1 . At first, Dorothy Sorlie thought she was just getting old, though not as gracefully as she’d hoped. Retired from teaching English at a local college, Sorlie, then 74, began losing interest in things she'd enjoyed, including reading and cooking. She couldn’t concentrate. Her handwriting changed. The symptoms occurred so gradually that initially she wasn’t aware anything was happening.

Things kept getting worse. She started worrying that she might be developing early dementia (痴呆). The physical symptoms progressed too. Most worrisome, she began having trouble walking and started falling. Through it all, her doctors struggled to explain what was happening.

She and her husband, Jim Urness, were desperate for answers; It would take years before they got them. The doctors’ diagnoses (诊断), all incorrect, could account for one or two of Sorlie’s symptoms but not all of them, and none of the treatments seemed to help.

The couple traveled across the country looking for someone who could tell them what was wrong. However, one possible explanation for her symptoms after another proved incorrect. At last, Sorlie’s primary care doctor，Kevin Wergeland found the disease responsible for all her symptoms was a little-known condition called normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH). Although her condition was detected at an advanced state, it was treatable.

In fact, NPH is sometimes referred to as “treatable dementia”. It is an insidious (潜伏的) and mysterious disorder that can copy many more common problems including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. An estimated 700000 people in the United States have NPH, although ifs believed that fewer than 20 percent of them are correctly diagnosed.

Sorlie is now free of NPH symptoms, and taking advantage of her good health and using her dramatic recovery to inform others about NPH. She gives presentations to local senior centers as a volunteer. “If this awareness can help one person avoid what my husband and I endured, ” Sorlie says, “then my efforts are worth it.”

1. Which of the following best describes Sorlie’s experience of seeking treatment?

A．Tough.

B．Inspiring.

C．Unfair.

D．Hopeful.

2. Why are most people with NPH incorrectly diagnosed?

A．The doctors are not responsible and professional.

B．It is a rare disease that few cases have ever occurred.

C．The symptoms are similar to those of other common diseases.

D．The medical conditions in most cities are not advanced enough.

3. Why does Sorlie serve as a volunteer in local senior centers?

A．To inform senior people about their health condition.

B．To provide suggestions on how to recover from NPH.

C．To raise peopled awareness about leading a healthy life.

D．To help people with NPH suffer less in getting correct diagnosis.

4. Where is the text probably from?

A．A medical record.	B．A biography.
C．A science report.	D．A popular magazine.

2 . A major earthquake struck Haiti in 2010. Shortly after that, my wife and I decided to ________ a struggling orphanage (孤儿院) in Port-au-Prince. The children there became like ________ to us, especially one little girl named Chika. But at the age of five, Chika was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor. Though we never ________ adopted Chika, we decided to bring her home with us to Detroit to make sure she got the ________ medical care---just as any parent would.

Occasionally, our friends would say，“It’s ________ what you’re doing for a child that’s not yours.” It ________ me to think there would be any difference in our efforts if ________ Chika had our DNA.

The paperwork at the orphanage was ________ by me. It obligated (使负责任) us to feed, educate，and ________ the children—all things parents are supposed to do. But ________, it is a document of ________, not parenthood.

We ________ with the “Yours or not yours” question for many times until Chika once asked, “How did you find me?” From then on，I ________ myself she would never feel ________ again.

We did not bring any of these little souls into the world. That ________ can never be overstated. But I have witnessed the ________ connection between an adoptive mother and her child, and I have also witnessed helpless babies ________ by those who birthed them. The opposite also happens. Now, I’ve ________ the truth: Love determines our ________. It always comes down to that. We were---we are---a place of love and ________ for Haitian children.

1.

A．take over

B．check out

C．settle in

D．pull down

2.

A．friends

B．family

C．audience

D．patients

3.

A．formally

B．willingly

C．temporarily

D．eagerly

4.

A．cheapest

B．simplest

C．toughest

D．best

5.

A．easy

B．understandable

C．great

D．rewarding

6.

A．shocked

B．excited

C．puzzled

D．embarrassed

7.

A．somewhat

B．somehow

C．anyway

D．therefore

8.

A．clarified

B．discovered

C．evaluated

D．signed

9.

A．protect

B．observe

C．punish

D．test

10.

A．by the way

B．in the end

C．as a consequence

D．for no reason

11.

A．rights

B．methods

C．process

D．responsibility

12.

A．dealt       ‘

B．agreed

C．wrestled

D．ended

13.

A．confirmed

B．forced

C．proved

D．promised

14.

A．annoyed

B．lost

C．confused

D．forgot

15.

A．problem

B．lesson

C．truth

D．idea

16.

A．purest

B．strangest

C．funniest

D．weakest

17.

A．trained

B．delivered

C．abandoned

D．amused

18.

A．thought highly of

B．made peace with

C．fed up with

D．let go of

19.

A．bonds

B．beliefs

C．goals

D．efforts

20.

A．dream

B．luck

C．wisdom

D．shelter

3 . The sun produces more than enough energy for human activities, but we still can't capture enough of it. While solar panels (太阳能电池板) have made big advances in recent years, becoming cheaper and more efficient, they just provide electricity, not storable liquid fuels, which are still in great demand.

“If you look at the global energy structure and what’s needed, electricity only covers maybe 20-25%. So the question is when we have covered that 25%, what do we do next?^ asks Professor Reisner from Cambridge University.

His answer is to look to nature: “Plants are a huge inspiration, because they have learned over millions of years how to take up sunlight and store the energy in energy carriers. I really believe that artificial photosynthesis (光合作用) will be one part of that energy structure over the next two decades.”

When plants photosynthesize, they take up water and carbon dioxide, and use light from the sun to change these raw materials into the carbohydrates they need for growth. “We want to copy this, but we don't really want to make carbohydrates because they make a low-quality fuel, so instead of making carbohydrates we try to make something that can be more readily used,” says Prof Reisner.

“We have a great theory effort, and the theory and the experiment go hand in hand,” says the project leader, Prof Harry Atwater of Caltech. “We now have what’s actually the worlds largest database. The bad news is that we’re not likely to see fields full of photosynthesis panels any time soon. There are still major stumbling blocks.”

1. What can we learn about the solar panels?

A．They don't provide storable liquid fuels.

B．They are in greater need than ever before.

C．They are still far from cheap and efficient.

D．They provide 25% of the world's electricity.

2. What does the underlined word “this” in Paragraph 4 refer to?

A．The process of how plants photosynthesize.

B．The products that photosynthesis produces.

C．The way the plants absorb light from the sun.

D．The materials plants change into what’s needed.

3. What does Prof Harry Atwater think of artificial photosynthesis?

A．There are many barriers impossible to overcome.

B．It is likely to be put into use in the near future.

C．It's hard to put the theory into the experiment.

D．It’s promising but there’s still a tough way to go.

4 . Hope for Solving Our Seas’ Problems

The world’ oceans, more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface, are filled with problems: Overfishing, warming and acidifying (酸化的) waters, plastic pollution, a loss of abundance and diversity.     1     But it's of great importance. To care about the ocean in the 21st century is to feel conflicted: despairing what's been lost, optimistic about what we can save.   

David Doubilet is a photographer who has already spent more than 27,000 hours underwater.     2     There is an image where Doubilet holds a photo he's made on the same reef, in the same spot, in 2009 — and what that reef looked like nine years later. The decline has been completely discouraging.

    3     He talks about places where the coral's still healthy and is even being used to develop new species of more resilient (可迅速恢复的) coral. And he believes his work documenting all of this — the good and the bad — can inform and inspire.

“The time in the sea has given me a priceless perspective,” he says. “I can make pictures that bear witness. Pictures have this power to educate. But he is careful not to show only pictures that make people feel bad —“    4    ”

That’s the message of this issue:     5     As Doubilet puts it; “With hope, there's always the ability to change. Whether we choose to drive a hybrid car or not, whether we choose to turn down the temperature, whether we use sustainable energy. Above all, there is hope.”

A．We need pictures that also show hope and resilience.

B．There is reason for hope and a lot that each of us can do.

C．It was like a bunch of corals, and I went back to a boneyard.

D．He has photographed the story about the changes to coral reefs.

E．Yet Doubilet remains hopeful that we can turn a lot of this around.

F．Finding solutions, or even reasons for optimism, can seem a demanding task.

G．There you'll find ideas for addressing the problems and being part of the solutions.

5 . 阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。   

At a medical clinic in Waterloo, Ontario, an elderly woman sat on the edge of a waiting room chair singing the Celine Dion tune “My Heart Will Go On.” Other than a slight rhythmic rocking of her body to the Titanic theme song, she kept still, with her arms crossed elegantly over her chest. With little effort, she was able to send her sweet，high-pitched (尖声的) voice exploding into every comer of the clinic.

I had fun watching how people reacted. There was a lot of changing in seats, but mainly they awkwardly looked away and tried to pretend there was nothing out of the ordinary going on.

I was there with my father, who was getting a routine blood test, when the woman arrived. She settled into the seat directly across from my dad. Because she was so tiny, she was forced to sit on the edge of the chair so her feet could touch the floor. The position made it seem as though she were sitting forward to engage in conversation with him. She smiled at him, and he smiled back.

I was concerned about how my dad would react to the possible invasion of his space. He was 77 at the time and had been living with Alzheimer’s (老年痴呆症) for several years. He was a brilliant and shy military man. When he was healthy，he tolerated people’s eccentricities (古怪) dutifully but with silent disapproval. He considered it wholly bad mannered to bring too much unnecessary attention to oneself. Since Alzheimer’s has a tendency to cause damage to a person’s patience and self-control. Dad had got into a few challenging and unpleasant situations in the past. I couldn’t help but think that this little woman was playing with fire.

Her singing began gently, like a quiet hum. I glanced over at Dad. His smile was gone, and he was staring right at her. She was staring back. I couldn't read his expression, but it seemed to be something like confusion. This wasn’t an unusual state for him.

注意:
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1:

This didn’t stop the tiny woman one bit, and her singing slowly got louder.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:

To my surprise, my dad's face softened.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. Who took the picture?

A．John.

B．Thomas Easterbrook.

C．The woman.

2. Why was the boy in France?

A．To accept an award.

B．To visit his parents.

C．To take a holiday.

3. What can probably be seen in the picture?

A．A camera and a boy.

B．A bird and flowers.

C．Some hungry kids.

7 . Nicholson had planned a months-long solo bike trip through Europe and Asia, but he ended up with a furry sidekick. While cycling through Bosnia in southeastern Europe, he noticed a tiny gray-and-white kitten running after him, meowing for him to stop. He decided to take her to a vet in the nearest town to see if anyone had lost their pet. No one had, so he placed her in the basket attached to the front of his bike and pedaled toward the border of Montenegro. The kitten tried to escape, but not to run away: She just wanted a better seat.

“She climbed up my arm and fell asleep on my shoulder behind my neck,” said Nicholson, who previously worked as a welder in a fish factory. “‘That was the moment,’ I thought, ‘she’s going to come around the world with me,’ because I fell in love with her instantly.”

Since their encounter, the pair have visited more than 20 countries. Nala, whom Nicholson named after the lioness in The Lion King, even has a passport. While Nicholson pedals, Nala naps in the basket, on a bed of clothes and pillows, or hangs her paws over the side, causing strangers on the street to stare in wonder.

“Having her opens up so many conversations with people,” he said. “It’s a talking point.” Nicholson and Nala spent their first winter together in Santorini, a Greek island. After Greece, they biked through Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. During their stay in Hungary, Nicholson finished his book about their adventures called Nala s’ World: One Man, His Rescue Cat, and a Bike Ride Around the Globe.

This fall, they arrived in Austria where Nicholson plans to stay until spring, when he hopes that they can head to Russia and eventually Thailand. One of Nicholson’s main reasons for picking Thailand is that he really wants to drink from a coconut. Now he may have to order two.

1. According to the article, Nicholson decided to take the kitten with him when ________.

A．she meowed to him for help	B．she fell asleep on his shoulder
C．he found that nobody wanted her	D．she napped in the basket of the bike

2. What did Nicholson mean by saying “it’s a talking point” in Paragraph 4?

A．He liked talking and sharing his points of view with Nala.

B．Meeting and adopting Nala was a turning point in his life.

C．Strangers liked to strike up a conversation with him about Nala.

D．He has changed into a talkative person since their encounter.

3. What’s the best title for this article?

A．The Story of Nala — the Stray Cat	B．A Solo Bike Trip Ends up in Two
C．That’s How He Met His Sidekick	D．Traveling Around the World on a Bike

8 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What is the duty of a patient transport volunteer?

A．Sending patients home.

B．Moving patients to clinics.

C．Delivering supplies for patients.

2. How can one join GAILs?

A．By sending an email.

B．By making a call.

C．By visiting in person.

3. Who are likely offered food by the online platform?

A．The old people.

B．Medical workers.

C．The unemployed.