1 . From 16th to 27th March 2019 the ATOM Festival wants to show you that science is definitely for you. ATOM takes place in Abingdon, one of the UK’s “Science Capitals” sitting at the heart of British Science between Culham, Harwell and Oxford.

ATOM 2019 begins with five leading scientists, engineers and educators taking up our “Three Million Dollar Challenge”— solving the big challenge of how to get more people into science and technology.

As well as showcasing inspiring speakers — including BBC science presenter and mathematician Dr Hannah Fry — this year sees a broader range of formats and events than ever before, and much of it is free thanks to our sponsors and supporters: the Science Market, the Family Science Fair, the Discovery Dome, family shows, lectures, stand-up science comedy and film screenings. Working through the Abingdon Science Partnership your local school will also have been offered the chance to join in one of our competitions. On the fiftieth anniversary of the first moon landing, we’ve gathered together science fiction authors to imagine our future in space.

Ticket Prices

If you are planning to go to several events, take a moment to consider our Festival Pass, costing £20. Once purchased, the pass entitles the holder to attend all the festival events at no further cost.

Passes do not include refreshments which must be purchased separately at the venue. Passes cannot be used by more than one person. There is no under-18s Festival Pass. Due to separate ticketing arrangements this Pass is not valid for the Apollo 13 Film Show at Abbey Cinema.

1. What is one of the attractions of this year’s ATOM Festival?

A．It lasts longer than ever before.

B．Visitors can experience more diverse events.

C．It takes place in Oxford University for the first time.

D．Some astronauts will be present in memory of the moon landing.

2. What can we learn about Festival Passes?

A．They offer no discounts for teenagers.

B．They can be used jointly by family members.

C．They give group visitors access to free refreshments.

D．They allow holders to watch the Apollo 13 Film Show.

2 . Mid-Autumn Festival is the second grandest festival in China after Chinese New Year. It’s a time when families come together to appreciate the full moon and eat mooncakes during the festival. In fact, besides these two traditions, there are many others.

1. Watching the tide

In ancient times, watching the tide on the Qiantang River in East China’s Zhejiang province was another grand event of Mid-Autumn Festival. It has been recorded in detail since the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220). Many famous ancient poets, like Su Shi in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) wrote about the grand occasion in their poems.

2. Making colorful lanterns

On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, people usually make colorful lanterns to decorate th beautiful night. They also make Kongming lanterns, which can fly because the burning candles h t the air in the lanterns. Children write good wishes on the lanterns and let them fly up into the sky.

3. Burning pagodas (佛塔)

When night falls, people gather together in an empty place, and pick up broken bricks and tiles to pile up several pagodas. The pagodas are hollow and are filled with firewood. Then the firewood in the pagodas is lit, and the red flames rise and sparks explode, through which people express the joy of harvest in autumn.

4. Stealing vegetables

Among the Dong ethnic group in Central China’s Hunan province, it is the custom for young ladies to steal vegetables on Mid-Autumn Festival night. Whoever eats vegetables with sweet dew on this night will be healthy and happy. Also, women and girls express their adoration to their favorite young men by this way.

5. Drinking osmanthus-flavored wine

Osmanthus-flavored wine is a gift during this season. Drinking Osmanthus fragrance wine at Mid-Autumn Festival implies sweetness, wealth and luck, and prosperity of the family.

People gather together to appreciate the moon, on which Wu Gang, who chases Chang’e, is cutting a sweet-scented osmanthus tree outside the Moon Palace, according to a legend. They drink the sweet osmanthus-flavored wine to echo the festival atmosphere.

1. What do people usually do during Mid-Autumn Festival?

A．People in Hunan province steal vegetables on Mid-Autumn Festival night.

B．People drink Osmanthus fragrance wine to appreciate the moon and honor Chang'e.

C．People make Kongming lanterns to express good wishes and the joy of harvest in autumn.

D．People watch the tide on the Qiantang River, which dates back to the Han Dynasty.

2. Which column of a magazine does this article probably belong to?

A．Science.

B．Culture.

C．Advertisement.

D．History.

3 . Landscapes are not only the setting for history; they are also a major source of our sense of history and identity. Read them right, and historical landscapes can be more informative than any other kind of source. This is even more the case with sacred landscapes, which were reflection of our ancestors’ beliefs about their relation to the cosmos and can still today seem to hold a spiritual influence.

Over the years, I’ve had the good fortune to have spent time in many historical landscapes, hoping to picture something of the spirits of the people who shaped them over the centuries. I still remember years ago walking along the Inca sacred lines around Cusco, Peru. In this ancient landscape, old sites that once belonged to Incan royals had become torn Spanish mansions. Or many years ago, before the Gulf Wars, I took a journey through south Iraq, the heart land of civilization, where the desert is still crossed by dried-up riverbeds of the Euphrates and canals that once sustained the world’s first cities.

Britain also has its own magical ancient landscapes. From the Mesolithic to the Bronze and Iron Ages, rich layers of the past are still present in the landscape surrounding Stonehenge, even as traffic rushes down the A303. It is the A303 that is the problem. As the main road to the south west from the home counties, the road runs right past Stonehenge. One of humanity’s most famous monuments, Stonehenge is an archaeological landscape without parallel in Europe, and perhaps the world. The first circle at Stonehenge was made 5,000 years ago, and the great stone circle itself in a round 2,500 BC — the age of the pyramids! And the mysteries of this amazing monument and the complex prehistoric societies that produced it are by no means exhausted, as new discoveries continue to show.

All the more worrying to me then, this unique landscape is currently at the centre of a projected plan by Highways England, which aims to relieve congestion on the A303 by creating a four-lane road with a 1.8-mile tunnel, and an expressway interchange 1.5 miles to the west. While the National Trust and English Heritage have offered qualified support for the plan, UNESCO has expressed its opposition. Meanwhile, the Stonehenge Alliance, a group of archaeologists and environmental campaigners, says the plan is based on inadequate and obsolete information. In the end, the argument is about the totality of an ancient landscape, and that includes the ancient astronomical alignment that was purposefully chosen by our ancestors, and that will, in my view, be wrecked by the expressway interchange. Time perhaps for a rethink in the name of future generations?

1. What can historical landscapes offer us?

A．Details of ancient lifestyle.	B．Sacred writings
C．Rich historical information	D．Breathtaking sights.

2. What did the author want to explore when touring historical landscapes?

A．Different architecture.	B．His sense of belonging.
C．The rise of ancient cities.	D．The spirits of ancestors.

3. Which of the following is True about Stonehenge?

A．The first stone circle has a longer history than the pyramids.

B．New discoveries have solved the mysteries of the monument.

C．The ancient monument must have been the heart land of civilization.

D．The landscape surrounding Stonehenge has rich layers of the present.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards the projected plan by Highways England?

A．He is for it because it will benefit the future generations.

B．He keeps cool but believes a better solution could be adopted.

C．It should be stopped because it will destroy the totality of the monument.

D．It is rather practical especially with qualified support from the government.

4 . In American schools there is something called Homecoming Day. Many high schools and colleges with a football team have a homecoming game. This can be the most important event of the year except graduation day. Students plan Homecoming Day for many weeks in advance.

Several days before Homecoming, students start to decorate the school. There are signs to wish luck to the team, and many other signs to welcome all the graduates. The members of school clubs build booths（摊位）and sell lemonade, apples and sandwiches. Some clubs help to welcome visitors.

During the day alumni will gather at the school. They like to look for teachers that they remember. Often they see old friends and they talk together about those happy years in school. Many people still come to Homecoming twenty or thirty years after their graduation.

Everyone soon comes to watch the football game. When the game is half over, a band comes onto the field and plays school songs. Another important moment is when the Homecoming Queen or King appears. All the students vote the most popular student Homecoming Queen or King. It is a great honor to be chosen.

Homecoming is a happy day but it is not perfect unless the football team wins the game. Even if the game loses, the students still enjoy Homecoming. Some stay at the school to dance and others go to a party. For everyone it is a day worth remembering.

1. What are students busy doing before Homecoming Day?

A．Preparing for graduation.

B．Finishing their exams.

C．Decorating the school.

D．Making a football team.

2. What does the underlined word “alumni" in Para 3 refer to?

A．graduates	B．teachers
C．parents	D．businessmen

3. Which of the following is NOT done by graduates on Homecoming?

A．To see their old friends.

B．To call on teachers they remember.

C．To watch the football game.

D．To join in a football match.

4. How does Homecoming Queen or King come about?

A．Chosen from the best teachers.

B．Given to the best football player.

C．Voted by all the parents

D．Elected by all the students.

5 . You return from work on a muggy(闷热的) August evening. Your unwashed teenage son is on the sofa playing the game Fortnite, as he has been doing for the past eight hours. Not for the first time, you ask yourself: why are school summer holidays so long?

This is a more serious question than it sounds. Many children will return from the long break having forgotten much of what they were taught the previous year. One study from the American South found that this summer learning loss‖ could be as high as a quarter of the year’s education. Poor children tend to be the worst affected, since rich ones typically live in homes full of books and are packed off to summer camp.

A study from Baltimore found that variations(差别) in summer loss might possibly account for two-thirds of the achievement gap between rich and poor children by the age of 14-15. Long holidays definitely tighten the budgets of poor families, since free school meals stop and extra child care kicks in.

Youngsters will hate the idea of a longer school year. Many grown-ups will object to it, too. It would cost taxpayers more, since teachers would have to be paid for the extra days. Schools in hotter areas would spend a fortune on air-conditioning. Skeptics(怀疑者) also note that, although those rarely rested South Korean pupils do well in exams, they are often unhappy. Is that really what you want for your darlings?

More time in school doesn’t necessarily mean repeating the same old lessons. But for those falling behind, the summer could be a time for different kinds of learning: critical thinking, practical skills, financial literacy, work placements with local firms—schools should be free to experiment. Space should not be a problem. Many school buildings sit idle(闲置的) in the summer.

Well-off children often already use the summer to broaden their minds or doing summer jobs found through connections. Schools should help the rest catch up. Other public services do not simply disappear for a quarter of the year. It would be unthinkable for hospitals or the police to do so. So why do schools get away with it? Their responsibility to educate does not end when the temperature rises.

1. With the example in Paragraph 1, the author intends to .

A．show the author’s bad mood

B．lead in the topic of the passage

C．criticize the son’s bad behavior

D．prove the harm of long holidays

2. To help the children falling behind during summer holidays, schools should .

A．have them learning the previous lessons

B．pack them off to various summer camps

C．offer them various chances of learning

D．provide summer jobs in public services

3. What is the passage mainly about?

A．The school summer holidays should be shorter.

B．Students are suffering summer learning loss.

C．Schools should arrange more practical learning.

D．The achievement gap between students is widened.

6 . Shan Tianfang, died at 83 on Sept. 11,2018 in Beijing because of multiple organ failure. His energetic oral interpretations of classical Chinese novels and historical events pushed the ancient pingshu tradition forward into the modern age for generations of Chinese.

Mr. Shan tried for many years to avoid becoming a performer of pingshu, the Song dynasty-era storytelling tradition. Growing up in the1950s in a family of folk art performers, he had seen struggle firsthand. It was a life of constant financial troubles and low social status. So it was with great unwillingness when, out of financial necessity, he became an apprentice（徒弟） to a family friend who was a master of pingshu. He made his first public appearance in 1956.

In the pingshu tradition, the performer wears a traditional gown and sits behind a desk equipped with a folding fan and a wooden block. The storyteller tells a legend — typically a classical Chinese epic — from memory, using different voices and exaggerated gestures as well as adding occasional background detail and commentary.

Mr. Shan grew to love the storytelling form, which is popular across northern China. It is a demanding profession that combines acting, oration, writing, historical research and literary criticism and requires countless hours of memorization. In teahouses around the northeastern region, he became famous for his fresh takes on the classics.

In 1976, many Chinese were hungry for some new forms of entertainment, and it was against this background that he grasped the opportunity to record a pingshu radio broadcast. He soon discovered that performing on radio was vastly different from doing so in teahouses. There were no props（道具）, no reactions from the audience to guide him — just Mr. Shan and the microphone in a recording studio. So for his first radio performance, a shortened version of the historical novel ―The Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties,‖ Mr. Shan used the studio’s three recording technicians as his audience and adjusted his performance based on their reactions.

The performance had its first appearance in 1980 on Chinese New Year, and more than 100 million Chinese were estimated to have tuned in during the 56 hours over which it was broadcast. It was the beginning of a dramatic second act both for Mr. Shan and for pingshu in the People’s Republic of China. He was soon a household name across the country.

Over six decades, Mr. Shan recorded more than 110 stories for radio and television totaling about 12,000 episodes and lasting 6,000 hours. His best-known works include his interpretations of Chinese classics like ―White-Eyebrow Hero‖ and ―Sanxia Wuyi‖ and his dramatizations of historical figures like Zhuge Liang and Lin Zexu.

Even today, hop into a Beijing taxi and the driver may be listening to one of Mr. Shan’s recordings. ―For my generation, Shan Tianfang was a master,‖ said Zhao Fuwei, 48, a Beijing taxi driver. ―If back then there was such thing as a viral star, then Shan Tianfang was definitely the hottest viral star.

―Listening to his stories has made it easier to kill time in bad traffic,‖ Mr. Zhao added. ―He was so good at making complicated historical stories simple and interesting. You feel like you could empathize with the characters in his stories, even though they lived a long time ago.

But in recent years many of the great pingshu performers have died, and the tradition is fading. By the time Mr. Shan retired in 2007, interest in pingshu among Chinese had all but been replaced by mobile phones and gaming.Nevertheless, even after retiring, Mr. Shan worked tirelessly to promote pingshu among young Chinese, instructing apprentices and starting a school dedicated to the folk arts.

Ever willing to adapt to new technologies, he posted a message to his Sina Weibo microblog account on Sept. 6, five days before his death. It was an announcement about a new live-streamed（直播） lecture series about pingshu.

1. In the 1950s, Chinese folk art performers .

A．got no pay for their performance.

B．were looked down on by the public.

C．were always from an artistic family.

D．won popularity with common people.

2. What is the third paragraph mainly about?

A．The origin of pingshu.	B．The types of pingshu.
C．The performance of pingshu.	D．The performers of pingshu.

3. Why did Mr. Shan start his radio performance?

A．To expand his pingshu career.

B．To cater to the audience's needs.

C．To challenge himself in performance.

D．To make pingshu the main focus of attention.

4. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 9 probably imply?

A．The audience get a chance to communicate with the characters.

B．The audience can remember the different characters easily.

C．The audience hope to experience things happening to the characters.

D．The audience can understand the characters feelings and experiences.

5. Which words can best describe Mr. Shan?

A．flexible and devoted	B．adaptable and generous.
C．grateful and open-minded	D．sympathetic and strong-willed.

6. What's the authors' purpose of writing the text?

A．To promote the Chinese folk art— pingshu.

B．To stress the achievement of Shan Tianfang.

C．To give a brief introduction of Shan Tianfang.

D．To show ShanTianfang's effort to develop pingshu.

7 . Bank holidays! We all love them!

A bank holiday is an English term for a public holiday. During the day banks and offices are closed and a lot of people have a day off work. In the UK, people only get eight bank holidays in one year.     1    

People in Colombia are much luckier. There are twenty bank holidays for the whole country in one year! And there can be even more, depending on which region(地区) you live in.     2     As in the UK, most of the bank holidays in Colombia exist for religious reasons.

    3     One such example is Independence Day on 20 July every year. This is just like Bastille Day in France on 14 July.     4     It is in memory of the day that Christopher Columbus, first reached America in the year 1492.

Bank holidays are very important for western people.     5     They may also choose to stay at home to relax and forget about work.

A．Bank holidays are different in Colombia.

B．During the holidays, they often travel with their families.

C．This is because different regions have their own holidays.

D．And at least five of those are around Christmas time and Easter.

E．Every country on the continent of America celebrates Columbus Day.

F．Another historical bank holiday in Colombia is Columbus Day on 12 October.

G．However, some bank holidays in Colombia came into being for historical reasons.

8 . Looking for something entertaining to do? Check out some wonderful festivals around the world.

Koningsdag — The Netherland

Koningsdag or King’s Day is a national holiday in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is celebrated on 27 April (26 April if the 27^th is a Sunday), the date marking the birth of King Willem-Alexander. Orange is the national color, and the streets become a sea of feather boas (羽毛围巾) and body paint as crowds gather in the plazas and on the boats in the rivers. Amsterdam is the center of this outdoor party, with many live music events, but nearly every town is alive with orange on this day.

Thai National Elephant Day — Thailand

Thai National Elephant Day is a national holiday in Thailand. Thai National Elephant Day has been celebrated on March 13^th of every year since 1998. Because the elephant is the national animal of Thailand, it is highly respected and treasured. During the festivals elephant are honored during a ceremony (典礼) in which they are fed with bananas, other fruit, and sugarcane.

The Fire Festival — Shetland

On the last Tuesday of January the entire town of Lerwick, Shetland is in flames. At the festival, you’ll find yourself sitting, dancing, or stumbling around the largest bonfire you’ve ever seen in your life. The festival lasts only one day but takes the entire year to plan. Be prepared for an evening of singing, dancing, and fast paced activities, and don’t worry about making it to work next day — it’s a national holiday!

Holi — India

Holi, the Festival of Color, is a Hindu celebration full of joy and one of India’s most important holidays. On the last full moon day of the lunar month, usually late February or early March, the air is full of bright-colored powder. The festival is celebrated differently throughout the country, with bonfires and music, but the cheerful spirit is common throughout Hindu communities around the world.

1. The festival celebrated on March 13^th in Thailand is held to ______.

A．show people’s respect for their Queen

B．show Thai people’s respect for elephants

C．ask people to protect endangered animals

D．help people relax by singing and dancing

2. Why don’t people have to worry about working the day after the Fire Festival?

A．Because people are allowed to sleep at work next day.

B．Because the activities are too simple to get people tired.

C．Because people don’t have to go to work next day.

D．Because the festival ends very early at night.

3. Where should you go if you are interested in the Festival of Colors?

A．India.	B．Shetland.
C．Thailand.	D．The Netherlands.

9 . 请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。
注意：请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。每个空格只填1个单词。

When a thought has found words

Poetry is the forgotten child of literature. Few people read it for pleasure and modern poets are looked upon as odd creatures from a strange universe. In Western high schools, poetry is seldom taught because it is considered old-fashioned and not relevant to the needs of today’s students.

In China, however, poetry is still an important part of the curriculum and, with recent changes announced by the Ministry of Education, the number of poems students will have to memorize and recite is being increased from fourteen to seventy-two. Now, before you gasp in horror, let’s think about the reasons why studying so many poems, especially ancient poems, is important.

First of all, poetry is an essential part of traditional Chinese culture. It is a pathway to understanding your history and your society. It is also the key to understanding the thoughts and emotions that are common to everyone but which we may be unable to express—the joy of Li Bai dancing with the moon, for example. Everyone has feelings of joy, love, loneliness, sadness and even anger, and a good poem can put those emotions into words and bring us self-understanding.

Poems can also express beauty. In a few short lines, even something commonplace can become beautiful. Here is a poem called “Fog” by Carl Sandberg: The fog comes / on silent haunches (弓腰蹲着) / and then moves on. Yes, fog does move smoothly, silently and mysteriously like a cat, and Sandberg captures that feeling and image, and makes it beautiful.

Of course, to really appreciate poetry, it has to be really aloud. After all, a poem is really just a song without music. Most ancient poetry, especially Western poetry, was actually spoken before it was written. Take Homer’s Iliad (伊利亚德), the story of the Trojan War (特洛伊战争), for example. That epic saga (史诗般的故事) of Helen’s kidnapping and the war that followed was apparently told for hundreds of years in palaces, taverns (客栈) and on street corners before Homer wrote it down and was given credit for it.

The American poet Robert Frost said, “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” And poems are very concise—there is not a wasted word. You are lucky that you now have seventy-two poems to learn!

Passage outline	Detailed information
Awkward situation	Poetry is thought to be     1     from the life of people and poets beyond the understanding of ordinary people.
China’s recent     2	3    the number of poems for school students to memorize and recite
4     behind	Poetry is a reflection of Chinese culture. Learning poems help with the     5     of history and society. Poems enable people to express thoughts and feelings which would otherwise be     6     to express. Poetry conveys the beauty that     7     in common things. Poems use as     8     words as possible.
A tip on     9	Poetry is to read out. Poems are songs without music; Many ancient poems first appeared in     10     form.
Conclusion	Chinese students should feel lucky to have seventy two poems to learn!

10 . 3:00 pm It’s Friday. Alice comes home from high school to her mother who greets her at the door. She puts her backpack on her bedroom floor. She sees that she got a text from her friend, and hurriedly texts back before getting a head start on her homework.

4:15 pmAlice takes a moon cake from the kitchen that her mother has set aside for her. Her mother sits her down in the dining room to ask about Alice’s day. Alice tells her mother in Chinese about her math test that morning. She fails to tell her about her history class on women’s rights and her modern art class, because she knows it would make her mother uncomfortable.

6:30 pm Alice tells her mother in rapid Chinese that she’s done her homework and mentions that there is a mandatory(强制的) school function that night which she will have to attend. She asks her if she can go over to a friend’s house to study in the meantime. Her mother refuses because she has arranged for a tutor to come over.

7:00 pm Alice puts on a long-sleeved shirt and jeans, because she knows her mother would approve, but secretly packs a crop top(露脐装) and shorts. She empties her backpack of books and puts in her change of clothes.

7:45 pm Alice’s mother drives her to the school and drops her off. She tells Alice that she’ll pick her up when the function is over. The girl tells her mother that she will call.

8:00 pm Alice finds her friend. She changes to English and tells her that she’ll be right back. She goes into the bathroom and changes into the clothes that she brought. She now looks like all the other kids at the dance. She deeply loves her mother and hates lying to her, but she knows that is the only way she’ll understand. Avoiding the issue entirely by just “slipping out” is the only way she feels she can maintain her loving relationship at home, but still fit in with her schoolmates, who are themselves doing something that is supported by their parents.

In today’s world, scenarios (情况) like this one are more than frequent. They’re everywhere. Being born or living in a different country than the country your parents grew up in has become more and more regular. In the U.S. where the word “immigration” (移民) is often on people’s lips, nearly one-quarter of the 70.9 million children and adolescents under 17 in 2009 had at least one immigrant parent. The untold story of immigration is the stress put on the adolescents who need to live in two different worlds at the same time.

In the home, these teenagers are brought up within the traditional culture of their parents. They eat sushi, andxiao long bao, but even more than that, they’re brought up with the ideas and values of their parents’ cultures. Even the most independent teenager is influenced by his or her parents. However, as soon as these teenagers leave their houses, these values and expectations begin to lose their meaning. Instead of it being something that unites them with others, these traditional principles create cultural boundaries between teenagers. Seeing this and desperately wanting to connect with others, teenagers cast off(抛弃)their identities and roles in the home and put on a new culture and set of values.

These teenagers change themselves many times a day to adapt to these different worlds. Of course this isn’t something that they necessarily have to do. But following what their parents want and what their friends expect gives them the ability to feel accepted both in their home and in their school. In most cases, these teenagers are not pretending to be something they’re not. Rather, they are simply willing to play double roles in the drama of their life, adding an extra layer of stress to their teenage years.

1. What does Alice probably do between 3:00 pm and 4:15 pm?

A．She keeps texting her friend.	B．She prepares for supper.
C．She does her homework.	D．She tidies her bedroom.

2. What can be inferred (推断) from Alice’s story?

A．Her social life is limited by her mother.

B．She is forbidden to speak Chinese at school.

C．Her mother is interested in history and art.

D．Her mother doesn’t seem to care much about her studies.

3. By “slipping out” in Paragraph 6, the author probably means Alice ________.

A．tells her mother she’ll go over to her friend’s home

B．goes to dance at the school party with other kids

C．fails to tell her mother what she’ll truly do

D．wears a long-sleeved shirt and jeans

4. According to the passage, what do you think of the life of teenagers from immigrant families?

A．Colorful.

B．Embarrassing.

C．Traditional.

D．Independent.

5. The last paragraph implies (暗示) that teenagers from immigrant families ________.

A．have their own ways to cope with stress

B．are fairly glad to learn different cultures

C．feel rather satisfied with their social activities

D．want to be accepted by the people around them