Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus (马戏团) . Finally, there was only one family between us and the ticket counter (柜台).
This family made a big impression on me. There were eight children, all probably under the age of twelve. You could tell they didn’t have a lot of money.
Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean. The children were well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents, holding hands. They were excitedly talking about the clowns. elephants, and other acts they would see that night with their brothers or sisters in a low voice.
One could sense they had never been to the circus before. It promised to be highlight of their young lives. The father and mother were at the head of the pack, standing proud as could be. The mother was holding her husband’s hand, looking up at him as if to say, “You are my knight (骑士) in shining armor (盔甲).”
He was smiling and responding in pride, looking back at her as if to say, “You got that right” . The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly responded, “Please let me buy eight child tickets and two adult tickets so I can take my family to the circus.”
The ticket lady gave the price. The man’s wife let go of his hand, her head dropped, and his lips began to shake. The father leaned (倾斜) a little closer and asked. “How much do you say?”
The ticket lady again quoted (报价) the price. The man didn’t have enough money.
How was he supposed to turn around and tell his eight children that he didn’t have enough money to take them to the circus?
Actually we were not wealthy in any sense. So I understand how the kids would feel. I felt sorry for them.
注意：续写词数应为80左右。Seeing what was going on, my dad put his hand in his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill and dropped it on the ground.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________That day my father and I went back to our car and drove home without any tickets.
2 . Animal appear to predict earthquakes by sensing electricity in the air — the first study to find reliable evidence of the phenomenon has shown.
Cameras revealed an “amazing” drop in the number of animals up to 23 days before a major quake hit their rainforest home at Yanachaga National Park in Peru. Lead scientist Dr Rachel Grant, from Anglia Ruskin University, said, “The results showed that just before the earthquake, animals’ activity dropped right down.”
On a normal day the cameras placed around Yanachaga National Park record between 5 and 15 animals. But in the 23 days before the earthquake, the number of animals dropped to five or fewer per day. No animals were photographed at all on five of the seven days immediately before the quake.
Another study showed that animal activity remained normal in the park over a different period when seismic (地震的) activity was low. Co-author, professor Friedemann Freund, said, “The cameras were located at an altitude of 900 meters. If air ionization occurred, the animals would escape to the valley below, where there were fewer positive ions ( 离子). With their ability to sense their environment, animals can help us understand small changes that occur before major earthquakes.”
Other evidence suggested that before the earthquake, the air around the high mountain sites filled with positive ions that can be produced when rocks are placed under stress. Positive ions have been known to cause ill effects in humans as well as animals. Scientists believe the animals were made to feel uncomfortable by the positive ions, leading them to avoid the area. They are thought to have escaped to lower ground, where the air was less ionized. The findings may help experts develop better short-term seismic forecasts.
1. How did scientists conduct the study?| A．By comparing different animals’ habits. |
| B．By observing animals in high mountains. |
| C．By explaining the positive ion phenomenon. |
| D．By analyzing images of animals they obtained. |
| A．The ground at a lower altitude is less ionized. |
| B．Cameras normally record more animals per day. |
| C．Earthquake warnings can be detected in lower places. |
| D．The activity of animals and earthquakes is consistent. |
| A．The findings make for accurate seismic forecast. |
| B．Animals tend to be uneasy with more positive ions. |
| C．Positive ions make humans and animals depressed. |
| D．All the animals remain abnormal before the earthquake. |
| A．Negative Influence of Positive Ions. |
| B．Ions’ Destruction to the Environment. |
| C．Animals’ Behavior Before Earthquakes. |
| D．Creatures’ Ability to Predict Earthquakes. |
3 . While rap(说唱音乐)songs are made up of many parts, the verse(主歌部分)is by far the most important.
Begin by free-writing lines about your topic. Using your topic as a starting point, start writing outlines of your thoughts, trying to rhyme(使押韵)the last word in each line. Once you’ve exhausted a set of rhymes, start another one and write lines until you run out of ideas. Explore ideas around your topic until you find the ones you enjoy or know best.
Build a rhyme scheme(格式)around your favorite lines. A rhyme scheme is a pattern that gives your verse structure
Start with a powerful line. The first lines of your verse should introduce the verse and capture the listener’s attention. Ask a question, make an interesting metaphor, or blow the listener away with skillful wordplay.
Develop a flow, or rhythm, in your rap. Once you’ve got your words on the page, you need to figure out how to say them. Flow is how a rapper delivers his/ her lyrics in along with the beat. Listen again to the beat you are rapping and practice fitting your lyrics to it.
| A．Get to know your beat well |
| B．Rewrite your verse to fit the beat |
| C．Most rappers have mixed rhyme schemes |
| D．You can think of it as a blueprint of which lines need to rhyme |
| E．Don’t be worried just yet about making your lines ideally perfect |
| F．That’s because it’s where a rapper develops the ideas or the song in depth |
| G．Anything that introduces the verse and make yourself stand out will be OK |
4 . It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80s came to the hospital. I heard him saying to the nurse that he was in a hurry for all appointment(约会)at 9:30. The nurse had him take a
Now I
| A．breath | B．test | C．seat | D．break |
| A．persuading | B．promising | C．understanding | D．telling |
| A．if | B．before | C．since | D．after |
| A．taking off | B．fixing | C．looking at | D．winding |
| A．very | B．also | C．seldom | D．not |
| A．turn up | B．show off | C．come on | D．go away |
| A．needed | B．forgot | C．agreed | D．happened |
| A．daughter | B．wife | C．mother | D．sister |
| A．late | B．well | C．around | D．there |
| A．lonely | B．worried | C．doubtful | D．hungry |
| A．so far | B．neither | C．no longer | D．already |
| A．recognize | B．answer | C．believe | D．expect |
| A．moved | B．disappointed | C．surprised | D．satisfied |
| A．only | B．then | C．thus | D．still |
| A．curiosity | B．tears | C．words | D．judgment |
| A．realize | B．suggest | C．hope | D．prove |
| A．agreement | B．expression | C．acceptance | D．exhibition |
| A．necessarily | B．completely | C．naturally | D．frequently |
| A．learn | B．make | C．favor | D．try |
| A．Adventure | B．Beauty | C．Trust | D．Life |
5 . The sound that woke Damian Languell at 8:15 am was so loud that he assumed it came from inside his house. As he got up to investigate, he heard another sound, this one coming most definitely from outside. Looking out of his bedroom window, he spied a tree engulfed (淹没) in smoke about 500 yards away. A car was wrapped around the tree’s base, its engine on fire.
Grabbing buckets of water, Languell and his girlfriend ran to the crash site. The wreck looked worse up close. The car, a 1998 Buick, was split nearly in two, and the tree was where the driver’s seat ought to have been, as if planted there. No one should have survived this crash, and yet there was 16-year-old Quintin Thompson, his terrified face pressed against the driver’s side window, in visible pain. Languell tried putting out the fire with his buckets of water with no success. When the flames got into the front seats, he realized he had to get the boy out of there.
In an act that a police report described as showing “complete disregard for his own safety”, Languell opened the Buick’s back door and crawled in. Thompson was struggling to get free, Languell says. “That’s when I noticed how bad his legs were.” Using a pocketknife he’d had the foresight to bring with him, he sawed through Thompson’s seat belt.
Now that Thompson was free, Languell pulled him out a back window of the vehicle, then dragged the teen to safety before the entire car was engulfed in flames.
Although Thompson suffered multiple fractures (骨折) to his legs, spine, and face, a social media post described him as “looking great, smiling, and joking.” Languell thinks about that day often. “My heart goes out to Thompson. When you are that close to that level of hurt, you feel it so directly.”
1. When Damian heard the big sound, ______.| A．he called 911 immediately |
| B．he stayed inside his house |
| C．he woke up his girlfriend |
| D．he got up to see what happened |
| A．the police had arrived |
| B．the whole car was completely in flames |
| C．Thompson was terrified and painful |
| D．Thompson was smiling and joking |
| A．brave | B．lucky |
| C．simple-minded | D．warm-hearted |
| A．His own bravery and persistence. |
| B．The several buckets of water. |
| C．The timely arrival of the police. |
| D．The pocketknife Damian carried with him. |
6 . A new study establishes that environmental damage caused by corn production results in 4,300 premature deaths annually in the United States, representing cost of $39 billion.
The paper, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Sustainability, presents how researchers have estimated for the first time the health damages caused by corn production using detailed information on pollution emissions, pollution transport by wind, and human exposure to increased air pollution levels.
The study also shows how the damage to human health of producing a litre (升) of corn differs from region to region and how, in some areas, the health damages of corn production are greater than its market price.
“The deaths caused per litre in western corn belt states such as Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska tend to be lower than in eastern corn belt states such as Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio,” said lead researcher Jason Hill.
It’s important for farmers to have this information so that they can carry out practices that reduce the environmental influence of the crops they grow. Farmers can greatly improve the environmental profile of their corn by using precision agriculture tools and switching to fertilizers that have lower ammonia (氨) emissions. The study’s results also suggest potential benefits from improving nitrogen use efficiency, switching to crops requiring less fertilizer, and changing the location where corn is grown.
Aware that changes in practices can take time and planning, Hill suggests farmers could be offered motivation to switch to crops that demand less applied nitrogen while still offering market and nutritional benefits.
Hill said, “The number of deaths related to corn production could be reduced through these key strategies”.
1. Which of the states has the lowest death rate caused by corn production?| A．Nebraska. | B．Illinois. |
| C．Indiana. | D．Ohio. |
| A．Improve nitrogen use efficiency. |
| B．Plant crops with no fertilizer. |
| C．Change the corn’s location. |
| D．Using precision agriculture tools. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Optimistic. |
| C．Pessimistic. | D．Neutral. |
| A．Health and lifestyle. |
| B．Art and design. |
| C．Science and environment. |
| D．Fashion and business. |
7 . Population data for European mountain birds have been for the first time combined in a recent study, with worrying results: the abundances of mountain-specialist birds has declined by as much as 10% in the 2000s.
Ecological communities in mountain areas include species not found in any other habitats. These species are also very susceptible to climate change, as global warming is reducing their liveable habitats. In principle, species may relocate further up the mountains, but closer to the top their habitat inevitably shrinks.
According to the new article, the abundance of European mountain birds has in fact declined in line with climate change projections.
The recently released study examined the population trends of 44 bird species in the 2000s in the mountain and fell regions of Fennoscandia, Great Britain, the Alps and the Iberian Peninsula. A decline was seen in 14 of the observed species, while eight of them saw significant increase.
“On average, population decline among the species studied was 7% over the 13-year research period, making the situation of mountain birds distinctly worse compared to, for example, European forest birds, whose numbers did not change during the same period,” explains Aleksi Lehikoinen, an Academy of Finland research fellow at the Finnish Museum of Natural History Luomus (part of the University of Helsinki), who headed the study.
The situation is the direst for species that only inhabit mountain regions and are unable to live in other European environments. For these species, known as mountain specialists, the numbers dwindled by as much as 10% during the monitoring period.
1. What can we get from the passage about European mountain birds?| A．They are newly found species. |
| B．They can be found at any place of the world. |
| C．The number of the birds has decreased greatly. |
| D．The number of the birds has increased greatly. |
| A．Air pollutions. |
| B．Global warming. |
| C．Human activities. |
| D．Competition with other species. |
| A．All 44 bird species decreased. |
| B．Only 8 of the species declined. |
| C．14 of the observed species declined. |
| D．There was no change in the number of the bird species. |
| A．Serious. | B．Useful. |
| C．Suitable. | D．Waterless. |
8 . Even though these monuments are extremely well known, they hold secrets that not many people are aware of.
Empire State Building
On the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building in New York, there is a secret observation deck that not a lot of people know about. To access the balcony, you have to take a series of elevators and then a very steep, narrow staircase. The observation deck isn’t open to the public, but many celebrities have been photographed there.
Eiffel Tower
There is a secret apartment and office at the very top of the Eiffel Tower that has just recently become open to the public. In 1889, Gustave Eiffel, the engineer of this famous Paris landmark, built himself a private apartment and office. It has been restored and has wax models of Gustave, his daughter, and American inventor Thomas Edison on display.
Statue of Liberty
There is actually a room in the torch of the Statue of Liberty that showcases breathtaking views of the city. People used to be able to visit that room until 1916 when German agents blew up a nearby wharf (码头). The explosion sent broken pieces into the raised arm of Lady Liberty, making the staircase up to the hidden room unsafe.
Disneyland
Hardcore Disney fans might think they know all of the secrets of the park, a famous U.S. landmark, but many haven’t heard of Club 33. This exclusive restaurant is hidden behind an unmarked door in Disneyland’s New Orleans Square. If you want to dine here on your next trip to Disneyland, don’t get your hopes up. It costs $25,000 to join the club, plus an annual fee of $12,000.
1. What do the monuments have in common?| A．They are all in Europe. |
| B．They all have skyscrapers. |
| C．They are all the best-known. |
| D．They all hide little-known secrets. |
| A．Disneyland. | B．Eiffel Tower. |
| C．Statue of Liberty. | D．Empire State Building. |
| A．Attractive. | B．Expensive. |
| C．Wonderful. | D．Beautiful. |
9 . What do you do with a withered orchid (兰花)?
Everything has a life cycle and orchids don’t
Some of the plants were moved to a table in the living room, and others were
Actually, everything has its own life cycle. Sure, you can
My wife kept moving the plants around the house looking for the right light.
Yes, you can
| A．Because | B．Although | C．Unless | D．If |
| A．bloom | B．struggle | C．live | D．care |
| A．continue | B．last | C．manage | D．go |
| A．help | B．stop | C．keep | D．stand |
| A．ruins | B．vain | C．need | D．trouble |
| A．effort | B．attempt | C．research | D．trial |
| A．reminded | B．informed | C．convinced | D．warned |
| A．However | B．Therefore | C．Also | D．Otherwise |
| A．removed | B．ignored | C．placed | D．sold |
| A．stick to | B．believe in | C．build up | D．give up |
| A．rescue | B．mind | C．notice | D．way |
| A．Generally | B．Normally | C．Surprisingly | D．Sadly |
| A．lose | B．miss | C．gain | D．keep |
| A．trust | B．confidence | C．hope | D．dream |
| A．great | B．big | C．hard | D．slim |
10 . If something that you’re doing doesn’t challenge you, then it doesn’t change you. We all need some normal stress in our lives, after all.
1.Figure out what you’re scared of and do it continuously.
If you’re a salesman, and you’re scared of talking to people personally or over the phone now, instead of being scared and thinking you’ll fail, spend at least five minutes a day to pick up the phone and make a call.
2.
Make sure this hobby is not linked to your career; you have to relax and relieve your stress while performing this. Some examples might be cooking, sewing, painting and so on. Apart from helping you challenge yourself, taking a class for your hobby may also give you extra income.
3. Set aside at least nine minutes a day for physical exercise.
4.Travel and allow yourself to be interested in new people.
Don’t just limit yourself to your fellow travelers, try to connect with the service staff. You never know what kind of people they’re going to be. Get out of your house or go online to book your ticket right now.
| A．Someone may hang up on you. |
| B．You should do it continuously. |
| C．You don’t need to go to the gym. |
| D．Running in the gym may be a better choice. |
| E．Start to travel now and learn to challenge yourself. |
| F．Take a class for a hobby you’ve been wanting to develop. |
| G．You can never see any improvement if you stick to your comfort zone. |
