Douglas Florian teaches readers about bees in a new book of poems called UnBEElievables. In his latest book, each poem is paired with a colorful image that illustrates(图解) a different type of bee and its role in the group. Every page is full of fun and interesting facts about these social insects.
TFK: When you brainstorm for a story, which comes first: the images or the poems?
FLORIAN: Usually the poems come first. For a book of 21 poems, for example, I'll actually write about 50 poems first. Although I sometimes have images in my mind to go along with the words, I have to choose which ones I want to include in the book.
TFK: Many of your books, including UnBEElievables, are about insects and animals. How did these become your favorite subjects?
FLORIAN: There is so much humor in the animal world. People have a lot of knowledge about animals and ideas about animals that are fun to explore in writing. Animals are just so interesting. When I research, I find out so many new and amazing facts. The poem is often half written by the time I have done with my research.
TFK: Why did you choose bees as the subject of your latest book?
FLORIAN: I saw recently in the news that many bees are dying out. Scientists believe this to be caused by various diseases. I wanted to create awareness and learn more about bees after hearing this. So many of the fruits and vegetables we eat are dependent on pollination(授粉) by honeybees. If bees disappear, so will much of our food.
TFK: Do you have a favorite bee?
FLORIAN: One of my favorites is the poem and painting about the worker bees. I wanted the painting to be very playful and light. These bees have to work all day, and it's kind of like a factory. And even though these bees have to work very hard, they manage to smile.
1.UnBEElievables is a book about .
A. insects B. images C. stories D. fruits
2.Why did Douglas Florian choose bees as the subject of his latest book?
A. Because bees are easy to explore in writing.
B. Because he wants people to protect bees.
C. Because he has no idea about bees.
D. Because bees are going to die out.
3.Douglas Florian likes the worker bees best mainly because of their .
A. hard work B. great contribution
C. dangerous situation D. attitude towards working
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Our risk of cancer rises as we age. So it makes sense that the elderly should be routinely screened for new tumors(肿瘤)—or doesn't it?
While such careful tracking of cancer is a good thing in general, researchers are increasingly questioning whether all of this testing is necessary for the elderly. With the percentage of people over age 65 expected to nearly double by 2050, it's important to consider the health benefits of screening and the costs of routine testing.
In many cases, screening can lead to additional operations to remove cancer, which can cause side effects, while the cancers themselves may be slow-growing and may not cause serious health problems in patients' remaining years. But the message that everyone must screen for cancer has become so ingrained that when health care experts recommended that women under 50 and over 74 stop screening for breast cancer, it caused a strong reaction among doctors, patients and advocacy(拥护) groups.
It's hard to uproot deeply held beliefs about cancer screening with scientific data. Certainly, there are people over age 75 who have had cancers detected by routine screening, and gained several extra years of life because of treatment. And clearly, people over age 75 who have other risk factors for cancer, such as a family history, should continue to get screened regularly. But for the remainder, the risk of cancer, while increased at the end of life, must be balanced with other factors like a remaining life expectancy.
A recent study suggests that doctors start to make more right decisions about who will truly benefit from screening—especially considering the explosion of the elderly.
It's not an easy guess to make, but one that makes sense for the whole patient. Dr. Otis Brawley said, "Many doctors are ordering these tests purely to protect themselves against medical disputes(纠纷). We need to think about the good use of health care and stop talking about the rationing(定量配给制) of health care."
That means making some difficult decisions with elderly patients and going against the misguided belief that when it comes to health care, more is always better.
1. Some researchers now think that routine cancer screening for the elderly .
A. adds too much to their medical bills
B. helps contribute to a long life
C. can prevent tumor growth
D. is not always necessary
2.The underlined word "ingrained" in Paragraph 3 most probably means " ".
A. important B. reliable C. precious D. deep-rooted
3.According to Dr. Otis Brawley, why do many doctors recommend routine screening for cancer?
A. Because they want to get more money from the health care system.
B. Because they want to perform their normal duties actively.
C. Because they want to avoid possible trouble.
D. Because they want their patients to suffer less.
4. What does the author mainly argue for?
A. Screening tests must be effective and dependable.
B. Old people should be careful about routine cancer screening.
C. Screening increases the chances of detecting certain cancers earlier.
D. Whether old people should go for cancer screening should follow rules.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
No one knows for sure when advertising first started. It is possible that it grew out of the discovery that some people did certain kinds of work better than others did them. That led to the concept of specialization, which means that people would specialize, or focus, on doing one specific job.
Let’s take a man we’ll call Mr. Fielder, for example. He did everything connected with farming. He planted seeds, tended the fields, and harvested and sold his crops. At the same time, he did many other jobs on the farm. However, he didn’t make the bricks for his house, cut his trees into boards, make the plows (犁), or any of other hundreds of things a farm needs. Instead, he got them from people who specialized in doing each of those things.
Suppose there was another man we shall call Mr. Plowright. Using what he knew about farming and working with iron, Mr. Plowright invented a plow that made farming easier. Mr. Plowright did not really like farming himself and wanted to specialize in making really good plows. Perhaps, he thought, other farmers will trade what they grow for one of my plows.
How did Mr. Plowright let people know what he was doing? Why, he advertised, of course. First he opened a shop and then he put up a sign outside the shop to attract customers. That sign may have been no more than a plow carved into a piece of wood and a simple arrow pointing to the shop door. It was probably all the information people needed to find Mr. Plowright and his really good plows.
Many historians believe that the first outdoor signs were used about five thousand years ago. Even before most people could read, they understood such signs. Shopkeepers would carve into stone, clay, or wood symbols for the products they had for sale.
A medium, in advertising talk, is the way you communicate your message. You might say that the first medium used in advertising was signs with symbols. The second medium was audio, or sound, although that term is not used exactly in the way we use it today. Originally, just the human voice and maybe some kind of simple instrument, such as a bell, were used to get people’s attention.
A crier, in the historical sense, is not someone who weeps easily. It is someone, probably a man, with a voice loud enough to be heard over the other noises of a city. In ancient Egypt, shopkeepers might hire such a person to spread the news about their products. Often this earliest form of advertising involved a newly arrived ship loaded with goods. Perhaps the crier described the goods, explained where they came from, and praised their quality. His job was, in other words, not too different from a TV or radio commercial in today’s world.
1.What probably led to the start of advertisement?
A. The discovery of iron.
B. The specialization of labor.
C. The appearance of new jobs.
D. The development of farming techniques.
2.The writer makes up the two stories of Mr. Fielder and Mr. Plowright in order to __________.
A. explain the origin of advertising
B. predict the future of advertising
C. expose problems in advertising
D. provide suggestions for advertising
3.The last two paragraphs are mainly about __________.
A. the history of advertising
B. the benefits of advertising
C. the early forms of advertising
D. the basic design of advertising
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。选项中有两项是多余项。
Trust has been considered as the basis of any relationship, including friendship. No relationship can last long with a lack of trust. Not many of your friends will have real faith in you as you would like to believe. 1._________ Sometimes, it takes years, even a complete lifetime, to trust someone. However, how do we know if our friends have faith in us?
2._______With whom will you share things that you don’t want everyone to know? It would be with a close friend, whom you trust as much as you trust yourself. While a few of your friends may be fiercely protective of their privacy and may not tell their secrets to anyone, those who do, surely find you trustworthy and reliable.
Whom do you look up to for advice when you need it the most? It has to be either your parents or your friends. 3._______ This is a shining example of trust. You only seek advice from people you hold in high regard and find dependable. The friends who trust you will never forget to include you in the important decisions of their life.
Arguments and heated discussions are a part of every relationship, and this is also true for friendship. 4._______ While some people find it difficult to forgive and forget, your friends will never have problems moving on. It is because they trust you and believe that you will never cause any pain to them on purpose.
There are times in life when you find yourself a lonely soldier. 5._______Your friends will never let you down and will strongly stand for you when you need encouragement. You can determine that they trust you and believe in your beliefs, if they side with you when you need them the most.
A. People can be extraordinarily jealous sometimes.
B. You know they will never pass on a wrong suggestion.
C. In fact, winning trust is, by far, the most challenging aspect of relationships.
D. Two people cannot have identical reactions to a situation and different opinions do exist.
E. No matter how close you are to your friends, you cannot take that comfort level for granted.
F. If your friends share their secrets, there’s a good possibility that they have much faith in you.
G. However, people who are fortunate to have been blessed with true friends are never alone in any battle.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
完形填空
Check out any woman's wardrobe and you will be sure to find at least one pair of high heel shoes there. After all, which woman can _________ wearing something that makes her look taller and her legs _________ longer? Unfortunately, those high heel shoes women love so much _________ their name, and can end up doing more damage than you can imagine _________ the spine(脊柱) and lower back—if care is not taken.
Murlowska, a therapist(治疗师 ), is _________ with the consequences of wearing high heels. A majority of _________ who arrive at Murlowska's office come to her with back and lower back problems. Very often the _________ are the result of not walking properly in high heels or choosing the _________ kind of footwear.
"I know women love wearing high heels but they can_________ extreme damage to the body," Murlowska says, "I recently had a patient who had a terrible fall while walking in high heels and twisted her _________ . She did not think much of it at the time, but the next morning she _________ up to find her knee swollen and painful."
If a woman walks in heels _________ than five centimeters, several pressure points develop in various parts of the body which experience _________ . Essentially, a woman wearing high heels is attempting to _________ her entire body on a very small area. This causes extreme stress on the muscles of the legs_________ increasing the chances of the ankle getting twisted. This can _________ damage to the knee ligaments(韧带) and tendons(腱). High heels force the _________ into an unnatural down-turned position. Consequently, the rest of the body has to _________ itself in order to stay balanced. The lower part of the spine as well as the hip bone tilts(倾斜) forward while the _________ spine and the neck tilts back in order to maintain balance."
Over a period of time, the hip bone also gets _________ because of the change in the center of gravity as a result of wearing high heels.
1.A. envy B. enjoy C. request D. resist
2.A. appear B. become C. grow D. turn
3.A. get to B. go up C. live up to D. arrive in
4.A. to B. with C. as D. for
5.A. known B. familiar C. famous D. worried
6.A. patients B. doctors C. clerks D. journalists
7.A. questions B. situations C. problems D. phenomena
8.A. wrong B. right C. different D. same
9.A. affect B. turn C. become D. cause
10.A. leg B. knee C. foot D. neck
11.A. woke B. stayed C. sat D. stood
12.A. less B. shorter C. higher D. taller
13.A. trouble B. happiness C. pains D. stress
14.A. balance B. bother C. burden D. benefit
15.A. when B. while C. which D. that
16.A. get over B. result in C. result from D. get in
17.A. leg B. hand C. foot D. body
18.A. adjust B. accept C. adopt D. assist
19.A. longer B. shorter C. lower D. upper
20.A. affected B. improved C. done D. ruined
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。
There’s no one reason why women return to school. Going back to school provides private and public benefits. College graduates, generally enjoy higher salaries, 1. (employ) more consistently, and work in nicer conditions. College-educated people vote more, give more to charity, and rely 2. (little) on government support.
Making the switch from 3. (support) to supporting oneself can be a challenge, 4. often a necessary one. Financial 5. (dependent) for women is key, says Nancy Schlossberg, professor at University of Maryland. “I think 6. important for women to do some direct achievement, because chances are that women will live alone in later life, either divorced 7. never married.”
To Schlossberg, education is critical in the long run. She says, “ You are going to do much better than before 8. you have a good education; you are going to be happier than before on condition that you have 9. education that enables you to do what you have to do in life. The question is 10. you are ready at this time to go for it.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
应用文写作
假如你是李华，最近你的英国网友David 给你发来邮件，谈到他想利用假期去做兼职，但是遭到母亲的反对。他希望你可以谈谈假期打工的好处，以帮助他说服母亲。请据此给他回复一封邮件。
注意： 1、词数80左右（开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。）
2、可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear David,
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
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Yours,
Li Hua
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
概要写作
阅读下面短文，根据其内容写一篇60词左右的内容概要。
When a consumer finds that something he or she bought is faulty or in some other way does not live up to what the producer says for it, the first step is to present the warranty(保单),or any other records that might help, at the store of buying. In most cases, this action will produce results.
However, if it does not, there are various means the consumer may use to gain satisfaction. A simple and common method used by many consumers is to complain directly to the store manager. In general, the “higher up” the consumer takes his or her complaint, the faster he or she can expect it to be settled. In such a case, it is usually settled in the consumer's favour, taking it as true that he or she has a just right.
Consumers should complain in person whenever possible, but if they cannot get to the place of buying, it is acceptable to phone or write the complaint in a letter.
Complaining is usually most effective when it is done politely but firmly, and especially when the consumer can show clearly what is wrong with what was bought in question. If this cannot be done, the consumer will succeed best by presenting specific information as to what is wrong, rather than by making general statements. For example, “The left speaker does not work at all and the sound coming out of the right one is unclear” is better than “This stereo(立体音响) does not work.”.
The store manager may advise the consumer to write to the producer, if so, the consumer should do this, stating the complaint as politely and as firmly as possible. But if a polite complaint does not achieve the expected result, the consumer can go a step further. He or she can threaten to take the seller to court or report the seller to a public organization responsible for protecting consumers' rights.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析