1 . 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。

Fourteen Steps

They say a cat has nine lives, and I think that possible since I am now living my third life and I’m not even a cat.

My first life began on a clear, cold day in November, 1904, when I arrived as the sixth of eight children of a poor farming family. Though struggling to make a living, I started my own family. This was when I started to enjoy my first life, happy, in excellent health and I became two lovely girls.

Life was a pleasant dream.

Then the dream ended and became one of those horrible nightmares that cause you to wake in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. I began to suffer from a rare disease of nerves, affecting first my right arm and leg, and then my other side.

Thus began my second life...

Despite my disease, I still drove to and from work each day. And I managed to keep healthy and optimistic, to a degree, because of 14 steps.

Crazy? Not at all.

Our home has 14 steps leading up from the garage to the kitchen door. Here hobbled (跛行) a desperate cripple (瘸子), a man who held on because of 14 miserable steps leading up to the backdoor from his garage.

Then on a dark night, I began my third life. It was raining when I started from home that night and drove on one of the less-traveled roads. Suddenly one of the tires burst with a bang. I fought the car to a stop.

Then I remembered that a short distance up a little side road was a house. I drove slowly along until I came to the house. Lighted windows welcomed me as I pulled into the driveway.

The door opened and a little girl stood there. I told her that I had a flat tire and needed someone to change it for me because I had a crutch (拐杖) and couldn’t do it myself. She went into the house and a moment later came out, followed by a man who called a cheerful greeting.

I sat there comfortable and dry. The rain seemed to be easing a bit now, and I rolled down the window to watch.

注意：1. 续写的词数应为150左右；

2. 请按如下格式作答。

There followed a long interval of noises, but finally it was done.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

He didn’t take the bill and the little girl stepped closer and said quietly, “Grandpa can’t see it.”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5 . I love travelling. One of my fondest memories of travel is when I spent a few days backpacking in Bucharest, Romania. An unexpected act of kindness from a stranger truly made me feel moved.     1    

The first day I arrived in Bucharest I had to take the bus from the train station to my accommodation. I boarded the bus and found out that none of my cards worked and I wasn’t able to buy a ticket.     2     Although I explained that it wasn’t my intention and I had just arrived from Brasov, they still didn’t believe me and fined me for not having a ticket.

After doing some research online, I found that most buses in Bucharest do not accept cash or any form of payment onboard. You have to purchase a card at certain places in the city, top it up with money, and then pay onboard.     3     You can use wireless pay to purchase a ticket. I was delighted after finding out such good news as I did not want another fine.

    4     After I got on the bus, I found the ticket machine to be the same as the one I had met with on my first day in Bucharest. I tried in vain every method, including wireless pay, Apple Pay and cash.     5     At that moment, a kind middle-aged man standing next to me handed me a card. I understood that it was a card for the bus. The man paid for my bus ride.

A．I started to panic.

B．Few things seemed to work.

C．It is still vivid in my mind now.

D．One place I will never forget is Romania.

E．Worse still, I was stopped by policemen on the bus.

F．However, the buses connecting to the airports are more modern.

G．Fast forward to my last day, I planned to take the bus to Bucharest Airport.

6 . With greater climate disasters lying ahead, it is natural for us to make every effort to stop a series of floods, unusual snowstorms, and alarming reports from scientists. For many of us, part of that means running out to buy reusable drinking tubes, organic cleaners, and packaging-free products.

However, before you are joyful of your “green” purchases, take a second to consider a principle that should be obvious: simply consuming less is better for the planet. After all, every new item a factory pumps out requires some resources to produce. But in the confusing stream of environmental news, this simple truth can get lost. Take plastic bag bans for instance. If your city is getting rid of single-use shopping bags, it can be tempting to pay for that fashionable organic cotton bag hanging in the check-outline of supermarkets. However, experts who have analyzed the data on environmental impact insist that growing cotton is actually no better for the Earth than producing the conventional plastic bag. Any bag you already own is your best bet for carrying your groceries if you care about sustainability.

It is not just the Earth that will be happier if you buy less. You will feel more contented too. There is a common view that green buying patterns mean people are going green. However, it doesn’t seem to be that way. Reduced consumption has positive effects on increased well-being, but you don’t see that with “green” consumption.

Many studies have shown that materialism in general makes us unhappy and lonely. It is perfectly possible to be a materialist and an environmentalist at the same time. Lusting (欲望) for every new “green” product on the market might make you feel good about yourself but it presents the same emotional traps as lusting for whatever the Joneses next door are buying. If you relieve yourself of that burden of ownership, most people report feeling a lot better and freer.

1. What is the function of Paragraph 1?

A．To introduce the topic.

B．To send a warning.

C．To offer practical advice.

D．To advocate green purchases.

2. Why does the author mention “plastic bag ban”?

A．To promote cotton bags.

B．To call for less consumption.

C．To ban the using of plastic bags.

D．To reveal the harm of using plastic bags.

3. What do many people believe according to the text?

A．Buying less does benefit to the Earth.

B．Green consumption increases well-being.

C．Buying green indicates a green awareness.

D．Being green gives rise to more consumption.

4. What’s the best title for the text?

A．Green Products Win Popularity

B．Don’t Be Lost in Environmental Passion

C．Buying Green Is Never a Final Solution

D．Buying Less Beats Buying Green

7 . The oldest is the first, the youngest is the baby — but where does that leave the middle-borns? For National Middle Child Day, you’ll recognise these annoying, and sometimes surprisingly advantageous things about growing up in between.

When middle children want to know if they’re old enough to do anything (like sleepover at a friend’s house for the first time or wear makeup) they may as well just look to their older siblings to see when they were allowed to pursue the same milestone. That’s the bar they have to clear to maintain family “fairness”.

How often have you been referred to in relation to your older or younger sibling? Your parents gave you a name at birth, but typically you’re known as someone’s little brother or sister, or even worse, so-and-so’s older brother or sister. It’s easy to have an identity crisis sometimes. In fact, you may have wished you had one of these unusual names so you would stand out from the pack.

Not only do middle children find themselves under a mountain of hand-me-downs (别人用过的东西), unless they’re living in a large house, they also tend to have to share a bedroom. Whether living with the older or younger sibling, your space was never really your own.

Middle children are the only family members who get the life experience of being both a younger and older sibling, giving them unique perspectives on just about everything.

However, the less attention you were given wasn’t necessarily a bad thing — it let you explore and discover your world in your own way, and usually prevented you from getting in trouble for doing so because your parents didn’t even notice! “I think a middle child can fly under the radar,” says middle child Andrea Smarrelli. “I was very good at hiding my crazy moments and childish mistakes from my family.” From harbouring a frog in your room to sneaking out at night, you could get away with a lot. If you’re a troublemaker, we can guess your birth order.

This standing-outness might not have proved in becoming a great performer, but you developed your originality in some way. Without super-high expectations from your parents, you were allowed to think outside the box, leading you to become creative in artistic, entrepreneurial, or other activities.

1. What’s the topic of the text?

A．Older sibling.	B．Younger sibling.
C．Family members.	D．Middle children.

2. What annoys middle children according to Paragraph 3?

A．The relation with their older or younger sibling.

B．The names given by their parents.

C．The identity problem.

D．The unusual names.

3. What leads middle children to become creative according to the text?

A．Standing-outness.	B．Free thinking.
C．Expectations from parents.	D．Activities.

4. What’s the purpose of the text?

A．To analyse the problems of middle children.

B．To introduce who the middle children are.

C．To explain middle children’s relation with family.

D．To illustrate the strengths of middle children.

8 . As an English as an Additional Language (EAL) teacher, I work with over one hundred students from grades 1 — 8 with CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) levels varying between A1.1 and B1.2.

Being a resource teacher, I work in small rooms without using much technology. If I choose to include technology into my lesson, I need to borrow devices from a classroom teacher, having only one iPad of my own. On previous occasions, many of the laptops were not charged, and we had difficulty with student log-ins, or Internet access. It seemed that I always had to have a backup plan when technology use was planned.

In order to avoid disappointment, as part of my blended (混合) learning instruction, I provided my students with accounts to an online reading program with leveled books. Students have the opportunity to listen to native-like reading and pronunciation, read the books and record their reading. Furthermore, the learners can work at their own pace on books that are at their levels and they can use it on their own, even if their parents are at work or do not understand English.

At the same time, I have access to the students’ detailed skill report, which shows their performance in all areas. This could be of great avail in terms of shaping my lessons to better address my students’ needs.

One of the biggest challenges I have experienced regarding blended learning was that some of my students’ families do not have devices or Internet-access. There are also parents who believe that anything the child works at on the computer is equal to “screen time” which is bad for the child. But I feel that it is my job to gradually introduce technology and help my students on their journey of becoming independent learners.

1. What does the author intend to tell us in Paragraph 2?

A．She isn’t good at using technology.

B．She has got bored with teaching English.

C．She isn’t confident about the future of her career.

D．She has difficulty in using technology for teaching.

2. What do Paragraphs 3 and 4 focus on?

A．Different opinions about online reading.

B．The design inspiration for blended learning.

C．The great advantages of the online reading program.

D．Effective ways to make good progress in online communication.

3. The underlined word “avail” in Paragraph 4 can be replaced with “            ”.

A．risk

B．doubt

C．distance

D．benefit

4. What can we infer from the passage?

A．Students benefit from the program by reading at a fixed pace.

B．Most students’ families are struggling to fight poverty.

C．Some students have great trouble choosing learning resources.

D．Some students’ parents are against using the reading program.

9 . If you are on the market to get a good enameled (搪瓷的) Dutch oven, chances are that you may find some French brands, such as Le Creuset and Staub. Nevertheless, when you are considering buying one, you may immediately find these cost a few hundred bucks.

Among the hottest brands, designed for only about $95 with a lifetime guarantee, Input Milo now offers only one item, which can really compete with those hot French ovens.

Style and Design

Because of a promise to source the finest item and to employ the finest achievable style and design, the Milo Dutch oven is really a kettle using a value that can not be overcome. The oven has a normal size, 12 pounds, in 5.5 quarts (夸脱), for all cooking jobs, handy and enameled with small handles. And the very low cost comes chiefly by cutting out the middleman and attempting to sell directly to shoppers.

Milo VS. Other Brand Names

Milo plans to compete with the greater brand names because its style and operation are all equal to those. Cheaper Dutch ovens tend to be somewhat short-term, while Milo is devoted to producing products that survive a life or even longer.

Get Discounts by Using Milo Discount Codes

How can one get a discount on Milo products? Follow the page called Save My Penny and you will be able to get some recent coupon (优惠券) codes, which will give you discounts.

1. According to the passage, the Le Creuset oven              .

A．can be pretty expensive	B．is made in the US
C．is hard to operate	D．fails to sell well

2. What can we know about the Milo Dutch oven?

A．It costs hundreds of dollars.

B．It is well-made and affordable.

C．It comes with a year’s guarantee.

D．It has a low production cost.

3. Compared with cheaper ovens, the Milo Dutch oven              .

A．can be used longer	B．is not in style
C．has a unique size	D．can be recycled