1 . The cost of living in countries like the U.S., Britain, Australia or France has skyrocketed in recent years. However, if you are willing to leave your country and explore life in other areas, there are many countries boasting an extremely cheap and low cost of living. Check out the following countries when planning your next move.

Ecuador

Ecuador is similar to the United States in many ways, and as a result has become a popular American getaway. It even uses the U.S. dollar for its currency. In this country, it is cheaper to eat out every day than cook for yourself on a budget in the U.S. You can even buy a property for around $50,000 and hi re someone to tend to it while you are away.

Mexico

Although the country is known for its poverty-ridden streets, there are many wealthier areas that provide every facility you might need. You can live off a mere $700 to $800 a month in Mexico, and this includes rent for a nice place, facilities, food, and any sightseeing.

Argentina

Argentina has been a popular tourist destination for many years. It has great restaurants, a rich history, and many places to explore. Not to mention, it is not very expensive to live there. A decent-sized home can cost around $139,000, which is relatively cheap in relation to homes in the United States.

Vietnam

Vietnam has also become a popular tourist destination in recent years. There are many million-dollar luxury homes by the beach, but you can find a modest flat or small home for around $25,000 to $50,000 if you search in the right areas.

1. Which country uses the U.S. dollar as its currency?

A．Ecuador.

B．Mexico.

C．Argentina.

D．Vietnam.

2. How much does it take at most to live in Mexico for half a year?

A．About $8,400.

B．About $4,800.

C．About $4,200.

D．About $9,600.

3. What are the common advantages of living in Argentina and Vietnam?

A．Cheap and low costs of living.	B．Many million-dollar luxury homes.
C．Wealthy areas with complete facilities.	D．Great restaurants, a rich history, and many places to explore.

2 . At 81 years old, Jeanne Daprano is still pushing her body to the limit. She’s still running competitive races, breaking world records and taking on new challenges.“The thing I’m learning about aging is that it’s inevitable,” Daprano said.“I’m not going to escape it. There are two ways to go:You can either press on or give up.”

Daprano grew up in Iowa. Then, she moved to California. As a primary school teacher, she began running in order to keep up with her student.“I was known as a running teacher,” she said.“I had my students do fitness before we studied in the morning and then throughout the day.”Then she began running competitively with 5K and 10K road races before moving to the track. She is now the world record holder in the women’s 75-year-old age group 400 meters and 800 meters. “When I get to the final fi nish line, I want this body to be worn out. I’m not doing this to live to be 100. I’m doing this to be the best I can be today.”

After moving to Atlanta about a decade ago, Daprano met fitness trainer David Buer. Ever since, she’s been coming to his gym, where he tailors workouts for Daprano’s specifc needs.“When she came to me, she was pushing 70 years old,”Buer said.“I’ve worked with other individuals of Jeanne’s age, but she came to me with different goals. She had a unique drive and passion—not just a passion for fitness or athletics but for life in general.”

Last February, Daprano took on a new challenge: her first indoor rowing competition. In classic fashion, she broke the world record in the 80-to-84 age group, rowing 2,000 meters in 9:23:7. For those hoping to either start getting in shape or stay in shape for a long time, she offers this advice: Listen to your body. What are you passionate about? How are you going to keep physically fit and mentally fit? Start where you are. Don’t look ahead or compare yourself to somebody else.

1. What does the underlined word“inevitable” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?

A．Invisible.

B．Abnormal.

C．Impossible.

D．Unavoidable.

2. Daprano started her life as a runner when ________.

A．working at a primary school	B．taking fitness training classes
C．volunteering in a 5K road race	D．moving to Atlanta

3. What might be Buer’s first impression of Daprano?

A．She was a qualified teacher.	B．She was an unusual woman.
C．She was too old to run a race.	D．She was hard to get along with.

4. What does Daprano suggest we do?

A．Run right now.	B．Live and learn.
C．Follow your heart.	D．Be a good listener.

3 . Donna Strickland was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Arthur Ashkin and Gérard Mourou.It’s the first time in 55 years that a woman has won this famous prize, but why has it taken so long? We look at five other pioneering female physicists — past and present — who actually deserve the prize.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Perhaps the most famous snub (冷落): the student Bell discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967, when she was a PhD student at Cambridge.The Nobel Prize that recognised this landmark discovery in 1974, however, went to her male supervisor, Antony Hewish.Recently awarded a £2.3 million Breakthrough Prize, which she gave away to help under-represented students, she joked to The Guardian, “I feel I’ve done very well out of not getting a Nobel Prize.”

Lene Hau

Hau is best-known for leading the research team at Harvard University in 1999 that managed to slow a beam of light, before managing to stop it completely in 2001.Often topping Nobel Prize prediction lists, could 2019 be Hau’s year.

Vera Rubin

Rubin discovered dark matter in the 1980s, opening up a new field of astronomy.She died in 2016, without recognition from the committee.

Chien-Shiung Wu

Wu’s “Wu experiment” helped disprove the “law of conservation of parity”.Her experimental work was helpful but never honoured, and instead, her male colleagues won the 1957 Nobel Prize for their theoretical work behind the study.

Lise Meitner

Meitner led groundbreaking work on the discovery of nuclear fission.However, the discovery was acknowledged by the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which was won by her male co-lead, Otto Hahn.

1. When was the discovery of radio pulsars recognised by the Nobel?

A．In 1944．

B．In 1967．

C．In 1974．

D．In 1980．

2. Which woman is most likely to win a Nobel Prize later according to the text?

A．Donna Strickland.	B．Jocelyn Bell Burnell.
C．Lene Hau.	D．Vera Rubin.

3. What do we know about the five females?

A．The five female scientists did greatly in chemistry.

B．Vera Rubin had opened up a new field in geometry.

C．Lise Meitner’s teacher won a Nobel Prize for her work.

D．The five female scientists haven’t been awarded Nobel Prize.

4 . 阅读下列短文, 在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

The Xi’an City Wall is the most complete city wall that has survived China’s long history. It     1    (build) originally to protect the city     2     the Tang dynasty and has now been completely restored(修复). It is possible     3    (walk) or bike the entire 14 kilometers.

We accessed the wall through the South Gate     4    (personal). The wall is 12 meters high and you can see streams of people moving inside and outside the City Wall.

After     5    (spend) some time looking at all the defensive equipment at the wall, we decided it was time for some action and what     6    (good) than to ride on a piece of history!

We     7     (hire) our bikes from the rental place at the South Gate. My bike was old and shaky     8    did the job. It took us about 3 hours to go all     9     way around the Xi’an City Wall. Supposedly you can do it in two hours, but we stopped at the different gates and     10    (watchtower) to take pictures or just to watch the local people going about their daily routines.

5 . Mr. Wang, a landlord (房东) in Liuzhou, Guangxi province, has become famous because of his acts of kindness during the lockdown period of COVID-19.

Mr. Wang had 42 tenants (租户) at that time, about 80 percent of whom were students. Most only brought _______ suitcases, with no room for pots to cook with. Because of the COVID-19, they were not allowed to _______, making mealtime a big _______.

Having seen his young tenants _______ on fast food, Mr. Wang decided to cook meals for them free of charge. He bought as many vegetables as possible in the community and told his tenants via WeChat that he also could _______ them dinner each day. His idea was warmly welcomed. The tenants placed their _______ in the WeChat group every day, and Mr. Wang prepared their meals accordingly.

His wife and old mother also _______ him to wash vegetables and dishes. Although there were food supply problems at the beginning of the lockdown, Mr. Wang still _______ to buy some meat for his hungry young tenants.

Mr. Wang received as many as 35 orders a day. Some of the tenants wanted to _______ him for the dinner but were refused. Mr. Wang said he cooked the meals not for ________ but to help those in need.

With the tenants’ ________in mind, Mr. Wang divided the orders into small ________so that they could take their dinner one by one while keeping two meters from each other.

Greatly ________ , the tenants reported his kindness to the local media, making him well- known overnight. Hearing of his generosity, many people offered to give Mr. Wang money to help feed his young tenants, but Mr. Wang ________said no.

Mr. Wang has decided to ________his help for the tenants until the lockdown is over, or at least until takeout food is possible to order.

1.

A．empty

B．simple

C．clean

D．new

2.

A．stay up

B．watch over

C．go out

D．call back

3.

A．claim

B．punishment

C．manner

D．problem

4.

A．moving

B．trusting

C．living

D．working

5.

A．offer

B．collect

C．apply

D．have

6.

A．forks

B．orders

C．gifts

D．books

7.

A．stopped

B．begged

C．joined

D．hired

8.

A．failed

B．survived

C．managed

D．pretended

9.

A．pay

B．call

C．text

D．see

10.

A．trouble

B．family

C．respect

D．money

11.

A．time

B．safety

C．action

D．brain

12.

A．lines

B．places

C．branches

D．groups

13.

A．trapped

B．stressed

C．recovered

D．moved

14.

A．legally

B．equally

C．typically

D．politely

15.

A．charge

B．cancel

C．continue

D．thank

6 . 假定你是李华，你的加拿大网友Mike打算暑假期间来中国旅游，希望你能为他推荐一些景点。请你用英语给他写一封电子邮件，向他推荐两个你喜欢的名胜古迹。要点包括：
1.简介你推荐的名胜古迹；
2.叙述你推荐的理由；
3.表达你的祝愿。
注意：1.词数80左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Mike,
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

7 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

I met an artist in the park today. At that moment, a piece of art     1    (make) by her and local schoolchildren. The images on the artwork, of happy families with their pets, were so     2    (inspire) !

Her next project is     3    (create) a large painting that will cover an entire wall at the Children’s Hospital. Again, she plans to work together     4    children from the neighbourhood. What     5    heartwarming idea! Children who are well will be creating the artwork for children     6    are sick. I can imagine the day when the painting will be shown. The children who work so hard on it will be overjoyed with     7     (excite) to show what they will have vividly created. And the children waiting to see the painting will be     8    (equal) excited to see what is behind the curtain. And finally cheers will be all around!

Children help children to be happy. The artist     9    (wake) me up from my daydream and said, “I will need a lot of     10    (volunteer) to help with this project !” It old her to count me in! I would be happy to help make this dream come true!

10 . If it had not been for Fan Jinshi and her team, the world cultural heritage of Dunhuang Mogao Caves in a remote Chinese desert might have long been destroyed by sand, weather or humans.

Born in Beijing and raised in Shanghai, Fan has spent half a century fighting an uphill battle to preserve the ancient Buddhist wall paintings at Dunhuang, in Northwest China’s Gansu Province. The 1,653­-year­-old Dunhuang Mogao Caves are a huge collection of Buddhist art—more than 2,000 buddha figures and 45,000 square metres of paintings spread among 735 caves. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Archaeologist Fan was sent to Dunhuang after graduating from Peking University in 1963. While in Dunhuang, a remote village in the desert then, Fan lived in an abandoned temple. At first, she did not even dare to go out to the toilet at night. To protect the treasures from sand and dampness, Fan and other workers put doors on the caves, planted trees and started monitoring temperature and humidity in the caves. They also controlled the number of visitors.

In the late 1990s, with tourism booming nationwide since national holidays were extended, the local government planned to go public with Dunhuang Mogao Caves, but found Fan firmly in_their_way.   “The heritage would have been destroyed if it had been listed，” she said.

Dunhuang Academy has now photographed and cataloged online all the sculptures and paintings. “Despite our efforts to minimise damage, we can’t completely stop them from being eroded. But the digital database will last.”

Fan was grateful when her husband joined her in Dunhuang in 1986 after 19 years of separation. Her two sons grew up seldom with her accompany. “I have not been a good mother or wife. With regard to my family, I’m full of guilt，” she said. Fan, 81, retired four years ago as the director of Dunhuang Academy but continues her efforts as a national political adviser.

1. When was Fan separated from her husband?

A．In 1963.	B．In 1967.
C．In 1986.	D．In the late 1990s.

2. What does the phrase “in their way” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Go to a place.

B．Be in favour of something.

C．Reject something.

D．Give in to something.

3. What is the passage mainly about?

A．The history of Dunhuang Mogao Caves.

B．The attractions of Dunhuang Mogao Caves.

C．Fan’s devotion to preserving Dunhuang Mogao Caves.

D．The appeal for the protection of Dunhuang Mogao Caves.

4. What kind of person do you think Fan is?

A．Considerate.	B．Kind.
C．Humorous.	D．Devoted.