1 . I turned 8 years old the day I skipped school for the first time. It was easily done: Both my parents left for work before my school bus arrived on weekdays, so when it showed up at my house on that cold winter morning, I simply did not get on. The perfect crime!
And what did I do with myself on that glorious stolen day, with no adult in charge and no limits on my activities? Did I get high? Hit the mall for a shoplifting extravaganza (狂欢)?
Nope. I built a warm fire in the wood stove, prepared a bowl of popcorn, grabbed a blanket, and read. I was trilled and transported by a book — it was Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises — and I just needed to be alone with it for a little while. I ached to know what would happen to Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley and Robert Cohn. I couldn’t bear the thought of siting in a classroom taking another exam when I could be traveling through Spain in the 1920s with a bunch of expatriates (异乡客).
I spent that day lost in words. Time fell away, as the room around me turned to mist, and my role — as a daughter, sister, teenager, and student — in the world no longer had any meaning. I had accidentally come across the key to perfect happiness: I had become completely absorbed by something I loved.
Looking back on it now, I can see that some subtle things were happening to my mind and to my life while I was in that state of absorption. Hemingway’s language was quietly braiding itself into my imagination. I was downloading information about how to create simple and elegant sentences, a good and solid plot. In other words, I was learning how to write. Without realizing it, I was hot on the trail of my own fate. Writing now absorbs me the way reading once did and happiness is their generous side effect.
1. Why did the author skip school on that day?| A．Because she’s fascinated by a novel. | B．Because it’s a biting cold winter morning. |
| C．Because her parents left home early. | D．Because she’s anxious to take the exam. |
| A．Reading a fiction by the fire. | B．Travelling with a bunch of expatriates. |
| C．Being occupied by one’s passion. | D．Breaking the rules and regulations. |
| A．Mending. | B．Destroying. | C．Entering. | D．Blocking. |
| A．The author was tired of his roles in the real-life. |
| B．Becoming a writer is the author’s childhood dream. |
| C．The author skipped school when he was 8 years old. |
| D．Writing has a horrible effect on the author’s life now. |
2 . How to Make Friends at a New School
Starting with a new school can be difficult. Everything seems to be different, and you don’t even know where to go for your own classes.
Remember to be nice to the people you meet at your new school. If you think that you will say something that may make them feel sad, do not say anything and just nod your head if they talk to you. Also, remember to be as helpful as possible!
Believe in yourselfA smile goes a long way. When you walk in the halls, don’t keep your eyes on the floor. Raise your head and make eye contact with other people.
You like it when people use your name, and so do other people.
| A．Be friendly to others. |
| B．Making new friends can be hard, too. |
| C．Join after-school activities like |
| D．Never change what you are to try and fit in. |
| E．If you see someone you know, smile or say “Hi”. |
| F．People may become angry if you just begin by saying ”Hey“ each time. |
| G．Don ‘t sit at the back of the classroom where other people don’t notice you! |
3 . How to deal with your homework
Write it down.
Create a homework station. Find somewhere comfortable and quiet to do your homework.
Do homework as early as possible. Don’t leave homework to the last minute.
Treat yourself. You can easily get tired by sitting through an hour or two of homework without stopping. Once you finish homework for a subject, take a small break (no more than 15 minutes). Either taking a walk or finding something to eat will do. But do not turn on the TV, or you’ll never go back to your study.
| A．Use your time wisely. |
| B．Start as soon as you get home. |
| C．Start with your hardest homework. |
| D．Do not burn the midnight oil, either. |
| E．Never do your homework in front of the TV. |
| F．After short breaks, return to finish the rest of your homework. |
| G．Keep a homework notebook where you record all your homework. |
4 . Winter is often quite cold, which often makes us stay indoors more instead of heading out to exercise. Worse still, there are many viruses(病毒) doing their best to make you sick. And sneezing, coughing and nose blowing make the rooms a habitat for viruses.
Wash your hands. You pick up viruses everywhere and they live on your hands, so wash your hands and do it often.
Get the flu shot(疫苗).
Avoid sick people.
| A．It is easy for viruses to spread from person to person |
| B．Take care of your face |
| C．It’s not absolutely safe |
| D．Keep your hands away from your face |
| E．If someone around you is sick, then keep your distance |
| F．The best way is to use regular soap and water |
| G．Because there are always some unexpected things in life |
5 . A teenager needs to have a sense of independence in their life to feel secure (安全的). To some teenagers independence means a lot to them, and I think that some parents don’t allow their teenagers enough independence.
Independence has something to do with freedom. Some kids are not allowed to go anywhere alone, and the only thing their schedule includes is going to school, coming home, going to sleep, and repeating the process the next day. Parents tend to be afraid that their kids can get hurt if they go outside into the world. But if parents control their kids too much, they may never learn to live on their own. The best way for a teenager to learn lesson is through experience. I think it is beneficial for teenagers to have freedom.
Teenagers’ lack of freedom can also stop them from having good friendship at school. Some might say this is a good thing, because it helps them focus more on their school work. I argue that this can only discourage them not to do their school work. Some parents do not allow their children to be around their friends outside the school, thinking that this will get them into trouble. But I don’t think so. Instead, isn’t this a good reason for parents to get their children a cellphone? Cellphones allow teenagers to stay in touch with their parents, and communicate with friends.
Privacy is another issue between parents and their teenagers. Teenagers tend to enjoy relaxation by themselves in their own room. This also gives them a sense of independence. It often annoys teenagers when their parents enter their room when they are not home. I know that my mom always goes in my room when I’m not home, and this has brought me to the point where I have asked many times to get a lock on my door.
1. What is the main idea of the second paragraph?| A．It benefits teenagers to have freedom. | B．Some parents allow their kids no freedom. |
| C．Kids know how to live independently. | D．Kids have a dull routine every day |
| A．it is unnecessary for a kid to have a cellphone |
| B．kids should focus on the school work |
| C．parents should make it easy for kids to communicate with their friends |
| D．good friendships between kids harm their school work |
| A．Angry | B．Lucky | C．Disappointed | D．Calm |
| A．keep her father from reading her dairy | B．stop thieves from going in |
| C．protect herself from any harm | D．prevent her mother entering her room |
6 . To help you understand what 5G is, and what it means to you, we’ve put together a handy guide here.
What is 5G?
5G will use new higher radio frequencies to send out data, which are less cluttered(挤了)and carry information much faster. While these higher bands(频段) are faster, they don’t carry information as far. That’s to say, smaller multiple input and output antennas (天线)will be used—promoting both signals and capacity(容量).
Why is it better than 4G?
5G is expected to be faster than 4G, with some firms claiming it could be as much as 100 times quicker. The fastest 4G networks can deliver 传输)peak(峰值)download speeds of around 300 Mbit/s.
Finally, 5G will have a larger capacity, meaning networks will be able to deal with several apps at once. Generally, this should mean that devices have a faster, more stable connection.
| A．How does 5G work? |
| B．How will 5G affect you? |
| C．5G is also expected to have a lower lag(延迟). |
| D．5G is short for “5th generation mobile network.” |
| E．In comparison, 5G could offer download speeds of over 1 Gb/s. |
| F．Therefore, the similarity between 5G and 4G technology is huge. |
| G．This means 5G will support up to 1,000 more devices per meter than 4G. |
7 . When parents ask, “What grade did you get?” there is a common follow-up question: “So who got the highest grade?” The practice of making such social comparisons(比较) is popular in all corners of the world. Many teachers choose and publicly announce the “best student” in a class. Adults praise children for doing better than others. People cheer for the athletes who defeat others.
Social comparisons are well meaning: we want to make children feel proud and push them to achieve more. Yet social comparisons can backfire: children can learn to always compare themselves with others and become caught up in a harmful cycle(循环) of competition.
One well-known method to remove social comparisons is to provide participation prizes for children who take an active part in activities. Such prizes, however, may not end social comparisons: A high achiever who receives the same prize as a low achiever may feel unfairly treated. More generally, those who are highly praised unexpectedly may come to believe that they do better than others and thus have reason to be given a prize.
How, then, can we make children feel proud of themselves and encourage them without the unwanted side effects? We believe a better way is to use temporal comparisons—encouraging children to compare themselves with their past self rather than with others, such as by checking on their progress. Adults should teach children that doing better than oneself is more important than doing better than others and that even small achievements can be celebrated.
1. Why do parents compare their children with others?| A．To make the practice more popular. | B．To give children the desire to do better. |
| C．To give children courage to face defeats. | D．To prevent children from being too proud. |
| A．Make no difference. | B．Bring great benefits. |
| C．Have opposite effects. | D．Cause short-term changes. |
| A．It’s better than social comparisons. | B．It gives low achievers a wrong idea. |
| C．It weakens the confidence of high achievers. | D．It’s a reasonable suggestion for inspiring children. |
| A．You will be the best! | B．You are No. 1 again! |
| C．You are doing better than before! | D．You make greater progress than Li Hua! |
8 . Although stress over test taking, handing in homework and balancing school and a social life is nothing new to Richard Montgomery students, online learning has introduced a whole new idea of what a stressful school day feels like. Without face-to-face communication, many students have found themselves needing to work out new ways to cope with their stress.
Junior Rayan Ouattara is a basketball player at RM and is feeling the stress of missing this year’s season. In order to relieve stress, he enjoys doing outdoor activities. “Every time I need to relax or think of something other than school. I like to pick up the ball and make a shot.” said Ouattara.
Whether it is your first year in high school or your last, it’s difficult to be missing out on the experience. Senior Kyle Dexter is experiencing these hard times first hand. “It has definitely been stressful to think that last December could have been my last days on campus and I won’t get to have another year to do all the things I wanted to... I have been doing late night walks while listening to music to help.” said Dexter, when asked what has stressed him out about missing his senior year and how he is coping.
While Dexter is sharing his experience of his senior year, Jordyn Kolchins in her first year of high school has lots to say about her new life. “It’s been really stressful, especially because the work schedule is a lot heavier than in middle school and being online has been pretty crazy... I really like doing coloring books. They are really good for destressing.”
Although students from all different grades have expressed their fears about this school year, their futures, and high stress levels, it’s important to remember that there are ways to deal with these difficult times and remember that everyone is going through this together. This may mean taking your mind off some things for a momcnt and finding new ways to do the activities you love, even if you haven’t discovered quite how yet.
1. What is a new cause of Richard Montgomery students’ stress?| A．Shorter study time. | B．New tests. |
| C．Too many school activities. | D．Online learning. |
| A．He’s in his last school year | B．He wants to leave school soon. |
| C．He is crazy about listening to music. | D．He graduated from high school last year. |
| A．Living an unhealthy life. | B．Balancing life and work. |
| C．Learning drawing online. | D．Adapting to high school online. |
9 . Sam and Joe were spacemen. There was once a very dangerous trip and the more experienced spacemen knew there was only a small chance of coming back alive Sam and Joe, however, thought it would be full of excitement though a little dangerous.
“We’re the best men for the job,” they said to the boss. “There may be problems, but we can find the answers.”
“They’re the last people I’d trust,” thought the boss. “But all the other spacemen have refused to go.”
Once they were in space, Joe had to go outside to make some repairs. When the repairs were done, he tried to get back inside the spaceship. But the door was locked. He knocked but there was no answer. He knocked again, louder this time, and again no answer came. Then he hit the door as hard as he could and finally a voice said. “Who’s there?” “It’s me! Who else could it be?” shouted Joe. Sam let him in but you can imagine that Joe never asked to go on a trip with Sam again!
1. Why didn’t most of the spacemen want to go on the trip?| A．It wasn’t exciting enough | B．They weren’t experienced enough. |
| C．They thought they might get killed. | D．There was little chance of being selected |
| A．It would be exciting. | B．It would be long and tiring. |
| C．There wouldn’t be any danger. | D．There would be serious problems. |
| A．To make people think. | B．To make people laugh. |
| C．To show the funny side of the spacemen’s life. | D．To show the dangerous side of the spacemen’s life. |
10 . Today, we visit one of the most famous parks — Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. This huge park in the southeastern part of the state covers more than 10 thousand square kilometers of the Alaskan wilderness. It includes mountains, glaciers, fjords (峡湾), and even rain forests. Glacier Bay supports hundreds of kinds of animals, including many species of birds, fish, bears, whales and sea lions.
As its name suggests much of Glacier Bay is covered by glaciers. A glacier is a large area of ice that moves slowly down a slope or valley, or over a wide area of land. Glaciers cover a large area of the park.
The glaciers found in the park today are what remain from an ice development known as the Little Ice Age. That period began about 4,000 years ago. During the Little Ice Age, the cold weather caused the ice to grow and develop. That growth continued until the 1700s, when the climate began to warm. The hotter temperatures caused the ice to start melting (融化). That melting led the huge glacier to divide into more than 1,000 different glaciers.
The extremely tall mountains seen in Glacier Bay were formed by the ice developing and then melting over time. The melting of the ice also created water that filled in and created the many fjords within the park. Fjords are narrow parts of the ocean that sit between cliffs or mountains.
Glacier Bay is a popular place for people searching for adventure. Some visitors choose to explore the park by kayak. The small, narrow boats offer visitors a chance to experience the park’s many fjords and its hundreds of kilometers of coastline.
1. If you pay a visit to Glacier Bay, you will find ________.| A．it almost covers the whole Alaskan wilderness |
| B．the rain forests are rare in such conditions |
| C．there live numbers of kinds of animals |
| D．there are more birds than other species |
| A．Some glaciers existed there long long ago. |
| B．Greenhouse effect has affected the glaciers. |
| C．The glaciers will disappear in the soon future. |
| D．Only 1,000 large glaciers are left at present. |
| A．They are formed on the top of mountains. | B．The melting of the ice is also called fjords. |
| C．Water is the source of creating many fjords. | D．Fjords move as the oceans flow around. |
| A．To do a research about Glacier Bay. | B．To warn visitors there are too many dangers. |
| C．To show Glacier Bay has a long history. | D．To introduce Glacier Bay to readers. |
