Winter is the time of year when people feel very blessed. This isn't because people feel thankful for the cold weather, nor because the important festivals---Christmas or Spring Festival---offer an excuse to celebrate. In fact, “Bless you!” is a common response if someone sneezes, a symptom(症状）of catching a cold or the flu.
Colds and the flu are the most common illnesses of autumn and winter as the weather gets colder. Viruses cause them. If you get one you will feel annoyed, but it is not usually serious. The flu is spread from person to person when we come into contact with a person with the virus. We get the virus on our hands and then we touch our noses and our mouths. We can pass on the flu before we realize we have it. You can infect(传染) others one day before symptoms develop and for up to five days after becoming sick.
Getting a flu vaccination is the best way to prevent the illness. Even if your body has built up antibodies（抗体）for one kind of flu. The vaccine（疫苗）is only effective for one year and viruses are different from year to year, so it is necessary to get a flu vaccination every year. The best time to get the vaccination is October or November. Besides, there are other ways to reduce your chance of getting a flu. Wash your hands. Get enough rest. Eat garlic regularly. Don't let stress control you. Exercise regularly.We say “Bless you!” when __________.
| A．we feel annoyed at someone. |
| B．someone sneezes. |
| C．someone catches a cold or the flu. |
| D．we celebrate some important festivals. |
How many ways are mentioned in the passage to stop you from catching the flu?
| A．6 | B．5 | C．7 | D．3 |
The passage is intended to tell us ___________.
| A．how to keep healthy . | B．the causes of flu . |
| C．the influence of flu . | D．what to do about flu. |
We can infer the passage that____________.
| A．People catch a cold or the flu only in autumn or winter. |
| B．people getting a flu vaccination won’t catch the illness for life. |
| C．flu can cause symptoms such as sore throat and a runny nose. |
| D．people with the virus of flu but having no symptoms can still infect others. |
My legs don’t do much because I have a serious disease. They just sit there and look pretty. When people look at me, they only see the chair — my wheelchair. I’ve been in one since I was 3 years old. And it doesn’t matter if I graduate at the top of my class and go to law school. To some, I’ll always be the girl in the chair.
But I don’t think of myself as the kid who can’t walk. Most of my friends don’t even notice the chair anymore. I’m just the girl they’ve been friends with. My friends are good at lifting me in and out of my small car when we go to the movies. We even took the car to the dance. One of the boys helped me out of the car and all the girls helped me to fix my dress. Even in the crowded school elevator, there’s always someone around to carry me.
There are a lot of things I can’t do for myself, such as lifting my arms, dressing myself, and feeding myself. Even so, I do very well at school and I always tell myself that I’m just like any other kid in my school.
The truth is that my parents raised me to be proud of my disability(残疾). There are plenty of things I wish I could do differently. I wanted to be a doctor. But that’s not going to work out. So I’ll be a lawyer(律师) instead. I also wanted to dance and play soccer. My parents taught me that I’m like this for a reason — to educate people and show them that this disease affects(侵袭) my bones — not my brain. My friends Erica once said to me, “Kennedy, you’re not disabled. You just can’t walk.”What does the underlined word “They” in the first paragraph refer to?
| A．The author’s legs | B．The author’s chairs |
| C．The author’s friends | D．The author’s diseases |
We can learn from the second paragraph that the author .
| A．is the dancing queen of her school |
| B．is afraid of taking the school elevator |
| C．often gets lots of help from her friends |
| D．can’t be understood by her schoolmates |
Kennedy’s story mainly tells us that we should .
| A．work hard | B．smile at life |
| C．have dreams | D．thank our parents |
Michael J. “Crocodile Dundee” (also called Mick), played by Paul Hogan, is the main character in the fictional Crocodile Dundee film series consisting of Crocodile Dundee, Crocodile Dundee II, and Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. The character is a crocodile hunter, hence the nickname.
In the first film, Crocodile Dundee, Mick is visited by a New York reporter, Sue Charlton, who travels to Australia to investigate a report she heard of a crocodile hunter, who had his leg bitten off by a crocodile in the outback. The hunter supposedly walked more than a hundred miles back to civilization and miraculously survived his injuries. However, by the time she meets him, the story turns out to be a somewhat exaggerated legend where the “bitten-off leg” turns out to be just being some bad scarring on his leg; a “love bite” as Mick calls it. Still interested by the idea of “Crocodile Dundee”, Sue continues with the story. They travel together out to where the incident occurred, and follow his route through the bush to the nearest hospital. Despite his old-fashioned views, the pair eventually become close, especially after Mick saves Sue from a crocodile attack.
Feeling there is still more to the story, Sue invites Mick back to New York with her, as his first trip to a city (or “first trip anywhere,” as Dundee says). The rest of the film depicts Dundee as a “fish out of water,” showing how, despite his expert knowledge of living outdoors, he knows little of city life. Mick meets Sue’s boyfriend, Richard, but they do not get along. By the end of the film, Mick is on his way home, lovesick, when Sue realizes she loves Mick, too, and not Richard. She runs to the subway station to stop Mick from leaving and, by passing on messages through the packed-to-the-gills crowd, she tells him she won’t marry Richard, and she loves him instead. With the help of the other people in the subway, Mick and Sue have a loving reunion as the film ends.Which of the following statements is true about Mick?
| A．He is a crocodile hunter living in Los Angeles. |
| B．He is based on a real person in Australia. |
| C．He got his nickname because of his job. |
| D．He wrote a film series about himself. |
When in New York, Mick ______.
| A．makes friends with Richard |
| B．makes full use of his bush skills |
| C．feels excited about living in a big city |
| D．doesn’t know how to fit into city life |
The film Crocodile Dundee can be best described as ______.
| A．a romantic story | B．an action movie |
| C．a science fiction | D．a frightening story |
Can dogs and cats get along well in the same home? People who are thinking about getting a dog as a friend for their cat are worried that they will fight. A recent research has found that if the cat is taken back home before the dog, and if they are introduced when still young (less than 6 months for cats, a year for dogs), it is highly probable that the two pets will get along swimmingly. In two-thirds of the homes cats and dogs have a good relationship.
However, it wasn’t all sweetness and light. There was a reported coldness between the cat and dog in 25% of the homes, while aggression(侵略，好斗) and fighting were found in 10% of the homes. One reason for this is probably that some of their body languages are just different. For example, when a cat turns its head away it means aggression, while a dog doing the same means submission(顺从).
In homes with cats and dogs living peacefully, researchers found a surprising behavior. They are learning how to talk each other’s language. It is a surprise that cats can learn how to talk “Dog”, and dogs can learn how to talk “Cat”.
What’s interesting is that both cats and dogs have appeared to become smarter. They can learn to read each other’s body languages, suggesting that the two may have more in common than was expected. Once familiar with each other’s body language, cats and dogs can play together, and enjoy sleeping together on the sofa.
The importance of this research on cats and dogs may go beyond pets — to people who don’t get along well, including neighbors, colleagues at work, and even countries. If cats and dogs can learn to get along, surely people have a good chance.The underlined word swimmingly in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ________.
| A．early | B．mostly | C．quickly | D．smoothly |
What is found surprising about cats and dogs?
| A．They eat and sleep together. |
| B．They watch each other’s behaviors. |
| C．They learn to speak each other’s language. |
| D．They know something from each other’s voices. |
It is suggested in Paragraph 4 that cats and dogs ________.
| A．have common interests |
| B．are less different than was thought |
| C．have a common body language |
| D．are not so smart as was expected |
What can we human beings learn from cats and dogs?
| A．We should learn to get along well with others |
| B．We should know more about animals. |
| C．We should live in peace with animals. |
| D．We should learn more body languages. |
Why do you think people who live in some hot countries eat very spicy(辛辣的)food? Is it because the spices make the food taste better? Is it just because their parents and grandparents and great-grandparents liked hot food，or is there some connection between spices and healthy food?
Researchers from Cornell University think that it is because spice plants have some important chemicals. These chemicals can kill bacteria(细菌)which spoil food．“Most common spices can kill 75 to 100 percent of the bacteria in food，”explains one of the scientists．The bacteria grow more easily and spoil food more quickly at higher temperatures．For this reason，it is more difficult to keep food from spoiling in hot climates.
Do you like your food spicy? Your answer probably tells something about the country you come from．If you like spicy food，it is possible that hundreds of years ago，when there were no fridges，people in your country started using spices to keep the food from spoiling．The traditional spicy dishes helped those people to live longer，healthier lives．Today，in a time of fridges，the spices just make the food taste good．The chemicals in spices keep food from spoiling by_________．
| A．making food taste better |
| B．making food hotter |
| C．preventing bacteria getting into food |
| D．killing bacteria in food |
Food goes bad more quickly in hot climates because_______．
| A．cold temperature makes bacteria |
| B．bacteria get used to hot food |
| C．high temperature helps bacteria grow faster |
| D．bacteria spoil food only at high temperature |
According to the passage，spices are useful in the following things except_____．
| A．helping you to live longer |
| B．helping to keep you healthier |
| C．making your food taste better |
| D．replacing fridges |
When a big exam is coming up, you probably feel anxious about any wasted time and want to begin school as soon as you probably can.
But tens of thousands of British high school students will soon be getting up later. They’re taking part in a new experiment by Oxford University to see if later classes can improve their exam results.
Grades 10 students in the UK have to take the nationwide General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exams. They have to pass these exams in order to study more advanced courses, and later apply for universities.
The Oxford University project means that GCSE students from more than 100 schools across England will start school at 10 am, more than one hour later than the current start time (8:50 am).
The project is based on scientific evidence that teenagers are “out of sync(同步)” with traditional school hours, the Telegraph reported. And what they need is more sleep in the morning.
“We know that something funny happens when you’re a teenager, in that you seem to be out of sync with the world,” said professor Colin Epsie, who is leading the study. “Your parents think it’s because you are lazy and opinionated（固执己见的）and everything will be OK if you could get to sleep earlier. But science is telling us that teenagers need to sleep more in the mornings.”
Everyone follows a natural cycle of sleep and wakefulne ss. Biology has decided that teenagers go to sleep around midnight and don’t feel fully awake until 9-10 am, according to scientists. That’s two hours later than adults. And their body clocks stay like this until the age of around 21 for males, and 19 for females.
“Society provides school for learning, but the brain provides sleep. So we are exploring the possibility that if you delay the schools start time until 10 am, that will improve learning performance,” said Epsie.
The results could be positive, based on previous studies.
An early study at the UK’s Monkseaton High School in 2009 found that starting an hour later improved grades in core subjects by 19 percent.
The Oxford project is expecting to publish the results in 2018. It’s time to wait and see whether scientists will give us an excuse to get up late.According to the article, students who take part in the Oxford University project_______.
| A．will start school one hour earlier |
| B．will no longer have to take GCSE exams |
| C．will perform better academically than those who don’t participate |
| D．will be guaranteed more sleeping time in the morning |
The underlined phrase “out of sync”in Paragraph 5 probably means _____________ .
| A．breaking the habit of doing something |
| B．getting used to doing something |
| C．having no idea of something |
| D．having trouble keeping up with something |
We can infer from the article that _______________ .
| A．the Oxford University project is targeted at all British high schools |
| B．getting up late is a sign of laziness in the eyes of most British parents |
| C．children and adults have different natural cycles of sleep and wakefulness |
| D．there is still no scientific evidence that supports a late school start time |
What is the author’s attitude toward the Oxford University project ?
A Critical B. Optimistic C. Doubtful D. UninterestedWhat’s the best title of the article ?
| A．Wake up late to excel |
| B．It’s never too late to learn |
| C．The later you get up, the better you’ll learn |
| D．An excuse to get up late |