When people hear that I’m the youngest person to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, they all have the same question: How did a 22-year old woman row a 19-foot boat for 70 days through high winds and crashing waves? Well, the biggest difficulty for me wasn’t physical. By the time I decided to do the ocean row, I had already biked 3,300 miles cross-country, run across the Mojave Desert, and swum the 325-mile length of the Allegheny River. No, the tough part would be mental: How would I handle the loneliness, the boredom of the vast sea?
I set off on January 3, 2010. I set my sights on getting past the quarter-way mark, which would take about 20 days.
Day 20, January 22, was gray and cloudy. I could have done something to celebrate, such as treating myself to a chocolate bar. But I didn’t.
I was suffering from terrible loneliness. I hadn’t seen landing over two weeks. Every day was beginning to feel the same. Eating, rowing, sleeping, watch the sky, watch the ocean.
Then, around sunset, I saw something move on the horizon. They were dolphins! They circled my boat. Suddenly I felt so grateful. They had come to help me celebrate, just when I needed them. I rowed at full strength for the next 20 minutes with the dolphins around. By the time we went our separate ways, I was no longer lonely. Better yet, I knew I would be okay.
I did make it, all 2,817 miles. I hit the coast of Guyana, South America, on March 14, after 70 days and five hours at sea. My ocean row raised $70,000 for the Blue Planet Run Foundation, which funds drinking water programs around the world. I know some athletes spend the entire journey imagining the end, and that helps them get through. But for me, the secret is to focus on the moment, where you experience the personal growth — those moments of awareness of being connected to the sun, the weather, and the waves. And, on the best day of my life, those dolphins, which freed myself from terrible loneliness.Which is the step taken as part of preparation for the tough row?
| A．swimming the 325-mile length of the river |
| B．answering the same question raised by people |
| C．running 3,300 miles cross-country |
| D．biking across the Mojave Desert |
What does the underlined part mean?
| A．I didn’t have any chocolate bar for energy. |
| B．I wasn’t in the mood to celebrate my first goal. |
| C．It’s a pity not to celebrate my passing the quarter of the way |
| D．It’s a pity not to treat myself to a chocolate bar on Day 20. |
What can be implied from the last two paragraphs?
| A．Imagination was an effective way to help me get through. |
| B．The Blue Planet Run Foundation helped me a lot. |
| C．The dolphins accompanied me to reach my destination |
| D．The unexpected dolphins swept away my loneliness |
Which can be the best title of the passage?
| A．The day I stopped being lonely |
| B．The only challenge for a 22-year old |
| C．How to overcome loneliness at sea. |
| D．How to row alone across the Atlantic |
How fit are your teeth? Are you lazy about brushing them? Never fear: An inventor is on the case. An electric toothbrush senses （感觉） how long and how well you brush, and it lets you track（跟踪） your performance on your phone.
The Kolibree toothbrush was exhibited at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. It senses how it is moved and can send the information to an Android phone or iPhone via a Bluetooth wireless （无线的） connection.
The toothbrush will be able to teach you to brush right (don’t forget the insides of the teeth!) and make sure you’re brushing long enough. “It’s kind of like having a dentist actually watch your brushing on a day-to-day basis,” says Thomas Serval, the French inventor.
The toothbrush will also be able to talk to other applications （设备）on your phone, so developers could, for example, create a game controlled by your toothbrush. You could score points for beating monsters among your teeth. “We try to make it smart and fun,” Serval says.
Serval says he was inspired by his experience as a father. He would come home from work and ask his kids if they had brushed their teeth. They said “yes,” but Serval would find their toothbrush heads dry. He decided he needed a brush that really told him how well his children brushed.
The company says the Kolibree will go on sale this summer, from $99 to $199, and the U.S. is the first target market. ( 目标市场)All of the following statements are wrong except ____________.
| A．It can sense how users brush their teeth. |
| B．It can track users’ school performance. |
| C．It can check users’ fear of seeing a dentist. |
| D．It can help users find their phones. |
What can we learn from Serval’s words in Paragraph 3?
| A．You will find it enjoyable to see a dentist. |
| B．You should see your dentist on a day-to –day basis. |
| C．You can brush with the Kolibree as if guided by a dentist. |
| D．You’d like a dentist to watch you brush your teeth every day. |
What can we infer about Serval’s children?
| A．They were unwilling to brush their teeth |
| B．They often failed to clean their toothbrushes. |
| C．They preferred to use a toothbrush with a dry head. |
| D．They liked brushing their teeth after Serval came home. |
In 1943, when I was 4, my parents moved from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, to Fairbanks, Alaska, where adventure was never very far away.
We arrived in the summer, just in time to enjoy the midnight sun. All that sunlight was fantastic for Mom's vegetable garden. Working in the garden at midnight tended to throw her timing off, so she didn't care much about my bedtime.
Dad was a Railway Express agent and Mom was his clerk. That left me in a mess（混乱）. I usually managed to find some trouble to get into. Once I had a little fire going in the dirt basement of a hotel. I had tried to light a barrel（桶） of paint but couldn't really get a good fire going. The smoke got pretty bad, though, and when I made my exit, a crowd and the police were there to greet me. The policemen took my matches and drove me home.
Mom and Dad were occupied in the garden and Dad told the police to keep me, and they did! I had a tour of the prison before Mom rescued me. 1 hadn't turned 5 yet.
As I entered kindergarten, the serious cold began to set in. Would it surprise you to know that I soon left part of my tongue ( 舌头 )on a metal handrail at school?
As for Leonhard Seppala, famous as a dog sledder (驾雪橇者), I think I knew him well because I was taken for a ride with his white dog team one Sunday. At the time I didn't realize what a superstar he was, but I do remember the ride well. I was wrapped (包裹) heavily and well sheltered （保护） from the freezing and blowing weather.
In 1950, we moved back to Coeur d'Alene, but we got one more Alaskan adventure when Leonhard invited us eight years later by paying a visit to Idaho to attend a gathering of former neighbors of Alaska.What can be inferred about the author's family?
| A．His father was a cruel man. |
| B．His parents didn't love him. |
| C．His parents used to be very busy. |
| D．His mother didn't have any jobs. |
What happened when the author was 4?
| A．He learned to smoke. |
| B．He was locked in a basement. |
| C．He was arrested by the police. |
| D．He nearly caused a fire accident. |
Which of the following is true?
| A．Leonhard was good at driving dog sleds. |
| B．The author spent his whole childhood in Alaska. |
| C．Leonhard often visited the author's family after 1950. |
| D．The author suffered a lot while taking the dog sled in Alaska. |
What is the author's purpose of writing the text?
| A．To look back on his childhood with adventures. |
| B．To describe the extreme weather of Alaska. |
| C．To express how much he misses Leonhard. |
| D．To show off his pride in making trouble. |
A schoolgirl saved her father's life by kicking him in the chest after he suffered a serious allergic (过敏的) reaction which stopped his heart.
Izzy, nine, restarted father Colm's heart by stamping (踩) on his chest after he fell down at home and stopped breathing.
Izzy's mother, Debbie, immediately called 999 but Izzy knew doctors would never arrive in time to save her father, so decided to use CPR.
However, she quickly discovered her arms weren't strong enough, so she stamped on her father's chest instead.
Debbie then took over with some more traditional chest compressions (按压) until the ambulance（救护车）arrived.
Izzy, who has been given a bravery award by her school, said: "I just kicked him really hard. My mum taught me CPR but I knew I wasn't strong enough to use hands. I was quite afraid. The doctor said I might as well be a doctor or a nurse. My mum said that Dad was going to hospital with a big footprint on his chest.”
"She's a little star," said Debbie, "I was really upset but Izzy just took over. I just can't believe what she did. I really think all children should be taught first aid. Izzy did CPR then the doctor turned up. Colm had to have more treatment on the way to the hospital and we've got to see an expert."
Truck driver Colm, 35, suffered a mystery allergic reaction on Saturday and was taken to hospital, but was sent home only for it to happen again the next day. The second attack (发作)was so serious that his airway swelled, preventing him from breathing, his blood pressure dropped suddenly, and his heart stopped for a moment.
He has now made a full recovery （康复）from his suffering.Izzy kicked her father in the chest ______ .
| A．to express her helplessness |
| B．to practise CPR on him |
| C．to keep him awake |
| D．to restart his heart |
What's the right order of the events?
① Izzy kicked Colm.② Debbie called 999.
③ Izzy learned CPR.④ Colm's heart stopped.
③ ① ② ④B.④ ② ③ ①
C.③ ④② ① D.④③ ① ②What does Paragraph 8 mainly talk about?
| A．What Colm suffered. |
| B．Colm's present condition. |
| C．What caused Colm's allergy. |
| D．Symptoms of Colm's allergic reaction. |
Why does the author write the news?
| A．To describe a serious accident. |
| B．To prove the importance of CPR. |
| C．To report a 9-year-old girl's brave act. |
| D．To call people's attention to allergic reaction. |
Half of the world’s population lives in areas affected by Asian monsoons（季风）, but monsoons are difficult to predict. American researchers have put together a 700-year record of the rainy seasons, which is expected to provide guidance for experts making weather predictions.
Every summer, moist（潮湿的）air masses, known as monsoon, produce large quantities of rainfall in India, East Asia, Indonesia, Northern Australia and East Africa, which are pulled in by a high pressure area over the Indian Ocean and a low pressure area to the south.
According to Edward Cook, a weather expert at Columbia University in New York, the complex nature of the climate systems across Asia makes monsoons hard to predict. In addition, climate records for the area date to 1950, too recent and not detailed enough to be of much use. Therefore, he and a team of researchers spent more than fifteen years travelling across Asia locating trees old enough to provide long-term records. They measured the rings（年轮）or circles, inside the trunks of thousands of ancient trees at more than 300 sites.
Rainfall has a direct link to the growth and width of rings on some kinds of trees. The researchers developed a document—a Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas（地图集）. It shows the effect of monsoons over seven centuries, beginning in the 1300s.
Professor Cook says the tree-ring records show periods of wet and dry conditions. “If the monsoon basically fails or is very weak one year, the trees affected by the monsoon at that location might put on a very narrow ring. But if the monsoon is very strong, the trees affected by that monsoon might put on a wide ring for that year. So, the wide and narrow ring widths of the tree chronology（年表）that we developed in Asia provide us with a measure of monsoon variability. ” Armed with such a sweeping set of data, researchers say they now can begin to refine climate computer models for predicting the behavior of monsoons.
“There has been widespread famine and starvation and human dying in the past in large droughts. And on the other hand, if the monsoon is particularly heavy, it can cause extensive flooding,” said Eugene Wahl, a scientist who is with America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s paleoclimate（古气侯）branch studying weather patterns over the history of the Earth. “So, to get a knowledge of what the regional moisture patterns have been, dryness and wetness over such a long period of time in great detail, I would call it a kind of victory for climate science.”What’s the passage mainly about?
| A．A breakthrough in monsoon prediction. |
| B．The necessity of weather forecast. |
| C．The achievements of Edward Cook. |
| D．The effects of Asian monsoons. |
It is difficult for experts to predict Asian monsoons because______.
| A．it is hard to keep long-term climate records |
| B．they are formed under complex climate systems |
| C．they influence many nations |
| D．there is heavy rainfall in Asia |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．The trees affected by monsoon grow fast if the monsoon is weak. |
| B．The Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas has a monsoon record for about 1,300 years. |
| C．Long and detailed climate records can offer useful information for monsoon research. |
| D．The rainfall might be low although the monsoon is strong in monsoon-affected areas. |
According to Professor Cook, the rings of the trees_________.
| A．determine the regional climate |
| B．have a great influence on the regional climate |
| C．offer people information about the regional climate |
| D．reflect all kinds of regional climate information |
What do we know about the research according to Eugene Wahl?
| A．It will help people prevent droughts and floods. |
| B．It should include information about human life in the past. |
| C．It has analysed moisture models worldwide. |
| D．It is a great achievement in climate science. |
Which of the following best describes the tone of this passage?
| A．Friendly. | B．Pessimistic. |
| C．Humorous. | D．Matter-of-fact. |
Where Are We Going, Dad? has become one of China’s most popular television shows, since its debut（首次登场）in October, averaging more than 600 million viewers each week. Sponsorship rights（冠名权）for the show’s second season were sold for 312 million yuan（about $ 50 million）, more than ten times higher than the rights to the first season.
What accounts for its popularity? The show features a mew generation of Chinese fathers, who, as part of the country’s new middle class, have faced more problems with modern child-raising techniques such as taking an active role with their children.
Part of the appeal of the show is the chance to throw a glance at the lives of Chinese celebrities（名流）and their children. Audiences are interested in watching the failed attempts of celebrity dads making dinner, doing hair, and disciplining（管教）children — tasks often left to mothers in a society still influenced by the saying that “men rule outside and women are inside.” “In traditional Chinese culture, fathers are strict and mothers are kind. But on the show, we see fathers who are much gentler on their kids and more involved in their upbringing,” said Li Minyi, an associate professor. “This show raises an important question for modern Chinese society — what is the role of fathers in today’s China?”
After each episode（集）goes to air, the Chinese Internet explodes with comments on each celebrity’s parenting style.
Actor Guo Tao tries to communicate with his son, Shitou, but is seen as a more traditional Chinese father, and has been criticized online for being too harsh. Zhang Liang, a supermodel, is an audience favorite for treating his son, Tiantian, more like a friend. The show’s most famous celebrity, Lin Zhiying, a film star, was originally praised as patient with his son Kimi. But as the season progresses, fans begin to criticize him for raising a spoiled, undisciplined boy. Director Wang Yuelun is at a complete loss when it comes to care of his daughter’s hair.
Even the People’s Daily is pleased with the success of the show.Sponsorship rights for the show’s first season were sold for ________.
| A．312 million yuan |
| B．about 50 million yuan |
| C．more than 600million yuan |
| D．about 30million yuan |
According to the passage, the show_________.
| A．gives audiences the chance to raise the stars’ children themselves |
| B．invites some famous film stars to take part in it |
| C．lets people think about the role of fathers in modern families |
| D．raises people’s concern about women’s role in the society |
The underlined word “harsh” in the fifth paragraph most probably means “_____”.
| A．careless | B．strict | C．clumsy | D．kind |
According to the writer, _________ is the most successful father.
| A．Zhang Liang | B．Guo Tao |
| C．Lin Zhiying | D．Wang Yuelun |