阅读下面短文，在空白处填入 1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
The Dragon Boat Festival is a 1. (tradition) holiday that commemorates the life and death of the famous Chinese scholar Qu Yuan.
It is a day when many people eat zongzi and race dragon boats. In ancient China, the festival 2. (celebrate) as “Poets’ Day” in honor of Qu Yuan, 3. was known as China’s first poet.
4. is commonly believed that the local people began 5. tradition of throwing sacrificial cooked rice into the river for Qu Yuan, while others hoped that the rice would prevent Qu Yuan’s body from being eaten by the fishes in the river. At first, the locals decided 6. (make) zongzi in hopes that it would sink into the river and reach Qu Yuan’s body. However, the tradition of wrapping the rice in bamboo 7. (leaf) to make zongzi began the following year.
A dragon boat, usually made of wood to various designs and sizes, is a human-powered boat. They often have brightly decorated designs that range anywhere from 40 feet in length 8. 100 feet, with the front end shaped like open-mouthed dragons, and the back end with a scaly tail. The boat can have up to 80 rowers to power the boat, 9.depend) on the length. A sacred ceremony is performed before any competition in order to “bring the boat to life” by painting the eyes. The first team 10. (gain) a flag at the end of the course wins the race.
Stephen Hawking is one of the most famous scientists in this century. The disabled writer of A Brief History of Time, was on his second journey to China in Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province. His first ____ was over ten years ago. The great theoretical scientist has been invited to ____ a mathematics research institute at Zhejiang University, Metropolis Newspaper reported. ____ Sunday evening, he made his appearance at a press conference ____ at Shangri-La hotel, Hangzhou. Hawking ____ at about 5: 00 pm with his wife. The elderly man answered a total of nine ____ with the help of his ____. “I find the real universe much more ____ than the one in the film Star Wars,” Hawking joked. “I ____ young people to study theoretical physics first ____ they are interested in it. M But the talented man ____ has produced such rich work suffers from ____ motor neuron disease（运动神经元病）. He is one of the 350,000 sufferers in the world. The disease ____ over 100,000 people every year. “I like life and I love life, my family ,and music give me the ____ happiness,” smiled Hawking, who can ____ move two fingers.
In the speech, Hawking said he was ____ to write a new edition of A Brief History of Time ____ young children. “A Brief History of Time is my first book for ____ people. But I later found that I could write it in a ____ way,” he answered. “So I decided to rewrite it ____ all people can read it easily.” Unfortunately, he left us forever on Marchl4 this year. We remember his words “My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.”
1.A. visit B. tour C. country D. city
2.A. study B. develop C. attend D. work
3.A. Until B. After C. During D. On
4.A. made B. held C. covered D. proved
5.A. appeared B. associated C. advanced D. approached
6.A. specialists B. questions C. listeners D. journalists
7.A. assistant B. servant C. computer D. performer
8.A. dangerous B. disturbing C. terrible D. interesting
9.A. inspire B. amuse C. behave D. entertain
10.A. if B. unless C. although D. before
11.A. he B. who C. which D. what
12.A. false B. serious C. unbelievable D. poor
13.A. affects B. spreads C. kills D. saves
14.A. greatest B. saddest C. worst D. least
15.A. hardly B. gently C. ever D. only
16.A. forced B. delivered C. planned D. scheduled
17.A. for B. of C. with D. off
18.A. common B. scientific C. honored D. wealthy
19.A. proper B. simple C. difficult D. technical
20.A. as if B. as long as C. so that D. even though
How to Help Children Learn From Their Mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes. 1. As parents, it’s our duty to help our children learn from their mistakes. Turning a mistake into a learning experience will help your child grow. Here are some tips for helping children learn from their mistakes.
Explain exactly what the mistake is. It’s important to make your child accept the fact that he made a mistake. Talk with your child and help him exactly understand what he did is not right.2. Never imagine he knows; always talk over the problem early.
Ask your child to make an apology if his mistakes hurt others. This step takes a mistake that is connected with another person even further.3. By making your child go to see and talk with the person who was hurt, he will more fully understand the results of the mistake and learn from what bad experience.
Offer suggestion in different ways to lead your child to avoid making the same mistakes again. You can choose to share your personal examples if you had the same problem before.4. He may not want to do exactly the same thing, but it will get him to start in the right direction.
5. Having your child try to work through the problem and know how to deal with it only by himself will help develop his reasoning skills, which is good for his self - development. In this way, he will know what he should do if a similar situation appears in the future.
A. Tell your child how you deal with the problem.
B. Children need to learn the results of their mistakes.
C. Praise him if he fully understands the mistake he made.
D. Now it’s time to help him properly correct mistakes
E. Encourage your child to find a way to deal with the problem alone.
F. Learning from mistakes is what makes us become better people.
G. Sometimes a child fails to know why the things he did are wrong.
There is an English saying that says, “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie.” It means not bringing up an old problem. Researchers in Hungary have found another reason to let dogs keep on sleeping. It seems the animals are learning while they sleep.
The Hungarian researchers placed tools on the dogs’ heads to know about electrical activity in the brain. The brain activity, called sleep spindles(梭状波), takes place in human begins, and has been connected with learning. The researchers hope to understand how the dogs’ ability to learn and remember changes as they get older. The study may help them understand how human brains change as we age.
The researchers found differences between male and female dogs. Iotchey, a researcher, says the females appeared much better at learning new things. Female dogs have about twice as many spindles per minute as male dogs, they also happen to be the better learners, and they memorize the task much better. But it was harder for all the older dogs to remember things, especially when several things were happening at the same time.
DoraSzabo also studies sleep spindles. Szabo is a neuroscientist in a university in Budapest. She says the older dogs have fewer spindles and are easily cheated. “If you first hide the reward into one bowl, then in another and in another, they get lost after a while. So their performance is going down, and they are getting poor in solving new problems.”
Researchers hope the study will not only help understanding of learning ability and memory changes in dogs, but also the aging of humans. Senior Researcher EnikoKubinyi adds that the aging dogs suffer from the same problems as humans who are aging. “Among very old dogs, up to two thirds of them show signs of dementia(痴呆), and this dementia is really very similar to that of humans, so we could use dog as a natural model of human aging.”
1.Why do researchers study dogs’ sleep?
A. To help the dogs sleep well
B. To study dogs’ sleeping activity
C. To control dogs’ learning ability
D. To know more about human brains
2.What is the relationship between the number of sleep spindles and dogs’ learning ability?
A. They have nothing to do with each other
B. Dogs with less spindles have better learning ability
C. Dogs with more spindles have better learning ability
D. Dogs’ learning ability is totally decided by spindle number
3.What can we know about old dogs in Paragraph 4?
A. They are easy to play jokes on
B. They can finish tasks one after another
C. They are good at solving new problems
D. Their memories are not so good as before
4.Which is the best title for the text?
A. What we can do to let dogs sleep
B. What we can learn by watching sleeping dogs
C. What the saying “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie” means
D. What is the difference between humans and dogs
Derek Rabclo is not the only surfer to conquer Hawaii' s famous Pipeline big wave break, but while all others use their sight to do it, this young professional surfer must rely only on his other senses. That's because he is completely blind.
When Derek was born, over 24 years ago, he got his name from Derek Ho, the first Hawaiian surfing world champion. A surfing enthusiast himself, Emesto dreamed that his son would share the talent of his uncle, a professional surfer. Unfortunately, Derek was born completely blind, but this didn't slop his family from believing lhat he could do anything he wanted, even if that meant becoming a surfer.
At age 2, Derek received a bodyboard and the beaches of Guarapari, Brazil, became his backyard. He was always comfortable in the water and surfing was in his blood, but he didn’t actually try riding a wave until he turned 17, when his father bought him a surfboard. His father taught him the basics and encouraged him to keep practicing, but after successfully standing up on the surfboard, Derek knew he needed to become much better if he was going to achieve Emesto's dream and become a professional surfer. So he joined the Praia do Moroo surf school, where he studied under coach Fabio Maru.
Standing up on a surfboard and conquering small waves is one thing, while gathering the courage to take on Hawaii's board-breaking Pipeline is another. But that’s exactly what Derek Rabelo set out to do just months after learning how to surf. Everyone told him it was too dangerous, but he felt he could do it. And he did, earning the praise of famous professional surfers like Kelly Slater and Mick Fanning. Now 24, Rabelo has been surfing the Pipeline every winter since.
1.What does the first paragraph tell us?
A. Good eyesight is necessary for becoming good suffers.
B. Nobody has ever conquered Hawaii’s big wave break.
C. Derek Rabelo dreams to conquer Hawaii's big wave break.
D. Derek Rabelo is the only blind professional surfer to conquer Hawaii’s big wave break.
2.How did Ernesto behave after Derek was born?
A. He named him after his uncle. B. He never lost confidence in him.
C. He sent him to a surfing champion. D. He started his own interest in surfing.
3.After Derek was able to stand up on the surfboard, he_______________ .
A. began to try riding a wave B. was no longer afraid of water
C. realized he still had a long way to go D. knew his father’s dream had come true
4.Which of the following words can best describe Derek according to the last paragraph?
A. Brave and confident. B. Skillful but proud.
C. Thoughtful and modest. D. Courageous but stubborn.
Your next car might drive itself.After years of trials on city streets,driverless vehicles are now on the way.Last month,a driverless bus began carrying passengers through Lyon,France.Most in the automobile industry think self-driving vehicles will be on the road by 2020 or earlier.
Driverless cars will first be huddled with human-driven cars.But the first places where they will become dominant（统治的）are highly populated urban areas.Many advanced cities are already reducing the role of human-driven cars.Driverless cars will quicken that process and will bring us enormous benefits.
Driverless cars will reduce accidents by around 90 percent.That's big—the annual deaths on the world's roads are about 1.2 million a year.Pollution and carbon emissions will drop,because urban driverless cars will be electric.
On the other hand,driverless cars will cause problems.Over the next 20 years,the mostly low-skilled men who now drive trucks,taxis and buses will see their jobs reduced.Traditional carmakers are especially scared.The cars of the future might be made by tech companies such as Apple,Baidu and Google.Imagine Germany,where automobile making is the largest industry.
Dramatic changes are coming,and driverless cars could arrive by 2020.But governments have barely begun thinking about it.Only 6 percent of the biggest US cities have taken them into their long-term planning.A decade ago anyone hardly saw the Smartphone coming.Now what about the driverless cars?
1.The underlined phrase "be huddled with" in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning with " ".
A. turn up B. make up for
C. exist together D. take over
2.Driverless cars can reduce pollution and carbon emissions because .
A. they will reduce the number of cars
B. they will be powered by electricity
C. they will be energy-saving by driving themselves
D. they will avoid many accidents from human errors
3.What's the author's attitude toward driverless cars?
A. Doubtful. B. Disappointed.
C. Negative. D. Objective.
4.What can we conclude from the passage?
A. Driverless cars will not hit the road until 2020.
B. Old auto industry will benefit from driverless cars.
C. Governments are unprepared for the arrival of driverless cars.
D. Driverless cars will make road accidents a past thing.
