1 . When the leaves begin to change their colors and the birds head south, we know the season is starting to change. On September 7 comes White Dew (白露), the 15th solar term (节气) of the year. It indicates the beginning of the cool autumn. As the temperature falls, white dew is often seen on the grass and trees at night.
For writers and poets, autumn is a difficult season to describe. It’s the end of the summer, and therefore a little sad. The days seem to get shorter, and when you wake in the morning, there’s mist (薄雾) and it’s cooler. Winter is just around the corner.
American writer Ernest Hemingway wrote in his book A Moveable Feast (《流动的盛宴》), “You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintry light. ”
But on the other hand, autumn has its good side. There are so many changes at this time of year, such as the colorful leaves and cooler nights. French writer Albert Camus even thought autumn was a second spring, “when every leaf is a flower.” This view is also found in the most famous autumn poem in English literature, To Autumn by John Keats. In that poem, Keats says that autumn has its own songs, just like spring.
Another theme of this season is wisdom. The arrival of autumn is thought to be similar to a person becoming mature (成熟的).
The great Irish poet W.B. Yeats used this idea in his poem The Wild Swans at Coole (《库尔的野天鹅》), writing about the changing seasons in Coole Park in the west of Ireland. Seeing and counting 59 swans, he remembers first making the count as a young man. Seeing the swans do the same thing for all those years, he’s reminded that even though we get older, our hearts always stay the same age.
1. What can be concluded about White Dew?| A．It is often ignored by writers and poets. |
| B．It is the time of year with the most rainfall. |
| C．It indicates the end of the autumn. |
| D．It is when the temperature begins to drop. |
| A．To point out that autumn is very cold. |
| B．To show that winter will soon come. |
| C．To present the sad part of autumn. |
| D．To express sadness about the end of life. |
| A．We can always stay young at heart. |
| B．Autumn is an important season for man. |
| C．Autumn is related to one’s growing old. |
| D．Nature is full of lessons to be learned. |
| A．The solar term White Dew. |
| B．Famous writers’ description of autumn. |
| C．Autumn weather and activities. |
| D．Why autumn is a sad season. |
2 . I know when the snow melts and the first robins (知更鸟) come to call, when the laughter of children returns to the parks and playgrounds, something wonderful is about to happen.
Spring cleaning.
I’ll admit spring cleaning is a difficult notion for modern families to grasp. Today’s busy families hardly have time to load the dishwasher, much less clean the doormat. Asking the family to spend the weekend collecting winter dog piles from the melting snow in the backyard is like announcing there will be no more Wi-Fi. It interrupts the natural order.
“Honey, how about spending the weekend beating the rugs, sorting through the boxes in the basement and painting our bedroom a nice lemony yellow?” I ask.
“Can we at least wait until the NBA matches are over?” my husband answers.
But I tell my family, spring cleaning can’t wait. The temperature has risen just enough to melt snow but not enough for Little League practice to start. Some flowers are peeking out of the thawing ground, but there is no lawn to seed, nor garden to tend. Newly wakened from our winter’s hibernation, yet still needing extra blankets at night, we open our windows to the first fresh air floating on the breeze with all of the natural world demanding “Awake and be clean!”
Biologists offer a theory about this primal impulse to clean out every drawer and closet in the house at spring’s first light, which has to do with melatonin, the sleepytime hormone our bodies produce when it’s dark. When spring’s light comes, the melatonin declines, and suddenly we are awakened to the dusty, virus- filled house we’ve been hibernating in for the past four months.
I tell my family about the science and psychology of a good healthy cleaning at spring arrival. I speak to them about life’s greatest rewards waiting in the removal of soap scum (浮垢) from the bathtub, which hasn’t been properly cleaned since the first snowfall.
“I’ll do it,” says the eldest child, a 21-year-old college student who lives at home. “You will? Wow!” I exclaim.
Maybe after all these years, he’s finally grasped the concept. Maybe he’s expressing his rightful position as eldest child and role model. Or maybe he’s going to Florida for a break in a couple of weeks and he’s being nice to me, the financial-aid officer.
No matter. Seeing my adult son willingly cleaning that dirty bathtub gives me hope for the future of his 12-year-old brother who, instead of working, was found to be sleeping in the seat of the window he was supposed to be cleaning.
“Awake and be clean!” I say.
1. According to the passage, for modern families, spring cleaning ________.| A．calls for more complicated skills |
| B．is no longer something natural to do |
| C．is a highly-respected tradition |
| D．requires more family members to be involved |
| A．Because spring is the best time for us to relax ourselves. |
| B．Because there will be more activities when it gets warmer. |
| C．Because our garden requires immediate cleaning after winter. |
| D．Because the weather in spring makes it easier for us to do so. |
| A．The reduction of melatonin will give rise to wakefulness in our bodies. |
| B．A dusty, virus-filled house is largely to blame for our sleepiness in winter. |
| C．A role model is needed to help other members grasp the concept of spring cleaning. |
| D．The author’s eldest son agrees to clean the bathtub because she will finance his trip. |
| A．Spring Cleaning Affords No Delay! |
| B．Modernity Kills Spring Cleaning |
| C．Spring Cleaning — to Do or Not to Do? |
| D．The Young Need Spring Cleaning |
3 . While the idea of warmer, shorter winters might sound appealing to farmers eager to tap into longer growing seasons those engaged in Georgia’s massive peach industry are finding the trend alarming. Since 1960, the average winter temperature in Georgia, has risen by 5°F. For farmers who depend on cold weather to help peaches grow, the state’s diminishing winters are a warning to adapt or else.
One of the keys to growing the perfect Georgia peach is something called “chill (寒冷的) hours.” Nut and fruit trees require a certain number of chill hours below 45°F to regulate their growth. Without the needed amount, flower buds may be delayed or unpredictable in spring and fruit set and fruit quality will be poor. In Georgia, home to nearly 12,000 acres of peaches, the average peach tree requires anywhere from 650 to 850 chill hours each season.
The impact from a loss of chill hours was felt most recently in 2017, when farms across the state averaged less than 400 hours and 85% of the peach crop was lost. “It was so bad that we didn’t care about the blooms anymore.” Chavez said, “We wondered if the plants would survive.”
While planting new varieties of peaches that require fewer chill hours is part of the solution, it’s not the only characteristic that’s necessary. Despite warmer, shorter winters, Georgia still experiences a consistent frost in early March. Peach varieties with fewer chill hours often bloom earlier, making them easy victims to this freezing spring temperatures.
In response, the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) is experimenting with hybrid varieties that achieve that delicate balance. The days of planting 1,000+ chill hour varieties in Georgia may be gone, but the hope is that continued research into global warming-tolerant varieties may keep the state’s official fruit firmly in the sweet spot of American produce.
“We’ve got to keep changing as the environment changes,” Georgia farmer Lawton Pearson said. “But it’s not something that scares us in the slightest about the future of growing peaches. It’s just something you’ve got to deal with.”
1. What does the underlined word “diminishing” in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Shortened. | B．Freezing. |
| C．Disappearing. | D．Delayed. |
| A．To explain reasons for chill-hours loss. |
| B．To prove 2017 is the worst year in history. |
| C．To confirm peach farmers suffered the most. |
| D．To show the serious consequence of chill-hours loss. |
| A．Improvement of sweetness of peaches. |
| B．Achievement of the shortest chill hours. |
| C．Avoidance of peaches’ much delayed flowering, |
| D．Balance between low chill and normal flowering. |
| A．Curious. | B．Skeptical. |
| C．Positive. | D．Ambiguous. |
There is no month in the whole year in which nature wears a more beautiful appearance than in the month of August. Spring has many beauties, and May is a fresh and blooming month, but the charms of this time of year are enhanced by their contrast with the winter season. August has no such advantage. It comes when we remember nothing but clear skies, green fields, and sweet-smelling flowers—when the memory of snow, and ice, and bleak winds, has faded from our minds as completely as they have disappeared from the earth—and yet what a pleasant time it is! Orchards and fields sing with the sound of work; trees bend beneath the thick clusters of rich fruit which bow their branches to the ground; and the wheat, piled in graceful sheaves, or waving in every gentle wind that sweeps above it, tinges the landscape with a golden colour. A soft, pleasant light appears to hang over the whole earth; the influence of the season seems to extend itself even to a passing wagon, whose slow motion across the well-reaped field is seen by the eye, but makes no loud noises upon the ear.
(Adaptation from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens)
1. What does this paragraph mainly describe?
2. What aspects does the author describe?
5 . As summer ends, fresh starts abound
So, after a late short blaze of summer, autumn is here. The trees will soon be in their autumn beauty, sweet fragrance waving in the air.
The ultimate celebration of the season in English is arguably Keats’s “To Autumn” - “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness / Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun” - which was written after a Sunday walk in harvest time. “How fine the air,” he wrote to his friend JH Reynolds, “
Autumn is more subtle than summer, less over-determined. It is full of beginning, too. Every for those who now have nothing to do with schools there is sense of starting again - new book; new clothes, new thoughts.
What feels like falling (pine cones, acorns, conkers, leaves) is also about starting again kind of - to use Alice Oswald’s lovely phrase - falling awake. Even though the season is the to winter, somehow, the world knows that winter is necessary, and the long preparation for the of winter is a beautiful, necessary part of the world. So yes, autumn is here. And that is cause for celebration.
| A．There is something about noting that contradiction. |
| B．I never liked stubble-fields so much as now - Aye, better than the chilly green of the spring. |
| C．There is a harmony in autumn, and a shine in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen. |
| D．Abundance is everywhere: berries; apples, pears, pumpkins, squashes, all the grains. |
| E．Fallen leaves lying on the grass in the November sun bring more happiness than the daffodils. |
| F．Berries are food for wildlife - and then seeds on the ground, to grow into new plants next year. |
6 . If you are like most people, your intelligence varies from season to season. You are probably a lot sharper in spring than you are at any other time of the year. A noted scientist, Ellsworth Huntington, concluded from other men’s work and his own among people in different climates that climate and temperature have a definite effect on our mental abilities.
He found that cool weather is much more favorable for creative thinking than summer heat. This does not mean that all people are less intelligent in summer than they are during the rest of the year. It does mean, however, that the mental abilities of large numbers of people tend to be lowest in the summer.
Spring appears to be the best period of the year for thinking; one reason may be that in the spring man’s mental abilities are affected by the same factors that bring about great changes in all nature.
Fall is the next best season, then winter. As for summer, it seems to be a good time to take a long vacation from thinking.
1. According to the passage, the mental abilities of most people________.| A．are different from season to season | B．are the same in all seasons |
| C．tend to be the lowest in winter | D．tend to be the lowest in fall |
| A．A great effect on everyone’s intelligence. | B．Some effect on most people’s intelligence. |
| C．Effect on only a few people’s intelligence. | D．No effect on people’s intelligence. |
| A．Cool weather is good for thinking. |
| B．Winter is the second best season for thinking. |
| C．Summer is a good time to take a long vacation from thinking. |
| D．Nature’s changes may affect our mental abilities. |
| A．During spring and fall. | B．During winter. |
| C．During summer. | D．During summer and winter. |
7 . Nature changes from one season to the next, and soon the winter months roll around. You can adapt your seasonal healthy habits to suit your surroundings.
Fuel your body with winter vegetables. If you live in a climate with four seasons, only the strong survive when it comes to vegetables.
Focus on mental health. Oftentimes, well-being focuses more on the physical side of staying healthy.
Commit to an act of kindness. By giving back to others, not only can you help someone else, but you’ll also feel better!
| A．Try something new to stay active. |
| B．But mental health is just as important. |
| C．Avoid getting involved in indoor activities. |
| D．How can they live through the severe winter? |
| E．Do look for ways to give back to your community. |
| F．Here are some helpful ways to jump start your winter wellness routine. |
| G．Why not take advantage of the season by eating what grows at this time of year? |
8 . 24 Solar Terms: some things about Start of Autumn
The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. Start of Autumn, (Chinese:立秋), the 13th solar term of the year, indicates the end of summer and the beginning of autumn.
Although Start of Autumn represents the beginning of autumn, hot weather will not come to an end. The period of hot days after Start of Autumn, usually lasting for 30 days, is called “Autumn Tiger” or “Indian Summer.”
Gathering crops
Eating peaches
In Hangzhou, people eat peaches on this occasion. The peach stones are kept until New Year’s Eve and thrown into the stove, burned into ash.
‘Touching Autumn’
There is the custom of “Touching Autumn” in the northern part of Yancheng, Jiangsu province. On the eve of Start of Autumn, people can touch and take for free all kinds of fruits as they like in private or public gardens.
| A．‘Autumn Tiger’ |
| B．Fleshing out in autumn |
| C．The fruitful season is coming. |
| D．Start of Autumn is a big solar term for farmers. |
| E．The owners will not be angry, no matter how much they lose. |
| F．On the first day of the Start of Autumn, usually people will weigh themselves. |
| G．People believed that in this way, bad things could be prevented for the whole year. |
9 . Oct. 23rd is the beginning of Shuangjiang or Frost's Descent in English, the 18th of 24 solar terms (节气) in the Chinese lunar calendar. It refers to the time when frost(霜) starts to fall across China, or “the dews(露水) were frozen into frost” because of the coldness, as recorded in ancient Chinese books.
By the time of Shuangjiang, most of the harvesting work is already completed in northern China, and farmers are now able to enjoy a period of rest. But in the south, the harvest is still on the go. Farmers have to take home the sweet potatoes before they are destroyed by the coming frost. After a year of farming, it is the time to plow the fields and prepare the soil for next year in both south and north.
Autumn might be the most colorful season in China with the leaves turning from golden yellow to red. Hiking has become popular since the ancient times as people can enjoy the special autumnal scenery. Du Mu, a well-known poet from the Tang Dynasty wrote the beautiful mountainous scenery in a poem: “I stopped the coach as charmed by the maple woods; Frosted autumn leaves out shine February flowers in redness.”
The Double Ninth Festival also falls during the season, a festival for the elders. Going hiking in the highlands is part of the celebrations practiced by the ancient Chinese people.
“Keeping warm” becomes a most important thing at this time of the year as the weather is getting colder. Persimmon(柿子) is the favored fruit in many areas. The Chinese believe that persimmons could not only keep off the coldness, but strengthen the muscles and bones. Also, chicken or mutton soup is believed to be good for the spleen and advised for the diet.
Shuangjiang brings the frost and freezing wind, and autumn has come to an end. But for most Chinese, it is not necessarily a sad time because in winter, they are able to have different but equally beautiful scenery.
1. The underline phrase “on the go” in the 2ndparagraph probably means ________.| A．Admirable | B．Mild | C．Active | D．Widespread |
| A．Coldness of frost. | B．View of autumn. |
| C．Autumnal farming. | D．The Double Ninth Festival. |
| A．Tell the differences of the harvest in China's south and north. |
| B．Explain why Shuangjiang gets its name. |
| C．Advise some activities to enjoy the colorful season. |
| D．Introduce the ways to stay warm before the coming of winter. |
| A．What causes Frost's Descent | B．Time to say goodbye to autumn |
| C．Enjoy the beautiful autumn | D．Prepare for a good harvest |
10 . Daylight Saving Time (DST) is the practice of setting the clocks forward one hour from standard time during the summer months (=lose 1 hour), and back again in the fall (=regain 1 hour), in order to make better use of natural daylight. So “spring forward, fall back” is one of the little sayings used to remember which way to set your watch.
In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which standardized the length of DST, which begins on the second Sunday of March each year and ends on the first Sunday of November. In 2021, Daylight Saving starts at 2 a.m. on March 14 and it will end at 2 a.m. on November 7. In other words, sunrise and sunset will be about one hour later on March 14 than the day before, meaning there will be more light in the evening.
Benjamin Franklin is often credited with first proposing daylight saving in his 1784 essay, An Economical Project. The idea wasn’t seriously considered, however, until more than a century later when William Willetts, a British builder, fiercely recommended it. The current DST format was proposed in New Zealand by entomologist (昆虫学家) George Hudson. In 1895, he recommended a two-hour time change because he wanted to have more daylight after work to go hunting for bugs in the summer.
Some studies show that DST could lead to fewer road accidents and injuries by supplying more daylight during the hours when more people use the roads. It is also used to reduce the amount of energy needed for lighting during the evening hours. However, other studies claim that people’s health might suffer due to DST changes.
Nearly every state in the U.S. observes DST, according to the Department of Transportation. However, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and most of Arizona do not.
1. Why is DST observed?| A．To save money. | B．To save time. |
| C．To take advantage of natural daylight. | D．To reduce traffic injuries. |
| A．4 a.m. | B．3 a.m. | C．2 a.m. | D．1 a.m. |
| A．Benjamin Franklin. | B．A British builder. |
| C．William Willetts. | D．A New Zealand entomologist. |
| A．To show the rules of Daylight Saving Time. |
| B．To introduce Daylight Saving Time in the USA. |
| C．To stress the importance of Daylight Saving Time. |
| D．To inform readers of the influence of Daylight Saving Time. |
