Everyone should be so lucky as to have a friend like Francia Raisa. On Thursday, singer and actress Selena Gomez, 25, used Instagram to explain why she was “laying low” this summer. She posted a photo of herself in a hospital bed with her friend Francia Raisa holding hands. She said she recently received a kidney transplant from her best friend because of complications(并发症) from lupus(狼疮), an autoimmune disease, which means it is the result of the immune system attacking normal tissue, including the kidneys, brain, heart and lungs.
People with lupus may first experience tiredness, joint pain or a little bit of rash(皮疹) on their bodies and can go for a long time before their doctors realize it is more serious. Many people see two or four doctors before the real problem is picked up. According to Dr. Kyriakos Kirou, roughly a third to one-half of people with lupus develop kidney disease, and up to one in five of them will eventually need a transplant, sometimes because they weren’t treated with effective drugs to prevent the immune system from attacking the kidneys. Though Gomez said that she was “very well now,” she warned about the dangers of not taking medical diagnoses seriously, like she initially did.
Her Instagram post also called attention to two major health topics: the need for living organ donators and the fact that Gomez represents three groups more likely to be diagnosed with lupus and lupus-related kidney disease. Nine out of 10 people diagnosed with lupus are women, and most develop the disease between the ages of 15 to 44. And lupus is two to three times more common among women of color, including Hispanic women, according to the Lupus Foundation.
Raisa is Latina, and Gomez’s father is of Mexican origin. While it’s not essential that the organ donator and receiver be of the same ethnicity, people who share a similar background sometimes are better matched, according to data from the United Network for Organ Sharing.
1.What can we learn about Francia Raisa?
A. She is lucky.
B. She is selfless.
C. She is optimistic.
D. She is encouraging.
2.What is lupus like at its early stage?
A. It is deadly.
B. It is hard to recognize.
C. Its symptoms are psychological.
D. It reminds you of a kidney disease.
3.What does the underlined word “them” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A. People with lupus.
B. Colored women lupus patients.
C. Lupus patients with kidney disease.
D. Women between the ages of 15 to 44.
4.What does the last paragraph mainly tell us?
A. Raisa and Gomez have a similar background.
B. Gomez has fully recovered thanks to the kidney from Raisa.
C. It is vital for the donator and receiver to be of the same race.
D. The organ from the donator of the same race matches the receiver better.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
A few weeks ago, I called an Uber to take me to the Boston airport for a flight home for the holidays. As I slid into the back seat of the car, the warm intonations(语调) of the driver’s accent washed over me in a familiar way.
I learned that he was a recent West African immigrant with a few young children, working hard to provide for his family. I could relate: I am the daughter of two Ethiopian immigrants who made their share of sacrifices to ensure my success. I told him I was on a college break and headed home to visit my parents. That’s how he found out I go to Harvard. An approving eye glinted at me in the rearview window, and quickly, we crossed the boundaries of rider and driver. I became his daughter, all grown up — the product of his sacrifice.
And then came the fateful question: “What do you study?” I answered “history and literature” and the pride in his voice faded, as I knew it might. I didn’t even get to add “and African-American studies” before he cut in, his voice thick with disappointment, “All that work to get into Harvard, and you study history?”
Here I was, his daughter, squandering the biggest opportunity of her life. He went on to deliver the age-old lecture that all immigrant kids know. We are to become doctors (or lawyers, if our parents are being generous) — to make money and send money back home. The unspoken demand, made across generations, which my Uber driver laid out plainly, is simple: Fulfill your role in the narrative(故事) of upward mobility so your children can do the same.
I used to feel anxious and backed into a corner by the questioning, but now as a junior in college, I’m grateful for their support more than anything. This holiday season, I’ve promised myself I won’t huff and get annoyed at their inquiries. I won’t defensively respond with “but I plan to go to law school!” when I get unrequested advice. I’ll just smile and nod, and enjoy the warmth of the occasion.
1.What disappointed the driver?
A. The author’s attitude towards him.
B. The school that the author is attending.
C. The author’s majors in history and literature.
D. The author’s interests in African American studies.
2.Which of the following can replace the underlined word “squandering” in Paragraph 4?
A. wasting
B. creating
C. valuing
D. seizing
3.Why are immigrant kids expected to be doctors or lawyers?
A. Their parents want them to move upward in society.
B. Their parents are high achieving as well.
C. They have more opportunities.
D. They are very smart in general.
4.How did the author react to the driver’s questioning?
A. Getting upset.
B. Feeling satisfied.
C. Defending herself.
D. Appreciating his concern.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
What’s small, buzzes here and there and visits flowers? If you said bees or hummingbirds, you got it. You wouldn’t be the first if you mixed the two up. Now a group of researchers even say we should embrace our history of considering the two together in the same group. The way scientists study bees could help them study hummingbird behavior, too.
Scientists first compared the two back in the 1970s when studying how animals search for food. The idea is that animals use a kind of math to make choices in order to minimize the work it takes to earn maximum rewards. Researchers at the time focused on movement rules, like the order in which they visited flowers, and where flowers were located relative to others. It was “almost like an algorithm(算法)” for efficient searching, said David Pritchard, a biologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Hummingbirds and bees had similar solutions.
As the field of animal cognition(认知) appeared, hummingbird and bee research parted. Neuroscientists and behavioral ecologists developed ways to study bee behavior in naturalistic settings. Hummingbird researchers compared hummingbirds to other birds and borrowed methods from psychology to study their ability to learn in the lab. To be fair, hummingbirds and bees differ. For example, hummingbirds have more advanced eyes and brains than bees. Honeybees and bumblebees are social; hummingbirds typically aren’t.
But however they perceive(感知) or process information, they both experience similar information, Dr. Pritchard said. In day-to-day searching for food, for example, hummingbirds may rely on more of a bee’s-eye view than a bird’s-eye view. Like other birds, they rely on landmarks, distances and directions to make maps when travelling long distances, but they don’t use these cues to find flowers. Move a flower just an inch or so away from where a hummingbird thought it was and it will hover over the flower’s original location. Dr. Pritchard is investigating if, like bees, hummingbirds engage in view matching — hovering, scanning snapshots of a place to its memory and using those as references later.
1.What is the center of research on hummingbirds and bees in the 1970s?
A. Memory.
B. Movement rules.
C. Reward calculating.
D. Information processing.
2.Which subject’s research methods were adopted to study the learning ability of Hummingbirds?
A. Math.
B. Biology.
C. Ecology.
D. Psychology.
3.How do researchers find out that hummingbirds are not like birds?
A. By setting them free.
B. By moving flowers.
C. By matching view.
D. By making maps.
4.Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
A. Hummingbirds and Bees
B. Hummingbirds in the Lab
C. New Trends in Studying Bees
D. Thinking of Hummingbirds as Bees
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
The UN has recognized the contributions of volunteers on Dec. 5, International Volunteer Day. Here, the four things are offered to consider before taking the leap into overseas volunteering.
Choose your organization carefully
1. volunteering may be a fundraising mechanism(筹资机制) for a development project. For others, volunteering is fundamental to their programs, and those serving take on professional roles in longer-term development.
2.
Volunteers want to help and make a difference, but most know this isn’t a purely selfless act. You will learn new skills, broaden your horizons and come to better understand yourself and the world. 3. Reflect on your motivations. You want to help reduce global poverty or protect the natural world, but what else? Have you always wanted to travel, but not as a tourist? Work with kids? When you understand your motivations, you’ll be in a better position to choose the option that is right for you.
Work alongside the local community
Often times, travelers volunteer in isolation(隔离) from the local community in which they are working in. 4. This enables you to ensure you are committing to a project that promotes long term and sustainable change.
A volunteer trip is just the beginning
5. Further ignite(点燃) the global change maker in you by taking your experience one step further when you return home. Spread the message of your transformative experience to others, helping to spark the change within them.
A. And that’s all OK.
B. Know why you’re going.
C. Don’t assume you know it all.
D. Communities always welcome volunteers.
E. Volunteer travel is a life-changing experience.
F. Some organizations require you to pay your own way, and often include a fee.
G. Make sure to travel with organizations that have strong partnerships with local communities.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
George Springer helped his team Houston Astros win the World Series in 2017. He was awarded the Most Valuable Player, ______ his struggle is mostly hidden. His ______ is not in trying to hit a fastball, but in ______ it. He stutters(口吃).
Growing up in Connecticut, Springer was the kid who would ______ raise his hand in school, the kid ______ every time he opened his mouth.
“I was the guy who didn’t talk,’’ he said. “I would ______ speaking at all costs.’’
He was often ______. Sometimes he was bullied(欺侮). The phone was suffering to him. ______were worse. If he wanted a dish that he knew would be tough to say, he would ______. If he was with his family, his sister Nicole would ______ for him.
He remembers a couple of attempts at speech therapy(语言治疗), but he said he was ______ with encouraging parents, an ability to ______ himself in sports, and a small group of friends who ______.
“If therapy works for you, ______. But for me, I also developed my own ______ to handle it,’’ he said. “Besides, when I was around all my friends, it didn’t really seem to ______ them. If I did it, they would ______ until I was done, then finish the conversation.’’
To help other kids ______ the same issue, Springer frequently appeared in interviews and even agreed to wear a microphone ______ during the 2017 All-Star Game. He then added “I can’t let anything in life I can’t ______ slow me down or stop me from being who I want to be.’’ These 22 words proved it.
1.A. so B. yet C. and D. since
2.A. strength B. fault C. goal D. difficulty
3.A. talking about B. dealing with C. thinking about D. playing with
4.A. even B. sometimes C. often D. never
5.A. in delight B. in fear C. in relief D. in trouble
6.A. forbid B. prefer C. regret D. avoid
7.A. deserted B. scared C. teased D. attacked
8.A. Classes B. Restaurants C. Foods D. Debates
9.A. gesture B. weep C. signal D. beg
10.A. take B. pay C. order D. cook
11.A. blessed B. getting along C. provided D. fed up
12.A. refresh B. relax C. enjoy D. express
13.A. cared B. forgave C. understood D. approved
14.A. interesting B. great C. unique D. strange
15.A. ways B. interest C. habits D. taste
16.A. amaze B. hurt C. aid D. bother
17.A. laugh B. press C. wait D. panic
18.A. raising B. facing C. confusing D. settling
19.A. on field B. in school C. at home D. on stage
20.A. grasp B. possess C. control D. defend
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。
I won’t call myself the most accomplished person when it comes to 1. (hold) chopsticks. In fact, I’m pretty sure that my technique looks clumsy at times. I tend to hold 2. (I) in the middle, more beginner than expert.
Still, since I eat almost every meal with the eating utensil(器皿)of choice in China it’s not uncommon for a new friend or acquaintance to come to a simple 3. (conclude) after observing me that my Chinese husband, Jun, must 4. (show) me how to use them.
They are wrong. I’ve used chopsticks ever since I was a teenager, a time when my sister and mother were both fond of Chinese cuisine and introduced me 5. many new dishes, along with the 6. (prefer) utensils in China. We always kept bamboo chopsticks along with our 7. (knife), forks and spoons, ready for whenever we happened to have Chinese food for dinner. It was my closest family 8. observed my first mistakes I made in using chopsticks.
Plus, I lived over two years in China before Jun and I started dating and I 9. (expect) to use chopsticks in almost every restaurant, stand and bar. Trust me, when you’re hungry you figure out pretty fast what it takes to down(咽下) 10. meal with these utensils.
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。
Last month, my good friend Mark got an expensive watch as his birthday present. He showed to everyone in my class proud. I really envied him and every day I ask my mum to buy me an expensive present. However, to my disappointment, I only got a second-hand bike at that special day. So one day while I was riding my “dear” bike back home from school, I passed the shop that my mum worked. I saw a familiar figure kneeling down in the front of it cleaned the outside steps of the shop. It was my mum! She worked so harder to raise me! Tear in my eyes, I got off the bike and worked together with her.
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
假定你是李华，你的美国朋友Jack下学期将作为交换生来你校学习，他想学习传统中国画。请你写封邮件给他建议。内容包括：
1. 选修你校开设的中国画课程；
2. 上课时间和地点；
3. 工具和材料：毛笔、墨和宣纸等；
参考词汇： 选修课 optional course 中国画 Chinese Painting 毛笔 Chinese brush
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: 简单查看答案及解析