阅读理解

Amazing lost places around the world Kolmanskop

Once the richest town in Africa, today Kolmanskop is sinking into the Namibian desert. The discovery of diamonds here around 100 years ago caused this remote place to experience a boom （繁荣）, and in no time at all, an entire town revealed itself out of the sand. Not only was there a hospital, a power plant and a theatre, but also an ice factory and a swimming pool—all in the middle of the desert!

The Aniva lighthouse

Built by the Japanese on a small island between Japan and Russia, the Aniva lighthouse and its island went to the Russians after the Second World War. Though dynamic （充满活力的） once, the seven-storey building has lain abandoned for years. Where once noisy diesel （柴油） generators kept the machinery running, today there's only the sound of waves hitting the rocks.

Houtouwan

Houtouwan on Shengshan Island was once home to around 2, 000 fishermen and their families. Today most of the people you meet in this Chinese village are tourists. The majority of the inhabitants （居民） left for the mainland in the early 1990s. Reasons for the near total abandonment include shortage of food delivery.

The Igloo Hotel

This resort has never seen a paying guest!The Igloo Hotel in Alaska, US was primarily meant to attract visitors from the nearby Denali National Park. However, the builder didn't observe official building regulations and also chose a location that was too remote, so the hotel was never completed. The half-finished building, however, continues to suffer wind and weather a half century later.

1. （1） What caused people's interest in Kolmanskop?

   A . The hospital. B . Diamonds. C . The theatre. D . The swimming pool.
3. （2） Which of the following was abandoned because of lack of food?

   A . Houtouwan. B . The Aniva lighthouse. C . Kolmanskop. D . The Igloo Hotel in Alaska.
5. （3） What's the biggest difference between The Igloo Hotel and the other three places?

   A . It was remote. B . It was undone. C . It doesn't exist now. D . It has no visitors.

阅读理解

As the daughter of immigrants, Chanthaphone's primary language at home was Lao. At5, she learned to speak English. But she didn't know how to read and write--let alone how to fit in at school or communicate with classmates. Mrs. Lewis, Chanthaphone's second-grade teacher, changed everything. She taught her students that it was OK if they did not know English and it was all right for then to use words in their home language to explain how they were feeling or thinking. Chanthaphone got more and more confidence and wanted to do what her teacher did in the future.

Now, at 26, Chanthaphone is an English teacher at Fort Worth ISDs William Monnig Middle. School. Like Mrs. Lewis, Chanthaphone aims to help her non-English-speaking students to gain the confidence they need to fulfill their potential in life.

At the beginning of each school year, Chanthaphone recounts her story to her new classes. She tells them she knows what it feels like not to want to participate in class or raise her hand. She reminds them that she once sat in their seat and felt different because of her upbringing. But she stresses that's what makes each of them special.

Her students, though, are usually unconvinced. She has to take out photos of her graduating college and tell them about her parents and what her school was like. Then it finally clicks.

In the classroom, Chanthaphone allows students to communicate in whichever way they feel most comfortable. For some, it may be raising their hands and voicing their thoughts. For others, it may be writing their thoughts on a piece of paper and handing it to Chanthaphone.

However, Chanthaphone does encourage her students to go out of their comfort zone. She wants them to work with students they don't know because teamwork and collaboration（协作） with unfamiliar people is important.

"I've always wanted to be the teacher who supported students and advocated for them in and outside of classroom, " Chanthaphone said. " When I get notes or see Facebook posts from parents talking about previous teachers, including me, I feel like my goal has been completed. "

1. （1） What do you know about Mrs. Lewis?

   A . She is ambitious. B . She is knowledgeable. C . She is inspiring. D . She is demanding.
3. （2） Chanthaphone- tell her schooling experience to her new students in order to ______ .

   A . To make a good beginning of her class. B . To encourage her students to be confident. C . To make herself well known to her students. D . To push her students to voice their thoughts.
5. （3） What does Chanthaphone focus on in the classroom?

   A . Students' strong curiosity. B . Students' mental health C . Students' unique talent. D . Students' communicating ability.
7. （4） What can be the best title for the text?

   A . I Was Once Like You. B . You Are the Only One C . No One Can Say No to You. D . Everything Can be Possible

阅读理解

LyricJam, a real-time system that uses artificial intelligence（Al） to produce lyrics（歌词） for live instrumental music, was created by members of the University's Natural Language Processing Lab.

The lab, led by Olga Vechtomova, a Waterloo Engineering professor in Computer Science, worked on the creation of a system that learns musical expressions of artists and generates lyrics in their style. Meanwhile, the lyrics could reflect the moods and emotions expressed by live music.

As a musician or a band plays instrumental music, the system continuously receives the raw audio clips （音频片段）, which the neural （神经的） network processes to generate new lyric lines. The artists can then use the lines to create their own song lyrics. The neural network designed by the researchers learns what lyrical themes, words and stylistic devices are associated with different aspects of music in each audio clip.

"The purpose of the system is not to write a song for the artist, "Vechtomova explains. "Instead, we want to help artists realize their own creativity. The system produces poetic lines with new metaphors and expressions, potentially leading the artists in creative directions that they haven't explored before.

The research team conducted a user study, inviting musicians to play live instruments while using the system.

"One unexpected finding was that participants felt encouraged by the produced lyrics to improvise （即兴创作）, "Vechtomova said. "For example, the lyrics inspired artists to take their improvisation in a new direction. Some musicians also used the lyrics to check if their improvisation had the desired emotional effect. "

Participants commented that they viewed the system as a partner and felt inspired to play their musical instruments even if they were not actively trying to write lyrics. Since LyricJa m went live, plenty of users worldwide have tried it out.

1. （1） What is special about LyricJam?

   A . It combines audio clips with lyrics. B . It can produce personalized lyrics. C . It uses high-tech to perfect lyrics. D . It is created by Olga Vechtomova.
3. （2） What does Paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

   A . How the system plays music. B . How a band holds a concert. C . How LyricJam functions. D . How an artist explores music.
5. （3） Why did the research team create LyricJam?

   A . To challenge the creativity of artists. B . To attract audience to the concert. C . To make live concerts more entertaining. D . To motivate artists' inspiration.
7. （4） What is the users' attitude towards LyricJam?

   A . Favorable. B . Indifferent. C . Critical. D . Pessimistic.

阅读理解

Many people believe that working to the maximum is the secret to success, but research has found that moderation（适度） also gets results on the job.

In a study led by Ellen Langer of Harvard University, researchers asked people to translate sentences into a new made—up language. Subjects who practiced the language moderately beforehand made fewer errors than those who practiced a great deal or not at all. High levels of knowledge can make people too attached to traditional ways of viewing problems across fields of the arts, sciences, and politics. High conscientiousness （责任心） is related to lower job performance, especially in simple jobs where it doesn't pay to be a perfectionist.

How long we stay on the clock and how we spend that time are under careful examination in many workplaces. The young banker who eats lunch at his desk is probably seen as a go—getter, while his colleagues who chat over a relaxed conference—room meal get dirty looks from the corner office. "People from cultures that value relationships more than ours does are shocked by the thought of eating alone in front of a computer, "says Art Markman, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas, Austin. Social interaction has been shown to lift mood and get people thinking in new directions and in ways that could help improve any post-lunch effort.

Markman also promotes off-task time. "Part of being a good thinker is experiencing things that are seemingly unrelated to what you are working on at the moment but give you fresh ideas about your work, "he says. "Also , there is a lot of research showing that a positive mood leads to higher levels of productivity and creativity. So, when people do things to increase their life satisfaction, they also make themselves more effective at work. "

1. （1） What does Ellen Langer's study show?

   A . It is worthwhile to be a perfectionister. B . Translation makes people knowledgeable. C . Moderate effort produces the best result. D . Simpler jobs require greater caution.
3. （2） The underlined word" go — getter" in paragraph 3 refers to someone who ______ .

   A . works hard to become successful B . is good at handling pressure C . has a natural talent for his job D . gets on well with his co-workers.
5. （3） What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

   A . A good thinker is able to inspire other people. B . Experience unrelated to your job is useless. C . Focusing on what you do raises productivity. D . A cheerful mood helps make a creative mind.
7. （4） What does the text seem to support?

   A . Balance between work and family. B . Middle-of-the-road work habits. C . Long-standing cultural traditions. D . Harmony in the work environment.

阅读下面短文，从短文后的选项中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

Singapore's tradition of eating out in places called Hawker centers is now recognized by the United Nations for its cultural importance. 

A hawker is a person who sells food or goods and advertises by shouting at people walking by on the street. Hawkers are an important part of Singaporean culture. Open—air eating areas where hawkers sell their goods are very popular in this city. Famous chefs, such as Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsay have praised them.

On December 16, the United Nations' cultural agency, UNESCO, added the city's "hawker culture"to its

Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Singapore sought to have hawker culture added to the list about two years ago.

Now that it has been recognized, Singapore must provide a report every six years to UNESCO. " These centers serve as community dining rooms where people from diverse backgrounds gather and share the experience of dining over breakfast, lunch and dinner, "UNESCO said.

In the 1970s, Singapore cleaned up its streets so the city moved street hawkers to new eating centers. Now, the centers offer many different low—cost meals for local people and provide a pleasing social setting.

The average age of a hawker in Singapore is 60 years old. Younger Singaporeans now want to work in offices. They are less interested in working in small restaurants. The COVID-19 health crisis also hurt sales, making eating out unavailable for foreign visitors and local people.

A. And they appear in popular films like Crazy Rich Asians.

B. Singapore's President Halimah Yacob posted the news on the Internet.

C. Here are our top hawker food center picks and the best bites you simply have to try.

D. Hawker culture has shaped the Singaporean identity in many ways.

E. But Singapore's hawker culture does face difficulties.

F. These areas were part of an effort to improve the island.

G. The report must show efforts that the city—state has made to save and support its hawker culture.

完形填空

My friend Jennifer was going to be at my school! I believed that we would be best friends. She 1 me to her friend Amy and we had lots of fun together. But things started to 2 . Jennifer wanted to be the"3 " of our little group. She was controlling, and I couldn't make new friends. If I made new friends, she would 4 that I was" mad at her".

I always waited for Jennifer and Amy after class, but sometimes when they left, they'd walk 5 past me as if they couldn't even6 me.

We often gossiped（说三道四） about people, and I soon 7 that nobody was good enough for Jennifer. She had a list of 8 things about everybody, even Amy, and about me. I had changed —I became spiritless and lonely. I felt so9 .

Finally, I was sick of having to 10 for friendship. I stopped 11 her after class. Jennifer quickly 12 I was "mad at her". I said, "I'm not mad. I just want to make more friends. "But to Jennifer, she decided I was mad at her. Our13 fell to pieces.

Now, I have tons of 14 . We not only support each other but have fun together.

I lost a friend, but I am a 15 person now.

语法填空

In the heart of modern Beijing is the Forbidden City. It served as the political center of ancient China between 1420 and 1912 and now it is  world famous museum.

The Forbidden City  (build) by Emperor Yongle, the third Ming ruler,  moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijng in 1403. Sources say it took a million  (worker) to build it between 1406 and 1420. Legend has it that the Forbidden City was redesigned to have 9, 999 1/2 rooms. Half a room is missing to avoid  (upset) the God of Heaven. The maincolors of the Forbidden City are yellow and red. The walls, doors, and windows were  (most) painted in red, a symbol of  (happy) in Chinese culture.

The English name "Forbidden City" is a translation of the Chinese name Zijincheng. In the past, it was forbidden to ordinary people and that is  the Forbidden City is so named. After the Qing Dynasty, it was made a  (nation) museum—the Palace Museum and was open to the public. As one of the world's largest cultural museums, the Palace Museum holds more than a million rare and valuable works of art. So do find a chance  (visit) it some day!

近期来自加拿大某高中的交换生正在你校学习，为传播中国优秀文化，你校将举办介绍中国传统节日的主题班会。请你用英语写一篇演讲稿在班会上介绍你最喜爱的中国传统节日，内容包括:1. 节日介绍；2. 喜欢该节日的理由。注意：1. 写作词数应为80左右；2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

My Favourite Traditional Chinese Festival

阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Winston watched rain pour down. He sighed. "This is just typical! School holidays and it rains!"His younger sister, Hannah, didn't answer and carried on rolling around the floor with Grandma's dog, Mac. A moment later, the door opened and 16-year-old Sophie, headphones glued as usual to her ears, bounded upstairs.

Mac certainly needed no second chance and was out of the room and into the garden before Hannah could get to her feet. Winston yelled, "We're supposed to keep him in. He doesn't know his way around this end of town. "Grabbing two coats. Hannah joined her brother on the step, just in time to see the black and white dog walked slowly up the road. "No time to leave a note to Mom, "Winston decided, taking charge. "Let's get him. The last thing Grandma needs to know when she's in hospital is that we've lost her dog, "he added.

The two children rushed toward Mac. Wagging（摆动） his tail energetically, he raced off toward the park. Mac led them toward the gateway to the town park and set off at once toward the duck pond. Winston and Hannah were close behind but cannoned （猛撞） round the corner straight into a woman pushing a baby carriage. "Watch where you are going, "she yelled. "Sorry, "they said. "I can't see Mac any more, "Winston announced when the woman had gone on her way.

A few minutes of racing along the paths in the park finally convinced the children that they had lost Mac. "We're never going to find him by ourselves, "Hannah said. "A bus!Come on!Let's go home and phone Mom, "Winston shouted. Before Hannah could argue, he had pulled his sister onto the bus and paid their fares.

Later, Hannah did try to tell him that the bus was going the wrong way but by then it was too much late. They both realized they were going east instead of west. Hannah burst into tears. She cried, "I'm cold. I'm scared because we'll be in real trouble now. We've lost Mac!"

注意： （1）续写词数应为150左右； （2）请按如下格式作答。

Paragraph 1:

The bus turned around a corner and a small house came into view.

Paragraph 2:

They rode the bus home with the dog.