1 . Art is everywhere. Any public space has been carefully designed by an artistic mind to be both functional and beautiful. Why, then, is art still so widely considered to be “the easy subject” at school, insignificant to wider society, a waste of time and effort?
Art can connect culture with commercial products in a way that not many other things can; art generates money and holds significant emotional and cultural value within communities. When people attend a concert, they are paying for music, sure, maybe even hotel rooms, meals, and transport, but they also gain an incredible experience, a unique atmosphere and a memory that will go through the rest of their lives. People don’t just want material things anymore, they want to experience life — the arts are a perfect crossover (交迭) between culture and commerce.
Furthermore, the arts can bring communities together, reducing loneliness and making people feel safer. Social bonds are created among individuals when they share their arts experiences through reflection and discussion, and their expression of common values through artworks in honour of events significant to a nation’s experience.
The arts clearly have a pretty positive impact on physical and psychological health. It is found that people who frequent cultural places or participate in artistic events are more likely to gain good health compared to those who do not; more engagement with the arts is linked to a higher level of people’s wellbeing. The Royal Society of Public Health discovered that music and art, when used in hospitals, help to improve the conditions of patients by reducing stress, anxiety and blood pressure.
Children who are involved with the arts make greater achievements in their education: those engaged with drama have greater literary ability while others taking part in musical practice exhibit greater skills in math and languages. Kids with preference for the arts have a greater chance of finding employment in the future. Participating in the arts is essential for child development; encouraging children to express themselves in constructive ways could help to form healthy emotional responses in later life.
Vital to human life, art is celebrated and used by nations across the world for various purposes. Life without art would be boring and dead still, for art is a part of what makes us human.
What is the best title for this passage?
| A．How Art Cures Our Hearts |
| B．Art: A Blessing to Humankind |
| C．How Art Benefits Communities |
| D．Art: A Bridge Between Cultures |
2 . We are repeatedly willing to imagine we have found most of what is left to discover. We used to think that insects were the smallest organisms (生物), and that nothing lived deeper than six hundred meters. Yet. when something new turns up, more often than not, we do not even know its name.
What could be the most suitable title for the passage?
| A．The Possible and the Impossible |
| B．The Known and the Unknown |
| C．The Civilized and the Uncivilized |
| D．The Ignorant and the Intelligent |
3 . According to a recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research, both the size and consumption habits of our eating companions can influence our food intake. And contrary to existing research that says you should avoid eating with heavier people who order large portions (份), it’s the beanpoles with big appetites you really need to avoid.
What is the recent study mainly about?
| A．Food safety. |
| B．Movie viewership. |
| C．Consumer demand. |
| D．Eating behavior. |
4 . Benjamin West, the father of American painting, showed his talent for art when he was only six years of age. But he did not know about brushes before a visitor told him he needed one. In those days, a brush was made from camel’s hair. There were no camels nearby. Benjamin decided that cat hair would work instead. He cut some fur from the family cat to make a brush.
The brush did not last long. Soon Benjamin needed more fur. Before long, the cat began to look ragged (蓬乱). His father said that the cat must be sick. Benjamin was forced to admit what he had been doing.
The cat’s lot was about to improve. That year, one of Benjamin’s cousins, Mr. Pennington, came to visit. He was impressed with Benjamin’s drawings. When he went home, he sent Benjamin a box of paint and some brushes. He also sent six engravings(版画)by an artist. These were the first pictures and first real paint and brushes Benjamin had ever seen. In 1747, when Benjamin was nine years old, Mr. Pennington returned for another visit. He was amazed at what Benjamin had done with his gift. He asked Benjamin’s parents if he might take the boy to Philadelphia for a visit.
In the city, Mr. Pennington gave Benjamin materials for creating oil paintings. The boy began a landscape (风景) painting. Williams, a well-known painter, came to see him work. Williams was impressed with Benjamin and gave him two classic books on painting to take home . The books were long and dull. Benjamin could read only a little, having been a poor student. But he later said, “Those two books were my companions by day, and under my pillow at night.” While it is likely that he understood very little of the books, they were his introduction to classical paintings. The nine-year-old boy decided then that he would be an artist.
What is the text mainly about?
| A．Benjamin’s visit to Philadelphia. |
| B．Williams’ influence on Benjamin. |
| C．The beginning of Benjamin’s life as an artist. |
| D．The friendship between Benjamin and Pennington. |
5 . Mr. Ferguson earned a bachelor’s degree in 1961 at Holy Cross University, where he developed an interest in painting. He served in the Army for two years until being discharged in 1963, and after studying briefly at the Boston Museum School, registered at the Chicago Art Institute, where he studied until 1966, when he entered the University of Illinois Chicago, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in 1966 in fine arts. Mr. Ferguson developed his interest and skills as a sculptor after moving to Baltimore to do further studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art’s Rinehart School of Sculpture, from which he graduated in 1971 with a master’s degree in fine arts.
What did Mr. Ferguson do first after serving in the army?
| A．He studied at the Boston Museum School. |
| B．He got a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. |
| C．He entered the University of Illinois Chicago. |
| D．He continued his studies at the Maryland Institute College. |
1.概述这件事；
2.谈谈你的感想。
注意：1.词数 100 左右；
2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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7 . Some parents will buy any high-tech toy if they think it will help their child, but researchers said puzzles help children with math-related skills.
Psychologist Susan Levine, an expert on mathematics development in young children the University of Chicago, found children who play with puzzles between ages 2 and 4 later develop better spatial skills….
The researchers analyzed video recordings of 53 child-parent pairs during everyday activities at home and found children who play with puzzles between 26 and 46 months of age have better spatial skills when assessed at 54 months of age.
“The children who played with puzzles performed better than those who did not, on tasks that assessed their ability to rotate and translate shapes,” Levine said in a statement.
The parents were asked to interact with their children as they normally would, and about half of children in the study played with puzzles at one time. …
The findings were published in the journal Developmental Science.
What is the text mainly about?
| A．A mathematical method. | B．A scientific study. |
| C．A woman psychologist | D．A teaching program. |
8 . Recently, a 1935 letter in which Ernest Hemingway detailed his catch of a 500lb blue marlin (青枪鱼), an adventure that is believed to have partly inspired his novel The Old Man and the Sea, has been sold for $28,000 (￡22,000).
...
Nate D Sanders, the auction (拍卖) company which sold the letter, said it documented for the first time in Hemingway’s own words not only the size of the marlin, but also the attack by sharks, reflecting the plot of the novel.
...
The Old Man and the Sea was also inspired by an anecdote told by Hemingway’s Cuban friend Carlos Gutierrez. In 1936, Hemingway wrote in a magazine ... about an old fisherman who caught a great marlin alone.
Three years later, Hemingway ... was planning a short story ... he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1954.
Which is the correct order of time for the following facts in the passage?
①Hemingway wrote a letter to describe his adventure.
②Hemingway caught a big blue marlin.
③The letter was sold at auction.
④The Old Man and The Sea won the Nobel Prize.
| A．①③②④ | B．②①④③ | C．②④①③ | D．②③①④ |
1. The first week was a little confusing.
2. The building is so big that I’m completely lost.
3. The kids over there are putting something on a round paper plate.
4. Linda thinks and speaks quite quickly and she can do well in the debate.
5. The new coach told me that I didn’t play well enough.
6. My first French class was very confusing. The teacher spoke so fast!
10 . Jane Goodall began observing chimpanzees in 1960 at Gombe Stream Game Reserve in what is now Tanzania, but her first study of animal behavior took place some 20 years earlier, when she, at 5 years old, spent several hours in a henhouse, waiting to see how a hen laid an egg.
That curiosity helped drive Goodall to become one of the most famous scientists of the 20th century. Her evolution from an innocent child to a “global icon (偶像)” is documented in “Becoming Jane”, an exhibit in Washington, D.C. through September 7. After that, it heads to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
Where is “Becoming Jane” held before September 7,2020?
| A．In Tanzania. |
| B．In Washington. D.C. |
| C．C.In Los Angeles County. |
| D．In Jane’s hometown. |
