1 . 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. |
2 . If English means endless new words, difficult grammar and sometimes strange pronunciation, you are wrong. Haven’t you noticed that you have become smarter since you started to learn a language?
According to a new study by a British university, learning a second language can lead to an increase in your brain power. Researchers found that learning other languages changes grey matter density (灰质密度). This is the area of the brain which processes (加工) information. It is similar to the way that exercise builds muscles. The study also found the younger people learn a second language, the greater the effect is.
A team led by Dr. Andrea Mechelli, from University College London (UCL), took a group of Britons who only spoke English. They were compared with a group of “early bilinguals” who had learnt a second language before the age of five, as well as a number of later learners.
Scans showed that grey matter density in the brain was greater in bilinguals than in people without a second language. But the longer a person waited before mastering a new language, the smaller the difference was.
“Our findings suggest that the structure of the brain is changed by the experience of learning a second language,” said the scientists. It means that the change itself increases the ability to learn.
Professor Dylan Vaughan Jones of the University of Wales, has researched the link between bilingualism and maths skills. “Having two languages gives you two windows on the world and makes the brain more flexible.” he said. “You are actually going beyond language and have a better understanding of different ideas.”
The findings were matched in a study of native Italian speakers who had learnt English as a second language between the ages of two and thirty-four. Reading, writing, and comprehension were all tested. The results showed that the younger they started to learn, the better. “Studying a language means you get an entrance to another world,” explained the scientists.
1. Why does the writer mention “exercise” in the second paragraph?| A．To make people believe language learning is helpful for their health. |
| B．To suggest language learning is also a kind of physical labor. |
| C．To prove that one needs more resources when he/she is learning a language. |
| D．To tell us that learning a language can train your brain effectively. |
| A．The ability of learning a second language is changing all the time. |
| B．The earlier you start to learn a second language, the higher the grey matter density is. |
| C．The experience of learning a second language has a bad effect on brain. |
| D．There is no difference between a later second language learner and one without a second language. |
| A．early learning of a second language helps in studying other subjects |
| B．learning a second language is the same as studying maths |
| C．Italian is the best choice for you as a second language |
| D．you’d better choose the ages between 2 and 34 to learn a second language |
| A．Language learning is closely connected with maths study. |
| B．Man has a great ability of learning a second language. |
| C．Studying a foreign language can improve man’s ability to think. |
| D．The study done by the researchers from UCL is failed finally. |
3 . Freshman year of high school is a big transition (过渡) for any student.
Luckily, you’re not the only person going through this. and plenty of others have made the transition before you too.
One of the ways in which high school is different from middle school or junior high the most is the higher expectations. You’ll find that you’re expected to keep closer track of your own schedule and responsibilities with fewer people checking up on you. At the same time, your classes are likely to become more challenging, and you might be participating in new school activities as well.
Some students find it hard to keep up with everything at first, which is totally normal. One way to prepare in advance for these higher expectations is to make sure that you have organized schedules in place before you start high school.
Another important skill for meeting these higher expectations is building a strong support network. No matter how strong a student you are, at some point you will need some help. Keeping healthy relationships with your friends and teachers is a great way to make sure that you have people who are willing to help when you need them.
Try to get to know at least some of your teachers beyond your classroom communication. Be an active learner during class and stay after class to ask questions. Take advantage of email or class messaging systems. The better your teachers know you, the better prepared they’ll be to help when you need them.
It’s important for you to keep in mind as you start high school that no one is perfect. Transitions are hard for everyone, and starting high school is a big transition. These challenges provide a great chance to reinvent yourself.
1. In the author’s view, the biggest difference between high school and middle school is ________.| A．different relationships | B．the higher expectations |
| C．high academic achievement | D．the higher pressure |
| A．Careful schedules. | B．Healthy relationships. |
| C．Using network information. | D．Reinventing yourself. |
| A．Students in junior school. | B．Teachers in high school. |
| C．Students in senior one. | D．Parents of high school students. |
| A．How to Meet Your Teacher’s High Expectations |
| B．How to Become an Active Learner in High School |
| C．What to Prepare to Keep up with Everything in High School |
| D．How to Get Through the Transition of Freshman Year of High School |
My Parents and I had been planning my brother’s birthday party since the beginning of March. Johnny would be six years old in two weeks. My mom was going to bake her special chocolate cake with white icing. As I watched her, I thought, “I wonder what I can do to make my brother’s birthday special.”
I knew my parents had already bought a present for me to give to Johnny, but I wanted to buy him something I had chosen myself and with the money I had saved. After giving it some thought, I wanted to buy him the paint-by-number kit (数字涂色小套装) I had seen at the store around the comer.
I decided to empty my coin jar (存钱罐) and see how much money I had saved. However, I was disappointed to find there was much less than I had imagined. “Oh, no, I only have about three dollars,” I muttered to myself. The set cost more than I had saved.
Suddenly a “great” idea occurred to me. I slid into my parents’ bedroom where my dad kept loose change (零钱) on top of the dresser (梳妆台). I stood on my tiptoes and saw some coins. I carefully counted out what I needed to make up the difference. “I'm sure Dad won't mind just this once,” I thought.
However, I was soon overcome by guilt (负罪感). Even though there was no one else in the bedroom, I felt like I was being watched. Mom was always telling us about the importance of honesty. Maybe my plan wasn't such a great idea after all. However, I still put all the change I found into my own pocket.
I slid out of my parents’ room and headed toward the door. “Where are you going, Arwen? ” Mom asked, “Oh, just up to the corner store,” I replied. “Well, don't stay out too long, Daddy will be home soon.” “Okay, Mom” I ran out of our house.
Once I got to the store, I took the paint-by-number kit from the shelf.
“Can I help you, young lady?” the saleswoman asked.
“No. I'm just looking, thank you,” I said.
“That's a really nice paint kit. We sell a lot of them and, as you can see, that's the last one.” she said.
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；
Paragraph 1:
I nodded my head in agreement, thinking hard.
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Paragraph 2:
I would just have to wait until I saved the extra money I needed.
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5 . For some people, running outdoors is a great way to exercise. What may not be so great is seeing trash all over the ground. Well, some people are doing something about it. They are plogging! Plogging began in Sweden in 2016. A Swedish man named Erik Ahlstrom became concerned about the amount of trash and litter he saw each day on his way to work and he began picking up the trash. That is how plogging was born!
Plogging, by that term，may have officially begun in Sweden. But many people who exercise outdoors have been doing this for years. Take Jeff Horowitz for example. He is a personal trainer in Washington，D. C. He would often pick up trash while running outside. He even turned it into a game; he would try to pick up the trash without stopping.
Today, plogging is an official activity, one that is becoming increasingly popular. Plogging can build closer social connections in a community, and it can also be fun. When Dana Allen goes plogging around D. C., she invites her friends, and they make a day of it. Although Allen enjoys plogging，she doesn’t do it all the time. When she is training for a serious marathon race，the trash has to wait.
Cities around the world now hold plogging events. The goal is to spread the idea that littering is not acceptable. Along with cleaning up the environment, there may be another reason to choose plogging. One fitness app，Lifesum，records one hour of plogging as burning 288 calories. Usual jogging burns about 235 calories.
Getting ready to plog is similar to getting ready to jog. Ploggers do some deep knee bends as well as some balancing exercises and then they put on protective gloves. There are other safety rules for plogging. The main one is to plog in areas where there are not too many people. Stopping quickly in front of someone. to pick up an empty bag of potato chips, for example, could cause a crash.
1. What do we know about Jeff Horowitz from the text?| A．He was the first person to plog. | B．He has been actually plogging. |
| C．He is in support of eco-travelling. | D．He is an expert in picking up trash. |
| A．She doesn’t always do it with her friends. |
| B．She always finds it interesting to do it. |
| C．She nearly does it in a park every day. |
| D．She doesn’t insist doing it every day. |
| A．Picking up trash is important. | B．Plogging events are of little use. |
| C．Plogging is a better workout. | D．The idea of plogging is strange. |
| A．To avoid a crash. | B．To save energy. |
| C．To pick up more trash. | D．To make it unknown. |
| A．simply | B．briefly |
| C．sincerely | D．approximately |
