When I told my father that I was moving to Des Moines, Iowa, he told me about the only time he had been there. It was in the 1930s, when he was an editor in the literary magazine of Southern Methodist University（SMU）in Dallas, Texas. He also worked as a professor at SMU, and there was a girl student in his class who suffered from a serious back disease. She couldn’t afford the operation because her family was poor.
Her mother ran a boarding house in Galveston, a seaside town near Houston, Texas. She was cleaning out the attic（阁楼）one day when she came across an old dusty manuscript（手稿）. On its top page were the words, “By O. Henry”. It was a nice story, and she sent it to her daughter at SMU, who showed it to my father. My father had never read the story before, but it sounded like O. Henry, and he knew that O. Henry had once lived in Houston. So it was possible that the famous author had gone to the beach and stayed in the Gainestown boardinghouse, and had written the story there and left the manuscript behind by accident. My father visited an O. Henry expert at Columbia University in New York, who authenticated the story as O. Henry’s.
My father then set out to sell it. Eventfully, he found himself in Des Moines, meeting with Gardner Cowles, a top editor at the Des Moines Register. Cowles loves the story and bought it on the spot. My father took the money to the girl. It was just enough for her to have the operation she so desperately needed.
My father never told me what the O. Henry story was about. But I doubt that it could have been better than his own story.
1.Who discovered the O. Henry’s manuscript?
A. The girl’s mother. B. The author’s father.
C. The girl. D. The author.
2.Which of the following might explain the fact that the manuscript was found in the attic?
A. O. Henry once worked in Houston.
B. O. Henry once stayed in Galveston.
C. O. Henry once moved to Des Moines.
D. O. Henry once taught at SMU.
3.The underlined word “authenticated” in Paragraph 2 probably means __________.
A. named B. treated C. proved D. Described
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Want to improve your writing skills? New Writing South is directing the way!
·Towner Writer Squad (班组）for kids aged 13-17
Led by comedy and TV writer, Marian Kilpatrick, Towner Writer Squad will meet once a month at the contemporary art museum for 11 months, starting 12 October, 2014.
The FREE squad sessions will include introductions to a wide range of writing styles, from poetry to play writing and lyrics (抒情诗）to flash fiction, to support the development of young writers.
Application & Selection
If you would like to apply to be part of the Towner Writer Squad, please send a sample piece of your writing (about 500 words), responding to the title‘LUNCH,’with your name, age, address and e-mail address to: debo@newwritingsouth.com.
Once all applications are in, you will be invited to an open selection event on 17 September，4-5pm, at the gallery of Towner. This will be an informal opportunity to meet the Squad Leader, Squad Associate and other young people.
You will also have a chance to get to know the fantastic gallery space and get a taste of what’s to come.
Deadline for applications: 8 September, 2014
For further information go to: facebook.com/towner or towner.org.uk or newwritingsouth.com
Any questions 一 feel free to send your e-mail to Towner Writer Squad Associate: whame@towner.gov.uk
﹡ ﹡ ﹡ ﹡ ﹡ ﹡ ﹡ ﹡ ﹡
·Beginner Writing Project for kids aged 10-13
Due to popular demand, a writing project will be started for eager beginners.
Start time: 6 September, 2014
Meet every other Saturday，2-4pm, at the Towner Study Centre.
Study and write at your own pace 一 you do not have to rush 一 as you have a year to go through the project. Practise under the guidance of some experienced writers and teachers who can help you with basic writing skills. Most importantly, build confidence and have fun while writing!
No previous experience or special background is required. Many others have been successful this way. If they can do it, why can’t you?
Fee: £179
For more information，go to newtowner.org.uk or generate.org.uk
1.Towner Writer Squad will be started _______.
A. to train comedy and TV writers
B. to explore the fantastic gallery space
C. to introduce a contemporary art museum
D. to promote the development of young writers
2.To join the Writer Squad，each applicant should first _______.
A. provide a piece of their writing
B. meet the Writer Squad Leader
C. offer their family information
D. complete an application form
3.Applications for the Writer Squad should be e-mailed no later than _______.
A. 6 September, 2014 B. 8 September, 2014
C. 17 September, 2014 D. 12 October, 2014
4.What is most important for the beginners?
A. Practising as much as possible.
B. Gaining confidence and having fun.
C. Studying and writing at their own pace.
D. Learning skills from writers and teachers.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Last spring, members of Alaska’s Troop 34, based in Fairbanks, trudged (跋涉) out into the snowy wilderness to take part in their state’s Take a Kid Trapping program. In many parts of the state, beavers （海狸）are pests and need to be controlled.
The 10－to－12－year－old girls found out where beavers lived, set traps, and skinned the two animals they caught. The girls hope to catch ten more beavers so that the entire troop can make mittens and hats with the fur. They also want to cook beaver meat.
Troop leaders and members say the Scouts are doing a good deed by helping control the state’s beaver population. But animal－rights activists say trapping is cruel. They want the Girl Scouts to stop in their tracks.
Beavers aren’t only causing a problem in Alaska. Residents in Sampson County, N.C. , have turned to a local committee to help them battle the growing beaver population there.
County landowners are frustrated after the county spent more than $ 50,000 in eight years trying to reduce the beaver population through a government program. The joint state and federal program included paying money to trappers for every beaver carcass they trapped.
Many local residents say that the program didn’t work because there were too few trappers. That’s why the county set up its own committee to investigate other ways to control the area’s beaver population.
The county will rely on its own beaver－trapping program. It has hired a trapper to set traps in various areas. The county will pay $10 for every beaver carcass.
Why do many people say that beavers are a nuisance? For beavers to survive, they need lots of water. Water provides the large rodent （啮齿动物）with a place to hide from meat – eating animals. Beavers also store food underwater for the winter. When there’s not enough water in a particular area, beavers get busy building dams.
Beaver dams can cause major flooding and damage to the surrounding countryside as the animals cut down trees to use in their construction projects. Beavers build canals to transport heavy objects.
1.What is Alaska’s Troop 34?
A．A team of the Boy Scouts. B．An army.
C．A team of the Girl Scouts. D．A sports team.
2.Why does the troop hope to catch ten more beavers?
A．To fulfill their task.
B．To sell them for money.
C．To get enough fur.
D．To exchange them for mittens and hats.
3.Which of the following statements is true?
A．Sampson County has to find a new way to control the beaver population there.
B．The government program in Sampson County has proved to be a success.
C．The local government has controlled the number of beavers in the County.
D．More and more trappers now start to set traps in Sampson County.
4.Local residents hate beavers because they can ___________.
A．cause damage to dams
B．block up canals with heavy objects.
C．do great harm to construction projects.
D．badly damage the environment and cause floods.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Technology today has stolen away our voices and robbed our children of memories. I’ve been keeping count of how often people sing around the house these days. The fact is, they don’t.
My earliest memories are of my mother crooning lullabies(催眠曲) in a gentle low voice as she rocked each infant in turn. She said she “didn’t have a singing voice,” but her low, wavering alto will always mean comfort to me. Every time I have sat through the night with a feverish body or held a pre – schooler through a nightmare, the melodies returned, words appearing and disappearing like fragments of a dream but held together by the hum (低声吟唱)of love.
Today, young mothers are routinely presented with lullaby tapes at the baby shower. When baby cries, the idea goes, they will be able to switch on the high-tech audio system and the little one will drift off with the voices of strangers in his ears, perfectly on pitch. If I had my way, new parents would learn the songs themselves, throw out their stereos, and give their child the gift of their own sleepy voices through the midnight hours.
These days, when we go on a trip, my daughters take along tiny personal stereos and headphones. They are lost in their private worlds, and I can’t help wishing that at least here, in the car my girls would be forced to listen to their mother’s voice again, sure I’m out－of－tune songs that they might then pass down to another generation. Those sophisticated earphones have robbed them of something I think every kid should carry from childhood car trips into adulthood.
I drove away from that party humming, and all the way home the good old songs kept tumbling out. Damm it (该死), I thought, why did I ever stop singing in the car and start turning on the radio ? Why don’t I sing anymore while I’m doing the dishes? I’m going to pull those stereo wires right out of the wall when I get home. We’re going to sing grace before meals, sing carols around the piano, sing in the shower instead of switching on that waterproof radio that stole away our voices and our souls.
1.The author hates today’s technology because .
A．driving a car requires high concentration
B．children are learning pop songs from tapes
C．children have lost touch with good old songs
D．high – tech systems do not record the voices of aged people
2.The underlined sentence “the little one will drift off” in Paragraph 3 means that “ ”.
A．the play of the high – tech system is of little use
B．the high – tech system will play on and on
C．the low voice will delight the baby
D．the baby will slowly go to sleep
3.To the author, the voices of strangers .
A．are not familiar to the baby
B．lack the motherly love the baby needs
C．work better to stop the baby’s cry
D．surely sound more pleasant
4.What the author wishes to make her girls do is to .
A．help memorize the words while she is singing
B．take off their well – designed earphones
C．listen and learn the old songs from her
D．remember their childhood car trips
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
七选五试题
Want to learn Spanish in a fast and fun way? In the modern digital age there is surely more than one way to learn a foreign language. 1. Check out the following tips to help you learn Spanish in a fast and fun way.
2. It doesn’t have to be long. You will be amazed at how much Spanish you can pick up within a few weeks or a couple of months. The best way to earn a new language is to immerse(沉浸）yourself fully in its culture.
Find a private tutor. 3. While it may seem boring and old-fashioned, there is no substitute(替代物）for having your own teacher available for one-to-one teaching.
4. There are many Spanish teaching resources on the Internet. Not only are there many websites where you can build up your Spanish vocabulary and read Spanish newspapers or magazines, but you can also use things like You Tube to watch Spanish language video clips and movies. What can be more useful than watching Spanish people speaking Spanish?
Take a Spanish course of some kind. With modern high-speed internet and multimedia computers these days, some of the various teaching courses available are truly excellent. They will make it possible for you to become fluent in Spanish faster than ever before. Many of them will give you DVDs pr CDs of the course material so you can listen in your spare time. 5. In this way, you may take part in your Spanish lessons using your iPod or other devices.
A. Make good use of the Internet.
B. And it has never been easier to make it a fun endeavor
C. This is a more traditional way of learning another language.
D. Check out the links below for information on learning Spanish.
E. Learn Spanish or somewhere else where people speak Spanish.
F. Move to Spanish or somewhere else where people speak Spanish.
G. These courses may even provide you with MPs copies of the audio.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
完形填空
I was watching a TV series one night when I took in one scene. A young man was seeking his community votes, and people ______ wanted to know why they should give him their _____.
He took them to his house and on every_____in his house was the word “Faith” pasted. People raised lots of _____to find out why the word was pasted on his mirrors. He said, “My dad often _____ me to believe that as long as you have _____，you should have faith. Every time you look into the mirror, you're looking at yourself and see ‘Faith’．”
The_____I learned from this is simple—faith is a living thing and in the same way we're all _____ given 24 hours a day and we're all given the same measure of faith. Faith keeps us going when things get _____！ Why is some people's faith stronger than that of others? Exercise! If we choose to exercise our faith, it will ____； but if we choose not to, it remains weak. Some people might _____ that they don't have faith, but we all practice faith every day even if we don't _____ it as a faith. Daily _____， such as studying, investing or reaching for a dream, take faith.
Faith _____hearing and doing. I made a decision yesterday—to _____reading the newspapers full of too much sad and _____ news. Why? Because I _____ there was a drop of my mental state after reading the newspapers.
Faith, when it's put to _____， becomes a beautiful thing. It lifts your mental state to a higher place that _____ you to raise yourself up and declare, “Yes, I can.” So make the decision today to strengthen your faith by _____ it.
1.A.bravely B. briefly C. mostly D. finally
2.A.support B. instruction C. pity D. information
3.A.wall B. mirror C. picture D. book
4.A.voices B．questions C．rules D．standards
5.A.teaches B．permits C．forces D．promises
6.A.friendship B．breath C．wealth D．success
7.A.lesson B．view C．choice D．example
8.A.extremely B．freely C．equally D．frequently
9.A.strange B．different C．funny D．tough
10.A.stay B．return C．slow D．grow
11.A.argue B．realize C．understand D．predict
12.A.agree B．appreciate C．admire D．regard
13.A.services B．steps C．tasks D．experiments
14.A.dreams of B. comes from C．feels like D．keeps on
15.A.consider B．delay C．stop D．risk
16.A.various B．genuine C．latest D．negative
17.A.heard B．noticed C．declared D．explained
18.A.check B．list C．work D．sleep
19.A.warns B．causes C．orders D．forbids
20.A.exercising B．forming C．obtaining D．thinking
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
语法填空
Windsor Castle is one of the most famous Castles in the World. The castle lies in Windsor in ____1.___ English county of Berkshire. It is the oldest and largest ___2.___ (occupy) castle in the world. The ____3.___(origin) castle was built by William the Conqueror, ____4.____ (follow) his invasion of England in 1066. In the 1170s Henry II ____5.__ (large) rebuilt it in stone instead of wood. After constant ___6.__（expand）, it remains the world's largest castle, best known for___7.___architecture. It is still one of the official ____8.___(settle) of the British Royal Family. It _____9.__ (say) to be Queen Elizabeth II' s favorite royal home, __10.___ she spends many weekends of the year.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
短文改错
假设英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。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(Λ)，并在其下面写出该加的词。删除：把多余的词用(＼)划掉。
修改：在错的词下画一横线，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。
Our government is trying hard to build the energy-saving society. It is everybody’s duty to work hardly and reach this goal. But, not everybody has realized the important of it. Take our school for example. Sometimes we can see that lights and computers are still on after class. Some students even forget to turn on the tap after using it and have water run all the time. Our papers are printed on only one side, which causing much waste. It’s time we did something to avoid this kind of waste. Firstly, make sure that all the lights and other electric facilities turned off when we leave the room. Try to form the habit of turning off the tap immediate after using it. What’s more, papers should be printed on both sides and reuse if possible.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
单词及短语拼写
1.Villagers might get cancer or other severe diseases if ________(暴露) to the piles of electronic rubbish for a long time.
2.Alfred was deducted 3 points, fined 100 pounds for _________ (超速) on the freeway to Manchester.
3.There is no enough scientific evidence that twins mostly think and act a__________. They do have some similar hobbies in some cases，but simply because they are given hints to.
4.Janet L Yellen, the chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, expressed cautious __________(乐观) about next year’s American economy at the press conference.
5.The blind girl’s performance was really _________(印象深刻)，all the three judges in the reality show said “Yes” to her the moment she finished.
6.Everybody has 24 hours a day. What really matters is your ________ (效率)，my son!
7.__________ (包围，环绕)by the vast Pacific, thick forest, and spectacular snow-capped mountains, Vancouver is ranked the most livable city worldwide.
8.According to the investigation, the subway, which has been __________ __________ for two years, caused this landslide. (正在建设中)
9.The Chinese job seeker __________ __________ an “s” in the word Massachusetts, which cost him this opportunity. (遗漏，落下)
10.Your laziness, rather than your intelligence, is _______ _________ for your failure in the college entrance examination. （对--------负责）
11._________ her great _________, Youyou Tu, was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, becoming the first Chinese scientist for work carried out within the mainland. (为------带来荣誉)
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
写作
假设你在刚刚过去的国庆黄金周（Golden Week）里，和家人一起去了北京度假，期间参加了升旗仪式，浏览了名胜古迹，品尝了地方美食。请根据你的所见所闻，向我校校刊写一篇游记。
注意：1．词数100左右；
2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
3．参考词汇：flag-raising ceremony
难度: 中等查看答案及解析