1 . By now, most of us have picked up at least one pandemic (疫情期间的) hobby. And there’s a seemingly common pandemic hobby trend: People who haven’t been able to go anywhere are making imaginary travel plans. Maybe you’re among those who have spent hours researching locations―even though you’re not actually planning to travel.
It turns out that you aren’t alone. People who seem to be interested in public safety recommendations are still planning trips they don’t intend to book. And, when I suddenly found myself addicted to an imaginary girls’ trip to Joshua Tree, I wondered whether this was a healthy distraction (注意力分散).
“It’s an escapist imagination,” said Regine Galanti, a psychologist, adding that there’s nothing wrong with escapism during a global pandemic.
On the one hand, distractions are often beneficial right now. We are a full year into living with COVID-19 as a pandemic, and that means you’ve probably had to navigate a range of emotions like discomfort, sadness, or even boredom. So any hobby that doesn’t harm anyone or endanger your well-being is probably a worthy attempt.
Even if vacation planning is your happy place, Dr. Galanti suggests you “actually think about what you’re trying to achieve.” Why? “Maybe what you’re saying is, I need a vacation from work,” Dr. Galanti explains. “Then take three days off even if you are not going anywhere. “When you figure out what you’re looking for, you might be able to find a small socially distanced adventure in your backyard or a quiet place. Vacation planning is a good way to spend some time, but there might be an even better way to get what you’re desiring.
Anyway, when uncertainty is all around us, creating things to look forward to isn’t a terrible idea. And when things are safer, you’ll have all your plans in place.
1. Why do people make imaginary travel plans during the pandemic?| A．To develop a new hobby. | B．To stay safe and sound. |
| C．To be distracted from reality. | D．To get ready for future travel. |
| A．Express. | B．Balance. | C．Adapt to. | D．Deal with. |
| A．Objective. | B．Negative. | C．Supportive. | D．Unclear. |
| A．Economy. | B．Lifestyle. |
| C．Food culture. | D．Science and technology. |
I had to wait for them to call number 63 before I could get my food.
Ivon suggested that we walk to Bayside. When we arrived, Ivon told me
After about twenty minutes, Ivon came back. He suggested
“I guess they didn’t want us next to the hotel. You can’t have people looking
3 . Just before New Year, the principal (校长) called me into his office and asked me to read a poem written by me at the New Year party. “Sure,” I said with a smile, my dreams of being a famous
For weeks, I worked on my poem,
Well, I was confident until I looked around and realized how many people were there. And how big the hall was, and how
Suddenly, I was on stage with the bright white lights blinding my view of the audience and the feeling that my
The room was
The room was dead silent. Maybe no one liked it. I felt like I was going to faint. Then out of the silence there was
| A．singer | B．performer | C．poet | D．speaker |
| A．quickly | B．carefully | C．gently | D．intelligently |
| A．relaxation | B．comfort | C．pleasure | D．inspiration |
| A．ready | B．right | C．excited | D．tired |
| A．strong | B．little | C．passive | D．shallow |
| A．print | B．give | C．present | D．write |
| A．see | B．feel | C．notice | D．hear |
| A．audience | B．principal | C．poet | D．host |
| A．throat | B．mind | C．dream | D．heart |
| A．microphone | B．poem | C．voice | D．audience |
| A．silent | B．clean | C．empty | D．noisy |
| A．entertain | B．cheer | C．forget | D．observe |
| A．gave out | B．ended up | C．spoke out | D．came out |
| A．stress | B．translate | C．erase | D．choose |
| A．whispering | B．clapping | C．crying | D．chatting |
4 . Are parents rational (理性的) about their children? No. Parents aren’t rational because
My eldest daughter’s
“I sailed around the Mediterranean in a yacht (游艇) when I was seventeen,” she said. “I hiked through the Pyrenees from Spain to Paris. I’ve done rock climbing and deep-sea diving and slept in rainforests in the jungle of Indonesia. Right?”
“Right,” I said, “So what?”
“So this,” she went on. “When I go to the corner drugstore to pick up some shampoo, why do you always tell me to be
There is no satisfactory
All I could say in reply was that when I was 50, my mother would
There is something else, too, that children find it hard to understand. When they are far away, there is nothing we can do about their
But when the children are close, the old protective urge quickly
Most
In the parents’ mind, a child ages but does not
| A．worry | B．fear | C．love | D．need |
| A．easy | B．friendly | C．hard | D．important |
| A．problem | B．explanation | C．warning | D．question |
| A．anger | B．pride | C．worry | D．surprise |
| A．careful | B．brave | C．quick | D．helpful |
| A．question | B．answer | C．problem | D．present |
| A．select | B．remind | C．insist | D．expect |
| A．different | B．extra | C．same | D．right |
| A．success | B．happiness | C．luck | D．safety |
| A．argue | B．think | C．forget | D．complain |
| A．comes back | B．pays back | C．looks back | D．goes back |
| A．prove | B．mean | C．matter | D．mind |
| A．accidents | B．failures | C．changes | D．mistakes |
| A．tolerate | B．protect | C．devote | D．treat |
| A．stop | B．compete | C．grow | D．leave |
5 . J.K. Rowling frequently shows there is magic every day. Her Harry Potter series has helped people through times of stress and depression and she is always there to deliver wise words of encouragement.
She is one celebrity who is very active on Twitter. So when a single dad named Matt Burke sent her a message thanking her for the series, she noticed. Her series had helped strengthen his relationship with his 9-year-old daughter Bailey.
He included a link to his article titled Being a Broke Parent. He explained how he hadn’t found a level of financial stability that allowed him to pay bills on time and take his daughter on more activities and events. The family also doesn’t have the Internet or TV, which means there’s no “digital babysitter”, and he has to rely on his own creative ways to bond with his daughter. Since he received the series, the main thing that has occupied them these days is reading books together.
Burke admits that he thought he was “too cool” for the books when they first came out and he was in his twenties, but he’s loving reading them now. “We switch off chapter by chapter reading them out loud,” Burke explains. “This not only allows her to get more used to reading aloud in front of someone, but it gets me directly involved in something she loves, and it gives me the chance to be very dramatic when I read my chapters and bring myself into the characters in the book, which has proven to be a ton of fun.”
After hearing Burke’s story, Rowling said how honored she was when Harry Potter was a part of his family’s life and offered Burke more signed books. Besides, people are also offering to send Burke more books as gifts. For Burke, this experience, far more than gifts, will be what he treasures.
1. Why did Burke thank J.K. Rowling according to the text?| A．She guided him how to write a good story. |
| B．She encouraged him when he was in trouble. |
| C．Her books helped him through times of confusion. |
| D．Her books helped him improve his bond with his daughter. |
| A．He has found it interesting to read the series. |
| B．He was too old to understand the series better. |
| C．He has chosen a better way of reading the series. |
| D．He hopes to play a role in the drama in the future. |
| A．Unique. | B．Normal. | C．Precious. | D．Funny. |
| A．J.K. Rowling chooses to help improve kids’ health. |
| B．J.K. Rowling gives a magical gift to a single father. |
| C．J.K. Rowling has a deep influence on others’ growth. |
| D．Burke comes to know J.K. Rowling through her series. |
6 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。
When I was little, I lived in a house with a beautiful garden full of all kinds of flowers, and roses were the most beautiful of them. There was nothing I enjoyed more than sitting in the garden with my mother as she read stories to me. When I was in primary school and old enough to read, I enjoyed reading stories aloud to her.
I will never forget one day when I was in the third grade. I had been picked to be the princess in the school play, and for weeks my mother had rehearsed (排练) my lines so hard with me. But no matter how easily I acted 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、解说员) part to the play, and asked me to change roles. Her word, kindly expressed, still hurt, especially when I saw my part go to another girl.
I didn’t tell my mother what had happened when I went home after school that day. But she sensed my pain. Instead of suggesting we practice my lines, she asked if I wanted to take a walk in the garden.
It was May and roses were blossoming and, under the trees, we could also see yellow dandelions (蒲公英) in the grass, as if a painter had painted our garden with red, yellow and green. I watched my mother casually bend down by one dandelion. “I think I’m going to dig up all these weeds,” she said, pulling it up by its roots. “From now on, we’ll have only roses in this garden.”
“But I like dandelions,” I protested. “All flowers are beautiful --- even dandelions.”
My mother looked at me seriously. “Yes, every flower is beautiful in its own way, isn’t it?” She asked thoughtfully. I nodded, pleased that I had won her over. “And that is true of people too,” she added. “Not everyone can be a princess, but there is no shame in that.” Relieved that she had guessed my pain, I started to cry as I told her what had happened. She listened and smiled, patting me gently.
“But you will be a beautiful narrator,” she said.
注意：
1．所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2．续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
“But you will be a beautiful narrator,” she said,
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After the play, I took home the dandelions.
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It was the last game of the season. Cali had been playing soccer all summer. She really enjoyed chasing the black and white ball across the grassy field. But still, Cali had not scored one single goal. Cali was-pretty-good-at passing the ball, but she couldn’t kick the ball past the goalkeeper. She wondered if she should quit soccer.
“Don’t give up,” said her coach. “You just need to keep trying and you will get better.”
“Don’t give up,” said Uncle George and Aunt Lisa.
But it was half-time, and Cali was feeling frustrated. Every time she got a chance to kick the ball, it would go in the wrong direction or a player from the other team would take control of it. Maybe she would try a different sport next summer.
The break was over. The two teams walked back onto the field, both determined to win. Cali heard her aunt whisper in her ear. “You can do it.”
Cali smiled at her aunt and headed to her position.
The score was tied with one goal each. The yellow team was pretty good, but Cali’s blue team was fast. Cali was off to the side when the ball headed her way. She ran over to it and kicked it. She watched it land right in front of a girl on the yellow team who expertly stopped it and sent it back in the other direction. Cali sighed.
The little girl watched the ball go back and forth between the players. Her heart wasn’t in the game anymore. Cali decided she’d wait until the game was over and then she was going to hang up her soccer boots for good.
She was woken from her daydream by some music. It was the sweet, happy jingle of the ice cream truck. It was driving right beside the soccer field, playing its music loudly to attract customers. The truck stopped. The music kept playing.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡相应位置上作答。
The players on both teams turned to look at it.
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By the time the other girls had noticed, Cali was positioned right in front of the net.
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8 . I fell in love with the minister’s son the winter I turned fourteen. He was not Chinese, but as whitre as Mary in the manger. For Christmas I prayed for this blond-haired boy, Robert. and a slim new American nose.
When I found out that my parents had invited the minister’s family over for Christmas Eve dinner, I cried. What would Robert think of our shabby Chinese Christmas? What would he think of our noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners? What terrible disappointment would he feel upon seeing not a roasted turkey and sweet potatoes but Chinese food?
On Christmas Eve, I saw that my mother had outdone herself in creating a strange menu. She was pulling black veins out of the backs of fleshy prawn（大虾）. The kitchen was littered with shocking mounds if raw food: A slimy rock cod with bulging（鼓起的）eyes that pleaded not to be thrown into a pan of hot oil. Tofu, which looked like stacked wedged of rubbery white sponges. A bowl soaking dried fungus back to life. A plate of liquid, their backs crisscrossed with knife marking, so they resembled bicycle tires.
And then they arrived --- the minister’s family and all my relatives in a clamor（喧闹）of doorbells and rumpled（皱的）Christmas packages. Robert grunted hello, and I pretended he was not worthy of existence.
Dinner threw me deeper into despair. My relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table. Robert and his family waited patiently for patters to be passed to them. My relatives murmured with pleasure when my mother brought out the whole steamed fish. Robert frowned. Then my father reached his chopsticks just below the fish eye and plucked out the soft meat. “Amy, your favorite,” he said, offering me the tender fish cheek. I wanted to disappear.
At the end of the meal, my father leaned back and burped（打嗝）loudly, thanking my mother for her fine cooking. “It’s a polite Chinese custom to show you are satisfied.” explained my father to our astonished guests. Robert was looking down at his plate with a reddened face. The minister managed to bring up a quiet burp. I was stunned into silence for the rest of the night.
After everyone had gone, my mother said to me, “You want to be the same as American girls on the outside.” She handed me an early gift. It was a miniskirt in beige tweed（米黄色粗花呢）. “But inside you must always be Chinese. You must be proud that you are different. Your only shame is to have shame.”
And even though I didn’t agree with her then, I knew that she understood how much I had suffered during the evening’s dinner. It wasn’t until years later long after I had gotten over my crush on Robert ---that I was able to fully appreciate her lesson and the purpose behind her particular menu. For Christmas Eve that year, she had chosen all my favorite food.
1. When the writer found out the minister’s family would come for Christmas Eve dinner, she cried mainly because ______.| A．her mum prepared a disturbingly traditional Chinese dinner. |
| B．she wasn’t ready for her slim new American nose to fir Robert. |
| C．she worried Robert would not accept or bear her Chinese family |
| D．the writer was too nervous to face the minister’s family |
| A．her relatives ignored their American guests |
| B．her family and relatives lacked American manners |
| C．her relatives brought rumpled Christmas package |
| D．Robert didn’t greet me happily when he came to the house |
| A．Mom prepared the special menu to show her love to her daughter |
| B．Robert burped in a quiet way to show understanding of Chinese culture |
| C．the minister’s family enjoyed the food though it is different from theirs |
| D．the writer didn’t appreciate her mother’s effort until the dinner was over |
| A．My Lover, Robert | B．A melting pot | C．Fish Checks | D．Strange Parents |
9 . About five weeks ago, I noticed the skin of our pet lizard was growing dusty. Later, our lizard emerged (出现) from its tank with its old skin flowing behind it. I didn’t think about it much until a morning last week when I knocked my favorite teapot off the table. It burst into hundreds of pieces. As I swept up the mess, I wondered why we had been breaking so many things over the months.
The destruction started three months ago. It was my husband’s birthday. He had just lost his job. The uncertainty was starting to wear on us, so I wanted to do something special.
“Let’s make a cake for Dad!” I cried. My kids screamed with joy. We baked, iced and sprinkled for most of the day. Candles on the cake! Balloons on the walls! Flowers on the table!
Two hours before my husband came back home from another job interview, my daughter climbed up to grab a glass vase from a high shelf. It fell and crashed beside the cake. Tiny pieces of glass were everywhere. She sobbed loudly as I threw the cake away. My husband had banana pudding for his birthday.
Three days ago, the light in our living room suddenly went out. After several frustrating hours of unsuccessful attempts to fix it, my husband suggested watching the Michael Jordan documentary series The Last Dance.
The poignancy (酸楚) of Jordan retiring from his beloved basketball to play baseball and what had pushed him to make such a tough decision took me by surprise. As I watched him take off his basketball uniform and replace it with a baseball uniform, I saw him leaving behind the layer that no longer served him, just as our lizard had. Neither of them chose the moment that had transformed them. But they had to live with who they were after everything was different. Just like us. I realized that we have to learn to leave the past behind.
Humans do not shed skin (蜕皮) as easily as other animals. The beginning of change is upsetting. The process is tiring. Damage changes us before we are ready. I see our lizard, raw and nearly new.
Jordan said that no matter how it ends, it starts with hope. With our tender, hopeful skin, that is where we begin.
1. Why did the author’s husband have banana pudding for his birthday?| A．The birthday cake was ruined. | B．The author made good puddings. |
| C．Pudding was his favorite dessert. | D．They couldn’t afford a birthday cake. |
| A．To prove a theory. | B．To define a concept. |
| C．To develop the theme. | D．To provide the background. |
| A．Treasure Past Experiences. | B．Move on Whatever Happens. |
| C．Love Helps Us through Hardships. | D．Breaking Things Makes No Difference. |
10 . 阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。
When Marco was a boy, he tried everything to get his father’s love and attention. He worked hard to earn good marks; he tried to be obedient (顺从的), he chose inspiring friends and always tried to behave well.
Sensitive and shy, he was so timid (胆怯的) that he always wore turtleneck shirts. He hid behind his hair, which he wore long around his face and ears. To make it worse, Marco was naturally shorter than the other kids. And because his good marks had allowed him to skip second grade — he was younger than everyone else. This added nothing to his already low self-confidence.
When Marco was eight his parents divorced, and Marco was sent to a boarding school. Six years later, he and his young sister Sandra moved in with their dad and his new wife in S-Leonard, a French Canadian and Italian neighborhood on the east side of Montreal, It felt to Marco that his father had little time for him and Sandra. Except for his demands around chores (日常琐事) after school, communication was nonexistent. It seemed to Marco the only time his dad ever spoke to him was to be demanding. He began to fear to come home from school every day.
Marco sank further into his low self-confidence, feeling unappreciated, inadequate, depressed and confused.
One day, his aunt called him. To Marco, this seemed like a miracle. Aunt Ginette usually only called once a year, on his birthday. She said she had just seen some young teenagers participate in a public speaking contest called Gala Personnalite sponsored by Club Optimiste — and she thought about him. She thought he, should give it a try. She told him she firmly believed he could perform on stage like the other kids.
Marco was greatly surprised. Him? Onstage? In a public speaking contest? To agree would be contrary to his entire shy, timid personality. But Aunt Ginette was so confident. She seemed really serious. She was sure it was something he could do. She truly believed in him. And feeling her strong belief, Marco agreed to enter the contest.
注意：
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1:
An energy flooded him, which he never felt before.
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Paragraph 2:
When the big night arrived, his family were all in the audience.
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