I don’t look like the rest of my family. As a matter of fact, I stand out quite a bit with my white skin and blue eyes. When people see us together, it is clear that I am adopted. I am happy to have such a loving and caring family, but sometimes I wish I knew who my birth parents are.
My friends often ask, “Are you sad that you don’t know your real parents?” I know that they are just curious and concerned about me — I’m fine, for the most part — but I feel like there’s something missing in my life, like a giant hole in my heart. My mother listens when I tell her about my feelings, and she feels that it is important for me to be in touch with my culture. Because of this, she and I go to Chinese Heritage Camp (CHC) each year in Snow Mountain Ranch.
CHC is a two-day camp where hundreds of adopted kids like me spend time with each other. We talk about how it feels to be adopted, and we participate in fun outdoor activities. It’s great because we can talk about our feelings without having the conversation get too intense. Confusion, occasional disappointment and anger are no longer strange; they are normal here. It makes me feel like I am not alone, and there is someone out there going through the exact same emotions. Whether we’re talking, laughing, crying, or dancing, CHC is always an experience to remember. I like all of the new people I meet, and I will keep them in my heart forever, because it always feels good to know there are people out there just like me.
In this way, my journey to find my roots continues for several years. I also gradually come out from the shadow of a seemingly inseparable teenager. Camp has changed the way I look at things. Each year seems to open up new surprises, adventures and friendships.
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。
CHC teaches me to learn that being adopted doesn’t mean that I’m strange.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I also sincerely love and thank my parents.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2 . What’s in a Game?
Picture you and your friends sitting around one Saturday, bored. You’ve read every book, watched every movie and played every game. There is absolutely nothing left to do.
The Ohjective
The first thing you’ll need to design a great game is an objective or goal for players to work toward.
Next, you’ll need rules to let your players know what they can and can’t do. It might seem like a game with no rules would be more fun. You can do anything you want! Unfortunately, this often results in confused players arguing about how the game should be played. Rules set limits and define what the game is — and what it isn’t. Players need to know what they can and can’t do, and what will happen when they do different things.
Meaningful Choices
While you are creating your rules, think about the choices players will make and what effects those choices will have.
Don’t Forget to Playtest!
Any game you see in stores has gone through many rounds of testing and revision. Rules that seem clear to you might be confusing for others. Situations might come up that you didn’t expect.
| A．The Place |
| B．The Rules |
| C．What can your players do |
| D．What if you could invent your own game |
| E．Every choice a player makes needs to have an effect on the gameplay |
| F．The best way to make sure your game is playable and fun is to playtest it |
| G．Objectives can take many forms, but they should always be clear to the players |
3 . Bees are a big part of the life cycle of plants, pollinating flower after flower and allowing plants to produce their yummy output. But with bee populations on the decline, what can take their place? How about soap bubbles?
It may sound fantastical. But Eijiro Miyako and his colleague at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have used battery-powered bubble makers to pollinate a pear orchard. The details of their magical approach to agriculture are in the journal Science.
A few years back, Miyako and his team tried to copy the pollination of honeybees by adopting a two-inch-long toy drone with brushes made of horsehair. But the tiny flyer was tough to control. And its little hairy brushes ended up damaging the delicate targets.
After spending some time blowing bubbles with his son, Miyako started thinking more seriously about these little soapy wonders. He figured bubbles would be sticky enough to carry and deliver a pollen load but soft and flexible, so they shouldn’t hurt a flower when they land.
The researchers chemically bettered their soapy solution to make bubbles that were mechanically stable and actually enhanced the pollination process. In the orchard, they aimed their soap bubbles at row after row of pear trees. And they found the bubble system worked just as well as the more labor-intensive pollination by hand: pear trees pollinated by bubbles eventually produced fruit — a sweet sign of success.
Miyako has also upgraded the drone — this time using a larger model — equipped with a machine that lets out a huge number of bubbles in a short time. It has a big advantage over the hand-held model, because it’s fully autonomously controllab le by GPS with Google Map. So the drones can make a beeline to where farmers need them to be.
1. What is the function of the first paragraph?| A．To provide examples. | B．To lead in the topic. |
| C．To make comparisons. | D．To offer an argument. |
| A．Observing bees pollinate flowers. | B．Pollinating pears with farmers. |
| C．Flying drones with his colleague. | D．Blowing bubbles with his child. |
| A．It is eco-friendly. | B．It is uncontrollable. |
| C．It is more efficient. | D．It is time-consuming. |
| A．Agriculture. | B．Business. | C．Culture. | D．Lifestyle. |
4 . Anyone who has seen a waterfall up close will agree that their majesty(壮观)is almost indescribable. These are the four falls on the planet, each of which is wonderful in its own way.
Niagara Falls
At 3,950 feet wide, Niagara Falls is far from the largest waterfall around, but it is the falls with the largest volume of water traveling through it and is undoubtedly the best known waterfall on the planet. It receives somewhere between 14 and 20 million visitors annually. It has three separate parts: American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls and Horseshoe, or Canadian Falls.
Chutes Kongou
Also known as Kongou Falls, Chutes Kongou measures 10,500 feet wide, making it the world’s third largest existing waterfall. It’s part of the Ivindo River in Gabon, and is roughly 185 feet tall. Among the most powerful waterfalls in the world, roughly 31,800 cubic feet of water f low down it each second. It is located within the Ivindo National Park, which was set up to protect the biodiversity of the Ivindo River.
Salto Para
Salto Para, or Para Falls, is an 18,400-foot wide waterfall on the Rio Caura in the Bolivar region of Venezuela. These half-moon-shaped falls are formed where two parts of the river come together and drop down almost 200 feet, each side of which is a green jungle island.
Chutes de Khone
Chutes de Khone—also known as Khone Falls—is the largest waterfall in the world. At 35,376 feet wide, it’s almost twice the width of its next largest competitor. The falls are part of the Mekong River in Laos, and occur where the river divides into seven large channels and many more smaller ones. It’s made up of several different rapids and falls, pouring down from a height of 69 feet.
1. What is special about Niagara Falls?| A．It is the most famous waterfall. | B．It is next to a green jungle island. |
| C．It is made up of four separate parts. | D．It is a half-moon-shaped waterfall. |
| A．In Laos. | B．In Canada. | C．In Gabon. | D．In Venezuela. |
| A．Salto Para. | B．Chutes de Khone. |
| C．Chutes Kongou. | D．Niagara Falls, |
5 . The government of Singapore has created a highly developed system that turns wastewater into drinking water. The system involves a network of tunnels and high-technology treatment centers.
Reused wastewater can now meet 40 percent of Singapore’s water demand. The country’s water agency says it expects to meet 55 percent of Singapore’s water demand by the year 2060.
Most of the water is used for microchip manufacturing centers and cooling systems in buildings. But some of it is added to the country’s drinking water supplies. The system helps reduce ocean pollution, as only a small amount of the treated water is sent into the sea.
Singapore has few natural water sources. The island nation has long had to depend mostly on supplies from neighboring Malaysia. Low Pei Chin, chief engineer of the water reclamation department of the Public Utilities Board, told reporters with Independent, “Singapore lacks natural resources, and it is limited in space, which is why we are always looking for ways to explore water sources and stretch our water supply.”
The Changi Water Reclamation Plant on Singapore’s eastern coast is the main part of the country’s recycling system. Parts of the water treatment center are underground. Wastewater enters the center through a 48-kilometer tunnel that is linked to sewers(下水道). The center contains a large system of steel pipes, tubes, tanks, cleaning systems and other machinery. It can treat up to 900 million liters of wastewater a day.
Waste that arrives at the plant goes through a cleaning process before powerful pumps send it flowing to areas above ground for more treatment. There, the treated water receives additional cleaning. Bacteria and viruses are removed through highly developed cleaning processes.
Singapore is also in the process of expanding its recycling system. The country will add another underground tunnel and a major water treatment center to serve the western half of the island. Officials expect work on the center to be completed by 2025. By the time the expansion is finished, Singapore will have spent about $7.4 billion on its water treatment systems.
1. What can we know about the treated water?| A．Most of it is sent into the sea. |
| B．It can only be used by factories. |
| C．Some of it is used as drinking water. |
| D．It can meet the whole country’s water demand. |
| A．It has a friendly neighbor. |
| B．It is short of water resources. |
| C．Its people dislike using recycled water. |
| D．Its water consumption is particularly high. |
| A．The history of a water treatment center. |
| B．The reasons for cleaning wastewater. |
| C．Introduction to groundwater networks. |
| D．The process of recycling the wastewater. |
| A．Singapore Turns Wastewater into Drinking Water |
| B．Singapore Builds a Strong Water-saving Culture |
| C．What Are Singapore’s Water Success and Lessons? |
| D．How Singapore Is Putting a Stop to Water Running out? |
6 . Nicholas Chorier is not a usual photographer. He is a kite aerial (航空的) photographer. He uses a kite to hoist (吊起) his camera into the skies and clicks photographs. As a teenager, Nicholas had two passions — photography and kite flying. During a trip to India to make a photo report on kite making, he learnt about this unique style of photography. Fascinated, he literally tied his two hobbies together for a living. Nicholas learnt to make strong kites modeled on the Japanese kites, Rokkaku that could stand high winds. A newbie in his chosen field, he then set out to train himself,
Today he is one of the most well-known kite aerial photographers in the world. The technique is to tie a basket containing the photography equipment to the string of the kite and then fly it, thus launching the camera into air. From the ground, Nicholas controls the angles of the camera with a remote. An air-to-ground video link enables him to see the view from the kite’s point. Once satisfied with the frame, he clicks a picture, However, the job does have its pitfalls, too. Once, his kite disappeared in the Yamuna River, with his expensive camera following it.
He is especially fond of India, having made a couple of trips and taken many spectacular photos. “India is a too vast and beautiful country to be captured through the cameras in one life,” he says. He recently released a book, Kite’s Eye View: India between Earth and Sky. Though it includes photographs of “No Photo” sites like the Taj Mahal, it shows them from a totally different perspective.
1. What were Nicholas’s two hobbies?| A．Design and reading. | B．Traveling and drawing. |
| C．Kite making and selling. | D．Photography and kite flying. |
| A．A technique. | B．A Japanese. | C．A kind of kite. | D．A beginner. |
| A．Benefits. | B．Choices. | C．Secrets. | D．Risks. |
| A．Creative. | B．Honest. | C．Humorous. | D．Warm-hearted. |
Several years ago, I started riding a bike. At first, I thought it was only a short ride. But as I built up my
With my name
The ride began on a Sunday morning in the Georgia countryside: There
As I was riding to the top of the hill, the very fantastic sunset
8 . The TV series Wolf Pack starring Sarah Michelle Gellar is centered around the lives of a group of Los Angeles teenagers, whose lives are changed forever when a supernatural creature is freed after a series of unexplained wildfires break out.
Not much is known about Gellar’s character on the show, except for the fact that she is playing Kristin Ramsey, an expert who moves to Los Angeles to find the person who started the wildfires. She spoke to Fox News Digital about her big return to TV, and explained why she thought she was drawn to projects featuring monsters (怪物).
“For me, it’s always about the stories, and in talking today, we have discovered that the superhuman allows you to tell the most human stories because it really allows you to use these monsters to explore emotions, fears and anxieties that you can’t experience in other worlds,” Gellar explained.
“I think it’s a really important conversation that people will be along for the ride, but then realize what the meaning is behind all of it,” she added. Gellar’s co-star, Rodrigo, agreed with her, saying he hoped audiences could look at the deeper meanings behind the monsters on the show and realize they were all metaphors (隐喻) to discuss in our own inner monsters.”
Gellar recently told SFX Magazine she was very proud of the show.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．The cause of wildfires. | B．A creature’s activity. |
| C．A group of teenagers’ lives. | D．The plot of Wolf Pack. |
| A．Rich experiences. | B．Monsters in the story. |
| C．Wildfires in a show. | D．Discussion with each other. |
| A．Satisfied. | B．Frightened. | C．Moved. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．Lifestyle. | B．Nature. | C．Science. | D．Entertainment. |
9 . Over the last half century, obesity (肥胖症) rates have skyrocketed. In 1962, 46 percent of adults in the US were considered overweight. By 2010, that figure had jumped to 75 percent.
Obesity is a complex problem with many causes. But among the likely suspects, sugar is high on the list. A variety of research has drawn a link (联系) between sugar consumption (消耗) and overweight. As sugar consumption has increased, so has our waistline.
“I don’t think we have enough evidence yet to suggest that sugar is the reason for obesity,” says Johns Hopkins, a cardiologist. “But there is enough evidence to say that too much sugar consumption is an important contributor to weight gain.”
All those sweet snacks seem to be affecting the heart as well. In a study published in JAMA: Internal Medicine in 2014, researchers compared people who consumed a lot of added sugar accounting for 17 to 21 percent of their total daily calories with people who ate less sugar — just 8 percent of their total calories. Those in the high-sugar group had a 38 percent greater risk of dying from heart disease.
Excess weight increases the risk of many diseases like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and Type 2 diabetes. Research by the team of Ndumele has shown that those factors usually explain the link between obesity and heart disease. “All of those factors make it more likely that someone will develop heart disease,” says Ndumele.
In other words, there are many reasons to aim for a healthy weight. And cutting back on sugar is a good place to start.
1. What does the underlined word “skyrocketed” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Risen quickly. | B．Dropped rapidly. |
| C．Led to many diseases. | D．Caught much attention. |
| A．Unsure. | B．Negative. | C．Unconcerned. | D．Supportive. |
| A．Obesity can cause heart disease. | B．Sugar contributes to weight gain. |
| C．Heart disease is linked to sugar intake. | D．Overweight increases high blood pressure. |
| A．Obesity—The Heart Killer | B．Less Sugar—A Good Start for Health |
| C．What to Do with Disease | D．How to Take Care of Your Sweet Teeth |
10 . On a typical day, off the coast of a small Brazilian island, Joao Pereira de Souza, who was a fisherman, headed out fishing. He was sad to find a lot of oil on the water. Staring at the waves with the oily shine, he decided it was not a good day to fish. But walking along the beach that day, he found a struggling penguin(企鹅), covered with oil and going to die because of hunger.
Pereira took the penguin home, gently cleaned it and spent the next week nursing it back to health. He named it Dindim, a Portuguese word meaning “ice pop”.
Dindim is a Magellanic penguin, a species known for living in the seas of South America. In order to breed(繁殖), he must return to Patagonia, 8,000 kilometers from Pereira’s home. Pereira took Dindim back to the ocean and taught him how to swim again. Soon, it was time for Dindim to return to life in the wild. Pereira watched Dindim swim away, believing it would be the last time to see him.
But the next June, Dindim returned. The two shared a gentle mouth-to-nose greeting (问候), and Dindim stayed for a month, swimming around Pereira’s house. The time to leave arrived, and Pereira thought this surely would be the last time he would see Dindim. But 11 months later, the penguin returned again.
Pereira was unsure whether the returning penguin year after year was the same one. He put a tracking device on Dindim. To his surprise, it was Pereira’s Dindim, returning year after year, for more than a decade.
Pereira and Dindim share a friendship that bridges human life and the natural world.
1. What can we know from paragraph 1?| A．A penguin was freed. | B．Pereira caught a lot of fish. |
| C．The water was polluted heavily. | D．Fish and penguins lived peacefully. |
| A．He took Dindim to a doctor. | B．He trained Dindim to swim again. |
| C．He shared a greeting with Dindim. | D．He made Dindim stay for a month. |
| A．Patient and caring. | B．Brave and honest. |
| C．Self-confident and humorous. | D．Outgoing and active. |
| A．To record how penguins breed. | B．To search for more penguins. |
| C．To find the source of the pollution. | D．To find out if the returning penguin was Dindim. |
