1、Playing does much more than just help ________, according to City of York Council, which has launched an initiative to get more youngsters enjoying themselves.
A.let off steam
B.come into power
C.keep in touch
D.get into debt
2、We won’t get good grades in P. E ________ we keep exercising every day.
A.if
B.because
C.unless
D.since
3、--John will probably be late for the train, won’t he?
--_________. There’s little time left.
A No way B. No wonder
C. No problem D. No doubt
4、—Did you catch what I said?
—Sorry. I ________ a text message just now.
A. had answered B. have answered C. would answer D. was answering
5、 Experts have pointed out that the _____ of severe punishments plays a major role in the growing food safety problem.
A. attendance B. absence C. presence D. evidence
6、What an exhibition! There are many well-known artists exhibiting their ______ works.
A.highly-skilled
B.distinct
C.awe-inspiring
D.intense
7、President Xi Jinping’s speech at the opening ceremony of the First China International Import Expo was ________ welcomed by participants at the event.
A.quietly B.frequently C.widely D.gradually
8、The subjects of the Dunhuang murals ________ from religious stories to scenes of everyday life.
A.vary
B.distribute
C.motivate
D.facilitate
9、— The boy said he could lift the heavy stone.
—________ is no doubt about that.
A.There
B.It
C.This
D.What
10、California is home to 4,426 species of plants, and nearly half of ________ are found nowhere else.
A.which
B.them
C.what
D.that
11、They might just have a place ________ on the writing course— why don’t you give it a try?
A.leave
B.left
C.leaving
D.to leave
12、--- What time is it?
--- I have no idea. But just a minute, I ______ it for you.
A. check B. checked
C. will check D. would check
13、It’ s believed that _______you work, ________result you’ll get.
A. the harder; the better B. the more hard; the more better
C. the hard; a better D. more hard; more better
14、We know for sure that the Venus Fly-Trap ______ insects for food.
A.catches B.holds C.masters D.kidnaps
15、This is ______ my parents are worrying about.
A. why B. that C. what D. how
16、Not until he went through real hardship _________ the love we have for our families is important.
A. had he realized B. did he realized C. he realized D. he had realized
17、—It’s said that shopping online is safe.
—______. You’d better be careful.
A.I agree
B.It depends
C.Take it easy
D.No problem
18、The Smiths are praised for the way they ________ their children.
A.bring about
B.bring up
C.bring in
D.bring down
19、Most people can’t bear others ________on the street.
A.spit
B.to spit
C.spat
D.spitting
20、The letters were also beautifully illustrated—each ______ its true author, Tolkien, a long time to complete.
A.must have taken
B.need have taken
C.could have taken
D.might have taken
21、People often ask which is the most difficult language to learn, and it is not easy to answer because there are many things to take into consideration. Firstly, in a first language the differences are unimportant as people learn their mother tongue naturally, so the question of how hard a language is to learn is only relevant in terms of learning a second language.
A native speaker of Spanish, for example, will find Portuguese (葡萄牙语) much easier to learn than a native speaker of Chinese, because Portuguese is very similar to Spanish, while Chinese is very different, so one’s first language can affect learning a second language. The greater the differences between a second language and our first language, the harder it will be for most people to learn a second language. Many people answer that Chinese is the hardest language to learn, possibly influenced by the thought of learning the Chinese writing system, and the pronunciation of Chinese does appear to be very difficult for many foreign learners. However, for Japanese speakers, who already use Chinese characters in their own language, learning writing will be less difficult than for speakers of languages using the Roman alphabet (字母).
Some people seem to learn languages easily, while others find it very difficult. Teachers and the circumstances (环境) in which the language is learned also play an important role, as well as each learner’s purpose for learning. If people learn a language because they need to use it in work, they often learn it faster than people studying a language that has no direct use in their day-to-day life.
No language is easy to learn well, though languages which are related to our first language are easier. Learning a completely different writing system is a huge challenge, but that does not necessarily make a language more difficult than another. In the end, it is impossible to say that there is one language that is the most difficult language in the world.
【1】What does the underlined word “relevant” in paragraph 1 mean?
A.Difficult.
B.Meaningful.
C.Necessary.
D.Possible.
【2】What is the example of Portuguese and Chinese used to prove?
A.Chinese is harder to learn than Portuguese.
B.Portuguese and Chinese are very different.
C.Portuguese is very easy for foreigners to learn.
D.One’s first language can affect learning a second language.
【3】Why do many people think Chinese is hard to learn?
A.Its writing system is strange.
B.Its pronunciation is old-fashioned.
C.Its characters are difficult to understand.
D.It has many differences from other languages.
【4】What can we learn from the text?
A.A second language is easier than we think.
B.Using a language daily will make it easy to learn.
C.The writing system is harder than the pronunciation.
D.Difficult languages are not as popular as simple ones.
22、Oscar-winning actress Joan Fontaine, who rose to fame during Hollywood’s golden age as the star of several Alfred Hitchcock classics, died from natural causes at her home in Carmel, northern California on December 16, 2013 aged 96, US media reports said.
Bom in Japan to British parents, Fontaine moved in 1919 to California, where she and her elder sister—screen idol Olivia de Havilland—were to shape successful movie careers. Fontaine and de Havilland remain the only sisters to have won lead actress honours at the Academy Awards. Yet the two sisters also had an uneasy relationship, with Fontaine recording a bitter competition in her own account “No Bed of Roses”.
Fontaine began her acting career in her late teens with Largely less important roles on the stage and later in mostly B-movies in the 1930s. It was not before famous British film director Hitchcock spotted her a decade later that her career took off.
Greatly surprised by her expressive looks, the suspense (悬念) master cast Fontaine in his first US film, a 1940 adaptation of the Daphne du Maurier novel “Rebecca”. She received an Academy Award nomination (提名) for her performance as a troubled wife. A year later, Fontaine finally won the long-sought golden figure, for her role as leading lady in “Suspicion” opposite Cary Grant becoming the first and only actress to earn the title for a Hitchcock film.
Although her sister, Olivia de Haviland, preceded her in gaining Hollywood fame, Fontaine was the first of the sisters to win an Oscar, beating Olivia’s nomination as best actress in Mitchell Leisen's “Hold Back the Dawn”.
The dislike, between the sisters was felt at the Oscars ceremony. “I froze. I stared across the table, where Olivia was sitting. ‘Get up there!’ she whispered commandingly,” Fontaine said. “All the dislike we’d felt toward each other as children all came rushing back in quickly changing pictures…I felt Olivia would spring across the table and seize me by the hair.”
Olivia did not win her first Oscar until 1946, for her role as the lover of a World War I pilot in Leisen’s “To Each His Own”. Fontaine later made it known that her sister had slighted her as she attempted to offer congratulations. “She took one look at me, ignored my hand, seized her Oscar and wheeled away,” she said.
The sisters were also reportedly competitors in love. Howard Hughes, a strange businessman who dated the elder de Havilland for a time, offered marriage to Fontaine several times. “I married first, won the Oscar before Olivia did, and if I die first, she'll undoubtedly be extremely angry because I beat her to it!” Fontaine once joked.
As her film career fruited in the 1950s, Fontaine turned to television and dinner theatre, and also appeared in several Broadway productions, including the Lion in Winter. Anything but the ordinary lady, Fontaine was also a licensed pilot, a champion balloonist, an accomplished golfer, a licensed decoration designer and a first-class cook.
【1】Fontaine did not become successful or popular until the__________.
A.1930s
B.1940s
C.1950s
D.1960s
【2】Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A.Olivia got married before Fontaine.
B.Olivia gained Hollywood fame after Fontaine.
C.Fontaine won an Oscar before her sister Olivia.
D.Fontaine wanted to meet her death before Olivia.
【3】The dislike between Fontaine and Olivia began when they__________.
A.competed for an Oscar
B.competed for a husband
C.were small children
D.were successful actresses
【4】As can be seen from the passage, Fontaine was a person who was__________.
A.disliked by her family
B.always a troubled wife
C.able to do few jobs
D.gifted in many ways
23、With their furry round heads and big black eyes, Zhongzhong and Huahua look just the same as any other monkey. But they happen to be the world’s first cloned (克隆的) monkeys.
Years ago, scientists used cloning techniques to produce Dolly, the world’s first cloned mammal (哺乳动物).They now used the same technique to produce the monkeys in China.
In animal cloning, animals are produced in a lab by using DNA that is taken from the cells (细胞) of a naturally-born animal. To clone Zhongzhong and Huahua, scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS.中国科学院) first removed the nucleus (细胞核) from a monkey’s egg cell (卵细胞). They then put another nucleus taken from the monkey’s body cells into the egg cell. The newly-formed egg was put into the womb (子宫) of a female monkey. Finally, Zhongzhong and Huahua were born.
The cloning process is hard, especially removing nucleus. It needs to be done in a fast and precise (精确的) way. The faster you do it, the less damage is done to the egg, according to CAS. Scientist Liu Zhen spent three years practicing removing the nucleus.
Unlike common monkeys, cloned monkeys have the same DNA as each other. When doing experiments on them, scientists can easily know that certain results are caused by different treatments, rather than different genes.
According to Sun Qiang from CAS, most drug trials (药物试验) are done on lab mice. However, drugs that work on mice might not work on humans. The two species are very different.
“Monkeys and humans are much closely related and testing on monkeys is supposed to be as effective (有效的) as testing on humans,” Sun added.
【1】Zhongzhong and Huahua are ______.
A. naturally-born monkeys
B. the world’s first cloned mammals
C. the world’s first cloned monkeys
D. twin sheep that were born by Dolly
【2】What do we know about the two monkeys?
A. They look different from other monkeys.
B. They have the same DNA.
C. Their body cells don’t have any nucleus.
D. They can live for only three years.
【3】What can we learn from Paragraph 4?
A. Removing the nucleus is difficult.
B. The cloning process is very safe.
C. It took three years to remove the nucleus.
D. It is impossible to clone other animals.
【4】Why do scientists want to do drug tests on monkeys?
A. Because it’s easier to use them for tests.
B. Because there are not enough mice.
C. Because drugs work well on monkeys.
D. Because monkeys are similar to humans.
24、What makes a gift special? Is it the price you see on the gift receipt? Or is it the look on the recipient's face when they receive it that determines the true value? What gift is worth the most?
This Christmas I was debating what to give my father. My dad is a hard person to buy for because he never wants anything. I pulled out my phone to read a text message from my mom saying that we were leaving for Christmas shopping for him when I came across a message on my phone that I had locked. The message was from my father. My eyes fell on a photo of a flower taken in Wyoming. and underneath a poem by William Blake. The flower, a lone dandelion standing against the bright blue sky, inspired me. My dad had been reciting those words to me since I was a kid. That may even be the reason why I love writing. I decided that those words would be my gift to my father.
I called back. I told my mom to go without me and that I already created my gift. I sent the photo of the cream-colored flower to my computer and typed the poem on top of it. As I was arranging the details another poem came to mind. The poem was written by Edgar Allan Poe; my dad recited it as much as he did the other. I typed that out as well and searched online for a background to the words of it. The poem was focused around dreaming, and after searching I found the perfect picture. The image was painted with blues and greens and purples, twisting together to create the theme and wonder of a dream. As I watched both poems passing through the printer, the white paper coloring with words that shaped my childhood. I felt that this was a gift that my father would truly appreciate.
Christmas soon arrived. The minute I saw the look on my dad's face as he unwrapped those swirling black letters carefully placed in a cheap frame, I knew I had given the perfect gift.
【1】The idea for a special gift began to form when the author was______.
A. doing shopping B. having a debate
C. reading a message D. leaving for Wyoming
【2】 The author's inspiration for the gift came from_____.
A. a photo of a flower B. a story about a kid
C. a call from the mother D. a text about Christmas
【3】The underlined word "it" in Paragraph 3 refers to a poem by_____.
A. the father B. the author
C. William Blake D. Edgar Allan Poe
【4】The author made the gift by_____.
A. searching for the poems online
B. drawing the background by hand
C. painting the letters in three colors
D. matching the words with pictures
【5】What is the main purpose of the passage?
A. To show how to design images for gifts.
B. To suggest making gifts from one's heart.
C. To explain how computers help create gifts.
D. To describe the gifts the author has received
25、 I heard from a good friend of mine recently.She called to let me know that she recently has become _______ from her husband who has bad gambling problem.She asked if I would fit a smoke alarm in her kitchen for her,and of course I _______.
In her apartment,I was told that her _______ had left her and her children with a great deal of _______.So I advised her to call Citizen's Advice(CA)to see what was the _______ way forward as she was threatened with eviction(驱逐)from the rented apartment.That _______ a way for her.
After she called CA herself,she said that the lady there couldn't have been more helpful,or more _______ and she came away with the feeling that someone really _______.They have _______ her case to the Law Centre who will call her back a few days later.
I then heard that she also ________ some other social welfare organizations,such as Health Visitor and the local Foodbank.Once again,when she ________ the Foodbank,she said,her children were given ________,and she herself was given a cup of coffee.Besides,the chat with the volunteers there really made her feel very ________.After the visit,she told me that the ________ couldn't have been more helpful,and they were so ________!
Sometimes we think all we can do is ________ and watch and be there for someone while they ________ their trials and it's hard for us to help someone.But now my friend is finally in a ________ mental state and spoke full of laughter and ________.Just a ________ from me started to make a difference.The world seems to have opened up for her.
【1】A.different B.absent C.separated D.tired
【2】A.agreed B.doubted C.refused D.delayed
【3】A.company B.husband C.father D.friend
【4】A.money B.housework C.debt D.furniture
【5】A.same B.other C.best D.only
【6】A.decorated B.opened C.reserved D.blocked
【7】A.cautious B.ambitious C.imaginative D.positive
【8】A.succeeded B.cared C.worked D.mattered
【9】A.referred B.contributed C.explained D.offered
【10】A.figured out B.set up C.searched for D.turned to
【11】A.called B.visited C.left D.noticed
【12】A.sweets B.newspapers C.interviews D.tests
【13】A.calm B.helpless C.welcome D.nervous
【14】A.students B.applicants C.customers D.volunteers
【15】A.casual B.mean C.supportive D.lonely
【16】A.wait B.leave C.guess D.whisper
【17】A.make up B.look for C.go through D.stick to
【18】A.perfect B.strange C.complex D.anxious
【19】A.stress B.courage C.tears D.honesty
【20】A.promise B.decision C.mistake D.suggestion
26、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。
Lily was renowned for her desire to achieve perfection in everything she undertook. Whether it was school projects, art assignments, or even helping her parents with household chores, Lily’s commitment to excellence was unwavering.
One sunny summer day, Lily’s family decided to spend a day at the beach. As they arrived, Lily’s eyes were immediately drawn by a group of children who playfully built and then tore down their sandcastles. They giggled and shouted, their excitement on full display. “How silly, ” she thought, not quite getting why they enjoyed doing that.
Lily, being herself, decided to build a perfect sandcastle that would become the envy of all beachgoers. She began to plan every detail in her mind, from the balanced structures of the towers to the delicate decorations. Then, she set about piling sand to make the towers and walls of her sandcastle. Painstakingly, she crafted each feature of her work, carefully smoothed the surfaces and adjusting every detail to her vision.
Jake, Lily’s younger brother, didn’t seem too concerned with building a fantastic sandcastle. He picked a spot nearby and amused himself with the sand. He scooped up handfuls of sand, let it slip through his fingers like grains of time, and then molded it into careless shapes with the carefree abandon of a child. Jake’s happiness was contagious. Mom and Dad joined him, laughing and joking over Jake’s playful creations. From time to time, they called out to Lily and invited her to join the fun, knowing that the pursuit of perfection could be exhausting.
Nevertheless, Lily stayed where she was, determined to create an impressive sandcastle. She frowned at Jake’s unconventional, abstract art-like sandcastle shapes and persisted in her efforts. However, the process didn’t go as smoothly as she had anticipated. The sand didn’t always hold its shape, and the waves constantly lapped at the edges of her creation.
Para 1: As the day wore on, Lily’s sandcastle kept losing its form.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Para 2: With bitter smile, Lily decided to join her family.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________