1 . The Growing Popularity of Cycling
Once you learn how to ride a bike, you never forget. Most of us learned when we were kids,
Cycling (骑行) has become more and more popular in recent years, what makes people ride their bikes once again?
First, let’s look at the health benefits. Cycling can improve your health and burn extra body fat. Strengthening the leg muscles helps to increase your speed.
Cycling can be a great way to commute (通勤) or get about town.
Then, on the train, there are changes at stations and other commuters speaking loudly on their phones to deal with.
So, whether people want to cycle for their health, to get about town, for their wallet, for the environment, or a combination of all of them-the popularity of cycling is on the rise.
| A．and many preferred bicycle tours. |
| B．Cyclists face neither of these issues. |
| C．You save money on fuel or train fares by cycling. |
| D．and many still keep this skill with ease into adulthood. |
| E．Finally, cycling can also be good for the environment. |
| F．And its benefits aren’t just physical, but mental as well. |
| G．Cycling is a fantastic way to burn a few calories and save some money. |
2 . Many kinds of birds are very successful at fooling other animals. For example, a bird called the plover sometimes pretends to be hurt in order to protect its young. When a predator (猎食动物) gets close to its nest, the plover leads the predator away from the nest. How? It pretends to have a broken wing. The predator follows the “hurt” adult, leaving the baby birds safe in the nest.
Another kind of bird, the scrub jay, buries its food so it always has something to eat. Scrub jays are also thieves. They watch where others bury their food and steal it. But clever scrub jays seem to know when a thief is watching them. So they go back later, unbury the food, and bury it again somewhere else.
Birds called cuckoos have found a way to have babies without doing much work. How? They don’t make nests. Instead, they get into other birds’ nests secretly. Then they lay their eggs and fly away. When the baby birds come out, their adoptive parents feed them.
Chimpanzees, or chimps, can also be sneaky. After a fight, the losing chimp will give its hand to the other. When the winning chimp puts out its hand, too, the chimps are friendly again. But an animal expert once saw a losing chimp take the winner’s hand and start fighting again.
Chimps are sneaky in other ways, too. When chimps find food that they love, such as bananas, it is natural for them to cry out. Then other chimps come running. But some clever chimps learn to cry very softly when they find food. That way, other chimps don’t hear them, and they don’t need to share their food.
As children, many of us learn the saying “You can’t fool Mother Nature.” But maybe you can’t trust her, either.
1. A plover protects its young from a predator by ________.| A．getting closer to its young | B．driving away the adult predator |
| C．leaving its young in another nest | D．pretending to be injured |
| A．chimps are ready to attack others |
| B．chimps are sometimes dishonest |
| C．chimps are jealous of the winners |
| D．chimps can be selfish too |
| A．Some chimps lower their cry to keep food away from others. |
| B．The losing chimp won the fight by taking the winner's hand. |
| C．Cuckoos fool their adoptive parents by making no nests. |
| D．Some clever scrub jays often steal their food back. |
| A．Do animals lie? |
| B．Does Mother Nature fool animals? |
| C．How do animals learn to lie? |
| D．How does honesty help animals survive? |
3 . We humans love to stare into our smart devices. We gaze for hours—about 10 hours and 39 minutes a day—at our computers, smartphones, tablets and televisions. Is all this staring bad for us? It might be, mainly because as we stare at our devices we are exposing ourselves to blue light.
Blue light is a type of electromagnetic radiation with a very short wavelength that produces a high amount of energy. While it’s true that light can damage our eyes under certain circumstances, there’s no scientific evidence suggesting that blue light is harmful to our eyes. But many people still think it is, which is why blue-light-blocking glasses are so popular. So, do the glasses work?
“Everyone is very concerned that blue light may be causing damage to the eye, but there’s no evidence that it may be causing serious damage, ” Dr. Rahul Khurana, a clinical spokesman, told Business Insider.
Blue light exposure is nothing new. In fact, the sun is the largest source of blue light. Moreover, blue light is also present in LED light. But if blue light isn’t harmful, then why are we constantly rubbing our eyes when we’re looking at our screens? The answer is eyestrain (眼疲劳). More than 60 percent of people experience eye problems associated with digital eyestrain. And blue light, it seems isn’t the cause. Instead, our eyes are so strained because most of us blink less when we stare at our digital devices. So, if eyestrain is the real issue, blue-light-blocking glasses are probably of little use.
1. What do we know about blue light?| A．It has the shortest wavelength. |
| B．It’s a kind of nuclear radiation. |
| C．It consumes a great deal of energy. |
| D．It may come from electronic devices. |
| A．Evidence of their benefits to eyes. |
| B．Widespread use of smart devices. |
| C．Belief in blue light’s harmful effect. |
| D．Scientific understanding of blue light. |
| A．Rubbing eyes makes people strained. |
| B．Blue light exposure is hardly avoidable. |
| C．Blue light may connect with tired eyes. |
| D．Eye problems are not easy to deal with. |
| A．useless | B．harmful |
| C．tiring | D．beneficial |
4 . We journalists live in a new age of storytelling, with many new multimedia tools. Many young people don’t even realize it’s new. For them, it’s just normal.
This hit home for me as I was sitting with my 2-year-old grandson on a sofa over the Spring Festival holiday. I had brought a children’s book to read. It had simple words and colorful pictures — a perfect match for his age.
Picture this: my grandson sitting on my lap as I hold the book in front so he can see the pictures. As I read, he reaches out and pokes (戳) the page with his finger.
What’s up with that? He just likes the pictures, I thought. Then I turned the page and continued. He poked the page even harder. I nearly dropped the book. I was confused: Is there something wrong with this kid?
Then I realized what was happening. He was actually a stranger to books. His father frequently amused the boy with a tablet computer which was loaded with colorful pictures that come alive when you poke them. He thought my storybook was like that.
Sorry, kid. This book is not part of your high-tech world. It’s an outdated, lifeless thing. An antique, like your grandfather. Well, I may be old, but I’m not hopelessly challenged, digitally speaking. I edit video and produce audio. I use mobile payment. I’ve even built websites.
There’s one notable gap in my new-media experience, however: I’ve spent little time in front of a camera, since I have a face made for radio. But that didn’t stop China Daily from asking me last week to share a personal story for a video project about the integration of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province.
Anyway, grandpa is now an internet star — two minutes of fame! I promise not to let it go to my head. But I will make sure my 2-year-old grandson sees it on his tablet.
1. What do the underlined words “hit home for me” mean in paragraph 2?| A．Provided shelter for me. | B．Became very clear to me. |
| C．Took the pressure off me. | D．Worked quite well on me. |
| A．He took it for a tablet computer. | B．He disliked the colorful pictures. |
| C．He was angry with his grandpa. | D．He wanted to read it by himself. |
| A．Socially ambitious. | B．Physically attractive. |
| C．Financially independent. | D．Digitally competent. |
| A．He lacks experience in his job. | B．He seldom appears on television. |
| C．He manages a video department. | D．He often interviews internet stars. |
5 . Being responsible is universally agreed to be one of the keys to success.
·Start early. If you haven’t taught your kids responsibility, you can’t suddenly blame them for acting irresponsibly. Begin teaching responsibility when your kid is very young.
·Guide your children. It’s important for a parent to understand kids’skill level and give them tasks suitable for the skill level.
·Talk about responsibility.
·
| A．Be a role model. |
| B．Avoid constant rewards. |
| C．Unfortunately, responsibility can’t be learnt overnight. |
| D．Your praise will go a long way in making your kids responsible. |
| E．The earlier you start off, the sooner you can teach your kids to be responsible. |
| F．Child experts often recommend parents to use the word “responsibility” in front of kids. |
| G．For example, you can give your 5-year-old kid the responsibility of watering the plants. |
An 80-year-old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45-year-old son. Suddenly a crow (乌鸦) landed on their window.
The father asked his son, “What is this?” The son replied, “This is a crow.”
After a few minutes, the father asked his son for the second time, “What is this?” The son said, “Father, I told you just now. It’s a crow.”
After a little while, the father asked his son the same question for third time, “What is this?” This time, the son was irritated (生气) and said to his father in a low and cold tone, “It’s a crow, a crow.”
After a moment, the father yet again asked his son for the fourth time, “What is this?” This time his son shouted in his father, “Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again? I have told you already, ‘It’s a crow’. Are you not able to understand this?”
A minute later the father went to his room and came back with an old tattered(破旧的) diary, which he had kept since his son was born. On opening a page, he asked his son to read that page. When the read it, the following words were written in the diary:
“Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa when a crow suddenly landed on the window edge. My son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied him 23 times that it was a crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question. I didn’t at all feel annoyed, but instead felt a deep affection for my innocent son.”
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右;2. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好;
Paragraph 1:
After reading the diary,the son was in tears and began to reflect on the days when he used to sit together with his father.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
Feeling ashamed, the son got down on his knees before his father.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On a hot September afternoon, Peter and his friend Isabel were on their way to the library. When they passed by Tubman park, Isabel suggested cutting through it to get to the library. As they entered the park, the sight of the swings (秋千) and the merry-go-round brought back a flood of memories of their childhood spent there. But now everything looked so old, sad, and dirty. Litter lay on the ground next to an overflowing trash bin. There were still young schoolchildren playing there but they had to avoid the trash that littered the playground. A little boy told them that the city took the other trash cans away and the remaining one never got emptied often.
As they headed toward the library, the two high school students wrinkled their forehead. In the library, they encountered Mrs. Evans, their kind-hearted fifth-grade teacher, retired yet still passionate. Mrs. Evans listened as Isabel and Peter eagerly explained what they’d seen. Finally, she recommended them to go to the City Hall to voice their concerns.
The next day, Isabel and Peter went into the building of the City Hall but were met with an impatient officer. They were informed that the city couldn’t help with their problem due to a tight budget. Discouraged, they left and turned to Mrs. Evans for help.
Under her guidance, they decided to ask Go Green, a non-profit organization whose goal is to protect the environment, for help. “This group is good at raising money for projects just like yours, ” said Mrs. Evans. She promised to arrange them to present their ideas to Go Green. Hearing this, their face lit up.
Two main tasks remained ahead: researching ways to clean up the park and preparing a convincing presentation. As Isabel was good at researching while Peter always had a talent for speaking, they cooperated quite well. Isabel learned from a science magazine that a new type of trash bin can squeeze the trash down without being emptied often, which saves time, money, and energy. Based on this, Peter practiced his presentation over and over again.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
A week later, Peter stood nervously at the back of the hall where Go Green was meeting.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________After the meeting, Isabel excitedly told Peter the good news.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________8 . Horace was born in 65 BCE, in the town of Venusia in Apulia, an area in Southern Italy. His father was a freedman and small landowner; historians disagree on whether or not he had ever been a slave. The Roman historian Suetonius wrote that his father might have been a “dealer in salted foods”. Though not quite rich, his father spent considerable amounts of money on Horace’s schooling and sent him to the finest school in Rome. Later, the son was sent to Athens to study Greek.
It was while Horace was in Athens that he joined the army of Marcus Junius Brutus against Octavian, who was the future Augustus and first Roman emperor. Brutus’ forces eventually lost at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BCE. As a result of the defeat, his military career was over and he lost his family’s property.
Augustus pardoned his enemies and Horace returned to Rome, where he got a position as a clerk in the government. It was at this time that he wrote his first series of poems, something that brought him into contact with Virgil and Varius Rufus. The two celebrated poets introduced him to Gaius Maecenas, a wealthy supporter of young poets, who would have a powerful effect on his life. He was not only an author himself but a personal friend and advisor to Augustus, and through him, Horace would meet the emperor. Maecenas soon recognized the young poet’s outstanding gift and gave him a farm near Rome at Tivoli, a place where Horace wrote his extraordinary poems in peace.
In 23 BCE he published three books of Odes in which poems celebrated Rome at the age of Augustus. Horace said the poems were modeled after the great Greek poets, and he believed Rome had to recognize that the Greeks were better in all intellectual (智力的) and cultural fields.
In the final years of his life, he wrote Ars Poetica, a far-reaching work on the art of writing poetry. He eventually became one of Rome’s best-loved poets. On November 27, 8 BCE Horace died, two months after his life-long friend Maecenas.
1. What do we know about Horace’s early life?| A．He was a slave as a young child. |
| B．He sold salted foods with his father. |
| C．He received a first-class education. |
| D．He loved poetry under his father’s influence. |
| A．After he met Augustus. |
| B．When he studied in Rome. |
| C．When he worked as a clerk. |
| D．Before he joined Brutus’ army. |
| A．He preferred a quiet life in the countryside. |
| B．He contributed a lot to Horace’s success. |
| C．He had little knowledge about poetry. |
| D．He disliked Horace’s poems at first. |
| A．He felt doubtful about it. |
| B．He paid little attention to it. |
| C．He attempted to improve it. |
| D．He had a deep respect for it. |
9 . There are plenty of exciting destinations with low prices. Let’s look at three of the best.
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. The city is famous for its cafés. There are several good ones to choose from, but you must try Gerbeaud. Finally, you can’t leave the city without visiting one of its amazing Turkish baths. Some of them date back to the 16th century. The Hotel Gellért has a wonderful complex open to the general public, and the Széchenyi Baths are the largest in Europe. The baths in the Városliget (the City Park), which you can enter from Heroes’ Square, are a UNESCO World Heritage site and another place you must see.
Bucharest
Once you are in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, you should visit Manuc’s Inn, which is a 19th-century caravanserai (商队客店). It’s located in the Lipscani District (the heart of the city), and it’s a journey back in time to when Bucharest was an important trading centre. It’s also a great place to have lunch and a drink. Classical architecture is everywhere, of course, and the Casa Presei Libere (The House of the Free Press) is a good example of this.
Sofia
From Bucharest, it’s only 300 kilometres to Sofia, the Bulgarian capital. Sofia is an ancient place, and parts of the city walls date back to the 7th century BCE and can still be seen. You should find time for the Boyana Church. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has amazing wall paintings dating back to 1259. You should also take a trip out of the city to explore the Vitosha, a wonderful place for skiing in winter.
So, we hope we’ve given you a few ideas of places to spend your holiday.
1. What can we learn about Manuc’s Inn?| A．It is far from Bucharest. |
| B．It is of superior quality. |
| C．It is a trading centre now. |
| D．It is of special historic interest. |
| A．They are a good size. |
| B．They are only open to locals. |
| C．They are in Budapest’s City Park. |
| D．They are UNESCO World Heritage sites. |
| A．Vitosha. |
| B．Gerbeaud. |
| C．Városliget. |
| D．Casa Presei Libere. |
1. 写信的目的；
2. 活动的时间和地点；
3. 活动的内容和意义。
注意:
1. 写作词数应为80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：元宵节the Lantern Festival
