| 1. 难度：中等 | |
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I'm now living in the south of France with my husband Keith and three small children, and I feel like a fish out of water everywhere but one place-the Saturday street market.It's been operating in our small town of Sommieres since the 13th century,but we've only lived here for three months. From Monday to Friday,life is all about the kids.I'm busy helping my children deal with life in a French school.It's not easy,and their stress is the whole family's stress,as Keith and I are occupied with the daily school runs,piles of homework and school notes in French. But on Saturday,the market is for me.I feel so peaceful as I walk along the quiet street toward the busy town square.The knife-sharpening man is there, operating a machine that looks like it dates from the Industrial Revolution.There' re street musicians with guitars and microphones,and the sound of beautiful songs fills the air.And the food,of course,is delicious.The cheese man doesn't speak-he just points and cuts,offering a piece from his knife.Lines come out of the door for fresh bread at the bakery.Organic vegetables,herbs and desserts are a feast for the eyes,before being put into the bag to be enjoyed later for lunch.The noises and smells of the market are unfamiliar and thrilling,but their procedures are clear to me.This is part of why I love the place so much:Unlike during the week,when I'm constantly faced with my own difficulties,I know how this place works.My terrible French isn't the barrier to communication that it is in other circumstances. At school and in the village,I can't joke or join a conversation,and although the other parents at the school are kind,I'm an outsider.But at the market,I'm just another customer with a basket.Surrounded by day trippers,I feel like a local- greeting people I know and petting dogs. My Saturday experiences allow me to hope that in the near future I'll feel equally confident in my everyday life.Until then,Saturdays prepare me for the coming week of school runs. 1.What does the author mean by saying “I feel like a fish out of water”? A.She feels uncomfortable in new surroundings. B.She feels free out of her daily housework. C.She feels lonely without her children. D.She feels unable to make a living in another country. 2.What can be learned about the author's life during weekdays? A.She learns French together with her children. B.She devotes herself to her children in a French school. C.She runs to school every day to help her children. D.She tries to balance her job and the housework. 3.Why does the author like going to the Saturday market? A.She wants to get away from her family's stress. B.She can talk with other customers freely there. C.She feels relaxed and comfortable there. D.She tries to gain confidence in the busy atmosphere.
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| 2. 难度：中等 | |
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However exciting space travel sounds, astronauts must still suffer with bad food. Now, food in space has to be dehydrated ( 使 脱 水 ) or pre-cooked and stored. This means astronauts aren’t really eating fresh food. New technology may change this. Scientific American reports that a specially-designed oven will be sent into space this autumn with NASA’s NG-12 cargo (货物) mission (太空飞行任务). Far from the common vacuum-packed (真空包装的) meals, astronauts may get to enjoy freshly baked cookies before the end of 2019. Why aren’t they baking cookies in space already? For one thing, there’s the risk of a fire. Engineers also have to overcome the challenge of microgravity ( 微 重 力 ), which prevents heat from circling inside ovens the same way it does on Earth. Astronauts will still have to wait a while before they can have their cookies, though. After baking, the results will be sent back to Earth for safety testing. If successful, this will be the first oven to bake food in space. “I believe ... that will be game-changing for both science and astronauts,” food technology researcher Maeena Naman Shafiee told Scientific American. One of the main driving forces behind this project has been NASA’s 2018 research into the effects of “confinement (封闭) and isolation (隔离)”. Unlike on the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts traveling out of Earth’s orbit (轨道) may not be able to speak to their loved ones on future missions, which could lead to negative feelings. It’s hoped that the chance to bake and sense familiar smells can bring joy to crews (宇航人员). “Is the ISS going to smell like fresh-baked cookies? We don’t know,” said NanoRacks’ communications manager Abby Dickes. “But that’s a feeling we all know and love ... that will make someone feel at home.” Baking cookies in space would mark an important step, offering a small comfort in the difficult and unfamiliar environment of space travel. Astronauts have already grown plants aboard the ISS. With commercial ( 商 业 的 ) space travel now being planned, who knows what other developments may surprise us in the future? 1.What can the new technology help astronauts to do in space? A.Enjoy fresh cookies. B.Store more food. C.Quickly prepare food. D.Cook many different kinds of home-made meals. 2.Why is it difficult to bake cookies in space? A.It’s difficult and costly to send food into space. B.Microgravity stops food from staying in one place. C.Baking cookies in space would pollute the spaceships. D.It is hard to heat food properly because of microgravity. 3.What was the main purpose of the cookie project? A.To improve astronauts’ health. B.To make improvements in space travel. C.To encourage more people to travel to space. D.To make space travel more comfortable for astronauts.
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| 3. 难度：中等 | |
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Can a fish be depressed? This question has been floating around my head ever since I saw a sad-looking Siamese fighting fish in a hotel. His name was Bruce Lee, according to a sign beneath his little bowl. On the bottom of the little bowl was Bruce Lee, totally still, his lower fin( 鳍 ) somewhat injured. When he did finally move, just slightly, I got the sense that he would prefer to be dead. The pleasant woman at the front desk convinced me that he was well taken care of. Was I simply incorrectly supposing his lethargy was a sign of mental suffering? Later on, I sought answers from scientists. It turns out that not only can our gilled( 有 鳃 的 ) friends become depressed, but some scientists consider fish to be a promising animal model for developing anti-depressants. New research has been completely changing the way scientists think about fish, building a case that pet and owner are not nearly as different as many suppose. Dr. Pittman likes working with fish, in part, because they are so obvious about their depression. He can reliably test the effectiveness of anti-depressants with something called the “novel tank test.” A zebra fish gets dropped in a new tank. If after five minutes it is hanging out in the lower half, it’s depressed. If it’s swimming up top — its usual behaviour when exploring a new environment — then it’s not. The seriousness of the depression, he says, can be measured by quantity of time at the top vs. the bottom, all of which seemed to confirm my guess about Bruce Lee. “One of the things we’re finding that fish are naturally curious and seek novel things out,” said Dr. Braithwaite. In other words, your goldfish is probably bored. To help prevent them from depression, she suggests introducing new objects to the tank( 缸 ) or changing the location of items. Dr. Brown agrees, pointing to an experiment he conducted, which showed that if you leave a fish in an enriched, physically complex environment — meaning a lot of plants to bite at and cages to swim through — it decreases stress and increases brain growth. The last time a guest posted Bruce Lee to Instagram he was looking good and lively. Perhaps that new green leaf in his bowl had provided the enrichment he desired. 1.What does the underlined word “lethargy” in Paragraph 3 mean? A.suffering B.sorrow C.anxiety D.laziness 2.What can be known from the new research? A.Fish can be used to develop anti-depressants. B.The way scientists thought about the fish proves totally right. C.Pets and owners sometimes have the same feeling. D.Many people suppose pets are quite different from people. 3.Why can fish become bored according to the text? A.They are not born to be curious. B.They lack new things to explore. C.They can’t locate the positions of items. D.They need oxygen from the air. 4.What is the best title for the text? A.Fish have their own feelings. B.Fish can be a boring pet. C.Fish need better care. D.Fish depression is not a joke.
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| 4. 难度：中等 | |
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Do you feel your life is losing its passion (热情)— as though everything you do, like work and study, is boring and empty? A life passion isn’t something that drops on you from the heaven or appears from thin air.1.If you want to begin today to display your true self and regain your own passion in life, here are some measures you can take to get started. ◆2. Get a small pocket notebook and keep it with you. Keep the memory of times when you feel happy and fulfilled. What are you doing when you feel good? Write it down in your notebook. Pay attention to what feels good to you. ◆Let go of shoulds 3. I should stay in this job because I cant’s find a better one. I should became a teacher because my parents want me to. I should not try something new because I’ll look foolish. Throw away this word from your vocabulary while on your passion search. ◆Appreciate your skills. Maybe you aren’t an artist at something, but you have many skills. 4.Ask your friends and parents what you are good at---no matter how small. Make a list of your skills, and make note of the skills you really enjoy. ◆Keep trying The process of finding your passion may take a couple of years. You may have to try a few and give up a few things before you discover what you feel great. It may gradually surround you rather than knock you in the head. 5. A.Recognize your joy. B.Have patience and keep digging. C.You may not recognize them, but others do. D.Discovering your passion is a process of self-discovering. E.These skills may make you stronger and more confident. F.How can you live with passion when you have a hole in your heart? G.Many people hold themselves back from happiness because of the word “should”.
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| 5. 难度：中等 | |
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Andrea Silvera is always good at taking handwritten and detailed lecture notes. She had never _______she could make money with the skill until she was introduced to a(n)_________. OneClass provides course notes and study guides _______by excellent students for college students around the nation. “I accidentally saw an article published by OneClass about difficult class. ” Silvera says. “There was a _________to become a note taker and I tried. After I______my notes and my trial period (试用期)was over, I was _____ . ” What is surprising, Silvera says, is the _________of views her notes receive. “In a class of 300, over 100 students usually view my notes. To get responses from a third of the class is ________, which makes me feel needed. ” The founders of OneClass began the site_______ to help other students. But unexpectedly, it gained fame and wealth. Ninety percent of students who had used OneClass notes got better grades as a _______, and 68 percent of note takers also saw great_______in their studies. But note takers don't just take the job for_______benefit. Silvera has made $1,500 in just a year of note taking for OneClass. “My notes are not just handwritten,” she said, “I________many extra explanations that the________gives. ” Silvera finds that working her way through college as a note taker has been ___________. However, she said she needed to _______other students who might be________ in taking the job: “If you want to do this, you have to put in the time and actually_________the classes. And you can’t trust that someone else’s notes are going to be ________because nobody can meet your every need—you need to take them_____. 1.A.believed B.puzzled C.heard D.thought 2.A.organization B.company C.newspaper D.website 3.A.written B.typed C.read D.sent 4.A.plan B.chance C.dream D.way 5.A.found B.sold C.offered D.held 6.A.employed B.impressed C.touched D.refused 7.A.number B.quality C.speed D.strength 8.A.terrifying B.tiring C.amazing D.relaxing 9.A.simply B.equally C.nearly D.slightly 10.A.present B.end C.goal D.result 11.A.trouble B.progress C.difference D.experience 12.A.social B.educational C.environmental D.personal 13.A.desert B.refuse C.include D.create 14.A.professor B.president C.friend D.partner 15.A.welcomed B.challenging C.moving D.meaningful 16.A.correct B.admire C.remind D.order 17.A.spent B.experienced C.spotted D.interested 18.A.attend B.teach C.review D.enjoy 19.A.brief B.perfect C.useless D.direct 20.A.in advance B.by accident C.by yourself D.in public
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| 6. 难度：困难 | |
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假定你是李华，你的英国笔友David给你发了一封邮件，倾诉他因疫情居家进行线上学习所遇到的烦恼，请你针对David的问题回复邮件。 Dear Li Hua, I have some problems. Due to the COVID-19, all of us now have to keep social distance and take online courses at home. I find it hard to constantly focus on studying. I feel tired easily. Worse still, I have become so anxious and short-tempered. I do want to change the situation, but I don’t know how. What should I do? David 注意：1. 词数 80 左右； 2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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| 7. 难度：中等 | |
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阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。 The darkness was gathering as she wobbled(颤颤巍巍)in high heels (高跟鞋) along the side of the highway. The car had come to an unexpected stop, and like a normal teenager she did the only thing she could think of..get out and walk. It was cold and late, and home was far away. This could be a long night. If only someone would stop and offer her a ride. She prayed for help and dragged herself forward. The lights of a truck shone from behind as it approached. "Maybe he will stop," she hoped. The brake lights flashed on as it stopped. Next moment, the car door opened. A wordless invitation was extended and she understood. Without hesitation, the girl climbed up into the seat and closed the door. Slowly the truck pulled back onto the road and disappeared into the night, never to be seen again. I woke up in a cold sweat, frightened. Was it a dream or was it a vision? It was unbelievably real, and the girl was my daughter! I jumped from my bed and ran to her room. Her bed was empty. I stood in horror trying to think why she hadn't come home. As the mental fog began to lift, I remembered she was visiting her friend that evening. Perhaps she stayed there for the night. It was 1:30 a.m., but I raced to the phone and dialed a number. "Hello?" The voice was heavy with sleep. "Hey. Sorry to wake you. Becki didn't come home tonight and I was wondering if she stayed at your place." "No, she left here a few hours ago. She should have been home at least by midnight!" The voice on the other end began to reflect my own panic. Over the next forty-five minutes I alternated between lying in pray and pacing the floor in anxiety. At 2:15 a.m. lights appeared as a car turned up our long driveway. I could tell immediately that it was not my daughter's car. 注意： 1. 所续写短文词数应为 150 左右； 2. 应使用 5 个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词； 3. 续写部分分为两段， 每段的开头语已为你写好； 4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。 Paragraph 1: My face pressed against the window and found it was hard to breathe. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Paragraph 2: "Mom, she gave me a ride home." Becki said. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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