A few years after Mom died, Dad handed me a plastic bag. That evening, I   36     the bag to find dozens of shells, each one    37    in white tissue paper and having Mom’s handwriting.

The shells were pretty     38    , but to Mom, they were evidence of her endlessly magical life and    39    me of the seashore trip with her. She was 61 when she   40    these shells, and already showing    41    of the lung disease that would kill her the next year. We knew something was    42    and mom needed an adventure. She suggested a dinner and a movie. But two friends and I had bigger     43    .

Mom had been to the ocean only twice, but she     44     the seashore. Her kitchen was decorated with souvenirs from those two trips. I called Mom and told her that we would     45     for Jersey Shore. Mom was so   46    that she screamed and Amber, her dog, who was sitting on her lap was     47    to jump onto the floor.

One of my favorite    48    on the road was a discussion about movies. Mom often got the titles wrong. “Ohhhh,” she said, “what was that movie about a teacher at the boys’ school?”  Before anyone could    49    , she shouted, “I remember! The Dead Man’s Poet!” I looked in the rearview mirror and saw a back seat full of    50    . “Mom,” I said. “You mean Dead Poets Society?” “That’s it!” Mom yelled.    51    filled the car.

Once we got to Stone Harbor, she began to    52    the trip, greeting strangers and spending hours gathering shells.

   The morning we left, I found her photographing every inch of her bedroom. “I don’t ever want to     53    this,” she said.

For a long time, Mom’s shells stayed    54    in a drawer. Last month, I    55   them again while searching for something else. I put them in a visible place as a reminder from a mother who never lost her sense of wonder.

36. A received                B. opened                 C. checked              D. packed

37. A. folded                  B. included              C. trapped             D. covered

38. A. amazing              B. common             C. lucky                  D. funny

39. A. reminded       B. demanded          C. informed            D. warned

40. A. moved         B. protected           C. collected            D. examined

41. A. signals                 B. scenes              C. signs                D. sights

42. A. wrong                  B. missing              C. strange             D. boring

43. A. cars                   B. days         C. maps               D. plans

44. A. remembered        B. trusted               C. loved                 D. respected

45. A. wait                     B. head                C. look                   D. pay

46. A. encouraged         B. relaxed              C. surprised           D. excited

47. A. frightened            B. embarrassed        C. disappointed        D. pleased

48. A. reasons              B. thoughts            C. memories            D. questions

49. A. realize            B. add                   C. advise              D. answer

50. A. confusion     B. worry               C. emotion      D. peace

51. A. Pride                   B. Laughter            C. Shouts              D. Challenges

52. A. enjoy                   B. organize             C. support             D. take

53. A. decide                 B. forget        C. believe              D. mean

54. A. unexpected          B. stuck                  C. unknown            D. buried

55. A. mistook           B. developed           C. discovered          D. prepared

British families started going on holiday to the seaside around the middle of the 19th century. The __61   (invent) of the railways made this possible. The first holiday makers   62  (be) quite rich and went for their health and education. The seaside was a place to cure people of illness. And doctors recommended bathing in the sea and drinking sea water. At that time ordinary working people had very little time off work.   63   , in 1871 the government introduced four “Bank Holidays”, that is national holidays. This allowed people    64   (have) a day or two out now and then,   65  gave them a taste for leisure and seaside. At first, they went on a day trip, taking advantage  66   special trip tickets on the railways. By the 1880s,   67   (rise) incomes meant that many ordinary workers and their families could have holiday at the seaside. Welfare was reduced and cheap hotels  68  (build) for them. Holiday makers enjoy  69  (sit) on the beach, bathing in the sea and eating ice cream. Cheap entertainment was on offer and holiday makers went to have fun. Today  70  English seaside remains popular with more than 18 million holidays taken there each year.

 A huge amount of environmental damage has been _____ by the destruction of the rainforests.

A. brought up          B. brought about         C. brought down          D. brought out

News came that nine miners still ___________ in the mine.

A. were laid trapped    B. were laid trapping

C. lay trapped          D. lay being trapped.

随着通信技术的发展，手机愈来愈普及了。同学们几乎人人都有手机。上周你们班就学生是否应该带手机入学校进行了专题讨论。同学们对此各抒己见。请谈谈你的看法。

要求包括以下内容：

1) 赞同和不赞同的理由；

2) 你个人观点。

注意：

1. 词数100左右；

2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯的。

The story happened in Japan ___1___ a house was redecorated and the wall inside a room was removed. The inside of the wall was hollow. When the owner of the house removed the wall, he saw a gecko (壁虎) inside the wall. Its tail was pinned by a nail ___2___  (come) through the wall from outside. 

The owner was very curious why the gecko was still alive. Then the nail caught his eye. Goodness! It is the nail that was driven here ten years ago when the house was built! How amazing it is ___3___ the gecko to have lived in the wall in complete___4__  (dark) for ten years!

But on second thought, the curious house owner wondered how this gecko could live through 10 years with its tail __5_  (nail) down and being unable to go anywhere? So he tried to find out how this small creature could be fed. After a little while, there appeared another gecko with food in ___6  mouth! What a shocking scene! For ten years, this little gecko had never failed to feed the trapped one.

The story touched me so ___7  (deep) that it is useless to find out  __8  relationships they had between them. Parent __9   child ? Friends? Lovers? Brothers or sisters? __10  last thing we should do is to abandon your beloved in hardship.

 —Where did you meet your old friend?

—It was in the supermarket _______ I was doing some shopping with my husband.

A. that                            B. where                      C. when                             D. which

 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短文。短文中共有10处错误，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：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧), 并在此符号下面写出该加的词。

    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；

About one year before, we got a lovely cat named Dexter. He enjoys watching my elderly neighbor in her garden. Although he won’t let her to touch him, he always keeps an eye on her.

One afternoon I heard Dexter calling strange. When I reached the door to check on him, his calling stops, so I headed back to kitchen. Just as I did, his calling started again. I stepped outside to find Dexter sit next to my elderly neighbor who had fallen. He didn’t have the strength to get up and shout for help. Dexter didn’t leave her sides until help arrived. With

Dexter, she might not have been found in time.

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。每次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：在错的词下画一横线，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。

I am a Senior 3 student. I often quarrel with my mother over if I can watch TV after school. My mother holds the view that students in Senior 3, heavily burden with their studies, are so busy to spare any time to watch TV. It seemed to her that once I am allowed to do that I will not able to control myself and forget all about my study. She also thinks that it is bad for her eyes to watch TV too often. But I really can’t accept her ideas. I think it is relaxed to watch TV before a day’s hard work. Not only can it set my mind at rest, but it can broaden my horizons. In addition, and we can be kept well informed of what’s happening at home and abroad and keep up with the times.

Now we have at last reached an agreement that I can only watch TV at weekends, and the content is limited to news and program of entertainment, sports or science.

Every day people often saw a boy sing in a park. In fact, they didn’t know the fact that this boy had cancer for a long time and he had no more time left. He looked very optimistic and he didn’t feel self-contemptuous（自卑的）at all.

One day, he was wandering in the park. Suddenly a good smell flew over and it attracted him to come under a peach. To his joy, he saw a girl dancing pleasingly.

“You are great! You look like a dancing butterfly!” watching her for a long time, then he said.　

“Thank you!” this girl looked up and said shyly.

“Are you blind?” said the boy amazedly.

The girl made no reply, but she nodded hard.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you!” said the boy in a hurry.

“Never mind!” the girl seemed to be easy.

They knew each other in this way.

From then on, they often met each other. And while the boy was singing, the girl danced for him.

Time passed quickly! Many days passed before they knew it.

“Look! How beautiful the peach blossoms are! They are just like you!”said the boy unconsciously（无意地）.

“But I can’t see.” the girl lowered her head.

“I’m sorry!” the boy couldn’t help regretting. He felt his heart bitten hard by a snake, “How foolish I am! How can I say such words before her?” His heart was soon covered by an inexplicable idea.

Several days later, the girl told the boy happily that her eyes would be cured quickly because someone was willing to contribute his cornea（角膜）to her. Hearing the girl’s words, the boy also smiled happily.

That day, darkness seemed to come earlier than ever. The boy said many words to the girl: “I had never believed there was forever in the world. But I know I am mistaken! There is forever indeed — friendship. Now I have to go and I am afraid that we can’t meet each other again, either. I will treasure our friendship up in my memory!”

Hearing the boy’s words, the girl couldn’t help crying. Then the boy sang again while the girl danced.

Later the boy went quietly, but he was regretless, because he gave the last song in his life to the girl.

Soon the girl’s operation succeeded, she saw everything and knew the truth, too. To people’s surprise, the peach didn’t blossom that year.

When the girl came to the appointed place with tears, she seemed to see the boy singing and walking to her in the setting sun.

41. From the passage we know that the girl was as _____ as the boy though she was disabled.

A. helpful                      B. self-contemptuous            C. old                   D. optimistic

42. From the passage we can infer that it was _____ that the boy said, “Look! How beautiful the peach

blossoms are! They are just like you!”

A. unconsciously            B. mockingly                       C. foolishly            D. on purpose

43. What do the underlined words “an inexplicable idea” refer to?

A. The fact that the boy had an incurable disease and was dying soon.

B. The idea that the boy would like to contribute his cornea to the girl.

C. The idea that the friendship between them would last forever.

D. The fact that the girl was very pitiful and badly needed help.

44. What’s the best title of this passage?

A. The Friendship                                       B. An Unselfish Boy      

C. The Last Song in Life                                   D. A Touching Story

Imagine spending 1,182 hours working hard and receiving no encouraging words. This was the situation I found myself in as I  _________a new swim team with a Russian coach. As a long-time swimmer, I was used to receiving plentiful praises and  _________speeches from my coaches. _________  , after practicing for a few weeks, I noticed I did not hear any   _________  like “you’re almost there”, “congratulations”, or “you’re doing great” that  _________ me through the hard practice. I received scoffs(嘲笑) when I was expecting  _________  and praises. To me, Vladimir seemed like a _________man.

As I was trying to understand him through his heavy accent, I realized that Vladimir had been trained and _________by the culture in Russia and that led to his different coaching style and unusually high _________ . He spent over 1,182 hours _________, receiving no praises and was simply expected to _________ . This method of coaching that seemed so foreign to me was from what he  _________  , leaving home at the age of twelve, and eventually winning an Olympic medal.

I began to appreciate his _________to give out praises. He had a much different idea on how best to coach and motivate swimmers. He did not feel the _________ to say compliments(称赞), since he believed one should be _________ without these praises.

It was the fact that he was so different from my previous coaches that made him _________ ．He forced me to really think about why I was swimming. I learned to swim not for  57but to find the motivation. It became clear to me that the _________of experiencing different coaching styles is that each one can bring out the best in me if I learn from these _________  . Various training styles may be  _________  to me at the start but can help me grow in many ways.

【小题1】A．founded       B．joined          C．interviewed   D．trained

【小题2】A．typical       B．practical       C．polite        D．positive

【小题3】A．Therefore     B．Otherwise       C．However       D．Moreover

【小题4】A．words         B．voices          C．jokes         D．news

【小题5】A．followed      B．helped          C．forced        D．checked

【小题6】A．promises      B．smiles          C．behaviors     D．surprises

【小题7】A．funny         B．poor            C．cold          D．familiar

【小题8】A．awarded       B．judged          C．influenced    D．frightened

【小题9】A．qualities     B．limits          C．temperatures  D．expectations

【小题10】A．swimming     B．dreaming        C．seeking       D．thinking

【小题11】A．inspire      B．fail            C．chat          D．perform

【小题12】A．went through B．gave up         C．carried out   D．turned down

【小题13】A．gift         B．removal         C．refusal       D．argument

【小题14】A．possibility  B．need            C．duty          D．right

【小题15】A．advised      B．ignored         C．accepted      D．encouraged

【小题16】A．valuable     B．modest          C．humorous      D．ordinary

【小题17】A．fame         B．prize           C．praise        D．power

【小题18】A．pleasure     B．risk            C．chance        D．benefit

【小题19】A．differences  B．measures        C．mistakes      D．stories

【小题20】A．similar      B．uncomfortable   C．important     D．impossible

 When I was thirteen, my parents and I visited an eye doctor. After the examination, __61__ doctor said with coldness that I had an eye disease. I had inherited it, __62__my brother’s eyes seemed to be fine.

  Fifteen years after that, my father began to lose __63__sight and I did, too. I fixed all my attention __64__the effects of my own darkness. My world seemed __65__(break) down and it destroyed all my dreams.

  __66__, I learnt new things from my father. Twenty years later, I look back at what he has given me. He taught me the determination to move forward __67__ facing difficulties. His journey taught me valuable lessons for my own path in the darkness. He had held onto his faith and moved from his comfortable hometown to this unknown land.

  I did the same as I stepped into the strange _68__(sight) world. Later I gained confidence and learned the language of thankfulness. With great appreciation for my father’s example, I learned the powerful combination of faith and insistence and __69__(perform) my own different roles. Luckily, __70__ I inherited from my father helped me see my life differently.

Some people are like homing pigeons: Drop them off anywhere, and they’ll find their way around. Other people, though, can’t tell when they’re holding a map upside down. Are the directionally challenged just bad learners?

Not all of your navigational (导航的)skills are learned. Research shows that your sense of direction is innate. An innate ability is something you are born with. Your brain has special navigational neurons—head-direction cells, place cells, and grid cells (网格细胞)—and they help program your inside compass when you’re just a baby.

In 2010, scientists carried out an experiment to study baby rats’ neural activity in their brains. Although the rats were newborns, the researchers discovered that their head-direction cells (which help them recognize the direction they’re facing) were fully grown and developed. The rats, it seemed, were born with a sense of direction. And they hadn’t even opened their eyes yet!

Humans, of course, are not rats. But the hippocampus—the brain area we use for navigation—is similar in most mammals. If the rat’s compass develops this way, then it’s likely that a human’s compass does, too.

If we’re born with a sense of direction, then why are some people so good at getting lost? The scientists found that the two other cells—place and grid cells—developed within the first month. Place cells are thought to help us form a map in our mind, while grid cells help us navigate new and unfamiliar places. The two cells work together, and that’s where the trouble might be.

People who took part in a 2013 study played a video game that required them to travel quickly between different places. Monitoring their brains, the scientists found that grid cells helped the gamers recognize where they were—even without landmarks. According to researcher Michael Kahana, differences in how grid cells work may help explain why some people have a better sense of direction than others.

32. What did the 2010 research find?

       A. Rats have a natural ability to recognize directions.

       B. Rats’ hippocampus is different from that of humans.

       C. Rats usually find their way without opening their eyes.

       D. Baby rats have as many head-direction cells as grown-ups.

33. What do we know about our navigational neurons?

       A. Place cells let us know how to read a map.

       B. Grid cells help us reach the place we are going to.

       C. They help us use a compass when we lose our way.

       D. Place and grid cells grow later than head-direction cells.

34. Why are some people so good at getting lost?

       A. They can’t remember landmarks.                   B. Their grid cells can’t work very well.

       C. They are unfamiliar with new places.             D. Their ability to follow directions is poor.

35. What is the text mainly about?

       A. Human navigational skills.                             B. The compass in rats’ body.

       C. Why grid cells are useful.                              D. How homing pigeons work.

TUVALU, a tiny country in the Pacific Ocean, has asked for help as it fears it will be swallowed up by the sea. Storms and huge waves are a constant threat and none of Tuvalu’s nine little islands is more than five meters above sea level, Salt water is already entering the country’s drinking water supply, as well as damaging plants that produce fruit and vegetable. __51___

___52___. Venice, a historic city in Italy best known for its canals, has sunk about 24 cm over the past 100 years. Experts say that it will have sunk another 20-50cm by 2050. A century ago, St. Mark’s Square, the lowest point in the city, floodedd about nine times a year, Nowadays, it happens more than 100 times. While Venice is slowly sinking into the mud on which it stands, Tuvalu’s rising sea level is caused by global warming.

The average global temperature has increased by almost 0.5 centigrade degrees over the past century; scientists expect it to rise by extra 1-3 degrees over the next 100 years.

Warmer weather makes glaciers melt, adding more water to the ocean. The warmer temperatures also make water expand, so it takes up more space, causing the sea level to rise. The sea level has risen about 10－25 cm in the last 100 years.

___53___. Through burning coal, oil and gas, people have been increasing the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as CO₂. This adds to the power of the greenhouse effect, making the planet even warmer.

Many scientists believe that, if the warming is not stopped, there will be huge climate changes. ___54____.

____55____, the sea will swallow up millions of homes and the world will be flooded with “climate refugees” looking for somewhere to live.

       A. The main cause of global warming is human pollution

       B. Should this come true

       C. Without urgent help, the country’s days are numbered.

       D. But Tuvalu is not the first place to face sinking into the sea

       E. The sea level could rise by one meter this century.

       F. people face a lot of pollution.

       G. much has been done about our planet .

So you want to be a citizen scientist? The National Science Foundation (NSF) has got you covered. NSF supports citizen science across all areas of science, whether your passion is to scan the night sky, or explore your own backyard.

Join a flock of birders

eBird is an online platform that allows bird-watchers to go online and record their sightings to a database. With more than 100,000 active users, eBird's system is a treasure of information on bird population, distribution and habitat, which users can explore in real time.

Count every drop

The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) is the largest provider of daily precipitation observations in the United States. Volunteers set up rain gauges and record data every time a rain, snow or hail storm passes over. Data is organized and shared on the CoCoRaHS website, and used by scientists, farmers and more.

Search for stars with your computer

Einstein@Home uses your computer's idle time to search for space signals. The project has already had major successes: Volunteers discovered about 50 stars, using data from Puerto Rico's Arecibo Observatory and Australia's Parkes Observatory. Einstein@Home also searches for gravitational-wave signals using data from NSF's Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory.

Be part of a supercomputer

To link all those home computers, Einstien@Home uses software called the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing, better known as BOINC. The software choreographs(安排，筹划) the technical aspect of volunteer computing and helps you use radio telescope signals to search for alien life.

Join the plankton party

Without plankton, life in the ocean would not exist. These tiny organisms form the base of the food chain, and play an important role in the global carbon cycle. Plankton Portal enlists citizen scientists to identify images of plankton, snapped by the In Situ Icthyoplankton Imaging System (ISIIS), an underwater robot engineered at the University of Miami. ISIIS has taken millions of images in oceans around the world and upload them into a database; classifying the images helps researchers understand plankton diversity, habitat and behavior.

9. On the website of eBird, a bird-watcher can ________.

A. make contact with other active users

B. explore the world of birds in real time

C. observe all the existing bird species

D. provide and share birds’ information

10. The program “________” is not based on the Internet database.

A. Join the plankton party

B. Be part of a supercomputer

C. Count every drop

D. Search for stars with your computer

11. Which of the following is the best title of the passage?

A. Become a Citizen Scientist

B. Make a Contribution to NSF

C. Be part of Space Exploration

D. Follow the Steps to be a Citizen Scientist