Proudly reading my words, I glanced around the room, only to find my classmates bearing big smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes. Confused, I glanced toward my stone-faced teacher. Having no choice, I slowly raised the report I had slaved over, hoping to hide myself. “What could be causing everyone to act this way?”
Quickly, I flashed back to the day Miss Lancelot gave me the task. This was the first real talk I received in my new school. It seemed simple: go on the Internet and find information about a man named George Washington. Since my idea of history came from an ancient teacher in my home country, I had never heard of that name before. As I searched the name of this fellow, it became evident that there were two people bearing the same name who looked completely different! One invented hundreds of uses for peanuts, while the other led some sort of army across America. I stared at the screen, wondering which one my teacher meant. I called my grandfather for a golden piece of advice; flip (掷) a coin. Heads—the commander, and tails—the peanuts guy. Ah! Tails, my report would be about the great man who invented peanut butter, George Washington Carver.
Weeks later, standing before this unfriendly mass, I was totally lost. Oh well, I lowered the paper and sat down at my desk, burning to find out what I had done wrong. As a classmate began his report, it all became clear, “My report is on George Washington, the man who started the American Revolution.” The whole world became quite! How could I know that she meant that George Washington?
Obviously, my grade was awful. Heartbroken but fearless, I decided to turn this around. I talked to Miss Lancelot, but she insisted: No re-dos; no new grade. I felt that the punishment was not justified, and I believed I deserved a second chance. Consequently, I threw myself heartily into my work for the rest of the school year. Ten months later, that chance unfolded as I found myself sitting in the headmaster’s office with my grandfather, now having an entirely different conversation. I smiled and flashed back to the embarrassing moment at the beginning of the year as the headmaster informed me of my option to skip the sixth grade. Justice is sweet!
1. What did the author’s classmates think about his report?
A. interesting B. ridiculous.
C. boring. D. puzzling.
2.Why was the author confused about the task?
A. He was unfamiliar with American history.
B. He followed the advice and flipped a coin.
C. He forgot his teacher’s instruction.
D. He was new at the school.
3. The underlined word “burning” in Para. 3 probably means _______.
A. annoyed B. ashamed C. ready D. eager
4.In the end, the author turned things around _______.
A. by redoing his task
B. through his own efforts
C. with the help of his grandfather
D. under the guidance of his headmaster
Recordings of angry bees are enough to send big, tough African elephants running away, a new study says. Beehives (蜂窝)—either recorded or real—may even prevent elephants from damaging farmer’s crops.
In 2002, scientist Lucy King and her team found that elephants avoid certain trees with bees living in them. Today, Lucy wants to see if African honeybees might discourage elephants from eating crops. But before she asked farmer to go to the trouble of setting up beehives on their farms, she needed to find out if the bees would scare elephants away.
Lucy found a wild beehive inside a tree in northern Kenya and set up a recorder. Then she threw a stone into the beehive, which burst into life. Lucy and her assistant hid in their car until the angry bees had calmed down. Next，Lucy searched out elephant families in Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya and put a speaker in a tree close to each family.
From a distance, Lucy switched on the pre-recorded sound of angry bees while at the same time recording the elephants with a video camera. Half the elephant groups left the area within ten seconds. Out of a total of 17 groups, only one group ignored the sound of the angry bees. Lucy reported that all the young elephants immediately ran to their mothers to hide under them. When Lucy played the sound of a waterfall (瀑布) instead of the angry bees to many of the same elephant families, the animals were undisturbed. Even after four minutes, most of the groups stayed in one place.
Lucy is now studying whether the elephants will continue to avoid the sound of angry bees after hearing it several times. She hasn’t tested enough groups yet to know, but her initial (最初的) results were promising enough to begin trials with farmers. She has now begun placing speakers in the fields to see if elephants are frightened away.
1.We know from the passage that elephants may be frightened of .
A. loud noises B. some crops
C. video cameras D. angry bees
2.As mentioned in the passage, Lucy .
A. works by herself in Africa
B. needs to test more elephant groups
C. has stopped elephants eating crops
D. has got farmers to set up beehives on their farms
3.Why did Lucy throw a stone into a wild beehive?
A. To record the sound of bees.
B. To make a video of elephants.
C. To see if elephants would run away.
D. To find out more about the behavior of bees.
4.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. Young elephants ignore African honeybees.
B. Waterfalls can make elephants stay in one place.
C. Elephants do not go near trees with bees living in them.
D. Farmers do not allow Lucy to conduct tests in their fields.
One day, I received a call from a colleague. He was about to give a student a zero for his answer to a physical problem, while the student claimed a perfect score. I was elected as their arbiter（仲裁人）. I read the examination problem: “Show how it is possible to determine the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer（气压计）. ”The student had answered; "Take the barometer to the top of the building, attach a long rope to it, lower it to the street, and then bring it up, measuring the length of the rope. The length of it is the height of the building.”
The student had really answered the question completely, but the answer didn't confirm his competence in physics. I suggested the student try again. I gave him six minutes to answer the question, warning that the answer should show some knowledge of physics. Five minutes later, he said he had many answers and dashed off one, which read：“Take the barometer to the top of the building and lean over the edge of the roof. Drop the barometer, timing its fall with a stopwatch. Then, use the physical formula（公式）to calculate the height of the building.”
At this point, my colleague had to accept it, and then the student made almost full marks. I couldn't help asking the student what the other answers were. He listed many others, and then added, "Probably the best is to take the barometer to the administrator and said to him, ‘Sir, here is a fine barometer. If you tell me the height of the building, I will give it to you.”,
Then, I asked the student if he really did not know the conventional answer to this question. He admitted that he did, but said that he was fed up with high school and college instructors trying to teach him how to think.
The name of the student was Bohr who later was famous all over the world. He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1922.
1.The student got a zero at the beginning because _____.
A. the teacher wasn't satisfied with him
B. his answer wasn't complete or correct
C. the teacher didn't fully understand his answer
D. his answer didn't show his knowledge of physics
2.We know from the passage that _____.
A. the student knew the expected answer
B. the administrator told Bohr the height
C. the author preferred Bohr's last answer
D. the teacher was a very stubborn person
3.We can learn from the passage that _____.
A. instructors can teach students how to think
B. arbiters can help students to get high scores
C. students should be given more freedom in thinking
D. teachers should make students use physical formulas
4.What was Bohr's attitude toward his schooling?
A. Optimistic B. Critical C. Approving D. Neutral
书面表达（满分25分）
你们班准备举办一个主题为“My Favorite Sports Star”的班会，请你根据以下表格信息，写一篇英语短文，简要介绍羽毛球选手林丹，并向全班作演讲。
注意： 1. 词数120左右；
2. 可以适当添加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 开头与结尾已写好，不计入总词数。
姓名 | 林丹，绰号“超级丹” |
籍贯 | 中国福建龙岩 |
出生日期 | 1983.10.14 |
身高 | 1.78m |
体重 | 72kg |
职业生涯 | 5岁开始打羽毛球；12岁参军；18岁进入国家队；获得多项国际大赛冠军，包括北京奥运会和伦敦奥运会两枚金牌 |
比赛风格 | 左手握拍，以扣球著称；获胜后常常敬礼或将衣服扔向观众以示庆祝 |
参考词汇：羽毛球 badminton; 绰号 nickname; 冠军 champion; 敬礼 salute; 扣球 smash
Good afternoon, everyone!
My favorite sports star is Lin Dan,
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Thank you for listening.
阅读下面短文，按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填入一个适当的词或使用括号中词语的正确形式填空。
One day an elderly teacher took a walk through a forest, with a pupil by his side. Suddenly he 1. （stop）and pointed to four plants close at hand. The first was just beginning to appear slowly above the ground, the second had rooted itself pretty well into the earth, the third was a small short tree, while the fourth was 2. full-sized tree. The tutor said to his young 3. （company）,“Pull up the first plant.” The boy did so eagerly, 4. （use）only his fingers．
“Now pull up the second.” The youth obeyed 5. found that the task was 6. （difficult）.
“Do the same 7. the third, ” he urged．The boy had to use all his strength to uproot it．
“Now, ” said the instructor, “try your hand with the fourth．” The pupil put his arms around the trunk of the tall tree and couldn’t even shake 8. leaves．“This, my son, is just 9. happens with our bad habits．When they are young, we can remove them easily; but when they are old, it’s hard to pull them out of the ground, 10. we pray and struggle ever so sincerely!”
根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
As we all know, different countries have different cultures. The cultures of the East and the West really distinguish each other a lot. 1.
The origin of the eastern cultures is mainly from two countries: China and India. Both of the two cultures are fostered by rivers—the Yellow River in China and the Hindu River in India. 2.
Then in Tang Dynasty of China, the Chinese culture gradually went overseas to Japan, mixed into the Japanese society and shaped the Japanese culture nowadays. Though a bit different from the Chinese one, it belongs to the same system.
When the two mother rivers gave birth to the Eastern culture, another famous culture was brought up on the Mesopotamian Plain—the Mesopotamian Civilization. This civilization later on developed into the cultures of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. 3. Like the Chinese culture, the European one also crossed waters. When the British settled down in America, their culture went with them over the Atlantic Ocean. So the American culture doesn’t distinguish from the European one a lot.
4. Take the language system for example. In the East, most languages belong to the pictographic language while the Western languages are mostly based on the Latin system. Other causes like human race difference counts as well. But what’s more, due to the far distance and the steep areas between the East and West, the two cultures seldom communicate until recent centuries. So they grew up totally in their own ways with almost no interference (干扰) from the other.
The differences are everywhere. 5. But different cultures make the world of 21st century more colorful. The cultural gap should not be the obstacle (障碍) to the civilization of human being. It ought to be the motivation of our going farther.
A. Let us work together to keep a variety of culture.
B. And these two are well-known as the base of the European culture.
C. One important thing is to learn about other cultures.
D. They helped the two cultures develop for centuries and form their own styles.
E. They are obvious and affect people’s ways of thinking and their views of the world.
F. At the same time, some other differences add to the cultural differences.
G. This is because the culture systems are two separate systems on the whole.
