My husband Bill's Grandma was in a nursing home when we moved back to Michigan. Grandma had been unable to walk for quite some time; now her eyesight was almost gone.
Over the years Grandma and I had ______ many cards and letters. I knew how she enjoyed ______ in touch with people. Grandma would have me write letters to go in the cards she would send. And she would always have me ______ what I had written back to her. Grandma didn't have a problem with hearing then ______ she was always telling me, “That is not ______ how I said that!” I would then rewrite whatever I wrote in her exact words.
Since I had some ______ time before Christmas, I asked Grandma if she would like to send ______ some Christmas cards. Grandma readily ______. I rounded up several different kinds of cards. I knew she had friends and family who all had different ______. I would take each card and ______ in detail the front of the card, then I would read the words inside.After ______ it over Grandma would tell me who she thought would like ______ card.
After a while I ______ and I noticed that we had several nursing home ______ standing in the doorway. I started to notice as I read each card, the ______ on their faces and Grandma's face, too. Each one had a ______ smile and a faraway look in their eyes, as they were seeing the scenes in their minds' eye.
I thought when I went over to do the Christmas ______ I would be doing Grandma a favor, but it ______ that she did me a big favor. I'll always ______ this special memory of bringing some Christmas joy and pleasant ______ to Grandma and her fellow residents（居民）.
1.A. exchanged B. changed C. traded D. switched
2.A. settling B. losing C. keeping D. getting
3.A. write B. discover C. translate D. read
4.A. when B. because C. while D. though
5.A. carefully B. truthfully C. specially D. exactly
6.A. free B. flying C. essential D. valuable
7.A. for B. up C. out D. away
8.A. acknowledged B. agreed C. admitted D. rejected
9.A. addresses B. advantages C. occupations D. interests
10.A. describe B. join C. look D. ignore
11.A. talking B. turning C. taking D. thinking
12.A. another B. each C. one D. other
13.A. looked down B. looked over C. looked up D. looked through
14.A. graduates B. visitors C. patients D. residents
15.A. attention B. look C. glance D. sight
16.A. gentle B. loose C. upset D. devoted
17.A. trees B. jobs C. decorations D. cards
18.A. turned to B. turned out C. came over D. left out
19.A. treasure B. admire C. encourage D. recognize
20.A. stories B. faces C. memories D. letters
How to be safe when you are travelling on your own
Be sure to arrive during daytime 1. People looking to prey (欺骗)on tourists can do it with ease at night. Make sure your arrival time will get you where you are going during daylight hours..
2.
Make sure to keep your money in a money belt, keep your credit cards in another place, and your passport in another.
Look for people to group up with Have you met friendly people at the bar? See if they want to join you when you go out for dinner. See if there’s a tour group you can join up with.3.
4.
It can be a struggle to carry a lot of bags around on your own. If criminals see you struggling, they may use the opportunity to grab one of your suitcases. Before you leave, be sure you can carry your luggage quickly and smoothly. If you can’t, it’s time to cut down your bags.
Trust your instincts(直觉)
5. If you have a bad feeling about something, it’s probably for a reason and it’s best to go with your instincts. Even if your concerns are nothing, it can’t hurt to listen to them.
A.Store important things separately.
B.Travel with as little luggage as possible.
C.Never get close to possible dangers wherever you are.
D.Surrounding yourself with others will help keep you protected.
E.Ensure that your family and friends know exactly where you are anytime.
F.This is when bus stations, airports, and hotels will be at their most active.
G.If something makes you suspicious or nervous, it’s better to be careful and avoid it.
A bicycle may be seen by most people as just another vehicle (交通工具), but for many Londoners, cycling is a way of life. According to an official UK government survey in 2017, about 570,000 bike journeys are made every day in London. In fact, almost half of the vehicles that pass over London Bridge each day are bikes.
London introduced a public bike-sharing system in 2010. “There can be no doubt that our trusty bicycles have changed the way people get around our great city,” Johnson told the Guardian in 2015.
In London, bikes are used for more than just taking short trips to and from the subway. No matter where you want to go in the city, taking a bike is usually the quickest and easiest choice.
And it’s not just shared bikes that the government is encouraging people to ride. In many companies across the UK, the UK government’s Cycle to Work scheme (骑行倡议) allows employees to buy a brand new bike without having to pay any tax (税). This means that it’s common to see many people cycling to and from work, and some employers even provide workplace showers and lockers (储物柜) for their workers. More importantly, a cycle-friendly boss may let you off for being late if you rode a bike to work.
Not only is it great for the environment and our body, cycling is also good for the mind. According to National Geographic Magazine, “Bike riding can improve people’s happiness.”
1.How does the author show the popularity of cycling in London?
A. By using numbers. B. By giving examples.
C. By making comparisons. D. By using famous sayings.
2.What’s Johnson’s attitude toward the bike-sharing system in London?
A. Disappointed. B. Concerned.
C. Supportive D. Uninterested.
3.What can employees get from the government under the “Cycle to Work” scheme?
A. Free bike-sharing services. B. Workplace showers and lockers.
C. Shorter working hours. D. A tax-free bike.
4.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
A. Cycling as a healthy way of life.
B. How cycling has become popular in London.
C. Why Londoners are encouraged to ride bikes.
D. London’s public bike-sharing system.
Archerfish(射水鱼), a species famous for spitting (吐) water to shoot insects out of the air, can recognize one human face from another.
In the laboratory, instead of shooting insects, the fish were taught to spit at pictures of human faces showed on a computer screen outside their aquarium. The fish were first introduced to two faces, and taught to spit at one of them in exchange for a food reward. The researchers then tested whether the fish would recognize and spit at the face they had learned from among 44 new ones. And they were right more than 80% of the time.
To the researchers’ surprise, even when they did that with faces that were in black and white, the fish were still able to find the face they were trained to recognize.
Telling one human face from another is a surprisingly difficult task. As we all have two eyes above a nose and a mouth, doing so depends on recognizing some extremely small differences.
“It has been supposed that this task is so difficult that it can only be completed by higher animals, which have a large and complex brain,” said Newport, whose study was published in the journal Scientific Reports. “But the archerfish were able to do this without having a neocortex, the most recently developed part of the brain. In humans, the neocortex governs our sense and language.”
“Fish have a simpler brain than humans and they don’t have the section of the brain that humans use for recognizing faces,” Newport said. “Even though, many fish show amazing visual (视力的) behaviors and therefore make the perfect subjects to test whether simple brains can complete complex tasks.”
1.What were the archerfish asked to do in the laboratory?
A. Pick out the face they knew.
B. Shoot the computers from a far distance.
C. Count the number of faces on the screen.
D. Pick out black and white pictures from colorful ones.
2.What can we learn about the archerfish?
A. They have a complex brain. B. Their neocortex is very large.
C. They belong to higher animals. D. They have excellent eyesight.
3.What is the purpose of the text?
A. To encourage people to protect fish.
B. To introduce a kind of fish with special ability.
C. To introduce the result of a study on archerfish.
D. To show that animals with simpler brains are smarter.
Students in a college French class have helped fill the empty bookshelves of a very poor Haitian(海地的) school by writing 90 books. Although many children in Haiti speak Creole(克里奥尔语) at home, French is taught in classrooms and used by the government , and students are asked to know the language in order to get further education. Therefore, the class hoped to provide resources to help the young students learn French well.
The project, called Little French Books, was headed up by Jennifer Shotwell, a French professor at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. Shotwell had visited Haiti with a group of students in 2013 to support a Haitian student and give books to a new library. Following the trip, Shotwell brought the experience back to her classroom.
“My students have a chance to use the French language in a special way by writing children’s books,” Shotwell said. “Though some learners don’t think they can produce much with a new language, my students are learning to express themselves and create entertaining stories that we finally share with disadvantaged children who are also learning French.”
Shotwell had sent French books to Haitian schools, but they were printed on cheap paper that could be easily broken. So she started a Kickstarter, which collected more than $1,000 to make books with durable covers.
The books, which included stories about princesses, dinosaurs and exciting experiences, were given to the St.Gabriel’s school in Lascahobas.
“Each time a child gets into a new book, he will no doubt get new knowledge and new understanding. The Little French Books means a lot to our students, said Gardy Myrtil, a teacher at the school.
1.Why do the college students create books for children in Haiti?
A. To help the children learn French.
B. To follow the government’s requirements.
C. To stop the children from speaking Creole.
D. To make the library open with enough books.
2.What can we learn about the Little French Books?
A. It was started in 2003 by a student.
B. It is in charge of Jennifer Shotwell.
C. It helps set up many new libraries in Haiti.
D. It provides textbooks as well as story books .
3.Which of the following can replace the underlined word “durable” in Paragraph 4 ?
A. strong B. colorful
C. beautiful D. thin
4.What does Gardy Myrtil want to say in the last paragraph?
A. More libraries should be open for kids.
B. She is thankful to the project for its effort.
C. kids should read more books in their free time.
D. The more books kids read, the clever they’ll be.
WHERE TO STAY
With its modern art museums, hidden basement bars and fast-developing food scene, Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital, is one of the most attractive cities in Latin America. Contact us, and we offer you some special hotels.
Querido
This is a cheerful seven-room townhouse in Villa Crespo. Its rooms are big, and each is specially designed. A hearty breakfast is served in the dining room. Querido’s convenient location means Palermo Soho is a short walk away.
Doubles from ￡73, querido.com
Home Hotel
Design and comfort are key at this 20-room hotel in Palermo Hollywood. From Florence Knoll furniture to William Morris wallpaper, every detail has been hand-picked by the British-argentinian owners. There’s an outdoor swimming pool and a garden with green trees. Weekend brunch（早午餐）is a welcome choice for tourists.
Doubles from ￡90, homehotel.com
Tango Hotel
A big makeover（翻新）changed this former sewing machine factory in Monserrat into a 59-room hotel. Despite the busy location, the environment is good.
Doubles from ＄75, tangohotel.com
La Querencia
Close to Constitucion, this comfortable four-room hotel in San Telmo is run by a Frenchman, Yann. Decoration is simple but the place is spotless. Guests can make use of the kitchen where Yann prepares breakfast and enjoy their meals in the dining room or in the yard.
Doubles from ＄55, laquerencia.com
1.What do we know about Buenos Aires from the first paragraph?
A. Its basements are very famous. B. It has many old-style museums.
C. It’s famous for its traditional food. D. It’s an important city in Latin America.
2.Which hotel should you choose if you would like to swim during your stay?
A. Querido.
B. Home Hotel.
C. Tango Hotel.
D. La Querencia.
3.What do Querido and Home Hotel have in common?
A. Special design.
B. Beautiful gardens.
C. Wonderful brunch.
D. Convenient locations.
4.Which hotel has the most rooms?
A. Home Hotel.
B. La Querencia.
C. Tango Hotel.
D. Querido.
