1 . Napoleon Bonaparte by Emil Ludwig (German1881~1948)
Napoleon Bonaparte is an extraordinary statesman, strategist, the founder of the French First Empire. This biography was written by famous German writer Emil Ludwig, and there’s no doubt that the book is a great success. The writer uses his own writing style to show the charming character of Napoleon to the readers of the book.
Cao Xueqin Biography by Li Jianshu, 2009 (Chinese edition)
The book tells the life story of the novelist Cao Xueqin — author of The Dream of the Red Mansions. Cao was born to a rich family but suffered great poverty for most of his life. He drew on his life experiences to write his famous novel, which was published after his death.
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller, 1903
Even though Keller wrote this autobiography when she was only 22 years old, it is considered a great book in American literature. It tells about her dark and silent childhood, and how her teacher — Anne Sullivan opened up a new world to her by teaching her how to communicate.
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, 2011
Isaacson interviewed Steve Jobs over forty times, and interviewed hundreds of Jobs friends, relatives, and rivals to sum up Jobs’ remarkable life. The result is an interesting story of a man driven to succeed and driven to make perfect products.
1. Which of the four books is written by Chinese edition?A.Cao Xueqin Biography. | B.The Story of My Life. |
C.Steve Jobs. | D.Napoleon Bonaparte. |
A.Cao Xueqin Biography. | B.The Story of My Life. |
C.Steve Jobs. | D.Napoleon Bonaparte. |
A.Cao Xueqin Biography. | B.The Story of My Life. |
C.Steve Jobs. | D.Napoleon Bonaparte. |
At a neighbor’s pool the summer after sixth grade, Charley yelled those famous last words, “Hey, watch this!” As he dove into the pool, I froze. It wasn’t the deep end!
Charley was hurt bad when he hit the concrete bottom of the swimming pool. The paramedic said he might have broken his back and could lose the use of his legs. His life would change forever. I didn’t see Charley for over a month after he was carried away in the screaming ambulance.
When I went to visit Charley in the hospital, his “Hey, dude, how’s it going?” was greeted by a grunt.
Looking small and pale, Charley growled,
“I can’t walk—how do you think I feel? I wish I was dead!”
“Bro, you’ll get well! You’re tough.”
“No, the doc said I won’t.”
“Aw, man. That suck!” And the conversation died right there.
I didn’t go back after that. I just didn’t know what to say. When Charley got out of the hospital, I went over to his house a few times and played video games, but it just wasn’t the same. Not only was my friend’s body damaged, so was his spirit. I wanted to help and be a good friend but didn’t know how now.
Charley came back to middle school in the fall, but he had a tough time all year. I pushed his wheelchair to help him get to class on time. But Charley had to find someone else if I was at ball practice. Or he could just be late. I wanted to help my friend to make it all better but knew I couldn’t.
One day Charley dropped his cell phone. As he tried to lean down and pick it up, he tumbled out of his wheelchair. I helped him get back into his chair. Though Charley wasn’t hurt, he was so embarrassed that he didn’t talk to anyone the rest of the day. Charley become sadder and sadder, and I spent less and less time with him as the year passed. Since then, I didn’t see much of Charley because I didn’t have time for video games.
However, I was shocked right before eighth grade started to see Charley sailing down the sidewalk with a big black dog by his wheelchair.
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。
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At the sight of this I ran over to my friend Charley and wanted to talk about the dog.
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When school started again, I felt much more comfortable with Charley accompanied by the big black service dog.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Modern science and technology have helped to greatly reduce the back-breaking labour
Probably one of the most
How Simcha Blass, a scientist, discovered this new way of irrigation is rather interesting. He was visiting a friend in the Israeli desert in the 1930s
Through this discovery, farmers can now produce crops on arid land
4 . There is no way they just drove into that water, thought Evans. The 16-year-old was
It was around 2:30 a.m. by the time Evans and his friends got to the river’s edge. In the darkness, they could
Evans ripped off his shirt and shoes, threw his phone away then dived into the water. He helped the first girl he saw and, keeping her
There was still one girl who could not swim in the water. She was swallowing water, struggling to stay afloat with
The three girls and officer were taken to the hospital and
A.holding out | B.hanging out | C.getting along | D.keeping up |
A.hole | B.road | C.bush | D.river |
A.directions | B.methods | C.decisions | D.strategies |
A.simply | B.only | C.barely | D.nearly |
A.see | B.hear | C.smell | D.notice |
A.head | B.leg | C.arms | D.neck |
A.drowned | B.refused | C.panicked | D.jumped |
A.pushing | B.pulling | C.getting | D.holding |
A.focus | B.arrive | C.awake | D.stand |
A.caution | B.care | C.scare | D.relief |
A.hope | B.breath | C.chance | D.mind |
A.found | B.witnessed | C.taken | D.grabbed |
A.rescued | B.cured | C.treated | D.released |
A.healthy | B.alive | C.gone | D.helped |
A.honored | B.blamed | C.charged | D.encouraged |
5 . HEALTHY EATING
There is much debate nowadays as to what makes up a healthy diet. For example, scientists have insisted for years that a big enemy of health is fatty food.
Beyond this, you can keep healthy by consuming different categories of fresh foods, especially fruit and vegetables, which are full of vitamins and fibre, rather than processed foods. Besides this, it is also important to have some meat, beans, or dairy products in your diet, as they provide the necessary protein for strong bones and muscle growth. As with everything in life, moderation is key.
Finally, a fundamental key to healthy eating is to eat slowly. It takes about twenty minutes from the time you start eating for your brain to tell your body that you are full. Eating slowly also allows your body to digest your food better, and will allow you to enjoy your food more.
There is no one trick to healthy eating. Rather, healthy eating starts with having a healthy attitude towards food. One question you can ask yourself is,
A.“Do I eat to live, or live to eat?” |
B.It is up to you to decide how you want to live. |
C.In addition, studies show that consistent eating habits. |
D.Much of this extra sugar comes from sweets and sweet drinks. |
E.This is true regardless of how healthy the rest of their diet might be. |
F.The ideal diet is a balanced one, without too much or too little of any one thing. |
G.However, there is increasing evidence that the real driver of poor health is not so much fatty food, as it is sugar. |
6 . The older you are, the less likely you are to swear (except in the car—studies say most people swear when driving). As we get older, swearing becomes part of the rich lexicon of language that we use to express ourselves, and while we might associate swear words with negative communication. Only eight percent of people actually swear to cause offence. “There are many other reasons that we swear, including positive uses like expressing excitement, emphasis.” says Dr Karyn Stapleton, a senior lecturer in Communication at Ulster University. “And there’s cathartic (宣泄的) swearing, which provides a means of releasing strong emotions, or feelings like anger, pain or frustration.”
Cathartic swearing fascinates scientists as it shows some really interesting facts about bad language. Studies at the UK’s Keele University revealed that when under stress, a person can think of considerably more swear words than someone asked to do the same task when relaxed, and it’s now suspected that rather than being controlled by the normal part of the brain that handles language (the left cortex), swear words are actually processed by the limbic (边缘的) system that normally controls emotional thoughts. Be warned though—the more you swear in general speech, the less effective the cathartic effects of swear words are when you really need them!
What makes a word offensive is also very interesting. “The two main categories of swear words are bodily functions and religion—and that’s not just in English, it’s observed across many languages,” says Dr Robbie Love, lecturer in English Language at Aston University in Birmingham. “It’s like the brain has encoded these words with a special meaning so that it knows they are different in some way. I think there’s almost an innate human need to have some linguistic items that can be used to process intense moments.”
Generally though, we’re swearing less than we used to. Dr Love’s research found the use of 16 common swear words has declined by 27 percent over the last 20 years. According to a survey by the British Board of Film Classification, only 12 percent of those aged 55-64 swear regularly compared to 46 percent of 20-somethings. “It’s possible that as we get older we might have fewer uses for swearing. We don’t need it to bond with coworkers. Also, older adults have often had to spend some time restraining their language around children—no matter how our own feelings about swearing change, we still don’t want to expose children to it,” says Dr Love.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?A.People swear more easily as they get older. | B.People swear merely to release negative emotion. |
C.Swearing often offends others. | D.Swearing is a way of expressing ourselves. |
A.person can think less swear words in relaxation than in pressure. |
B.Swear words come from the brain system that controls emotional thought. |
C.Bodily functions and religion are two types of swear words just in English. |
D.People swearing more in daily life may not release their emotions well on necessary occasions. |
A.Helpful | B.Offensive | C.Special | D.Indifferent |
A.Young people swear in order to connect with their coworkers. |
B.Older people may swear less to create better language setting for children. |
C.There are fewer swear words people use. |
D.People swear less than they used to. |
7 . CLONING: WHERE IS IT LEADING US?
When it was announced in 2018 that the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai had created the world’s first cloned monkeys, Zhongzhong and Huahua, heated discussions followed online. In fact, cloning has always been with us. It is a way of making an exact copy of another animal or plant. It happens in plants when gardeners take cuttings from growing plants to make new ones. It also happens in animals when identical twins are produced from the same egg. These are both examples of natural clones.
Cloning has two major uses. First, gardeners use it to produce large quantities of plants for sale. Second, it is valuable for research on new plant species and for medical research on animals. Cloning plants is fairly straightforward, while cloning animals is much more complicated and difficult. Over the years, many scientists failed in their attempts to clone animals, but their determination and patience paid off in 1996 with a breakthrough—the cloning of Dolly the sheep.
With the advances of scientific research, cloning will have several major uses in the future. For one thing, it could be used to breed animal species which are endangered, or even bring back species which are now extinct. For another, it could be used to grow human organs or tissue in animals, which could be used for human organ transplants or medical treatments. Finally, cloning could be used to breed animals that will provide us with higher quality meat, milk, or eggs.
While there are technical issues that need to be worked through to make widespread cloning possible, the biggest concerns are moral. For example, if scientists brought an extinct animal back into existence, it would probably end up living in a zoo. That is not very good for the animal. Even worse for the animal is using it as a source of organ transplants—because it will be injured or even die. ln addition, many people worry that eating animal products that result from cloning might be harmful to our health over time. The possibility of using cloning to produce human beings is an even bigger concern. What would happen if such knowledge ended up in the wrong hands?
When it comes to cloning, we wonder, ultimately, whether cloning will help or harm the world. No doubt, we will be talking about this question for a long time to come.
1. Which of the following is not the use of natural clones today?A.Gardeners take cuttings from the plants to make new ones. |
B.Identical twins are produced from the same egg. |
C.Scientists created the world’s first cloned monkeys. |
D.Gardeners use cloning to produce large quantities of plants for sale. |
A.Possible uses of cloning in the future. | B.Current uses of cloning. |
C.Whether cloning is good or bad. | D.Moral and ethical concerns about cloning. |
A.It might not be fresh. | B.It might not be nutritious. |
C.It might not be clean. | D.It might be harmful to our health. |
A.The cloned animals end up living in a zoo. |
B.The cloned animal is used as a source of organ transplants. |
C.Using cloning to produce human beings is a bigger concern. |
D.Someone uses cloning to do immoral things. |
8 . It is 10 in the morning, and I am travelling by raft down the Li River. The sun is already burning hot even though it has not yet reached full strength, but a calm breeze cools my skin. So far the day is wonderful, but the purpose of my trip is not just to have fun: I am following in the footsteps of Xu Xiake(1587-1641), the famous Chinese travel writer and geographer. Though Xu was from Jiangsu, he spent more than 30 years travelling throughout the country, and greatly admired my destination today—ox Gorge.
As we flow down the river, we are surrounded by steep hills sticking up into the sky-karsts. Karsts are rock formations made of limestone. They have been sculpted by water and millions of years of erosion into these beautiful natural sculptures. Guangxi is full of karsts, giving it some of the most interesting—and beautiful—scenery in the world. Xu was one of the first people to make a careful study of Guiln’s karsts and their related cave systems. He, like many people today, found them fascinating.
Suddenly, our raft hits some rapids, and I find myself covered in water. I turn to my raftsman and we share a laugh. The water not only keeps us cool, but it is all part of the adventure.
What made someone like Xu spend years traveling thousands of kilometres away from home? Perhaps it’s the same reason as mine: to explore the world and to discover new things. As Xu wrote, “A great man should in the morning be at the blue sea, and in the evening at Mount Cangwu. Why should I restrict myself to one corner of the world?
Xu was not alone. Much like today, the late Ming Dynasty was a golden age of tourism within China. People travelled hundreds of kilometres to visit temples, go mountain climbing, or explore scenery.
Yet, perhaps no one in China travelled farther or longer than Xu Xiake. At least, if anyone did they did not write about it.
1. Why did the author decide to go to the Guilin?A.Just to have fun and relax himself. |
B.To explore the world and discover the new things. |
C.To enjoy the scenery and recall a Chinese famous travel writer |
D.To travel by raft down the Li River. |
A.Xu Xiake admired the scenery of ox-Gorge but he had not been here. |
B.Guilin’s karsts are formed by water’s erosion over the years. |
C.The author felt frustrated while he fell into the water from the raft. |
D.People in the Ming Dynasty enjoyed travelling around the country. |
A.Limit. | B.Control. | C.Improve. | D.Behave. |
A.Hardworking | B.Adventurous | C.Courageous | D.Ambitious. |
9 . Daniel Devlin lives in the same house as his children and sees them every day — yet he is unable to recognise them at all.
Mr. Devlin, 46, from London, is living with a strange condition called prosopagnosia (脸盲症), also known as face-blindness, meaning he struggles to recognise faces — even those of his own family. He has to memorise his family’s voices and body language in order to know who they are. But reading voices and body language doesn’t always work. He has even mistaken another boy for his son when picking his children up from school before.
Mr. Devlin said, “Humans have a special ability to recognise people by seeing their faces. I really don’t have this ability.”
Maybe a good way to imagine what it’s like to have prosopagnosia is to try and recognise people by what their hands look like. Every person has different hands, but if someone showed you a photo of someone’s hands, you might struggle to recognise who the person is, even if that person turns out to be someone you know very well.
“I just thought that everyone was the same, or maybe I just wasn’t putting in as much effort as others to remember people. If I saw my wife somewhere unexpected and she pretended not to know me, then I’m not sure whether I would know it was her.”
Though Mr. Devlin now knows he has had the condition all his life, his disease was only found a few years ago by chance. He said, “I heard a programme about face-blindness on the radio and realised that was what I had.”
It is thought that the condition affects up to one in 50 people. Some people with prosopagnosia may only struggle to recognise a familiar face, but in more severe cases sufferers cannot distinguish a face as being different from an object.
1. What is the problem that Daniel Devlin has?A.He often mistakes other boys for his son. |
B.He has difficulty recognising people’s faces. |
C.He can’t remember the faces of many strangers. |
D.He can’t distinguish the voices of different people. |
A.situation | B.feature | C.illness | D.characteristic |
A.is always able to recognise his wife |
B.once thought he was the same as others |
C.had face-blindness after he was badly hurt |
D.knew a lot about face-blindness from the very beginning |
A.Science fiction. | B.A news report. |
C.A medical report. | D.Popular science. |
1. What is the urgent update about?
A.Changes on train tracks. |
B.Late arrival of trains. |
C.Train maintenance. |
A.Railway engineers. | B.Station managers. | C.Safety officers |
A.That tickets are sold out quickly. |
B.That trains break down on the way. |
C.That many passengers miss their trains. |
A.Be aware of bad phone signals. |
B.Buy food before boarding the train. |
C.Set online payment methods in advance. |