English is full of funny expressions that don’t always make sense. What do they mean? How do we use them? And where did they come from? Idioms are phrases and sentences that do not mean exactly what they say. Even if you know the meaning of each word you see or hear, you may not understand the idiom because you don’t understand the culture behind it. Here are some English idioms based on animals.
When children jump around and act silly, for example, their parents may tell them to stop “monkeying around”. To “monkey around” means to do things that are not useful or serious, or to simply waste time.
But spending time playing with their family pets wouldn’t count as “monkeying around”. Many American families have a pet dog, which keeps the children company and makes them happy. Bu for some reason, which American language experts do not know, Americans use “dog” in a phrase that means to feel unwell. If you are “as sick as a dog”, you’re really, really sick and will have to stay home and rest or even go and see a doctor.
Apart from dogs, cats are also beloved in U.S. households. Sometimes you may hear them mentioned in Americans’ conversations, “I told you to keep that secret, but you have just ‘let the cat out of the bag’!” You probably guessed it — that idiom means to reveal a secret or tell facts that were previously unknown.
Dogs and cats don’t always get along, but they appear side by side in a commonly used idiom. When it rains heavily, people might say it’s “raining cats and dogs” outside.
Bad weather often ruins people’s plans for outdoor activities. But on a lovely day, they can go on an outing or have a picnic in the park. If a swarm of tiny bugs decide they love your picnic food and start to hover (盘旋) around you and your friends, then it would be really annoying, wouldn’t it? That experience perfectly explains why people often tell someone who keeps bothering them to “stop bugging me”.
Idioms are very common in both spoken and written English, so learning them is very important. If you need to understand English, or if you want to speak or write natural-sounding English, you have to learn idioms.
1.According to Paragraph 1, idioms are_____.
A.phrases and sentences based on animals
B.expressions with rich cultural background
C.funny expressions that always make sense
D.the total sum of the meanings of the words
2.“Monkeying around” can be used to describe children_____.
A.jumping around and wasting time
B.doing something useful and serious
C.playing with monkeys with their parents
D.spending time playing with their family pets
3.What can be learned from the text?
A.Dogs and cats are friends by nature.
B.Bugs can be used to show your annoyance.
C.Americans believe cats can give away secrets.
D.Americans know the origin of the idiom “as sick as a dog”.
4.How does the text mainly develop?
A.By sharing experiences. B.By making comparisons.
C.By providing examples. D.By quoting experts' words.
Chinese researchers have developed a robot designed to help doctors treat the new coronavirus (新冠病毒) and other highly contagious diseases.
The robot can perform some of the same medical examination tasks as doctors. For example, the device can perform ultrasounds, collect fluid samples from a person's mouth and listen to sounds made by a patient’s organs. Cameras record the robot’s activities, which are controlled remotely so doctors can avoid coming in close contact with infected patients. Doctors and other medical workers can operate the machine from a nearby room, or from much farther away.
The robot's main designer is Zheng Gangtie, an engineer and professor at China’s Tsinghua University in Beijing. “Doctors are all very brave,” Zheng said. “But this virus is just too contagious…We can use robots to perform the most dangerous tasks.” Zheng said a friend of his, the head of Beijing’s Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, told him that one of the biggest problems in dealing with COVID-19 was that health care workers treating patients were getting infected themselves. Zheng said he wanted to do something to help this situation. So the engineer gathered a team and went to work on the robotic device. Zheng said the team was able to convert two robotic arms. The devices use the same technology that is used for space equipment, including moon explorers. The new robot is almost completely automated, Zheng said. It can even disinfect itself after performing actions involving patient contact. However, Zheng said he had heard from some doctors that it would be better not to build such robots to be fully automatic. This is because many patients still desire a personal presence to help calm them during treatment.
The team currently has two robots and both have been tested by doctors at hospitals in Beijing. One machine was taken to Wuhan’s Union Hospital, where doctors were being trained to use it. The plan is to use the robot to help treat coronavirus patients, along with assistance from nurses and other hospital workers.
Zheng would like to build more of the robots, but said money from the university has run out. About $72,000 has been spent on each robot. He said he does not plan to commercialize the design, but hopes that a company can begin that process.
1.What can we learn from Paragraph 2?
A.The robot can record doctors’ activities.
B.The robot can carry out actions automatically.
C.The robot can assist doctors to examine patients.
D.The robot can collect samples of patients’ organs.
2.The underlined word “disinfect” in Paragraph 3 is the closest in meaning to
A.affect B.clean
C.update D.fix
3.What can we infer about the robot according to Zheng Gangtie?
A.It is very costly to make.
B.It is highly recognized by doctors.
C.It can be purchased in the market soon.
D.It can also be used in moon exploration.
4.What is the main purpose of the text?
A.To introduce a new type of medical robot.
B.To provide guidance on treating COVID-19.
C.To describe the current condition of COVID-19.
D.To promote the commercialization of a new robot.
Five years ago, as a new nurse working at night-time at Norwalk Hospital in Connecticut, Kelly Depanfills stopped to chat with one of her favorite patients, a middle-aged man with leukemia, a type of blood disease. He was in the hospital for treatment, but what he really hoped for was a bone marrow (骨髓) transplant. He talked about “Be The Match”, a foundation that connects patients with donors. “It made me want to see if I matched with anyone,” Depanfills says. “He said, ‘Well, get on there!’”
Depanfills was shocked at how simple “getting on there” turned out to be: all she had to do was sign up and swab (拭抹) her cheek. She just didn’t imagine she’d get the chance so quickly. Not long after being swabbed, Depanfills got a call about a possible recipient (接受者): a 6-month-old boy born without an immune system — meaning one cold could become life-threatening. Within six months, she was checked in to the hospital as his no-named transplant donor.
After the operation, she was told the recovery time was 20 days and could include pain and tiredness, but she had only some soreness. “Honestly, the next day, I went out shopping,” she says. The boy who received her bone marrow cells is now recovering well and able to run around the playground like other kids.
Depanfills was so energized by the experience that she started volunteering at registry events, and last year she started her own at Norwalk Hospital. “One couple drove 45 minutes just to get swabbed,” she says. In a single day, about 50 hoping to be donors signed up. Every year there are 20,000 people who might benefit from a bone marrow transplant. “When you say such things, people get nervous,” Depanfills says. “But I want everyone to know how easy giving this gift can be.”
1.The function of “Be the match” is to_____.
A.link donors with recipients. B.perform transplant operations
C.improve patients’ immune system D.raise money for Norwalk Hospital
2.Which of the following statements about Depanfills is true?
A.She cured a middle-aged man.
B.She was saved by “Be the match”.
C.Her signing up for the donation was hard.
D.Her name was unknown to the recipient.
3.According to the text, we can know that_____.
A.the usual recovery time is less than 20 days
B.many people are inspired by Depanfills’ action
C.the recipient is normally free of pain and tiredness
D.there are 20,000 people every year waiting for donations
4.What can be a suitable title for the text?
A.A Non-profit Project B.A Cure for a Blood Disease
C.A Marrow Transplant Operation D.A Caring and Can-do Donor
Movies are the most popular form of entertainment for millions of people. We go to the movies to escape our normal everyday existence and to experience a life more exciting than our own. Whatever our plan is in 2020, we can't miss these great movies!
PG-13| 131 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Metascore: 8.0
A detective investigates the death of the male head of a strange and aggressive family.
Director: Rian Johnson | Stars: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis
Votes: 225,361| Gross: $165.36M
R | 132 min | Comedy, Drama, Thriller
Metascore: 8.6
A poor family, the Kims, cheat their way into becoming the servants of a rich family, the Parks. But their easy life gets complex when their trick is threatened with exposure.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Kang-ho Song, Sun-kyun Lee, Yeo-jeong Jo, Woo-sik Choi
Votes: 315,193 | Gross: $53.37M
R | 122 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Metascore: 8.5
In Gotham City, a party clown and ambitious comedian dreams of making the world laugh. But living with his mother and suffering from a compulsive laughter disorder, he only feels isolated and ignored. What's worse, he can't engage with the world at all.
Director: Todd Phillips | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy
Votes: 715,341 | Gross: $335.45M
R | 148 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Metascore:7.1
A couple travels to Sweden to visit a rural hometown's fabled mid-summer festival. What begins as a peaceful retreat (静休) quickly changes into an increasingly violent and unusual competition at the hands of a pagan cult.
Director: Ari Aster | Stars: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Vilhelm Blomgren, William Jackson Harper
Votes: 127,505 | Gross: $27.33M
1.Which of the following movies has the most votes?
A.Knives Out. B.Gisaengchung.
C.Joker. D.Midsommar.
2.What can be learned from the text?
A.Gisaengchung is the longest movie.
B.The Metascore of Midsommar is 8.6.
C.Knives Out is directed by Todd Phillips.
D.The gross ticket sale of Joker is more than $300M.
3.Which movies are about life changes?
A.Knives Out & Joker. B.Knives Out & Gisaengchung.
C.Gisaengchung & Midsommar. D.Joker & Midsommar.
Yesterday, the Peoples Court of Qi County in Henan Province had a special plaintiff, an eleven-year-old boy in the fifth grade. He accused his parents of peeping at his diary, which violated his privacy.
After looking into the case, the judge found out what had happened to the boy and his parents. Li used to be an excellent student, but recently, he couldn’t focus on his studies. His parents were busy with their business, so they cared little about him. However, after learning about their son’s change, they managed to peep at his diary. From the diary, they learned that their son had a love affair with a girl in the same class. Then they got very angry and scolded him severely. As a result, the boy charged his parents with violating his privacy.
Facing the special case, the judge said, “Li is not a grown-up, but he has privacy protected by law. But in this case, what his parents did was to try to understand his thought in order to help him grow up healthily, which couldn’t be defined as an invasion.” Later, the judge told the parents it was unwise to peep at the child’s diary. Instead, they should try to talk to him. With the help of the judge, the boy promised to concentrate on his studies.
【写作内容】
1. 以约30个词概括阅读材料的主要内容；
2. 以约120个词谈谈你对“父母偷看子女日记”的看法，包括以下要点：
(1) 看完新闻你有何感受？
(2) 如果你是文中主人公，你会如何做？
(3) 你认为子女和父母应该如何更好地相处。
【写作要求】
1. 作文中可以使用自己亲身的经历或虚构的故事，也可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不得直接引用原文中的句子；
2. 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。
【评分标准】
概括准确，语言规范，内容合适，篇章连贯。
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Factory farming is a type of farming that involves raising a huge number of livestock（牲畜）in comparatively tinier enclosed spaces, with a view to supplying them to the livestock market. It took root in the later part of the 19th century. On the arrival of the Industrial Revolution, the inventions of antibiotics and pesticides were increasing in number, which made it possible to practice factory farming. And gradually, with better farming methods, livestock were able to be raised indoors leading to mass production in a shorter while. Nowadays, according to reliable sources, more than 50% of the livestock are produced using this concept.
Factory farming is one of the most important food production methods around the world today because it has a lot of advantages. For example, there are huge numbers of mouths to feed, and mass production leads to the purchase of poultry and the related items. Since the items aren’t priced too high for consumers to afford, people appreciate buying them in a large number. And as more and more livestock are artificially raised, more and more chicken, beef and eggs are out for sale. The purchase rate is higher and despite being reasonably priced, the produce fetches a profit for the farms. In addition, since the business is enormous and needs as many hands as possible to increase the food produce, an equal number of staff are required for work, which results in a growth in the related jobs.
However, there are also disadvantages of factory farming. For instance, the animals are artificially bred, and since the procedure is not natural, the end products could be of poor quality. Antibiotics are injected into cows and hens, making them more unlikely to suffer from dirt and disease. As a result, the eggs and meat will not be as good as usual. The products thus obtained are of such low quality, which ultimately affects our health as well. Actually, since the entire production is artificial, the meat is overloaded with hormones（激素）and drugs, and the bacteria develop resistance to the antibiotics, which is why many diseases remain untreated. Worse still, the animals’ waste can pollute the water and air, causing extensive damage to the environment. It may also lead to harmful emissions and contribute to the already increasing global warming.
Because of the above advantages and disadvantages of factory farming, the concept has been a subject of massive debate all over the world, wherever this practice has been employed. Supporters of this concept argue that it does provide enough food for the increasing population and is more affordable. However, unfavorable opinions suggest that there are better ways of producing food, rather than subjecting animals to this suffering. The debate has been going on for quite a while, with no one being able to gain the upper hand.
Factory Farming | |
Definition | Factory farming refers to raising so many farm animals in a 1. space to meet the requirements of people’s daily life. |
Background | With more antibiotics and pesticides 2., factory farming came into being in the late 19th century. As farming methods improved, factory farming3. mass production in a shorter while. Over half of the livestock are produced through factory farming at the present time. |
Advantages | Factory farming produces more food to feed a large4.. The items produced through factory farming are 5. for ordinary consumers. The higher purchase rate makes factory farming 6., in the spite of reasonable price. Factory farming contributes to an increasing number of working 7.. |
Disadvantages | The animals aren’t8. brought up, so the quality of the end products could not be good enough. Antibiotics are injected into the animals, which makes bacteria9. to drugs and leaves many diseases untreated. |
Debate | Some people support this concept, while some others are against it because they think food should be produced in better ways. The debate has10. long, but neither side has got the edge over the other. |
