The clock is ticking. David Brunelli has just swallowed a huge burger. The crowd cheers excitedly as he downs fistfuls of fries.

Welcome to the world of competitive eating.

Brunelli is part of a select group who compete to eat massive quantities of food as quickly as possible. Eating contests may seem like harmless fun, but they have a dark side and some critics are saying it’s time for them to stop.

Pouring crazy amounts of food down our throats is nothing new. Gorging banquets (狼吞虎咽会）were a regular part of ancient Roman culture. In the 1800s, some New York City politicians settled bets through eating challenges. Pie-eating contests have been a Fourth of July tradition for more than a century.

For supporters like Brunelli, though, eating contests are more than a custom. They are a path to fortune.

But prize money does nothing to reduce the health risks of competitive eating. Competitive eating can even be life-threatening. In 1991，a man in Virginia suffered a stroke (中风)after eating 38 eggs in 29 seconds; In Florida, in 2012, a man died shortly after winning an eating contest leading a group of doctors to call for a ban on eating contests.

In any event, the risk to competitors is only part of the story. Nearly two-thirds of Americans are overweight, and competitive eating sets a terrible example by encouraging overeating. And in a world where 805 million people go hungry every day, downing ridiculous quantities of food for entertainment seems not just wasteful but also cruel.

For now, though，it seems eating contests are here to stay. Last year, more than three  million viewers watched Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on TV. This year, Matt Stonie ate 182 pieces of bacon in 5 minutes, breaking the world record.

What record will be broken next? Do you really want to find out?

1.What does the author try to express in Paragraph 4?

A. Competitive eating is a tradition.

B. It’s great to learn from ancient people.

C. Competitive eating should be accepted.

D. It’s exciting to challenge others to eat.

2.Why does Brunelli take part in the eating contest?

A. For food.    B. For    fun.

C. For    honor.    D. For    money.

3.The examples given in Paragraph 6 are used to show eating contests    .

A. use unhealthy food.    B. waste too much food.

C. put competitors at risk.    D. set a bad example to kids.

4.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A. The author hopes to break the record.

B. The author is eager to know    the    result.

C. The author wants readers to    find out the    result.

D. The author disapproves of competitive eating.

Bert Katz, my father-in-law, celebrated his 90th birthday in November 2016. Bert loved sports and was an enthusiastic Yankees ( an American professional baseball team based in the New York City ) fan, so it was no wonder that over the years, he was an avid (热切的）listener to WFAN radio and, in particular, the afternoon show hosted by Mike Francesa.

Bert had health issues in his later years that limited his mobility, and when he lost his eyesight three years ago, his attachment to his radio and Francesa became more pronounced. He just loved listening to Mike talk about sports and his Yankees each afternoon. Those hours brought him so much pleasure.

Of course, Mike will be leaving Dec. 15, 2017 after 30 years at the station. Mike lives in the same community where I work on Long Island, and I have gotten to know him over the past 20 years. So when my father-in-law was approaching his special birthday the year before last year, I asked Mike for a favor: to call Bert and wish him a happy birthday.

Mike agreed without hesitation. Two days before the special day, Mike stopped at my workplace. I called Bert at his nursing home and put Mike on the phone. It was a complete surprise to Bert. Mike spent more than 10 minutes wishing Bert a happy birthday, and of course, talking about the Yankees.

When my family celebrated Bert’s birthday two days later, he couldn’t stop talking about the phone call. Over his lifetime, he said it was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for him.

Unfortunately, Bert’s health declined last year and he passed away July 13, 2017. But even in his final months in the hospital and nursing home, he always had a radio set to WFAN to listen each afternoon to Mike Francesa. And he also had the memory of that special phone call for his 90th birthday.

1.What habit did Bert keep for years?

A. Playing baseball.

B. Listening to a sports program.

C. Checking his eyesight regularly.

D. Leading organized cheering for the Yankees.

2.What does the underlined word “pronounced” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A. Obvious.    B. Unusual.

C. Important.    D. Understandable.

3.What word can describe the author?

A. Honest.    B. Caring.

C. Patient.    D. Independent.

4.What is the best title for the text?

A. A special gift.    B. The call finally arrived.

C. The big dream came true.    D. An unforgettable birthday party.

In celebration of Women’s History Month, here are a few of the millions of women that have broken all conventional rules to make a difference in the world.

Susan B. Anthony

Bom on February 15, 1820, Susan B. Anthony was a women’s rights activist in the US. She spent many years campaigning for women’s right to vote. Anthony was also against slavery, helping support the passage of the Civil War Amendments. She also lent her voice to the battle for equal pay and educational opportunities for all.

Anne Frank

Anne Frank grew up in a happy family. However, things changed when Hitler came to power. Anne and her family were forced to hide inside a tiny house, where the young girl recorded her family’s fears and struggles. Even after all these years, her journal, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, continues to be popular with people across all ages and cultures.

Aung San Sun Kyi

Determined to bring democracy (民主）to Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi founded the National League for Democracy (NLD). Suu Kyi’s open displeasure with the government resulted in her spending much of the time between 1989 and 2010 in prison or under house arrest. In 1991，Suu Kyi received the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2015, five years after she had been freed, Suu Kyi’s NLD Party won a great victory in the general elections.

Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai was bom to a Pakistani educator and poet. When the Taliban declared that girls should not be educated, the world’s youngest Nobel Prize winner decided to challenge these unfair policies (政策).On October 9, 2012, she was shot and badly injured. Since recovering, Malala continues her fight for girls’ education. Her bravery is encouraging young people all over the world to stand up for what they believe is right.

1.Who made a great contribution to women’s right to vote?

A. Anne Frank.    B. Malala    Yousafzai.

C. Susan B. Anthony.    D. Aung San Suu Kyi.

2.Why was Aung San Suu Kyi put into prison?

A. She refused to leave Myanmar.

B. She demanded that the democrats be freed.

C. She voiced dissatisfaction with the government.

D. She blamed the government for its economic policy.

3.Which of the following can be used to describe the women mentioned in the text?

A. Brave and inspiring.    B. Reliable and devoted.

C. Honest and responsible.    D. Considerate and optimistic.

假定你是学生会主席李华，你校将设计举行“中华经典诗歌朗诵比赛”活动。现在，请你根据以下信息,给你校交换生David写一封信，邀请他参加比赛，内容包括：

1.举办时间、地点；

2.朗诵内容和形式；

3.期待参与。

参考词汇：朗诵recitation n.

注意：1. 词数100左右；

2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Dear David,

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours

Li Hua

假如英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处；每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加，删除或修改。

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。

修改：在错的词下划—横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：每处错误及其修改均仅限一词。

A lady once wrote a long story and sent to a famous editor．After a few week, the story was returned to her．The lady got very angrily．She wrote to the editor, “Dear sir, how do you know why the story is not good? You didn't read it．After I sent it to you, I pasted pages 21, 22 or 23 together．This was a test to see whether I would really read the story．When it came back, the pages still pasted together．Is this the way in that you read the stories that are sent to you?” The editor writes back, “Dear madam, at breakfast when I open an egg, I don't have to eat the whole egg in order to discover that it is bad.”

阅读下面材料，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Mr. Johnson lived in the woods with his wife and children. He owned 1. farm, which looked almost abandoned.

2. (lucky), he also had a cow which produced milk every day. He sold or exchanged some of the milk in the towns nearby for other food and made cheese and butter for the family with what  3. (leave). The cow was their only means of support, in fact. One day, the cow was eating grass 4. it began to rain heavily. While 5. (make) great efforts to run away, she fell over the hill and died. Then the Johnson tried to make a living  6. the cow. In order to support his family, Mr.

Johnson  7. (begin) to plant herbs and vegetables. Since the plants took a while to grow, he started cutting down trees  8. (sell) the wood. Thinking about his children’s clothes, he started growing cotton, too. When harvest came around, he was already selling herbs, vegetables and cotton in the market  9. people from the town met regularly. Now it occurred to 10. (he) that his farm had much potential and that the death of the cow was a bit of luck.

Around twenty years ago I was living in Seattle and going through hard times. I could not find ________work although I had a lot of experience and a Master’s degree.

To my ________, I had to drive a school bus to ________my family. At the same time, I had some ________with different companies but they all________to say I did not get the job. I went to the bus barn（车库）, feeling________.

Later that afternoon, ________doing my rounds through the town I had an inner wave rise from deep ________ me and I thought “Why has my________become so hard?”

Immediately after this internal（内心的）scream, I ________the bus over to drop off a little girl. As she________, she handed me an earring saying I should keep it_______somebody looked for it. The________was stamped with words “BE HAPPY”. Then it struck me. I had been putting all of my________into what was wrong with my life rather than what was________!

One night there was a phone call for me from the________at a large hospital. She asked me whether I________do a one-day training for 200 hospital workers. I said ________and got the job.

My day with the hospital workers________very well. I got a great________and many more days of work. To this day I know that it was because I changed my attitude to life.

1.A. probable    B. satisfying    C. particular    D. considerate

2.A. joy    B. luck    C. shame    D. surprise

3.A. support    B. meet    C. supply    D. provide

4.A. meetings    B. conferences    C. reports    D. interviews

5.A. came    B. expected    C. called    D. hoped

6.A. excited    B. frightened    C. worried    D. disappointed

7.A. though    B. while    C. unless    D. until

8.A. inside    B. beyond    C. upon    D. beside

9.A. study    B. life    C. bus    D. position

10.A. carried    B. brought    C. pulled    D. held

11.A. took off    B. put off    C. got off    D. gave off

12.A. as long as    B. in case    C. as soon as    D. now that

13.A. bag    B. watch    C. necklace    D. earring

14.A. energies    B. ideas    C. strength    D. money

15.A. real    B. sad    C. happy    D. right

16.A. nurse    B. manager    C. patient    D. worker

17.A. should    B. must    C. could    D. ought

18.A. yes    B. hello    C. no    D. nothing

19.A. looked    B. went    C. fit    D. appeared

20.A. comfort    B. shock    C. excuse    D. welcome

Worry problems are everywhere in our daily life. How to solve them? The answer is that we must equip ourselves to handle different kinds of worries by learning the three basic steps of problem analysis. The three steps are：

Get the facts

Why is it so important to get the facts? Unless you have the facts, you can’t possibly attempt to solve your problem intelligently. Without the facts, all you can do is wondering around in confusion. 1. When you are worried, your emotions are riding high. But here are two ideas that can help you see the facts in a clear and objective way.

When trying to get the facts, you can pretend that you are collecting this information not for yourself but for some other person. This will help you to take a cold and fair view of the evidence. You can also pretend that you are a lawyer preparing to agree.2. You will generally find the truth lies somewhere in between.

Analyze the facts

3. And write out all the various steps you could take and then the probable consequences (后果) of each step. For example, what am I worrying about? What can I do about it? Here is what I’m going to do about it. After carefully weighing all the facts, you can calmly come to a decision.

4.

Unless you take your action, all you face—finding and analysing—is a waste of energy. How can you break the worry habit before it breaks you? Move worry out of your mind by keeping busy.5. Accept what can’t be avoided If you know a situation is beyond your power, say to yourself: “It is so; it can, t be otherwise.” Don’t permit little things to ruin your happiness. Try to develop a mental attitude that will bring you peace and happiness.

A. Act on that decision.

B. It is not an easy job to get facts.

C. Decide how much anxiety a thing may be worth.

D. Plenty of action is one of the best ways to cure worry.

E. There comes a time when you must decide and never look back.

F. Try to get all the facts both on your side and the other side of the case.

G. Whenever you are worried, write down the questions that make you worry.

There is some unwelcome news for students preparing for exams and officers putting in long hours—you don’t need that “refreshment（提神） break” as much as you may think.

Scientists believed it was not easy for people to continue their work if they felt the need to have a snack or a rest to make them feel better. They argued that the only way to regain willpower is by supplying more energy to our bodies with rest, food or entertainment.

But psychologists have challenged this theory, saying weak willpower is in your head. They found that a person’s mindset(理念) and belief about willpower determine how long and how well they’ll be able to work on a tough mental exercise. “If you think of willpower as something that’s limited, you’re more likely to be tired when you perform a difficult task,” said Professor Veronika Job. “But if you think of willpower as something that is not easily depleted, you can go on and on.”

The researchers led by Mr. Job designed an experiment to test the students’ beliefs about willpower. After a tiring task those who believed or were led to believe that willpower was a limited resource performed worse on standard concentration tests than those who thought of willpower as something they had more control over.

Mr. Job said, “Students who may already have trouble studying are being told that their powers of concentration are limited, and they need to take frequent breaks. But a belief in willpower as a non-limited resource makes people stronger in their ability to work through challenges.”

The findings could help people who are battling with temptation(诱惑):people following strict diets and doing exercise regularly to lose weight, people trying to overcome addictions, employees facing a tight deadline. Willpower isn’t driven by a biologically based process as much as we used to think.

1.What opinion did scientists have in the past?

A. Willpower was a limited resource.

B. It was hard to regain willpower.

C. Hardworking people seldom took breaks.

D. People could easily feel tired when working.

2.Which of the following can replace the underlined word “depleted” in paragraph 3?

A. Given up.    B. Recovered.

C. Used up.    D. Changed.

3.What can we learn from the findings of the experiment?

A. Students benefit most from the research.

B. Frequent breaks are not good for learning.

C. Will power can be regained after people have a good rest.

D. The belief in willpower can change a man’s behaviour.

4.Why does the author write the text?

A. To explain the power of willpower.

B. To show us how to build willpower.

C. To tell us the ways of gaining willpower.

D. To introduce a new theory on willpower.

Have you ever wondered why birds sing? Maybe you thought that they were just happy. After all, you probably sing or whistle when you are happy.

Some scientists believe that birds do sing some of the time just because they are happy. However, they sing most of the time for a very different reason. Their singing is actually a warning to other birds to stay out of their territory.

Do you know what a “territory” is? A territory is an area that an animal, usually the male, claims（声称）as its own. Only he and his family are welcome there. No other families of the same species are welcome. Your yard and house are your territory where only your family and friends are welcome. If a stranger should enter your territory and threaten you, you might shout. Probably this would be enough to frighten him away.

If so, you have actually scared the stranger away without having to fight him. A bird does the same thing. But he expects an outsider almost any time, especially at nesting（筑巢）season. So he is screaming all the time, whether he can see an outsider or not. This screaming is what we call a bird’s song, and it is usually enough to keep an outsider away.

Birds sing loudest in the spring when they are trying to attract a mate and warn others not to enter the territory of theirs.

You can see that birds have a language of their own. Most of it has to do with attracting mates and setting up territories.

1.Some scientists believe that most of the time birds’ singing is actually ______.

A. an expression of happiness    B. an expression of anger

C. a way of greeting    D. a way of warning

2.How does the writer explain birds’ singing?

A. By comparing birds with human beings.

B. By telling a bird’s story.

C. By reporting experiment results.

D. By describing birds’ daily life.

3.What is a bird’s “territory”?

A. An area for which birds fight against each other.

B. A place where a bird may shout at the top of its voice.

C. An area which a bird considers to be its own.

D. A place where families of other species are not accepted.

4.Why do birds keep on singing at nesting season?

A. Because they want to find outsiders around.

B. Because their singing helps frighten outsiders away.

C. Because they want to invite more friends.

D. Because their singing helps get rid of their fears.