1 . 
Challenge curious young minds from 9 to 14 with Cricket Media’s collection of magazines. Whether your child is a promising poet or a future engineer, these award-winning, ad-free publications are made for your kids.
CRICKET@Magazine
CRICKET Magazine, our flagship publication, is the world leader in providing the highest-quality fiction and nonfiction to children from 9 to 14. Since its premiere in 1973, CRICKET has delighted and entertained generations of kids with contemporary stories and classic literature from the world’s best writers. ADD TO CART
COBBLESTONETM Magazine
COBBLESTONE knows history doesn’t have to be dull and dry. Filled with fascinating true stories of American history, every page is a living, breathing guide to how Americans lived from the 1600s to today. It takes kids on a journey through history while exciting their imaginations and bringing the past to life! ADD TO CART
FACESTM Magazine
FACES magazine takes young readers around the world and back to learn about important inventions and ideas from other cultures. From common customs to rules of the road, games to housing, FACES uses breathtaking photography and authentic local voices to bring the entire world right to your kids. ADD TO CART
MUSE@Magazine
MUSE magazine is the arts and science magazine for kids from 9 to 14 who want to know how to keep robots from taking over the world or whether animals can think, accompanied by high-quality illustration and photography. Explore the world in a fun (and funny!)way with MUSE. ADD TO CART
1. In which magazine is it the most possible for readers to experience the past life?| A．CRICKET@Magazine. | B．COBBLESTONETM Magazine. |
| C．FACESTM Magazine. | D．MUSE@Magazine. |
| A．They are packed with authentic local voices. |
| B．They provide high-quality fictions. |
| C．They cover life in foreign countries. |
| D．They are vividly illustrated with photos. |
| A．A publication advertisement. | B．A magazine column. |
| C．A literature review. | D．A blog entry. |
1. What is the woman doing?
| A．Borrowing a tent. | B．Packing a tent. | C．Returning a tent. |
| A．To have fun. | B．To improve her fitness. | C．To get close to nature. |
| A．At a gym. | B．In the wild | C．At a climbing center. |
When I look back on my childhood, the first image that springs to my mind is the daisy (雏菊) kept in my dictionary, which always reminds me of my lunchtimes with my mother.
When I was in the third grade, I was picked to be the princess in the school play, and for weeks my mother had practised my lines (台词) so hard with me. But no matter how easily I delivered them at home, as soon as I stepped onstage, every word disappeared from my head. Finally, my teacher took me aside. She explained that she had written a narrator’s (旁白) part to the play, and asked me to switch roles.
I didn’t tell my mother what had happened when I went home for lunch that day. But she sensed my pain, and instead of suggesting we practice my lines, she asked if I wanted to walk in the yard.
It was a lovely spring day and the rose vine (藤蔓) was turning green. Under the huge trees, we could see yellow daisies popping through the grass in bunches, as if a painter had touched our landscape with a little bit of gold. I watched my mother casually bend down by one of the daisies. “I think I’m going to dig up all these weeds,” she said, suddenly pulling a flower up by its roots. “From now on, we’ll have only roses in this garden.”
“But I like daisies,” I protested (抗议). “All flowers are beautiful——even daisies.” My mother looked at me seriously. “Yes, every flower has its own beauty, doesn’t it?” she asked thoughtfully. I nodded, feeling pleased that I had won her over. “And that is true of people too,” she added, “Not everyone can be a princess. Hence, there is no shame in that.”
Relieved that she had sensed my pain, I started to cry when I told her what had happened. She listened and smiled.
注意：1. 所续写的短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在以下位置作答。
Paragraph 1：
“You will be a beautiful narrator,” she comforted.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
Backstage on the night of the performance, I still felt nervous.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________1. What is the man going to do this summer?
| A．Work at a hotel. | B．Repair his house. | C．Teach a course. |
| A．To hire a gardener. | B．To buy some flowers. | C．To buy books. |
5 . Cows produce much methane (甲烷) the world’s second worst greenhouse gas, as they break down the grass. They are a large source of the greenhouse gases that are driving climate change. Now scientists have shown the pollution from cows can be reduced by adding a little seaweed (海藻) to their food.
Recently, the researchers from the University of California studied 21 cows on a farm for about five months. They taught the cows to get their food from inside a special hood, which allowed the scientists to know the amount of the methane the cows were giving off. They added a small amount of seaweed to the cows’ food.
The consequences were surprisingly good. In some cases, the cows produced 82% less methane. The improvement depended on the kind of food the cows were given. Even the worst-polluting cows produced 33% less methane. Over the five months, the scientists didn’t see any signs that the cows’ stomachs were getting used to the seaweed and starting to produce more methane again. What’s more, the cows that were fed seaweed gained just as much weight as the other cows.
But there are still some big problems with the idea of feeding cows seaweed. For one thing, there’s not enough seaweed to feed all of the cows in the world. So farmers would have to figure out a way to grow lots of seaweed. A bigger problem is that for most of their lives, cows live in the fields, where they eat grass. That means there’s no chance to feed them seaweed every day.
Still, as the study shows, something as simple as feeding cows seaweed can help reduce some of the pollution causing the climate crisis.
1. Why did the researchers carry out the study?| A．To test the effects of the seaweed. |
| B．To discover healthier grass for cows. |
| C．To improve the cows’ living conditions. |
| D．To measure the amount of methane in the world. |
| A．The background of the subject. | B．The results of the study. |
| C．The content of the experiment. | D．The process of the research. |
| A．Seaweed is not as tasty as grass. |
| B．Seaweed is dying out in the world. |
| C．Cows fed with seaweed gained weight easily. |
| D．Cows can hardly have daily access to seaweed. |
| A．Positive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Unclear. | D．Negative. |
The game of basketball was created by Dr. Naismith,
The New England winters were very cold, and the students were unwilling to do outdoor
Five years later, a championship (锦标赛)
With the
The bad weather may have something to do with the worsening of environment. People may think that big things must be done to protect the environment. Many forget protecting it begins with small things. For example, it’s a good idea to use reusable bags instead of
| down base concerned stick win |
2. The
3. Tim has been feeling
4. Lucy hasn’t been back home and the family are all
5. The film that is
9 . Studies show that females usually have better handwriting than males. University of Warwick researchers note that “Girls are generally better handwriters than boys. Girls also usually write faster than boys”. But why do females have better handwriting than males? There are a number of reasons.
Handwriting differences may be because of cultural label. Researchers asked boys and girls aged 7 and 8 to model after each other’s handwriting. When modeling after writing, boys tried to make theirs “smaller and neater” while all the girls said that they had made their handwriting larger, and half of them said they had made it less tidy. Do females work hard to write neater because there is an expectation that they have neat handwriting? Are females encouraged to write better because there is an expectation?
Handwriting may be influenced by the writer’s female hormones (激素). Babies before they are born receive various amounts of female hormones with males receiving less and females more. One sign of female hormone effect is the relative length of a person’s index finger to ring finger (called the “2D: 4D rate”). This study found that the higher the 2D : 4D rate for right-handed female writers,the neater their handwriting is.
Neural development differences between males and females may be the reason for the differences. During the early school years, when kids are learning to shape letters, the neural fibers that control fine motor skills in boys’ brains usually haven’t matured (成熟) as much as girls’ have. Boys’ brains finally catch up and their handwriting gets better than before, but it’s still usually not as neat as that of the girls. That’s because women usually have more neural connections between the two sides of the brain, which also helps with correctness.
1. What’s the purpose of paragraph 1?| A．To introduce the topic. | B．To list some reasons. |
| C．To summarize the text. | D．To provide examples. |
| A．neater | B．larger | C．more correct | D．longer |
| A．Boys’ handwriting is too large to be neat. |
| B．Boys’ 2D: 4D rate becomes higher and higher. |
| C．Boys’ brains don’t get enough exercise like girls do. |
| D．Boys usually have less neural connections inside the brain. |
| A．Who perform better in handwriting? |
| B．Is handwriting well a difficult task? |
| C．Are girls cleverer than boys? |
| D．Why do we need to write well? |
10 . From 1990 to 2000, fishermen trying to get swordfish (剑鱼) off the coast of California accidentally caught and killed over 100 sea turtles (海龟), and injured many more. In 2001, the government set up the Pacific Leatherback Conservation Area (PLCA), an area off the coast of California where fishing boats are not allowed to enter from August to November. Since then, the number of turtles killed by mistake has fallen rapidly, but a small number of animals still die from being caught in fishing nets each year. And at the same time, the once $15 million swordfish industry has become a $ 2 million industry.
Scientists are hoping to find a way to not only protect sea turtles and other endangered creatures but also help fishermen make a living. For this, many scientists are looking at dynamic ocean management to help fishing boats meet fish where they are and avoid catching other creatures by mistake.
The first paper to suggest that the fish living in the open ocean should be guarded with fluid, ever-changing zones of protection, came out in 2000. Larry Crowder, a professor at Hopkins Marine Station, remembers reading it and thinking, “Cool idea, but it will never work.” In 2000, scientists didn’t have the computer power to cheaply test statistical models or deal with satellite data quickly. They didn’t have enough data dealing with fish or satellite data on ocean conditions, either.
Now scientists can download satellite data of oceans in minutes and attach satellite archival tag to sea animals to track their movements. They first collect data by marking the creatures, collecting reports from fishing boats, or other tracking ways. Then they compare that data with weather conditions, the time of year, and any other data that can be sensed. Finally, they can predict where fish probably are.
Crowder and his workmates used the data to develop a tool called EcoCast during the 2012 and 2015 fishing seasons, they could have fished in at least 125,000 square miles, without high risk of hunting turtles.
1. The government hoped that PLCA and its rules could .| A．prevent fishing in the PLCA |
| B．help collect data for future research |
| C．protect the creatures in the area to some degree |
| D．make the public realize the importance of our environment |
| A．unrealistic | B．stupid | C．possible | D．interesting |
| A．A great way to collect data. |
| B．Some technology fruits in this field |
| C．A scientific way to find new ocean animals |
| D．The way dynamic ocean management works |
| A．It protects the ocean from pollution. |
| B．It helps support the fishing industry. |
| C．It prevents fishermen from getting lost while fishing. |
| D．It both protects ocean animals and supports the fishing industry. |
