Christmas I Remember Best
I was 9 years old when Dad passed away and left Mom and me. Since Mom was disabled (残疾), we depended on kind-hearted neighbors.
During the first Christmas season without Dad, my expectations were high, but deep down in my heart there was an idea that the man in the red suit would not come to our little two-room house. He stopped only at houses that had fireplaces.
At the same time, there would be no gifts under the tree. In fact, there would be no tree. But that didn’t seem right. At least, a tree would help with the hurt. On Christmas Day I hurried to Petersen’s Market. A fresh layer of news now lay on the street unmarked bypassing cars; not a person was moving.
I thought that the store was closed and the unsold trees were usually thrown away. As I walked among the snow-dusted trees beside the store, old man Nels Petersen appeared out of nowhere. He drove me away.
Nels Petersen was a mean (吝啬) old man and lived alone. The following year, he setup a fence (篱笆) around the Christmas tree lot and locked the gate every night. I accepted the challenge.
On that night, I climbed the fire ladder that hugged the store wall. The next day, old Nels knew one tree was missing; he had counted them. The next year, the ladder was moved away.
Then came a Christmas that I shall always remember with warmth. My teacher at school asked our class to make Christmas cards for our favorite person, not counting our families, so I made a card for Nels Petersen. Why I included him as my favorite person, I didn’t know.
I made a beautifully decorated green tree on the card. I believed that it would be the only card he would get from anybody. I signed it and put it in his mailbox. Late Christmas Eve, when the stores were closed and everybody was home, I walked around the corner of the back of Petersen’s Market. It was in darkness. I moved along the fence secretly.
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。
To my great surprise, the gate was open!
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Just as I was about to run away, I saw the large lettered sign on the tree, which read: DON’T FORGET TO LOCK THE GATE — MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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1. How long will the activities in the park last?
| A．Nine months. | B．Six months. | C．Four months. |
| A．$12. | B．$18. | C．$20. |
| A．On weekends. | B．In the evening. | C．Throughout the week. |
Every Day’s a Gift
One day, while I was watching Good Morning America, the news reporter, Robin Roberts, closed the morning show with this, “All you gentlemen, fifty years and older, should make it a point to get a PSA test. It is a simple blood test and could save your life.”
I called my doctor’s office that very morning to confirm what Robin had said. So, I made an appointment to have it done. Ten days later, my doctor told me, “Ray, you are a very healthy seventy-two-year-old. However, we got the result of your PSA test. It is high, and you probably have prostate (前列腺) cancer. I want to do a couple of biopsies (活检) to confirm it.”
When the biopsies came back, I was called into the office once again. “You definitely have prostate cancer,” the doctor said. He explained to me the various treatment options that were available. After hearing the various treatments and their after-effects, I decided to have the prostate removed and get rid of the cancer entirely, as it had not spread yet.
After going through several pre-surgery tests, I was scheduled to be the first one to undergo the new Da Vinci method of removing prostate operation. Due to my old age and the first operation of its kind in the local hospital, a medical expert had been assigned to monitor the situation.
My surgery was successful. All the cancer had been removed. The next day, I was allowed to leave the hospital with the post-operative instructions and directions on how to do exercise to strengthen my muscles. I soon learned that all my functions were working well. What was even better was that my PSA level was zero.
One morning afterward, my wife and I spotted a sign by the road requesting volunteers for Suncoast Hospice (收容所) of Florida. We decided it was time to give back for our good fortune and recovery from the operation.
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。
After six informative classes, we became volunteers for Suncoast Hospice.
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With the permission of the patient’s nurse, we might bring cookies, books or flowers to the resident.
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Every single one of us has a different story. It is easy to judge others based on what we witness for a brief amount of time, but this is not what we should do.
Andre Owen is a policeman who works for the Sussex Police. He is a kind-hearted young officer. He is always working hard and devotes himself to his duty. And on one particular day, his shift (轮班) was proving to be one of the tough days. That day, he started to work at around 7:05 am. It was such an early start for his duty that he had no time for breakfast. He was called to a serious incident shortly after he began to be on duty. The incident was in Brighton, which meant he had to go to Oxford to take care of the matter. It was a long drive there, which took him about two hours to get there. The matter was very hard to deal with, but he managed to settle it successfully.
After his visit to Oxford, Andre Owen drove his way back, only to find another incident down the road. The accident involved a family who needed help, but the traffic was so crowded that they couldn’t get through. As a result, the officer had to stop traffic to get them to safety. At the end of it, he had 45 minutes left in his shift but he still had to drive back for two more hours.
It was such a difficult day and he almost did not get to have time to eat. At lunchtime, he finally had an opportunity to get food, so he went to the nearest fast food restaurant to buy himself lunch. Just like any other customers there, the policeman was patiently waiting for his food to arrive. A lady eating her own food, kept staring at him while he was waiting.
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。
It was at that moment that the woman decided to come up to him to say something.
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However, Owen decided to share something on the Internet.
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5 . In mammals, loud calls usually serve as alarm signals that warn fellow species of an enemy or other danger. On the other hand, screams from humans can have very different meanings, as Swiss researchers now report in the journal “PLoS Biology”. Human’s screams are not always only associated with negative emotions such as fear, pain, anger and grief, but also positive emotions such as joy and pleasure.
Sascha Frühholz and his colleagues from the University of Zurich studied how many types of human screams there are, how accurately test subjects can distinguish them, and which brain regions are involved in processing such sound signals. To do this, they first made sound recordings of different screams. Twelve men and women were to put themselves in situations where they reacted with a brief scream. The predetermined situations included, for example: an attack by an armed stranger, celebration about a sporting victory of their favorite team, the threat of an opponent.
From the recordings, the researchers finally selected 420 screams. From this, they identified six distinct categories of screams, including three of alarming characters (cries of pain, anger, and fear) and three non-alarming screams (as expressions of great pleasure, extreme joy, and desperate sadness). Contrary to all expectations, the subjects reacted to non-alarming screams more quickly and recognized the emotion expressed with it more reliably than with alarming screams. This was also confirmed by images of the brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI).
Until now, researchers assumed that humans also detect and process perceived alarm signals particularly quickly in the form of screams, as this is an important survival mechanism, says Frühholz. But unlike monkeys and other mammals, non-alarming screams would have become more important for communication. “This changed priority is probably due to needs that have evolved in the evolution of complex human social relationships.”
1. What does the text mainly talk about?| A．Human’s screams expressions. | B．An experiment launched in screams. |
| C．Loud calls as a survival mechanism. | D．Mammals’ loud calls served as alarm signals. |
| A．Cries of pain. | B．Anger. | C．Fear. | D．Desperate sadness. |
| A．Monkeys are not sensitive to non-alarming screams. |
| B．Humans survive because of quick reaction to screams. |
| C．Non-alarming screams gain priority because of human’s revolution. |
| D．Non-alarming screams make human social relationships more complex. |
| A．To spread and advocate. | B．To argue and discuss. |
| C．To compare and inform. | D．To recommend and introduce. |
Once upon a time, there was a young athletic boy who is really hungry for success. For him, winning was everything and success was measured just by winning. He practised hard every day to win every race lying ahead of him.
One day, the boy was preparing himself for a running competition in his small village. A large crowd had gathered to witness the sporting event. A wise old man had travelled far to bear witness also. The race began. The boy with his determination, strength and power took the winning line and came to the first. The crowd were excited, cheering and waving at the boy. However, the wise man remained still and calm, expressing no excitement. The little boy, however, felt proud and important.
A second race was called and two new young fit challengers came forward to run with him. The race was started and sure enough the little boy came through and finished first. Once again the crowd was excited again, and cheered and waved at the boy. The wise man remained still and calm again, expressing no excitement. The little boy, however, felt proud and important.
Another race, the wise old man stepped forward and presented the little boy with two new challengers, an elderly weak lady and a blind man. “What is this?” the little boy was puzzled. “This is no race!” he claimed. “Race,” said the wise man.
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。
The race was started and the boy was the only finisher.
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“Race again,” replied the wise man, “this time finish together with all three of you.”
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It was a dark night in Texas when Luke Armstrong drove into town. He had a lot of things on his mind, and he was driving slowly, thinking of solutions to his problems. He had a sick daughter named Anne, and he was worried she would give in to her illness before he could gather enough money to pay for the surgery (外科手术).
Suddenly, he noticed a flashy sports car parked by the side of the road. It looked like it had a broken tire, but Luke couldn’t be too sure. He passed it without giving it a second thought and continued down the road.
He was so lost in thought that he almost missed the prone (俯卧的) figure of a human lying just by the side of the road. “What is it?” he said to himself and his truck stopped beside the figure.
It was a woman, and she was weak. Luke immediately knew he had to help her as soon as possible. He noticed her expensive outfit as he lifted her. “Perhaps she owns the fancy car I saw a few minutes ago,” Luke said to himself as he moved her to his truck and turned on the heater.
He noticed that she seemed to be having trouble breathing, so he called 911 and reported his exact location as well as the predicament (困境) he found the woman in.
Soon the ambulance came, and the woman was carried away.
After checking on his daughter the next day, Luke decided to see how the woman he rescued was feeling. He had been told she was getting treated in the same hospital. It turned out that she was no longer in danger. She was very grateful for his kindness. After learning about his daughter, she expressed great sympathy (同情).
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 passed with Luke trying his best to work something out for his child.
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Who might be kind enough to pay for the surgery?
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注意：1.写作词数应为80左右；不得透露考生的姓名，学校等真实信息；
2.请在答题卡的相应位置作答。
China in 100 Years
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9 . Don’t you just hate it when you have to answer an important phone call and you’re surrounded by potential eavesdropper (偷听者) ? You either have to whisper or go outside to keep the conversation private. Now, a new device (设备) aims to solve this problem by blocking your voice.
Hushme is a high - tech mask (口罩) that blocks the sound of the wearer’s voice. It connects to your phone by Bluetooth. It also comes with a pair of earphones. When you get a private call, all you have to do is put the mask on and it will do a good job of blocking your voice. But to ensure nothing gets through, Hushme also features external speakers that play a variety of sounds when you speak.
The Hushme mask comes in a variety of colors. It can be worn around the neck, like a regular pair of earphones. It attaches in front of your mouth thanks to a couple of very powerful magnets (磁铁). The sound options for covering your voice currently include the wind, ocean, rain, bird, monkey, squirrel, R2D2, laughing Minion and Darth Vader breath, but new ones could be added in the future. While Hushme is promoted as a phone call privacy protection device, you could always use it to protect your ears from loud mouth co - workers at the office. Just put this baby over their mouths and you can go on with your work.
Advertised as the “world’s first voice mask for mobile phones”, Hushme was shown at Centre for Environmental Studies (CES) at the beginning of this year. It’s not commercially available yet, but its makers plan to start a crowdfunding campaign, and to start selling it by the end of the year. Engadget reports that it will cost around $ 200.
1. What is the major function of the high - tech mask?| A．Offering you all kinds of pleasant sounds. | B．Blocking your voice to keep calls private. |
| C．Protecting you from serious air pollution. | D．Making your voice sound more beautiful. |
| A．Consumers can’t buy Hushme now. | B．There were no voice masks in the past. |
| C．CES is a company that produces masks. | D．Engadget will spend $ 200 buying masks. |
| A．Hushme makes your phone a safe device. |
| B．One can monitor others’ phone by Hushme. |
| C．Hushme can keep your phone from being stolen. |
| D．Hushme assures you of your phone calls’ privacy. |
| A．A course plan. | B．An exam paper. |
| C．A scientific journal. | D．An advertisement poster. |
10 . Buildings with windows filled with water could save energy greatly, according to researchers backing the new technology.
Traditional glass windows increase the heat and temperature in the room in summers, and let the heat inside escape in winters, resulting in more electricity consumed for air-conditioners and more carbon emissions (排放). Now, researchers at Loughborough University (UK) have created a water-filled window that can overcome these problems.
The “water-filled glass” (WFG) system, designed by Dr. Matyas Gutai, involves a sheet of water being trapped between a panel (嵌板) of glass, and the water is practically invisible. The windows are connected to an indoor storage tank (箱) using pipes hidden in the walls, allowing water to flow easily between the windows and the tank.
This system allows the house to cool and reheat themselves automatically. When sunlight streams through the glass, the windows keep the buildings cool as the water takes in external and internal heat. This warm water then flows back to the tank. And when the outdoor temperature drops, the stored warm water is brought back to the walls to reheat the building using a monitoring system similar to central heating. The heated water can also be used for domestic (家用的) purposes. Although some electricity is required to pump the water back and forth, it uses much less energy than traditional air-conditioners or heaters.
Dr. Gutai claimed that WFG can save energy from 47% to 72% compared to when using traditional windows. Once launched into the market, the windows will surely make a real splash, appealing to a large crowd of environmentalists and contributing to reducing our carbon footprint. Currently, the inventor team is testing the windows in two areas with different weather conditions. The research reveals that WFG systems perform well in any inhabited climate—keeping buildings in hot climates cool and buildings in cool settings warm—without requiring an additional energy supply.
1. What’s the weakness of traditional glass windows?| A．They are easy to break into. | B．They release carbon dioxide. |
| C．They fail to trap the heat. | D．They lead to more energy consumption. |
| A．The structure of the WFG system. |
| B．The working process of the WFG system. |
| C．The advantages of water-filled windows. |
| D．The appearance of water-filled windows. |
| A．It is operated by man. |
| B．It needs no electricity at all. |
| C．It recycles the water in many ways. |
| D．It reheats the house via central heating. |
| A．Make a big fortune. | B．Draw lots of attention. |
| C．Form a huge waterfall. | D．Take immediate effect. |
