A blind schoolgirl has become the youngest interpreter (口译员) when she is only ten years
Alexia Sloane is from Cambridge. She was told by the doctor she had a brain tumour (脑癌) when she was on holiday "with her parents in France. After that the two-year-old girl became blind.
Though the little girl can't see anything, she has great talent for languages and at the age of 10 she is already fluent (流利的) in English, French, Spanish and Chinese-and is learning German.
Now her dream of working as an interpreter has come true. East of England MEP (欧盟议员) Robert Sturdy invited her to the European Parliament (议会). "Usually a person who enters the European Parliament should be 14 at least. So it was amazing for Alexia to work there at the age of 10. " said Alexia's mother Isabelle. Alexia can speak three languages since birth. As her mum is hah" French and half Spanish and her dad Richard is English. " She has always been very good at languages and shown an interest from a very young age. " added Isabelle, who also has a four-year-old daughter Melissa.
Alexia has dreamed of becoming an interpreter since she was six and chose to go to the European Parliament as her prize when she won the Young Achiever Community Award of the Year (年度青年成就奖). She asked if she could learn from the interpreters and HEP Robert Sturdy agreed to take her along as his guest. " It was fantastic and I decided to become an interpreter, "said Alexia. "Nothing can stop me. "How old is the youngest interpreter according to the passage?
| A．4. | B．6. | C．10. | D．14. |
When did Alexia Sloane become blind?
| A．When she was born. |
| B．After she had a brain tumour. |
| C．After she became an interpreter. |
| D．When she was on holiday with her parents. |
Who offered Alexia the chance of working as an interpreter?
| A．Richard. | B．Isabelle. | C．Melissa. | D．Robert Sturdy. |
What is right about Alexia Sloane?
| A．She can speak five language fluently. |
| B．She is a talented language learner. |
| C．She is the only child in the family. |
D． She went to France on holiday after she won the award. |
What do you think is the meaning of the sentence "Nothing can stop me. "?
| A．Never give up. | B．Believe in yourself. |
| C．Nothing is impossible. | D．Failure is the mother of success. |
One day after school Mr. Tillman found Philo Farnsworth making drawings on the blackboard in the school-room.
“What are you doing?” Mr. Tillman asked with interest. “ What are these drawings?”
“I want to invent things,” Philo answered, “and these are drawings of my first inventions.”
Mr. Tillman smiled to himself, “What is your invention?”
“I have an idea for a way of sending pictures through the air,” The boy answered. “Please just let me tell you about it. You are the only person who can understand what I have done.”
In 1922, even radio was new. The United States had fewer than 30 radio stations. But in 1922, a boy of 16 showed his teacher drawings for television!
In 1926, Philo worked as an office boy in Salt Lake City. Many important businessmen came into the office where he worked. One of these, George Everson , was from San Francisco. Like Mr. Tillman, Everson soon became interested in Philo. The shy, hard-working boy was like other office boys who Everson had known.
One evening Everson asked Philo to have dinner with him. After the meal, Philo began talking about his idea for Television. At first, Everson was not much interested in the invention. He listened only to be polite.
Many years later, Everson wrote a book telling about that evening with Philo. “As Farnsworth talked, he seemed to change,” Everson wrote, “His eyes lighted up , and he was no longer shy.” Talking freely about his invention, Philo Farnsworth was no longer an office boy--he was a scientist.
At the end of the evening, Everson was more interested than ever in Philo. And he was also interested in Philo’s idea for television.
After talking with Philo , Everson returned to San Francisco. There he brought together a number of important businessmen . Philo told them about his invention. The men became so interested in the young inventor that they gave $25,000 to help him work on his idea. Philo was only 20 years old, but here was his chance.What kind of drawings was Philo making on the blackboard one day?
| A．Drawings of his school-room. | B．Drawings of his invention. |
| C．Drawings of his interest. | D．Drawings for Mr. Tillman. |
Philo’s new idea was to _______________.
| A．tell his teacher all about his invention |
| B．show Mr. Tillman about his idea by drawings |
| C．send pictures through air |
| D．make other people see things by pictures |
George Everson first became interested in Philo because he ________________.
| A．did his work well as an office boy |
| B．was quite different from other office boys |
| C．was shy and did not work hard |
| D．was also interested in Philo’s drawings |
When talking about his invention, Philo ____________.
| A．listened to Mr. Everson politely |
| B．became more interested in the businessman |
| C．seemed to change his idea |
| D．looked like a scientist |
Which of the following is true?
| A．Philo made his television only four years later. |
| B．Mr. Everson helped Philo to invent the television with his own money. |
| C．Mr. Everson himself was an important businessman. |
| D．The businessmen in Salt Lake City gave Philo the money for his invention. |
Last week, 169 students at No.35 Middle School of Shenyang took their first no-teacher exam. After the teacher handed out the exam paper, he left the room and never came back. A student collected in the papers when the exam ended.
“That test was not only a test of knowledge, but also a test of moral (道德). We wanted to show students how important honesty is, ” said Mr. Cai, the school’s headmaster. The school says no cheating happened in the test. Next year, it wants 80% of its exams to be without teachers. But students have different ideas.
“I was happy and excited during the exam because my teachers trusted me,” said Lang Yudan, a 13-year-old girl in Class 11.
“Schools must trust students a lot not to use invigilators(监考人). But I think it is too early. Some students will cheat if there are no invigilators. And the students will not be able to ask for help when needed,” said Hua Sha.
“I don’t like having invigilators in exams. When they walk around the classroom, they make me nervous. I would get higher marks without them in the room because I would feel more relaxed,” Liu Qingxi said.
“I think it’s very important to have invigilators in exams. Many students want to check their answers with each other after they have finished papers. And they can also keep the classroom in order when something unusual happens. They may make me nervous, but I still think we need them,” Shangguan Yan said.
Not using invigilators may be a good idea. But before using it, schools must tell students the importance of honesty and try to find ways to solve something unusual in exams.The passage mainly talks about ________.
| A．how to pass an exam |
| B．how to make students honest |
| C．whether invigilators are needed in exams |
| D．how to make students clever |
No.35 Middle School of Shenyang held a no-teacher exam to _________.
| A．let the students have a good rest |
| B．teach the students in a better way |
| C．help all the students pass the exam |
| D．find whether the students were honest |
From what the students have studied, we know _________.
| A．invigilators really help them a lot |
| B．not all of them agree with the headmaster |
| C．something unusual never happens in exams |
| D．they like it very much |
What does Hua Sha think about no-teacher exams ?
| A．It’s a good idea to have no-teacher exams but something must be done first. |
| B．If there are no invigilators, the students will certainly get lower marks. |
| C．Exams without invigilators will never be held since students are not honest. |
| D．Some parents don’t think it’s fair for everyone to have no-teacher exams. |
In the sentence “And they can also keep the classroom in order when something unusual happens” , “they” refers to __________.
| A．students | B．headmasters | C．teachers | D．invigilators |
Balzac(巴尔扎克) was a great French writer. But he was very poor before he became famous. He lived in a dirty, wet room and was often worried about food. All his friends were very poor and they could not help him.
One night it was very cold. The wind blew and it was snowing heavily. Balzac went to bed early but couldn’t fall asleep. He didn’t get any food before he went to bed. He thought and thought, but he couldn’t have a good idea. At midnight he saw a man climb in through the broken window. The man began to steal something on his bookshelf. Balzac got up quietly and said, “Don’t waste time, my friend! I couldn’t find any money in the daytime. How can you find some in the dark?”Balzac was a ________.
| A．worker | B．writer | C．doctor | D．cleaner |
Balzac lived in a dirty, wet room because ________.
| A．he was very poor | B．he wanted to live there |
| C．it was cold | D．he was a famous man |
Why didn’t he ask his friends for some food? Because __________.
| A．he had no friends |
| B．his friends didn’t want to help him |
| C．all his friends were very poor |
| D．his friends didn’t like him |
How was the weather that night? It was ___________
| A．rainy | B．cloudy | C．sunny | D．snowy |
Could the thief find any money? __________
| A．Yes, he could. | B．No, he couldn’t. |
| C．Maybe. | D．I don’t know. |
Around the world more and more people are taking part in dangerous sports and activities. Of course, there have always been people who have looked for adventure(冒险)---those who have climbed the highest mountains, traveled into unknown parts of the world or sailed in small boats across the greatest oceans. Now, however, there are people who look for an immediate excitement from a risky(冒险的) activity which may only last a few minutes or even seconds. I would consider bungee(蹦极) jumping to be a good example of such an activity. You jump from a high place(perhaps a bridge or a hot-air balloon) 200 meters above the ground with an elastic(有弹性的) rope tied to your ankles. You fall at up to 150 kilometers an hour until the rope stops you from hitting the ground. It is said that about 2 million people around world have now tried bungee jumping. Other activities which most people would say are as risky as bungee jumping include jumping from tall buildings and diving into the sea from the top of high cliff(悬崖).
For the reasons, some psychologists explain that many people think their life in modern societies has become safe and boring. Not very long ago, people’s lives were constantly(持续的) in danger. They had to go out and hunt for food, diseases could not easily be cured, and life was a continuous battle (战争)for survival.
Nowadays, according to many people, life offers little excitement. They live and work in comparatively safe conditions; they buy food in shops; and there are doctors and hospitals to look after them if they become ill. The answer for some of these people is to look for danger in activities such as bungee jumping.Are there many people who are taking part in the dangerous sports?
How many kinds of dangerous sports does the writer refer to?
How long does a bungee jumping usually last?
What do many people think of their life nowadays?
What does the writer tell us in the last two paragraphs?
Do you speak English? Do you speak e-mail English? Maybe you don’t. E-mail English is a new kind of English that many people use to save time. A lot of e-mail English words come from a computer program called QQ, which means I seek(寻找)you. Ian Lancashire, a Canadian teacher, likes QQ, “People can use QQ to talk with each other using computer. But, you have to be able to type quickly or the other person will be bored. So e-mail English can give some help.”
A message in e-mail English mostly uses two kinds of new words. The first kind is made up of the first letters of the words. These are called acronyms. The second kind is homophones，letter combination(合并), symbols that sound like other words.
Acronyms in an e-mail save space and time. It takes a long time to write by the way. BTW is much faster. Other acronyms are F2F which stands for face to face, CSL for can’t stop laughing and DBEYR for don’t believe everything you read! Some of the acronyms look like strange words, such as SWAK. But this one means sealed(封口) with a kiss.
Homophones often use letters and numbers that sound like words or parts of words. For example, 8 sound like—eat in great, to save time, people write gr8. Another example is CU for see you or sometimes CU l8r (see you later)
The number 2 is used for to or too and the number 4 is used instead of for.
Another part of e-mail is emotive symbols(表情符号) which make faces when you look at them sideways. The most common emotive, is the happy face :). A comma (逗号) is often used to help add other parts of the face and show different expressions.
E-mail English is fun. An e-mail message with lots of e-mail English starts to look like secret code(密码). Your best friend will probably understand it, but your parents and teachers may not. In fact, many teachers don’t like e-mail English. It’s not just because they can’t comprehend what it means. It’s because students start to use e-mail English in their everyday writing. E-mail English is great for writing quickly. But most teachers say that e-mail English should only be used in e-mails to one’s friends.What does the writer talk about in the first paragraph?
| A．How to read new e-mail words. |
| B．How new e-mail words are made. |
| C．Why people use e-mail English. |
| D．Canadian teachers and their e-mails. |
The underlined word “comprehend” in the last paragraph means “_______”.
| A．accept | B．understand | C．guess | D．prefer |
What do teachers insist according to the passage?
| A．Parents will have to learn some e-mail English. |
| B．E-mail English will develop our everyday writing. |
| C．E-mail English can’t be used among schoolmates. |
| D．E-mail English shouldn’t be used in school writing. |
What’s the title for this passage?
| A．E-mail English on Computer. | B．American E-mail English. |
| C．The Forms of E-mail English. | D．The Changing of English. |
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