1 . Some Greatest Bookstores

Another Country

Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany. Another Country is an English Language second hand bookshop which is mostly used as a library. They have about 20,000 books that you can buy or borrow. Some regular events are held at the shop, such as readings, cultural events, social evenings and film nights.

Atlantis Books

Oia, Santorini, Greece. Atlantis Books is an independent bookshop on the island of Santorini, Greece. It was founded in 2004 by a group of friends from Cyprus, England, and the United States. Throughout the year it has hosted literary festivals, film screenings, book readings, and good old fashioned dance parties.

Bart’s Books

Ojai, California. USA. “The World’s Greatest Outdoor Bookstore”, a bookstore founded by Richard Bartinsdale in 1964. Shelves of books face the street, and regular customers are asked to drop coins into the door’s coin box to pay for any books they take whenever the store is closed.

Adrian Harrington

Since1971. Rare books: rare first editions; leather bound sets and general antiquarian (古玩). Address: 64 a Kensington Church Street, Kensington, London, England, UK.

Corso Como Bookshop

Milan, Italy. Extensive selection of publication on art architecture, design graphics and fashion, along with a strong emphasis on photography. It was founded in 1990 in Milan, Italy, by Carla Sozzamil.

The Bookworm

China. A bookshop, library, bar, restaurant and event space, now with four divisions in three cities — Beijing, Suzhou and Chengdu. The interconnecting rooms with floor-to-ceiling books on every wall are light and airy in summer, yet warm and comfortable in winter.

1. What can you do in Atlantis Books?

A．Sell rare books.	B．Learn photography.
C．Attend a festival.	D．Buy books anytime.

2. Which bookstore has the longest history?

A．Bart’s Books.	B．Atlantis Books.
C．Adrian Harrington.	D．Corso Como Bookshop.

3. How is The Bookworm different from the others?

A．It is used as a library.	B．It has branches in different cities.
C．It hosts all sorts of activities.	D．It opens only in summer and winter.

2 . To the untrained eye, a ping-pong ball is just a ping-pong ball. To a Beverly Cleary fan, it's two motorcycle helmets（头盔）for mice. Just cut apart and add rubber band chin straps. Ever since I read Cleary's series about Ralph, the motorcycle-riding mouse, I've never looked at a ping-pong ball—or the world—the same way. And why shouldn't it be? It's perfect.

I wanted a mouse of my own to ride a toy motorcycle around my house! Thanks to Cleary's genius, a talking mouse friend seemed not only possible but probable.

Cleary, who passed away at 104, was one of the main reasons why I became a children's author. While much of children's literature attempted to explain the world from the point of view of a wise and gentle adult, Cleary created main characters who saw the world as only children can. I carefully read every title that bore Beverly Cleary's name. She seemed like a friend who understood me in ways I didn't yet understand myself.

I've written eight children's books and have always kept Beverly's sense of wonder in mind. I don't remember at exactly what age I decided I wanted to write books, but I know that in the second or third grade, my teacher assigned a project that allowed us to focus on whatever we wanted. My best friend picked dolphins while I chose children's authors. I told that story recently to a school group. One of the students said, "That's amazing! You did your project on children's authors and then you became one!" "Yes," I said.

And that perfectly sums up why I love writing for children: the lack of cynicism（愤世嫉俗）, the belief that fantastic, magical things can happen. Best friends can become dolphins. Mice can ride toy motorcycles and become our friends.

That's what Beverly Cleary taught me. In the hands of a gifted storyteller, anything is possible…and very funny.

1. Why does the author use a ping-pong ball as an example?

A．To say the ball is their favorite for mice.

B．To express his thoughts about the topic.

C．To describe how mice ride the motorbike.

D．To stress the importance of reading stories.

2. Who is Beverly Cleary?

A．The author's favourite writer.	B．The author's grandmother.
C．The author's teacher.	D．The author's fan.

3. What do we know about the author from paragraph 4?

A．He took Cleary's sense of mind seriously.

B．He decided to help his teacher finish the project.

C．He has published several books on animals for children.

D．He clearly remembered when he wanted to write books.

4. What is the fifth paragraph mainly about?

A．The author's talent for telling a story.

B．The author's strong belief about magic.

C．The author's reasons for writing for children.

D．The author's interest in playing with dolphins.

6 . Perhaps you have heard a lot about the Internet, but what is it, do you know? The Internet is a network. It uses the telephone to join millions of computers together around the world.

Maybe that doesn’t sound very interesting. But when you’ve joined to the Internet, there are lots and lots of things you can do. You can send e­mails to your friends at no cost, and they can get them in a few seconds. You can also do with all kinds of information on the World Wide Web (WWW).

There are many different kinds of computers now. They all can be joined to the Internet. Most of them are small machines sitting on people’s desks at home. But there are still many others in schools, offices or large companies. These computers are owned by people and companies, but no one really owns the Internet itself.

There are lots of places for you to go into the Internet. For example, your school may have the Internet. You can use it during lessons or free time. Libraries often have computers joined to the Internet. You are welcome to use it at any time.

Thanks to the Internet, the world is becoming smaller and smaller. It is possible for you to work at home with a computer in front, getting and sending the information you need. You can buy or sell whatever you want by the Internet. But do you know 98% of the information on the Internet is in English? So what will English be like tomorrow?

1. Which is the quickest and cheapest way to send messages to your friends?

A．By post.

B．By e­mail.

C．By telegraph.

D．By satellite.

2. Who is the owner of the Internet?

A．The headmaster.

B．The officer.

C．The user.

D．No one.

3. Which may be the most possible place for people to work in tomorrow?

A．In the office.

B．At school.

C．At home.

D．In the company.

4. What does the writer try to tell us with the last two sentences of the text?

A．English is important in using the Internet.	B．The Internet is more and more popular.
C．Most of the information is in English.	D．Every computer must have the Internet.

7 . If Mars were the popular kid in school, Venus (金星) would be the unwelcome one sitting in the corner, largely ignored. Venus has nearly the same mass and size as Earth, but being closer to the sun, it gets nearly twice as much heat from the sun.

However, instead of having a climate that is just a warmer version of Earth’s, Venus’s surface and atmosphere are unbearable: clouds of sulphuric acid (硫酸) blanket the planet, while at ground level, it is hot enough to melt lead. Despite this, there is now a sign that Venus may harbour life. Jane Greaves at Cardiff University, UK, and her colleagues recently detected (发现) phosphine (磷化氢) in Venus’s atmosphere, with one potential explanation that it is the by-product of biology. That is because the only way this gas is made on Earth is in laboratories or by microbes (微生物). Though this doesn’t mean it was produced by life on Venus, attempts to find non-biological explanations for its presence have so far failed. Our best way of confirming or rejecting the possibility of life on Venus is to go and have a proper look. While Mars has been the focus of interplanetary (行星间的) exploration efforts lately, the phosphine discovery lets people look at Venus in a new light. As NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted: “It’s time to prioritize Venus.”

In the months and years to come, computer simulations(模拟) will be used to further study the possible chemistries of the atmosphere on Venus. More laboratory experiments will be conducted to try to identify other ways the phosphine there could be produced. However, there is no guarantee that these efforts will reveal the true nature of this substance on Venus. A newly-proposed strategy is to directly sample the atmosphere and surface of Venus. By doing so, we would be able to take direct measurements of phosphine.

The discovery of phosphine in Venus’s atmosphere is a great accomplishment. The scientific efforts may be just what we need to finally refocus on this neglected world. Possibly, the quiet kid in the corner may get the last laugh

1. Which description about Venus is NOT true?

A．It has the unbearable surface and atmosphere.

B．It has nearly the same mass as Earth.

C．It is almost as large as Earth.

D．It has a warmer Earth-like climate.

2. What can the discovery of phosphine on Venus indicate?

A．This kind of gas is very common.	B．There might exist signs of life.
C．Many products can be made with it.	D．Experiments were once conducted there.

3. What is Paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．The necessity to analyse phosphine.

B．The power of computer simulations

C．The importance of observations.

D．The approaches to exploring phosphine

4. Which can best describe the author’s attitude to the exploration of Venus?

A．Casual

B．Doubtful.

C．Supportive.

D．Unclear.

8 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Trade and curiosity have often formed the     1     (found)of mankind’s greatest achievements. In ancient times, silk from China found its way overland to India, the Middle East, and Rome, along     2     became known as the Silk Road. A trading route across the sea was also extended along the coasts of the Indian Ocean,     3     (center)around Ceylon.

Later, the Ming Dynasty further developed     4     (it)relations with regions to the west of China. Between 1405 and1433, seven large fleets sailed west     5     voyages of trade and exploration. These fleets were a sight     6     (behold). To reach out across the sea remains a strong desire today. Now the ancient sea routes that was once travelled by Zheng He     7     (revisit)with the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road,     8     is part of the Belt and Road Initiative. China has also joined her friends across the sea on other important projects. Also, there are still many other places left to explore     9     (extend).

Hundreds of years on, and with the     10     (late)technology in hand, the need to trade and the desire to enhance relationships will drive China to reach out across the sea far into the future.

9 . With roaring ships, hammering oil drill, industrial fishing and coastal construction, humans have strongly influenced the underwater soundscape over the past couple of hundred years — in some cases posting a threat to whales, dolphins and other ocean creatures. Until recently, underwater sound pollution had not attracted the same attention. Now, a new paper published in the journal Science lays out the impacts, demonstrating that noise pollution can be just as harmful to the ocean environment as other kinds of pollution.

Even the cracking of glaciers and any drop of rain falling on the water’s surface can be heard deep under the sea. Sea life uses sound to study their habitat, and to keep in communication with each other. They also use sound to know something about their environment. However, the loud noise from human beings would make it in vain.

“It’s a long-lasting problem that certainly weakens the animals all the way from individuals to populations,” says lead author Carlos M. Duarte, distinguished professor at Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), “We are hoping that this report will not only reveal elements of how humans impact the ocean through sound pollution, but that it will also bring the topic to the attention of policymakers who will be able to act based upon the very real solutions.”

Marine ecologist Kirsten Thompson of the United Kingdom’s University of Exeter, who was not involved in the study, said the report could not have come at a better time. “It summarizes the fact that we are in this new phase of human-caused noise in our oceans that is having a dramatic impact on different species.” What matters most, she notes, is the fact that the paper “doesn’t just point at the problem, but it shows how to solve it.”

Unlike plastic pollution or fertilizer runoff, noise pollution will not take years to fix. The moment we switch our noise off, the impact disappears, Duarte says, pointing to marine life surveys conducted around April 5, 2020. Having the world use more renewable energy would lessen the need to drill for oil and gas. The international team of researchers also called for a global regulatory framework for measuring and managing ocean noise.

1. Which of the following threatens ocean creatures?

A．Travel industry.

B．Human activities.

C．Construction companies.

D．Sailing off the coast.

2. Why noise pollution is harmful to the ocean environment?

A．Ocean animals can’t fall asleep.	B．It causes the cracking of glaciers.
C．It’s a signal to the lower sea level.	D．It disturbs the behavior of sea life.

3. What can we infer from Kirsten Thompson?

A．The solutions are already available.	B．She is one of the paper’s co-authors.
C．The report does not come at the right time.	D．The report has raised great attention from seamen.

4. What could be the best title for the passage?

A．Ocean noise is hard to root out.	B．Ocean noise has been addressed.
C．Formation of ocean noise is obvious.	D．Noise pollution threatens ocean creatures.

10 . The Forbidden City is well known for being full of Chinese cultural and historical relics. But Masters in the Forbidden City does not just focus on the stories of the past. Instead, the documentary film, which came out in Chinese cinemas on Dec. 16, focuses on ordinary people—the restorers of relics and antiquities.

The stories are told at a slow and relaxed pace, reflecting the restorers’ work. Restoration of cultural relics and antiques can be time-consuming, and sometimes boring. Yet these restorers’ patience and peace of mind are especially precious in a society where everything is changing so fast.

“If you choose this job, you have to stand hours of work sitting on a chair. You need to be quiet and get used to being quiet,” says Wang Jin, an ancient clock repair expert.

A touching part of the documentary is the spirit of craftsmanship in the restorers. “Years of dull work requires not only skill, but also faith and spirit,” China Daily commented. “Looking for precision and perfection, devoting yourself to work, patience, endurance, loneliness. All these qualities come from the ‘craftsman spirit’.”

But unlike the popular idea of serious experts who sit around being serious, the documentary shows off the enthusiasm of the restorers. They play their guitars and make jokes about each other after a long day of restoration work. One scene that has been very popular with Internet users features a young female restorer riding a bicycle through the empty Forbidden City on a Monday. While she is doing this, a narrator says, “The last person to do this was Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing dynasty.”

Masters in the Forbidden City has proved many people’s ideas about antique restorers wrong, allowing them to realize that they are not old, dull professors, but people in their 40s, 30s and even 20s who can be quite pleasing to the eye.

1. What’s the main purpose of the documentary?

A．To display relics seldom seen.	B．To draw attention to the restorers’ lives.
C．To show people how antiques are restored.	D．To praise the craftsmanship of the restorers.

2. According to Wang Jin, we can learn that antique restorers _______.

A．often get tired of their work.	B．need to be patient and peaceful.
C．don’t need to do restoration work fast.	D．have to do the restoration on their own.

3. The bicycle-riding scene in the documentary is used to _______.

A．break the dull image of restorers.	B．show the hobbies of younger restorers.
C．remind the audience of the last emperor.	D．encourage the young to consider the future.

4. Where can you most probably find the passage?

A．In a news report.	B．In a career research.
C．In a cultural magazine.	D．In an interview record.