More and more Americans are showing an interest in healthy and locally-produced food. As the interest increases, raising chickens has been gaining popularity in some American cities.
“Look, we get three eggs this time.”
Collecting eggs is a daily pleasure for the Hurst family. Naomi Hurst says her family started to raise chickens in back of their home in Maryland a month ago.
“We have wanted to try having backyard chickens for a couple years now. And really just didn't have the time to build my own coop（鸡笼；鸡舍） and look out where to buy chickens. And then we met Rent a Coop,” said Naomi Hurst.
Rent a Coop is a chicken rental business. Tyler Phillips launched the company with a partner 18 months ago. It comes with a mobile coop on wheels, two egg-laying hens, feed, bedding, water bowl, feed bowl, and our 24-hour chicken hotline. You can call with any questions. The price is 185 dollars for four weeks.
After the four weeks passed, individuals can extend the rental agreement, return everything or purchase the animals and supplies.
Tyler Phillips designs and makes the coops. He says he wants to do as little damage as possible to the environment.
“We always try to have as many recycled materials as possible. And I want the coops to be safe for kids. I want the chickens to be comfortable and they have access to the grass while being inside the coop. I want it to be easily movable, light weight,” he said.
Some cities require people have large pieces of land, if they want to raise farm animals. Others require an agreement with neighbors, limit the number of chickens, or, even ban the birds.
Tyler Phillips expects that would change as interest in small poultry (家禽) coops grows.
“I see cities around the D. C. area changing laws almost monthly and different cities will change the law to being prochicken(赞成养鸡). That is happening all around the United States,” he said, He believes that there will be chicken rental businesses in most American cities within five years.
1.According to the passage people raise chickens probably to __________.
A. save the living cost
B. reduce farmers’ burden
C. solve the employment problems
D. get safe and healthy food
2.The Hurst family used to have trouble in ____________.
A. building a website for raising chickens
B. building the coops and buying the chickens
C. finding some place to raise the chickens
D. persuading the neighbours to accept their idea
3.We can learn from the passage that __________.
A. you can enjoy the Rent a Coop service after 18 months
B. you can search online for any questions related to raising chickens
C. you can pay for keeping the supplies and the chickens for ever
D. you can pay 185 dollars a week for renting things to raise the chickens
4.Tyler Phillips designed and made the coops ____________
A. based on the environmentally friendly concept
B. based on the government’s supporting policy
C. to help advertise the organic and local food
D. to meet his neighbors’ need of raising chickens
It has been more than 50 years since Harvard Business School started admitting women, yet the institution (机构) is still trying hard to find out how to best attract and support them. Its latest effort: a program targeting women’s colleges—place that are not traditional feeding grounds for the male-majority business school.
The program is called Peek. It offers juniors, seniors and recent graduates from women’s colleges the opportunity to read and discuss four HBS case studies in class specially taught by top HBS members. About 50 to 70 promising students will pay $500 for their stay there.
Women make up 41 percent of Harvard Business School class of 2016—the most the school has had. In 1985, women made up only one-quarter of the graduating class. Harvard is not alone when it comes to struggling with a gender gap (性别差别). At Wharton, the class of 2016 is 40 percent women; at Standford Business School, it’s 42 percent. No top business school had gotten to 50 percent yet.
Despite the Peek program’s good intention, the $500 fee bothered someone, said John A. Byrne, the editor of business school new site. “The fact that HBS would charge women for the chance of coming to campus rubbed a lot of people the wrong way,” said Byrne. HBS said the $500 fee was a “fair price” for room and daily meals at the business school for a weekend, and didn’t actually cover the full costs of the program.
For years, women students at Harvard Business School failed to keep pace with men. In 2010, Harvard business School got a new manager, Nitin Nohrin, who promised a turnaround. Nohrin designed a program to encourage women students and professors. He promised to change the school’s case studies so that at least 20 percent of the people in the business texts would be women.
1.What can we learn about the program Peek?
A. It is free for new students.
B. It offers all kinds of business classes.
C. It is helped by the best teachers.
D. It is intended for high school students.
2.What is the main idea of the Paragraph 3?
A. Women are not good at business management.
B. Women are less interested in business school.
C. Women students are less talented than men students.
D. Women students are becoming fewer and fewer in college.
3.In the eyes of Byrne, Harvard’s program ________.
A. will be a total failure
B. will waste lots of money
C. doesn’t have many good intention
D. will shut some students out
4.What is the text mainly about?
A. HBS’s new plan to attract more women students.
B. HBS’s new manager Nitin Nohrin.
C. HBS’s effort to attract talented students.
D. HBS, the best business school ever world-wide.
Saturday was my husband’s birthday, but we spent most of the time in the car. We were driving to Phoenix for the weekend to celebrate his birthday and see the Warriors play the Suns.
My husband is a lucky man. Not only has he lived to see another birthday, but he doesn’t mind driving 200 miles to see an NBA basketball game.
In the car, his cellphone kept ringing with birthday greetings from family and friends. He put them all on the speakerphone so he could drive with both hands and I could listen in even though it wasn’t my birthday.
Meanwhile, on the CD player, the Reverend AL Green began to sing Love and Happiness. A little good music makes a bad road better.
Four hours later, we checked into hotel, got dinner and sat out a rooftop feeling glad to be alive.
We had a great weekend—we ate too much, slept too little and the Warriors, well, they lost. But still, it was worth the drive.
On the way home, I started thinking about birthdays. In our family, we celebrate four in January, four in February, and all the others throughout the year. Mine is next week.
I felt lucky, like my husband, I will get cards and calls and maybe a few videos. I don’t need presents any more. When you’ve seen as many birthdays as I have seen, the only gift you truly want is to see one more.
Birthdays are the mile markers on the road of life. They tell us how far we have come, but not how far we have gone.
Life is a journey more than a destination. What matters is whom we choose as traveling companions, and how often we get to sit back and enjoy the ride.
1.What helps to make their long journey drive to Phoenix better?
A. The phone calls from their friends.
B. The music played on their CD player.
C. The beautiful view along the road.
D. The desire to celebrate a nice birthday.
2.What kind of birthday gift does the author really want?
A. A wish to live another year.
B. Calls and cards from friends.
C. A live NBA game
D. Videos from friends and family.
3.What is the major lesson that the author took from the journey?
A. People should learn to appreciate life together with their loved ones.
B. Taking a long drive is a great way to celebrate a birthday.
C. A meaningful life is like a journey with a clear destination.
D. People shouldn’t rest on what they have but try to make new achievements.
4.What could be the best title for this passage?
A. My lucky Husband
B. Driving to See a Basketball Game
C. Mile Markers on the Road of Life
D. A birthday journey
Last August, I traveled with a group of volunteers to Tres de Mayo, a small community near Tela, Honduras to help renovate (整修) a community centre. During my stay there, I learned many things and I also had plenty of opportunity to interact (互动) and work with local children, and I often could not help but think about the hardships they faced day to day, all factors considered to place children at-risk for problems later in life.
One young boy in particular, Javier, 16, stood out for me. Javier’s father had left a year earlier for the U. S., and the family had not heard from him since. This put his mother in a difficult position, stay in Tres de Mayo with no job and no source of income. In the end she decided to move to another province to find work. Javier with his little brother had to stay to live with their grandfather in a small house. Many of the children we met in Tres de Mayo were in similar situations.
As our last day approached, I remember the look in Javier’s eyes, as they welled up(涌出) with tears when we told him we were leaving. One of the volunteers held him close, but it did little to console him. He had already experienced so much loss, his father abandoning him, his mother leaving to find work, and it was hard to realize that our departure(离开) was adding to the list.
As I looked beyond Javier, I could see the many men and women whom Javier looked up to, depended on, and gathered strength from. I did know that without parents to raise him, he was not left alone. Instead, the adults in the community took responsibility for the care of their collective young.
1.Which of the following statement is TRUE?
A. Javier established good relationship with the author and his team.
B. Javier faced a number of challenges that put him at some risks.
C. Javier shared the same sufferings with other kids in Tres de Mayo.
D. Javier had to learn to be independent even since he was a little boy.
2.We can replace the underlined word “console ” in the third paragraph with ________.
A. affect
B. inspire
C. comfort
D. protect
3.According to the author, what plays an important part in the growth of Javier?
A. The united effort from the whole global village.
B. The good quality from the foreign volunteers.
C. The great care from the adults in his community.
D. The positive support from some of his family.
书面表达
你的美国笔友Lucy来信告知她寒假期间将来京旅游，打算买几个风筝作为纪念品(souvenir)带回美国。请你根据以下提示给Lucy写回信。
1. 表示欢迎；
2. 就她购买纪念品的计划说说你的看法；
3. 推荐一个你认为最值得参观的古迹，并说明原因。
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Lucy，
I learned about your plan from your mail. ______________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Best wishes!
Sincerely Yours，
Li Hua
短文改错
短文中共有10处语言错误，每句话最多两处错误。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在此处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出增加的词;
删除：把多余的词用斜线(＼)划掉;
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在其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（从十一处起）不计分。
With the development of people’s living condition, more and more people possess their own cars. Some think it is good to own a car. For instance, it’s convenient, fast and comfortable means of transportation. Moreover, it shows that people were becoming richer and the country is much more stronger, which also makes relative businesses and industries develop faster. However, others have different opinions, think that cars give up waste gases and pollute the environment around. Too much cars will have some bad effects, such as more accidents and crowded. Besides, lacking parking lots is another big problem. As far as I’m concerned, we ought to think careful before buying cars. As if we have cars, we may use them less.
