Karen Helps Out
Karen sat at the kitchen table. She finished her last bite of cereal as she watched Dad fill a bucket with tools “What are you working on today?”she asked.
“Last week I fixed the porch railing,” Dad said. “That means today it’s ready to paint.” “Can I help?”asked Karen.Dad usually said no, because his tools were sharp and too heavy for Karen to pick up. Karen usually just watched Dad work
“Yes,” said Dad. “Painting is a safe job for you to try. Go put on some old clothes and meet me out front.”
Karen found play clothes from last summer that were a little small. Next year they wouldn’t fit at all. It would be okay if she dripped paint on them by mistake. Karen was planning to be very careful.
“Ready!” called Karen. She sat down on the top porch step.
Dad dipped his paint brush into a cart of white paint.Karen watched as he carefully wiped the edge of the brush on the side of the can. “That’s what you do to get rid of extra paint. See? No drips.”Then Dad made one long smooth line of paint along the porch railing.“Remember to paint in just one direction so things stay neat.” said Dad.
Karen was very excited to try painting herself. She dipped her brush in the paint and wiped the edge, just like Dad. Then she tried to paint a stripe on the railing. Her paint line started out nicely, but she soon ran out of paint.
“That’s a good start.” said Dad. “Now dip your brush again and continue your line.”Karen tried again. Soon her paint line was almost as long as Das. She watched as Dad went over her line one more time. He smoothed it out and connected it to his line. “Painting is fun!” said Karen. She and Dad kept working together.
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。
Soon the whole railing was painted white.
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Seeing her mother come back, Karen threw herself into Mum’s arms.
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1. 班会目的；
2. 班会进程；
3. 班会反响。
注意：1. 写作词数应为80左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
A Theme Class Meeting
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One of the best-preserved fossils (化石) yet discovered has revealed that the young dinosaur used the same technique as baby birds
Since the 1990s scientists
In modern birds such postures are critical for
4 . A disabled teenager is being sent replacements of her favourite toy from strangers around the world after hers began to break. Josie Wheel
They are no longer made and we’re
Ms Wheel described the
The Vtech Light Up Learning Bug had stopped being
“Rosie’s current working ladybug broke yesterday so in the efforts to fix one of our broken 15, we thought we’d give social media a(n)
“It’s really heartwarming that so many people are so
“She doesn’t completely understand everything that's going on,due to her
| A．received | B．posted | C．announced | D．exchanged |
| A．expected | B．broken | C．loved | D．planned |
| A．running out of | B．putting up with | C．looking out for | D．getting rid of |
| A．solution | B．response | C．attitude | D．access |
| A．shocked | B．embarrassed | C．excited | D．relieved |
| A．advertised | B．displayed | C．upgraded | D．sold |
| A．try | B．order | C．practice | D．honor |
| A．wanted | B．urged | C．believed | D．expected |
| A．hesitant | B．determined | C．puzzled | D．careful |
| A．goodness | B．curiosity | C．patience | D．equality |
| A．produced | B．promoted | C．protected | D．promised |
| A．preferred | B．chosen | C．offered | D．pretended |
| A．age | B．quality | C．environment | D．condition |
| A．physically | B．mentally | C．emotionally | D．spiritually |
| A．sense | B．duty | C．bond | D．belief |
5 . Finding the perfect apartment or house to rent requires a lot of time and research, so we’re here to help make the process a little easier for you!
It’s understandable to want as many conveniences as possible, but it’s important to recognize which ones are essential. If you can give in on some conveniences, such as an outside pool or water view, you may be able to find a home in a better location, or closer to your favorite activities.
Get to know the neighborhoods
If you’re familiar with the city where you’re looking, you may already have a good sense of its neighborhoods. If not, it makes sense to get familiar with areas by ways. Look at crime maps.
Decide what location is ideal
Know the local routines
For many families, renting a home is to provide their children with stability. In such cases, landlords might offer a 12-month lease(租约) upfront with the potential for a multi-year lease upon renewal.
| A．Decide which is important |
| B．Read reviews on the local schools |
| C．No one wants to live without peace |
| D．Is the school district the top concern |
| E．What is important to you and your family |
| F．Don’t get caught up in all the bells and whistles |
| G．This gives them a year to learn more about their renters |
6 . A major challenge for fully autonomous vehicles is navigating bad weather, snow especially. Averaging more than 200 inches of snow every winter, Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula is the perfect place to push autonomous vehicle tech to its limits. In two papers presented at SPIE Defense+Commercial Sensing 2021, researchers from Michigan Technological University discuss solutions for snowy driving scenarios that could help bring self-driving options to snowy cities like Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis and Toronto.
Just like the weather at times, self-driving is not a sunny or snowy yes-no designation (指定). Autonomous vehicles cover a series of levels, from cars already on the market with blind spot warnings or braking assistance, to vehicles that can switch in and out of self-driving modes, to others that can navigate entirely on their own. Major automakers and research universities are still tweaking self-driving technology. Occasionally accidents occur, either due to a misjudgment by the car’s artificial intelligence(AI) or a human driver’s misuse of self-driving features.
Humans have sensors, too: our scanning eyes, our sense of balance and movement, and the processing power of our brain help us understand our environment. These seemingly basic inputs allow us to drive in virtually every scenario, even if it is new to us, because human brains are good at generalizing new experiences. In autonomous vehicles, two cameras scan and perceive depth using stereo vision to mimic human vision, while balance and motion can be gauged(计量) using a measurement unit. But computers can only react to situations they have encountered before or been programmed to recognize.
Since artificial brains aren’t around yet, task-specific artificial intelligence(AI) algorithms(计算) must take the wheel. Fisheye cameras widen the view while other cameras act much like the human eye. Infrared(红外线) picks up heat signatures. Radar can see through the fog and rain.
“All snow is not created equal,” Bos said, pointing out that the variety of snow makes sensor detection a challenge. “AI is like a chef -- if you have good ingredients, there will be an excellent meal,” he said.
1. In what aspect is self-driving similar to the weather?| A．Both need assistance. |
| B．Both give warnings. |
| C．Both extend their limits. |
| D．Both have different levels. |
| A．Generalize new experiences. |
| B．Scan the unfamiliar environment. |
| C．Help vehicles achieve balance. |
| D．React to situations from memory. |
| A．Artificial brains. |
| B．Fisheye cameras in cars. |
| C．Applications of Al. |
| D．The power of Radar. |
| A．Bad weather discourages applications of Al. |
| B．AI has great potential to improve self-driving. |
| C．AI can help chefs to make wonderful meals. |
| D．Bad weather poses a challenge to sensor detection. |
7 . The great Swiss psychologist Jean used to lecture around the world, explaining how children’s minds develop as they get older. Once an American asked, “But Prof. Jean, how can we get them to do faster?” Today it’s no longer just impatient Americans who assume that faster brain and cognitive (认知的) development is better. Across the globe, both parents and policy makers eagerly push preschools to be more like schools.
A wave of new research shows, however, that this picture is far too simple. In 1998 a landmark series of studies looked at the long term effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on children’s growing up. ACEs include physical or emotional overlook or abuse, being poor, losing parent, violence or mental (精神的) illness in the home. Since the original studies, there have been hundreds of similar ones done across the world. It turns out that ACEs are disastrously common.
A new paper by Dr. Mackey, published in Nature Neuroscience Reviews, also concludes that. ACEs seem to make children’s brains grow up too quickly. Dr. Mackey suggests that frequently repeated bad experiences may have the worst speeding up effect, while more varied and unusual good experiences may be particularly likely to keep the brain open to learning.
Why would stress and disasters make us grow up faster and a rich, varied, nursing environment make us grow up more slowly? One influential recent idea takes off from the biological concept of “life history”. An animal’s life history includes how long it lives, how much it invests in its young and how long it takes those young to mature. A “live fast, die young” life history makes more developmental sense when resources are few and life is predictably hard.
In brief, a long, slow life history goes with a big, smart brain. All of this should be able to relieve the parents’ worries about “the American question”. Loving your children and giving them space to learn and explore is more important than designing a particular curriculum (课程).
1. What can we infer from paragraph 1?| A．Americans are usually smarter than others. |
| B．American brain science is better developed. |
| C．Most people believed children should skip preschools. |
| D．Most people wish to develop their children’s brains faster. |
| A．It leads to an early death. |
| B．It may cause painful problems. |
| C．It is beneficial to academic learning. |
| D．It originates from unpleasant environment. |
| A．Push preschools to be more like schools. |
| B．Put middle-high pressure on their children. |
| C．Give children care and freedom to learn and explore. |
| D．Ask teachers to design abundant curricula for children. |
| A．Live Fast, Die Young |
| B．Faster Development, Better Future |
| C．An American Question, the World’s Problem |
| D．ACEs, Key to Children’s Brains’ Development |
8 . My friend Gwen posted a photo yesterday on her social page. The photo was of a Christmas tree made from carefully-placed books. It was very clever. After doing a little research, I found that making Christmas trees from a pile of books is popular right now, especially at libraries.
The Inglewood Library in Los Angeles created a tree from little used books using red books on the bottom to copy a tree skirt and green books for the tree itself. Other examples are from the Gleeson Library in San Francisco and a small bookstore window in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. One of the great things about using books to create a decorative Christmas tree is that there is no waste. After Dec 25, the books just go back on the shelf.
I couldn’t find any specific instructions online with tips for building a tree out of books, but it seemed pretty simple. So last night, my 9-year-old son and I emptied several shelves in his room and built our own tree out of copies of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Captain Underpants, Stink, Harry Potter and dozens of other books. The top book on the tree is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
We took an old string of lights and wrapped them around the tree and a spare star tree topper that we had and lit the tree of books up. He was thrilled to have his own Christmas tree in his bedroom.
We didn’t worry about making the tree perfectly symmetrical (对称的), but with a little more time and patience we could have made a tree that was taller and a little neater. That wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun for us, though. I could see the tree through the crack in his door last night as he was sleeping, and it made me smile every time I walked past his bedroom.
1. What inspired the author to build a tree out of books?| A．A photo posted on the Internet. |
| B．A Christmas tree at a friend's home |
| C．A Christmas tree he saw in a library. |
| D．A friend's note about the use of books |
| A．The popularity of trees made of books |
| B．Some libraries’ love for Christmas trees. |
| C．The books used to build Christmas trees. |
| D．The feature of Christmas trees in libraries. |
| A．By using books borrowed. |
| B．By asking his friends for help. |
| C．By searching online for useful tips. |
| D．By making preparations with his son. |
| A．The appearance of the tree. |
| B．The fruit of their joint efforts. |
| C．The process of building the tree. |
| D．His son’s academic performance. |
9 . New strength-training devices fit a weight room’s worth of equipment into an area smaller than a yoga (瑜伽) mat — letting you work out anywhere. Here are four small but powerful strength-training kits.
FOR THE PEOPLE LOVING BEAUTY $2, 999
NordicTrack’s bending surface looks like an ordinary wall mirror. But the smooth reflective casing hides training devices like an exercise carpet, yoga blocks and kettlebells. The glass itself is a futuristic touch screen that offers a library of live and on-demand classes and customized training programs. Its surface also lets you observe a trainer’s proper form and model it as you move.
www. nordictrack. com
FOR SMALL-SPACE DWELLERS $979
MAXPRO, as a backpack — size device, is a condensed (紧缩的) version of the heavy gym machines that use weight plates attached to a cable. Switch between 50 resistance settings (from 5 to 300 pounds) with the turn of a dial. To use it, just stand or lie on the base. Grab the long bar, handles, ankle or wrist ropes to perform over 150 exercises on your own.
www. maxprofitness. com
FOR THE SMART-HOME LOVERS $2, 500.
More space- efficient than a yoga mat, The Arena gym’s high-tech pulley (滑轮) system can generate 200 pounds of resistance. And an internal computer tracks the amount of weight, number of repetitions and speed at which you lift to adjust to your fitness goals.
www. goarena. com
FOR CHANGE-IT-UP LIFTERS $2, 895
The Fitbench can turn any space into a weight room. With 14 fixing points for resistance bands and a hole for a weighted rope, the four foot wide bench maxes out its space. Hiding below the adjustable top are six sets of dumbbells, kettlebells, a weighted ball and resistance bands.
www. fitbench. com
1. Which of the following offers various training classes?| A．NordicTrack. | B．MAXPRO. |
| C．The Arena. | D．The Fitbench. |
| A．They are all high-tech with touch screen. |
| B．They are all good for gym and yoga exercises. |
| C．They are all small but effective for strength training. |
| D．They are all available for on-demand workouts display. |
| A．Health. | B．Advertisement. |
| C．Entertainment. | D．Science. |
增加:在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除:把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。
修改:在错的词下面画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意:1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改 10 处，多者(从第 11 处起)不计分。
Dear Tom,
How have you been recently？Though everything is going good here, but I still want to get some help from you.
I’m going to participate the Chinese Character Hero competition, which is aimed at giving teenagers a opportunity to show their level of Chinese characters. I attached great importance to this competition, but I’m quite nervously. I know you have won in many competitions ago and have much experiences in how to adjust the state of mind. I hope what you can give me some advice to reduce my nervousness. Looking forward to receive your reply.
Yours sincerely
Li Hua
