Jade Stephenson has always loved her grandmother’s wedding dress (结婚礼服). So much so that once, Stephenson even asked her grandmother to keep hold of it so she could wear it for a special day. And when she realized her 80-year-old grandma wouldn’t be able to travel to attend her graduation at Liverpool Hope University, Stephenson knew the time had come.
“I tried the dress on several years ago, so I knew what it looked like when I put on the dress and her face then lit up,” she said. “So I knew asking her if I could wear it for graduation would make her smile. Also, my grandfather died in 2009 and to me, it felt like part of him was there with me on such a special day.”
Stephenson sported the dress under her cap and her clothes last week, at the ceremony (典礼) to collect her teaching degree at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King.
Nora, her grandmother, lives in Carlisle, more than 130 miles from Liverpool. She was very happy when she saw the pictures of her granddaughter, and praised that she chose that dress for her special day.
“My grandma and I are very close. I speak to her when I can and whenever I’m home I catch up with her. I see a lot of my own characters in her. I think we have quite a lot in common,” Stephenson said. “I’ve always loved my grandma’s dress. Although it’s 32 years old, it’s fit for me.”
Stephenson said several people praised her for her choice for the ceremony. “I think people thought it was quite heart-warming. Considering how old it is, the dress is in really good condition. My grandmother has looked after it very well.”
1.Seeing Stephenson trying the dress on, Stephenson’s grandmother feels ________.
A.pleased B.angry
C.unhappy D.amazed
2.What does Stephenson think of her grandmother?
A.Her grandmother is very forgetful.
B.Her grandmother is similar to her.
C.Her grandmother is a good designer.
D.Her grandmother is crazy about education.
3.What can we know about the wedding dress?
A.It is valuable and expensive.
B.It is kept in good condition.
C.It is old and needs repairing.
D.It is too long for Stephenson.
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
Living with your parents has its advantages… at least when it comes to raising your kids—their grandkids. Because two new studies add to the evidence that grandmothers can improve the survival of grandchildren. That is, unless Grandma’s too old or lives too far away.
Humans are unusual in that women live long past the age at which they stop having babies. “We don’t really see that in nature. Most of the organisms (生物) will reproduce up to their very last moment,” says Patrick Bergeron, a teacher at Bishop’s University in Quebec. This increase in post-reproductive longevity (寿命) is often explained by the so-called “grandmother effect (效应)”.
To explore the “grandmother effect”, Bergeron and his researchers examined nearly 200 years’ worth of French-Canadian population records from the 17th and 18th centuries. At the time, life was hard. In some years, a third of the kids were not even making it to one year of age. But the researchers found that having a grandmother still alive was an advantage. Families with grandmothers alive were larger by about two and the survival of these grandchildren to age 15 was much improved.
This good effect was only seen when the grandmothers lived nearby, which suggests that grandmothers help by playing an active role in their grandchildren’s lives.
Unluckily, that role is harder for them to achieve as they get older, which brings us to the second study. Researchers at the University of Turku in Finland used church records from the 18th and 19th centuries. They found that the advantages connected with having a grandmother on hand depended on her age. Once grandmothers hit 75, the grandchild survival advantages disappeared. In other words, it was better for grandchildren to have no living grandmother at all than it was to live with an old one or one that was in poor health. So a healthy grandma helps make for a healthy grandchild
1.What’s “grandmother effect”?
A.Having a grandmother alive is an advantage.
B.Grandmothers are helpful to their children whatever their age.
C.Grandmothers are helpful for the survival of their grandchildren.
D.Healthy grandmothers living nearby are good for grandchildren’s health.
2.What can we know about the second study?
A.Researchers used French-Canadian population records.
B.Researchers used church records from the 17th and 18th centuries.
C.It was done by researchers from the University of Turku in Finland.
D.It found that it was good for grandchildren to have no living grandmother.
3.Where does this text probably come from?
A.A science report. B.A diary
C.A storybook. D.A textbook.
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
An American cancer survivor ha become he first person to swim across the English Channel four times on end.
Sarah Thomas, 37, completed the great achievement on Tuesday after over 54 hours of swimming. Her record-breaking achievement came just a year after she completed treatment for breast cancer (乳腺癌).
In a video on Facebook, a small group of people could be seen cheering on the swimmer from Colorado as she made her final arrival to beach at Dover. Supporters congratulated Mrs. Thomas on her non-stop swim, handing her chocolate and other gifts. In the video, Mrs. Thomas admitted to feeling “a little sick” but said she had been encouraged to keep going by her husband and her team.
Before the start of her challenge, Mrs. Thomas wrote that she was “fearful” and admitted she was “going to need some luck”.
In a Facebook post made on Saturday, she dedicated (奉献) the swim “to all the survivors out there”, adding, “This is for those of us who have wondered hopelessly about what comes next, and have overcome the pain bravely.”
After her swim, Mrs. Thomas said, “I’m really tired and I’m losing my voice from all the salt water.” Asked what the worst part of her challenge was, she said, “Probably dealing with the salt water over two days. It really hurts your throat, your mouth and your tongue.” She praised her support team for helping her stay strong, adding that she was very prepared for the weather, currents(k it)and cold water. “I feel just mostly stunned right now. I just can’t believe that we did it.”
1.What’s the attitude of Mrs. Thomas’s husband to her swimming challenge?
A.He refuses to support her.
B.He never cares about it at all.
C.He is angry about her decision.
D.He encourages her to keep trying.
2.What was the biggest challenge for Mrs. Thomas?
A.The weather. B.The currents.
C.The salt water. D.The cold water.
3.What does the underlined word “stunned” in the last paragraph probably mean?
A.Frightened. B.Surprised.
C.Upset. D.Powerful.
4.What’s the best title for the text?
A.A Successful Swimmer
B.A Woman Beat Breast Cancer
C.A Record-breaking Achievement
D.A Cancer Survivor Made a New Record
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
Everyone has bad days at work. You met unexpected difficulties with a project you’ve been working on for weeks. 1. You forget to put something on your timetable and leave a key customer waiting. Whatever the reason for your workplace problem, one influence it has is to make you feel more alone.
In those bad moments, you can only rely on yourself. 2. Sure it might seem hokey (矫揉造作的), but there’ s a reason why gratitude (感激) is always showing up on tea bags and in self-help books.
According to research, practicing gratitude can help make you happier. The next time you’re troubled by a problem at work, take a minute and think of someone in your life that you’re grateful for. Write a sentence or two on a notebook about why you feel appreciative.
3. Gratitude is often a feeling when someone else has done something helpful for you that they didn’t have to do. Those persons have done something to make your life a little better. 4. It might be a relative who took care of you when you were little or a teacher who helped you out in a hard situation. Taking time to practice gratitude will make you happy. The more gratitude you feel, the happier you will be.
Picking one of helpers out and reminding (提醒) yourself of why you’re grateful to them have two advantages. 5. It also reminds you of the deep social connections you have so that you don’t feel lonely anymore.
A.This happens for a few reasons.
B.Why will practicing gratitude make you feel better?
C.A coworker shouts at you in a meeting.
D.We all have such people around us in our lives.
E.At the moment, a little gratitude can help.
F.For one, it gets you thinking about something good, which lifts your heart.
G.People are helped by sharing their troubles with close friends, family or loved ones.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
An 8-year-old boy achieved the wish of his late (已故的) mother to climb Jade Mountain. Tzou Ze Gang, along with his father, _________ their two-day climbing _________ on August 18. Along the way the boy _________ a photo of his late mother. They _________ to reach the top of Jade Mountain on August 20. Standing at 3, 952 meters above sea level, Jade Mountain is seen as the _________ mountain in Taiwan.
Tzou was only 4 years old when he first _________ Jade Mountain and he had dreamed of climbing it ever since. For the locals, the mountain is _________ believed the home of the Goddess of Life.
The boy was _________ by the mountain and promised his mother that they would both climb it one day. _________, years later his mother had to __________ leg surgery (手术), which made her unable to __________ the mountain. “When you __________ the world in the future, you can bring Mummy’s things along,” his mother told him. Unluckily, she __________ last year. Tzou’s father __________ the child during their training by saying, “Jade Mountain is the highest point in Taiwan. I’m sure we’ll be __________ to Mummy over there.”
The climb was __________ for Tzou. He felt __________ and was out of breath (气喘吁吁). He __________ felt sick even after resting. But Tzou’s father said Tzou felt much better when they were on their last __________, adding that the final 200 meters was a piece of cake for him.
Upon reaching the top, Tzou pulled out his mother’s __________ and shouted, “Mummy! We’ve reached the top. I carried you to the top of Jade Mountain!”
1.A.shared B.started C.enjoyed D.described
2.A.competition B.event C.program D.experience
3.A.watched B.kept C.carried D.lost
4.A.managed B.tried C.preferred D.promised
5.A.highest B.smallest C.farthest D.coldest
6.A.searched B.walked down C.removed D.heard of
7.A.foolishly B.secretly C.truly D.wrongly
8.A.troubled B.attracted C.moved D.frightened
9.A.However B.As a result C.Instead D.What’s more
10.A.join in B.beg for C.carry out D.go through
11.A.climb B.imagine C.reach D.notice
12.A.save B.understand C.explore D.create
13.A.fell ill B.passed away C.got injured D.broke down
14.A.rewarded B.encouraged C.raised D.punished
15.A.more honest B.kinder C.more polite D.closer
16.A.easy B.exciting C.difficult D.relaxing
17.A.unhappy B.secure C.uncomfortable D.enjoyable
18.A.quickly B.never C.hardly D.just
19.A.point B.half C.day D.part
20.A.book B.photo C.gift D.phone
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
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。
6-year-old Jermaine Bell of Jacksonville, Fla. was saving up money to take a vacation to Disney World for his birthday on Sept. 8. However, when the day finally came, instead of going to Disney World, Jermaine Bell 1. (ask) his parents to go to South Carolina. It turned out that Bell had decided to use the vacation money to help feed people evacuating (撤离) from Dorian.
“These days people 2. (travel) to go to other 3. (place). I want them to have some food 4. (eat), so they can enjoy the ride to the place that they’re going to stay at,” Bell said.
Bell turned 7 on Sunday and when Disney found out about his 5. (kind), it planned a big surprise. A group of people, 6. made a surprise visit to his home in Jacksonville, Fla., told him that he and his family were provided with n 7. free VIP vacation for later this month.
Video of Bell 8. (receive) the good news was posted on You Tube by Disney, 9. the caption (字幕), “Six-year-old Jermaine Bell of Jacksonville, Fla. spent more than a year saving money for an upcoming birthday trip to Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. However, hurricane (飓风) Dorian changed Jermaine’s plans 10. (great). Millions of people have been moved by the story of this little boy’s selfless act ever since.”
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
假定你是李华，你的英国笔友 Terry得知北京2022年冬奥会吉祥物“冰墩墩”揭晓了很高兴，写信向你询问市场上是否有该吉祥物的礼品在出售。请你给他写一封回信，内容包括：
1. 感谢他对吉祥物的关注；
2. 给他邮寄一个吉祥物；
3. 欢迎来中国观看奥运比赛。
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，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。
When Mom said we had to give away Sam, I didn’t say a word. I just picked up Sam and walked out to the shed (棚) that used to be Dads workshop.
What Mom said to me wasn’t a surprise. I saw it coming.
My name is Nathan. Sam is my cat. Not long before Dad died, he found Sam behind his store. No one wanted a little cat, so Dad brought him home. Sam is black, with wise eyes and big ears. But all most people notice is his big white feet.
“Meow?”
Sam knows I’m upset. I wonder if I could explain to Sam about Anna. She’s my younger stepsister (继妹), and if it weren’t for her, I could keep Sam. But I don’t explain, and Sam couldn’t understand his situation. He likes to run up and down in the shed’s dusty sunlight.
No one uses the shed now except our elder neighbors, Mr. Sims and Mr. Irvin. They make wind chimes (风铃) to sell at the market. Dad used to help them. I grew up loving the sounds that filled our shed. Mom says people love those chimes because their music is mixed with laughter.
I wonder how things are going to change now that I have a stepsister. Last week we had to take Anna to the hospital quickly. She couldn’t breathe. Mom thinks it was because Sam slept in her room. Anna is allergic (过敏的) to cats. Mom told me that Sam had to be sent away. She asked me who was more important, Sam or Anna. I couldn’t answer.
“Isn’t there anything else we can do?” I ask. I look at Sam. Sam is playing with things left over from the wind chimes. When he hits metal against metal, it rings loudly. Sam is happy. But I’m not.
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1:
Then, I remember Anna on the way to the hospital, her face frightened and pale.
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Paragraph 2:
In the end, our neighbors Mr. Sims and Mr. Irvin take in Sam, so Sam gets two homes.
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难度: 困难查看答案及解析