Now there is an increasing number of inactive people, namely the “mouse potato”. A mouse potato is someone who sits in front of his or her computer all day and eats junk food instead of regular meals. Why are we becoming potatoes and what can we do to avoid it?
One reason behind it is our modern way of life. We don’t have as much time to prepare and eat food as we used to.
If we want to be healthy, we should make good choices about what we eat. It is not necessary to become a vegetarian, but we must make sure that our diet is varied and balanced. A healthy diet should give us the calories we need but not contain too much fat and sugar. The number of calories our body needs depends on what our body type is, how much we weigh and how active we are.
Teenagers need about 2,500 calories a day.
Junk food has a lot of calories but few nutrients, vitamins and minerals, Some food does have nutrients, for example pizza, but because it contains too many calories, it is still called junk food. A healthy diet should include a variety of food, most of which should be rich in nutrients.
If we make the right choices about what we eat, we will be healthier and have more energy to enjoy the good things in life.
| A．Choosing what to eat is no longer as easy as it once was. |
| B．That does not mean that we are never allowed to eat junk food. |
| C．A balanced diet combined with exercise is the recipe for a healthy life. |
| D．Girls usually need a bit less and people who play sports may need more. |
| E．A large breakfast, one containing about 700 calories, will help lose weight. |
| F．Fast food restaurants are everywhere and supermarket shelves are filled with ready-made pre-prepared dishes. |
| 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?
Studying abroad has become an extremely popular study option amongst university students. While studying abroad is extremely expensive, it exposes students to a wide range of people, cultures and experiences that will reward them later on in their careers. In my opinion, students are far better off studying abroad even though it might be a bit costly.
One of the greatest advantages of studying in a foreign country is that it exposes students to essential life experiences that will develop them professionally, impossible if they have studied only in their own country. Being in another country forces people to pop and come out of their bubble of comfort, opening them to a wide range of opportunities, which can help them advance in their careers. When I went to study in the UK as an eighteen-year-old, I had to push myself out of my comfort zone and become self-reliant, making me much more mentally and emotionally mature. These ultra-challenging experiences are what develops a person.
A negative aspect of studying overseas is that it is extremely expensive. It is not just high university fees that drive up the expenses; it includes stationery and study material expenses, travelling costs, rent, money spent on food, and other different expenses. I had to take an. education loan of 30000 pounds to fund my tuition fees. Moreover, during my stay in the UK. I had to take up a job as a part-time waiter to earn enough to pay my monthly rent and meet a part of my monthly expenses.
An increasing number of students are opting to study overseas. Although studying abroad can make a hole in your pocket, it will test and challenge you mentally and emotionally, helping your overall personal and professional development. In my opinion, long-term professional and personal gains from overseas studies justify every penny spent on it.
1. What’s the author’s opinion towards studying abroad?2. What drives up the expenses of studying abroad?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then change it and explain why. Studying abroad can make a hole in your pocket and challenge you, so overseas studies are not worth it.
4. Apart from what have been mentioned towards studying abroad, what else do you think of it?(In about 40 words )
4 . 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 |
| A．Frighten. | B．Encourage. | C．Strengthen. | D．Disappoint. |
| 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 |
| 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 |
5 . To Their Own Beat
When Los Lobos perform in concert today, audiences in the thousands cheer them on. It’s hard to believe that the group started out as just another garage band playing popular rock-and-roll tunes from the radio, In 1974 four high school friends from East Los Angeles formed Los Lobos ( Spanish for “The Wolves” ) .
Like many garage bands, these friends might have simply gone their separate ways after high school. But the members of Los Lobos wanted to keep making music together. They decided to change their musical style and began focusing on traditional Mexican music that showed their tradition.
“We pulled out all those records we used to beg our parents not to play around our friends and found an incredible wealth of music,” says Perez. “These guys (on the records) were doing amazing things with their instruments, and we started trying to pick up on it. ”
The group put aside its electric guitars for the acoustic ones used in traditional Mexican music. For several years Los Lobos played at weddings or parties—any event that needed live music. They also landed a regular engagement (合同) at a Mexican restaurant.
By 1978 Los Lobos had made enough money to record their first album (唱片) , and they sold copies of it wherever they performed. They also returned to their electric guitars to get closer to a Tex-Mex sound, which is a mixture of traditional Mexican music, rock and roll, country music, and the blues. This new, louder sound produced one unexpected result: the group was fired from the restaurant.
But it didn’t matter that Los Lobos had lost their one steady job, because they had found a position that no other group took up. They had combined electric and acoustic instruments and blended (混合) musical styles in their own way. Steve Berlin joined the band in 1983 as the saxophone and keyboard player, adding to the band’s unusual sound.
“We didn’t so much want to recycle the music we’d grown up with as much as find the common links between it and all the other styles and sounds that were all around us,” Perez explains. “It became a mission ... bringing music together to bring people together. ”
In the 1980s Los Lobos gained the attention of several record companies. They were hired to perform on the soundtrack to the film La Bamba, which earned them a Golden Eagle Award. They have since earned many awards, including two Grammys and an MTV Video Music Award. Their many records have been very successful, and they have toured the world.
Even after 30 years of making music together, Los Lobos continues to experiment with their sound. They never moved far away from their Mexican roots, however. They still include traditional music in their live performances, sharing their history—and their culture—with their fans.
1. Los Lobos recorded their first album after they_______.| A．lost their job at a restaurant |
| B．began playing acoustic guitars |
| C．won an award for a film soundtrack |
| D．added saxophone and keyboards to their sound |
| A．Paragraph 1. | B．Paragraph 4. | C．Paragraph 6. | D．Paragraph 8. |
| A．The way they recorded their first album. |
| B．Their blending of different types of music. |
| C．Their decision to play traditional Mexican music. |
| D．The fact that they performed and toured the world. |
| A．Music is best when played with traditional instruments. |
| B．Music must be recorded to be passed down. |
| C．Music should remain the same over time. |
| D．Music can show many cultures. |
6 .
You will be assigned to a group. As a member of the group, you will participate in at least ONE of the following activities. 1 Compete in an Olympic event. Sign up with your English teacher, and remember space is limited for each event, so don’t delay. See the list under “Olympic Events” below. 2 Make Greek or Roman food. Mrs. Jones has a list of actual recipes (配方) from ancient Greece and Rome. You may make American food, but be sure to give it a unique, mythological name. For example, call your chocolate cake “Zeus’s Delight.” This is a great way to practice your skills in the kitchen. (Please bring your food in a disposable container.) 3 Create a work of art for the museum. Be sure your artwork reflects ancient Greek or Roman culture. Artwork may include sculptures, paintings, mosaics, drawings, or models. The museum is a great place to show off your artistic talent. 4 Perform an original skit, song, or dance for the talent show. Rewrite your favorite Greek myth using modern language, or change the lyrics of a popular song to tell a Greek or Roman tale. Gather your creative energy and submit your ideas to your English teacher for approval. To try out, you must perform for a panel of teachers. This audition helps the teachers choose the BEST performance groups for the talent show, so be sure your group has rehearsed. 5 OLYMPIC EVENTS: ● Hercules Throw — Throw a football through a hoop 20 feet away. ● Three-Headed Race — Three people line up with touching legs tied. Then they run the distance of the gym. ● Toga-Barrow Race — This is like a wheelbarrow race while wearing your toga. (Runners grab partners’ feet Thursday, April 27th while partners walk on hands.) 6 Come to the Toga-tying Party Since the ancient Greeks should inspire your apparel for the event, feel free to attend the festival in a toga. Learn to tie your toga. Thursday, April 27th After school in the gym |
Greco-Roman Festival
| A．New recipes must be created. |
| B．The best cook will win an award. |
| C．Students can learn how to make chocolates. |
| D．Greek or Roman names must be used for the food. |
| A．Music. | B．Poems. | C．Words. | D．Styles. |
| A．show students their choices |
| B．find out the students’ talents |
| C．train students in different ways |
| D．persuade students to join in every activity |
7 . Sarah came running in. “Look what I found.” Over the top of the paper I was reading came a crispy long object that caused me to jump. It was a snake skin that had been shed by one of our many garden snakes.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” said my wide-eyed seven-year-old.
I stared at the organic wrapper and thought to myself that it really wasn’t that beautiful, but I have learned never to appear uninterested with children. They see only good quality and excellence in the world until educated otherwise.
“Why does it do this?” Sarah asked.
“Snakes shed their skin because they need to renew themselves,” I explained. “Why do they need to renew themselves?“ Sarah asked.
I suddenly remembered an article on this page many years ago where the writer was expressing her concept of renewal. She used layers of paper over a wall to describe how we hide our original selves, and said that by peeling away those layers one by one, we see the original beneath. “We often need to shed our skins and those coatings that we cover ourselves with,” I said to my now absorbed daughter. “We outgrow some things and find other ones unwanted or unnecessary. This snake no longer needs this skin. It is probably too crinkly (起皱的) for him, and he probably doesn’t think he looks as smart in it as he once did.”
Sarah was getting the point. As we talked, I knew that she began to understand, although slightly, that renewal is part of progress; that we need to take a good look at ourselves, our rooms, schoolwork and creativity, and see what we need to keep and what we need to cast off. I was careful to point out that this is a natural consequence of their growth.
“I see, Dad,” said Sarah and jumped off my lap and ran off.
I hoped she would remember this. That often, in order to find our real selves underneath the layers of community and culture with which we cover ourselves year after year, we need to start examining these layers. We need to gently peel some away, as we recognize them to be worthless or unnecessary; or at best, store the ones thrown away as mementoes of our promotion to a better vitality or spirit.
1. Sarah learned from her father that renewal is .| A．to recover the layers inside | B．a natural part of getting mature |
| C．to review what has been done | D．the process of finding the unwanted |
| A．dislikes the snake skin at all | B．shows concern for nature and culture |
| C．can grasp the chance to educate children | D．often encourages his daughter to raise questions |
| A．we should renew ourselves to get improved | B．snakes cast off the layers to look smarter |
| C．snakes shed their skins to renew themselves | D．we should explore our original nature underneath |
8 . Have you ever wondered what happens to all of the old object s launched into space, such as rockets and satellites? It’s called space junk, and much of it is still out there now. According to NASA, the definition of space junk is “any man-made object in orbit (轨道) around Earth that no longer serves a useful function”.
One large piece of space junk, an abandoned rocket, hit the dark side of the moon on March 4. The rocket’s origin is not clear, but scientists know that it was massive—weighing about 3 tons. It must have left a large crater (坑), estimated 10 to 20 meters wide, on the moon’s surface. It won’t be visible right away, but scientists are trying to locate it. “We will find the crater, eventually,” Mark Robinson, lead investigator for NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, told USA TODAY. “Depending on its location, it could take as long as 28 days.”
What’s significant about this space junk crash is that it draws attention to some of the potential dangers of space junk. First, the accumulation of space junk in Earth’s orbit means that satellites and the International Space Station (ISS) are at risk. In 2016, tiny space debris (残骸),smaller than a millimeter, caused a tiny chip in the ISS’ window. Imagine the damage that a larger piece of debris could cause. The European Space Agency website states that objects “up to 1 cm in size could disable an instrument or a critical flight system on a satellite” while objects over 10 cm “could shatter a satellite or spacecraft into pieces”. If this sounds terrifying, that’s because it is. Any collision (碰撞) with larger pieces of debris could be especially dangerous for manned spacecraft.
In addition to potential damage to spacecraft and satellites, space junk also poses a threat to the Earth itself Crashes can send debris into the atmosphere where it can remain for many decades. Some powerful collisions can even send large debris hurtling (猛冲) toward Earth’s surface where it can affect the local environment. Leftover rocket debris can contain toxic materials that are harmful to plant and animal life. Some people in Siberia have even reported serious health problems after rocket debris landed in their regions in 2012, a local doctor told the BBC.
1. Which of the following can be regarded as space junk?| A．A disused space station. | B．A spacecraft orbiting the moon. |
| C．A crater on the moon’s surface. | D．A satellite working in low Earth orbit. |
| A．Locating the crater. | B．Tracking the rocket. |
| C．Cleaning up the space junk. | D．Finding out the rocket’s origin. |
| A．It’s likely to cause a global environmental crisis. |
| B．It’s impossible to stop it from entering the atmosphere. |
| C．It can cause a lasting threat if it remains in the atmosphere. |
| D．The toxic materials contained in space junk are the biggest risk. |
9 . 2023 Illustration(插画) Competition
Welcome to enter for the Communication Arts Illustration Competition, most respected and admired in the industry for creativity in illustration. Each winner will receive a professionalized Award of Excellence, a trophy (奖杯) and a certificate. This award is one of the most desired awards. If chosen, winning will place you in the highest position of your industry.
What To Enter WithAny illustration first published or produced from Jan. 2023 to Jan. 2024 is qualified. Entries may originate from any country. Descriptions in English are necessary for the judges to read.
Entries Can Be Submitted (提交) In The Following FormatsDigital Images: RGB images in JPG format with a maximum file size of 2 MB. GIF images may be livelier, but would be turned down, and so would the PNG ones.
Dlustration Competition Categories & Entry FeesCategory | Single illustration | Series of illustration |
Books (covers, jackets, etc.) | $40 | $80 (limit of 5) |
Motions (media for films, videos, etc) | $90 | $180 (limit of 3) |
Student Work | $20 (Image) $45 (Video) | $40 (limit of 5) $90 (limit of 3) |
Late Fees
Entries must be registered no later than Jan. 13,2024. Entries registered after that date will be charged a fee of $ 10 each. No entries can be registered after Jan. 27, 2024.
1. What will the winner get?| A．A tailor-made award certificate. | B．A chance for overseas study. |
| C．Widely accepted in the industry. | D．Prize money from Communication Arts. |
| A．An image with 1MB JPG format. | B．A motion published within 2 years. |
| C．A series for jackets of 10 illustrations. | D．A student work without English introduction. |
| A．$ 80. | B．$ 120. | C．$ 110. | D．$ 90. |
10 . Borders, departments, or issue areas all represent what systems analysts call system boundaries. System boundaries divide the big, messy, interconnected world into smaller subsystems. This is useful, even necessary. Our minds and our collective governance systems would be stuck if we had to always consider all the connections of everything to everything else. But dividing systems into subsystems can sometimes break a natural cooperativity. For instance, a decarbonizing country will spend money in its energy and transportation sectors and save money in its health system.
Decarbonization could be a win for the whole, but it might be experienced as a bother for particular subsystems.
Donella Meadows, the early systems modeler, wrote that system boundaries are “lines in the mind, not in the world.” And that is actually good news. If departments, and disciplines are just ideas, then there is nothing immovable about them. We can make these borders less obvious and conduct partnerships across them. We can even redraw them to include more of what matters in a single project or investment. That’s the premise of multisolving — using one investment of time or effort to achieve several goals at once.
For instance, Warm Up New Zealand (WUNZ) upgraded the energy efficiency of residential buildings and provided jobs in the building sector after a financial downturn. The project resulted in better health for residents, as well. That translated into health systems savings. Taken together, a 2011 study estimated that across all these benefits, the project saved $3.90 for every $1 invested.
Multisolving seems possible everywhere and like an obvious choice. Yet, it is very much the exception, not the rule. Why is multisolving still so rare when it has the power to boost progress on some of the most urgent issues we face?
Unfamiliarity stands in the way, as does an often-unexamined assumption that making issues smaller makes them easier to address. We often hear the viewpoint, “I already work on poverty (or climate, etc.) and that’s hard enough. Why should I add biodiversity or pollution to the mix?” Fundraising for crossing borders can be a struggle too. Funders want the “visible results” shown, but they don’t always see crossing borders as an essential part of achieving those results.
It is easy to devalue and underemphasize connection-building. After all, it can be delicate and not always visible. But to realize goals in today’s world, from equitable policies and low-carbon facilities to values like cooperation and fairness, we do need deep shifts, and we need them soon. And facilitating the flow of ideas back and forth across borders is one way to speed change.
1. As for systems boundaries, the author is ______.| A．critical | B．puzzled | C．supportive | D．unconcerned |
| A．Prediction. | B．Precondition. | C．Prevention. | D．Presentation. |
| A．People are familiar with multisolving. |
| B．WUNZ performed multisolving successfully. |
| C．Raising money helps to produce visible results. |
| D．Multisolving is widely used to address problems. |
| A．Multisolving: Hard to achieve soon |
| B．Multisolving: Essential to solve small issues |
| C．Multisolving: Conducting partnership across borders |
| D．Multisolving: Making systems whole, healthy, and sustainable |
