“Selfie” (自拍) joins ranks of dictionary words.
In 2002, an Australian man went to his friend’s 21st birthday party. He got drunk, tripped on some steps and cut his lip. He took a picture of his injuries and shared it with his friends on an online forum. “And sorry about the focus,” he wrote, “it was a selfie.” That was the first recorded use of the word “selfie”, according to linguistic experts at Oxford Dictionaries.
On Nov 19, Oxford Dictionaries declared “selfie” Word of the Year for 2013, in honor of the term having taken over the world thanks to millions of smart phone self-portraits and the resulting shares on social media.
So what does the choice of the word say about our culture? Mary Elizabeth Williams, writing in Salon magazine, says the word reminds us that contemporary culture is defined by our narcissism(自恋).Megan Jackson from a local newspaper points out a selfie may only focus on appearance.
Selfies invite judgment based on appearance alone. What kind of cultural influence does this have on women? Erin Gloria Ryan on Jezebel says selfies teach young woman to obsess over their appearance and judge themselves on the basis of beauty rather than accomplishments. “They’re a reflection of the warped way we teach girls to see themselves as decorative,” said Ryan.
In Slate magazine, Rachel Simmons has the opposite view. She argues that selfies are an example of young women promoting themselves and taking control of their own self-presentation. Think of each one, she says, as “a tiny pulse of girl pride —a shout-out to the self”.
1.Which of the following is true about the first use of “selfie”?
A. The Australian man created it to celebrate his friend’s 21st birthday.
B. The Australian man created by chance when he got drunk and shared his photo online.
C. The Oxford Dictionary used it to thank the creation of smart phone.
D. The social media were so advanced that they made the word transmitted.
2.The underlined word “tripped” in the first paragraph probably means “________”.
A. traveled B. stepped lightly
C. fell down D. made mistakes
3.Who holds a positive opinion towards selfie in the life of women?
A. Mary Elizabeth. B. Megan Jackson.
C. Erin Gloria Ryan. D. Rachel Simmons.
4.The text is mainly concerned with ________.
A. the introduction of the word “selfie”
B. the choice of the word “selfie”
C. the history of the word “selfie”
D. the characteristics of the word “selfie”
Tayka Hotel De Sal
Where: Tahua, Bolivia
How much: About $95 a night
Why it’s cool: You’ve stayed at hotels made of brick or wood, but salt? That’s something few can claim. Tayka Hotel de Sal is made totally of salt—including the beds (though you’ll sleep on regular mattresses (床垫) and blankets).The hotel sits on the Salar de Uyuni, a prehistoric dried-up lake that’s the world’s biggest salt flat. Builders use the salt from the 4,633-square-mile flat to make the bricks, and glue them together with a paste of wet salt that hardens when it dries. When rain starts to dissolve the hotel, the owners just mix up more salt paste to strengthen the bricks.
Green Magic Nature Resort
Where: Vythiri, India
How much: About $240 a night
Why it’s cool: Ridding a pulley(滑轮)-operated lift 86 feet to your treetop room is just the start of your adventure. As you look out of your open window—there is no glass!—you watch monkeys and birds in the rain forest canopy. Later you might test your fear of heights by crossing the handmade rope bridge to the main part of the hotel, or just sit on your bamboo bed and read. You don’t even have to come down for breakfast—the hotel will send it up on the pulley-drawn “elevator”.
Dog Bark Park Inn B&B
Where: Cottonwood, Idaho
How much: $92 a night
Why it’s cool: This doghouse isn’t just for the family pet. Sweet Willy is a 30-foot-tall dog with guest rooms in his belly. Climb the wooden stairs beside his hind leg to enter the door in his side. You can relax in the main bedroom, go up a few steps of the loft in Willy’s head, or hang out inside his nose. Although you have a full private bathroom in your quarters, there is also a toilet in the 12-foot-tall fire hydrant outside.
Gamirasu Cave Hotel
Where: Ayvali, Turkey
How much: Between $130 and $475 a night.
Why it’s cool: This is caveman cool! Experience what it was like 5,000 years ago, when people lived in these mountain caves formed by volcanic ash. But your stay will be much more modern. Bathrooms and electricity provide what you expect from a modern hotel, and the white volcanic ash, called tufa, keeps the rooms cool, about 65℉in summer.(Don’t worry—there is heat in winter.)
1.What is the similarity of the four hotels?
A. Being expensive. B. Being beautiful.
C. Being natural. D. Being unique.
2.What does the underlined part “Sweet Willy” refer to?
A. The building of Dog Bark Park Inn B&B.
B. The name of a pet dog of the hotel owner.
C. The name of the hotel.
D. The name of the hotel owner.
3.Which of the hotel makes you have a feeling of living in the far past?
A. Tayka Hotel De Sal
B. Green Magic Nature Resort
C. Dog Bark Park Inn B&B
D. Gamirasu Cave Hotel
Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to the patients at the clinic.
One evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful-looking man. He’s hardly taller than my eight-year-old son. “Good evening. I’ve come to see if you’ve a room. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there’s no bus till morning.” He told me he’d been hunting for a room since noon but with no success. “I guess it’s my face…I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments…” For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me: “I could sleep in this chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning.”
I told him we would find him a bed. When I had finished the dishes, I talked with him. He told me he fished for a living to support his five children, and his wife, who was hopelessly crippled (残疾的) from a back injury. He didn’t tell it by way of complaint. Next morning, just before he left, as if asking a great favor, he said, “Could I come back and stay the next time?” He added, “Your children made me feel at home.”
On his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish and the largest oysters (牡蛎) I had ever seen. I knew his bus left at 4:00 a.m. and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us.
In the years he came to stay overnight with us and there was never a time that he did not bring us vegetables from his garden. I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned how to accept the bad without complaint when facing the misfortune.
1.Why did the author agree to let the man spend the night in his house at last?
A. Because the man said others refused to accommodate him.
B. Because the man said he would not cause much inconvenience.
C. Because the man said he had come from the eastern shore.
D. Because the man said he had been hunting for a room since noon.
2.How long would it take the man to travel from his home to Baltimore by bus?
A. About 1 hour. B. About 2 hours.
C. About 3 hours. D. About 4 hours.
3.From the text we can know that __________.
A. the author’s children were kind and friendly to the man
B. the man was fed up with his hard-work and his family
C. John Hopkins Hospital provided rooms for the patients to live in
D. the author and his family were thought highly of by his neighbors
4.The author’s family were grateful to know the man because __________.
A. he often brought them fish and vegetables from his garden
B. he paid them money for his staying
C. he taught them how to accept the bad without complaint
D. he stayed only overnight with the writer’s family
书面表达
假定你是星光中学的高二学生李华，你校高一新生举办主题为“What to learn in senior high school?”的英语沙龙活动，特邀请你结合自身经历谈谈自己的体会。请根据以下提示准备一份英语发言稿。
1.学会学习：方法，习惯等；
2.学会做人：真诚，友善；
3.学会其他：考生自拟。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.发言稿开头和结尾已给出，不计入总次数。
Good morning, everyone! It is my honor to be here to share with you my opinions on what to learn in senior high school.
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
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。
I think it is a great idea to keep a diary. A diary is a place that you can write about what is happening on you in your life. Keep a diary is a wonderful way to keep track of life and holding onto memories. It is also better for recording progress towards goals. There are many kinds of diaries, including person diaries, study diaries, and holiday diaries, etc. Of course, you can use a single diary for both of these things. A notebook-based diary is handy because you can take it nowhere. And children often encouraged to start writing if given a lovely notebook to use. Apart from keeping a notebook diary, and many people use computers or create diaries online.
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（一个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式
Bill：I heard that the tea culture of China is 1. (amaze). Could you tell me something about it.
Ann: Of course. Tea drinking in China is very complicated（复杂）. It starts with the environment. In the past, tea drinking took place in a setting(背景) 2._________“spring water ran on marbles” or “ in the woods during sunset.” . 3.______ present, in order to recreate such an atmosphere, teahouses 4.__________ (decorate) with traditional paintings and furniture. Besides, there is always a 5.________(perform) of a traditional Chinese musical instrument, such as the guzheng.
Bill：How about the water?
Ann: In the old days, the water that came from melted snow was regarded as the best. Today no one collects snow any longer because of pollution and 6._____ people use is bottled water.
Bill：Is there any difference in the tea?
Ann: Generally 7.______ (speak), there are four kinds of tea: red tea, green tea, Oolong tea and Pu’er tea. The first three types of tea are processed using similar methods but Pu’er tea uses a 8.______ (total) different method.
Bill：Is tea drinking in a teahouse very expensive?
Ann: Yes. As 9.____ matter of fact, it is a commercialized hobby now. Many people nowadays go to expensively-decorated teahouses 10._____(talk) business.
