English is the most widely used language in the history of our planet. One in every seven human beings can speak it. More than half of the world’s books and three quarters of international mail are in English. Of all languages, English has the largest vocabulary — perhaps as many as two million words.
However, let’s face it: English is a crazy language. There is no egg in an eggplant, neither pine nor apple in a pineapple and no ham in a hamburger. Sweet-meats are candy, while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted. But when we explore its paradoxes (探讨它的矛盾), we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, public bathrooms have no baths in them.
And why is it that a writer writes, but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce, and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, shouldn’t the plural of booth be beeth? One goose, two geese — so one moose, two meese?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell the next?
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects (反映) the creativity of human beings. That’s why, when stars are out, they are visible (能看见的); but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it; but when I wind up this essay, I end it.According to the passage _____________.
| A．boxing rings should be round |
| B．pineapples are the apples on the pine tree |
| C．there should be an egg in an eggplant |
| D．sweet-meats and sweetbreads are different things |
Which of the following is the correct plural form (复数形式)?
| A．Beeth. | B．Meese. | C．Geese. | D．Tooth. |
Which of the following has the similar meaning?
| A．Quite a lot and quite a few. | B．Overlook and oversee. |
| C．A wise man and a wise guy. | D．Hot as hell and cold as hell. |
Through the many paradoxes in the English language, the writer wants to show that human beings are ______.
| A．lazy | B．crazy |
| C．clever | D．stupid |
D
More than 40 countries, including Russia and Taiwan, have agreed to be founding members of China's proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. However, two of the world's largest economies, the United States and Japan, have held off at this time.
China proposed the bank last October as a way to finance roads, bridges, ports and other needed infrastructureprojects in Asia. The time limit for joining as a founding member was March 31. In only a few months, the number of countries seeking membership nearly doubled. They came from Africa, Europe, South America, Asia and the Pacific. Some European powers added themselves to the list. They include Britain, Germany, France and Italy. Other important economies include South Korea, Australia and Russia.
Taiwan also sought to become a founding member. But it is not clear how China will react. Taiwan and China do not have diplomatic ties. But, relations have improved since the election of President Ma Ying-jeou in 2008. The two sides also are working on details of a trade agreement. However, popular opposition in Taiwan to mainland China's increased influenceon the island remains very strong.
The U.S. and Japan have said they are concerned about the governance of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, or AIIB. The United States has urged countries to consider details about the bank's governance and standards -- itssocialand environmental policy -- before joining. Critics say the AIIB threatens the work of existing development banks such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank.
Yet, the Asian Development Bank itself noted in a recent report that the need for infrastructure projects in Asia is great. The institution, led by the U.S. and Japan, estimated last May that the Asia Pacific area needed $800 billion each year in infrastructure development.
Experts are watching to see how China will take its leadership role in the new bank. The AIIB is expected to start with $100 billion in capital, mostly from China. Some experts point to the high interest in membership. Shi Yinhong is a political scientist at Renmin University in Beijing. He says China's leading part in the bank comes withbenefitsand costs.
In other words, while China has gained from the effort to develop the AIIB, it will also have to satisfy other bank members and multi-national institutions. Officials at the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank say they are looking for ways to cooperate with the AIIB.What does the underlined phrase in the first paragraph mean?
| A．turned down | B．subscribed to |
| C．thought over | D．turned a blind eye |
Which of the following is true?
| A．The bank proposed by China aims to finance needed infrastructureprojects in the world. |
| B．There is no time limit for joining as a founding member. |
| C．Many countries in the world actively applied to seek membership. |
| D．China has given a definite attitude toward Taiwan. |
In what aspects do The United States and Japan show worry for AIIB?
| A．Regulation and running |
| B．Raising money and investment |
| C．The number of joining countries |
| D．China’s influence in it |
What can be inferred according to Shi Yinhong?
A. China won’t consider its benefits in AIIB.
B. China won’t play a leadership role in AIIB.
C. China will bring out its role with benefits and costs.
D. China will drop out of AIIB after its foundation
C
Doctors fighting malaria---one of the deadliest diseases on the planet--- may soon have a new affordable weapon in their smart phones. Researchers have found a way to use the phone's camera to detect the microorganism in the patient's blood that causes the disease.
According to the World Health Organization, almost 600,000 people died of malaria in 2013, making this mosquito-borne disease one of the deadliest in the world.
The saddest aspect of this calamity(灾难) is that it affects mostly young children.
Early detection of the infection is important for successful treatment. But since the first symptoms resemble ordinary flu, a microbiologist must look at a drop of a patient's blood under a microscope for a proper diagnosis.
Scientists in Britain have now developed a smart phone attachment called Xrapid, that turns the phone into a 200-power microscope, while the attached app---based on facial recognition software - quickly detects the parasitic protozoa（寄生原生物）in the blood smear（抹片）.
Jean Viry-Babel is the CEO of IanXen, the company that developed the app. He says it is cheap and works on the spot. "So we take a high-definition picture of a sample of blood. We separate the red blood cells from the rest---the white blood cells, the platelets(血小板)---and we start looking at each of the red blood cells individually," said Viry-Babel.
Viry-Babel says the app is affordable, easy to use and provides reliability of up to 98 percent. The only additional equipment required is an ordinary glass lab slide - called a "slate."
"There's only one button, which is called "Diagnose". So you put it on the slate and you put it on the dried blood, and you press diagnose and it tells you yes or no," he said.
Researchers say the field-testing of the device will begin in January and February in Tanzania, Benin and Indonesia --- while commercial use is scheduled to start by the end of March.
They also plan to expand the versatility（多功能性）of the new device---teaching it to recognize other diseases, such as tuberculosis and Lyme Disease.The text is meant to__________.
| A．find a new way to treat malaria. |
| B．recommend a new smart phone. |
| C．promote a new program. |
| D．introduce a new device to detect disease. |
What makes malaria special in the world according to the passage?
| A．There’s no way to detect it. |
| B．It mainly infects young kids. |
| C．It kills many people every year. |
| D．It is one of the deadliest disease. |
Which of the following is Wrong according to paragraph 4?
| A．The earlier the infection is detected, the more possible the patient is cured. |
| B．The first symptoms of malaria is like common flu. |
| C．A microbiologist can detect the infection without any equipment. |
| D．A patient’s blood should be provided if wanting a proper diagnosis |
What can we learn from Viry-Babel?
| A．The app is cheap but must work in the lab. |
| B．The white cells and the platelets must be studied carefully. |
| C．The accuracy of the app is nearly a hundred percent. |
| D．The “Diagnose” button should function well with others. |
B
Showering typically sends water down the drain, but a new space-age shower could change that. The design, inspired by NASA, saves water and money.
Astronauts have no choice but to recycle the water they use in space. Now theOrbital Systems Shower of the Futurebrings that concept down to Earth. This futuristic shower comes from Orbital Systems, a Swedish advanced technology company. Its CEO, Mehrdad Mahdjoubi, invented the product.
"The shower of the future is a water-recycling shower, thus enabling water savings up to 90 percent, energy savings up to 80 percent, at the same time increasing comfort and hygiene. The water is being collected in the drain, it's being analyzed, purified and then pumped back up to the shower head. So what is so special about the purification technology? Well, it's based on a patented purification capsule system that makes sure that the water is always crystal clear," he explained.
Mahdjoubi was inspired by a project between NASA and Sweden's Lund University to come up with designs for a mission to Mars. He adapted the closed-loop system that allows astronauts to re-use shower water again and again.
The product already has been tested in Sweden, where it saved up to 100,000 liters of water over four months. Based on those results, Mahdjoubi is confident his company can distribute the shower system worldwide.
"Our market is anyone who takes a shower, actually, and the biggest benefit it gives is to the market segment where the water consumption is the highest, such as bathing establishments, gyms, sports centers. Also, private households where the water consumption and the prices are high," said Mahdjoubi.
The "out of this world" design has won several business and innovationWhat does the underlined sentence mean in paragraph 2?
| A．Astronauts bring the space water to the earth. |
| B．There’s need for the astronauts to save water any more. |
| C．People on the earth can do the same like the astronauts. |
| D．People have to recycle water on the earth. |
What’s the order of working procedure of the new shower?
①collect the water; ② purify the water;
③analyze the water; ④pump back the water
| A．①②③④ | B．①③②④ |
| C．①④②③ | D．①②④③ |
What’s Mahdjoubi’s attitude towards the new product?
| A．Optimistic | B．Uncertain |
| C．Negative | D．Indifferent |
Why does the author write the passage?
| A．To introduce a new technology |
| B．To find a way to save energy |
| C．To promote a new product |
| D．To seek for investment |
A
Thanksgiving Day was near. The first grade teacher gave her class a fun assignment—to draw a picture of something for which they were thankful.
Most of the class might be considered economically disadvantaged, but still many would celebrate the holiday with turkey and other traditional goodies of the season. These, the teacher thought, would be the subjects of most of her student’s art. And they were.
But Douglas made a different kind of picture. Douglas was a different kind of boy. He was the teacher’s true child of misery, frail and unhappy. As other children played at recess, Douglas was likely to stand close by her side. One could only guess at the pain Douglas felt behind those sad eyes.
Yes, his picture was different. When asked to draw a picture of something for which he was thankful, he drew a hand. Nothing else. Just an empty hand.
His abstract image captured the imagination of his peers. Whose hand could it be？One child guessed it was the hand of a farmer, because farmers raise turkeys. Another suggested a police officer, because the police protect and care for people. And so the discussion went—until the teacher almost forgot the young artist himself.
When the children had gone on to other assignments, she paused at Douglas’ desk, bent down, and asked him whose hand it was. The little boy looked away and murmured, “It’s yours, teacher.”
She recalled the times she had taken his hand and walked with him here and there, as she had the other students. How often had she said, “Take my hand, Douglas, we’ll go outside.” Or, “Let me show you how to hold your pencil.” Or, “Let’s do this together.” Douglas was most thankful for his teacher’s hand.
Brushing aside a tear, she went on with her work.
In fact, people might not always say “thanks”. But they’ll remember the hand that reaches out.What’s the purpose of the assignment the teacher gave her students?
| A．To celebrate Thanksgiving Day. |
| B．To show gratitude for others. |
| C．To improve students’ art level. |
| D．To make the festival fun. |
Which of the following is true?
| A．The teacher thought students couldn’t focus their art on turkey and other traditional goodies. |
| B．Douglas would often join in his classmates and played with them happily. |
| C．The picture was really different for there was nothing but a hand. |
| D．The boy told his teacher the content of the picture actively. |
Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “capture”?
| A．affect | B．reflect | C．conquer | D．arouse |
What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?
| A．Words speak louder than actions. |
| B．Lost time is never found again. |
| C．Time tries all. |
| D．Love me, love my dog. |
D
I was no different from any other mother.
When my little boy, Skyler, was born, I longed for the day he would talk to me. My husband and I dreamed about the first sweet “Mama” or “Dada.” Every cry or coo was a small glimpse into my son’s mind.
My baby’s noises were even more precious to me because Skyler had been born with several health problems.
At first, the problems had delayed his development, but once they were safely behind us. I looked forward to my son’s first words. They didn’t come.
At age three, Skyler was diagnosed autistic, a developmental disability destined to affect his social and emotional well-being in his entire life. Skyler couldn’t talk and wouldn’t talk. I would probably never hear any words from him at all. In a store, I would hear a child calling “Mommy,” and I would wonder if that were what my little boy might sound like. I wondered how it would feel to hear my child call out for me.
But I could have learned to live with his silence if it weren’t for another hallmark characteristic of autism: Skyler formed no attachments. He didn’t want to be held, much preferring to lie in his bed or sit in his car seat. He wouldn’t look at me; sometimes, he even looked through me.
Once, when I took him to the doctor, we talked to a specialist who was my size, age and who had the same hair color. When it was time to go, Skyler went to her instead of me—he couldn’t tell us apart. When Skyler was three, he spent three days at Camp Courageous for disabled children in Iowa, and when he returned he didn’t even recognize me.
The pain was almost unbearable. My own son didn’t even know I was his mother.
I hid the pain, and we did the best we could for Skyler. We enrolled him in our local area educational agency preschool, where the teachers and speech pathologist worked hard to help Skyler connect with the world around him. They used pictures and computer voice-machines that spoke for him, and sign language. These devices gave me little glimpses of who Skyler was, even if he didn’t understand who I was. “He will talk,” the speech pathologist insisted, but inside, I had given up hope.
The one dream I couldn’t let go was to have Skyler understand that I was his mom. Even if I never heard him say, “Mom,” I wanted to see the recognition in his eyes.
The summer of Skyler’s fourth year was when it started. A smoldering ember of understanding in him sparked, and fanned by our efforts, steadily flamed. His first words were hardly recognizable, often out of context, never spontaneous. Then, slowly, he could point to an item and say a word. Then two words together as a request. Then spontaneous words. Each day, he added more and more recognizable words, using them to identify pictures and ask questions. We could see his understanding increase, till his eyes would seek out mine, wanting to comprehend.
“You Mom?” he said one day.
“Yes, Skyler, I’m Mom.”
He asked his teachers and caregivers: “You Mom?”
“No, Skyler, not Mom.”（原作者：陈德琪）“You my Mom?” he said back to me.
“Yes, Skyler, I’m your Mom.”
And finally, a rush of understanding in his eyes: “You my Mom.”
“Yes, Skyler, I’m your Mom.”
If those had been Skyler’s only words ever, they would have been enough for me: My son knew I was his mother.
But Skyler wasn’t done.
One evening I leaned against the headboard on Skyler’s bed, my arms wrapped around him. He was cozily tucked between my legs, our bodies warm and snug as I read to him from one of his favorite books—a typical affectionate scene between mother and son, but because of Skyler’s autism, one that I could never take for granted.
I stopped reading. Skyler had interrupted me, leaning back his head so he could look me in the eye.
“Yes, Skyler?”
And then the voice of an angel, the voice of my son: “I love you, Mom.”According to the description of the author, we can learn that Skyler .
| A．could easily have a cold |
| B．usually preferred to stay alone |
| C．could only recognize his doctor |
| D．frequently lost temper |
The author felt the most heartbroken when .
| A．Skyler was diagnosed with autism |
| B．a child in a store called her “Mommy” |
| C．she realized Skyler didn’t know who she was |
| D．she found Skyler was born with several health problems |
What does the underlined sentence mean?
| A．The author had little hope that Skyler would talk. |
| B．The author decided to give up the treatments for Skyler. |
| C．The author was disappointed with the speech pathologist. |
| D．The author strongly believed that Skyler would make progress. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Skyler traveled around the world with his teachers. |
| B．The family was so frustrated that they lost hope. |
| C．The author never heard Skyler say “Mum”. |
| D．Skyler’s language ablity grew little by little. |
From the last few paragraphs, we can infer that .
| A．the author was grateful that her efforts paid off |
| B．Skyler could not only talk but also read |
| C．mom was the only word Skyler could say |
| D．the author had high expectations for Skyler |
What’s the best title for the passage?
| A．Road to Speaking | B．What is Autism? |
| C．A Caring Mother | D．Talk to Kids |
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