阅读理解

Films for you!

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)

A true classic, this Peanuts cartoon gives many viewers a sense of nostalgia (怀旧). Return to the iconic moment when Lucy pulls the football away from Charlie Brown right as he's about to kick it. Life is hard, but in this animated film, sweetness wins when the Peanuts group prepares a Thanksgiving feast, complete with jelly beans.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

This John Hughes comedy starring Steve Martin and John Candy is already a Thanksgiving classic for many. Neal ends up rerouting the plane because of a snowstorm. Ashe struggles to find a way home for Thanksgiving, he gets stuck with extremely positive Del.

One True Thing (1998)

Meryl Streep was nominated (提名)for an Academy Award for her performance in this movie as a wife and mom who struggles with cancer. Renée Zellweger plays the grown daughter who has to come home to help with the holiday. The two try to hold the family together, especially during a tense Thanksgiving meal when guests get all the attention.

The Gold Rush (1925)

Charlie Chaplin as the Little Tramp eats his shoe for Thanksgiving dinner while trapped in a snowstorm in this endearing silent film classic from 1925. Watch this one if you're in the mood to see a leather shoe prepared and eaten as if it were a delicious turkey. It makes you grateful for what you have!

1. （1） What could A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving remind many viewers of?

   A . Birth of animated films. B . History of football games. C . Taste of jelly beans. D . Sweet memories of old days.
3. （2） Which film best suits people who want to see a leather shoe eaten?

   A . The Gold Rush. B . A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving C . One True Thing. D . Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
5. （3） What do these four films have in common?

   A . They are related to Thanksgiving. B . They tell interesting family stories. C . They describe the holiday activities. D . They are based on the authors' own life.

阅读理解

Animal rescuer (营救者) and cinematographer Douglas Thorn's passion for animals began when he was a little kid. "I started rescuing orphaned baby animals," Thorn says. "And I wanted to be a wildlife cinematographer. "

When Thron grew up, he did just that, working for shows like Discovery Channels Shark Week, filming the great white sharks off the coast of Santa Cruz, California. But Thron says it was the Paradise Fire in California in 2018 that "pushed" him to do animal rescue activism work, putting his aerial cinematography skills to good use.

At the time, Thron was filming a man who was rescuing cats after the fire using an infrared (红外线的) hand-held camera. The camera uses heat to detect the animals at night Thron and the man talked about how incredible it would be to put one on a drone to detect animals more easily. "The animal's body temperature will glow on the screen and you can pick them out among the bricks and stones," explains Thron.

The first animal Thron ever rescued was a dog in the Bahamas after a category-5 hurricane hit, which wiped out hundreds of houses. Thron tested out putting an infrared scope on a drone and found the dog.

"The drone really shaves off critical time so that the really badly hurt animals are able to be rescued," Thron says. Once the scope picks up the "heat signature of an animal", Thron turns a spotlight on the animal and zooms in on it, so he and the rescue crews can go and save the animal.

Thron has basically been "going non-stop since then". His TV show, Doug to the Rescue, shows some of his heart-warming animal rescues, including after Hurricane Laura in Louisiana in 2020 and after fires in Northern California and Oregon. Thron also helped rescue koalas after fires damaged parts of Australia in 2020.

1. （1） What does the underlined word "that" in paragraph 2 refer to?

   A . Researching rare animals. B . Rescuing homeless animals. C . Becoming a disaster rescuer. D . Working as a wildlife cinematographer.
3. （2） What's Thron's purpose for attaching the infrared camera to the drone?

   A . To locate an animal quickly. B . To shoot more inviting photos. C . To take animals' body temperature. D . To give warnings of dangers timely.
5. （3） What's the fifth paragraph mainly about?

   A . The difficulties Thron has to overcome. B . The skills Thron will need to operate the drone. C . The way Thron uses the drone to rescue animals. D . The reason why Thron chooses his present job.
7. （4） According to the passage, which word can best describe Thron?

   A . Modest. B . Creative. C . Generous. D . Outgoing.

阅读理解

Discoveries at the famous Sanxingdui ruins in Southwest China show that the region's ancient Shu Kingdom Civilization shared similarities with the Maya.

The Sanxingdui ruins, located in the city of Guanghan, about 60 kilometers from Chengdu, belonged to the Shu Kingdom that existed at least 4, 800 years ago and lasted more than 2, 000 years, while the Mayan civilization built its city states around 200 AD.

The bronze-made remains of trees unearthed at the ruins of the Shu Kingdom resemble the sacred ceiba tree, which symbolied the union of heaven, earth and the underworld In the Mayan civilization. "They are very important similarities," says Santos, a Mexican archaeologist, stressing that "the representations of trees in both cultures provide a symbolism that is very similar".

One notable feature of the recent discoveries at Sanxingdui was the cross-subject work and technology applied by teams of Chinese archaeologists, which allowed the unearthing of artifacts as fragile as silk remains, which other types of less careful digging methods would not have been able to manage.

Cooperation between Chinese and Mexican archaeologists could benefit projects in the Maya world, where the rainy climate and humidity are problematic for the conservation of ruins.

"Every time our cultural knowledge increases, regardless of whether we speak one language or another, what it shows us is that we continue to be sister cultures and, therefore, the exchange of such knowledge is fundamental (基本的), " says Santos.

1. （1） What is a similarity between the Shu Kingdom and Maya civilization?

   A . Their starting time. B . Their historical origins. C . Their cultural symbols. D . Their ceremony traditions.
3. （2） What is a common challenge for the conservation of both ruins?

   A . Damp weather. B . Positioning of ruins. C . High latitude. D . Language barriers.
5. （3） What is the focus of Santos quote in the last paragraph?

   A . The future of the China-Mexico cooperation. B . The benefits of speaking a different language. C . The importance of the exchange of cultural knowledge. D . The increasing sisterhood in culture between China and Mexico.
7. （4） Where is this text most likely from?

   A . A historical novel. B . A newspaper. C . A research review. D . A guidebook.

阅读理解

To fight against the ballooning waistlines (腰围) among people, several U. S. cities have instituted taxes (税)on drinks with added sugar aiming to reduce consumption, but new research suggests these policies currently have one fundamental flaw.

The study found sugary drink only reduce buying if price tags (标签) at stores mention consumers are paying that tax when they buy the drink.

The research included a field study at two convenience stores in San Francisco, which currently has a tax on sugary drinks of 1 cent per ounce. Researchers varied the price tags placed on the sugary drinks over the eight-week study: one tag that simply said the price for the 12-ounce drink ($1.52) and one that had the price and the message "Includes SF Sugary Drink Tax". All non-sugary drinks, which weren't subject to the tax, simply had the price of the drink ($1. 40).

The researchers compared sales of the drinks during the study period to the two weeks before the study began when the sugary drink tax was in effect but there were no price tags on any drinks. Results showed sales of sugary drinks weren't lower during the two weeks, compared to sales before the tax, indicating the tax itself didn't reduce purchases of sugary drinks.

The researchers then looked at the effects of the two different price tags. Results showed the share of sugary drinks purchased when the tags simply showed the price wasn't significantly different from the two-week period before the study, but did decline (下降) slightly when the tags mentioned the price included the added tax.

In a separate online study, the researchers asked participants to estimate what the tax would be on a can of their favorite drink that cost $1.52. The average estimate was 40 cents — much higher than the 12 cents actually demanded in San Francisco. When told the tax was only 12 cents, they reported they'd still buy the drink.

The findings suggest price tags should mention the tax but not the amount, for consumers tend to overestimate how much the tax is. "If cities want these policies to be effective, they need to regulate how sugary drinks are labeled(贴标签) at stores and they currently don't do that," said Donnelly, lead author of the study.

1. （1） What does the underlined word "flaw" mean in the first paragraph?

   A . Weakness. B . Solution. C . Imbalance. D . Evidence.
3. （2） What kind of price tags may discourage customers from buying sugary drinks?

   A . Price tags bearing sugar content. B . Price tags with the exact tax on them. C . Price tags saying added tax included. D . Price tags just showing the total price.
5. （3） Which of the following may be Donnelly's suggestion?

   A . Stores label sugary drinks at will. B . Cancel (取消) sugary drink taxes at once. C . Publicize the effect of sugary drinks. D . Cities urge (敦促) stores to use proper price tags.
7. （4） What might be the best title for the text?

   A . A New Way to Prevent Fatness  B . Eating Habits and Food Consumption. C . Sugary Drink Taxes Aren't Working Well. D . Non-sugary Drinkers Benefit from New Policies.

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。

"Can you say mama? Or dada?" If you've spent any time around a baby, chances are you've heard or said things like these. For instance, baby talk, "parentese" (父母语), or, according to development specialists, child-directed speech. Although this kind of small talk might seem meaningless, the conversations are important.

Baby talk is an important piece of speech and language development. Studies show that when babies are exposed to such talk every day throughout their first year of life, they develop stronger vocabularies than other kids. And the little ones are eager for it. So when parents apply it, they help their babies learn more words and promote social interaction.

Child-directed speech wasn't always valued. Before the middle of the 20th century, researchers largely ignored it as a subject of study. Until the early 1990s, many developmental psychologists (心理学家) and linguists believed that without any help, we would learn how to speak and form complete sentences by ourselves.

But over the past few decades, numerous studies have found that throughout their first year of life, when babies are regularly exposed to such talk in addition to normal speech, they process, learn, and remember words presented to them in singsong tones (语调) better. One reason may have to do with how babies interact with the world. However, but their ears perk up (竖起来) when a caregiver makes that singsong tone.

In a 2020 study, researchers found that bat (蝙蝠)parents also used a different tone to communicate with their babies. Baby talk has also been observed in a few other species like squirrel monkeys.

A. Baby talk tends to be spoken at a slower rate.

B. Humans aren't the only ones that use baby talk.

C. They tend to ignore (忽视) adult conversations and other background noises.

D. Luckily, parents can be taught methods to improve their parentese skills.

E. Some doctors even advised parents to avoid using baby talk, thinking it too silly.

F. The distinct tone of parentese catches their attention, allowing them to benefit from it.

G. The singsong tone we switch to when interacting with young children can have many names.

阅读下面短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

On the sports field, athletes compete not only with others but against themselves. And in each race they try hard to 1 a new personal best.

For one teen Brandon Schutt, in his final cross-country outing, his personal best turned out not to be about marking the fastest time, but displaying the biggest 2 . A mile into the 3. 1-mile race, Schutt realized he couldn't keep up the necessary speed, so he just 3 to a comfortable pace to simply enjoy the moment.

Another runner Blake Cerveny aimed to beat his own personal record. After a fast start, he continued to push himself 4 . However, with less than 400 meters to go, Cerveny's legs cramped up (抽筋)and 5 him. His will didn't though.

6 to finish, Cerveny rose from the ground and continued on his way, only to fall again after another 150 meters. Feeling 7 , his coach asked Cerveny if he wanted to 8 . He didn't. The young runner pulled himself up and with 9 steps, he moved forward for one final push. It wasn't enough. At 100 meters from the finish line, he 10 curled (蜷缩的)on the ground. His legs had simply given out. Then it was Schutt who went to Cerveny's side to offer a 11 hand.

His first 12 to get Cerveny up failed, but Schutt refused to quit. With a second try, Cerveny was on his feet. The two 13 the final 75 meters.

In today's competitive world, the 14 of athletics is usually put on breaking records. It was inspiring to see that for athletes like Schutt, the value of true 15 still mattered.

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。

Lots of foreigners don't understand why so many Chinese people are sorrowful about Yuan Longping's passing away.

This reminds me an issue more than 20 years ago, I was a Chinese journalist in the US. Some American scholars (think) China could hardly realize food-sufficiency because of the (limit) water resources, decrease of agricultural land due to industrial (expand) and the fast population growth. Just at that time, Yuan Longping announced breakthroughs in planting the new rice. (bring) to large area application, this technique improved the annual growth of rice greatly, which fed population of 60 million--equal to the whole of the UK.

Western scholars' prediction of China back then was indeed analyzing China's problems, but they failed (realize) that the Chinese people have the capability to deal with these challenges.

If they had had any knowledge of Yuan who worked devotedly for our country, they wouldn't have made such pessimistic evaluations. Why did the Chinese people make ? Why are so many predictions about China in the West (accurate)? It's time to change minds to better understand China.

上周末，你和班级同学去红星社区参加了一次捡垃圾志愿活动，受到了社区居民的欢迎。请你为学校英文报写一篇短文，介绍这次活动。

内容包括：

1）时间、地点；

2）劳动过程；

3）个人感受。

注意：1）词数100左右；

2）题目已为你写好。

参考词汇：红星社区Hongxing Community

My Weekend

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。

On a Sunday morning, Tony woke up to a quiet house. Usually Mom was awake making breakfast and cleaning the kitchen, but not today. At the sound of his mom coughing, Tony knocked on her bedroom door and asked with great concern, "Mom, are you OK?" "Honey," Mom said weakly. "I have a terrible cold. You can have cereal (燕麦)for breakfast and watch cartoons. I'm going to stay in bed. "

Tony poured some cereal into a bowl and ate the pieces dry. Mom must feel very bad if she was staying in bed all day. How could Tony help? First, he wiped up the crumbs of cereal he left on the kitchen counter. He also put away the cereal box neatly, so the kitchen looked just as it did when he woke up. But what else could he do？Tony thought. Sunday was the day when mom did laundry(洗衣服). Tony loved to watch the clothes spinning in the machine. That should be fun! He ran to his room to get the laundry basket, inside which there was his mother's favorite white dress, among other clothes and a pair of red socks.

Tony opened the door to the washer and put the clothes inside. He had watched Mom do laundry lots of times, so he knew where to find the washing powder and how to pour it into the machine. Finally, he closed the door and pressed the big button that said "START". Tony looked through the round glass window. Water was pouring in, and the machine was starting to spin, making his clothing tumble around. That was easy!

Tony watched cartoons until he heard the washing machine beep. That meant the washing was done. Tony opened the door to take out the damp clothes. He took out a few at a time and moved them into the dryer. Everything seemed clean, and Tony felt proud. Then he pulled out a pink dress.

注意：

1）续写词数应为150左右：

2）请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

But as far as he could remember, there was no pink dress in the laundry basket.

……

Tony nervously knocked at his mom's bedroom door again, with the pink dress in her arms.