1 . For eight-year-old Toby, who is deaf, watching films or TV can sometimes be a bit pointless, because so many of them don’t have sign language versions (手语版本). “We have subtitles (字幕) but it goes too fast.” his dad said. But now, Toby has some help thanks to an app developed by a 17-year-old student, Mariella Satow, who created a signing app called SignUp.

She got the idea when she was teaching herself American Sign Language(ASL)--one of hundreds of sign languages used across the world. Mariella wanted to watch TV shows to help her learn, and she was disappointed to discover there is only few signed versions. It’s taken a year for Mariella to develop the technology, with lots of help from ASL teachers and the deaf community.

The app is available in the US as a browser extension with an interpreter (翻译) appearing in a box once the film starts playing. It only works on Disney Plus films at the moment, because that’s where Mariella thought she could help the most deaf children.

Deaf people in the UK face many of the same barriers (障碍) when it comes to cinema and TV. “A 27-year-old girl Stacey says she has learned British Sign Language (BSL), and is comfortable using subtitles when watching TV shows and films. But she feels having an interpreter would make things “more inclusive”. Stacey and Toby aren’t the only people to be welcoming Mariella’s app. It’s now got thousands of users.

Stacey says a UK version of an app like SignUp would make films and TV “more accessible” for the deaf community. Mariella is up for the challenge-and hopes to make a British Sign Language version of her app for other streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. “There are more than 300 sign languages used worldwide, so it’ll take a long time to get all of those versions out,” she says.

1. Mariella created SignUp because of ________.

A．her interest in inventing things	B．lack of signed TV shows for the deaf
C．her childhood memories in a cinema	D．the encouragement from her teachers

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Mariella invented the app all by herself

B．Mariella wants to help the most deaf adults

C．The app only works on Disney Plus at the moment

D．The app has got few users-now

3. What will be Mariella’s next challenge?

A．To update the app for cinemas.	B．To make a BSL version of the app.
C．To launch. a universal version of the app.	D．To promote the use of her app worldwide.

4. Which of the following words can best describe Mariella?

A．Creative and caring.	B．Talented and humorous.
C．Curious and fearless.	D．Knowledgeable and brave.

2 . In 1948, everyone who attended the London Olympic Games agreed on who was the greatest legend: Fanny Blankers-Koen, a 30-year-old Dutch housewife.

Before the Games, many people suggested she was too old to succeed, while others said she should stay at home with her children. When she arrived at the track, she pointed at one of them and said simply, “I’ll show you.”

And she did it. Fanny Blankers-Koen won the 100m race with ease. With an Olympic gold medal to her name, she wanted to give up and return home because she missed her children so much. But her husband, Jan Blankers, who was also her coach, asked her to stay. The hurdles (跨栏) gold came next, followed by a championship in the 200m, which she won by 0.7 seconds.

Blankers-Koen celebrated those victories with a big shopping tour and only arrived back at the stadium ten minutes before the start of the 4×100m match. Without any warming up, she ran the last leg. When she started to run, the Dutch were in the third. But Blankers-Koen won the race by a foot.

If she hadn’t been limited (限制) by the IOC (国际奥委会) rules to four events, she could have won two more golds. IOC rules forced her to drop two of her strongest events, the long jump and high jump. both of which she held the world record.

On her return to the Netherlands, Queen Juliana gave her a bicycle, saying she wouldn’t have to run so much. But she kept running until she finished her sport life as an athlete in 1955 with a 58^th championship and went to three more Olympics as a coach.

In 1999 when she was honored the greatest female athlete of the 20th century, Blankers-Koen asked, “Is it really me?” When she got a positive answer, she jumped up and did a little dance.

1. Why did Fanny Blankers-Koen want to go home after she won the first gold medal?

A．She was satisfied with her victory.	B．She was not sure whether she could win.
C．She wanted to stay with her children.	D．She was too tired to take part in more events.

2. Which match did Fanny Blankers-Koen take part in without preparations before its start?

A．The hurdles.

B．The 4×100m.

C．The 200m.

D．The long jump.

3. What does the underlined word “drop” in paragraph 5 mean?

A．Give up.

B．Join in.

C．Turn down.

D．Pick out.

4. What does the writer mainly tell us in the passage?

A．how to prepare for Olympic Games.	B．the story of a caring mother and her children.
C．a great woman in Olympic Games.	D．the hardship of a housewife.

3 . London’s three wonderful hotels

Here’s a pick of three wonderful hotels, each different in terms of size, style and location, but all performing to an exceptional standard.

The Goring Hotel

Since first opening in 1910, it is London’s oldest family-owned luxury hotel with the second-largest privately-owned garden in London after Buckingham Palace. The rooms of this hotel are smaller than those of many other London’s top hotels. There are 12 interconnecting rooms, which are ideal for families.

The Bulgari Hotel

This hotel has some of the largest accommodations in the capital. It’s very modern and huge with six floors below and nine above ground. It feels big, but there are only 85 rooms and suites spread over six floors, indicating how spacious (宽敞的) they are. The Bulgari Hotel has many child-friendly rooms and activities to keep the kids busy: a swimming pool, a cinema, PlayStations, Xbox and lots of other games. The Bulgari spa is spread over two stories. And the doorkeeper can also arrange babysitting.

The Rosewood Hotel

Rosewood is within walking distance of many of the city’s main attractions. From the outside, the building is large and impressive with an elegant courtyard designed for horse-drawn carriages (四轮马车). There is also a great spa and fitness center. As for activities for kids, there are food activities, art and wildlife. The doorkeeper can arrange trips to the London Zoo.

1. Which of the following does the Goring Hotel provide?

A．Very big rooms.	B．Babysitting service.
C．A large private garden.	D．A spa and fitness center.

2. What can children do in the Bulgari Hotel?

A．Enjoy games.	B．Watch wildlife.
C．Take part in food activities.	D．Take a horse-drawn carriage

3. Which hotel will you choose if you want to walk to London’s main attractions?

A．The Goring Hotel.	B．The Bulgari Hotel.
C．The Beaumont Hotel.	D．The Rosewood Hotel.

4 . Have you ever imagined that your simple T-shirt could cool you down by up to 5℃ on these hot summer days? Thanks to a recent discovery, the possibility is getting closer. While there are many alternatives that manage to keep the body warm, this amazing invention aims to offer real relief for those who are eager to feel comfortable and fresh in the outdoors on extremely hot days.

Its inventors, engineers Ma Yaoguang of Zhejiang University and Tao Guangming of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China, took a completely innovative approach. They designed a special textile (纺织物) that can absorb body heat and reemit (重发出) its energy into space as mid-infrared radiation (MIR). This textile cools both the objects and their surroundings through a technique that is known as radiative cooling. Science reveals. This means that even when it looks like you are wearing a regular shirt, you are actually wearing a device that works like a mirror.

Research conducted at Stanford University in 2017 had already managed to cool the wearer by 3℃, but this previous trial was limited. So researchers still need to test the new approach to determine how effectively the new fabric cools while the wearers are standing or walking, and not directly facing the sky, like in their trials. They also need to examine and measure how well it works when T-shirts are no in close contact with the skin.

Inventors Yaoguang and Guangming are now looking out for textile manufacturers and clothing brands that are interested in using their fabric. They estimate that the new material will increase clothing manufacturing costs by just 10 percent. “We can make it with mass production, which means everybody can get a T-shirt and the cost is basically the same as their old stuff,” Yaoguang said.

So if you are an athlete or simply someone that has to deal with the extremely high temperatures, be patient because your days of feeling hot and bothered may be coming to an end!

1. What is the purpose of the new invention?

A．To keep people warm.	B．To help beat the heat in hot weather.
C．To find out the wearers’ temperature.	D．To protect clothes from becoming wet.

2. How does the special product work?

A．By sending out absorbed heat.	B．By turning sunlight into energy.
C．By keeping heat out completely.	D．By using light colors to reflect sunlight.

3. What is the main idea of paragraph 3?

A．The invention needs further testing.	B．The studies in 2017 lack evidence.
C．The new textile has a good cooling effect.	D．The new textile applies to various situations.

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards the invention?

A．Doubtful.

B．Objective.

C．Supportive.

D．Indifferent.

8 . 根据短文内容,从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项是多余选项。

A good friend can help you study.You can have fun together and make each other happy.    1     They will be with you as long as you have money or luck,but when you are down, they will run away. How do I know when I have found a good friend？I look for certain qualities of character, especially understanding,honesty and reliability.

    2     A good friend tries to understand how another person is feeling. He is not quick to judge. Instead, he tries to learn from others. He puts himself in the other person’s place,and he tries to think of ways to be helpful.

At the same time, however, a good friend is honest.    3     He notices their good points. In short, a friend will try to understand me and accept me.

    4     I can always depend on a good friend. If I need a favor, he will do his best to help me. If I am in trouble, he will not run away from me.

There is a fourth quality that makes a friend special. A special friend is someone with whom we can have fun. We should enjoy our lives, and we would enjoy our friendship. A good friend likes the same things I like.     5     A good friend has a good sense of humor, too. When I meet someone who is reliable, honest, and understanding, I know I’ve found a good friend！

A．But what is a good friend？

B．He is ready to help you when you are in trouble.

C．Sometimes you will meet fair­weather friends.

D．Above all else, I look for understanding in a friend.

E．He does not look for faults in others.

F．Another quality of a friend is reliability.

G．We share experience and learn from each other.

9 . With around 100 students scheduled to be in that 9:00 am Monday morning lecture, it is no surprise that almost 20 people actually make it to the class and only 10 of them are still awake after the first 15 minutes; it is not even a surprise that most of them are still in their pajama’s(睡衣). Obviously, students are terrible at adjusting their sleep cycles to their daily schedule.

All human beings possess a body clock. Along with other alerting systems, this governs the sleep/wake cycle and is therefore one of the main processes which govern sleep behaviour. Typically, the preferred sleep/wake cycle is delayed in adolescents, which leads to many students not feeling sleepy until much later in the evenings. This typical sleep pattern is usually referred to as the “night owl” schedule of sleep.

This is opposed to the “early bird” schedule, and is a kind of disorder where the individual tends to stay up much past midnight. Such a person has great difficulty in waking up in the mornings. Research suggests that night owls feel most alert and function best in the evenings and at night. Research findings have shown that about 20 percent of people can be classified as “night owls” and only 10 percent can be classified as “early birds” ------ the other 70 percent are in the middle. Although this is clearly not true for all students, for the ones who are true night owls, this gives them an excellent excuse for missing their lectures which unfortunately fall before midday.

1. What does the author stress in Paragraph 1?

A．Many students are absent from class.

B．Students are very tired on Monday mornings.

C．Students do not adjust their sleep patterns well.

D．Students are not well prepared for class on Mondays.

2. Which of the following is true according to Paragraph 2?

A．Most students prefer to get up late in the morning.

B．Students don’t sleep well because of alerting systems.

C．One’s body clock governs the sleep/wake cycle independently.

D．Adolescents’ delayed sleep/wake cycle isn’t the preferred pattern.

3. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “classified”?

A．Criticized

B．Grouped

C．Organized

D．Named

4. What does the text mainly talk about?

A．Functions of the body clock.

B．The “night owl” phenomenon.

C．Human beings’ sleep behaviour.

D．The school schedule of “early birds”.

10 . This is not a diet. It’s a simple way to lose weight. And you don’t even have to give up the food you love or join a gym. It’s about balancing calories in tiny ways that add up to big benefits. You just form some habits that lean people have. Stick with them, and you’ll become thin.

(1)Wake-up

When you wake up in the morning, sit up slowly without using your hands. With legs straight out, bend forward until you feel sore in your back. It will burn about 10 calories(卡路里).

(2)Start with soup

When you have a meal, order a clear soup, and have it before having the main food. In this way, you’ll feel fuller, so you’ll eat less when the main food comes.

(3)An apple(or more)a day

Apples are full of fibre（纤维）and water, so your stomach will want less. The study shows that people who eat at least three apples a day lose weight.

(4)Stand up and walk around

Every time you use the mobile phone, stand up and walk around. Heavy people sit on average two and a half hours more each day than thin people. This skill is very important as standing up and walking around will burn 50 or more calories.

Use these skills, and you will have a big weight loss.

1. What’s the purpose of this passage?

A．To tell people how to enjoy a better life.	B．To advise people to eat apples every day.
C．To give some tips on how to lose weight.	D．To advise people to get rid of bad habits.

2. What does the underlined word “lean” in the first paragraph mean?

A．Light.

B．Pretty.

C．Thin.

D．Healthy.

3. The author may disagree that ________.

A．getting up without using your hands helps burn calories

B．eating apples every day is good for people’s health

C．it’s good to walk around while talking on the phone

D．you have to join a gym if you want to lose weight

4. In which part of a newspaper would you most probably read this passage?

A．Medicine.

B．Health.

C．Family.

D．Teaching.