March 21, 2014
After visiting the Beijing Normal School, Madame Peng took Sasha and Malia, my mother, and me to the Forbidden City, which is right in the heart of Beijing.
For more than 2,000 years (up until 1912), China was ruled by emperors who descended (传递)from many different dynasties, or families, who passed ruling positions on from generation to generation — and for nearly 500 years, the Forbidden City used as the emperor’s home.
Like the name suggests, the Forbidden City is large enough to be a city of its own — it includes nearly 1,000 buildings and nearly 10,000 rooms.
In 1925, the new Chinese government turned the Forbidden City into a museum so that visitors like us from all over the world can stroll (闲逛) through many of the beautiful rooms and outdoor spaces.
The Forbidden City is too large to go fully around in a single visit, but highlights include the following: The Hall of Union and Peace has almost 14,000 ornamental dragons. The Hall of Supreme Harmony is where the emperor watched birthday celebrations and coronation (加冕) ceremonies from his Dragon Throne. And then there are the Imperial Gardens, where you can walk along the paths and pavilions, admiring the beautiful rock arrangements, flowers and cypress (柏树) trees.
While we loved our visit to the Forbidden City, we only wish we had more time to see everything. But then again, I’m not sure there could ever be enough time to fully enjoy all of the art and history in this wonderful place.
(The First Lady’s Travel Journal: Touring the Forbidden City)The writer visited The Forbidden City with _____________.
A. her daughters B. her husband C. her mother and two daughtersThe Forbidden City is a _____________.
A. city B. palace C. gardenThe Forbidden City was used as _____________ for nearly 500 years until 1912.
A. the emperor’s home
B. the emperor’s short-lived home
C. a place of interest for public What does the word “highlights” mean?
A.景观亮点 B.聚光灯 C. 光亮According to the passage, we can infer推断 that _____________.
A. They had enough time to visit every room
B. The Forbidden City served as a museum until 1925
C. The first lady enjoyed all of the art and history in this wonderful place
Liu Wei is very famous in China because he can play the piano with his toes(脚趾).
One day when Liu Wei was only 10 years old, he played a game with some friends. He lost both his arms because of electricity.
Liu Wei was very sad when both his arms were cut off after the accident. But soon he had to make a choice.
“For people like me, there were only two choices. One was to give up all the dreams, which would cause a quick death. The other was to work hard without arms to live an excellent life.” says Liu Wei.
Liu’s dream was to be a pianist. His excellent life included a show on China’s Got Talent(《中国达人秀》) and a wonderful performance playing the beautiful Marriage D’amour with his two feet on the piano.
Liu Wei learned to play the piano with his feet. And teaching himself to play the piano with his feet was very hard. Many times he wanted to give up, but his parents went on encouraging him and he wanted to make his parents proud.
Maybe you cannot believe that Liu Wei is able to play well only with his toes. The audience were deeply moved and very excited when they watched his performance.
Answer the following questions with No More Than 4 Words.
How does Liu Wei play the piano?
____________________________________________________________________________What caused his loss of both his arms?
____________________________________________________________________________What does Liu Wei want to be?
____________________________________________________________________________Who encouraged Liu Wei to play the piano?
____________________________________________________________________________How did the audience feel when they watched Liu’s performance?
The students and teachers at Fairfield School think it’s necessary to look after the environment! This is what they’ve been doing：
Growing vegetables
Fairfield School students have their own vegetable garden. Both children and teachers plant and water the seeds (种子), then they pick the vegetables. And the vegetables are used in school meals. Now they can enjoy healthy food at lunchtime. “School meals are tastier than ever before!” says one pupil.
Recycling
The students don’t just bring their books to school ----- they bring their rubbish(垃圾) too! There are recycling bins (回收箱) in the playground for cans, plastic bottles, batteries and paper. The teachers give a prize to the student who works hardest to recycle every month.
Planting trees
‘This used to be one of the least beautiful areas of the city with no green areas,’ says the head teacher Lynne Johnson. ‘Now every child has planted their own tree, which he or she looks after during the week. They’ve made the view from the classroom more beautiful!’
Finding cleaner ways to get around
Everyone walks or rides to Fairfield School. “When the roads are busy, it’s faster to ride bikes than to go by car anyway,” says one student. Even the teachers don’t use their cars. “We can’t encourage our students to look after the environment if we don’t do it ourselves!” says one teacher.
| Fairfield School is looking |
|
| Growing vegetables |
Students and teachers plant and water vegetables in the |
| Recycling |
Students also bring |
| The school wasn’t beautiful |
|
| Finding cleaner ways to get around |
Students and teachers don’t |
Do you know the phrase “Weibo Addicts” (微博控)? Do you write a Weibo? If you don’t, you are “out”!
Weibo means microblog. People may spend much time writing a blog, but it takes a little time to write a microblog. Why? Because every message on a microblog is less than 140 words.
Microblog started in the USA. It came to China in 2009 and it grows very fast. In 2011, the number of Chinese micro-bloggers grew to 300 million. People write microblogs for many reasons. For many microblog users, it is a great way of learning the freshest news, talking with friends and sharing different kinds of information, including news, everyday life, pictures, music, videos and so on.
It is easy and fast to send a message on a microblog. However, this can also bring problems and even panic (恐慌). For example, when the big earthquake and tsunami (海啸) hit Japan in March, 2011, messages like “Salt can help people fight radiation (辐射)” were hot on microblogs. Then a crazy buying of salt followed. Later people knew it was just a rumor (谣言).
In a word, microblog plays a new part in the life of Chinese people.What does Weibo Addicts in the first paragraph mean?
| A．People who are crazy about Weibo. |
| B．People who seldom use Weibo. |
| C．People who first made Weibo. |
| D．People who need Weibo least. |
What is NOT an advantage (优势) of Weibo?
| A．It is short but carries many meanings. |
| B．It can help us learn the latest news. |
| C．It can send rumors. |
| D．It is easy to use. |
People usually don’t share their _______ on Weibo?
| A．videos. | B．music. |
| C．pictures. | D．secrets. |
Which of the following is TRUE?
A. Writing a microblog needs much time.
B. Microblog appeared in China only one year ago but it is so popular now.
C. As a popular thing, microblog has its advantages(优势) and disadvantages(劣势).
D. More and more Chinese show great interest in microblog because it started in the USA.What does Para. 2 mainly talk about?
| A．How to use Weibo. | B．Why Weibo is so popular. |
| C．Who is using Weibo. | D．What Weibo is. |
Singing songs is fun, but is it also useful? For learning English pronunciation(发音), Mr. Joe thinks songs are the most useful way to learn. At the same time, you can learn some new words and phrases while singing songs. Mr. Joe has used songs to help himself learn French, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese. You should do the same.
Some words used in songs are not everyday English, so you have to be careful how you use song lyrics（歌词）when you speak. Most words and sentences are very useful. You don't have to sing songs aloud if you are shy, but after learning a song you should be able to follow the words without looking at the lyrics. When you can do that, you have learned something that you will never forget!
Some good songs to listen to are from the Beatles, John Denver and the Carpenters. Their songs are not too fast and the lyrics are close to normal spoken English. Just for fun, you can try Mr. Joe's favorite singer, B.B. King. His songs are not easy at all! If you can understand even 80% of "Why I Sing the Blues", you are a very advanced student.
If you become good at singing English songs, you can try to go to karaoke and sing with your friends. When you are able to sing a song in another language, even if you don't sing so beautifully, you will really impress(给......深刻印象) other people!Which is Mr. Joe’s mother language?
| A．French. | B．English. |
| C．Chinese. | D．Japanese. |
Singing English songs can help us, EXCEPT______.
| A．pronounce correctly | B．remember new words |
| C．learn English | D．sing songs better |
The songs from the Beatles are easy to learn, one of the reasons may be______.
| A．everyone likes the songs |
| B．John Denver's voice is sweet |
| C．the lyrics of the songs are beautiful |
| D．the lyrics are close to normal spoken English |
The underlined word "advanced" in Paragraph 3 can be replaced by______.
| A．careful | B．excellent |
| C．kind-hearted | D．lazy |
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．English Songs. |
| B．The Famous Band-The Beatles. |
| C．English Songs helps English Learning. |
| D．How to Learn English. |
| Place of interest |
 Water Cube (水立方) |
 West Lake |
 Disneyland |
 Dragon Tower |
| Location (位置) |
Beijing |
Hangzhou |
Hong Kong |
Harbin |
| Phone Number |
010--28135589 |
0571--68345579 |
00852--28029822 |
0451--81187899 |
| Price of ticket |
￥60 |
￥50 |
￥300 |
￥150 |
| Feature (特色) |
Special bubbly (气泡状的) design |
The Broken Bridge |
Cartoon (卡通) characters |
Skywalk |
It is said that the love story about Xu Xian and the White Snake happened on_________.
| A．Dragon Tower | B．West Lake |
| C．Water Cube | D．Dragon Tower |
If a person in Hangzhou feels like visiting Water Cube，he should call ____to get information.
| A．0451—82187899 | B．0571—68345576 |
| C．0l0一28135589 | D．00852-28029822 |
Disneyland，which attracts(吸引) a lot of tourists from home and abroad every year，is in _____________ according to the travel information.
| A．Beijing | B．Harbin | C．Hong Kong | D．Hangzhou |
Two travelers plan to have a bird’s—eye view(俯视)of Harbin，and they need to pay ______ from the information above.
| A．￥150 | B．￥300 | C．￥450 | D．￥100 |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the travel information?
| A．Water Cube is special in design. |
| B．The price of a ticket for West Lake is the highest. |
| C．In Disneyland. you can’t see any cartoon characters. |
| D．Dragon Tower is the tallest in China. |