It’s been five years since I came to America. The year before I arrived, every weekend I was woken up by “Spring River in the Flower Moon Night”, ________ by my mother on a zheng.
My mom was always enchanted（着迷）by the beauty of Chinese traditional music________she never had the chance to learn a(n)______. In 2009, she got a zheng from a friend and has been playing and ______ ever since. Sometimes when I miss her, I search for the songs she used to play on the Internet. I ______ expected to hear them here in Boston.
Earlier this year, as I______ a new apartment, I met Zhantao Lin, the director of the Boston Chinese Musicians Association. At Lin’s house, I heard the ______ of the erhu. Lin later______ me to his music team and I heard the rehearse（排练）for a ______this year. It was beautiful and powerful — it ______ brought me back to my hometown in China.
(51)__is also part of Lin’s daily routine. Besides performing, he passed on his love of the erhu to his _______. I went to one of Lin’s classes and met 9-year-old London Turk. I asked him _________he chose to learn the erhu. “It’s much ______ to learn than the violin,” he said. Perhaps Turk hasn’t really started to_______ the beauty of the erhu, but his mother has always loved the instrument. “There are so many beautiful things in Chinese________: the music, the language, and the art. So we just try our best to let him have a ______ to explore it,” she said.
I _______my mom for giving me a chance to immerse（使沉浸）myself in the Chinese musical world. The music makes me feel relaxed. It can also _______me of my homesickness. If you listen to one piece, you will _______its uniqueness, power, and beauty.
1.A.directed B.written C.played D.invented
2.A.and B.but C.or D.so
3.A.trade B.instrument C.language D.trick
4.A.responding B.inspecting C.pretending D.performing
5.A.never B.still C.already D.only
6.A.looked after B.looked at C.looked up D.looked for
7.A.story B.name C.sound D.cry
8.A.introduced B.recommended C.guided D.followed
9.A.competition B.performance C.game D.conference
10.A.suddenly B.recently C.nearly D.secretly
11.A.Reading B.Composing C.Teaching D.Exercising
12.A.workmates B.friends C.parents D.students
13.A.how B.where C.when D.why
14.A.longer B.easier C.safer D.smarter
15.A.consider B.ignore C.appreciate D.expect
16.A.culture B.economy C.literature D.medicine
17.A.place B.chance C.duty D.desire
18.A.forgive B.blame C.beg D.thank
19.A.remind B.inform C.cure D.warn
20.A.experience B.ensure C.express D.explain
Being a Volunteer
What can you do to help people? The answer is ——to be a volunteer! Then what is the common opinion of volunteering? 1.
●Help yourself by helping others.
2.It’s amazing to know that volunteering can calm you down when you feel upset. Lots of people really enjoy volunteering, because doing volunteer work could make a big difference in their life. So where do you start? School is a good place to start if you are looking for volunteer ideas.
●3.
Volunteering is a great way to have fun with your family. Talk to your parents, brothers, or sisters and see what they might be interested in. Find something you all agree on. You can do the things as a family like cleaning up a park and planting trees or flowers in your local community(社区).
●Create your own opportunity for your future.
Kids can come up with their own ways to raise money or provide needed services. You can make and sell products, and donate(捐赠) the money.4.Volunteering can also help kids learn important things about their future —— like what kinds of things they will be best at. A volunteer job can even help some kids decide what they want to do when they grow up. 5.Make a plan to start volunteering today!
A. So what are you waiting for?
B. Things to do with family members.
C. Clean up a school or other public buildings.
D. Volunteering gives kids a sense of responsibility.
E. Why don’t you choose to do a job you like best?
F. Volunteering means spending time in helping others.
G. When you volunteer to help others, you are helping yourself.
With the Chinese language growing in popularity,the UK government plans to invest （投资）10 million pounds to help more kids learn Mandarin（普通话）.Do you think it is necessary for the UK pupils to learn Mandarin?Some people share their opinions online.
Tsd（UK）:The learning of any language can be valuable and rewarding,but it is not suitable for everyone. Chinese is a difficult language to learn and the UK has a poor reputation for teaching foreign languages.Why should they learn Chinese when most people in the world speak English?
Mark（US）:I studied French for 2 years in high school and German for 4 years in college.I studied Mandarin informally for about 4 months before moving to China.Now I speak Mandarin every day as my wife doesn’t speak English.But it is far from being fluent.learning additional languages is a great thing,which offers a different perspective on the world around us. Nowadays,it’s almost necessary to be able to speak more than just your native tongue.
George（UK）:No,unless they’re taught from a very early stage of childhood.Mandarin is so difficult. If China really is going to dominate the world, it’ll have to do so by speaking the world’s dominant language---English.
Sam（UK）:I don’t think Chinese will become as widely spoken throughout the world as English.It is too difficult to learn as a second language,To learn Chinese you completely have to devote yourself to learning how to write and read it.If you have to learn it besides other subjects you can’t be good at it.But Chinese will become more popular,and that is a good thing.
1.What is probably Mark’s main motivation（动机）for learning Chinese?
A.Further education.
B.Effective communication.
C.His frequent travel.
D.The official policy.
2.What does Sam think of learning Chinese?
A.It’s necessary.
B.It’s of little use.
C.It takes too much time.
D.It’s not popular.
3.What seems to be the major problem when foreigners try to learn Chinese?
A.Its difficulty as a language.
B.Misunderstanding about China.
C.The great popularity of English.
D.A lack of learning resources.
Everybody hates rats (big mice). But in the earthquake capitals of the world — Japan, Los Angeles, Turkey — rats will soon be man’s best friends.
What happens after an earthquake? We send in rescue dogs. Why? Because they can smell people. Dogs save lives. They help rescuers to find living people. But dogs are big and they can’t get into small spaces. So now a new research project is using a smaller animal to save lives: the rat.
How does it work? First, the rat is trained to smell people. When this happens, the rat’s brain gives a signal (信号)．This is sent to a small radio on its back, and then the rescuers follow the radio signals. When the rat’s brain activity jumps, the rescuers know that someone is alive. The rat has smelled that person.
Although there are already robots which can do this job, rats are better. Christian Linster at Cornell University, New York, says, “Robots’ noses don’t work well when there are other smells around. Rats are good at that.” Rats can also see in the dark. They are cheaper and quicker to train than dogs, and unlike robots, they don't need electricity!
The “rat project” is not finished, but Julie Ryan of International Rescue Organization in Scotland says, “It would be wonderful. A rat could get into spaces we couldn’t get to, and a rat would get out if it wasn't safe.” Perhaps for the first time in history, people will be happy to see a rat in a building (but only after an earthquake, of course)．
1.Why will rats become man’s best friends in the world earthquake capitals?
A.Because they can take the place of man's rescue jobs.
B.Because they can find the position of people alive who are trapped in buildings.
C.Because they can serve as food for people alive who are trapped in buildings.
D.Because they can get into small spaces.
2.From the third paragraph we know the rescuers can judge a person who is alive by _____.
A.the noise made by the rat B.the rat’s unusual behavior
C.the signal sent by the radio on the rat's back D.the smell given off by the person
3.Which of these statements is NOT the advantage that rats have?
A.They are more lovely than other animals.
B.They are less expensive to train than dogs.
C.They don't need electricity.
D.They are small and can get into small places.
4.What can we infer from the passage?
A.At present rats have taken the place of dogs in searching for people.
B.The “rat project” has been completed.
C.People are now happy to see a rat in a building.
D.Now people still use dogs and robots in performing rescues.
When I was about twelve，I headed to a restaurant for dinner with my family．It was winter，and on that night，the wind was really blowing hard．
As my mom and I headed to the restaurant from our car，a girl about my age and her mother came up to us. They asked if we had any spare change （零钱）. My mom right away asked where they lived．They pointed to an old car in a parking lot across the street. The girl said there were six of them living in that car．My mom said she had something to do after handing the people a few dollars. She sent me inside the restaurant with my dad and my three siblings （兄弟姐妹）. But she didn't come．Later，I found out she had gone home and put all the food in our cupboards （食橱） into a few bags．Then，she brought that food over to the car and handed the bags to the family．I wasn't there when that happened，but I can only imagine the joy it brought to those people．
A few days later, when I actually found out about what she had done, I asked her why she helped those people. She told me that they were not lucky. I remember the face of that girl who had asked us for change. She was the same age as me, yet we looked so different．
Here I stood，dressed in almost new clothes, headed to eat in a restaurant and then back home to the bedroom I shared with my younger sister. I remember thinking that the other girl didn't have any food to eat and she was heading back to a cold car shared with five other people．
After painting this picture in my mind, I understood why my mom had done what she did. I will never forget what she did that night, and how she taught me one of the best lessons I ever learned．
1.From the passage, we can know the writer's mother was ______ ．
A.humorous B.determined
C.kind-hearted D.selfish
2.From Paragraph 2, we can learn that ______ ．
A.the poor family had no place to live
B.the poor girl was older than the author
C.the writer's mother didn't know how to cook
D.the poor girl lived near the restaurant
3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage？ ______
A.It was a winter morning when the story happened．
B.There were six people in the writer's family．
C.A few months later the writer found out what her mother had done．
D.The writer couldn't understand what her mother did．
4.What is probably the writer's purpose of writing this passage？ ______
A.To tell us why to help poor people．
B.To give an introduction to her mother．
C.To tell us to show love to others．
D.To talk about a social problem．
5.What is the best title of the passage？ ______
A.How to support a poor family
B.A friend in need is a friend in deed
C.The hard life of a little girl's family
D.A lesson in kindness from my Mum．
Volunteer Chances for Teens
About Learning Buddies
Learning Buddies is an education program for K-5 students at the Beacon Hill, Columbia, Douglass-Truth, New Holly and West Seattle Library branches (分馆). Teen volunteers and kids read together, learn math and play educational games with support from librarians.
If you are a high school student who enjoys math, reading and helping kids succeed in school, please consider volunteering as a Learning Buddy. You will get service learning experience and earn(获得) community service hours for school.
Learning Buddies teaches kids once a week. Volunteer chances are offered at the following Library branches, October through December and March through May.
●Beacon Hill Branch: Tuesday, 4:15 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.
●Columbia Branch: Thursday, 4:15p.m. to 5:45 p.m
.●Douglass-Truth Branch: Tuesday, 4:15 p.m.to 5:45 p.m.
●New-Holly Branch: Tuesday, 4:15 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.
●West Seattle Branch: Tuesday, 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Become a Learning Buddy
High school students must be at least 14 years old and live close to a Library branch that offers the Learning Buddies program.
You can ask for a volunteer application (申请书) and attend an interview at one of the following Library branches at least one month before the fall or spring Learning Buddies series.
● Beacon Hill Branch: call the Teen Services Librarian at 206-684-4711.
●Columbia Branch: call the Teen Services Librarian at 206-386- 1908.
●Douglass-Truth Branch: call Services Librarian at 206-684-4704.
● New-Holly Branch: call the Supervising Librarian at 206-386- 1905.
●West Seattle Branch: call the Teen Services Librarian at 206-684-7444.
1.Which number should you call if you want to volunteer on Thursday?
A.206-684-4711. B.206-386-1908.
C.206-684-4704. D.206-386-1905.
2.Students who want to become a Learning Buddy must__________.
A.be 14 years old or over
B.do well in all school subjects
C.live close to the kids being taught
D.be able to teach kids twice a week
3.Where does this text probably come from?
A.A travel guide. B.A science report.
C.An invitation. D.An advertisement.
