1 . 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. |
| A．The tip from Neil’s parents. | B．The coach’s pronunciation. |
| C．The meaning. | D．The word. |
| A．He’s amazing. | B．He’s very lucky. |
| C．He should study harder. | D．He should use his imagination. |
| 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 |
2 . 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. |
| 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. |
| A．The Pursuit of Happyness. | B．Dangal. |
| C．Looing Up. | D．I am Sam. |
3 . 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.
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.
It’s true that Northern China and Southern China have differences in celebrating the Spring Festival.
| 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. |
4 . Henry Raeburn (1756-1823)
The ExhibitionThis exhibition of some sixty masterpieces celebrating the life and work of Scotland’s best loved painter, Sir Henry Raeburn, comes to London. Selected from collections throughout the world, it is the first major exhibition of his work to be held in over forty years.
Lecture SeriesScottish National Portrait (肖像画) Gallery presents a series of lectures for the general public. They are held in the Lecture Room. Admission to lectures is free.
| An Introduction to Raeburn Sunday 26 Oct., 15:00 DUNCAN THOMSON | Raeburn’s English Contemporaries Thursday 30 Oct., 13:10 JUDY EGERTON |
| Characters and Characterisation in Raeburn’s Portraits Thursday 6 Nov., 13:10 NICHOLAS PHILLIPSON | Raeburn and Artist’s Training in the 18th Century Thursday 13 Nov., 13:10 MARTIN POSTLE |
Monday-Saturday 10.00-17.45 Sunday 12.00-17.45
Last admission to the exhibition: 17.15. There is no re-admission.
Closed: 24-26 December and 1 January.
Admission£4. Children under 12 years accompanied by an adult are admitted free.
Schools and CollegesA special low entrance charge of £2 per person is available to all in full-time education, up to and including those at first degree level, in organised groups with teachers.
1. What is the right time for attending Raeburn’s English Contemporaries?| A．Sun. 26 Oct. | B．Thurs. 30 Oct. | C．Thurs. 6 Nov. | D．Thurs.13 Nov. |
| A．£4. | B．£8. | C．£12. | D．£16. |
| A．They should go on Sunday mornings. | B．They should come from art schools. |
| C．They must be led by teachers. | D．They must have ID cards with them. |
5 . Although most games have winners and losers, the goal of sports is not to win every game. The real goals include getting exercise, having fun, and learning important social skills, like sportsmanship.
Good sportsmanship is all about respect. Good sports (有体育精神的人) respect their teammates and also their opponents. They respect their coaches, and they also respect the referees or other officials involved in their games.
Kids usually learn sportsmanship good and bad from the adults in their lives.
Learning good sportsmanship is important because it helps you develop an attitude of graciousness (礼貌) and respect that will carry over into all the other areas of your life.
So be a good sport in whatever you do!
| A．Good sportsmanship can be shown in many ways. |
| B．However, bad sportsmanship is all about disrespect. |
| C．Players’ parents and coaches set examples that kids tend to follow. |
| D．We can be good sports by encouraging others but not laughing at them. |
| E．Starting as a good sport earlier will help you be a good sport as you get old. |
| F．If you’re a good sport on the field, you’ll also likely be a good sport in the classroom. |
| G．The example you set can be a powerful teaching tool for others. |
6 . Future football stars
Football academies were set up by leading football clubs so their coaches could run trials to discover and train talented boys from as young as eight as potential players for their first team.
This means that in Britain there are at least 9,000 boys at any one time attending academies after school who think they are going to be a famous footballer.
This doesn’t put off all the boys who are spotted by the big football clubs and are desperate to join the academies.
| A．Unfortunately, for most this isn’t the case. |
| B．The benefits are still there for them of course. |
| C．All the big football clubs have a football academy. |
| D．But, luckily for him, he was still young enough to get over it. |
| E．But football is not alone when it comes to this kind of thing. |
| F．Most of these won’t get into a team and most won’t become professionals. |
| G．And footballers are much more likely to get injured when they play games. |
7 . I had a picnic one day with my sister. We both like to ride her motorcycle and that day we rode it to the nearest park. We bought some coffee and cakes, and then we enjoyed our food. Within a few hours, the sky changed and looked ready for a heavy rain. We packed everything and were ready to go. My sister, who was sitting on a bench suddenly was very still and couldn't talk to me.She couldn't move. Her eyes were rolling and she was about to lose consciousness(知觉). I held her in my arms and asked if she wanted to rest. She didn’t answer and only said“Sorry.”
It started to rain and I didn't know what to do. She was fighting to stay aware but her skin was pale and her eyes were acting strangely. Suddenly, from nowhere, a woman on a bicycle appeared. wearing a raincoat." She isn't looking good. Do you want me to call an ambulance(救护车)?”“Yes, please,yes!”I begged.
She did. Struggling with the rain, she managed to call some policemen, who quickly helped me carry my sister to a safer place. The ambulance arrived and we went to a hospital where she was treated in time and she came to life the next morning after some rest and medical help.
An interesting fact was that I guessed the woman in the raincoat was a doctor or a nurse. I later learned from one of the police officers who told me: “No.She was an ordinary person who took some courses on emergency situations(紧急情况).”
I am so grateful that she appeared exactly at the moment I don’t know why or how .I didn’t even get the chance to say thanks to her.
1. What happened when the author and her sister were ready to go?| A．They had a fight. | B．The sister fell ill suddenly. |
| C．They were caught in the rain. | D．They had difficulty packing things. |
| A．By giving first aid to her sister. | B．By protecting her sister from the rain. |
| C．By carrying her sister to the hospital | D．By asking for emergency medical help |
| A．To keep order in the park. |
| B．To send the sick girl to hospital. |
| C．To carry the sick girl to a safer place quickly. |
| D．To carry the sick girl onto the ambulance. |
| A．Thankful | B．Friendly |
| C．Doubtful | D．Admirable |
8 . Only a few people in Toronto have the luck to live within walking distance from their workplace.For the rest of us， commuting (乘车上下班) is a rather unpleasant daily necessity.
So how do you avoid a traffic jam in Toronto？ You can do it in the old way and listen to one of the radio stations that give regular updates about the traffic situation in Toronto’s streets.Seeing the big picture of Toronto’s traffic and knowing when and where heavy traffic occurs is a must.From my own experience， there are situations where a quick decision can help you make it in time for an event or a meeting.That’s why we prepared three short videos showing the overall traffic situation in Toronto from dawn to night.You can click them and watch.
With the help of “Google Maps”， where you can watch the live traffic density all over the world and average traffic data based on past conditions， we were able to provide you with traffic maps for a typical (平常的) Friday.
Friday traffic in Toronto is quite fast in the early morning，with only a few hot spots showing up at the major junctions (交叉点) at 7：00 am.The morning traffic jam starts light at 7：30 and the traffic gradually slows down to reach a breaking point at 8：30.The roads are quite free afterwards， only Allen Road is likely to be jammed around lunchtime from 11 ： 30 am to 12：00 noon.It comes as no surprise that Friday afternoon brings heavy traffic as early as 1：00 pm， mainly on the Don Valley Parkway.You won’t have a good time getting away from the city from 4：00 pm to 6：30 pm， as there is a good chance to get caught in a traffic jam.The traffic in Toronto is quite heavy on a Friday night.I hope you will have a nice Friday night in the city and a safe journey home this Friday！
1. By saying “commuting is a rather unpleasant daily necessity”，the writer refers to the fact that ________.| A．buses are usually very crowded |
| B．they are often stuck in traffic jams |
| C．they have to travel a long way to work |
| D．they usually cannot do anything on the way to work |
| A．What the traffic in Toronto is like for a typical Friday. |
| B．How to avoid heavy traffic on Fridays. |
| C．Why the traffic is terrible on Fridays. |
| D．What “Google Maps” can do for us. |
| A．from 6：30 am to 7：00 am |
| B．from 8：30 am to 9：30 am |
| C．from 10：30 am to 11：00 am |
| D．from 4：00 pm to 6：30 pm |
| A．A TV program. | B．A radio program. |
| C．A website. | D．A travel booklet. |
9 . My mother always told me, “You should explore your own country before stepping out into the world. ”However, it seems like a tough mission to travel all across its expansive surfaces. But luckily for me, Via Rail Canada offered youths between the ages of 18 and 25 the chance to ride the train across Canada for the month of July. The ticket was a bargain $150. My best friends Trevor, Joel and Jeremy and I immediately jumped at the opportunity and secured four tickets on the great Canadian railroad.
For a group of 20-year-olds, this was like the first flight of young birds from the nest. When we approached the train station in the morning, our 22-day adventure from Sudbury to Vancouver was to begin. Eyes baggy from lack of sleep, we jumped on board as if it was the train to Hogwarts in Harry Potter. Although the thought of three full days on those tracks covering close to 3, 000 kilometres crushed our spirits a little, what happened next caught us by surprise.
The three days on board turned into a summer camp on rails. At night, we would climb up the glass-domed train car, which gave us a scenic view of the starry night sky, untouched by the harmful light pollution. Before we knew it, the warm sun rays beating down on our faces woke us up for another day on the rails. To my surprise, a sea of golden grain fields dominated the landscape we were in the Canadian Prairies.
Another day slipped away and we set up for another night in the dome. And this time we were greeted by night sky painted by a fantastic thunderstorm. Lightning was striking at an incredible rate. The spectacular and memorable light show left everyone in the glass bubble in complete disbelief.
Arriving in the Rocky Mountains was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. Before the train adventure, if I could have skipped the travel and arrived at the destination, I would have. That is no longer true. I’ve learned that the journey can be more enjoyable than the destination.
1. What has made the author’s train adventure across Canada a reality?| A．The encouragement given by his mother. | B．The appeal of the scenic views in the country. |
| C．The discount ticket offered by Via Rail Canada. | D．His great courage to challenge a tough mission. |
| A．They were excited about the coming train journey. |
| B．They left their parents for the first time in their life. |
| C．They never thought of having a train adventure. |
| D．They were hooked by the magic story of Harry Potter. |
| A．A brain in lack of imagination. | B．The glass-domed train car. |
| C．A summer camp on the train. | D．The sightseeing bus. |
| A．Opportunities are hard to get. | B．Enjoying a journey counts a lot. |
| C．Splendid scenery attracts young people. | D．The traveling experience is not real to him. |
10 . Along with silk and paper,gunpowder is another invention by Chinese and the Silk Road helped it spread to the West. The dating of gunpowder is as early as 850 AD. The Chinese used gunpowder to make fireworks and for signal flares. Gunpowder was also thought to have been used in medicine and in alchemy(炼金术). This invention seems to have been discovered in China by accident —by alchemists when doing experiments.
The gunpowder used for military purpose was first recorded in 919 AD. By the 11th century,explosive bombs filled with gunpowder were introduced and used in China. The words “fire cannon” “rocket” and “fireball” appeared time and again in the official Song history as well as two other books written during the same period.
The first detailed description of using the “fire cannon” in warfare was in connection with a battle fought in 1126 when the Song army used it against the invading enemy. The so-called “ fire cannon” was a tube made of bamboo filled with gunpowder which, when fired, threw a flaming missile towards the enemy. According to a description of a battle scene in 1132, it took two persons to carry a “fire cannon”, and the cannons were fired from a moving platform. And this platform had to be moved close to the wall of the besieged(被围攻的) city.
Gunpowder reached Japan, the Islamic countries and then Europe in the 13th century, and the Arabs improved gunpowder for military use. The early account of gunpowder in Europe was recorded by English philosopher Roger Bacon in the 13th century. One century later the Arabs used it to attack the Spanish town Baza and the next year in 1326 Florence ordered the manufacturing of cannon and cannon balls. From Italy the making of gunpowder soon spread to other European countries, and by the 1350s it had become an effective weapon on the battlefield.
1. Gunpowder was discovered _________.| A．by alchemists when they had an accident |
| B．by alchemists after studying it for a long time |
| C．accidentally by alchemists |
| D．experimentally by alchemists |
| A．Convenient. | B．Heavy. |
| C．Useless. | D．Simple. |
| A．“fire cannons” at early times would be less helpful if they were far away from the object |
| B．alchemists devoted themselves to the study of gunpowder |
| C．the Silk Road spread to the West because of the invention of gunpowder |
| D．the first detailed description of using “fire cannons” in warfare was in 1132 |
| A．Powerful Fire Cannons | B．Four Inventions of Ancient China |
| C．The Discovery of the Alchemy | D．Gunpowder |
