We all like fantasy stories, and grow up reading and listening to fantasies. These tales fuel our imaginations, and satisfy our longings for adventures. The most interesting thing about fantasies is that their plots involve magical beasts and heroes，animal creatures talking like humans，and other things we can’t see in real life. Also, fantasies have a distinguished writing style, with freedom of expression.
Toy Fantasy
In toy fantasy stories, narrators(叙述者)bring their beloved toys to life that can live, talk, think，breathe and behave like human beings. You would see modern toy fantasies in a picture book format. Representative works are A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh and Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio.
Animal Fantasy
The animal fantasy tells tales about animals behaving like human beings, experiencing emotions, and having the ability to talk. However, animals in fantasies hold their various animal characteristics, too. Examples include The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, Charlotte's Web by E. B. White, and The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter which influences children around the world.
Magical Fantasy
In a magical fantasy, you see a character having magical powers, or a strange magical object becomes the subject of the story. Stories of this type began widely spreading long ago, including Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and William Steig’s Sylvester and the Magic Pebble.
Modern Folktales
Modern folktales are types of fantasy that narrators tell in a traditional tale accompanying some typical parts, such as strong conflict, little description of characters, and sometimes magical elements. These tales come before all others and are popular, as authors throughout history, have written them. Hans Christian Andersen has written several tales of this category including The Nightingale, The Emperor’s New Clothes and Thumbelina.
1.What is the common feature of the fantasies?
A.Their characters are highly popular.
B.Their events occur in the unreal world.
C.Their writing styles show desires for freedom.
D.Their plots encourage people to have adventures.
2.Who made a great contribution to the animal fantasy?
A.Carlo Collodi. B.Beatrix Potter.
C.William Steig. D.Hans Christian Andersen.
3.Which type of fantasy has the longest history?
A.The toy fantasy. B.The animal fantasy.
C.The magical fantasy. D.The modern folktales.
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
One of the easiest ways to stop the spread of disease is to simply wash your hands. Twenty seconds of handwashing with soap and water can reduce illnesses and save lives. But, many people, especially children, do not have good handwashing habits. One problem is that children do not wash their hands often enough or long enough. Children may think that it is a tiresome thing to do.
To help handle this problem, two businesswomen from India created a product to turn handwashing into a fun activity. Amanat Anand and Shubham Issar created a tool called SoaPen, aimed at teaching kids good handwashing habits and encouraging kids to wash their hands with soap appropriately and regularly.
“It's such a simple habit to do, but the fact is that people aren't doing it, and it's resulting in actual deaths-which is shocking. So, we decided to come up with a fun method,” said Issar.
As the name suggests, SoaPen is a pen made out of soap. The children draw on their hands with the soap pen and then wash the drawing off. If they don’t spend enough time washing it off, the colors remain on the children’s hands. Issar said it makes sure that children take enough time to wash their hands. This may be especially helpful in a classroom. Often a teacher does not have the time to make each child wash his hands properly.
Kids actually wash their hands for the proper amount of time because they're drawing on their hands. To obliterate the drawing, they actually wash their hands instead of just going under water and, you know, a one-second wash and off.
Good news is that the school children in Mumbai, India, will soon most likely wash their hands after handling a pet. Issar and Anand stated that SoaPen to be created everywhere will help promote good habits through handwashing in the city across the globe.
1.Why does SoaPen come into existence?
A.To cure kids of some kinds of diseases.
B.To teach kids the importance of soap.
C.To help kids wash their hands correctly.
D.To make money from children consumers.
2.Which of the following does Issar agree with?
A.Handwashing is anything but little.
B.SoaPen is designed for classrooms.
C.Some teachers ignore kids’ health in school.
D.Kids don't know the right way of handwashing.
3.What does “obliterate” underlined in paragraph 5 mean?
A.Show. B.Reserve.
C.Learn D.Remove.
4.What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A.SoaPen has become popular worldwide.
B.The inventors think Soapen has a bright future.
C.SoaPen has been applied in Mumbai schools.
D.Kids' health should be paid more attention to.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Grown-ups are often surprised by how well they remember something they learned as children but have never practiced ever since. A man who has not had a chance to go swimming for years can still swim as well as ever when he gets back in the water. He can get on a bicycle after many years and still ride away. He can play catch and hit a ball as well as his son. A mother who has not thought about the words for years can teach her daughter the poem that begins "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" or remember the story of Cinderella or Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
One explanation is the law of overlearning, which can be stated as follows: Once we have learned something, additional learning trials increase the length of time we will remember it.
In childhood we usually continue to practice such skills as swimming, bicycle riding, and playing baseball long after we have learned them. We continue to listen to and remind ourselves of words such as "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" and childhood tales such as Cinderella and Goldilocks. We not only learn but overlearn.
The multiplication tables（乘法口诀表）are an exception to the general rule that we forget rather quickly the things that we learn in school, because they are another of the things we overlearn in childhood.
The law of over learning explains why cramming（突击学习）for an examination, though it may result in a passing grade, is not a satisfactory way to learn a college course. By cramming, a student may learn the subject well enough to get by on the examination, but he is likely soon to forget almost everything he learned. A little overlearning, on the other hand, is really necessary for one's future development.
1.What is the main idea of paragraph 1?
A.People remember well what they learned when they were little.
B.Children have a better memory than grown-ups.
C.Poem reading is a good way to learn words.
D.Stories for children are easy to remember.
2.The author explains the law of overlearning by_________.
A.presenting research findings B.setting down general rules
C.making a comparison D.using examples
3.According to the author, being able to use multiplication tables is_______.
A.a result of overlearning B.a special case of cramming
C.a skill to deal with math problems D.a basic step towards advanced studies
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
What roles do your parents play in your family? 1. But in modern families, mothers have their own careers, and fathers also help out when it comes to doing household chores and taking care of the kids.
This is probably why recently, the slogan “Loved by kids, approved by mums” on a brand of cereal (麦片粥) from US company Kellogg’s led to a heated discussion online. Some US campaign groups complained that the slogan was biased (歧视) against stay-at-home men. 2.
Indeed, the roles of men and women have changed over time. As the number of dual-income households increases, more and more men have changed their views on their roles in families, accounting for a more equal distribution of labor between mothers and fathers. And many choose to be stay-at-home dads. 3.They have to struggle with career and childcare, but also face doubts over whether they’re doing enough. “4.You’re also measured by how much time you’re able to spend with your kids and how much you’re able to do with your family.” Matt Schneider, co-founder of a US-based network serving for stay-at-home dads, told CBS News.
However, there is no need for stay-at-home fathers to feel cast down. 5.There are always special moments that make it worthwhile for them. “When my son crawls towards me, hugs me and says ‘I love you’, I wonder if he knows what that means.” a stay-at-home dad called Scott Durkin told ABC News. “But you get all … warm inside.”
A.Their hard work is bound to pay off.
B.However, the biggest problem has come.
C.It’s not just about being a paycheck (薪水) father anymore.
D.Before being a father, you are mainly measured by your work.
E.In the past, women were more likely than men to look after family members.
F.Staying at home can hardly help them form a close relationship with their kids.
G.They even charged the company with what they described as “cereal discrimination（歧视）”.
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。
A robot used for housework was tested out in a family. He looked like a tall and handsome man with smooth hair, 1. (speak) in a deep voice. Larry was going to be away from home so he hired such a robot 2. (accompany) his wife Claire. Claire didn’t like the idea at the beginning, 3. she agreed to it at last. 4. her first sight of Tony, Claire was alarmed. When Tony offered to help her get dressed, Claire 5.(embarrass). 6.(gradual), Tony began to win Claire’s trust. He helped Claire realize her dreams by making her home elegant, giving her a new haircut, changing the makeup she 7.(wear) and giving her advice on her dresses. Therefore, at the party the guests 8. were invited were filled with admiration when they saw her house was completely changed. After the test, the company 9.(satisfy) with Tony’s report because he had successfully made a woman regain her 10.(confident).
Cloning has always been with us and is here to stay. It’s a way of making 11.exact copy of another animal or plant. Cloning has two major uses. Firstly, gardeners use it all the time to produce commercial quantities of plants. Secondly, it’s 12.(value) for research on new plant species and for medical research on animals. Cloning animals is a difficult task 13.(undertake). At last the determination and patience of the scientists paid off in 1996 with a breakthrough — the cloning of Dolly the sheep. The fact 14. she seemed to develop normally was very 15.(encourage). Then came the disturbing news that Dolly had become seriously ill and she only lived six and a half years.
Dolly’s appearance raised a storm of 16.(object) and had a great impact 17. the media and public imagination. Newspapers told stories of evil leaders hoping to clone 18.(they) to attain their ambitions. Religious leaders raised moral questions. Now some governments have 19.(forbid) research into human cloning, 20. others think cloning is useful for humans.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
I walked into a bank in town a couple of days ago and waited in the queue. I was the second______and I couldn’t help overhearing the_______in front of me. The bank clerk must have been having a(an) _______ day and after asking how the_______was and so on, he began to complain about our government, _______them for not doing enough to_______the coast from storms and floods as this had been much on the news at the time.
He was in_____spirits and you could tell that he was really_______about a lot of things going on in the world.
My heart went out to him. I was _______ next and all I could do was_______. 1didn’t have any words. Afterwards, it _______to me something that had been running under my own thoughts.
So I left the bank, found a_______and on it I wrote: Sometimes the bad parts of the world seem so_______. There are so many sad things going on in the news. They make it hard to see _______going on around us. But that doesn’t_______life right now can’t be beautiful. All you have to do is open your eyes. It’s in the gaps(缝隙) that beauty is_______.
I_______the postcard back into the bank, wandered around and_______ it on a table, ______that the bank clerk would find it. Whether he did or not, I never found out, but it_______would do someone some good, which I’m certain of.
1.A.in sight B.in the way C.in line D.in time
2.A.story B.noise C.quarrel D.conversation
3.A.perfect B.bad C.nervous D.unfortunate
4.A.customer B.farmer C.thinker D.officer
5.A.praising B.blaming C.doubting D.punishing
6.A.prevent B.remove C.separate D.protect
7.A.low B.high C.good D.strange
8.A.excited B.trouble C.cautious D.curious
9.A.served B.paid C.refused D.invited
10.A.comfort B.smile C.scream D.criticize
11.A.seemed B.happened C.came D.looked
12.A.pen B.desk C.postcard D.book
13.A.disappointing B.encouraging C.delightful D.interesting
14.A.fight B.pollution C.luckiness D.beauty
15.A.tell B.feel C.mean D.teach
16.A.found B.built C.missed D.neglected
17.A.passed B.mailed C.took D.lost
18.A.wrote B.hid C.announced D.left
19.A.advising B.hoping C.watching D.guessing
20.A.surely B.suddenly C.hardly D.lately
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
假定你是李华，你的英国朋友Peter即将作为交换生到福建某中学学习，他向你咨询中国高中生课余时间经常参加的活动以及你喜欢的课外活动。请根据以下要点给他回一封邮件：
1. 欢迎他来中国学习；
2. 高中生常参加的课外活动；
3. 你喜欢的课外活动。
注意：
1. 词数80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
阅读下面短文，根据其内容写一篇60词左右的内容概要。
Throughout history, music spread among people of different cultures. In today's technologic advanced society, however, people spread music online, sometimes without an artist's permission. This can lead to many problems, and music companies are now dealing with this practice. Sharing music online without permission is theft (盗窃).
Sharing music online prevents recording companies from making money from their efforts. They say that sharing music online has led to a huge drop in profits and sales over the past 10 years. People who find music for free online are not paying for CDs or every MP3 downloaded. To truly understand the influence of music piracy (盗版) on creators, we must understand how many people are involved in the recording process. For the sale of each album, profits must be shared between musicians, sound engineers, music producers, managers, advertisers, and the company selling the product. Many people believe sharing music only affects the recording artist, but the reality is that sharing hurts business for all companies involved.
There are many people who don't see the harm in sharing music online and even think they have the right to do it. One online blogger states that he originally paid for an entire CD and that he should be able to do with the material whatever he wants. While he may have legally paid for the music, he does not have the right to provide permission, which means people like the blogger are thieves.
Although we don't spread today's music the same way we did before, there's no doubt that people around the word love to share music. However, Internet piracy would prevent musicians from continuing producing albums for fear of theft. Therefore, if people want to continue listening to their favorite artists, they need to buy their music so that artists will make enough profits to continue their music careers.
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难度: 中等查看答案及解析