Think about the different ways that people use the wind. You can use it to fly a kite or to sail a boat. Wind is one of our cleanest and richest power sources, as well as one of the oldest. Evidence shows that windmills began to be used in the ancient Iran back in the seventh century BC. They were first introduced to Europe during the 1100s, when armies returned from the Middle East with knowledge of using wind power.
For many centuries, people used windmills to grind(磨碎)wheat into flour or pump water from deep underground. When electricity was discovered in the late 1800s, people living in remote areas began to use them to produce electricity. This allowed them to have electric lights and radios. However, by the 1940s when electricity was available to people in almost all areas of the United States, windmills were rarely used.
During the 1970s, people started becoming concerned about the pollution that is created when coal and gas are burned to produce electricity. People realized that the supply of coal and gas would not last forever. Then, wind was rediscovered, though it means higher costs. Today, there is a global movement to supply more and more of our electricity through the use of wind.
1.From the text we know that windmills _______.
A. were invented by European armies
B. have a history of more than 2,800 years
C. have rarely been used since electricity was discovered
D. used to supply power to radio in remote area
2.The underlined word in Paragraph 2 probably means________.
A. making something cleaner
B. making something flow freely
C. making something flow in a particular direction
D. making something into small parts
3.One of the reasons wind was discovered in the 1970s is that_______.
A. it is one of the oldest power sources
B. wind power is cleaner
C. it was cheaper to create energy from wind
D. coal and gas failed to meet the needs
4.What would the author probably discuss in the paragraph that follows?
A. The global trend towards producing power from wind.
B. The design of wind power plants.
C. The worldwide movement to save energy.
D. The advantages of wind power.
The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC has thousands of objects on display, including the 1903 Wright Flyer, Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia, and a lunar rock you can touch. In addition to our exhibition gallery, you may want to visit the Albert Einstein Planetarium, Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater, and the Public Observatory on the east end. There are many things to do at the Museum in DC. We offer daily tours and educational activities for both children and adults. We also have scheduled lectures and events throughout the year.
Hours and Admission: Open every day except December 25. Admission is free.
Regular Hours: 10:00 am to 5:30pm
Extended Hours: 10:00 am to 7:30pm
December 26---30, 2014 March 30---April 20, 2015
Friday and Saturdays, April 24---May 16, 2015 May 17---September 7, 2015
Visiting Tips: Limit the number of bags: All visitors are screened through metal detector upon entry. The fewer items you bring inside the Museum, the faster your entry. Before you visit, please review the list of prohibited items, which include pocket knives and tripods(三脚架). Visitors carrying prohibited items will not be allowed inside the Museum, so please leave them at home or in your car.
No Food or Drink: Only bottled water is permitted in the Museum. You may only consume food and other drinks in the Food and Drink Court, not in the Museum. Groups who bring food are encouraged to picnic on the National Hall.
Please Take Photos: You are welcome to take photos for personal use. However, tripods and monopods(单脚架) are not permitted without approval.
First Aid: The Museum has a First Aid office and a nurse on duty. Please contact the nearest security officer or the Welcome Center for assistance.
Visit the Welcome Center: At our Welcome Center in the South Lobby, staff and volunteers can answer any questions you have during your visit.
Open: 10:00am to 5:30 Phone: 202-666-2212
E-mail: NASM-visitorservice@si.edu
1.According to the passage, the National Air and Space Museum is a place _______.
A. where only adults can take part in some educational activities
B. where one can touch anything he likes
C. everyone can pay a visit to without buying tickets
D. everyone can visit without time limit all the year round.
2. If the Greens plan to visit the Musuem at 6:00pm, it is accessible on _______.
A. December 24, 2014(Wednesday)
B. March 1, 2015(Sunday)
C. September 15, 2015(Tuesday)
D. July 6, 2015(Monday)
3.A visitor to the Museum can _______.
A. get some medical treatment if he suddenly falls ill
B. take photos with tripods for personal use
C. bring fewer bags to go through metal detectors
D. eat and drink in the Museum or in the Food Court
4.The purpose of this passage is to _______.
A. attract people to explore the universe
B. make an advertisement for the Museum
C. encourage adults to bring their children here
D. show what is on display in the Museum
If Confucius(孔子) were alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles. He’d need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out.
While many people in China remember Confucius on his special day, few people in the United States will give him a passing thought. It’s nothing personal. Most Americans don’t even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes.
But that doesn’t mean that Americans don’t care about Confucius. In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China.
In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities. More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries. These schools teach both Chinese language and culture. The main courses of Chinese culture usually include Chinese art, history and philosophy(哲学). Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantage of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up the drawbacks of Western philosophy. Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese. So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States. Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers.
So the old thinker’s ideas are still alive and well.
Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West.
As for the old thinker, he will not be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is.
1.The opening paragraph is mainly intended to _______.
A. attract the readers’ interest in the subject
B. provide some key facts about Confucius
C. show great respect for the ancient thinker
D. prove the popularity of modern birthday celebrations
2.We can learn from Paragraph 4 that American students _______.
A. take an active part in Chinese competitions
B. try to get high scores in Chinese exams
C. fight for a chance to learn Chinese
D. have a great passion in studying Chinese
3.What is the best title for this passage?
A. Forgotten Wisdom in America.
B. Huge Fans of the Chinese Language.
C. Old Thinker with a Big Future.
D. Chinese Culture for Westerners.
4.The passage is likely to appear in ______.
A.a biography B. a history paper
C. a newspaper D. a philosophy textbook
Weekends are normally a time for shopping and last Saturday was no exception. My son Henry and I were shopping in a neighborhood market. Henry was busy weighing each new bag of vegetables I selected. I gave him a bag of potatoes and he walked over to the scale and waited in line. Suddenly, a man rushed over from behind, and stepped before him, hitting him out of the way. Henry looked shocked and scared. Seeing this I left my shopping cart and walked over to Henry, saying loudly, “Are you OK, honey? I saw what that man did to you. That was very, very wrong.”
When the man finished weighing his bag, his sudden turning around made all his onions fall to the ground. The three of us stood there, frozen for a moment. And then I bent down on my hands and knees and started collecting onions. After I handed the onions to the man, he accepted them and put them into his bag. After Henry and I picked up all the onions, the man walked away without saying anything. We didn’t discuss the event until we got back in the car.
On the way back home, Henry said through tears, “Mommy, I’ve a frustrating day. That man cut right in front of me. And we had to help him pick up his onions! Why did we do that? That didn’t make any sense!”
I took a deep breath and said, “Henry, that man seemed to have a very bad mood today. We should forgive him. I was also angry with the man for treating you rudely. I really wanted to kick him. But doing that doesn’t make any sense. If we hadn’t helped him, we might have felt good for a moment, but then I bet we would have felt really sorry for a long time. You and I have a lot of love to share. Maybe that man doesn’t have much. People who behave badly still need love.”
A cheerful smile appeared on Henry’s face. It was a smile of promise kept. It was the best smile I had ever seen. It was a good moment. It may have been my best mommy moment ever.
1.What did the man do?
A. He cut in the line.
B. He hit Henry on the head.
C. He hurried away without paying.
D. He ran into Henry suddenly.
2. What can we infer from the passage?
A. The author was not angry at all with what the man had done.
B. The man was very sorry for what he had done to Henry.
C. At last, Henry learned a very valuable life lesson from the event.
D. Henry didn’t help the author pick up the onions for the man.
3. Which of the following word can best describe the author?
A. Narrow-minded. B. Broad-minded.
C. Strong-willed. D. Bad-tempered.
书面表达
阅读下面短文，然后按要求写一篇150词左右的英语短文。
Let’s face it. You are constantly exposed to common viruses. There is nothing you can do about them. However, you can greatly influence the effect of those viruses on your health. Don’t accept that the flu or common cold is something you have to suffer from time to time. Cast off this thought and keep yourself and your entire family healthy regardless of the weather or season. These 4 easy tips will help you to reduce the number of times you are down with the flu or common cold:
1.Eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables daily. They will provide you with important nutrients, mainly vitamins, which are needed to increase your ability to win the fight against common viruses.
2.Drink plenty of water. The water runs through your body, removing everything your body wants to get rid of.
3.Sleep 8 hours per night. If you often fail to have enough sleep, not only will you feel tired, but also your immune system will work less efficiently. You will be more easily affected by viruses.
【写作内容】
请你用英语以“健康的生活习惯让我们远离病毒”为题写一篇短文，主要内容包括：
1 以约30个词概括以上短文的主要内容。
2 然后以约120个词谈谈你对养成健康生活习惯的看法，内容包括：
(1) 病毒的危害及形成健康生活习惯的必要性；
(2) 要保持健康，还有哪些可行措施；
(3) 倡导大家培养良好生活习惯，健康生活。
【写作要求】
1 作文中可使用亲身经历或虚构的故事，也可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不得直接引用原文中的句子；
2 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。
任务型阅读,请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。
注意：每个空格只填1个单词。请将答案写在答题纸上相应题号的横线上。
The Internet has become a way of life for many people around the world. So what would happen if one fine morning, you woke up to find the Internet has no existence? How would your life be changed? Well, your lifestyle might be impacted. If you were an Internet addict, you would find that your life has come to an end. With no online facilities, a considerable part of your time would be spent waiting in long lines at banks, post offices or government offices. You would be waiting for days or even weeks for your mail to arrive from another corner of the world. Suddenly, you would realize that your fast-paced life is running at a snail’s pace.
Without the Internet, your socializing would also be impacted. If you’d gotten very used to socializing online, you would now be clueless as to how you could share the pictures of your recent trip you went for with your friends across the globe. It would be difficult to interact with people living outside your locality. You might have to become a member of a club or a community in your neighborhood to make new friends. With no online social media, you would find yourself saying this very often: Let’s go and talk to them!
With no way to use emails, instant messaging, chat or social media, we would have to take advantage of the option of a telephone conversation, or sending snail mail. Communication via the internet is free, whereas the options available otherwise would cost you extra money and time. Your would have to write letters and buy stamps, as we used to do before the Internet became popular.
The Internet has become a huge sea of information and resources. No Internet would mean no instant and easy access to information at the click of a button. Your would have to walk down to your local library and actually search the whole place to get the information you’re looking for, with little chances that you’ll find what you seek instantly. The students who were accustomed to using the Internet for completing their assignments would have a tough time. There would be no way to get an education without actually going to a school or a college physically.
Without the Internet, things at your workplace would be turned upside down. If your work was largely Internet-based, your company might have to shut down. If your work involved only minor use of the Internet, for example, using online system to acquire statistics from the Internet, this simple task would now be a complicated and time-consuming process. Your desk would be full of documents and files, and you would have a nightmare searching or sorting them out by hand. In any case, life without the Internet would seem like nightmare! So enjoy living in the paradise we call the Internet and make wise use of it!
Can you imagine the world without the Internet | |
Paragraph outline | Supporting details |
Lifestyle | ·It would take you much longer time to get some public 1._______ ·The pace of your life would 2._______ down |
Socializing | ·You would not know how to share your things with your faraway friends ·You would have difficulty interacting with people living outside your locality ·You would need to join a club or a community to3._____ new people ·You would always be obliged to make face-to-face4._______ with others |
Communication | ·Without emails, instant messaging or social media, you would have to use old communicating ways like telephone conversation ·Communicating in old ways would be5. _______ and time-consuming |
Information | ·Large amounts of information and resources online would no longer be easily 6. _______ ·The students who were in the7._______ of using the Internet would have trouble completing their assignments ·It would be impossible for students to be8._______ via the Internet |
Workplace | ·Those companies that were heavily 9.______ on the Internet would close down ·It would be complicated and time-consuming to acquire some statistics ·Your desk would be in a10. _______ and it would be hard for you to search or sort something out |
