A music festival is a community event mainly about live performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a main idea. On the list are the music festivals for fans around the world. Find your favourite now!
Field Day
January 1, 2018, Sydney
Field Day means New Year’s Day for young people in Sydney. Seen as the city’s original (独特的) outdoor party, it’s a gathering of friends coming together for a great fun-filled first day of the year. There’s an air of hope and active energy on a perfect summer’s day.
Envision Festival
February 21 - 26, 2018, Uvita
The Envision Festival is an annual event in Costa Rica that wants to provide a chance for different cultures to work with one another to create a better community. The festival encourages people to practise art, music and dance performances. At the same time, our connection (联系) with nature is expected to be strengthened.
McDowell Mountain Music Festival
March 2-4, 2018, Phoenix
The McDowell Mountain Music Festival is Phoenix’s musical celebration of community culture. Since its founding in 2004, it is the only 100% nonprofit (非营利的) music festival designed to support, entertain and educate the community. The festival attracts thousands of visitors each year from around the country, and it is an opportunity to experience true culture.
Old Settler’s Music Festival
April 19 -22, 2018, Tilmon
The Old Settler’s Music Festival is a nationally known music festival for American music. The festival is held in Tilmon, Texas at the height of the wild flower season. The Old Settler’s Music Festival offers great music and activities for the whole family.
1.In which city can people enjoy a fun New Year’s Day?
A.Sydney. B.Uvita.
C.Phoenix. D.Tilmon.
2.What is special about the McDowell Mountain Music Festival?
A.It encourages people to receive education.
B.It is not held lo make money.
C.Old provides a chance for friends to meet each other.
D.If focuses on culture spread.
3.Which festivals are connected with nature?
A.Field Day and Envision Festival.
B.Envision Festival and McDowell Mountain Music Festival.
C.Old Settler’s Music Festival and McDowell Mountain Music Festival.
D.Envision Festival and Old Settler’s Music Festival.
假设你是晨光中学的高三学生李津，最近你美国的笔友 Brown 来信说他的学校利用网络辅助老师教学和学生学习，深受师生欢迎。他想了解你的学校是否也有这样的网络教学。 请你给他回一封信，主要内容如下：
（1）学校有一个叫 SmartPage 的网站；
（2）师生如何利用网站以及对这种学习方式的看法（如:是否有助于学习等等）；
（3）自己的体验和感受。注意：
（1）词数不少于 100；
（2）可以适当增加细节使内容充实、行文连贯；
（3）文章开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Brown,
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Jin
阅读短文，按照题目要求用英语回答问题。
I was in a local store recently when I saw something that opened a window into my soul, which helped let in a little more light.
I had just picked up some shampoo and was headed to the pet supplies to get some dog food for my furry friends. I decided to take a shortcut through one of the toy aisles. Blocking my way, however, was a young father and his four-year-old daughter. The little girl was pleading (恳求 ) with her dad to buy her a new doll. The dad was being gentle but firm, telling her they couldn’t afford it right now. Finally, the daughter burst into tears and said angrily, “I hate you!”
I thought that the father would get mad at her for this outburst. I knew that I probably would do so when I was his age. Instead he just smiled down at her, put his hand on her head, and said, “That’s alright. You’ll love me later.” I stood there in amazement as he took her hand and they walked off. Then it dawned on me that I had been in this situation many times myself over the years but not as the father.
In my childhood, many times I grew angry with my parents when I felt my requests weren’t being answered. Through them all, though, my parents were still patient, loving, and kind to me. They knew that I didn’t understand why certain things had to happen the way they did. They knew that my anger was a part of my growing up spiritually in this world. They knew that I would love them later.
Now I have grown up and become a parent of two children. I have deeper understanding of parents’ behavior in different situations. They love their next generation, but more than that, they also know that they should love them in a proper way. Raising a healthy child means to help him grow both mentally and physically. That is why we need to trust our parents’ love and give them ours as well. It is never too late to love them. It is never too late to invite them into your soul. It is never too late to let their light guide your life.
1.How did the girl feel towards her father’s refusal? (no more than 10 words)
2.What reaction of the father made the author amazed? (no more than 10 words)
3.How do you understand the underlined part in Para.3? (no more than 15 words)
4.What’s the author’s understanding of parents’ love after growing up? (no more than 15 words)
5.Have your parents ever refused your request? What do you think about it now? (no more than 20 words)
Smartphones are our constant companions. For many of us, their glowing screens are a ubiquitous (十分普遍的) presence, drawing us in with endless distractions. They are in our hands as soon as we wake, and command our attention until the final moments before we fall asleep.
Steve Jobs would not approve.
In 2007, Jobs took the stage and introduced the world to the iPhone. If you watch the full speech, you will be surprised by how he imagined our relationship should be with this iconic invention. This vision is so different from the way most of us use these devices now.
In his remarks, Jobs spent an extended amount of time demonstrating how the device utilized (应用) the touch screen before detailing the many ways Apple engineers had improved the age-old process of making phone calls. It’s the best iPod we’ve ever made,” Jobs exclaimed at one point. “The killer app is making calls,” he later added. Both lines drew thunderous applause.
The presentation confirms that Jobs imagined a simpler iPhone experience than the one we actually have more than a decade later. For example, there was no App Store when the iPhone was first introduced, and this was by design. Jobs was convinced that the phone’s carefully-designed native features were enough. He did not seek to completely change the rhythm of users’ daily lives. He simply wanted to take experiences we had already found important－listening to music, placing calls, generating directions－and make them better.
The minimalist (简约主义者) vision for the iPhone Jobs offered in 2007 is unrecognizable today－and that is a shame.
Under what I call the “constant companion model,” we now see our smartphones as always-on portals (通道) to information. We have become so used to it over the past decade that it is easy to forget the novelty (新奇之处) of the device. It seems increasingly clear to me that Jobs probably got it right from the very beginning: Many of us would be better-off returning to his original minimalist vision for our phones.
Practically speaking, to be a minimalist smartphone user means only using your device for a small number of features that do things of value to you. Otherwise, you simply put it away outside of these activities. This approach dethrones (废黜) this device from the position of a constant companion down to a luxury object, such as a fancy bike, that gives you great pleasure when you use it but does not dominate your entire day.
Early in his 2007 keynote, Jobs said, “Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.” What he didn’t add, however, was the follow-up promise: “Tomorrow we’re going to reinvent your life.” The smartphone is fantastic, but it was never meant to be the foundation for a new form of existence.
If you return this innovation to its original role, you will get more out of both your phone and your life.
1.The underlined word “it” in the last but two paragraphs probably refers to .
A.information B.the smartphone
C.the always-on portal D.the constant companion model
2.According to Steve Jobs, what was the main selling point of Apple’s first iPhone?
A.It allowed the users to have access to the internet.
B.It was actually an iPod that could make phone calls.
C.It was installed with applications by third-party developers.
D.It could fulfill people’s desire to multitask in their daily lives.
3.According to the article, a minimalist smartphone user tends to .
A.expect to reinvent his life with the device
B.buy the latest model of iPhone and see it as a luxury
C.remove all the unnecessary applications from the device
D.spend more time working than playing with his device
4.The author’s purpose in writing the article is to .
A.tell readers why Steve Job created the iPhone
B.remind readers not to be addicted to their smartphones
C.show readers that smartphones can greatly change our lives
D.encourage readers to block internet access on their smartphones
Professor Stephen Hawking recently came out with a serious warning for people. While at the Starmus Festival, a festival in Trondheim, Norway, celebrating science and the arts, Hawking warned people that the human race is in serious danger.
Hawking criticized President Donald Trump for denying climate change. Then the physicist warned the audience, “I am not denying the importance of fighting climate change and global warming, unlike Donald Trump, who may just have taken the most serious, and wrong, decision on climate change this world has seen.”
Hawking proposed that the leading countries should send astronauts to the Moon before 2020 to restart a movement of more exploration in space. BBC reported that Hawking suggested that we “build a lunar base in 30 years’ time and send people to Mars by 2025.”
According to BBC, Professor Hawking said, “Spreading out into space will completely change the future of humanity.” He continued, “I hope it would unite competitive nations in a single goal, to face the common challenge for us all.” The physicist shared more ideas to motivate the younger generation to continue exploring space. Hawking stated, “a new and ambitious space program would excite (young people), and stimulate interest in other areas, such as astrophysics and cosmology.”
Hawking also revealed his vision for other forms of energy that could move us to a new planet. He warned the audience, “The Earth is under threat from so many areas that it is difficult for me to be positive.” He continued, “Our natural resources are being drained, at an alarming rate. We have given our planet the disastrous gifts of climate change, rising temperatures, reduction of the polar ice caps, deforestation, and decimation (大量毁灭) of animal species. We can be ignorant, unthinking lot (人).”
The professor warned the audience that doing nothing would lead nowhere. He said, “If we succeed, we will send a probe (航天探测器) to Alpha Centauri within the lifetime of some of you alive today. It is clear we are entering a new space age. We are standing at the threshold (起点) of a new era. Human colonization and moving to other planets is no longer science fiction, and it can be science fact.” Hawking advised the audience to move to other worlds because we are running out of space.
1.According to Hawking, what is the first step for humans to spread out into space?
A.To build a lunar base.
B.To send people to Mars.
C.To send astronauts to the Moon.
D.To change the future of humanity.
2.What does the underlined phrase “a single goal” in Paragraph 4 refer to?
A.Spreading out into space.
B.Facing the common challenge of humans.
C.Stimulating young people’s interest in other areas.
D.Motivating the younger generation to explore space.
3.The underlined word “drained” in Paragraph 5 can be replaced by “ _____ ”.
A.speeded up B.stored
C.used up D.explored
4.What is Hawking’s attitude towards the Earth’s future?
A.Worried. B.Confused.
C.Positive. D.Indifferent.
5.What is the main idea of the last paragraph?
A.To warn the audience that humans are in danger.
B.To predict what will happen to the earth in future.
C.To stress that humans are entering a new space age.
D.To encourage the audience to move to other planets.
6.The reason why humans must leave earth soon is that .
A.the Earth is under threat and the human race is in serious danger
B.a new and ambitious space program would excite young people
C.astronauts have found a better world in the space than the Earth
D.humans have found other forms of energy to move to a new planet
The killdeer, a small bird known for its high-pitched ( 声调高的) call, could lead to the cancellation of one of Canada’ biggest music festivals.
The first hint of trouble for Ottawa’s Bluesfest, an outdoor festival that draws around 300,000 people each year, came last week after workers at the site found one of the birds.
It had laid four eggs nearby, effectively claiming the main stage area as its nesting ground. “This is one of the most challenging problems we’ve been presented with, but we feel we can work through this,” said Mark Monahan, executive director of the festival.
“Anything that changes the schedule has a major effect, so we’re taking it very seriously.” The discovery meant that government officials rushed to protect the nest and the eggs, hiring a security guard to watch over them 24 hours a day. Environmentalists were also brought in.
“We don’t know when the eggs might hatch,” said Monahan. What is known is that the young killdeer will likely leave the nest soon after they are hatched, leading many to hope that the eggs hatch in the next day or so.
The festival is now seeking permission from Environment Canada to relocate the nest some 50 meters away or take it to a wildlife center.
Moving the nest would also ensure the bird and its young would be protected during the festival’s 11-day run, said Monahan. It’s highly likely that the festival’s thousands of attendees would cause huge problems for the bird and its eggs.
Monahan was confident that the festival would go on as planned, however.
“Most of the people we’re working with are looking for a positive solution,” Monahan said. “There is no one saying that the festival can’t go on.”
As news of the dilemma spread, it left residents divided. Some supported the bird, saying that moving the nest might result in the eggs being abandoned.
Others expressed annoyance that protecting the eggs of the small bird, which is widespread across North America, was risking an annual festival that contributes millions of dollars to the local economy.
The killdeer’s tendency to build its nest in open fields or flat areas has caused issues in other areas of the US: earlier this year, construction on a health center in Wisconsin was temporarily stopped after a killdeer and its four eggs were discovered.
1.What can we learn about Bluesfest?
A.It is the first music festival in Canada.
B.It is an important event for music lovers.
C.It is a music festival held every two years.
D.It is a challenging outdoor activity in Ottawa.
2.What was especially challenging for Bluesfest this year?
A.Pressure from the government.
B.Disagreements with the public.
C.The need to protect the bird’s eggs.
D.The lack of experience in hosting the event.
3.How did the festival plan to deal with the problem?
A.Move the nest to another place.
B.Ask government officials for help.
C.Seek advice from environmentalists.
D.Hire security guards to protect the eggs.
4.What was Monahan’s attitude toward hosting the festival?
A.Negative. B.Positive.
C.Unsure. D.Indifferent.
5.The underlined word “dilemma” is closest in meaning to “ ”.
A.a difficult situation
B.an extreme situation
C.a dangerous situation
D.an encouraging situation
