When 12-year-old Taylor Smith wrote a special letter to herself last spring, to be read in 10 years’ time, she didn’t know it would be opened before even a year had passed— and that it wouldn’t be her eyes reading the words.
“She had told me that she had written a letter to herself, and that she was excited that she was going to open it when she was older,”said Taylor’s mother, Mary Ellen Smith.
Instead, it was opened by Taylor’s parents after she died last spring. They posted the letter to Facebook, hoping it would inspire others.
It has. “We’ve gotten letters from lots of parents who have said it has encouraged them to love their kids and love each other,” said Mary Ellen Smith.
In the letter, Taylor congratulated herself on graduating from high school and asked, “Are you in college?”
She also wanted to know if she had been on a plane yet and if the show “Doctor Who” was still on the air.
Taylor also had some words for her future kids. After considering the idea of selling her iPad and getting an iPad mini instead, she told her future self to mention to her kids that “We’re older than the tablet.” She included a drawing of an iPad for them to see.
Taylor died suddenly of pneumonia (肺炎), leaving behind both her parents and an older brother.
“I just want people to know just what an awesome, awesome person she was,” her father, Tim Smith said.
Her mother said, “I can’t bring her back, but I’m so grateful people have been inspired by her story.”
Taylor’s father read the closing g words of her letter, which said, “It’s been years since I wrote this. Stuff has happened, good and bad. That’s just how life works, and you have to go with it.”
1.Taylor Smith decided to open her letter when she was ________.
A. 18 years old B. 20 years old
C. 22 years old D. 24 years old
2.Why did Taylor’s parents post her letter to facebook?
A. To show Taylor Smith’s deep love for her parents.
B. To encourage parents and kids to love each other.
C. To make themselves well-known and make money.
D. To prove Taylor Smith was good at writing.
3.We can learn from the passage that Taylor Smith ________.
A. was a college student
B. had never got an iPad
C. had never taken a plane
D. wanted to join “Doctor Who”.
4.What is the message conveyed at the end of Taylor Smith’s letter?
A. We should develop the habit of keeping a diary.
B. We should accept everything that happens in life.
C. We should stop bad things from happening.
D. We should show our love for our parents in time.
书面表达
假设你是红星中学高二(1)班李华，你校《英语报刊》人物专栏征稿。请你用英语介绍一位你喜欢的人物。内容包括以下三部分：
1. 对该人物的简单介绍；
2. 喜欢该人物的理由；
3. 从该人物身上得到的启示。
注意：词数不少于80。
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阅读短文，根据短文内容回答问题，并将答案写在相应位置。
Tricks to Finding the Cheapest Flights
Travel can be a lifesaver. The right vacation at the right time can refresh your body and mind. But ticket prices are sharply on the rise, many have written off travel as too expensive. However, with a few tricks and a little research, there are still lots of great deals to be had on airline tickets.
Early Bird Gets the Deal. Travel experts say that there are certain times of day when more deals are available. Airfares can change three times a day as airlines adjust their prices to fill up flights. Early morning is when the fares tend to be lowest, but it is a good idea to check every five hours to track prices as they change throughout the day. Also, it’s a good idea to check again at 5 pm when the airlines are trying hardest to fill empty seats.
What Wouldn’t a Business Traveler Do? Most business travelers fly on Mondays and Fridays, so Tuesday and Wednesday are the best days. Airlines will usually lower their prices on these days to aggressively try and fill empty seats.
Avoid the Crowds. Fly to popular places at unpopular times. The slowest time of the year for travel is in the Fall between Labor Day and Thanksgiving. Again, to try and fill more empty seats, the airlines will lower prices to get people to fly during this time of the year.
Right Place, “Wrong” Time? By flying to popular destinations at unpopular times, you can secure the best prices from travel companies and airlines. Here’s where flexibility in your planning can pay off. Going to the airline websites and planning your vacation around the best ticket prices offered can result in a fun, cost-effective vacation and maybe widen your horizons to a place you might never have considered before.
Package Deals. Many times the best deals on airfare can be found as part of a package rate. Most travel sites have package rates available and they are definitely worth a look. Often times, the entire package (hotel, airfare, rental car, meals, tours ect) is cheaper than just the plane ticket on another site. These deals are especially good on last minute bookings.
1.What is the passage mainly about? (回答词数不超过8个)
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2.When may the airfares be the lowest of the day? (回答词数2个)
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3.When do business travelers usually fly? (回答词数2~4个)
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4.How can you find the cheapest flight tickets if you plan to travel to popular places? (回答词数3个)
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5.What does the entire package include? (回答词数不超过8个)
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根据中文补全句子，并将答案写在相应位置。
1.我不仅听说过那位女艺术家，我还亲自采访过她。
Not only ________________ the young woman artist, but I also interviewed her in person.
2.寻找答案，请查阅书的最后一页。
Please ________________ the last page of the book for answers.
3.她对自己过去一年所做的一切非常满意。
She ________________ what she has done in the past year.
4.虽然计算机有很多优势，但替代不了人。
Computers ________________ people though they have many advantages.
5.吉姆将在春节期间来中国，为的是更多地了解中国的传统文化。
Jim will come to China during the Spring Festival ________________ Chinese traditional culture.
6.多亏有你们的帮忙，那位受伤的司机被及时送到医院。
________________, the injured driver was able to be sent to hospital and treated in time.
7.别在太阳下晒太久，你会被晒伤。
________________ for too long. You'll get burnt.
请根据句意，选择方框中的单词，用其正确的形式填入下面的句子的空白处，并将答案写在相应位置。
absorb, intend, accuse, approach, amuse, conclude, thorough |
1.This dictionary is __________ for senior high students.
2.It’s too cold for children to play outside today, so they have to __________ themselves indoors.
3.Tony __________ Julia, touched her shoulder and kissed her on the cheek!
4.Once my neighbour next door __________ me of playing the piano too loudly in my room.
5.Having been __________ cleaned, the garden looked more beautiful than ever before.
6.It seems reasonable to __________ that people’s behaviour is influenced by what they see on TV.
7.He was so __________ in reading a novel that he didn’t notice his teacher coming up to him.
The Beagle Brigade
When returning to the United States from a trip abroad, passengers will have their baggage inspected at U.S. airports by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Beagle Brigade, a team of beagles and their human partners. Working with their human partners, the beagles search for agricultural products carrying diseases and pests which are likely to infect American agriculture.
An orange or apple, for example, might harbor a Mediterranean fruit fly. Ham could carry a disease such as cholera. These and other pests could do harm to farmers’ crops. “Once we introduce something that is not part of the environment, there may not be any controls for it in the environment,” notes USDA’s Lisa Davis at the National Dog Detector Training Center in Orlando, Florida. “The best thing for us to do is to prevent it from coming across the border and spreading.”
When a beagle smells food smells, it signals its partner by sitting there. The human partners then investigate. When the dog is right--which happens 90 percent of the time—it gets something to eat.
“The dog is not out there working,” explains Davis. “It’s out there playing. It’s a game to the dog.” The partners give the beagles plenty of food and loving. They make sure they get first-class medical attention, too. When the dogs finally retire after 9 to 11 years, the USDA finds caring homes for them. It’s a dog’s life indeed!
Their people partners work and study somewhat harder. As specialized quarantine(检疫) officers, most hold degrees in the biological sciences or related sciences.
How well does the Beagle Brigade do its job? “On the average,” notes Davis, “each year our 54 teams prevent around 75,000, restricted(限制的) items.” Since even one infected item could cause widespread destruction, that’s a great result for America’s agricultural environment.
1.The beagles at the airport in the USA are used to __________.
A. conduct the check on foreign passengers’ baggage
B. stop the local products from being taken abroad
C. help inspect the baggage brought from abroad
D. keep their people partners safe
2.What will the beagle do when it finds a possible food product?
A. Signal by sitting next to it.
B. Bark and run around it.
C. Draw it to its partner.
D. Play a game.
3.How is the last paragraph mainly developed?
A. By listing the restricted food.
B. By analyzing the result.
C. By providing the facts.
D. By using examples.
4.What is the author’s attitude towards the use of beagles?
A. Curious. B. Uninterested.
C. Doubtful. D. Positive.
