1 . After giving a talk at a high school, I was asked to pay a visit to a special student. An illness had kept the boy home, but he had expressed an interest in meeting me, and it would mean a great deal to him. I agreed.

During the nine-mile drive to his home, I found out something about Matthew. He had muscular dystrophy(肌肉萎缩症). When he was born, the doctor told his parents that he would not live to see five, then they were told he would not make it to ten. Now he was thirteen. He wanted to meet me because I was a gold-medal power lifter, and I knew about overcoming obstacles and going for my dreams.

I spent over one hour talking to Matthew. Never once did he complain or ask, “Why me?” He spoke about winning and succeeding and going for his dreams. Obviously, he knew what he was talking about. He didn’t mention that his classmates had made fun of him because he was different. He just talked about his hopes for the future, and how one day he wanted to lift weight with me.

When we finished talking, I went to my briefcase and pulled out the first gold medal I won and put it around his neck. I told him he was more of a winner and knew more about success and overcoming obstacles than I ever would. He looked at it for a moment, then took it off and handed it back to me. He said, “You are a champion. You earned that medal. Someday when I get to the Olympics and win my own medal, I will show it to you.”

Last summer I received a letter from Matthew’s parents telling me that Matthew had passed away. They wanted me to have a letter he had written to me a few days before:

Dear Rick,

My mom said I should send you a thank-you letter for the picture you sent me. I also want to let you know that the doctors tell me that I don’t have long to live anymore. But I still smile as much as I can.

I told you someday I was going to the Olympics and win a gold medal. But I know now I will never get to do that. But I know I’m a champion, and God knows that too. When I get to Heaven, God will give me my medal and when you get there, I will show it to you. Thank you for loving me.

Yours,

Matthew

1. The boy wanted to meet the author because _______.

A．he was interested in weight lifting	B．he wanted to get a gold medal
C．he admired the author very much	D．he wanted the author to know him

2. The underlined part in the third paragraph probably means “_______.”

A．Why do you come to see me?	B．Why do I have to stay at home?
C．Why does the disease fall on me	D．Why not give a gold medal to me

3. We can infer from the passage that _______.

A．Matthew is a determined boy	B．Rick used to have the same disease
C．Matthew became a champion finally	D．Rick regarded Matthew as normal

4. The boy refused the author’s medal because _______.

A．he was not worthy of it	B．he would not be pitied by others
C．he knew he would die soon	D．he thought he himself could earn one in the future

2 . China's first astronaut 38-year-old Yang Liwei returned safely to earth Thursday morning, when his craft Shenzhou 5 touched down as scheduled after more than 21 hours in the earth's orbit. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao called the landmarkdebutflight a “complete success”. The descent capsule(返回舱) carrying Lt. Col. Yang Liwei touched down on the grasslands of the Gobi Desert, in central Inner Mongolia at 6:23 am Thursday (Beijing Time), the Beijing-based China's Aerospace Command and Control Center said. Minutes later, Yang grabbed the capsule hatch with his hand, pulled himself out, smiled and waved at recovery teams and reporters. “It is a splendid moment in the history of my motherland and also the greatest day of my life,” Yang, a former fighter pilot from Northeast China's Liaoning Province, said immediately after emerging. In an interview with CCTV, China's state television, Yang said he was “feeling excellent”. Shenzhou 5 landed at dawn, 4.8 kilometres (3 miles) from its designed landing target, the officials said. “The spaceship operated well,” the astronaut Yang Liwei said in his first publicized comments. “I feel very good and I am proud of my motherland.” After a physical exam on spot, Yang's condition was found as "good." Li Jinai, the commander of China's manned space program, called Yang a “space hero” and a “national hero”. Following Yang's touchdown, China's premier Wen Jiabao immediately spoke to Yang from Beijing's command and control centre and offered his congratulations.

Within hours, Chinese space officials announced that the country's space dreams will continue with a "Shenzhou 6" mission, most possibly within a year. They said China also had worked out plans to conduct space walking by its astronauts, and eventually build up a space station. However, Chinese scientists ruled out building a space shuttle, like the United States.

Yang's flight came four decades after the former Soviet Union and the United States pioneered manned spaceflight. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth in April 1961. One month later, the United States launched Alan B. Shepard Jr.

1. What is true of the first Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei?

A．He is now a fighter pilot.

B．He was helped to get out of the descent capsule.

C．He spent nearly a day in space.

D．He was called a “space hero” and a “national hero” by China's premier Wen Jiabao.

2. China will carry out the following space programs in the near future except ________.

A．space walking	B．setting up a space station
C．building up a space shuttle	D．sending up “Shenzhou 6”

3. The underlined word “debut” means ________.

A．first public appearance	B．space
C．carrying person	D．space-ship

4. Which of the following is NOT true?

A．Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man in the world to travel in space.

B．the United States launched Alan B. Shepard Jr. about 40 years ago.

C．China is the third country in the world to carry out the manned space flight successfully.

D．“Shenzhou 6” will carry more than one astronaut in the mission.

3 . Before the end of the year, employees at Ubiquitous Energy, a company in Redwood City, Calif, will gather in a window-lined conference room to stare toward the future. That’s because their new glass windows will offer more than an amazing view of the North California landscape. They will also be able to power the company’s lights, computers and air conditioners.

Several years in the making, Ubiquitous’ energy-producing glass is a remarkable technological achievement. Its power lies in the layers of organic polymers (聚合物) between sheets of glass. As light enters the window,the flow of electrons between the polymer layers creates an electric current, which is then collected by tiny wires in the glass.

“It’s sort of like a transparent computer display run in reverse (反过来),” says Veeral Hardev, director of business development at Ubiquitous Energy. “Instead of electricity being shuttled to different points in a display to light them up, light is producing electricity to be shuttled out of different points in the window.”

Right now the windows produce about a third as much electricity from a given amount of sunlight as the typical solar cells used in roof panels (板).These windows, about half as transparent as ordinary glass, don’t work as well as transparent ones. Hardev says the company is likely to improve the transparency significantly. As for the lower output of electricity, he notes that windows can cover a much greater surface area than a roof, so numerous windows will produce a surprisingly larger amount of electricity than the production from a rooftop full of higher-efficiency solar panels. “You could do both.” says Hardev. “But you’ll get more from the windows. The biggest challenge, he adds, is increasing the windows from less than two square feet currently to about 50 square feet.”

1. What makes the new glass windows special?

A．They can offer an amazing view.

B．They are controlled by computers.

C．They can power the conference room.

D．They can help stare toward the future.

2. What is Hardev trying to explain in Paragraph 3?

A．The source of light.

B．The significance of different points.

C．The similarity of computer and glass.

D．The working principle of energy-producing glass.

3. What can affect power production according to the passage?

A．The transparency of the glass.

B．The quality of the rooftop.

C．The height of the solar panels.

D．The thickness of the glass.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A．Windows: A New Challenge of Technology

B．Windows: No Longer Just for Letting in the Light

C．Power: A Pressing Problem in the Near Future

D．Power: Not Enough from Rooftop Solar Panels

4 . Foods of the Future

We asked young scientists to write an advertisement that answers this question: How will food options, food availability, and individuals’ food choices change in the future? A selection of their suggested marketing campaigns is below. Read previous NextGen Voices survey results at http://science.sciencemag.org/collection/nextgen-voices. — Jennifer Sills

Personalized Meal Plans

Send us your DNA, and we will predict your food preferences! Receive your personalized food basket, with a day-by-day diet program. We will send you full meals and personalized smoothies (水果奶昔) based on your genetic taste tendency.

Ada Gabriela Blidner

Twitter:@adagbb

Fresh Fruit

If you miss sweet temperate fruits, welcome to our Moon Farm. Our fruit trees are planted in hybrid-soil and artificial air that reproduce Earth’s environment from 5000 years ago. Pick fruits with your family or ship to your doorstep with MoonEx. Freshness guaranteed.

Yongsheng Ji

Email: jiyongshengkey@hotmail.com

Meat

Our steaks are sourced from natural grasslands, where cattle now fill the ecological roles. With FoodFootprint feeding system, we enhance natural grazing (放牧) to improve animal growth effectively while minimizing methane production and water consumption. At only $219.00/kg (including carbon taxes and ecological taxes), our steaks are affordable for the whole family.

Falko Buschke

Email: falko. buschke@gmail. com

1. Which of the following needs you to provide the information of your genes?

A．Meat.	B．Fresh Fruit.
C．NextGen Voices.	D．Personalized Meal Plans.

2. Who should you contact if you want to have fun with your family?

A．Jennifer Sills.	B．Yongsheng Ji.
C．Falko Buschke.	D．Ada Gabriela Blidner.

3. Which of the following best describes the steaks in Meat?

A．Fresh.	B．Green.
C．Expensive.	D．Personalized.

5 . There’s no doubt that one of the greatest human achievements is the exploration of the space. Ever since astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to be sent into the orbit around the moon in 1961, scientists have been pushing the boundaries further and further. But until now the exploration into the unknown has been dominated (主导) by men.

Of course, in the past, women were also included in the space projects and played an active role on the ground and behind the scenes. For example, they worked as seamstresses (女裁缝师), sewing vital spaceflight components. In fact, many of NASA’s key works would never have been possible without them. Recently Hollywood produced a movie called Hidden Figures to focus on a group of American female mathematicians, especially the black women, who helped NASA send the first American into space. But this was not women’s only contribution. Back in 1963, Soviet astronaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to be sent into space. However, after that, space flight programs were slow to employ women. In the USA. NASA didn’t accept applications from women to become astronauts until 1978.

But attitudes have changed and leading officials at NASA say that the first person to set foot on Mars should be a woman. The space agency aims to have a sex-balanced workforce but can only achieve that if equal numbers of men and women are trained for science and technology jobs. As Allison McIntryre told the BBC, “My director is a woman. We have female astronauts. We haven’t put a woman on the moon yet. And I think that perhaps the first person to step on Mars should be a woman.”

1. What did Yuri Gagarin do in 1961?

A．He landed on the moon in success.

B．He discovered many new boundaries.

C．He led scientists to explore the moon.

D．He made the first journey into the space.

2. Why does the author mention the film Hidden Figures?

A．To show women are the true heroes of NASA’s first launch.

B．To stress that black people have won equal rights in NASA.

C．To prove women can do as well as men in NASA’ projects.

D．To present women’s contributions to NASA’s space programs.

3. What is Allison McIntryre’s attitude toward women astronauts?

A．Uncaring.	B．Disapproving.
C．Supportive.	D．Disappointed.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Will the First Person to Step on Mars Be a Woman?

B．Great Achievements Have Been Made in Space Exploration?

C．Why Men Played an Important Role in Exploring the Unknown?

D．Men and Women Have Made Equal Contributions to NASA’s Projects?

6 . Childhood obesity puts kids at risk for cardiovascular disease, bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and potential social and psychological problems.     1    

Of course, the CDC recommends healthy lifestyle choices—healthy eating, physical exercise.     2     That is to provide a safe and supportive environment where healthy lifestyle choices can be made.

What don't kids need?    3    Too much focus on overweight leads toward more weight gain.

A new data analysis of two studies found that children whose parents considered them to be “overweight" tended to gain more weight over 10 years than children whose parents considered them “normal weight". Children whose parents label them as “overweight" had a negative self-perception about their bodies. They were engaged in more attempts to lose weight.     4    

The clear message from this study is that dieting is more likely to lead to weight gain, not weight loss, in both children and adults. Psychology researchers Eric Robinson and Angelina Sutin argue that the stigma of being labeled overweight as a child might actually gain weight in the future.

    5     For the study, children's height and weight were measured at age 4 or 5, and parents were asked to describe whether they thought the children were best described as underweight, normal weight, overweight or very overweight. When the children were 12 or 13, they used images to best depict what they perceived their bodies to look like and were asked whether or not they engaged in any dieting behavior. Height and weight measurements were taken again when the children were 14 or 15 years old.

A．Labels and pressure around weight and weight gain.

B．Left untreated, these problems can continue into adulthood.

C．They also point out another important way to keep kids healthy.

D．The researchers cannot be certain about what is driving.

E．They analyzed the data from a study of Australian children.

F．But it actually contributed to weight gain over the 10-year period.

G．A number of mothers in this study suffer from depression and anxiety.

7 . Last year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 55 million people in the U. S. are “gig workers" which is more than 35 percent of the U. S. workforce. That number is projected to jump to 43 percent by 2020.

People are drawn to gig work（零工）because it brings in a little extra income without a major time commitment. And recent technologies like Skype, Slack, and Dropbox have made the gig life a reality, giving you maximum freedom, an ideal work-life balance, and the chance to pursue your passions.

If you're thinking of joining the gig economy, it's never been easier. One of the great things about the gig economy is that you don't have a boss breathing down your neck. As a freelancer, you no longer have to cater to a company culture or work schedule that might cause physical or emotional stress. Instead, you get to choose the type of work you do and who you work with. But this degree of freedom requires a corresponding amount of discipline. With no boss to make sure you're on task, it's all on you.

A lot of gig workers start their careers by hopping on a project because the employer is desperate and in need of help. On the employer's end, it's tough to take on people for higher management positions when the pool of talent is full of gig workers who haven't been given an opportunity to improve their skills. Businesses have to evolve to learn how to account for an influx（(涌入）of temporary workers. It is harder for gig workers to become skilled and get promoted.

The workforce is becoming more advanced and educated by the day. You have to keep learning and keep up with industry trends to maintain a competitive edge. This is true even for people in traditional office settings, but it's critical if you're your own boss.

1. What made the gig life a reality?

A．Greater work-life balance.	B．New technologies.
C．A little extra money.	D．Maximum freedom.

2. What does the underlined phrase “breathing down your neck” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．Making you unable to breathe freely.

B．Standing very close behind you.

C．Threatening you by saying something.

D．Monitoring you closely.

3. What can we infer from the last but one paragraph?

A．Employers should invest in training the temporary workers.

B．Gig workers start their jobs out of passion.

C．It's hard for employers to employ people for higher positions.

D．It's hard for gig workers to develop skills.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Gig Economy

B．The Challenges of the Gig Economy

C．The Increase of the Gig Economy

D．The Reason for the Gig Economy

8 . To shoot a scene of people eating food, you need two different perspectives (角度). To record a bus journey to school, you need three quick cuts. To complete this short, morning rush-hour video blog – or “vlog” – you need four pieces of music.     1    

With more than 90 million vlogs available online, and 2,000 posted every hour on the YouTube video-sharing site, CBS News says they are mainstream with people born after 1995.

    2     More young Chinese people have become inspired to grab a camera and recount the details of their day on Sina Weibo, Bilibili or WeChat Moments.

“The most important thing about vlogging is to tell a good story. Other visual effects are auxiliary (辅助的),” wrote US vlogger Casey Neista, who has almost 10 million subscribers on YouTube.

Chinese vlogger Wang Xiaoguang is an example of a good storyteller. In one of his popular vlog posts, Wang tells the story of traveling to Japan. While there, he took a ride in the wrong direction and got lost. Worse, he forgot to bring a phone charger.     3    

Another key aspect of vlogs is that the content is based on everyday life, according to Ouyang Nana, 18, a young Chinese musician. She documents her life at Berklee College of Music. Ordinary as vlogs are, as many as 15 million fans share her wows and woes (喜怒哀乐) on a daily basis.

    4     Peng Yixuan, a news reporter with China Daily, recorded her first experience attending and reporting on the two sessions in March of this year. With a relaxed, chatty and personal approach, she presented the conferences, “bringing more warmth” to the grand political event, according to People’s Daily.

There are popular vlogs for beauty, gaming, fashion, food and travel. Vloggers are learning new ways to experience the thrill of them.     5     Then what are you waiting for? Grab a camera!

A．They come from all walks of life.

B．However, he didn’t take the number of his hotel.

C．Vlogging has taken China by storm over the past year.

D．Some other popular vloggers choose to show their careers.

E．Vlogs pave the way for future advertising and sales campaigns.

F．Luckily he was able to borrow money from a stranger and escape trouble.

G．Vloggers have these techniques in mind as they film their daily activities.

9 . We’ve all been there: Just when you’re getting used to your new workout routine, suddenly your knee is killing you.     1     Before injury strikes, listen to these signs that might show your body needs some time off.

You’re always sore (酸疼).     2     But if you’re exercising regularly, you shouldn’t constantly be feeling sore. You should always give your muscles 24 to 48 hours to recover between training sessions. If you still feel sore, it’s possible you’re overtraining.

    3     Anger, anxiety, and tiredness are also signs. It is known that exercise can make us happier because of endorphins — a stress-fighting chemical — in the brain. However, those endorphins are also accompanied by cortisol, a stress chemical. And when cortisol levels remain high for an extended period, they cause harm on mental health.

Your heart rate is abnormal. One of the best ways to tell if you’ve been overtraining is to check your heart rate. If you’re above your normal, then your body is not really ready for a hard workout that day.     4           

The best thing about noticing these symptoms (症状)?     5     A little R&R (rest and recovery) is just what your body ordered!

A．You’re constantly tired or emotional.

B．Yes, you’ve over-worked yourself into an injury.

C．Fortunately, recovery is simple — just take it easy for a few days!

D．That’s one of the best ways to judge your readiness to exercise.

E．Sure, a bit of muscle soreness after some workout is totally normal.

F．It’s much easier to relax and check heart rate than it is to recover from an injury.

G．Doing the same activity over and over without proper recovery is going to cause injury.

10 . If you’re reading this story, the chances are you’ve got a pretty good command of English. You’re not alone — an estimated 1.5 billion people speak English today, making it the most commonly used language in the world. Most are non-native speakers with English as their second language, while it serves as a third or fourth language for hundreds of millions more. So which place has the most fluent non-native English speakers?

According to a new report by international education company, the Netherlands is the best non-native English speakers across the globe. The results of its English Proficiency Index (英语能力指数), based on a free online test taken by 2.3 million volunteers, show that the Dutch are the most fluent. Sweden was positioned just below, with a score of 68.74 out of 100, while Norway came in third with 67.93 points.

Although the places with “very high proficiency” were largely made up of European countries, Singapore and South Africa also scored highly, coming in fifth and sixth place respectively.

The report also found that English was the most widely studied second language in the world by far. This may be the reason why just 20% of school students in the United States were studying a foreign language.

The survey was measured by testing non-native English speakers in 100 countries and over 400 cities and regions who voluntarily agreed to take the test. But there’s one thing that should be noticed. People are more likely to participate (参与) in the survey if they can surf the internet more easily. And this may greatly influence the accuracy (准确性) of the results.

1. Which of the following country has the most fluent non-native English speakers?

A．America.	B．Singapore.
C．Sweden.	D．The Netherlands.

2. What can we infer from Paragraph 4?

A．Americans do not need to learn a second language.

B．Americans dislike languages other than English.

C．More and more people are taking English as a second language.

D．Not many Americans would like to learn another language.

3. How was the survey carried out?

A．By asking volunteers to test online.

B．By handing out paper survey in some places.

C．By inviting volunteers to participate in the company.

D．By cooperating with other organizations.

4. What’s the attitude of the author towards the results of the survey?

A．Positive.	B．Doubtful.
C．Supportive.	D．Objective.