2 . One of the most famous literary challenges in history was when Dr. Seuss received a challenge from his publisher that he could only use 50 words to write an entire book. That’s all well and good, but it’s a tough challenge, to be sure. However, Ernest Vincent Wright would no doubt turn up his nose, as he challenged himself to pen an entire 50,000-word novel without once using the letter “e”.

Wright managed to pull it off. The final product was Gadsby, which is about a man named, well, Gadsby, who tries to save his city with the help of a youth group. It took Wright nearly six months to complete the work, and in his introduction pages he mentioned the challenges along the way.

One of the biggest challenges was replacing pronouns, since it’s tough to write a sentence, let alone a novel, without words like “he” or “she” or “her” and so forth. Additionally, he was forced to find ways to work around using past tense words that typically end in “-ed”, which, as you might imagine, is more than a little tricky.

Still, Wright did manage to come up with 50,110 words and a full story without any cheats, making it one of the most successful lipograms (避讳某字之文) in the history of writing. Wright self-published the book in 1939 and it was read primarily by people who tried to find any cheats, so convinced were they that Wright simply must have used the letter.

The entire novel is available online to read for free, as it entered the public domain in 1968. It’s a good thing, too, as the storehouse that contained the majority of the copies burned down, destroying enough of the books that it has since become a rare book collector’s prize, with copies being valued at thousands of dollars.

At the end of the day, of course, it remains a truly great achievement. After all, “e” is the most commonly used letter in English, with more than 11 percent of all words in the Oxford dictionary containing at least one “e”.

1. What did Wright challenge himself to write?

A．An entire book with 50 words.

B．A 50,000-word book in six months.

C．A 50,000-word book without the letter “e”.

D．An entire book including “e” 50,000 times.

2. What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A．The difficulties Wright faced.

B．The plot of Wright’s final product.

C．The popularity of Wright’s final product.

D．The smart ways Wright used to replace pronouns.

3. What can we infer about the readers of Gadsby?

A．They considered the book a great success.

B．They expected the book to be available online.

C．They wondered what lipograms mean.

D．They doubted if Wright really made it.

4. Why do Wright’s book copies become valuable?

A．Due to their rarity.

B．Because Wright won a big prize.

C．Because they had a really long history.

D．Due to book collectors’ recommendation.

4 . If you’ve spent more time outside in the past couple of years, you might have noticed a lot more of what happens naturally in your neighborhood, from the songs of birds outside your window to the flowers in a nearby park.    1    That’s called “citizen (公民)” or “community” science. With our observations (观察), we can help scientists do research.

    2    A single scientist can work for years trying to collect as many observations as a community project could collect in a month. There are thousands of community science projects out there. Here’s how to get started:

    3    Ask yourself: “What gets me excited about nature?” You might be really into birds or trees. Do you love observing the weather? Do you care about the water quality (质量) where you live? There’s going to be a project for you out there.

Get your tools ready.    4    From there, check out CitizenScience.gov or SciStarter to learn more and find projects in their databases (数据库). If you have a good idea of what you’re interested in, you can turn right to a specialized app. There are plenty of apps and websites to meet your interests.

Step outside and start recording what you see outside.    5     People often see nature, especially if you live in a city, as something that is far away or hard to get to. You can study nature in the cracks (裂缝) of the sidewalk ... There are birds everywhere. You don’t have to be out in the wilderness.

A．Why would scientists need common people’s observations of nature?

B．Turn your hobby into a service for scientists.

C．Think about what you enjoy or find interesting in nature.

D．Are you a fan of bird watching?

E．All you need is a smartphone or a computer for most community science projects.

F．You can be a citizen scientist no matter where you live.

G．We can share what we see with scientists through apps and websites.

6 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

When something that’s important to you disappears, don’t be hopeless. It may miraculously (奇迹般地) come back sooner or later. I learned it on one winter day.

It was one of those busy days. Especially, I had lots of clothes to wash. and Karen, my four-year-old kid, kept following me, pulling my shirt and crying for attention. I was annoyed. To stop her troubling me and make her quiet, I searched the drawers in the bedroom and found-a bag of forgotten balloons. “Yellow,” she said with joy.

The balloons were the gifts for her that her uncle had bought abroad. These balloons were of good quality and very unique, unable to be found at least in our small town. Among the balloons, the yellow one was Karen’s favorite. And there was only one yellow balloon. She viewed it as her best friend and even signed her name on its surface.

After I blew the balloon up, she cheerfully took it with tiny fingers, touching it and telling it her secrets. Immediately. her attention was attracted.

After lunch. we prepared to go to the local public clothes-washing shop. Before long. I was ready. Carrying her yellow balloon. Karen followed me into oat car. On the way, she was singing and had fun with the balloon. She kept beating the balloon against the back of the car seat. As I turned the corner, trying to keep my attention on my driving, I felt a sudden, big wind blow across my feet. I called out at once, “Karen! Close the window. It’s cold out!”

And then I heard her frightened scream. In a hurry, I looked over my shoulder, expecting to see some terrible insects that led to her being frightened. But there wasn’t one. Karen was looking out of the window. both arms reaching out, as if to get something. And she cried, “Balloon, balloon. Come back! Come back!” Then. she turned to me, calling out, “Mom, please stop the car! My balloon has escaped.”

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。

“Alright, “I said and slowly pulled over.

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While walking in the park, we suddenly found a yellow balloon flying over a tree.

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8 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. Why is the Moon most important for humans to survive?

A．It gives off the light.

B．It controls our tides.

C．It is far away from the Earth.

2. What is the movie First Man about?

A．The Moon landing in 1969.

B．The mystery of the Moon.

C．The journey into the space.

3. What is China planning to do in 2020?

A．Launch a man-made moon.

B．Land on the Moon.

C．Make use of the sunlight.

4. What is the aim of the Chinese plan?

A．To replace the moonlight.

B．To provide light for crop growth.

C．To reduce street lighting.

9 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. Why is the woman in Japan?

A．To study.

B．To travel.

C．To work.

2. What makes the speakers like travelling alone?

A．Having their own time.

B．Doing a lot of sightseeing.

C．Saving much more money.

3. Where did the man go last year?

A．France.

B．Malaysia.

C．China.

4. What are the speakers mainly talking about?

A．Choosing a travel destination.

B．Making a travelling plan.

C．Travelling alone.