February has long been a month of romance. With the sweet smell of roses in the air, romantic films hit cinemas and love stories fill newspapers and magazines.
On the 14th day, it is a custom for a boy to take his girlfriend out to dinner, buy her flowers and chocolates, write poems, sing to her or even spell out her name with rose petals! This is what you see on Valentine’s Day, a day named after Valentine who was a priest in the third century Rome. When the emperor (皇帝) decided that single men could become better soldiers than those with wives, he didn’t allow marriage.
But Valentine continued to perform marriage ceremonies for young lovers in secret. When his actions were discovered, the emperor sentenced him to death. While in prison, it is said that Valentine fell in love with the daughter of his prison guard. Before his death, he wrote her a letter, which he signed “From your Valentine”, an expression that is still in use today. Valentine died for what he believed in and so he was made a Saint (圣徒), as well as becoming one of history’s most romantic characters.
Nowadays, Valentine’s Day is also popular among Chinese young people. Some students are planning to make Valentine’s cards for parents, teachers and friends. Others want to hold parties at which they will exchange small gifts and eat heart-shaped cakes. The idea is to have fun and encourage people to share in the spirit of St. Valentine.Why did the emperor in Rome not allow marriage in his country?
| A．Because there were few women in his country at that time. |
| B．Because he thought men without wives could be better soldiers. |
| C．Because there wasn’t enough food for so many people. |
| D．Because he wanted to control the birth rate. |
Valentine was put into prison because ______.
| A．he killed one of the soldiers |
| B．he stole a lot of food |
| C．he didn’t obey the emperor’s order |
| D．he didn’t want to be a soldier |
The last paragraph mainly tells us ______.
| A．students in China send cards to their teachers |
| B．it is a good idea to celebrate Valentine’s Day in China |
| C．it is interesting to celebrate Valentine’s Day in China |
| D．Valentine’s Day is also popular in China now |
People celebrate Valentine’s Day to _________.
| A．get gifts | B．honor a priest |
| C．enjoy romance | D．get married |
The best title for this passage should be ______.
| A．Valentine’s Day | B．A Brave Priest |
| C．Valentine’s Day in China | D．A Romantic Man |
In recent years some extreme weather events have arisen from global warming because of human activities, with studies indicating an increasing threat from extreme weather in the future. Scientists were certain that global warming is being caused mostly by increasing concentrations ofgreenhouse gasesand otherhumanactivities.
Its effects include warming global temperature, rising sea levels and expansion of deserts in the subtropics(亚热带). Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic, with the continuing loss of glaciers, permafrost and sea ice. Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves, droughts, heavy rainfall with floods, heavy snowfall and species extinction due to great change of temperature. Bad effects on humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the loss of populated(住人的) areas because of rising sea levels.
Possible responses to global warming are reduction of emissions(排放), adaptation to its effects, building systems resilient to its effects, and possible future climate engineering. Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC), whose objective is to prevent dangerous climate change. It has adopted a range of policies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to assist in adaptation to global warming. It is agreed that future global warming should be limited to below 2.0 °C (3.6 °F) relative to the pre-industrial level.
On 12 November 2015, NASA scientists reported that human-made carbon dioxide continues to increase above levels that have not been seen in hundreds of thousands of years: currently, about half of the carbon dioxide released from the burning of fossil fuels remains in the atmosphere and is not absorbed by vegetation and the oceans.What does the underlined word “resilient” mean?
| A．be easily damaged | B．be able to recover easily |
| C．can be bent easily | D．be difficult to change |
Which of following is NOT mentioned as an effect of global warming?
| A．rising sea levelsand expansion of deserts |
| B．more frequent extreme weather events |
| C．species extinction |
| D．increasing crop yields |
Which of the following can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?
A. It is likely for us to deal with global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to its effects and climate engineering.
B. There is no solution to too much carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.
C. It is common that human-made carbon dioxide keeps on increasing greatly in the previous several centuries.
D. Future global warming should be limited to below 3.6 °C.
There have always been a lot of commonly believed but false ideas about being fat and doing exercise. Some people believe that they can’t help putting on weight as they get older, while others hold that if they stop exercising, their muscles will turn into fat. Here are some more myths:
I’ll never lose weight --- I come from a fat family
Wrong! While we can’t change the body type we are born with, we can’t blame our genes for making us fat. There’s plenty of evidence that fatness runs in families, and the main reason is that they share the same habits of eating too much and exercise too little.
I am fat because I burn calories slowly
Wrong! Fatness is not caused by a slow metabolism(新陈代谢). If fact, although fat people consume more energy that slim people, they also fail to realize how much they eat! Keeping a diary can help you work out your daily food intake more accurately.
Exercise is boring
Wrong! Anything will become boring if you do it repetitively. The key is to develop a balanced and varied program that’s fun as well as progressive. If you enjoy a Sunday walk, take a different route. If you do Yoga, try a tai chi class. If you like swimming, set a distance or time challenge.
No pain, no gain.
Wrong! Exercise is not meant to hurt. Indeed, pain is your body telling you something’s wrong, and continuing to exercise could lead to serious injury. You may experience mild discomfort as you begin to exercise regularly, but when your body adapts to the positive changes in your lifestyle and the aches should disappear relatively quickly. If you don’t, rest and seek medical advice.What does the author think about being fat?
| A．It is the family genes that make people fat. |
| B．People are fat because they consume too little energy. |
| C．It is the consequence of people’s unbalanced lifestyle. |
| D．A diary of exercise can prevent people from becoming fat. |
According to the author, how can we make exercise more interesting?
| A．By taking varied exercise. |
| B．By choosing simple exercise. |
| C．By doing regular exercise. |
| D．By sticking to outdoor exercise. |
What is the author’s opinion about “No pain, no gain” in exercising?
| A．Exercise should be stopped if continuous pain is felt. |
| B．Keeping fit is essentially a painful experience. |
| C．Pain in exercise is a precondition for reaching your goal. |
| D．Getting used to pain leads to positive changes in your body. |
What is the purpose of the passage?
| A．To argue the importance of keeping fit. |
| B．To prove some medical facts about being fat and doing exercise. |
| C．To confirm what has long been believed about keeping fit. |
| D．To inform readers of some misunderstandings about fatness and exercise. |
No poem should ever be discussed or “analyzed”, until it has been read aloud by someone, teacher or student. Better still, perhaps, is the practice of reading it twice, once at the beginning of the discussion and once at the end, so the sound of the poem is the last thing one hears of it.
All discussions of poetry are, in fact, preparations for reading it aloud, and the reading of the poem is, finally, the most telling “interpretation”(解读) of it, suggesting tone, rhythm, and meaning all at once. Hearing a poet read the work in his or her own voice, on records or on film, is obviously a special reward. But even those aids to teaching can not replace the student and teacher reading it or, best of all, reciting it.
I have come to think, in fact, that time spent reading a poem aloud is much more important than “analyzing” it, if there isn’t time for both. I think one of our goals as teachers of English is to have students love poetry. Poetry is “ a criticism of life”, and “ a heightening(提升) of life”. It is “an approach to the truth of feeling”, and it “can save your life”. It also deserves a place in the teaching of language and literature more central than it presently occupies.
I am not saying that every English teacher must teach poetry. But those who do teach poetry must keep in mind a few things about its essential nature, about its sound as well as its sense, and they must make room in the classroom for hearing poetry as well as thinking about it.To have a better understanding of a poem, one should________.
| A．discuss it with others | B．analyze it by oneself |
| C．copy it down in a notebook | D．practise reading it aloud |
According to the writer, one of the purposes of teaching English is to get students________.
| A．to understand life. | B．to enjoy poetry. |
| C．to become teachers. | D．to become poets |
What does the last sentence in the third paragraph imply?
| A．More importance should be attached to the teaching of poetry. |
| B．Poetry is more important than any other subject. |
| C．One cannot enjoy life fully without an understanding of poetry |
| D．Poetry is the foundation of all language and literature courses |
As Internet users become more dependent on the Internet to store information, are people remembering less? If you know your computer will save information, why store it in your own personal memory, your brain? Experts are wondering if the Internet is changing what we remember and how.
In a recent study, Professor Betsy Sparrow conducted some experiments. She and her research team wanted to know the Internet is changing memory. In the first experiment, they gave people 40 unimportant facts to type into a computer. The first group of people understood that the computer would save the information. The second group understood that the computer would not save it. Later, the second group remembered the information better. People in the first group knew they could find the information again, so they did not try to remember it.
In another experiment, the researchers gave people facts to remember, and told them where to find the information on the computer. The information was in a specific computer folder (文件夹). Surprisingly, people later remember the folder location (位置) better than the facts. When people use the Internet, they do not remember the information. Rather, they remember how to find it. This is called "transactive memory (交互记忆)"
According to Sparrow, we are not becoming people with poor memories as a result of the Internet. Instead, computer users are developing stronger transactive memories; that is, people are learning how to organize huge quantities of information so that they are able to access(获取) it at a later date. This doesn't mean we are becoming either more or less intelligent, but there is no doubt that the way we use memory is changing.The passage begins with two questions to ______.
| A．introduce the main topic |
| B．show the author's altitude |
| C．describe how to use the Interne. |
| D．explain how to store information |
What can we learn about the first experiment?
| A．Sparrow's team typed the information into a computer. |
| B．The two groups remembered the information equally well. |
| C．The first group did not try to remember the formation. |
| D．The second group did not understand the information. |
In transactive memory, people ______.
| A．keep the information in mind |
| B．change the quantity of information |
| C．remember how to find the information |
| D．organize information like a computer |
What is the effect of the Internet according to Sparrow's research?
| A．We are becoming more intelligent. |
| B．We are using memory differently. |
| C．We have poorer memories than before. |
| D．We need a better way to get information. |
Kids Wall Art
Large wall posters for kids. Your kids will love these cool posters by artist Carla Daly. Your kids will enjoy decorating their bedroom walls with these posters and their friends will think they are the coolest!
| Name: ABC Wall Art Size: 44×72cm (17.5″×28″) Time: 9:00 am every day Prices: $ 6.8/piece Colorful ABC art for your kids’ bedroom and playroom. A fun, educational art piece that all kids will enjoy. Kids and babies will love learning their animals and the ABC at the same time! |
| Name: Kids World Map Size: 45×75cm (17.5″×29.5″) Time: 2:00 pm on Wednesday Prices: $ 7.2/piece A colorful, large print by artist Carla Daly. Your kids will love this world map showing the lands, oceans and the fun animals that live in them. An educational map that will keep your kids happy for hours! |
| Name: Skateboard Park Size: 44×60cm (17.5″×23.5″) Time: 9:00 am on weekends Prices: $ 8.8/piece Fun zebra children’s wall art! Children and kids will love these fun animals enjoying this popular kids’ sport. Boys and girls will enjoy decorating their bedroom walls with this colorful bedroom wall art. |
| Name: City Slickers(城市佬) Size: 44×55cm(17.5″×23.5″) Time: 2:00 pm every day except Friday Prices: $ 6.5/piece Cute kids wall art of two cool giraffes taking a drive through the city, unusual, fun style for kids’ walls! Your kids will love this fun giraffe wall art. Boys and girls will have fun decorating their bedroom walls with this colorful bedroom wall art. |
Jane, who would like to buy a poster with the size of 45×75cm, will probably buy ________.
| A．ABC Wall Art | B．Kids World Map |
| C．Skateboard Park | D．City Slickers |
David plans to buy two posters. He should at least take ________ with him.
| A．$ 15.3. | B．$ 14. | C．$ 12. | D．$ 13.3. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Kids can find two cool giraffes on Skateboard Park. |
| B．Kids can just learn some English letters on ABC Wall Art. |
| C．Kids can enjoy fun zebra children’s wall art on City Slickers. |
| D．Kids can get some geography knowledge on Kids World Map. |