The story of The Farmer and The Mule (骡子) makes us smile.
When
You see, the farmer thought the mule was not worth
The mule, despite the fact that it was
2 . Most college students think that there are only two choices after graduation—finding a job or entering graduate school. An opportunity that is often missed is volunteering with an organized volunteer program.
Volunteering provides a year of intention (计划) in a community where recent graduates can learn about the world they are entering, about themselves as individuals (个体) and about their role in this world. It provides intentional time to understand the purpose that drives one as an individual in life. Taking a year off after graduation to volunteer allows students to slow down and really understand where they want their future to lie. Not only this, but students will also be helping others, getting work experience, living in a community and giving back to society.
Volunteering often leads to a job opportunity. A volunteer might stay and work with the organization, shifting from a volunteer position to a paid position. For example, an individual doing volunteer teaching with an organization might be offered a teaching position at their school. Even if the volunteer position does not lead to a paid position, the volunteer should keep in touch with their organization. One reason is that the organization can write letters of recommendation (推荐) for the volunteer’s job applications. What’s more, volunteer experience on a resume could catch the attention of schoolmates from the organization or program who work at a place of employment (雇用). A shared volunteer experience with the manager might help one find a job!
Volunteers have fun together and like helping others a lot. They share a common mission and vision (使命和愿景), continue personal and professional development, and get new ideas about the world around them. They get to know the community, practice their social responsibility, and build their skill set and network with others. Even if volunteers are not paid, they receive these and many other benefits through their service.
1. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．Why students should volunteer during college. |
| B．What the value of volunteering after graduation is. |
| C．Whether recent graduates should have a yearly plan. |
| D．How to find a volunteer program that works for you. |
| A．To receive a job offer. | B．To find old schoolmates. |
| C．To apply for a new program. | D．To get support when seeking jobs. |
| A．Sharing your future plans. |
| B．Showing your social responsibility. |
| C．Letting others know more about you. |
| D．Catching the attention of your schoolmates. |
| A．To explain what volunteering is. |
| B．To offer new volunteer opportunities. |
| C．To encourage recent graduates to volunteer. |
| D．To discuss whether to volunteer without pay. |
3 . Fitness and exercise play an important role in the development and education of students.
It’s easy for students to get frustrated or distracted (沮丧或分心) when they are sitting doing schoolwork for long periods of time.
Choose a night during the week when the entire family spends time together doing something active. Taking a walk around the block, riding your bikes, or playing in the park are all activities that will help keep your family active while also having fun.
Organized sports like soccer are a great way for students to get the exercise they need while learning other skills like communication.
| A．Try scheduling short homework breaks. |
| B．Children need help to find their interests. |
| C．Take turns planning the activity each week. |
| D．When students exercise their bodies they are also exercising their minds. |
| E．Regular exercise encourages students to connect with the world around them. |
| F．Physical activity is just one of the building blocks of achieving success at school. |
| G．Students can get active by joining other activities or clubs that are organized by their school. |
4 . Did you know that the color of uniforms can influence the performance of an athlete? It may sound strange, but a study suggests this might be true.
Two British scientists studied the results of four sports in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games where the athletes had been given either a red or a blue uniform. They discovered that when there was a big difference in the score, color had no influence on the result. But if it was a close match, the athlete in a red uniform was more likely to win. Then they looked at the uniforms of the soccer teams at the Euro 2004 tournament. Again, teams wearing red won more games.
The two scientists got their idea from earlier studies of wild animals. It had been discovered that when a male show red on its body, it sends a signal of its power and strength. For example, in many kinds of monkey, the more the male shows off its red scars, the more females it can attract.
Based on this fact, the British scientists thought that the idea might work for humans, too. According to them, when an athlete sees a competitor in a red uniform, he gets a feeling that his competitor could be stronger than him. And that kind of feeling may have a bad influence on the player’s performance in the actual game.
Although the idea is Interesting, most people don’t accept that color signals in the animals world can really be useful to humans in sports. They think that it is unreasonable to develop an idea based on such a small number of examples. Much more research has to be done to prove the influence of uniform colors on the performance of athletes.
1. What did the scientists find out about the 2004 Athens Olympic Games?| A．Athletes played equally well in four sports. |
| B．Game results had a big influence on the athletes. |
| C．Athletes dressed in red scored more in a close match. |
| D．There was a big difference in red and blue team’s scores. |
| A．It is quite strong. | B．It is a failure. |
| C．It has power over other males. | D．It has attracted a lot of females. |
| A．weakness | B．pride | C．danger | D．shame |
| A．Interested. | B．Satisfied. | C．Doubtful. | D．Thankful. |
5 . Sportsmen in the running races of the Olympics are great athletes, but even the slow runners of the running world — joggers in the park — have good health. A study out this week in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology finds that even 5 to 10 minutes a day of slow running is enough to extend life by several years, compared with not running at all.
The new study focused on a group of more than 55, 000 men and women aged 18 to 100. About a quarter of them were runners. Over 15 years, those who ran just 50 minutes a week or fewer at a slow speed were less likely to die from either cardiovascular (心血管的) disease or other causes, compared with those who didn’t run at all.
The study suggests relatively low efforts are necessary to benefit from jogging, but it can be better to exercise more often. “A little bit is good but a little more is probably better,” says Dr. Aaron Baggish. A 2013 study in Denmark suggested that the secret of maximum longevity is up to 2. 5 hours of running a week.
Although running can make you less likely to have cardiovascular disease, it doesn’t entirely take the risk away from you. “There is no question that the healthier you are and the more exercise you do, the longer you’ll live and the better your quality of life will be,” Dr. Baggish says. “But it doesn’t mean you’ll never get sick.”
“Many long-term runners do not run because they want to live longer,” Dr. Baggish notes. “They run because it makes them feel better every day.”
For these runners, the cost of feeling good can be injuries, so Dr. Baggish supports the value of what he calls “active rest.” His belief, not supported by any recent research, is that it’s a good idea to spend 25% of exercise time over the course of a year running at a slow speed or doing other activities like swimming or biking.
1. What does the new study mainly show us?| A．The best way to run. | B．The best time to run. |
| C．The importance of running. | D．The popularity of running. |
| A．It can result from running often. | B．It’s not completely preventable. |
| C．It’s not so serious as most people think. | D．It can be treated by some kind of exercise. |
| A．Staying active all the time. | B．Swimming more, run less. |
| C．Having a big rest after doing sports. | D．Taking a little light exercise. |
| A．Health. | B．Business. | C．Society. | D．Medicine. |
6 . Thein Shwe is sitting with one of his students, 14-year-old Nur Hakim, outside a small classroom built of wood. Thein Shwe has been working at this non-formal primary education centre since it was first set up five years ago. He says, “I love teaching. I was a personal tutor (家庭教师) before. When I learnt that this centre was looking for teachers, I applied.
Thein Shwe is very popular among his students. Even Nur Hakim, who at first was very shy, becomes more confident as his teacher smiles, nodding to encourage him. “I come from a poor family,” says Nur Hakim. “My father died when I was a baby.”
Nur Hakim’s father, who was a factory worker, was the main provider. Since his father’s death, his mother has had to support the family of six by herself. Nur Hakim was not attending school until the age of 12, when he got the chance to attend this non-formal primary education centre. “I love English and I love my teacher because he is always on time and teaches us well,” says the boy.
Nur Hakim says he hopes to join Grade 5 students next year in a nearby government school. Nur Hakim holds on to his dreams. “I want to be a doctor,” he says. “In my village, I see a lot of illnesses.”
Thein Shwe admits (承认) he finds it difficult to support his family working as a volunteer. But Thein Shwe talks more about the successes and difficulties he has faced keeping his students in class. He says over the four years, about 80%of the students continue on to the government school or vocational (职业的) training.
When Thein Shwe is asked about his main success as a teacher, he needs no time to think. “It’s being able to keep the poorest children in school,” he says.
1. What can we learn about Thein Shwe?| A．He started teaching when he was 14. |
| B．He used to work in a government school. |
| C．He has worked as a volunteer teacher for five years. |
| D．He helped set up the non-formal primary education centre. |
| A．He has begun to have a dream. |
| B．He has fallen in love with English. |
| C．He has come to understand his parents. |
| D．He has had a growing belief in himself. |
| A．Be a worker like his father | B．Work in the field of medicine. |
| C．Teach in a government school. | D．Be a volunteer teacher like Thein Shwe. |
| A．Teaching kids useful life skills. |
| B．Providing chances of education for poor kids. |
| C．Changing children’s ideas on education. |
| D．Sending his students to schools of higher education levels. |
Emily White was born seventeen years ago with so many birth problems in her body. Some of her organs, bones and muscles were out of shape. No one expected her to survive. She did make it but with her strange body figure, everyone could recognize her, even from a distance.
In Emily White’s hometown, there was a yearly outdoor performance in the school auditorium (大礼堂). It had been performed for so many years and actually had become one of the most important events of the Christmas season for many of the town’s people.
Many people tried out each year for it, but so many were turned away. It can only include the most excellent people in the field.
Emily had a beautiful singing voice. Last year she went to Mrs. Owens — her music teacher to ask to join in the performance. Without letting her sing, Mrs. Owens took a look at Amy’s body and said, “Child, you just don’t fit. Everyone would stare at you and that would make you uncomfortable. It would make them uncomfortable, too.”
Without singing a single note, Emily was sent back through the door of the choral room. Hurt and upset, she decided never to try out again. But Mrs. Owens then retired.
This year, there came a new music teacher, Mr. Buttler. He heard about Emily and suggested that she have a try.
Emily didn’t want to be rejected again, so she hesitated a little about it. As Emily struggled, the door was pushed open and Mr. Buttler called, “Emily, you’re next.” Although kind of nervous, Emily did as Mr. Buttler told her to do. Mr. Buttler sat by the piano to keep Emily company. When Emily finished her testing performance, she thanked Mr. Buttler and knew the result would be posted on the door of the choral room the next day.
Emily couldn’t sleep that night. She was suffering from the feelings that she didn’t fit and the great need to be accepted. By the next morning, her stomach was even in pain because of stress.
注意：续写词数应为150左右Paragraph 1: The next day, Emily nervously glanced at the list on the door of the choral room.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: Finally, the day of performance came.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Holidays are not necessarily for fun or rest. Doing something meaningful can also gain special pleasure. When the final bell rang, the students were reminded that there was no school on Monday—the Labor Day. “Enjoy your extra day off” said the teacher to her class.
An extra day off unsuited Kayla just fine. She loved breaks. She wanted to go out to play with her friends. When the school bus dropped Kayla off, she ran into the house happily.
“How was school, Kayla?” asked her mom.
“It was great, Mom. I am excited about no school on Monday.”
“You just started back to school two weeks ago. Already in need of a break, huh?” asked Kayla’s mom with a laugh.
Kayla slept in the next morning. Saturday was her favorite day of the week. I trained most of the day, so Kayla enjoyed playing videogames inside. On Sunday, her friends came over and they played basketball for several hours.
Then it was Labor Day, you know, the extra day off that Kayla was so looking forward to. But Kayla was awakened early that morning by her dad. He told Kayla that in honor of Labor Day, the family would be cleaning both inside and outside the house. Kayla couldn’t believe it. This was a holiday. A day when she was supposed to be enjoying freshly squeezed lemonade while playing in her tree house. As Kayla wiped here yes, she began to wonder if this was just a bad dream.
“Kayla, your breakfast is ready. We have a lot of work to do today. Let’s get a move on,” said Kayla’s mom. As she sat down at the kitchen table, Kayla asked her parents，
“Are you serious about working today? Isn’t Labor Day a holiday?”
“Yes, Kayla. It is,” replied her dad. “But your mom and I thought working hard today would make you appreciate why Labor Day was observed in the first place.”
注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右;2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
At first Kayla felt disappointed at her parents’ plan for the holiday.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________But things began to change as she was doing the chores.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________9 . With intelligent systems and new-age transit networks, life in the big cities will likely be happier and more efficient.
After all, more than 60 percent of the world’s population is expected to live in cities by 2050, according to a UN report. The answer to making these cities more livable for so many people lies in creating “smart” cities. These cities will use 5G networks and the “internet of things” (IoT) to make everyday life safer and more convenient. Some cities are already using smart technology to improve the lives of residents.
But what exactly does a smart city do? In the United States cities of Boston and Baltimore, smart trash cans can sense how full they are and inform cleaning workers when they need to be emptied. In Amsterdam, the Netherlands, traffic flow and energy usage are monitored and adjusted according to real-time data gathered from sensors (传感器) around the city. And in Copenhagen, Denmark, a smart bike system allows riders to check on air quality and traffic condition as they ride.
Smart cities will be interactive, allowing their residents to feel like they’re truly shaping their environment, instead of merely existing in it. “One of the most important reasons to have a smart city is that we can actually communicate with our environment in a way that we never have in the past,” said Mrinalini Ingram, head of a telecom company.
“Smart cities will also allow us to save resources.” said Mrinalini Ingram.“By using sensors and 5G networks to monitor the use of water, gas and electricity, city managers can figure out how to distribute and save these resources more efficiently. Emissions of carbon dioxide and other air pollutants can be more closely monitored in smart cities as well.”
Of course, it will take time and money to turn our current cities into the smart cities of the future. But as we’ve already seen, more cities around the world are already adopting smart technology in small ways. China, for instance, is making investments in big cities like Shanghai and Guangzhou to make them “smarter”. It won’t be long until even more cities start to develop their own smart infrastructure (基础设施).
1. What calls for the development of smart cities?| A．The rapid progress in 5G networks. |
| B．The marked increase in world population. |
| C．The growing number of residents living in cities. |
| D．The major concern over the safety of living in cities. |
| A．By making a contrast. |
| B．By giving examples. |
| C．By listing figures. |
| D．By telling a story. |
| A．Air pollution will be stopped in its track. |
| B．People will be better aware of environmental protection. |
| C．People will be able to make the most of our environment at will. |
| D．Resources can be saved by keeping track of how they are used. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Critical. | C．Positive. | D．Doubtful. |
10 . In the early 1970s American women gave birth, on average, to 2.12 children each. By 2018 that number had fallen to 1.73. Jordan Nickerson and David Solomon, professors at MIT, think they have found an interesting factor which help explain this change: America’s increasingly protective child car-seat laws.
Their study examines the effect that car-seat policies may have had on American birth rates. During the 1980s, only the children aged under three had to be secured in child-safety seats. But since then, the requirements have been slowly increased. Today, most places in America make children sit in safety seats until their eighth birthdays. That concern for youngsters’ safety has had the unexpected consequence of fewer three-child families.
In drawing this conclusion they have connected population data with changes in state laws on safety seats. They discovered that stricter laws had no noticeable effects on the rates of births of first and second children, but with a drop, on average, of 0.73 percentage points in the number of women giving birth to a third while the first two were young enough to need safety seats.
The professors also made two other related observations. The reduction they saw was limited to families that did actually have access to a car. And space in the vehicle is the important factor. In pre-safety-seat days, putting three young children into the back of a family car was a perfectly practical advice. Most such cars, though, can comfortably accommodate only two safety seats. So, as the child car-seat laws change, a family must wait longer time for a third child to fit in the car. Sometimes, that wait will mean no third child is ever born.
Unless, of course, the family concerned buys a bigger car. But average families have the obvious reasons not to do so — big cars cost more, and are more costly to run. Interestingly, Dr Nickerson and Dr Solomon found that the third-child deterrent (遏制作用) appears even stronger among wealthier families. As they observe, “large cars may reflect their real status and taste, which may make people unwilling to switch even when they can afford to.”
1. What is the passage mainly about?| A．Changes in American car-seat laws. |
| B．Ways to ensure children’s safety in cars. |
| C．Influence of car-seat laws on American birthrate. |
| D．The connection between cars and American birthrate. |
| A．The space of the family car. | B．The family’s economic status. |
| C．The quality of child safety seats. | D．The desire to have a third child. |
| A．They are a symbol of wealth. |
| B．They are affordable to most families. |
| C．They are more popular among richer families. |
| D．They are unable to solve child birth rates problem. |
| A．By comparing data. | B．By making surveys. |
| C．By doing experiments. | D．By holding interviews. |
