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. |
| 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. |
| A．Useless. | B．Normal. | C．Valuable. | D．Boring. |
| 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 . When John Todd was a child, he loved to explore the woods around his house, observing how nature solved problems. A dirty stream, for example, often became clear after flowing through plants and along rocks where tiny creatures lived. When he got older, John started to wonder if this process could be used to clean up the messes people were making.
After studying agriculture, medicine, and fisheries in college, John went back to observing nature and asking questions. Why can certain plants trap harmful bacteria (细菌)? Which kinds of fish can eat cancer-causing chemicals? With the right combination of animals and plants, he figured, maybe he could clean up waste the way nature did. He decided to build what he would later call an eco-machine.
The task John set for himself was to remove harmful substances from some sludge (污泥). First he constructed a series of clear fiberglass tanks connected to each other. Then he went around to local ponds and streams and brought back some plants and animals. He placed them in the tanks and waited. Little by little, these different kinds of life got used to one another and formed their own ecosystem. After a few weeks, John added the sludge.
He was amazed at the results. The plants and animals in the eco-machine took the sludge as food and began to eat it! Within weeks, it had all been digested, and all that was left was pure water.
Over the years, John has taken on many big jobs. He developed a greenhouse — like facility that treated sewage (污水) from 1,600 homes in South Burlington. He also designed an eco-machine to clean canal water in Fuzhou, a city in southeast China.
“Ecological design” is the name John gives to what he does. “Life on Earth is kind of a box of spare parts for the inventor,” he says. “You put organisms in new relationships and observe what’s happening. Then you let these new systems develop their own ways to self-repair.”
1. What can we learn about John from the first two paragraphs?| A．He was fond of traveling. | B．He enjoyed being alone. |
| C．He had an inquiring mind. | D．He longed to be a doctor. |
| A．To feed the animals. | B．To build an ecosystem. |
| C．To protect the plants. | D．To test the eco-machine. |
| A．Nature can repair itself. | B．Organisms need water to survive. |
| C．Life on Earth is diverse. | D．Most tiny creatures live in groups. |
3 . A huge section of the Milne Ice Shelf, located on Ellesmere Island in the northern Canada, collapsed into the Arctic Ocean, according to the Canadian Ice Service. This created an “ice island” which is about 30 square miles in size. As a comparison, Manhattan Island is about 23 square miles.
“Entire cities are that size. These are big pieces of ice,” Luke Copland, a glaciologist at the University of Ottawa who was part of the research team studying the ice shelf, told Reuters. “This was the largest remaining intact (完整的) ice shelf, and it’s collapsed, basically. ”
The Canadian Ice Service said on Twitter that “above-normal air temperatures, offshore winds and open water in front of the ice shelf are all part of the recipe for the ice shelf to break up.” A huge section of the Milne Ice Shelf has collapsed into the Arctic Ocean, producing a 30-square-mile ice island.
The ice shelf has now been reduced in area by about 43%. An ice shelf is a thick slab of ice, attached to a coastline and extending out over the ocean, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. “Some shelves have existed for thousands of years,” the center said.
So what’s going on up there? Though the planet is warming worldwide due to climate change, the Arctic has been warming at a rate twice that of the rest of the world. This summer has been particularly warm: Arctic sea ice melted to its lowest July level on record and in June, a town in Siberia soared (急升) to 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, believed to be a record high for the Arctic.
“When I first visited those ice caps, they seemed like such a permanent fixture of the landscape,” Mark Serreze, director of the NSIDC and geographer at the University of Colorado, Boulder, said in a statement. “To watch them die in less than 40 years just blows me away.”
1. Why does the author mention Manhattan Island in Paragraph 1?| A．To stress that Manhattan Island is vital for Canada. |
| B．To introduce where Manhattan Island locates. |
| C．To say the great collapse is terrible. |
| D．To compare two different places. |
| A．Its location. |
| B．Its huge body. |
| C．Special intact form. |
| D．Higher air temperatures. |
| A．Arctic sea ice melted to its lowest in June. |
| B．Climate change brings about great changes. |
| C．The earth is warming because of the loss of ice shelf. |
| D．The Arctic warms more slowly than the rest of the world. |
| A．Shocked. | B．Humorous. |
| C．Scientific. | D．Neutral. |
4 . It is often said that you can’t have too many friends. But it seems that there is a natural limit to the number of people we stay in touch with. A study found that when we make new friends, by starting a new job or going to university, we downgrade or even drop old ones. And while the friends may change, the number stays almost the same.
Oxford University researcher Felix Reed-Tsochas asked 24 students in the final months of school to list all their friends and relatives and say how close to them they were. The pupils filled in the questionnaire (问卷) twice more after starting work or going to university. They were also given free mobile phones and agreed that researchers could use their bills to work out who they called, when and for how long.
Putting the two pieces of information together showed, unsurprisingly, that most people have a small circle of close friends, who they spend most of their time talking to. This inner circle is surrounded by group after group of ever more distant friends. As the volunteers’ lives changed, this overall pattern, including the number of best friends, remained almost the same, meaning that some close friends from childhood were dropped or downgraded as new friendships were built.
Dr Reed-Tsochas said, “Maybe my best friend is no longer the same person but the amount of time I allocate (分配) to my best friend is still the same.” He added that this finding suggests that even with the coming of modern technology we are only capable of forming a limited number of true friendships.
Chester University researcher Dr Sam Roberts said, “Our results are likely to reflect limitations in the ability of humans to keep emotionally close relationships both because of limited time and because the emotional capital (情绪资本) that individuals can allocate between family members and friends is limited.”
1. Which is a method Dr Reed-Tsochas used in his study?| A．Checking the volunteers’ call records. |
| B．Learning about the volunteers’ hobbies. |
| C．Tracking the volunteers’ job performance. |
| D．Interviewing the volunteers’ schoolmates. |
| A．One’s attitude to friendships remains the same. |
| B．People attach great importance to friendships. |
| C．People rarely drop their old friends to make new ones. |
| D．The number of one’s best friends doesn’t change much. |
| A．To add background information. |
| B．To give a possible explanation. |
| C．To offer some suggestions. |
| D．To introduce a new topic. |
5 . Blind people have long desired for brightness, but scientists don’t have the technology. To bring that one step closer to reality, Zhiyong Fan, a materials scientist of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, developed a new artificial eye recently. The device, which is about as sensitive to light and has sharper vision and a faster reaction time than a real eyeball, may outperform human eyes.
The human eye owes its wide field of view and clear eyesight to the retina (视网膜) — an area at the back of the eyeball covered in light-detecting cells. The design for a new artificial eye is based on the structure of the human eye and uses a friendly light-sensitive material. At the back of the eyeball, an artificial retina is lined with Nan scale light sensors (纳米级光感器). Those sensors measure light that passes through the lens (晶状体) at the front of the eye. Wires attached to the back of the retina send signals from those sensors to the processor, similar to the way nerve networks connect the eyeball to the brain.
“In the future, we can use this to replace damaged human eyes,” says the lead designer. In theory, this artificial eye could see more clearly than the human eye, because the artificial retina contains about 460 million light sensors per square centimeter while a real retina has about 10 million light-detecting cells per square centimeter. Besides, the artificial eyeball records changes in lighting faster than human eyes can — within about 30 to 40 milliseconds, rather than 40 to 150 milliseconds. Although its 100-degree field of view isn’t as broad as the150 degrees a human eye can take in, the device can see as well as the human eye in poor light.
Hongrui Jiang, an electrical engineer at the University of Wisconsin, though, thinks engineers need a much more practical and efficient way to produce vast series of tiny wires on the back of the artificial eyeball to give it superhuman sight, which is super hard to achieve.
1. Why does Zhiyong Fan develop the artificial eye?| A．To replace people’s real eyeballs. | B．To gain a sharper vision. |
| C．To help the blind regain their eyesight. | D．To help normal eyes perform better. |
| A．The design of the artificial eye. | B．The structure of the human eye. |
| C．The advantages of the artificial eye. | D．The material used for the artificial eye. |
| A．They have the same structure. |
| B．The artificial eye may see more clearly. |
| C．The human eye sees better in weak light. |
| D．The artificial eye takes in a broader view. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Favorable. | C．Unconcerned. | D．Satisfied. |
6 . Brisbane is an exciting city, voted as one of the most livable cities in Australia. Its fine food will make you hate to leave. Here are four famous restaurants.
Kingsleys Steak & Crab House
Located on the waterfront of the Brisbane River with views of the Story Bridge, Kingsleys Steak & Crab House supplies an incomparable ideal setting for lunch or dinner. With impressive views and a combination of both indoor and outdoor seating, it attracts a lot of tourists to have a unique dining experience here. It also offers fresh seafood, including Alaska king crabs, high-grade wine and friendly staff.
Rates per person: $35 — $45
Moo Moo The Wine Bar
Moo Moo The Wine Bar is an award-winning chain of lakeside dining sites. Originally, it was founded in 2005 by Steven Adams, a well-known chef. Moo Moo has since claimed many awards, including Queensland’s Best Steak Restaurant 2008, Gold Riverside Restaurant of the Year 2007, and Gold Coast’s Best Steak Restaurant.
Rates per person: $40－$45
Jellyfish Restaurant
The beautiful views over the Brisbane River are just a starter to come from Jellyfish Restaurant. Its aim is to source and serve fishes of 8 species daily, to learn and understand the texture and qualities of each species and recommend the best way to cook to its customers and serve for the fine experience.
Rates per person: $30－$45
Tibetian Kitchen
For a fine dining experience in Brisbane, it is hard to go past Tibetian Kitchen founded by the award-winning well-known chef Matt Moran. With a beautiful setting on the bank of the Brisbane River, Tibetian Kitchen is all about beautifully presented dishes which look like pieces of perfect artwork. This is what Tibetian Kitchen differs from other restaurants above.
Rates per person: $35－$45
1. What makes Kingsleys Steak & Crab House attractive to tourists?| A．Its great seafood. | B．Its friendly service. |
| C．Its high-grade wine. | D．Its beautiful dining surroundings. |
| A．Kingsleys Steak & Crab House. | B．Moo Moo The Wine Bar. |
| C．Jellyfish Restaurant. | D．Tibetian Kitchen. |
| A．Its environment is elegant. | B．Its food rates are much lower. |
| C．Its chefs have won many awards. | D．Its food presentation is rather pleasing. |
7 . Malin Pinsky had the first of two lightbulb moments in 2003 while crossing Drake Passage. He was then standing on the bridge of a research ship and was scanning the sky for seabirds, which was one of his duties as a research technician on the cruise (海上航游). Just five months earlier he had finished college, where he studied biology and environmental science.
As the ship entered nutrient-rich Antarctic waters, whales suddenly showed up all around the ship. That moment on the bridge helped him realize that the ocean looks featureless from the top, but there’s so much going on underneath.
The second lightbulb moment hit him several months later. Pinsky was then an intern (实习生) in Washington, D.C. His job was making photocopies. It was around the time when two big reports had come out. Both focused on what policies might best preserve U.S. ocean resources. “I realized we have all these laws and policies that determine how we as a society interact with the ocean. But they’re far out of date. We don’t yet have the science to know what the new policy should be,” Pinsky said.
Today he runs a lab with about 20 workers. His team wants to seek how our changing climate, as well as overfishing and habitat destruction, might be driving changes in fish and other animals in the sea. To find out, team members travel each year to coral reefs near the Philippines. There, they carefully catalog populations of different fish. They collect data on the growth and mating of these fish, their diversity and other factors.
“Pinsky’s broad approach to the problem — looking at species, where they live and how fisheries are managed — is setting the pace for other scientists,” says Kimberly Oremus, a fishery economist at the University of Delaware in Newark. “Pinsky is pushing the whole field to respond to his growing body of research.”
1. What made Pinsky have the first lightbulb moment?| A．The vastness of the ocean. |
| B．The sight of seabirds in the sky. |
| C．The view of Drake Passage. |
| D．The appearance of whales around the ship. |
| A．He needed to take more photos of oceans. |
| B．He should do something to update ocean policies. |
| C．The U.S. ocean resources need to be better preserved. |
| D．There have already been perfect policies to preserve the ocean. |
| A．The harm of overfishing. |
| B．Features of different fish. |
| C．Factors affecting ocean ecosystems. |
| D．The reasons for global warming. |
| A．Positive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Disapproving. | D．Uninterested. |
8 . After he retired, Chan Jae Lee, who lives in Brazil, decided to spend his days taking care of his two young grandchildren, driving them back and forth to school and taking the opportunity to spend some quality time with them. But when Lee’s daughter moved her family to Korea, he was left with a gaping hole in his life. “All of a sudden, I had nothing to do and I missed them terribly, ” Lee said.
In 2015, Lee’s third grandchildren was born to his son Ji. He traveled to New York to meet the baby and it was there that Ji suggested his dad begin drawing pictures for his grandkids and posting them on Instagram as a way to keep in touch. “I liked the idea and found a purpose to draw and I learned how to stay in touch with my grandkids around the world, ” Lee said.
Lee shares new pictures daily, which are watercolors of toys, vivid landscapes and imaginative animals—all of them are full of Lee’s imagination. And he draws birthday messages and his favourite places in Korea, and uses his paintings to teach the kids about important Korean traditions. Right now, Lee is able to use his art project to create a bond with the youngest members of his family.
Lee has no formal training in art and he teaches himself how to use different techniques to draw, but fans have fallen in love with his pictures. “The reaction was amazing. I couldn’t have imagined it in my wildest dreams,” Lee said. “What started as a small family project has drawn great attention. ” He is called Grandpa Chan by his followers and achieve fame.
Lee has even been able to sell some drawings online to help fund more trips to see his grandchildren, but the biggest reward for his Instagram influence has been the reaction he’s gotten from his followers. “Seeing what I’ve done, many people start to reconnect to their own passion for drawing and painting and many people share their stories about their grandparents and parents, ” Lee said.
1. Why did Lee start to post pictures on Instagram?| A．To teach his grandchildren art online. |
| B．To make new friends on Instagram. |
| C．To stay connected with his family. |
| D．To introduce important Korean traditions. |
| A．Humorous and smart. |
| B．Talented and creative. |
| C．Sociable and reliable. |
| D．Helpful and hard-working. |
| A．His art project becomes very popular. |
| B．His family supports him in achieving fame. |
| C．His painting style has changed a lot. |
| D．His fans admire him for his sticking to his dream. |
| A．People feel very inspired by Lee’s works. |
| B．Lee makes a fortune by selling his paintings. |
| C．Lee gives the young advice about realizing dreams. |
| D．People have improved their skills after seeing Lee’s works. |
9 . Most children now chat daily either online or through their mobile phones.
Sometimes the online world, just like the real world, can cause problems, such as bullying (恃强凌弱) or arguments.
| A．Going online is great fun. |
| B．Computer studies are part of schoolwork now. |
| C．The language of chat is strange to many parents, too. |
| D．There are some websites that are not suitable for the children. |
| E．To keep children safe, your management must cover the family computer. |
| F．They are connecting to a huge number of other children all over the world. |
| G．Surfing the Internet takes up too much of the time that should be spent on lessons. |
10 . A year back I received a full scholarship to attend the University of San Francisco. All of my hard work had paid off. My mom had spent a lot in my attending a private high school, so I made sure to push myself: I volunteered, joined different clubs, and graduated with honors.
I was so excited to start a new life. I had totally packed two weeks and wanted to go to college at once before it was time to leave.
Soon enough, the big day came, but it wasn’t like what I had thought. The first two weeks were the most difficult days of my entire life. Every night I would cry myself to sleep.
I was so homesick (想家) and I didn’t know how to deal with my broken heart. To distract myself, I threw myself into my studies and I applied for a lot of jobs. In any remaining free time, I started forcing myself to the gym. I wanted to keep every part of my day busy so I wouldn’t think how lonely I felt.
Soon after, I began to limit food, and then I became worse. Finally, I went to see a doctor. When the doctor weighed me, I was crazy about the number of my weight. So I continued to lower my goal, and convinced that controlling this number was the solution to my homesickness. But when I was told that I had no choice but to spend time on my studies. I quickly started recovery in my mind.
How could I do? I told myself that school was what I was best at. I decided to get rid of my homesickness and took exercise actively. My first term of college had passed by at last and I had gotten straight A’s. That’s why I want to share my story—to help other students feel less lonely.
1. How was the author during the two weeks before she left for the college?| A．She was as normal as before. |
| B．She couldn’t wait to leave for the college. |
| C．She was afraid to leave her home. |
| D．She didn’t enjoy her mother’s company. |
| A．Her weight. | B．Her diet. |
| C．Her homesickness. | D．Her bad study habit. |
| A．achieve my dream | B．earn money by myself |
| C．improve my studies | D．take my attention away |
| A．To look back at her past middle school life. |
| B．To help girls to lose weight. |
| C．To help lonely college students. |
| D．To increase her own confidence. |
