“Has anyone seen Charge?”I asked, only half expecting a reply. The kids were running around the house, each doing their own thing, and my husband was watching the football game. Since she had only been out of sight for a few hours, I wasn’t overly concerned. I thought she must be under one of the kids’ beds, hiding from all the mess that was normal for a Sunday afternoon in our home.
①
Charge was not good-looking, to put it kindly. It wasn’t her fault; she was simply gifted with the worst appearance traits（特征）in her background.
My husband had found Charge wandering along the freeway one day on his way home from work. She looked as though she hadn’t eaten in weeks, so he stopped and fed her with bits of his leftover lunch. Not knowing what to do, he brought her home with the hope of finding her owners or at least a loving family that would take her. However, once she was in the house, the kids were determined not to let her go. After a day or two of begging, we unwillingly gave in and told them we could keep her.
After observing her actions for days, I found she was extremely distrustful and afraid of everyone. In time, though, she came to love the kids and slept on their beds every night. I wondered if what she had experienced had conditioned her to be protective of those who were hurting. Every time the kids cried, Charge would run to them and gently offer her comforting paw（爪子）. Unlike our cat, who had recently given birth to five kittens, Charge would have been a great mother.
②
When I was finally able to get everyone’s attention at the dinner table, I asked again if anyone had seen Charge. After a unanimous（异口同声的）“No”, I decided to take a look around the neighborhood.
③
“Charge!”I cried, because there she was in the closet! She looked up at me from inside the little cats’box as if to say,“Shhh, I just got them to sleep!”
We usually kept the closet door open a bit so our mamma cat could go in and feed her kittens, but she always left as soon as she finished nursing. Obviously, Charge knew they needed more mamma time and was more than willing to help out.
④
The kids smiled upon seeing the dog with the kittens. My husband shook his head and said,“Only you, Charge. Only you!”
Charge continued to mother the kittens until they were placed in their new homes. Charge may not have been an attractive dog, but she truly had her inner beauty.
1.It can be inferred from the first paragraph that_________.
A. the kids were not willing to play with Charge
B. the author didn’t worry too much about Charge
C. Charge liked playing hide and seek games with the kids
D. the author’s husband was watching the football game with the kids
2.When the author’s husband saw Charge for the first time, he_____.
A. fed her with his lunch B. decided to adopt her
C. felt pity for her D. helped to find her owner
3.How did the author like her mamma cat?
A. It was really an energetic hunter. B. It was not a very caring mother.
C. It was quite clean and lovely. D. It was too selfish and lazy.
4.The purpose of the article is to_______.
A. proof one’s past could influence their characteristics
B. indicate those who love the kids will be loved by others
C. inform a pet dog can bring both joy and sadness to its owner
D. show beauty isn’t in the face but from the bottom of the heart
5.Where can the following sentences most probably be?
“Who wants to go look for Charge with me?”I asked as I opened the door of the hall closet and reached in to get my shoes.
A. ① B. ②
C. ③ D. ④
6.What can be the best title of the article?
A. The most beautiful Charge B. The greatest mamma
C. A loving story D. A special Sunday
Siblings refer to one’s brothers and sisters. We’re attached to siblings as adults far longer than we are as children. Our sibling relationships, in fact, are the longest-lasting family ties we have.
“Paul, my younger brother, and I, kind of annoyed each other when we were kids,” said Anna, an interviewee,“But as adults, we’ve always had each other’s back, especially when dealing with our mother’s health crisis. Paul is the first person I want to talk to when something worries me.”
There’s probably a biological explanation for the close bond of the sibling relationship. Siblings share half their genes, which biologists say should be motivation enough for each other’s devotion.
One thing that can weaken closeness in adulthood is a parent who played favorites in childhood; this sense of hatred can last a lifetime. The simple concept of parental favoritism was enough to shake their relationship.
“What Paul and I are pretty sure is our parents treated us the same when we were growing up. Yet we’re very different people,” Anna said,“Paul is outgoing while I’m shy. Paul is an amateur pianist while I can’t read music or carry a tune. In families with more than one child, every sibling seems to get a label in contrast to every other sibling.”
The very presence of siblings in the household can be an education. When a new baby is born, the older sibling gains social skills by interacting with the younger, and the younger gains cognitively（认知角度地）by imitating the older. They learn from the friction between them, too, as they fight for their parents’attention. Mild conflict between brothers and sisters teaches them how to interact with friends and co-workers for the rest of their lives.
It’s so sad when things between siblings fall apart, which happens when aging parents need care or die — old feelings of contradiction and jealousy erupt all over again. Many families get through their parents’illnesses just fine, establishing networks where the workload is divided pretty much equally. But about 40 percent of the time there is a single primary caregiver who feels like she is not getting any help from her brothers and sisters, which can lead to serious conflicts.
Throughout adulthood, the sibling relationship “is powerful and unchanged,” said Jane Mersky Leder, author of the new e-book The Sibling Connection. Whether we are close to our siblings or distant, she writes, they remain our brothers and sisters — for better or for worse.
So remember the immortal（永恒的）words of folksinger Loudon Wainwright Ⅲ, in a song called Thanksgiving.“On this brilliant occasion, this special family dinner, if I argue with a loved one, please make me...”
1.What can probably encourage hatred among siblings?
A. The aging of their Mom and Dad. B. The difference between their hobbies.
C. The conflict in their daily lives. D. The unequal treatment from their parents.
2.Brothers or sisters will be ready to give each other a hand partly because__________.
A. they have common interest B. their parents force them to
C. there exists a genetic factor D. their parents require them to be
3.The underlined word“friction” in Para.6 is closest in meaning to_________.
A. mild conflict B. close relationship
C. active interaction D. cognitive imitation
4.One effective way to avoid conflict when looking after sick parents is to__________.
A. employ an experienced caregiver B. take on reasonable burdens
C. equally divide the fortune D. send them straight to hospital
5.The writer ends the passage with a song Thanksgiving to indicate that__________.
A. it’s disappointing to quarrel with siblings
B. it’s grateful to have brothers or sisters in life
C. Thanksgiving Day is a wonderful occasion
D. Thanksgiving Day is a time for brothers or sisters to get together
An extremely enthusiastic truth seeker who runs the YouTube channel Bright Insight claims（声称）to have found the mysterious city of Atlantis and insists that its true location has been hiding in plain sight for thousands of years.
In a video, YouTube blogger Jimmy Bright argues that the Richat Structure, a geologic dome（穹状物）in northwest Sahara also referred to as the Eye of the Sahara, is the most likely location of Atlantis.
He mentioned measurements from the famous Dialogues of Plato, which gave birth to the mystery. The Greek philosopher（哲学家）claimed that Atlantis was a long-gone kingdom, which stretched into Europe as far as Italy and into Africa as far as Egypt thousands of years ago. The giant island was said to be wiped off the face of the planet by a natural disaster“in a single day and night of misfortune”.
At first sight, this has nothing to do with the land-based Richat Structure, but Jimmy claims that the so-called Younger Dryas theory could be a possible explanation. According to it, a massive change in global temperatures caused unexpected climate change and sea level to rise.
In what can be viewed as another proof to the Sahara theory, the diameter（直径）of the Richat Structure’s outer circle is 23.5 km according to Google Map’s measurements, which matches those mentioned by Plato — 127 stadia, which is roughly 23.5 km in today’s terms.
Another thing that helps solve the mystery is a theory that the Eye of the Sahara closely matches the description from Plato’s dialogues. The ancient philosopher wrote that the main city of Atlantis consisted of circles of water and land, which, Jimmy said, looks very similar to the circular form of the Richat Structure.
Although the majority of researchers believe that Plato’s story was nothing but a moral story used to describe a failed idea of seeking power and searching for fortune, it has raised quite a few theories, Since the Middle Ages, explorers have been pointing fingers at different places around the world, including the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, with the most amazing theories linking the location of Atlantis to the Antarctic and the North Sea.
1.What does Jimmy Bright claim to have discovered?
A. The most likely location of Atlantis.
B. The formation of the Richat Structure.
C. The measurements in the Dialogues of Plato.
D. The reasons behind the Younger Dryas theory.
2.How did Jimmy Bright do research into the location of Atlantis and arrive at a conclusion?
A. By studying the history of ancient Egypt.
B. By analyzing the research into Plato’s life story.
C. By explaining the Younger Dryas theory in a scientific way.
D. By comparing the Richat Structure with the famous Dialogues of Plato.
3.What’s the purpose of mentioning the Younger Dryas theory in Paragraph 4?
A. To stress the importance of the Richat Structure.
B. To present the influence it had on Atlantis.
C. To prove that Jimmy Bright might be correct.
D. To show Jimmy Bright’s opinion is unique.
4.What can be learned from the article?
A. The Eye of the Sahara is a mystery mentioned in the Dialogues of Plato.
B. The Richat Structure is where the mysterious city of Atlantis used to lie.
C. The Younger Dryas may have caused the disappearance of Atlantis overnight.
D. The Plato’s Story is meant to inspire explorers to locate the exact position of Atlantis.
Before I came to China, I had been somewhat unlucky in love. Days before my ___for Shanghai in 2016, my cousin made a ___without the slightest bit of irony（讽刺）,“You’ll fall in love in China.”
I met my husband at a Chinese ___.It was an embarrassing place to meet him approaching me ___I attempted to lift free weights. He spoke English poorly, trying to correct my form. I more or less ___him, figuring such a relationship was ___as we had little means to communicate. But I was very much ___.He ran after me for the next couple weeks and his persistence（坚持不懈）___won me over, and I was head over heels in love with him.
The challenges we faced were ___—deciding where to live, ___over visas, dealing with my parents’ doubts. In time, these problems got settled without too much work on our part. When others would ___on how tough it must be to marry someone from a foreign country, I quickly made my ___,trying to convince my questioner that marrying cross-culturally is really no different from ___within one’s own circle.
Our son was born in the spring of 2018. He was a very easy baby to care for—he cried little and slept well at night. My struggles in caring for a newborn were unimportant ___the other pressures I faced. By Chinese tradition, I was ___from taking the baby outside until he was 100 days old, for reasons I still don’t fully understand.
Since giving birth, I’ve learned that compromise（妥协）is more ___than it seems. If you give up too much of yourself, you may ___resentful（怨恨的）. If you compromise too little, you may be ___in a frequent battle. In a relationship, our values or beliefs often ___with our partner’s, but with patience, most difficulties can be overcome. For that reason, I keep on working to better understand his background and beliefs while ___forgetting my own.
1.A. plan B. departure C. reservation D. destination
2.A. decision B. suggestion C. request D. prediction
3.A. gym B. cinema C. restaurant D. museum
4.A. since B. as C. unless D. before
5.A. thanked B. admired C. ignored D. praised
6.A. priceless B. worthless C. pointless D. faultless
7.A. broken B. beaten C. drunken D. mistaken
8.A. gradually B. eventually C. simply D. keenly
9.A. natural B. legal C. typical D. international
10.A. worrying B. arguing C. looking D. taking
11.A. comment B. decide C. insist D. focus
12.A. remark B. conservation C. apology D. defense
13.A. adjusting B. dating C. wandering D. behaving
14.A. in relation to B. in addition to C. in comparison to D. in response to
15.A. protected B. disabled C. excused D. forbidden
16.A. constant B. challenging C. cautious D. cultural
17.A. end up B. put up C. turn up D. take up
18.A. taken B. absorbed C. stuck D. resulted
19.A. deal B. meet C. conflict D. combine
20.A. therefore B. finally C. yet D. never
—Hey, do remember we are going to Mr. Black’s office tomorrow.
—Oh, I have almost forgotten, but_____.
A. not really B. never mind
C. no problem D. no doubt
You ____your depression for long, and now it’s time to relax yourself.
A. masked B. will have masked
C. have been masked D. have been masking
