After finishing my teaching for a school year, I thought that I should go back to Montreal, Quebec, my hometown for a visit. My main goal was to relax in preparation for the challenges of my retirement(退休) in the coming year.
Through my stay in Montreal, I met lots of Chinese who were trying hard to succeed and then led a better life in Canada. Some travelled thousands of miles to get knowledge. When I spoke with some of them about the major barrier(障碍) they had to face after they arrived in Canada, they all talked about the two official languages of Canada. But I was impressed by their ability to express their ideas while they were changing between English and French.
Almost all of those people said they often felt homesick. They miss their families and friends. Though Montreal has lots of Chinese restaurants, they long for a home•cooked meal.
I met some tourists who were trying to realize their childhood dreams of experiencing the life in a developed country. When I asked them if Montreal had lived up to their expectations, they hesitated. They said that reality never agrees with fantasies. However, they were glad to have the opportunity to visit Montreal and didn't regret taking the trip.
Not all the Chinese people I met were happy. I once met a young lady who met with a gentleman through the Internet. However, to her disappointment, he disappeared after he promised to marry her in Montreal.
I was served by another Chinese person who could not deal with the challenges of studying in an English-speaking environment and ended up working in a restaurant with low pay.
Exploring different parts of the world, without any doubt, is an enriching experience. However, one should be realistic when it comes to leaving his hometown to start a new life in a foreign country. One should take time to examine the advantages and the shortcomings of the adventure before he decides to chase an uncertain dream of achieving success or leading a better life.
1.Why did the writer go to his hometown?
A.To meet his old friends.
B.To study a new language.
C.To go on with his teaching.
D.To prepare for his retirement life.
2.What is the main barrier for some Chinese to get knowledge in Canada?
A.Food. B.Homesickness. C.Language. D.Income.
3.The writer thinks that .
A.overseas Chinese are good at communication in Canada
B.the trip to Montreal is a good chance for people to study
C.overseas Chinese feel disappointed at their life in Canada
D.people should think carefully before chasing their dreams abroad
4.What is the best title for the passage?
A.Improving Life Skills in Canada
B.Exploring Different Parts of Canada
C.Struggling for a Better Life in Canada
D.Going to Canada—Your Ideal Destination
Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3)
These three short plays by Suzan Lori•Parks are the start of an ambitious attempt to retell the story of the American civil war. The focus is on a slave promised his freedom by his master if he joins in the fight against the Union. Steve Toussaint and Jimmy Akingbola head the cast, and Jo Bonney is in charge.
★15 September to 4 October, Royal Court, London. Box office: 020•7565 5000.
A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer
Bryony Kimmings and Brian Lobel consider our attitudes to cancer and the language we employ to deal with it through the stories of five people. This is an all•singing, all•dancing affair with music by Tom Parkinson, wiping off the pink charity ribbons to look at the realities of diagnosis(诊断) and what it means for the wider family.
★20～24 September, Home, Manchester. Box office: 0161•200 1500.
The Nest
Every parent wants the best for their baby. Kurt and Martha are prepared to work hard to ensure theirs has everything he needs, even if that means Kurt taking on extra work. Franz Xaver Kroetz’s extraordinary play about the damage that profit causes to individuals and the environment gets a new translation from Conor McPherson.
★15～22 October, Lyric, Belfast. Box office: 028•9038 1081.
The Red Barn
David Hare’s new play is based on La Main, a psychological thriller by the great Georges Simenon. The story concerns two couples who, on their way back from a party, struggle through the snow. The play is directed by Robert Icke, and the cast is headed by Mark Strong and Hope Davis.
★6～20 October, Lyttelton, London. Box office: 020•7452 3000.
1.When can you see the play directed by Robert Icke?
A.On 19 September. B.On 3 October.
C.On 10 October. D.On 21 October.
2.In which play can we feel parents’ love for children?
A.The Nest.
B.The Red Barn.
C.Father Comes Home from the Wars.
D.A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer.
3.What do the plays mentioned in the text have in common?
A.They are all comedies. B.They are put on in autumn.
C.They are highly thought of. D.They are works of the same writer.
阅读下面材料, 根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。续写的词数应为 150 左右。
Peter heard his little sister Eva’s weak cries as Mother wrapped her in a heavy blanket. Peter’s parents would be heading to town soon to take Eva to the doctor. “Remember to keep the stove going,” Father said, “And check on the cow now and then in the barn (畜棚). Her calf (小牛) may come at any time.” “I will,” said
Peter. Peter promised as his parents walked out into the cold. He didn’t want to add to their worry.
“Today I must manage on my own,” Peter said out loud to make himself feel braver. Father often said they all had to pull their own weight (尽本分) in their new home on the farm. Peter hoped he could do that.
The tiny one-room house felt big with only him in it. He carefully added one piece of wood to the small iron stove.
The morning passed quickly as Peter worked on the sled he was making. After eating at noon, he took melted-snow water to the cow. In the afternoon, Peter heard the winds increase. He decided he’d better check on the cow again.
Peter put on his heavy woolen coat and stepped out of the door. The wind blew snow crystals into his face and his breath froze into a patch (小片) of ice on his scarf before he arrived.
Lying on the dirt floor was a newborn calf, on whose tiny body ice had already begun forming. The cow mooed (哞哞叫) and licked her newborn. Peter knew this calf was important to his family. But the calf looked weak, shivering on the ground. “I have to get the calf to the house or it’ll freeze to death,” Peter thought.
Para. 1: He tried to lift it, but it was too heavy.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Para. 2: “I need to fetch some milk for it,” Peter said to himself.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
假定你是李华, 本周日将在人民剧场上演越剧《梁山伯与祝英台》。请给你的好友英国交换生 Lucy 写封邮件, 邀请她一同前往观看。内容包括:
1. 发出邀请；
2. 介绍该剧；
3. 约定见面时间和地点。
注意:
1. 词数80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。参考词汇: 越剧 Shaoxing opera
《梁山伯与祝英台》The Butterfly Lovers
Dear Lucy,
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
The greatest saleswoman in the world today doesn’t mind if you call her a girl. That’s because Markita Andrews has ______ more than $80,000 by selling cookies since she was seven years old. Going door to door after school, the painfully shy Markita___ herself into a cookie-selling expert.
It___ with desire. Burning, white-hot desire.
Markita and her widowed mother___ a dream of traveling the globe. Once, Markita read a magazine article, saying that the child who sold the most cookies would win an all-expenses-paid trip for two around the world. She decided to have a ______ at it.
To realize her dream, Markita went door to door every day after school, and repeated, “Hi, I have a dream. I’m ________ a trip around the world for my mom and me by selling cookies.” Then she asked, “Would you like to___ in my dream by buying some cookies?” Whether they bought or not, she always___ a smile.
Her hard work finally_________. She sold 42,000 boxes of cookies that year and she won her trip around the world.
Markita is not __________ than thousands of other people. The key to her _______ is that she has found the secret of selling: Ask, Ask, Ask! Many people fail _______ they even begin because of their fear of____.
It takes courage to ask for what you want. Courage is not the ________ of fear. It’s doing what it takes despite one’s fear. And, as Markita has discovered, the more you ask, the _____ it gets.
1.A.spent B.generated C.withdrew D.received
2.A.threw B.brought C.transformed D.persuaded
3.A.starts B.mixes C.corresponds D.deals
4.A.created B.realized C.remembered D.shared
5.A.push B.go C.look D.blow
6.A.enjoying B.organizing C.booking D.earning
7.A.drop B.cut C.invest D.live
8.A.forced B.wore C.pretended D.produced
9.A.paid back B.turned up C.paid off D.turned around
10.A.smarter B.richer C.higher D.prettier
11.A.success B.discovery C.delivery D.progress
12.A.after B.until C.once D.before
13.A.interaction B.rejection C.competition D.discrimination
14.A.cause B.experience C.presence D.absence
15.A.easier B.more C.faster D.harder
Secrets of the Rainbow
The storm is over: the sun is shining. But when you go outside, the rain is still falling, and you see a breathtaking sight in the sky: a shimmering arch of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple light. No pot of gold sits at that rainbow’s end.1. Rainbows are rare because they need two things that don’t often go together: sunlight and rain.2.But it contains all the colors of the rainbow. A rainbow appears when raindrops split these colors apart, letting us see them.
In empty space, all these colors travel equally fast: 671 million miles an hour. But when sunlight passes through water, it slows down. 3. These differences in speed make a rainbow. Red light goes fastest. Orange is almost as fast. Yellow is a little slower, and green is a little slower than that. Blue is slower still, and purple light is the slowest.
As light enters water, it bends, or refracts (折射). The amount of refraction depends on how fast the light travels through water. So once sunlight enters a raindrop, the different colors split apart and travel separate paths. 4. They exit the front of the raindrop, bending again as they go from water to air. So they are still on separate paths, with the different colors next to one another, and you see a rainbow when you look at the falling raindrops.
After you find a rainbow, look for a second rainbow outside the main one. It’s called a secondary rainbow and is usually fainter, so it’s harder to see. 5. The main rainbow has red on top and purple on bottom. The secondary rainbow has red on bottom and purple on top.
A.Sunlight usually looks pale.
B.Its colors are in the opposite order.
C.Instead, a rainbow is its own reward.
D.There’s more to a rainbow than we can see.
E.Some colors go through water faster than others.
F.Then the colors reflect off the back of the raindrop.
G.A rainbow only needs the right mix of sunlight and rain.
