How would you feel if moving to a new town meant losing track of your friends? What if the only way of getting news from faraway friends was writing letters that took ages to be delivered（递送）? This was how things worked not very long ago. Thanks to advances in technology, how we make friends and communicate with them has changed greatly.
Nowadays, we can move around the world and still stay in touch with our friends. Social media tools（社交媒体工具） let us see what our friends are busy with and maintain friendships.
The digital （数字）age also enables us to find people who share our interests. Whatever our hobbies, the Internet can connect us with others who also enjoy doing them, even if they live on the other side of the world.
But when you friend people online, does this mean that they really are your friends? It depends.
If people always exchange true personal information online, then yes, these friendships can be real and meaningful. But we need to remember that what we see on social media is often not the whole truth about a person. Sometimes smiling photos can hide real problems. On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog. A young person could be old；a woman could be a man；we could even be sharing our information with criminals.
But this doesn't mean that we should throw the baby out with the bathwater. Although technology has changed the way we acquire（获得）friends, the meaning of friendship and our longing for friends remain the same. As Aristotle said, no one would choose to live without friends, even if he had all other goods.
1.Ways of making friends and communicating with them have changed greatly because of ________.
2.To stay in touch with our faraway friends, we can ________.
3.Online friendships can be real and meaningful if people ________ with each other.
4.The phrase “throw the baby out with the bathwater” means “________” in Chinese.
5.This passage mainly talks about ________ of making friends online.
Nirmal Purja has set several world records after climbing the world's 14 highest mountains in less than seven months.
1. Though he was born 1, 600 meters above sea level, he didn't climb any serious mountains until he was 29.
But Mr. Purja, now 36, was trained to be strong. He used to be a soldier in the British army, where he had special training for fighting in very cold weather. 2.
There are only14 mountains in the world that are higher than8,000 meters. Mr. Purja had already climbed several of them. 3. The old record for climbing the 14 mountains was seven years, ten months and six days. It was set by South Korean climber Kim Chang-ho in 2013.
Mr. Purja named his challenge "Project Possible". 4. On October 29, just a little more than six months after he started, Nirmal Purja had finished climbing the 14th mountain.
Though Mr. Purja completed his challenge unbelievably quickly, it wasn't easy. For example, during one day of climbing Shishapangma Mr. Purja and his team climbed for 15 hours nonstop.5.
A.Mr. Purja was born in Nepal, in the Himalayas.
B.He had completed five more climbs in Pakistan.
C.He began on April 23, by climbing Annapurna in Nepal
D.His goal was to climb all of them in less than seven months.
E.They had to deal with winds as fast as 75 kilometers per hour.
F.In 2018, he left there to follow his dream of mountain climbing.
In the town of Lampang in northern Thailand, there is an unusual group of musicians. They play many different kinds of music—from traditional Thai songs to music by Beethoven. Both children and adults love this group. What makes them so popular? Is it their music? Their looks? Yes, it's both of these things, but it's also something else：they're elephants.
These musical elephants are from the Thai Elephant Conservation Center （TECC）in Lampang. The TECC protects elephants. It teaches people to understand and care for these huge, but gentle, animals. And, like many zoos around the world, the TECC encourages elephants to paint.
Richard Lair works with the TECC. He knew that elephants hear better than they see. So he had an idea：if elephants are intelligent and they have good hearing, maybe they can play music. To test his idea, Lair and a friend started the Thai Elephant Orchestra. During a performance, the elephants play a variety of instruments, including the drums and the xylophone. The animals also use their voices and trunks to make sounds.
But can elephants really make music properly? Yes, says Lair. they’re very creative. Humans may encourage the animals to play instruments, but the elephants make their own songs；they don't just copy their trainers or other people. There are now CDs of the group's music, which make money for the TECC. And the music these artists create is pretty amazing.
1.What can be the best title for the passage?
A.Musical Elephants
B.An Introduction to the TECC
C.Richard Lair's Achievements
2.What does the underlined word "them" refer to in the passage?
A.Musicians. B.Children. C.Adults.
3.What can be inferred（推断） from the passage the passage ?
A.Richard Lair started the Thai Elephant Orchestra by himself.
B.The elephants in the TECC can only play traditional Thai songs.
C.The CDs of the Thai Elephant Orchestra are popular with people.
4.The writer wrote this passage to _______.
A.ask people to save the elephants
B.invite more people to join the TECC
C.introduce the elephants' special talents to people
5.Where can we most probably read this passage?
A.A medical newspaper.
B.An animal magazine
C.A story book
An Experiment Report on Growing Potato Plants
Things prepared：
a potato that has sprouts
a flower pot with soil
a camera to record progress
Observation：
Day One
The color of the soil looks darker because I have just watered it. In the center of the pot, I can see a tiny sprout that has grown from the potato under the soil. I’ll call it Buddy. Buddy is green and yellow. I wonder how fast it will grow.
Day six
Without much change in the past six days, I finally see some new progress on Buddy as it has grown taller. It’s exciting to see new life like this. I hope Buddy can grow faster.
Day Eleven
Buddy is getting larger! Three more new sprouts have grown around Buddy! Green leaves have grown on the new sprouts, but they have not fully grown yet. I guess I need to be a bit more patient.
Day Thirteen
Buddy continues to grow taller. The leaves on the new sprouts have grown a bit. I’m also excited to see more new sprouts that have grown from under the soil.
Day Fifteen
Finally, the leaves on the other sprouts are 3 cm tall. They’re so green. I hope they will soon grow into new potatoes.
What I have learned
It’s really interesting to grow potatoes. During these fifteen days, I have learned that growing potato plants needs plenty of water. If soil is dry, the potato will fail to grow. I have also learned that the temperature needs to be right. If it is too cold, it won’t grow.
I feel that growing plants is just like trying to succeed with anything in life it takes not only time, but also lots of efforts and patience.
1.The reading material is an experiment report about ________.
A.chemistry B.physics C.biology
2.How many things did the writer prepare before her experiment?
A.Three. B.Five. C.Seven.
3.How did the writer feel when she saw the progress of the potato plants?
A.Excited. B.Nervous. C.Surprised.
4.What can we know from the writer’s experiment report?
A.“Buddy” grew very fast in the first six days.
B.Plenty of water is necessary for growing potato plants.
C.The writer got new potatoes on the fifteenth day of the experiment.
5.What has the writer learned from the experiment?
A.Old habits die hard.
B.Rome wasn’t built in one day.
C.Knowledge comes from questioning.
The first time I saw Kai, she was sitting in my front yard, holding my dog Harley in her arms. She had just _______ into a small house nearby. I think she liked Harley's friendly personality, just as he liked hers. From the second I talked to her, I knew Kai would be a lifelong _______ . Her smile made me feel better just being around her. Her face was always full of _______ .
It didn't take long before Kai was beloved by all her new neighbors here. Every time we visited her, she would kindly listen to all of our problems and then say something so _______ that we would leave her home with our hearts singing. Sometimes I would read her my stories and she would always encourage me to keep _______ .
All of this time, though, Kai was slowly dying from cancer, she lived each day with such cheer that often forgot just how _______ she was. Still, she died on a cold winter day with heavy snow falling down.
During the short time we had been together I _______ so much from Kai about how to truly live. She taught us so many lessons about kindness, happiness, hope and cheer.
1.A.walked B.moved C.run
2.A.friend B.boss C.fan
3.A.happiness B.worries C.doubts
4.A.serious B.wise C.silly
5.A.waiting B.singing C.writing
6.A.popular B.busy C.ill
7.A.expected B.learned C.accepted
Wang Wei’s parents were waiting for him when he got home. His dad handed him a letter. It was from the university. His hands were shaking as he took the letter—his _______ was inside.
Ever since Wang Wei was little, he wanted to be an _______. He often took his toys apart and put them back together. One day, his mom was _______ to see that Wang Wei had taken apart the television! His dad told her to have faith(信心) in Wang Wei, and sure enough he put the television back together _______.
Wang Wei’s teachers all noticed his talent. They told his _______ Wang Wei should go to university. Wang Wei was very excited about this. No one in Wang Wei’s family had ever gone to university before. His mom was not sure if it was a good idea. _______ his dad said, “Have faith in Wang Wei and his dream.” Wang Wei knew his family couldn’t _______ university. So he studied harder and applied for the scholarships(奖学金).
Now Wang Wei had the letter in his hand that would tell him if he could go to the university.He took a deep breath and opened the envelope. It says, "Congratulations. You have been accepted to the university on a full scholarship! "His mom _______ him with tears in her eyes. “I am so proud of you!” she said.
His dad patted his back. “I’ve always had faith in Wang Wei and his dream,” he said.
1.A.future B.resolution C.pride
2.A.artist B.actor C.engineer
3.A.happy B.upset C.scared
4.A.angrily B.bravely C.perfectly
5.A.guests B.parents C.cousins
6.A.Because B.As C.But
7.A.afford B.choose C.enter
8.A.hugged B.thanked C.left
