1 . 阅读下面短文，根据短文内容在答题卡相应题号后的横线上写下相关信息，完成对该问题的回答。

Food as Communication

We usually understand when someone speaks or writes to us, and many gestures (手势) and facial expressions have meaning, too. But have you ever considered what and how we eat as a form of communication? In many cultures, people sit together and share food at mealtimes, which is a common tradition that can promote unity and trust. Food can also play an important role in a family or culture’s celebrations. The foods we eat—and when and how we eat them—are often unique to a particular culture or may even differ between areas within one country.

In most cultures, bread represents delicious food. It is also one of the most commonly shared foods in the world. Sharing bread is a common symbol of companionship and togetherness. In fact, the word companion comes from the Latin roots com- (together) and panis (bread). Many cultures also celebrate birthdays and marriages with decorated cakes that are cut and shared among the guests. Early forms of cake were simply a kind of bread, so this tradition has its roots in the custom of sharing bread.

There are foods like bread in other cultures. In Greece, people share a special cake called vasilopita. A coin is baked into the cake, which stands for success in the New Year for the person who receives it. Most of the foods eaten during the Chinese New Year have significance. Sometimes this is based on their shape; for example, long noodles symbolize long life. The symbolism can also be based on the sound of the word in Chinese; for example, people give out oranges because the word for “orange” sounds like the word for “wealth”. In many cultures, round foods such as grapes, bread, and moon cakes are eaten at welcome celebrations to symbolize family unity.

Food is essential for life, so it is not surprising that it is such an important part of different cultures around the world. The food people eat during celebrations may have a long history and can symbolize many things, but sharing food is one custom that almost all humans have in common.

1. Why does the author regard eating food as a form of communication?
     ①        
2. How do people celebrate birthdays and marriages in many cultures?
     ②         
3. What does the author mainly talk about in Paragraph 3?
      ③          
4. Many of the food traditions mentioned in the passage are very old. Why are they still important today?
     ④

2 . Geraniums of Love

As the fifth of seven children, I went to the same public school as my three elder sisters and brother. Every year, my mother went to the same ceremony and had parent-child interviews（亲子交流会）with the same teachers. The only thing different was the child. And every child _______ an old

Geraniums school tradition—the annual plant sale（拍卖会）held in early May, just in time for _______ Day.

Third grade was the first time that I was allowed to take part in the plant sale. I wanted to surprise my mother. _______, I didn't have any money. I went to my eldest sister and _______ the secret, and she gave me some money. When I arrived at the plant sale, I carefully made my _______. I agonized（苦苦思索）over that decision, _______ each plant to ensure that I had indeed found the best geranium. The moment I had smuggled it home, with the help of my sister, I _______ it on the upstairs neighbor’s porch. I was very afraid my mother would find it before Mother's Day, but my sister assured me that she wouldn't, and _______ she did not.

When Mother's Day arrived, I was bursting with pride when I gave her that geranium. I remember how bright her eyes were, and how delighted she was with my _______.

The year I was fifteen, my younger sister reached third grade. In early May, she came to me full of wonder and secrecy and told me that there was going to be a plant sale at school and she wanted to __________ our mother. Like my __________ sister did for me, I gave her some money and off she went. She arrived at home full of __________ excitement, the geranium hidden in a paper bag __________ her sweater. “I looked at every plant,” she explained, “and I know I got the __________ one!”

I helped my little __________ hide that geranium on the upstairs neighbor's porch, assuring that our mother wouldn't find it before Mother's Day. I was there when she gave my mother the geranium, and I watched them both bursting with pride and __________. It was like being in a dream I had already dreamed. My mother noticed me __________, and she gave me a soft secret smile. Shocked and puzzled, I __________ back. I had been wondering how my mother could __________ to be surprised at this gift from her sixth child. But as I watched her eyes light up with delight as she was __________   with that most precious gift, I knew she was not pretending.

1.

A．passed down

B．participated in

C．broke with

D．carried on

2.

A．Women’s

B．Father’s

C．Children’s

D．Mother's

3.

A．Besides

B．Moreover

C．However

D．Therefore

4.

A．shared

B．discovered

C．guarded

D．unlocked

5.

A．plan

B．preparation

C．present

D．selection

6.

A．watering

B．growing

C．inspecting

D．protecting

7.

A．showed

B．potted

C．packaged

D．hid

8.

A．indeed

B．instead

C．properly

D．anyhow

9.

A．performance

B．grades

C．gift

D．presence

10.

A．inspire

B．surprise

C．satisfy

D．relax

11.

A．youngest

B．eldest

C．cleverest

D．bravest

12.

A．nervous

B．youthful

C．increasing

D．false

13.

A．on

B．beside

C．behind

D．under

14.

A．shortest

B．rarest

C．best

D．strongest

15.

A．sister

B．brother

C．cousin

D．friend

16.

A．confusion

B．anxiety

C．delight

D．astonishment

17.

A．listening

B．watching

C．smelling

D．tasting

18.

A．waved

B．smiled

C．signed

D．called

19.

A．pretend

B．continue

C．appear

D．try

20.

A．impressed

B．satisfied

C．associated

D．presented

3 . 假如你是红星中学高三学生李华。上周，你作为志愿者参与了学校接待美国中学生访问团的活动。请根据以下四幅图的先后顺序，给校刊“英语角”写一篇英文稿件，介绍来访学生体验中国书法的过程。
注意：词数不少于60。
提示词：书法 calligraphy

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4 . March 14 is, perhaps quietly, celebrated as Pi Day,     1     day to honor the number that many people are familiar with. The date comes from the first three number of Pi: March is the third month,     2     (follow) by the one and four that make 14. Pi     3     (appear) wherever there are circles. Pi is a ratio. It measures the     4     (distant) around a circle to its diameter(直径).

A website, Piday.org , shows little known facts about the number. Pi has been    5    (universal) known for thousands of years and gets its name     6     a Greek letter,. The Greeks are believed to have used the letter to describe the ratio. The first Pi Day     7     (celebrate) on March 14, 1988. San Francisco’s Exploratorium Science Museum started the event, according to the site. The museum marks the day with a daylong celebration     8     (include) a parade.

March 14 has other scientific     9     (link). It is the birthday of physicist and Nobel Prize winner Albert Einstein. Princeton University,     10     Einstein lived for many years, celebrates Pi Day as well.

5 . New York's iconic, blue-green statue of liberty wasn't always green. When the statue was gifted to the US from France in 1885, she was actually a shiny copper color. A new video reveals the chemical reactions involving oxygen and even air pollution that led to her color change from copper to liberty green. The statue of liberty was a gift from France to the US as a way of commemorating the US's fight for independence, as well as their own aspiration for democracy.

A video, published by the American Chemical Society, explains that the 305-foot (93 meter) statue was built over nine years in sections of copper skin on top of an iron skeleton.

In her first few decades in the Big Apple, the statue slowly turned from that shiny copper color to a dull brown and the, finally, to the blue-green, or as they'd say back in France, 'verdigris' we see today,' said the video's narrator.

When it changed color, some officials suggested restoring her back to her original color, but after the public protested against this decision, she was left the way she is. The statue's color change was as a result of oxidation reactions between copper and the air. But it was more than one reaction - the color change is due to about 30 years worth of different reactions leading to a mixture of greenish minerals.

Oxidation reactions happen when an atom loses an electron to another atom.

In the case of the statue of liberty, her color change was bound to happen due to oxygen in the atmosphere that is 'hungry' for electrons. On top of this, elements of New York City's polluted air added to the color change too.

The first chemical reaction of the color change involved copper giving up electrons to electron-hungry oxygen in the atmosphere. This led to a mineral called cuprite - which is pinkish red.

Then, cuprite loses even more electrons to oxygen, forming a new mineral（矿物质） called tenorite, which is blackish in color. The black color of tenorite explains why the statue got darker over time, forming a dark brown color.

Then, further chemical reactions occurred when sulfur（硫） in the atmosphere reacts with oxygen to form sulfur dioxide. Sulfur comes from natural processes such as volcanic eruptions, but also from man-made emissions from boats, cars, airplanes and factories. When sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere reacts with water, it produces sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid forms green minerals with copper oxides, so the sulfuric acid in the atmosphere made the state green over time.

Added to that, chloride from the sea spray surrounding Ellis Island where the statue is located made the statue even greener.

The statue stayed this way for over 100 years because the exposed copper is now oxidized and stable, but the statue wouldn't be the same anywhere else.

1. What is statue of liberty like at present?       .

A．copper

B．pinkish red

C．blackish

D．verdigris

2. The underlined phrase “the big apple” in Para 3 refer to       .

A．Washington DC

B．New York

C．Los Angeles

D．Chicago

3. There are        chemical reactions mentioned in the passage.

A．4

B．5

C．6

D．7

4. All the factors contribute to the color change of he statue except        .

A．oxidation reactions between copper and the air

B．the surrounding sea spray

C．emissions from traffic vehicles

D．the sunshine from nature