I was in a terrible mood. Two of my friends had gone to the movies the night before and hadn’t invited me. I was in my room thinking of ways to make them sorry when my father came in. “Want to go for a ride, today, Beck? It’s a beautiful day.”
“No! Leave me alone!” Those were the last words I said to him that morning.
My friends called and invited me to go to the mall with them a few hours later. I forgot to be mad at them and when I came home to find a note on the table. My mother put it where I would be sure to see it. “Dad has had an accident. Please meet us at Highland Park Hospital”.
When I reached the hospital, my mother came out and told me my father’s injuries were extensive. “Your father told the driver to leave him alone and just call 911, thank God! If he had moved Daddy, there’s no telling what might have happened. A broken rib(肋骨)might have pierced(穿透)a lung...”
My mother may have said more, but I didn’t hear. I didn’t hear anything except those terrible words: Leave me alone. My dad said them to save himself from being hurt more. How much had I hurt him when I hurled those words at him earlier in the day?
It was several days later that he was finally able to have a conversation. I held his hand gently, afraid of hurting him.
“Daddy… I am so sorry…”
“It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ll be okay. ”
“No,” I said, “I mean about what I said to you that day. You know, that morning?”
My father could no more tell a lie than he could fly. He looked at me and said. “Sweetheart, I don’t remember anything about that day, not before, during or after the accident. But I remember kissing you goodnight the night before. ”He managed a weak smile.
My English teacher once told me that words have immeasurable power. They can hurt or they can heal. And we all have the power to choose our words. I intend to do that very carefully from now on.
1.The author was in bad mood that morning because _______.
A. he couldn’t drive to the mall with his friends.
B. his father had a terrible accident
C. his father didn’t allow him to go out with his friends
D. his friends hadn’t invited him to the cinema
2.Why did the author say sorry to his father in the hospital?
A. Because he was rude to his father that morning.
B. Because he didn’t get along with his father.
C. Because he failed to come earlier after the accident.
D. Because he couldn’t look after his father in the hospital.
3.The reason why the author’s father said he forgot everything about that day is that _____
A. he had a poor memory
B. he didn’t hear what his son said
C. he lost his memory after the accident
D. he just wanted to comfort his son
4.What lesson did Beck learn from the matter?
A. Don’t hurt others with rude words.
B. Don’t treat your parents badly.
C. Don’t move the injured in an accident.
D. Don’t be angry with friends at small things.
Guided Writing
Directions: Write an English composition in 120–150 words according to the instructions given below in Chinese.
假设你是中华中学学生姚平,最近参加了一项研究性学习调研,课题为“父母是否以子女为荣”。通过调研你校学生及其父母,结果发现双方对此问题的看法有差异(数据如图所示)。根据图表写一份报告,在报告中,你必须:
1. 描述调研数据;
2. 分析可能导致这一结果的原因。
Translation
Directions: Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets.
1.我真希望自己的文章有朝一日能见报。(hope)
2.二十世纪末中国经济迅速发展。(witness)
3.为买一双运动鞋而通宵排队有意义吗?(point)
4.虽然当时我年幼,不理解这部电影的含义,但我记得我的家人都感动得落泪了。(too…to…)
5.我阿姨苦读四年之后获得了文凭,那一刻她欣喜万分。(The moment…)
Section C
Directions: Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible words.
Walking will be banned on escalators as part of a trail designed to reduce congestion(拥堵) at some of the country’s busiest stations.
In the first move of its kind, all travelers will be forced to stand on both sides of escalators on the London Underground as part of a plan to increase capacity(容量) at the height of the rush hour.
A six-month trial will be introduced at Holborn station from mid-April, eliminating the rule of standing on the right and walking on the left. The move, imitating a similar structure in Far eastern cities such as Hong Kong, is designed to increase the number of people using long escalators at the busiest times . it could be expanded across the Tube network in coming years.
According to London Underground, only 40 percent of travelers walk the full length of long escalators, leaving the majority at the bottom as they wait to get on to the “standing “side.
A three-week trial at Holborn last year found that the number of people using escalators at any time of could be raised by almost a third. Peter McNaught, operations director at London Underground, said: “It may not seem right that you can go quicker by standing still, but our experiments at Holborn have proved that it can be true. This new six-month trial will help us find out if we can influence customers to stand on both sides in the long term.”
Holborn has one of the longest sets of escalators on the Underground network at 23.4 high. Tube bosses claim that capacity was limited because so few people wanted to walk up—meaning only one side was used at all times. Research has shown that it is more effective use of escalators over 18.5 to ban walking.
The previous trial found that escalators at the station normally carried 2,500 people between 8:30am and 9:30am on a typical day, rising to 3,250 during the researching period.
In the new trial, which will be launched from April 18, one of three “up” escalators will be standing only, with a second banning walking at peak times. A third will remain a mix of walking and standing.
(Note: Answering the questions the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN TEN WORDS.)
1.What is the existing problem with standing on the right and walking on the left?
2.What did last year’s three-week trial at Holborn station prove?
3.The research suggests that walking should be forbidden on escalators that are at least _________ in height.
4.In the new trail, in addition to one escalator banning walking in rush hours, the other “up” escalators will be used for_________________.
(C)
Enough “meaningless drivel”. That’s the message from a group of members of the UK government who have been examining how social media firms like LinkedIn gather and use social media data.
The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee’s report, released last week, has blamed firms for making people sign up to long incomprehensible legal contracts and calls for an international standard or kitemark (认证标记) to identify sites that have clear terms and conditions.
“The term and conditions statement that we all carelessly agree to is meaningless drivel to anyone,” says Andrew Miller, the chair of the committee. Instead, he says, firms should provide a plain-English version of their terms. The simplified version would be checked by a third party and awarded a kitemark if it is an accurate reflection of the original.
It is not yet clear who would administer the scheme, but the UK government is looking at introducing it on a voluntary basis. “we need to think through how we make that work in practice,” says Miller.
Would we pay any more attention to a kitemark? “I think if you went and did the survey, people would like to think they would,” says Nigel Shadbolt at the University of Southampton, UK, who studies open data. “We do know people worry a lot about the inappropriate use of their information.” But what would happen in practice is another matter, he says.
Other organisations such as banks ask customers to sign long contracts they may not read or understand, but Miller believes social media requires special attention because it is so new. “We still don’t know how significant the long-term impact is going to be of unwise things that kids put on social media that come back and bite them in 20 years’ time,” he says.
Shadbolt, who gave evidence to the committee, says the problem is that we don’t know how companies will use our data because their business models and uses of data are still evolving. Large collections of personal information have become valuable only recently, he says.
The shock and anger when a social media firm does something with data that people don’t expect, even if users have apparently permission, show that the current situation isn’t working. If properly administered, a kitemark on terms and conditions could help people know what exactly they are signing up to. Although they would still have to actually read them.
1. What does the phrase “ meaningless drivel” in paragraphs 1 and 3 refer to?
A. Legal contracts that social media firms make people sign up to.
B. Warnings from the UK government against unsafe websites.
C. Guidelines on how to use social media websites properly.
D. Insignificant data collected by social media firms.
2.It can be inferred from the passage that Nigel Shadbolt doubts whether _______.
A. social media firms would conduct a survey on the kitemark scheme
B. people would pay as much attention to a kitemark as they think
C. a kitemark scheme would be workable on a nationwide scale
D. the kitemark would help companies develop their business models
3. Andrew Miller thinks social media needs more attention than banks mainly because _______.
A. their users consist largely of kids under 20 years old
B. the language in their contracts is usually harder to understand
C. the information they collected could become more valuable in future
D. it remains unknown how users’ data will be taken advantage of
4.The writer advises users of social media to _______.
A. think carefully before posting anything onto such websites
B. read the terms and conditions even if there is a kitemark
C. take no further action if they can find a kitemark
D. avoid providing too much personal information
5. Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
A. Say no to social media?
B. New security rules in operation?
C. Accept without reading?
D. Administration matters!
(B)
Is there link between humans and climate change or not? This question was first studied in the early 1900s. Since then, many scientists have thought that our actions do make a difference. In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol explained our role in the Earth’s changing atmosphere and set international limits for gas emissions(排放) from 2008 to 2012. Some countries have decided to continue these reductions until 2020. More recently, the Paris Agreement, stuck by nearly 200 countries, also aims to limit global warming. But just now how much warmer it will get depends on how deeply countries cut carbon emissions.
1. It can be concluded from paragraph 1 that _______.
A. the problem of global warming will have been quite solved by 2020
B. gas emissions have been effectively reduced in developed countries
C. the Paris Agreements is more influential than the Kyoto Protocol
D. humans have made continuous efforts to slow down global warming
2. If nations could only keep the initial promises of the Paris Agreement, what would happen by the year 2100?
A. The human population would increase by one third.
B. Little over 50% of all species would still exist.
C. Nations would not need to tighten their emissions targets.
D. The Agreement’s minimum goal would not be reached.
3. If those island nations not far above sea level are to survive, the maximum temperature rise, since the start of the industrial age, should be_______.
A. 0.8℃ B. 1.5℃
C. 2℃ D. 3.5℃