1 . Do you remember your kindergarten teacher’s name? I do. Her name was Mrs White.
I don’t remember much about what we learned in her class, but my mother once told me that we
Thanks to Mrs White, I grew up learning to use words with loving
And it
| A．failed | B．happened | C．used | D．resigned |
| A．errors | B．guidelines | C．comments | D．sentences |
| A．though | B．either | C．to be honest | D．to be frank |
| A．still | B．simply | C．even | D．merely |
| A．satisfied | B．shocked | C．scared | D．discouraged |
| A．factual | B．stupid | C．careless | D．grammatical |
| A．thrilled | B．bored | C．upset | D．creative |
| A．forming | B．reading | C．correcting | D．learning |
| A．stand | B．wait | C．pause | D．negotiate |
| A．describe | B．understand | C．recall | D．recognize |
| A．memory | B．confidence | C．patience | D．skill |
| A．appeals | B．adapts | C．belongs | D．strikes |
| A．precisely | B．barely | C．casually | D．deliberately |
| A．humorous | B．modest | C．extraordinary | D．reliable |
| A．bless | B．continue | C．tolerate | D．flower |
2 . Nearly gone are the days when humans covered themselves with blankets to keep warm, and it’s now the age of covering glaciers (冰川) with blankets to keep them cool because with the climate changing rapidly, this seems like a workable idea to keep them from melting.
At a ski resort (度假胜地) in the Swiss Alps, the Swiss use blankets to protect the glacier
from the warm climate. Gian Darms, who handles snow conditions at the ski resort, introduced this unique procedure. The blankets are being used to cover the top of the 10,623-foot Mount Titlis whose glacier has already melted in the last few decades and it is expected to disappear completely in the next 50 years due to global warming.
Facing the great effect of climate change, resort employees have taken it upon themselves to protect the glacier from the heat and for this process, they spend about five to six weeks every summer covering parts of the glacier with specially protective wool. This helps to reflect the Sun’s energy back into the atmosphere and prevent the glacier from melting, while also preserving the already fallen snow on the glacier in the previous winter season. After the season passes, the employees remove the coating and fill in the gaps in the glacier’s surface with the snow — now that is some commitment to Mother Nature!
This practice has been going on for a while now and the area of the glacier has increased to almost 100,000 square meters now. “We’ve been covering more and more in the last few years. Almost 30,000 square meters more is covered this year alone,” said Darms.
The ski resort’s actions show how severe the effect of climate change is on glaciers which have been melting at rapid rates in the past few years. Many different resorts have also started following suit to try to prevent them from melting. Saving an entire glacier is a completely different story. It is actually costly and potentially unfavorable to surrounding ecosystems. As a result, such blankets have only been applied mostly in an effort to preserve profitable ski runs.
1. How is the topic introduced?| A．By giving an example. | B．By analyzing causes. |
| C．By describing a process. | D．By making a comparison. |
| A．Coating the glacier with special wool. |
| B．Using collected snow for the glacier’s openings. |
| C．Taking action to slow down climate change. |
| D．Covering the glacier with a blanket. |
| A．Worried. | B．Opposed. | C．Indifferent. | D．Skeptical. |
| A．Blankets Cover an Entire Glacier | B．Global Warming Threatens Glaciers |
| C．Resort Cools Its Glacier with Blankets | D．Glaciers Enter a Different Age Now |
Dear Tom,
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Yours,
Li Hua
Fortune favors the brave!
At the age of three Jenny had trouble in hearing what others said. Unfortunately, after several surgeries, Jenny was found having a severe foot disease at seven. She could not put pressure on the back parts of her feet, so she walked on tiptoe (脚尖), and when the pain became unbearable, someone had to carry her. Once when she suddenly experienced sharp pain, her friends got her up and carried her from class to class.
All through her primary school, and on into high school, Jenny suffered, yet never complained. She took her medicine and wrapped her feet in steaming towels until the pain was reduced. As soon as she could bear the pain Jenny immediately carried on, as though she was free of pain. She always wore a smile on her face and expressed her love for others.
Jenny had never been a cheerleader or competed in a sport. She could not even take part in a gym class, though she took the same health class four years in a row, through which she could pass with a substitute credit each year.
Jenny continued to have one surgery after another on her ears all through school. Her hearing improved and she taught herself to read lips. She also carried a pillow(枕头)to school so that she could relieve the pain when she sat down. Gradually, Jenny began attending every football game, cheering the team on.
Then came her senior year. She saw documents about scholarships on the school website when visiting it one day. According to the statement, she would be considered for scholarships; however, school activities, especially sports, could often mean the difference between receiving an award and losing out. She continued to read other notices and found an ad from the football team, which stated that the football manager was seeking for an assistant, who would take on ancillary( 辅助的)services like taking charge of the team’s belongings, handing out water and towels and cheering them up.
Jenny decided to seize the chance.
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When asked why the team did so well that year, a player spoke of Jenny.
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So popular is learning Chinese that more and more
The reasons why Chinese is enjoying great popularity are as follows. First, China is already a global economic power,
6 . How to deal with frustration
From time to time terrible things occur. When something awful happens in our life, we always feel sorry for ourselves and it is natural to fall into a negative feeling of frustration.
When you feel frustrated by life it can be hard to feel thankful for the blessings in your life.
Another lesson of positive psychology is that your own problems are often relieved when you make an effort to help others. When you’re volunteering your time, doing random acts of kindness, or simply trying to make a positive difference in the lives of others, your brain will produce more dopamine(多巴胺), which gives you a sense of pleasure.
Finally, I am sure you have heard the old saying, “
| A．Don’t judge a book by its cover. |
| B．The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. |
| C．But that is when you need to feel grateful the most. |
| D．You should set aside some “me time” to rest and restore. |
| E．It hurts us and keeps us from making the proper decisions. |
| F．You can actually relieve your own frustration by doing others a favor. |
| G．The most practical way to feel grateful is to start a gratitude journal. |
7 . For over a decade, Zubin Kanga, a pianist, composer and technologist, has changed the limits of the forms of musical performances. He has both organized and performed shows that have pushed barriers, with motion sensors, artificial intelligence (AI), live-generated 3D visuals and virtual reality among the technological advancements used to unlock new possibilities of music and performances.
Kanga’s approach to employing cutting-edge technology was first informed by the relative limitations of his chosen instrument. “The piano is a very accurate technology,” he says. “From the early 20th century till now it hasn’t really changed at all. It’s an amazing instrument, but it does have certain limitations in terms of the types of sound you can create.”
One of the early works is Steel on Bone, composed by Kanga himself. He performs the piece using MiMU multi-sensor gloves. “I can put up one finger, and that’ll produce a particular sound,” Kanga explains. “And then I can control that sound just by moving my wrist through the air — I can do that with lots of different gestures.”
“For Steel on Bone, I’m actually playing inside the piano with these steel knitting (编织) needles, and getting all these interesting effects on the strings. Then I’m using samples of them. Sometimes I’m using live delays and operating them. The sound can change depending on how my hands are moving. It allows me to make a very theatrical piece, and people can see this immediate connection between how I’m moving — these very big, almost conductor-like gestures through the air — and the way the sound is changing,” said Kanga.
This is just the start, and Kanga goes on to be enthused with the use of motion sensors to make music, the possibilities that AI offers composers as a tool, and how virtual reality could transform performances and more.
1. What do technological advancements do for music and performances?| A．Remove music barriers. |
| B．Bring new performance forms. |
| C．Popularize musical performances. |
| D．Make performances professional. |
| A．To indicate its stability. |
| B．To prove its rare accuracy. |
| C．To show it has a long history. |
| D．To clarify why he uses technology. |
| A．By moving his hands in the air. | B．By pressing the piano keys. |
| C．By beating the steel knitting needles. | D．By making very small gestures. |
| A．Technology: When It Replaces Music |
| B．Virtual Reality: Future of Performances |
| C．Zubin Kanga: When Music Meets Technology |
| D．AI Music: From Composing to Performing |
8 . Books are excellent gifts. Here are four of the year’s most talked-about titles.
Ordinary Monsters | By J. M. Miro
Miro has temporarily abandoned literary fiction in favour of a new series of historical fantasy novels. Ordinary Monsters is about a group of children with magical gifts who come together and pool their powers to escape the bad shape-shifting man that’s going after them.
Son of Elsewhere: A Memoir in Pieces | By Elamin Abdelmahmoud
The soundtrack to The O. C., a drama series, and the strange beauty of Highway 401 were important factors in developing selfhood of Abdelmahmoud. This book describes his own experience of moving from Khartoum, Sudan, to Kingston, Canada, in the early 2000s at age 12.
A Magic Steeped in Poison | By Judy I. Lin
Harry Potter has his magic stick. And Ning, the heroine of Lin’s first novel, has tea, which in her world carries magical properties. Lin has created a pleasing Young Adult fantasy rich in Chinese mythology (神话). In this book, Ning enters a competition to find the most gifted tea master, Shennong.
A Ballet of Lepers | By Leonard Cohen
Unlike many other posthumous (死后出版的) works, you can count on Cohen’s to be worth your wait. Before his death, he said that the novel contained in the book, which was never published, was likely better than The Favourite Game, a novel he published during his lifetime. This book also includes a radio play script (剧本) and a handful of short stories.
1. Which book is a mirror of the author’s life story?| A．Ordinary Monsters. | B．Son of Elsewhere: A Memoir in Pieces. |
| C．A Magic Steeped in Poison. | D．A Ballet of Lepers. |
| A．They are about teamwork. |
| B．They are based on an imaginary world. |
| C．They both involve Chinese characters. |
| D．They draw inspiration from other novels. |
| A．It is a collection. | B．It is Cohen’s best novel. |
| C．It is a fantasy novel. | D．It is adapted from a play. |
9 . The latest photo taken at China’s well-known Tsinghua University became a hit, where a student was seen using his laptop while riding on a bike. The moral of the story is that wasting time on things like commuting between university facilities becomes unacceptable, since the pressure to graduate top of the class is so intense.
Into the real world, working extra hours is a common practice of China’s most brilliant figures in technology. In finite overtime, premature balding (秃顶) and hospital admissions are all but part of standard professional life for the nation’s brightest. Similarly, blue-collar workers don’t have it easier. Food delivery riders are reportedly trapped by an algorithm (算法) that automatically works out the best delivery time for app users, and never minds if the workers are at the risk of road accidents.
People are wondering whether all this hard work really makes life better. Actually, it may well be making things harder for everyone, but there doesn’t seem to be a way out. A popular sense of being stuck in an ever so exhausting rat race where everyone loses has given rise to a new buzzword: neijuan (involution). The Chinese word, neijuan, is made up of the characters for “inside” and “rolling”, and is understood as something that spirals in on itself, a process that traps participants who know they won’t benefit from it.
“From a sociological point of view, involution is unavoidable because of society’s structural shifts,” said Yan Fei, a professor of sociology at Tsinghua University, “One big question for the middle class is how to remain in the middle class. Meanwhile, the lower class still hopes to change their fate. But the middle and upper classes aren’t so much looking upward, and they are marked by a deep fear of falling downward. Their greater fear is perhaps losing what they already have,” he explained.
1. Why is the photo of a student in Tsinghua University mentioned in Paragraph 1?| A．To clarify the writing purpose. |
| B．To present an argument. |
| C．To introduce the topic of the passage. |
| D．To describe a character. |
| A．I’s common to work overtime in the real world. |
| B．Neijuan reflects the fierce competition in China. |
| C．Food delivery riders benefit a lot from the apps. |
| D．People live a better life due to their great efforts. |
| A．The lower class suffers a deep fear of falling downward. |
| B．The middle class tries to be a member of the upper class. |
| C．The greatest fear of every class is to lose what they already have. |
| D．Involution is inescapable in the development of society for each class. |
| A．Society. | B．Economy. | C．Entertainment. | D．Tourism. |
No sooner had I finished the midterm exam than I knew I failed in maths again. Mrs. Steward, my maths teacher, asked me to stay after school to talk about my maths study. I was among those students who worked hard and achieved academic success at school — apart from maths. Though I did well in many other subjects, I wouldn’t be on the honor roll (光荣榜) that term if I couldn’t make significant progress in maths. And, the honor roll would be announced in just several weeks. I was frustrated.
Having spotted my depression, Mrs. Steward said, “There will be another important maths test before the honor roll is fixed. Cheer up! I could spare some time after school to help you. You can make it.” “No, thanks,” I declined, adding that I just wanted to go home and never think about maths again. “I am just naturally a poor maths learner.” I almost cried.
Mrs. Steward didn’t give up. She looked me in the eye and said, “You are good at learning. I believe you can change it if we work together.” For a moment, I kept silent, wondering if she might be right. “What time does your bus come?” she asked. “In half an hour,” I replied. She asked if I would like to use the time to deal with the math problems I met in the exam. Encouraged by her, I began to look at my midterm maths paper.
We settled the difficulties in the paper and made a plan to meet every other day after school for the following three weeks. She went over each problem, carefully explaining the solutions. Sometimes I had difficulty understanding her explanation, and she would come up with a different approach to getting across the answer. Soon, the day to take the test came.
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. Steward walked around in the classroom, handing out the test papers.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The next Monday. Mrs. Steward came in, with the honor roll in her hands.
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