A Book Review—The Snake-Stone by Berlie Doherty
The setting: Urban England (the cities), but also rural England (the countryside) including remote English villages.
The theme: The main theme is a teenage search of self-discovery, in this case the search for a mother from whom the hero was separated at an early age. Its other concerns are love, getting on with others, being persistent and courageous and trying to deal with doubts, troubles and worries. As the book moves to a close, James’ swimming coach says to him: “You are not like a kid obeying instructions any more. You are diving like a young man who knows where he is going.”
The characters: James is the hero of the story. He is a championship diver, and has a comfortable life with his foster parents (养父母). Yet he also has the qualities to take him on a long journey to find his birth mother. The other characters in The Snake-Stone, James’ parents, his diving instructor, best friend, the villagers, people he meets on his journey, are pictured realistically.
The turning point: The turning point in the story comes while James’ foster parents are away in London, and he wonders about the identity of his birth mother. The only clue he has is a fossil, “the snake stone” which she left behind along with a note on which she had written: “Take good care of Sammie.” It was written on a torn envelope with parts of an address still there.
The journey: Instead of going to London, James decides to find his birth mother. With help from his geography teacher, James sets out for the remote country village where his mother might be found. James has painful, challenging, but also humorous and happy travels. The mother he finally meets, Anne, has a minor yet powerful voice in the novel. He comes to understand why she left him at a stranger’s door fifteen years before. Although the meeting is not long, it leaves him with a feeling of completeness. As a journey of self-discovery, The Snake-Stone also provides its readers with a happy ending. Its hero says, on returning to his foster parents, “I was home.”
1.What is the main theme of the novel?
A.Life with foster parents. B.Life in the world of diving.
C.A journey of self-discovery. D.A travel around the country.
2.What do the coach’s words in Paragraph 2 suggest?
A.James is a successful diver. B.James is an independent young man.
C.James is an outgoing young man. D.James is a hopeful swimmer.
3.The snake stone in the novel is .
A.a stone with an address on it B.a fossil left by the foster parents
C.a gift from the swimming coach D.a clue left by the birth mother
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Scott Poore is an animal lover. He moves into the shelter kennel(犬舍) with the ______ of helping unwanted young dogs get adopted. Queen, a 3-year-old dog, has just gotten the most ____ roommate despite the narrow living room.
Since Poore is a ______ visitor at the shelter, he is familiar with all of the ______. However, little Queen in particular has really ______ his heart. Poore says that he recently began to ____ that Queen seemed to be" losing ______"in finding a forever home. "I have been ______Queen every single day for over a year and now I can ______ see her giving up," Poore wrote on his blog last week. "She used to get so ______ when I would arrive and now she just lies in her bed and ______ at me. I sit in her room and all she does is look out of her window."
So as a ______ of raising awareness of Queen's situation, Poore ______ a suitcase and moved into the dog's kennel. Poore says it has been ______ managing his work while also living at the shelter, but he is ______ to stay in the kennel until someone adopts Queen. Since he ___ the kennel earlier this week, he and his new canine roommate have been ______ the headlines of dozens of national news outlets, although no potential ______ have stepped forward.
____, this dog has finally been given a loving home after his ______ crossed with that of a woman living on the other side of the country.
1.A.assistance B.exception C.aim D.name
2.A.devoted B.expected C.experienced D.talented
3.A.patient B.regular C.curious D.cautious
4.A.keepers B.investors C.colleagues D.animals
5.A.broken B.stolen C.understood D.lost
6.A.check B.notice C.suspect D.imagine
7.A.happiness B.freedom C.hope D.energy
8.A.visiting B.walking C.instructing D.training
9.A.naturally B.anxiously C.still D.obviously
10.A.excited B.concerned C.amazed D.disappointed
11.A.stands up B.looks down C.jumps down D.stares up
12.A.reward B.means C.consequence D.symbol
13.A.packed B.brought C.purchased D.delivered
14.A.meaningful B.vital C.tough D.unusual
15.A.satisfied B.inspired C.honoured D.determined
16.A.cleared up B.cared for C.settled into D.met with
17.A.hitting B.discussing C.hearing D.encouraging
18.A.customers B.donators C.employers D.adopters
19.A.Increasingly B.Pitifully C.Delightfully D.Deliberately
20.A.view B.path C.mind D.story
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。
The mascot(吉祥物) for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games official made its public appearance on Tuesday. It was a cartoon character inspired by giant pandas. The smiling panda is named with Bing Dwen Dwen in Chinese. Color circles around its face symbolize skating tracks and 5G technology. Bing, Chinese word for "ice", shows purity and strength, but Dwen Dwen, means sincerity, liveliness and health — also characteristics of pandas. Perhaps pandas are the animals most easily recognizing by us in China. The mascot combines our traditional culture and how pandas look like with winter sports elements. The image shows our great expect of the Games and that our Chinese welcome the world.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Some people believe that a Robin Hood is at work, others that a wealthy person simply wants to distribute his or her fortune before dying. But the donator who started sending envelopes with cash to deserving causes，accompanied by an article from the local paper, has made a northern German city believe in fairytales.
The first envelope was sent to a victim support group. It contained €10,000 with a cutting from the Braunschtveiger Zeitung about how the group supported a woman who was robbed of her handbag; similar plain white anonymous (匿名) envelopes, each containing €10,000, then arrived at a kindergarten and a church.
The envelopes keep coming, and so far at least €190,000 has been distributed. Last month, one of them was sent to the newspaper’s own office. It came after a story it published about Tom, a 14-year-old boy who was severely disabled in a swimming accident. The receptionist at the Braunschweiger Zeitung opened an anonymous white envelope to find 20 notes of €500 inside, with a copy of the article. The name of the family was underlined.
"I was driving when I heard the news.”Claudia Neumann, the boy’s mother, told DerSpiegel magazine.“I had to park on the side of the road; I was speechless.”
The money will be used to make the entrance to their house wheelchair-accessible and for a course of treatment that their insurance company refused to pay for.
“For someone to act so selflessly, for this to happen in such a society in which everyone thinks of himself, was astonishing," Mrs. Neumann said. Her family wonder whether the donator is a Robin Hood character, taking from banks to give to the needy.
Henning Noske, the editor of the Braunschweiger Zeitung, said:“Maybe it is an old person who is about to die. We just do not know.” However, he has told his reporters not to look for the city’s hero, for fear that discovery may stop the donations.
1.The Braunschweiger Zeitung is the name of_____________ .
A.a church B.a newspaper
C.a bank D.a magazine
2.Which of the following is TRUE about the donation to Tom?
A.The donation amounted to €190,000. B.The donation was sent directly to his house.
C.His mother felt astonished at the donation. D.The money will be used for his education.
3.It can be inferred from the passage that____________.
A.the donation will continue to come B.the donator is a rich old man
C.the donation comes from the newspaper D.the donator will soon be found out
4.What would be the best title for the passage?
A.Money Is Raised by the Newspaper B.Newspaper Distributes Money to the needy
C.Robin Hood Returns to the City D.Unknown Hero Spreads Love in Envelopes
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
White-collar workers increasingly unhealthy
An increasing number of white-collar workers in Shanghai are getting failing grades on their physical examinations, according to a white paper on the health of white-collar workers in Shanghai.
Carried out by Shanghai Foreign Service Group, a human resources company, the report indicated that more than 53 percent of males are overweight, 46 percent suffer from a fatty live and about 26 percent have elevated blood lipids(血脂). However, females are more often diagnosed as having breast lesions(乳房病变) that could lead to cancer (85 percent), thyroid(甲状腺) disorder (34 percent) and hemorrhoids(痔疮) (23 percent).
Though the report also found that white-collar workers were paying increasing attention to their health—with about 84 percent saying they followed their condition closely or very closely—those with healthy lifestyles dropped to 64 percent last year from 77 percent in 2015.
The report came from about 500,000 physical exams taken by while-collar workers in Shanghai over the past five years. “I always eat and drink too much and never exercise,” said Wei Ruoxi, a 26-year-old working in finance who is struggling with being overweight. “I know what a healthy lifestyle looks like, but the job just brings too much pressure and squeezes out exercise time,” she added. Hu Xiaolong, 30, an accountant in Shanghai, said he was determined to live healthily from now on. “My recent physical examination shows a little shadow in the lung, which startled me when I heard it. I really need to quit bad habits like smoking and staying up late.”
The white paper also showed that more people are turning to commercial health insurance to cope with financial risks caused by health problems.The popularity of insurance purchases among the participants reached 15.3 percent last year, a rise of 4 percentage points in just one year. Most participants also expected their companies to help them with effective health management, such as offering membership cards for gyms, flexible working schedules and regular physical examinations.
1.The female white-collar workers with breast lesions suffer from ________ most.
A.breast lesions B.fatty liver
C.hemorrhoids D.cancer
2.What does the underlined word “startled” in the 4th paragraph probably mean?
A.confused B.curious
C.shocked D.annoyed
3.The main idea of the last paragraph is that ________.
A.more and more white-collar workers have realized their health problems
B.the health insurance firm has profited from white-collar workers
C.people are trying to handle the white-collar workers’ health problems
D.companies have taken measures to improve white-collar workers’ health
4.In which column of a newspaper do we probably find the passage?
A.Health. B.Business.
C.People. D.Technology.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Technology offers conveniences such as opening the garage door from your car or changing the television station without touching the TV.
Now one American company is offering its employees a new convenience: a microchip implanted in their hands. Employees who have these chips can do all kinds of things just by waving their hands. Three Square Market is offering to implant microchips in all of their employees for free. Each chip costs $300 and Three Square Market will pay for the chip. Employees can volunteer to have the chips implanted in their hands. About 50 out of 80 employees have chosen to do so. The president of the company, his wife and their children are also getting chips implanted in their hands.
The chip is about the size of a grain of rice. Implanting the chip only takes about a second and is said to hurt only very briefly. The chips go under the skin between the thumb and forefinger. With a chip in the hand, a person can enter the office building, buy food, sign into computers and more, simply by waving that hand near a scanner. The chips will be also used to identify employees. Employees who want convenience, but do not want to have a microchip implanted under their skin, can wear a wristband (腕带) or a ring with a chip instead. They can perform the same tasks with a wave of their hands as if they had an implanted chip.
Three Square Market is the first company in the United Slates to offer to implant chips in its employees. Epicenter, a company in Sweden, has been implanting chips in its employees for a while.
Three Square Market says the chip cannot track the employees. The company says scanners can read the chips only when they are within a few inches of them. “The chips protect against identity theft, similar to credit cards.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the chips back in 2004, so they should be safe for humans, according to the company.
In the future, people with the chips may be able to do more with them, even outside the office. Todd Westby is Chief Executive Officer of Three Square Market. He says, “Eventually, this technology will become standardized allowing you to use this as your passport, public transit, all purchasing opportunities, etc.”
1.What is the third paragraph mainly about?
A.The substitutes of the chips.
B.The potential risks of implanting the chips.
C.The places to implant the chips.
D.The advantages of the chips.
2.What does the underlined word “them” in Paragraph 5 refer to?
A.the hands B.the scanners
C.the employees D.the credit cards
3.We can infer that ________.
A.the chips have magic powers
B.the price of the chips is reasonable
C.the chips are very popular among the employees
D.most people suspect the application of the chips
4.Which of the following best describes Todd Westby’s attitude towards the chips?
A.Defensive. B.Disappointing.
C.Casual. D.Optimistic.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
If you take a look around your kitchen or office right now, chances are that you’ll notice you’re surrounded by plastic—water bottles, to-go coffee cups, straws, plastic grocery bags, food wrappers, take-out containers, single-serve coffee pods and produce bags. 1.．
It’s certainly not realistic to remove all plastic from your life, but let’s examine some statistics that may encourage you to reduce your single-use plastic footprint by throwing away straws, switching to reusable water bottles, bringing cloth bags to the grocery store and more.
According to a study published in the journal Science Advances, the popularity of plastic, which began rising in the 1950s, is growing out of control. 2.．And there’s no sign of slowing down, considering scientists say that another 12 trillion kilograms will be produced worldwide by 2050.
“Every piece of plastic that has ever been created will remain in the environment in some form, but once we conveniently throw out our rubbish at home, wind and runoff carry our waste from landfills and streets to the ocean,” says Mystic Aquarium’s chief clinical veterinarian Jennifer Flower, DVM, MS. “Given that we are globally producing over 320 million tons of plastic annually, the marine environment is taking a big hit from our daily disposal of plastic.
3.. For example, newborn fish are mistaking tiny bits of plastic waste for food. If they die, there will be fewer big fish—and that could damage the food chain. Often our society is so focused on making our lives more convenient in the short term, but in the long run, our health and the health of marine life are at the expense of those everyday conveniences.”
4.．A recent report suggests that when heated, certain food additives (添加剂) can damage hormones, growth and development, as well as increase chances for children of being fat. 5.．It is found in plastic containers and metal cans. Parents are urged to avoid using microwaves to warm food and drinks or placing plastics in the dishwasher.
A.Using plastic containers in microwaves is also harmful to children’s health.
B.Our plastic consumption is directly affecting the life in the ocean.
C.8.2 trillion kilograms of plastic have been produced around the world.
D.People are concerned about the results of overusing plastic containers.
E.Let’s stop using plastic for the benefit of the environment and human beings.
F.The most concerning artificial additive BPA is a chemical used in the production of plastics.
G.These are all examples of single-use plastic products, which is a hot topic nowadays.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
假定你是李华，最近你校将举办“外国学生讲中国故事”活动。请你给曾在中国留学的英国笔友Jack写一封电子邮件，邀请他参加。
注意：
1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3.邮件的开头和结尾已经给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Jack,
I hope everything is going on well with you.____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Looking forward to your early reply.
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
难度: 中等查看答案及解析