Michael and Greg were brothers and they lived in a family with a tight budget. They both missed the field trip last year because they could not cover the extra fee. This year, Michael’s class would arrange a field trip to the city museum and he really wanted to go. So he was trying to earn some pocket money.
On this cold autumn morning, Michael gathered the last of the leaves into a small pile. There weren’t even enough to jump in. “Mom and Dad are never going to pay me for gathering this little bit of leaves.” “What are you talking about?” Greg asked, walking up behind him. “I’m trying to do some housework so I can make enough money to cover my field trip to the city museum, but there’s nothing to do around here.” Michael sighed and looked around.
“You could offer to wash Mom and Dad’s cars,” Greg said.
Michael’s face lit up. “That’s a great idea.”
“I bet some of the neighbors would pay you to wash theirs, too. It’s getting colder and no one wants to wash the cars themselves.” Greg looked his brother in the eye.
Michael nodded. The air was cold. He shivered（打寒颤）at the thought of washing cars and getting wet in this cold weather. “Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”
Greg placed his hand on Michael’s shoulder. “I have some golf gloves that are designed for wet, cold weather. I’ll loan you a pair, and I’ll even help you wash the cars.” “Really? You’d help me and let me keep the money?” “Sure. Golf season is over. I won’t need the extra cash for a while.” Greg disappeared inside the house.
Michael asked his parents if he could wash their cars for a small fee. When they agreed, he asked some neighbors, too. Three more agreed. Michael got a bucket, some sponges（海绵）, towels and soap. Greg came back outside with the gloves. “Here you go. They’ll keep your hands warm and dry.” “Thanks.” Michael still couldn’t believe his brother was helping him earn the money like this. He had to think of a way to repay him.
注意：1.续写词数应为150个左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
With these tools, Michael started to work.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________To Michael’s surprise, he found he earned more money than expected.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________If New Year’s Eve had an official song, it would be Auld Lang Syne. Every year, just after the clock strikes midnight, many people around the world will sing this beloved song. Why is Auld Lang Syne a New Year’s tradition? From its beginning as an 18th-century Scottish poem
The song is actually a poem written by Robert Burns in 1788. Traditionally
Although Burns’ version is the only one we know today, there were also some earlier
Burns was not satisfied with his version of the poem’s
With its emphasis on friendship and parting, Auld Lang Syne expresses the spirit of New Year’s Eve,
3 . This wasn’t the way I wanted to see Rome. Sure, it felt
I was supposed to go to Rome with my mom back in 2012. However, life had different
My mom spent the final months of her life
I spent two weeks doing all the things we had wanted to do. Maybe she wasn’t physically there, but I
After my trip to Rome, I
| A．surprising | B．strange | C．embarrassing | D．pleasant |
| A．styles | B．plans | C．solutions | D．excuses |
| A．research | B．training | C．treatment | D．waiting |
| A．picked up | B．held back | C．heard | D．forced |
| A．examining | B．fighting | C．studying | D．controlling |
| A．battle | B．strategy | C．cause | D．contest |
| A．missed | B．arranged | C．sponsored | D．rejected |
| A．strangely | B．fortunately | C．honestly | D．interestingly |
| A．guide | B．budget | C．destination | D．choice |
| A．regretted | B．doubted | C．sensed | D．remembered |
| A．warned | B．promised | C．informed | D．reminded |
| A．memories | B．efforts | C．decisions | D．changes |
| A．interrupt | B．leave | C．understand | D．desert |
| A．positive | B．practical | C．flexible | D．normal |
| A．hardly | B．probably | C．partly | D．eventually |
4 . While technology addicts teens to their devices, they are not helpless against the draw of it. Here are five ways educators can support their students’ digital well-being.
Explore design tricks companies use. The technology we use daily is designed to catch and hold our attention. Companies know what keeps our eyes on the screen. To help, teachers can unpack design tricks and explain how companies employ features like auto-play to get users to stay on their apps.
Talk about how technology can increase feelings of anxiety. The decline in youth mental health is associated with an increase in social media use.
Uncover the ways that AI can play a role in misinformation. AI is rapidly transforming the world. Recommendation algorithms (算法), which determine what we do and do not see on our feeds and in our search results, can have very real consequences.
Encourage families to have meaningful conversations with their child. Take the time to share with families the topics and resources you’re teaching in class.
| A．Social media is ruining our life. |
| B．Connect them with their inner world. |
| C．Build their awareness of thinking traps. |
| D．This by no means indicates all technology is bad. |
| E．They can pull us toward increasingly extreme views. |
| F．It turns out adults and kids all pursue digital well-being. |
| G．Knowing these can motivate students to get back their attention. |
5 . Writing out the same word again and again may bring back bad memories for some, but handwriting can boost connectivity across brain regions, some of which are involved in learning and memory, a new study shows.
In the study, psychologists Audrey and Ruud, both at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, stuck electrodes (电极) on the participants’ heads. They asked the participants to type out or hand write with a digital pen words that appeared on a computer screen. Sensors in a cap recorded electrical brain activity. Then the psychologists looked for when two brain areas are active with the same frequency of electrical waves at the same time. This result can reveal the connectivity among different regions across the brain.
With handwriting, the researchers saw increased activity, specifically in low frequency bands, not only in the expected motor areas but also in others associated with learning. These low frequency bands have previously been shown to support memory processes. When the team compared the two tasks, they realized that handwriting —but not typing —increased the connectivity across parietal (顶叶) brain regions, which are involved in sensory and motor processing, and central regions, many of which are involved in memory.
“Even when the movements are very similar, the activation seems much, much higher in handwriting,” Audrey says. “It shows that there’s more involvement of these brain regions when you’re handwriting, which might give you some specific advantages.”
These findings suggest that there are distinct processes of brain activation happening while a person types or writes. This boost of stimulation of handwriting facilitates learning because these particular waves between these areas are involved in memory formation and encoding (编码) .
And although handwriting may help with learning processes, typing is often easier, faster and more practical. “Students and teachers alike should therefore consider the task at hand to decide to hand write or type,” Audrey says. Despite the need for more studies to determine the best learning strategy, experts say that handwriting shouldn’t be left behind in the digital age. “Schools need to bring in more writing into curriculum design,” Ruud says.
1. What did Audrey and Ruud mainly do in their research?| A．They tested the function of electrodes. | B．They analyzed the brain structure. |
| C．They monitored the brain activities. | D．They recorded the writing speed. |
| A．It involves more specific brain activation. | B．It promotes better muscle memory. |
| C．It allows for more innovative thinking. | D．It encourages better concentration. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Objective. | C．Doubtful. | D．Unclear. |
| A．Taking Notes by Hand is Becoming Uncommon in Class |
| B．Using Keyboard is Recommended Due to Its Convenience |
| C．Widespread Brain Connectivity is Crucial to Human Learning |
| D．Handwriting Boosts Brain Connections More Than Typing Does |
6 . Concrete has served as the foundation stone of the construction industry for hundreds of years. However, the process of producing concrete is one of the most environmentally unfriendly processes in the world. In the process, not only is carbon dioxide (二氧化碳) released into the air by the energy used to heat the limestone, but the limestone itself also gives out a huge amount of the element.
Luckily, a number of start-ups throughout the world are using creative thinking to make the construction industry a whole lot more friendly for the planet.
A Canadian company called CarbonCure, has found a way to inject (注入) concrete with carbon dioxide itself. Not only does this trap the carbon dioxide into the concrete, keeping it from running away into the atmosphere, but it also creates a super strong material called calcium carbonate, which reduces the total amount of concrete that needs to be used.
California-based Brimstone, is creating carbon-negative concrete by doing away with limestone entirely and instead using silicate rock, a material that does not release carbon dioxide when heated. Instead, the process produces magnesium (镁) , which absorbs carbon dioxide, as the basis for their concrete.
Additionally, researchers at Australia’s RMIT University have recently released a study showing that adding coffee grounds instead of sand to concrete could make it much stronger, reducing both the amount of sand used, as well as the amount of concrete that would need to be used in the final product.
The biggest barrier at this point is convincing members of the industry that the new types of concrete are safe to be used, according to Stacy Smedley, director at a nonprofit focused on decarbonizing construction.
Hopefully these new solutions to the environmental problems of concrete will soon be widely adopted. Given the significant part the construction industry has in releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, great improvements can be made when more environmentally-friendly materials are used.
1. What is the environmental issue associated with traditional concrete production?| A．The high demand for energy. | B．The processing of waste materials. |
| C．The mass release of carbon dioxide. | D．The use of non-renewable resources. |
| A．By using silicate rock as the basis. | B．By putting carbon dioxide into concrete. |
| C．By replacing sand with coffee grounds. | D．By absorbing carbon dioxide with magnesium. |
| A．Difficulty in making profits. | B．Convincing the public of the convenience. |
| C．Lack of funding for research. | D．Removing the industry members’ safety concerns. |
| A．To promote an alternative to concrete. | B．To advocate environmental protection. |
| C．To introduce new ways to produce concrete. | D．To emphasize the significance of creativity. |
7 . We can create learning moments that students remember forever if we open up our classrooms to awe and wonder.
Toward the end of my high school year, our Spanish teacher organized a trip to see an Andean band perform in Philadelphia. My classmates and I egged one another on ironically (讽刺地): Who could enjoy the show? The performers’ clothing seemed odd. The instruments, strange. But then the performers kicked in, dancing to their bombo and wancara drums around the stage and the panpipes and quena announced a kind of sound—new to us.
We had spent too little time discussing the culture of the Inca in social studies but its traditions came alive for us that evening. Once the wonderful performance lit up the stage and the hall filled up with music, my teenage cynicism disappeared. I rose out of my chair to dance with honest joy.
I have spent the last seven years living and working in South America. But my thirst for cultural exploration and a desire to understand the world outside my language and country has been alive longer than that. Sometimes I think that night dancing to those ancient rhythms unlocked this fascination. Why do I remember it so clearly decades later?
In his recent book Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, psychology professor Dacher Keltner explains that “brief moments of awe are as good for your mind and body as anything you might do.” Besides being a memorable emotion, awe boosts curiosity, builds humility, helps with critical thinking, and makes people feel more connected. It even makes us happier. “Twenty years into teaching happiness,” Keltner writes about how to find deep happiness, “I have an answer: FIND AWE.”
Moving forward, let’s do our best to build instances of awe into our curriculum (课程). So when our former students approach us on the subway years later, they will recall the magical moments from their days spent in our classes.
1. How did the students initially react to the Andean band’s performance?| A．They showed respect for it. | B．They approached it with doubt. |
| C．They left in disappointment. | D．They felt joyful to appreciate it. |
| A．A deep understanding of music. | B．A strong enthusiasm for exploration. |
| C．A negative attitude to the world. | D．A sense of connection with society. |
| A．The importance of finding happiness in life. |
| B．The lasting impact of a memorable experience. |
| C．The benefits of understanding different cultures. |
| D．The positive role of awe in improving one’s life. |
| A．Teachers. | B．High school graduates. |
| C．Parents. | D．Psychology researchers. |
8 . There are very few countries in the world that don’t have some sort of legend (传说) or connect ion with dragons. Here are some great destinations to get a fi x on dragon.
France
Calais in France has a dragon standing 33 feet tall, 82 feet long, with a wingspan of more than 55 feet. It walks and moves as you would imagine a dragon does, and you can take it for a ride. The Calais dragon is a mechanical wonder, which is nearly too real to be called a fairground creature.
Wales
In the UK, you will find a proud dragon country, Wales. Here there is the legend of two dragons: one white and one red. Wales’ tale describes the two dragons fighting and the red one winning, so you will find it difficult to hurry about the country without coming across a red dragon. Dragons are sold in souvenir shops, sit by ancient castles, hang around in King Arthur’s Labyrinth, and are featured on the national flag.
Norway
The Vikings knew a thing or two about dragons. In the lovely film How to Train Your Dragon, they even flew them. But seriously, when you dig into Norway’s Viking history and legends, you will find dragons mentioned everywhere, though not as cute as those in the film. From the figurehead in the Viking Ship Museum to jewelry, and decorations on buildings, be on the lookout for them when visiting Norway.
Bhutan
The Druk or Thunder Dragon, is the national symbol and appears everywhere. The country is called Land of the Thunder Dragon, or Kingdom of Druk, and it’s part of the national anthem (国歌) and its flag. Despite its fearful name, it’s actually rather cute. The legend has it that the sound of thunder through the mountain s is actually the dragon roaring.
1. What can we learn about the Calais dragon?| A．It’s a character from a popular film. | B．It’s a creation designed for entertainment. |
| C．It’s a real creature trained for rides. | D．It’s a sculpture displayed in a museum. |
| A．They feature dragons on their flags. | B．They include dragons in their anthems. |
| C．They have a legend of two dragons. | D．They describe dragons as cute images. |
| A．France. | B．Wales. | C．Norway. | D．Bhutan. |
There is much debate nowadays as to what makes up a healthy diet. For example, scientists
Much of this extra sugar comes from sweets and sweet drinks. The average American
10 . How to study more effectively
●Pay attention in class. Good study habits begin before you even leave the classroom.
●Use all resources made available to you.
●Pick apart the textbook. Don’t just read the assignment mindlessly — actively engage with it. Pick out the important words (sometimes they’re in bold), look them up if needed, and write your own definition for them.
●Put information into your own words. As with writing down your own definitions for key terms in the textbook chapter, it’s best to put all the critical information into your own words. Keep a notebook and pen near you, and write out the key points you are studying.
●
| A．Keep you active to strengthen it. |
| B．Process, then summarize the information. |
| C．Read the assigned chapter in the textbook. |
| D．If you have someone else’s notes, rewrite them yourself. |
| E．Listen attentively to what the teacher has to say on the subject. |
| F．Associate what you’re learning in theory with a more practical example. |
| G．Carefully examine introductions, conclusions and review sections in the textbook. |
