阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。
The Financial Times gave part of my job to a robot named Amy last week. For years I have been making podcast version(播客)of my column, 1. now I am faced with a tough competition.
To be fair, Amy does something going for her. She has a great voice, smooth as velvet. Her2.(two) advantage is that she's practically free. She is part of a new service from Amazon that turns text3.speech, costing-nearly nothing. Even more4.(impress) is her speed. Less than two seconds after receiving my5.(write) text, which means when I just start to read, "Yesterday the Finan…", she has already finished.
Yet once I got over my distress and listened to her work, I felt6.(good). I know it's early days for her, but at the moment Amy is no match for me. Listening to her is not like listening to7.non-English speaker read aloud, but to someone without brain, or heart, or sense of humor. Her8.(deliver) is so poor that I don't even understand. Amy never reads with understanding, never9. (know)when to pause, and never does irony. She continues to get it wrong.
Finally, I'm not afraid Amy is about to steal my job. Only people possess human touch. It is the heart-to-heart communication10.makes us special, beautiful and irreplaceable.
My wife and I moved into our home two years ago. We had a yard with a lot of _______. Very often when we have flowers, Denise or I would plant some between the rocks, just to add some_______to the area.
Last summer, I found a tiny little plant in the yard that I could not immediately identify. I knew I didn’t plant it and Denise said she didn’t either.
We decided to let it_______growing until we could find out what it was.
Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the_______plant, it appeared to be a sunflower. I decided to_______the weeds（杂草）around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something _______.The sunflower had not_______where I saw it begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the_______.
That’s when I_______that if a tiny little sunflower didn’t let a big rock stand in its way of developing, we too have the ability of doing the same thing. If we________ourselves like that little sunflower, we can reach where we ________to go and get what we need for growth.
We need to believe in ourselves knowing we have the ________ to achieve our goals. Like the sunflower, it knew it had the ability to get over the rocks because it had ________in itself that it would succeed. Stand tall like the sunflower and be________of who and what we are, and then the environment will begin to________us. We will find a way to go under or around any "rocks" in order to reach our goals.
1.A.flower B.insects C.vegetables D.rocks
2.A.water B.fertilizer C.color D.shape
3.A.stop B.continue C.improve D.escape
4.A.weak B.strange C.lonely D.pretty
5.A.collect B.tend C.remove D.watch
6.A.unusual B.wonderful C.terrible D.valuable
7.A.passed B.started C.left D.died
8.A.air B.top C.sun D.house
9.A.hoped B.realized C.doubted D.regretted
10.A.fill in B.put in C.worry about D.believe in
11.A.forget B.hate C.aim D.wait
12.A.wish B.plan C.ability D.idea
13.A.faith B.energy C.virtue D.courage
14.A.aware B.afraid C.proud D.tired
15.A.forgive B.support C.upset D.affect
Top Tips for the Flu Season
It’s coming. I can feel it in the air. On the subway every time someone coughs, I look up to see if I can move a little further. As I exit the train, I immediately reach for hand wash to remove any of the dirt on my hands. 1.
If you are young and healthy, it’s most likely that you will just feel uncomfortable for a week or two, miss some work or study. If you are elderly, have medical problems, or are a young child, you may not be so lucky. 2. Depending on the year, between 3,000 and 49,000 people die.
The best way to prevent the flu is to get vaccinated (接种疫苗). 3. However, it still offers considerable protection. In adults , the vaccine is 59 percent protective on average. For children the story is better. Clearly, we need better vaccines but it’s still a really good idea to get vaccinated.
Can the flu shot give you the flu? You may have an arm pain or a little fever, but the injection does not contain a live virus and cannot give you the flu.
4. It isn’t clear how long protection lasts and if the vaccine protects against different flus for only one year.
Finally, here is some advice for what to do if you get the flu.
• 5.
• Stay at home until your fever has been gone for at least 24 hours. That will reduce the number of people you give this to.
• Cover your coughs and sneezes.
• Keep your hands clean. Use soap and water or hand wash frequently, especially after coughing or sneezing.
• Drink plenty of water.
Best wishes for a happy flu season!
A.Flu season is here, and I take it seriously.
B.If you got the flu shot last year, do you need it this year?
C.Each year more than 200,000 people are staying in hospital due to the illness.
D.If you have the symptoms, call your doctor early to see if he wants to prescribe some medicine.
E.Flu symptoms usually come on suddenly and frequently and include high fever, cough, sore throat and body aches.
F.Oftentimes doctors’ offices have special rooms set up in the fall just for giving flu shots, so its fast , easy and effective.
G.You may have heard about a new study on flu vaccines, and it found that the flu vaccine didn’t work as well as we thought or would like.
The stories we share with one another are important. They show wisdom and provide inspiration. They are important to our development. But sometimes people choose not to tell.
Consider the negative effects of not sharing a story in the news: People are wondering if public health officials are holding back too much information about the recent outbreak of Ebola.
There is a danger in holding back stories that ought to be told. Bobette Buster said it like this, “The fact is, history has shown us that stories not told can become like a dangerous genie (妖怪) left in a bottle. When they are finallyuncorked, their power to destroy is set free.”
There are a number of reasons why we hide parts of our story: they often show our weaknesses or expose our disadvantages; they require courage and strength to share; and of course, there are some stories that should be kept secret—especially those that embarrass someone else.
Most of us have two selves: the one we display on the outside and the one we actually are on the inside. And the better we get at hiding the stories that show our true selves, the more damage we may be causing to ourselves and to others.
Honesty and openness is important: It proves we are trustworthy. It displays we are human. We are not perfect or better. It highlights the importance of hard work and personal development. Hard work may not allow us to overcome our disadvantages completely. But with hard work, we do not have to be restricted to our mistakes.
Does this mean we admit every weakness, every disadvantage, and every secret regret to everybody we meet? No, of course not. There is a time and a place and a certain level of relationship necessary for some stories to be told in an appropriate manner.
1.What’s the function of the example in Paragraph 2?
A.It reflects that people are concerning about the spread of Ebola.
B.It shows the bad effect caused by sharing a story.
C.It proves not sharing a story can cause trouble.
D.It concludes that one should share a story at a proper time.
2.One of the reasons why people are unwilling to share experiences is that _______.
A.story-sharing highlights the importance of hard work
B.people are used to exposing their weaknesses
C.people sometimes have no courage to share their stories
D.some stories make themselves feel uneasy
3.Which is close in meaning to the underlined word “uncorked” in Paragraph 3?
A.freed B.broken C.unfolded D.untouched
4.The writer aims to convince us to _______.
A.be open to people close to you by sharing some secrets
B.share stories appropriately for the good of others and ourselves
C.remove the dangers that can be caused by untold stories
D.realize the importance of being honest when making friends
When a child is told he is “uncool”, it can be very painful. He may say he doesn’t care, and even act in ways that are opposite of cool on purpose. But these are simple ways to handle sadness by pretending it’s not there.
Helping a child feel better in school had to be careful. If you say, “Why are you worried about what other children think about you? It doesn’t matter!” Children know that it does matter. Instead, an active way may be best. You could say, “I’m going to do a couple of things for you to help you feel better in school.”
If a boy is having trouble making friends, the teacher can help him. The teacher can arrange things so that he has chances to use his abilities to contribute to class projects. This is how the other children learn how to value his good qualities and to like him. A teacher can also raise a child’s popularity in the group by showing that he values that child. It even helps to put him in a seat next to a very popular child, or let him be a partner with that child in activities, etc.
There are things that parents can do at home, too. Be friendly when your child brings others home to play. Encourage him to invite friends to meals and then serve the dishes they consider “super”. When you plan trips, picnics, movies, and other shows, invite another child with whom your child wants to be friends.
What you can do is to give him a chance to join a group that may be shutting him out. Then, if he has good qualities, he can start to build real friendship of his own.
1.A child who has been informed of being “uncool” may ______.
A.care nothing about it B.pretend to get hurt very much
C.develop a sense of anger D.do something uncool on purpose
2.A teacher can help an unpopular child by ______.
A.seeing the child as the teacher’s favorite
B.offering the child chances to show his good qualities
C.forcing other children to make friends with the child
D.asking the child to do something for partners
3.Which of the following is TRUE?
A.Inviting children’s friends to family activities is good for them to make friends.
B.It’s only teachers’ work to make children popular.
C.Parents should take their children out for picnic and shows more often.
D.Children don’t care others’ comments on them.
4.Which is the best title of the text?
A.Who Care About Unpopular Children
B.Why Some Children Are Unpopular
C.What Good Qualities Unpopular Children Have
D.How an Unpopular Child Can Be Helped
On a freezing December morning Matthew Warwick, then a 20-year-old college student, climbed on the edge of Waterloo Bridge in London. That morning, Matthew escaped from a mental health hospital, where he’d been diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder. He headed straight to the bridge, convinced that his disease was a life sentence.
Hundreds of people passed by. Only one man called Alex Owen, then 25, calmly and quietly walked to Matthew’s side.
“You’re alright, man? Why are you sitting on a bridge?”
At first Matthew wanted Alex to leave him alone, but something in Alex’s calm, down-to-earth manner struck a chord. Matthew felt faith, like he could talk to him.
“It’s cold here. Why not have some coffee in a warm cafe? Everything will be OK.” For the first time after the diagnosis Matthew felt perhaps it really might. He climbed back.
The police, having received calls from passers-by, were waiting there. They quickly put him into a police car, in case he was to panic and jump. He lost sight of Alex, the person who’d brought him hope.
Matthew ended up back in hospital. Eventually, he was well enough to return to university and finish his degree. Over the next six years, Matthew often thought about the stranger who had talked him round. Eager to thank him in person, he posted a Facebook message nicknaming the good man Mike. His #Find Mike post was shared millions of times around the world, as far as Canada.
Matthew was overexcited when Alex called him two weeks after his post. They had a reunion, finally having that coffee they had first planned all those years ago.
“Many people walked past, but because of Alex’s kindness and sympathy, I’ve lived a good life.” Matthew said.
1.Why did Matthew climb up the bridge?
A.He was badly treated in the hospital. B.His disease made him lose hope.
C.He wanted to draw people’s attention. D.He studied poorly in the college.
2.What does the underlined phrase “struck a chord” in Paragraph 4 mean?
A.Touched his heart. B.Drew his attention.
C.Aroused his interest. D.Blew his mind.
3.Which of the following best describes Alex?
A.Diligent. B.Strong-willed.
C.Caring. D.Generous.
4.How did Matthew find Alex?
A.By visiting homes door-to-door. B.By calling their friends.
C.By asking the police. D.By posting a message online.
