1 . According to Jessica Hagy, author of How to Be Interesting, it’s not difficult to make yourself interesting at a dinner party.
People love to talk about themselves. If you can start the conversation with a question other than “What do you do for a living?”, you’ll be able to get a lot more interesting conversation out of whomever it is you’re talking to.
And what about that other dinner-party killer: awkward silence? If you’re faced with an awkward silence at a dinner party, the only thing that always gets everyone talking again is to give the host a compliment (赞扬).
So being interesting at a dinner party isn’t that hard.
| A．How do you know the host |
| B．The first step is to go exploring |
| C．If you ask the question “How did you get here?” |
| D．Be prepared to have awkward conversations with strangers |
| E．Or turn the conversation into a topic where they have little to say |
| F．What about that person who had too much to drink or won’t stop talking |
| G．He or she is the person who is feeling the weight of that awkwardness the most |
2 . An Australian professor is developing a robot to monitor the health of grazing cattle, a development that could bring big changes to a profession that's relied largely on a low-tech approach for decades but is facing a labor shortage.
Salah Sukkarieh, a professor at the University of Sydney, sees robots as necessary given how cattlemen are aging. He is building a four-wheeled robot that will run on solar and electric power. It will use cameras and sensors to monitor the animals. A computer system will analyze the video to determine whether a cow is sick. Radio tags (标签) on the animals will measure temperature changes. The quality of grassland will be tracked by monitoring the shape, color and texture (质地) of grass. That way, cattlemen will know whether they need to move their cattle to another field for nutrition purposes.
Machines have largely taken over planting, watering and harvesting crops such as com and wheat, but the monitoring of cattle has gone through fewer changes.
For Texas cattleman Pete Bonds, it's increasingly difficult to find workers interested in watching cattle. But Bonds doesn't believe a robot is right for the job. Years of experience in the industry - and failed attempts to use technology - have convinced him that the best way to check cattle is with a man on a horse. Bonds, who bought his first cattle almost 50 years ago, still has each of his cowboys inspect 300 or 400 cattle daily and look for signs that an animal is getting sick.
Other cattlemen see more promise in robots. Michael Kelsey Paris, vice president of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association, said a robot could be extremely useful given rising concerns about cattle theft. Cattle tend to be kept in remote places and their value has risen, making them appealing targets.
1. What is a problem with the cattle-raising industry?| A．Soil pollution. | B．Lack of workers. |
| C．Aging machines. | D．Low profitability. |
| A．Monitor the quality of grass. | B．Cure the diseased cattle. |
| C．Move cattle to another field. | D．Predict weather changes. |
| A．He wants to help them earn a living. | B．He thinks men can do the job better. |
| C．He is inexperienced in using robots. | D．He enjoys the traditional way of life. |
| A．Increase the value of cattle. | B．Bring down the cost of labor. |
| C．Make the job more appealing. | D．Keep cattle from being stolen. |
3 . I have worked as a keeper at the National Zoo, Paris for 11 years. Spot and Stripe are the first tiger cubs that have ever been born here. Globally, a third of Sumatran cubs in zoos don't make it to adulthood, so I decided to give them round-the-clock care at home.
I've got two children—the younger one, Kynan, was extremely happy about the tigers arriving - but all of us really looked forward to being part of their lives and watching them grow. I wasn't worried about bringing them into my home with my wife and kids. These were cubs. They weighed about 2.5 kg and were so small that there was absolutely no risk.
As they grew more mobile, we let them move freely around the house during the day, but when we were asleep we had to contain them in a large room, otherwise they'd get up to mischief. We'd come down in the morning to find they'd turned the room upside down, and left it looking like a zoo.
Things quickly got very intense due to the huge amount of energy required to look after them. There were some tough times and I just felt extremely tired. I was grateful that my family was there to help. We had to have a bit of a production line going, making up “tiger milk”, washing baby bottles, and cleaning the floors.
When Spot and Stripe were four months old, they were learning how to open doors and jump fences, and we knew it really was time for them to go. It was hard for us to finally part with them. For the first few days, Kynan was always a bit disappointed that the cubs weren't there.
I'm not sad about it. I'm hands-on with them every day at the zoo, and I do look back very fondly on the time that we had them.
1. Why did the author bring the tiger cubs home?| A．To ensure their survival. | B．To observe their differences. |
| C．To teach them life skills. | D．To let them play with his kids. |
| A．Behave badly. | B．Lose their way. | C．Sleep soundly. | D．Miss their mom. |
| A．Boring. | B．Tiring. | C．Costly. | D．Risky. |
| A．They frightened the children. | B．They became difficult to contain. |
| C．They annoyed the neighbours. | D．They started fighting each other. |
4 . Molai grew up in a tiny village in India. The village lay near some wetlands which became his second
When he was 16, Molai began to notice something
Molai
| A．dream | B．job | C．home | D．choice |
| A．nature | B．youth | C．culture | D．knowledge |
| A．precious | B．interesting | C．disturbing | D．awkward |
| A．waste | B．tension | C．pain | D．damage |
| A．Besides | B．However | C．Therefore | D．Otherwise |
| A．agreed | B．realized | C．remembered | D．predicted |
| A．noise | B．heat | C．disease | D．dust |
| A．directions | B．partners | C．help | D．shelter |
| A．labor | B．police | C．forest | D．finance |
| A．rebuilt | B．discovered | C．left | D．managed |
| A．Decorating | B．Observing | C．Watering | D．Guarding |
| A．tough | B．illegal | C．fantastic | D．beneficial |
| A．back | B．top | C．foot | D．side |
| A．cool down | B．keep off | C．purify | D．collect |
| A．returned | B．learned | C．failed | D．continued |
1. 参加人员:
2. 跑步路线:从校门口到南山脚下:
3. 活动反响。
注意:
1. 写作词数应为80左右:
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
A Cross-Country Running Race
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6 . Some individuals are born with a gift for public speaking.
People want to listen to someone who is interesting, relaxed and comfortable. Too often when you stand up to give a speech, you focus on the “public”at the expense of the “speaking. ”
Even the most successful public speaker will make mistakes. Yet, the only one who cares about any mistake is the one who is speaking. People’s attention wanders constantly. In fact,most people only absorb about 20 percent of a speaker’s message. So, don’t stop speaking when you make a mistake unless it’s a truly serious one.
Your goal is not to be a perfect public speaker.
| A．Do the opposite. |
| B．You want to be an effective public speaker. |
| C．You don’ t need to apologize for a minor slip. |
| D．When it comes to public speaking, less is usually more. |
| E．The objective of most speeches is to benefit the audience |
| F．Take the fear out of public speaking by focusing on your listeners |
| G．However, the majority of people are effective speakers because they train to be. |
7 . For Canaan Elementary’s second grade in Patchogue, N.Y., today is speech day, and right now it’s Chris Palaez’s turn. The 8-year-old is the joker of the class. With shining dark eyes, he seems like the kind of kid who would enjoy public speaking.
But he’s nervous. “I’m here to tell you today why you should … should…” Chris trips on the “-ld,” a pronunciation difficulty for many non-native English speakers. His teacher, Thomas Whaley, is next to him, whispering support. “…Vote for …me …” Except for some stumbles, Chris is doing amazingly well. When he brings his speech to a nice conclusion, Whaley invites the rest of the class to praise him.
A son of immigrants, Chris stared learning English a little over three years ago. Whaley recalls (回想起) how at the beginning of the year, when called upon to read, Chris would excuse himself to go to the bathroom.
Learning English as a second language can be a painful experience. What you need is a great teacher who lets you make mistakes. “It takes a lot for any student,” Whaley explains, “especially for a student who is learning English as their new language, to feel confident enough to say, ‘I don’t know, but I want to know.’”
Whaley got the idea of this second-grade presidential campaign project when he asked the children one day to raise their hands if they thought they could never be a president. The answer broke his heart. Whaley says the project is about more than just learning to read and speak in public. He wants these kids to learn to boast (夸耀) about themselves.
“Boasting about yourself, and your best qualities,” Whaley says, “is very difficult for a child who came into the classroom not feeling confident.”
1. What made Chris nervous?| A．Telling a story. | B．Making a speech. |
| C．Taking a test. | D．Answering a question. |
| A．Improper pauses. | B．Bad manners. | C．Spelling mistakes. | D．Silly jokes. |
| A．help students see their own strengths |
| B．assess students’ public speaking skills |
| C．prepare students for their future jobs |
| D．inspire students’ love for politics |
| A．Humorous. | B．Ambitious. | C．Caring. | D．Demanding. |
8 . 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 at the University of Chicago, found children who play with puzzles between ages 2 and 4 later develop better spatial skills. Puzzle play was found to be a significant predictor of cognition(认知) after controlling for differences in parents’ income, education and the amount of parent talk, Levine said.
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(旋转)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. Higher-income parents tended to have children play with puzzles more frequently, and both boys and girls who played with puzzles had better spatial skills. However, boys tended to play with more complex puzzles than girls, and the parents of boys provided more spatial language and were more active during puzzle play than parents of girls.
The findings were published in the journal Developmental Science.
1. In which aspect do children benefit from puzzle play?| A．Building confidence. | B．Developing spatial skills. |
| C．Learning self-control. | D．Gaining high-tech knowledge. |
| A．Parents’ age. | B．Children’s imagination. |
| C．Parents’ education. | D．Child-parent relationship. |
| A．They play with puzzles more often. |
| B．They tend to talk less during the game. |
| C．They prefer to use more spatial language. |
| D．They are likely to play with tougher puzzles. |
| A．A mathematical method. | B．A scientific study. |
| C．A woman psychologist | D．A teaching program. |
9 . When you were trying to figure out what to buy for the environmentalist on your holiday list, fur probably didn’t cross your mind. But some ecologists and fashion (时装)enthusiasts are trying to bring back the market for fur made from nutria(海狸鼠).
Unusual fashion shows in New Orleans and Brooklyn have showcased nutria fur made into clothes in different styles. “It sounds crazy to talk about guilt-free fur-unless you understand that the nutria are destroying vast wetlands every year”, says Cree McCree, project director of Righteous Fur.
Scientists in Louisiana were so concerned that they decided to pay hunters $5 a tail. Some of the fur ends up in the fashion shows like the one in Brooklyn last month.
Nutria were brought there from Argentina by fur farmers and let go into the wild. “The ecosystem down there can’t handle this non-native species(物种).It’s destroying the environment. It’s them or us.” says Michael Massimi, an expert in this field.
The fur trade kept nutria in check for decades，but when the market for nutria collapsed in the late 1980s，the cat-sized animals multiplied like crazy.
Biologist Edmond Mouton runs the nutria control program for Louisiana. He says it’s not easy to convince people that nutria fur is green, but he has no doubt about it. Hunters bring in more than 300,000 nutria tails a year, so part of Mouton’s job these days is trying to promote fur.
Then there’s Righteous Fur and its unusual fashion. Model Paige Morgan says，”To give people a guilt-free option that they can wear without someone throwing paint on them-I think that’s going to be a massive thing, at least here in New York.” Designer Jennifer Anderson admits it took her a while to come around to the opinion that using nutria fur for her creations is morally acceptable. She is trying to come up with a label to attach to nutria fashions to show it is eco-friendly.
1. What is the purpose of the fashion shows in New Orleans and Brooklyn?| A．To promote guilt-free fur. |
| B．To expand the fashion market. |
| C．To introduce a new brand. |
| D．To celebrate a winter holiday. |
| A．Nutria damage the ecosystem seriously. |
| B．Nutria are an endangered species. |
| C．Nutria hurt local cat-sized animals. |
| D．Nutria are illegally hunted. |
| A．Boomed. | B．Became mature. | C．Remained stable. | D．Crashed. |
| A．It’s formal. | B．It’s risky. | C．It’s harmful. | D．It’s traditional. |
“I'm going to miss you so much, Poppy, "said the tall, thin teenager. He bent down to hug his old friend goodbye. He stood up, hugged his parents, and smiled, trying not to let his emotions(情绪)get the better of him.
His parents were not quite able to keep theirs under control. They had driven their son several hours out of town to the university where he would soon be living and studying. It was time to say goodbye for now at least. The family hugged and smiled through misty eyes and then laughed.
The boy lifted the last bag onto his shoulder, and flashed a bright smile.” I guess this is it, “he said.” I'll see you back home in a month, okay？"His parents nodded, and they watched as he walked out of sight into the crowds of hundreds of students and parents. The boy's mother turned to the dog, “Okay, Poppy, time to go back home.”
The house seemed quiet as a tomb without the boy living there. All that week, Poppy didn't seem interested in her dinner, her favorite toy, or even in her daily walk. Her owners were sad too, but they knew their son would be back to visit. Poppy didn't.
They offered the dog some of her favorite peanut butter treats. They even let her sit on the sofa, but the old girl just wasn't her usual cheerful self. Her owners started to get worried. "What should we do to cheer Poppy up？"asked Dad. “We've tried everything.”
“I have an idea, but it might be a little crazy, “smiled Mom.” Without anybody left in the house but us, this place could use a bit of fun. Let's get a little dog for Poppy."
It didn't take long before they walked through the front door carrying a big box. Poppy welcomed them home as usual, but when she saw the box, she stopped. She put her nose on it. Her tail began wagging(摆动)ever so slowly, then faster as she caught the smell.
注意:
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Para 1. Dad opened the box and a sweet little dog appeared.
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Para 2. A few weeks later, the boy arrived home from university.
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