1 . J. K. Rowling frequently shows there is magic every day. Her Harry Potter series has helped people through times of stress and depression and she is always there to deliver wise words of encouragement.

She is one celebrity who is very active on Twitter. So when a single dad named Matt Burke sent her a message thanking her for the series, she noticed. Her series had helped strengthen his relationship with his 9­year­old daughter Bailey.

He included a link to his article titled Being a Broke Parent. He explained how he hadn’t found a level of financial stability that allowed him to pay bills on time and take his daughter on more activities and events. The family also doesn’t have the Internet or TV, which means there’s no “digital babysitter” and he has to rely on his own creative ways to bond with his daughter. Since he received the series, the main thing that has occupied them these days is reading books together.

Burke admits that he thought he was “too cool” for the books when they first came out and he was in his twenties, but he’s loving reading them now. “We switch off chapter by chapter reading them out loud，“Burke explains.” This not only allows her to get more used to reading aloud in front of someone, but it gets me directly involved in something she loves, and it gives me the chance to be very dramatic when I read my chapters and bring myself into the characters in the book, which has proven to be a ton of fun.”

After hearing Burke’s story, Rowling said how honored she was when Harry Potter was a part of his family’s life and offered Burke more books. Besides, people are also offering to send Burke more books as gifts. For Burke, this experience, far more than gifts, will be what he treasures.

1. Why did Burke thank J. K. Rowling according to the text?

A．She guided him how to write a good story.

B．She encouraged him when he was in trouble.

C．Her books helped him through times of confusion.

D．Her books helped him improve his bond with his daughter.

2. What is implied in Burke’s words in paragraph 4?

A．He has found it interesting to read the series.	B．He was too old to understand the series better.
C．He has chosen a better way of reading the series.	D．He hopes to play a role in the drama in the future.

3. Which word can best describe Burke’s experience according to the text?

A．Useless.

B．Normal.

C．Valuable.

D．Boring.

4. What is the main idea of this text?

A．J. K. Rowling chooses to help improve kids’ health.

B．J. K. Rowling gives a magical gift to a single father.

C．J. K. Rowling has a deep influence on others’ growth.

D．Burke comes to know J. K. Rowling through her series.

2 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Advertising     1     (refer) to the activity of promoting a product or service. It has become part of our modern life.

Advertising has always been closely linked with the mass media. In addition to making people aware of a product or service, a successful advertisement can also create a desire to buy, thus     2     (boost) business. That is     3     when a company wants to promote a product or service, it often launches a mass media advertising campaign.

Based on the psychology behind creating a desire to buy, advertisers have developed ways of persuading people into purchasing their     4     (product) or services. A common technique to make an impact is to create     5     memorable slogan, which uses simple but impressive language to make people remember the product or service. Another technique advertisers often employ is     6     (link) their company or product to a “brand ambassador”. Moreover, some advertisements such as product placement     7     (be) not so obvious. We absorb the marketing messages without thinking about them too much, yet they     8     (probable) have an effect on us the next time we go shopping.

In the future, advertising will be more about understanding individual customers and sending them advertisements that are tailored     9    specific needs. Not only will this make them feel     10     (valued), but it will also help companies target their customers more efficiently.

4 . One of my earliest memories was watching my mom talk on our old phone. I was fascinated that she could talk to someone who wasn’t actually in the room with her.    1     I was wondering how she managed to talk with someone she couldn’t see.

    2     Later, we had mobile phones that could be carried around the room.Then came computers and smart phones.These days I can send an e­mail around the world in a second. My daughter’s smart phone has a hundred apps and a dozen social media accounts.She stores all of her information in a mysterious place known as “the cloud”, where she can take it out at any time.It seems that we are more connected in this world than ever before.

    3     Few take the time to talk face to face. Instead of looking into the eyes of our loved ones, we stare at our screens. It seems as if the most connected generations are also the loneliest.

Don’t let technology take our time and ruin our life. Make the time to meet, to pray and to communicate with each other.Take a walk on the beach with a friend. Have a long conversation with the phones off and the hearts on.     4    

Remember that we are here to love each other, help each other and make this world a better place.    5     But when it can’t, turn it off.

A．That was a long time ago.

B．Connect offline as well as online.

C．Smart phones have both advantages and disadvantages.

D．We should communicate with each other with phones off.

E．When your technology can help to do these things, then use it.

F．However, what bothers me is that we rarely associate with each other nowadays.

G．When she left the room, I slowly walked over to the phone and stared at it for a while.

5 . Losing your ability to think and remember is pretty frightening. We know the risk of dementia (痴呆症) increases with age. But if you have memory slips, you probably needn’t worry. There are pretty clear differences between signs of dementia and age-­related memory loss.

After age 50, it’s quite common to have trouble remembering the names of people, places and things quickly, says Dr. Kirk Daffner of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

The brain ages just like the rest of the body. Certain parts become smaller, especially areas in the brain that are important to learning, memory and planning. Changes in brain cells can affect communication between different regions of the brain. And blood flow can be reduced as blood vessels narrow.

Forgetting the name of an actor in a favorite movie, for example, is nothing to worry about. But if you forget the plot of the movie or don’t remember even seeing it, that’s far more concerning, Daffner says.

When you forget entire experiences, he says, that’s “a red flag that something more serious may be involved”. Forgetting how to operate a familiar object like a microwave oven, or forgetting how to drive to the house of a friend you’ve visited many times before can also be signs of something going wrong.

But even then, Daffner says, people shouldn’t panic. There are many things that can cause confusion and memory loss, including health problems like temporary stoppage of breathing during sleep, high blood pressure, or depression, as well as medications (药物) like antidepressants.

You don’t have to figure this out on your own. Daffner suggests going to your doctor to check on medications, health problems and other issues that could be affecting memory. And the best defense against memory loss is to try to prevent it by building up your brain’s cognitive (认知的) reserve, Daffner says.

“Read books, go to movies, take on new hobbies or activities that force one to think in novel ways.” he says. In other words, keep your brain busy and working. And also get physically active, because exercise is a widely known to boost the brain.

1. Which memory-related symptom should people take seriously?

A．Totally forgetting how to do one’s daily routines.

B．Inability to recall details of one’s life experiences.

C．Failure to remember the names of movies or actors.

D．Occasionally confusing the addresses of one’s friends.

2. What should people do when signs of serious memory loss show up?

A．Check the brain’s cognitive reserve.

B．Stop medications affecting memory.

C．Turn to a professional for assistance.

D．Exercise to improve their well­being.

3. What is Dr. Daffner’s advice for fight against memory loss?

A．Having regular physical and mental checkups.

B．Taking medicine that helps boost one’s brain.

C．Engaging in known memory repair activities.

D．Staying active both physically and mentally.

4. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “boost” in the last paragraph?

A．Reduce.

B．Benefit.

C．Increase.

D．Depress.

8 . 阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。

In 1989, fresh out of high school, I had the difficult task of choosing a career path before college started in three months. In those days in Pakistan, there were limited choices: becoming a doctor or an engineer, or entering the financial world after getting a business degree. I wasn’t interested in engineering, so that I was left with medicine or business. I couldn’t decide.

My uncle suggested that I do a work placement(实习) to experience it for a month in an international company followed by a month in a hospital. After that, I could make a decision. It seemed like a good idea.

I was accepted for a month’s placement at a foreign bank in Karachi. I got a feel of how the world of finance functioned, made new friends, and generally enjoyed the mostly easy­going work surroundings.

The month passed rapidly, and soon I began working at a leading hospital in Karachi. The experience couldn’t have been more different. The hospital had a stressful environment. The days started early (at 7 am, compared to 9 am at the bank), and were filled with endless duties. And the night calls! This was crazy, working all day, through the night, and again the next day.

I began thinking about my two experiences. The bank had offered a more relaxing atmosphere, better working hours and less stress. The hospital was full of excitement, but studying and training were difficult. It seemed that the business choice was going to win out.

Near the end of my month at the hospital, I was driving home after an especially busy night call. In front of me was a public bus, with college students sitting on the top. As the driver weaved through (穿梭) traffic, I could see the boys shaking from side to side.

注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2．至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3．续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4．续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1：

Suddenly, a boy fell off the back of the bus.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2：

The next day, when I went to the hospital to see the boy, all his family got up, with grateful smiles on their faces.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9 . Conservation scientist Kim Williams-Guillen was trying her best to come up with a way to save endangered sea turtles (海龟) from egg thieves when she had an “aha” moment: If she placed a fake (假的) egg containing a GPS tracker in the reptiles’ nests, she might be able to track the thieves.

Williams-Guillen found a flexible plastic material to mimic (仿造) the shell of real eggs. She and colleagues then used a 3D printer to produce the fakes of the same size, weight, and texture and put the smallest GPS tracking devices inside each. The researchers then went to four Costa Rican beaches, where green sea turtle come ashore to make their nests. As mothers laid their eggs under cover of night, the researchers slipped a fake egg into each nest. Once the fakes are covered in sand and mix with the real eggs, it’s very difficult to tell the difference between the two.

Of the 101 fake eggs, 25 were taken by thieves. The farthest moving egg traveled 137 kilometers inland. The fake egg sent its final signal the next day from a residential property, suggesting that the research team had tracked the eggs through “all of the players in the entire chain.”

By understanding that chain, Williams-Guillen says researchers can identify trading hot spots. She emphasizes that the tracker is not a way to catch local thieves, many of them living in poverty, but a tool to better understand their routes, which could help them and eventually law enforcement (执法部门) identify larger players in the chain.

In the meantime, Williams-Guillen and her colleagues are working to get their fake eggs to other sea turtle conservation organizations. Ultimately, though, scientists and nonprofits are going to engage communities with local outreach and education programs to save sea turtles. She says, “The real meat and potatoes of conservation isn’t going to come from deploying (布署) eggs.”

1. What can be learnt from paragraph 2?

A．Fake eggs are made and employed.	B．Sea turtles have become endangered.
C．Sea turtles lay eggs during the daytime.	D．The idea of fake eggs came into being.

2. Why did researchers track the turtle eggs?

A．To confirm whether the fake eggs really work.

B．To provide data for doing research on turtle eggs.

C．To arrest the locals stealing the turtle eggs from the beach.

D．To identify the trading routes and get the big players punished.

3. What do Williams-Guillen’s words mean in the last paragraph?

A．Deploying eggs needs advocating further.

B．Turtle conservation mainly relies on joint efforts.

C．She feels disappointed with the local communities.

D．Deploying eggs makes no difference in preserving turtles.

4. Which of the following can be the best title of the text?

A．Saving endangered sea turtles is urgent

B．Endangered turtles can be traced with GPS

C．GPS eggs helps to save endangered sea turtles

D．A conservation scientist is devoted to protecting sea turtles