Steve is interviewing the famous biographer（传记作家）Caren Thomas.
Steve: Thomas, 1. a famous writer, would you please tell us something about yourself and your new books?
Garen: Of course.
Steve: Where were you born?
Garen: I was born in Chicago, but I spent most of my childhood in New York.
Steve: 2. was your childhood like?
Garen: I had pretty strict parents. They wished me to be successful in studies. So I think my childhood was 3. （bore）and I was always complaining about it.
Steve: Do you get along well 4. your parents now?
Garen: Oh sure, I have reached middle age now. So far I 5. （understand）their loves to me.
Steve: Where did you go to university?
Garen: I graduated 6. Yale University with a degree in English Literature.
Steve: How did you start writing?
Garen: I like writing from young, 7. it is not easy for me to enter this occupation. You know, I once worked in companies. I started writing for magazines and eventually was
8. （ask） to write books, so I was pretty lucky.
Steve: 9. did you begin to write the book about the president Obama?
Garen: From the beginning of 2008, it 10. （take） me 6 months to prepare for it, interviewing and finding information about him. Obama told me many stories about his life and family.
Steve: Sounds interesting.
Since my childhood, I always dreamed of becoming a full - time writer. Two years after my graduation, I my job and made up my mind to realize my .
No one could tell me I would succeed or not. I rented a cold storage room in a building, set up a used desk and to write. I had too many things to write and I had to write because the was full of my heart.
After a year or so, however, I began to doubt myself. I found it to earn my living by selling what I wrote. I can’t remember how many times my novels were during that year. But I to put my dream to the test—even though it meant living with uncertainty and fear of . I believed anyone with a dream must learn to struggle for the .
During the most difficult period of my life, one of my classmates came to see me and tried to __ me, “Yun, come to our company, and we will you 2,000 yuan a month.” 2,000 yuan was really a big at that time. It would enable me to live . As the money were dancing in my , something cleared my senses. Hadn’t I dreamed of being a writer? A full - time writer.
“Thanks, but no,” I said , “I’m going to stick to writing.”
Again and again, I said to myself, “I will be . People will love my novels.”
Finally my first novel was in 1991. I had the kind of fame and success that few writers ever .
Twenty years have passed, but the effect it had on my life has lasted. Now I often the time working in that cold storage room. I will say, “Anyone with a dream, courage and persistence will be successful.”
1.A. Attained B. quit C. paused D. seized
2.A. Project B. glory C. dream D. liberty
3.A. Whether B. What C. that D. when
4.A. gave away B. settled down C. put down D. took over
5.A. principle B. justice C. career D. enthusiasm
6.A. difficult B. changeable C. permanent D. Skeptical
7.A. adjusted B. attacked C. registered D. rejected
8.A. pretended B. determined C. waited D. agreed
9.A. anxiety B. prejudice C. failure D. opportunity
10.A. Intelligence B. fantasy C. reputation D. goal
11.A. persuade B. donate C. inform D. require
12.A. Sponsor B. Assist C. pay D. earn
13.A. account B. money C. scale D. fortune
14.A. steadier B. handier C. better D. happier
15.A. hand B. head C. table D. wallet
16.A. doubtfully B. eagerly C. firmly D. consciously
17.A. successful B. lucky C. creative D. confident
18.A. sold B. advocated C. published D. allocated
19.A. experienced B. adopted C. associated D. deposited
20.A. understood B. recalled C. reminded D. Assumed
You can take a selfie with a hand - held digital camera or mobile phone and later share it on the Internet. So selfies have been especially popular over the years. 1. Love them or hate them, selfies show no sign of stopping.
After all, the selfie is the most important way to show off on holiday. Everyone has his own way to take the holiday selfies. How can you take the best holiday selfies? 2.
◆‘Food chew’style
Want to let everyone know how exciting your holiday food choices are? 3. You can also cut off a piece to show off what’s inside. But don’t have food hanging out of your mouth. Remember, food always looks best before being eaten.
◆‘I’ m so adventurous’ style
Rock climbing, hiking, surfing, or skiing? 4. Just let the natural settings make people go “wow”. One commonly used gesture is spreading out an arm to show how thrilled you are. But remember that no one likes a sweaty selfie.
◆‘I am cultured tourist’ style
5. You can also try an optical illusion（视错觉）by making it look like you’re holding up the leaning tower of Pisa, touching the top of the Eiffel Tower, or picking the Sphinx’s nose.
A. Just taking a selfie against a famous cultural site makes you look great.
B. Some people have no idea where to travel.
C. According to a recent survey, haft of the interviewees admitted to taking a selfie while on holiday.
D. These adventurous holiday moments are great for a selfie.
E. Different cultures have different characteristics of food.
F. Hold up some food on your fork or chopsticks.
G. Here are some useful posing tips for you.
As more people use smart phones to pay bills and store personal information, strict password security has become more important than ever. A new study shows that free - form gestures – sweeping fingers in shapes across the screen of a smart phone—can be used to unlock phones. These gestures are less likely to be observed and reproduced by others than traditional typed passwords.
“All that it takes to steal a password is a quick eye,” said one of the researchers of the study. “With all the personal information we have on our phones today, improving their security is becoming increasingly necessary.” In developing a secure solution to this problem, the researchers studied the practicality of using free - form gestures. With the ability to create any shape in any size and location on the screen, the gestures were popular as passwords. Since users create them without following a template, the researchers predicted these gestures would allow for greater complexity.
The researchers carried out a create - test - retest experiment where 63 people were asked to create a gesture, recall it, and recall it again 10 days later. The gestures were captured on a recognizer system designed by the team. Using this data, they tested the complexity and accuracy of each gesture using information theory. The result of their analysis is that people are favorable to use free - form gestures as passwords.
To put their analysis into practice, the researchers then had seven students in computer science and engineering, each with considerable experience with touchscreens（触摸屏）, attempt to steal a free - form gesture password by observing a phone user secretly. None of them were able to copy the gestures with enough accuracy. The gestures appear to be extremely powerful against attacks.
Though the testing is in its early stage and widespread adaptation of this technology is not yet clear, the research team plans to continue to analyze the security and management of free – form passwords in the future. They believe this is the first study to explore free - form gestures as passwords. They will soon publish their findings.
1.What can we learn about free - form gestures?
A. They are improving mobile security in a way.
B. Users will have to make use of simple gestures.
C. They will never be copied by others.
D. Users must move their fingers in fixed shapes.
2.The experiment in paragraph 4 is to test _________ of free - form gestures.
A. template B. application
C. accuracy D. security
3. According to the text, the researchers think that ________.
A. it is easy to steal any password with a quick eye
B. better ways of setting passwords should be developed
C. people had better not use smart phones to pay bills
D. personal information should not be stored in a phone
4.The main purpose of the text is to ________.
A. advise people to use free - form gestures
B. discuss whether smart phones are safe
C. talk about the practicality of passwords
D. introduce the study of a new password
2014 saw that the Ebola virus reappeared in Guinea and soon spread into neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone, killing over 7,800 people by the new year of 2015. It leads to viral hemorrhagic fever, which is characterized by high fever and internal bleeding etc.
Ebola is named after the Ebola River, where it was first discovered in 1976. There are five different types of the Ebola virus, each named after where they first happened: Sudan, Ivory Coast, Reston, Bundibugyo, and Zaire. The deadliest of the five, Zaire, was responsible for the 2012 out- break, and is believed to be attacking Guinea.
Ebola is naturally found in fruit bats, which pass on the virus to other animals by biting or sucking on their blood. Humans who are suffering from the Ebola infection might have touched the bodily fluids of the infected animals. Once infected, a human becomes a carrier of the deadly virus.
Unfortunately, there are no disease - specific treatments for Ebola. Health - care workers only supply the infected people with physiological saline（生理盐水）to keep them in good condition. Ebola can kill 90% of those infected, especially in underdeveloped societies like those in Africa. Since there have been many cases of nurses catching the disease from patients, they are forced to wear strict protective clothes, and in some cases, not even allowed to get close to the infected. The fact that there is no cure for the Ebola virus is what makes the outbreak a challenging one to control.
What’s worse, since we live in an interconnected world, where the situation in one country can affect us all, the influences of Ebola are huge: damaging trade relations, affecting foreign visitors, and weakening entire countries. It is feared that the disease may spread throughout west African countries. For every country, a strong health system can decrease the risk of health attack and lessen the impact of Ebola.
1.What is the function of the first paragraph in the whole passage?
A. To arouse the reader’s concern.
B. To summarize the whole passage.
C. To give a detailed description of Ebola.
D. To introduce the theme of the whole passage.
2.What can we infer about the Ebola virus?
A. It has caused a panic in many countries.
B. It is the most dangerous virus in the world.
C. A strong health system is important to fight against Ebola.
D. Anyone who was infected Ebola will die.
3.Paragraph 3 mainly tells us _________.
A. What the Ebola virus is
B. How the Ebola virus spreads
C. How the Ebola virus is treated
D. How the Ebola virus affects the life
4.Which of the following is true?
A. There are no effective drugs to treat Ebola by far.
B. Ebola is now very common in Guinea.
C. Those with a fever must be infected by Ebola.
D. Females are easier to be infected by Ebola.
Summer Hours
June 15 - September 15
Saturday - Thursday: 8:00 am - 8:00 pm
Friday: 9:00 am - 9:00 pm
Regular Hours
January 1 - June 14 and September 16 - December 31
Saturday - Thursday: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Friday: 9:00 am - 9:00 pm
Individual Ticket Prices
Venues | Adult（12＋） | Senior（60＋） | Child（3 - 11） | Group（at least 3 persons） |
Exhibit | Halls | Exhibit | Halls | Exhibit |
Exhibits:
◆ A Bird’s World
This exhibit includes a sample of every bird found in New England. It provides a lot of information about bird behavior, and New England birdwatchers will also find a useful bird “dictionary”. With this, you can learn how to understand the bird language you hear being chirped just outside your window at home.
◆Butterfly Garden
This garden offers a wonderful chance to get close to all kinds of living butterflies from New England and across the world. You can also look inside the “Emergence Box” to see hanging chrysalids（蝶蛹）change into adult butterflies. If you’re lucky, you might see a new butterfly crawl out of its casing.
◆Discovery Center
Designed for children under 8 and their parents, the Discovery Center offers lots of fun, hands - on activities that are designed to help them discover through playing. A perfect area for early learners, this educational environment emphasizes the use of real objects for exploring natural history, physical science, and technology topics.
◆Take a Closer kook
Explore the world around you using sight, hearing, touch and smell. Test yourself to see what you can discover when you pay attention to your senses, and learn how technology extends them.
1.If you visit the exhibits on a Wednesday in August, you can stay there until ________.
A. 3 pm B. 8 pm C. 9 pm D. 5 pm
2.A child at 5 and its parents will have to pay ________.
A. $60.00 B. $80.00
C. $20.00 D. $68.00
3.People, who are interested in the human body, can visit ________.
A. Take a Closer Look B. Butterfly Garden
C. Discovery Center D. A Bird’s World
4.The passage is an advertisement of _________.
A. a sight - seeing park B. a science park
C. a training center D. an art center
