| 1. 难度：中等 | |
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Many of us think, wrongly, that the moon doesn’t change. For example, the Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Ruoxu once wrote that “Generations have come and passed away; From year to year the moons look alike, old and new.” However, a new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience shows that the moon is in fact slowly shrinking over time. For the study, a group of US scientists examined and analyzed thousands of photographs taken by the NASA orbiter Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. They found that there were lots of faults (断层) on the surface of the moon. These faults were formed by recent movement on the moon. According to NASA, the moon is made up of pieces of rocks with a hot core. The moon continued to expand as it was born. But in this process, it released energy and cooled down. Then it began to shrink, in a way comparable to the shrinking of a grape into a raisin (葡萄干) . Over the past several hundred million years, it has become 46 meters “skinnier”. But due to its hard and rocky crust (外壳), the moon’s surface continues to push up. “Some of these quakes can be fairly strong around five on the Richter scale,” said Thomas Watters, a senior scientist at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in the US. But does that mean the moon is a dangerous place that human shouldn’t try to explore and live on in the future? Maybe not, reported the Telegraph, “This isn’t anything to worry about. The moon may be shrinking, but not by much. It’s not going anywhere,” Watters comforted us. The new discovery proves that the idea that the moon is a dead, boring place is wrong. “We have been to the moon and we’ve done some great science, but there is still a lot we don’t know. The moon is shrinking — we didn’t really realize that until recently. It’s a much more active and interesting place than we thought and we should explore that,” NASA scientist Nathan Williams said. 1.Why does the writer quote the poem? A.To praise the beauty of the moon. B.To show people’s long-standing idea of the moon size. C.To arouse people’s interest in the topic. D.To get readers familiar with the poem. 2.Which point of view about the moon may the writer agree to? A.It is becoming slightly smaller. B.It stays the same as before. C.It is getting older and older. D.It may disappear one day. 3.What can we learn about the moon from the third paragraph? A.It has become 46 meters fatter due to expanding. B.It has changed from a grape into a raisin in recent years. C.It quakes even at seven on the Richter scale. D.It has a hot core and releases energy when expanding. 4.Who thinks that we needn’t worry about the moon? A.Zhang Ruoxu. B.Thomas Watters. C.Nathan Williams. D.The journalist. 5.What does Nathan Williams think of the moon? A.It is a dead and boring place. B.It has lots of faults on the surface. C.It is worth exploring more D.It isn’t a place where we can live.
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| 2. 难度：中等 | |
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Whether they’re for a teenager or not, all great stories have certain elements: they have interesting characters we enjoy reading about; they show these characters in a world we can recognize and understand. 1. The main character faces a problem, usually quite a serious one. The thing that most draws us to reading the story is the way the character deals with the problem—whether the character gets the better of it, or it gets the better of the character. Characters in a book for young adults are generally young adults themselves. 2. On the one hand, they’re not children anymore. They’re growing up and want to stretch their wings. On the other hand, they’re not yet adults. They can’t do certain things, as they’re not yet able to do them or because the world tells them that they can’t. To make things even more complicated, almost all young adults feel at some point that the whole growing－up process is happening too quickly. 3. This year, TEENS has selected seven of the ten books, nominated (提名) for the US 2017 National Book Awards in the categories of Young People’s Literature. Some stories are specifically written for teenagers or young adults, meaning that their authors are very sensitive to the “in－between” nature of teenage life. They’re about problems that appear for young people because of tensions between them and their parents and teachers, their siblings (兄弟姐妹)，or wider society. Often, these problems are presented very seriously by writers. 4. At the same time, fiction isn’t supposed to be just about the challenges people face in life, but also about how people overcome those problems. 5. They discover something about themselves that they never knew before, and which enables them to succeed. And the solution that they find opens the future up to them, setting them on the path to adulthood. A.They want to hold back a little and remain a child a little longer. B.But that’s what young adults want in fiction; to be taken seriously. C.When closing a good book, we feel we’ve learned something about ourselves. D.These are stories that someone of any age could pick up and enjoy. E.And they are in a challenging period of life. F.But most importantly, great stories have a central drama. G.To some degree, challenges bring out the best in characters.
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| 3. 难度：中等 | |
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Double Trouble When I was eight, I wanted a toy and needed $10 to buy it. But, as usual, I was broken. I decided to ask my 11-year-old sister, Kathleen, for a loan. I went to her room, __________her for the cash. Laughing, she agreed to lend me the money, but__________, "I will charge you 10 percent compound interest every __________until you pay me back." "Compound interest---what's that?" I asked. "Well, interest is what you call the__________money borrowers have to pay back on a loan," she explained. "Compound interest means that the interest payments get bigger and bigger the__________it takes you to pay back the loan. To repay the loan, you will need to give me $11 after one month. If you wait two months to pay me back, your__________ will grow from $10 to $11. So I'll be charging you interest on $11. Then I will add that interest to the $11 you already owe me, for a __________of $12.10. That's what you'll owe after two months." "Sure. I get it," I said. Though truthfully, I was getting __________. Kathleen lent me the money, and I bought the toy. My birthday came a month later, and my mom gave me $10. __________, that was just the amount I needed to buy another toy I wanted__________. I __________paying my sister for a month. After another month, I forgot about the loan. Several months later, on Christmas morning, my sister and I each found a $20 bill in our stockings. I was just putting it into my pocket__________Kathleen tapped me on the shoulder. "Sorry, kiddo. That's mine. I'm __________your debt." "Huh?" Then I__________ the loan. "Hey! How can it be that much? I only borrowed $10." "True," she said, "but interest has been compounding for eight months. Now you owe me $21.43." She paused, and then, smiling triumphantly, said, "You can pay me the $1.43." I__________to believe that a $10 loan could more than double so quickly. Much to my __________, my sister got her pencil and tablet and showed me exactly how it all __________. My head__________as I tried to keep track of Kathleen's calculations, but this time, I got the basic__________of compound interest. I learned from this__________experience that borrowing money can be "double trouble" in no time. 1.A.begging B.blaming C.searching D.preparing 2.A.suggested B.swore C.explained D.added 3.A.month B.year C.week D.day 4.A.little B.extra C.enough D.same 5.A.shorter B.more C.longer D.less 6.A.cash B.debt C.note D.saving 7.A.total B.cost C.number D.bill 8.A.encouraged B.shocked C.satisfied D.confused 9.A.Gradually B.Obviously C.Hopefully D.Unfortunately 10.A.seriously B.desperately C.secretly D.willingly 11.A.decided on B.put off C.gave away D.cared about 12.A.after B.when C.while D.until 13.A.carrying B.relying C.collecting D.focusing 14.A.neglect B.complained C.stated D.remembered 15.A.decided B.pretended C.refused D.managed 16.A.relief B.delight C.annoyance D.regret 17.A.added up B.showed up C.turned up D.sped up 18.A.turned B.hurt C.stuck D.nodded 19.A.idea B.lesson C.benefit D.discovery 20.A.unfair B.worthless C.painful D.decisive
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