The following books have been published recently, and maybe you would like to read them.
This Atmosphere of Love
Franklin Bass Jr.
www.authorhouse.com
Paperback丨E-book
$12.95丨$3.99
This Atmosphere of Love shares Franklin Bass Jr.’s poetry collection from 2008 to 2012 that speaks about his true feelings and experiences of love.
An Irish Girl
Marilyn Hering
www.iuniverse.com
Paperback丨E-book
$13.99丨$3.99
Inspired by true events of the Irish famine(饥荒), An Irish Girl combines a tale of the famine with a heart-broken story of love and loss.
The Prison Planet
Handbook
Denis Goodwin
www.xlibris.com
Hardback丨Paperback丨E-book丨Audiobook
$46.98丨$34.45丨$4.99丨$9.99
Sometimes, the reality prescribed to us doesn’t explain what we experience. If you too know something isn’t right and want to see the bigger picture, the bottom line is here.
A Deadly Homecoming
Jane Bennett Munro
www.iuniverse.com
Hardback丨Paperback丨E-book丨Audiobook
$23.99丨$13.99丨$3.99丨$9.99
When her mother asks her to investigate a friend’s disappearance, Toni Day heads to her hometown to solve a complex murder case that leaves her own life hanging in the balance.
1.Who is a poet among the following writers?
A.Jane Bennett Munro B.Marilyn Hering.
C.Denis Goodwin. D.Franklin Bass Jr.
2.What kind of book is An Irish Girl?
A.A biography B.A storybook
C.A documentary. D.A reference book.
3.Which book will you read if you like a thriller?
A.The Prison Planet. B.A Deadly Homecoming.
C.An Irish Girl. D.This Atmosphere of Love.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
A trick question: Can you name the only three writers who have won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction twice? Faulkner, yes； Updike. And? Hats off if you came up with Booth Tarkington.
And yet his two prize-winners——"The Magnificent Ambersons" and " Alice Adams”, just reissued in one volume by the Library of America—are not even the most commercially successful novels of his extraordinarily successful career. Nine of his books were ranked among the top ten sellers of their year, and the strangely dissimilar The Turmoil and Seventeen were the No. 1 sellers in consecutive（连续的）years. And then there's Penrod, probably the most beloved boys' book since Tom and Huck, though I can't recommend a stroll down that particular memory lane.
There are thirty or so novels, countless short stories and serials, a string of hit plays. And there were countless honors: Tarkington was not only commercial but literary—not just the Pulitzers but in 1933 the gold medal for fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which Edith Wharton and William Dean Howells had won previously. As early as 1922, the Times had placed him twelfth on a list of the twelve greatest contemporary American men.
As for booksellers, in 1921 they voted him the most significant contemporary American writer. Nothing ever changes. How to explain this remarkable career—the quick rise to fame, the unaffected reputation over several decades, and then the pronounced fall into shadowiness? If you read all his fiction, you find a steady although uninspired hand at the helm. Slowly, painstakingly （费力地），Tarkington had taught himself to write reliable prose （散文）and construct appealing fictions ； he was modest—always literate but never showy. You could count on him to catch your interest even if he failed to grasp your imagination or your heart. And he was always a gentleman.
1.What does "Hats off" underlined in Paragraph 1 mean?
A.Show respect. B.Feel nervous.
C.Throw away hats. D.Take off hats.
2.Which book is possibly popular among boys?
A.The Magnificent Ambersons. B.Alice Adams.
C.Penrod. D.Seventeen.
3.What is Paragraph 3 mainly about?
A.Tarkington's works and honors. B.Tarkington's personality.
C.Tarkington's social position. D.Tarkington's achievements.
4.What's the authors attitude to Tarkington?
A.Doubtful. B.Objective.
C.Negative. D.Admiring.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
The term "quiet stress” is gathering pace among experts, who say it's an often overlooked form of the more widely known version, which is characterised by visible outbursts: losing tempers, swearing, shouting, and anger.
"We quietly hold our stress within: we don't speak up about how we feel. And very importantly, we become inactive. We stay in unhappy relationships and unfulfilling jobs. We feel overwhelmed（被压倒的）, yet ignore important administration tasks. Quiet stress creates a form of emotional paralysis （麻痹）that keeps us ' stuck' in unhappy situations, says Jillian Lavender, who runs the London Meditation Centre.
Cary Cooper, a professor of psychology and health at the University of Manchester, likens the effects of quiet stress to shrapnel（榴弹）:“You can learn to quieten your stress responses, but eventually the stress will emerge: as well as a suppressed immune system, you may withdraw socially, isolate yourself and begin to engage in unhealthy habits like comfort eating or drinking too much. Despite getting a bad rap over the years, expressing anger or frustration is far healthier than smiling sweetly while feeling quietly stressed."
A recent study from Stanford University in the US backs this theory up. The researchers found that seeing stress as a helpful part of dealing with life's challenges, rather than as something to be avoided, was associated with better health, emotional well being and productivity at work.
“Stress isn't always harmful,” said Kelly McGonigal, a business school lecturer at Stanford who worked on the study. "Once you appreciate that going through stress makes you better at it, it can be easier to face each new challenge.”
1.Which behavior belongs to “quiet stress” ？
A.Reacting slowly. B.Speaking up.
C.Smiling sweetly. D.Scolding others.
2.What is the best way to relieve from quiet stress according to Cary Cooper?
A.Developing a good habit. B.Eating much junk food.
C.Finishing tasks on time. D.Making your feelings known.
3.According to Paragraph 4 stress is.
A.something beneficial sometimes B.something harmful to health
C.something to be kept D.something affecting work
4.Which of the following statements can describe stress according to the text?
A.Silence is gold. B.Life is not easy.
C.One coin has two sides. D.Stress is everywhere.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Fancy a trip down a wormhole? Calculations suggest that this might be possible, because these entrances through space-time could stick around forever.
Wormholes are essentially a pair of connected black holes. Two types could theoretically exist. A non-traversable wormhole is like a room with two doors that can be used only from the outside—the doors are black holes through which things can enter, but never escape. “These are not very interesting, as any astronaut who is brave enough to venture in won’t be able to make it back to tell the story,” says Diandian Wang at the University of California.
Traversable(能横过的) wormholes are also possible, but until now we didn’t know whether they could exist for long enough for anything to pass through them. For such a wormhole to form, space-time needs to naturally change shape. In classical physics, this can’t happen. But the rules of quantum mechanics(量子力学) allow space-time to do so for brief periods.
Wang worked on a scenario(设想) involving string theory, in which the fundamental ingredient of reality is tiny strings. If one of these strings breaks, it can create a traversable wormhole with black hole-like entrances either end that allow both entry and exit.
Although researchers had shown that this was a possibility before, it seemed that the energy involved would always break the wormhole.
Now, Wang and his team have calculated that the curvature of space-time could counteract this acceleration, keeping the fake black holes still and allowing the throat of the wormhole to remain open. This scenario is extremely unlikely, and becomes even more unlikely, the longer the wormhole is and the larger the black holes are. Thanks to quantum mechanics, though, the probability of it happening isn’t zero. Wang’s team also calculated that, once a traversable wormhole exists, it could remain stable for at least as long as the universe has been around.
“The work shows how wormholes could be created from scratch,” says Aron Wall at the University of Cambridge. But he points out that they couldn’t be used to time travel or move faster than light.
1.What are wormholes in the text?
A.Real worm holes on the earth. B.Tunnels through space and time.
C.Rooms with two doors. D.A pair of strings.
2.What does “this” refer to in Paragraph 5?
A.The wormhole. B.The black hole.
C.The scenario. D.The calculation.
3.Which theory supports Wang’s scenario?
A.String theory. B.Quantum mechanics.
C.Classical physics. D.Modern research.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A.Wormholes: A New Possibility for Human Being
B.It Is Possible for People to Go Back
C.How Amazing It Is to Travel in Space
D.A New Space-time Study Is Going on
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
The Internet, as we know, is probably one of the greatest inventions of human history. Never before has the access to the collection of the world’s knowledge ever been more available. 1. Some people look to make use of the information you are providing to the Internet. Everything you do online leaves a small footprint.
There are a couple of steps you can take to make your adventures online a little safer and more secure. Let’s take a look at them.
Cover your tracks.
Whenever you visit a website, a small file is marked in your browser(浏览器), which is called a “cookie”. 2. This enables the webserver to know if you have been there before and it can tailor the presentation to your personal tastes. They are also how Facebook knows to serve you ads based on stuff you looked at on Amazon.
So what’s the harm in the cookie? Well, hackers can use the information stored in your cookies to edit a browsing history or with less secure cookies, take your passwords for some sites. If you want to protect yourself from your information being available to sites then you can turn off the generation of cookies in your browser. 3.
4.
The major browsers, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari are all built to be secure from snooping(窥探), but the people who write the code for the browsers are human and they make mistakes. 5. These are usually addressed very quickly, but it is important that you make sure your browser is up to date. Just like your operating system, new security patches are being applied all the time, you need to make sure you have them. Turning on automatic updates is something I highly recommend.
A.Use the latest browsers.
B.Change browsers frequently.
C.This will help protect you online.
D.That’s how the cookie works on our computer.
E.This great invention and resource is not without its dangers.
F.It is common for a security problem to pop up with a browser.
G.These cookies store information about who you are and what you looked at.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
How do kids behave when there are no grown-ups around? Donette Mabes says you never really know. “Because you're not _______ them at that moment," she said.
She had always believed her son was good. He never caused _______ to her. Recently 13-year-old Gavin got _______ on tape, which showed he was better than what his mother had thought.
Gavin and his friends arrived at a skate park. The park was _______ except for little Carter, who was there with his mother celebrating his fifth birthday.
Carter has autism（自闭症）.Big groups of older kids can make him _______ so his mom, Kristen, was _______ to get him out of there. She didn't _______ to see something unpleasant happen.
“They really _______ me. It was unlike any _______ I had ever had,” she said. “You know how middle school kids behave when they're in a ________ ? That's exactly what happened there. Gavin ________the way and the others followed. ________ , he didn't start ________He started a friendship. "
They then started singing Happy Birthday to him,” Kristen said. “That really blew me away because you just wanted to see the ________ in the world.”
“A group of middle school students made ________ with a young boy with autism at a New Jersey skate park,” a report said.
But here5s the ________ part: since their first meeting, Gavin and the middle schoolers have ________ to go out of their way to play with Carter. They usually meet at the park.
This is a(n) ________ moment because the only thing better than seeing your kid ________ kindly is knowing your kid is treating others kindly even when you5re not watching. "I am just so ________ of him," Donette said.
1.A.stopping B.guiding C.correcting D.watching
2.A.pity B.fear C.concern D.shame
3.A.hurt B.caught C.lost D.cheated
4.A.lively B.quiet C.empty D.safe
5.A.crazy B.nervous C.angry D.unhealthy
6.A.ready B.afraid C.glad D.free
7.A.care B.wait C.need D.want
8.A.surprised B.interested C.excited D.satisfied
9.A.suffering B.introduction C.experience D.conversation
10.A.group B.hurry C.game D.row
11.A.tried B.led C.showed D.shared
12.A.Therefore B.Otherwise C.Besides D.However
13.A.talk B.discussion C.disagreement D.trouble
14.A.happiness B.politeness C.kindness D.thankfulness
15.A.friends B.promises C.decisions D.changes
16.A.next B.best C.rest D.last
17.A.prepared B.expected C.learned D.continued
18.A.heart-warming B.funny C.common D.important
19.A.served B.treated C.comforted D.protected
20.A.tired B.fond C.proud D.terrified
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
My aunt Carmeleta was the wife of my mother's youngest brother Fred. Although my uncle Fred died many years ago and Aunt Carmeleta is now married to Ken, she 1. (consider) my aunt by me.
Everyone should have 2. wonderful aunt like Aunt Carmeleta. When I was a teenager, I lived with them for 2 years. Like a lot of teenagers, I had problems with people who talked 3.( negative) about me. If you have ever had this happen, you'll understand how 4. (pain) it is.
I'd talk to Aunt Carmeleta about these hurtful 5.(thing) and she would always say, "Just be yourself. " This was great advice! In fact, it's been some of the best advice 6.( receive) since I could remember. I learned not everyone is going 7.(like) you and that's okay. Just be yourself.
When my husband Bill met Aunt Carmeleta 8. the first time, he questioned, " How could anyone be so nice and so real?" But he has found out the 9.(true) through the years. I've never forgotten Aunt Carmeleta's advice "Just be yourself." We need more people in this world 10. give great advice and are kind and caring like Aunt Carmeleta.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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。
Growing up in Jamaica, Luis didn't know about basketball until he arrived in the US at the age of twelfth. At his new school in the new country, he showed no interest in play basketball at all. One day, he met the boy named Tom at his school, but soon they became good friends. Tom was fond of playing basketball and ask Luis to do that with him. At first Luis wasn't interesting. But he finally decided to give it a try after he watched Tom to play several time. As soon as he started playing, he found it was actually fun. Now he plays the sport regular.
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
假定你是李华，为了弘扬中华传统礼乐文化，传承古代礼仪仪式和歌舞音乐，你们城市将举办第七届中华礼乐大会（The 7th Chinese Ritual Music Conference），你打算邀请外教Flora和你一起参加。请给Flora写一封邮件，内容包括：
1.具体信息；
2.邀请理由；
3.期待答复。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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难度: 中等查看答案及解析