Toby Mott was just an ordinary person working as an artist. But then, at the age of 36, he had an idea that made him famous. It started when he wanted
He took the Tshirts to a clothing store and they sold 40 in a week.
The 
Mott says, “I’m successful,
2 . The day I received my letter of acceptance to New York University, I was extremely excited. It was my dream university, and my
It
Clearly dad wasn’t the
I now realize I was
| A．friends | B．classmates | C．parents | D．relatives |
| A．allowed | B．pushed | C．helped | D．recommended |
| A．discourage | B．encourage | C．inspire | D．protect |
| A．perfectly | B．positively | C．passively | D．proudly |
| A．though | B．if | C．unless | D．before |
| A．came | B．appeared | C．remained | D．happened |
| A．travelled | B．moved | C．returned | D．left |
| A．worry | B．embarrassment | C．guilt | D．anger |
| A．higher | B．less | C．more | D．lower |
| A．accept | B．receive | C．need | D．make |
| A．normal | B．typical | C．general | D．ordinary |
| A．title | B．subjects | C．majors | D．grades |
| A．energetic | B．smart | C．outstanding | D．happy |
| A．offer | B．supply | C．story | D．theory |
| A．piled on | B．removed | C．gave off | D．solved |
| A．held on | B．made out | C．ended up | D．set about |
| A．hope | B．time | C．room | D．choice |
| A．shocked | B．unfortunate | C．puzzled | D．mistaken |
| A．gifts | B．suggestions | C．tools | D．experiences |
| A．track | B．catch | C．achieve | D．act |
3 . Facebook friends cannot replace the real thing, say psychologists.
People are happier and laugh 50% more when they talk face to face with friends or via webcam (web camera) than when they use social networking sites, a study has found.
Dr. Roberts, a famous lecturer at the University of Chester, said such websites don’t appear to help make true friendship. Based on two questionnaires, he found there was no link between Facebook use and people with larger groups of friends.
Dr. Roberts, whose work will be presented at the British Psychological Society conference in Harrogate, said, “The bottom line conclusion is that our relationships are not dependent on the quantity of communication. They depend on quality, and even Skype is better at increasing the quality of our communication than time on Facebook.” Even talking on the phone or texting does not make people feel as good as sharing a smile, the research says. The studies suggest quality, not quantity, of communication is the most important for keeping friends for life.
People find the most satisfying relationships come from a small number of close friends, with an outer “ring” of 10 significant others. With these people, it doesn’t matter what type of social media you use for communication. But people who want to “contact the world at large” using Facebook can be disappointed because they spread themselves too thinly, say researchers.
In a third study, Dr. Roberts asked people to communicate with friends face to face or via Skype and keep a 14-day diary. This was compared with communicating via phone, text messages or social networking sites. People communicating face to face on Skype were 50% more likely to laugh, and they rated themselves as significantly happier.
1. What does the psychological study find out?| A．Facebook can bring more happiness. | B．Facebook makes friendship stronger. |
| C．Facebook does not help make true friendship. | D．Facebook can bring larger groups of friends. |
| A．two questionnaires. | B．facetoface talking. |
| C．instant messages. | D．field research. |
| A．talking face to face. | B．talking on the phone. |
| C．texting messages. | D．updating social accounts. |
| A．Most people contact each other online. | B．Keeping a friend for life is not easy. |
| C．The quality of communication is important. | D．Skype is better at understanding us than Facebook. |
| A．Positive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Unclear. | D．Unsupportive. |
4 . In a world of quizzes that test students’ book smarts, one competition (比赛) focuses on something different — consumer (消费者) skills.
LifeSmarts is a US consumer literacy (素养) competition hosted by the National Consumers League. High school students take online tests throughout the school year, and the students with the highest scores represent their state at the championship.
Students are quizzed on topics that include personal finance, technology, the environment, health and safety, and other practical things.
Team captain Mike Sawicki has gone to nationals (全国比赛) every year throughout his high school career. “It’s awesome because it’s so broad of a competition, it enables us to learn so much and allows us to stand on things we learned previously and build on it,” Sawicki said. “My understanding on what it takes to be a smart consumer has grown. I’m able to apply LifeSmarts I learned earlier with things like payyourselffirst concepts (概念) — saving some money first before spending it when you get your paycheck (工资). I now focus on unitpricing comparison shopping, which really helped me out saving a sum of money here and there.”
Sawicki will attend the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign this fall and is considering a career in investment banking (投资银行). He said his success in LifeSmarts helped him to do well in other school activities, like Future Business Leaders of America.
“In terms of practical knowledge from LifeSmarts, I’ve been able to use it for my own personal investment strategy, for my college interviews,” Sawicki said.
1. What do we know about LifeSmarts?| A．It’s a global competition. | B．It’s a paperpencil test. |
| C．It’s open to university students. | D．It covers many practical topics. |
| A．How much knowledge you know. | B．How well you behave. |
| C．How smart you use money. | D．How less you spend money. |
| A．the organizer of LifeSmarts | B．an excellent football captain |
| C．a frequent competitor of LifeSmarts | D．a successful market investor |
| A．Offer to pay the bills what dating with friends. |
| B．Save money first when getting income. |
| C．Compare unitpricing when shopping. |
| D．Buy a gift to yourself when getting paycheck. |
| A．He has made some close friends. |
| B．He has learned to better manage his money. |
| C．He has found a job in investment banking. |
| D．He has learned how to organize school activities. |
5 . 4 Popular Places to Go This Winter
Harbin, China
China Harbin’s winter is for the brave ones — the average temperature is 1.8°F — but those who brave the cold will be rewarded with experiencing one of the world’s largest winter festivals. 2019 marks the 35th Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture (雕塑) Festival (January－March), when great frozen structures rise and are lit up, transforming the city into a winter wonderland.
Lyon, France
Paris may be called The City of Light, but every December, light takes center stage in Lyon, France’s thirdlargest city. That’s when the annual Festival of Lights (around December 8) takes over, with light installations ( 装 置 ) that transform the city’s street scenes into modern works of art. The city is also home to two Christmas markets (one in La CroixRousse; the other at the Place Carnot; through December 25).
Lima, Peru
Peru’s capital Lima is home to the world’s highest number of cooking schools per person. Aside from its wellknown dining, the city also has great cocktail bars where you can taste the Pisco Sour(皮斯科鸡尾酒). Combine that with the oceanfront setting and temperatures in the 80°F, and you’ll understand why Lima should no longer be ignored this winter.
Vermont, US
Winter in Vermont means skiing and snowboarding. Many resorts ( 度假胜地) have greatly upgraded their snowmaking abilities as part of a $15 million statewide program that replaced many outdated snow guns with new, lowenergy models. These new machines will also improve the quality of snow surfaces and lengthen the season, meaning this will be one of the best winters for skiing and riding in Vermont in recent memory.
1. What similarities do the first two places have?| A．They are decorated with lights. | B．They offer snow sculptures. |
| C．They have threeday festivals. | D．They are extremely cold. |
| A．Light up the stage. | B．Become important and noticeable. |
| C．Be in the central part of the stage. | D．Take away the market. |
| A．China. | B．France | C．Peru | D．the United States. |
| A．Harbin. | B．Lyon. | C．Lima. | D．Vermont. |
| A．Skiing and snowboarding. | B．Updated equipment. |
| C．Cooking schools. | D．A colder winter. |
1. 比赛具体时间、地点；
2. 比赛目的；
3. 比赛过程；
4. 赛后感受。
注意：
1. 开头已给出，不计入总词数；
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 词数100左右。
Dear Chris，
How are you doing?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I never thought I was very talented at anything to do with music, but my parents wanted me to learn to play the piano at the age of six. To be a good daughter, l agreed
8 . It was the day of the school swimming competition and I was very scared, I did not want to swim, I could swim, but not very well and I didn’t want people to see me splashing (使水飞溅) about and looking
There were two teams in our school, Green and Red. I was in the Red Team and I didn’t want us to
It was two minutes before the
I heard them
Then the cheering started. Thank goodness that the race was away and I was
When it was over, I went back to the
From that day on, I decided I would always give something a
| A．lonely | B．lively | C．lovely | D．silly |
| A．possibility | B．hope | C．problem | D．car |
| A．create | B．make | C．set | D．build |
| A．lose | B．miss | C．beat | D．win |
| A．students | B．teachers | C．runners | D．swimmers |
| A．supports | B．credits | C．points | D．goals |
| A．performed | B．practised | C．prepared | D．trained |
| A．operation | B．start | C．postpone | D．end |
| A．rushing | B．playing | C．jumping | D．walking |
| A．roll | B．give | C．slide | D．put |
| A．hide | B．live | C．escape | D．cover |
| A．Bravely | B．Quietly | C．Suddenly | D．Skillfully |
| A．direction | B．passage | C．trip | D．way |
| A．speaking | B．calling | C．stating | D．declaring |
| A．pleased | B．satisfied | C．scared | D．tired |
| A．eagerly | B．nervously | C．calmly | D．cheerfully |
| A．safe | B．hopeless | C．crazy | D．patient |
| A．seating | B．awarding | C．dressing | D．changing |
| A．kept | B．spent | C．cost | D．got |
| A．choice | B．promise | C．push | D．try |
9 . Most of us are aware that we must take care of the environment, and the majority of us take steps to save energy and reduce waste and pollution. But recently, some “green truths” have been shown to be only half true, or even completely false.
Eating local food is good for the environment.
It seems like common sense: eating local food should be better for the environment, because it does not need to be transported long distances and kept cold during transport.
It depends on how long you spend in the shower and how large your bath is. If you spend more than eight minutes in a shower, you'll use as much water as in a bath—about 50 litres of water. Therefore, the key is to keep your shower time as short as possible.
Paper shopping bags are better than plastic ones.
Plastic bags cause litter and are a danger to wild animals.
However, making a paper bag uses four times as much energy as making a plastic bag and up to three times the amount of water. The process also produces more greenhouse gases.
Environmental awareness is now part of daily life. But it’s worth checking common ideas and opinions to see what's really green.
| A．They mistake them for food. |
| B．Here are some common ones. |
| C．Unfortunately, it is not that simple. |
| D．It’s better to take a shower than a bath. |
| E．A paper bag is more environmentally friendly. |
| F．In fact, both kinds of bags are bad for the environment. |
| G．When we turn off a machine, it goes into a stand-by state. |
10 . City trees grow faster and die younger than trees in rural forests, a new study finds.
Studies had shown forests take in greenhouse gas. But there hadn’t been much data on whether city trees grow, die and take in CO2 at the same rate as forest trees do. So Lucy Hytyra and her workmates at Boston University in Massachusetts decided to find out.
To figure out how quickly trees were growing, the researchers tracked their diameters (直径) between 2005 and 2014. The team focused on red oaks and red maples growing on Boston streets. These trees grew four times faster than the same species did in a nearby forests. Faster-growing trees take in more CO2. Over the nine years, the researchers tracked these trees, and they found city ones took in four times as much CO2 from the air as the forest trees did. The city trees also, however, were twice as likely to die. So over the lifetime of each type of tree, forest trees actually take in more CO2.
“City trees grow faster mainly because they have less competition for light from their neighbors,” Hutyra says. In a forests, trees tend to grow close together, shading their neighbors. Street trees also benefit from higher levels of nitrogen (氮) in rainwater. Nitrogen is an element that helps plants grow. Still, she says that her team’s findings may not apply to arid cities. “In locations short of water like Phoenix or Los Angeles, city trees might respond differently because it’s very hot in the city and they have so little water.” At such sites, she says, “Trees might grow slower.”
So why were Boston’s streets trees twice as likely as their country cousins to die young? City roads can leave big-tree roots less room to grow. Plus, people often decide to cut down trees that are sick, or in the way of some desired building or view.
1. What can we learn from the research by Lucy’s team?| A．City trees live twice longer than forest trees. |
| B．Over their lifetime, forest trees actually take in more CO2. |
| C．Over the nine years, faster-growing trees breathe in less CO2. |
| D．On Boston streets red oaks grow much faster and taller than red maples. |
| A．they live in hot weather | B．they take in more water |
| C．they tend to grow close together | D．they benefit from more light and nitrogen |
| A．Dry. | B．Busy. | C．Crowded. | D．Large. |
| A．The result of people’s behavior. |
| B．The relationship between people and trees. |
| C．The fact that the roots of city trees have more room. |
| D．The reasons why the street trees in Boston died young. |
| A．A travel journal. | B．A story book. | C．A science magazine. | D．A medical report |
