Thomas and John have a lot in common. They are both talented high school seniors. They both love basketball. They are both captains of their respective high school basketball teams. But on one Saturday night in February, they were forever linked in the minds of all who were present for a mutual act of courage, sportsmanship(体育精神)and respect.
The remarkable moment came during a game between Thomas's small town Illinois team and John's big city team in Wisconsin—a game that almost wasn't played. Just days before the game, John's mother lost her five-year battle with cancer. Her death was sudden and painful for all who knew her.
John's coach wanted to cancel the game, but John insisted that the game should be played. So with heavy hearts, his teammates prepared to honor their captain's wishes and play without him.
What they weren't prepared for was John's appearance in the gym mid-way through the first half. As soon as the coach saw John, he called a time out, and players and fans surrounded the young man to offer love and support.
The coach asked him if he wanted to sit on the bench with the team. “No,” John said. “I want to play.” Of course his team was excited to have him. But because John wasn't on the pre-game roster(候选名单), putting him in the game at that point would result in a technical foul(犯规)and two free throws for the opposing team.
However, John's coach agreed with that. He could see that this was the teenager's way of coping with his loss. He thought the points didn't matter. The opposing team understood the situation and told the referees to let John play and forget the technical foul. The referees argued that a rule is a rule, and the free throws would have to be taken before the game could proceed. For possibly the first time in basketball history, referees had to force a team to accept and take the technical free throws.
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。
As team captain, Thomas volunteered to take the free throws.
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John and his teammates stood and applauded the gesture of sportsmanship.
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One day Officer Jackson and Steve were discussing a serious case when they were informed of a disturbance (骚乱) in the nearby subway. So, they walked out of the station and got into their car.
The two officers had expected they’d have to deal with an annoying beggar troubling the passers-by for money. But when they arrived at the crime scene, they were shocked at the beggar’s appearance. The man had tears in his eyes and was sitting on the subway stairs, looking untidy and tired.
“Excuse me, sir,” Officer Jackson said. “You can’t stay here, nor can you bother the people to give you money. You have to leave this place.”
“Look, officers,” the man sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble, okay? I lost my cane (拐杖), and I can’t walk without it. I wanted a few cents so I could get myself something to eat.”
The two officers exchanged looks, knowing the man wasn’t a disturbance but someone who really needed their help. So they promised to get him food, buy him a cane, and drop him home.
After doing that, the officers drove to the beggar’s home, only to discover he had no home at all. He was just wandering in the streets and living off the leftovers he managed to find.
The poor man said his name was Eugene. When he was working at a skyscraper construction site, he was injured and became disabled, losing his ability to walk. Unfortunately, his disability forbade him from doing physical labor, and he wasn’t well-educated to find a desk job, so he remained jobless. Because he couldn’t provide for his family, his wife and children left him. “I don’t have any hopes of changing my destiny (命运), officers,” the man said.
But Officer Jackson wanted Eugene to change his life. “You’re still young,” he said.
“You can’t lose hope so soon. He brought him something warm to eat, helped him take a shower, and gave him his warm boots. After his work, Officer Jackson drove Eugene to a shelter for the homeless and left.
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。
Since that day, Eugene had never expected to meet the two officers again.
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A few months later, Eugene was a changed man.
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Henry Tyler made the catch of the year on the weekend. When he saw a young child hanging from a sixth-floor apartment balcony (阳台), Henry ran one hundred metres, jumped over a 1.2-metre fence, and held out his arms to catch the
Eric Brown, only three years old, knocked Henry down when he fell. The boy is in the hospital and doctors say he'll be OK.
Eric woke up a little later when he heard children playing outside. He pushed a chair onto the balcony, and climbed up
Henry
"He saved my
"I just didn't want the boy to be hurt," said Henry.
People use the proverb “seeing is believing” to describe situations where it’s hard to believe something is possible if you haven’t seen it happen. I am here today to tell you that the proverb is true and to share with you how a girl and her grandmother made a positive transformation in a community.
It was a year ago when I was studying life cycles in my science class. I wrote a paper about the life cycle of the monarch butterfly (帝王蝶) and received a perfect score. I was so thrilled; I called my grandmother Nana and told her the exciting news. My talk recalled memories from Nana’s childhood. “I remember when I was a girl,” she said, “those orange and black butterflies were a common sight. Come late summer, there would suddenly be hundreds of them, and before long there were so many it felt like you were standing in an orange cloud.”
“It sounds like you witnessed a migration (迁徙), but what happened to them?” I asked. “To be honest, I’ve never known,” Nana admitted. “But there do seem to be fewer monarchs around the neighborhood.” Nana and I decided to investigate.
That weekend, we met at the public library. Our research produced plenty of information: some fascinating and some concerning. Apparently, the number of monarchs has been in decline for the last several decades. Housing developments have destroyed much of their habitat (栖息地). Some information was hopeful, though, like how conservationists are working to save them.
The best was this — it doesn’t take lots of money or equipment to do so. It takes only a little bit of land, some seeds, and dedicated people to create what’s called a Monarch Waystation (驿站).
“What if we set up our own Monarch Waystation?” I suggested. “We’ll need people to help.” Nana responded immediately and didn’t waste time to get started.
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。
The next day, Nana presented the idea to her garden club and I talked to my friends.
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Nana and I created a blog and frequently updated about the community’s efforts.
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5 . Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns.
How does climate change make you feel? The news of melting glaciers and oil spills may seem overwhelming and can make you feel angry, frightened, hopeless or upset. This is called climate anxiety.
Positive action can inspire others too. Sisters Kim and Stella King from the charity Fights Against Plastic have picked up 90,000 pieces of plastic. They ask schools, businesses and organizations to follow their lead.
| A．Why is there climate anxiety? |
| B．And it is a normal, healthy response. |
| C．This risks the lives of humans, animals and plants. |
| D．Remember, it’s important to get support from people around. |
| E．No one can fix climate change on their own but we can all play a part. |
| F．These shifts may be natural, such as through variations in the solar cycle. |
| G．So, tell friends and family what you’re up to and encourage them to join in. |
6 . In a fascinating paper published last year in Science, a team led by Andreas Nieder of the University of Tubingen in Germany showed that crows —already known to be among the most intelligent of animals —are even more impressive than we knew. In fact, the evidence suggests that they are self-aware and, in an important sense, conscious (有意识的).
Crows had been observed previously to use tools to solve certain problems. Nieder’s experiment showed that the birds were actively evaluating how to solve a particular problem; in effect, they were thinking it over. This ability to consciously assess a problem was associated with the cerebral cortex (大脑皮层) in the brains of humans, which birds don’t have.
Other studies support the idea that the bird brain can, in principle, support the development of higher intelligence. It had been dismissed in the past due to the small size of birds’ brains. But recent research has shown that in birds, the neurons (神经元) are smaller and more lightly-packed, which makes sense to reduce weight and makes it easier lo fly. The total number of brain cell in crows (about 1.5 billion) is about the same as that in some monkey species. But because they are more tightly-packed, the communication between the neurons seems to be better, and the overall intelligence of crows may be closer to that of gorillas (猩猩).
This research has important consequences for our understanding of the evolution of higher intelligence. First, a cerebral cortex is not needed, and there are other means to achieve the same outcome. Second, either the evolution of consciousness is very ancient tracing back to the last common ancestor of mammals and birds about 320 million years ago, or, equally interesting, consciousness arose at least twice later on, independently in mammals and birds. Both options raise the possibility that higher intelligence on the planet may not necessarily be mammal or human-like, but could very well be birdlike.
1. What did Andreas Nieder’s team find out about crows?| A．They are more intelligent than other animals. |
| B．They have left people a very good impression. |
| C．They are much cleverer than previously thought. |
| D．They can use tools to solve certain problems. |
| A．The idea. | B．The bird brain. |
| C．The development. | D．Higher intelligence. |
| A．They have more tightly-packed brains. |
| B．They have a small number of brain cells. |
| C．Their brain neurons could communicate well. |
| D．Their brain cells are the same with the monkeys. |
| A．Cerebral cortexes are necessary for the evolution of higher intelligence. |
| B．Both mammals and birds got their intelligence from common ancestors. |
| C．Higher intelligence has already developed separately in different species. |
| D．Higher intelligence on the planet might be different from what we imagine. |
7 . In the sport of track and field, athletes compete not only with one another but against themselves to achieve a new personal best. Aiming to
Before his coach could
In today’s
| A．play | B．beat | C．check | D．measure |
| A．failed | B．warned | C．dragged | D．raised |
| A．rest | B．win | C．leave | D．finish |
| A．Relieved | B．Exhausted | C．Concerned | D．Disappointed |
| A．luck | B．effort | C．passion | D．respect |
| A．rapid | B．relaxed | C．unsteady | D．impatient |
| A．Normally | B．Eventually | C．Unbelievably | D．Unfortunately |
| A．gave out | B．broke up | C．fell down | D．slowed down |
| A．guide | B．reach | C．serve | D．blame |
| A．refused | B．hesitated | C．regretted | D．pretended |
| A．in his hand | B．out of breath | C．on his feet | D．out of danger |
| A．direction | B．support | C．courage | D．comfort |
| A．assistant | B．teammate | C．follower | D．opponent |
| A．diverse | B．well-developed | C．competitive | D．ever-changing |
| A．urgent | B．common | C．confusing | D．inspiring |
The Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games will be the new start for winter sports worldwide with over 300 million Chinese
The IOC President added that Beijing will
According to Bach, Beijing is showing solutions for a more sustainable (可持续的) future. “From re-using venues (场馆) from the Olympic Games 2008; to powering all Beijing 2022 venues with renewable energy; to minimizing environmental
Beijing 2022 will also mean a lot for winter sports beyond China, and change the
For the athletes, Bach underlined how they have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
“These Games are not
What is culture? Culture is the shared characteristics and knowledge of a group of people,
A number of historical events
Eastern culture generally refers to the traditions in Asian
10 . Human’s fingerprint can be seen across the planet today, from the pyramids to the skyscrapers and from roads to agriculture. But what would the world look like if humans had never existed?
A scientist has painted a picture of the world without modern humans. “I think it would be an overgrowing place with a wealth of animals ranging across all continents,” said Gilbert Williams, a biologist in Australia.
Human beings have shaped the world at the expense of many species, from the dodos to dinosaurs, which we drove to extinction through unsustainable activities. The extinction rate on Earth today is more than 100 times what it would be without humans. In other words, human beings hit this planet like an asteroid from space, and the “dust” is still affecting the livelihood of wildlife.
Scientists also believe human beings played a key role in the disappearance of large mammals. Without humans, massive animals would live across Europe. Meanwhile, the Americas would be home to bears and elephants, along with unique species like giant mammoths (猛犸象). “In a world without humans, there would be a much bigger diversity of large mammals,” Dr. Gilbert said. They survived climate changes and likely could have survived to the present day were it not for the pressure humans placed on them.
The climate might also be different. Though activities such as the burning on fossil fuels, human beings have a great impact on Earth’s climate by raising the average global temperature. Earth, therefore, would have been much cooler without us.
However, human beings are not the only intelligent creatures on this planet. There’re no reasons why other intelligent animals couldn’t have evolved like that eventually, given enough time. “Removing us might have opened the door for others,” Dr. Gilbert said. “Maybe they would make all the same mistakes that we’ve done. Who knows?”
1. How does the author introduce the topic of the passage?| A．By telling a joke. | B．By giving details. |
| C．By listing problems. | D．By raising a question. |
| A．To stress the damage humans brought to wildlife. |
| B．To reduce environmental pollution on this planet. |
| C．To praise efforts humans made to shape the world. |
| D．To show high expense of protecting many species. |
| A．Their diversity is smaller than before. |
| B．They added pressure on human beings. |
| C．Their activities caused global warming. |
| D．They disappeared due to climate changes. |
| A．Dinosaurs might return to this planet. |
| B．There would be no pollution any more. |
| C．Other smart creatures might come to power. |
| D．Intelligent animals would avoid making mistakes. |
