When I was little, I used to walk with my grandmother on a quiet and small road across which she and my grandfather lived. My grandfather rarely joined us. He was a seemingly strict man, an ex-soldier who. usually held back his emotions, especially his affection(喜爱). He wasn’t a man who hugged me often when I was a child, but I had never doubted his love for me.
Grandma and I would walk, hand in hand, moving at an equal pace. The sun would be shining; the birds would be singing. We would chat about this and that, or just walk in silence, enjoying the outdoors and each other’s company. Yet, for me, these times were not just a chance to get some exercise or be with my grandmother, though both were important. These walks were treasure hunts.
More often than not, at the road’s edge, there would be money. Not lots of it — I cent here, 5 cents there. Sometimes, on really lucky days, I’d find 10 cents or even 25. I’d pick up these coins, proudly show Grandma and joyfully put them into my pockets. Some days, I wouldn’t find anything. “Maybe next time, ” my grandmother would say. Other days, I’d come back from our walk with more than twenty-five cents to put in my piggy bank, or to buy candies — a treat for a six-year-old child.
Looking back now, it wasn’t even the money that was such a big deal; it was the joy of discovery. It was the hope of finding something small left or forgotten along the side of the road. It made me feel so lucky and so special. Yet, it wasn’t until years later, when I was in my late twenties, that the simple memory meant much more to me than simply the happiness of a child. It was my mother who told me the secret which brought a whole new meaning to my experience.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
“Remember when you used to walk with Grandma and find money?” Mother asked.
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Paragraph 2:
Now, I would do the same thing my grandfather did.
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2 . Grizzly bears, which may grow to about 2.5 m long and weigh over 400 kg, occupy a conflicted corner of the American psyche — we revere (敬畏) them even as they give us frightening dreams. Ask the tourists from around the world that flood into Yellowstone National Park what they most hope to see, and their answer is often the same: a grizzly bear.
“Grizzly bears are re-occupying large areas of their former range,” says bear biologist Chris Servheen. As grizzly bears expand their range into places where they haven’t been seen in a century or more, they’re increasingly being sighted by humans.
The western half of the US was full of grizzlies when Europeans came, with a rough number of 50,000 or more living alongside Native Americans. By the early 1970s, after centuries of cruel and continuous hunting by settlers, 600 to 800 grizzlies remained on a mere 2 percent of their former range in the Northern Rockies. In 1975, grizzlies were listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Today, there are about 2,000 or more grizzly bears in the US. Their recovery has been so successful that the US Fish and Wildlife Service has twice attempted to delist grizzlies, which would loosen legal protections and allow them to be hunted. Both efforts were overturned due to lawsuits from conservation groups. For now, grizzlies remain listed.
Obviously, if precautions (预防) aren’t taken, grizzlies can become troublesome, sometimes killing farm animals or walking through yards in search of food. If people remove food and attractants from their yards and campsites, grizzlies will typically pass by without trouble. Putting electric fencing around chicken houses and other farm animal quarters is also highly effective at getting grizzlies away. “Our hope is to have a clean, attractant-free place where bears can pass through without learning bad habits,” says James Jonkel, longtime biologist who manages bears in and around Missoula.
1. How do Americans look at grizzlies?| A．They cause mixed feelings in people. |
| B．They should be kept in national parks. |
| C．They are of high scientific value. |
| D．They are a symbol of American culture. |
| A．The European settlers’ behavior. |
| B．The expansion of bears’ range. |
| C．The protection by law since 1975. |
| D．The support of Native Americans. |
| A．The opposition of conservation groups. |
| B．The successful comeback of grizzlies. |
| C．The voice of the biologists. |
| D．The local farmers’ advocates. |
| A．Food should be provided for grizzlies. |
| B．People can live in harmony with grizzlies. |
| C．A special path should be built for grizzlies. |
| D．Technology can be introduced to protect grizzlies. |
3 . I was about 13 when an uncle gave me a copy of Jostein Gaarder’s Sophie’s World. It was full of ideas that were new to me, so I spent the summer with my head in and out of that book. It spoke to me and brought me into a world of philosophy (哲学).
That love for philosophy lasted until I got to college. Nothing kills the love for philosophy faster than people who think they understand Foucault, Baudrillard, or Confucius better than you — and then try to explain them.
Eric Weiner’s The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers reawakened my love for philosophy. It is not an explanation, but an invitation to think and experience philosophy.
Weiner starts each chapter with a scene on a train ride between cities and then frames each philosopher’s work in the context (背景) of one thing they can help us do better. The end result is a read in which we learn to wonder like Socrates, see like Thoreau, listen like Schopenhauer, and have no regrets like Nietzsche. This, more than a book about understanding philosophy, is a book about learning to use philosophy to improve a life.
He makes philosophical thought an appealing exercise that improves the quality of our experiences, and he does so with plenty of humor. Weiner enters into conversation with some of the most important philosophers in history, and he becomes part of that crowd in the process by decoding (解读) their messages and adding his own interpretation.
The Socrates Express is a fun, sharp book that draws readers in with its apparent simplicity and gradually pulls them in deeper thoughts on desire, loneliness, and aging. The invitation is clear: Weiner wants you to pick up a coffee or tea and sit down with this book. I encourage you to take his offer. It’s worth your time, even if time is something we don’t have a lot of.
1. Who opened the door to philosophy for the author?| A．Foucault. | B．Eric Weiner. |
| C．Jostein Gaarder. | D．A college teacher. |
| A．To compare Weiner with them. |
| B．To give examples of great works. |
| C．To praise their writing skills. |
| D．To help readers understand Weiner’s book. |
| A．Its views on history are well-presented. |
| B．Its ideas can be applied to daily life. |
| C．It includes comments from readers. |
| D．It leaves an open ending. |
| A．Objective and plain. |
| B．Daring and ambitious. |
| C．Serious and hard to follow. |
| D．Humorous and straightforward. |
4 . Bike Rental & Guided Tours
Welcome to Amsterdam, welcome to MacBike. You see much more from the seat of a bike! Cycling is the most economical, sustainable and fun way to explore the city, with its beautiful canals, parks, squares and countless lights. You can also bike along lovely landscapes outside of Amsterdam.
Why MacBike
MacBike has been around for almost 30 years and is the biggest bicycle rental company in Amsterdam. With over 2,500 bikes stored in our five rental shops at strategic locations, we make sure there is always a bike available for you. We offer the newest bicycles in a wide variety, including basic bikes with foot brake (刹车), bikes with hand brake and gears (排挡), bikes with child seats, and children’s bikes.
Prices
Hand Brake, Three Gears | Foot Brake, No Gears | |
1 hour | €7.50 | €5.00 |
3 hours | €11.00 | €7.50 |
1 day (24 hours) | €14.75 | €9.75 |
Each additional day | €8.00 | €6.00 |
Guided City Tours
The 2.5-hour tour covers the Gooyer Windmill, the Skinny Bridge, the Rijksmuseum, Heineken Brewery and much more. The tour departs from Dam Square every hour on the hour, starting at 1:00 pm every day. You can buy your ticket in a MacBike shop or book online.
1. What is an advantage of MacBike?| A．It gives children a discount. | B．It offers many types of bikes. |
| C．It organizes free cycle tours. | D．It has over 2,500 rental shops. |
| A．€15.75. | B．€19.50. | C．€22.75. | D．€29.50. |
| A．The Gooyer, Windmill. | B．The Skinny Bridge. |
| C．Heineken Brewery. | D．Dam Square. |
5 . Turning soil, pulling weeds, and harvesting cabbage sound like tough work for middle and high school kids. And at first it is, says Abby Jaramillo, who with another teacher started Urban Sprouts, a school garden program at four low-income schools. The program aims to help students develop science skills, environmental awareness, and healthy lifestyles.
Jaramillo’s students live in neighborhoods where fresh food and green space are not easy to find and fast food restaurants outnumber grocery stores. “The kids literally come to school with bags of snacks and large bottles of soft drinks,” she says. “They come to us thinking vegetables are awful, dirt is awful, insects are awful.” Though some are initially scared of the insects and turned off by the dirt, most are eager to try something new.
Urban Sprouts’ classes, at two middle schools and two high schools, include hands-on experiments such as soil testing, flower-and-seed dissection, tastings of fresh or dried produce, and work in the garden. Several times a year, students cook the vegetables they grow, and they occasionally make salads for their entire schools.
Program evaluations show that kids eat more vegetables as a result of the classes. “We have students who say they went home and talked to their parents and now they’re eating differently,” Jaramillo says.
She adds that the program’s benefits go beyond nutrition. Some students get so interested in gardening that they bring home seeds to start their own vegetable gardens. Besides, working in the garden seems to have a calming effect on Jaramillo’s special education students, many of whom have emotional control issues. “They get outside,” she says, “and they feel successful.”
1. What do we know about Abby Jaramillo?| A．She used to be a health worker. | B．She grew up in a low-income family. |
| C．She owns a fast food restaurant. | D．She is an initiator of Urban Sprouts. |
| A．The kids’ parents distrusted her. | B．Students had little time for her classes. |
| C．Some kids disliked garden work. | D．There was no space for school gardens. |
| A．Far-reaching. | B．Predictable. |
| C．Short-lived. | D．Unidentifiable. |
| A．Rescuing School Gardens | B．Experiencing Country Life |
| C．Growing Vegetable Lovers | D．Changing Local Landscape |
6 . Before the Renaissance (文艺复兴), art developed very slowly for about 1,000 years in Europe. Most art was made to serve the Church. Human beings in the art work were typically described as morally fallen and had to be saved by God and human life was regarded just a preparation for the happiness in the other world.
But the Renaissance (14〜16 century) upended all the above ideas. The “Renaissance Men” thought that the best way to serve God was not to bow down in church all day long but to recognize and make better use of the talents that God gave them. Human life was much more than a preparation for the other world.
For the Renaissance artists, they started to combine art and science in their work. They studied human bodies like doctors, nature like biologists and the laws of perspective like mathematicians to create realistic paintings and statues. For example, Leonardo da Vinci — an Italian sculptor, engineer, inventor and thinker — studied human bodies and observed the flight of birds. Another equally inventive and fearless Italian artist, Michelangelo Buonarroti, even went so far as to show in his work that human beings were truly made in God’s own image and that they were as great as their own creator. Raffaello Santi, the youngest of the great three Italian Renaissance artists，combined the quiet elegance of Leonardo with the raw power of Michelangelo. In his huge painting, The School of Athens, Raffaello celebrated the great ancient thinkers — a shocking break from Church tradition. And to make these once forbidden figures seem even greater, Raffaello presented the great thinkers of ancient Greece as the leading geniuses of his generation. Not only did these Renaissance-era Italians appreciate the great minds of the ancient world, they considered themselves in the same league.
Although the cultural explosion slowed down in Italy by 1600, people from around the world were already attracted to see the Renaissance-era masterpieces by then. Especially today, people continue to get inspiration from the great works of the era in the country.
1. What did the “Renaissance Men” think of human beings?| A．They should make best use of their own talents. |
| B．They were playthings of the religious authorities. |
| C．They were morally bad guys and had to be saved by God. |
| D．They had to abandon God in order to enjoy life in this world. |
| A．He was innocent. | B．He was unfearing. |
| C．He was unashamed. | D．He was too out-spoken. |
| A．Italy has a long history. |
| B．Nothing can exist forever. |
| C．The Renaissance has a lasting influence. |
| D．People love beautiful and thoughtful things. |
| A．The Greatest Renaissance Thinker in Greece |
| B．The Renaissance’s Artistic Significance in Italy |
| C．The Causes Leading to Slow Development in Europe |
| D．The Bad Influence of the Church Before the Renaissance |
7 . Thousands of years have passed since humans discovered silk, but scientists are still finding new uses for this remarkable material. Now researchers say it could help tackle a growing environmental and health concern: Micro-plastics.
Micro-plastics that are now found worldwide are increasingly recognized as a serious pollution threat, and have been found in the bloodstream of animals and people. Some of these micro plastics are intentionally added to a variety of products to generally protect some specific active components from being degraded by exposure to air. For example, vitamins are often delivered in the form of micro capsules packed into a pill or capsule,and herbicides(除草剂)are similarly enveloped. But the materials used today for such micro-encapsulation are plastics that stay in the environment for a long time. To date, there has been no practical, economical alternative available that would biodegrade naturally.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and chemical company BASF developed a silk-based biodegradable alternative to these capsules.
Silk is recognized as safe for food or medical use, as it degrades naturally in the body. The silk protein used in the new alternative material is widely available and inexpensive and the silk fibers can simply be dissolved(溶解), lead researcher Benedetto Marelli says. Besides, the processing is so simple and tun-able that the resulting material can be adapted to work on existing manufacturing equipment.
Replacing non-biodegradable micro-capsules with silk might not work in every case,but given the current and future challenges related to food insecurity, agricultural production, and a changing climate, the silk-based material is of great importance. Products using silk-based micro-capsules are expected to be commercially available in a few years. And the researchers will next try encapsulating active components that could require a different manufacturing approach, such as those that must remain in liquid or gas forms.
1. What can be inferred from paragraph 2?| A．Removing plastic pollution is a piece of cake. |
| B．Micro-plastics can degrade quickly and naturally. |
| C．Micro-plastics have become a severe pollution threat. |
| D．Developing an alternative for micro-plastics is urgent. |
| A．It is economical. | B．It is biodegradable. |
| C．It is widely available. | D．It is skin-friendly. |
| A．Its promising future. | B．Its marketing method. |
| C．Its existing limitations. | D．Its making approach. |
| A．Climate. | B．Agriculture. |
| C．Technology Advances. | D．Health Guidelines. |
8 . Food waste contributes to ever-growing landfills (垃圾堆).
Don’t buy too much food whenever you go grocery shopping.
Always make a shopping list.
Use the “First-In-First-Out” method. For example, placing the newly bought foods at the back of the fridge or cupboard will encourage people to use the ones that are in the front row. This will ensure that you know what you have and reduce food waste.
| A．It can help keep your grocery trips short. |
| B．Having a fully filled fridge may look nice. |
| C．Your fridge may be too crowded to function well. |
| D．It is a waste of your money, as well as your effort. |
| E．Some people like to store up food for emergencies. |
| F．Foods need proper storage to prevent them going bad. |
| G．If you can’t see what foods you have, you’ll forget them. |
Last week, we were walking in the campus
10 . When dogs get lonely, they like keeping themselves busy by making a big mess around the house and that doesn’t really sit well with their owners. That’s why one German radio host, who also happens to be a dog owner came up with the idea for a programme designed to relax dogs and make them feel like they aren’t alone.
When 30-year-old Stephan Stock, a radio host at RadioTon, in Germany’s BadenWürttemberg region, announced the creation of a programme aimed at dogs, everyone thought it was just a clever April Fools trick. However, it wasn’t. For the past three and a half months, Hallo Hasso has been pumping out music for lonely dogs both on the radio and online.
Stock says he was inspired to create the special programme by his pet dog, Layla, who would sometimes get so bored when left alone that she would keep herself busy by making a big mess around the house. He and his colleagues at RadioTon started researching what kind of music usually appeals to dogs, and learnt that it should have as little drum and electric guitar as possible, and should be very slow.
“It’s not about keeping dogs quiet,” Stock said about Hallo Hasso. “It’s more about the dog feeling he’s not alone.” He adds that Layla isn’t as restless since listening to Hallo Hasso, and has become relatively quiet, even letting him take a nap (打盹儿) to the music from the radio.
Hallo Hasso is only available in BadenWürttemberg, via radio, but if you’d like to see if it can calm your fourlegged pet, the programme can also be accessed online here. Just press the “play” arrow at the top of the page and let the music work its magic. If this doesn’t work, there’s always Dog TV.
1. What do lonely dogs usually do?| A．Bark fiercely. | B．Lie quietly. |
| C．Create surprise. | D．Cause damage. |
| A．They thought poorly of it. |
| B．They didn’t take it seriously. |
| C．They showed great interest in it. |
| D．They eagerly expected its broadcast. |
| A．It’s accessible only by radio. |
| B．It aims at keeping dogs quiet. |
| C．It has no specific limit on music types. |
| D．It’s a product of Stock’s own life experience. |
| A．On a webpage. | B．In a newspaper. |
| C．In a pet magazine. | D．In a research report. |
