It was July 2019 and my mum Rebecca was taking me on a 120km walking holiday from Portugal to Spain as a special treat for my 10th birthday. One day, while walking along the coastal path staring out at the Atlantic ocean, I chatted away to Mum. “When Lexi turns.10, are you going to take her on a trip like this?” I asked, referring to my seven-year-old sister. Mum said Lexi had already asked to go to Svalbard in the north of Norway because she was crazy about polar bears.
Although I was still on my first special trip, I'd been learning about ancient civilizations at school and knew I'd love to see some relics in the flesh. So I continued saying, “Why don’t I go to Egypt while you're in Svalbard with Lexi?”, adding that my dad, Olaf, could take me there. “Great, but I'm not paying for it.” Muim replied, chuckling. “That’s fine. I'll pay,” I said, “I’ll save up my pocket money and get a job."
So that’s exactly what I did. Though I was too young to do any other paid work, I had my own solution. I started saving my $10-a-week pocket money. Also, I washed my parents’car or mowed the lawn for extra cash.
In 2020, we moved to Perth. One day, I saw a pamphlet(小册子) in the letter box advertising a job delivering catalogues. When I told Mum I wanted to do it, she tried to put me off the idea, reminding me that the work was tiring and time-consuming. But when seeing the determination in my eyes, she agreed to call them. Thankfully, my young age didn’t bother them-I got the job. On a Monday, a mountain of catalogues were dropped off at our house, which shocked me a lot. I told myself to calm down and dedicated to work. It took me nine hours to sort through them. At first, I used my bike and carried the catalogues in my backpack to deliver them to 430 houses in my area.
注意:1.续写词数应为150个左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
After several deliveries, I found it wasn't very efficient.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Three and a half years later, I saved a massive $6,500, and Dad and I flew to Cairo, Egypt.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A composting (堆肥) program at The Wesley School in Los Angeles is helping students get hands-on experience and ways
The school’s composting program
The school will use the compost on plants around campus. Some will
It takes two hours for the container to be emptied and prepared to receive
3 . Growing up on a farm, Tori James spent much of her early years outdoors, building shelters and playing in muddy streams. She
Today, James is a(n)
Yet ahead of her first exploration at the age of 18, James had
James encourages would-be adventurers not to be
A.describes | B.admits | C.imagines | D.praises |
A.wildlife | B.science | C.exploration | D.competition |
A.explained | B.understood | C.declared | D.predicted |
A.measure | B.approach | C.admire | D.reach |
A.patient | B.ordinary | C.professional | D.honest |
A.coldest | B.highest | C.prettiest | D.straightest |
A.complete | B.coach | C.judge | D.cancel |
A.record | B.date | C.goal | D.standard |
A.lost | B.doubted | C.limited | D.developed |
A.entering | B.restoring | C.leaving | D.expanding |
A.emergency | B.accident | C.event | D.magic |
A.pushed ahead | B.kept apart | C.cheered up | D.put off |
A.something | B.nothing | C.anything | D.everything |
A.academic | B.creative | C.hidden | D.artistic |
A.eventually | B.particularly | C.generally | D.obviously |
4 . How to Deal with Awkward Silences
We all know what it’s like when a conversation dies off and you’re left to sit in silence.
• Think of topics ahead of time.
Before attending a social event, think of a few “go-to” topics to jumpstart a dead conversation. This will help you to fill the silences instead of struggling for words in the moment. Recent news, local events, popular books and television shows are all good fallback options.
• Ask open-ended questions.
Ask questions that have more than one possible answer.
•
As with any good conversation, the biggest key is to listen. If they respond to your question with a short statement such as “Yes”or “No”, that might indicate that they aren’t comfortable talking about a particular subject. Instead, talk about something that you know they're interested in. For example, “I heard you won your football game the other night. I’d love to hear about it.”
• Give a compliment (表扬).
A.Keep the conversation flowing. |
B.It also allows you to spend more time together. |
C.Listen carefully and respond to their reactions. |
D.There’s only one word to describe it: awkward. |
E.This is always a safe bet, as long as it’s appropriate. |
F.Such questions are likely to get the person talking more. |
G.However, avoid some subjects that may cause arguments. |
5 . When people think of word innovators throughout history, male writers likely come to mind. Shakespeare is credited with inventing more than 1,700 words, including “bedroom”, “courtship” and “swagger”. Charles Dickens is said to have first used the words “butterfingers” and “doormat”, and Dr. Seuss reportedly came up with “nerd”.
But despite contributions from famous writers, historians say another group has an even greater impact on the development of language: teenage girls. Women lead up to 90 percent of linguistic (语言的) changes, as sociolinguist William Labov observed in the early 2000s. In fact, he wrote, women are often linguistically ahead of men “by a full generation”.
Now women are leading the charge online. Though Oxford University Press’2023 word of the year, “rizz”, meaning charm, was coined by a man, several runners-up, including “situationship” and “swiftie” were inspired or first used by women. The term “goblin mode”, which refers to lazy behavior, was Oxford’s 2022 word of the year and appears to have been first used by a woman on Twitter in 2009.
It’s often impossible to tell who first used new words. But whether or not young girls invent new phrases, they are more likely to be early adopters of the latest lingo (术语), says University of Toronto linguist Sali Tagliamonte, “They’re pushing changes forward.”
There are a handful of possible reasons why girls lead lexical (词汇的) innovation. According to Gretchen McCulloch, author of Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, women tend to be more socially aware. They have larger social circles and may be exposed to more language diversity. And because women tend to be caregivers, boys usually learn language from their mothers, whereas women and girls learn words from other women.
1. Why does the author mention some words coined by male writers?A.To compare male and female writers. |
B.To introduce some well-known writers. |
C.To lead in the topic to be talked about. |
D.To put forward a point to be proved. |
A.Rizz. | B.Situationship. | C.Swiftie. | D.Goblin mode. |
A.Dr. Seuss. | B.William Labov. |
C.Sali Tagliamonte. | D.Gretchen McCulloch. |
A.New Words Are Added to English Dictionaries |
B.Female Teens Take a Lead in Linguistic Changes |
C.Women Are More Sensitive to Language Diversity |
D.New Terms Make Communication More Colorful |
6 . The memory of one particular summer evening is still burned in my brain as if it were yesterday. There was nothing but wide-open fields for miles and miles around our rural Minnesota home. We never saw strangers not ever and here on this hot evening was a real live one walking up our driveway.
A young man, a slightly-built hitchhiker (搭便车的人) approached our door. He knew there was a storm coming, and he desperately needed shelter. Not wanting to intrude on our home and family, he asked my dad if he could sleep in our basement for the night for protection from the rain. Instead of saying yes, my dad loaded us all up in the 1959 Chevrolet: five kids, my mum, and the man.
Our family consisted of three older children whose father had died young and three more children from the union of my mother and father. Our older brother Jerry was in the Navy, on a ship somewhere overseas. Our mum and dad worried about him.
We drove him 10 miles to the next town, where Dad bought the man a room for the night along with a hot evening meal. In the car after we dropped off the stranger, I heard my dad say to my mum, “I just hope that if Jerry ever needs anything, this kindness will be returned to him.”
Weeks later, Dad told my uncle about the young man. My uncle suggested that perhaps my dad shouldn’t have taken the risk of having a stranger in our car. My dad replied, “You are absolutely right. I should have invited him into our home.”
1. What does the underlined phrase “intrude on” in paragraph 2 mean?A.Disturb. | B.Scare. | C.Embarrass. | D.Upset. |
A.By providing a bed for him in the basement. |
B.By letting him stay for the night in the car. |
C.By taking him to a hotel in another town. |
D.By cooking a hot evening meal for him. |
A.The family had five children in total. |
B.Jerry was serving in the army in the USA. |
C.They had no spare room for the hitchhiker. |
D.Dad wished his elder son to be treated kindly. |
A.Worthwhile. | B.Inappropriate. | C.Inspiring. | D.Unbelievable. |
7 . 2024 Travel Planner: The Best Things to See in the UK
Icons of British Fashion, Oxfordshire
A fashion exhibition will open at Blenheim Palace in March. Icons of British Fashion is the largest event in the palace’s 300-year history and will showcase some of Britain’s most famous designers. Clothing, drawings, photographs and patterns will be on display. 23 March to 30 June. Palace entry tickets are valid for a year and cost £ 38 for adults, £ 22 for under-16s.
Toulouse-Lautrec in Bath
A new exhibition, Toulouse-Lautrec and the Masters of Montmartre, opens at Victoria Art Gallery in Bath in April. More than 30 pieces from the artist’s colourful career will be shown alongside works by other artists of the day. This is the only chance to see Lautrec’s complete collection of posters in the UK before it moves to a permanent home at the Musée d’Ixelles in Belgium. 26 April to 29 September, adults £ 10, children £ 3.50.
Back in Time at Beamish
A truly recreated 1950s picture house at Beamish will offer visitors a chance to recall the golden age of movie-going. The cinema will be the latest addition to a “1950s Town” opened last summer at the living history museum. Adults £ 24.95, children £ 15.45, a family of four £ 63.50, valid for a year.
National Gallery goes on tour
The National Gallery celebrates its 200th anniversary on 10 May. To mark the occasion, the gallery is lending 12 of its most iconic paintings to 12 venues across the UK. Paintings will travel to centres from Brighton to Edinburgh, and will all go on display on 10 May. Each of the 12 venues will run exhibitions and digital interventions to showcase its particular painting.
1. How much should a couple with a 5-year-old pay for Blenheim’s exhibition?A.£ 23.50. | B.£ 60.00. | C.£ 63.50. | D.£ 98.00. |
A.Recalling the artist’s career. |
B.Offering chances to make posters. |
C.Employing digital interventions. |
D.Enabling visitors to enjoy arts. |
A.Icons of British Fashion. |
B.Toulouse-Lautrec and the Masters of Montmartre. |
C.1950s Picture House Visit. |
D.National Gallery Painting Show. |