| Dear headmaster, As president of Sullivan Junior High School’s student council, I have been chosen to write to you on behalf of the eighth grade class. We would like to propose an eighth grade promotion trip to Sea World in San Diego, California. We chose Sea World for several reasons. In science class, we have been studying oceans and the marine life. Going to Sea World would provide us with the opportunity to visit these creatures and to better understand their habitats. This could be a once in a lifetime experience for those of us who have never been outside Arizona. We will have lots of fun and learn at the same time. The close location of San Diego was also a factor in planning this trip. San Diego can be reached by bus in about six hours. If the buses leave Sullivan after school on Friday afternoon, we should arrive in California in time to have a late dinner and get settled into our hotel rooms before midnight. |
You may be asking yourself. “How will this trip be financed?” We are suggesting that the school host an “Oceans of Fun” night for family, friends, and community members for a small fee. The activities would be organized and supervised by eighth grade students. Some of our ideas for the night include a Surfer’s Snack Shop with homemade treats for sale, Pirate Pete’s Treasure hunt, and a short production of “A Whale of a Tale.” This would the best chance to show our ocean animal reports. Many of the eighth grade students have gone to school together since kindergarten. We believe that this trip would be a fantastic way to celebrate friendships. This trip may also be one of the last times we see our friends because students from Sullivan Junior High School attend four different high schools. We invite you to our next student council meeting on December 7, 2013, to discuss your thoughts and work out any concerns you still may have. Thank you for taking the time to consider our request for an eighth-grade promotion trip. Sincerely, Julie Martino |
1. Who has written this letter? What is she?
2. What idea has the author mainly expressed in Paragraph 4?
3. Why has the author written this letter?
4. Why does the author mention that many students have gone to school together since kindergarten in Paragraph 5?
2 . On May 24, 2021, two days after Yuan Longping, known as the “father of hybrid rice”, passed away at the age of 91, the farewell ceremony for him was held in Changsha. People from all walks of life mourned (哀悼) his passing away.
Born in Beijing on Sept. 7, 1930, Yuan Longping was the son of a railroad official and an English teacher. His family moved frequently, uprooted (使离开家园) by the war between China and Japan. When he was young, he saw with his own eyes that people didn’t get enough to eat. “I saw heartbreaking scenes of people starving to death on the road before 1949,” recalled Yuan.
Yuan Longping studied agronomy (农艺学) at what was then the Southwest Agricultural College in Chongqing. After graduating in 1953, he taught at an agricultural college in Changsha, where his focus shifted from sweet potatoes to rice. High-yield hybrid corn was already in production, and Yuan Longping sought to do something similar to rice, a crop that posed a far greater challenge for plant breeders.
In the early 1970s, Yuan Longping and his team developed hybrid strains that typically yielded 20 percent more rice than conventional varieties, transforming Chinese agriculture after years of famine(饥荒). Some 10,000 years after Chinese farmers began cultivating rice near the Yangtze River, the country now produces more than 200 million tons of rice a year, more than any other nation.
Rather than limiting his rice technology and growing techniques to China, Yuan Longping shared them with the world. He cooperated with the United Nations and the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, in addition to teaching farmers in India, Vietnam and elsewhere how to grow hybrid rice. In 2004, he was awarded the World Food Prize with rice researcher Monty P. Jones, and credited with helping “create a more abundant food supply and more stable world”. And in 2019 he was awarded the “Medal of the Republic”, China’s highest official honor, by President Xi Jinping.
1. What words do you think can best describe Yuan Longping?2. What can you learn from Yuan Longping?
Middle school is a fun time for young teens. You meet new people and go to parties. But many teenagers notice their grades descending in middle school. Classes get harder and it is tougher to keep up. Besides, going to parties takes up a lot of time. The following are some tips on how to improve your grades in middle school.
★Talk to your parents and see how they can help. Ask them for little things, like keeping the TV off for an hour while you study and do homework, or keeping you on task by checking once in a while to make sure you aren’t playing computer games. Parents have gone through school and they can help.
★Seek teachers’ advice as well. They have taught hundreds of students and know many different approaches to learning. See if they can meet with you twice a week after school to help you find out the best way for you to learn.
★Ask for extra homework. If your grade is becoming lower and you need a quick improvement, see if the teacher can give you any extra homework for you to do at home.
★Practice makes perfect. Do your homework every night. If you don’t have homework, review what you have learned for at least 10 minutes. If you are struggling in a class and the teacher doesn’t give homework often, consider asking some questions from the book once in a while to review. Sure, other students will think you are crazy, but if it helps, it doesn’t matter. If the problem lies beyond something you can control, such as a learning disability or problems at home, ask help from a teacher or parent.
★Have your own study area where you can study without being distracted. This study area should also improve your motivation of learning, so decorate it with things that will help you stay organized and not with things that will distract you.
1. What does the underlined word “descending” mean? (one word)2. According to Paragraph 3, why do you need to ask your teachers for advice? (no more than 15 words)
3. For what purpose do you ask for extra homework? (no more than 10 words)
4. How should you decorate your study area? (no more than 12 words)
5. Please give your opinion on how to improve grades in middle school. (no more than 20 words).
A master of English education in China, Chen Lin just celebrated his 100th birthday in April. Chen has spent his whole life on English education.
In 1950, Chen started teaching at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU). He was known as the “Professor of Three Ups”. He always put importance on “standing up” and “speaking up” in his classes. He always stood to teach and talked loudly. When class was over, he would “shut up” at once.
③Chen’s good teaching impressed students. LiJinzhao, one of Chen’s students and a teacher at BFSU now, said Chen likes role-playing and singing to make the class active. It was different from the “teacher speaks, students listen” style of the time. He also encouraged students to speak more and practice more.
In 1999, Chen led experts to make English curriculum standards (课程标准). Before that, English teaching goals from primary school to university didn’t connect well with each other. But the standards changed it. Then, English education worked like “one package (一条龙)”. He also wrote the first set of textbooks to carry out the new standards.
After leaving his job, Chen keeps on working. He reads and writes about how to improve English teaching. He once said, “I have been a teacher all my life, and I want to be an English teacher again in my next life.”
1. Why was Chen called the “Professor of Three Ups”? (No more than 15 words)2. According to Li Jinzhao, how did Chen make his classes active? (No more than 4 words)
3. What is Paragraph 3 mainly about? (No more than 5 words)
4. How did the curriculum standards change English education in China? (No more than 8 words)
5. Which of your teachers impresses you most? And why? (No more than 20 words)
At Manhattan’s PS 140 students in Tony Paulino’s middle school Spanish classes are exploring the geography, economics, and culture of South America, all without leaving their classroom.
They’re using the Internet to follow the One Road South team of adventurers on a 14-month bicycle trip around the continent. Through a program called Reach the World kids at 60 of the city’s elementary and middle schools are getting a taste of global citizenship by following the One Road South bikers, a family travelling in Europe, a bike trek (艰苦跋涉) in Africa, and a Harlem teacher working with scientists in Antarctica through online videos, journals, and field notes.
Sometimes, students even get to meet the travelers they are following online. Three of the four One Road South bicyclists recently visited Paulino’s classes to present a slide show about the place they plan to visit.
The students jumped in with questions, asking if the travelers were afraid of wild animals, running out of food or going for 14 months without having a girlfriend.
But Reach the World isn’t just for fun. The program aims to integrate (使融入) technology into the classroom, to bring subjects like science and social studies to life, and to encourage students to think of themselves as global citizens, according to administrators.
Their teacher, Tony Paulino, said his students are beside themselves with excitement about following the One Road South bikers. “I believe it speaks to the core desire we all share, to dream, to travel and to explore,” he said.
1. What is the best title for this passage? (no more than 7 words)2. How are the students in Tony Paulino’s class exploring the South America? (no more than 4 words)
3. What can students do through Reach the World program? (no more than 20 words)
4. Please explain the underlined words “beside themselves with excitement” in English. (no more than 2 words)
5. What do you think of Reach the World program? Please give your reasons. (no more than 20 words)
69-year-old Xia Boyu recently became the oldest double amputee (双侧截肢者) to climb Mount Qomolangma. That is amazing, but even what is more impressive is the fact that he did it after he tried four times.
Xia Boyu’s first try to reach the top of Mount Qomolangma was in 1975, as part of an expedition (远征) by the Chinese Government. With only 250 meters to go from reaching the top, the team was stopped by bad weather. To make sure that everyone made it back alive, the team decided to turn back and finish their dream another time.
On the way, Xia Boyu gave his sleeping bag to one of his teammates who was in worse shape than him. Unluckily, this selfless act made him lose both his feet to frostbite (冻伤).
In 1996, Xia Boyu got cancer. But it also didn’t stop the mountain climber from realizing his dream of climbing the world’s highest peak. “Climbing Mount Qomolangma is my dream, ” Xia said. “I have to realize it. It also stands for a personal challenge, a challenge of fate. ”
Over twenty years after losing his feet, Xia Boyu trained to get his body ready for another try at climbing Mount Qomolangma. In 2014, he tried again, but finally had to turn back because of bad weather. The same thing happened the following year, as well as in 2016.
In 2018, Xia Boyu finally reached the top of Mount Qomolangma on his fifth try. He thus became only the second double amputee to climb the world’s highest mountain top, after Mark Inglis from New Zealand, who did it in 2006, and the first to do it from the Nepal (尼泊尔) side.
Answer the following questions with no more than 7 words.
1. How many times did Xia Boyu try to climb Mount Qomolangma?
2. Who is the first double amputee to climb the world’s highest mountain top?
3. When was Xia Boyu’s first try to reach the top of Mount Qomolangma?
4. Why did Xia Boyu give up trying while climbing Mount Qomolangma in 2014?
5. What happened to him after Xia Boyu gave his sleeping bag to his teammate?
