Are you trying to learn a new language in a foreign land? You might be better off if you stopped looking at that picture of your family and friends.
New research from Columbia University found that prompting (提示) someone who is learning a new language with images and reminders of their own culture could temporarily ruin everything that the brain was trying to build.
When native Chinese students were asked to talk with a Caucasian avatar (白种人的虚拟头像) and a Chinese avatar, their English skills were so different. Simply exposing students to a Chinese person affected their ability to speak English. Subjects who talked with the Chinese version felt more comfortable in their speech, but they produced 11% fewer words per minute. They actually became less fluent speakers.
To make sure it wasn’t just the avatar, researchers also showed people random images of China while the participants told a story. When pictures of their homeland appeared, fluency dropped 16% and volunteers were 85% more likely to use a literal (照字面的) translation, for example, calling pistachios “happy nuts”, because that’s literally what the Chinese word for pistachio means.
When the students were shown pictures of fish with one swimming ahead of the others, their culture would change how they look at the photo. With Chinese prompt, like photos of the Great Wall or Chinese Dragon, etc. they saw more students thinking that the fish was being chased, while an American prompt, like pictures of Marilyn Monroe or Superman, saw those students believing that it was a leader fish.
The bottom line is: when attempting to learn a new culture it is far better to surround yourself with that culture than create an island of the old one.
1.Why does the author use a question in the first paragraph?
A. To raise a question.
B. To arouse readers’ awareness.
C. To introduce the topic.
D. To tell a story.
2.The underlined word “pistachios” in the fourth paragraph refers to ______.
A. pictures B. volunteers
C. an image D. a kind of food
3.From the passage we can infer that ______.
A. different images would change with different people
B. different cultures would affect how students look at the photo
C. with Chinese prompts, more students thought that it was a leader fish
D. with an American prompt, more students thought that the fish was being chased
4.According to the research, which is a better way for a student in a foreign land to learn a new culture?
A. To surround himself with that culture.
B. To create an island of the old one.
C. To see random images of China.
D. To talk with a Caucasian avatar.
Fly Alone for the First Time
I began flying lessons at the age of 14; but the Federal Aviation Administration requires you to be 16 before you make flight by yourself. So I had to wait for two long years until I could fly a plane by myself. I used that time to master the basic maneuvers (要领) of flying. I learned emergency procedures and practiced hundreds of takeoffs and landings until I could land the airplane smoothly without bouncing it down the runway. It wasn’t always easy, and many times I would come home feeling discouraged and thinking maybe everyone was right – I would never learn to fly, but by the next day, I was always eager to try again.
On the day of my 16th birthday, I made my first solo flight, which meant I could finally fly alone. The night before, my dad, who was my flight instructor, explained that the winds were forecast to be high. He said if we were in the air by dawn, the winds would probably be calm enough for me to solo. The next morning it was cold, but the sky was completely clear, and the winds were calm. I expected my dad to stay in the plane for at least three takeoffs and landings. But after the first one, he told me to pull off the runway, and he got out of the plane.
I was alone. As I climbed higher and higher, the world began to change. Everything on the ground became miniature. Houses, cars, and all looked like tiny toys that could fit in the surface of my hand. I made three takeoffs and landings that day. Each landing was perfect. It was one of the happiest days of my life.
Today, as a flight instructor, I stand alongside runways watching as my own students take to the sky on their first solo flights. I understand the joy faces, which always bring me back to that day when my dream came true. I learned that no matter how people tell you that you can’t do something, if you believe in yourself, you can succeed.
1.When practicing flying, the author ______.
A. met several times of emergencies
B. was worried about his own safety
C. couldn’t wait to fly alone in the sky
D. sometimes doubted his ability to fly
2.The underlined word “miniature” probably means “______”.
A. distant B. unclear C. small D. high
3. What was the father concerned about before his son flied alone?
A. Whether his son was brave enough.
B. Whether it would be too windy.
C. Whether he was able to protect his son.
D. Whether there were negative comments.
4.What lesson does the author learn from his experience?
A. Be confident and you will succeed.
B. Be responsible and you can grow up.
C. Give up something and you may win more.
D. Think hard and you can achieve your dream.
书面表达
假如你是高三学生李华，期末获评年级“进步之星”。你校英语俱乐部邀请你做一个励志的英语演讲。请写一篇标题为：“Time And Tide Wait For No Man” (机不可失，时不再来)的演讲词，内容须包括:
1.你对该格言的理解感悟;
2.体现该格言含义的个人经历;
3.表达对其他同学的希望。
注意：
1. 词数100字左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 演讲稿开头和结尾已为你写好，不计入总词数;
4. 参考词汇：进步之星：“Star of Progress”
Dear fellow students,
It's my great honor to be invited here to give a speech. The topic of my speech today is “Time and tide wait for no man”.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
That’s all.Thank you!
短文改错
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。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。
My family was very poor when I was a child. My parents lost their jobs or lived with heavy pressure. As a result, I wanted to study hardly so as to have different future. During my high school life, I spent all my time studied those difficult subjects, which made me one of the best student in our school. After graduation, I was admitted in a key university where I meet a lot of interesting friends. Now, I am working in a big company and I am able to afford anything I wanted. What’s more, my parents also have been found new jobs. So I believe that our dream will came true if we try our best.
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容或括号内单词的正确形式。
The Chinese government has decided to end its one-child per family policy and let families have two children. A statement gives the reasons for the change, ___1.___ (say) it is meant to balance population development, stop a declining birth rate and strengthen the country’s work force.
China ___2.__ (carry)out the one-child policy in 1980. But the government permitted a small number of __3.___ (couple) to have two children. For example, some rural families were given approval to have two children if the first-born was a girl. In 2013, the government permitted other families to have two if one parent was __4.__ only child.
A teacher and population expert, Jiang Quanbao, explains how Chinese families will react __5._ the policy. “Many young people in the cities are ___6.___ (probable) not interested in having a second child,” he says. “People in rural villages may be __7.__ (much) interested, but some of them are already allowed to have two children.”
At the end of 2014, China had a population of 1.37 billion people, a total of 800 million of __8.___ are employed. But that job market population is expected ___9.___(drop) by 2050. With the two-child policy, the labo10.__ (short) will be relieved, starting in 20 years.
完形填空
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A, B, C, D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
If you ever have a chance to go to Finland, you’ll probably be surprised to find how “foolish” the Finnish people are.
Take the taxi drivers for example．You can go ___ ___ on a journey, tell the driver to ______ you at any place, say that you have some business to ___ ___, and that you will pay the taxi driver later. He will agree without any ______ but just accept your words in good ______.
The dining rooms in all big hotels not only serve their ______, but also provide food for outside ______．Hotel guests have their meals free , so they _____ go to the free dining rooms to have their meals, and the ______ they would do to show their good faith is to wave their registration card to the waiter．With such ______ check, you can easily use any old registration card to take a couple of friends to wine and dine free of ______.
Finnish workers are paid by the hour．If you work in Finland and have ______ the boss on the hourly rate, then you just say how many hours you have worked and you’ll be paid ______.
With so many loop holes in every day life, surely Finland must be a good country to those who ______ to take “petty advantages”．But the ______ thing is, all the taxi passengers always come back to pay their _____ after they have attended to their business; not a ______ outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining rooms; workers always give the exact hours they have ______．．．As the Finns always act on good faith and always have a (an) ______ of “right is right” and “wrong is wrong” in every thing they do, so to live in such a society has turned everyone into a real “gentleman”.
What we regarded as “foolish” is ______ the Finnish people’s way of life．
1.A. somewhere B. anywhere C. sometime D. anytime
2.A. stop B. pass C. drop D. pick
3.A. attend to B. take care C. take up D. appeal to
4.A. guarantee B. anxiety C. passenger D. money
5.A. smile B. place C. seat D. faith
6.A. meals B. visitors C. guests D. cards
7.A. waiters B. diners C. drivers D. workers
8.A. naturally B. respectively C. secretly D. contently
9.A. best B. worst C. most D. least
10.A. strict B. complete C. troublesome D. loose
11.A. registration B. care C. charge D. noise
12.A. paid for B. debated with C. talked about D. agreed with
13.A. accordingly B. reluctantly C. separately D. automatically
14.A. hesitate B. hate C. love D. refuse
15.A. strange B. confusing C. complex D. imaginative
16.A. business B. trip C. fine D. fare
17.A. single B. faithful C. familiar D. usual
18.A. worked on B. put in C. spent on D. run out
19.A. religion B. law C. idiom D. attitude
20.A. eventually B. accidentally C. actually D. temporarily
