安徽省滁州市定远县育才学校2021-2022学年高一上学期英语期中考试.

On a rainy afternoon, maybe one of the following books will keep you company leisurely, allowing you to spend your time alone as well as stepping into a different world. 

In April 1945, Italy, a writer disappeared at a conference and was found dead at another place. Thirty years later, a young man interviewed survivors from the conference, trying to uncover the truth about what happened and its consequences. This novel, by a well-known Argentine writer, explores art, crime and politics.

At thirtysix, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed(诊断) with stage Ⅳ lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating（治疗） the dying, and the next he was a patient. This autobiography finds hope and beauty in the face of death as Kalanithi attempts to answer the question "What makes a life worth living?"

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Set in a small Alabama town in the 1930s, the story focuses on honest, highly respected lawyer Atticus Finch, who puts his career on the line when he agrees to represent Tom Robinson, a black man accused of committing a crime.

Nobody Will Tell You This But Me：A true (as told to me) story, by Bess Kalb

Bess Kalb saved every voicemail from her grandmother Bobby Bell who died at ninety. In this book, Bobby is speaking to Bess once more, in a voice as loving as it ever was in life and brings us several generations of brave women. They include Bobby's mother, who traveled alone from Belarus to America to survive, and Bess's mother, who always fought against convention.

It was a cold winter. The wind blew all night and the snow was blinding. When the morning came, my three children and I got up and made our way to the windows. As we looked out of the window, we saw that the hen house was gone. Our three hens had been blown away.

I looked at the emptiness outside. Then I saw all three chickens sitting around the edge of a white bucket. How was this violent wind not blowing them into the field beyond? I quickly pulled on my husband's long snow pants and heavy winter coat, wrapped a scarf and stuck my feet into very large boots.

I shouted at the wind as it blew. I was alone, except my children. They stared out of the window into the vast white sea of snow and their eyes peeled for any sign of movement. Outside I heard the sound of my boots as I walked against the wind.

The snow circling around me, I steadily made my way to the soft cluck­cluck­cluck sound my hens always made. When I reached them, I saw that their little feet were holding on to the edge of the bucket, heads bent forward and away from the wind. I gently lifted each hen and put it carefully into the warm inside. Then I began the freezing walk back to the small shed directly behind our house. One by one I laid my chickens on the cold floor, and they began to cluck softly.

As I shut the shed（小屋） doors, my eyes went directly to the window where my children were watching. They jumped up and down cheering, and so did I! I wasn't some dragon slayer(屠杀者) from a fairy tale. I was simply a mom, but the look on my children's faces told me that they thought I was a hero mom.

Every year, countless individuals are impacted by cancer. Our goal is to walk away from cancer as we give strength to those fighting this life­threatening disease. Walk Cancer Away invites everyone to participate in our annual family­friendly walk event and join together to share the strong willpower found inside each of us with those around us. With each step we take, with each story shared, and with each donation made, we are one step closer to finding a cure. To date, we have raised over $ 700,000 for Dr. Nancy Kemeny's Colorectal (结肠直肠的) Research Fund at Memorial Slogan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), together with thousands of people supporting this cause over the last 12 years we are committed to.

Walk Cancer Away began as a walk in honor of James N. Rentas. Deeply influenced by his loss due to colorectal cancer, the Rentas family came together 12 years ago to help others who are suffering the disease. Dr. Nancy Kemeny at Memorial Slogan Kettering Cancer Center, who was the doctor treating James N. Rentas, mirrors that same goal. Her efforts and that of her team at MSKCC are focused on researching to overcome the disease and find a cure.

Together, they have made great achievements over the years and have provided years of life for those who face adversity. In many cases, their continued efforts have led to full remission of the cancer in patients. With the deepest gratitude we are thankful to all those who support and participate in the event each year, because without you this would not be possible.

Although Walk Cancer Away started just 12 years ago, we are forever honored to be able to join in this event that so many of us find so close to our hearts. We ask you, your family, and your friends to join in this year's Walk Cancer Away Event.

Downtown Baltimore is home to an unusual experiment that seems strange—cooling buildings with ice. It's a service provided by Veolia Energy. Veolia doesn't run big coal or nuclear power plants—instead, it tries to deliver "efficiency"—basically getting more out of the electricity network.

Veolia does this with a concept called "district cooling", which sends water chilled by ice at a central plant out to several nearby buildings. A nearly 10­mile circuit of cooling pipes connects the downtown buildings, including the convention center, government buildings and hotels, to a brick building with two domes(穹顶) about 30­feet high next to it.

Inside the domes are tanks filled with water. A lot of tubes run through the water tank carrying chilled glycol, a fluid(液体) that freezes at a very low temperature. This process runs at night, and ice forms around the tubes.

"During the day, when we are using the ice to produce cooling for customers, we run water over the outside of the ice, melt it and actually provide cool water out to the distribution system," says John Gibson, a vice president at Veolia Energy.

Why ice? The ice essentially stores the cheaper energy that's available at night.

"It allows you to make ice at night, when electrical demand is lower and costs are lower, and then melt that ice during the day to supplement your mechanical refrigeration," Gibson says. The customers don't need to buy their own refrigeration units, so they save about 10 percent on cooling costs by using Veolia's district set­up.

Using nighttime electricity also takes the heat off the electricity network. By using ice, Veolia doesn't need to use as much electricity during the days.

Gibson also says it's not cheap to build all of the pipes and pumps for a district cooling system, but it saves money in the long run, especially if existing underground infrastructure(基础设施) can be used.

Mind mapping is a great way to plan out projects, ideas, and plans.  Here are the four steps of mind mapping and how you can apply it in your life.

Before you start, think about what it is that your mind map is about. If we take the example of presenting to an audience, ask yourself, "What exactly do I want to tell my audience?" and "What do I want them to leave knowing?"Once you know your question, write that down in the middle of the page.

 Don't try and edit yourself. No matter how crazy, wild, or stupid something may seem at first, get it down onto your mind map. You can remove ideas later. Editing yourself at an early stage will not produce your best ideas.

After your initial brainstorm, giving yourself a few days will produce more ideas and expand others. A few days later, come back to your mind map and give yourself another hour or two with it.  Meanwhile, you may also see ideas that don't work—you can leave them just in case they bring more ideas later. After this session, you will have a lot of ideas, answers, and steps.

The next stage is where you make small changes about these ideas and start to structure the next steps. You now need to decide in what order you will move forward. Once you have all your ideas and points numbered, you can then move those to your to do list manager and place them in the right order. You may find that as you begin working on your project, you change your order round.

A. You will find you have a lot more ideas to add.

B. It encourages you to go deeper with your ideas.

C. The clearer your question，the better answers you will get.

D. Once you have your question written down，let yourself go.

E. Your brain is likely to give you unrealistic or unclear answers.

F. But you will at least have a place to start by having an initial order.

G. It gives you a visual means to brainstorm your ideas and the foundations of a structure.

Around twenty years ago I was living in New York. 1 I had a lot of experience and a Master's degree，I couldn't find 2 work.

I was driving a school bus to make ends meet and 3 with a friend，for I had lost my flat. I had 4 five interviews with a company but they said I did not get the job. "Why has my life become so 5?" I thought painfully.

As I pulled the bus over to 6 a little girl，she handed me an earring 7 I should keep it 8 somebody claimed(认领) it. The earring was painted black and said "BE HAPPY".

At first I got angry. Then it hit me—I had been giving all of my 9 to what was going wrong with my 10 rather than what was right！I decided to make a 11 of fifty things I was happy with. Later，I decided to 12 more things to the list. That night there was a phone call for me from a director at a large 13. She asked me if I would give a lecture 14stress management to 200 medical workers. I said yes.

My 15 there went very well，and before long I got a well paid job. To this day I know that it was because I changed my way of thinking that I completely changed my life.

Have you ever asked yourself why children go to school?

You will (probable) say that they go to school to learn languages, mathematics, history, science and some other knowledge. That is quite true,  why do they learn these things?

We send our children to school in order (prepare) them for the time when they really grow up and will have to work for  (they). Nearly everything they study at school has some practical use in their life.

But is that only reason why they go to school? There is more in education  just learning facts. We go to school to learn how to learn, so that when we have left school we can continue to learn. A man  really knows how to learn will always be  (succeed), because when he has to do something new, he will not only be able to do it well himself, but he will also be able to teach others how to do it in the (good) way. The person with poor education, on the other hand, either finds himself unable to do something new, or just (do) it badly. The main purpose of schools is not to teach those subjects, but to teach pupils the way to learn.

1）说明你为什么对成为志愿者感兴趣；2）说明自身具备的能力。

注意：开头和结尾已给出；不计入总词数。字数80左右。

A Vacation with My Mother

I had an interesting childhood. It was filled with surprises and happiness , all because of my mother – loving, sweet, yet absent-minded(心不在焉的) and forgetful. One strange family trip we took when I was eleven tells a lot about her.

My two sets (两对) of grandparents lived in Colorado and North Dakota, and my parents decided to spend a few weeks driving to those states (洲) and seeing all the sights (风景) along the way. As the first day of our trip approached (到来), David, my eight-year-old brother, and I unwillingly (不愿意的) said good-bye to all of our friends. Who knew if we'd ever see them again? Finally, the moment of our departure (分离) arrived, and we loaded (带上) suitcases, books, games, camping equipment, and a tent into the car and bravely drove off. We bravely drove off again two hours later after we'd returned home to get the purse (钱包) and traveler's checks (支票) Mom had forgotten.

David and I were always a little nervous when using gas station bathrooms if Mom was driving while Dad slept: "You stand outside the door and play lookout (放哨) while I go, and I'll stand outside the door and play lookout while you go. " I had terrible pictures in my mind: "Honey, where are the kids?" "What?! Oh, Gosh … I thought they were being awfully (非常) quiet." We were never actually left behind in a strange city, but we weren't about to take any chances.

On the fourth or fifth night, we had trouble finding a hotel with a vacancy (空房). After driving in vain for some time, Mom suddenly got a great idea: Why didn't we find a house with a likely-looking backyard and ask if we could set up tent there? David and I became nervous. To our great relief, Dad turned down the idea. Mom never could understand our objections (反对). If a strange family showed up (出现) on her front doorstep, Mom would have been delighted (高兴的). She thinks everyone in the world is as nice as she is. We finally found a vacancy in the next town.

注意：

1）所续写短文的词数应为100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:

The next day we remembered the brand-new tent we had brought with us.

Paragraph 2:

We drove through several states and saw lots of great sights along the way.