The Vikings, whose ancestors came from Scandinavia, were the first Europeans
Later a man, Biarni set sail from Iceland in search
In the year 1002, Leif, Eric the Red’s son, followed Biarni’s directions and sailed to
2 . TOKYO-Japan marked the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing in its western city of Hiroshima (广岛) on August 6th amid growing calls for Tokyo to reflect on crimes the Japanese army committed during World War II. At a memorial ceremony held at the Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui delivered the Peace Declaration,urging world leaders to stop believing in the theory that nuclear weapons can prevent war.
“They must immediately take concrete steps to lead us from the dangerous present toward our ideal world,” said Matsui, who also urged policymakers to “move toward a security system based on trust through dialogue in pursuit of civil society ideals”. “Mistrust and division are on the rise,” warned United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in his message readout at the ceremony.
A moment of silence was observed at 8:15 am local time, the exact moment when an atomic bomb dropped from a US bomber and exploded over the city on Aug.6, 1945, killing around 140,000 people by the end of that year.
At the event which about 50,000 people attended, Matsui placed in a monument a list of the names of 339,227 victims, including 5,320 deaths confirmed last year. “Japan must immediately sign the Treaty (条约) on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,” Matsui noted in the Peace Declaration, further urging the government to heed the wishes of survivors from the bombing and the peace-loving Japanese people.
The number of survivors of the two atomic bombings including Nagasaki with an average age of over 85, has dropped by 5,346 from a year earlier to 113,649 as of March, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida spoke at the ceremony, saying an atomic bomb made more than 100,000 lose their lives without mentioning whether Japan would sign the treaty, let alone (更不用说) the historical background of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
The prime minister was criticized for hosting the Group of Seven leaders' summit in Hiroshima in May.
While Japan inwardly looks at the tragedies it experienced at the end of WWII, historians and political minds of the international community have encouraged Japan to come to see itself not only as a victim of the atomic bombings but also as the criminal (罪犯) who was involved in these tragic incidents in the first place.
1. Why was the moment of silence was observed at 8:15 am local time?| A．It was the time when the atomic bombing happened in Hiroshima. |
| B．It was the time when the atomic bombing happened in Nagasaki. |
| C．It was the time when the US bomber reached Japan. |
| D．It was the time when the US bomber took off. |
| A．Make fun of. | B．Put up with. | C．Take delight in. | D．Pay attention to. |
| A．Japan's signing the treaty. |
| B．The result of the atomic bombing. |
| C．America should make up for the loss. |
| D．The background of the atomic bombing. |
| A．Number of survivors of two atomic bombings drops in Japan |
| B．Japan — a victim of atomic bombings that kill so many people |
| C．Japan marks 78th anniversary of atomic bombing of Hiroshima |
| D．Hiroshima Mayor expresses nuclear weapons can't prevent war |
3 . February 13, 2022, marked the 25th anniversary (纪念日) of the Great LEGO Spill — the worst toy-related environmental disaster of all time. On this important day in 1997, the Tokio Express was hit by a huge, 28-foot high wave off the United Kingdom’s southwestern coast, tilting the ship by 60 degrees and causing it to drop 62 containers into the sea. One was filled with about 5 million colorful LEGO bricks!
Shortly after the incident, LECO pieces began washing ashore the beautiful beaches of Cornwall and Devon in southwest England. Many locals rushed to hunt for the toys. Cornwall resident Tracey Williams was among the thousands of locals that searched the beaches regularly to find the little sea-themed pieces.
In 2010 Williams moved to Cornwall and came across some LEGO pieces on her first trip to the beach. Wondering where else they had been found, she created a Facebook group. Called “Lego Lost at Sea”, it allowed her and hundreds of other collectors to share their discoveries. As it turned out, the LEGO bricks were not just washing ashore English beaches. They had also been found in Wales, Ireland, the Channel Islands, France, Belgium, and Holland, showing just how far ocean currents had carried them.
“What we’re finding now are the pieces that sank as well as the pieces that floated,” Williams says. “It’s providing us with an insight into what happens to plastic in the ocean, how far it drifts (漂移) — both on the surface of the ocean and also along the seabed—and what happens to it as it breaks down.”
No one knows when the LEGO bricks will stop appearing on the beaches. But one thing is for sure, that is, the plastic pieces will be around for centuries. A 2020 study analyzing the structure of the washed-up LEGO bricks concluded that the five million pieces could take as long as 1,300 years to degrade (降解) completely. And like all plastic products, the iconic toys will never entirely disappear. Instead, they will break down into tiny “microplastics” and be eaten by ocean animals. They will make their way up the food chain to humans.
1. What does the underlined word “tilting” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Speeding up. | B．Leading something to fall. |
| C．Damaging seriously. | D．Making something not flat. |
| A．It resulted in many deaths. |
| B．It was caused by the pilot’s mistakes. |
| C．It made many LEGO bricks lost. |
| D．The ship dropped most containers. |
| A．To exchange toy blocks. | B．To collect LEGO toys. |
| C．To track the LEGO bricks. | D．To trade in toys worldwide. |
| A．They will break down completely. |
| B．They will influence human health. |
| C．They will be recovered by the maker. |
| D．They will soon disappear from the beaches. |
4 . Wearing sports clothes, many Chinese people will go outdoors happily with their families or friends on March 12. They are just planting trees on this special day―China's Arbor Day （中国植 树节）.
When it comes to China's Arbor Day, we can't help thinking of Mr. Ling Daoyang. He was born in 1888. When he worked as an English teacher in Beijing, he got a chance to study forestry （林业）at Yale University. After graduating in 1914, he returned to China and became a famous expert in forestry science. In 1915, he advised that the Qingming Festival should also be China's Arbor Day. His suggestion was welcomed by most people. In 1929, National Arbor Day was moved to March 12, the day Mi. Sun Yat-sen passed away, who did much to support forestry.
In 1979, March 12 was officially announced as China's Arbor Day. Since then, thousands of trees have been planted all over China, making our country much more beautiful.
China's Arbor Day is educational for all of us. It reminds us that we should protect our earth and thank our old generations, who planted green, hope and joy for us.
1. According to the text, people often go outdoors on March 12 to_______________.| A．do sports | B．study English | C．find jobs | D．plant trees |
| A．A farmer. | B．A student. | C．A teacher. | D．A worker. |
| A．To show interest in the season. | B．To show respect to Sun Yat-sen. |
| C．To make use of people's free time. | D．To make progress in agriculture. |
| A．In 1888. | B．In 1914. | C．In 1915. | D．In 1979. |
| A．The studies of China's Arbor Day. | B．The activities of China's Arbor Day. |
| C．The demands of China's Arbor Day. | D．The meanings of China's Arbor Day. |
A great
Edmund Hillary was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist, and Tenzing Norgay was a Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer. Both of them were part of the
6 . Bill Bowerman was a track coach.He wanted to help athletes run faster. So he had learned how to make running shoes. He had also started a shoe company with a friend. It was 1971. Running shoes at the time were heavy. They had spikes(鞋钉)on the sole(鞋底). The spikes tore up the track and slowed down runners.
To make a lighter shoe, Bill tried the skins of fish. To make a better sole, he wanted to replace the spikes. Bill look through his wife Barbara's jewelry box. He hoped to find a piece of jewelry with an interesting pattern. He would then copy the pattern onto the new soles. Nothing worked. Bill was stumped. Then, one Sunday morning, Barbara made Bill waffles(华夫饼)for breakfast. Bill watched her cook. He studied the cross pattern on their old waffle iron.
Inspiration(灵感)hit.
The pattern on a waffle iron was just what Bill was looking for. The squares were fatter and wider than sharp spikes. The pattern would help the shoes grip (抓牢) any surface without tearing into it.
When Barbara left the house, Bill ran to his lab. He took the liquid chemicals that, when mixed, would harden into the sole of a shoe. He poured the mixture into the waffle iron and the Waffle Trainer was born.
Bill's company put the Waffle Trainer on the market in 1974. It was a huge hit. Maybe you've heard of that company called Nike. And today it's worth around $100 billion.
It was the waffle iron that had changed the course of Bill's life and helped turn Nike into a well-known name. Today, the waffle iron is kept at Nike headquarters. It serves as a reminder that if we keep trying, we can find a solution to even the toughest problems. And those solutions can come from unlikely places，even the breakfast table.
1. What was wrong with the running shoes before the Wattle Trainer was made?| A．They were easily worn out. | B．The spikes hurt runners' feet. |
| C．The spikes were sharp and heavy. | D．They were too expensive. |
| A．Inspired. | B．Defeated. |
| C．Satisfied. | D．Doubted. |
| A．It was made quite by accident. | B．It was invented by Bill's wife. |
| C．It was based on many lab tests. | D．It was supported by another company. |
| A．Where there's a will, there's a way. | B．Good is rewarded with good. |
| C．Two heads are better than one. | D．A misfortune may turn out a blessing. |
7 . To bring the Olympic spirit to developing nations in the late 1990s, the Olympic Committee allowed a small number of “wild card” athletes to join the Games. But because they didn’t have to go through any qualifying rounds to compete, when they arrived, not all of the competitors were prepared. One such athlete was a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea named Eric Moussambani. When Moussambani arrived at the 2000 Sydney Games, he’d only been training for the 100-meter freestyle for about eight months. He’d also never been in an Olympic-size pool and had never raced more than 50 meters. Regardless, he was determined to represent his country.
The three wild-card athletes were given their own race, and Moussambani was next to the other two swimmers from Niger and Tajikistan. When the official called the swimmers to begin the game, both of Moussambani’s competitors were disqualified for false starts. Left to swim by himself, Moussambani dove in and dog paddled, breathing for air and moving his arms and legs. Halfway through the race, the situation looked so serious that the audience seriously worried he was drowning.
When Moussambani finally passed the finish line and pulled himself from the water, the applause thundered. His final time was 1:52.72 - more than twice that of swimmers in the previous race. But Moussambani couldn’t have been happier. He told reporters, “I’ m going to jump and dance all night long in celebration of my personal success.”
Moussambani’s courage and determination made him an Olympic celebrity (名人). He kept training for the 2004 Games and even got his time down to a respectable 57 seconds.
1. What can we infer about “wild card” athletes?| A．They arrive late. | B．They are well-prepared. |
| C．They are the best athletes. | D．They are from developing countries. |
| A．He lost in the race. | B．He swam unskillfully. |
| C．He failed at the beginning. | D．He disappointed everyone. |
| A．Extremely excited. | B．Quite ashamed. |
| C．Very disappointed. | D．Pretty calm. |
| A．Smart and flexible. | B．Patient and careful. |
| C．Brave and determined. | D．Optimistic and modest. |
8 . Last year marked the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. There were events around the world in memory of those who died in the conflict. We have picked out three of them in European countries. Let's take a look.
Belgium
In a park, the famous Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen had an exhibition called Coming World, Remember Me. The work consisted of 600,000 individual(个别的) clay sculptures, one for each person killed during the World War. In the center of the exhibition was a big egg made of clay, symbolizing a new world.
UK
In a small town called Aldridge, almost 100 houses in one street were covered with 24,000 poppies and statues of soldiers. They stood for the men from the area who had been killed in the war. The flowers were chosen because of a poem written by the Canadian doctor John McCrea in 1915. They made people think of fields of blood.
France
The British artist Guy Denning arrived in La Feuille, a small town in the northwest of France, to stick life-size drawings of soldiers who never came back home. Armed with glue and a brush, Denning stuck his drawings carefully on walls. Before long 112 men, mainly young adults, were brought back to mind, if not to life.
1. What do we know about Coming World, Remember Me?| A．It's the name of an exhibition. | B．It's a film about World War I. |
| C．It's a work standing for peace. | D．It's a sculpture made of clay. |
| A．The British people preferred them. | B．They showed the cruelty of war. |
| C．A Canadian doctor suggested them. | D．The fields were filled with them. |
| A．A memorial to the dead soldiers was built. |
| B．112 wounded soldiers in the war were helped. |
| C．Drawings of some dead soldiers were put up. |
| D．Young adults were encouraged to join the army. |
Cholera was a deadly disease of its day. Neither its cause nor its cure
He became interested in two theories
John Snow suspected that the second theory was correct but he needed evidence. So when another outbreak hit London in 1854, he was ready
10 . After Aida’s parents fled war-torn Bosnia for Sweden in the early 1990s, they put their five-year-old daughter in a school full of native Swedes and made sure she studied hard to get ahead. It
In the countries accepting the most refugees-Sweden and Germany-lack of
The biggest problem for the education
Moreover, immigrants
The German system has its
Most importantly, European governments need to treat refugee children as an
| A．studied | B．worked | C．failed | D．embarrassed |
| A．program | B．choice | C．challenge | D．success |
| A．space | B．purpose | C．knowledge | D．money |
| A．declining | B．increasing | C．spreading | D．raising |
| A．content | B．process | C．principle | D．system |
| A．join | B．join in | C．attend | D．take part in |
| A．possibly | B．likely | C．entirely | D．generally |
| A．intend to | B．trend | C．devote to | D．tend to |
| A．apply | B．equip | C．perform | D．make |
| A．rank | B．range | C．view | D．goal |
| A．one another | B．the other | C．each other | D．any other |
| A．right | B．strength | C．weakness | D．pride |
| A．shortened | B．loosened | C．enlarged | D．extended |
| A．government | B．school | C．committee | D．university |
| A．managers | B．operators | C．assistants | D．secretaries |
| A．opportunity | B．wonder | C．news | D．complaint |
| A．Stricken | B．Guided | C．Driven | D．Confused |
| A．curious | B．ambitious | C．anxious | D．eager |
| A．against | B．with | C．or | D．in |
| A．hope | B．convenience | C．respect | D．comfort |
