1 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What happened to boats and ships in the Bermuda Triangle?

A．They caught fire without reason.

B．They crashed into each other.

C．They disappeared.

2. Who mentioned the Bermuda Triangle for the first time?

A．A famous explorer.

B．A popular writer.

C．A well-known reporter.

3. When did the Bermuda Triangle become a popular story?

A．In the 15th century.

B．In the 20th century.

C．In the 17th century.

4. What does the speaker say about the Bermuda Triangle?

A．All of the reports on it are untrue.

B．It is a dangerous area in the ocean.

C．It is completely safe at the moment.

2 . Beanstalks (豆萁) are burned to cook beans
The beans cry in the pot
We grow from the same root (根)
Why should we boil each other with such impatience?

The poem is thought to be written by Cao Zhi, one of Cao Cao’s sons, Cao, who lived between 192 and 232 during the Three Kingdoms period.

It is said that after Cao Cao’s death, his oldest son Cao Pi became the emperor. Cao Pi was jealous (嫉妒的) of his younger brother Cao Zhi’s talent, so he wanted to find an excuse to kill him. One day, Cao Pi ordered Cao Zhi to make a poem about their relationship within seven steps, and was determined (决定) to have the younger brother killed if he failed. Cao Zhi then made the poem in front of him, which showed Cao Pi’s cruel idea to kill his own brother. Cao Pi, feeling ashamed, let Cao Zhi go in the end.

In China, the poem is taught to primary school students and is often used by people to describe unnecessary competitions or fighting between people, businesses, or organizations who are in the same area or want the same things.

The poem was posted on Tweeter by the CEO of Tesla and Space X Elon Musk, and it was given a title Humankind on purpose by Musk. The post drew tons of attention on both Western and Chinese social media, and internet users have been guessing what it was used for. People thought it could be an answer to the director of UN food organization, who mentioned that world hunger could be stopped if Elon Musk could give away 2% of his wealth.

1. The poem is said to be written by ________.

A．Cao Cao

B．Cao Zhi

C．Cao Pi

D．Elon Musk

2. Cao Pi wanted to kill Cao Zhi because ________.

A．Cao Zhi was one of his brothers

B．Cao Pi was jealous of Cao Zhi’s talent

C．Cao Zhi refused to follow Cao Pi’s orders

D．Cao Pi wanted to become the only son of Cao Cao

3. By writing the poem, the poet wanted to show that ________.

A．his brother was cruel to him	B．he was not afraid of his brother
C．the beans were close to its stalks	D．the beanstalk should die for its beans

4. Which one is TRUE according to the last paragraph?

A．Elon Musk posted the poem on Tweeter for fun.

B．Only Western internet users noticed the poem.

C．The purpose of the poem became a hot topic.

D．Elon Musk is mean and doesn’t care about others.

3 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

The Time Capsule of Colorado Springs

In 1901, the citizens of Colorado Springs in the USA decided to collect everyday items and to seal (密封) them in a steel box. The box, marked “To be opened after midnight, December 31st, AD 2000”,     1    (store) in the Colorado College library.

One hundred years later, on the appointed day, 300 people gathered to watch the opening of the box. Many in the crowd were the descendants (后代) of people who     2    (place) things inside the box.

When the box was opened after midnight, the contents were     3    very good condition. There were newspapers, photographs, diaries, name cards, family trees, books and dozens of letters, including one     4    (write) by Theodore Roosevelt, who became the president of the USA later that year. One of Roosevelt’s friends lived in Colorado Springs at that time.

Many of the letters     5    (address) to their descendants. They described the hopes that the people of 1901 had for the people of the next century. At that time, Colorado Springs had just a few thousand residents. Now there are nearly half a million people     6    (live) there.

Colorado College Library has scanned the materials and put them on a website. Cecil Muller,     7    grandfather had placed a collection of post-cards in the box, said that the time capsule was a great treasure. “This is such a wonderful educational resource     8    we can learn a lot about our history,” he said. “I never knew my grandfather,     9    now I feel very close to him.”

In April 2001, a committee filled the time capsule with items from modern Colorado Springs and     10    (reseal) it for another hundred years.

4 . Why is the Mona Lisa the most famous painting in the world? Her mysterious smile? The mystery surrounding her identity? The fact she was painted by Renaissance charming boy Leonardo da Vinci? Sure, all of these things helped increase the popularity of the 16th century masterpiece. But what really threw the small, unassuming portrait to international stardom was a daring burglary over 100 years ago.

When Italian handyman Vincenzo Peruggia stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911, he never could have guessed her absence would be the very thing that made her the most recognizable painting on the planet. Suddenly images of the artwork were seen across international newspapers, as the two-year police hunt hit dead-end after dead-end. It wasn’t until December 1913 that Peruggia was finally caught and the Mona Lisa recovered, becoming the best known painting in a time before we shared images on TV, internet, and phones.

   

So how did Peruggia carry out one of the greatest art robberies of all time? The handyman had been hired by the Louvre to make protective glass cases for some of its famous works—including the Mona Lisa. After hiding in a closet overnight, he simply removed the painting, hid it under his smock (罩衣), and was about to waltz out of the building when he discovered the door was locked. Desperate Peruggia removed the doorknob, but still it wouldn’t open—until a helpful plumber passing by opened the door with his key. It was 24 hours before anyone even noticed the Mona Lisa was missing, with artworks often removed to be photographed or cleaned.

Over the next two years, the careless police investigation dragged on, with Pablo Picasso a suspect at one point. The force even interviewed Peruggia twice, before concluding he couldn’t possibly be the man behind the shameless burglary. The head of the Paris police retired in shame.

And then two years later, an art dealer in Florence received a letter from a man saying he had the Mona Lisa. It was signed ”Leonardo.” The man was of course Peruggia. After setting up a meeting with the dealer and the director of the Uffizi gallery in Florence, Peruggia turned up with the painting which had spent years hidden in a trunk in his apartment.

Peruggia, then 32 years old, claimed to have stolen the artwork to return her to her native Italy. He was arrested and eventually sentenced to seven months in jail. He seemed to have genuinely been convinced he would be praised as a national hero and genuinely dismayed to discover he wasn’t.

1. According to the passage, what contributed to the tremendous popularity of the Mona Lisa?

A．The mysterious smile of Mona Lisa.

B．People’s desire to figure out the identity of Mona Lisa.

C．The theft of the painting in 1911.

D．The fact that it was painted by Leonardo da Vinci.

2. What does underlined word “unassuming” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?

A．Humble.

B．Realistic.

C．Magnificent.

D．Objective.

3. Which of the following statements is TRUE about how the Mona Lisa was stolen?

A．Peruggia slipped into the Louvre from the outside after it was closed.

B．It took Peruggia a lot of time to take the painting from the gallery wall.

C．Peruggia’s stealing of the painting would have failed but for the appearance of a plumber.

D．The theft of the painting was immediately discovered by the staff of the Louvre.

4. Peruggia stole the painting because he ________.

A．was defending the honour of his native country	B．wanted to show his appreciation of great art
C．dreamed of making a great fortune by selling it	D．was worried about the fate of the painting

5 . In 1961, President John F. Kennedy Jr. set a goal: he wanted to land a man on the moon to show America’s_________ in the Space Race.

_________ a decade later, Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon on Sunday, July 20, 1969. Aldrin later joined him on the moon’s surface and they_________a US flag, took photographs, and_________ the first samples from our satellite.

The Apollo crew of Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins travelled 240,000 miles in 76 hours to reach the moon. During the mission, the food items the astronauts ate on the surface of the moon in the lunar module_________ the following: beef stew, bacon squares, date fruit cake, and grape punch.

Over 400,000 people supported the_________, including people from the Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. Armstrong’s famous first words “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”_________ on television channels and through newspapers around the world.

After World War Ⅱ_________ on September 2, 1945, a new conflict began between the United States and the Soviet Union. The United States and the Soviet Union had_________ ideologies(意识形态): the United States was capitalist,__________ the Soviet Union was socialist.

The Space Race started when a Soviet missile launched Sputnik(Russian for “traveller”), the world’s first artificial satellite on October 4, 1957. Sputnik became the first man-made__________ to orbit Earth. The US decided to act quickly in order to prove __________. From 1961 to 1964, NASA’s budget __________ by 500 percent. When Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, America was declared the__________ of the Space Race. The US had spent about $25 billion on the program, over $100 billion in today’s dollars.

More than 50 years after Apollo, NASA vows to land the first woman on the moon with the Artemis program and with the help of an increase in NASA’s budget by $1.6 billion by former President Trump. The new mission,__________ the twin sister of Apollo and Greek Goddess of the moon, will be headed to the moon’s south pole where the craters(火山口)hold large deposits of water ice.

1.

A．dominance

B．rule

C．regulation

D．management

2.

A．More than

B．No more than

C．No less than

D．Less than

3.

A．grew

B．rose

C．planted

D．carried

4.

A．brought up

B．brought back

C．brought in

D．brought about

5.

A．persisted in

B．consisted of

C．made up

D．insisted on

6.

A．task

B．landing

C．contest

D．mission

7.

A．were showed

B．were printed

C．echoed

D．expressed

8.

A．stopped

B．ended

C．paused

D．suspended

9.

A．similar

B．special

C．political

D．conflicting

10.

A．where

B．while

C．so

D．when

11.

A．machine

B．facility

C．object

D．equipment

12.

A．superiority

B．ability

C．position

D．influence

13.

A．decreased

B．dropped

C．shrank

D．increased

14.

A．amateur

B．winner

C．competitor

D．loser

15.

A．taken after

B．taking on

C．named after

D．looking after

6 . A huge fire broke out on 2 September 1666 in London. The fire, known as the Great Fire of London, was the worst fire in the history of London. It burned down more than three quarters of the old city.

The fire started in the very early hours of Sunday morning in the house of the king’s baker. A strong wind blew the fire from the baker’s house into a small hotel next door. Then it spread quickly into Thames Street. That was the beginning.

At that time, most of the buildings in London were made of wood, so it was easy for the fire to spread quickly. By eight o’clock, three hundred houses were on fire. By Monday, nearly a kilometre of the city was burning along the Thames River. On Tuesday, which was considered the worst day, the fire destroyed many well-known buildings, including the old St Paul’s Cathedral.

The fire burned until finally hundreds of buildings in the path of the fire were destroyed to create a firebreak. The fire then died out eventually with nothing left to burn.

1. Why is the fire of 1666 called the Great Fire of London?

A．The fire broke out in the capital of England.

B．The fire was the worst fire in the history of London.

C．People in England will never forget the fire.

D．The fire spread fast into Thames Street.

2. Where did the fire break out?

A．In the house of the king’s baker.

B．In Thames Street.

C．In the house of the baker’s neighbour.

D．In St Paul’s Cathedral.

3. Why did the fire spread quickly?

A．It started in a baker’s house.

B．It broke out on a Sunday morning.

C．A hotel was next to the baker’s house.

D．Most of the buildings in London were wooden.

4. What was destroyed in the fire?

A．The old St Paul’s Cathedral.

B．Hundreds of buildings in the path of the fire.

C．Hundreds of wooden houses.

D．All of the above.

7 . The big screen is never short of films about World WarⅡ. When Nazi Germany is featured in these films, cruel Nazi officers and brutal concentration camps most often represent it. But the new Hollywood movie Valkyrie tells a different story, “a chapter of German history which is little known abroad”, according to the German Cultural Minister Bernd Neumann.

Valkyrie is based on a true incident that took place in 1944. Colonel(陆军上校) Stauffenberg had been a loyal soldier for his entire military career. However, after losing an eye, a hand, and three fingers in an Allied bombing, he reached breaking point. The destruction that his country had brought to its European neighbors had become too terrible for the colonel to bear in silence. He hoped that someone would find a way to stop Adolf Hitler, one of the most evil tyrants the world has ever known. Realizing that time was running out, he decided that he must take action himself and joined the German resistance. These men drew up Operation Valkyrie, a plot to assassinate Hitler and to overthrow his Nazi government from the inside. This plot is what the film is named after and focuses on.

The Hollywood star Tom Cruise plays the lead role. “This was a very challenging film to make. We carried a huge responsibility to correctly portray history,” Cruise said.

However, the production has drawn criticism for lacking depth and for simplifying the motives behind the plot.

1. The passage tells us that Valkyrie is _____.

A．a story written by Bernd Neuman

B．a chapter in a German history book

C．a movie about Nazi concentration camps

D．a movie about a plan to assassinate Hitler

2. What does the sentence “he reached breaking point” probably mean?

A．He narrowly escaped being killed.

B．He couldn’t reach out his arm for anything.

C．He was rewarded for his brave attempts.

D．He decided to make a historic change in life.

3. Why did Tom Cruise say the film was challenging for him?

A．Because he never acted in such kind of film before.

B．Because he knew little about this episode of history.

C．Because he felt it a heavy task to present the real history.

D．Because he was afraid that the film might draw criticism.

4. The following passage will probably talk about _____.

A．the reason why the film is named after Valkyrie

B．the comments from the movie critics on Valkyrie

C．the praises from audience after watching Valkyrie

D．the importance of the role Cruise plays in Valkyrie

8 . Despite being First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy usually kept her distance from politics. Yet in 1963, while still recovering from the death of her prematurely born son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, she agreed to join her husband John F. Kennedy on a trip to Texas. Unfortunately, in Dallas on November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was shot while sitting next to Jackie, and the pink suit she was wearing became covered in her husband’s blood.

Jackie tightly held her husband on the way to Parkland Memorial Hospital, attempting to tend to his badly hurt head. John’s vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson, had been in a separate vehicle in the same procession, and he and his wife Lady Bird proceeded to the hospital as well. Lady Bird later described how she saw, “in the president’s car, a bundle of pink, just like a drift of blossoms lying on the back seat. I think it was Mrs. Kennedy, lying over the President’s body.” She even kneeled on the blood-covered floor to pray. However, the time of his death was marked as 1 p.m.

Later, Jackie found a change of clothes waiting for her. She wiped off her face, but would later recall for a magazine writer: “One second later, I thought, ‘Why did I wash the blood off?’ I should have left it there; let them see what they’ve done.”

With this in mind, Jackie decided not to change her clothes, even as she agreed to be present as Johnson took the oath (誓词) of office. When offered the option to descend from the plane without being photographed, she again insisted, “We’ll go out the regular way. I want them to see what they have done.”

The former first lady had always understood the power of imagery to convey messages. By showing up in her bloody outfit, she reminded everyone there, and everyone who would later see photos from the ceremony of the murdered president.

1. According to the article, Jacqueline Kennedy refused to take off her suit after her husband was shot because ________.

A．she dared not recall the cruel assassination (刺杀) of her husband

B．she wanted to honor her husband in this way

C．she wasn’t given enough time to change into another outfit

D．she wanted to remind everyone of the violent act

2. Based on the information from the article, Jacqueline most likely had once worked as ________.

A．a photographer	B．a policy economist
C．a government lawyer	D．his husband’s secretary

3. According to the article, which of the following statements about Jacqueline Kennedy is true?

A．As First Lady, she was good at socializing with others.

B．She insisted on being photographed as usual when getting off the plane.

C．She lost control of her emotions after President Kennedy had been assassinated.

D．She didn’t attend the ceremony in which the new president Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath of office.

4. According to the article, Jacqueline Kennedy was ________.

A．calm and determined	B．shy and unconfident
C．emotional and considerate	D．strong-minded and cold-hearted

9 . 从括号内选择合适的内容完成下面短文。

Some of the most quoted quotes by experts in IT history have turned out to be ironic (讽刺的).

1899

“Everything that can be invented has already been invented.” Charles H. Duell, director of the U.S. Patent Office believed it     1     (would be, will be) a future with no more inventions. A century later, the world is telling us that there     2     (are, were) still many things to be invented, and many things that were once thought impossible are becoming true.

1943

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers,” said Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM. Thomas Watson, referring to a time when the world needed only five mainframe computers to satisfy all computing requirements,     3     (had, would have) no idea that the demands on data processing (数据处理)     4     (became, would become) so great. Time has changed, and now is the age of the PC. For the world market capacity (容量) for PCs, we now have to use “billion” after numbers.

1949

“Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.” This was from Popular Mechanics, talking about the future of science.

The technology has completely been beyond people’s imagination, and the computer     5     (had long said, has long said) goodbye to its huge weight. Today’s microprocessor chips (微处理器芯片) are used in mobile phones, digital cameras and other hand-held electronic devices. Some experts predicted that one day nanotechnology     6     (would make, will make) chips as thin as a hair.

The surprising history of computing over the past years has taught us not to take experts’ comments too seriously. Anyone can make mistakes, and our lives will eventually become a history of limitations. When humans predicted confidently that something     7     (would happen, was happening) in the future, they tended to forget they     8     (would fail, have failed) to learn the lessons of history.

10 . On June 6, World War II veterans (老兵) and other visitors gathered in Normandy for the 78th D-Day anniversary (周年纪念日) in memory of soldiers who gave up their lives to bring peace and freedom to French people. Several thousand people joined a ceremony at the American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach in the French town of Colleville-sur-Mer.

US Air Force planes flew over the American Cemetery during the ceremony, in the presence of Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It is the final resting place of 9,386 soldiers who died fighting on D-Day and in the operations that followed.

Ray Wallace, then 97, a former paratrooper, was among the World War II veterans attending the ceremony in the French town of Colleville-sur-Mer. According to him, on D-Day, his plane was hit and caught fire forcing him to jump earlier than expected. He landed 20 miles away from the town of Sainte-Mère-Église, the first French village to be liberated from Nazi occupation. Less than a month later, he was caught by the Germans. He was finally liberated after 10 months and returned to the U. S. Still, Wallace thought he was “lucky”. “I remember the good friends that I lost there. So, it’s a little emotional,” he said, with tears in his eyes. “I guess you can say I’m proud of what I did but I didn’t do that much.”

On D-Day, a large number of soldiers landed on the beaches, carried by 7,000 boats. On that single day, 4,414 soldiers lost their lives, 2,501 of whom were Americans. More than 5,000 were wounded. On the German side, several thousand were killed or wounded.

Wallace, who was using a wheelchair, was among about 20 World War II veterans who opened the parade (游行) of military vehicles on the eve of the D-Day anniversary in Sainte-Mère-Église with cheers from thousands of people, in a joyful atmosphere. He did not hide his pleasure, happily waving to the crowd as parents explained the stories of World War II heroes to their children. Many history lovers, wearing military clothes from the period, also came to the stage and celebrated the event.

1. What is the purpose of the D-Day anniversary ceremony in Colleville-sur-Mer?

A．To call on people to treasure their lives.

B．To remind people about the hard time.

C．To connect peace lovers worldwide.

D．To honor the dead soldiers on D-Day.

2. What did Ray Wallace probably want to express by mentioning his wartime experience?

A．His sadness at losing partners in war.

B．His doubt about the result of the war.

C．His pride in defeating the enemies.

D．His fear of losing his life in war.

3. Which words can best describe the atmosphere of the parade before the D-Day anniversary?

A．Peaceful and quiet.	B．Serious and stressful.
C．Warm and inspiring.	D．Surprising and amusing.

4. What does the text mainly talk about?

A．Veterans’ stories took people closer to D-Day.

B．People in France celebrated the success of D-Day.

C．People worldwide held activities to remember D-Day.

D．Veterans returned to mark the 78th anniversary of D-Day.