You may have heard of the American Dream, an ideal that has powered the hopes of Americans for generations.
It began as a belief that the US was a land of opportunity, and that anyone could achieve success through hard work. At times, the dream has referred to home ownership, a good job, retirement security or each generation doing better than the last.
Yet today, this concept seems to have greatly changed. As Time magazine pointed out, quite different from the older generation, many Millennials (the generation born after 1980) redefine(重新定义) the American Dream as “day-to-day control of your life”. They “prize job mobility, flexible schedules, any work that is more interesting than typing, and the ability to travel”, said the magazine.
Home ownership, once the cornerstone of the American Dream, is becoming a smaller priority for this generation. Meanwhile, nearly 40% of them choose travel as part of their dream. And entrepreneurship(创业) is a rising favorite, as nearly 26% of Millennials consider self-employment as part of their dream.
So what has led to this huge change?
Many point fingers at the poor economy. “Modern young Americans seem bound to face a world stamped by ever narrowing opportunity and social stagnation(停滞),”noted The Daily Beast.
“The rate of 16-to 24-year-olds out of school and out of work is unusually high at 15%. Many college graduates have taken jobs that don’t require a degree,” Time reported.
The magazine worries that these difficulties may lead to a lost generation who are “unable to ever truly find their feet on the corporation’s ladder”.
Dan Kadlec, a reporter of Time, sees Millennials as resetting their expectations. “This situation is different for young adults today,” he wrote. “A true American dream has to feel attainable, and many Millennias are feeling they can only attain a day-today lifestyle that suits them.”
1.What’s the passage mainly about?
A. Meaning of American Dream
B. Redefinition of American Dream
C. Value of Achieving American Dream
D. History of Changing American Dream
2.The underlined word “cornerstone” in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to “ ”.
A. growth B. balance C. purpose D. basis
3.According to the passage, what has changed Millennials’ view of the American Dream?
A. A lack of confidence in themselves
B. Fierce competition in the job market
C. The discouraging economy and unemployment
D. Their dissatisfaction with the government
4.Dan Kadlec thinks Millennials’ new definition of the American Dream is ______.
A. understandable B. beautiful
C. worrying D. Positive
The bed should be reserved as a place for sleep, but people tend to read an iPad a lot in bed before they go to sleep.
Charles Czeisler, a professor at Harvard Medical School, and his colleagues got a small group of people for an experiment. For five days in a row, the subjects (实验对象) read either a paper book or an iPad for four hours before sleep. Their sleep patterns were monitored all night. Before and after each trial period, they took hourly blood tests to paint a day-long picture of just how much melatonin (褪黑激素) was in their blood at any given time.
When the subjects read on the iPad as compared to the paper books, they reported feeling less sleepy at night and less active the following morning. They also took longer to fall asleep on the iPad nights, and the blood tests showed that their melatonin secretion (分泌) was delayed by an hour and a half.
The researchers conclude in today's journal article that given (考虑到)the rise of e-readers and the increasingly widespread use of e-things among children and adolescents, more research into the long-term consequences of these devices on health and safety is urgently needed. Czeisler and colleagues go on, in the research paper, to note：“Reading an iPad in bed may increase cancer risk.”
However, software has been developed that can reduce some of the blue light from the screens of phones and computers according to time of day, and there are also glasses that are made to filter (过滤) short wavelengths. While they seem like a logical solution for the nighttime tech users, it needs more research.
1.In Charles Czeislers experiment, all the subjects were asked to______.
A. sit in a row and receive the strict tests
B. have their blood tested per hour during the trial
C. read a paper book and an iPad at the same time
D. have their sleep patterns observed all night
2.The third paragraph tells us the iPad readers were likely to______.
A. feel less sleepy and tired in the day
B. become less energetic the next morning
C. have a lot more melatonin secretion
D. fall asleep more easily after reading
3.The special software recently developed can______.
A. weaken the harm done by doing nighttime e-reading
B. help prevent eyes being harmed by short wavelength
C. remove the blue light from your devices completely
D. be used in all the e-things widely and safely
4.Which title is the best one for the text?
A. Wrong behaviors before bedtime
B. New software for night e-readers
C. No e-reading in bed before sleep
D. No games on iPad in bed
Russia’s security chief has blamed an act of terror for the Russian A321 airliner crash in Egypt last month which killed 224 people. Whatever happened, the tragedy raises sad memories of horrific airplane crashes that have cost thousands of lives in recent decades .
Some of the worst such incidents—like four crashes in frightening succession into New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and rural Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001; the 1988 downing of Pan Am Flight 103 in Lockerbie, Scotland; and a 1977 crash involving the apparent hijacking of a Malaysian Airlines jet that left 100 dead—involved terrorist activity. But there are many others that did not, with mechanical problems, pilot error or other reasons blamed for loss of life. Below are some examples of the latter: crashes that left at least 200 people dead in each incident.
March 27 , 1977 : A KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Boeing 747 beginning its takeoff crashed into Pan American World Airways Boeing 747 then still on the runway at the Los Rodeos Airport at Tenerife in the Canary Islands. A total of 574 people, aboard both planes, died .
July 11 , 1991 : The landing gear of a Nigeria Airways DC-8 catches fire shortly after takeoff Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It doesn’t make it back to the airport, crashing nose-down less than 10,000 feet short of the runway and killing all 261 people aboard.
April 26 , 1994 : The pilot of a China Airlines’ Flight 140 alerts the control tower at Japan’s Nagoya Airport of his intention not to land and try another approach. But something goes wrong and, a short time later, the Airbus A300 crashes leading to 264 deaths—though a few passengers do survive.
September 2 , 1998 : A Swiss air jetliner that had departed New York’s Kennedy airport on its way to Geneva, Switzerland, goes down off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada; none of the 229 people aboard Flight 111 make it. Investigators believe that the MD-11 lost all electrical power immediately before the crash.
June 1 , 2009 : Air France Flight 447 is on the way from Rio de Janiero to Paris when it and its 228 passengers and crew go missing somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. It’s not until five days later that the first bodies are found about 600 miles off the northern coast of Brazil. Two years later, French authorities blame the crash on equipment breakdown.
1.The first paragraph is intended to ______.
A. memorize those people aboard the Russian A321 airline.
B. show it is the most serious incident in history.
C. direct attention to some disastrous air plane crashes.
D. analyze the cause of the disaster and blame the airline company.
2.Which air crash resulted from terrorist attack ?
A. China Airlines’ Flight 140
B. Pan Am Flight 103
C. Air France Flight 447
D. Swissair Jetliner Flight 111
3.Which of the following statements is not true ?
A. Two planes of the same type hit each other on March 27 , 1977.
B. There were over 264 people aboard China Airlines’ Flight 140.
C. It took five days to find some bodies of Air France Flight 447.
D. Swissair Jetliner Flight 111 crashed during its landing.
Hello. I’m Jan from Mrs. Lake’s class. My class wants to work together to help the public. We think we have found a great way to do this. Last month we did a class project on the highways near our town. We learned about the Adopt-a-Highway Program. This program brings people together to pick up litter along the roads. We think it would be a great idea for all students in our school to join the program and adopt a highway.
Adopting a highway is not like adopting a pet. When a highway is adopted, only part of the highway is cared for by a group of people. The group agrees to work every week to keep its part of the highway clean. Each group gets its own sign that has the name of the group printed on it. The sign is put up at the side of the road. This sign lets drivers know who is keeping that area of the road clean.
The Adopt-a-Highway Program is a great way for people to help their environment look nicer. Also, the government does not have to send out as many road workers. This saves money. Finally, people may try harder to keep roads clean if they see people, especially teenagers like us, cleaning them up.
We will need helpers to care for our adopted highway. If you want to feel great and keep our roads clean，please come with your parents to the meeting next week. We will meet in Mrs. Lake’ room on Wednesday at 6:00 P.M. At the meeting, we will talk about which roads are the dirtiest as a result of people's unkind acts. Then we' ll try to pick an area to adopt and clean.
I look forward to seeing you at the meeting. Remember to keep our roads clean!
1.What is the purpose of this speech?
A. To introduce the traffic system.
B. To tell a story about adopting a pet.
C. To show drivers how to drive safely.
D. To encourage students to join the program.
2.What is the Adopt-a-Highway Program about?
A. Giving names to the highways.
B. Picking up litter along the roads.
C. Drawing pictures of highways.
D. Putting up signs near the roads.
3.What should the students do first if they want to join the program?
A. Go to a meeting on Wednesday.
B. Pick a spot to care for.
C. Write a letter to their parents.
D. Call Mrs. Lake next week.
4.Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
A. Adopt-a-Pet B. Ways to Protect the Environment
C. Adopt-a-Highway D. Volunteers on Roads
书面表达
如何理解“成功”，不同的人有不同的看法。请认真阅读下面的引语( quotation)，按要求用英语写一篇短文。
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.（热情）”
－Sir Winston, Churchill
内容要求：
1. 你对该引语的理解；
2. 你的相关经历；
3. 恰当的结尾。
注意：
1. 短文开头已给出，不计入总词数；
2. 文中不能出现考生的具体信息；
3. 词数：120左右。
This quotation from Winston Churchill tells us that
.
.
.
短文改错
文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处，每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词。
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Dear Diary,
Here I am in the middle of a city, 350 miles far away from our farmhouse. Do you want to know why we move last week? Dad lost his job and as Mom explained, “He was lucky to find other one.” His new job meant I had to say goodbye to my classmate, my school, or just everything else I love in the world. To make matters bad, now I have to share a room with my younger sister, Maggie. Tomorrow is first day of school. I am awfully tiring, but I know I will never fall sleep.
Good night and remember, you, dear diary, is my only souvenir from my past life and my only friend.
Yours,
Rosemary
