Are you facing a situation that looks impossible to fix?
In 1969,the pollution was terrible along the Cuyahoga River Cleveland, Ohio. It1.(be) unimaginable that it could ever be cleaned up. The river was so polluted that it2.(actual) caught fire and burned. Now, years later, this river is one of3.most outstanding（杰出的）examples of environmental cleanup.
But the river wasn’t changed in a few days4.even a few months. It took years of work 5.(reduce) the industrial pollution and clean the water. Finally, that hard work paid off and now the water in the river is6.(clean) than ever.
Maybe you are facing an impossible situation. Maybe you leave a habit7.is driving your family crazy. Possibly you drink too much or don’t know how to control your credit card use. When you face such an impossible situation, don’t you want a quick fix and something to change immediately?
While there are8.(amaze) stories of instant transformation, for most of us the9.(change) are gradual and require a lot of effort and work, like cleaning up a polluted river. Just be 10.(patience).
I had never known a Christmas when we could ask for a special gift and actually expect to get it. The Great Depression (大萧条) of the 1930s really___ our farming community of Belleville, Michigan. Then came 1940; I was 7 years old and my brother, David, was 8. That year my father got a(n)___ job, and David and I were asked to choose the one ___we most wanted to get that year. I __ a teddy bear. David asked for a bicycle.
___, Christmas morning arrived. There under the tree, with a big red bow around his neck, was my teddy bear. David’s___ , however, was not there. I___ how my parents could make my wish come true but not my brother’s.
“I____something,” my father said, as he went into the other room. When he came back he was____a bicycle.
On David’s face was a look of both delight and____. The bike was secondhand, which David didn’t___ , but it was a girls’ bike. Boys did not ride girls’ bikes. Personally, I wouldn’t have ___if it had come with pink bows on it – it was still a bicycle.
David and I had been learning to ride on bicycles____from friends in the neighborhood. I was not as____a rider as he was, but I could____to get from point A to point B.
David was very____, letting me ride his new wheels often. He even____out a way to tie our Radio Flyer wagon to the bike so he could pull me and other kids up and down our road.
Now we could___ places that were once beyond convenient walking distance. That winter we took many long rides down the snowy back roads, with me on the handlebars or____behind in the wagon. That bicycle was the Christmas present and truly gave us an exciting new __.
1.A. defeated B. hurt C. advanced D. helped
2.A. well-paying B. hard C. interesting D. easy
3.A. toy B. Tool C. gift D. package
4.A. took B. held C. got D. chose
5.A. Luckily B. Finally C. Hopefully D. Certainly
6.A. bicycle B. bear C. tree D. bow
7.A. understood B. wondered C. realized D. noticed
8.A. forgot B. missed C. prepared D. found
9.A. riding B. removing C. pushing D. dragging
10.A. regret B. anger C. anxiety D. disappointment
11.A. mind B. expect C. like D. ignore
12.A. liked B. accepted C. cared D. reacted
13.A. lent B. borrowed C. sent D. bought
14.A. untrained B. shy C. awkward D. skillful
15.A. offer B. agree C. manage D. happen
16.A. kind B. careful C. polite D. busy
17.A. put B. helped C. picked D. figured
18.A. attack B. explore C. recognize D. protect
19.A. jumping B. hiding C. riding D. walking
20.A. comfort B. faith C. support D. freedom
As free as they make us, mobile phones still need to stay close to a power source. Soon that may change with "green" power.
Three Chilean students got the idea for a plant-powered device(装置) to charge（使……充电） their cellphones, while sitting in their school's outdoor courtyard during a break from exams, with dead mobile phones. Then, one of them had an "aha" moment.
“It occurred to Camila to say about plants,”said inventor Evelyn Aravena. “‘Why don't you have a socket, if there are so many plants? ’After that, we thought, ‘why don't they have a charging outlet（插座）? Because there are so many plants and living things that have the potential to produce energy, why not?’”
Their invention—a small biological circuit called E-Kaia—uses the energy plants to produce during photosynthesis(光合作用). A plant uses only a small part of that energy and the rest goes into the soil, and that's where the E-Kaia collects it. The device plugs into the ground and then into your phone.
"It's the most amazing project I've ever seen in my life, plain and simple. They brought this original model, and it worked — and that's when it all changed, at least from my personal point of view and I began to support them." said Mauricio Cifuentes.
The device solved two problems for the engineering students — they needed an idea for a class project, and an outlet to plug in their phones.
"Looking for a place to charge the notebook, which had no power, and the mobile phones, we weren't able to find anything because all the other students were in the same state of madness trying to find a place to charge their devices," said Aravena.
But plants are everywhere, and the bio－circuit makes good use of their excess(过多的) power.
The E-Kaia doesn't carry much charge but it's powerful enough to completely recharge a mobile phone in less than two hours.
The student inventors have applied for patents（专利） on their technology, and expect the E-Kaia to go on sale in the near future.
1.How could the students get the "green" power idea?
A. By carrying out an experiment.
B. Just from an occasional thought.
C. With the support of their professors.
D. Inspired by the information in a science book.
2.The device collects power by using _____________.
A. photosynthesis
B. a small biological circuit
C. energy plants
D. the electricity stored in the device
3.What can we learn from what Mauricio Cifuentes said?
A. He intended to buy the patent.
B. He invented the original device.
C. He showed great interest in the device.
D. He wanted to produce the device in large numbers.
4.What might be the best title for the passage?
A. A New Device to Change the World
B. Green Power - A New and Potential Source
C. Chilean Students Find A Green Way to Charge Phones
D. A New Device Invented by Chilean Students Will Be on Sale
On her first morning in America last summer, my daughter went out to explore her new neighborhood alone, without even telling my wife or me. Of course we were worried; we had just moved from Berlin, and she was just 8. But when she came home, we realized we had no reason to panic. Beaming with pride, she told us how she had discovered the little park around the corner, and had made friends with a few local dog owners.
When this story comes up in conversations with American friends, we usually meet with polite disbelief. Most are horrified by the idea that their children might roam(闲逛) around without adult supervision(监管).
A study by the University of California has found that American kids spend 90 percent of their free time at home, often in front of the TV or playing video games. Such narrowing of children's world has happened across the developed world. But German parents are generally much more accepting of letting children take some risks.
“We are depriving(剥夺) them of opportunities to learn how to take control of their own lives,” writes Peter Gray, a research professor at Boston College. He argues that this increases the chance that they will suffer from anxiety, depression, and various other mental disorders, which have gone up dramatically in recent decades(十年).
I am no psychologist like Professor Gray, but I know I won't be around forever to protect my girls from the challenges life holds in store for them. And by giving kids more control over their lives, they learn to have more confidence in their own abilities.
1.Hearing the author's daughter exploring the new neighborhood alone, his American friends feel________.
A. worried B. proud
C. doubtful D. terrified
2.We can conclude from Paragraph 3 that ________.
A. American kids enjoy playing at home
B. German parents are less protective than American parents
C. German kids like taking risks more than American kids
D. American parents don't limit their children's activities in their leisure time
3.It's implied from Professor Gray's words that ________.
A. parents should always be around their children to protect them from risks
B. more and more parents suffer from mental problems
C. children are having more opportunities to take control of their lives
D. giving children more freedom is beneficial to their mental development
4.Which of the following words can best describe the author's parenting?
A. Open-minded. B. Irresponsible.
C. Careless. D. Protective.
With at least a dozen wildfires going through western North Carolina in the fall of 2016, it would take more than one local fire department to fight the flames. In early November, the federal government sent over a team of firefighters from the Interagency Hotshot Crews.
Most of the Hotshots stayed at Hinton Rural Life Center in Hayesville, North Carolina. The center reached out to the media and community groups, hoping to get four volunteers per day to help things run smoothly for their firefighting guests. They didn’t expect a response quite so unbelievable.
Within two days, over 200 people—about a third of the town’s population—reached out to offer help, according to the center’s website. Meals and accommodation were already being taken care of, so they went above and beyond the basic things. Community members donated over 1,000 goods, including sports drinks, snacks, eye drops and so on.
Even the kids in Hayesville participated, sending thank-you cards, pictures and signs to motivate the Hotshots. The team received over 2,000 thank-you notes. After the fires were put out and the firefighters were preparing to go home, the town threw a parade（游行）to thank them and wish them well.
The firefighters were at a loss by the generosity from Hayesville. They put together their own thank-you in a YouTube video.
“You guys don’t know how much you mean, all the support you guys give us, ’’ says Ron, a firefighter from Oregon, in the video. “Out of four years when I’ve been fighting fire, this is about the most hospitable（好客的）state and county I’ve ever been in. And it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.”
1.What is unexpected according to the text?
A. The difficulty in putting out wildfires.
B. The firefighters’ contributions to the town.
C. The locals’ attitude towards the center’s request.
D. The firefighters’ response to the wildfires.
2.What can we know about Hayesville from the text?
A. It is a large town.
B. It is a small town.
C. It is a wealthy town.
D. It’s tough to live in.
3.Why are even the kids in Hayesville mentioned in the text?
A. To show how cute they were.
B. To encourage the firefighters to be grateful.
C. To lead in the reason for creating the YouTube video.
D. To stress the locals’ enthusiasm for the firefighters.
4.What can we infer about the firefighters from the last paragraph?
A. They felt very moved.
B. They were kind to the locals.
C. They were welcome everywhere.
D. They were confident about their work.
The National Gallery
Description:
The National Gallery is the British national art museum built on the north side of Trafalgar in London. It houses a diverse collection of more than 2,300 examples of European art ranging from 13th-century religious paintings to more modern ones by Renoir and Van Gogh. The older collections of the gallery are reached through the main entrance while the more modern works in the East Wing are most easily reached from Trafalgar Square by a ground floor entrance.
Layout:
The modern Sainsbury Wing on the western side of the building houses 13th-to15th-century paintings, and artists include Duccio, Uccello, Van Eyck, Lippi, Mantegna, Botticelli and Memling.
The main West Wing houses 16th-century paintings and artists include Leonardo da Vinci, Cranach, Michelangelo, Raphael, Bruegel, Bronzino, Titian and Veronese.
The North Wing houses 17th-century paintings and artists include Caravaggio, Rubens, Poussin, Van Dyck, Velazquez, Claude and Vermeer.
The East Wing houses 18th-to early 20th-century paintings, and artists include Canaletto, Goya, Turner, Constable, Renoir and Van Gogh.
Opening Hours:
The Gallery is open every day from 10am to 6pm（Fridays 10am to 9pm）and is free, but charges apply to some special exhibitions.
Getting There:
Nearest underground stations: Charing Cross (2-minute walk). Leicester Square (3-minute walk), Embankment (7-minute walk), and Piccadilly Circus (8-minute walk).
1.In which century’s collection can you see religious paintings?
A. The 13th B. The 17th
C. The 18th D. The 20th
2.Where are Leonardo da Vinci’s works shown?
A. In the East Wing. B. In the main West Wing.
C. In the Sainsbury Wing. D. In the North Wing.
3.Which underground station is closest to the National Gallery?
A. Piccadilly Circus. B. Leicester Square.
C. Embankment. D. Charing Cross.
