It's time for your family to relax and have fun! The following family adventures have links for you to get more information.
Take the Rides of Your Life
Visit Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, to seek thrills "Even though it's located off the beaten track, experts regularly praise Cedar Point as the best overall theme park of the country," says U.S. News & World Report. The park calls itself the roller coaster capital of the world, and with 16 to choose from, it's hard to argue. It's open daily from May 10 through Labor Day; weekends only from Labor Day through November 2.
Tickets start at $ 48.99 per person if purchased online.
http://www.cedarpoint,com.
Wander Free on a Dude farm
Dust off your cowboy boots and ready your cowboy hats for a visit to this Rocky Mountains paradise. Located in Augusta, Montana, "The farm has everything an aspiring cowboy or girl could long for," says Sunset magazine, including hiking trails, fishing trips, campfires with sing-alongs, and, of course, horseback rides. The large farm operates from June through September; kids-only and adults-only programs are available.
Total cost starts at $ 1,360 per adult, $ 1,276 per teen, and $ 1,168 per child.
http://www.triplejranch.com.
Dig for Dinosaurs
Most kids （and adults）love dinosaurs, and to make their wildest dreams come true, head to Fruita, Colorado. The Museum of Western Colorado offers Dino Digs for children ages five and older. You can choose from one-, three-, and five-day expeditions. "Imagine how your child will feel when she helps unearth the fossilized（化石）bones of ancient species," says Outside magazine. It lasts from May to October.
Digs start at $ 125 per person.
http://www.museumofwesternco.com
Surf Sand Dunes
Swap your snowboard for a sand-board, and head to Sand Master Park in Florence, Oregon. Real Simple recommends learning the basics at this private dune park, "which offers board rentals and lessons - often taught by world-champion sand boarders." Then you 'can hit the "slopes" to test your skills. From March to June, and September to November.
Rentals for a sand-board start at $ 10 per day; lessons start at $ 45 an hour per person.
http:/'www. Sandmasterpark.com.
1.What is special about Cedar Point?
A. You can visit Cedar Point on weekends.
B. It has 16 roller coasters for you to choose from.
C. You can help unearth the fossilized bones of dinosaurs.
D. It offers lessons taught by world-champion sand boarders.
2.If you have a 3-day holiday in April, which of the following may interest you most?
A. Take the Rides of Your Life
B. Wander Free on a Dude farm
C. Dig for Dinosaurs
D. Surf Sand Dunes
3.Where will you probably find this passage?
A. A science fiction B. An adventure storybook
C. A travel magazine D. A theme park advertisement
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
My 16-year-old son, Anton, had gone to the local swimming hole．Most of the kids swim there, and there are plenty of rocks for them to use as safe harbors, so I had no fears for his safety．
Still, the firefighter's first words "You need to come up here to the Stillwater River" made me catch my breath, and his follow-up words gave me relief: “ Your son is OK．”
When I got to the river, I immediately saw the fire truck, ambulance and Anton, wrapped with a towel about his shoulders, sitting quietly on a low platform of the fire engine．
I hurried over to him. "You OK?"I asked．
“Yeah," was all he said．But my eyes begged for an explanation. I didn't get it from my son, however, who tends to play his cards close to his vest．
The story was this: A woman was being swept under water. Hearing the cries, Anton and his friend Tyler, without hesitation, swam out to her, and brought her safely to shore．
In an age in which the word "hero" is broadcast with abandon and seemingly applied to anyone who make it through the day, I realized the real thing in my son．The teens are stubborn and self-centred, but that didn't mean they have no desire to do good．
Still shocked by my son's daring, I drove him home．Along the way, I tried to dig out some more information from him - but he had precious little to say．The only words he said were,
“What's for supper?"
I spent some time alone that evening, thinking about the tragedy that might have been. The next morning, when Anton got up, I half wanted him to tell me the story．But all he did was toast some bread, pull himself together, and head for the door to start a new day. Watching from the window, I was reminded that still water often runs deep.
1.Why did the mother allow her son to swim there?
A. He was an excellent swimmer.
B. The water of the river is shallow.
C. He was old enough to swim.
D.The rocks can be of help if there's danger.
2.The underlined part "who tends to play his cards close to his vest" probably means ________
A. Anton is a boy fond of swimming with other kids
B. Anton is unwilling to tell others what he thinks
C. Anton always has a desire to help others
D. Anton seldom changes his mind
3.In the mother's eyes, what her son did was__________
A. dangerous but interesting
B. meaningful but difficult
C. unexpected and courageous
D. awful and absurd
4.What might be the best title for the passage?
A. My Son, My Hero B. Anton, A Silent Boy
C. A Good Deed D.A Proud Mother
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
The bed should be reserved as a place for sleep, but people tend to read an iPad a lot in bed before they go to sleep.
Charles Czeisler, a professor at Harvard Medical School, and his colleagues got a small group of people for an experiment. For five days in a row, the people read either a paper book or an iPad for four hours before sleep. Their sleep patterns were monitored all night. Before and after each trial period, the people took hourly blood tests to paint a day-long picture of just how much melatonin (褪黑激素) was in their blood at any given time.
When subjects read on the iPad as compared to the paper books, they reported feeling less sleepy at night and less active the following morning. People also took longer to fall asleep on the iPad nights, and the blood tests showed that their melatonin secretion (分泌) was delayed by an hour and a half.
The researchers conclude in today's journal article that given the rise of e-readers and the increasingly widespread use of e-things among children and adolescents, more research into the long-term consequences of these devices on health and safety is urgently needed. Czeisler and colleagues go on, in the research paper, to note：“Reading an iPad in bed may increase cancer risk.”
However, software has been developed that can reduce some of the blue light from the screens of phones and computers according to time of day, and there are also glasses that are made to filter (过滤) short wavelengths. While they seem like a logical solution for the nighttime tech users, it needs more research.
1.In Charles Czeislers experiment, all the subjects were asked to______.
A. sit in a row and receive the strict tests
B. have their sleep patterns observed all night
C. read a paper book and an iPad at the same time
D. have their blood tested per hour during the trial
2.The third paragraph tells us the iPad readers were likely to____________.
A. feel less sleepy and tired in the day
B. fall asleep more easily after reading
C. become less energetic the next morning
D. have a lot more melatonin secretion
3.The special software recently developed can______.
A. remove the blue light from your devices completely
B. help prevent eyes being harmed by short wavelength
C. weaken the harm done by doing nighttime e-reading
D. be used in all the e-things widely and safely
4.Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
A. No e-reading in bed before sleep
B. New software for night e-readers
C. Wrong behaviors before bedtime
D. No games on iPad in bed
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
A bargain is something offered at a low and advantageous price. A more recent definition is: a bargain is a dirty trick to force money out of the pockets of silly and innocent people.
The cost of producing a new - for example - toothpaste would make 80p the proper price for it, so we will market it at £1.20. It is not a bad toothpaste, and as people like to try new things it will sell well to start with; but the attraction of novelty soon fades, so sales will fall. When that happens we will reduce the price to £1.15. And we will turn it into a bargain by printing 5p OFF all over it.
Sometimes it is not 5p OFF but 1p OFF. What breathtaking rudeness to advertise 1p OFF your soap or washing powder or whatever! Even the poorest old-age pensioner ought to regard this as an insult(侮辱), but he doesn’t. A bargain must not be missed. People say one has to have washing powder (or whatever) and one might as well buy it a penny cheaper.
The real danger starts when unnecessary things become ‘bargains’. Many people just cannot resist bargains. Provided they think they are getting a bargain they will buy clothes they will never wear or furniture they have no space for. Once I heard of a man who bought an electric saw as a bargain and cut off two of his fingers the next day. But he had no regrets: the saw had been truly cheap.
Quite a few people actually believe that they make money on such bargains. A lady once told me: “I’ve had a lucky day today. I bought a dress for £120, reduced from £400; and I bought a beautiful Persian carpet for £600, reduced from £900.” It will never occur to her that she has actually wasted £720. She feels as though she had made £580. She also feels, I am sure, that if she had more time for shopping, she could make a living out of it.
Some people buy in large quantities because it is cheaper. Once a couple bought enough sugar for their lifetime and the lifetime of their children and grandchildren. They thought it a bargain not to be missed. When the sugar arrived they didn’t know where to store it – until they realized that their toilet was a very spacious one. So that was where they piled up their sugar. Not only did their guests feel rather strange whenever they were offered sugar to put into their coffee, but the toilet became extremely sticky.
To offer bargains is a commercial trick to make the poor poorer. When greedy fools fall for this trick, it serves them right.
1.Which word best describes the language style of the passage?
A. Polite. B. Foolish. C. Humorous. D. Serious.
2.What does the underlined word “novelty” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?
A. Good quality. B. Low price.
C. Newness. D. Curiosity.
3.How does the author feel about 1p OFF a product?
A. It’s a gift for poor people.
B. It’s an offense to shoppers.
C. It’s a bargain worth trying.
D. It’s a real reduction in price.
4.Which statement will the author probably agree with?
A. Bargains are things people don’t really need.
B. Bargains are often real cheap products.
C. Bargains help people make a living.
D. Bargains play tricks on people.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
How to Build Your Own Website
Sixty years ago, people asked about your astrological (星座) sign. 1. These days, having a web address is almost as important as a street address. Your website is an electronic meeting place for your family, friends and millions of people around the world. Best of all, you may not have to spend a cent. The web is filled with all kinds of free services and all it takes is some time and creativity.
2. Like the table of contents of a book or magazine, the home page is the front door. Your site can have one or more pages, depending on how you design it.
While web pages vary greatly in their design and content, most use a traditional magazine layout (编排). 3. Next comes a greeting and a short description of the site. Pictures, texts; and links to other websites follow.
Before you start building your site, do some planning. Think about whom the site is for and what you want to say. 4.
Draw a rough layout on a sheet of paper.
While there are no rules you have to follow, there are a few things to keep in mind:
◆ 5. If you aim too high at the beginning, you may never get the site off the ground. You can always add something new to your site.
◆Less is better. Most people don’t like to read a lot of texts online. Break it into small pieces.
◆Smaller is better. Since it takes a long time to download large picture files, keep the file sizes small.
Now it’s time to roll up your sleeves and start building. Learning the net communities helps provide tools to help you build your site.
A. Start simply.
B. A personal website is not usual today.
C. Nowadays, they want to know your website.
D. Pay attention to the contents of your website.
E. At the top of the page is a banner (横幅) GRAPHIC.
F. Next, gather up the material you want to put on the site.
G. Think of your home page as the starting point of your website.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
My grandfather went to high school in the 1920s. While in school, he became in the drama program, acting in different kinds of productions. He in touch with his drama teacher.
My father went to high school in the 1960s. Like his before him, he acted in high school. He, too, stayed in touch with his drama teacher for the rest of the teacher's . I graduated in 1997. When Hoover, my drama teacher, was in Alaska, I didn't want her to feel like she was ending her life , so I sent her many packages, including Drama Club yearbook photos from each year she there in order that she could see the students whose lives she forever .
Her nickname for our group of Drama Club was "the Throwaway Kids". , no? She described us as that we were nonconformists (不墨守成规者) that other teachers didn't __ know what to do with. She simply us for who we are, and that was exactly what we needed.
We have all become members of society: reporters, lawyers, and singers, soldiers, doctors and, you guessed it, teachers. Every member of my family is a teacher. This year the 73rd year we have taught in Alaska altogether.
me, teaching the course is only one important part of the job. As I returned to my classroom just before the final bell on the last day of school in May, I thought how the most emotional part of the experience will not be seeing the recent return to say "hello" at Christmas. That was how the of keeping in touch with our teachers our whole life long began in my family. Honestly, learning a lifetime.
1.A. famous B. active C. anxious D. attractive
2.A. lost B. provided C. kept D. shared
3.A. teacher B. classmate C. mother D. father
4.A. life B. job C. space D. season
5.A. dying B. singing C. acting D. playing
6.A. poor B. angry C. anxious D. alone
7.A. taught B. constructed C. ordered D. noticed
8.A. protected B. developed C. scolded D. affected
9.A. Interesting B. Exciting C. Shocking D. Encouraging
10.A. because B. if C. but D. although
11.A. purely B. exactly C. obviously D. basically
12.A. entertained B. accepted C. disliked D. demanded
13.A. consuming B. contributing C. confirming D. connecting
14.A. fills B. marks C. covers D. deals
15.A. After B. With C. To D. By
16.A. natural B. simple C. entire D. casual
17.A. fell B. rang C. broke D. rolled
18.A. classmates B. soldiers C. adults D. graduates
19.A. tradition B. culture C. custom D. behavior
20.A. wastes B. puts C. takes D. pulls
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
阅读下面短文，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。
Last weekend our school held a sports meeting. 1. (Realize) it was our last high school sports meeting, we decided to make it an unforgettable experience for all of us.
We first attended the opening parade, for 2. our class had made a lot of 3. (prepare). 4. our excitement, our parade performance was a great success. After the parade, the games started. My classmates attended 5. (vary) events such as running, high jump and long jump. Due to the hard training they6. (do) before, their performances were very 7. (impress). On the stand, my classmates applauded and cheered for the athletes, some 8. (raise) their cameras to capture the exciting moments. Finally, the result 9. ( announce). It was amazing that our class won the second place. Our efforts paid off! Cup in hand, we took a picture together.
I believe this sports meeting will remain a precious memory for all of us 10. time goes by.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
短文改错（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌系的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号（∧），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。
Dear Editor，
I'm sorry to occupy your precious time, and I really want to tell you anything about the problem of some people keeping too many pets nowadays. I take a problem more and more seriously for the following reason. First of all, as it is known to people, pets make so much noise that it troubled residents a lot. What's more, it is widely accepted that animal waste pollutes the environment, where makes people quite uncomfortable. Many owners like taking their pets to public place where they may frighten children or even bite people. The mostly important is that pets can spread some diseases and this has attracted much attention.
Take all these factors into consideration, I sincerely hope that I can get help from you and expect the media do something for this.
Yours Truly，
Wang Lin
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
假定你是李华，一直热心于公益活动。你在校园看到学生会招聘志愿者的海报，打算参加。请根据海报上的信息，用英语写一封申请信。
注意: 1. 词数120左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 短文中不能出现与本人相关的信息。
Dear Miss Liu,
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Yours Sincerely,
Li Hua
难度: 中等查看答案及解析