A MOTHER’S DAY SURPRISE
The twins were filled with excitement as they thought of the surprise they were planning for Mother’s Day. How pleased and proud Mother would be when they brought her breakfast in bed. They planned to make French toast and chicken porridge. They had watched their mother in the kitchen. There was nothing to it. Jenna and Jeff knew exactly what to do.
The big day came at last. The alarm rang at 6 a.m. The pair went down the stairs quietly to the kitchen. They decided to boil the porridge first. They put some rice into a pot of water and left it to boil while they made the French toast. Jeff broke two eggs into a plate and added in some milk. Jenna found the bread and put two slices into the egg mixture. Next, Jeff turned on the second stove burner to heat up the frying pan. Everything was going smoothly until Jeff started frying the bread. The pan was too hot and the bread turned black within seconds. Jenna threw the burnt piece into the sink and put in the other slice of bread. This time, she turned down the fire so it cooked nicely.
Then Jeff noticed steam shooting out of the pot and the lid starting to shake. The next minute, the porridge boiled over and put out the fire. Jenna panicked. Thankfully, Jeff stayed calm and turned off the gas quickly. But the stove was a mess now. Jenna told Jeff to clean it up so they could continue to cook the rest of the porridge. But Jeff’s hand touched the hot burner and he gave a cry of pain. Jenna made him put his hand in cold water. Then she caught the smell of burning. Oh dear! The piece of bread in the pan had turned black as well.
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。
As the twins looked around them in disappointment, their father appeared.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The twins carried the breakfast upstairs and woke their mother up.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2 . Important Things to Know When Dining Out
Cultural dining etiquette (礼节) might surprise you with some of its important rules.
The way you handle chopsticks is important to avoid annoying your companions. When you put them down between bites, always put them down together so they are parallel with the edge of the table in front of you.
In India and the Middle East, it’s considered very rude to eat with your left hand. People in France expect you to eat with a utensil in each hand.
Some of these cultural dining etiquette rules may seem random and strange, but they are important in various countries.
A.The more friends you make in your lifetime |
B.The more time you spend in any given country |
C.Mexicans consider it inappropriate to eat with utensils |
D.Don’t get caught making an embarrassing mistake at a restaurant |
E.It’s a good sign for the chef if you make a mess around your plate |
F.Never stick them upright in your food or cross them as you use them |
G.It may seem like a simple request to ask for salt and pepper at a meal |
The Xi’an City Wall is the most complete city wall that has survived China’s long history. It
We accessed the wall through the South Gate. The wall is 12 meters high and from here you can see streams of people moving inside and outside the City Wall.
After
We
It doesn’t impress like George Washington’s plantation on the Potomac, but Lincoln’s home in downtown Springfield, Illinois,
When the house was built, it was much
Although Mary loved flowers,
5 . You’ve got mail…and it’s a postcard
Paulo Magalhaes, a 34-year-old Portuguese computer engineer, loves to open his mailbox and find a brightly colored picture of Rome’s Colosseum. Or Africa’s Victoria Falls. Or China’s Great Wall.
“I often send postcards to family and friends.” he says to China Daily, “but you can imagine that after a while, you never receive as many as you send, and you realize that not everyone is into it.
Today his hobby has developed into the website postcrossing.com, a social network that has grown to 575,217 registered users in 214 countries and regions since he started it 10 years ago.
Language is certainly a barrier for many people. For postcrossing to work worldwide, a common communication language is needed so that everyone can understand each other. As cool as it may be to receive a postcard written in Chinese, the concept doesn’t work if one doesn’t understand it.
“Many people in China have limited exposure to English.
A.And that’s totally fine. |
B.That makes it extra hard to learn and practice it. |
C.He likes to think of sending postcards as a family-friendly hobby. |
D.Many love to make a connection with someone from across the world. |
E.On August 5, the number of postcards exchanged by members topped 31 million. |
F.Similarly, if you speak only Chinese, receiving a card in Swedish takes part of the fun away. |
G.In short, he loves postcards, and the excitement of getting a hand-written note from someone far away. |
6 . I was born legally blind. Of all the stories of my early childhood, the one about a
I was only two when the
Mom loves to use this story as an
We are almost certain to get
A.trip | B.race | C.tree | D.driver |
A.incident | B.change | C.illness | D.problem |
A.feared | B.refused | C.forgot | D.turned |
A.delay | B.absence | C.freedom | D.rest |
A.landed | B.slept | C.laughed | D.wept |
A.promised | B.encouraged | C.allowed | D.expected |
A.woke | B.picked | C.warmed | D.gave |
A.adds | B.replies | C.admits | D.supposes |
A.drove | B.lived | C.stood | D.zoomed |
A.crashed | B.broke | C.climbed | D.looked |
A.answer | B.example | C.excuse | D.order |
A.able | B.ashamed | C.afraid | D.anxious |
A.ask | B.share | C.learn | D.try |
A.honesty | B.toughness | C.kindness | D.curiosity |
A.regretted | B.reviewed | C.made | D.explained |
A.job | B.friend | C.fortune | D.house |
A.memories | B.efforts | C.research | D.experience |
A.mixed up | B.fed up | C.knocked down | D.settled down |
A.play | B.relax | C.dream | D.cry |
A.all at once | B.in the end | C.in either case | D.as a result |
7 . Today's world is not an easy adjustment for young adults. Key skill set for success is persistence (毅力), a characteristic that researchers say is heavily influenced by fathers. Researchers from Brigham Young University discovered that fathers are in a unique position to help their adolescent children learn persistence.
BYU professors Laura Padilla-Walker and Randal Day arrived at these findings after following 325 American families over several years. And over time,the persistence gained through fathers led to higher achievement in school.
"There are relatively few studies that stress the unique role of fathers,"Padilla-Walker said. "This research also helps to prove that characteristics such as persistence-which can be taught-are key to a child's life success.”
Researchers determined that dads need to practice an "authoritative" parenting style. Authoritative parenting is not authoritarian:rigid,demanding or controlling. Rather,an authoritative parenting style includes some of the following characteristics:children feel warmth and love from their father;responsibility and the reasons behind rules are stressed children are given an appropriate level of autonomy(自主权).
In the study,about 52 percent of the dads exhibited above-average levels of authoritative parenting. A key finding is that over time,children raised by an authoritative father were significantly more likely to develop persistence,which leads to better outcomes in school.
This particular study examined 11 to 14-year-olds living in two-parent homes. Yet the researchers suggest that single parents still may play a role in teaching the benefits of persistence,which is an avenue of future research.
1. What is special about the BYU professors' study?A.It centered on fathers' role in parenting. |
B.It was based on a number of large families. |
C.It analyzed different kinds of parenting styles. |
D.It aimed to improve kids' achievement in school. |
A.Ignore their demands. | B.Make decisions for them. |
C.Control their behaviors. | D.Explain the rules to them. |
A.Single parents. |
B.Children aged from 11 to 14. |
C.Authoritarian fathers. |
D.Mothers in two-parent homes. |
A.Three Characteristics of Authoritative Fathers. |
B.Key Skills for Young Adults to Succeed in Future. |
C.Children Tend to Learn Determination from Father. |
D.Family Relationship Influences School Performance. |
8 . Let's take a minute to think about the water we use. The human body is 60% water and we need to drink lots of water to be healthy. When we are thirsty we just go to the kitchen and fill a glass with clean water.
The truth is that we are lucky enough to have clean water whenever we want,but this is not the case for many people around the world.
A.We use water indirectly too. |
B.Every system in our body depends on water to function. |
C.It is to inspire people to learn more about water-related problems |
D.If children walk many hours a day to get water,they can't go to school. |
E.Did you know that around 750 million people do not have clean water to drink? |
F.In 1993 the United Nations decided that March 22nd is the World Day for Water. |
G.In this way,they know how it feels to walk a long distance carrying heavy bottles. |
9 . Rainforests are home to a rich variety of medicinal plants, food, birds and animals. Can you believe that a single bush(灌木丛)in the Amazon may have more species of ants than the whole of Britain! About 480 varieties of trees may be found in just one hectare of rainforest.
Rainforests are the lungs of the planet-storing vast quantities of carbon dioxide and producing a significant amount of the world's oxygen. Rainforests have their own perfect system for ensuring their own survival; the tall trees make a canopy(树冠层)of branches and leaves which protect themselves, smaller plants, and the forest animals from heavy rain, intense dry heat from the sun and strong winds.
Amazingly, the trees grow in such a way that their leaves and branches, although close together, never actually touch those of another tree. Scientists think this is the plants' way to prevent the spread of any tree diseases and make life more difficult for leaf-eating insects like caterpillars. To survive in the forest, animals must climb, jump or fly across the gaps. The ground floor of the forest is not all tangled leaves and bushes, like in films, but is actually fairly clear. It is where dead leaves turn into food for the trees and other forest life.
They are not called rainforests for nothing! Rainforests can generate 75%of their own rain. At least 80 inches of rain a year is normal-and in some areas there may be as much as 430 inches of rain annually. This is real rain-your umbrella may protect you in a shower, but it won't keep you dry if there is a full rainstorm. In just two hours, streams can rise ten to twenty feet. The humidity(湿气)of large rainforests contributes to the formation of rainclouds that may travel to other countries in need of rain.
1. What can we learn about rainforests from the first paragraph?A.They produce oxygen. | B.They cover a vast area. |
C.They are well managed. | D.They are rich in wildlife. |
A.Heavy rains | B.Big trees. |
C.Small plants. | D.Forest animals. |
A.For more sunlight. | B.For more growing space. |
C.For self-protection. | D.For the detection of insects. |
A.Life-Giving Rainforests | B.The Law of the Jungle |
C.Animals in the Amazon | D.Weather in Rainforests |
During this past year, I’ve had three instances of car trouble. Each time these things happened, I was sick of the way most people hadn’t bothered to help. One of those times, I was on the side of the road for close to three hours with my big Jeep. I put signs in the windows, big signs that said NEED A JACK (千斤顶), and offered money. Nothing. Right as I was about to give up, a Mexican family in a small truck pulled over, and the father bounded out.
He sized up the situation and called for his daughter, who spoke English. He conveyed through her that he had a jack but that it was too small for the Jeep, so we would need something to support it. Then he got a saw (锯子) from the truck and cut a section out of a big log on the side of the road. We rolled it over and put his jack on top, and we were in business.
I started taking the wheel off, and then, if you can believe it, I broke his tire iron. No worries: He handed it to his wife, and she was gone in a flash down the road to buy a new tire iron. She was back in 15 minutes. We finished the job, and I was a very happy man.
The two of us were dirty and sweaty. His wife prepared a pot of water for us to wash our hands. I tried to put a $20 bill in the man’s hand, but he wouldn’t take it, so instead I went up to the truck and gave it to his wife as quietly as I could. I asked the little girl where they lived. Mexico, she said. They were in Oregon so Mommy and Daddy could work on a fruit farm for the next few weeks. Then they would go home.
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。
When I was about to say goodbye, the girl asked if I’d had lunch.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________After they left, I got into my Jeep and opened the paper bag.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________