1 . Do you want to see majestic lions roaring, rare rhinos running and colorful birds flying? You’ll find this incredible display of nature in the Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley.
First stop
Fly into Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. This great city is known for its fashion markets and beautiful art. And be sure to pick up some rich Kenyan coffee while you’re there! Then head for the countryside.
Plan your trip
The largest of the three lakes in the system, Lake Nakuru, is less than 175 kilometers from Nairobi. But Lakes Bogoria and Elementaita are equally worth a visit. You can stay at one of several choices of luxurious cabins in the valley. And if you sign up for a trip, be sure to put flamingos, the white and pink birds, at the top of your list.
Paradise
The Kenya Lake System is shallow and alkaline (碱性的). That means it supports vegetation such as green algae, a food source for many waterfowl. Hundreds of species of birds flourish here, using this area as a major breeding and nesting ground. Water buffalo, leopards, monkeys and the endangered Rothschild giraffe also make this area their home.
Other sights
Wildlife isn’t the only natural wonder in the Great Rift Valley. The valley marks a place where the earth is divided far below the surface. This rock separation below ground leads to noticeable features above ground. Walking around Lake Bogoria especially, you will see steam rising from hot springs.
Other activities include golfing, horseback riding and hiking. The fun doesn’t stop when the sun goes down, either. The river valley is far from city lights, so many visitors gaze at the stars shining above.
If you are ready for a wildlife experience, don’t hesitate!
1. Where can you buy fashionable gifts in Kenya?| A．Nairobi. | B．Lake Nakuru. | C．Lake Bogoria. | D．Lake Elementaita. |
| A．Living in a cabin. | B．Seeing flamingos. |
| C．Visiting hot springs. | D．Gazing at shining stars. |
| A．It has countless lakes worth visiting. | B．It’s an ideal place for wildlife to live. |
| C．Its water is unsuitable for plant growth. | D．It’s famous for rich culture and history. |
As a young boy, I was carefree. Every vacation I looked forward to two things—seeing my grandpa and hearing his wonderful stories. My grandpa was a very good storyteller. He had worked various odd jobs when he was young and wove his adventures and misadventures into fantastic tales. These wonderful tales colored my childhood.
As I grew up, I had to admit that Grandpa’s stories went on a little long, even a little boring and gradually lost their magic. However, not wanting to upset him, my brother and I would sometimes take turns sitting in the living room, listening to grandpa tell his stories.
When my grandpa was approaching 91, he suffered from serious memory-loss. It was kind of what doctors called dementia (痴呆), probably the earliest stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Following the doctor’s directions, we moved him into a Sunrise Assisted Living Community, where he could get a better care. After that, grandpa hardly came to our house.
One weekend before my grandpa’s birthday, I came to visit him. Seeing grandpa sitting in his armchair, dull-looking, I was consumed with mixed feelings. I wheeled grandpa to the sunshine in the courtyard, talking to him. He couldn’t express himself clearly and spoke in short bursts, but I listened to him patiently and carefully just as I used to be a little boy.
It was then that I noticed a shadow box with some old and yellowish photos in it. I picked one up, in which my brother, several boys in our neighborhood, and I were playing basketball with grandpa cheering us on twenty years before. My mind flashed back to those beautiful memories. Back then, Grandpa was in good physical condition and we were all wearing basketball jerseys, playing and laughing with abandon. I presented the photo to my grandpa, pointing at each member and reminding him of their names. Incredibly, grandpa could speak out the name of every player. I even caught a soft light in grandpa’s eyes and a smile on his lips.
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 bright idea for grandpa’s birthday came to my mind.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Seeing “the same players” playing there, grandpa seemed to have thought of something.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________3 . The global population growing, the climate is warming, and, no surprise, the demand for energy is steadily increasing. We need to use less energy in any way that we can.
German design student Tobias Tribenbacher, from the University of the Arts Berlin, has created a street light called Papilio in response to global sustainability initiatives, saying that he initially chose to create a city-facing streetlight due to such lights’ role in tight pollution.
Papilio can be mounted to walls or set up as a freestanding lantern. The lamp should ideally be placed between three to six metres above ground, where ground-level winds are the strongest. The lamp is shaped like a pinwheel that acts as a wind turbine (涡轮), catching the wind to produce its own energy. It also has a rechargeable battery that stores electricity, so the lamp can operated even on less windy days.
Another key component of the lamp is the light itself. The warm- colored light doesn’t draw the attention of insects, and it uses an infrared(红外线的)sensor so that the light is only started by nearby motion, reducing its contribution to light pollution.
Aside from saving public space and beautifying streets, the streetlight’s design is also a visual signal of clean energy in action.“Design not only determines how street lights are working. It can also shape our attitude towards them and consequently affect how we use them,” Tobias Tribenbacher says.“Because energy creation is often an invisible process, projects such as these help the production of electricity become comprehensible.”
The lamp’s ability to change wind power into electricity can also be a huge benefit to naturally windy areas. And since it doesn’t require any electrical infrastructure (基础设施), there will be an opportunity to fix the street lights in remote settings or places where infrastructure innovations can be cost-prohibitive.
Just as lanterns create the character of streets and squares, Papilio is envisioned as a public sustainability statement that motivates residents to take part in transforming our cities into climate-friendly, future-proof environments.
1. Why did Tribenbacher choose to create the street light?| A．To tackle light pollution. |
| B．To reduce biodiversity loss. |
| C．To beautify the city he lives in. |
| D．To draw public attention to waste. |
| A．It occupies a large space. |
| B．It can be fixed anywhere. |
| C．It is switched off by hand. |
| D．It is unattractive to insects. |
| A．The climate crisis is tough to address. |
| B．Design can facilitate our comprehension. |
| C．We must take action to save clean energy. |
| D．We know little about electricity generation. |
| A．To stress the importance of innovation. |
| B．To introduce a wind- powered street light. |
| C．To advocate environmental sustainability. |
| D．To analyze the sustainability of the street light. |
How exciting! Today is my basketball Grand-final! My team of six enthusiastic boys led by our coach, Jack, has worked extremely hard just to make the finals. My heart was pounding a hundred kilometres an hour as I walked into our home ground. As I hurried to our team bench, our opponents caught my attention. They seemed a lot taller and “meaner” looking.
Whistle blew. Five of us started on the court. Our opponent got hold of the ball first. They were unbelievably fast. They kept breaking our defences and kept scoring goals. Excited parents were cheering so much that their faces were as red as beetroots. Even our best, Bryce, could not stop our opponents from scoring, which annoyed him a lot. By half time, both teams were extremely exhausted and our opponents were ten goals ahead, which presented us with an enormous but achievable challenge.
Jack was awfully anxious as we were not playing anywhere near our best. He told us that we could still win if we made our transitions much quicker so that penalty shots came our way.He also directed us to rebound (抢断篮板) and position ourselves better to receive and score goals. Most important, he reminded us to play as a team.
Our team was all fired up. The second half started in our favour. We were as quick as lightning on the court. We were dribbling (运球), passing, shooting and rebounding without any mistakes. We caught our opponents by surprise. The scores were almost level. We were trailing only by one point. The crowd was growing wild with excitement, fuelling our confidence. At the same time, our opponents switched back to attention and started playing like what they did in the first half, making it harder for us to score.
One minute left! Our opponent threw in the ball but I managed to steal it! Our team was bursting with happiness! More opponents were heading my way and I had to pass the ball to Bryce. Instead of passing on the ball, he did the most unexpected thing. He tried to score from half court! He missed by miles!
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。
Then I noticed Jack signaled to the referee for a pause.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Whistle blew again and we came back to the court.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5 . Cheney School is a popular, high performing school located in the heart of Oxford serving a diverse community of students who are eager to learn. The school is looking to add to its bank of exam invigilators (监考人), who will be employed on a casual basis to watch over students taking both mock(模拟) and actual GCSE / GCE exams, as necessary throughout the school year.
Full training will be provided and staff will be contacted before the exam period to discuss the invigilation schedule in relation to their own availability.
We are looking for people who
*have a command of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint
*have effective written communication skills
* are reliable and punctual
*are able to solve problems and keep calm under pressure
*enjoy working as part of a team
We can offer you
*€10.19 per hour
*reduced tuition fees for your kids
*a housing allowance
*shuttle service
If you would like to find out more, please contact Ms Marie-Anne Fischer at mf@cheney.oxon.sch.uk, or by telephone on 01865 5755270.
How to apply: Please download an application form from the school’s vacancy website: http://www.cheney.oxon.sch.uk/lnvigilators.
1. What does Cheney School offer its invigilators?| A．Flexible working hours. | B．Free staff dormitories. |
| C．A transportation allowance. | D．Free schooling for their kids. |
| A．Designing a mock exam paper. | B．Passing the GCSE or GCE exam. |
| C．Being able to use office software. | D．Enjoying working independently. |
| A．Prepare for the interview. | B．Fill in an application form. |
| C．Apply for relevant training. | D．Contact the school online or by telephone. |
We went to New York a few years ago and I had a wonderful time living there. I made many good friends both in the neighbourhood and at school. Then one night, Dad told me, "We're moving back to L.A. You'll go first, and then your mom and I will follow."
It was hard for me to adapt to the new school. I didn't like this school, a high school with some strange rules that I had never heard of. I had no friends there and struggled a lot with study. Besides, I disliked living in the house of my aunt. Luckily, my parents returned and we moved into a small apartment.
However, living with them didn't make my school life much better. They were busy unpacking and managing to adapt to the new environment and their work. They even didn't know what I was experiencing at school, I felt lonely and helpless. "Come on, darling. This move has been difficult for all of us." Mom encouraged me. However, her words didn't help at all.
Then one Friday night, my mom said to me delightedly, "I'm taking you to your grandma's house tomorrow. She has said you're welcome to spend this weekend with her. "But I wasn't happy about this idea. I had never seen my grandma since I was 5. What was I going to do there with her? The next morning, my mom drove me to my grandma's house in the country.
On the long ride, my mom kept reminding me to help grandma do housework and listen to her suggestions. But I just thought, "Grandma isn't anything like me. She can't possibly understand what I am going through. What good suggestions or encouragement can she offer?"
After arriving, my mom left for work. "Hi, Barbie," Grandma said excitedly." Come in. I've got many fun things planned." I just entered the room and said all I wanted was to watch TV.
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。
Paragraph 1:
Then I walked forward，wanting to turn on the TV.
Paragraph 2:
After hearing that，Grandma told me a story of her to encourage me to adapt to my new life.
7 . The solemnness (肃穆) of the occasion mixed with the realization of the man’s mistake appeared inside me and came out as laughter. I cupped my hands over my face, hoping it would be
At the final “Amen”, we ran out of a door and into the parking lot. “I do believe we’ll be the
That afternoon
In my time of sorrow, life gave me
| A．exchanged | B．interpreted | C．predicted | D．remembered |
| A．took | B．kept | C．gave | D．put |
| A．game | B．conversation | C．situation | D．challenge |
| A．confused | B．awful | C．familiar | D．sorrowful |
| A．hesitating | B．assessing | C．thinking | D．laughing |
| A．rest | B．exit· | C．fight | D．excuse |
| A．hope | B．regret | C．dream | D．talk |
| A．funeral | B．invitation | C．appointment | D．interview |
| A．blocked. | B．waited | C．began | D．survived |
| A．right | B．real | C．last | D．awful |
| A．hall | B．library | C．fair | D．church |
| A．appreciation | B．test | C．laughter | D．recognition |
| A．loneliness | B．embarrassment | C．reputation | D．ambition |
| A．reserved | B．received | C．deserved | D．celebrated |
| A．missed | B．introduced | C．accompanied | D．attracted |
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), approximately three billion people rely on seafood as their
Seaweed farming has traditionally been carried out in Asia, and now other countries including the UK and US are catching onto the benefits. Not only is seaweed considered to be
9 . A new type of rechargeable battery can rapidly produce charges in large quantities even at-70° Celsius, a temperature where the typical lithium-ion(锂离子) batteries that power many of today's devices don't work. Batteries that bear such extremely cold conditions could help build electronics that function in some of the coldest places on Earth or on other planets.
Inside lithium-ion batteries, ions flow between positive and negative electrodes(电极), where the ions are fixed and then set free to travel back through a substance called an electrolyte(电解质) to the other end. As the temperature drops, the ions move slowly through the electrolyte. The cold also makes it hard for ions to get rid of the electrolyte material that sticks onto them. As they cross the battery, ions must cast the matter to fit into the electrode material, explains a battery researcher at Fudan University. At-40℃, conventional lithium-ion batteries deliver about 12 percent of the charge they do at room temperature; at-70℃, they don't work at all.
The new battery contains a special kind of electrolyte that allows ions to flow easily between electrodes even in the bitter cold. The researchers also fitted their battery with electrodes made of organic compounds(有机化合物) rather than the typical transition-metal-rich materials. lons can flow freely in this organic material without having to get rid of the electrolyte material attached to them. So these organic electrodes catch and release ions more easily than electrodes in normal batteries, even at low temperatures, Dong says.
Because the ions flow better and connect more readily with the electrodes at low temperatures, the new battery keeps about 70 percent of its room-temperature charging capacity even at-70℃. Still, battery cells in the new design pack less energy per gram than standard lithium-ion batteries, says Shirley Meng, a material scientist in California. She would like to see whether a more energy-dense(能量密度高的) version of the battery can be built.
1. We can learn from Paragraph 1 that the new battery___________.| A．is applied to most of the electronics | B．can work longer than lithium-ion batteries |
| C．will replace lithium-ion batteries in the future | D．makes using electronics possible in extreme cold |
| A．Because it's hard for ions to fit into electrodes at low temperatures. |
| B．Because electrolytes can't conduct electricity in the cold. |
| C．Because electrodes are unstable in too hot temperatures. |
| D．Because lions don't move at low temperatures. |
| A．Containing more ions. | B．Making ions more active. |
| C．Making the battery rechargeable. | D．Casting more electrolyte materials. |
| A．have a longer life | B．carry more energy | C．charge more quickly | D．be easier to get |
10 . When I was a kid I was a bit of a scaredy-cat. The "adventurer" in my family has always been my big brother. Still, I'm always trying to shake up the scaredy-cat inside me. And I've always known how important it is for girls to feel brave. However, girls, at large, experience so much hesitancy and a drop in confidence as they grow up.
One way to stop losing heart is to encourage a sense of adventure in girls before they are teenagers. Such adventures don't have to be big. Research from Angelia Ruskin University shows that even just going for a walk or a run outside leaves people feeling more confident and better about their bodies. After all nature doesn't care how we look. It doesn't care who our friends are or what grades we get. It is a place where we can really be ourselves.
That's why I teamed up with Amy Blackwell, the award-winning illustrator, to create a middle-grade book containing real-life women's adventures from around the world, from 2,000 years ago to today. The Girl Who Rode a Shark and Other Stories of Daring Women has been receiving star reviews in lots of places.
It is all of those amazing women that make the book a hit. While reading, they can trace the ocean-soaring flights of pilot Amelia Earhart, follow Isabella Bird's exploration up the Yangtze River and meet Kimi Werner, the freediving chef who met with a great white shark. That's why kids just can't get enough of those stories. I hope these stories can help so many kids feel confident and excited when they walk into the world.
As for me? While I still feel a little nervous to begin an adventure up a big mountain or across a frozen river, I feel I have more courage than I did as a kid. I now have a lot of role models to help me.
1. What does the underlined part in the first paragraph probably mean?| A．The author wants to keep a pet cat. |
| B．The author makes effort to overcome her fear. |
| C．The author wishes to beat her brother in the game. |
| D．The author plans to experience an adventure on her own. |
| A．Playing outdoor sports. | B．Having a long-term hobby. |
| C．Making friends with strangers. | D．Improving their school performance. |
| A．They are all travel diaries. | B．They are based on true stories. |
| C．They teach girls how to succeed. | D．They are designed for preschool kids. |
| A．To express her pride in her career. | B．To attract more readers to writing. |
| C．To present the trouble of creating her stories. | D．To explain the reason for the book's popularity. |
