I remember watching my first rental (租赁的）movie when I was a kid. My aunt owned a video store and we borrowed a VHS copy of Poltergeist.
In 2004, I was 33 years old, living in Bend and looking for a part-time job to help support our family. My best friend, Mary, a saleswoman at the Blockbuster, suggested I might like working with her at the Blockbuster, and I’ve been here ever since. Back then, there were five Blockbusters in Bend alone. The movie-rental business was at its peak (顶点): we were still storing VHS tapes but DVDs were also coming in, and both were doing well.
When it became clear that DVD was going to replace VHS, I got very excited because those cassettes were so big and heavy. I often dropped them on my feet. Even then, I never dreamed I would end up managing the last store in town.
For me, the best thing about this job is the people. I love chatting to customers and hearing their opinions on movies. Now I’m the manager, however. I have all kinds of other responsibilities, like handling mountains of paperwork. I’m a bit like an old policeman in a movie who hates the desk job and longs to go back to the beat (巡逻区域). I hate being the manager.
The final store closures happened so fast. At the end of 2017, there were seven Blockbusters left in the US, but by early 2019 there was only our store and one other store in Australia, in the world. Since March when only our store remained, things have been crazy. The local community has been surprisingly supportive, and people have come from all over the world to rent movies: we’ve set up close to 5,000 new memberships. Most of them are regulars.
I’ll be sad to see the end of video stores. We have several years left on our lease (租期）and, as long as we can continue to pay our staff, we’11 stay open. Becoming the last store has given the business a push and we’re selling Blockbuster souvenirs. I’ve watched enough movies to realize there’s an end to everything, but hopefully the ending of this story is a long way off.
1.What can we learn about the Blockbuster?
A.It was quite popular in the past. B.It was mainly found in America.
C.It provided many part-time jobs for kids. D.It offered workers high salaries.
2.What does the author think of the position as the Blockbuster’s manager?
A.It’s troublesome. B.It’s low-paid.
C.It’s boring. D.It’s challenging.
3.Why does the author say things have been crazy since March?
A.Because few people want to work in Blockbusters.
B.Because many Blockbusters have broken down.
C.Because VHS tapes and DVDs became hard to buy.
D.Because their store became popular unexpectedly.
Craziest Food Festivals sounds like a joke topic, but once you start looking into it, you’ll realize they’re everywhere — the crazier, the better.
1. Bibimbap Festival
In the South Korean town of Jeonjuloves, their “mixed rice” dish is a hearty serve of rice topped with raw beef, a rainbow of vegetables, a raw egg and gochujang sauce so much. They take four days out of October to celebrate it.
Like any festival there’s music, entertainment and magic, but making it that little bit different is the bibimbap that’s whipped (搅拌) up in a big bowl by dozens of chefs and served to over 400 people.
2. Waikiki Spam Jam
Who knew this canned meat had so much love? Well, it turns out that a can of Spam is the go-to item in Hawaii, along with a grass skirt and garland (花环). The people of Hawaii love Spam so much that they even spend a day in May giving out the best Spam, a type of cheap canned meat made mainly from pork.
3. Bessieres Easter Egg Festival
At Easter time, for those in the French town of Bessieres it’s all about an egg far less sweet.
Here they celebrate the holiday by getting dozens of chefs to make one large omelette (煎蛋卷) — 15,000 eggs strong — for the townsfolk (市民).
4. Potato Days Festival
This festival actually takes place in Barnesville, Minnesota, the US. Over the last Friday and Saturday in August the town celebrates its potato-growing skills by hosting potato picking and peeling contests, as well as a Miss Tater Tot pageant (盛典) for five- and six-year-old girls.
1.What makes Bibimbap festival special?
A.They take four days to celebrate it.
B.The mixed rice is rich in many vegetables.
C.There’s music, entertainment and magic during the festival.
D.The rice dish needs to be mixed in one big bowl by dozens of chefs together.
2.What do we know about Waikiki Spam Jam ?
A.The spam is the most favorite for Hawii people.
B.People spend one day to prepare the Jam.
C.The Jam isn’t affordable for the plain townsfolk.
D.The Jam is mainly made from raw beef.
3.If you have time in August, you can go to ______.
A.Bibimbap Festival B.Waikiki Spam Jam
C.Bessieres Easter Egg Festival D.Potato Days Festival
假定你是李华，你想邀请在中国留学的英国好友Peter观看京剧表演，但Peter不在家，你给他写张留言条，内容要点包括：
1.你到Peter家的目的；
2.介绍京剧
3.询问什么时候方便，再约时间观看。
注意：1.词数100字左右
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯
3.开头和结尾语已为你写出。
参考词汇：quintessence精华、精粹；ornate华丽的
Dear Peter,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文. 文中共有10 处语言错误，每句中最多有两处. 每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改. 增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词.
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉.
修改：在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词.
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改 10 处，多者（从第 11 处起）不计分.
China and Western country may have different cultural beliefs about certain animals. But when it comes to mice, we somehow reach an agreement that mice are timid, ugly, shortsightedly, tricky and thievish﹣looking.
Neither of these words describing mice are exactly positive. Moreover, the truth is what mice have some good qualities. And there's probably no good time to clear their names than now， with the arrival of the Year of the Mouse on Chinese Spring Festival, which fell January 25 this year. According to a paper publishing in 2017, mice have meticulous thoughts or are part of ecosystem. Perhaps these are the qualities of mice to keep it in mind﹣their intelligence, acuity and sense of responsibility.
Chinese oracle bone inscriptions (甲骨文) over 3,000 years old are now being widely used as emojis by young WeChat users, thanks to a person who made them 1. (close) to people’s life than before.
“The ancient characters are not as cool and distant 2. they are supposed to be,” said the 3. (create) Chen Nan. “In fact, they are cute and humorous, and they could totally serve our needs for online expression.” 4. 46-year-old professor of fine art at Tsinghua University has been working to make oracle bone inscriptions into emojis. For example, the character for “zui,” 5. means “drunk” in English, was created 6.(look) like a stumbling figure.
Chen has also combined the ancient Chinese characters with cartoon figures. A cartoon video clip 7. (feature) oracle bone inscriptions designed by him was viewed 31 million times and shared 140,000 times.
Chen worked on the road of innovation 19 years ago. In 2016, the ancient typeface 8. (include) into the font library under his efforts to let the ancient words walk into people’s life. Now the library has as many as 3,500 characters, 9.Chen’s research on the project still continues, as he plans to extend the library to 7,000 characters. In the future, he will apply the ancient characters 10.education and development of games and apps.
‘‘You're too small, Ginny. You'll never make an Olympic team,” said my first-ever rowing ___, way back in the late winter of 1978. I had just confessed(承认)my ____, which was admittedly outsized at that point, to somebody whose emotional ____ could play a key role.
Maybe my dream wasn't ____reality. After all, I had tried out for the national team for the first time the previous year and been cut, and I lacked the____that most Olympic rowers possess, not to mention much experience as an athlete, but____,1 was shocked by my coach's response.
1 left the gym in a panic. As I walked, I began to____my future, making room for my coach's opinion, pushing my dream aside into a dark corner. A small inner voice had joined forces with the coach's. “Maybe he's ____.”
But then, another voice ____. "What does he know? Why does he get to decide?" My coach didn't have faith ____me but that didn't necessarily mean I had to give up on myself so quickly. By the time I arrived back at my apartment,1 was ____at my coach and my dream was back on center stage.
___came easy when it came to fulfilling that dream. But l was____by my love of the beauty of rowing. I wanted to row among the best and I refused to stop____ I achieved my goal.
I made that 1980 team,____not getting to compete at the Olympics. I kept____four more years, and finally won silver at the 1984 Olympics.
Everything I have today is a(n) ____of sticking with that dream, all those hours on the water, in the weight room, and in the stadium. They got me here,____I know now that big ambitions need not just time to develop, but firm____in them. And I will not allow anyone else to____ for me what's possible.
1.A.athlete B.coach C.director D.fellow
2.A.situation B.view C.idea D.dream
3.A.state B.support C.judgment D.intelligence
4.A.involved in B.connected with C.devoted to D.based on
5.A.talent B.determination C.height D.effort
6.A.even B.still C.never D.seldom
7.A.design B.expect C.hide D.rethink
8.A.right B.wrong C.modest D.cruel
9.A.argued B.repeated C.agreed D.whispered
10.A.at B.on C.in D.for
11.A.shocked B.disappointed C.bored D.mad
12.A.Nothing B.Everything C.Anything D.Something
13.A.struck B.changed C.driven D.caught
14.A.when B.until C.after D.since
15.A.in spite of B.in terms of C.in control of D.in place of
16.A.training B.teaching C.defending D.exploring
17.A.sense B.awareness C.award D.result
18.A.which B.where C.when D.that
19.A.interest B.hope C.belief D.pleasure
20.A.pretend B.promise C.decide D.manage
