It was exam time at Marc’s school. Every day, their teachers gave them loads of homework and told them the test was very important and that they ought to spare no effort to perform well in it. Everyone followed the teachers’ instructions and made preparations for it, except Marc. He just turned a deaf ear to it. He thought he would rather play football than study.
His mum and dad repeated the importance of revision for exams over and over again. They told him that he should be working hard preparing for the test. But the weather was sunny and he thought he had better things to do.
“Shall we go to the park?” he said to his friend Huck one afternoon. “It’s a nice day. We could play football and kick around.” Huck shook his head. “I’m supposed to review my lessons,” he said. “I’m going home to do some math.”
Marc was amazed. “You’d rather do math than play football?”
“Math is important. Besides, my mum says she will buy me a mountain bike if I do well in the math exam.”
“That’s crazy,” said Marc. Huck shrugged (耸肩) and replied, “Wait until I beat you in the test and you will watch me riding past on my mountain bike!”
“You won’t beat me,” said Marc.
“Oh yes, I will.”
“Oh no, you won’t! That will never happen. Just wait and see!”
For the first time ever, Marc wanted to perform well. He couldn’t bear it if his friend came top and he did badly. So when he got home, he opened his math book. But there was so much to do. All of a sudden, he felt like he’d forgotten everything he had learned that year! He didn’t know where to start. When his sister Lily came in, he was sitting expressionlessly by the desk, just staring out of the window.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按如下格式作答。
“You don’t look happy, Marc. What’s wrong?” she said.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On the day of the exam, Marc went to school with great confidence.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2 . When you see a slim tower topping out at 14 feet 6 inches (4.4m) and made up of 208 decks of cards, you may exclaim it’s so incredible!
The tower’s architect, Bryan Berg, is an expert card builder, holding the world’s record for the tallest structure built entirely of paper cards. He’s built houses, stadiums, capitols, and castles. There’s no glue, tape or clips (别针). How can he make them stand firm? He begins by balancing four cards to form a box with arms sticking out, which forms a grid (网格). Then he repeats the grid over and over, expanding outward, to build a solid base. After that, Bryan lays cards around the edge and then across the top to make the floor for the next story of the building.
Interestingly enough, Bryan did not get the idea from any of the physical books. Instead, he discovered the unique way to build solid structures using a trick from nature. The secret is plant cells. Plant cells have hard walls and fit together tightly to form a grid that helps leaves and stems to keep their shape. Bees use the same kind of pattern to create honeycombs. Bryan borrowed this idea to invent repeating grids of card cells.
Out of curiosity, people who come to see the card buildings sometimes push and poke (戳刺) to see if they have clips inside, but find they don’t! Once, when Bryan built a card castle at Disney World, birds kept trying to land on it. A squirrel managed to take down one wall and did plenty of damage inside. But, amazingly, the castle didn’t collapse.
When it’s time to take down a card house, Bryan likes to blow them apart with a leaf blower. Is he ever sad to do it? Bryan admits it’s sometimes painful to see his structures fall. But he always knows one thing: “What goes up must come down — even card houses. They wouldn’t be so special if they were permanent. I also learn a lot from taking them apart — the destruction shows me where the weak points are. That is what my next stronger buildings really need.”
1. What makes Bryan’s card buildings stand firm?| A．Fixed clips. | B．Repeating grids. |
| C．Light-weight cards. | D．Multiple stories. |
| A．The source of Bryan’s inspiration. |
| B．Bryan’s specific building process. |
| C．Bryan’s comprehensive knowledge of biology. |
| D．The similarity between plant cells and honeycombs. |
| A．To arouse people’s interest in visiting. |
| B．To prove the strength of Bryan’s card works. |
| C．To indicate Bryan’s popularity among children. |
| D．To show the harmony between man and nature. |
| A．Pride comes before a fall. |
| B．It’s unrealistic to achieve perfection. |
| C．One can better himself by going beyond himself. |
| D．Nothing is difficult for one who sets his mind to it. |
Willie’s 11th birthday was coming. His aunt sent him a birthday present—a small nice notebook. There was a place in it for a pencil. Willie valued it a lot and always kept it in his pocket. When he found something interesting, he would write it down in the book.
One afternoon, after Willie came back from school, he called his best friend, Caper, a well-trained shepherd dog and said, “Come, Caper! Let’s go out and have fun.” They went to the pasture field (牧场) to catch the butterflies and there they found a shaft (通风井), which seemed to be deserted for a long time. Willie sat down on the edge of the shaft, bending over to see how deep it was. Suddenly, he lost his balance and fell in. “Help! Help!” Willie called desperately. But no response at all. He was so far away from the house. He made several attempts to climb up the shaft but again he failed! Now Willie was exhausted and frustrated. When Caper saw his master falling into the shaft, the little good companion ran round and round, reaching down and trying to pull him out. Unfortunately, a piece of rock gave way under his feet, and he fell in the shaft too!
It was getting dark. When Willie’s mother, Mrs. Lee came back from work and found there was no one at home, she was anxious and worried. Without any clue at home, she decided to look for Willie outside. She went to all the trees under which Willie was in the habit of playing, but he was nowhere to be found. By this time, the sun had gone down. A feeling of panic took hold of Mrs. Lee. She comforted herself that Willie might have come back. She rushed back, hoping to find her son at home.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
She found Caper sitting in front of the door, with a notebook in his mouth.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Willie told Mum how he came up with the idea after he was successfully rescued.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________4 . When I turned twelve, I worked in summer at my father’s small brick cleaning business. I remember the harsh acid smell of the cleaning solution, the dim bulb light reflecting the busy figures and the scraping sound of stiff iron brushes against rough brick. It was tempting to have your job just finished. But anybody who worked for Thomas Kahoon had to meet his standards, and that included me. If I messed up, he made me stay late until I got it right. My father wasn’t being mean. He demanded the exact same of himself. Every brick he cleaned on the house stood out like a red jewel in a white setting. It was his signature.
In 1970, when I was twenty, I was to get married. I moved out of my parent’s modest place into a housing project. Drugs and gang violence were just beginning to damage the projects. Some of my friends went to jail. Some were killed. My wife Verllen, was 18, and nobody gave our marriage a chance. But we believed in each other. And our faith made us strong.
When we married, I worked as a stock clerk at Southwest Super Food. It was hard, tedious work. Each Friday night a truck came, with cases of food that had to be unloaded, priced and placed on shelves. Most of stock clerks try to get Friday night off. But I was always ready to work. By Saturday morning, all the cans and jars in my aisle were placed with a label facing smartly out, like a line of soldiers on review. That was my signature. I took pride in a job nobody wanted.
Years past since I established my belief in doing the job, influenced profoundly by my father’s persistence and standards. In my mind, it has become a tradition I hope this generation and the generations behind can keep to and follow.
1. What do we learn about the author’s father?| A．He is a tough person. | B．He is quite mean to others. |
| C．He is very demanding in his work. | D．He usually works very late. |
| A．It was a promising industry. | B．It was bothered by drugs and gang violence. |
| C．It enabled the author to get married. | D．It forced many people to go to prison. |
| A．He was mainly responsible for unloading food. | B．He had to sign his name on every label. |
| C．He had to endure the hardship and boredom. | D．He was required to work at Friday night. |
| A．Persistence can be passed on to the next generation. |
| B．Hardship can help develop a person’s patience. |
| C．Demanding jobs are hard to address for a beginner. |
| D．Strong will must be cultivated in the harsh working environment. |
5 . Two thirds of the ice in the glaciers (冰川) of the Alps is doomed! These glaciers will melt by the end of the century as global temperatures rise, according to a recent study.
Scientists claim that half the ice held in some 4,000 Alpine glaciers will disappear by 2050 due to global warming through the effect of past emissions. After that, even if carbon emissions drop to zero, two-thirds of the ice will still have melted by 2100. If emissions continue to rise at the current rate, the ice tongues will have all but disappeared from Alpine valleys by the end of the century. The most pessimistic prediction tells us that the Alps will be mostly ice-free by 2100. Only isolated ice patches would remain at high altitudes, representing five per cent, at most, of the ice volume seen today.
The researchers warn that the loss of these glaciers will mean much less water is available for farming and hydroelectricity, especially during droughts. It would also affect nature and tourism.
In February, a study found that a third of the huge ice fields in Asia’s towering mountain chains were also under threat for the same reasons. This will lead to serious consequences for almost two billion people who live downstream. Glaciers along the Hindu Kush and Himalayan range are at higher, colder altitudes. If global carbon emissions are not cut, however, two-thirds of their ice could be gone by 2100.
The latest research combined computer models with real-world data to forecast the fate of the glaciers. It used 2017 as its starting point. Unlike previous work, these models included how the glaciers move down the mountains. Applying this approach to other glaciated mountain chains could improve ice loss forecasts there.
Cutting the emissions from fossil-fuel burning, deforestation and other polluting activities is the biggest factor in minimizing the melting of the ice. The future of these glaciers is indeed at risk, but there is still a possibility of limiting their disappearance.
1. What does the underlined word “doomed” mean in paragraph 1?| A．Polluted. | B．Discovered. | C．Endangered. | D．Abandoned. |
| A．Emissions have much to do with the ice melting. |
| B．The Alps is expected to lose all its ice by 2100. |
| C．Ice loss will be avoided with emissions prevented. |
| D．Large ice pieces will just exist at the mountain top. |
| A．To explain how glacier melting came about. |
| B．To imply pollution is a worldwide problem. |
| C．To show what consequences ice melting will cause. |
| D．To indicate the Alps is not alone to face ice melting. |
| A．Objective. | B．Optimistic. | C．Critical. | D．Doubtful. |
I had just a very wonderful day. Although all my days were always wonderful to me, that day was completely different. There was a bulletin(公告)board saying that they would need to find volleyball players for the girls and I was so happy! I have been loving playing volleyball since my mother taught me how to play. I was so excited that I couldn’t wait to play! Then I read more what was on that bulletin board, which said that here would be an audition(试演)after three weeks! “Three weeks?” I thought about it I did know how to play volleyball but I was not much of an expert in doing it but I still wanted to try.
After that I was determined to practice volleyball every day. I practiced hard again and again each day and never got tired of doing the same practice through all the days, and finally, the day came. I was so prepared for this and hurried to the gym to the audition. When I had reached the gym, I was surprised to see that 12 or 14 girls were lining up and I guessed I was the last one to arrive. Then our audition began. Some of the girls failed to pass the audition and some passed.
There was only one position left to complete the 6 girls to join the volleyball team and suddenly I felt nervous because the person in front of me was going to take the serve(发球). Then the girl hit the ball and then the ball didn’t pass over the net! The girl hit her forehead and left, leaving me standing in the middle of the court.
Then the coach spoke, “Okay, you serve.” She handed me the ball and I caught it with my hands. As the ball was in my hands, my hands were suddenly sweating and so was I!
注意：
1．续写词数应为150字左右；
2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
I then suddenly became nervous about this.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I come to a stop, taking a deep breath and began.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7 . Some Strategies for an Effective To-Do List
One of the age-old productivity techniques is an effective to do list. It’s powerful for everyone to get things done. But my argument is that maybe you aren’t making an effective to-do list.
● Break the list into two parts. The first strategy is to break a list into two parts. These two parts are called dailies and to-do’s. Dailies are the everyday tasks that you want to develop more, such as a 15-minute workout routine.
●
● Make your list easy to spot. From colorful paper to posting it in an obvious place, you want your list to be spotted easily. Mind you, you don’t need to have this list in front of you all the time as it could create unnecessary stress.
● Add gaming elements to it. If pen and paper isn’t your thing when making to-do lists, several to-do list apps can guide you along as well.
So get started with your to-do lists today.
| A．Put a limit on items. |
| B．Create a “done” list. |
| C．But setting it to one side is a nice idea. |
| D．Pick from the strategies below to find what suits you. |
| E．The beauty of them is that there is more room for creativity. |
| F．This allows you to ensure that you’re getting everything done the proper way. . |
| G．Your to-do’s are non-daily tasks that you need to be getting done at some point. |
8 . The Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania live a life that has not changed much over ten thousand years. They have no crops, no house animals, no permanent shelters. In spite of long exposure to agriculturalist groups around them, the Hadza have maintained their lifestyle.
The story of the spread of agriculture is the story of growing population density (密度). Villages formed, then cities, then nations. Agriculture’s rise, however, came with a price. It introduced infectious diseases, social inequality, occasional famines (饥荒) and war. Professor Jared Diamond of UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) has called the adoption of agriculture “the worst mistake in human history”— a mistake from which we have never recovered.
Looking at the Hadza, you can see why he came to this conclusion. They do not engage in warfare. They do not live densely (稠密地) enough to be threatened by an infectious outbreak. They have no known history of famine (饥荒). The Hadza diet is more stable (稳定 的) and varied than that of most of the world’s citizens. They live almost entirely free of possessions. They enjoy an extraordinary amount of leisure time, “working” — actively pursuing food — only four to six hours a day.
The chief reason the Hadza have been able to maintain their lifestyle so long is that their homeland is not an inviting place. Recently, however, population growth has brought a flood of people into Hadza lands. The region has generally been viewed by outsiders as unused, a Place in need of development. The Hadza, who by nature are not a combative (好战的) people, have almost always moved away instead of fighting.
There are many things to envy about the Hadza, mostly what free spirits they appear to be. Free from schedules, jobs, bosses, bills, traffic, taxes, laws, social duties and money. But who of us could live like them? It’s incredibly risky. Medical help is far away. One bad fall from a tree, one bite from a snake, and you’re dead. The fact is that it’s too late for us to go back to the Hadza lifestyle. Of greater concern is that soon it may be impossible for them to maintain theirs.
1. What does the underlined word “It” in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Agriculture’s rise. | B．The growth of population. |
| C．The formation of village. | D．The appearance of a city. |
| A．They are always busy in all seasons |
| B．They like fighting with the other nations |
| C．They are often in hunger because of fight |
| D．They are always leading a free life without fight. |
| A．It’s convenient for the people of Hadza to get medical care. |
| B．It’s worth visiting the beautiful scenery of the Hadza. |
| C．Visitors can be welcomed warmly by the people of the Hadza. |
| D．The author is worried about the current situation of the Hadza. |
| A．Agriculture of the Hadza | B．The Unique Hadza Lifestyle |
| C．The Attractive Diet of the Hadza | D．The Medical Care of the Hadza |
9 . Blue whales eat up to 10 million pieces of microplastic every day, research estimated Tuesday, suggesting that the pollution causes a bigger danger to the world’s largest animal than previously thought.
A US-led research team put tags on 191 blue whales that live off the coast of California to observe their movements. “It’s basically like an Apple Watch, just on the back of a whale,” said Shirel Kahane-Rapport, a researcher at California State University, Fullerton, and the study’s first author.
The whales mostly fed at depths of between 50 to 250 meters, which is home to the “greatest concentration of microplastics in the sea,” Kahane-Rapport said. The researchers then estimated the size and number of mouthfuls the whales had daily, modeling three different situations. Under the most likely situation, the blue whales ate up to 10 million microplastic pieces a day. Over the 90 to 120 days’ annual feeding season, which represents more than a billion pieces a year.
The largest animal ever to live on Earth is also likely the biggest microplastic consumer, eating up to 43.6 kilograms a day, the study said. While it is easy to imagine whales sucking (吞没) in vast amounts of microplastics as they ate, the researchers found that was not the case.
Instead, 99 percent of the microplastics entered the whales because they were already inside their prey (猎物). “That’s concerning for us,” Kahane-Rapport said, because humans eat that prey. “We also eat sardines,” she said, adding that “krill (磷虾) is the basis of the food web.” “Previous research has shown that if krill is in a tank with microplastic, they will eat it,” Kahane-Rapport said.
Now that the researchers know how much microplastic is being consumed by whales, next they aim to determine how much harm it could be doing. “The quantity defines the poison,” Kahane-Rapport said.
1. Why is a tag placed on the back of the whales?| A．It can treat the illness of whales. | B．It can track the living of whales. |
| C．It can ensure the safety of whales. | D．It can record the danger of whales. |
| A．By providing data. | B．By giving examples. | C．By explaining the reason. | D．By expressing their guess. |
| A．The research process was very complicated. | B．The whales live in the area free from pollution. |
| C．Most microplastics entered the whales directly. | D．Humans may eat microplastics through their diet. |
| A．It will be highly profitable. | B．It will be further conducted. |
| C．It will involve food poison. | D．It will help whales avoid risk. |
The Doctor’s Son
My parents moved to the small town Enosburg when I was still a baby. A soft-spoken man, my father settled quietly into his medical practice. Within a few months the people of Enosburg accepted him as one of their own. The neighbors greeted my father as “Doctor Eppley”. And I always was known as “Doctor Eppley’s son”.
Throughout the first years of my life, I never tired of letting others know that my father was one of the town’s most respected citizens. Somewhere in my teenage years, however, something changed. I was 16 years old and the neighbors still called me “Doctor Eppley’s son”. They said that I was growing up to be an honorable young man just like my father. I complained whenever I heard these words. So when strangers asked me if I was Doctor Eppley’s son, I replied, “My name is Harold.”
I survived my last year of high school. The next fall I went to college. I chose to attend a school far from Enosburg, a place where nobody called me “Doctor Eppley’s son” because nobody knew my father.
I returned home for winter break that year feeling proud of myself. In four months at college, I had become popular in my own right, without my father’s help.
For two weeks I enjoyed being back in Enosburg. The main topic of interest at home was my father’s new car.
“Let me take it out for a drive,” I said.
My father agreed, but not without his usual warning, “Be careful!”
“All right then,” he replied. “The keys are in the kitchen.”
I got into the car and drove a few miles and then stopped at a busy intersection in a nearby town. As I stepped on the accelerator(油门), my mind went blank, and I failed to hear the loud high noise of brakes(刹车)in front of me. I only heard a great crash as I reacted too late.
注意：1.续写词数应为150个左右;2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
The woman in the car I had struck jumped out of her vehicle unhurt.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On hearing what I had just said, the woman gave me a smile of recognition.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
