1 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. unremarkable     B.drawn        C. practical   D.sensation     E.setbacks       F.resolving G.applauding              H.inevitably          I.originality     J. subsequent       K.essentially

How did the Wright brothers take flight?

Wilbur and Orville Wright didn’t care much for attention. But after publicly demonstrating their flying machine, the inventors of the airplane became overnight international    1    . Crowds gathered, watching them go airborne (升空) and    2    their genius and courage. Thousands followed their achievements, which repeatedly made front-page news. While it might sound nice to say the Wrights were born inventors and geniuses who had always been     3     to aeronautics (航空学), that’s not really the case. Beginning in their Midwestern youth, the brothers faced numerous    4    . Their achievements stemmed from their own initiative and    5    .

Before they made history, Wilbur and Orville were, in one sense, fairly    6     children. They didn’t meet the typical standards of success.Though Wilbur was well read and Orville took advanced courses, neither graduated from high school and both struggled to get by on their own early in life. At the start, the brothers didn’t intend to invent the airplane. They simply reviewed what others had published about aeronautic, hoping they could make some sort of contributions. And that was when they noticed, to their surprise, very little progress had been made in the field. Wilbur and Orville realized that flight experiments had hit three main roadblocks to progress. They lacked a way to control the aircraft, a good wing design and a propulsion (推动力) system to power the flight. From there,     7    these problems became the brothers’ goal. Through trial and error, on December 17, 1903, the brothers flew the first manageable aircraft into the air, which proved the Wright Flyer could make a sustained, controlled and powered heavier-than-air flight. The aerial age truly began.

Though the Wright brothers had made history, their airplane was    8    only a proof of concept. It could make straight-line flights, but the design didn’t yet have any     9    use for society. In the     10    years of hard work and devotion, the brothers refined their aircraft. In1908, Wilbur demonstrated their plane in France, successfully proving what he and Orville had done.

2 . 阅读有关莫奈和印象派的文章。用方框中单词或短语的正确形式填空。

be fond of            emerge             influential             in particular purchase            realistic             subjective                 theme

Unlike the earlier Realists who painted in a     1     style, Impressionist painters focused more on their     2     feelings of things and instant impressions. When Impressionism     3     in France in the late 19th century, artists became more interested in everyday subject matter. They were also fascinated by modern objects. As one of the most     4     Impressionist painters, Claude Monet was impressed by the visual effects of the steam engine     5    , and he later produced twelve paintings of a train station in Paris. In 1883, Monet and his large family moved to Giverny, where he     6     a house and some land for his gardens. During his days at Giverny, Monet     7     painting his own gardens, with the water lilies, the pond, and the arched bridge. From this we can see that there were two clear     8     apparent in his work throughout his career: colours and reflections in water.

3 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. defined                 B. aiding                 C. trends                 D. dominate          E. typical        F. loss G. necessities               H. featured            I. mark                  J. survive             K. appliances

American Decoration in the Middle of the 20th Century

Home decorating has come a long way over the decades. Certain elements that began as     1    for survival—like fireplaces—have transformed into decorative elements in the modern age. Some styles are still massively popular, inspiring copycat furniture that sells for thousands. Other     2    are ignored or even ridiculed.

No one knows what home decoration of the future will look like. But if we look back through history, we can guess which design elements will come back—and which will disappear forever.

The Great Depression affected every aspect of American life—including decoration.   People were just trying to     3    during the 1930s, which didn’t leave a lot of room for non-essentials. But that doesn’t mean everyone gave up on making their homes look beautiful. A     4    living room would have a few throw rugs in interesting patterns, too. There was no one type of furniture that     5    the 1930s—curved and straight line furniture still     6    as the Art Deco style from the previous era was still popular. Plastic chairs and wingback chairs all had a place in the 1930s home. People were also likely to use what they had and not care so much about matching a certain taste.

It’s impossible to describe the 1940s without mentioning World War II. During the first half of the decade, home design took a backseat to     7    the war effort. The second half was much different. Returning soldiers had something new to look forward to: new kitchens with     8    such as refrigerators, freezers, and dishwashers. Traditional wood furniture in dark or blonde tones graced every room of the home.

Post-war America was a lot happier and shinier than recent decades. With a prospering middle class and a healthy economy, people had more time and money to devote to new pursuits—like decorating their houses.

The unfussy furniture made popular by Charles Eames started to     9    the American household. Everything was simple and uncomplicated. Wall to wall carpeting became the most desirable type of flooring, especially in unique colours.

The 60s brought about many changes to American culture and home design was no exception. People wanted to show off their unique sense of style more than ever before. Homes weren’t just seen as a     10    of how successful you were—they were also a chance to let your personality shine through home decoration.

4 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. occasionally               B. opt               C. witnessed               D. subject               E. spans F. available                    G. lined             H. promising               I. steadily               J. dawn K. escaping

Route 66, the historic highway known as “America’s Main Street”. The 2, 400-mile, two-lane road, completed in 1932, passed through eight states and three time zones between Chicago and Los Angeles. Historically,     1     with gas stations and dusty little American towns, Route 66 was the road to the    2    land, California.

When it was established in 1926, it was a beacon of progress at the    3    of the automobile age. It became the path to a better life in the 1930s for Okies (流动雇农)    4    the Dust Bowl (沙尘暴). It served troops in the 1940s as their convoys(车队)prepared to enter World WarⅡ. It reached its pop culture peak in the 1950s and 1960s as the icon of the American road trip. It was immortalized in song and was even the    5    of a popular television show.

“Following the publication of ‘Route 66: The Mother Road’ in 1990, I was often asked if I was surprised by all the attention my book received from the news media and the public,” says Michael Wallis, co-founder of the Route 66 Alliance. “My early response was that I was not surprised since I knew there were many others who knew that the historic highway was not only alive and well but that at least 85 percent of the Mother Road was still    6    for travelers to enjoy.”

”However, it was not long before my attitude changed, as I    7    the unprecedented increase of interest in Route 66 across the nation and, in time, around the world. Those numbers have    8    continued to spiral upward. I know that the future of Route 66 is not only assured but glowing as bright as a band of neon (霓虹).”

Small communities are seeing new life as tourists and road-trippers    9    for the old two-lane passage to get a sense of what they were missing on cruise control. Route 66    10    eight states, from the cornfields of Illinois to the beach in California. Oklahoma has over 400 miles within its borders, more than any other state. The road also is known as the Will Rogers Highway, after the Sooner State’s most famous son.

5 . 选词填空

A. venturing	B. quoted	C. interview	D. sponsor	E. historical	F. launch
G. relatively	H. professional	I. traced	J. facilities	K. regularly

Jiading--Centuries of History, Decades of Change

A book entitled “Jiading–Centuries of History, Decades of Change” by American writer Kate Baker has recently been published in Shanghai. New book launch was held last week at the Old China Hand Style, a major    1    of a series of walking guide books called “Beyond the Concession: Six Walks in Shanghai’s Other Districts.” And Baker’s “Jiading” runs the fourth among the six.

From a foreign point of view, the book has    2    the history of Jiading District back between the year Tang Dynasty(618-907) and the Song Dynasty(960-1279), when Jiading had been “a leading economic and intellectual influence in the region long before Shanghai became a major trading port,” as Bakeris     3    in her book.

Baker first landed in Shanghai in 2011 with her husband, an engineer with Ford, who was sent to work in Shanghai to prepare for the    4    of the Lincoln brand in China. “I and my husband have been traveling around the world in the past 20 years,” Baker said at a(n)    5    with Shanghai Daily. “Wherever I go, I would jump into the local history and culture quickly and deeply.”

Having taken a 15-month online course of Chinese with Harvard’s “ChinaX”, Baker started    6    out on her own. An occasional excursion into the north west of Shanghai, she “discovered” and fell in love with Jiading. Since then, she has visited Jiading    7    , bringing family, friends, and tour groups. At the end of 2013, the Jiading Tourism Bureau officially invited Baker to write a book on Jiading.

With up-to-date facts, useful information and    8    pictures, Baker’s “Jiading” is a well researched guide about interesting areas less than one hour from Shanghai. There are chapters on celebrating the seasonal and agricultural festivals that are unique to the region; stories of    9    figures living in Jiading; changes to the Nanxiang Old Town; tours to numerous gardens, museums and temples; and the development of outdoor recreational activities in Jiading’s Anting Town, such as the F1 car racing, horse riding and golf.

With good public    10    and enough green space, Baker sees Jiading a high growth district of Shanghai, which offers a quality of lifestyle and tourism. “I see a better-planned and forward-thinking of the district government. And I sincerely thank the people of Jiading who welcomed me to their community and trusted me with their narrative,” Baker says.

6 . 阅读下面小短文，根据上下文语境，选择合适的单词填入空白处，每个单词只使用一次，方框里有一个是多余的单词。

A. create   B. defence   C. conquered   D. currency   E. legal   F. identify

Studying the history of UK will make your visit much more enjoyable. In the 16th century, the nearby Wales was joined to the Kingdom of England. Later, the country Scotland was joined to     1     the Kingdom of Great Britain. Finally, the southern part of Ireland broke away from the UK, which resulted in the full name. They use the same flag, as well as share the same     2     and military     3    . However, they also have some differences. The Normans     4     England after the well-known Battle of Hastings and made changes to the     5     system. So many French words slowly entered into the English language.

7 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. alternative             B. capacity             C. characteristic             D. extinct             E. exclude             F. identity G. increasingly       H. interacting             I. measuring                    J. narrative             K. restore

The earliest storytellers

A stunning cave painting discovered in Indonesia may be the earliest evidence of storytelling. The artwork is at least 43,900 years old, and shows that humans were depicting scenes tens of thousands of years earlier than previously thought.

The painting is a 4.5-metre-wide hunting scene, discovered by Maxime Aubert of Griffith University, Australia and his colleagues. It depicts at least eight small human-like figures hunting two pigs and four dwarf buffaloes with spears or ropes. “It’s a(n)    1    scene,” says Aubert. He and his colleagues calculated the painting’s age by    2    the levels of uranium (铀) in stone layers that cover the images. At 43,900 years old, it could be the oldest figurative cave painting that has yet been found although we don't know what type of human made them. Until this discovery, the oldest known artworks depicting visual “stories”, with humans and animals    3    in a recognizable scene, dated from around 20,000 years ago and was found in Europe, such as the famous Lascaux paintings in France. “Now we show that at least 44,000 years ago, in South-East Asia, humans were telling stories and they were depicting them in rock art,” says Aubert.

“It’s really an exciting discovery,” says Genevieve von Petzinger at the University of Victoria, Canada, “It shows a (n)    4    timeline of how art developed. When you get a scene like this one, it opens the door a little further." The human-like figures appear to have animal    5    .” They are half human, half animal. The oldest previously known example was the Lion Man statue. Carved around 40,000 years ago, it combines a lion's head and human body. Until now, it was the earliest evidence of the ability of humans to depict things that don’t exist in nature-a(n)    6    linked to imagination and spirituality. “Now it seems the same thing was happening in South-East Asia, but even earlier,” says Aubert.

The cave painting gives us a glimpse into the minds of the people who created the Indonesian art, but we don’t yet know whether they were modern humans or one of our    7    cousins. The team hasn't found human remains in the Sulawesi cave, says Aubert, so it isn't possible to be sure of the    8    of the artists.

One possible group is the Denisovans, who may also have lived in Asia at this time. Earlier this year, while studying a site in China thought to have been home to Denisovans, a team of researchers revealed artistic engravings on a piece of bone.

“We can’t completely    9    Denisovans or another species,” says Aubert of the Indonesian cave art, “There were probably at least two other species that lived in this region at the same time as modern humans.”

The discovery comes as archaeologists    10    turn their attentions towards Asia. “People should stay tuned to Asia,” says von Petzinger, “In the next decade there will be many exciting announcements coming from this part of the world.”

8 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. polluted       B. consideration       C. undergoing       D. alternatives       E. account F. power       G. gathered       H. locally       I. present       J. readily       K. available

The course of human history has seen several changes in the forms of energy. Human inventions have dramatically increased the average amount of energy     1     for use per person. The first step toward the developing of more efficient fuels was taken when people discovered that they could use vegetable oils and animal fats instead of     2     or cut wood. Charcoal gave off a more intensive heat than wood and was more easily obtainable than organic fats. The Greeks first began to use coal for metal smelting in the 4th century, but it didn’t come into extensive use until the Industrial Revolution.

In the 1700s, more energy used in the United States and other nations     3     industrialization came from renewable sources such as wood, water streams and wind etc. These were     4     obtainable supplies. By mid-1800, 91 percent of all commercial energy consumed in the United States and European countries was obtained from wood. However, at the beginning of the 20^th century, coal became a major energy source and replaced wood. Although in most regions and climate zones wood was more     5     accessible than coal, the latter represents a more concentrated source of energy. In 1910, natural gas and oil firmly replaced coal as the main source of fuel because they burned more cleanly and     6     less. Unlike coal, oil could be refined to manufacture liquid fuels for vehicles, a very important     7     in the early 1900s, when the automobile arrived on the scene.

Nowadays, fuels such as oil and natural gas provide over 82 percent of commercial and industrial energy to     8     the world economic growth. Other forms of energy derived from nuclear fission and solar power     9     for 18 percent. However, with the petroleum prices rising and the limitations in fossil fuels, energy     10     will eventually become more attractive to reduce the dependency on oil and natural gas.

9 . 阅读下面小短文，根据上下文语境，从所给的A、B、C、D、E、F六个选项中，选出最佳选项填入空白处，每个单词只使用一次，每个方框里有一个是多余的单词。

A.currency     B. legal       C. stages        D. joined     E. surrounded     F. resulted

In history, the United Kingdom went through several     1    before the name formed at last. From the 16^th to the 19^th century, Wales, Scotland and the Kingdom of Ireland were     2     to it one after another. But in the 20^th century, the southern part of Ireland broke away from it, which     3     in the name today: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The four countries work together in some areas. They share the same flag, and use the same     4    and military defence but have different education and    5    systems. Throughout history, it was taken over by four different groups.

10 . Complete the personal account with the correct form of the verbs below.

tell   shout   reply   greet   weep   speak

We were in Rome when World War Ⅱ ended. The first we knew of it was when we heard bells ringing and people running into the streets. Everyone was     1     with joy and excitement. “What’s going on?” I asked. “It seems like the war is over,”     2     one of the soldiers. Everyone started     3     at once. Some people began     4     with joy and relief. Others were     5     each other that it was a day that they would go down in history. Later that day we     6     the allied tanks as they rolled into the square. It was a day of great joy and one I will never forget!