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The two roads

It was New Year’s Night. An aged man was standing at a window. He raised his mournful eyes towards the deep blue sky, where the stars were floating like white lilies on the surface of a clear calm lake. When he cast them on the earth, where a few more hopeless people besides himself now moved towards their certain goal--- the tomb. He had already passed sixty of the stages leading to it, and he had brought from his journey nothing but errors and regrets. Now his health was poor, his mind vacant, his heart sorrowful, and his old age short of comforts.

The days of his youth appeared like dreams before him, and he recalled the serious moment when his father placed him at the entrance of the two roads---one leading to a peaceful, sunny place, covered with flowers, fruits and resounding with soft, sweet songs; the other leading to a deep, dark cave, which was endless, where poison flowed instead of water and where devils and poisonous snake hissed and crawled.

He looked towards the sky and cried painfully, “O, my father, place me once more at the entrance to life, and I’ll choose the better way!” But both his father and the days of his youth had passed away.

He saw the lights flowing away in the darkness. These were the days of his wasted life; he saw a star fall from the sky and disappeared, and this was the symbol of himself. His regret, which was like a sharp arrow, struck deeply into his heart. Then he remembered his friends in his childhood, who entered on life with him. But they had made their way to success and were now honored and happy on this New Year’s night.

The clock in the church tower struck and the sound made him remember his parents’ early love for him. They had taught him and prayed to God for his good. But he chose the wrong way. With shame and grief he dared no longer look towards the heaven where his father lived. His darkened eyes were full of tears, and with a despairing effort, he burst out a cry: “Come back, my early days! Come back”

And his youth did return, for all this was only a dream which he had on New Year Night. He was still young though his faults were real; he had not yet entered the deep, dark cave, and he was still free to walk on the road which leads to the peaceful and sunny land.

Those who still linger at the entrance of life, hesitating to choose the bright road, remember that when years are passed and your feet stumble on the dark mountains, you will cry bitterly, but in vain: “ O youth, return! Oh give me back my early days!”

1.In the 3rd paragraph, the man cried painfully because _________.

A.all the hopeless people were moving towards death

B.He had lost forever the chance to take the right road

C.His parents and the happy days of his youth were gone

D.He refused to take the road leading to a deep dark cave

2.What happened to the man before his sudden realization?

A.He was at his father’s funeral farewell.

B.He was enjoying the New Year’s eve.

C.He was wandering at the entrance to life.

D.He was having a dream of his life in old age.

3.We can infer from the story that _________.

A.The man’s childhood friends led a joyful life like him

B.The man still had the opportunity to chose the right way

C.both the man’s parents passed away when he was young

D.the man’s father was quite strict with his son before death

4.The passage is mainly written for _________.

A.a new driver getting lost on a detour

B.a concerned mother with two children to raise

C.an experienced teacher with a good reputation

D.a hesitating young adult facing a tough life choice

Face shape lets AI spot rare disorders

People with genetic syndromes（综合征）sometimes have revealing facial features, but using them to make a quick and cheap diagnosis can be_____ given there are hundreds of possible conditions they may have. A new neural network that analyses photographs of faces can help doctors _____ the possibilities.

Yaron Gurovich at biotechnology firm FDNA in Boston and his team built a neural network to look at the overall impression of faces and _____ a list of the 10 genetic syndromes a person is most likely to have.

They _____ the neural network, called DeepGestalt, on 17,000 images correctly labelled to match more than 200 genetic syndromes. The team then asked the AI to _____ potential genetic disorders from a further 502 photos of people with such conditions. It included the correct answer among its list of 10 responses 91 per cent of the time.

Gurovich and his team also_____ the neural network’s ability to distinguish between the different genetic mutations (变异) that can lead to the same syndrome. They used photographs of people with Noonan syndrome, which can result from mutations in any one of five genes. DeepGestalt correctly identified the genetic source of the physical appearance 64 per cent of the time. It’s clearly not _____, but it’s still much better than humans are at trying to do this.

As the system makes its assessments, the facial regions that were most helpful in the determination are _____ and made available for doctors to view. This helps them to understand the relationships between genetic make-up and physical appearance.

The fact that the diagnosis is based on a simple photograph raises questions about_____. If faces can reveal details about genetics, then employers and insurance providers could, in principle, _____ use such techniques to _____ against people who have a high probability of having certain disorders. _____, Gurovich says the tool will only be _____ for use by clinicians.

This technique could bring significant_____ for those who have genetic syndromes. The real value here is that for some of these ultra-rare diseases, the process of diagnosis can be many, many years. This kind of technology can help narrow down the search space and then be confirmed through checking genetic markers. For some diseases, it will cut down the time to diagnosis dramatically. For others, it could perhaps add means of finding other people with the disease and, _____, help find new treatments or cures.

1.A.convincing B.tricky C.reliable D.feasible

2.A.bring about B.result from C.narrow down D.rule out

3.A.return B.input C.top D.feed

4.A.based B.imposed C.focused D.trained

5.A.identify B.distinguish C.shift D.cure

6.A.tested B.demonstrated C.recognized D.acquired

7.A.acceptable B.perfect C.reliable D.workable

8.A.covered B.excluded C.highlighted D.supervised

9.A.objectivity B.accuracy C.credibility D.privacy

10.A.legally B.habitually C.efficiently D.secretly

11.A.discriminate B.fight C.argue D.vote

12.A.Furthermore B.Therefore C.Otherwise D.However

13.A.impossible B.available C.ready D.rare

14.A.challenges B.benefits C.damages D.concerns

15.A.by contrast B.in turn C.in addition D.on the contrary

Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Cruz Genet, 11, and Anthony Skopick, 10, couldn’t agree. Were the birds out on the ice ducks or geese? There was only one way to find out.

So on a chilly January evening last year, the two friends ventured (冒险) onto the frozen pond near their homes in Frankfort, Illinois,1.(get) a better look. First they cast a rock onto the ice to test it, then they stepped on it.2.(convince) the ice would hold their weight, Anthony took a few steps, then … FOOMP. He crashed through the seemingly frozen surface. There was no sound, he just fell instantly.

Cruz rushed to help his terrified friend. FOOMP -- the pond swallowed him too. Cruz managed to lift

3.out of the frozen water and onto a more solid section. He then cautiously worked his way toward Anthony. But the ice 4.(not hold), and he fell in again. This time, he couldn’t get out. The boys were up to their necks in icy water and quickly losing feeling in their limbs. There was not much chance 5.they could free themselves from the trouble. Cruz was sure he was going to die.

Anthony’s older sister had seen the boys 6.(fall) into the pond and started creaming for help. John Lavin, a neighbor driving nearby on his way to the grocery store, heard her. He quickly pulled over. Seeing the boys, he grabbed a nearby buoy(浮标)，kicked off his shoes, and ran into the water,7.(chop) his way through the ice with his free fist. Lavin made his way8.Cruz and Anthony and pull them back to land. They were taken to the hospital, where doctors discovered that their five-minute stay in the water9.(lower) their body temperature nearly ten degrees.

Fortunately, the boys have fully recovered,10.they are still a little awestruck(惊叹的)by their fearless neighbor. “Just to think,” says Cruz, “If he hadn’t been there, I would have died.”

每个人都想获得成功，但生活中失败却不可避免。作为一名高中生，我们该如何看待失败？请结合以下提示用英语写一篇短文。

1. As a teenager, what’s your understanding of failure?

2. What do you think the benefits of failure are?

3. How should you deal with failure when facing it? And your views about it.

写作要求：

1．对所有要点逐一陈述，适当发挥。

2．词数150左右。开头已写好，不计入总词数。

3．作文中不得提及有关考生个人身份的任何信息，如：校名、人名等。

Failure is one of those life experiences most of us can’t avoid. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

请认真阅读下列各小题，并根据中文提示和所给首字母的提示，写出下列各句空格中的单词，注意保持语义和形式的一致。请将答案的完整形式写在答题卡的相应题号的横线上。

1.A_____the city center, we saw a stone statue of about 10 meters in height.

2.He didn’t make great progress in his study; on the c_____, his health was harmed because of lacking enough sleep.

3.The book isn’t intended for general readers probably because the author e_____too many scientific terms in it.

4.We can see monuments here and there. Those who have made great c_____to human beings and society will never be forgotten.

5.I listened to his excuse with a(n)_____of amusement and disbelief.

6.You’d better choose some_____(简化的)story books, in which case your boy will show interest in them.

7.Color-blind people have difficulty_____(区分)between blue and green.

8.Reforming the education system will be a difficult ____(过程)

9.Though I haven’t seen Jimmy for twenty years, I_____(认出) him the moment I saw him.

10.I said hello to her, but she_____(不予理睬)me as usual.