1 . Jan or Johan Vermeer was a Dutch Baroque painter from the “Golden Age of Dutch Painting”. He was obscure during his lifetime; but in the nineteenth century, his work was brought to light, and he is now regarded as one of the greatest figures of Baroque painting-with his focus on simple portraits and household scenes. He is admired for the ability to present everyday objects with great dignity（庄重）and light.
There is not much information about Jan Vermeer’s early life, He didn’t travel much outside Holland, and most of his paintings were bought by a local man. His father was a dealer of paintings and also a local inn owner. When his father died in 1652, Jan took over the business of selling pictures and ownership of a small inn. When his mother died in 1670, he also inherited her local restaurant, and he often worked there at night selling alcohol and dishes to customers.
In 1653, Jan married a young girl named Catherina Bolies. Together they had fourteen children, though four died soon. Jan did a significant portion of his painting within his large house. He liked to paint in his own studio, even though household life may have been noisy with 14 children and his mother-in-law, whom he often argued with.
Jan was a slow worker, producing only three paintings a year. This was partly due to his technique of granular（似颗粒状的）painting. He was careful in capturing the light and colour of his various subjects. Unusually for the time, Jan often focused on simple household scenes such as “The Milkmaid” or the “Music Lesson”.
An important aspect of Vermeer’s paintings were his portraits--often of women. The portraits capture a style of reassuring calm, dignity and contentment with everyday life. To Vermeer, they may have represented an idealized view of life and women, which did not always match reality. “The Girl With A Pearl Earring” is widely considered a Vermeer masterpiece-It is also regarded as one of the greatest portrait pictures ever painted and is sometimes referred to as the “Mona Lisa” of the North.
1. What does the underlined word “obscure” mean in paragraph 1?| A．Not clear. | B．Quite poor. | C．Not well-known. | D．Rather confusing. |
| A．A local inn. | B．A restaurant. | C．Several paintings. | D．A job of selling wines. |
| A．Hills around his town. | B．Children in the school. |
| C．A boat on the foggy sea. | D．A young woman in his house. |
| A．A novel about a painter. | B．A biography of a person. |
| C．An analysis of painting styles. | D．A review of Vermeer’s painting. |
2 . The United Kingdom is a land of natural beauty and history, with many of its finest attractions discovered through hiking. Now, dust off your boots, plan according to the following routes presented by a survey of senior hikers and an incredible experience will wait for you.
Wales Coastal Path
Wales is the only country in the world that has an official walking path covering its whole borders. The Wales Coastal Path is a footpath stretching 870 miles from Chester to Chepstow. Walking the whole thing might be demanding, but there are plenty of stretches that can be enjoyed over a day or two.
Southwest Coast Path
You need a fair amount of annual leave, a casual 52 days or so, to undertake this in one go. The route runs from Somerset all the way to Dorset, via rugged cliffs, cute fishing villages and surfing spots along the coastline. You can surely jump on to any point as you like, but you can't afford to miss all the pubs full of jokes and laughter on the way!
Coast to Coast Walk
This long-distance trail isn’t official, but popular in the country, taking hikers from the Irish Sea to the North Sea as it rolls into historic Robin Hood’s Bay in Yorkshire. Following local footpaths, the route takes you through three UK National Parks: the Lakes, the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors.
Cleveland Way
You’ll want nine days to folly complete this hike, which explores both the North York Moors and the county’s world-famous coastline. Just make sure you allow enough time to properly enjoy spots like Roseberry Topping hill and pick up a gentle afternoon walk at Whitby’s clifftop church.
1. Who will be more interested in the routes?| A．Explorers in the UK. | B．Hiking lovers. |
| C．Nature photographers. | D．Field researchers. |
| A．Fishing villages. | B．Surfing spots. |
| C．Local pubs. | D．National parks. |
| A．They include cliffs worth visiting. | B．They are official and demanding. |
| C．They run along the coast. | D．They can be completed in a month. |
I live in a city where jobs are difficult to get and if you want to find a well-paid job, it will be even harder. Therefore, it is not surprising for you to see many people in our city walk a long way because they can’t even afford an old used car.
It was a cold windy day. I saw one of these people who often have to walk from and to work every day, when I was driving after work. A middle-aged man wearing only a thin overcoat was walking down the road and trying to ask for a ride from the passing cars. Unluckily, there was no driver willing to stop their cars. When I saw two cars in front of me pass him by, I wanted to do the same. But the sight of that poor man remained in my mind for quite a moment. I felt as if a big hand was dragging me and forcing me not to leave. Finally I drew back and gave him a ride.
As I drove along, we had a conversation, during which he told me something about himself and his family. I learnt that the man was doing everything he could to support his family using the limited salary from several part-time jobs. As you could imagine, every coin he earned was going to be used to pay for the house and food.
It was a long drive before we got to his home. All the way, I could feel his hardship and tiredness. But as we came close to the house where he was living, I saw his tired eyes grow bright and the whole body was lit up. His lovely girl was playing in the front yard. Seeing her father was out of the car, she ran to him as quickly as possible, reaching out her two small hands. He held the girl with his two strong hands, laughing and kissing her cheeks. I was lost in that happy moment. I smiled, said goodbye to them, wished them the future happiness and then drove off.
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。
On my way home, something came into my mind.
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Half an hour later, I got home.
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增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Learning that the captain of the ship, the Beagle, wanted someone who would like to have the opportunity of visiting distance countries yet little known, a young man answered the call. Obviously, he was not the captain’s first choice. That was why he had left medical school without completing his degree. In addition to, he had recently received a letter from his father predicting he would be a disgrace to himself and all his family. Despite all this, his adventures on this ship will lead to one of the most important scientific discoveries of all time.
The young man in question was Charles Darwin,a geologist and naturalist, fascinating by rocks, plants and animals. He had his room on the ship crowded with samples of the plants and animals he had collected. Studying these, he wondered what different species came to exist.
After noticing some species of animals were similar to each other, he came up an idea that maybe animals evolved as they adapted to their changing environments.
It was such new an idea that nobody believed him. But they refused to believe that living things, including humans, had evolved from lower form of life.
5 . Everyone who uses a smartphone unavoidably produces masses of digital data that are accessible to others, and these data provide clues to the user’s personality. Psychologists in Munich (LMU) are studying how revealing these clues are.
For most people around the world, smartphones have become an important part of their daily lives. The digital data that these devices constantly collect are a goldmine-not only for the five largest American IT companies, which make use of them for advertising purposes. They are also of considerable interest in other contexts. For instance, computational social scientists use smartphone data in order to learn more about personality and social behavior. In a study that appears in the journal PNAS, a team of researchers led by LMU psychologist Markus Buhner set out to determine whether data collected by smartphones (such as times or frequencies of use) provide deep understanding of users’ personalities.
The LMU team organized 624 volunteers for their Phone Study project. The participants agreed to fill out an extensive questionnaire describing their personality, and to install an App that had been developed specially for the study on their phones for 30 days. The App was designed to collect coded information relating to the behavior of the user. The automated analysis showed that the method was indeed able to successfully get most of these personality traits from their smartphone usage.
Clemens Stachl is aware that his research might further inspire the big IT firms for data. He says, “the potential of these applications-in both research and business-is very great. The opportunities opened up by today’s data-driven society will undoubtedly improve the lives of large numbers of people. But we must ensure that all sections of the population share the benefits offered by digital technologies.”
1. What do American IT companies use the digital data of smartphones for?| A．Searching for gold. | B．Making advertisements. |
| C．Improving living standard | D．Producing better smartphones. |
| A．To fear the function of it. | B．To develop a new App. |
| C．To fill a questionnaire. | D．To collect information. |
| A．Big IT firms will turn to data collection. |
| B．More applications will be developed. |
| C．The digital data research will benefit people. |
| D．Only IT firms will benefit from digital technologies. |
| A．Your smartphone data can show your personality. |
| B．Smartphone data will be widely used in the future. |
| C．Scientists are doing research using smartphone data. |
| D．Scientists warns the exposing of personal information. |
6 . A fat man with a camera around his neck and a bottle of sunscreen cream sticking out of his bag, he really did look like a tourist. He sat on the terrace (平台), sipping lemonade and pretending to look at a tourism brochure. His sunglasses masked his eyes, but I knew he wasn't looking at the brochure: he hadn't turned a page for the last ten minutes. As I brought him his dishes, he coughed up a "thank you" and looked at me briefly I tried not to stare at the tiny scar across his left eyebrow.
I walked back inside with my empty tray, shaking my head. He looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place him. Then it hit me. The car accident. The mysterious stranger who helped me out of my crashed car, just before it exploded. I rushed back to his table. He was gone.
I moved his saucer and found his tip, along with a card: I am deeply grateful to you. The night of your car accident, I was on my way to rob a jewelry store. Saving your life brought things back in a right way. I now live an honest life, thanks to you. God bless you! Mr. D.
I shivered (震颤). The night of my car accident, I was heading for an interview in an illegal dance club. Seeing human kindness through his heroic gesture (英雄姿态) turned my life around and brought faith back into my life. I unfolded the tip he left. Among the singles was a grand (一千块) with a pen mark underlining "In God We Trust. "I said a silent prayer for him and got back to work, smiling.
1. Why did the fat man look like a tourist?| A．Because he doesn't look like a native citizen. |
| B．Because he ordered strange food and drinks |
| C．Because he used money not the same as the locals. |
| D．Because he carried what tourists usually have on. |
| A．The page remained unturned. | B．He was drinking all the time. |
| C．He sat still with his sunglasses. | D．He was staring at the writer. |
| A．The man became a rich man year later. |
| B．The writer didn't go to that interview. |
| C．The writer had been searching for the man. |
| D．They kept in touch with each other since then. |
| A．Cod. | B．Worried. | C．Grateful. | D．Trusty. |
注意：开头已给出，不计入总词数。
Music is playing an important part in our life
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8 . When people talk about American popular music, they don’t just mean country music or rock music. There are two other types of popular music with national and international appeal that are basically American. One is jazz. The other is a musical form associated with New York City theaters.
Jazz dates from African religious and folk music. The themes and songs of jazz music have historical origins. They come from songs sung by black Americans in church or at work. There have been different kinds of jazz music: bebop, ragtime, swing, boogie-woogie and others.
In playing jazz music, the performers combine rhythms and songs with their skills of improvisation (即兴创作). Modern jazz music has developed into a complex musical style enjoyed more by musicians and older jazz lovers than by the general public.
American theater has developed another American musical style. It is associated with a street in New York City, Broadway. Broadway musicals are dramatic productions in which the story is told partly by dialogue and partly through songs. The lyrics of these songs give background information about the story and express the feelings of the characters in the story. Many Broadway musicals have been made into movies that have been shown all over the world. Oklahoma, Sound of Music, My Fair Lady and West Side Story are some good examples.
Songs from these musicals and others have translations in various languages that are sung around the world. Many of them have become popular with people who have not even seen the musicals for which they were written.
1. What does jazz belong to?| A．Rock music. | B．Country music. |
| C．Traditional music. | D．American popular music. |
| A．Its playing method. | B．Its popularity. |
| C．Its origin. | D．Its historical position. |
| A．It needs special skills to perform. | B．It is not well received by ordinary people. |
| C．It is welcomed only among musicians. | D．It is popular with the general public. |
| A．the songs | B．the translations | C．the musicals | D．the languages |
9 . You will have an opportunity to meet your new neighbors after you move into the neighborhood. And getting to know your neighbors will help you feel like you're at home and settle into your new space.
Careful observation.
What if you have nothing in common? No problem. There's absolutely nothing wrong with just walking up to the from door, and introducing yourself or inviting them to a small get-together. Let them know you just moved in and where you moved from. If that still feels uncomfortable, then ask about garbage pick-up or recycling centers in the neighborhood. Remember that you live on the same street, in the same neighborhood.
Host a get-together. Though it might be the last thing you warn to do while you're still unpacking, hosting a casual get-together is a great way to meet your neighbors all at the same time.
| A．Meet neighbors outdoors. |
| B．Spend more time walking. |
| C．Check out your neighborhood. |
| D．If the weather is nice, host it outside. |
| E．That's enough to start any conversation. |
| F．If they're interested, they'll say so or even invite you in. |
| G．The following suggestions do necessarily make it easier to do. |
10 . Engineers at Deakin University have developed a new smart generation schoolbag that will end the days when students end up forgetting their homework, particularly since the smart schoolbag is capable of completing its own morning checklist.
According to a recent press release, the smart schoolbag comes with built-in hardware and software that works to ensure it is packed correctly for each day’s timetable, including lunch and sports equipment.
The bag was designed by Dr Hamid Abdi alongside Masters students at Deakin University. It uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags (标签) to detect items in the bag and Internet of Things (IOT) technology, which extends Internet connectivity to everyday objects. “RFID technology allows any user to detect items in the bag in a contactless way,” Dr Abdi says. The Internet of Things (IOT) technology is employed to check its contents against the daily school plan. Schools or parents can enter data about the activities of each day to the system’s IOT server. The server then links these activities to the RFID tags placed on the items needed. The smart school-bag can tell what items are not required, ensuring that the bag is no heavier than it needs to be.
The smart schoolbag will save a lot of time and stress that occurs when homework, hats or lunches are left home by mistake, especially if that requires parents to quickly race home to collect the missing item.
While the system can be fitted to any schoolbag, the team have designed a sample of the smart schoolbag that includes the smartphone application. Dr Abdi and his team are looking for commercial partners to take the project to the next level.
1. Why do the engineers develop the smart schoolbag?| A．To give a morning call. | B．To help homework correcting. |
| C．To reduce study pressure. | D．To remind pupils of school items. |
| A．Its application. | B．Its working principle. |
| C．Its advantage. | D．Its characteristics. |
| A．I’ll replace parental duties. | B．I’ll ensure academic progress. |
| C．I’ll reach consumers soon. | D．I’ll be environment-friendly. |
| A．A Smart Schoolbag Saves Time and Stress |
| B．A Smart Schoolbag Will Replace an Ordinary Bag |
| C．The Latest System of Detecting Missing Items |
| D．The First Generation of a Smart Schoolbag |
