Do you know some surprising innovations (创新) came from World War I? Here are some introductions to you.
1. Daylight Saving Time The idea of fiddling with (拨弄) the clock has been around since ancient times, but it was not until World War I that governments around the globe officially adopted daylight saving time. Why? To save resources such as fuel and extend the workday for the war effort. 1., and the Allies followed shortly after. To clear up confusion about the concept, the Washington Times used a comic strip to explain the first “spring forward” in the United States in 1918.
2. Blood Banks 2., but doctors rarely performed them before World War I, when they were accomplished by transfusing blood directly from one person to another. Captain Oswald Robertson, a U.S. Army Reserve doctor consulting with the British army, recognized the need to stock blood before casualties (伤亡) occurred. .
3. Hollywood With so much of Europe in the line of fire, the European film industry had to scale back (相应缩减) dramatically. 3.. Hollywood was still in its early stage, but its studios soon made fortunes producing wartime movies. The war itself provided material for countless movies in the 1920s and ’30s, including Wings, the winner of the first Academy Award for Best Picture.
4. Plastic Surgery 4.. British army surgeon Harold Gillies and his colleagues performed more than 11,000 operations, mostly on soldiers suffering from facial wounds from gunshots. 5..
There were other innovations made during World War I, such as wristwatches, modern passports, zippers, drones, etc.
A. The Germans did it first, in 1916
B. That opened the door for the Americans
C. Blood transfusions (输血) date back to the 1600s
D. Gillies’ operation became successful immediately
E. World War I left thousands of men scarred and maimed (伤残的)
F. Gillies became known as the father of modern plastic surgery
G.. After World War I the blood banks appeared in the United States.
Scientists have recreated a 1985 study of birds in Peru that shows climate change is pushing them from their natural environment. Thirty years ago, researchers studied over 400 kinds of birds living on a mountainside in Peru. In 2017, researchers looked again at the bird populations. They found that almost all had moved to higher places in the mountain. Almost all had decreased in size. And, the scientists say at least eight bird groups that started at the higher elevations (高地) had died out completely.
The researchers say the birds might have moved up the mountain because of temperature changes. Or changes to food sources may have forced them to go higher. The findings were published in a science journal. The 1985 research has documented birds and other animals moving up in elevation (高地) in reaction to warming temperatures. Mark Urban, a biologist at a university, said this recent study was the first to prove that rising temperatures and moving to avoid them can lead to extinction.
In 2016, Fitzpatrick, director and a co-writer of the study passed his notes, photos and other records to Benjamin Freeman. Freeman has been researching tropical birds for more than 10 years. He set out in August and September of 2017 to copy Fitzpatrick’s study. His team used the same methods, searching the same places in the same time of year.
Freeman’s team wanted to see how things had changed for the bird groups since 1985. The average temperatures on the mountain had risen 0.42 degrees Celsius. His team placed 20 sound recording devices on the mountain to record the sounds of birds that might not easily be seen.
Freeman said that the birds moved an average of 98 meters further up the mountain. He believes that temperature is the main cause of the birds’ movement. Fitzpatrick noted that birds used to living in areas with little temperature change may be especially at risk because of climate change. He said, “We should expect that what’s happening on this mountain top is happening more generally in the Andes, and other tropical mountain ranges.”
1.How many kinds of birds lived in Peru 30 years ago?
A. At least eight bird groups. B. More than 400.
C. Over eight bird groups. D. Less than 400.
2.Why did the birds move up the mountain?
A. To avoid temperature changes.
B. To find more food sources.
C. To adapt to extreme temperature.
D. To react to the increase of other kinds of animals.
3.How did Freeman and his team record the sound of birds not easily being seen?
A. They had the temperature rise 0.42 degrees Celsius.
B. They moved an average of 98 meters further up the mountain.
C. They placed 20 sound recording devices on the mountain.
D. They kept on listening to the sound happening on this mountain top.
4.What is the main idea of the text?
A. Two teams used the same methods to do researches.
B. Scientists documented birds and other animals moving up in elevation.
C. Scientists have been researching tropical birds for more than 10 years.
D. Rising temperature made almost all birds in Peru become extinct.
The 67th Miss Universe beauty pageant (选美比赛) will take place December 16 in Bangkok, Thailand. The competition will include young women from around the world representing their countries. But one South American country, Chile, will not be represented by a native Chilean. Instead, Andrea Diaz, a native of Venezuela (委内瑞拉) will have that honor.
Diaz grew up in Valencia, Venezuela. She began training as a model at age 12 at a school there. At 19, she won a pageant organized by her town’s baseball team. As Diaz moved along her career path, she also moved away from home. She went first to Panama, and later to Mexico, for modeling jobs. In 2015, she settled in Chile, where most of her family members now live. The 27-year-old woman told the reporter, “I represent the new Chile. This is an inclusive (包容的) country where immigrants come in search of opportunities.”
Thousands of people leave Venezuela each day to escape a lack of food and medicine in the country. Its economic crisis (危机) has created an almost 1 million percent inflation (通货膨胀) rate. Many beauty pageant hopefuls have left Venezuela and have found work in modeling and media fields. Diaz is one of several Venezuelan beauty pageant competitors representing countries other than their homeland.
A recent Miss Earth pageant had two Venezuelan models who competed for other countries, including Jessica Russo. Russo represented Peru just one year after moving to the country. She said, “My dream of being a beauty queen is not going to stop just because I arrived in a new country.” The 22-year-old competitor did not make it into the Miss Earth finals. But she is not giving up. She says she hopes to one day win a competition for Peru, the country where her mother was born.
1.Who can take part in the beauty pageant held in Bangkok, Thailand?
A. Only young women from Chile.
B. Only young women from the university in Venezuela.
C. Young women from Venezuela.
D. Young women from all over the world.
2.What nationality is Diaz now?
A. Chile. B. Venezuela.
C. Panama. D. Mexico.
3.What can be inferred from the third paragraph?
A. Economic situation in Venezuela is becoming better and better.
B. Women in Venezuela have to work as models in their country.
C. Venezuelan beauty competitors have to represent other countries.
D. Venezuelan beauty hopefuls have found work in educational fields.
4.What does the underlined word “it” mean in the last paragraph?
A. Her dream of being a beauty queen. B. Not giving up.
C. The place where her mother was born. D. Moving to a new country.
I became a magician by accident. When I was nine years old, I learned how to make a coin disappear. I’d read The Lord of the Rings and gone into the adult section of the library to be buried in fantasy literature but young enough to still hold out hope that you might find a book of real, actual magic in the library. The book I found taught basic techniques, and I tried to practice.
At first the magic wasn’t any good. It was just a trick—a bad trick. I spent hours each day running through the secret moves in front of the mirror. I dropped the coin over and over, a thousand times in a day, and after two weeks my mom got a carpet and placed it under the mirror to muffle (消音) the sound of the coin falling again and again.
One day I made the coin disappear on the playground. We had been playing football and were standing in the field behind the school. A dozen people were watching. I showed the coin to everyone. Then it disappeared. The kids screamed. Everyone went crazy.
A few years later, I staged an underwater escape in the river that flowed through the middle of the campus of the University of Iowa, where I went to school. I stood on a boat in the middle of the river wearing nothing but biking shorts. The sky was dead and gray, and the water was cold at the surface, and colder in the depths below.
Technically, I succeeded. I jumped into the water, sank to the bottom, and escaped from the locks and the chains before swimming to the surface. But it didn’t feel like a success.
1.What do we know about the author?
A. He became a magician in one day.
B. He found wonderful techniques in the library.
C. In order to become a magician he never stopped practising.
D. He looked through every section of the library to search for a useful book.
2.Why did the author’s mother bring a carpet home?
A. To encourage him to clean the house.
B. To make the sounds less noisy than before.
C. To have guests clean their shoes on entering the house.
D. To decrease the number of cleaning the house.
3.How did the author make the kids scream?
A. By playing football with them. B. By making the showing coin disappear.
C. By practising his techniques more frequently. D. By providing hands-on practice.
4.What can be a suitable title for the text?
A. The Magic Trick that Changed My Life B. A Nineteen-year-old Magician
C. What Can Give You a Magic Life? D. A Brief Introduction to a Magician’s Life
Kirby Wildlife Park — Keeper Experience
Due to the large number of inquiries from people interested in working with animals, Kirby Wildlife Park has set up the unique ‘Keeper Experience’ package. The fantastic experience is available to anyone over the age of 18 who is reasonably fit. We regret that for health and safety reasons, participants who are pregnant, in a wheelchair or suffering from illnesses cannot take part.
A typical day
9:15 Arrival
9:30 Health and Safety Briefing
10:00 Apes and Monkeys
While cleaning out the enclosure (围场) you will find out about how enclosures are enriched with novel items and new smells to stimulate (刺激) the animals’ senses and imitate their natural environment.
12:00 Lunch
14:00 Big Cats
On the highlight of most volunteers’ day, you will feed the cats and learn about their nutritional needs. The keeper will give you an introduction to how cat behaviour can be read to get an idea of their welfare and health.
16:30 Meet the Team
Meet more of the staff and learn how you can get further involved with work at the park. Learn about our animal adoption plan, what it takes to be a good keeper and where to obtain the right qualifications for a career in animal welfare.
Booking and cancellation
The Keeper Experience is available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year, and must be booked at least two weeks in advance. Full payment is needed when booking.
Cancellations must be made more than fourteen days before the event, or you won’t receive a full refund.
1.What kind of people can experience working with animals in Kirby Wildlife Park?
A. A boy over 18 sitting in a wheelchair. B. A man who is quite healthy.
C. A woman carrying a baby in her arms. D. A girl under the age of 18.
2.When can you know something about an animal adoption plan?
A. At 12:00. B. At 9:30.
C. At 10:00. D. At 16:30.
3.What is the requirement of cancelling a booking of the Keeper Experience?
A. The cancelling is available on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
B. Anyone can cancel a booking throughout the year.
C. A booking must be cancelled over two weeks before the event.
D. You can cancel a booking with a full refund at any time.
假设你是李明，请你写一封信给校长，包括以下内容:
1. 目前学校体育设施(sports facilities)状况的不足；
2. 体育设施对学生的重要性；
3. 提出建议。
注意:
1. 字数 100 左右；
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
3. 开头已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Mr. President,
I am writing this letter to you to express my concern about the sports facilities in our school.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
