Most Americans have a city they like best. Over the years, American songwriters have described these feelings in music. More songs have been written about America's biggest city, New York, than about any other city. Many others dream about leaving their small towns to go there. They want to become rich and famous. Frank Sinatra sings about this dream in the most popular song written about New York.
Almost three-million people live in the middle western city of Chicago, Illinois. It is now America's third largest city. It used to be the second largest city. So, of course, it needed its own song. Judy Garland sings the song, "Chicago, Chicago. "
One of America's most exciting cities is Las Vegas, Nevada. In nineteen-sixty-four, Elvis Presley starred in a movie called "Viva Las Vegas." Here is the song from that movie. It is sung by the group Z-Z Top.
As we all know, one of the most beautiful cities in America is San Francisco, California. The most popular song about the city is called "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." Tony Bennett recorded it in nineteen-sixty-two. It sold more than three-million records.
Many people love Los Angeles, California. It is now America's second largest city. Los Angeles is popular because the weather is warm and the sun shines almost all the time. Randy Newman sings about his feelings for the city in the song, "I Love L.A." Not everyone, however, loves Los Angeles. Some people do not like all the big roads around the city. They like living in a smaller place. A place like San Jose, California. Dionne Warwick sings about going back to this city. The song is, "Do You Know The Way To San Jose."
Songs about American Cities
| States |
|
Features |
Songs |
Songwriters/ Band |
| |
New York |
America's biggest city |
A song about New York |
|
| Illinois |
Chicago, |
|
"Chicago, Chicago" |
Judy Garland |
| |
|
America's second largest city |
Randy Newman |
|
| San Francisco |
|
"I Left My Heart in San Francisco." |
|
|
| |
small |
"Do You Know The Way To San Jose |
Dionne Warwick |
|
| Nevada |
Las Vegas |
exciting |
A song from "Viva Las Vegas." |
|
阅读填空
Alice always wanted to be a singer. Music was the important thing in her life but, to tell you the
(true), she took lesson for years, practised every day,
in spite of all this, her voice didn't improve. Honestly, it didn’t get better, it just got
(loud).
Her teacher finally gave and stopped the lessons, but Alice refused to quit, and one day she decided to give a concert and invited her former teacher to attend.
The teacher was very worried about to say after the performance. She knew it
be terrible and it was. She didn't want to tell a lie, but she didn’t want to hurt Alice’s feelings
. Finally, she got an idea and went backstage to greet her former pupil.
“Well”, said Alice, “what did you think of performance?”
“My dear,” said the teacher, “you’ll be better than you were tonight.”
Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.
As infants, we can recognize our mothers within hours of birth. In fact, we can recognize the1 of our mother's face well before we can recognize her body shape. It's2how the brain can carry out such a function at such a young age, especially since we don't learn to walk and talk until we are over a year old. By the time we are adults, we have the ability to distinguish around 100,000 faces. How can we remember so many faces when many of us find it difficult to3 such a simple thing as a phone number? The exact process is not yet fully understood, but research around the world has begun to define the specific areas of the brain and processes4for facial recognition.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology believe that they have succeeded in5 a specific area of the brain called the fusiform face area (FFA), which is used only for facial recognition. This means that recognition of familiar objects such as our clothes or cars, is from6in the brain. Researchers also have found that the brain needs to see the whole face for recognition to take place. It had been7 thought that we only needed to see certain facial features. Meanwhile, research at University College London has found that facial recognition is not a single process, but8 involves three steps. The first step appears to be an analysis of the physical features of a person's face, which is similar to how we scan the bar codes of our groceries. In the next step, the brain decides whether the face we are looking at is already known or unknown to us. And finally, the brain furnishes the information we have collected about the person whose face we are looking at. This complex9is done in a split second so that we can behave quickly when reacting to certain situations.
While there is no widely accepted definition of MOOCs, their key features are open access：they are currently free to participants, no entry qualifications are required, they support an unlimited number of participants and as yet, very few include any form of accreditation (认证).
Currently offered by some famous universities, MOOCs are attractive to people who do not have the financial resources to meet the growing costs of university education, or who do not have formal qualifications. They also allow participants to study at their own pace.
The potential for MOOCs to deliver education is obviously vast-they could be considered as a huge step forwards in widening participation. They also have the potential to provide a unique window on universities that offer popular and valuable courses, they may attract some participants to register for formal fee-paying programmes at the same or other universities and are likely to promote new ways of on-line education.
However, it is still very early days for MOOCs. The quality of the education provision is highly variable, with many courses offering only recordings of lectures, and delivery is particularly difficult in some special fields that require practical classes, research projects or extensive library access. Besides, wider engagement with participants requires very considerable resource. Even limited feedback or examination becomes a major task if there are several thousand students in the class.
Considering the challenges, some people argue MOOCs will soon evaporate (蒸发). But they certainly provide good opportunity for widening higher education, are a means of raising awareness of universities to audiences of tens or hundreds of thousands, and are well worthy of serious consideration. (271 words)
Section C (12 marks)
Directions: Complete the following passage by filling in each blank with one word that best fits the context.
When kids in parts of the world want to play, they often make soccer balls out of trash tied together with string. “ the areas used for playing fields are often rough and rocky, millions of real balls go flat (变瘪)
24 hours,” says Tim Jahnigen, a California businessman. Determined to solve this problem,
created an indestructible ball called the One World Futbol.
The ball is made of special material, ethylene-vinyl acetate foam. It’s lightweight, it’s flexible, and—
important—it holds its shape.
The One World Futbol needs no pump won’t wear out, even on rough surfaces. When tested,
withstood (经受住) being crushed by a car, and even being chewed on by a lion.
Although it costs more to produce a typical soccer ball, Jahnigen estimates the One World Futbol can last 30 years. So far, it’s been given to kids in 143 countries. (154 words)
阅读下面短文并回答问题，然后将答案写到答题卡相应的位置上（请注意问题后的词数要求）。
[1] Fishing is probably the world's most popular sport. People spend many dollars each year on items like boats and four-wheel-drive vehicles. In addition, they spend money on fishing equipment, bait, fuel and boat repairs. And you can see that fishing can be an expensive pastime. Fishing lovers believe that their hobby is worth it. Others say that fishing is spoiling the environment and that it is a cruel hobby.
[2] Supporters of fishing say that it is a nice hobby. Firstly, of the millions of people who fish for fun, most only catch enough fish to feed their families. They catch fish that are found in large numbers, so there is little danger to the species (种类).
[3] Secondly, recreational fishermen contribute to the economy. They spend money on equipment and other items, and they also spend it indirectly by paying taxes on their equipment and fuel. Those who travel to fishing spots pay for accommodation (食宿) and airfares. This money keeps people in work and provides new jobs each year.
[4] Thirdly, fishing is relaxing and fun so it lessens stress. Instead of turning to drugs or alcohol, it is far better to go fishing. People who are relaxed are generally healthier and much nicer to be near ----- except for the smell of the bait!
[5] Those who _________________ say that there are too many fish thoughtlessly taken from rivers, lakes, streams and oceans. This could lead to the dying out of some species. Modern cars and boats mean that people can fish in remote areas of the world, so no place is safe from greedy fishermen who take both males and females, leaving few fish to produce young.
[6] Those against fishing also say that it is a blood sport, which means that an animal must die so that a human can have fun. Many of the fish caught for sport are not suitable for eating, so they are thrown away. Once hooked, fish have no chance of escape.
| 1． |
What is the main idea of the passage? (no more than 4 words) |
| 2． |
According to Paragraph 2, why does fishing cause little danger to the species? (no more than 8 words) |
| 3． |
List 4 items on which people spend their money for fishing. (no more than 7 words) |
| 4． |
Fill in the blank in Paragraph 5 with proper words. Those whosay that there are too many fish thoughtlessly taken from rivers, lakes, streams and oceans. |
| 5． |
What does the word "which" (Line 1, Paragraph6) probably refer to? (no more than 3 words) |
Quiet Virtue: The Conscientious
The everyday signs of conscientiousness (认真尽责)—being punctual, careful in doing work, self-disciplined, and scrupulous (一丝不苟的) in attending to responsibilities—are typical characteristics of the model organizational citizen, the people who keep things running as they should. They follow the rules, help out, and are concerned about the people they work with. It’s the conscientious worker who helps newcomers or updates people who return after an absence, who gets to work on time and never abuses sick leaves, who always gets things done on deadline.
Conscientiousness is a key to success in any field. In studies of job performance, outstanding effectiveness for almost all jobs, from semi-skilled labor to sales and management, depends on conscientiousness. It is particularly important for outstanding performance in jobs at the lower levels of an organization: the secretary whose message taking is perfect, the delivery truck driver who is always on time.
Among sales representatives for a large American car manufacturer, those who were most conscientious had the largest volume of sales. Conscientiousness also offers a buffer (缓冲) against the threat of job loss in today’s constantly changing market, because employees with this quality are among the most valued. For the sales representatives, their level of conscientiousness mattered almost as much as their sales in determining who stayed on.
There is an air around highly conscientious people that makes them seem even better than they actually are. Their reputation for dependability influences managers’ evaluations of their work, giving them higher evaluations than objective measures of their performance would predict.
But conscientiousness in the absence of social skills can lead to problems. Since conscientious people demand so much of themselves, they can hold other people to their own standards, and so be overly judgmental when others don’t show the same high levels of model behavior. Factory workers in Great Britain and the United States who were extremely conscientious, for example, tended to criticize co-workers even about failures that seemed unimportant to those they criticized, which damaged their relationships.
When conscientiousness takes the form of living up to expectations, it can discourage creativity. In creative professions like art or advertising, openness to wild ideas and spontaneity (自发性) are scarce and in demand. Success in such occupations calls for a balance, however; without enough conscientiousness to follow through, people become mere dreamers, with nothing to show for their imaginativeness.
阅读下面短文并用英语回答问题，交答案与在答题卡相应的位置上（请注意76、77、79和80四个小题后面的词数要求）。
[1] Jean Paul Getty was born in 1892 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He became a millionaire when he was only 24. His father was wealthy, but he did not help his son. Getty made his millions alone. He made his money from oil. He owned Getty Oil and over 100 other companies. The Fortune magazine once called Getty “the richest man in the world.”
[2]But money _________. He married five times and divorced five times. He had five children but spent little time with them. None of Getty’s children had very happy lives.
[3]Getty loved to make money and loved to save it. In spite of his great wealth, Getty was miser. Every evening, he wrote down every cent he spent that day. He even put pay telephone in the guest’s bedrooms in his house so he could save money on phone bills.
[4] In 1973, kidnappers took his 16-year-old grandson, and demanded a large amount of money for his safe return. Getty’s son asked his father for money to save his child. But Getty refused. The kidnappers were merciless and Getty’s son made repeated requests for help from his father. Finally, Getty agreed to lend the money, but at 4 percent interest.
[5] Getty started a museum at his home Malibu, California. He bought many important and beautiful pieces of art for the museum. When Getty died in 1976, the value of the collection in the museum was $1 billion. He left all his money to the museum. After his death, the museum grew in size. Today it is one of the most important museums in the United States. Getty made a large fortune in his life, but he gave his money to the art world because he wanted people to learn about and love art. What is the main idea of Paragraph 1? (no more than 8 words)
________________________________________________________________________________________Fill in the blank in Paragraph 2 with proper words. (no more than 7 words)
________________________________________________________________________________________Explain the underlined sentence in Paragraph3.
________________________________________________________________________________________What did the kidnappers do to Getty’s family (no more than 10 words)
________________________________________________________________________________________What does the author want to tell us about Getty in the last paragraph? (no more than 10 words)
________________________________________________________________________________________
阅读下面短文，根据所读内容在表格中的空白处填入恰当的单词。注意：每个空格只填一个单词。
Aristotle once wrote that “happiness is a state of activity”. In other words, whether you, re
Seeking life-long satisfaction or a few moments of good cheer, you’ve got to move forward. We’ve interviewed the experts and found five steps to take toward a sunny mood（心情）：
Over a 30-year period, University of Illinois researchers asked nearly 120, 000 people how income, education, political participation volunteer activities and close relationships affected their happiness. Reported Newsweek, s Sharon Begley on the findings, “The highest levels of happiness are found with the most stable and satisfying relationships. ”
Singing aloud, talking to a stranger, raising your hand: all may increase a feeling of happiness, according to a study from Wake Forest University. Participants（参与者）followed the development of their moods for two weeks and reported feeling happier when they were more outgoing and less happy when reserved or withdrawn.
The editors of forbes. Com gave $5 or $20 to 46 strangers by chance. Half the group was told to spend the money on themselves, while the other half was told to spend it on others. Those who’d shared the wealth felt much happier at the end of the day than those who’d spent it on themselves. There was no difference in happiness between those who spent $5 or $20, suggesting that it, s not how much money you spend, but how you spend it, that inspires the spirit.
Studies from the Positive Psychology Center showed that discouraged people who wrote down three good things that happened to them each day for six months reported an improved attitude.
Drinking water really can help keep you cheerful. A small 2012 study from the University of Connecticut suggested that even slight dehydration（脱水） affected the moods of its female participants.
| Title |
|
| Introduction |
You will move |
| The findings of |
Some |
| ·Value your relationships |
·The |
| · |
·You can gain happiness by singing aloud or talking to others |
| ·Spend money on others |
·Your spirit will be inspired by |
| · |
·Your attitude would be improved when you fix your attention on good things. |
| ·Drink water |
·If a woman takes in enough water,her |
| Conclusion |
Happiness can be found if all |
Some people believe that greed and selfishness has become the basis of modern society, and we should return to the old traditions of family and community, then we will have a better life. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the above opinion?
In this fast-paced world, many values are undergoing major changes. While people traditionally prioritize caring, sharing and generosity in life and work, modern people seem to be more self-absorbed and self-concerned.
Modern people act selfishly to survive the harsh competition of life. They say that it is a jungle out there. To survive, you have to fight with whatever means that come handy. Obviously greed and selfishness go perfectly well with such ideas. In a company, employees do everything they can to get better pay and higher position, even at the cost of colleagues. We are in any way advocating（拥护）any selfish conduct. It is just that people are pressured to behave in a different way due to outside influences.
Are we happier to share with others and be generous to them? There is no fixed answer, either. Some people take great pleasure helping and giving to others while others feel happy doing the opposite. But I personally think that people should not be too selfish. Caring for others can actually encourage the development of a friendly relationship.
In conclusion, modern people appear to be more self-centered than those in the past due to strong outside pressure. However, we should encourage people to know the importance of being caring and generous and to build a friendly relationship with others.
Are modern people becoming more selfish?
| Main comparisons |
Contexts |
| In the past people put caring, sharing and generosity in the first |
|
| Nowadays, people seem to be more |
|
| People in the past appeared to be modest and self-effacing(谦让的). |
|
| People may strive to achieve their own |
|
| The author’s understanding |
|
| Fierce |
|
| The author’s |
A |
Today, I’m going to share a story with you. A king had a wise advisor ______ best advice for the king was, “Everything happens for the good”.One day the King went hunting and injured
_______ by shooting an arrow at his own foot. He asked the advisor what he thought about the accident. The advisor replied, “Everything happens for the good”. This time the King was really angry and ordered
_________(put) his advisor into prison.
The King later went on a hunting trip _________ the advisor this time. The King was then captured by some cannibals（食人者）. He was taken to the cannibals' camp
_________ he was to be the evening meal for the cannibals. Before putting him into the cooking pot he
_________(inspect) thoroughly. The cannibals saw
________ wound on the King’s foot and decided to throw him back into the jungle. According to the cannibals' tradition, they would not eat anything that was
________ (perfect). The King suddenly realized
________ his advisor said was true. The advisor also escaped death because if he
__________(not be) in prison, he would have followed the King on the hunting trip, and would have ended up in the cooking pot.
任务型读写(共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分)
阅读下列短文，根据所读内容在文章后的表格中填入恰当的单词。注意：表格中的每个空只填一个单词。
Researchers from the University of Michigan reported that empathy(感情移入)，the ability to understand other people, among college students had dropped sharply over the past 10 years. That could be because so many people have replaced face time with screen time. Today, people spend more time alone and are less likely to join groups and clubs.
But there is another explanation. Turn on the TV, and you’re showered with news and reality shows full of people fighting, competing, and generally treating one another with no respect. Humans learn by example---and most of the examples on it are anything but empathetic.
There are good reasons not to follow those bad examples. Humans are socially related by nature. Having relationships with other people is an important part of being human—and having empathy is decisive to those relationships. Researchers have also found that empathetic teenagers are more likely to have high self-respect. Besides, empathy can be a cure for loneliness, sadness, anxiety, and fear.
Empathy is also an indication of a good leader. In fact, many top companies report that empathy is one of the most important things they look for in new managers. Good social skills---including empathy—are a kind of “emotional(情感的) intelligence” that will help you succeed in many areas of life.
What’s the best way to develop empathy? For starters, let down your guard and really listen to others. One doesn’t develop empathy by having a lot of opinions and doing a lot of talking. In addition, you’d better volunteer at a nursing home or a hospital, be a member of a club or a team, have a “sharing circle” with your family, or spend time caring for pets at an animal shelter.
| Title |
Empathy |
| Situation |
A |
| ◆Having less face-to-face ◆Showing no |
|
| Importance of empathy |
◆Being vital for social ◆Making ◆ ◆Indicating you can be a good leader |
| ◆To be a good ◆To work as a volunteer ◆To |
阅读表达 (共5小题；每小题2分，满分10分)
After achieving a 9 percent GDP growth, hosting a successful Olympic Games and carrying out its first space walk in the year of 2008, you'd think China would be happy. _________. That, at least, is the opinion of a new book written by a group of Chinese authors.
China Is Not Happy was published in March, 2009. It is a follow-up to the 1996 work China Can Say No, a bestseller that complained about the influence of the West, and the US in particular on China. Thirteen years later, the authors of China Is Not Happy list their dissatisfaction with how China is being treated in the world today.
They argue that China needs to use its growing power and economic resources to build its own position of preeminence（卓越）．"From looking at the history of human civilization, we are most qualified to lead this world." the book says.
The authors, single out the US for special scorn（轻蔑）. "The economic problem has shown the Chinese people that America does have problems, that what we've been saying is right," said one of the authors．
The book has become a bestseller in many Chinese bookstores．Yet much of the response to the book has been negative．Several reviews in the Chinese media have criticized the book's radical（激进的） opinions．The book is a way to "fish money from the pockets of the angry youth and angry elderly," wrote one critic in the China Youth Daily．Meanwhile, a well-known sociologist, Li Yinhe, has said that China needs patriotism（爱国主义）, but there is a limit．In her blog she wrote, "If we are to bully other countries, take the world's resources and try to lead it, we're going over the top．"List two great achievements that China made in 2008 based on the text．（Please answer within 15 words．）
____________________________________________________________________________Fill in the blank in Paragraph 1 with proper words．（Please answer within 6 words．）
____________________________________________________________________________Fill in the blank to suit the meaning of the original sentence in the passage. (within 8 words)
Ancient China was advanced and it was Chinese who created developed civilization, so we Chinese ____________________________________________________________.What is the main idea of the last paragraph? （Please answer within l0 words．）
____________________________________________________________________________What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 5 refer to? (Within 3 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
阅读下面短文，根据所读内容在表格中的空白处填入恰当的单词。
注意：每个空格只填一个单词。
There are two basic ways to see growth: one as a product；the other as a process. People have generally viewed personal growth as an external（外在的）result or a product that can easily be identified and measured. The worker who gets a promotion，the student whose grades improve，the foreigner who learns a new language—these are examples of people who have measurable results to show for their efforts.
By contrast（对照），the process of personal growth is much more difficult to determine，since by definition it is a journey and not the specific signposts or landmarks along the way.The process is not the road itself，but the attitudes，feelings people have，and their caution or courage，as they meet with new experiences and unexpected difficulties.In this process，the journey never really ends;there are always new ways to experience the world，new ideas to try，new challenges to accept.
In order to grow，to travel new roads，people need to have a willingness to take risks，to face the unknown，and to accept the possibility that they may “fail” at first. How we see ourselves as we try a new way of being is necessary for our ability to grow. Do we see ourselves as quick and curious？If so，then we tend to take more chances and to be more open to unfamiliar experiences. Do we think we're shy and indecisive？Then our sense of fear can cause us to hesitate，to move slowly，and not to take a step until we know the ground is safe. Do we think we are slow to adapt to change or that we're not smart enough to deal with a new challenge？Then we are likely to take a more passive role or not try at all.
These feelings of insecurity and self-doubt are both unavoidable and necessary if we are to change and grow. If we protect ourselves too much，then we stop growing. We become trapped inside a shell of our own making.
| Two basic ways to see growth |
|
Examples |
| Product |
Easily identified and measured |
●The worker ●The students making ●The foreigner learning a new language |
| Process |
● ● Never really ends |
●People's attitudes，feelings and their caution or courage，as they are ●Being |
| |
●Too much self |
People who enjoy a dream-filled sleep are better at recalling information and making links between facts when waking. But recharging with a shallow (小睡) offers no such mental improvement, the research suggests. The results of the study added to the growing body of evidence that Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep is very important to the brain’s ability to form strong memories.
An average night's rest includes four or five spells of REM sleep, but these bursts tend to be lengthier towards the end of the night. This means adults getting less than the recommended seven to eight hours a night -- and therefore inadequate REM sleep -- may be damaging their mind's ability to memorize: Although REM sleep is not classified as a type of deep sleep, it is only reached after the brain has passed through deep sleep stages.
In the recent study, participants were shown groups of three words and asked to find another word that can be associated with all three words. They were tested once in the morning and then given the same task again in the afternoon. In between, some were allowed a nap with REM sleep, some a nap without REM sleep, while the others had a quiet rest period. The quiet rest and non-REM sleep groups didn't improve, but the REM sleep group improved on their morning performance by an average of almost 40 per cent. Dr Sara Mednick, a sleep researcher at the University of California who led the study, believes the formation of connections between previously unassociated information in the brain occurs during REM sleep.
It is believed that sleep acts as a sort of mental filing system, enabling the brain to sort relevant information from useless information. This process may take place as memories are removed hem one art of the brain to others.
| Title |
REM Sleep |
| The result of the study |
Rapid Eye Movement sleep is of great importance to the brain's ability to |
| The of the study |
◆ associated with all three words. ◆The same task was given to participants ◆ The quiet rest and non-REM sleep groups showed no ◆ The REM sleep group almost 40 per cent. |
| Dr Sara Mednick's |
Connections between previous unassociated information in the brain are |
| Conclusion |
Sleep acts as a sort of mental filing system, enabling the brain to abandon useless information and keep the information. |
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