1 . People will tell you the only way to really learn a language is to completely immerse(浸入)yourself in a country where that language is spoken. Not all language learners, of course, will have the opportunity to spend some time in an immersion environment. But if you can't actually fly across the world to learn a new language, you can always create an immersion environment where you can talk to native speakers.

That's where Babbel comes in. Babbel is one of the most popular language learning apps on the market for studying new languages at your own pace. The app emphasises real-life conversational skills, so you won't be stopped by grammatical structures and verb patterns.

And right now, you can get 15%off a lifetime subscription (订阅)to Babbel Language Learning（$150; stacksocial. com）.A lifetime subscription is huge when it comes to getting the most out of the app, since you'll be able to return to lessons time and time again and brush up on whichever section or topic you might need.

So how does it all work? First, you'll choose one of the 14 languages. While Babbel offers familiar languages like Spanish and Italian, it also offers less commonly studied ones like Polish, Indonesian and more. Once you pick your language, you'll choose a wide range of real-life topics. Each course takes about 10 to 15 minutes, so you can pick one up on the way to work, during your lunch break, or really at any point you have some time to kill.

Beyond this, Babbel includes a ton of additional features tailored to making sure you learn the language in a real, practical and accurate way. The app uses speech recognition technology to make sure your pronunciation is accurate compared with how native speakers would say certain words.

1. What does Paragraph 1 mainly tell us?

A．The terrifying experiences of travelling.	B．The importance of language learning environment.
C．Different ways to learn a new language.	D．Opportunities to communicate with native speakers.

2. What can we know about Babbel?

A．It's a tool for learning languages.	B．It is designed in various types.
C．It focuses more on grammar structures.	D．It's the most popular app in the market.

3. What should the users do first to learn with the app?

A．Choose the place to learn a course.	B．Pick the language they want to learn.
C．Calculate the reading time.	D．Choose a proper topic.

4. Why does Babbel use speech recognition technology?

A．To represent its additional features.	B．To meet the needs of native speakers.
C．To compare differences between words.	D．To make the pronunciation correct.

2 . Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most important festivals in Chinese calendar. The festival typically involves family getting together to share mooncakes while watching the moon. Typical Chinese mooncakes are round in shape, and measure around 10 cm in diameter and 4-5 cm in thickness. Most mooncakes consist of a thin tender skin enveloping a sweet, dense filling.

    1    . It is a custom for housewives to prepare mooncakes at home when the festival is approaching. Now let's learn to make traditional Chinese mooncakes.

Above all, full preparations should be made, including materials such as dough (生面团), flour, water, sugar and vegetable oil, and fillings—lotus seed paste (莲子蓉) and eggs.

Mix together all the materials to get a dough.     2    

Next, separate the egg yolks from the whites and salt the steamed yolks. While the oven is preheating to 180 degrees Celsius, roll the lotus paste and the dough into small balls.     3    .

Then, shape up with each consisting of a dough wrapper, one ball of lotus paste, and one half of a salted egg yolk. Make a hole in a ball of lotus and put the yolk inside. Similarly, cover the lotus ball (with the yolk inside) with a wrapper.     4    . Then shape it with the mold (模具).

    5    . Take them out after 5 minutes and brush them with the egg wash. Put the mooncakes back until they become golden brown.

Remember to wait to eat the mooncakes for two days when they will be soft and also look shiny.

A．A mooncake ball is made.

B．Prepare the salted egg yolks.

C．Finally, put all mooncakes into the oven.

D．Flatten each piece of dough into a thin wrapper.

E．There're many stories about mooncakes and Chang'e.

F．Mooncakes are the must-eat food for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

G．Covered with plastic wrap, it should be set aside for at least 3 hours.

3 . Making it to the Scripps National Spelling Bee (a spelling competition) is an amazing achievement for any kid, but for 11-year-old Neil Maes, being born deaf made his journey especially unlikely.

After receiving cochlear implants (人工耳蜗) in both ears as a baby, he had to train his brain to understand spoken words. It took countless hours of speech therapy (疗法).

“We didn’t even know that he’d be able to talk,” said his mother, Christy Maes.

Now the soft-spoken kid from Belton, South Carolina is officially one of the nation’s top young spellers. He earned the right to take the stage in the final rounds of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Neil’s parents have always given him a tip, coaching him to always ask the pronouncer for the meaning of a word, so that he can be sure he heard it correctly. Most contestants do this anyway.

“He’s able to spell very difficult words. You tell him, ‘Spell this word,’ and he’s able to actually imagine what that sounds like in his head and spell the word. It’s actually quite impressive,” said Dr. Michael Hoa, who performed Neil’s cochlear implantation. “There’s a lot that goes into training your brain to do that.”

Neil’s parents didn’t know he was taking part in a spelling bee with his third-grade class until he came home and told them he had won. He made it all the way to his regional (地区的) bee that year, finishing second. Now a naturally shy fifth-grader, Neil is already worn out from the busy bee-week schedule, but he seems happy.

“Our main hope out of all of this was to encourage people that are going to be facing what we had to face,” Christy said.

But Neil said coming to the bee has motivated (激发) him to study even harder, so he can return next year.

“It’s just fun and I want to do it again,” Neil said.

1. What makes it difficult for Neil to enter the competition?

A．He is naturally shy.	B．He is unable to talk.
C．He has a hearing disability.	D．He is undergoing medical treatment.

2. What does the underlined word “it” (in Para. 5) refer to?

A．The tip from Neil’s parents.	B．The coach’s pronunciation.
C．The meaning.	D．The word.

3. What did Michael think of Neil?

A．He’s amazing.	B．He’s very lucky.
C．He should study harder.	D．He should use his imagination.

4. What’s the best title for the text?

A．Hard training will finally pay off	B．We can do more for disabled children
C．Spelling bees are becoming more popular	D．Deaf 11-year-old competes in National Spelling Bee

4 . Fathers’ Day, a day for people to express gratitude to their fathers. Many movies show and honor a father’s love. Here we have selected a few classic films themed on fathers. Take a look!

The Pursuit of Happyness

The Pursuit of Happyness is a famous movie that shows us the importance of hope and belief, as well as love. In this film, the protagonist Chris is bankrupt and becomes a single dad. Although he is reduced to extreme poverty and faces tons of difficulties, he still works hard and tells his son to be positive. Finally, he becomes successful and pursues happiness with his son. Based on a true story, this movie always brings strength to audiences and extols fatherhood.

Dangal

Dangal is an Indian movie centered on female wrestling champions. The father in the movie was once a national wrestling champion of India. He discovers his daughters’ wrestling talent unexpectedly and decides to train them, for which they have to break the tradition and make painstaking efforts. At last, the girls win the competitions for their lives, as well as become role models inspiring numerous women.

Looing Up

Looing Up tells a story about the influence of a father’s education. Ma Haowen, the father, always tries to educate his child in his unique way, creating a relatively relax environment for his son. The only one requirement he has for his son is to never stop thinking. He hopes that his child can think independently and follow his heart to face the world bravely. With the encouragement and love of the father, his son achieves his dream of becoming an astronaut.

I am Sam

I am Sam tells a story about an unusual father and his daughter. Sam is a disabled person with mental disability. Although his intelligence is just as same as a seven-year-old, he loves his daughter with all his heart. When his daughter is taken away from him, he does his utmost to fight for custody.

1. Which statement is about The Pursuit of Happyness?

A．It tells us how to make a fortune.

B．It is based on a true inspiring story.

C．It highlights the importance of success.

D．It expresses the gratitude of the son to his father.

2. What do the fathers in Dangal and Looing Up have in common?

A．They both make a great achievement in life.

B．They bring up their children in an unusual way.

C．They both can find the talents of their children.

D．They teach their children to face the world bravely.

3. Which movie tells us the greatest love of a disabled father?

A．The Pursuit of Happyness.	B．Dangal.
C．Looing Up.	D．I am Sam.

5 . In China, people in different areas have their own ways to celebrate the Spring Festival. Especially between Northern China and Southern China, there are many differences.    1    

One is about the food on the night before the Spring Festival. In Northern China, people usually eat dumplings during this time. For luck, people may put sugar in dumplings.    2    People in the south usually eat Niangao or Tangyuan on New Year’s Eve. Both foods are also considered to bring a better life. There are many causes. For example, Northern China grows lots of wheat (小麦) while Southern China grows lots of rice.    3    People in Northern China usually love food made by wheat.

    4    In Northern China, people often put up paper cuttings on windows to wish for happiness of the coming year. In many parts of the south, people no longer put up paper cuttings for the Spring Festival. Instead, they decorate their house with a kumquat (金橘) tree bearing fruit.

It’s true that Northern China and Southern China have differences in celebrating the Spring Festival.    5    After all, many Chinese are moving from one place to another. When reaching a new place, they also bring their customs there. So now many people in Northern China also eat Tangyuan.

A．Here are some examples.

B．Many foods are made of rice.

C．The differences bring many bad results.

D．But the differences are gradually disappearing.

E．As a result, people in Southern China often prefer rice.

F．That way, they believe life in the next year will be “sweet”.

G．China’s north and south also have a difference in New Year decorating.

6 . Wang Yaping’s dream of becoming an astronaut was inspired by Yang Liwei’s 2003 space flight, which was China’s first manned space mission.

Born in a small village in Yantai, Shandong Province in 1980, Wang had been an enthusiastic long-distance runner since primary school, and competed in local sports meetings.

In 1997, Wang, a high school student, was encouraged to register for the pilot recruitment program by her classmates because she was good at sports and didn’t wear glasses. The 17-year-old had been considering applying to a teaching college, as her parents suggested.

Given her strong build and ability to stay calm under pressure, Wang passed all tests as well as physical examinations and became a female pilot in China. After four years of systemic education and tough training, Wang eventually learned to fly four different types of aircraft before graduation.

During her service as a military pilot, she accumulated 1,567 hours of flight time and was involved in major tasks such as the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake relief effort and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

In May 2010, Wang became a member of China’s first batch of female astronauts. The joy of being selected did not last long as the hard training quickly sank in.

In the first year, Wang could not get the top level in the high-G training, during which she had to endure eight times the force of gravity in a spinning centrifuge. The training imitates the environment when the spacecraft takes off, enters orbit and returns. Wang improved her performance by doing extra core-strength exercises every day to strengthen her back and abdominal muscles. She got the top level at the end of 2011. Wang realized her space dream in 2013 as part of the Shenzhou-10 mission.

Over the past two years, Wang has logged in over 6,000 hours of strict training. The most tiring exercise was the seven-hour underwater training session during which she had to wear a special suit that weighed over 100 kilograms to simulate extravehicular activities in a weightless environment.

Wang has become the first female taikonaut to work in China’s Tiangong space station as well as the first Chinese woman to perform a spacewalk.

1. Why did Wang want to become an astronaut?

A．Because she was able to stay calm under pressure.

B．Because she was good at sports and didn’t wear glasses.

C．Because she was influenced by China’s first manned space flight.

D．Because she was advised to register for the pilot program by her parents.

2. From this passage, we can know that ________.

A．Wang won a long-distance runner championship

B．Wang was the first Chinese female to take a spacewalk

C．Wang went to a teaching college encouraged by her classmates

D．Wang thought the seven-hour underwater training session was easy

3. What did Wang do after she joined China’s first batch of female astronauts?

A．She learned to fly four different types of aircraft.

B．She participated in the Shenzhou-10 mission of China.

C．She received four years of systemic education in university.

D．She got involved in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake relief effort.

4. Which of the following words can best describe Wang?

A．Calm and friendly.	B．Warm-hearted and creative.
C．Modest and honest.	D．Hardworking and determined.

7 . Sports day! These two words can inspire both joy and terror in the hearts of students everywhere. For many, sports day can be a great day of fun and the chance to bag a prize or two.     1    

Today, more and more schools have recognized the importance of exercise.     2     They hope that by making sports days less competitive, children of all abilities will be motivated to take part without fear of losing. Exercise and fitness is important for everyone, no matter how good at sport you are.     3    

However, some people feel that it’s important that sport has winners and that learning to lose is just as important as learning how to win.     4     Particularly, on a sports day which is your chance to really prove yourself!

There are lots of people who agree with the idea—parents in particular! According to a 2017 survey by Families Online, 82% of parents say they prefer “traditional” competitive sports days.     5     It’s also an opportunity for some children to show off their physical and sporting skills.

People have different ideas about whether it is the winning or the taking part that counts when it comes to school sports days. So, should School Sports Day be competitive or not? We want to know your ideas.

A．What’s the point if no one wins?

B．Should sport just be about winning?

C．Many of them have “non-competitive” sports days.

D．Everyone should be celebrated for trying and playing their part.

E．Many adults are worried that their kids can get injured when doing sports.

F．For others, it might feel like having to take part in something they aren’t good at.

G．Many adults feel that children can learn valuable lessons in both winning and losing.

8 . Over the last seven years, most states have banned texting by drivers, and public service campaigns have tried a wide range of methods to persuade people to put down their phones when they are behind the wheel.

Yet the problem, by just about any measure, appears to be getting worse. Americans are still texting while driving, as well as using social networks and taking photos. Road accidents, which had fallen for years, are now rising sharply.

That is partly because people are driving more, but Mark Rosekind, the chief of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said distracted（分心）driving was "only increasing, unfortunately."

"Big change requires big ideas." he said in a speech last month, referring broadly to the need to improve road safety. So to try to change a distinctly modern behavior, lawmakers and public health experts are reaching back to an old approach: They want to treat distracted driving like drunk driving.

An idea from lawmakers in New York is to give police officers a new device called the Textalyzer. It would work like this: An officer arriving at the scene of a crash could ask for the phones of the drivers and use the Textalyzer to check in the operating system for recent activity. The technology could determine whether a driver had just texted, emailed or done anything else that is not allowed under New York's hands-free driving laws.

"We need something on the books that can change people's behavior,” said Félix W. Ortiz, who pushed for the state's 2001 ban on hand-held devices by drivers. If the Textalyzer bill becomes law, he said, "people are going to be more afraid to put their hands on the cell phone."

1. Which of the following best describes the ban on drivers' texting in the US?

A．Ineffective.	B．Unnecessary.
C．Inconsistent.	D．Unfair.

2. What can the Textalyzer help a police officer find out?

A．Where a driver came from.	B．Whether a driver used their phone.
C．How fast a driver was going.	D．When a driver arrived at the scene.

3. What does the underlined word "something" in the last paragraph refer to?

A．Advice.

B．Data.

C．Tests.

D．Laws.

4. What is a suitable title for the text?

A．To Drive or Not to Drive? Think Before You Start

B．Texting and Driving? Watch Out for the Textalyzer

C．New York Banning Hand-Held Devices by Drivers.

D．The Next Generation Cell Phone: The Textalyzer-

9 . Artistic activities like taking a painting class or visiting a gallery are becoming increasingly popular today.     1     However, scientific studies have shown that art plays a critical role in promoting health and well-being.

Art is found to be effective in relieving stress. This applies to both children and adults. Activities such as painting, drawing, and sculpting have been linked to lower stress and mental calmness. They take participants’ mind off busy daily work.     2    

Another great benefit of art is that it encourages both kids and adults in imagination and creative thinking. It helps develop and improve problem-solving skills.     3     That allows people to imagine different solutions to problems. This type of creative thinking allows the brain to perform complicated functions in ways that learning a new language does.

    4     It drives the brain to produce a hormone (激素) that makes people feel good about themselves, improves concentration, and increases motivation, providing a sense of accomplishment. After completing a creative project, people will feel happy and satisfied. This process of creating something unique can promote a sense of well-being and even slow down aging.

Sharing the creative process of making art is a great way to help students build their social awareness and interpersonal skills. This can remind schools to have students work with seniors in the community!     5     Creating visual arts helps in transforming lives of people with brain disorders like Alzheimer’s disease by increasing connections, promoting cell growth and improving memory.

A．Include artistic activities in the daily life.

B．Creating art helps increase self-confidence.

C．Art is a very interesting topic for people of all ages.

D．There is no right or wrong in the creation of artworks.

E．Consequently, mental states such as fear and worry get set aside.

F．Arrange a trip to the museum or have an art class across generations.

G．People tend to think the benefits of art are only enjoyment and relaxation.

10 . Nowadays, in many places of the world, kids play soccer less than before.     1     Besides, many parents don’t know soccer’s real help to kids. Here are some reasons why kids should play the beautiful game.

Soccer is a team sport.

Teamwork is a life skill that kids need to learn. Being part of a team isn’t just about learning how to work together and share talents. It’s also about teaching kids how to face failure. It doesn’t end there, either. Being part of a team lets kids know how to take responsibility for their behavior.    2    

Soccer shapes motor skills (运动技能).

Nowadays, many kids prefer to stay in their rooms to have fun through TV, video games and smartphones.    3    It can cause them to lose out on valuable motor skills. By playing youth soccer, kids get a chance to develop their physical strength and motor skills.

    4    

Soccer can improve students’ concentration (专注) in the classroom. Besides, soccer is a fast-paced game, so kids can learn how to solve problems quickly. Plus, soccer is a sport which involves getting the ball from point A to point B. So kids’ visual-spatial (视觉空间) ability can be improved when they play the game, which can help them learn subjects like Physics.

Soccer improves the personal character.

The World Health Organization recommends kid get at least 60 minutes of exercises daily. This isn’t only for the physical benefits but also for the benefits to the personal character.     5     And these kids often have more self-confidence.

A．Youth soccer helps improve family relationships.

B．So they have less time outdoors for sports.

C．Soccer plays a part in school performance.

D．Being part of a team can help you make many friends.

E．One cause is that many kids are busy with their studies.

F．Usually kids who like sports such as soccer are more outgoing.

G．After all, if one player performs badly, the rest of the team will suffer for it.