Both of Jessica’s parents were lawyers and expected her to follow suit. So she went to law school, got a job at a great firm in Washington, DC, and worked as a lawyer for a decade. But her heart was never in it. “I had a big salary but no personal satisfaction,” she says.
Jessica found pleasure in the same thing that had brought her joy since joining the church choir at the age of 12. “Singing always felt like communicating something real at a spiritual and emotional level,” says Jessica. Yet she never considered it a career option. “That seemed like something people did in fairy tales, and I would never let my parents down,” she says.
It was her mom’s diagnosis of brain cancer in 2009 that made Jessica realize she had to write her own happy-ever-after. “Work was busy and my mother was ailing. So I was flying back and forth from Washington, DC to Houston to see her,” Jessica says. “I finally said, ‘Enough!’ and quit.” While caring for her mom, Jessica made a plan. She would spend her savings and study music for a year, and then open a part-time law practice so she could pursue her passion. Before her mother passed away two years later, she encouraged Jessica to follow her dream. Her song Live This Life was inspired by her mom, and her dad came to watch her perform at clubs.
In 2012, Jessica moved to Nashville to try singing and songwriting. A decade of presenting cases in court gave her the confidence to sing for a crowd. “At 20, I would have been too shy to perform,” says Jessica.
“Doing music is so free,” Jessica says. “There’s no pressure to be a star. Success, to me, isn’t a dollar amount or a record deal; it’s doing what I love.”
1.Which of the following is TRUE?
A. Jessica didn’t really like working as a lawyer.
B. Jessica didn’t know what she truly loved for ten years.
C. Jessica wasn’t satisfied with the pay she got as a lawyer.
D. Jessica was grateful for her parents’ arrangement for her.
2.What does the underlined word “ailing” in Paragraph 3 mean?
A. Sick. B. Crazy.
C. Worried. D. Unhappy.
3.What was Jessica’s mother’s attitude toward her singing?
A. Unknown. B. Doubtful.
C. Supportive. D. Negative.
4.By telling Jessica’s story, the writer most probably wants to _______.
A. encourage us to pursue our dreams
B. show that singing can be a practical career
C. tell us the importance of choosing a right job
D. show that family members’ support is important
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Deborah Cohen is a senior natural scientist at the Rand Corp and the author of the book A Big Fat Crisis: The Hidden Forces Behind the Obesity Epidemic and How We Can End It. According to the book, there are lots of misunderstandings of obesity.
1. If you’re obese, blame your genes.
Obesity rates have increased. Yet, between 1980 and 2000, the number of Americans who are obese has doubled—too quickly for genetic factors to be responsible.
At restaurants, a dollar puts more calories on our plates than ever before, because restaurant meals usually have more calories than what we prepare at home, so people who eat out more frequently have higher rates of obesity than those who eat out less.
2. If you’re obese, you lack self-control.
Research shows that if we are faced with too much information, we have a tendency to make poor dietary choices. Our world has become so rich in temptation that we can be led to consume too much in ways we can’t understand. Even the most vigilant(警觉的) people may not be up to the task of controlling themselves.
3. Lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables is responsible for obesity.
Although the US Department of Agriculture estimates that fewer than 5 percent of Americans live in the “food deserts”, about 65 percent of the nation’s population is overweight or obese. For most of us, obesity is not related to access to more fresh fruits and vegetables, but to the choices we make in supermarkets.
4. The problem is not that we eat too much, but that we don’t exercise.
Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign is based on the idea that if kids exercise more, childhood obesity rates will decrease. But there was no significant decrease in physical activity levels as obesity rates climbed in the 1980s and 1990s. In fact, although a drop in work-related physical activity may account for up to 100 fewer calories burned, leisure physical activity appears to have increased. The problem is that we eat too much.
1.The author mentioned Deborah Cohen’s book in Paragraph 1 to _______.
A. introduce the topic
B. draw readers’ attention
C. introduce the author of the book
D. advertise the book
2.What is the relationship between obesity and the place where you eat?
A. The less you eat out, the higher rates of obesity you have.
B. The less you eat at home, the lower rates of obesity you have.
C. The more you eat out, the higher rates of obesity you have.
D. The more you eat at home, the higher rates of obesity you have.
3.What’s the best title of this passage?
A. Four misunderstandings of obesity.
B. Four rules to help you avoid obesity.
C. Obesity leads to a big fat crisis.
D. Lacking self-control leads to obesity.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
TIME is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It was created in 1923 by Briton Hadden and Henry Luce, making it the first weekly news magazine in the US. Hadden was considered carefree, liked to tease Luce and saw TIME as important but also fun. That accounted for its heavy coverage of celebrities(including politicians), the entertainment industry, and pop culture—criticized as too light for serious news.
It tells the news through people, and for many decades, the magazine’s cover depicted a single person. On Hadden’s death in 1929, Luce became the most important man at TIME and a major figure in the history of 20th-century media.
TIME is also known for its signature red border, first introduced in 1927. It has only changed four times since then. The issue released shortly after the September 11 attacks on the United States featured a black border to symbolize mourning. However, this edition was a special “extra” edition published quickly for the breaking news of the event; the next regularly scheduled issue contained the red border. Additionally, the April 28, 2008 Earth Day issue, dedicated to environmental issues, contained a green border. The next change in border was in the September 19, 2011 issue, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks with a metallic silver border. The most recent change(again with a silver border) was in the December 31, 2012 issue, noting Barack Obama’s selection as Man of the Year.
TIME has a division magazine, TIME FOR KIDS(TFK), which is especially published for children and is mainly distributed in classrooms. TFK contains some national news, a “Cartoon of the Week”, and a variety of articles concerning popular culture that the younger U.S. citizens are interested in. All the stories in TFK are written by young reporters.
In some advertising campaigns, the magazine has suggested that the letters TIME stand for “The International Magazine of Events”.
1.TIME has a history of _______.
A. about 50 years B. about 70 years
C. about 90 years D. about 150 years
2.Why did some people dislike TIME in the beginning?
A. It had kept its cover the same since the 1920s.
B. It didn’t have a serious tone for important events.
C. It didn’t report important events quickly enough.
D. Henry Luce was in charge of the magazine for too long.
3.Why did TIME change its red border for the first time?
A. To remember the 10th anniversary of an attack.
B. To remind readers to protect the environment.
C. To show great sadness about the deaths.
D. To call on readers to vote for Obama.
4.What do we know about TFK?
A. It has young reporters writing articles.
B. It has a division magazine called TIME.
C. It is designed for kids and teachers.
D. It mainly contains popular culture.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Cheaters called “pirates” often use camcorders(便携式摄像机) and cell phones to make illegal copies of blockbusters(大片) in the local theater. These pirates then sell those recordings on the street or over the Internet for very low prices. Some share them for free.
“It’s unfair for people to pirate movies, ” says 15-year-old Hadaia Azad Ezzulddin. Movie piracy “takes money out of the pockets of thousands of people in the movie industry,” she notes. Victims include famous actors and directors as well as local theater owners and their employees.
Hadaia came up with an idea that could help stop movie piracy. Hadaia’s idea uses infrared(红外线的) light. This range of light is invisible to the human eye. It is visible, however, to many types of cameras. Theater owners could place small infrared lights on their movie screens. The lights would not disturb people watching the movie. It would, however, distort the recordings made by many types of cameras.
To test her idea, Hadaia built a box with a movie screen inside. Then, she projected images on that screen through a hole in the box. She took recordings of those images, using nine different types of cameras. These included the types found in cell phones as well as camcorders. During some tests, she also turned on light emitting diodes(发光二极管), or LEDs. The LEDs were embedded（植入的） in a certain place behind the movie screen. They gave out infrared light.
Sure enough, she showed, a pirated movie included odd stripes or spots if it had been recorded while the LEDs were on. It might be possible to use the LEDs to flash the date and time on the movie screen. The information would then appear in the illegal recordings. Theater owners or police might use the information to track down the pirates.
Cutting down on piracy might get more people into theaters to watch the real movie instead of an illegal copy. Six out of every ten films now produced aren’t profitable. They don’t make enough money to recover how much was spent to make and market them. Such a poor payback can discourage filmmakers from producing anything but the types expected to become blockbuster hits. It might also keep smaller theaters from showing a wider variety of movie types.
1. From what Hadaia says in Paragraph 2, we can infer that _______.
A. most people spend less money on pirates moves
B. the pirates don’t have to pay for the movie tickets
C. theater owners will increase the price of movie tickets
D. she strongly criticizes those who video movies in the theater
2. Infrared lights are put on the movie screens to _______.
A. adjust the brightness of the movie screens
B. make sure the images of movies are dark
C. protect the eyesight of viewers in the darkness
D. make illegal copies of movies unpleasant to see
3.What is the correct order of the steps in Hadaia’s test?
a. She projected pictures on the screen.
b. She used cameras to record the pictures.
c. She turned on the LEDs placed behind the screen.
d. She made a special box with a movie screen inside.
A. bacd B. dcab C. dbac D. bcad
4.According to the last paragraph, we can know that _______.
A. forty percent of movies now are profitable
B. small theaters often choose to show low-cost movies
C. more and more people go to theaters to fight movie piracy
D. filmmakers prefer to produce ordinary movies than blockbusters
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
We all know the importance of curiosity, and here are some tips on how to develop it.
Keep an open mind. This is essential if you are to have a curious mind. Be open to learning, unlearning, and relearning things. 1. Therefore, you should be prepared to accept this possibility and change your mind.
2. Most people just accept the world as it is. This way, they will certainly lose the “holy curiosity”. Try to dig deeper beneath the surface of what is around you. A sure way to dig deeper beneath the surface is asking questions. What, why, when, who, where, and how are the questions curious people always ask.
Don’t label anything as boring. Whenever you label something as boring, you close one more door of possibilities. Curious people are unlikely to consider things boring. 3. Even if they don’t yet have time to explore them, they will leave the door open to be visited another time.
Take learning as something fun. If you see learning as a burden, there’s no way you will want to dig deeper into anything. That will just make the burden heavier. However, if you think of learning as something fun, you will naturally want to dig deeper. 4.
Read diverse materials. It will introduce you to the possibilities and excitement of other worlds which may attract your interest in exploring further. One easy way to do this is through reading diverse materials. 5. It’ll feed your mind with the excitement of a new world.
A. Never take things as granted.
B. Don’t spend too much time on just one world.
C. Try to pick a book or magazine on a new subject.
D. Some things you know and believe might be wrong.
E. It doesn’t matter that you don’t agree to others’ opinions.
F. Instead, they always see these things as a door to an exciting new world.
G. So look at life through the glasses of fun and enjoy the learning process.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Last weekend as I was riding in the bike lane alongside the truck, we reached a crossing and it turned to the right, 1. (hit) me and my bicycle. Even more upsetting was the fact 2. the driver didn’t stop afterward. 3. , I was not injured and my bicycle was damaged, but still usable.
Even days after I reported the event to the police, they failed to 4. (proper) solve this situation or even return my calls. Eventually, I decided 5. (contact) University Student Legal Services for help about this matter. The small damage may not seem worth all 6. trouble, but what if I had been seriously 7. (injure)? Will anyone see punishment for breaking traffic laws and damaging my property?
Unfortunately, my experience is common, and 8. (accident) between bikes and cars occur far too often. A comprehensive study 9. (report) that of the nearly 3,000 cyclist-motorist crashes that occurred between 2000 and 2010, about 20 percent were hit-and-runs.
Bicycles are held to the same standards as motor vehicles in most cases , 10. means that cyclists must obey all the traffic rules, and also have the right to get damages in the accidents. I urge both cyclists and motorists to become familiar with their rights and duties when sharing the roads.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Jazzy is a lovely pug(哈巴狗) who always seems to be smiling. You can’t help but
when you look at Jazzy now, because you would never guess the horrible situation she was rescued from and the this little dog had.
Jazzy was taken from her owners, who were immediately with animal cruelty. Why? Because neighbors had seeing little Jazzyy moving around her back yard with two broken front legs. Her owners, who were supposed to her most, did absolutely nothing about it. They had never sought any kind of for poor Jazzy. Nobody knew how it and it was believed that she was hit by a car, or that someone had done this to her.
Jazzy’s cruel owners didn’t take her to the veterinarian, her condition went from bad to worse. Over time her front right leg loosely, and her left leg was permanently bent at a sharp angle. The pain must have been astonishing. She moved around like a baby seal. She needed .
In a Los Angeles animal shelter, things got even . The shelter could not provide the costly operations that could be to restore Jazzy’s ability to and lead a normal life, and it was impossible to find a family who would be able to a dog in this condition. The difficult was made to euthanize（使安乐死）sweet Jazzy.
All was lost. Then a miracle happened. A volunteer from Dogs Without Borders saw Jazzy. Jazzy was pulled out of the and rescuers got busy working on a plan to ensure that Jazzy would get treatment. For months, Dogs Without Borders cared for Jazzy, while enough money for her operations. Donations came in. Finally in December 2013 the money was enough and it was time to get her operations ! By the spring of 2014, Jazzy had fully recovered.
1.A. complain B. forgive C. celebrate D. laugh
2.A. pain B. shock C. happiness D. responsibility
3.A. lazy B. original C. angry D. new
4.A. combined B. charged C. compared D. provided
5.A. reported B. imagined C. regretted D. avoided
6.A. care for B. depend on C. look for D. talk about
7.A. food B. contact C. treatment D. information
8.A. fell B. felt C. improved D. happened
9.A. If B. Until C. Although D. Since
10.A. stepped B. stood C. hung D. waved
11.A. instructionB.encouragement C. help D. discipline
12.A. harder B. worse C. safer D. clearer
13.A. prevented B. required C. released D. checked
14.A. breathe B. bark C. walk D. listen
15.A. adopt B. buy C. watch D. catch
16.A. promise B. decision C. appointment D. experiment
17.A. hope B. wealth C. medicine D. connection
18.A. hospital B. yard C. shelter D. home
19.A. borrowing B. saving C. earning D. raising
20.A. corrected B. done C. fed D. developed
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
假定在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。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号(∧)，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l0处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。
I, together with my two friends, were eating dinner at a Chinese restaurant, locating in the center of New York. I noticed the young woman eating with two kids. We stopped by and I asked the kids if he believed in Santa. The elder boy, whom was about seven years old, pointed his younger sister and said, “She does, but I don’t.” I told them Santa was real and as we were paying for our dinner, I paid for theirs, either. I didn’t know that whether the woman was alone, but I grow up with my mother supporting us four kids alone. I still feel good thinking I may have helped on some small ways.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
假如你是一名高三年级学生。你发现班上有些同学晚上学习到深夜，白天也不安排休息时间，但往往课堂上昏昏欲睡；有些同学饮食习惯不好，不吃早餐。请你写一篇发言稿，在班会上劝同学们合理安排作息时间，注意健康饮食, 保证学习好、身体好。
注意：发言稿须包含上述要点，但可适当发挥，使讲话完整通顺。
It’ s a pleasure for me to have a chance to make a short speech today.
That’s all. Thank you for listening!
难度: 中等查看答案及解析