You probably know who Marie Curie was, but you may not have heard of Rachel Carson. Of the outstanding ladies listed below, who do you think was the most important woman of the past 100 years?
Jane Addams (l 860-1935)
Anyone who has ever been helped by a social worker has Jane Addams to thank. Addams helped the poor and worked for peace. She encouraged a sense of community by creating shelters and promoting education and services for people in need. In 1931, Addams became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Rachel Carson (l 907-1964)
If it weren’t for Rachel Carson, the environmental movement might not exist today. Her popular 1962 book Silent Spring raised awareness of the dangers of pollution and the harmful effects of chemicals on humans and on the world’s lakes and oceans.
Sandra Day O’Connor (1930-present)
When Sandra Day O’Connor finished third in her class at Stanford Law School, in 1952, she could not find work at a law firm because she was a woman. She became an Arizona state senator (参议员) and, in 1981, the first woman to join the U.S. Supreme Court. O’Connor gave the deciding vote in many important cases during her 24 years on the top court.
Rosa Parks (1913-2005)
On December 1,1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks would not give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger. Her simple act landed Parks in prison. But it also set off the Montgomery bus boycott. It lasted for more than a year, and kicked off the civil-rights movement. “The only tired I was, was tired of giving in,” said Parks.
1.What is Jane Addams noted for in history?
A. Her social work.
B. Her teaching skills.
C. Her efforts to win a prize.
D. Her community background.
2.What was the reason for O’Connor’s being rejected by the law firm?
A. Her lack of proper training in law.
B. Her little work experience in court.
C. The discrimination against women.
D. The poor financial conditions.
3.Who made a great contribution to the civil-rights movement in the U.S.?
A. Jane Addams. B. Rachel Carson.
C. Sandra Day O’Connor. D. Rosa Park.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Five years ago, when I taught art at a school in Seattle, I used Tinkertoys as a test at the beginning of a term to find out something about my students. I put a small set of Tinkertoys in front of each student, and said: “Make something out of the Tinkertoys. You have 45 minutes today — and 45 minutes each day for the rest of the week.”
A few students hesitated to start. They waited to see the rest of the class would do. Several others checked the instructions and made something according to one of the model plans provided. Another group built something out of their own imaginations.
Once I had a boy who worked experimentally with Tinkertoys in his free time. His constructions filled a shelf in the art classroom and a good part of his bedroom at home. I was delighted at the presence of such a student. Here was an exceptionally creative mind at work. His presence meant that I had an unexpected teaching assistant in class whose creativity would infect(感染) other students.
Encouraging this kind of thinking has a downside. I ran the risk of losing those students who had a different style of thinking. Without fail one would declare, “But I’m just not creative.”
“Do you dream at night when you’re asleep?”
“Oh, sure.”
“So tell me one of your most interesting dreams.” The student would tell something wildly imaginative. Flying in the sky or in a time machine or growing three heads. “That’s pretty creative. Who does that for you?”
“Nobody. I do it.”
“Really-at night, when you’re asleep?”
“Sure.”
“Try doing it in the daytime, in class, okay?”
1.The teacher used Tinkertoys in class in order to ________.
A. know more about the students
B. make the lessons more exciting
C. raise the students’ interest in art
D. teach the students about toy design
2.What do we know about the boy mentioned in Paragraph 3?
A. He liked to help his teacher. B. He preferred to study alone.
C. He was active in class. D. He was imaginative.
3.What does the underlined word “downside” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?
A. Mistake. B. Drawback.
C. Difficulty. D. Burden.
4.Why did the teacher ask the students to talk about their dreams?
A. To help them to see their creativity.
B. To find out about their sleeping habits.
C. To help them to improve their memory.
D. To find out about their ways of thinking.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
In the mid-nineteenth century, as iceboxes became increasingly common in American homes, there were efforts to find cheaper and more reliable sources of ice. In the eighteen-thirties, scientists discovered a way to make ice, which is similar to how a refrigerator works. In 1860, there were four artificial-ice plants in the United States; in 1889, there were about two hundred; by 1909, there were two thousand. Ice now came from factories, not ponds, and it was turned out in three-hundred-pound blocks by lowering steel cans of pure water into tanks of refrigerated salted water. Kept below thirty-two degrees, the salted water did not freeze, but the water in the cans did. Those cans were then lifted from the tank, and the ice was taken out of them.
The ice blocks were delivered to home users, and to the fishing and chemical industries. On the railroads, trains carrying fruit and vegetables had cars at each end filled with blocks of ice. It was a growing industry.
The great trade began to fall away in the middle years of the twentieth century. The railroad business shrank, and, in the immediate postwar period, block ice lost out to home refrigerators and then to small commercial ice machines. By the nineteen-sixties, things looked very dark. “It was scary,” Dan Ditmar, an ice expert in San Antonito, told me. “Your biggest customers were cafeterias and country clubs, and you’d go out there and they’d say, ‘We don’t need you anymore; we’ve got ice machines.’”
Then the companies that survived the slump（a slump is a period when there is a reduction in business）began investing（投资）in newly developed ice-cube machines, and by the late sixties American ice was becoming a packaged-ice business. And packaged ice was exactly what the country needed. These were years of increased leisure time—more barbecues, more cars, and more houses by the lake. “Things exploded in the nineteen-seventies,^ Paul Handler said. Ice cubes evolved. They became hugely popular^ shoveled（铲）here and there into picnic coolers and fast-foof sodas. They became noisier.
1.What happened at the beginning of the 20th century?
A. Ice was mainly used on the railroads.
B. There was a great need for iceboxes.
C. Ice cubes got popular in the US.
D. The ice industry grew very last,
2.What was scary according to Dan Detmar?
A. The slump in the block-ice market.
B. The danger of producing block ice.
C. The social problems in the postwar period
D. The problems caused by home refrigerators.
3.What can we say about the investment in ice-cube machines?
A. It nearly destroyed the US ice industry.
B. It helped increase people’s leisure time.
C. It proved to be a huge success.
D. It caused a decline in ice sales.
4.Which can be the best title for the text?
A. From ponds to factories. B. From ice blocks to ice cubes,
C. From iceboxes to refrigerators. D. From refrigerators to ice machines.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
A role model is a person who others look up to. A role model provides inspiration and motivation for others. Role models send messages about their beliefs by what they do and say. 1.
Role models are self-confident and happy with who they are. If role models show that they have great confidence, those who look up to them will, too. 2. They are proud of who they are, but not overly self- confident.
Role models handle stress positively. Being humans means having to constantly deal with stress and overcome difficulties. 3. While athletic role models may not win every game, they attempt to survive all kinds of pressure and learn from their mistakes when they fail.
4. A role model is honest and doesn’t lie. A role model possesses integrity（诚实正直）and does the right thing even if no one is looking.
Role models show respect for others. How you treat others speakers volumes（充分说明）about who you are. 5. He treats others in the way that he would like to be treated and is considerate of others. A role model does not place the blame for mistake on others; he owns up to his own shortcomings.
A. Role models are always trustworthy
B. A good role model also does what he says
C. Role models have trust in being themselves
D. Here are some qualities of positive role models
E. A role model sets a good example of how to deal with pressure
F. If you want to become a good role model, follow the tips below
G. A good role model listens to others and also considers opposing points of view
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
When my wife and I decided to open our bookstore in 2012, we were a little ____.
The challenges facing small bookstores were—and remain— ____. Aside from the obvious ____ in online selling, the increase in the popularity of e-books has had a（n）____ effect on independent providers.
The question is why a new, small-scale（小规模的）provider would ____ enter such a（n）____ market?
From a personal view, our reasoning was sound: we wanted to ____ our love of great books and reading for pleasure with as many ____ people as possible.
Having done our homework, one thing became ____. In order for us to succeed, we would have to offer something that none of our larger competitors already provided.
And so we ____ the Willoughby Book Club. We set up our website in the summer of 2012—and we haven’t looked back.
The idea of ____ is simple. We offer a range of book subscription gift packages, ____ in three-, six- and 12-month options. Our customers ____ a package, tell us a little about the person they’re buying it for, and we use this information to ____ the（接收者）a hand-picked, gift-wrapped（包装的）book once a month.
We also recently decided to ____ one new book to Book Aid International for every gift subscription sold. These books are sent out to sub-Saharan Africa, ____ the educational work there.
Within four months of starting out, we won the Young Bookseller of the Year award at the 2013 Bookseller awards.
Our brief ____ from new booksellers to award receivers has been challenging and ____. The biggest thing we’ve learned is that, despite the ____ facing independent providers, there is a ____ for then in the UK market. It’s just a question of finding it.
1.A. proud B. curious C. worried D. shocked
2.A. abrupt B. significant C. distant D. potential
3.A. need B. faith C. change D. rise
4.A. immediate B. magical C. harmful D. equal
5.A. voluntarily B. gradually C. secretly D. finally
6.A. active B. global C. promising D. challenging
7.A. share B. seek C. enjoy D. value
8.A. strong-minded B. like-minded C. open-minded D. simple-minded
9.A. easy B. clear C. possible D. safe
10.A. joined B. visited C. started D. left
11.A. success B. service C. development D. activity
12.A. affordable B. acceptable C. reliable D. available
13.A. choose B. design C. provide D. prepare
14.A. send B. read C. buy D. order
15.A. pass B. lend C. give D. return
16.A. guiding B. following C. continuing D. supporting
17.A. journey B. dream C. business D. attempt
18.A. tiring B. rewarding C. disappointing D. interesting
19.A. chances B. demands C. pressures D. judgements
20.A. prize B. time C. result D. place
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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。
1. we know, there are three medalists in Olympic races: the gold, the silver, and the bronze (铜牌).
Imagine what it’s like to be the silver medalist. If you 2. (be) just one second faster, you could have won the gold! So close! You would keep comparing yourself to be the gold winner, full 3. envy.
Now imagine what it’s like to be the bronze medalist. One second 4. (slow), and you wouldn’t have won anything! Whoo-hoo! You would be thrilled that you were 5. (official) an Olympic medalist, and got to stand on the winner’s podium at all.
You can 6. compare up or compare down and your 7. (happy) depends on where you’re focusing. This is easy to understand, but hard to remember in everyday life. If you catch yourself 8. (bum) with envy of anger, think like the bronze medalist, not the silver. Change your focus.
For example, if you buy something that is “the best”, you may feel like a gold winner, but when the new “best” 9. (come) out next year, you’ll feel like the siver. Instead, if you look at what you buy as something “surprisingly good”, it will keep you in the bronze mindset. Since you’re not comparing it to best, you’ll feel no need 10. (keep) up with the newest thing.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
（题文）假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改同桌写的以下作文。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：在错的词下划一横线，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。
Recently, the increasing of shared bikes have made our lives more convenient. However, my classmates and I often noticed some shared bikes place messily everywhere. We felt upset but decided to make a change to the uncivilized behavior. On Saturday morning, we gather outside the subway station. First, we began with those messy shared bikes and tried to put them in to order. People passing by appreciated that we did. Seen the bikes in rows on the pavement, we felt excited. Then, in order to encourage people’s civilized behavior, we put up a largely poster saying “Please Be Civilized While Using A Shared Bike”. Of course, we drew much attention from the passer-by. Hopefully our actions will make difference.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
假如你是李华，你的美国网友Tom对遍布中国大街小巷的扫码支付很感兴趣，特意给你写信想了解一下。你根据以下提示给他回信：
1．中国扫码支付的现状；
2．扫码支付方法：在智能手机上打开支付宝或微信app，扫描二维码；
3．扫码支付的好处。
注意：1．词数100左右；
2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：扫码支付Scan to Pay；支付宝Alipay；微信WeChat；二维码QR code
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难度: 中等查看答案及解析