An American cancer survivor ha become he first person to swim across the English Channel four times on end.
Sarah Thomas, 37, completed the great achievement on Tuesday after over 54 hours of swimming. Her record-breaking achievement came just a year after she completed treatment for breast cancer (乳腺癌).
In a video on Facebook, a small group of people could be seen cheering on the swimmer from Colorado as she made her final arrival to beach at Dover. Supporters congratulated Mrs. Thomas on her non-stop swim, handing her chocolate and other gifts. In the video, Mrs. Thomas admitted to feeling “a little sick” but said she had been encouraged to keep going by her husband and her team.
Before the start of her challenge, Mrs. Thomas wrote that she was “fearful” and admitted she was “going to need some luck”.
In a Facebook post made on Saturday, she dedicated (奉献) the swim “to all the survivors out there”, adding, “This is for those of us who have wondered hopelessly about what comes next, and have overcome the pain bravely.”
After her swim, Mrs. Thomas said, “I’m really tired and I’m losing my voice from all the salt water.” Asked what the worst part of her challenge was, she said, “Probably dealing with the salt water over two days. It really hurts your throat, your mouth and your tongue.” She praised her support team for helping her stay strong, adding that she was very prepared for the weather, currents(k it)and cold water. “I feel just mostly stunned right now. I just can’t believe that we did it.”
1.What’s the attitude of Mrs. Thomas’s husband to her swimming challenge?
A.He refuses to support her.
B.He never cares about it at all.
C.He is angry about her decision.
D.He encourages her to keep trying.
2.What was the biggest challenge for Mrs. Thomas?
A.The weather. B.The currents.
C.The salt water. D.The cold water.
3.What does the underlined word “stunned” in the last paragraph probably mean?
A.Frightened. B.Surprised.
C.Upset. D.Powerful.
4.What’s the best title for the text?
A.A Successful Swimmer
B.A Woman Beat Breast Cancer
C.A Record-breaking Achievement
D.A Cancer Survivor Made a New Record
Living with your parents has its advantages… at least when it comes to raising your kids—their grandkids. Because two new studies add to the evidence that grandmothers can improve the survival of grandchildren. That is, unless Grandma’s too old or lives too far away.
Humans are unusual in that women live long past the age at which they stop having babies. “We don’t really see that in nature. Most of the organisms (生物) will reproduce up to their very last moment,” says Patrick Bergeron, a teacher at Bishop’s University in Quebec. This increase in post-reproductive longevity (寿命) is often explained by the so-called “grandmother effect (效应)”.
To explore the “grandmother effect”, Bergeron and his researchers examined nearly 200 years’ worth of French-Canadian population records from the 17th and 18th centuries. At the time, life was hard. In some years, a third of the kids were not even making it to one year of age. But the researchers found that having a grandmother still alive was an advantage. Families with grandmothers alive were larger by about two and the survival of these grandchildren to age 15 was much improved.
This good effect was only seen when the grandmothers lived nearby, which suggests that grandmothers help by playing an active role in their grandchildren’s lives.
Unluckily, that role is harder for them to achieve as they get older, which brings us to the second study. Researchers at the University of Turku in Finland used church records from the 18th and 19th centuries. They found that the advantages connected with having a grandmother on hand depended on her age. Once grandmothers hit 75, the grandchild survival advantages disappeared. In other words, it was better for grandchildren to have no living grandmother at all than it was to live with an old one or one that was in poor health. So a healthy grandma helps make for a healthy grandchild
1.What’s “grandmother effect”?
A.Having a grandmother alive is an advantage.
B.Grandmothers are helpful to their children whatever their age.
C.Grandmothers are helpful for the survival of their grandchildren.
D.Healthy grandmothers living nearby are good for grandchildren’s health.
2.What can we know about the second study?
A.Researchers used French-Canadian population records.
B.Researchers used church records from the 17th and 18th centuries.
C.It was done by researchers from the University of Turku in Finland.
D.It found that it was good for grandchildren to have no living grandmother.
3.Where does this text probably come from?
A.A science report. B.A diary
C.A storybook. D.A textbook.
Jade Stephenson has always loved her grandmother’s wedding dress (结婚礼服). So much so that once, Stephenson even asked her grandmother to keep hold of it so she could wear it for a special day. And when she realized her 80-year-old grandma wouldn’t be able to travel to attend her graduation at Liverpool Hope University, Stephenson knew the time had come.
“I tried the dress on several years ago, so I knew what it looked like when I put on the dress and her face then lit up,” she said. “So I knew asking her if I could wear it for graduation would make her smile. Also, my grandfather died in 2009 and to me, it felt like part of him was there with me on such a special day.”
Stephenson sported the dress under her cap and her clothes last week, at the ceremony (典礼) to collect her teaching degree at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King.
Nora, her grandmother, lives in Carlisle, more than 130 miles from Liverpool. She was very happy when she saw the pictures of her granddaughter, and praised that she chose that dress for her special day.
“My grandma and I are very close. I speak to her when I can and whenever I’m home I catch up with her. I see a lot of my own characters in her. I think we have quite a lot in common,” Stephenson said. “I’ve always loved my grandma’s dress. Although it’s 32 years old, it’s fit for me.”
Stephenson said several people praised her for her choice for the ceremony. “I think people thought it was quite heart-warming. Considering how old it is, the dress is in really good condition. My grandmother has looked after it very well.”
1.Seeing Stephenson trying the dress on, Stephenson’s grandmother feels ________.
A.pleased B.angry
C.unhappy D.amazed
2.What does Stephenson think of her grandmother?
A.Her grandmother is very forgetful.
B.Her grandmother is similar to her.
C.Her grandmother is a good designer.
D.Her grandmother is crazy about education.
3.What can we know about the wedding dress?
A.It is valuable and expensive.
B.It is kept in good condition.
C.It is old and needs repairing.
D.It is too long for Stephenson.
假设你是李华，你的一位美国朋友Marry暑假期间要到中国来旅游，而你没有时间陪她。因此，她希望你给她找一位导游，请根据以下要点，给她写一封100词左右的E-mail。
1. 精通英语和汉语；
2. 热情、大方，沟通能力强；
3. 自己的看法。
注意：1. 不要逐句翻译，可适当增加细节以使行文连贯。
2. 词数：100左右。开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Marry,
I’m very glad and excited to have learned that you will visit our county.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I’m looking forward to seeing you soon.
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。
修改：在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Last winter Gnara and I headed down to the Arctic Hill. It was covered with ice, what made it very interested to slide down. Gnara do a trick with her tail. I turned around three time before I reached the bottom! Some young boys were watched us slide. They wanted to slide down too. Then I came up a perfect solution. I asked Gnara if she would helping.
We stayed at the bottom of the hill but when the young boys slid down, we flew right into the softly and safe places. In this way everyone had a fun.
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。
Once upon a time, there was a shepherd 1. bought a flock of sheep, but when he got to know them a little better, he 2. (realize) that these sheep just would not stop talking. All day long they just ignored the shepherd’s commands. He used all the means 3. ( get) the sheep to listen to him and to his dogs, but it was 4. (hope).
Finally, seeing the sheep wouldn’t stop talking, the shepherd decided to at least have some fun 5. it. He bought an enormous ear, and transported it out to his fields on the back of his wagon.6. (surprise), on seeing the ear, the sheep all stopped talking to each other, and began telling the ear all their puzzles and 7. (trouble). When the shepherd drove his wagon, the sheep would even follow 8. (he) about, just so that they could carry on 9. (talk)to the ear.
So the shepherd understood that even sheep have something to say,10. just want to be listened to. And thanks to this occurrence, mankind now has the world's only Ear-on-a-Wagon shepherd.
