Crossing Texas and Mexico, the Big Bend region is high in biodiversity(生物的多样性). It’s a place so untamed that if something doesn’t bite, stick, or sting, it’s probably a rock.
You know you have arrived in the heart of the Chihuahuan Desert when it feels as if you have fallen off the edge of the earth and into the rabbit hole. Nothing is as it appears. Moths (蛀虫) are the size of birds. Are those twin pillars (柱) of black rock (a landmark known as Mule Ear Peaks) ten miles (16 kilometers) away or fifty (80 kilometers)? Visibility (能见度) reaches more than a hundred miles on a clear day, and since there are few roads or buildings to use as milestones, distance is difficult to judge.
This is a place where water runs uphill, where rainbows have to wait for rain. The line between myth (虚构的故事) and reality is unclear. Stare long enough at the Chisos Mountains or the Sierra del Carmen, the two mountain ranges, known as sky islands, which lie on the land, and they rise and float above the plain.
The vast Chihuahuan Desert is a land of no people. There is always the chance you’ll die of thirst. The “You Can Die”possibilities are endless, and keep some visitors — 350,000 a year to Big Bend National Park, built in 1944 — from coming back. Those who do return are left to think of the remarkable courage of the brave few who have managed to survive in this terrible environment. The underlined word“untamed”in Paragraph 1 means“________”.
| A．untouched | B．wild | C．unchanged | D．fresh |
Why do the twin pillars of black rock seem ten or fifty miles away?
| A．They were put so far away. |
| B．They lie across the Chihuahuan Desert. |
| C．It is difficult to judge the distance, with few milestones. |
| D．One lies in the Chisos Mountains, the other in the Sierra del Carmen. |
How many years are there since the Big Bend National Park was built?
| A．350,000 years. | B．350 years. | C．66 years. | D．44 years. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The natural wonders of the Chihuahuan Desert. |
| B．Everything you see is not what it seems in the Chihuahuan Desert. |
| C．The terrible environment of deserts in Texas and Mexico. |
| D．A special place where none who go can return. |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．There are all kinds of living things in the Chihuahuan Desert. |
| B．No people live in the Big Bend region. |
| C．Nothing is as it appears in the Big Bend region. |
| D．Traveling in the Big Bend region is dangerous. |
One morning Mrs Smith was driving home after she had done shopping. When she drove near a rubbish dump, she noticed a microwave oven(微波炉) not far from the side of the road.“John is a good electrician!”she said to herself.“Perhaps he can repair this. I'll take it home and let him try.”She picked up the oven and put it in the boot of her car. Then she drove on happily. A few kilometers later, she heard the siren (警报器)of a police car behind her. She looked in the driving mirror and saw a policeman waving to her to tell her to pull over and stop.
Mrs Smith was very puzzled. She slowed down at the side of the road. A traffic policeman got out of the police car and walked up to her.
“Can I see your driving license and insurance certificate(保险证)，please? ”he asked her. He copied down details of her name, address and the number of the car.“What's wrong, officer?” Mrs Smith asked. The policeman did not reply. He looked in the car and then at the back.“Open the boot, please.”he said to Mrs Smith.
Mrs Smith was still puzzled. She opened the boot and pointed to the microwave oven. "I found this old microwave oven a few minutes ago," she said. "I'm just taking it home to see if my husband can repair it." The policeman stared at her for a moment to see if she was telling the truth. "That's not a microwave oven." he said at last. "That's our radar set(雷达装置). It was the start of a speed trap. Do you mind if we have it back?" Mrs Smith's face turned red. "Oh", she said," I'm very sorry. I wouldn't have touched it if I'd known what it was." Why did Mrs Smith pick up the police's radar set and want to take it home?
| A．She had no microwave oven and wanted one. |
| B．She took it for a waste microwave oven. |
| C．She saw nobody was looking. |
| D．She just wanted to steal it. |
The underlined word "boot" in the third paragraph means_____ .
| A．the outer covering for the foot |
| B．the outer covering for the car |
| C．the place for luggage at the back of a car |
| D．the place for metal equipment for protection |
Choose the right order of the events(事件) given in the passage.
a. The policeman wrote down Mrs Smith's name, address and the car number.
b. Mrs Smith picked up a radar set and put it in the boot of her car.
c. The policeman took back the radar set.
d. Mrs Smith went shopping.
e. A policeman signed Mrs Smith to stop her car.
f. The policeman found the radar set in the boot of Mrs Smith's car.
| A．b,d,e,f,c,a | B．d,b,e,f,c,a | C．b,d,e,a,f,c | D．d,b,e,a,f,c |
Along the seashore(海边)，the tall coconut(椰子)trees waved in he wind. The sand was white in the bright sun, and the ocean was dark blue. The houses in the town near the shore, were painted white. The boats had been pulled up on the shore. Usually they would all be in the water with hard-working fishermen. But today was a holiday, and everyone was preparing for the celebration that was going to take place that evening.
In the distance, men could be seen climbing the coconut trees. They were singing as they worked. There were monkeys in the trees, too. The monkeys were jumping up and down and screaming angrily.The climbers just laughed at the monkeys and continued to pick the fruits. What is this passage about?
| A．It tells us a story of the monkeys. |
| B．It describes the scene on the seashore. |
| C．It talks about the life of the fishermen. |
| D．It is about how the people celebrated a holiday. |
The boats had been pulled up on the shore because_________.
| A．it was a holiday |
| B．the weather was too hot |
| C．there was going to be a storm |
| D．it was not the season for fishing |
The men climbed the coconut trees to_________.
| A．pick the coconuts |
| B．catch the monkeys |
| C．look at the ocean far away |
| D．see who could climb high and fast |
The word "screaming" in Paragraph Two probably means _______.
| A．singing and working |
| B．jumping up and down |
| C．running here and there |
| D．shouting in a high voice |
The monkeys were angry because________.
| A．the men were trying to catch them |
| B．the men wanted to drive them away |
| C．the men got the coconuts , which were their food |
| D．the men climbed higher and faster than they did |
【1】 It's difficult enough to have privacy(隐私) in a house, so privacy in a small dorm room is next to impossible. However, it can be done if both roommates are willing to cooperate.
【2】 Step1 Tie a scarf to the outside doorknob as a symbol of Do Not Disturb, but be careful not to do this too consistently. Warn your roommate beforehand about possible days and times when this scarf will be on the door so your roommate will have time to make plans ahead of time instead of it being a surprise, especially if you plan to have an overnight guest. Be considerate if your roommate needs to get into the room regardless of the scarf on the door to get something out of the dorm because it is his dorm room too.
【3】 Step2 If one roommate is a light sleeper and the other is a heavy sleeper, the heavy sleeper could consider an alternate way to wake himself up besides an alarm. Heavy sleepers tend to ignore alarms, but sometimes vibrating (震动的) cell phones feel like someone is shaking them. It is also a quieter way to not disturb the light sleeping roommate using a vibrating cell phone.
【4】 Step3 Take cell phone calls outside of the room. Your roommate may not want to hear your conversation or you may want some privacy, but your roommate should not have to leave every time you have a phone call. The roommate who is not on the phone has no way of knowing how often you will have phone calls and should not be put out because you do.
【5】 Step4 Ask if it' s okay to have a guest in the room. Although your roommate is not your parent, and you may feel like this is your room too, remember that ____. He may not want company when you do. If one roommate is more sociable than the other and guests become a repeated argument, consider asking the resident director if you can swap( 交换) roommate with someone else.What does the passage mainly talk about? (no more than 10 words)
______________________________________________________________________Complete the following statement with proper words, (no more than 6 words)
To avoid disturbing the light sleeper, _______________________ is also a good way.Please fill in the blank in the passage with proper words, (no more than 6 words)
_________________________________________________________________What does Step 3 suggest us? (no more than 10 words)
_______________________________________________What does the underlined word "it" (line 2, paragraph 1) probably refer to? (no more than 3 words)
_______________________________________________
Norah had a cottage on a cliff（悬崖）above a big bay. In winter it could be very unpleasant because of strong winds and sea waves. In fact, when a gale was blowing, Norah and her husband got used to sleeping in a small room downstairs, because their bedroom upstairs, which faced the gales, had a very big window, and they were afraid that an extra violent wind might break it and blow pieces of broken glass over them.
Also, the salt wave from the sea put an end to many of the colorful plants Norah planted in her garden. She tried putting up a fence to protect them, but the wind just hit it, went up over the top and then down the other side, so in the end she filled the garden with trees and bushes that liked salt.
But most of the summer Norah enjoyed her cottage and garden very much. At weekends she could sit out-of-doors in the sun, looking at the beautiful view, with interesting ships and boats passing by, and she could very easily cycle down to the sea for a swim.
Now, Norah and her husband had plenty of friends and relations. In the summer lots of them used to come to enjoy the beautiful place, and in the end it really became quite annoying for the couple. When they were at home, they found friends and relations arriving, expecting to be given unlimited drinks and meals, and to sit in the sun for hours, talking as if Norah and her husband had nothing else to do but entertain and listen to them.
This went on for several years. Norah didn’t wish to appear rude by refusing to let her friends and relations in, but on the other hand, she was getting tired every summer.
Then one day Norah was complaining about this to her hairdresser while she was doing her hair. “You’re disturbed by too many uninvited guests, are you?” said the hairdresser. “Why don’t you try my way of escaping?”
“What’s that?” asked Norah.
“Well,” the hairdresser answered, “when the bell rings, I put on my coat and take my shopping bag. If it’s someone I don’t want to see, I say innocently, ‘I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go out.’ But…”The underlined word “gale” can be replaced by _____.
| A．wind | B．ship | C．sea | D．animal |
We can infer that _____.
| A．lots of friends cam to visit them in winter |
| B．few friends came to visit them in winter |
| C．friends came to visit them only for drinks and meals |
| D．Norah was a good cook |
How did Norah go to the sea for a swim?
| A．She went there by ship. | B．She walked there. |
| C．She swam there. | D．She went there by bicycle. |
The hairdresser likely to continue to say “_____” in the end?
| A．if I’m tired, I say ‘Sorry, can you come next time?’ |
| B．if it’s someone I like to see, I say ‘How lucky! I’ve just come in!’ |
| C．if it is fine that day, I say, ‘I’m tired of this, but I’ll show you around the place.’ |
| D．if it’s someone I like to see, I say, ‘How happy to see you! But I was going shopping now .’ |
Which of the following is the best title?
| A．A Good Place of Enjoying the Sea | B．A Visit to Norah |
| C．A clever Way of Escaping | D．A Warm-hearted Couple |
Fear can be a wonderful feeling in our lives, protecting us from dangerous situations and keeping us safe. But fear can also limit our lives significantly. While it may not be conscious, fear may make us think we are unacceptable or that what we have to offer isn’t valuable. Fear may make us feel that we are not safe being ourselves.
To avoid feeling fear, we may limit our lives greatly, living in tiny boxes. Living this way gives us the illusion(假象) of safety but leaves us with an unfulfilling life of no passion. If we shine a light on many of our fears, we see they have a very limited view of what is “safe” and how to “protect” us. Many of our fears are concerned only with protecting us from humiliation(羞辱) and failure. While these fears are doing their jobs incredibly well, they are doing so with faulty and outdated programming. Many fears we have as adults are trying to protect us as they protected us when we were children. Indeed, many of our current, automatic reactions to fear were actually formed when we were children.
Even so, it’s important not to judge ourselves for feeling these types of fears. If we judge ourselves, we will bury our fears or disguise them. By denying our fears, however, we also deny our energy, creativity and passion.
So what do we do with fear? We recognize the fear for what it is--- a feeling we’ve experienced many times in the past and a feeling we will experience many times in the future. We become very familiar with our own particular brand of fears and how we allow them to control our lives. It is especially beneficial for each of us to become aware of the particular behavior patterns we’ve adopted when we feel fear, so we can look at our reactions with a sense of humor and compassion. Then, if we wish, we can choose a different response, which can be a scary yet very exciting experience.According to the first paragraph, fear sometimes.
| A．protect us when we’ve made mistakes |
| B．makes sure our feelings are not hurt |
| C．brings great change to our everyday life |
| D．makes us lose confidence in ourselves |
It can be inferred from the passage that the author.
| A．thinks it difficult to control our fear |
| B．believes fears protect us negatively |
| C．thinks it’s good to criticize ourselves |
| D．values the advantages of feeling fear |
According to the author, the ways we react to fear .
| A．vary from person to person |
| B．have been formed since childhood |
| C．develop during our growth |
| D．will not change until we get old |
The last paragraph mainly tells us .
| A．what is the essence of fears |
| B．usual reactions we have when feeling fear |
| C．how to deal with fears reasonably |
| D．the importance of humor and compassion |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Is fear managing your life? |
| B．Be calm when feeling fear |
| C．What do you fear most? |
| D．Passion, chance and fear |