Santa Barbara to Scotland, strangers are becoming friends by going on bike rides together. They get paired up by Cycling Without Age, an organization that helps seniors go for bike rides, even if they can’t pedal themselves.
Hugh Lyon and David Lawrence, who are roughly 20 years apart in age, have been riding together for years. The 56-year-old Lawrence serves as a “pilot”, driving the trishaw-a bike with a passenger seat in the front that Cycling Without Age uses for their rides. They go for rides about once a week, often discussing the history of their town.
“Despite my deceased parents, it gives me a connection with people from an older generation,” said Lawrence, “and I enjoy spending time with them and hearing their Stories.” The pair have formed a friendship outside of cycling. Lawrence said he calls Lyon often and goes to the gym with him to help him with exercises he can’t do on his own.
Ole Kassow, who founded Cycling Without Age, said that’s the power of the program. “The truly powerful thing about these bike rides is that they tie people and stories together to create new relationships,” he told CBS News. “In my experience, friendships-and the ability to form new relationships at any age-are what define a good life, and often also a long and happy life.”
John Boettner started the Santa Barbara chapter. He has one rule for passengers. “They say, ‘What does it cost if I’m going to go for a ride?’ I say, ‘Here’s what it costs: You have to wave. If you don’t wave, I’m going to kick you out,’” he joked. He said he likes when they hit red lights, because it gives them a chance to connect with people on the road. “Driving the trishaw is the best advertisement for Cycling Without Age”, Boettner said, “When you take a 101-year-old woman for a bike ride and she holds your hand tight and says thank you and gives you a kiss on the cheek, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
1. What benefit did Lawrence get from Cycling Without Age?| A．Picking up forgotten stories. | B．Improving his health condition. |
| C．Understanding his parents’ love. | D．Creating a relationship with seniors. |
| A．To share the pleasure of cycling. | B．To state the nature of happiness. |
| C．To show the value of the program. | D．To introduce the definition of a good life. |
| A．The program needs to be advertised. | B．Passengers have to pay for their rides. |
| C．Red lights connect people with the pilots. | D．Bike riders feel content by offering rides. |
| A．A true friend is one soul in two bodies. | B．Be a rainbow in somebody else’s cloud. |
| C．Don’t go through life, grow through life. | D．Happiness is a journey, not a destination. |
9 . He leaves his briefcase (公文包) beside the driver and finds a seat in the middle of a group of bored teenagers. He sits forward, looks at the driver, sits back, and repeats the process. The teenagers stare at him. They don’t realize Porter’s afraid someone will steal his briefcase.
Porter came to Portland when he was 13. He attended a school for the disabled and then Lincoln High School, where he was placed in a class for slow kids. But he wasn’t slow. He wanted to be a salesman and his mother was certain that he could one day make it. With her encouragement, he applied for different jobs only to be turned down. He began reading help-wanted ads in the newspaper and read about Watkins, a company that sold household products. His mother set up a meeting with a representative (代表). The man said no, but Porter wouldn’t listen. He just wanted a chance. The man gave in and offered Porter an area of the city that no salesman wanted.
That night Porter discovered the products of the company were guaranteed (保障) . He would sell that promise.
On the first day, people told him to go away. However, if a customer turned him down, Porter kept coming back until they heard him. And he sold.
For several years he was Watkins’ top salesman. Now he is the only salesman of the company that sells door-to-door.
1. Why does Porter keep sitting forward, looking at the driver and sitting back?| A．To keep an eye on his briefcase. | B．To attract the driver’s attention. |
| C．To make himself feel comfortable. | D．To avoid the teenagers’ attention. |
| A．By teaching him the sales skills in person. |
| B．By arranging a meeting with a representative. |
| C．By sending him to a school for market training. |
| D．By telling him some information about the employer. |
| A．They are guaranteed. | B．They are famous all over the world. |
| C．They are sold door-to-door. | D．They are designed by a disabled man. |
| A．Brave. | B．Shy. | C．Confident. | D．Determined. |
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Our class paid a visit the Culture Museum in our city last week. To begin with, we searched for as more information as possible on the Internet. Feeling excitedly, we gathered at the entrance on Friday morning. Then a guide was showed us the exhibition of paper cuts designing for different uses. After that, we watched a digital film, what made us know our folk culture better. Finally, we go to the do-it-yourself area. We learned to make some paper cuts or painted a couple of fantastic mask then. We all felt it was a unforgettable experience and the museum was certainly worth a visit.
