National Potato Day was back on Friday 23rd August 2013. Along with BordBia (Irish Food Board) and many other potato growers in Ireland, Keogh’s Farm brought you a day that was all about potatoes and showing love for our national vegetable.
Keogh’s invited the public to Spud Fest, which took place on Dublin’s South King Street from 12 pm to 4 pm. This festival brought the farm to the city with potato performers, face painters, balloon modeling, music, tastings and plenty of other festival fun to celebrate the most delicious day of the year. There were lots of potatoes, of course.
Keogh’s along with the support of BordBia called on everyone to enjoy at least one potato on National Potato Day. Potatoes are naturally low in fat, a great source of vitamins and minerals and are a great way to support local Irish homegrown produce and businesses.
Tom Keogh, General Manager of Keogh’s Farm said, “We can’t believe we were getting ready for our third year of National Potato Day. When we dreamt the idea up in 2011, we had no idea it would attract so many people. Since the first National Potato Day we have received nothing but interest in potatoes at home and all over the world.
“Ireland is now recognized as one of the finest producers of top quality vegetables, with the potato leading the field. We are happy that BordBia have joined us this year to bring all our fellow potato producers together and join forces to promote (提升) the enjoyment of the potato. We are hoping National Potato Day is a day to encourage everyone to love potatoes!”
1.According to the text, Spud Fest _____.
A. was open to everyone
B. lasted about five hours
C. sold different vegetables
D. was held in the countryside
2.What did Tom Keogh think of the first National Potato Day?
A. It was world-famous.
B. It was rather terrible.
C. It was very worthless.
D. It was quite successful.
3.The text is mainly to introduce _____.
A. a popular vegetable
B. a well-known capital
C. an interesting festival
D. a famous potato grower
Reporter: Why did you start this new website for Alcott Middle School?
Sarah: Three months ago, my mom was complaining about how she never hears about the days our school ends early until after the fact. She works late and sometimes she has to ask our neighbor at the last minute to pick me up after school. It happened several times, and she was frustrated that there wasn’t better notification (通知) from the school.
Reporter: Didn’t your school already have a website with that information?
Sarah: We had a website. But there wasn’t much information on it, and nobody was in charge of keeping it up to date (包含最新信息的). I asked my teacher if our class could update the school calendar. That seemed pretty easy.
Reporter: Was it?
Sarah: Yeah, and it was kind of fun. So then we asked the principal (校长) if we could redo the whole site. He said okay, so we went to work. We discovered websites that taught us how to make our site look better and added more hot links that people could click to get more information about a subject. We posted photos from basketball games. Our class even started a blog about what’s going on at school. Then we persuaded the teachers to create their own pages.
Reporter: So what’s next?
Sarah: A few friends and I started a small Web design business. We’re asking other schools if they’ll employ (雇用) us to set up a site like the one we created.
Reporter: Wow! That’s pretty enterprising (有事业心的) for a 13-year-old.
Sarah: I guess so. But it doesn’t seem like work when you’re doing something you enjoy.
1.How did Sarah’s mom feel about her school three months ago?
A. Hopeful. B. Thankful.
C. Dissatisfied. D. Uninterested.
2.The underlined part “in charge of” is closest in meaning to _____.
A. in keeping with B. in touch with
C. in need of D. in control of
3.Sarah set up the new school website _____.
A. with the help of her teachers
B. by researching on other websites
C. in order to please her principal
D. to make her school more famous
4.What can we learn about Sarah?
A. She doesn’t like working at all.
B. She dreams of being a boss.
C. She enjoys what she does now.
D. She wants to make lots of money.
Pete Sparks was a sensitive (敏感的) boy. So sensitive that even his hair was ticklish (怕痒的). You only had to touch his hair a little bit and he would start laughing. When this ticklish laughter started, no one could make him stop.
Pete tried everything to control his ticklishness, but nothing worked. So he began to feel sad for being different.
One day in the street, he met a special clown. The clown was very old and could hardly walk, but when he saw Pete in tears, he went to cheer him up. It didn’t take long to make Pete laugh. Later Pete told him about his ticklish problem, and he asked the clown how such an old man could carry on being a clown.
“I have no one to take my place,” said the clown. “I have a very serious job to do.” Pete looked at him, surprised. “Come, I’ll show you,” said the clown. So the clown took Pete to many hospitals full of children who were sick. As soon as they saw the clown, their faces changed completely and lit up with a smile. Their short while spent with the clown changed everything for them. That day was even more special, because in every show Pete’s laughter would end up with the kids lying on the floor, dying with laughter. When the visit came to an end, the old clown said to Pete, “Now do you see why I can’t retire (退休), even at my age?”
That was how Pete became a clown, and took the special old man’s place. From that day on, the fact that Pete was different actually made him happy, thanks to his special gift (天赋).
1.Pete wanted to change because he wanted to _____.
A. make a difference
B. just be a normal boy
C. make everyone happy
D. just be a special clown
2.The clown took Pete to the hospitals in order to _____.
A. treat his ticklishness
B. encourage him to be a clown
C. show him the meaning of his job
D. know whether Pete had told a lie
3.What does the story teach us?
A. Practice makes perfect.
B. Everyone is born useful.
C. Well begun is half done.
D. Where there is life, there is hope.
假定你是李华，你的美国笔友Tom下个月要来中国参观你所在的城市。现来信询问你所在城市的天气、食物、交通等信息。请你回信告知情况。
注意：
1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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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短文。短文中共有10处错误，每句中最多有两处。错误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（∧），并在此符号下面写出该加的词。
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。
Today my daughter and I went to sell eggs at a parking lot.It is a really cold day.I didn't even want to go outside. As we pulled into parking lot,we saw a man sat on the side of the road.He was holding a paper plate which said "I need help!".
He was still sitting there as we left for the parking lot,and I asked my daughter "Should they get him some food and some money?"and she said "OK.".So I pulled up next to him,got out of the car,but gave him all my egg money.I still had another dozen egg in the car,and asked if he wanted them,but he said no.I felt freezing just standing there talking with him for a minute,and he must have been sitting there since hours.
I'm glad we stopped,got out of the car and talked with him for a minute.I hope he will have a warm and comfort place to sleep tonight.
I had an opportunity to help out a young girl,who had been admitted1.a hospital for the2.(treat) of cancer disease.She was only a teenager and suffering from cancer in her hip.Her parents were daily wage laborers and lived in3.small village in India.They didn't have4.knowledge about this disease and they felt5.(help).When I heard about this,I visited the hospital,meeting with them and6.(talk) with the doctors for all the7.(possibility) to save the girl.The doctors said that there was a risk of death but that they8.(try) their best to save her life.
I donated some money to her parents and also arranged for9.(she) to receive a unit of blood,10.she badly needed.I hope that she will defeat the cancer and win back her life.
May god bless her,and may she live a long life and have prosperity.
