Overcome the Fear for Your Dream
I stood nervously behind the red curtain and glanced out across the stage. A girl about my age sat at a piano; I could see her fingertips moving over the black and white keys in front of her. The beautiful melody (旋律) was so relaxing, ________ my body tensed with anxiety.
My body ________ when the girl stood up from the bench. It was finally my turn. A part of me wanted to run home and ________ under my bed, but I knew I had chosen to ________. When the girl onstage walked toward me, I could hear my heart beating ________. The girl had a proud smile on her face and when she passed me, I heard her say “Good ________”!
“Well, here goes nothing.” I said to myself.
I stepped onto the ________ and walked slowly toward the piano. The bright lights nearly ________ me, making it difficult to see the audience. When I reached the ________, I automatically slid onto the bench into position. The sounds of whispering and people walking around gave way to complete silence. I stared at my ________ fingers and for a moment my mind went ________. Closing my eyes, I imagined the music sitting in front of me and tried to recall every tiny detail.
Finally, I took a deep breath and began to play Beethoven’s Moonlight sonata（协奏曲）. The rich tones of the piano rang out. One by one, each muscle in my body loosened and relaxed. I sat on the bench and my ________ danced over the row of black and white keys as if they had a mind of their own.
All the practice and ________ I put in for six months showed this was what my teacher was pushing for. I tried to ________ all the things she reminded me to do. “Keep your wrists up, relax your arms, don’t raise your shoulders… ” I remembered feeling slightly annoyed hearing these things continuously, but I never realized until now how it really ________.
When I reached the end of the piece, the audience started ________. I rose from the bench and gave a deep bow. A proud smile ________ up my face. Inside I felt ________ that it was over and that I had done so well. As the applause died down, I turned and walked to the other side of the stage. I saw a young boy standing nervously behind the red curtains staring ______out at the stage. When I walked by, I passed to him the two words that were given to me for______: Good luck!
1.A. but B. and C. for D. so
2.A. ached B. bent C. froze D. moved
3.A. drink B. sleep C. play D. hide
4.A. run B. perform C. stand D. escape
5.A. happily B. loudly C. weakly D. lightly
6.A. guy B. music C. luck D. performance
7.A. chair B. bridge C. path D. stage
8.A. hurt B. blinded C. killed D. frightened
9.A. entrance B. curtain C. light D. piano
10.A. shaking B. waving C. unfolding D. crossing
11.A. blank B. wild C. awake D. wrong
12.A. fingers B. feet C. arms D. legs
13.A. excuse B. support C. effort D. service
14.A. recall B. forget C. ignore D. grasp
15.A. started B. helped C. stopped D. formed
16.A. joking B. blaming C. clapping D. leaving
17.A. burned B. lit C. dried D. lifted
18.A. confused B. worried C. embarrassed D. relieved
19.A. confidently B. excitedly C. fearfully D. angrily
20.A. reward B. sympathy C. appreciation D. encouragement
在未给提示词的空白处仅填写 1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。
Over the past few years, square dance 1. (become) a more and more popular exercise, especially among senior citizens. They often dance in the open areas in community. However, many 2. (resident) who live around are annoyed by the loud music. For example, students 3. (prepare) for important exams are 4. (deep) affected.
People may have different opinions on this issue. Some people think 5. is necessary for senior citizens to give up the hobby for the good of most people, 6. others argue that senior citizens have the right 7.（do）something they like in public places. They are both right to some extent. 8. my opinion, the authorities, instead of forcing senior citizens to stop dancing, should do something to meet everybody’s requirements. For example, they can supply some buses which can transport senior citizens to a place 9.there are few apartments around. Besides, local communities can also organize leisure activities that little noise 10. (create).
In short, there are always some good ideas that can meet the needs of people. After all, everybody has the right to live a happy and fulfilled life.
阅读下面短文，结合图表内容，按照要求用英语写一篇150词左右的短文。
The Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China is moving to ban teachers from assigning homework on mobile apps or asking parents to grade students’ homework as part of an effort to save students’ eyesight. Through these efforts, the overall myopia (近视) rate among teenagers reduces by more than 0.5 percentage points per year from 2019 until 2023.
Provinces with a high incidence (发生率) of myopia are required to cut at least 1 percentage point per year. By 2030, the myopia rate for 6-year-old children should be below 3 percent, for primary school students, below 38 percent, for middle school students, below 60 percent, and for high school students, below 70 percent. Along with banning app-based homework assignments, the regulation would limit the use of electronic devices to 30 percent of total teaching time and instead encourage homework to be completed by hand on paper.
（写作内容）
1. 用约30个词概括上述图文内容；
2. 结合上述信息，简要分析导致学生近视问题的主要原因；
3. 请你从社会和个人两方面谈谈如何保护学生的视力（不少于两点）。
（写作要求）
1. 写作过程中不能直接引用原文语句；
2. 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；
3. 不必写标题。
（评分标准）
内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。
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请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。
注意：每个空格只填1个单词。请将答案写在答题纸上相应题号的横线上。
Is loneliness a health epidemic?
In recent decades, researchers have discovered that loneliness left untreated is not just psychically painful; it also can have serious medical consequences. Rigorous epidemiological studies have linked loneliness and social isolation to heart disease, cancer, depression, diabetes and suicide. Vivek Murthy, the former United States surgeon general, has written that loneliness and social isolation are “associated with a reduction in life span similar to that caused by smoking 15 cigarettes a day and even greater than that associated with obesity.”
But is loneliness, as many political officials and pundits are warning, a growing “health epidemic” (流行病)？I don’t believe so, nor do I believe it helps anyone to describe it that way. Social disconnection is a serious matter, yet if we set off a panic over its prevalence (流行) and impact, we’re less likely to deal with it properly.
Anxiety about loneliness is a common feature of modern societies. Today, two major causes of loneliness seem possible. One is that societies throughout the world have embraced a culture of individualism. More people are living alone, and aging alone, than ever. Neoliberal (新自由主义的) social policies have turned workers into insecure free agents, and when jobs disappear, things fall apart fast. Labor unions, civic associations, neighborhood organizations, religious groups and other traditional sources of social solidarity are in steady decline. Increasingly, we all feel that we’re on our own.
The other possible cause is the rise of communication technology, including smartphones, social media and the internet. A decade ago, companies like Facebook, Apple and Google promised that their products would help create meaningful relationships and communities. Instead, we’ve used the media system to deepen existing divisions, at both the individual and group levels. We may have thousands of “friends” and “followers” on Facebook and Instagram, but when it comes to human relationships, it turns out there’s no substitute for building them the old-fashioned way, in person.
In light of these two trends, it’s easy to believe we’re experiencing an “epidemic” of loneliness and isolation. Surprisingly, though, the best data do not actually show a boom in either loneliness or social isolation. Yet the research tells us something more specific. In places like the United States and Britain, it’s the poor, unemployed, displaced (无家可归的) and migrant populations that are suffering most from loneliness and isolation. Their lives are unstable, and so are their relationships. When they get lonely, they are the least able to get adequate social or medical support.
Passage outline | Supporting details |
Research finding | Loneliness is likely to cause various kinds of medical consequences unless 1.. |
The author’s opinion | ♦ Loneliness is not a growing “health epidemic”. ♦ Don’t take loneliness too 2. , which may result in panic and 3.to handle it properly. |
An analysis of possible causes of loneliness | ♦ A culture of individualism has become 4.all over the world. ♦ People are doing5.jobs and traditional sources of social solidarity are declining. ♦ 6.to what some companies promised, the development of communication technology are 7.the situation. ♦ Traditional face-to-face communication is the 8.way to build human relationship. |
Conclusions | ♦ We are 9. by the two trends into believing we are experiencing a loneliness epidemic, but it isn’t the case. ♦ Some groups of people are still suffering from loneliness and isolation, among whom social and medical support are badly 10.. |
The Boy Who Harnessed (利用) the Wind is an inspirational true-story film based on a memoir—an account of the author’s personal experiences—by the Malawian engineer William Kamkwamba. As a teenager, Kamkwamba built a wind turbine for his famine-stricken town in Malawi, helping to power small appliances and eventually irrigate crops. But though the film points toward that technological breakthrough, it spends much of its running time depicting (描绘) its hero’s community and avoids many of the damaging language that tend to accompany pop-cultural description of poverty or conflicts in African countries.
This approach is what makes the movie, much more attractive than other such docu-dramas. Chiwetel Ejiofor, an English actor, is making his feature appearance as a writer and director to draw attention to Kamkwamba’s story—but he’s just as focused on depicting the boy’s family life and the dangers of farming in early-2000s Malawi. Famine isn’t just a thing that happens to the Kamkwambas. It’s the result of a series of unpredictable catastrophes that trickle down to this small village and leave its people struggling to grow and sell food. By examining the many structural reasons for the town’s crisis, Ejiofor makes Kamkwamba’s achievement feel better-earned from a narrative (叙述的) perspective.
The Kamkwambas are not lacking in food, at first, though they do live harvest to harvest. Soon, a series of dramatic floods, combined with government unrest (动荡), begins to take a toll on (have a bad effect on) their life. Through it all, William shows his gift for invention, taking apart whatever machines he can get his hands on and figuring out how they work. In one crucial (and cleverly written) scene, some local teenagers beg William to fix their radio so that they can listen to a soccer game, and he does, making use of a battery from several drained power cells. As the radio jolts to life, it delivers a news report of planes hitting buildings in the U.S., which serves as the first real acknowledgment of the film’s exact time period. The uninterested teens immediately switch over to the game, but Ejiofor included that detail for a reason. Though Malawi is on the other side of the world from the U.S., and the Kamkwambas’ village is far from the country’s biggest city, the negative effects of 9/11 are felt even there—unsettling the government and setting off a chain reaction that quickly turns things terrible. Moments like these affirm Ejiofor’s particular skill for storytelling. To William and his young friends, the event barely registers, but it still has huge consequences for their lives.
The latter half of the film is tougher going than the light, community-oriented opening, but it’s anchored by strong performances. Trywell, William’s father, isn’t a bad dad, but as his family gets hungrier, his anger toward his government, which was supposed to help him thrive, rises to the surface. As William’s mother, Maïga is a calmer, steadier figure, but her pride is damaged, too. She speaks of never wanting to be the stereotypical (老套的) family “praying for rain,” as her ancestors did, and despairs as Trywell’s strategy to save the farm becomes almost exactly that.
At a certain point, I started mentally checking my watch—Isn’t it time for the boy to start harnessing the wind? But Ejiofor doesn’t want William’s massive achievement to look easy. Not only does William need to gather the practical materials needed for a windmill in a nearly abandoned town, but he also has to challenge his father’s skepticism and persuade him to give up the few possessions he still has, including a bicycle, to create something that appears impossible. It’s striking, and deeply sad, to consider that superficially (表面上) the only thing keeping William’s town from starvation was basically wind power. In Ejiofor’s hands, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind builds realism and context into both sides of that story and manages to be a winning adaptation as a result.
1.In the film The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, a considerable part is about _______.
A. the miserable life in Malawi B. the irrigation of the crops
C. the building of the turbine D. the technology breakthrough
2.How does Ejiofor make Kamkwamba’s achievement more noticeable?
A. By shooting the film in the form of story-telling.
B. By analyzing the reasons for the village’s poverty.
C. By listing unpredictable catastrophes attacking the village.
D. By strengthening the difficulty in growing and selling the food.
3.What is the purpose of the scene about the radio in Paragraph 3?
A. To report the terror event in the US B. To reveal the setting of the film.
C. To stress the teens’ interest in games. D. To show the hero’s willingness of help.
4.The underlined word “that” in Paragraph 4 refers to _______.
A. Maïga’s pride B. Trywell’s anger
C. the family praying for rain D. the despair of saving the farm
5.The scene of William harnessing the wind appears quite late in the film so as to _______.
A. build realism and context into both sides of the story
B. underline the local people’s suffering from starvation
C. show his father’s skepticism and reluctance to help him
D. impress on viewers the difficulty of making the machine
6.What would be the best title for this passage?
A. A Wind Turbine Invented by a Malawian Engineer
B. An Inspirational True-story Adapted into a Film
C. The Kamkwamba Family and Their Life in Malawi
D. A True Winner—The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Up and down the economic ladder, many Americans who work—and especially those raising kids—are pressed for time, wishing they had more of it to devote to leisure activities (or even just sleeping). At the same time, research has indicated that people who are busy tend to be happier than those who are idle, whether their busyness is purposeful or not.
A research paper released late last year investigated this trade-off, attempting to pinpoint (精确指出) how much leisure time is best. Its authors examined the relationship between the amount of “discretionary time” people had—basically, how much time people spend awake and doing what they want—and how pleased they were with their lives.
The paper, which analyzed data covering about 35,000 Americans, found that employed people’s ratings of their satisfaction with life peaked when they had in the neighborhood of two and a half hours of free time a day. For people who didn’t work, the optimal (最佳) amount was four hours and 45 minutes.
The research traced a correlation (关联) between free time and life satisfaction, but didn’t provide any definitive (最后的) insight into what underlies that correlation—“which is exciting, because this is a work in progress,” says Cassie Mogilner Holmes, a professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and a co-author of the paper, which hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed or published in an academic journal.
An experiment that the researchers arranged hinted at (暗示) a possible explanation of the correlation they found. They asked participants to picture and describe what it would be like to have a certain amount of daily free time, and then report how they’d feel about that allotment (分配). “What we find is that having too little time makes people feel stressed, and maybe that’s obvious,” says Holmes. “But interestingly, that effect goes away—the role of stress goes away—once you approach the optimal point.” After that point, Holmes says, the subjects started to say they felt less productive overall, which could explain why having a lot of free time can feel like having too much free time.
It’s not clear what an individual is to do with these findings, since the amount of free time people have usually has something to do with a variety of factors, such as having children or a degree of control over work schedules. Holmes shared her research with the MBA students in her class on happiness, and some of the most time-crunched among them were comforted by the findings: “I think that two and a half hours creates a nice goal that even if you increase a little bit more of your discretionary time use, you can expect that it will translate into greater life satisfaction.”
1.According to the passage, what happens to Americans occupied with their work?
A. They allow themselves more leisure time.
B. They keep themselves busy on purpose.
C. They know how much leisure time is best.
D. They experience higher level of satisfaction.
2.What can be learned about the correlation between free time and life satisfaction?
A. Researchers have cast light on the cause of the correlation.
B. Unemployed people need more leisure time to feel content.
C. The paper on the correlation has achieved peer recognition.
D. Employed people enjoy more leisure time in the neighborhood.
3.Which of the following charts illustrates the change of stress and productivity?
A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
4.It can be inferred from the last paragraph that _______.
A. Holmes is optimistic about the influence of her findings
B. individuals are encouraged to control their work schedules
C. people with tight schedules can’t benefit from the findings
D. the MBA students find no free time to obtain life satisfaction
