假定你叫李明，你正在准备下周三的关于环境保护的英语演讲比赛（speech contest），你在搜集环保资料和语言运用方面遇到了困难。请根据以下要点给美国朋友Tom写封e-mail。
1. 询问Tom寒假过得怎么样
2. 谈谈自己英语演讲比赛的准备情况
3. 希望他能帮助你解决困难
要求：1. 80词左右，邮件开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
2. 可合理增加细节，使行文连贯。
Dear Tom，
How time flies!_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Ming
阅读下面的短文，然后将画线部分的句子译成汉语或英语。
If you find it hard to learn English, think of the foreigners who learn Chinese. The number of people learning Chinese around the world reached 100 million in 2017, 1. Europe’s first Chinese-English primary school recently opened in the British capital of London. But do you know how foreigners learn Chinese? Mike Fuksman, Teens’ foreign editor (编辑) from the United States, has lived in China for more than seven years. 2.他想和我们一起分享他学习中文的故事。
Like many foreigners, Mike only knew two words of Chinese (“hello” and “thank you”) when he came to China in 2009. As we can probably guess, his life was difficult for a while after he arrived.3. Simple tasks like ordering food or taking a taxi were quite stressful. Milk knew he had to learn more Chinese, so he signed up for a class. His teacher was very helpful, although Milk didn’t learn enough to have a real conversation. 4.后来，他也坚持自学,但是进步缓慢。 He became very disappointed.
Finally, he found that the best way to learn Chinese is to make friends with native (本土的) speakers and spend time with them. Around this time, 5. Mike started playing in a band with a Chinese woman who became one of his best friends in Beijing. He learned a lot of Chinese by hanging out with her. In this way, he’s learned enough Chinese to take care of many tasks.
1.__________________________________________________
2.__________________________________________________
3.__________________________________________________
4.__________________________________________________
5.__________________________________________________
阅读下面的材料，然后根据材料内容回答所提问题。
A lady and her husband walked into the president of Harvard’s outer office. “We want to see the president,” the lady said softly. Looking at the couple who wears usual clothes, the secretary said, “He’ll be busy all day.” “We’ll wait,” the lady replied.
For hours, the secretary did nothing for them, hoping that they would finally go away. They didn’t. “Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they’ll leave,” the secretary finally told the president.
The president looked down at the couple. The lady told him, “We had a son that had studied in Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. But he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to build something for him in Harvard. “Madam,” the president said angrily, “we can’t put up a statue(雕像) for every person who attended Harvard and died.”
“Oh, no,” the lady explained quickly, “we mean we would give a building to Harvard.” The president looked at their usual clothes, and then said, “A building! Do you know how much a building costs? It took us over seven and a half million dollars to build Harvard.”
The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, “Is that all it costs to start a university?” Her husband nodded. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they built a university with their name—a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.
How are we supposed to treat others who can do nothing for us? Don’t judge a person by his appearance.
1.Why did the secretary do nothing for the couple at first?
___________________________________________
2.Was the president of Harvard friendly to the couple?
___________________________________________
3.According to the story, how much did it cost to start a university?
___________________________________________
4.What did the couple do with their money in the end?
___________________________________________
5.What can we learn from the passage?
___________________________________________
My house is made out of wood, glass and stone. It is also made out of software.
If you come to visit, you'll probably be surprised when you come in. Someone will give you an electronic PIN (个人身份号码) to wear. This PIN tells the house who and where you are. The house uses this information to give you what you need. When it's dark outside, the PIN turns on the lights nearest you, and then turns them off as you walk away from them. Music moves with you too. If the house knows your favorite music, it plays it. The music seems to be everywhere, but in fact other people in the house hear different music or no music. If you get a telephone call, only the nearest telephone rings.
Of course, you are also able to tell the house if you want something. There is a home control console (控制台), a small machine that turns things on and off around you.
The PIN and the console are new ideas, but they are in fact like many things we have today. If you want to go to a movie, you need a ticket. If I give you my car keys, you can use my car. The car works for you because you have the keys. My house works for you because you wear the PIN or hold the console.
I believe that ten years from now, most new homes will have the systems that I've put in my house. The systems will probably be even bigger and better than the ones I've put in today.
I like to try new ideas. I know that some of my ideas will work better than others. But I hope that one day I will stop thinking of these systems as new, and ask myself instead, "How will I live without them?"
1.The PIN can’t ______ in the writer’s new house.
A.turns on the lights
B.play your favorite music
C.make every telephone ring
2.The underlined this information refers to information like______.
A.nationality B.name C.hobbies
3.The writer's new house is different from ordinary ones mainly because _____.
A.it has been controlled by a home console
B.you can make a telephone call anywhere
C.it has your favorite music following you
4.The writer wrote the fourth paragraph in order to ______.
A.explain more easily what the functions(功能) of the PIN and the console are
B.let readers know how special his house is
C.tell the readers how to use the PIN and the console
5.Which is the best title of the passage?
A.Easy life in the future
B.The function of the PIN
C.A home for the future
Three people were sitting around a table in a restaurant in Brazil. How much do you think each of them tipped (给小费)? The British asked, “It’s common to tip 10 percent, right?” The American woman cried, “Oh, I was planning to leave 20 percent!” And the Chinese asked,“What’s a tip?”
Although it is not a custom to tip in China, tipping is a big deal in Western countries. When traveling to countries like the US and Canada, it is common to tip about 10 to 15 percent of the bill.
Usually, people give tips to a waiter or waitress when they eat in a restaurant. The US tops the list of the biggest restaurant tips, with waiters and waitresses expecting to get 10 to 25 percent of the total bill.
So if you order $100 (about 662 yuan) worth of food, you are expected to pay your waiter at least $15, making your total payment $115.
But why is this? Many waiters and waitresses get paid below the US minimum wage (最低工资) and work for tips to make up for that. According to the American travel website TripAdvisor, some states pay their servers (服务员) only $2.13 per hour. It is not just for waiters, either. Hotel maids, hairdressers and taxi drivers also usually work for tips.
Besides the US, tipping is also popular in some Southeast Asian countries, such as Indonesia and Thailand. However, in Japan there is a no-tipping culture and you may actually offend the waiter if you try to give him money.
1.The example in the restaurant in Brazil shows that _____.
A.British people know how much to tip in a restaurant in Brazil
B.tipping amounts differ from country to country in western countries.
C.it is a custom for people to tip in a restaurant in China
2.If you order $280 worth of food in the US, then it’s common to tip _____.
A.$14 B.$42 C.$50
3.Why is tipping so important in the US?
A.Because it is advised by the travel website.
B.Because waiters will offer better service
C.Because servers there are not well paid
4.From the story, we can learn a lot EXCEPT ______.
A.Tipping is popular around the world.
B.People in some Asian countries also tip.
C.It is OK to tip a waitress in Japan.
5.How many countries which have the tipping culture are mentioned?
A.5 B.6 C.7
Dong Yaxue, a Chinese researcher working for NASA(美国国家航空航天局) said she finds great pleasure in both researching Mars and eating hot pot.
Born in Chengdu, Southwest China’s Sichuan province, 30-year-old Dong is a member of NASA’s .
On Nov 5, Dong was invited to give a speech at a NASA news conference(记者招待会), She is the first Chinese female scientist to attend in a NASA news conference.
Dong graduated from Chengdu’s Shishi High School in 2003 and later entered University of Science and Technology of China. She got her master’s and doctor’s degree in astrophysics from Rice University in the United States.
Last year, Dong joined the LASP(大气太空物理实验室) at the University of Colorado and began working for NASA after taking part in a phone interview. Now her main job is to analyze(分析) satellite data and compare the results to predictions(预测).
"The findings announced during the news conference are very important and may change the content of school textbooks," Dong told the Chengdu Business Daily.
"It has also provided new information and guidance for future Mars study."
Interested in technical work, Dong said she was never bored at work and will continue her data analysis next year.
While working in the US, Dong said that she feels as if she had never left Chengdu. She usually comes back every one or two years.
"No matter what job I do, I’m always an ordinary girl," said Dong, adding that she is a fan of Harry Potter and loves hot pot, Maocai, and Danhonggao, all famous foods from Chengdu.
"Indeed, I’m only one of the many postdoctoral researchers in this field. This is the first time that my job has got so much attention."
He Jianming, Dong’s high school teacher, said that Dong was not the top student in her school. “She never got first in the class, usually ranking tenth to twentieth. But her scores of all subjects were even.”
1.What can we know about Dong Yaxue?
A.She is the first Chinese scientist to work for NASA.
B.She studied abroad after graduating from high school in China.
C.She got her doctor’s degree in a university in US.
2.What does the underlined word “ astrophysics” mean?
A.天体物理 B.物理学 C.宇航员
3.Which of the following is TRUE?
A.Dong Yaxue worked for the NASA after a phone interview then joined the LASP.
B.Dong Yaxue said the findings may make a difference to the school text book.
C.Dong Yaxue is the only postdoctoral researcher in this field.
4.Dong Yaxue may do the following in her spare time EXCEPT _____.
A.She may come back to China twice a year.
B.She may watch Harry Potter film after work.
C.She may often have Sichuan food for dinner.
5.What is the article mainly about?
A.From a top student to a female scientist
B.Dong Yaxue, a Chinese female scientist working for NASA
C.The latest and important findings on Mars
