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
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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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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A: Honesty is sincerity and loyalty, and cleverness is wit (机智) and acumen (敏锐).
B: Honesty and intelligence can be both for one person.
C: Honesty is another kind of cleverness. Cleverness may not necessarily true cleverness.
请根据以上材料，联系现实生活，结合自己的思考，自选角度写作。
要求：①80词左右
②题目自拟，文章格式自选
③观点明晰
④书写规范
8 . 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. |
9 . Ahh... Fish, chips and mushy peas! There is nothing more British than fish and chips. Freshly cooked, boiling hot fish and chips, topped with salt and seasoned with vinegar, packed in newspaper and eaten out-of-doors on a cold and wintry day — it simply cannot be beaten!
Both Lancashire and London claim to be the first to invent this famous meal. Chips were a cheap, basic food of the industrial north while fried fish was introduced in London’s East End.
Fish and chip shops were originally small family businesses, often run from the front room of the house and were commonplace by the late 19th century. Through the latter part of the 19th century and well into the 20th century, the fish and chip trade expanded greatly to satisfy the needs of the growing industrial population of Great Britain. Fish and chips became vital to the diet of the ordinary people.
In 1999, the British consumed nearly 300 million servings of fish and chips. That equates to six servings for every man, woman and child in the country.
| A．It quickly became a favourite of the workers. |
| B．People soon decided to put fried fish and chips together. |
| C．John Lees owned a restaurant and sold the famous pairing. |
| D．So how, when and where did this British dish come about? |
| E．There are now around 8,500 fish and chip shops across the UK. |
| F．Some shops had to employ doormen to control the queue at busy times. |
| G．The first fish and chip shop in Lancashire is thought to have opened in 1863. |
10 . Mike Mushaw joined the national bone marrow registry (骨髓登记) three years ago by chance. Six months later, he got a call. The 21-year-old football player's bone marrow matched a patient in Virginia. Mushaw gave a second thought to the donation, because apart from some risks, he never knew whether his donation worked.
“Finally I said yes,” Mushaw told the journalist. “Once they took my blood, I thought, ‘All right, this is real. This is going to happen.’”
Mushaw didn't know it at the time, but his donation would go to a five-month-old girl named Eleanor who was sick with a rare disease diagnosed when she was only three months old. Days and weeks passing, her condition had become more dire.
“Eleanor was going to die without a bone marrow transplant,” her mother, Jessica, said. “The choices were to either get a transplant or die early. Luckily, Mushaw’s bone cured her.”
Mushaw didn't know any of this until months after his donation. About six months after the procedure, Eleanor's parents sent him an e-mail to thank him for his selfless love.
Their surprising connection was beginning. Mushaw kept checking on her progress. Eleanor focused her attention on him, too, by watching his football games on TV. In August, Mushaw invited her family to drive from Virginia to Connecticut to meet at one of his games. They had a good time together.
In January, Mushaw reunited with Eleanor, this time in Virginia, to celebrate her birthday. It will likely be first of many celebrations together. “As a parent, it feels really great to watch someone love your kid as much as you do,” Jessica says. “We were two complete strangers, and now we've become such a big part of each other's lives.”
1. Why did Mushaw hesitate at first?| A．He was a football player. | B．He would face some danger. |
| C．He knew it wouldn't work at all. | D．He didn't know whether his risks were worthy. |
| A．Serious. | B．Complicated. | C．Relieved. | D．Hopeful. |
| A．Kind but hesitant. | B．Active and confident. |
| C．Worried but energetic. | D．Selfless and considerate. |
| A．Why health matters. | B．Never make excuses. |
| C．How to be a good person. | D．Love brings people together. |
