1 . The word “inquiry” (or enquiry) comes from the Latin words “in”, or “inward”, and “quaere”, which is the verb “to question”. So inquiry is not just asking questions, it is questioning into something. It has the quality of getting into something, going deeper, so you can see what you haven’t been able to see before.

When you begin an inquiry, you are deliberately setting out to search for what you don’t know. You have to have the confidence to say that you might be able to figure it out for yourself. And in that process, you get a sense of real excitement and energy. That energy is both part of, and contributes to, what we often call “engagement(参与)”. But in order to use inquiry to answer your question, you have to become good at knowing what you don’t know. I would argue that that’s exactly the opposite of what happens in schools. Classrooms focus on what you do know (or are supposed to know) and leave you unprepared to deal with the things you don’t know.

In some ways, we are all surrounded by a bubble(气泡) of the known. When you “know” something, you identify how your model of the world fits with and explains what you see. Living in the bubble of the known is comfortable and comforting. You see what you know, and you know what you see. But to do inquiry, you have to get good at always looking for the boundaries of your knowledge, and at the limitations and contradictions within what is known. That is what scientists do. They are always looking for the limits, the boundaries and the points at which their theories fail to explain the world. Scientists, basically, are always looking for that “door” from the known to the unknown, where they can press forth and push and, in a sense, expand the bubble of the known. Inquiry is the action you take when you deliberately challenge the limits of your knowledge.

1. What does the writer want to tell us?

A．The meaning of inquiry.	B．The way to make an inquiry.
C．The method of classroom teaching.	D．The limitation of classroom teaching.

2. From the first paragraph, we can see the word “inquiry”

A．has different meanings	B．comes from the English language
C．has little to do with asking questions	D．means exploring deeper into something

3. To be good at inquiry, you should be good at ___.

A．asking for help from others	B．knowing what you don’t know
C．staying focused in the classroom	D．understanding what is taught to you

4. What does the underlined word “where” refer to?

A．The door to the unknown.	B．Within the bubble.
C．In the real world.	D．In the world of the unknown.

3 . 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 Silk Road

The Silk Road was one of the most important arteries (干线) of trade and culture in the world history.     1    planes and trains brought our world close together, it was the first link that ever connected the East and the West     2    the life blood of international trade in ancient time. Many merchants (商人) have traveled on this route between China and Mediterranean bank area for more than 2, 000 years. The trading activity has brought culture exchange, religions spreading and contrasts to the connected     3    (region) and formed a remarkable culture tie featured by Asian, European and the Mediterranean bank.

Starting from the ancient China capital city Chang’an (Xi’an at present), it stretched more than 7,000 kilometres,     4    (reach) the Mediterranean bank. The route was firstly created by an envoy called Zhang Qian assigned by the king of Han Dynasty to deliver gifts     5    was mainly silk for those local loads in west China area     6     (hold) their loyalty. Since the Chinese highly qualified silk     7    (make) its fame to the western countries, the merchants sought the opportunity of trading Chinese silk along this route and gained a great fortune.

Few people would     8    (real) finish the whole silk route journey, because they just traded certain local crafts such as silk, blanket and carpet, etc. with other merchants. Many people took part and numerous goods     9    (trade) in the great international trade at that time. The main cities     10    the Silk Road had grown larger and more important in helping the trade and merchants.

4 . Private identity is related to a person’s identity where he cannot describe his feeling publicly and has difficulties in expressing his ideas and thoughts or socializing with others. It is like being introverted (内向的) in front of the public. And public identity is related to somewhat expressing one’s feeling perfectly in front of the public. There are many factors for a person to be publicly introverted, which includes different languages and cultures.

Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez written by Richard Rodriguez reflects his development from a disadvantaged son of Mexican immigrants living in northern California into a well-educated person. Rodriguez strongly believes that for accessing the privileges of public life, people must learn how to be assimilated into public society and depress their private identity. He argues that developing a public identity is directly related to maturing into adulthood.

Rodriguez states how he started his school life, from knowing only 50 words to becoming a publicly recognized professor and author. He argues that everyone deserves to speak in a public voice and feel belonging in a public society. But to gain this, one should make sacrifices to the expectations of society. This includes loss of private identity, because when a person starts spending more time acting and speaking in public, he starts to live a life with reduced intimacy (亲密).

Rodriguez accepts these facts because he remembers the feeling of closeness to his family as a child and how it started fading when he started living a public life. Rodriguez also argues that the school should be a place to build a child’s public identity rather than developing his private identity he has formed at home. He believes that one of the purposes of education is to develop children’s ability to speak in a public language, which is a crucial step in their development.

1. How does the author start the text?

A．By offering reasons.	B．By giving examples.
C．By giving definitions.	D．By expressing opinions.

2. Which can replace the underlined word “assimilated” in paragraph 2?

A．absorbed

B．divided

C．researched

D．looked

3. What is Rodriguez’s attitude to public identity?

A．Uncertain.

B．Positive.

C．Unfriendly.

D．Cautious.

4. What may Rodriguez agree with according to the text?

A．It’s difficult to have both intimacy and public identity.

B．Schools have a duty to develop children’s private identity.

C．Having the feeling of closeness to family is unnecessary.

D．Developing children’s ability to speak is the goal of education.

6 . Travel Peru

Amazon Rainforest Tour

A short flight from Cusco takes you from the Andes into the Amazon rainforest. From there, you’ll spend one day travelling by boat to your accommodation in the middle of the forest. You can then spend three days exploring the rainforest with a local guide and enjoying the plants and animals unique to the rainforest.

Machu Picchu Tour

This four-day walking tour will take you on amazing paths through the Andes Mountains on the way to the city of Machu Picchu. After reaching your destination, you will have a day to explore and be amazed by this ancient city. Especially amazing is the Incas’ dry stone method of building. Inca builders cut stones to exact sizes so that nothing was needed to hold walls together other than the perfect fit of the stones.

Cusco Tour

Spend four days enjoying the unique Spanish and local Indian culture high in the Andes at Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th until the 16th century. Stay in a local hotel, visit the museums, admire the architecture, enjoy the excellent local food, and go shopping at the local markets.

Lake Titicaca Tour

Enjoy the beautiful countryside as you spend a day driving along the new highway connecting Cusco to Lake Titicaca. There, a boat will take you to stay with a local Uros family on an island for three days. Both the island and the Uros homes are made of water plants from the lake.

1. If you are a wildlife addict, which tour is your best choice?

A．Cusco Tour.

B．Lake Titicaca Tour.

C．Machu Picchu Tour.

D．Amazon Rainforest Tour.

2. What is special about Muachu Picchu Tour?

A．The ancient city.

B．The plants and animals.

C．The dry stone method of building.

D．The paths through the Andes Mountains.

3. What do Cusco Tour and Lake Titicaca Tour have in common?

A．Visitors can live in hotels.

B．Visitors can experience local life.

C．Visitors can enjoy the beautiful countryside.

D．Visitors can go shopping at the local markets.

8 . From cottages surrounded by impressive gardens to days spent exploring sandy beaches and deep woods filled with wildlife, in My Family and Other Animals, English writer Gerald Durrell provided a vivid account of his family’s time on the Greek island of Corfu in the 1930s.

Come for the arresting descriptions of Corfu landscapes and stay for Durrell’s laugh-out-loud tales of his unusual family. This book, Durrell wrote humorously in the introduction, “was intended to be a nostalgic(怀旧的)account of natural history, but in the first few pages, I made the mistake of introducing my family.”

Durrell, later known for his zoo keeping and the preservation of wildlife, was just a child during his family’s five-year stay in Corfu. He is 10-year-old Gerry in the book—curious, passionate about animals and a detailed storyteller of his strange family: his imaginative elder brother Larry with his literary ambitions, lovestruck sister Margo, sporty brother Leslie and his ever-calm, loving mother.

Durrell’s attention to detail is what makes the book so winning, with every sight, sound and smell of the island brought to life. One minute you’ll be laughing as Larry’s clever literary friends walk down to the daffodil-yellow cottage, the next you’ll be catching your breath as Durrell describes swimming at night in the Ionian Sea: “Lying on my back in the silky water, staring at the sky, only moving my hands and feet slightly, I was looking at the Milky Way stretching like a silk scarf across the sky and wondering how many stars it contained.”

My Family and Other Animals is quite difficult to classify, being one part travel, one part autobiography, one part natural history, and one part comedy, with a thread of descriptive language running throughout that sometimes raises it nearly to poetry.

As a real delight to read, it’s the perfect literary escapism for any adult or older teenager who is currently walking down a tough road in life.

1. Which word best describes Durrell’s life in Corfu?

A．Diverse.

B．Busy.

C．Risky.

D．Tough.

2. What does the underlined sentence mean in paragraph 2?

A．I just introduced my family by mistake.	B．I shouldn’t have introduced my family.
C．I gave false information about my family.	D．I couldn’t help introducing my family.

3. What are paragraph 4 and 5 mainly about?

A．Durrell’s rich imagination.	B．Some interesting plots of the book.
C．The book’s writing feature.	D．Some vivid descriptions of the island.

4. What is the purpose of this text?

A．To share an experience.	B．To introduce a writing style.
C．To recommend a book.	D．To describe an unusual place.