Both my parents were good at gardening. Our family of ten depended on the food we grew in our huge vegetable garden. My mother canned (把……装进罐中) much of the produce for winter, and my father sold potatoes and cabbages to the local stores and schools. Our garden was the pride of the neighborhood.
But then, one summer when I was quite young, we had a problem. Someone was stealing our vegetables. My parents were quite surprised. “I don’t get it,” my father said. “If someone wants vegetables from us, all they have to do is ask. If they can’t afford to pay for them, they could just have them.”
Then one of the neighbors tipped us off that a single elderly man who lived a short distance from us was seen selling vegetables in a nearby town. Benny didn’t have a garden, had no regular job and lived in a small, poor house. My parents found out he was taking our vegetables to earn a few extra dollars. And later, they found it was true. My father decided to deal with this situation in his own way.
One day, he told my mother that he’d go to hire (雇用) Benny. My mother was surprised, saying, “We don’t have enough money to hire anyone. Besides, why would we hire the man who’s taking our vegetables?” My father replied that he was going to hire him to guard our garden. My mother was confused and didn’t think it would work.
My father explained, “Here’s what I think. Benny has got himself backed into a corner, and I’m going to give him a way out. I think he can’t refuse me. And he sure can’t take the vegetables that he’s guarding.”
When my father told him about the job, Benny was obviously a bit shocked. But Dad solved it pretty well. “Benny,” he said, “someone, probably some kid, has been taking vegetables out of our garden. I wonder if I could hire you to guard the garden.” Then Dad added that he would also have breakfast with us every day.
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。
Thinking for a moment, he gladly nodded and smiled, “All right.”
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dad then began to create a vegetable garden for Benny.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I live on the west coast of Canada and my older son lives on its east coast. He has visited his mother and me a number of times and we have visited him there with some frequency. We also talk with each other using a computer communications programme. However, because of Covid-19 travel restrictions and the extremely long distance between us, we hadn’t seen him in person for more than two years. His mother is ill and can’t travel any more so we had talked about a possible future visit with him coming but nothing had been decided, or so I thought.
Then, one day, there was a knock on the door and when I opened it, my son walked in, carrying a pot of flowers. For a moment, I didn’t know who he was and then, suddenly, he was there. He hadn’t told us he was coming and seeing him was a shock and a wonderful surprise. It had been years since I last cried. But when he walked in, I was in tears.
I think that as parents, we tend to think of our children as being young and being in need of our help even when they have reached adulthood. We have two sons, both of them grown, and we love them both but they are still, to us, our kids. Somehow, though, the sudden appearance of my older son and his month-long visit that followed let me see him in a whole new light.
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。
My wife needs a lot of support these days and our son stepped up to help.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
My son left recently for his home and again I was in tears but it was different somehow.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Bruce had a sweet tooth during his childhood, but it was not just sugary snacks that he desired. Being raised in a poor family was a bittersweet experience, but it gave him adaptability and ambition.
When Bruce was young, his mother would tell him that the candies in the store’s checkout line belonged to the cashier. She said that because she could not afford a 50-cent chocolate bar. Nevertheless, he saw through her trick and made a promise that he would grow up to be wealthy enough to buy what his family needed.
Bruce’s father worked hard to make money outside, so he spent less time at home. Instead of focusing on their economic instability, Bruce’s mother selflessly pushed her children to strive for success so that they could lead a more comfortable life later. She worked for long hours every night and struggled to pay the minimum due on her bills. Still, she would find time to read with Bruce and his sister, Alice. Their mother taught them the value of perseverance, education, and moral fibre. Despite lack of their father’s company, they were loved and nurtured just as much.
However, not all of life’s milestones were easy. Some, like moving and being helpless, left Bruce with an endless bitter taste. He had to deal with many problems when they moved into Maryland, several states away from their roots in Georgia, to make a living. The first few months were great: baseball games, family trips to the mall, dinners, movies, etc. It felt like they were the perfect family. Then things changed. Baseball games were too expensive, and trips to the mall were replaced with days Bruce and Alice spent isolated in the study.
As the brother and sister grew up, money was even tighter. They spent many years living in a very poor family setting. Even so, their mother inspired them to keep trying and working academically. They even cooperated with each other and developed a computer system. Alice was joking about patenting it someday. But as the saying goes, “Good things never come easy”, and success requires setbacks.
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。
One day, Bruce’s mother opened their study door and told them to pack.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
They eventually settled in Texas, and Bruce and Alice continued their academic efforts.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4 . I have a friend who bird watches. She feels comfortable whenever she’s doing it. If you ask her why she likes it, she will say things like “Well, birds are the world’s most magical creatures.” I have another friend who knits. She likes it because it’s satisfying, and has an astonishingly impressive impact on people for whom being able to knit gloves is out of reach.
As a term, “hobby” has always been of arguable meaning. Ask someone what they think a hobby is, and you’ll get a dictionary definition that they will have just looked up on their phones and, then, a passionate speech on all of the activities that can under no circumstances be put into groups as hobbies by their own highly unique and inflexible standards. Being online is not a hobby, apparently, nor is listening to music.
Hardly anyone knows what a hobby is, and this is particularly the case now that so many of us are spending our leisure time online arguing about these sorts of basic definitions with people, as the writer Max Read put it in an essay, “to whom the world has been created again every morning, for whom every settled argument of modernity must be rewritten, but this time with their engagement.”
Even taking these difficulties into account, however, it seems obvious that birdwatching and knitting are classic hobbies. They are enjoyable, involve practice and reward effort, and they are given immediate access to a group with the same interests. They are the sorts of hobbies advice columnists (专栏作家) have in mind when people write in about their imbalanced lives. It’s interesting, then, that not one of my two clearly hobby-having friends would admit to the practice.
They worried that their hobbies, which give them pleasure and keep them far from their computers, made them seem like they had too much leisure time and too Lew inner resources that would enable them to naturally avoid boredom. They are fully paid-up members of society, with busy lives, fulfilling interpersonal relationships and, again, hobbies that make them happy. It’s just that hobbies have an undeservedly bad reputation, one made worse by the Internet, like everything else.
The birdwatcher said the problem with having a hobby was that it made people seem like they were contributing and learning nothing. The knitter said that she personally connected hobbies with having no friends and no idea of what normal people do to have fun, Actually, they do not want to be seen as mad people who intentionally get away from the correct course.
Well, I enjoy certain light operas. I play music for my own amusement. And yes, I am an ordinary student, and that is not a sign of madness.
1. The author mentions two friends with different hobbies in Paragraph 1 mainly to .
| A．explain the definition of “hobby” |
| B．attract the readers’ attention to hobbies |
| C．stress the importance of having a hobby |
| D．compare two different types of hobbies |
| A．“Hobby” as a term can only be defined without the Internet. |
| B．People online discuss the definition of “hobby” to change lives. |
| C．People create a new world by expressing their ideas of hobbies online. |
| D．It is hard for online people to reach an agreement on the definition of “hobby”. |
| A．They are afraid of being seen as crazy people. |
| B．They fear their hobbies are not impressive enough. |
| C．They find it necessary to share hobbies to balance their lives. |
| D．They refuse to share their feelings about their hobbies with mad people. |
| A．Hobbies are great for people’s mental health. |
| B．Different people have their own standards of hobbies. |
| C．It is reasonable and normal for people to have hobbies. |
| D．People who suffer from madness can also have hobbies. |
5 . Vaping (吸电子烟) is becoming booming these days. The basic idea behind this is simple: vaping is a way of taking in nicotine (and other substances) that is far safer than smoking, because vapes produce far lower levels of the most harmful chemicals than cigarettes, as the World Health Organization notes. But there are several obvious issues with this.
Firstly, there is enormous variability in vaping products and devices. The market is largely unregulated, which means the term “vape” covers everything from solid, reliable devices to something that will explode when you put it in your mouth.
Switching from smoking to vaping is probably good for your health, but the epidemiological (流行病学的) evidence shows that most people become what’s known as “dual users” who both vape and smoke in differing amounts. Because of their different smoking regimes (养生法，方法), the evidence on whether dual use is more beneficial than just smoking is unclear.
Vaping is obviously worse for your health than quitting completely. In an experimental study led by Prof David Thickett in the University of Birmingham, the researchers designed a mechanical procedure to mimic (模拟) vaping in the laboratory, using lung tissue samples provided by eight nonsmokers. They found that vapor (蒸汽，雾) of vaping damaged the activity of alveolar macrophages (肺泡巨噬细胞), cells that remove potentially damaging dust particles and bacteria. They said some of the effects were similar to those seen in regular smokers and people with chronic lung disease. Moreover, there’s pretty good evidence that vaping nicotine products is habit-forming and addictive, and there’s a great deal of concern among epidemiologists that in young people vaping can lead to smoking, which is obviously a bad thing.
1. Which of the following is the most harmful to our health according to most people?| A．Smoking. | B．Vaping. |
| C．Dual use of both vaping and smoking. | D．Nonsmoking. |
| A．Vaping does less harm to health than smoking. | B．Vaping can make one addicted to it. |
| C．Vaping is a bad thing. | D．Vaping is safer than smoking. |
| A．travel | B．sports | C．health | D．music |
| A．Supportive. | B．Indifferent. | C．Favorable. | D．Disapproving. |
The Perfect Christmas Tree
In our house in Middle Cove, Newfoundland, the tradition was to find the perfect tree before Christmas Eve. And this year, my brother Gilbert and I were being trusted to do it entirely on our own. And we took the challenge very seriously. So, axe in Gilbert’s hand, saw in mine, we set out for all the spots we imagined we might find a magnificent fir (冷杉树).
We were young, but we knew the rules. Trees could not be taken from personal land and not near any road.
We started out with the best of intentions. We were on Pine River Lane, and looking at the firs in the fields, but none of them looked quite good enough. It was getting dark but we still had no luck. On the way home, it was Gilbert who stopped, grabbed my arm and said, “I see it!”
“You see what?” I said.
“Right there, look. It’s perfect.”
And he was right. It was a young tree, two metres tall, standing alone. It was the classic Christmas tree. In all my years, I had never seen such a perfect one.
Perfect except for one small problem. The tree was pretty close to the road. Also, it was behind a fence, so the tree was in someone’s yard. And not just any someone. It was in the yard of Timmy Green, my best friend.
However, the chances of our finding another one like it were slim to none.“You stand guard,” Gilbert said. And with that, we were over the fence and on our bellies crawling toward the target. I lay in the snow and put the Greens’ house under surveillance (监视). I was to whistle or cough if I saw anyone coming.
Within a few minutes, it fell.
“Grab the end,” Gilbert said, and we lifted it over the fence. Now we were on the road.
注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
Suddenly Gilbert’s eyes widened. “Our footprints!” he said.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________So it shocked me when I found Mr. Green in our house with my parents, drinking tea on Christmas Eve.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As a young boy, I was carefree. Every vacation I looked forward to two things—seeing my grandpa and hearing his wonderful stories. My grandpa was a very good storyteller. He had worked various odd jobs when he was young and wove his adventures and misadventures into fantastic tales. These wonderful tales colored my childhood.
As I grew up, I had to admit that Grandpa’s stories went on a little long, even a little boring and gradually lost their magic. However, not wanting to upset him, my brother and I would sometimes take turns sitting in the living room, listening to grandpa tell his stories.
When my grandpa was approaching 91, he suffered from serious memory-loss. It was kind of what doctors called dementia (痴呆), probably the earliest stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Following the doctor’s directions, we moved him into a Sunrise Assisted Living Community, where he could get a better care. After that, grandpa hardly came to our house.
One weekend before my grandpa’s birthday, I came to visit him. Seeing grandpa sitting in his armchair, dull-looking, I was consumed with mixed feelings. I wheeled grandpa to the sunshine in the courtyard, talking to him. He couldn’t express himself clearly and spoke in short bursts, but I listened to him patiently and carefully just as I used to be a little boy.
It was then that I noticed a shadow box with some old and yellowish photos in it. I picked one up, in which my brother, several boys in our neighborhood, and I were playing basketball with grandpa cheering us on twenty years before. My mind flashed back to those beautiful memories. Back then, Grandpa was in good physical condition and we were all wearing basketball jerseys, playing and laughing with abandon. I presented the photo to my grandpa, pointing at each member and reminding him of their names. Incredibly, grandpa could speak out the name of every player. I even caught a soft light in grandpa’s eyes and a smile on his lips.
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。
A bright idea for grandpa’s birthday came to my mind.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Seeing “the same players” playing there, grandpa seemed to have thought of something.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________1.表示欢迎；2.介绍学校；3.美好祝愿。
注意：写作词数应为80左右。
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
9 . It was summer 2019 when CBS News first met middle school math teacher, Finn Lanning and his student Damien.
“He's a
Lanning sat his student down and had a(n)
But here's the real problem: Damien
“It hit me like a ton of bricks. I mean, you
That's how Lanning became a foster parent. He
Damien refused to get too
Lanning
| A．honest | B．smart | C．naughty | D．strict |
| A．said | B．warned | C．begged | D．denied |
| A．argument | B．conversation | C．competition | D．interview |
| A．noticed | B．shared | C．learned | D．doubted |
| A．invited | B．allowed | C．encouraged | D．forced |
| A．proud | B．curious | C．willing | D．anxious |
| A．desperately | B．hopefully | C．hardly | D．simply |
| A．dangerous | B．convenient | C．painful | D．difficult |
| A．home | B．school | C．hospital | D．neighborhood |
| A．still | B．just | C．even | D．also |
| A．respect | B．hate | C．envy | D．care |
| A．train | B．teach | C．raise | D．help |
| A．picked up | B．looked for | C．took in | D．put down |
| A．imagined | B．missed | C．enjoyed | D．introduced |
| A．pretended | B．thought | C．remembered | D．admitted |
| A．recover | B．survive | C．escape | D．relax |
| A．excited | B．determined | C．surprised | D．amused |
| A．how | B．why | C．where | D．because |
| A．pleased | B．patient | C．angry | D．bored |
| A．planned | B．expected | C．promised | D．hoped |
10 . Yong male songbirds usually learn their songs from adult songbirds. But when those young birds do not have older ones to teach them, they have less success attracting mates.
For five years, ecologist Ross Crates with Australian National University has studied the singing ability and mating success of birds called regent honeyeaters (王吸蜜鸟).
Male birds once formed large groups in the winter. Now they are spread out across the country, so many fly alone. That means fewer honeyeater adults are nearby during the young birds first year of life.
“Song learning in many birds is a process similar to humans learning languages—they learn by listening to other individuals,” said Crates.
“If you can’t listen to other individuals, you don’t know what you should be learning.”
Researchers found that a large number of male birds appear to be learning tunes only used by other species. About 12 percent of male regent honeyeaters end up producing versions of songs usually sung by friarbirds and lack-faced cuckoo shrikes, among other birds.
The scientists released their research in the publication Proceedings of the Royal Society B. They found that males who sang unusual songs were less successful in attracting mates.
Peter Marra is a conservation biologist at Georgetown University and was not involved in the study. He said, “This research suggests that the loss of a song language once the population reaches a very small size could accelerate their decline.”
Scott Ramsay is a behavioral ecologist at Wilfried Laurier University in Ontario, Canada. He was not involved in the research. He said the songs were like an advertisement: “When male birds sing, it’s like putting out an ad saying, ‘I’m over here...and I’m really interested in finding a partner.”
Ramsay added that female honeyeaters may not even recognize these unusual singers as possible mates, and so do not approach them. Or it could be that they approach, “but then things go wrong if the males do not behave as expected.”
1. What might be the scientists’ attitude towards the regent honeyeaters?| A．Positive. | B．Concerned. | C．Optimistic. | D．Critical. |
| A．It’s more possible for them to fail in mating. | B．They attract other species successfully. |
| C．Most regent honeyeaters will follow them. | D．Female honeyeaters like other versions of songs. |
| A．People can understand the language of honeyeaters. |
| B．Males sing wrong songs because they’re not interested in mating. |
| C．Females are likely to mistake male honeyeaters for other birds. |
| D．Regent honeyeaters can put out an advertisement apart from singing songs. |
| A．Singing is an important skill for every bird. |
| B．Honeyeaters and other birds have a close relationship. |
| C．The failure to acquire the song language may speed up the decrease of honeyeaters. |
| D．Honeyeaters are losing their capability of learning singing from other individuals. |
