One day, a woman gazed silently at a black and white photograph of a little girl kneeling in the snow.
“Her name is Tina,” said the man who had handed her the picture. “She’s seven years old. I love my daughter more than anything, but I can’t keep her. My wife…she isn’t Tina’s mother, you know? She hates having a reminder around of my other marriage. I had to send Tina back to my cx-wife. to keep her cafe”
“But Tina’s mother hasn’t had Tom with her for your; she’s married now with two kids and she... well. she’s mutationally manic in deal with another one. You see?” He swallowed hard before adding. “My daughter need a home.”
The woman handed the photograph to her husband, when look it and audited it for several minutes before giving it back with a small smile He said. “Well. honey, what do you think?”
The woman looked into the eyes of the little girl’s father “Yes,” she said “We’ll take her.”
The little girl in the photograph was me. And the common when degreed to open her heart and home to a child she’d never met was my new mother. My new father, of course, played an important, loving part in this decision. but it was my mother who was willing to take on the full-time, thankless, and often heartbreaking care of a previously abused child. Loving me would be a challenge for hot from the very beginning.
In the first place, I didn’t want to be there. I was heartbroken at being taken away from my father. Moreover, I had a natural distrust of women. The two in my life so far had either abandoned me or beaten me. In my mind, why should this new one be any different?
I bonded with my new father quickly. But my mother was the one to deal with a bitter. confused little girl. I tested my new mother’s love from time to time.
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。
One day, when we ate out, I made a noise on purpose.
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However, my mother didn’t give up.
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2 . Atomic shapes are so simple that they can’t be broken down any further. Mathematicians are trying to turn to artificial intelligence (AI) for help to build a periodic table of these shapes, hoping it will assist in finding yet-unknown atomic shapes.
Tom Coates at Imperial College London and his colleagues are working to classify atomic shapes known as Fano varieties, which are so simple that they can’t be broken down into smaller components. Just as chemists arranged element s in the periodic table by their atomic weight and group to reveal new insights, the researchers hope that organizing these atomic shapes by their various properties will help in understanding them.
The team has given each atomic shape a sequence of numbers based on its features such as the number of holes it has or the extent to which it bends around itself. This acts as a bar code (条形码) to identify it. Coates and his colleagues have now created an AI that can predict certain properties of these shapes from their bar code numbers alone, with an accuracy of 98 percent.
The team member Alexander Kasprzyk at the University of Nottingham, UK, says that the AI has let the team organize atomic shapes in a way that begins to follow the periodic table, so that when you read from left to right, or up and down, there seem to be general patterns in the geometry (几何) of the shapes.
Graham Nib lo at the University of Southampton, UK, stresses that humans will still need to understand the results provided by AI and create proofs of these ideas. “AI has definitely got unbelievable abilities. But in the same way that telescopes (望远镜) don’t put astronomers out of work, AI doesn’t put mathematicians out of work,” he says. “It just gives us new backing that allows us to explore parts of the mathematical landscape that are out of reach.”
The team hopes to improve the model to the point where missing spaces in its periodic table could point to the existence of unknown shapes.
1. What is the purpose of building a periodic table of shapes?| A．To gain deeper insights into the atomic shapes. |
| B．To create an AI to predict the unknown shapes. |
| C．To break down atomic shapes into smaller parts. |
| D．To arrange chemical elements in the periodic table. |
| A．Its holes. | B．Its bends. |
| C．Its atomic weight. | D．Its properties. |
| A．Design. | B．Help. | C．Duty. | D．Threat. |
| A．Thanks to AI, new atomic shapes have been discovered. |
| B．Mathematicians turn to AI to create more atomic shapes. |
| C．AI helps build a relationship between chemistry and maths. |
| D．A periodic table of shapes can be built with the help of AI. |
3 . Animal appear to predict earthquakes by sensing electricity in the air — the first study to find reliable evidence of the phenomenon has shown.
Cameras revealed an “amazing” drop in the number of animals up to 23 days before a major quake hit their rainforest home at Yanachaga National Park in Peru. Lead scientist Dr Rachel Grant, from Anglia Ruskin University, said, “The results showed that just before the earthquake, animals’ activity dropped right down.”
On a normal day the cameras placed around Yanachaga National Park record between 5 and 15 animals. But in the 23 days before the earthquake, the number of animals dropped to five or fewer per day. No animals were photographed at all on five of the seven days immediately before the quake.
Another study showed that animal activity remained normal in the park over a different period when seismic (地震的) activity was low. Co-author, professor Friedemann Freund, said, “The cameras were located at an altitude of 900 meters. If air ionization occurred, the animals would escape to the valley below, where there were fewer positive ions ( 离子). With their ability to sense their environment, animals can help us understand small changes that occur before major earthquakes.”
Other evidence suggested that before the earthquake, the air around the high mountain sites filled with positive ions that can be produced when rocks are placed under stress. Positive ions have been known to cause ill effects in humans as well as animals. Scientists believe the animals were made to feel uncomfortable by the positive ions, leading them to avoid the area. They are thought to have escaped to lower ground, where the air was less ionized. The findings may help experts develop better short-term seismic forecasts.
1. How did scientists conduct the study?| A．By comparing different animals’ habits. |
| B．By observing animals in high mountains. |
| C．By explaining the positive ion phenomenon. |
| D．By analyzing images of animals they obtained. |
| A．The ground at a lower altitude is less ionized. |
| B．Cameras normally record more animals per day. |
| C．Earthquake warnings can be detected in lower places. |
| D．The activity of animals and earthquakes is consistent. |
| A．The findings make for accurate seismic forecast. |
| B．Animals tend to be uneasy with more positive ions. |
| C．Positive ions make humans and animals depressed. |
| D．All the animals remain abnormal before the earthquake. |
| A．Negative Influence of Positive Ions. |
| B．Ions’ Destruction to the Environment. |
| C．Animals’ Behavior Before Earthquakes. |
| D．Creatures’ Ability to Predict Earthquakes. |
1. 活动安排；
2. 活动时间，地点；
注意:
1. 写作词数应为80左右；
2. 可适当增加细节，使行文连贯。
Notice
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School Club Association
注意：1. 词数80左右；2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯：3. 开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Professor Williams,
I am honored to give a presentation about Chinese culture to international students at your invitation.
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Sincerely yours,
Li Hua
Everyone has a hero — someone he admires, who has had an impact on his life. My brother, John, is my hero. He is the most sympathetic, sweet and funny person I have ever met. John is also mentally handicapped (智障的) and has a developmental disability known as autism (自闭症).
I used to be ashamed of John when I was little. When he first started talking, he had a hard time with pronunciation and understanding the meaning of words. He called me May-Me for most of my childhood because he could not pronounce Amy. As John grew older, his language ability gradually increased. I went from May-Me to Amy, and hammer burgers became hamburgers.
When I was younger, I was embarrassed by John. He used to run around in stores talking to himself, flicking his ears and putting his hands in his mouth. He had a hard time swallowing and would have drool (流口水) running down his face. John was very loud, and it seemed to me that he would always find the quietest moments to talk.
All I ever wanted was a normal brother. I would look at other brothers and sisters, see their relationships and turn green with envy. Why did my brother have to be so different? I was very self-conscious of what people thought. I felt as if the entire world was laughing at me because of the way John was acting. I was utterly offended at times that I could not have a normal brother.
The siblings of an autistic child can have many reactions to the amount of attention the autistic child receives. Some feel as if they are not receiving enough attention and may become superachievers to get their share. I hate to admit it, but I definitely fall into this category. I feel the need to excel (突出) in everything I do. I cannot help but think that this comes from having a disabled brother.
John has changed significantly over the past eighteen years.
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As I grow older, I’m no longer ashamed of my brother; instead, I am ashamed that I used to be.
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假如你校国际教育中心正在开展线上国际交流活动，其公众号以“The Cultural Symbol of China”为主题，向全校学生征文。请你选择一项你认为最具有代表性的事物，写一篇英语短文向公众号投稿。
要求：
1. 80—120词，开头已给出，不计入总词数；
2. 文中不能出现自己的姓名和所在学校的名称。
参考信息：
1. 你选择的事物是什么？对此事物进行简单的描述；
2. 你选择此事物的理由；
3. 此事物对你的影响。
The Cultural Symbol of China
There are lots of fantastic things representing (代表) our great culture and people.
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8 . Scientists have discovered more than 5,000 new species living on the seabed in an untouched area of the Pacific Ocean that has been identified as a future hotspot for deep-sea mining, according to a review of the environmental surveys carried out in the area.
It is the first time the previously unknown biodiversity of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), a mineral-rich area of the ocean floor that spans 1.7m sq miles between Hawaii and Mexico in the Pacific, has been comprehensively documented. The research will be critical to assessing the risk of extinction of the species, given contracts for deep-sea mining in the near-pristine area appear imminent.
Most of the animals identified by researchers exploring the zone are new to science, and almost all are unique to the region: only six, including a carnivorous sponge and a sea cucumber, have been seen elsewhere.
Contracts for mining exploration in the CCZ have been granted to 17 deep-sea mining contractors in an area covering 745,000 sq miles. The companies, which are backed by countries including Britain, the US and China, want to dig for minerals including cobalt manganese and nickel in part to sell to the alternative energy sector.
To better understand the impact of mining this fragile ecosystem and its newly discovered inhabitants, an international team of scientists has built the first “CCZ checklist” by compiling all the records from expeditions to the region. Published in the journal Current Biology, it includes 5,578 different species, of which an estimated 88% to 92% had never before been seen.
To study and collect specimens (样品) from the ocean floor, biologists have joined research cruises in the Pacific that send remote-controlled vehicles to traverse (穿越) the seabed 4,000 to 6,000 meters below. Adrian Glover, a deep-sea biologist at the NHM and senior author of the study described it as an “incredible privilege”. The expedition, funded through the Natural Environment Research Council and others, is backed by UK Seabed Resources (UKSR), a deep-sea mining company that operates the UK’s exploration area. The scientists watch operations by video link direct from the boat as new species are gathered by remote control vehicles in the darkness below.
The seabed, Glover said, is an “amazing place” where, despite the extreme cold and dark, life thrives. “One of the characteristics of the abyssal plain is the lack of food, but life has a way of persisting down there,” he said, “It’s a mystery.” One of the deep-sea animals discovered was nicknamed the “gummy squirrel”, because of its huge tail and jelly-like appearance, he said. There are also glass sponges, some of which look like vases.
With approval for deep-sea mining looming, Glover said he believed it was “imperative that we work with the companies looking to mine these resources to ensure any such activity is done in a way that limits its impact upon the natural world”.
1. What’s the meaning of the underlined word “imminent”?| A．Easy to carry out. | B．Ready to take place. |
| C．Hard to cope with. | D．Important to look over. |
| A．Identifying new species living on the seabed. | B．Assessing the risk of extinction of species. |
| C．Documenting the biodiversity of the area. | D．Exploring the potential for deep-sea mining. |
| A．Abundance of food. | B．Extreme lifeless environment. |
| C．Presence of glass sponges. | D．Prosperous life despite challenging conditions. |
| A．A magic zone:available to mining companies |
| B．A mineral-rich area: Clarion-Clipperton Zone |
| C．An “amazing place”: new species booming |
| D．Deep-sea wonders: the new species found in a Pacific mining hotspot |
9 . Background noise—like the chatter in a coffee shop or the drone of passing traffic—might slow our reading speed, but according to a study of Russian readers, it doesn’t
“Overall, previous studies reported a harmful effect of both auditory and visual noise on reading fluency and
One of the language processing theories examined was the noisy channel model, which proposes that our brain deals with noise by looking at the meaning of
The second theory is the good enough model; that’s when our brains aren’t analyzing every single detail of a text but instead only grabbing enough words for a ‘good enough’ understanding. By focusing less on the precise words, our brains can
To see how reading was affected by noise
“In both experiments, we observed that longer total reading time was
There’s a lot going on in this study, but overall it’s a bigger win for the good-enough language processing theory and an indication that auditory and visual noise doesn’t make us
With so many variables to measure in terms of what’s being read and what the
| A．reinforce | B．estimate | C．affect | D．interpret |
| A．First of all | B．For example | C．Above all | D．To start with |
| A．context | B．efficiency | C．comprehension | D．device |
| A．evaluated | B．identified | C．established | D．employed |
| A．individual | B．different | C．new | D．unfamiliar |
| A．confirm | B．imply | C．refer | D．infer |
| A．exploit | B．spare | C．commit | D．consume |
| A．on account of | B．regardless of | C．in regard to | D．in contrast to |
| A．make up for | B．live up to | C．catch up with | D．put up with |
| A．declined | B．shrank | C．expanded | D．increased |
| A．embarrassing | B．depressing | C．puzzling | D．annoying |
| A．associated | B．compared | C．replaced | D．mixed |
| A．take | B．set | C．rely | D．base |
| A．accompanying | B．strange | C．deafening | D．distant |
| A．Therefore | B．However | C．Instead | D．Otherwise |
The excited sound of seventh-grade laughter and voices spilled down the hallway as the students filed into the gym. I weaved my way through the mass of people and sat down next to my best friend, Lauren.
“So, what exactly are we doing here?” she questioned.
“Well, according to Mrs. Marks, we’re supposed to be listening to a speech about bullying and peer pressure.”
As soon as the speaker started talking, I snapped to attention. She had this way about her, as if she knew how to reach into our minds and souls and make us think. I though about the kids who came to school every day, despite knowing that they would have to face cruel comment all day long.
One boy, in particular, came to mind. Every day, this boy came to school late, and I suspected it was because he needed to get medicine from the nurse. But this didn’t stop kids in the class from making fun of him. The boy would put his head down on his desk in shame. The worst, though, was when he tried to fight back. His attackers only laughed and continued the cruelty until the entire room was laughing at his expense.
As I sat in the auditorium, absorbing everything the speaker had to say, thoughts of this poor boy crept into my head.
“Now, before I leave today, I would like to give everyone here an opportunity to say anything he or she wants to on the subject of bullying or peer pressure. You may apologize to a friend, thank someone for his or her kindness, anything, And this is the one time I can promise that no one, will laugh at you.”
The stillness in the room made me believe her. Slowly, I saw a few hands raise tentatively (犹豫地) in the air behind me, One girl wanted to apologize to a friend she had been ignoring recently. Another thanked a boy for his kindness when she slipped on the steps the other day.
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。
It was then that my moment of courage arrived, inspiring me to act.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Later that day, the boy I had been talking about came up to me privately.
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