Science fiction doesn’t always get the respect it deserves. My friend Ryan calls
Yes, science fiction is fun, but it’s also “real” literature. After all, some of
Not only
One accurate example by a science fiction writer is the invention of the automatic sliding door,
Okay, so maybe we could survive without automatic doors, but in the short story From the London Times of 1904 (published in 1898), Mark Twain described a m
In a coastal village named Seaford, lived a courageous young woman named Amelia. Amelia was known throughout Seaford for her adventurous nature. From the moment she could walk, she would eagerly run towards the crashing waves, feeling the sand between her toes and the cool spray of the ocean mist on her face. She was a woman with a strong will and possessed a heart full of kindness. Amelia’s love for the ocean was intense, and she spent most of her days exploring the beautiful beaches and sparkling waters that surrounded her house.
One sunny morning, while Amelia was walking along the shore, she noticed a group of restless seagulls abnormally circling above the crashing waves. Their unusual calls echoed (回) through the air. Concerned for their well-being, she followed their flight pattern, her instincts guiding her toward danger.
As she approached a towering cliff, Amelia gasped in horror. On a narrow ledge (岩架), high above the violent waves, was a young dolphin trapped in a thick fishing net. Its shiny body shone under the golden rays of the sun, but its freedom was cruelly limited by the trap. With each struggle, the net tightened around its delicate body, leaving painful marks on its skin. Its tail flapped helplessly, each movement a request for help, while its desperate cries for assistance echoed through the air.
A sense of urgency filled her, pushing her forward with determination and resolve. Realizing that time was tight, Amelia knew she had to act instantly to free this innocent creature from its difficult position before it submitted to exhaustion or the force of the tides.
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。
Paragraph 1: Without hesitation, Amelia rushed back to the village.
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Paragraph 2: As the dolphin was released into the waters, it hesitated for a moment.
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Sacrificing Hair for a Friend
My seven-year-old daughter Sue looked frightened with tears in her eyes. In front of her was a bowl of medicine, which tasted so bitter. “Sue, why don’t you take the medicine? Just for Dad’s sake, dear.” Sue softened a bit. “Dad, if I take the medicine, will you give me whatever I ask for?” “Oh sure, darling.” I replied. “Promise?” “Promise.”
Slowly and painfully, she finished taking the medicine and then looked at me with her eyes wide with expectation. “Dad, I want to have my head shaved off, this Sunday!”
“A girl child having her head shaved off? Why don’t you ask for something else? We will be sad seeing you with a clean-shaven head,” I said. “I do not want anything else,” Sue said with finality. “Dad, you promised to give me whatever I ask for. Was it not you who told me a story yesterday, and its moral that we should honor our promises no matter what?”
I had to give in.
On Monday morning, I dropped her at her school. It was a sight to watch my daughter walking towards her classroom with her head clean-shaven. She turned around and waved. I waved back with a smile. Just then, a boy got out of a car, and shouted, “Sue, please wait for me!”
What struck me was the hairless head of that boy. Then a lady got out of the car, and said to me, “Sir, that boy is my son Mike, and your daughter visited him last week. Mike is suffering from leukemia. He lost all his hair due to the side effects of the chemotherapy. He refused to come back to school for fear that he would be made fun of by the schoolmates.”
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。
“Your daughter is great indeed!” the lady continued.
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Sue’s story spread quickly and soon many other children showed their care for Mike in various ways.
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| A．Devoted; admired | B．Devoted; admiring |
| C．Devoting; admired | D．Devoting; admiring |
Outside the Box
The Harvestfest contest was falling on Friday and everyone in school was talking about it. All the students would show up in their self-made costumes and a winner would be chosen by the principal.
“Do you have your costume for the Harvestfest contest?” Alice asked. “I’m going as a chocolate bar. My mom and I have been working on it all week.”
“Yeah, I have a costume,” said Jordan Eastman, popping up the two front wheels of his wheelchair as he waited for his dad to pick him up. “But it’s boring.”
“Why? What is it?” Alice asked.
“MaxMag the superhero, but Danny, Tom and Izzy are all going as MaxMag too.” Jordan shook his head. “That’s too many to stand a chance at winning the contest.” He waved to his dad, who had just pulled up in front of the school.
Jordan rolled his wheelchair toward his dad, and Alice walked with him to the minivan.
“Maybe you should go as something else.”
“The contest is Friday night.” Jordan sighed. “It’s too late to change costumes.”
“Jordan, you have to think outside the box. Look around your house and see what you have. There’s hidden potential in everyday items.” She took a sip of her drink, and told Jordan that her chocolate-bar costume was made from old fabric her mom had lying around and recycled plastics.
On his way home, Jordan was quiet. He kept thinking about Alice’s words: Think outside the box. There’s hidden potential in everyday items. When he got home, he found his mum handling with some wooden pieces. She was putting a new desk together. On top of the desk was the huge empty cardboard box the pieces had come in. Mom smiled at Jordan, pointing at the desk, “What do you think?”
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。
Jordan’s eyes fell on the box and he smiled, “It’s perfect . … with my wheelchair.”
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Soon it was Friday night, and Jordan couldn’t wait to show his costume.
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8 . What does it mean to leave something better than you found it? For Breon Dennis Jr. , it
Breon is from Louisiana, and came to Dallas Baptist University in the late 2000s to
As the VP of the RoughRiders Foundation, his ultimate
A key part to Breon’s philosophy in helping others to
| A．shows | B．includes | C．collects | D．involves |
| A．obtain | B．learn | C．find | D．make |
| A．studying | B．training | C．working | D．living |
| A．earned | B．finished | C．lost | D．kept |
| A．labor | B．management | C．influence | D．project |
| A．reward | B．desire | C．effort | D．hobby |
| A．personally | B．mentally | C．physically | D．financially |
| A．businesses | B．events | C．occasions | D．tasks |
| A．demands | B．prefers | C．seeks | D．promises |
| A．expects | B．teaches | C．shows | D．encourages |
| A．grow | B．love | C．succeed | D．enjoy |
| A．meet with | B．agree with | C．live with | D．begin with |
| A．bring | B．take | C．move | D．pass |
| A．effects | B．knowledge | C．values | D．standards |
| A．richest | B．best | C．smartest | D．strongest |
If there was one thing that Ellen Rafferty hated more than driving, it was driving in the rain. This evening, on her way back from work, Ellen saw a little child standing by the side of the road in the pouring rain. So she hit the brakes sharply, and pulled over by the side of the road next to the child.
It was a little boy, maybe four or five, and he was shaking and hugging himself. As soon as he saw Ellen, his face. brightened. “Hello!” he said,“Are you my mommy?”
“No,”Ellen said in the icy rain. “I’m not! What are you doing here? Where are your parents?”
“Oh,” the boy said disappointingly. “I don’t know where my mom is. She left me on the road when it was raining, and I think she must be looking for me.”
“What’s your name? Where do you live?”
“I’m David. I live at the Doris Farmer Institute for Children.”
“The orphanage(孤儿院)?” asked Ellen. “But that is far!” Just then, there was a terrible flash of lightning and even more rain poured down as thunder rolled across the sky. “Come on,”Ellen said. “I’m taking you home. I’ll call the orphanage to come and fetch you.” Ellen took the boy home.
She didn’t quite know what to do with him, so she turned on a heater and wrapped him with a blanket. Then she called the orphanage and told them that she found one of their children, who named David, on the road. But the woman on the phone said it was too late and they couldn’t come to fetch him.
Sighing,Ellen hung up the phone and looked at the boy. At the same time, her cat Gandalf walked in and rubbed himself against Ellen’s legs. Ellen picked the cat up and kissed his head. “Come on, my baby,” she said softly, “Mommy’s gonna feed you...” When she looked up, she was shocked by the longing in David’s eyes,
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。
“I wish I was your cat,”he said sadly.
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The next day, Ellen got into her car again and drove to the orphanage to ask about David.
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10 . How would you feel if you were invited to the moon? If you found a gold coin, would you save it, give it to charity or use it for a holiday? Personality quizzes of this kind, known as “psychometrics”, have bothered many job seekers. Now, it is being applied to the oldest problem in finance: will a borrower repay?
In rich countries, lenders use credit scores to weigh risk. But just 7% of Africans and 13% of South Asians are covered by credit bureaus (征信机构). Bailey Klinger of the Entrepreneurial Finance Lab (EFL), which explores new kinds of credit data, argues that psychometrics could include many more people in the financial system. Everyone has a personality, after all.
Judging character is not new. Psychometrics attempts to make it a science. The model developed by EFL has undergone many tests and adapted to different cultures. Its collected data reflect something unnoticed. For instance, young optimists are risky, but old ones are a safe bet.
Clever design cuts cheating. There are no obvious right answers; responses are cross-checked for consistency. The model monitors mouse movements for signs of indecision or distraction. When borrowers lie to get a loan, they often do so in predictable ways. In an EFL test, people are shown pictures of five drinks and asked which one they would be. Choosing water over something with small bubbles may be a sign of cheating.
This sounds fanciful, but there is evidence that it works. In one Indonesian bank, combining psychometrics with existing customer data cut default (违约) rates for small businesses by 45%. A study by the World Bank found that EFL’s model increased lending to those without a credit history.
The technique needs further development. At present, turning to credit bureaus is still the best way to tell if somebody will repay a loan. But bureaus improve more slowly than technology. Lenders will find ever more ways to look into their customers’ souls.
1. What are the figures intended to show in the second paragraph?| A．Racial discrimination from lenders. |
| B．Uncertain property of poor people. |
| C．Great risks brought by credit scores. |
| D．Current weakness of credit bureaus. |
| A．It has been greatly improved. |
| B．Its data confirm some ideas. |
| C．Its effects vary with cultures. |
| D．It can’t tell character exactly. |
| A．Borrowers’ responses. | B．Lenders’ answers. |
| C．Pictures of five drinks. | D．Drinks with bubbles. |
| A．It will replace credit bureaus. |
| B．It will be mature in the future. |
| C．It has won most lenders’ love. |
| D．It is far from satisfactory. |
