It’s November now and Christmas is on the way. What would be a better way to spend time with your loved ones than sitting down to watch some classic Christmas movies?
1. The Grinch (2000)
This is a Christmas must-watch. It was originally (最初) a children’s book written by Dr. Seuss, which I would suggest reading! It’s the story of a green monster (怪兽) who wants to destroy Christmas but who in the end discovers the power of love. I promise it’s a great film with plenty of laughs along the way.
2. Love Actually (2003)
While this is not a personal favourite of mine, people in the UK love this film. It features (由……主演) famous actors and actresses such as Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman. It might be a little difficult to follow, but the heart-warming story makes it worth watching.
3. Home Alone (1990)
This is one of my favourite films of all time and I would watch it all year round if I could. It tells the story of a boy, Kevin, who is left alone in his house when his large family forget to take him on vacation. While the family are away, burglars (窃贼) try to break into the house and Kevin must protect his home by setting traps. The trips, falls and traps will have you laughing out loud as you watch a 10-year-old boy outsmart two grown men.
4. Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
You can’t have Christmas in an English-speaking country without watching this film. It’s not funny like Home Alone or The Grinch, but it is really touching. It’s about a man who says he is Santa Claus, but nobody believes him except a lawyer and a little girl. The storyline may seem a little childish but you can enjoy it at any age.
1.Which movie is based on a children’s book?
A.The Grinch. B.Love Actually.
C.Home Alone. D.Miracle on 34th Street.
2.What does the author think of Miracle on 34th Street?
A.It is his favourite movie.
B.It is funny and touching.
C.It is a little difficult to follow.
D.It is suitable for people of all ages.
3.What do the four movies have in common?
A.All can make you laugh out loud.
B.All are newly-made movies.
C.All are related to Christmas.
D.All tell stories about kids.
假设你是美国纽约市的一名高中生 Chris, 打算暑假来天津学习汉语，来信向你在天津 一中的笔友李津咨询他们学校的国际班汉语课程。请你根据以下提示给李津写一封咨询 信。
内容要点：
1. 想学汉语的原因（中国文化；个人发展……）
2. 咨询国际班汉语课程的情况（班级大小；是否侧重听说；能不中国学生交流）
3. 询问是否提供食宿。
注意：
（1） 词数不少于 100；
（2） 可适当加入细节，使内容充实，行文连贯；
（3） 开头已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear li Jin,
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours
Chris
根据所给的首字母和中文写出所缺单词的正确形式（每空 1 分，满分 10 分）
1.I’d like to r _____ (保留)my judgements until I know all the facts.
2.We are p _____ (深远地；极大地) affected by what happens to us in the childhood.
3.We'll see how this schedule works, and then we'll make a few a _____ (调 整) as necessary.
4.We can’t g _____ (担保) you a window seat on Oct. 1 if you don’t book in advance.
5.Some companies, unlike HUAWEI, seem c _____ (谨慎的) about investing more money in research and development.
6.College students are encouraged to take part-time jobs to a _____ (积累) social experience needed for their future career.
7.Rebecca still stood h _____ (犹豫) like a swimmer about to make his dive, hardly knowing whether to return or move forward.
8.Let me take this o _____ (机会) to say a few words to express my thanks for your help.
9.Is he a close friend of you or just an a _____ (熟人)?
10.The location helps Sri Lanka to become an i _____ (理想的) export market to access larger markets.
It’s been two years since I came to Helsinki, and while I have already forgotten my confusion about street names, in my mind the structure of it is still forming. There are stages of adjustment to a new place — from loving all the new to hating just about everything — but feeling settled can take a while.
I consider New York City my second hometown. You fight your way into NYC. It isn’t easy. It isn’t cheap. It isn’t particularly friendly, at least until you’re used to a four-letter word as part of a compliment. So when I got to Helsinki, I was suspicious(怀疑的)of how easy it was(aside from the street names). People were friendly and nice.
Aside from the coffee and the cost of living, Helsinki and New York don’t have much in common; but I was born in the US Midwest, which was heavily influenced by Nordic immigrants(移民), so as foreign as it was, parts of Finnish life seemed familiar.
Still, I missed New York. I visited it last year, and went to my old coffee cart(咖 啡车), still in the same place. Although it was 2019, my mind insisted that it was 2007and I had never left. Or, I did: cities change, bit by bit, day by day, so slowly that they always seem the same, when you close your eyes for twelve years, even if everything looks the same when you open them, it isn’t. The slang(俚语）is slightly different; there are references to a TV show I’ve never seen.
In my mind, this was home. It was the place I saw when I dreamt of my childhood, long after I left it; and now I am the same as the tourists. So I get back on the plane to Finland. I’m leaving the ghost behind to return to a place where I’m real, and that is itself changing, bit by bit, day by day.
1.We can know from the passage that _____ .
A.it took the authors some time to adapt to Helsinki
B.the author has lived in Helsinki for many years
C.the author is tired of everything in Helsinki now
D.the author has never returned to New York since she left
2.When the author got to Helsinki at first, she _____ .
A.found people there were not friendly
B.was confused about street names
C.thought it was easy to praise people using four-letter words
D.thought the life in Helsinki was harder than that in New York
3.Why does the author feel familiar with parts of Finnish life?
A.Because her birthplace was affected by Nordic’ immigrants.
B.Because Finland has the same coffee as her hometown.
C.Because the cost of living in Finland is the same as that of her hometown.
D.Because Helsinki and New York have much in common.
4.Which of the following might be the title for passage?
A.A place where I was born
B.A place where I worked
C.A place that I visited
D.A place where I am real
Don’t get mad the next time you catch your teenager texting when he promises to be studying. He simply may not be able to resist. A University of lowa (UI) study found teenagers are far more sensitive than adults to the immediate effect or reward of their behaviors. The findings may help explain why the initial rush of texting may be more attractive for adolescents than the long-term payoff of studying.
“For the teenager, the rewards are seductive.” says Professor Jatin Vaidya, an author of the study. “They draw adolescents. Sometimes, the rewards are a kind of motivation for them. Even when a behavior is no longer in a teenager’s best interest to continue, they will, because the effect of the reward is still there and lasts much longer in adolescents than in adults.”
For parents, that means limiting distractions so teenagers can make better choices. Take the homework and social media dilemma: At 9 p.m., shut off everything except a computer that has no access to Facebook or Twitter, the researchers advise. “I’m not saying they shouldn’t be allowed access to technology,” Vaidya says “But some help in resetting their concentration is necessary for them so they can develop those impulse-control skills.”
In their study, Vaidya and co-author Shaun Vecera note researchers generally believe teenagers are impulsive(冲动的), make bad decisions, and engage in risky behavior because the frontal lobes(额叶) of their brains are not fully developed. But the UI researchers wondered whether something more fundamental was going on with adolescents to cause behaviors independent of higher-level reasoning.
“We wanted to try to understand the brain’s reward system and how it changes from childhood to adulthood," says Vaidya, who adds that the reward character in the human brain is easier than decision-making. “We’ve been trying to understand the reward process in adolescence and whether there is more to adolescent behavior than an under-developed frontal lobe,” he adds. For their study, the researchers persuaded 40 adolescents, aged 13 and 16, and 40 adults, aged 20 and 35 to participate.
In the future, researchers hope to look into the psychological and neurological(神经学上的)aspects of their results.
1.What does the passage mainly tell us?
A.Always, rewards are attractive to teenagers.
B.Sometimes, adolescents just can’t resist.
C.Resistance can be controlled well by adolescents.
D.Getting rewards is the greatest motivation for adolescents to study.
2.What does the underlined word “seductive” mean?
A.Necessary. B.Attractive.
C.Useful. D.Important.
3.Which statement agrees with Vaidya’s idea?
A.The influence of the reward is weak in adolescents.
B.Parents should help children in making decisions.
C.Children should have access to the Internet.
D.Children need help in refocusing their attention.
4.What result does teenagers’ brain underdevelopment lead to?
A.Doing things after some thought. B.Making good decisions.
C.Joining in dangerous actions. D.Escaping risky behavior.
Twenty-three elementary schools in Orange County, Florida, have been cutting back on recess（休息）, and even canceling it altogether to increase class time. In a recent Orange County School Board meeting, parents asked that recess time be carried out in all local schools for all students.
Angela Browning, a parent in the area, said that schools provided 0 to 30 minutes of recess per day.
“Five-year-olds not getting recess is nothing short of abuse ,” said
Browning , who added that her twins, who are in the second grade, had attention- deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD 注意力缺陷多动障碍) and benefited from taking a break to use up some of their energy. “We will not accept a ‘recess for some, but not all’ approach.”
“They have become machines that produce data as opposed to children,”
Amy Narvaez, a mother of two children said.
At the center of issues in Florida are Common Core exams, mandatory(强制 的)standardized tests in math, language, arts and literacy(读写能力), where the students’ performance often decides teachers’ pay and sometimes their jobs. Many teachers are using that extra 20 minutes to teach the test.
“Because so much of the money is tied to the schools’ scores and their grades, everybody is pressured,” said Diana Moore, president of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association.
“We’ll come to a place in Florida and probably nationally where we have to admit that we really don’t have enough minutes in the day to get everything done for our children,” said Orange County Public Schools leader Barbara Jenkins.
The decision of whether recess takes place, and for how long, has thus far been up to each school’s principal.
“Florida law requires that districts provide 900 teaching hours during the school year,” Florida’s Department of Education press secretary Cheryl Etters said in a statement. "Whether recess is part of the school day is a decision made by the school board(学校董事会)”
Canceling recess also can taper off chances for children to learn social skills, according to many experts. Many children take advantage of their rest to learn skills, according to some experts. If recess is canceled, they have to give up.
“At the end of the day, who cares if you have straight A’s and you get a scholarship to Harvard if you act with no skill?” Heather Mellet, a mother of two children in the district said.
1.Which is the best title for the passage?
A.Which is more important: scores or ability?
B.Schools should take care of children with ADHD
C.Parents fight for their children’s right to recess
D.Elementary schools give children no recess time
2.What can we learn from the passage?
A.Students who get straight A’s can have much recess.
B.Angela Browning thinks recess is good for her children.
C.Heather Mellet thinks that rest is more important than scores for children.
D.Barbara Jenkins doesn’t agree that schools should have done everything well for students.
3.Why do some schools give students little or no time for rest?
A.Because they must give students’ parents a perfect explanation.
B.Because what students have to learn is too much.
C.Because there’s no law to request schools to do so.
D.Because they want students to gain good test scores.
4.About recess time for students in Florida we can learn ______ .
A.there is little possibility to happen
B.the local government has no request for it
C.all schools will have the same recess time
D.it is decided by students and their parents
