He added that state and local governments might have to ____ spending as a result of declining tax revenue.
A. cut back B. cut off
C. cut out D. cut in
If your home were on fire, what would you try to save? Our area was just a few miles from the largest wildfire in Colorado’s history. On getting the call to evacuate(疏散), we had to consider what we couldn’t live without, ________ whatever we could save and leaving immediately.
We ________ suitcases with necessary clothes. We took the ________ financial records ---- who wants to _______ himself with the government over _______ documents? Now, what else? We seized the valuable family ________ from the walls, which couldn’t be replaced.
Then we took a hard look at all that ________. A lamp that ________ my great grandmother. A ________ my wife learned to play as a kid. A large tent we spent months ________ money for camping. Bedroom furniture we wanted to pass down to our ________ some day. The gifts that decorated our house from our treasured friends. These things ________ our love as a family and friends. It was ________ to move everything from our home. ________ at all that we might lose, I found it difficult to say goodbye. But ________, I felt warm.
We were ________ with memories as we ________ at these items. Each had stories to tell just like the photos. They told about where we’d been, where we ________ were and where we were going. They were ________ of those people we had loved and who loved us. Now I didn’t think my “things” meant that much to me. Indeed, the spirit of them was all that truly ________.
1.A. covering B. removing C. collecting D. spotting
2.A. carried B. piled C. supplied D. packed
3.A. cars B. computers C. books D. food
4.A. enjoy B. entertain C. bother D. force
5.A. extra B. regular C. useless D. missing
6.A. pictures B. televisions C. decorations D. chargers
7.A. abandoned B. remained C. burned D. kept
8.A. belonged to B. adapted to C. related to D. appealed to
9.A. doll B. ball C. sport D. piano
10.A. borrowing B. saving C. paying D. lending
11.A. children B. friends C. colleagues D. relatives
12.A. inspired B. measured C. represented D. expressed
13.A. unbelievable B. impractical C. inconvenient D. unnecessary
14.A. Looking up B. Looking around C. Looking forward D. Looking out
15.A. roughly B. casually C. strangely D. curiously
16.A. flooded B. impressed C. surrounded D. satisfied
17.A. wondered B. glanced C. glared D. stared
18.A. normally B. frequently C. suddenly D. presently
19.A. signals B. signs C. symbols D. lessons
20.A. mattered B. proved C. lasted D. changed
How to escape from a car in water
“If you get on your phone and call your parents or your sister, or 911, you will die,” says Robert May, a 21-year-old veteran(老兵) of the Indiana State. No one else will arrive in time: you have to save yourself.
Move quickly. Minivans(微型货车) might float for as long as10 minutes. 1. In a study from the University of Manitoba, three passengers were able to exist with a child mannequin(人体模型) through a single driver-side window in just 3 seconds.
Unbuckle(揭开)your seat belt, lower your window and climb out, ideally onto the roof of the vehicle. 2.Unfasten them from the backseat, pull them into the front and push them out of your window, oldest ones first. In May’s experience, electric car windows will continue to work after falling into water. 3.
Don’t open the door, water will flood in. Once full of water, the vehicle will sink fast. 4.Vehicle submersions (淹没) have one of the highest death rates of any type of single-motor-vehicle incidents, responsible for 400 deaths a year in North America.
After you get on top of your car, figure out if it makes sense to stay put or swim for dry ground. 5.Just get out first, May says.
A. From there, call for help
B. You will be then totally out of danger.
C. Research has been done to confirm this.
D. If there are children present, attend to them first.
E. In one study, a 65-passanger bus sank in nine seconds
F. Still, keep a small glass-breaking tool on your key ring, just in case
G. However, the chances of survival are highest if you get out in the first 60 seconds
You can relax if remembering everything isn't your strong suit. Recent research makes the case that being forgetful can be a strength—in fact, selective memory can even be a sign of stronger intelligence.
Traditional research on memory has focused on the advantages of remembering everything. But looking through years of recent memory data, researchers found that the neurobiology of forgetting can be just as important to our decision-making as what our minds choose to remember.
Making intelligent decisions doesn't mean you need to have all the information at hand. It just means you need to hold onto the most valuable information. And that means clearing up space in your memory palace for the most up-to-date information on clients and situations. Our brains do this by creating new neurons(神经元）in our hippocampus, which have the power to overwrite(重写)existing memories that are influencing our decision-making.
If you want to increase the number of new neurons in our brain ’ s learning region，try exercising. Some aerobic exercise like jogging, power walking and swimming has been found to increase the number of neurons making important connections in our brains.
When we forget the names of certain clients or details about old jobs，the brain is making a choice that these details don't matter. Although too much forgetfulness can be a cause for concern，the occasional lost detail can be a sign of a perfectly healthy memory system. The researchers found that our brains facilitate decision-making by stopping us from focusing too much on unimportant past details. Instead，the brain helps us remember the most important part of a conversation.
We can get blamed for being absent-minded when we forget past events in perfect detail. These findings show us that total recall(记忆）can be overvalued. Our brains are working smarter when they aim to remember the right stories, not every story.
1.How can we help our brains produce more neurons? '
A. By having deep sleep frequently.
B. By practicing swimming regularly.
C. By doing mental labor repeatedly.
D. By learning new skills constantly.
2.Which of the following can best replace “facilitate” underlined in paragraph 5?
A. postpone B. repeat
C. promote D. abuse
3.What conclusion can be drawn from the text?
A. Memory loss is well worth noticing.
B. Decisions can’t be made without memories.
C. We shouldn't stress total recall too much.
D. Forgetting is even more important than remembering.
4.What can be a suitable title for the text?
A. Caution：do remember to forget
B. Why and how people choose to forget
C. Want to become smarter? Learn to forget
D. Being forgetful might mean you are smarter
It was the night before my election. I was running for Sophomore Vice President.
I had prepared a performance for the election--a funny boxing match. The fight had popular moves as seen in Dodge Ball, Iron Man, and Super Smash Brothers. In the end, I would perform my famous move， the Power-Punch from Hot Rod.
My friend Cheyenne and I rehearsed (排练) the fight for hours, but the fight would not be a fight without music and sound effects. This is where my brother came in. He stayed up all night to work on that soundtrack. And when my computer’s disk burner (刻录机) went out at 6 in the morning, he spent a college student’s week’s worth of incomes to replace it.
Why would he go into all that trouble? Because he knew that out of all the other important things he could be doing, this was imperative to me. He knew because it was once important to him. Having graduated from Layton High just a year earlier, he knew what it was like to be in the center of people's attention. He knew how fun high school could be, and he wanted me to have a great experience.
I ended up losing the election, but that day changed my world forever. The lesson my brother taught me became my most important belief. But it wasn't until I had a similar opportunity that I really understood why he cared so much.
What did it take for me to understand? It was the performance. The rest of the cast and I would rehearse every day after school for 6 months all for what? The chance to perform a play eight times. As I came out on that stage for the first time and listened to the laughter, I was filled with joy. By the end of the play, the audience broke into tears, and so did we. What happened? We had the sweet opportunity of giving them an unforgettable theatre moment -- a moment to laugh, reflect, and shed tears.
1.Why did the author prepare a performance?
A. To prove he had a gift for performing.
B. To introduce moves from some movies.
C. To celebrate his success after the election.
D. To increase his chance of winning the election.
2.How did the author's brother respond when the computer’s disk burner went out?
A. He decided to give up in the end.
B. He bought one with his own money.
C. He found another way to make music.
D. He borrowed one from a college student.
3.What does the underlined word "imperative” in Paragraph 4 mean?
A. Important B. Pleasant
C. Difficult D. Useful
4.What did the author most probably learn from his brother?
A. We should try our best to do everything well.
B. We should spread the kindness we have received.
C. Family members should always support each other.
D. Happiness comes from what we do to brighten others' life.
Gwendolyn Brooks was the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Gwendolyn Brooks wrote hundreds of poems during her lifetime. She was known around the world for using poetry to increase understanding about black culture in America.
Her poems described conditions among the poor, racial inequality and drug use in the black community. She also wrote poems about the struggles of black women. But her skill was more than her ability to write about struggling black people. She was an expert at the language of poetry. She combined traditional European poetry styles with the African American experience.
In her early poetry, Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about the South Side of Chicago. The South Side of Chicago is where many back people live. In her poems, the South Side is called Bronzeville. It was A Street in Bronzeville that gained the attention of literary experts in 1945. Critics praised her poetic skill and her powerful descriptions of the black experience during the time. The Bronzeville poems were her first published collection.
In 1950, Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. She won the prize for her second book of poems called Annie Allen. Annie Allen is a collection of poetry about the life of a Bronzeville girl as a daughter, a wife and mother. She experiences loneliness, loss, death and being poor. Ms. Brooks said that winning the prize changed her life.
Her next work was a novel written in 1953 called Maud Martha, Maud Martha received little notice when it was first published. But now it is considered an important work by some critics. Its main ideas about the difficult life of many women are popular among female writers today.
In some of her poems, Gwendolyn Brooks described how what people see in life is affected by who they are. One example is this poem, Corners on the Curing Sky.
By the end of the 1960s, Gwendolyn Brooks' poetry expanded from the everyday experiences of people in Bronzeville. She wrote about a wider world and dealt with important political issues.
1.What does the text mainly talk about?
A. The life of Gwendolyn Brooks. B. The struggles of black women.
C. The understanding about black culture. D. The poems of Gwendolyn Brooks.
2.What can we learn about Gwendolyn Brooks from the second paragraph?
A. She mainly wrote about the struggles of black women.
B. She was good at using the language of poetry.
C. Her writing skills were a little worse than her ability.
D. Her poems were mainly about the African experience.
3.The author develops the passage mainly by .
A. providing examples B. using statistics
C. comparing opinions D. describing her experiences
4.In the next part, the author would most probably talk about .
A. the difficulties Gwendolyn Brooks would meet
B. the poems related to political issues
C. the awards Gwendolyn Brooks gained
D. the racial inequality the black had to face
