In April 1952, I was 11 years old and in the sixth grade at an elementary school. My teacher was Miss Pemberton. It was spelling bee time in our city - students were issued with brochures of words to study in _____ for the class spelldowns (比赛). They would lead to a schoolwide contest and ________ qualification for the citywide spelling bee, where school ________ competed for the ________ of being the spelling champion of Houston.
The day ________ the class spelling bee, my youngest brother was playing with matches and ________ set a fire in our apartment. My mother made sleeping arrangements for all of us and ________ the school in the morning to inform Miss Pemberton of the accident, ________ that the class spelling bee was that day.
When I arrived at school, Miss Pemberton ________ me aside. She asked if I wanted her to ________ the spelling bee to another day because of my ________ about the fire. I told her no. That day, I won the spelling bee for my class.
The next week was the school spelling bee, with class champions ________. I won again! The ________ spelling bee was one month away.
Every Sunday afternoon, Miss Pemberton would pick me up, and we would go to her house, where she would help me ________ by calling out spelling words. After a couple of ________, Miss Pemberton would ________ me to Rettig's icecream parlor, where I could ________ a hot chocolate sundae (圣代冰激凌) which I'd never had. We practiced every ________ until the citywide spelling bee.
I did not win the citywide spelling bee, but I still felt ________ to have participated. I also felt grateful that I had such a ________ teacher in elementary school.
1.A.need B.exchange C.preparation D.return
2.A.actual B.final C.hopeful D.lucky
3.A.students B.participants C.winners D.teams
4.A.prize B.benefit C.fame D.honor
5.A.before B.after C.during D.for
6.A.stupidly B.successfully C.shortly D.accidentally
7.A.visited B.called C.emailed D.wrote
8.A.believing B.hoping C.knowing D.telling
9.A.pulled B.drove C.left D.helped
10.A.call off B.take off C.put off D.send off
11.A.upset B.curiosity C.doubt D.anger
12.A.waiting B.competing C.winning D.applying
13.A.schoolwide B.citywide C.nationwide D.worldwide
14.A.review B.remember C.learn D.practice
15.A.minutes B.hours C.days D.weeks
16.A.rush B.drag C.take D.send
17.A.order B.use C.make D.enjoy
18.A.weekend B.afternoon C.moment D.night
19.A.proud B.welcome C.disappointed D.surprised
20.A.successful B.patient C.professional D.caring
The history of writing instruments, with which humans have recorded and conveyed thoughts and feelings, is the history of civilization itself. This is how we know about our ancestors and their life.
The handy sharpened-stone was adapted into the first writing instrument. Around 24, 000 BC, cavemen started drawing pictures with the stone onto the walls of their caves. 1. Walls at the Apollo site in Namibia are believed to be the oldest rock paintings to date.
Before paper came along, people used clay or wax tablets on which they wrote with sharp objects such as metal sticks or bones. Around 6000 years ago, the Egyptians invented the first paper-like material called papyrus (纸莎草纸). The word “paper” actually comes from the word “papyrus.”
2. Bones or metal sticks were no longer useful as the papyrus could not be scratched. So the Egyptians created a reed(芦苇)-pen for the papyrus. 3. And thus, ancient Egyptians transformed bamboo stems (茎) into an early form of fountain pen.
Another writing instrument that remained active in history for long period was the quill (鹅毛) pen. Introduced around 700 AD, the quill was a pen made from a bird feather. Goose feathers were most common. 4. For making fine line drawings, crow feathers were the best.
When writers had better inks and paper and handwriting had developed into both an art form and an everyday occurrence, man’s inventive nature once again turned to improving the writing instrument. 5.
A.Then something was needed to write upon the papyrus.
B.The papyrus became the most popular material at that time.
C.Swan feathers were of high quality, being rare and most expensive.
D.Bamboo stems were better and much more expensive than goose feathers.
E.These were mostly the stems of grass, especially from the bamboo plant.
F.This led to the development of the modern fountain pen in the 19th century.
G.These drawings showed events in daily life like the planting of crops or hunting victories.
Children now worry more about their parents spending too much time on their mobiles or computers than parents worry about their children. Those who order their children to switch off televisions, computers or mobile phones because they fear they are becoming addicted might need to take a long hard look at their own screen habits, new research shows.
Almost 70% of children think their parents spent too much time on their mobile phone, iPad or other similar devices, a research found. More than a third of children worry that their parents struggle to switch off from technology and a quarter of children surveyed openly accuse them of double standards when it comes to excessive (过多的) use of mobile devices, televisions and computers. One in five British children say their parents do not listen to them properly when they are together because they are so busy checking their emails or picking up work messages.
The survey was carried out by Opinion Matters, a research agency for the New Forest National Park Authority. The authority has recently begun providing facilities for visitors to hand in mobile phones, tablets and other devices for fear that technology is invading family life and making it impossible for people to appreciate nature properly because they never switch off.
Dr Richard Graham, a consultant adolescent psychiatrist and expert in technology addiction at Capio Nightingale Hospital in London, said there is growing evidence that children are finding their parents’ preoccupation with communication technology increasingly worrisome.
Four in ten of the children surveyed admitted that they sometimes communicate with their parents by text, email or social media even they are in the next room. The survey found that six in ten parents worry their children are spending too much time glued to small screens at home but almost seven in ten children have the same fear for their parents.
Dr Aric Sigman told the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health conference that parents who cannot switch off risk driving them to a lifelong dependency on screens with striking similarities to alcoholism. If so, I think, they will regret wasting the time supposed to be spend on their children before they grow up disappointed.
1.How many children questioned worry their parents spend too much time on screens?
A.One in three. B.One in four.
C.One in five. D.Almost seven in ten.
2.According to the Paragraph 3, we learn that _________.
A.screen habits are ruining family life
B.parents have trouble receiving work messages
C.children do not listen to their parents properly
D.parents are openly accused of double standards
3.According to Graham, what’s children’s attitude to their parents’ screen habits?
A.Approving. B.Doubtful.
C.Upset. D.Indifferent.
4.What is the main purpose of this passage?
A.To introduce the mobiles and computers to adults.
B.To advise parents to spend more time on their children.
C.To describe the difficulties today’s parents have met with.
D.To compare today’s parent-child relationship with that in the past.
The world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago. Recent NASA satellites data(2000-2017) have shown that human activities in China and India dominate this greening of the planet, thanks to ambitious tree-planting programmes in China and intensive agriculture in both countries.
The researchers from Boston University found that global green leaf area has increased by 5 percent in the new century, an area equal to all of the Amazon rainforest. China alone accounts for 25% of the global net increase in leaf area with only 6.6% of global vegetated area. China’s contribution comes in large part from its programmes to conserve and expand forests, taking up about 42 percent of the greening. The greening from farmlands in China is about 32%, but that in India is about 82%.
Rama Nemani, a research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Centre and a co-author of the study said, “When the greening of the Earth was first observed, we thought it was due to a warmer, wetter climate and fertilization from the added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But with data from NASA satellites, scientists realized that humans are also contributing, which was all against our expectations.”
Nemani sees a positive message in the new findings. “Once people realize there is a problem, they tend to fix it,” he said. “In the 1970sand 1980s in India and China, the situation around vegetation loss was not good. In the 1990s, people realized it, and today things have improved. Humans are incredibly resilient. That is what we see in the satellite data.”
However, the researchers rang bells as well. They said that the gain in global greenness did not necessarily make up for the loss of natural vegetation in regions like Brazil and Indonesia.
1.What is the second paragraph mainly about?
A.The decreasing size of the Amazon rainforest.
B.China’s bigger contribution to global greening.
C.Total global green leaf area in the new century.
D.China’s programmes to conserve and expand forests.
2.What surprised scientists regarding global greening?
A.Human activities B.suitable for analyzing data
C.A warmer and wetter climate. D.Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
3.What does the underlined word “resilient” probably mean?
A.Good at making programmes B.Suitable for analyzing data.
C.Able to make corrections D.Active in planting trees.
4.What does the last paragraph imply?
A.It is urgent to protect global natural resources.
B.Much remains to be done for global greenness.
C.Brazil and Indonesia lose most of their vegetation.
D.Global greenness needs all countries to work together.
Then the landlord began to examine the house. He and she were going to divorce, so it was obvious that they would not continue renting the house any more. Then the landlord began examining the house. After looking around, the landlord screamed, “The walls are full of nails! How could I rent the house to others?”
He said, “The room is too small, so we could only hang things on the walls.” The landlord didn’t listen to him and turned around up to the floor. She began looking around her familiar room. Four years ago, she became his bride here. There were several nails on the wall, on which hung his clothes yesterday. After he lived in the room, he removed all the clothes boxes and bought her a desk in the spared room because he knew she loved writing and drawing.
The landlord took toolkit down and tried to pull the nails out. After the nails were removed, the walls were left with numerous holes. All of a sudden, she felt terribly heartbroken as if her heart was pierced(刺破)through those holes and bleeding nonstop. She sprang from the seat and shouted, “Stop pulling the nails! We will continue renting the house and will only move away after we buy our own!” He looked at her with great surprise and then turned around, tearing over his face.
She finally came to understand that marriage was like wall and that all quarrels and “cold wars” were like the nails on the wall. When all the nails were removed, only a wall with numerous holes would be left. But if all the nails were still in their own places, the wall was still complete and reliable. But in the past, what she saw was only those nails.
They hung all the things back to the wall. He asked her, "Are you really willing to lead a tough life with me? " She patted away the ashes on hands and looked at those things satisfactorily, saying, "Yes! For me, it's not a suffering to live. "
1.Why did the landlord examine the house?
A.Because she wanted to drive the couple away.
B.Because the couple wanted to move away.
C.Because she decided to urge the couple to repair the house.
D.Because she decided to have the house decorated
2.Why did she feel so sad when the landlord put the nails out?
A.Because her things would be thrown away.
B.Because she was shouted at by the landlord.
C.Because she was reminded of her broken marriage.
D.Because she liked this house very much.
3.What did she finally understand?
A.Couples should tolerate each other.
B.Couples shouldn't quarrel at all.
C.Quarrelling couples shouldn't live together.
D.There is no complete and reliable marriage.
4.What is the best title of the passage?
A.It is not easy to divorce. B.How to avoid divorce.
C.A story of nails. D.Nails of marriage.
Matilda
By Roald Dahl
Price:＄10.25
Gifted and sweet, Matilda White goes largely unnoticed by her less-than-loving parents. Things only get worse when she goes to school. Luckily, her teacher, Miss Honey, helps Matilda discover how special she is and encourages her to create the life she dreams about.
Ivy & Bean
By Annie Barrows
Price:＄4.59
When Ivy moves in across the street, Bean is sure they won't be friends. They are just too different. However, when Ivy helps Bean get away from her sister, who is trying to get Bean in trouble, a friendship blossoms between the unlikely pair. Kids who enjoy this book can read the whole series over the summer.
Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed
By Emily Pearson
Price:＄7.99
When Mary decides to give some fresh-picked wild blueberries to a neighbor, she starts a chain reaction of kindness. After Mrs. Bishop makes and shares newly-made cake, her recipients go on to spread kindness to others they meet. Mary might be a common little girl, but she learns that even children can help make the world a better place.
Frederick
By Leo Lionni
Price:＄14.39
Frederick is a mouse who lives with his family in a large field. During the summer, all of the mice begin to store food to prepare for the cold winter months.All of the mice except Frederick, that is. Instead, Frederick collects things such as rays of sun, rainbows and words.Although the others think he is stupid, they come to learn that everyone's contribution counts.
1.Whose book is mainly about friendship?
A.Roald Dahl’s B.Leo Lionni’s
C.Emily Pearson’s D.Annie Barrows’s
2.How much should you pay for a book of animals?
A.＄4.59 B.＄7.99
C.＄14.39 D.＄10.25
3.Where is the text most likely to have been taken from?
A.A story book. B.A lesson plan.
C.A book review. D.A kid's magazine.
