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。 How Net...

    Today, I was sitting with some other students and teachers as the judges of the annual singing contest of Beijing National Day School (BNDS). Watching the wonderful performances on stage, I could not help _______ what happened last year.

Last year was the first year I came to the BNDS International Department. The first month at BNDS was almost a(n) _______: Curiosity quickly _______, replaced by a heavy workload. To make matters worse, I was _______ a total stranger in a new environment. When I was in trouble, I was too _______ to turn to anyone for help. I shut the door to the outside world.

I thought I might continue to _______ in darkness by myself, until one day, I saw the _______ of the annual singing contest. If I was not brave enough to communicate in words, maybe I could sing my heart out. Having made my decision, I joined the audition (试镜). Luckily, I _______ among more than 100 contestants and entered the top 32. After another three rounds of competition, I made it to the finals together with three other contestants. _______ more and more students knew that I joined the contest, they went to watch my performance, volunteered to ________ for me and then shared my singing videos on social media. It seemed that I became well-known overnight.

Finally, the big day came. When I ________ the nerve to walk onstage, I could not believe my eyes. The dark theater was suddenly lit up by ________ sticks, which were like stars in a dark sky. “Come on, Becky!” A shout broke the silence, followed by kind laughter. When it became ________ again, I began to sing.

The music started, which drew me back to reality. Now I might not remember clearly what songs I sang last year, but I would never forget the ________ in the darkness.  From then on, I had my fans, made friends, and I even joined the singing club. Singing opens the door to a brand-new world. I know I will stay at BNDS, and I won’t be ________.

1.A.conveying B.evaluating C.recalling D.scanning

2.A.alarm B.disaster C.growth D.turning

3.A.distributed B.faded C.choked D.split

4.A.digitally B.elegantly C.practically D.vitally

5.A.shy B.sharp C.shallow D.sceptical

6.A.crash B.struggle C.sacrifice D.withdraw

7.A.application B.detail C.poster D.sample

8.A.came out B.chewed out C.dropped out D.stood out

9.A.As B.Though C.While D.When

10.A.approve B.applaud C.qualify D.vote

11.A.filled in B.swelled up C.wound up D.got up

12.A.circulating B.linking C.crossing D.waving

13.A.calm B.dull C.quiet D.stable

14.A.lights B.devices C.receivers D.circumstances

15.A.alone B.casual C.abnormal D.accessible

    Animals can provide joy and companionship (陪伴). Animals can also provide emotional support for people with mental health concerns. These animal companions are known as emotional support animals (ESAs), and they have been growing in popularity in recent years.

An emotional support animal is an animal companion that offers some type of benefit to an individual with some form of disability. The animal is intended to provide companionship and support that will help relieve at least one aspect of the disability. 1. However, cats are quite common as well. Other types of animals, such as mini horses and ducks, can also serve as emotional support animals. Therefore, the vast majority of emotional support animals are not rare creatures.

2. Research has long supported the idea that animals can provide significant mental health benefits. One research review found that owning a pet has positive effects on mental health by promoting emotional connections and helping people manage in hard times. 3. For this reason, emotional support animals are often used to help people struggling with anxiety.

Animals can provide companionship. Pets can provide comfort for people who are dealing with difficult situations. Emotional support animals are often used to help people who have experienced some type of trauma (创伤). 4. Research has found that having a pet can help lower blood pressure and improve people's ability to deal with pain.

Emotional support animals may provide some other benefits. 5. This can be especially important for people who live alone, particularly if they also experience symptoms of depression and anxiety.

A.ESAs provide conditional love and companionship.

B.Animals can also lead to improvements in physical health.

C.Do emotional support animals have side effects on people?

D.For example, they can help to fight feelings of loneliness.

E.Dogs are the most common type of emotional support animal.

F.Why would an individual choose to use an emotional support animal?

G.Simply petting an animal can create a relaxation response and make people happier.

    As a dropout myself, I often feel it is my duty to defend my fellow non-scholars. Common wisdom would have you believe we are the “bad kids", the future criminals, the worst sort of people. But not all dropouts are likely to deal drugs,steal goods from a shop, or shoot pool all day.

My own favorite place to go when skipping school was always the public library. My early retirement meant that at last I had the time to read everything I wanted to. I found reading Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow a lot more interesting than reading about Sir Isaac Newton and the falling apple.

Best of all was the time I finally had to myself. I felt liberated. I had been in school nearly my whole life. I wanted to find out for myself who I was,and until I did,everything else felt like a waste of time.

However, after nearly three years, a series of strange thoughts began to make me anxious and unsure. Images of myself at the age of 35 began to haunt(缠扰）me in my sleep. And a voice in my head began asking over and over,"Who is paying the hot water bills? Who buys the microwave pizza?"The answer, of course, was my poor old parents. Sure,I was having an enjoyable time doing plenty of nothing, discovering myself and all, but that's unfair to them. What parents long to see their child drop out of school,with no plans for the future? Could they be expected to support me forever? Certainly not. I immediately moved out of the house and out of town, in search of a future for myself.

And it is here, in my new home of San Francisco, that I have decided to do what was once unthinkable: go back to school. I plan to take adult education classes and then apply for City College. On the one hand, I can hardly believe I'm doing it: a return to desks, chalkboards, and clocks that tell you when to stop thinking about one thing and start thinking about another. But at City College, I'll be able to take film production, semiotics, and sociology—just because I want to know about them.

So next time you see a dropout, be sympathetic. And please don't push him to do something he doesn't want to do. It never works. He'll come around when he's ready.

1.It is commonly believed that dropouts are_____.

A.bad kids from birth

B.interested in studying drugs

C.very likely to commit crimes

D.responsible for defending non-scholars

2.What did the author find most enjoyable after dropping out of school?

A.Living in comfort with his parents.

B.Reading in the public library.

C.Escaping the pressure from school.

D.Having time for self-discovery.

3.Why did the author move to San Francisco?

A.To fight for his own future.

B.To apply for City College.

C.To break away from his parents.

D.To live up to his parents' expectations.

4.What does the author suggest people do to deal with dropouts?

A.Push them to the limit.

B.Open their hearts to them.

C.Try to be understanding.

D.Encourage them to be friendly.

    Over the past five decades mosquito populations in parts of the U.S. have skyrocketed by a factor of 10-a situation with worrying implications for the spread of diseases. And some places are apparently more easily affected than others. A new study in the Journal of Medical Entomology found that in Baltimore, low-income neighborhoods bear the biggest burden: they have not only more mosquitoes but also larger ones, which often survive longer. The problem most likely is rooted in the fact that Baltimore has nearly 17,000 abandoned buildings, which are concentrated in economically disadvantaged areas and serve as convenient mosquito-breeding zones.

Compared with prosperous blocks, low-income blocks have more abandoned buildings and are more heavily littered with thrown-away containers that collect standing water. And water that pools in abandoned buildings is protected by shade-which helps mosquitoes grow larger. Some cities take efforts to plant trees in low-income blocks but may actually worsen the problem: trees and bushes not only shade outdoor breeding(繁殖) pools but also shed leaves into the water and feed the mosquito larvae(幼虫), helping them grow bigger. Worse still, climate change could worsen the disease landscape by broadening habitats and lengthening the time every summer that mosquitoes can breed and survive.

Cities may, then, need to focus more mosquito-control efforts on these areas. Urban health departments typically educate homeowners about the importance of emptying water out of outdoor containers. But nobody empties those in or around abandoned buildings. “It is something that is fairly difficult for a city to address because it’s really expensive to go into private belongings and clean them up,” says Dina Fonseca, a molecular ecologist at Rutgers University. Yet if these belongings become breeding grounds not only for annoying mosquitoes but also for dangerous diseases, officials’ concepts may need to change.

1.What does the phrase “a factor of 10” in Paragraph 1 refer to?

A.A major cause. B.A high rate.

C.A big concern. D.A special situation.

2.Why is the spread of diseases relatively more serious in poor neighborhoods in Baltimore?

A.Because people there lack the awareness of waste sorting.

B.Because people there pay little attention to water protection.

C.Because more thrown-away containers are collected for reuse there.

D.Because more abandoned buildings serve as habitats for mosquitoes there.

3.Which of the following solutions is well-intentioned but may result in opposite effects?

A.Planting more trees. B.Changing officials’ ideas.

C.Emptying water containers. D.Cleaning abandoned buildings.

4.What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A.To complain about the poor housing. B.To offer some treatments for diseases.

C.To appeal for mosquito-control efforts. D.To introduce a new species of mosquitoes.

    When my father was getting ready for work, our house was ruled by knocks and words.

He used to come downstairs to breakfast.

The morning paper lay beside his plate. He always read the ''Deaths'' first, and then he knocked once on the table. One of my sisters brought his bread, already buttered for him. Usually he said nothing, but once I heard him say, ''I love you very much, Edith. I would love more if you buttered my bread on both sides. '' He read the paper all through breakfast.

Two knocks on the table meant ''I am ready for my tea. '' If a single knock followed that meant, ''More bread, please. ''

After breakfast he said, ''Boots. '' The paper was spread (展开) for him over the back of an arm-chair. Yesterday's paper was put on the chair for his feet, and his boots were brought to him, freshly cleaned. He read standing at the same time putting on his boots. With one boot finished he said, ''Bus. '' At that point one of the girls went outside to the garden gate and waited there. Her job was to stop a bus when it came. It came early sometimes and it had to wait for my father. ''Overcoat, hat. '' One of my sisters had already brushed his overcoat. Now she held it open for him. Another girl came with his hat, nicely brushed. ''Handkerchief, pipe (烟斗). '' They were brought and put, with his tobacco (烟草), into his pocket. He looked out of the window and said either ''Walking stick'' or ''Umbrella''. It was handed to him. Ready now, he was still reading the paper. He didn't put it down until he heard the shout ''Bus coming! '' Then he kissed my mother and went out. The girls breathed freely.

How lucky a man was to have a wife and five daughters at home!

1.When the father made the first knock, he meant _______.

A.his breakfast should begin

B.he had begun to read the morning newspaper

C.he was made to feel sad by the ''Deaths'' news

D.he would start to read the other parts of the paper

2.All the daughters were quite busy in the morning because _______.

A.their father never helped them

B.they were not clever or quick enough to do their jobs

C.each of them had to start and finish her job just on time

D.their father always gave different instructions at the same time

3.What was the father's favorite?

A.Giving instructions. B.Reading newspaper.

C.Being clean and tidy. D.Having bread buttered on both sides.

4.From the story we may see that _______.

A.the father was the ''centre'' of the family

B.The father was hated by all his daughters

C.the father was so lazy that he hardly did anything

D.Every girl in the family was afraid to do wrong because they didn't know clearly what to do