1 . As we close out the final days of this year, treat yourself to a deliciously distracting new book —a book that you can dip into and out of throughout the holidays. Read up, rest up, and enjoy yourself.

Yoga for Pregnancy, Birth and beyond

A must-have guide for yoga-loving mamas, Yoga for Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond offers helpful relaxation techniques and breathing exercises that are tailored to each pregnant woman. The book also lays out valuable techniques for labor and staying in touch with your body as it continuously changes.

Mindfulness Activities for Kids

We could all use a little more peace in our lives. Uniquely suited for children and parents to do together, the 40 mindfulness exercises recommended here —from pausing to fully enjoy a tasty sandwich to taking chalk walk together—will not only teach children calm and gratitude, but also bring grown-ups and their littles closer together.

Before She Disappeared

Frankie Elkin is a recovering alcoholic who devotes her time to solving cold cases, especially those involving people of color. A new investigation brings her to Boston, searching for a Haitian teenager who disappeared months ago. But as Frankie starts asking questions, someone else will stop at nothing to keep the answers hidden.

Oak Flat

Lauren Redniss’ Oak Flat tells the story of the land near the San Carlos Apache Reservation through an Apache family fighting to protect the land which the U. S. government and two world-power mining enterprises are attempting to seize and destroy for its copper resources. Visually striking and deeply reported, Oak Flat tells a larger story of endless westward expansion and native resistance.

1. Which book can help to improve family relations?

A．Oak Flat.

B．Before She Disappeared.

C．Mindfulness Activities for Kids.

D．Yoga for Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond.

2. What do we know about the book Oak Flat?

A．It’s a brief account of mining enterprises.

B．It centers on an Apache family’s struggle.

C．It sings high praise of the US government.

D．It supports westward expansion and native resistance.

3. Who are the target readers of the four books?

A．Teenagers.

B．Men.

C．Kids.

D．Grown-ups.

2 . Only when we learn to live in h____ with nature can we stop being a threat to wildlife and to our planet. (根据首字母单词拼写)

3 . 读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

With a wide smile on her face, 15-year-old Sirin eagerly rushed to her mom to show off her new painting. But Mom raised her eyebrows with eyes wide open, and spoke impatiently, “No time, baby. Right now I am busy with an important talk. Just wait for some time, OK?”

Holding her oil painting, she frowned (皱眉),and then searched for her dad. “Dad, see what I have done,” Sirin exclaimed cheerfully. Her dad turned around while adjusting his tie, grinned at her, and showed his thumbs up!

Immediately, Sirin replied angrily, “Dad, you haven’t seen it yet.”

He smiled at her saying, “No time, baby. I will see it later.” He just patted her back lovingly, kissed her forehead, and rushed for his office.

She was not a kid to be pleased with simple gesture or smile. She stood there for a few seconds, and then stormed off to her own bedroom. Hot air was blowing from her nostrils (鼻孔) ; her face turned into apple red. She threw the painting on the table, slammed the door and threw herself on her bed.

“Why is everybody so busy?” She recalled thousands of incidents that hurt her in preschool, middle school and even in high school too! She assumed at least her own family members would give some values to her thoughts, but they were no exception. Unconsciously, her eyes were filled with tears.

The knocking sound on the door put a sudden stop to her thought. Her mom was calling her for dinner. Sirin deliberately (故意地) came late to join them. She kept silent and didn’t look at anyone, scratching the table mat with her nail. Her mom was puzzled at the unusual behavior. Suddenly the morning incident came to mind. Softly, she asked, “ Honey, did I do anything wrong? ”

注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。

At this very moment, Sirin could no longer resist her anger.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When back from school the next day, Sirin was surprised to see her beautifully-decorated paining on the wall.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4 . Art and science may seem like opposite things. One means the creative flow of ideas, and the other means cold, hard data-some people believe. In fact, the two have much in common. Now, a study finds art can help students remember better what they have learned in the science class.

Mariale Hardiman, an education specialist at Johns Hopkins University, noticed that students who used art in the classroom listened more carefully. They might ask more questions. They might volunteer more ideas. What’s more, students seemed to remember more of what they had been taught when their science lessons had involved(涉及) art. To prove that, Hardiman teamed up with some researchers and six local schools.

In the experiment, the researchers worked with teachers in 16 fifth-grade classrooms. They provided traditional science lessons and art-focused ones. In a traditional science class, for example, students might read aloud from a book. In the art-focused one, they might sing the information instead.

The team randomly assigned(随机分配) each of the 350 students to either a traditional science classroom or an art-focused one. Students then learned science using that way for the whole unit-about three weeks. When they changed to a new topic, they also changed to the other type of class. This way, each student had both an art-focused class and a traditional one. Every unit was taught in both ways, to different groups of students. This enabled the researchers to see how students did in both types of classes.

The team found that students who started off in a traditional class performed better after they moved into an art-focused class. But those who started off in an art-focused class did well even when they went back to a traditional science class. These students appeared to use some of the art techniques(技巧) after going back to a traditional class. Classroom teachers reported that many students continued to sing the songs that they learned after finishing the unit. “The more we hear something, the more we retain it,” Hardiman says. “It suggests that the arts may help students apply creative ways of learning on their own.”

1. Why did Mariale Hardiman do the study?

A．To prove the importance of art at school.

B．To see if art might improve science learning

C．To find a way to help her students learn better.

D．To know how to encourage students to ask questions.

2. What were the students required to do in the experiment?

A．Take two types of classes.	B．Learn three units in total.
C．Learn two topics for three weeks.	D．Choose what they’d like to learn.

3. What does the underlined word “retain” in the last paragraph mean?

A．Finish.

B．Express.

C．Improve.

D．Memorize.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．Art helps students develop creativity.

B．Art-focused classes interest students a lot.

C．Art can make science easier to remember.

D．Art has something in common with science.

5 . What a day! I started my new school this morning and had the best time. I made lots of new friends and really liked my teachers. I was nervous the night before, but I had no reason to be. Everyone was so friendly and polite. They made me feel at ease. It was like I’d been at the school for a hundred years!

The day started very early at 7:00 am. I had my breakfast downstairs with my mom. She could tell that I was very nervous. Mom kept asking me what was wrong. She told me I had nothing to worry about and that everyone was going to love me. If they didn’t love me, mom said to have a good talk with them. I couldn’t stop laughing.

My mom dropped me off at the school gate about five minutes before the bell rang. A little blonde girl got dropped off at the same time and started waving (招手) at me. She ran over and told me her name was Abigail. She was very nice and we became close straight away. We spent all morning together and began to talk to another girl called Stacey. The three of us sat together in class all day and we even made our way home together! It went so quickly. Our teacher told us that tomorrow we would really start learning and developing new skills.

I cannot wait until tomorrow and feel as though I am really going to enjoy my time at my new school. I only hope that my new friends feel the same way, too.

1. How did the author feel the night before her new school?

A．Tired.

B．Excited.

C．Happy.

D．Worried.

2. What did the author think of her mother’s advice?

A．Clear.

B．Funny.

C．Reasonable.

D．Excellent.

3. What happened on the author’s first day of school?

A．She met many nice people.	B．She had a hurried breakfast.
C．She learned some new skills.	D．She arrived at school very early.

4. What can we infer about Abigail?

A．She disliked Stacey.	B．She was shy and quiet.
C．She got on well with the author.	D．She was an old friend of the author.

6 . Careers in science are generally believed to be too complex for students who aren’t talented or clever enough, but Seott Kelly, commander of the International Space Station, would prove it’s ______.

As a kid, he was abstracted and uninterested in science and all other ______ as well. He couldn’t ______ what the teachers were saying, spending most of his time in school daydreaming.Therefore, he earned terrible grades and barely graduated from high school, and he even thought he would never ______ his dreams.

That all ______ when he picked up and read The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe’s classic account of the pioneering Americans who first explored space. ______ at last, he was determined to be an astronaut, which meant doing well in science classes. So that day, he ______ his mind to do well in it.

After so many years of daydreaming, it wouldn’t be ______ . But he started thinking about it like a game. The more he ______ his study skills, the more he gained and the better he got. ______ , it became a(n) ______ with himself to see how good he could get. No one was more surprised than him when a ______ daydreamer started getting straight A’s in science, which is essential to be an astronaut.

So we need to stop ______ the statement that science is just too hard. If you’ re students who have been told “you are not a science people” or “your brain doesn’t think that way”, just ______ the comments! Everyone who wants to can learn this stuff — they just have to be ______ to do the work.

1.

A．unusual

B．abnormal

C．wrong

D．illegal

2.

A．schedules

B．goals

C．subjects

D．students

3.

A．work on

B．set about

C．think about

D．focus on

4.

A．reach

B．acknowledge

C．fulfill

D．observe

5.

A．finished

B．realized

C．happened

D．changed

6.

A．Inspired

B．Disappointed

C．Satisfied

D．Shocked

7.

A．gave up

B．made up

C．formed into

D．got into

8.

A．possible

B．difficult

C．easy

D．wonderful

9.

A．planned

B．practiced

C．arranged

D．exchanged

10.

A．Particularly

B．Surprisingly

C．Fortunately

D．Eventually

11.

A．principle

B．deal

C．competition

D．compromise

12.

A．real

B．former

C．formal

D．last

13.

A．commenting

B．breaking

C．furthering

D．making

14.

A．apply

B．ignore

C．return

D．handle

15.

A．forced

B．expected

C．equal

D．willing

7 . Ordinary soap, ____________ (use) correctly, can deal with bacteria effectively. (所给词的适当形式填空)

8 . You must have heard about animal migration (迁徙),such as Wildebeests dash across Africa; Monarch butterflies fly across the Americas... But did you know that forests migrate, too?

In his new book The Journeys of Trees, science writer Zach St. George explores an extremely slow migration, as forests creep inch by inch to more pleasant places.

“The migration of a forest is just many trees sprouting (发芽) in the same direction,” St. George writes. “Through the fossils that ancient forests left behind, scientists can track their movement over thousands of years. They move back and forth across continents, sometimes following the same route more than once, like migrating birds or whales.” This has happened over thousands of years, and climate change tends to be the driving force.

Of course, today, climate change is speeding up, and trees can’ t keep pace. Take California for example: It’s getting hotter and drier and scientists estimate that before too long, Sequoia National Park may not be able to keep giant sequoias (巨杉).

“The scientists there had never seen anything like it” St. George says. “They worried, and I think at some point we will lose these ancient trees and that we will have to think about what we do with the places, and whether we should plant new groves where they are easy to grow.”

This is known as “assisted migration” —humans planting trees in other places where they’ re more likely to flourish. But this process carries risks—people can accidentally introduce insects and diseases to new places, where they may wipe out entire native populations. So, St. George writes, there’ s a debate among conservationists and foresters today: Should humans help the trees escape?

“There may be cases where people are probably going to step in and help species move to places where they’ll be more suitable in the future,”St. George says.“So far, there are no huge movements of citizen groups moving trees north. But that is kind of one vision of the future that the people I interview hope to see.”

1. What can be learned about the forest migration?

A．It is very difficult to track the migration.

B．It takes several decades to complete it.

C．It is mainly the result of climate change.

D．It often follows certain migrating species.

2. Why does the author mention Sequoia National Park?

A．To prove the assisted migration carries risks.

B．To stress the park is able to keep giant sequoias.

C．To state scientists are hopeful about the environment.

D．To show trees fail to adapt to climate change.

3. What does the underlined word “flourish” in Paragraph 6 mean?

A．Grow well.	B．Become valuable.
C．Develop rapidly.	D．Escape diseases.

4. What’s St. George’ s attitude towards helping the trees escape?

A．Supportive.	B．Objective.
C．Skeptical.	D．Disapproving.

9 . Anxiously, she took the dress out of the package and tried it on, only ________ (find) it didn’t fit. (所给词的适当形式填空)

10 . The Price of a Dream

I grew up poor. We had little money, but plenty of love and attention. I understood that no matter how poor a person was, they could still afford a dream. My dream was athletics.

By the time I was sixteen, I was good at baseball and football. My high school coach was Ollie Jarvis. He not only believed in me, but taught me the difference between having a dream and showing conviction (信念).

One summer a friend recommended me for a summer job. This meant a chance for money in my pocket — cash for dates with girls, certainly, money for a new bike and new clothes, and the start of savings for a house for my mother.

Then I realized I would have to give up summer baseball to handle the work schedule, and that meant I would have to tell Coach Jarvis I wouldn’t be playing. I was afraid of this, but my mother said, “If you make your bed, you have to lie in it.” 

When I told Coach Jarvis, he was as mad as I expected him to be. “Your playing days are limited. You can’t afford to waste them,” he said.

I stood before him with my head hanging, trying to think of the words that would explain to him why I dream of buying my mom a house.

“How much are you going to make at this job, son?” he demanded.

“Three point twenty-five an hour,” I replied.

“Well,” he asked, “is $3. 25 an hour the price of a dream?”

That question exposed the difference between wanting something right now and having a goal. I devoted myself to sports that summer, and within the year I was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates to play rookie-league ball, and offered a $20, 000 contract. I signed with the Denver Broncos in 1984 for $1.7 million, and bought my mother my dream house.

1. Why was the writer grateful to Coach Jarvis?

A．Because Coach Jarvis made him set a goal.

B．Because Coach Jarvis supplied him with new clothes.

C．Because Coach Jarvis gave him financial support.

D．Because Coach Jarvis helped him show conviction.

2. What did the writer want to do when he was offered a job?

A．Balance summer baseball and the work schedule.

B．Refuse the job offer for summer baseball.

C．Give up summer baseball for the job.

D．Ask his coach Jarvis for advice.

3. Which of the following can replace the underlined part “If you make your bed, you have to lie in it.” in paragraph 4?

A．You must eat the bitter fruit of your own making.

B．Believe in yourself, but above all be patient.

C．You must rely on yourself first, then others.

D．A good beginning makes a good ending.

4. What did the writer do at the end of the story?

A．He failed to buy his mother a house.

B．He succeeded as a sportsman.

C．He became a successful businessman.

D．He made some money in the summer job.