Eight-year-old Evan stood by the sidewalk watching as Mrs. Carter opened her flower shop. He felt relieved that the shop hadn’t closed forever. Two days ago, when he passed by, there was a closed sign on the door and a note saying Mrs. Carter was sick. Evan was worried that he would never be able to get his “dream job” if the shop remained closed for too long.
Mrs. Carter, an 85-year-old woman, spotted Evan looking in her shop’s direction and waved hello to him. Excitedly, Evan ran up to her and expressed his desire to work at the shop. Mrs.Carter laughed quietly, finding it amusing that an eight-year-old wanted a job. Evan confidently explained that since his dad passed away, he had learned how to do various tasks, like taking out the rubbish, making sandwiches, and assisting his mom, Stacey, with groceries. He didn’t want any payment for his work; instead, he simply wanted a bouquet (花束) for his mom’ s upcoming birthday. He believed in working hard for what he wanted, just as his mom had taught him.
Impressed by Evan’s determination, Mrs. Carter agreed to hire him. She asked if he knew how to tie ribbons around flowers, and when she heard Evan’s affirmative(肯定的) response, they got down to making bouquets. Evan was excited to assist Mrs. Carter every evening for a whole week, and his presence brought joy to her boring work.Customers found Evan adorable and entertaining, which resulted in increased flower purchases and booming business for Mrs. Carter.
On Evan’s last day, Mrs.Carter felt emotional. Their bond had grown strong, and she saw him as a grandchild. As she prepared a splendid bouquet for Evan’s mother, tears welled up in her eyes. She invited him to visit her shop in the future, and Evan promised to tell his mom about her.
注意: 1. 续写词数应为150左右;2. 请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
With the bouquet in hand, Evan rushed home to celebrate Mom’s birthday.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As Evan handed his mom the bouquet, they were surprised to discover an envelope with several hundred-dollar bills inside.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2 . Have you ever wondered why you want to do something, or what causes people to go through extraordinary pain or personal investment just to achieve a particular outcome?
Motivation is the reason for people’s actions, goals, and willingness to pursue the goals. Sometimes it seems difficult to find, but we all have that spark at our core. Here are some ways you can turn that spark back into a flame.
Keep a thankfulness journal.
Design an accomplishment book. Creative people may do well to design an accomplishment book with images of past work and accomplishments as a form of encouragement. It can be as informal or formal as you’d like. It might be a simple scrapbook you keep at your desk, or a professionally printed booklet that you keep by your bed.
Get out of the house. If your life consists of going to work, coming home, watching Netflix, and going to sleep, you shouldn’t be surprised that you’re unmotivated.
A.What’s the possible solution? |
B.Identify when motivation slips. |
C.What’s at the heart of this issue? |
D.Decide what works best for you and give it a try. |
E.A thankfulness journal is a perfect way to show your gratitude to others. |
F.Some people find that thankfulness and motivation are directly connected. |
G.Make it a point to go outdoors and try new things even when you don’t want to. |
3 . Ghanim Al-Muftah was born on 5th May 2002 in Qatar. Due to a rare disease, he was born without legs. He has to go through many operations every year.
At a young age, the boy became a(n)
He is not just a boy who survived a terrible physical disability, but he
He is an example for the world and especially for those
The world can learn a great deal from the young boy. At his young age, he was able to
A.defence | B.trick | C.inspiration | D.riddle |
A.death | B.survival | C.growth | D.injury |
A.busy | B.tough | C.painful | D.normal |
A.took out | B.built up | C.got over | D.broke down |
A.influences | B.defeats | C.confuses | D.hurts |
A.traditional | B.remote | C.important | D.boring |
A.shows | B.cheats | C.awakens | D.promotes |
A.working | B.struggling | C.cooperating | D.communicating |
A.pull up | B.hold on | C.give up | D.move on |
A.feeling | B.desire | C.feature | D.personality |
A.takes | B.breaks | C.participates | D.throws |
A.achieve | B.understand | C.doubt | D.enjoy |
A.previous | B.future | C.particular | D.entire |
A.health | B.courage | C.strategy | D.image |
A.prevent | B.save | C.protect | D.tell |
4 . Your carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases that you produce as you live your life. In order to hold the global temperature rise to 2˚C or less, everyone needs to average an annual carbon footprint of 1.87 tons by 2050.
Eat low on the food chain. This means eating mostly fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans. Meat and dairy is responsible for 14.5 percent of man-made global greenhouse gas emissions.
Use low energy appliances. Replace traditional light bulbs with LED ones. Though LEDs cost more, they use a quarter of the energy and last up to 25 times longer. Make energy efficiency a primary consideration when choosing a new microwave, air conditioning unit, dishwasher, or refrigerator.
Choose green travel. An average car produces about five tons of carbon each year.
A.Don’t buy fast fashion. |
B.Never choose quality clothing. |
C.But people ignore this serious problem. |
D.Making changes in transport matters much. |
E.Here are ways to reduce your carbon footprint. |
F.They are mainly from food production and processing. |
G.Products with the ENERGY STAR sign have better efficiency. |
5 . Three paralysed (瘫痪的) men, who were told they would spend the rest of their lives in a wheelchair, are able to walk again, thanks to an electrical device, which was placed around the men’s spines (脊柱) and boosted signals from their brains to their legs.
The first patient to be treated was 30-year-old Swiss man David M’zee, who suffered a severe spinal injury several years ago in a sporting accident. David’s doctor said he would never walk again. However, thanks to the electrical device developed by a team at a public research university in Lausanne, Switzerland, he agreed to take part in a trial led by Dr. Courtine at the university.
“I came with my daughter, Charlotte, who was one month old at the time. As we approached David, he looked her in the eye and said, ‘I will walk before you,’” Dr Courtine recalls. “When Charlotte took her first step she was 14 months old, by which time David was walking by Lake Geneva. He said to her, ‘I have beaten you.’”
David can now walk up to eight paces when the device is switched off and this is the first time that this has been recorded in a chronic (慢性的) spinal injury. However, out of the lab, in the real world, it is hard for David to walk more than a few paces. The signals from the device soon become uncomfortable and so can’t be used all the time. The system is also expensive and not reliable enough to be used out of the laboratory for day-to-day use, so it’s far from a cure.
David is the first of three patients who have benefited from the first wave of the treatment. Two other men have also managed to walk again, to various degrees.
The researchers plan to begin larger trials in Europe and the US in the next few years. If these go well, the researchers are confident the system could become more widely available.
1. How does the electrical device help the paralysed walk again?A.By straightening the spines. | B.By making the brains recover. |
C.By signaling the legs to move. | D.By making use of a wheelchair. |
A.To point out David’s weakness. | B.To explain David’s failure to walk. |
C.To show the speed of David’s recovery. | D.To prove his daughter’s athletic ability. |
A.It is hard for typical patients to operate. | B.It is unreliable when used out of the lab. |
C.It always makes patients uncomfortable. | D.It sometimes sends wrong signals to legs. |
A.The device can cure paralysis. | B.The device has been widely used. |
C.The device will be tested globally. | D.The device has a potential market. |
6 . Have you ever observed how a family runs smoothly? It’s the balance that plays a role in a family. But a family where there is too much chaos (混乱), argument, and one-sided communication has no balance. As a result, such a chaotic family suffers consequences like divorced parents, distances between children.
In the same way, nature needs balance, harmony and protection. You are already aware of the phrase — too much of everything is bad. That’s why the sensibility to bring balance in nature is every human’s responsibility.
The community of living species interacts with the environment’s non-living components in a healthy ecosystem. Rainfall, temperature, sunlight, soil, and water chemistry are the main examples of abiotic (无生命的) aspects of ecosystems that need to be in a stable manner.
To survive, plants need a certain combination of temperature, moisture, and soil chemistry. Protecting plants is also important because it provides food for the animals.What you see above are the natural phenomena that have been happening since the beginning of the universe. That’s how nature has been functioning. But indulgent human activities in using natural resources has created poor habitation in the natural environment. In fact, here are the human actions that have broken the balance in nature for so many years now.
People cut down trees to make space for new companies owing to an increase in population, which has decreased the amount of oxygen in the air. Global warming has resulted in the melting of the ice caps, leading to rising sea levels and other natural disasters like cyclones and tsunamis. As a result of habitat loss, it is getting harder for species to survive.To bring the Earth to its original form is impossible. But there is always a potential for bringing awareness. Hence, if the above human activities are lessened or changed with recycling activities, the next generation can still live a healthy life.
1. Why is a chaotic family mentioned in paragraph 1?A.To bring up a new topic. |
B.To come to a conclusion. |
C.To complain about family chaos. |
D.To admire the balance of a family. |
A.Limit human activities to the fullest. |
B.Control a certain amount of everything. |
C.Don’t cut down trees for new companies. |
D.Don’t use energy for economic development. |
A.Responsible. | B.Controlled. | C.Romantic. | D.Unlimited. |
A.Worried. | B.Doubtful. | C.Confident. | D.Uncertain. |
7 . If you ask children the question, “Where does your food come from?” Their answer probably is “the kitchen” or “the grocery store”. Mahan Chandra Borah, a 41-year-old rice farmer, was concerned about this and aimed to educate young people about the importance of agriculture in his country.
“Hundreds of varieties of rice and other crops went extinct in India because of people’s unawareness and I wanted to do something about it,” Mahan says. The result was the formation of the Annapurna Rice Library — a center preserving native seeds and all things ‘rice’.
As a boy, Mahan was a curious reader. “I always had curiosity about things and wanted to get a PhD,” he recalls. Most of Mahan’s days were spent reading and helping his father out in the fields. “Working with him in the fields is how I learnt all I know about farming,” he says.
“Our family was humble. While I wanted to study more, the money was an issue,” he adds. Things became even harder when Mahan’s father passed away. “I was completing my graduation and was heartbroken. However, I also had to look after my family. Studying further was out of the question, so I decided to do agriculture like my father for a living,” he says.
Mahan could have decided to go for traditional farming, but instead, he decided to research alongside. “I went online to look for papers on farming and seed saving. For the library, I have 500 types of seeds preserved there,” he says. Mahan says his favorite rice variety is Bhao Dhan. It is very tough in nature and can adapt easily to the flood-prone (易发洪水的) nature of Assam. However, the lower yield (产量) per hectare has been the reason why the farmers do not prefer to grow the rice.
For the last 15 years, Mahan has operated his library on his own funds. “I run my household and maintain the library. Lack of funds has become an issue, but I am managing somehow and I am sure I will overcome the difficulties and keep it alive,” he says.
1. What inspired Mahan to set up the Annapurna Rice Library?A.The expectation from his father. |
B.The lack of grain varieties in India. |
C.The great demand for more native seeds. |
D.The public ignorance of rice seed protection. |
A.He came from a family rich enough. |
B.He graduated from college with a PhD. |
C.He dreamed to be an agricultural expert. |
D.He learned about farming from his father. |
A.Its delicious taste. |
B.Its high production. |
C.Its growing popularity. |
D.Its good adaptive ability. |
A.Devoted and determined. | B.Generous and easygoing. |
C.Courageous and humorous. | D.Sensitive and open-minded. |
8 . Upper Antelope Canyon Tours
Adventurous Antelope Canyon TourPrice: From $108
Duration: 80 minutes
The tour starts at $108 per person, but cost an additional $11 if you want to visit during peak sunlight hours. Those 7 and younger are not permitted on the outings. This tour is not recommended for pregnant people.
Antelope Canyon Navajo TourPrice: From $100
Duration: 1.5 hours
This Tour’ guides are local Navajo people. The company’s 1.5-hour sightseer tours of the Upper Canyon take place several times daily beginning at 7:30 a.m. Prices for these tours, which include the park entrance fee, are approximately $100 per person. The company opens up online reservations one to two months in advance, so be sure to book early, as tickets sell out quickly.
Antelope Slot Canyon TourPrice: Adults from $112; kids from $102
Duration: 1.5 hours
This Tour offers tours of the nearby Cathedral Canyon. Pricing ranges from $112 to $120 per person, depending on the time of day and popularity of the tour time. Discounted tickets are available for soldiers and children aged 6 to 12; children younger than 6 are not allowed.
Antelope Canyon X Taadidiin TourPrice: Adults from $40; kids from $30
Duration: 1.5 hours
This Tour operates 1.5-hour small-group hikes through the canyon. A Hiking permit is required for visitors aged 8 and older. Photography lovers can sign up for Taadidiin’s Photo Tour, which spends three hours in the canyon and permits participants to bring a tripod and a camera bag. Additional fees are $125 per person.
1. What are you required to do if you want to make Antelope Canyon Navajo Tour?A.Pay much more money. | B.Drive your own car. |
C.Book tickets beforehand. | D.Carry your hiking permit. |
A.Antelope Canyon Navajo Tour. | B.Antelope Slot Canyon Tour. |
C.Antelope Canyon X Taadidiin Tour. | D.Adventurous Antelope Canyon Tour. |
A.$165. | B.$ 40. | C.$ 85. | D.$125. |
1. What happened to Stevie Wonder shortly after his birth?
A.He was unable to see. |
B.He couldn’t hear anything. |
C.He broke his arm. |
A.As a child. | B.As an adult. | C.As a teenager. |
A.In the 1960s. | B.In the 1970s. | C.In the 1980s. |
1. What does the woman think about Sports Day?
A.She dislikes it. |
B.She doesn’t care about it. |
C.She is curious about it. |
A.She joins in with everything. |
B.She chooses her favorite sport. |
C.She says she is sick. |
A.Gymnastics. | B.Badminton. | C.Running. |
A.Find an excuse. | B.Talk with her mom. | C.Practice together with him. |