Samuel de Champlain was a French explorer, navigator (航海家), and mapmaker. He explored much of eastern Canada and became known as the “Father of New France”.
Born into a family of sailors, Champlain, while still a young man, began exploring North America. In 1603, he sailed up the Saguenay River and the St. Lawrence River. From 1604 to 1607 Champlain joined in the exploration and settlement of the first permanent (永久的) European settlement north of Florida. Then, in 1608, he established the French settlement that is now Quebec City. He also made the first accurate (精确的) map of the Canadian coast.
Champlain spent most of the rest of his life going between France and Canada. His goals were to map North America and find a quicker way to get to the Pacific Ocean.
In 1629 Quebec was controlled by the English and Champlain was taken to England as a prisoner. When Canada was returned to France in 1633 Champlain returned to Canada as governor of Quebec and remained in Quebec until his death on Christmas Day in 1635.
Champlain was the first European to explore and describe the Great Lakes, and published maps of his journeys and reports of what he learned from the natives and the French living among the natives. Champlain was memorialized as the “Father of New France”, and many places and streets in North America use his name. The most famous of these is Lake Champlain, which lies between northern New York and Vermont.
Which is the correct order of the events about Champlain?
a. established the settlement in Canada
b. travelled up the St. Lawrence River
c. returned to Canada as governor of Quebec
d. was taken to England
| A．b-a-c-d | B．b-a-d-c |
| C．a-d-b-c | D．a-b-d-c |
We can learn from the text that Champlain _____.
| A．was important to Canadian history |
| B．was famous for the lake named for him |
| C．was the first person to explore North America |
| D．was the first family member to work on a ship |
The underlined word “memorialized” in the last paragraph probably means “_____”.
| A．described | B．chosen |
| C．remembered | D．trusted |
What's the best title for the text?
| A．Exploration of North America |
| B．Origin of Lake Champlain |
| C．Foundation of Quebec |
| D．Father of New France |
A new study from Harvard University revealed that the message parents mean to send to children about the value of sympathy(同情心） is being mistaken by the message they actually send. In fact they value achievement and happiness above all else.
The Making Caring Common Project at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education surveyed 10,000 middle and high school students about which is more important to them—achievement, happiness, or caring about others. Almost 80 percent of students placed achievement or happiness over caring about others. Only 20 percent of students considered caring about others as their top aim.
In the study “The Children We Mean to Raise: The Real Message Adults Are Sending about Values”, the authors refer to a reality gap, an incongruity (不一致) between what adults tell children they should value and the message we grown-ups actually send through our behavior.
Simply talking about sympathy is not enough. While 96 percent of parents say they want to raise caring children, and cite the development of moral character as “very important, if not essential”, 80 percent of the youths surveyed reported that their parents “are more concerned about achievement and happiness than caring about others”. Approximately the same percentage of the students reported that their teachers put their achievement over caring.
As the report shows, simply talking about sympathy is not enough. Children are sensitive creatures, fully capable of telling the true meanings in the blank spaces between well-organised words. If parents really want to let their kids know that they value care and sympathy, the authors suggest, they must make a real effort to help their children learn to care about other people—even when it’s hard, even when it does not make them happy, and yes, even when it is at odds with their personal success.The first paragraph suggests that parents _____.
| A．value achievement less |
| B．fail to make students realize the importance of sympathy |
| C．don’t intend to value success |
| D．regard achievement and happiness as the same |
What can be concluded from the study?
| A．20% of the students are not ambitious. |
| B．Kids care more about achievement. |
| C．About 80% of the students are not caring. |
| D．A majority of the kids are kind students. |
What may be the cause for the reality gap?
| A．Children’s failure to understand parents’ well-organised words. |
| B．The generation gap between parents and children. |
| C．Children’s desire for getting individual achievement. |
| D．Parents’ lack of a real effort to guide children. |
Yesterday my old neighbor knocked on my door angrily. Obviously, my cat, Rocco, had left a turd (粪便) in his perfect flower beds.
Fortunately, I wasn’t home when this happened, so he angrily complained to my friend and neighbor Kate about this. She was kind enough to listen to him and to go down into the garden with him to have a look. She even took a picture.
When I got home later, Kate had left a message on my answering machine about the incident. Hearing it was about my cat again, my stomach turned. Several weeks before, he’d gotten so upset that he threatened to put rat traps on the ground, hoping that would frighten me into keeping my cat indoors. So, I was a little apprehensive this time.
But I couldn’t help but laugh when Kate told me the whole story. I understood what gardening meant to him. Since my old neighbor retired ten years ago, he had spent all of his time on his garden. So when I saw him in the garden later on, I went to talk to him. To my surprise, it turned out quite nice. I was really surprised to find that I had the grace (雅量) not to respond to his bad words. Instead, I engaged (使忙于) him in a conversation on the beautiful flowers he’d planted, the color combinations and the care he took to create such a sense of order. I tried to convey my understanding and appreciation without complimenting or talking down to him. I was really amazed by how that turned out. We hadn’t had a conversation like that for over a year!The story happened .
| A．between family members | B．between strangers |
| C．between friends | D．between neighbors |
What does the underlined word “apprehensive” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?
| A．Anxious. | B．Satisfied. | C．Angry. | D．Excited. |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．The author’s friend dealt with the incident patiently after it happened. |
| B．The author’s old neighbor had a bad relationship with all his neighbors. |
| C．It was the first time that the author’s cat had made the neighbor angry. |
| D．The neighbor didn’t say bad words about the cat’s action. |
We can infer from the text that after the talk with his old neighbor, the author would .
| A．throw his cat away | B．send his cat to others |
| C．feel relaxed and happy | D．become more nervous |
Lying on his sickbed in hospital, all 86-year-old Lin Ruiming can do is stare out at a tiny part of sky through the small window. The old man used to ride his motorbike through the busy streets of downtown Beijing. All the while he could only dream of touring the world.
He has been suffering from terminal lymphoma (晚期淋巴瘤) since February. As a last gift, his granddaughter,Lin Yifan,asked China’s Internet population to give her grandfather a shot at globetrotting (环球游). Last week, Lin Ruiming’s image travelled the world, from Sydney Harbor, Australia, to the River Thames in London, UK, and even to a volcano in Auckland, New Zealand.
Lin Yifan, 29, had promised to paint a portrait (画像) of her grandfather, but had almost forgotten her word until the old man got ill. “I had put off the painting for many years because I believed I would have plenty of time to do it,” she said. She spent one evening last week working on a portrait, based on a photo taken on her grandfather’s birthday last year. She posted the portrait on Sina Weibo, and called for Web users to take photos with the portrait in different locations and send them to her on May 11.Over the following five days she received about 20,000 photos, most of which were sent by people she had never met.
She says that her grandfather, while too weak to view all the photos, has said that he is happy. “Thanks to all these helpers, I have become a celebrity (名人) around the world,” the old man joked.The underlined “image” that “travelled the world” actually refers to _______.
| A．a photo the girl had taken of the old man | B．the old man himself |
| C．a painted picture mailed from the post office | D．a portrait of the old man |
Lin Yifan put off painting the portrait mainly because _______.
| A．her grandfather was seriously ill |
| B．she believed she could do it anytime |
| C．she was too busy with her work |
| D．her grandfather wanted to travel himself |
Which is the kind of photo Lin Yifan asked Web users to take and send to her?
Now the old man _______.
| A．is unable to view any pictures |
| B．has friends all over the world |
| C．is pleased with the girl’s effort |
| D．has viewed all the pictures |
News 1
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday delivered a speech at a gathering marking the 15th anniversary of Macao’s return to China. He stressed the importance to strengthen the future-oriented education and upbringing of the young people in Macao, which was striving to address the shortage of human resources.
“We need to strengthen the education and upbringing of young people to ensure that fine tradition of loving the motherland and loving Macao will be carried forward from one generation to another and that the cause of ‘one country, two systems’ will be continuously advanced,” he said.
News 2
China has already built the largest high-speed rail network in the world, and leads especially in making high-speed trains, most of the rail makers are focusing more on enhancing innovation with a view to develop “China-designed” high-speed trains and to transfer technology to overseas countries.
China’s railway investment during the first 10 months of this year rose 37 percent from a year ago to 590 billion yuan, according to the country’s top economic planner.
News 3
Halloween is becoming the third-biggest imported festival after Christmas and Valentine’s Day in China.
As the festival approaches, lots of malls and theme parks have taken the card of “ghost”. All kinds of scary designs and various pumpkin shapes have pushed the festival atmosphere to its prime.
Many themes parks have planned “Halloween night”. In recent years, these kinds of activities have attracted more and more young people.
News 4
Li Yifeng is probably the most sought-after celebrity right now. Since the actor shot to fame with TV series Legend of the Ancient Sword （《古剑奇谭》）, he has been offered the opportunity to participate in a variety of movies and programs. And as the New Year is approaching, Hunan TV, Dragon TV, Zhejiang TV and Jiangsu TV are all fighting to get Li at their New Year gala. However, Li’s representative revealed that Li is sure to appear in Hunan TV’s gala. No plan has been made for Li to take the stage on Dragon TV.In President Xi’s speech, he mainly talked about ________.
| A．the shortage of human resources |
| B．the cause of “one country, two systems” |
| C．the tradition of loving the motherland |
| D．the education of the young people in Macao |
News 2 is likely to be about ________.
| A．politics | B．economy | C．culture | D．entertainment |
Which is the best title for News 3?
| A．The Activities of Halloween |
| B．The Designs of Halloween |
| C．Halloween Night in Theme Parks |
| D．Halloween Gains Popularity in China |
What can we learn from News 4?
| A．Li Yifeng is famous for acting in a TV series. |
| B．Li Yifeng has played leading roles in many films. |
| C．Dragon TV got the chance to interview Li Yifeng. |
| D．Li Yifeng is likely to appear in Zhejiang TV’s gala. |
Does school start too early? Judging from the teenagers who yawn in class, it does. And those students aren’t just lazy. Scientific studies have shown that school does start too early for young students.
According to a series of studies done across the U.S., the later classes begin, the more academic performance improves. Boys and girls naturally stay up later and sleep in later. The trend begins around age 13 or 14 and peaks between 17 and 19.The teens also need more sleep in general, so forcing them to be up early for school cuts into their sleep time as well as their sleep rhythm, making them less ready to learn during those first-period classes.
Practice is proving the science. Hundreds of school districts in the U.S. have experimented with later start times and the academic performance of students has improved as a result. A study of 9,000 high school students in three states showed that grades in science, math, English and social studies all rose when school began at 8:35 or later. What’s more, attendance（出勤）goes up and student depression goes down.
The later school starts, the better the result, too. According to a study, delaying the opening bell from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. paid off more than delaying only until 8:00 a.m. Students who get at least eight hours of sleep, and preferably nine, perform better than those who do not, so a greater delay raises the chances of achieving those numbers.
So, it turns out morning class is just too early for students to learn chemistry equations（方程式）or study an ancient poem. If you cannot change the school schedule, adjusting your own timetable to ensure eight hours’ sleep can also help you perform better at school.If the first period class begins too early, which problems might appear among students?
a. Being in low spirits.
b. Feeling sleepy.
c. Missing lessons frequently.
d. Performing poorly in English.
e. Becoming lazy.
| A．a, b, c | B．b, c, d | C．c, d, e | D．a, b, d |
The writer proves “School starts too early” by ______.
| A．doing survey |
| B．doing experiments |
| C．comparing statistics |
| D．observing students’ behaviour |
According to the article, students can obtain relatively enough sleep by ______.
| A．changing the sleep rhythm |
| B．changing the opening bell |
| C．adjusting their own schedule |
| D．sleeping as late as possible |
It is implied in the passage that in the morning ______.
| A．there should be no classes |
| B．students’ sleep should be guaranteed |
| C．there should be Chinese lessons |
| D．there should be no science lessons |