2 . 假设你是红星中学高二学生李华。你的英国笔友 Jim 对中国传统文化很感兴趣，近日他看到了伦敦孔子学院(Confucius Institute)的海报，很想去那里学习，写信询问你的意见，请你给 Jim回信，内容包括：
1. 简要介绍孔子学院；
2. 表达你的想法。
注意：1.词 100左右；
2. 开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Jim,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

3 . To learn to think is to learn to question. Those who don’t question never truly think for themselves. These are simple rules that have governed the advancement of science and human thought. Advancements are made when thinkers question theories and introduce new ones. Unfortunately, it is often the great and respected thinkers who end up slowing the progress of human thought. Aristotle was a brilliant philosopher whose theories explained much of the natural world, often incorrectly. He was so respected by the scientific community that even 1,200years after his death, scientists were still trying to build upon his mistakes rather than correct them.

Brilliant minds can intimidate up and coming thinkers who are not confident of their abilities. They often believe they are not as good as the minds of giants such as Aristotle. leading many to accept current ideas instead of questioning them.

I like many thinkers of the past, once believed in my mental weakness. I didn’t question what was written on those pages. I respected them, and accepted whatever they told me. But that attitude soon changed. My mind’s independence was first developed in the classroom.

A 65-year-old science teacher once told me that light is a type of wave. I confidently believed that light is a wave. One day, however, I heard the German exchange student mentioned that light could be made up of particles(粒子). As the others laughed at his statement (陈述), I started to question my beliefs.

Maybe the teachers and textbooks hadn’t given me the whole story. I went to the library, did some research and learned of the light-as-a-wave vs light-as-a-particle debate. I realized I had gone through life accepting only half of the story as the whole truth.

Each new year brought more new facts, and I had even more questions. I found myself in the library after school, trying to find my own answers to gain a more complete understanding of what I thought I already knew. Even textbooks can be challenged. I learned to question my sources, I learned to be a thinker.

Questions are said to be the path to truth, and I plan to continue questioning. How many things do we know for sure today that we will question in the future? I know nothing can escape the gravity of a black hole. This knowledge may change in the next 20 years. The one thing we can control now is our openness to discovery. Questions are the tools of open minds, and open minds are the key to intellectual advancement.

1. In the first paragraph, Aristotle is taken as an example to show that __________.

A．he is the greatest and respected philosopher of all time

B．advancements are made when thinkers question theories

C．great thinkers often make mistakes and then correct them

D．huge influence of great thinkers may block human thought

2. What does the underlined word “intimidate” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．Frighten.

B．Encourage.

C．Strengthen.

D．Disappoint.

3. We can conclude from the last paragraph that __________.

A．the author is not quite sure about his future

B．we human beings don’t dare to predict future

C．the theory of black holes will be true forever

D．questioning is necessary to promote advancement

4. According to the passage, the author __________.

A．determines to be a thinker and questioner

B．always throws himself into the laboratory

C．looks down upon great thinkers all the time

D．never doubts what he has learned in the textbook

4 . I refuse to lie about it; it’s against my p_____________. (a moral rule or a strong belief That influences your actions) (根据首字母和英文释义单词拼写)

5 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

In social life, time plays a very important part. In the U. S. A., guests tend to feel that they are not highly regarded if the invitation to a dinner party     1    (send)only three or four days before the party date. But it is not true in all countries. In other areas of the world, it is considered foolish to make an appointment too far in advance     2     plans that are made for a date more than a week away tend to be forgotten. The meaning of time differs in different parts of the world. Thus, misunderstandings arise between people from cultures in     3     time is treated differently. Promptness(准时)is highly valued in American life. For example,     4     people are not punctual, they may be regarded as impolite or not fully responsible. In the U. S. A. no one would think of keeping a business partner waiting for an hour, since it would be too impolite. A person     5     is five minutes late will say a few words of explanation, though perhaps he will not complete the sentence.

6 . She was brave enough to q_____________ her job to go travelling around the world. (to leave your job, school, etc,; stop doing sth.)(根据首字母和英文释义单词拼写)

8 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

After college, I tried for six months to get a job, but my luck was bad. Finally, one day I was in a downtown coffee shop, buried in the newspaper, and my luck began to change. A young woman sitting next to me     1     (ask) whether she could read my newspaper. I said OK and we started talking. She told me she worked in a huge advertising company and     2     (look) for an assistant at the moment. I told her I was interested in mass communication and     3     (study) it for four years at the university. Within one week, I was her assistant.