It was bright and sunny on May 26, 1997. It was also a special day for me. Friends came over, along with their parents who were holding gifts of all sizes. Even though I wanted to open them right away, my parents would not let me. To pass the time my friends suggested we play hide-and-seek.Everyone agreed. I had great fun playing with them.
After what seemed like only a few minutes, we were called inside to continue the celebration. Everyone started singing “Happy Birthday” to me and I joined in. I blew out my candles and made a wish. Then we went on to eat the wonderful food, like the chocolate cake and jerk chicken, which my mom had made. We had a wonderful time eating and talking together. Finally, the time was here. I quickly walked to the pile of presents and eagerly opened them one by one. Among them were Spiderman action figures, some video games, and a remote controlled car with working light.
After I had opened all the presents, I realized that I received nothing from my parents. Feeling a little sad, I asked them why. They led my away to the backyard. I thought I was going to get an excuse about why they couldn’t get me a present, but I was wrong. Waiting for me in our backyard was a large yellow truck! I was so excited that I immediately drove it around my backyard until it got too dark. That truck made my 4th birthday one of the best forever.
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The next day, my parents and I went to the park.
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Paragraph 2：
For the next couple of days my parents and I looked around the neighborhood for the truck.
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写作要求：
1. 结构完整，要点齐全，可适当发挥；
2. 行文流畅，语言准确，书写规范；
3. 词数80左右。
My Plan for Senior English Learning
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3 . The whale, as big as a locomotive(火车头) jumped out of the water, spinning(旋转) as though for joy, before jumping back under the waves. We watched the scene(场景) silently in astonishment, never having been so close to such a huge, fast-moving creature. It seemed almost possible to count the small shellfish on the whale’s skin.
In early December, gray whales, blue whales, and others had just started heading around the tip of Baja California, Mexico, moving as a community from the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Cortez. It’s in that protected waterway that pregnant whales give birth to their babies. Other whale babies, born the year before, could be seen sailing behind. All whale babies get two trips like this with their mom before they’re ready to start having babies of their own and making the journey on their own.
We’re in one of several small powerboats, sent out by Scuba Caribe, which carries on such tours in Cabo San Lucas. The whales seemed to be, at times, less than 100 feet from our boat when they rushed out of the water. At other times, they would get much closer and swim beside the boat.
“What if one lands on us?” a woman next to me wondered. Fernando Del Toro, the Destination Manager of Scuba Caribe said, “We haven’t had any incident (事件) of whales jumping over our boats as we always keep our distance. We’re sure they themselves are probably careful not to crash into boats. Such an accident would probably also cause them much harm.”
“Everyone can enjoy this magical trip,” said Del Toro. “However, we do not recommend(推荐) it for kids under 5 years old,” he added.
Though conditions on the water vary, our trip was wonderful. Even when the boat sped up to catch up with the whales, there was little need to “hang on”, and some of us remained standing throughout most of the trip. Still, you may want to pack medicine for those who might get seasick while bouncing(颠簸行进) along the waves.
1. How does the author start the text?| A．By telling a story. | B．By asking questions. |
| C．By describing a scene. | D．By giving background information. |
| A．A description of the author’s journey. |
| B．A list of best places for whale-watching. |
| C．An introduction to the travelling of whales. |
| D．A suggestion on taking a whale-watching tour. |
| A．It is suitable for all ages. |
| B．It is much too dangerous. |
| C．It may cause serious damage to wildlife. |
| D．It should be done from a proper distance. |
| A．It was smooth in general. |
| B．It was tiring in particular. |
| C．It was destroyed by a storm. |
| D．It was terrible due to his seasickness. |
4 . Competitive video gaming, known as e-sports, should be included in the Olympic Games, the creator of World of Warcraft has told the BBC.
Rob Pardo, who until July, 2014 was chief creative officer at Blizzard Entertainment, a famous game company, said that “sport” now had a broad definition. “Video games are well positioned to be a spectator sport (观赏性体育运动).“ he told Afternoon Edition on BBC S Live.
Professional e-sports events currently attract audiences of millions. A recent major final held in Seoul, South Korea, filled a stadium of 40,000 people, with many more watching online around the world.
”There’s a very good argument for e-sports being in the Olympics,“ said Mr. Pardo, who was also lead designer on Starcraft: Brood War, a game often credited with promoting the e-sports phenomenon.
”I think the way that you look at e-sports is that it is a very competitive skill and you look at these professional gamers and the reflexes are lightning quick and they’re having to make very quick decisions on the fly.
“When you look at their ‘actions per minute’, they’re clearing over 300.”
However, he admitted that video gaming faced a cultural battle to win over those who followed more physical sports.
“That starts getting into how you define sport,” he said. “If you want to define sport as something that takes a lot of physical exertion (用力气), then it’s hard to argue that video games should be a sport, but at the same time, when I’m looking at things that are already in the Olympics, I start questioning the definition.”
Having new sports admitted into the Olympic is a long-winded process and, since the International Olympic Committee (IOC) limited the number of sports allowed in the Games, has become increasingly difficult.
Even if e-sports were to be recognized as an Olympic sport, that doesn’t mean they would be included in the Games — it merely means a case can be presented to the IOC.
1. Which of the following is TRUE about Rob Pardo?| A．He works for BBC now. |
| B．He held the e-sports final in Seoul. |
| C．He was in charge of the game Starcraft: Brood War. |
| D．He is the chief creative officer at Blizzard Entertainment now. |
| A．reaction | B．challenge | C．creation | D．ability |
| A．very slow | B．very quick |
| C．as quick as ordinary people | D．as quick as other sports players |
| A．A travel brochure. | B．An advertisement. |
| C．A textbook. | D．A news report. |
5 . Emma Rosen had one of the best and most sought-after jobs in the civil service in the UK. 20,000 candidates (候选人) applied, but fewer than 1,000 were offered jobs. But it turned out that she didn’t like sitting at a desk all day, and she struggled to see how what she was doing would make much difference to anything.
Instead of going to work every day and complaining about her job until she reached retirement age, Emma decided to find out what made her happy, what her skills were, and what sort of career would need them. She wrote a list of the jobs she had wanted to do since childhood and set about getting two-week placements (安排) in all of them over a year.
She was 24 years old, and she wanted o have tried out at least 25 different jobs before her 25th birthday. She spent the months before she quit her job saving up her year off, and. spent all her free time setting up the different jobs.
A year later, Emma said her favorites were the jobs that were more creative, relevant to travel or were outdoors. “Things like travel writing, archaeology, farming, working with the police, being a blogger, an explorer and an author,” she said.
“Considering that I am now working as a writer and speaker, communication skills in both verbal (口头的) and written form have been the most important. There were also plenty of more technical skills that I learned, like website design, social media management, building a commercial brand and conducting interviews.”
Emma added she also saw her softer people-focused skills improve. “I could be very adaptable, quickly build relationships and accept change—I could walk into a new team or situation and get on well with everyone. Finally, there were things like showing that I was active, an independent and creative thinker as well as an innovative problem solver—I could certainly show that I could think outside the box!”
1. What does the underlined word “sought-after” mean in the first paragraph?| A．Complicated. | B．Desirable. | C．Ordinary. | D．Traditional. |
| A．The job made no difference to anything. |
| B．The job made her complain all day long. |
| C．She was struggling to do the current job. |
| D．She was eager to realize her self-worth. |
| A．They are care-free and popular ones in civil service. |
| B．They are only the ones needing communication skills. |
| C．They are where creativity and skills were badly needed. |
| D．They have nothing to do with travel or outdoors. |
| A．Emma benefited much from experiencing a variety of jobs. |
| B．Emma acquired technical skills to build a commercial brand. |
| C．Emma was flexible enough to change situations to her favor. |
| D．Emma thought independently to be a creative problem solver. |
When Gloria Estefan started primary school, she could not read, write nor speak English. She felt lost, unhappy and completely frightened. However, someone changed her life—her English teacher, Mrs Collins. Her family had left Cuba in 1959 when she was only a year old in the hope of finding a better life in America. Initially they moved to Miami where the family settled in a set of apartments with other Cuban women and children who had immigrated.
The women were close-knit and supportive. While she felt safe, she was also isolated. They all spoke Spanish, and she rarely heard English. On her very first day in school, which she was looking forward to, she was completely shocked. She came home and told her mother that she had learnt her first English word “stupid”. It was the nickname a boy had given her.
In every way possible, she was set apart from her classmates. She was the only panic and non-white student. She also found it difficult to grasp the English language as it was her second language. The culture, her school friends and the food they ate were different from hers. As such, she was set apart from her classmates.
One person made that year bearable for her, Mrs Collins. She was young and African American, so she understood how Gloria felt as she was the only non-white student in class. Mrs Collins never doubted that Gloria could catch up with the other students in time.
Still, the teasing continued. The boy who called her stupid would not stop laughing at her for her accent. He was a good student and the proud holder of the class’s reading award. It was an honour given periodically to a student, based on excellence in schoolwork, participation and homework. Gloria wanted that long-waited award.
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。
Mrs Collins encouraged her to compete for the reading award.
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The award ceremony was coming up.
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The freshman challenge
Going from junior high to senior high is really a big challenge for a freshman and the first week was a little confusing.
First I had to think
Teachers say one way to know your school well and make more new friends is to join
I know I will have to study harder
8 . The number of weather-related disasters has increased by five times over the past 50 years, the latest report by the World Meteorological (气象) Organization (WMO) said on September. However, thanks to improved early warning systems and disaster management, the number of death from these hazards has been almost three times less.
According to the WMO, from 1970 to 2019, weather, climate and water hazards accounted for 50 percent of all disasters. Among the top 10 hazards that led to the largest loss of human life during this period were droughts, storms, floods and extreme temperatures. However, deaths fell from over 50,000 in the 1970s to less than 20,000 in the 2010s.
“Weather, climate and water extremes are increasing and will become more frequent and severe in many parts of the world as a result of climate change,” says WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
“That means more heat waves, drought and forest fires such as those we have observed recently in Europe and North America. We have more water vapor in the atmosphere, which is worsening extreme rainfall and deadly flooding. The warming of the oceans has affected the frequency and area of existence of the most intense tropical storms.”
“Economic losses are increasing as exposure increases. But behind the statistics lies a message of hope. Improved multi-hazard early warning systems have led to a significant reduction in deaths. Quite simply, we are better than ever before at saving lives,” Taalas said.
1. What do we know from the first paragraph?| A．Disasters connected with weather have gone up. |
| B．The number of weather-related disasters has decreased. |
| C．The number of deaths from hazards has been increasing. |
| D．Early warning systems have made disasters decline much. |
| A．There will be more extreme weather. |
| B．Extreme rainfall will no longer exist. |
| C．Water vapor in the atmosphere will go down. |
| D．Humans will defeat extreme weather in the end. |
| A．Improved warning systems will save economic losses. |
| B．Economic losses are going down as exposure increases. |
| C．More lives will be saved thanks to early warning systems. |
| D．Improved early warning systems will control extreme weather |
| A．Something polluted. |
| B．Something reported. |
| C．Something dangerous. |
| D．Something safe. |
9 . When I was in my first year of college, a friend recommended a book about realizing dreams. Usually, I read
For two years, I woke up every
I just keep experimenting with different routines, trying to improve myself. I urge you to
| A．something | B．everything | C．anything | D．nothing |
| A．pretended | B．insisted | C．required | D．admitted |
| A．extra | B．full | C．single | D．modern |
| A．silence | B．pain | C．row | D．place |
| A．recall | B．realize | C．predict | D．hope |
| A．safe | B．effective | C．bad | D．angry |
| A．struggled | B．disagreed | C．continued | D．regretted |
| A．invited | B．stopped | C．followed | D．met |
| A．afraid | B．aware | C．short | D．fond |
| A．protecting | B．forgiving | C．challenging | D．informing |
| A．step | B．signal | C．rule | D．reason |
| A．popular | B．right | C．funny | D．secret |
| A．apply for | B．put off | C．listen to | D．strike up |
| A．say | B．do | C．remain | D．buy |
| A．courage | B．purpose | C．confidence | D．practice |
10 . Everyone sometimes feels that their life is going nowhere. If you do get this feeling, then it is time to do something to increase the quality of your life.
Help others. One of the best ways of creating positivism is to help other people.
Learn a skill. Learning a new skill is one of the most satisfying things you can do. You will feel a sense of achievement that will improve your self-image.
Bring on the laughter. Laughing is very good for you.
Finally, life is good. You are lucky to be alive. Make the most of the time you have, enjoy it, don’t waste it being negative. Follow the advice above and you will surely increase the quality of your life. Be positive, and be happy.
| A．Take up a hobby. |
| B．Take a walk through nature. |
| C．A great way to learn a skill is to join a class. |
| D．It will lower your stress and put you in a good mood. |
| E．Also, your confidence builds up when you learn a new skill. |
| F．Read the list of things to do now to make your life better and more enjoyable. |
| G．Not only do you feel good, but other people will benefit from your behaviors. |
