1 . Letter One
Dear Editor,
After I finish my homework, I often go online and chat with my friends. Sometimes I play computer games. But my parents hate to see me playing games on the computer. Maybe they have heard too much news about how QQ and computer games harm children. Once I went to a net bar(网吧) to play games after school. But after that I told my parents that I was playing basketball at school. I said so because I didn't want to make them unhappy. I feel bad about it. However, I need to rest for a while by playing computer games after studying for a long time. I really want my parents to understand that. Do foreign parents do the same to their children? Please help me.
Li Ping, Beijing
Letter Two
Dear Li Ping,
I don't think it's strange for parents to keep their children away from anything bad. Foreign parents will do the same as your parents! They may not let their children watch TV for too long a time,or like your parents,they don't want their children to play computer games.
Talk to your parents and be honest to them, I think. Tell them what you are doing and why you are doing so to make them understand you. It's never good to do things behind your parents. They aren't fools as you think sometimes! Our parents seem to know what is the best for us.
Remember: to be honest is the best way.
Good luck,
Rebecca
1. From the passage we can learn that Li Ping often ________.| A．talks with his friends on the Internet |
| B．plays basketball after school |
| C．plays computer games at home |
| D．chats online before homework |
| A．to get news on QQ | B．just to have a rest |
| C．to show he hates study | D．to make new friends |
| A．You must do everything in front of your parents |
| B．You must always listen to your parents carefully |
| C．You should not do anything that makes your parents worry about you |
| D．You should tell your parents what you do before or after doing it |
| A．children should play computer games in the net bar secretly. |
| B．playing computer game can be very helpful to children’s studies |
| C．children should be honest and try to make their parents understand them |
| D．foreign parents don’t care for their children as much as Chinese parents |
2 . The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is mostly a desert. However, this has not stopped the country from creating great building projects. On September 26, UAE officials announced another ambitious project — Mars Science City. Expansive deserts and miles of coastline provide plenty of options for safe rocket launches (发射). And its position on the Earth makes it especially appealing as the spin of the Earth provides an extra push, meaning less fuel is needed to get payloads into orbit. All these seem to make it possible.
The Mars City Project, designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, or BIG, will provide a realistic model to simulate (模仿) living on the surface of Mars, the red planet. It is part of the UAE’s Mars 2117 Project to lead the global race to land humans on Mars and be the first to build a settlement there. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Prime Minister and ruler of Dubai, says, “The UAE seeks international support to develop technologies that benefit humans, and lay the foundation of a better future for more generations to come.”
Built outside Dubai, the 1.9 million square feet city is expected to cost $135 million. It will consist of several dome-shaped laboratories, similar to the ones imagined for the first Mars settlers. Scientists from around the word will be invited to conduct research to come up with methods to create food, water and energy, using techniques which can be copied onto the red planet. The living spaces, where the researchers can live for up to a year, will simulate the planet’s conditions as much as possible.
The research city will also include a museum featuring famous space achievements to help educate and inspire children to undertake space exploration and discovery. To discover whether the construction method works on Mars, the museum’s walls will be 3D printed using the sand from the nearby desert. Now, if they would only add some living quarters for the general public to experience life on Mars without leaving Earth, life would be perfect.
1. What can we conclude about the United Arab Emirates?| A．It is short of fine weather. |
| B．It is a nice place for launching. |
| C．It can provide adequate fuel supply. |
| D．It has the greatest architects in the world. |
| A．Educate visitors on trips to Mars. |
| B．Develop the Mars settlers’ imagination. |
| C．Find ways to produce food, water and energy on Mars. |
| D．Create a climate-controlled environment for future use. |
| A．To show famous space techniques. |
| B．To make full use of the nearby desert. |
| C．To inspire children to love exploration. |
| D．To test building skills used by Mars settlers. |
| A．UAE to Build Mars Science City |
| B．UAE’s Great Exploration of Mars |
| C．UAE to Build First Mars Settlement |
| D．UAE’s Scientistific Contribution to Humans |
3 . Welcome to Holker Hall & Gardens
Visitor InformationHow to Get to Holker
By Car: Follow brown signs an A590 from JB6, M6. Approximate travel times: Windermere-20 minutes, Kendal-25 minutes, Lancaster-45 minutes, Manchester-1 hour 30 minutes.
By Rail: The nearest station is Cark-in-Cartmel with trains to Carnforth, Lancaster Preston for connections to major cities & airports.
Opening TimesSunday-Friday (closed on Saturday)11:00 am-4:00pm,30 March-2nd November.
Admission Charges| Hall & Gardens | Gardens | |
| Adults: | £12.00 | £8.00 |
| Groups | £9 | £5.5 |
Producers: Market 13th April
Join us to taste a variety of fresh local food and drinks. Meet the producers and get some excellent recipe ideas.
Holker Garden Festival 30th May
The event celebrate its 22nd anniversary with a great show of the very best of gardening, making it one of the most popular events in gardening.
National Garden Day 28th August
Holker once again opens is gardens in aid of the disadvantaged. For just a small donation you can take a tour with our garden guide.
Winter Market 8th November
This is an event for all the family. Wander among a variety of shops selling gifs while enjoying a live music show and nice street entertainment.
1. How long does it probably take a tourist to drive to Holker from Manchester?| A．20 minutes. | B．25 minutes. |
| C．45 minutes. | D．90 minutes. |
| A．£12.00. | B．£9.00. |
| C．£8.0 | D．£5.50 |
| A．Producers’ Market. | B．Holker Garden Festival. |
| C．National Garden Day. | D．Winter Market. |
4 . One day. One lifetime. You can do it! From the museum of modem art to the museum of ancient articles, visit our picks for the world’s best museums.
National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa)
This museum has a great collection of art spanning the Middle Ages to the present day, including American, Indian, European, Inuit and Canadian works. It offers a unique, near-complete overview of Canadian art — from early Quebec religious work, through Inuit work from the 1950s, to the contemporaries.
Tokugawa Art Museum (Japan)
The Tokugawa family reigned over Japan from 1600 to 1868. Under them, the country enjoyed the longest period of peace in its history. This time span is also known as the Edo period, during which the arts flowered in Japan. Artists of this period directly influenced Western masters such as Monet, Gauguin and Whistler and have since gone on to become household names. Other exhibits effectively present, through accurately reproduced environments, aspects of Japanese life at the time.
Museum of Fine Arts (Boston)
Highlights of this museum’s collection include a 4th-century Christian marble bust (半身像) of St. Paul at prayer, and a painting that questions life and our very existence, Gauguin’s “Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?” It’s a must — go in the US.
The Egyptian Museum (Cairo)
As well as gathering together some of the finest archaeological finds from all Egypt, this museum also provides a rare opportunity to simply pop in and within minutes be standing face-to-face with one of the greatest works of mankind, Tutankhamun’s golden mask. A portrait of unbelievable quality, craftsmanship and beauty, the highly polished gold face — at once a god, a king and a teenager — shines like water: delicate, yet untouchable all at the same time.
1. Which museum will you visit if you want to know more about Monet?| A．Tokugawa Art Museum. | B．National Gallery of Canada. |
| C．Museum of Fine Arts. | D．The Egyptian Museum. |
| A．American works. | B．European works. |
| C．Japanese works. | D．Inuit woks. |
| A．Gauguin’s painting. |
| B．A golden mask of Tutankhamun. |
| C．The Tokugawa family paintings. |
| D．A 4th-century Christian marble bust of St. Paul at prayer. |
5 . The Internet has opened up a whole new online world for us to meet, chat and go where we’ve never been before.
But just as in face to face communication，there are some rules of behavior that should be followed when online. The basic rule is simple: treat others in the same way you would want to be treated.
If someone in the chat room is rude to you, your instinct (本能) is to fire back in the same manner. But try not to do so.
It is not polite to ask others personal questions such as their age, sex and marital status.
| A．It’s natural that there some people who speak rudely or make mistakes online |
| B．Repeat the process till you feel sure that you’d feel comfortable saying the words to the person’s face |
| C．Everyone was new to the network once |
| D．Imagine how you’d feel if you were in the other person’s shoes |
| E．When you send short messages to a person online, you must say something beautiful to hear |
| F．You should either ignore the person, or use your chat software to block their messages |
| G．Unless you know the person very well, and you are both comfortable with sharing personal information |
6 . You have probably heard of the Mozart effect. It's the idea that if children or even babies listen to music composed by Mozart, they will become more intelligent. A quick Internet search reveals plenty of products to assist you in the task. Whatever your age is there are CDs and books to help you taste the power of Mozart's music, but when it comes to scientific evidence that it can make you more clever, the picture is more mixed.
The phrase “the Mozart effect” was made up in 1991, but it was a study described two years later in the journal Nature that sparked real media and public interest about the idea that listening to classical music somehow improves the brain. It is one of those ideas that sound reasonable. Mozart was undoubtedly a genius himself; his music is complex and there is a hope that if we listen to enough of it, we'll become more intelligent.
The idea took off, with thousands of parents playing Mozart to their children, and in 1998 Zell Miller, the Governor of the state of Georgia in the US, even asked for money to be set aside in the state budget so that every newborn baby could be sent a CD of classical music. It was not just babies and children who were exposed to Mozart's music on purpose, even an Italian farmer proudly explained that the cows were played Mozart three times a day to help them produce better milk.
I'll leave the debate on the impact on milk yield to farmers, but what about the evidence that listening to Mozart makes people more intelligent? More research was carried out but an analysis of sixteen different studies confirmed that listening to music does lead to a temporary improvement in the ability to handle shapes mentally, but the benefits are short－lived and it doesn't make us more intelligent.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?| A．Mozart composed many musical pieces for children. |
| B．Children listening to Mozart will be more intelligent. |
| C．There are few products on the Internet about Mozart's music. |
| D．There is little scientific evidence to support the Mozart effect. |
| A．Because a study described it in the journal Nature. |
| B．Because Mozart himself was a genius. |
| C．Because Mozart's music is enjoyable. |
| D．Because Mozart's music makes people relaxed. |
| A．people were strongly against the idea |
| B．the idea was accepted by many people |
| C．Mozart played an important part in people's life |
| D．the US government helped promote the idea |
| A．Favorable. | B．Objective. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Positive. |
Author: Shivani Gupta
Shivani had thrown a party one evening and awoke the next morning in hospital because of a car crash. It took Shivani years of pain, struggle and determination to regain control of her life and her body. Then tragedy struck again. As the newly-married Shivani drove to Manali with her family, a truck crashed into her car. Shivani refused to give in-she wouldn't let her injury keep her from achieving her ambitions.
Book：Courage Beyond Compare
Author: Sanjay Sharma
The 10 sportspersons in the book are champions in diverse fields like athletics, swimming and badminton, who have brought glory to the country. They overcame their physical limitations to reach the top of their chosen fields.
Book: Face to Face
Author: Ved Mehta
Blind since the age of four，the author led a lonely childhood in India until he was accepted to the Arkansas School for the Blind, to which he flew alone at 15. America and the school changed his life, leading him to degrees at Oxford and Harvard and a fruitful writing career.
Book: This Star Won’t Go Out
Author: Lori and Wayne Earl
Diagnosed with cancer at 12, Esther Earl was a bright and talented, but very normal teenager. She lived a hope-filled and generous life. A cheerful, positive and encouraging daughter, sister and friend, Esther died in 2010, shortly after turning l 6, but not before inspiring thousands through her growing online presence.
1. The book No Looking Back mainly talks about__________.| A．a successful author who was blind during his childhood |
| B．10 disabled athletes who are champions in sports field |
| C．an unlucky girl who experienced two car accidents |
| D．an inspiring teenager who died of cancer |
| A．Courage Beyond Compare. | B．This Star Won't GO Out. |
| C．Face to Face. | D．No Looking Back. |
| A．Intelligent. | B．Passionate. |
| C．Pessimistic | D．Inspiring |
8 . While you are traveling abroad, cultural mistakes are more serious than linguistic mistakes, which can lead to serious misunderstanding and even ill-feeling between individuals.
●Touching Someone
●Talking Over Dinner
In some countries, like China,Japan and some African nations, the food’s the thing, so don’t start chatting about your day's adventures while everyone else is digging into dinner.
● Removing Your Shoes or Not
Take off your shoes when arriving at the door of a London dinner party and the hostess will find you uncivilized, but fail to remove your shoes before entering a home in Asia, Hawaii, or the Pacific Islands and you'll be considered disrespectful. So, if you see a row of shoes at the door, start undoing your laces.
Once you are on the ground of a different country, remain highly sensitive to native behavior.
| A．Personal space varies as you travel the globe. |
| B．Asians consider removing shoes impolite at home. |
| C．Never be completely surprised by anything. |
| D．The linguistic mistake means that someone is not fully expressing his idea. |
| E．Look out for the following cultural mistakes and try to avoid them. |
| F．If not, keep the shoes on. |
| G．You'll be likely to meet with silence. |
9 . When a leafy plant is under attack, it doesn’t sit quietly. Back in 1983, two scientists, Jack Schultz and Ian Baldwin, reported that young maple trees getting bitten by insects send out a particular smell that neighboring plants can get. These chemicals come from the injured parts of the plant and seem to be an alarm. What the plants pump through the air is a mixture of chemicals known as volatile organic compounds, VOCs for short.
Scientists have found that all kinds of plants give out VOCs when being attacked. It’s a plant’s way of crying out. But is anyone listening? Apparently. Because we can watch the neighbours react.
Some plants pump out smelly chemicals to keep insects away. But others do double duty. They pump out perfumes designed to attract different insects who are natural enemies to the attackers. Once they arrive, the tables are turned. The attacker who was lunching now becomes lunch.
In study after study, it appears that these chemical conversations help the neighbors .The damage is usually more serious on the first plant, but the neighbors, relatively speaking, stay safer because they heard the alarm and knew what to do.
Does this mean that plants talk to each other? Scientists don’t know. Maybe the first plant just made a cry of pain or was sending a message to its own branches, and so, in effect, was talking to itself. Perhaps the neighbors just happened to “overhear” the cry. So information was exchanged, but it wasn’t a true, intentional back and forth. Charles Darwin, over 150 years ago, imagined a world far busier, noisier and more intimate (亲密的) than the world we can see and hear. Our senses are weak. There’s a whole lot going on.
1. What does a plant do when it is under attack?| A．It makes noises. | B．It gets help from other plants. |
| C．It stands quietly | D．It sends out certain chemicals. |
| A．The attackers get attacked. |
| B．The insects gather under the table. |
| C．The plants get ready to fight back. |
| D．The perfumes attract natural enemies. |
| A．predict natural disasters |
| B．protect themselves against insects |
| C．talk to one another intentionally |
| D．help their neighbors when necessary |
| A．The world is changing faster than ever. |
| B．People have stronger senses than before |
| C．The world is more complex than it seems |
| D．People in Darwin’s time were imaginative. |
Smile!
It’s the easiest way to let someone know that you’re nice！
Be fun!
Listen!
Good conversations are important when you want to make a new friend，and sometimes you just have to be quiet and listen.When you do get chatting，pay attention to what they’re saying.
Ask people who take classes with you questions about what they study today.
| A．Change! |
| B．Ask a question! |
| C．Classwork is a great icebreaker. |
| D．Say “hello” and see what happens. |
| E．And don’t just talk about yourself all the time. |
| F．Even the shyest person can manage a little smile. |
| G．We all prefer spending time with people who make us feel happy. |
