1 . J. K. Rowling frequently shows there is magic every day. Her Harry Potter series has helped people through times of stress and depression and she is always there to deliver wise words of encouragement.

She is one celebrity who is very active on Twitter. So when a single dad named Matt Burke sent her a message thanking her for the series, she noticed. Her series had helped strengthen his relationship with his 9­year­old daughter Bailey.

He included a link to his article titled Being a Broke Parent. He explained how he hadn’t found a level of financial stability that allowed him to pay bills on time and take his daughter on more activities and events. The family also doesn’t have the Internet or TV, which means there’s no “digital babysitter” and he has to rely on his own creative ways to bond with his daughter. Since he received the series, the main thing that has occupied them these days is reading books together.

Burke admits that he thought he was “too cool” for the books when they first came out and he was in his twenties, but he’s loving reading them now. “We switch off chapter by chapter reading them out loud，“Burke explains.” This not only allows her to get more used to reading aloud in front of someone, but it gets me directly involved in something she loves, and it gives me the chance to be very dramatic when I read my chapters and bring myself into the characters in the book, which has proven to be a ton of fun.”

After hearing Burke’s story, Rowling said how honored she was when Harry Potter was a part of his family’s life and offered Burke more books. Besides, people are also offering to send Burke more books as gifts. For Burke, this experience, far more than gifts, will be what he treasures.

1. Why did Burke thank J. K. Rowling according to the text?

A．She guided him how to write a good story.

B．She encouraged him when he was in trouble.

C．Her books helped him through times of confusion.

D．Her books helped him improve his bond with his daughter.

2. What is implied in Burke’s words in paragraph 4?

A．He has found it interesting to read the series.	B．He was too old to understand the series better.
C．He has chosen a better way of reading the series.	D．He hopes to play a role in the drama in the future.

3. Which word can best describe Burke’s experience according to the text?

A．Useless.

B．Normal.

C．Valuable.

D．Boring.

4. What is the main idea of this text?

A．J. K. Rowling chooses to help improve kids’ health.

B．J. K. Rowling gives a magical gift to a single father.

C．J. K. Rowling has a deep influence on others’ growth.

D．Burke comes to know J. K. Rowling through her series.

2 . Explore the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, which offers a relaxing setting for you to enjoy works of modern sculpture.

Chair Transformation Number 20B, made in 1996 — by Lucas Samaras

Here, Samaras explores the double meaning of “flight”, referring to both the starlike form created by the stacked chairs, and the movement of a single chair moving through space. From different viewpoints, the sculpture appears to be upright, leaning back, or springing forward. From the side, it even appears like a zigzagging (之字形的) line.

Typewriter Eraser, Scale X, made in 1998 — by Coosje van Bruggen

The artist chose the typewriter eraser as his model for this work based upon childhood memories of playing with the object in his father’s office. Here the brush arcs (作弧形运动) back, conveying a sense of motion, as if the wheel­like eraser were rolling down the hill and making its way towards the gate of the garden.

Moondog, model 1974, made in 19981999 — by Tony Smith

The title itself comes from two sources: Moondog was the name of a blind poet and folk musician who lived in New York City, and Smith has also compared this sculpture to Dog Barking at the Moon, a painting by Joan Miro. He first created Moondog in 1974 as a 33­inch cardboard model and cast it in bronze as a garden sculpture in 1980. This version was designed by Smith, but it was not completed until after his death.

Cheval Rouge (Red Horse), made in 1964 — by Alexander Calder

During the last two decades of his life, Alexander Calder devoted his greatest efforts to large­scale mobiles and stabiles (立式抽象派雕塑), many of which have become popular public landmarks in cities around the world. Here the silky legs and tensile (张力的) up­thrust “neck” recall the power of a horse. This stabile reflects Calder's statement: “I want to make things that are fun to look at.”

1. Which was based on its creator’s early life?

A．Moondog.	B．Cheval Rouge (Red Horse).
C．Typewriter Eraser, Scale X.	D．Chair Transformation Number 20B.

2. What can we learn about the sculpture Moondog?

A．It was originally intended for a garden.

B．It was the only work of its creator.

C．It was inspired by a modern painter.

D．It wasn’t completed by its designer.

3. Whose work was created the earliest?

A．Tony Smith’s.	B．Lucas Samaras’.
C．Alexander Calder’s.	D．Coosje van Bruggen’s.

3 . In an ideal world, we would be able to devote as much time to sports as we feel we need. But in reality, with growing demands in both work and family, we can only jump at the chance for our physical exercise when we can. Making the most of that time to practice Yin Yang yoga, which mixes the dynamic and slow-paced elements of yoga, helps keep you active and relaxed.

Yin and Yang are the Taoist concepts representing a balance of opposite forces which are also interconnected. Yin is inactive, cooling, and negative, associated with the female force. Yang is active, warming, and positive, associated with action and movement. They are complementary to one another, as one cannot exist without the other.

Yin Yang yoga is a combination of high-energy movement which builds energy, increases strength and promotes stamina (耐力), followed by the more restful practice of Yin to give us a deeper stretch (拉伸) and calm the nervous system.

If you have a busy and active life you may feel more in Yang, so taking some cooler, slower Yin yoga practice into your routine may help you feel calmer and more balanced.

If you are practicing for an hour, divide the time in half, Warm up with sun salutations (拜日式瑜伽), continue into a dynamic flow and then move on to some standing postures. After half an hour your heart will be pumping, muscles tighten up and you are hopefully feeling energetic, but ready for a rest. Then pick five Yin postures to hold for 3-5 minutes, or even longer if you are enjoying them!

As ever with yoga, if you are a beginner or have health issues, always attend a class with a trained instructor first to guide you safely through the yoga practice and avoid injury.

1. What can be inferred from paragraph 1?

A．Most of our sports time should be spent on Yin Yang yoga.

B．We’d better devote as much time to physical exercise as we can.

C．Busy schedule makes it impossible for us to do any form of sports.

D．Yin Yang yoga can be a choice of physical exercise when time is tight.

2. What does the underlined word “complementary” in the second paragraph probably mean?

A．Independent from one another.

B．Competitive against one another.

C．Similar to each other but unable to work together as a whole.

D．Different from each other but together making a good combination.

3. Which of the following might be the benefit of Yin postures?

A．Relaxing muscles.	B．Building stamina.
C．Strengthening the body.	D．Quickening the heartbeat.

4. What suggestion does the writer give in the last two paragraphs?

A．Hold each Yin posture for longer than 5 minutes.

B．Do not practice yoga when you are not in good health.

C．Start your yoga practice under the guidance of a trainer.

D．Spare half an hour for five Yin postures in every yoga practice.

4 . Gorillas (大猩猩) in films such as King Kong and Tarzan are wildly beating their chests when under threat. Researchers have tried to find out what the behavior might mean, and they doubt that the gorillas exhibit this behavior not to start fights, but to prevent themselves — and chest-beating could be used to advertise their body size to other gorillas.

Scientists observed 25 wild male mountain gorillas for over 3,000 hours. The research team used audio (音频) equipment to record the sound frequency, rate, duration, and amount of chest beats. To determine each gorilla’s size, the researchers used cameras to photograph and measure each gorilla’s back.

Although the rate, duration, and amount of beats did not correlate with the size of the gorillas, sound frequency did , the researchers report. The team also noticed that larger gorillas produced deeper-tone chest drumming. Previous research has shown that a gorilla’s larger body size is linked to reproductive success and social rank. The chest-beating could be a way for the gorillas to advertise their size to others and, in turn, avoid fights that could result in serious injury or death.

Though gorillas can obviously observe size just by getting a good look at others, the researchers suggest chest beating is copper-bottomed when trying to communicate through a thick forest. The sounds gorillas created by beating their chests are powerful enough to travel long distance through thick forests and signal others their size and fighting ability.

Animal expert Anna Nekaris says it would be interesting to see if smaller gorillas can imitate the deep tones of larger ones in future studies. Nekaris says, “For now, the researchers will continue to study chest-beating to see if the action can pass on other information, such as dominance rank, sex, and individual identity, to nearby gorillas.”

1. What is the second paragraph mainly about according to the research?

A．Its findings.

B．Its purpose.

C．Its samples.

D．Its method.

2. Why do some gorillas beat their chests?

A．To declare war on other gorillas.	B．To frighten other gorillas away.
C．To welcome their companions.	D．To celebrate their victory in a fight.

3. What does Nekaris suggest researchers’ study in the future?

A．If smaller gorillas can make deep-toned chest drumming.

B．If gorillas’ chest-beating contains other information.

C．If larger gorillas are better at using their body influence.

D．If gorillas have other communication skills.

4. Which section may the passage come from in a newspaper?

A．Health.

B．Entertainment.

C．Science.

D．Sports.

6 . It is not only praise or punishment that determines a child’s level of cognition (认知). There are some other important ways we shape our kids—particularly by giving instructions and commands in a negative or positive choice of words. For example, we can say to a child “Don’t run into traffic!” or “Stay on the footpath close to me.” In using the latter, you will be helping your kids to think and act positively, and to feel competent in a wide range of situations, because they know what to do, and aren’t scaring themselves with what not to do.

Actually, it is all in the way the human mind works. When we think, we automatically practise. For example, if someone offered you a million dollars not to think of a blue monkey for two minutes, you wouldn’t be able to do it. When a child is told “Don’t fall off the tree,” he will think of two things: “don’t” and “fall off the tree”. That is, he will automatically create the picture of falling off the tree in his mind. A child who is vividly imagining falling off the tree is much more likely to fall off. So it is far better to use “Hold on to the tree carefully.”

Clear, positive instructions help kids to understand the right way to do things. Kids do not always know how to be safe, or how to react to the warning of the danger in negative words. So parents should make their commands positive. “Sam, hold on firmly to the side of the boat” is much more useful than “Don’t you dare to fall out of the boat?” or “How do you think I’ll feel if you drown?” The changes are small but the difference is obvious.

Children learn how to guide and organize themselves from the way we instruct them with our words, so it pays to be positive.

1. Why do we choose positive words when giving kids commands?

A．To help them to learn in different situations.

B．To instruct their own behaviors.

C．To guide them to imagine the picture.

D．To improve their imagination.

2. What can we infer from Paragraph 2?

A．A child will act on what is instructed.

B．One won’t think of a blue monkey when given money.

C．A child will surely fall off the tree when told not to.

D．One can’t help imagining what is heard.

3. Which of the following commands helps kids to be safe?

A．How do you think I’ll feel if you get hurt?

B．Don’t walk on the grass.

C．Stay on the sidewalk until it’s safe to cross.

D．Don’t you dare to walk through the red light?

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Positive instructions guide kids	B．Praise makes kids confident
C．Right instructions keep kids safe	D．Clear commands make kids different

7 . Larry and I have always had our basic values in common, but our interests are as far apart as opera and basketball. I love art, and he is a huge sports fan. His big passion is seeing basketball games. He has been sharing season tickets with his friends for years. I must admit I’ve been always invited to see the games together.

This morning, I called my brother, Larry, and said, “I have a piece of good news and a piece of bad news. Which do you want to hear first?” “Good news first,” Larry answered. “You can go to sleep early tonight,” I said. “Okay. What’s the bad one?” he asked. “We’re going to the opera!” I answered, laughing loudly.

There was a reason for the joke. The last time I invited him to go to the opera, he fell asleep in the theater. I had to admit it was always boring for him, but when I gave him a ticket for my favorite opera, I really thought he might enjoy it. I woke him up, but soon he fell asleep again. When Larry found I was joking, he breathed a sigh of relief on the other end. He said, “But I want you to go to see the last basketball game this autumn with me.” I promised and complained, “Not again!” Actually, most of the time, when the game was on, I’d be texting or daydreaming. Sometimes, my telephone messages would be interrupted when the home team scored. I knew they scored because everyone jumped up and exchanged high- fives and fist bumps.

However, today, as I looked around at thousands of people cheering and getting increasingly excited, I decided to at least give it a try—for my brother’s sake, if not for my own. The game was intense, and I was fascinated soon. When the other team scored, I eventually felt a bit disappointed with the rest of my crowd. My brother was surprised to see me getting involved. I was astonished myself! I didn’t keep glancing at the clock, counting the minutes until we got out. Time flew. The game was over before I knew it.

1. Why does the author quote his conversation with Larry in paragraph 2?

A．To show their common values.	B．To show their sense of humour.
C．To show the trust between them.	D．To show the difference in their interests.

2. What was the author’s original reaction to basketball games?

A．He was casual about it.	B．He was pleased to watch it.
C．He felt puzzled about it.	D．He was curious about it.

3. What does the underlined word “fascinated” in the last paragraph mean?

A．Bored.

B．Disappointed.

C．Addicted.

D．Satisfied.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．Art and Sport	B．From Opera to Basketball
C．Cheering for the Home Team	D．Developing a Passion for Opera

8 . In habitats across the planet, animals periodically drop everything to walk, fly or swim to a new place. Wildlife such as whales and geese learn migration paths by following their parents. Others, including small songbirds, gain the distance and direction of their migration within their genetic code. And some animals use a combination of genetics and culture to guide their migration.

Another group of migrators does not quite fit either model, and researchers have only recently started to figure out how they find their way. Take the Cory’s shearwater, an oceangoing sea bird that migrates over the Atlantic every year. The young do not migrate with their parents, so culture cannot explain their journeys. And the exact paths vary wildly from individual to individual, making genetics equally unlikely.

Cory’s shearwaters are long-lived, rarely producing young successfully before age nine. This leaves an opening for learning and practice to develop their migration patterns. Researchers call this the “exploration-refinement”, and until now it has been hypothetical (假设的) because of difficulties in tracking migratory animals’ movements.

But a team of researchers has done that by attaching small geolocators to more than 150 of the birds aged four to nine. They found that younger birds traveled longer distances, for longer periods, and had more diverse paths than older birds. “We finally have evidence of the ‘exploration-refinement’ for migratory birds,” says Letizia Campioni, who led the study. Younger Cory’s shearwaters are able to fly just as fast as the adults—but they do not, suggesting that the young do more exploring, which gradually fades as they mature and settle into a preferred course.

Although it may seem less efficient than other strategies, “exploration refinement could be beneficial to birds and other organisms in a rapidly changing world due to unpredictable man-made changes,” says Barbara Frei. “It might be safer to repeat a behavior that was recently successful than to rely on patterns that were perfected long ago but might no longer be safe.”

1. Why does the author mention different migration models in Paragraph 1?

A．To give an example.	B．To lead in the topic.
C．To make a comparison.	D．To support an idea.

2. What does the underlined word “this” in paragraph 3 refer to?

A．The opening for learning and practice.

B．The unique living habit of Cory’s shearwaters.

C．The way Cory’s shearwaters form their migration patterns.

D．The process scientists track Cory’s shearwaters’ movements.

3. What does Letizia’s study find about the younger Cory’s shearwaters?

A．They lower the speed for exploration.	B．They move in a predictable manner.
C．They travel as much as adult birds.	D．They look for a course with their parents.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Fixed Tracks: Safer Migration Model

B．Migration Models: Important Ways to Deal With Changes

C．A Combination of Strategies: A Wise Choice for Migration

D．Exploration Refinement: Migration Model With Better Adaptability