1. What did Trevor Baylis invent in 1996?
| A．The wind-up TV. | B．The wind-up radio. | C．The telephone-like shoes. |
| A．Funny. | B．Creative. | C．Generous. |
| A．In a dream. | B．On TV. | C．Over the radio. |
2 . A speech in a play by Shakespeare can be as short as a word or as long as several hundred. But what is the most common length?
Staying away from Shakespeare himself for a moment, we can take Ben Jonson’s play Volpone (1606) and count the number of speeches and their lengths. The most common length is four words. The next most common length is five words. Of the other 16 Jonson’s plays, 12 also have a speech length mode (模式) of four. It was not just Jonson; it was everybody. After 1602, four-word speeches were the most common kind across all the early modern plays that survived.
The London theatre industry took off in the late 1580s and early 1590s and we see a concentration of speech length modes of nine or ten. After 1602, the mode of four predominated. If we look just at Shakespeare’s plays, we find him doing what everyone else did: changing from favoring nine-word speeches to favouring four-word speeches around 1597-1602 and never going back.
Our suggestion is that the playwrights (剧作家) learned progressively from one another how to represent more closely the speech lengths of everyday exchanges and found that audiences responded well to these. They started to focus less on strict writing rules and more on the liveliness of everyday speech.
Another way to think of this is offered by the Russian literary scholar Boris Yarkho. He put forward an “index (指数) of liveliness” — the ratio of the number of speeches to the total number of lines in a play. He researched the works of the 17th-century French playwright Pierre Corneille and found that his comedies have a higher index because of their shorter speeches. The move from a mode of nine words to a mode of four represents the shortened average speech, and thus a move to livelier drama in Yarkho’s terms.
Nevertheless, we have no record of any dramatist or playgoer reflecting on the shortening of average speech lengths; our only knowledge of it comes from counting the words in the plays for ourselves.
1. What happened in English plays around the 1600s?| A．Their storylines were about famous writers. | B．They were influenced by a poetic writing style. |
| C．They featured different storytelling techniques. | D．Their speeches were generally shorter in length. |
| A．Remained unique. | B．Took the leading position. |
| C．Disappeared slowly. | D．Played an educational role. |
| A．To challenge traditional writing rules. | B．To stand out by applying their unique style. |
| C．To avoid being affected by social values. | D．To create realistic and acceptable speeches. |
| A．It saved actors the trouble of memorizing their lines. |
| B．It reflected people's preference for serious dialogues. |
| C．It helped present dramas in an active and pleasant way. |
| D．It made the characters express their feelings effectively. |
I will share the kind act that I met with all of you. We had dozens of restaurant options within a short distance, so we often took advantage of this luxury. On one occasion, I ran out to get some food. I saw the clouds in the distance and decided I could make it there and come back in time, but I was wrong. I was about to leave the restaurant when the rain just poured. The street was flooded within minutes.
But I had my little girl and husband waiting for me back at home, and they were hungry, so I knew I had to make a run for it. The owner of the restaurant tried to encourage me to wait inside, but I insisted that I should go. At this point, he grabbed his umbrella and said, “Okay, let’s go.” Of course I tried to convince him that it wasn’t necessary for him to walk me home, but I knew I wouldn’t prevent him from doing so. So off we went. We quickly realized that the umbrella wouldn’t help much in keeping us dry. He walked me all the way to my apartment building, where he said goodbye and ran back to the restaurant.
Again I encountered this act of kindness when I was making my way to the bus. As I waited at the crosswalk (人行道), it began to rain lightly. Nothing was too bad, but a young guy nearby felt like it was heavy enough to make him step next to me and hold his umbrella above both of us. After a while, the lights turned green. I thanked him and walked across the street.
Getting around the city when you are six months pregnant (怀孕的) and have a two-year-old kid can be challenging sometimes. One spring afternoon, I realized I needed something from the store to finish preparing for dinner. The weather seemed a bit questionable but the store was around the corner so I decided to risk it.
注意：1. 续写词数应为 150 左右；
2. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1:
It wasn’t raining when we left so we didn’t carry my umbrella.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph2:
As we crossed the street the woman offered me her umbrella.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________1. How do students enter the library?
| A．With a password. | B．With a student card. | C．With a library account. |
| A．At most 11. | B．At most 12. | C．At most 9. |
| A．Books borrowed by local citizens. |
| B．Books published recently. |
| C．Books loved by many people. |
| A．Tell the students where to buy drinks. |
| B．Show the students around the library. |
| C．Take the students on a campus tour. |
Dora Kellert was the school’s spelling bee champion, winner of the reading contest at the public library three summers in a row and the playground grand champion in chess. She was a straight-A student.
Though Dora was talented, she was no good at sports. She could not figure out in which direction to kick the soccer ball. She was no good at baseball or basketball either. It wasn’t until last year, when she was eleven years old, that she learned how to ride a bike. And even then she had to use training wheels.
“I’ll never be good at sports,” she thought one day as she lay on her bed staring at the shelf her father had made to hold her trophies (奖杯). “How I wish I could win something, anything, even marbles (弹珠).”
At the word “marbles,” she sat up, “That’s it. Maybe I could be good at playing marbles.” She jumped out of bed and found a can full of her brother’s marbles. “Yes,” she thought. “I could play marbles, and marbles is a sport.” At that moment she realized that she had only three weeks to practice. The playground championship was coming up. She had a lot to do.
To strengthen her wrists (腕关节), she decided to do twenty push-ups on her fingertips, five at a time. By the end of the first set she was breathing hard. She did one more set and decided that was enough push-ups for the first day. She squeezed (握) a rubber eraser one hundred times, hoping it would strengthen her thumb (大拇指). This seemed to work because the next day her thumb was painful. She could hardly hold a marble in her hand, so Dora rested that day and listened to her brother’s tips on how to shoot.
After school the next day she practiced three hours straight. After practice, she squeezed the eraser for an hour. Practice, practice, practice. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Dora got better and even beat her brother for the first time.
注意：1．续写词数应为150左右；
2．请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
Time flew and soon came the big day.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Dancing home, she placed the trophy on the middle of the shelf.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________By the time we reached the airport, my mother was angry. “We’re going to be late,”she said as she pulled into the newly opened parking area.
My husband David and I had come to pick up my oldest son, who had flown to spend theNew Year with the family. As always, Mom had insisted on driving us to the airport.
We picked a lane (车道) that didn’t look too busy. When our turn came, Mom rolled down her window to grab the parking ticket from the machine. We watched and waited for the gate to lift so we could drive through. Instead, we heard a voice,“Please take the ticket.”“Give me a minute,”Mom answered.
It’s a well-known fact that I often talk to myself. So does my mother. So at that time, Ididn’t think anything of my mother’s words.
The machine sounded again. “Please take the ticket.”
“I’m trying. I can’t reach it,”she said.
This time, my husband and I glanced at each other with our eyebrows raised. Certainly,Mom knew the voice was automated (自动化的) and not a real person speaking to her.
“Please take the ticket.”
“I’m trying. I’m trying. It’s too far away. Give me a minute.”
In fairness to my mother, automated machines had recently arrived in the world, and there weren’t many around yet. We had never run into one at the airport before. In the old days, the machine spit out a parking ticket, and if you couldn’t reach the ticket, you simply opened your door and grabbed it. Now, the new metal safety railings (护栏) on either side of the car made it impossible to open the door.
“Please take the ticket.”
“It’s too far. I’m trying. I’m trying.”
The traffic behind us grew impatient. I saw people trying to back their cars so they could find another lane. All the while, the machine continued,“Please take the ticket...”
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。
Mom was frustrated (沮丧的).
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I managed to reach for my mother’s safety belt and tried to unfasten (解开) it.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________1. Why did the speaker go on the tour?
| A．It was the prize of a competition. |
| B．John asked her to go with him. |
| C．It was her travel plan. |
| A．The drinks. | B．The food. | C．The waiters. |
| A．Disappointing. | B．Amazing. | C．Terrible. |
| A．She rode an elephant. |
| B．She went to the mountains. |
| C．She relaxed in the hotel. |
The library was typically so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. But on this Wednesday afternoon, there was a roar of laughter that spread through the halls. It was coming from a table in the back. Books were piled so high that one could barely see the source of all the noise. Brian and Josie were hiding behind the mountain of history texts, their faces bright red from laughing.
Mrs Cane, the librarian, followed the laughter and then approached the table. As she cleared her throat and looked over the piles of books, Brian and Josie looked up to meet her gaze. Mrs Cane looked at the books, then at the kids. “And what is it you two are supposed to be working on?”
Brian hesitated a moment, and then answered, “We’re working on a paper for our history class.”
“I see,” Mrs Cane said harshly. “Perhaps one of the private reading rooms would be a better place for you to concentrate and study. Quietly.”
The kids collected their books and their backpacks and followed Mrs Cane down a long hallway until they got to a dark row of doors. Mrs Cane pulled out a ring of keys from her pocket and unlocked a door. She turned on the light, which shone brightly overhead. The kids placed their books on the dusty table and reluctantly (不情愿地) climbed into the chairs. Brian and Josie shrugged (耸肩) and opened their books, finally focusing on the project at hand.
Time was ticking away. After what seemed like hours, Brian and Josie decided to take a break and when Josie opened the door of the room, Brian’s eyes opened wide. The library was completely dark. Looking at his watch, he let out a gasp. “It’s 9:30! The library closed an hour ago!”
Paragraph 1:Brian looked through his backpack for his cellphone.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
They heard a noise that sounded like a telephone ringing.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I was used to correcting my school essays (作文) with some red-ink marks until I met my high school English teacher, Linda Christensen. For our final projects, Ms. Christensen would write two-page letters with praise and professional comments. I had never had a teacher who was so thoughtful and careful with my writing.
I loved writing. It was a hobby. But Ms. Christensen was determined to make me an author. Her comments were more than just about fixing grammatical errors. She wrote questions to make my essays more detailed; she underlined passages that she agreed with. Her letters always started with how proud she was that I was brave enough to write the truth, how she saw potential (潜力) in me. I would read her words over and over.
I needed this care, this recognition. I was the last Watson child to attend Jefferson High School. My sister Cheryl was known for being one of the star writers of the school newspaper. Trisa, another sister, had participated in two study-abroad programs. Dyan, another sister, was good at playing the piano. My sisters were involved in all types of after-school activities, while I was the little one following them like a shadow. No one noticed my existence except Ms. Christensen.
Adapting to high school was challenging, and I felt unconfident. On the first day of my high school, a teacher greeted me with a hug, saying, “You have some big shoes to fill.” Then she showed me the trophies (奖杯) in the hallway. I immediately recognized several: Cheryl, Trisa, and Dyan. I was inspired, yes, but mostly worried.
My Spanish was so-so. I got good grades but was not a top student. I loved music, but I wasn’t good at playing any musical instrument. I tried to walk in my sisters’ shoes, but they didn’t fit. I tried to follow their steps, but it’s too hard, really.
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。
And then I met Ms. Christensen.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It was Ms. Christensen that gave me the power to be an author.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Where did George park his car?
| A．On a narrow street. | B．At a parking lot. | C．At a square. |
| A．At 5:00 pm. | B．At 4:40 pm. | C．At 4:20 pm. |
| A．In his pocket. | B．In his car. | C．On the bench. |
| A．Someone stole it. | B．It was behind another car. | C．He went to a wrong place. |
