In the early hours of March 8, a Boeing 777 took off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Its destination was Beijing. But for unknown reasons, it never arrived there.
There were 239 people on the Malaysia Airlines flight, including 154 Chinese. As of March 13, 12 different countries, including Malaysia, China, Vietnam and the US, were searching for the plane.
The disappearance is an “aviation (航空) mystery”, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, the head of Malaysia’s Civil Aviation Authority, said on March 10.There was no clear sign of a crash by March 13.
Between 1-2 hours after takeoff, the plane suddenly lost contact with people on the ground. The weather was clear, and the pilots didn’t make any calls . No evidence was found in the a
rea where the flight last made contact. People are also talking about a possible hijacking (劫机).
International police agency Interpol confirmed on March 9 that at least two passengers on the flight had used stolen passports to get on board. “We are looking at all possibilities,” said Malaysian Transport Minister Hishamuddin Hussein. The incident is now being called simply a “plane disappearance”.
So, what are some possible causes of a plane disappearance? An AP story provided a summary.
1. A failure of the plane’s body or its engines. However, even if both engines stopped working, the plane could still glide (滑翔) for up to 20 minutes, giving pilots time to make an emergency call.
2. Bad weather. Planes are designed to fly through most severe storms. However, in June 2009, an Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed during a bad storm over the Atlantic Ocean.
3. A bomb. Throughout history, several planes have been brought down by bombs.
4. An accidental shoot-down by some country’s military. In July 1988, the US Navy accidentally shot down an Iran Air flight. In September 1983, a Korean Air Lines flight was shot down by a Russian fighter jet.
No matter how unlikely a situation, it’s too early to determine what really happened to MH370. It could take months, if not years, to rule out any possibilities, say experts..
1.How many cities are mentioned in this passage?
A. Four cities.B. five cities.C. Six cities.D. Seven cities.
2.What could the underlined phrase “rule out” in the last paragraph mean?
A. cross outB. get rid ofC. take outD. take the place of
3.What could be the best title of the passage?
A. An Air CrashB. The Causes of the Disappearance
C. The Disappearance of MH 370D. An Aviation Mystery
When us teenager Jake Olson isn’t playing football or golf for his high school, he’s often offering inspiration through his new book about his own life.
These activities might be too much for the average 16-year-old to deal with, but Jake is blind. When people ask him how he can possibly play golf without being able to see the ball, he says he is thankful for his father’s guidance.
It seems apparent that his early experience playing sports as a person with sight and muscle memory— repeating behaviors over and over until they become second nature — have also enabled Jake to hit the ball quite well.
Jake was born with a rare kind of eye cancer that took away the vision from his left eye when he was an infant and eventually his right eye, in 2009, when he was 12 years old. Rather than letting the disease hold him back, Jake used his loss of sight and his faith as sources of motivation .
“If I was going to sit on the couch all day feeling sorry for myself, I wasn’t going to do anything. I decided right then and there that I wasn’t going to let it stop me and that I was going to go out and persevere (坚持不懈),” he said.
It was with that mind-set that the student from Orange Lutheran High School in California was able to write his first book, Open Your Eyes: 10 Uncommon Lessons to Discover a Happier Life. “It’s about opening the readers’ eyes to their true potential in life and making sure that they use all the abilities that they have,” Jake said.
Jake’s father, Brian Olson, said the family is impressed with what he has done with his life, including showing people that they can get through hardships. “Your darkest hour can soon become your brightest, and with every setback, there’s a setup,” Jake said. “In every one of us, there’s more potential than we can ever imagine, and it really is a choice.”
1.We can learn from the article that Jake Olson ______.
A. was born a blind child
B. could have been a golf master
C. has great muscle memory
D. is trying to find the cure for his disease
2.According to the article, Jake’s family members ______.
A. pity him deeply
B. once gave up hope on him
C. encouraged him to write the book
D. admire his efforts and determination
3.The purpose of the book Open Your Eyes: 10 Uncommon Lessons to Discover a Happier Life is to ______.
A. promote good approaches to get
ting along with disabled people
B. inspire people to discover and use their hidden abilities
C. help people come up with better life goals
D. explain different definitions of “a happier life”
4.The underlined word “setback” is closest in meaning to ______.
A. fight B. failureC. opportunity D. success
假定你是李华，你的英国笔友正在写一篇关于各国中学生课外阅读(extra-curricular reading)情况的调查报告，他给你发了一封电子邮件，想了解相关情况。请你根据以下提示，给他回一封电子邮件。
你校学生课外阅读的现状；
原因分析；
你的看法；
注意：1.根据所给提示，适当发挥，要求内容充实，语意连贯。
2.字数不少于100。开头和结尾已经写好，不计入总词数。
3.邮件中不得提及考生所在学校及本人姓名。
Dear Helen,
Thank you for your email. Now I would like to tell you something about
Best wishes!
Yours,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文，文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号（/\）,并在该句下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线（___），并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从11处起）不计分。
Dear Lucy,
I am very excited to learn that you’re coming to Xi’an for travel. Both my parent miss you a lot. So is our friend, Ruby. April is best time of the year to visit Xi’an. There is only a few rain and the weather is neither too hot or too cold. There are so many places I wanted to take you to after I finish my work like a volunteer in the local charity. When you come, you can stay with ourselves. My house is about three kilometers far away from Xi’an Moslem Street where is full of local foods.
Best regards,
Janet
根据短文内容，从下框的A---F选项中选出能概括每一段主题的最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。 选项中有一项为多余选项。
A. Current reviews and suggestions
B. Commercial pressures on people in charge
C. Mixed views on current changes to museums
D. Collections of factual evidence
E. Interpreting the facts to meet visitor expectations
F. Fewer differences between public attractions
1.
It was convinced that historical relics provide evidence about the past. Such conviction was, until recently, reflected in museum displays. Museums used to look - and some still do - much like storage rooms of objects packed together in showcases: good for scholars to study, but not for the average visitor, to whom it all looked alike.
2.
Recently, however, attitudes towards history and the way it should be presented have become different. The key word in heritage display is now ‘experience’, the more exciting the better and, if possible, involving all the senses. On so called heritage sites computers will soon provide reality experiences, which will present visitors with a vivid image of the period of their choice, in which they themselves can act as if part of the historical environment. Such developments have been criticized by some experts, but the success of many historical theme parks suggests that the majority of the public does not share this opinion.
3.
In a related development, the sharp distinction between museum and heritage sites on the one hand, and theme parks on the other is gradually evaporating(蒸发). They already borrow ideas and concepts from one another. For example, museums have adopted storylines for exhibitions, sites have accepted ‘theming’ as a relevant tool, and theme parks are moving towards more realness and research-based presentations.
4.
Theme parks are undergoing other changes, too, as they try to present more serious social and cultural issues, and move away from fantasy. This development is a response to market forces and exhibits must be both based on artifacts and facts as we know them, and attractively presented. Those who are professionally working in the art of interpreting(诠释) history are thus in a difficult position, as they must manage a narrow course between the demands of ‘evidence’ and ‘attractiveness’, especially given the increasing need in this industry for income making activities.
5.
It could be claimed that in order to make everything in heritage more ‘real’, historical accuracy must be increasingly changed. For example, in the Museum of Natural History in Washington, Neanderthal man is shown making a commanding gesture to his wife. Such presentations tell us more about contemporary understandings of the world than about our ancestors. In fact if the professionals did not provide the interpretation, visitors would do it for themselves, based on their own ideas, misconceptions and prejudices. And no matter how exciting the result, it would contain a lot more bias(偏见) than the presentations provided by experts.
More than a century ago, the composer and bandleader John Philip Sousa warned that technology would destroy music, who said, “These talking machines are going to ruin the artistic development of music in this country. When I was a boy … in front of every house in the summer evenings you would find young people together singing the songs of the day or th
e old songs. Today you hear these terrible machines going night and day. We will not have a vocal cord (声带) left.”
Music has greatly changed in the past hundred years, which has been everywhere in our world: rivers of digital melody flow on the Internet or on disc; MP3 players with forty thousand songs can be put in a back pocket or a purse. Yet, for most of us, music is no longer something we do ourselves, or even watch othe
r people do in front of us. It has become a radically virtual medium, an art without a face.
Ever since Edison invented the phonograph cylinder(留声机), people have been assessing what the medium of recording has done for and to the art of music. Sousa was a spokesman for the party of doom; in the opposite corner are the utopians(乌托邦), who argue that technology has not imprisoned music but liberated it. Before Edison came along, Beethoven’s symphonies could be heard only in select concert halls. Now the recordings carry the man from Bonn to the corners of the earth. Glenn Gould, after renouncing live performance in 1964, predicted that within the century the public concert would disappear into the electronic air.
Having discovered much of my favorite music through LPs and CDs, I am not about to join Sousa’s party. Modern urban environments are often so soulless or ugly that I’m grateful for the humanizing touch of electronic sound. But neither can I accept Gould’s slashing futurism. I want to be aware of technology’s effects, positive and negative. Fortunately, scholars and critics have been methodically exploring this terrain for many decades, trying to figure out exactly what happens when we listen to music with no musicians in the room.
1.The first paragraph is intended to .
A. defend an argument B. make a prediction
C. criticize an attitude D. summarized a viewpoint
2.The author’s attitude towards the recorded music may best be described as .
A. dissatisfied B. defensive C. optimistic D. objective
3.The underlined word “terrain” in the last paragraph most nearly means .
A. region B. subject C. land D. distinction
4.The primary purpose of the passage is to .
A. explain different attitudes of scholars and critics
B. defend the view of one group from the criticism of another
C. advocate an unexpected solution to a pressing problem
D. present the key issues in an ongoing debate
