1 . What is Mr. Thomas’s life like now?

A．Worse than before.

B．Happier than before.

C．As good as before.

2 . 阅读下面材料，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。

9-year-old Igor lived in a huge forest in the north of Russia. His father was a woodcutter and his mother a tailor. The boy liked playing with animals in the forest, and knew the names of different birds and their songs. One freezing winter Igor was seriously ill and the doctor from big cities told his parents that only surprise could save him. Lying all day in bed, Igor only wanted his father to catch a bird and played with it. But in winter there were no birds in the forest. “You could make him a bird out of wood,” suggested the anxious mother.

The first finished birds were fat and too heavy to fly. He threw them into the fire, head in hands.

It was snowing heavily, and he really didn’t know where to find a bird. Then an idea occurred to him, “The bird needs two pieces of wood.” Eventually, he made it and showed it to his wife. “Beautiful!” she said, taking a needle and some thread (细线) and sewing the two ends together, like a real bird. She tied a long thread to the bird’s back. And it could be hung above Igor’s bed. Quietly, the woodcutter hung the bird above the boy’s bed.

At daybreak, his son was watching the bird carefully. There was a light in his eyes for the first time in many weeks. “Beautiful!” said Igor. “I’ve never seen it before in the forest. What’s its name?” “That’s a good question. I’ll find out and tell you.” The next morning, when the father entered Igor’s room, he found the boy sitting up in bed, trying to touch the bird. The last time Igor sat up in bed was many weeks before. “What’s it called?” the boy asked. “Oh, dear, I’m still not sure.”

Late on that night, Igor’s father went into his son’s room quietly and made the thread a little shorter. Then the bird was hanging a little higher above Igor’s head. Three days later, he found Igor kneeling on the bed, trying to touch the bird. His hand was very near it. “Have you decided on the name?” “Not yet. My son.” his father replied.

注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式作答。
Paragraph 1:

Again, at night the father went into his son’s room.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:

Several days later, Igor’s father was cutting wood when he heard a scream from the house.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3 . Janice just returned from her mother’s. She almost drove on automatic pilot: a left onto Station Road, then a left… for she knew the _______ quite well. Then wham! A truck pushed her forward 100 feet onto railroad tracks. While hearing the _______ sound of metal on metal, Peter, then 65, was ready for bed. As a volunteer firefighter, without _______ Peter grabbed a flashlight and ran out.

The first he _______, near his yard, was the truck hitting Janice. Once Peter _______ the driver was OK, he looked around, and _______ Janice’s car. Just then he heard the urgent bell sound: the _______ of an oncoming train! Peter _______ to Janice and knocked at the window. She looked at him, with eyes _______. “I don’t know where I am,” she said.

“We have to get you off right now!” Peter shouted and pulled the handle ________, but the door was jammed. The train, traveling at 65 miles per hour, was ________. He ran to the passenger side and threw open the door. Peter somehow ________ to pull her out and sped her to ________ a few feet away. Within six seconds, the train ________ into Janice’s car!

“It was like a Hollywood movie,” the reporter from CBS New York said. “But there’s one ________. The hero arrived in pajamas (睡衣), not in a fire truck.”

1.

A．function

B．route

C．habit

D．benefit

2.

A．familiar

B．sharp

C．distant

D．complex

3.

A．experience

B．warning

C．permission

D．delay

4.

A．came upon

B．left aside

C．waited for

D．pulled away

5.

A．informed

B．expected

C．concluded

D．wondered

6.

A．spotted

B．reached

C．fixed

D．searched

7.

A．noise

B．smoke

C．motion

D．signal

8.

A．attended

B．responded

C．rushed

D．escaped

9.

A．burned

B．unfocused

C．unhurt

D．closed

10.

A．carefully

B．gently

C．violently

D．practically

11.

A．approaching

B．slowing

C．turning

D．speeding

12.

A．intended

B．managed

C．hesitated

D．happened

13.

A．peace

B．freedom

C．comfort

D．safety

14.

A．broke

B．crowded

C．crashed

D．stepped

15.

A．connection

B．relation

C．impression

D．distinction

4 . With a name like The Daily Orange in America, you will think the Syracuse University student-run newspaper prints a new issue every day. The newspaper began operating at the Syracuse, New York-based school in 1903. But it only prints a new issue three times a week.

Editor in chief Haley Robertson worries about where she will find companies willing to pay for advertising space. She also worries about having to fire friends. And, she searches out former students willing to donate money so the newspaper can send reporters on the road to cover the university’s sports teams. Media executives many years older than Robertson are facing similar problems. The news industry’s financial difficulties have spread to colleges and universities across the US, which brought challenges to these young journalists. Student reporters train for the future in two main ways. They receive a traditional classroom education from professors. They also put what they learn to use in student-run newsrooms.

Chris Evans is president of the College Media Association, or the CMA. He notes that few college newspapers have shut down the way local newspapers in towns and cities across the country have, considering the central role they are playing. But some have had to cut the number of times they publish each week. Some would find a former student for donation or sell enough advertising to cover it.

The University of North Carolina reports that newspaper newsroom jobs across the country dropped from 52,000 in 2008 to 24,000 today. There are other kinds of jobs in the field, of course, but not a very high number of them. Many journalism educators have wondered whether their students can deal with that. Journalism schools should do more than just equip students for possible media jobs, said Marie Hardin, head of Penn State’s Donald Bellisario College of Communications. She said journalism educators need to teach students communication, critical thinking and writing. Such skills are highly sought in many different fields.

1. It can be learnt that The Daily Orange ________.

A．is a national newspaper	B．is seeking sponsorships
C．lacks enough reporters	D．will go fully Internet-based

2. Why do most college newspapers still stick to operating?

A．Because they can get donations from the outside.

B．Because they are popular among towns and cities.

C．Because the CMA provides much support for them.

D．Because journalism students need training chances.

3. What does Marie Hardin suggest to journalism schools?

A．Creating new jobs in the news industry.

B．Improving professional skills of educators.

C．Preparing students for more job options.

D．Encouraging students to turn to other fields.

4. What can be the most suitable title for the text?

A．Journalism Schools Apply New Teaching Methods

B．US College Student Reporters Face Difficult Future

C．How to Run Traditional University Newspapers Well?

D．Is Transformation of College Newspapers Necessary?

5 . Experienced climbers of Mount Qomolangma are wondering if new proposed rules will solve the root causes of various deadly accident on the world’s tallest mountain. The proposals, if approved by the government of Nepal, would add steps to the permitting process for mountaineers as well as limitation to tourism companies to prevent the disaster in last May happening again.

Traditionally, Nepal has given climbing permits to anyone prepared to pay a fee of $11, 000. In 2019, the government approved a record high of 381 permits. With essential Sherpas and guides added, more than 800 people were trying to reach the peak during the short weather window. The overcrowding led to deadly delays in what is known as the “death zone”, the area above 8, 000 meters, and the death of eleven climbers eventually, many of them dying in late May after they were stuck there. It also raised suspicions that guide companies were urging inexperienced or incompetent mountaineers to attempt the climb.

To reduce the potential risks, among the suggested changes is a rule for those who want to climb the Mount to have a qualified doctor prepare a report on their medical history and general health. Another is that climbers provide evidence they have climbed another tall mountain in Nepal. They will also need to be accompanied by a trained Nepalese guide.

American mountaineer Ed Viesturs said the proposed changes will likely limit the amount of climbers able to plan journeys up the Mount, yet will not do enough to stop the “group think” mentality that led to the traffic jam in late May. He said climb leaders at base camp also needed to consider how to fix the problem. “I know several climbers who waited until later and had the mountain almost to themselves,” Viesturs said of the 2019 climbing season. “We really need to answer why so many people are there on the same day? How can you control it?”

1. What is the purpose of the new proposals?

A．To attract more mountaineers.

B．To issue security warnings of the climb.

C．To guide inexperienced climbers.

D．To avoid death on Mount Qomolangma.

2. What does the underlined word “It” refer to in paragraph 2?

A．The record high.	B．The overcrowding.
C．The “death zone”.	D．The short weather window.

3. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．New requirements for the climbers.

B．The procedure for getting a permit.

C．Importance of applying the proposals.

D．Qualifications of the applicants.

4. What’s Ed Viesturs’ attitude to the new proposed rules?

A．Disapproving.	B．Favourable.
C．Doubtful.	D．Curious.

6 . 阅读下面短文，根据题目要求用英文回答问题。

It’s 5 p.m., and you’ve just realized that report you’ve been putting off is due tomorrow. It’s time to buckle down and open your computer. Actually, you should probably make dinner first. You usually like cooking, though it’s hard to enjoy with this work hanging over your head, and oh—it’s actually pretty late! Maybe you should just try again in the morning. This is the cycle of procrastination, and I promise you, we have all been there.

Procrastination is when we avoid a task we said we would do, for no good reason, despite expecting our behavior to bring negative consequences. Obviously, it’s irrational to do something you expect to harm you. But ironically, procrastination is the result of our bodies trying to protect us, specifically by avoiding a task we see as threatening.

We’re most likely to procrastinate tasks that evoke negative feelings, such as dread, incompetence, and insecurity. Because procrastination is motivated by our negative feelings, some individuals are more susceptible (易受影响的) to it than others. People who have difficulty regulating their emotions and those who struggle with low self-esteem are much more likely to procrastinate. However, it’s a common misconception that all procrastinators are lazy. When you’re feeling lazy, you’re more likely to sit around doing nothing than distract yourself with unimportant tasks. In fact, many people procrastinate because they care too much. Procrastinators often report a high fear of failure, putting things off because they’re afraid their work won’t live up to their high standards.

Whatever the reason for procrastination, the results are often the same. Procrastinators are likely to suffer from anxiety and depression, ongoing feelings of shame and physical ailments (轻病) associated with high stress.

So, how can we break the cycle of procrastination?

Traditionally, people thought procrastinators needed to cultivate discipline and practice strict time management. But today, many researchers feel the exact opposite. Being too hard on yourself can layer additional bad emotions onto a task. What we really need to do is to address and reduce these negative emotions.

1. What is procrastination?
_____________________________________________
2. What kinds of people are more likely to procrastinate?
_____________________________________________
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
Ø Procrastinators are affected by negative emotions, are all lazy and are likely to suffer from physical ailments associated with high stress.
_____________________________________________
4. What strategies can you use to break the cycle of procrastination in your daily life? (In about 40 words)
_____________________________________________

7 . Art Builds Understanding

Despite the long history of scholarship on experiences of art, researchers have yet to capture and understand the most meaningful aspects of such experiences, including the thoughts and insights we gain when we visit a museum, the sense of encounter after seeing a meaningful work of art, or the changed thinking after experiences with art. These powerful encounters can be inspiring, uplifting, and contribute to well-being and flourishing.

    1     It contributes to facilitating a better understanding of ourselves, the human condition, and moral and spiritual concepts. The question is how that happens — what are the attributes of meaningful experiences of art?

According to the mirror model of art developed by Pablo P. L. Tinio, aesthetic reception corresponds to artistic creation in a mirror-reversed fashion. Artists aim to express ideas and messages about the human condition or the world at large.     2     This results in the build-up of layers of materials — from initial studies and sketches to the final, refined piece. A viewer’s initial interaction with an artwork starts where the artist has left off. Their interaction first involves the processing surface features, such as color, texture, and the finishing touches applied by the artist during the final stages of the creative process.     3    

In addition, art making and art viewing are connected by creative thinking. Research in a lab at Yale University shows that an educational program that uses art appreciation activities builds creative thinking skills. It showed that the more time visitors spent engaging with art and the more they reflected on it, the greater the correspondence with the artists’ intentions and ideas.     4    

Correspondence in feeling and thinking suggests a transfer — between creator and viewer — of ideas, concepts, and emotions contained in the works of art. Art has the potential to communicate across space and time.     5     What it takes for this to happen is active engagement with art in contexts that facilitate this engagement, especially museums.

A．The viewers gain a new perspective on the story.

B．The theory of aesthetic cognitivism describes the value of art.

C．This helps to create connections and insights that otherwise would not happen.

D．To do so, they explore key ideas and continually expand them as they develop their work.

E．After spending more time with the work, the viewer begins to access the ideas of the artist.

F．For example, in one activity, people are asked to view a work of art from different perspectives.

G．Participants were more original in their thinking when compared to those who did not take part in the program.

8 . Amid rolling farms and green pasture 150 miles northwest of Sao Paulo, Brazil, two tropical forests bloom as one. The first consists of a single species, row after row of non-native eucalyptus (桉树), planted in perfect lines like carrots. The other is haphazard, an assortment of dozens of varieties of native saplings.

There’s no denying it: This forest looks ridiculous. The gangly (修长的) eucalyptuses shoot like witch fingers high above patches of stubby fig (矮壮的无花果树) and evergreen trees. Yet these jumbled 2.5-acre stands of native trees, ringed by fast-growing exotics, are among many promising efforts to resurrect the planet’s forests.

The eucalyptuses, says Pedro Brancalion, the University of Sao Paulo agronomist who designed this experiment, get big so quickly they can be cut after five years and sold to make paper or fence posts. That covers nearly half or more of the cost of planting the slow-growing native trees, which then naturally reseed ground that has been laid bare by the harvest. And this process doesn’t hamper natural regeneration.

You needn’t look far these days to find organizations trying to save the world by growing trees. Too often, tree-planting groups are so focused on getting credit for each seedling planted that they ignore what matters most: What kind of woodland is created? At what cost? And most importantly: How long will it last? Using the numbers of trees planted as a magic “proxy for everything,” Brancalion says, you “spend more money and get lower levels of benefits.” You can literally miss the forest for the trees.

Tree planting seems like a simple, natural way to counter the overwhelming crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. Trees provide wildlife habitats and slurp carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. No wonder trees are hailed as the ideal weapon. Yet for every high-profile planting operation, devastating failures have occurred. In Turkey, Sri Lanka, and Mexico, mass plantings have resulted in millions of dead seedlings or have driven farmers to clear more intact forest elsewhere. Trees that have been planted in the wrong places have reduced water yields for farmers, destroyed highly diverse carbon-sucking grassland soils, and allowed for invasive vegetation to spread. Simply reforesting the planet isn’t going to do much if we don’t also start cutting down on our emissions from the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas. Tree planting also can’t replace old-growth forests. Saving them is even more important than growing new forests.

So, what should we do?

To Brancalion, the answer is obvious: Restore native forests, mostly in the tropics, where trees grow fast and land is cheap. While that may require planting, it may also call for the clearing out of invasive grasses, the rejuvenation (使有活力) of soils, and crop yield improvements so that farmers will need less land for agriculture and more can be allowed to revert back to forests.

The combining of eucalyptus harvests with native plantings is just one more reminder that successful restoration must provide value to local communities. In many cases, if we let nature do the heavy lifting, Brancalion says, “the forest can regrow quite effectively.”

1. What can we learn from the first three paragraphs?

A．The non-native eucalyptuses bring profits that can pay for planting native saplings.

B．The non-native eucalyptuses compete with native saplings for water, nutrients, and light.

C．The variety of trees being planted determines whether or not the restoration will succeed.

D．Planting fast-growing exotics together with local trees does harm to the natural environment.

2. The example of mass plantings in Turkey, Sri Lanka, and Mexico is used to _______.

A．emphasize the significance of protecting existing forests

B．explain why tree planting is regarded as the ideal solution

C．illustrate the serious problems planting campaigns can cause

D．indicate the most important point tree-planting groups ignore

3. According to the author, we should do all the following EXCEPT _______.

A．clear more forest to improve crop yields for farmers

B．combine harvests of fast-growing exotics with native plantings

C．restore native forests in the tropics and clear out invasive grasses

D．take into consideration the benefits of reforestation to local communities

4. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A．Plant trees—and time will tell.	B．Plant trees—but don’t overdo it.
C．Plant trees—and save the world.	D．Plant trees—but mind the variety.

9 . 阅读短文，在空白处填入适当的内容或括号内单词的正确形式。

More than 5 million shared bikes on the Chinese mainland are using positioning and navigation services     1     are provided by the country’s Beidou Navigation Satellite System. These shared bikes have been equipped     2     domestically developed Beidou-based positioning chips. These chips feature high accuracy and sensitivity, and low power consumption, which allow for an easier management for city authorities. Since June 2020, 59 Beidou satellites, including the first four experimental ones,     3     (lift) on the Long March 3-series rockets from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province.

10 . While I was in hospital for a heart surgery, something affected me and made me do something meaningful. Before my surgery, my doctor showed me a video, in which there were patients like me and they each had a heart pillow, so I decided I would get one.

Right after my _______, I asked about the heart pillow. Unluckily, I was told they didn’t offer it but it could be _______ at the hospital gift shop. So my daughter bought one for me. It was comfortable and became my “security blanket”. However I was _______ that many patients couldn’t get that comfort. So I took this whole mission upon myself. I called various hospitals to find out what they used for patients after heart surgeries. I also found a site _______ that the cloth pillows were considered dangerous because it might spread bacteria to patients. I _______ understood, but that didn’t stop my mission. I continued to call the manufacturers. Finally, a lady called back and told me about the heart pillow that they had produced, which could be _______ and disinfected (消毒).

I did all my _______ so that no one could think of a reason why this wouldn’t work. It took me over a month to be able to meet with the hospital authorities to _______ my finding. I’m glad that they agreed and are _____ getting these pillows for patients. I cannot be ________— I actually did something that will help many patients.

1.

A．operation

B．experiment

C．search

D．checkup

2.

A．examined

B．purchased

C．allowed

D．observed

3.

A．satisfied

B．upset

C．scared

D．grateful

4.

A．hoping

B．complaining

C．stating

D．promising

5.

A．secretly

B．suddenly

C．currently

D．totally

6.

A．washed

B．abandoned

C．repaired

D．packed

7.

A．essay

B．homework

C．practice

D．magic

8.

A．grab

B．trace

C．present

D．return

9.

A．depending on

B．carrying on

C．insisting on

D．working on

10.

A．happier

B．calmer

C．wiser

D．luckier