In 2003, Mary Marggraff was a 47-year-old California mother, devoted to school committees and car pool schedules. But after losing her trusty notebook and buying a new one, she had an inspiration.
“It was blank," says Marggraff, now 64. “What else could I fill it with?" Soon she was thinking about her childhood love of flying, and next thing she knew, she determined to register in flight school. “In my first class, all the students were single men half my age. I felt like a housemother attending a fraternity （兄弟会）,but I loved it too much to walk away." she says.
Marggraff earned her first pilot's license in 2005. Six years and four additional licenses later, her addiction to being in the air changed into something grander: a desire to go to space. To move closer to her starry dreams, Marggraff got a part-time job as a mission support representative at Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson's commercial space line. In that role, she attended space related gatherings where she educated people about the future of universe voyages. Though space tourism isn't quite a reality yet, Marggraff has already begun space training in expectation of being on one of Virgin's early flights. "I've completed acceleration force exercises, she says, "which require getting inside a machine, spinning around at 2,500 miles per hour, and trying not to black out."
Marggraff^ training has meant more than getting her wings --- it's expanded her sense of what the future may hold. "It turns out I'm capable of much more than I imagined," she says. "I used to think it'd be a miracle if I got my first license. Now I've completed nearly 1,000 hours of flight! I'm rotten in the kitchen and I burn anything I iron, but if you need someone to land a plane, call me."
1.Why did Marggraff register in flight school?
A.To break away from car pool schedules.
B.To fill her new blank notebook.
C.To prove women are equal to men in flying.
D.To pursue her childhood dream of flying.
2.What did Marggraff do after earning 5 licenses?
A.She got into space on one of Virgin's early flights.
B.She instructed people in how to make universe voyages.
C.She received space training in preparation for space tourism.
D.She tried in vain to overcome faintness from high speed.
3.What does Marggraff benefit from her space training besides getting a license?
A.It proves her a miracle. B.It increases her self-confidence.
C.It wins her a qualification. D.It improves her imagination.
4.Which of the following words can best describe Marggraff?
A.Aggressive and hopeful. B.Creative and fragile.
C.Energetic and sensitive. D.Considerate and persistent.
The Ig Nobel Prize, a spoof （滑稽模仿）of the actual Nobel Prize, exists to award the 10 strangest research projects of the year that bring you fun and make you think. The following are three of them in 2019.
Medicine Prize: Pizza
It's one of the world's most popular foods. According to the Ig Nobel Medicine Prize winner, eating more pizzas can lower the risk of cancer and heart disease — if your pizza is loaded with fruits and veggies. These provide flavonoids （类黄酮）to fight against certain diseases. So, if you're a pizza enthusiast, you now have one more reason to love it!
Economics Prize: Dirty Money
Paper money, the most frequently passed items on the planet, is known to pick up all kinds of bacteria. Which country's currency is the dirtiest? An international team compared seven countries, paper money. The Romanian Leu was the only one to carry all three types of bacteria tested. And the US Dollar was also a finalist. Perhaps this will make cashless payments more popular.
Biology Prize: Cockroach
Cockroaches (（蟑螂）)）are well known for their survival abilities, but few folks know they can sense magnetic fields. More surprisingly, an international team found that dead cockroaches have more magnetic properties （磁性）than live ones. That's because magnetic properties decrease when the temperature gets higher. So if you can stand cockroaches, they may be good magnetic sensors （传感器）.
1.What do the three prizes have in common?
A.They are beneficial to our health.
B.They are entertaining and unusual.
C.They've gained the recognition of the Nobel Prize.
D.They are stranger than any other project in previous years.
2.What can we learn from the passage?
A.People with heart disease should eat more pizzas.
B.US Dollar is relatively dirtier than Romanian Leu.
C.Dirty paper money leads to cashless payments.
D.Dead cockroaches are better magnetic sensors than live ones.
3.In which column can you find this passage in a newspaper?
A.Discovery. B.Sports.
C.Health. D.Business.
阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。
My husband Andrew, a wise father, teaches our kids how to balance risk with freedom.
We have four chickens: Pecky, Buckbeak, Mayonnaise and Cornflake. My husband made their coop (笼子). It’s beautifully made.
Actually he made it with our sons and daughter. The kids and their father spent several weekends in the garage. He gave them tools because he believed it was important that they could actually make something. He slowly helped them and together, they made the coop. They also made the mistakes of learning-a board cut too short, nails smashed (打碎) by hammers — but in the end, Andrew did some tricks and the coop looked perfect.
The chickens loved their perfectly imperfect home and we also gave them free range in the yard. Andrew encouraged our kids to provide the chickens with quite a big area and explained that to take risks is part of life, and by giving chickens the freedom to wander around and dig for bugs, it is a better experience for them than the confines (限制) of the coop.
Yesterday, they ran around the lawn (草地). We needed to go downtown, knowing that chickens wouldn’t go very far. When we got back, my son, Gordon, ran to check on them. There were Mayonnaise, Cornflake and Buckbeak, looking a mess but still alive. Yet Pecky was nowhere to be seen.
With Andrew, we searched the yard and found some feathers by the trees. Then, we saw more feathers littering the yard. By this time. Gordon started to worry; Pecky was his favorite chicken and his eyes got watery.
Andrew picked Gordon up and held him. As we stood there, beginning to accept that we were now a three-chicken family, we heard it-a soft clucking (咯咯声) sound under a bush.
注意：
1. 所续写短文的词数应该为150左右；
2. 至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1:
Andrew put Gordon down and they looked under the bush.
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Paragraph 2:
The next day Andrew had a discussion with the kids about what to do with the chickens.
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假设你是红星中学的李华，你校将在下周五举办“校园文化节（Campus Culture Festival）”系列活动。请给你班留学生Jim写封邮件，邀请他参加其中的一个活动。邮件的内容包括：
1. 介绍你推荐的活动；
2. 说明你推荐的理由；
3. 询问对方的意向。
注意：1. 词数80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
We are often told to pay attention to 1. our mothers tell us. Most of us enjoy listening to our mothers speaking. Scientists have found that our brains greatly prefer the voices of our own mothers to 2. of other people.
Scientists at the Stanford University, in the United States, recently looked into this. They scanned (扫描) children’s brains while they 3. (listen) to different sounds, including their mothers’ voices. They found that 97 percent of the time, children could recognize their mothers’ voices at once.
4. (hear) their mothers’ voices makes children’s brains more active. We 5. (usual) just use one part of our brain to deal with sounds when we hear something. But when we hear our mothers’ voices, many parts of the brain, including those in charge of reward and emotion, start to work as well.
Why do we respond so strongly 6. our mothers’ voices? It starts even before we’re born. When children are still in the womb (子宫) or have just been born, they hear their mothers talking. This makes babies feel 7. (comfort) and teaches them language and social skills, even though they are still very young. The babies learn to recognize their mothers’ voices as a rewarding sound. Later, when this sound is heard again, more attention 8. (pay) to it.
Some sounds are necessary for our 9. (survive) while others bring us pleasure. Both types are recognized by our brains as rewarding sounds. Most human voices are not recognized in this way, since we hear them so often. 10., mothers’ voices are different, as they bring us a lot of comfort.
One day when I was 15 years old, I had some friends over to hang out. While we were making food in the ________, my brother came in. He ________ his beef next to my thick one and said, “Courtney, your beef is bigger than mine. You don’t need to eat; you’re already fat enough.” Then he walked out, laughing.
________ comments on my physical appearance were nothing new. Something inside me ________ to his idea that my legs were unacceptable, and that became the last day that I ever willingly wore ________ until I was 30 years old. For the next 15 years, 1 spent summer after summer roasting in long pants.
But then I ________ Ragen Chastain, and she changed everything. I couldn’t believe that this woman who, like myself, almost ________ 300 pounds was so ________ and happy in her own skin. I listened ________ she shared her own journey to recovery and self-love. She talked about how amazing our bodies are, just by ________ of the things they do every day—like ________, pumping blood to every cell, blinking and walking.
Walking! I was suddenly ________ of how foolish I’d been for so long. There’re people who are born ________ legs, or who lack properly working legs, or who ________ their legs, and I’d been ________ my perfectly strong, healthy, beautiful legs in ________ because I had allowed someone to ________ me that they weren’t good enough. The next day. I bought three pairs of shorts and a sundress and spent the entire summer letting my legs sec the sun and feel the breeze.
The next time anyone comments on your body in a ________ way, look them straight in the eye, smile and say, “If what you see ________ you so much, feel free to practice the ancient art of looking somewhere else.” Thai’s Ragen’s original, but I don’t think she’ll ________ if you use it.
1.A.classroom B.kitchen C.bedroom D.dorm
2.A.offered B.devoted C.placed D.organized
3.A.Unpleasant B.Eventual C.Regretful D.Innocent
4.A.took up B.got down C.gave in D.tried out
5.A.shirts B.shorts C.coats D.socks
6.A.asked B.related C.approved D.met
7.A.possessed B.measured C.owned D.weighed
8.A.typical B.energetic C.passive D.respectable
9.A.as B.because C.unless D.though
10.A.feature B.character C.means D.gender
11.A.shopping B.swimming C.breathing D.applauding
12.A.informed B.afraid C.aware D.concerned
13.A.with B.despite C.without D.beyond
14.A.waste B.lose C.reject D.keep
15.A.hiding B.using C.doubting D.blaming
16.A.surprise B.ruins C.puzzle D.shame
17.A.advise B.convince C.inform D.educate
18.A.positive B.negative C.different D.specific
19.A.escapes B.removes C.bothers D.benefits
20.A.wonder B.wander C.suspect D.mind
