From The 12 Days of Christmas to See You in the Cosmos, these children’s books are ideal for holiday giving.
The 12 Days of Christmas
by Greg Pizzoli
It’s a classic Christmas reading material! It’s a counting lesson! It’s a crazy tale of elephant love. Have you ever wondered how all those calling birds, turtle doves and French hens fit in one room? Pizzoli, a Theodor Seuss Geisel Award winner has your answer. ($ 15.99, ages 3—5) Amazon. com
Here We Are
by Oliver Jeffers
Yes, this book by the illustrator (插画家) of the great hit “The Day the Crayons Quit” is for kids ages 3—7, but don’t let that fool you. Inspired by the birth of Jeffers1 first child, this is a father’s “welcome to the earth” letter to his baby, filled with the heady wonder of parenthood A great gift for new parents. ($ 19.99. ages 3—7) Amazon. com
Wishtree
by Katherine Applegate, illustrated by Charles Santoso.
When a towering oak tree learns that she may be cut down, she starts getting extraordinarily involved in the lives of the humans below her, particularly a girl who is being escaped due to her ethnicity (种族). A lovely tale about common ground and the power of community. ($ 16.99, ages 8 —12) Amazon. com
See You in the Cosmos
by Jack Cheng
Eleven-year-old Alex is too busy trying to communicate with space aliens to worry about his troubled family life. When Alex runs away from home to launch his homemade rocket, he finds himself sidetracked by new friends and hints of a family secret. ($ 16.99, ages 10 and up) Amazon. com
1.Which of the following books is about acting as new parents?
A.Wishtree. B.The Days of Christmas.
C.Here We Are. D.See You in the Cosmos.
2.How much will you pay for two different books at least?
A.$ 30.98. B.$ 31.98. C.$ 32.98. D.$ 33.98.
3.What can we learn from the book Wishtree?
A.Friendship is more important than anything else in our life.
B.It mainly talks about environmental protection.
C.The girl has difficulty with her school life.
D.Both the tree and the girl are facing crisis.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
I have learned something about myself since I moved from Long Island to Florida three years ago. Even though I own a home in Port St, Lucie just minutes from the ocean, an un- controllable urge wells up to return to Long Island even as others make their way south. I guess I am a snowbird stuck in reverse. Instead of enjoying Florida’s mild winters, I willingly endure the severe weather on Long Island, the place I called home for 65 years.
I’m like a migratory bird (候鸟) that has lost its sense of timing and direction, my wings flapping against season.
So what makes me fly against the tide of snowbirds? The answer has a lot to do with my reluctance to give up the things that define who I am. Once I hear that the temperature on Long Island has dipped into the range of 40 to 50 degrees, I begin to long for the sight and crackling sound of a wood fire. I also long for the bright display of colors-first in the fall trees, and then in the lights around homes and at Rockefeller Center. Floridians decorate too, but can’t create the special feel of a New England winter.
I suppose the biggest reason why I return is to celebrate the holidays with people I haven’t seen in months. What could be better than sitting with family and friends for a Thanksgiving turkey dinner, or watching neighbors children excitedly open gifts on Christmas? Even the first snowfall seems special. I especially enjoy seeing a bright red bird settling on a snow-covered branch. (My wife and I spend winters at a retirement community in Ridge, and I’m grateful that I don’t have to shovel.)
While these simple pleasures are not unique to Long Island, they are some of the reasons why I come back. Who says you can’t go home?
1.What’s the difference between Florida and Long Island?
A.Winters in Florida are milder.
B.The snowbirds in Florida are rarer.
C.Weather in Florida is severer.
D.Florida is nearer to the ocean.
2.What does the underlined word “reluctance” in Paragraph 3 mean?
A.Unwillingness.
B.Expectation.
C.Coincidence.
D.Motivation.
3.Which of the following words can best describe the author?
A.Imaginative and outspoken.
B.Hard-working and serious.
C.Homesick and easy-going
D.Anxious and painful.
4.What’s the author’s purpose in writing the text?
A.To describe his dream to be a free bird.
B.To express his feeling of missing his hometown.
C.To praise the beauty and warmth of his hometown.
D.To explain the reasons for moving from his hometown.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
When Dee Dee Bridgewater learned that she would become a 2017 NEA Jazz Master, a series of thoughts and feelings flooded her mind. “It was so far out of my orbit and just my whole sphere of thinking,” she said in a conversation at NPR this spring, hours before she formally received her award.
She’s 66-far from retirement age in jazz, and on the extreme forward edge of the NEA Jazz Masters people. So she was aware of her relative youth in the field She also recognized that there haven’t been many women in the ranks of NEA Jazz Masters: fewer than 20, out of 145. That idea led her to reflect on her predecessors (前任): legendary singers like Betty Carter* who was seated back in 1992, and Abbey Lincoln, who received the nod in 2003.
Bridgewater sought inspiration and advice from both Carter and Lincoln, as she recalls in this period of Jazz Night, which features music recorded during the season opener for Jazz at Lincoln Center. On a program called “Songs of Freedom”, organized by drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr., Bridgewater sang material associated with Lincoln as well as Nina Simone: an extremely angry song of the civil rights movement, like “Mississippi Goddam”.
A separate concert, “Songs We Love”, found Bridgewater singing less politically charged (but still exciting) fare like “St. James Infirmary”, which appears on her most recent album. In words as well as music, this period reveals how seriously Bridgewater takes that responsibility, seeing as how it connects to her own experience in the jazz lineage. But maybe “seriously” isn’t the right word when it comes to Dee Dee, whose effervescence (欢腾) shines through even in a reflective mood. Join her here for a while; she’s excellent company, no more or less so now that mastery is officially a part of her resume.
1.What did Bridgewater think of her winning the award?
A.It confused her.
B.It was beyond her expectation.
C.It won great popular support for her.
D.It gave her much confidence about her career.
2.What can we learn about the musicians winning NEA Jazz Masters?
A.Women ranked higher than men.
B.Men accounted for a bigger part of them.
C.Most of them were unwilling to retire at first.
D.Many of them received the award at an early age.
3.Who is more likely to have a great influence on Bridgewater?
A.Carter and Lincoln. B.Ulysses and Lincoln.
C.Nina Simone and Carter. D.Nina Simone and Ulysses.
4.What does the last paragraph mainly talk about?
A.Bridgewater’s music theme.
B.Bridgewater’s music experience.
C.Bridgewater’s personal characters.
D.Bridgewater’s great achievements.
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
How do the world’s only flying mammals communicate? Researchers have observed young bats adopting new “dialects” simply by hearing them repeatedly, making them one of the few animals known to have a capacity for vocal (声音的) learning. “These bats may help us clarify the evolution of speech acquisition (习得) skills,” says Yosef Prat, a PhD at Tel Aviv University (TAU).
For one year, researchers raised 14 Egyptian fruit bat pups with their mothers in controlled area, exposing each young bat to two different vocalizations: the natural call of its mother and a separate recording that varied in pitch (音高) or frequency. They found that the pups in each group developed a dialect like the recording. “The general assumption in this field is that most animals develop their born vocalizations regardless of what they hear, and that human vocal learning abilities have developed during evolution,” says Mr Prat. “The finding that bats learn the common dialect in their rest place was unusual.”
Scientists know little about the origin of spoken language, which is believed to have appeared in humans within the past 500,000 years. Dozens of theories attempt to explain the complexity of this skill, but none have done so conclusively.
“Studying vocal communication and vocal learning in animal models is a very useful way to approach the problem,” says Olga Feher, an assistant professor at the University of Warwick in England.
But animal vocalizations and human speech are very different things, says Jamin Pelkey, a professor at Ryerson University. “All species communicate. Unlike other animals, though, human beings are able to use sound patterns for functions that are far stranger—functions that are imaginative, theoretical, and critical. When speech is involved in these stranger functions, that is what we mean by spoken ‘language’.”
1.How do young bats acquire their “language” according to the research?
A.Flying in the air slowly.
B.Hearing it again and again.
C.Communicating with partners.
D.Repeating it with their mothers.
2.What was the general view about animal vocalization?
A.Most animals are born with it
B.Its process was unusual.
C.It is easier than human speech.
D.What animals heard doesn’t affect their learning.
3.What does the underlined word “problem” in Paragraph 4 refer to?
A.The difference between animals and humans.
B.The complexity of spoken language.
C.The origin of spoken language.
D.The study of animal models.
4.What does professor Pelkey think of researching young bats?
A.It is far from the fact
B.Its result is beyond doubt.
C.It is of great scientific value.
D.It doesn’t relate to human speech much.
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
Moving to a foreign country is an amazing, life-changing experience. There are some practical decisions that need to be made. 1. For me, choosing to live with a French with a French family was the best choice I made, and here is why.
2. When you’re in anew environment with people you don’t know who are speaking a language you’re still not fluent in, you might feel lost, tired and homesick—I know I did. 3. They showed me which buses to take to get to work, cooked dinner for me so we could eat together, and took me with them on trips to the beach, the theatre and even a bullfight. These were great opportunities to experience French culture and build relationships. They helped me feel more comfortable and welcome.
Living with French people has improved my language skills. Being constantly exposed to real French conversation has allowed me to learn new phrases, widen my vocabulary and even improve my accent. My host family are happy to answer my questions and correct me when I say things wrong. 4.
The experience of living abroad is one that you will remember forever. Perhaps the friendships, like the memories, will also last. 5. You might return for their birthdays, weddings, holidays, and much more. I hope to remain in contact with my host family long after I leave France because when I was away from my friends and loves ones, they welcomed me and made me part of their family.
A.One such decision is choosing where to live.
B.You can stay in your own space and privacy.
C.Your host family might become your life-long friends.
D.It makes me a better and more confident French speaker.
E.However, my host family was wonderful and welcoming.
F.A family can help you settle in, stopping you from feeling lonely.
G.It’s an opportunity to meet new people, a different culture and another language.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
I learned this lesson a couple of years ago. That day, I took a _______ to Grand Central Station. We were driving in the _______ lane when, all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right _______ us. My taxi driver slammed (猛踩) on his brakes and almost _______ the car’s back end by just ten _______!
The driver of the other car, who almost caused a big accident, _______ his car and started yelling bad _______ at us. The taxi driver just smiled and _______ at the guy. And I mean he was _______. So, I said, “Why did you just do that? This guy almost ________ your car and sent us to ________!” And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call “the law of the garbage truck.”
Many people are like garbage trucks. They ________ around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of ________, and full of disappointment. As their garbage ________ up, they need a place to dump it, and if you agree, they’ll dump it on you. When someone wants to dump their ________ on you, don’t take it ________. You just smile, wave, wish them well, and ________. You’ll be happy at what you do.
I started thinking, how often do I let garbage trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and ________ it to other people? That day I said, “I’m not going to do that anymore.”
What about you? What will happen in your life if you let more garbage ________ pass you by? Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with ________.
1.A.bike B.bus C.subway D.taxi
2.A.flat B.wide C.clear D.right
3.A.in back of B.in front of C.beside D.beneath
4.A.opened B.removed C.missed D.observed
5.A.meters B.inches C.miles D.yards
6.A.got out of B.broke away from C.squeezed D.kicked
7.A.means B.solutions C.languages D.words
8.A.waved B.pointed C.aimed D.glared
9.A.friendly B.aggressive C.merciful D.grateful
10.A.handled B.undertook C.abused D.ruined
11.A.prison B.police C.hospital D.school
12.A.run B.turn C.show D.gather
13.A.imagination B.anger C.confidence D.pride
14.A.puts B.takes C.piles D.makes
15.A.happiness B.problems C.expectation D.will
16.A.differently B.attentively C.seriously D.purposefully
17.A.fight B.weep C.flee away D.move on
18.A.pass B.spread C.convey D.offer
19.A.trucks B.cans C.collectors D.bags
20.A.hopes B.indifference C.regrets D.ambitions
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。
Will cash disappear from our neighborhoods? Cash will likely become less popular, thanks to the high cost of using cash and the 1.(grow) number of alternatives. The future will be ＂less cash＂rather than cashless.
Cash is unique among payment instruments in that anyone can transact(交易), any time, any place, with no third parties 2. (involve). With this freedom 3.(come) strong privacy protection. Currency neither knows nor cares who holds it or when and where a transaction occurred. People have 4. sense of security when they have cash with them. These entries will, of course, evolve(进化) as our societies become more 5.(digital) native. However, old habits and viewpoints take a long time 6. (turn)over. Some 7.(merchant)will resist the costs of new equipment or fees that accompany cash alternatives. Cash 8.(consider) more convenient and universal, while with digital transactions there’s always concerns about hacking and fraud(诈骗).
So, no matter where we are in the world, let us celebrate the ATM’s half-century of service. Though cash may become less popular, rest assured that there will always be someone 9. will stop you in the street asking for directions 10. the nearest ATM.
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
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限一词。
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Yesterday evening I went out for a walk without my parents in a nearby park after a long day of study.
There were many people especially women dancing with music happily and energetically. Suddenly, no music was heard. It seemed what their equipment didn’t work. A young man came up into the crowd and offered to examine them. However, all the efforts he made seem in vain. People began to get a little impatience with it. Just at the moment a little boy had noticed the electrical socket(插座) was disconnected. After the unexpecting accident, people enjoyed themselves once again. Seen this, my parents and I smiled in relief. What nice evening！
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
假定你是李华，你校英文报社将举办主题为自然灾害的征文活动。请你给美国朋友Bruce Alpert写一封邮件，邀请他参加。内容包括：
1. 说明缘由；
2. 请他介绍美国的自然灾害并谈谈影响，应对措施等；
3.告知征文截稿日期。
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