The Brown Bear
My wife Laura and I were on the beach, with three of our children, taking pictures of shore birds near our home in Alaska when we spotted a bear. The bear was thin and small, moving aimlessly.
Just a few minutes later, I heard my daughter shouting, “Dad! The bear is right behind us!” An aggressive bear will usually rush forward to frighten away its enemy but would suddenly stop at the last minute. This one was silent and its ears pinned back—the sign of an animal that is going in for the kill. And it was a cold April day. The bear behaved abnormally, probably because of hunger.
I held my camera tripod (三脚架) in both hands to form a barrier as the bear rushed into me. Its huge head was level with my chest and shoulders, and the tripod stuck across its mouth. It bit down and I found myself supporting its weight. I knew I would not be able to hold it for long.
Even so, this was a fight I had to win: I was all that stood between the bear and my family, who would stand little chance of running faster than a brown bear.
The bear hit at the camera, cutting it off the tripod. I raised my left arm to protect my face; the beast held tightly on the tripod and pressed it into my side. My arm could not move, and I sensed that my bones were going to break.
Drawing back my free hand, I struck the bear as hard as I could for five to six times. The bear opened its mouth and I grasped its fur, trying to push it away. I was actually wrestling (扭打) with the bear at this point. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the fight ended. The bear moved back toward the forest, before returning for another attack—The first time I felt panic.
Apparently satisfied that we caused no further threat, the bear moved off, destroying a fence as it went. My arm was injured, but the outcome for us could hardly have been better. I’m proud that my family reminded clear-headed when panic could have led to a very different outcome.
1.The brown bear approached the family in order to _______.
A. catch shore birdsB. start an attack
C. protect the childrenD. set up a barrier for itself
2.The bear finally went away after it _______.
A. felt safeB. got injured
C. found some foodD. took away the camera
3.The writer and his family survived mainly due to their ______.
A. prideB. patience
C. calmnessD. cautiousness
When the Apollo astronauts (宇航员) landed on the Moon in 1969, millions of people were rather sad. The person to blame for this was an artist named Chesley Bonestell. For many years, Bonestell had been creating beautifully detailed paintings of the Moon and planets. Viewers of his artwork were unhappy because the real Moon did not look like Bonestell’s pictures of it.
As a space artist, Bonestell tried to make his drawings look exciting and as true as the Moon is. He worked closely with astronomers and scientists to get the most up-to-date scientific information available. But in the 1940s and 1950s, no one had ever seen another planet up close. Yet Bonestell’s paintings looked so real that some people thought they were photographs.
Even though Bonestell was interested in astronomy, he did not start out as a space artist. As a young man he studied architecture — the art and science of designing and making buildings. In 1938 Bonestell became a special effects artist in Hollywood. It was here that he learned he could improve his paintings by following the methods used in the movies.
In 1944, a popular magazine published a series of Bonestell’s paintings of the planet Saturn. He drew Saturn as if it were seen by someone standing on each of the planet’s moons. The results were dazzling. Within a few years, Bonestell’s artwork was appearing regularly in magazines and books on astronomy and space flight.
Many of Bonestell’s artworks had been right all along. But the biggest surprise was the Moon. Someone asked Bonestell what he was thinking when he saw the first pictures from the Moon. “I thought how wrong I was!” he said. “My mountains were sharp (陡峭的), and they aren’t on the Moon.”
But he shouldn’t have felt bad. No space artist had ever before taken so many people to so many faraway worlds. In the years just before the first manned space flights, Bonestell’s artwork prepared people for the amazing space adventure to come.
1.Bonestell made his space drawings ________.
A. from a very early age
B. by copying photographs
C. with the help of scientists
D. in order to make a living
2.The underlined word “dazzling” in Paragraph 4 can best be replaced by “________”.
A. doubtfulB. wonderfulC. terribleD. worrying
3.Bonestell’s success lay in the fact that ________.
A. he created a new drawing skill
B. he helped finish the first space flight
C. he made space travel more popular
D. He helped bring space closer to people
4.What would be the best title for the text?
A. The space art of Chesley Bonestell
B. The first men on the Moon
C. The journeys of the Apollo astronauts
D. Spacewalking: through an astronaut’s eyes
Reading can be a social activity. Think of the people who belong to book groups. They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them. Now, the website BookCrossing.com turns the page on the traditional idea of a book group.
Members go on the site and register the books they own and would like to share. BookCrossing provides an identification number to stick inside the book. Then the person leaves it in a public place, hoping that the book will have an adventure, traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it.
Bruce Pederson, the managing director of BookCrossing, says, “The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read. BookCrossing combines both.”
Members leave books on park benches and buses, in train stations and coffee shops. Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they found it.
People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it. E-mails are then sent to the BookCrossing to keep them updated about where their books have been found. Bruce peterson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home.
BookCrossing is part of a trend among people who want to get back to the “real” and not the virtual(虚拟). The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred thirty-five countries.
1.Why does the author mention book groups in the first paragraph?
A. To explain what they are.
B. To introduce BookCrossing.
C. To stress the importance of reading.
D. To encourage readers to share their ideas.
2.What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A. The book. B. An adventure.
C. A public place. D. The identification number.
3.What will a BookCrosser do with a book after reading it?
A. Meet other readers to discuss it.
B. Keep it safe in his bookcase.
C. Pass it on to another reader.
D. Mail it back to its owner.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A. Online Reading: A Virtual Tour
B. Electronic Books: A new Trend
C. A Book Group Brings Tradition Back
D. A Website Links People through Books
A few years ago, a company called Space Marketing came up with a plan to send a mile–long advertisement into space. To advertising agencies (机构), it would have been “a dream come true”. However, advertising standards agencies finally decided not to allow Space Marketing to go ahead with their plans and they were forced to give them up.
Space may indeed be the final place for advertisers, because on Earth we are already surrounded by advertising wherever we are and whatever we are doing. Apart from the obvious adverts that we see every day on TV, and in newspapers and magazines, there is a whole ‘other world’ of advertising messages for our attention. There are ads that we see on the side of the bus we catch to work, for example. And what about the logos (商标) we see on the clothing of the people we walk past in the streets?
Most of the time, we are probably not even aware of (意识到的) these less obvious advertising methods, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t work. Take ‘product placement’, for example. You are in a cinema, watching the latest Hollywood movie. Look carefully at the make of car your favorite actor is driving. And what about his watch? Can you see what brand it is? Chances are, you can, and the company that owns the brand is likely to have paid thousands for it to appear in the film.
So, whether Space Marketing finally succeeds in sending ads into space or not is perhaps less important than it might seem. This would not change a thing. Our everyday lives are already strongly influenced by advertising whether we realize it or not.
1.What happened to the plan of sending an ad into space?
A. It came to nothing.
B. It was a dream come true.
C. It had to wait a few years before it was carried out.
D. It was supported by the advertising standards agencies.
2.How does the author explain the “other world” of advertising messages?
A. By showing research findings.
B. By explaining research findings.
C. By giving instructions.
D. By using examples.
3.As a form of advertising, product placement ________.
A. costs a little
B. doesn’t work
C. is less obvious than TV ads
D. mainly appears in Hollywood movies
4.What does the author suggest at the end of the text？
A. We live in a world of advertising.
B. We’ve changed a lot because of advertising.
C. Space Marketing leads in the advertising industry.
D. Space ads will mark the beginning of a new world.
在很多公共场合，我们都可以看到“中式英文”(Chinglish)的标志，我们是否应该彻底清理这些Chinglish呢？请结合下面信息，以“Should We Get Rid of Chinglish?”为题，写一篇英语短文。
赞成 | 1.外国人很难看懂。 |
2.我们应该学习标准英文。 | |
反对 | 1.“中式英文”丰富了英语本身。 |
2.“中式英文”为我们的生活增添了情趣。 | |
你的观点 | ? |
注意:1.词数:100左右；
2.可适当发挥，以使行文连贯。
假定英语课上老师要求同桌交换修改作文， 请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有十处语言错误， 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：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在下面写出该加的词。修改：在错的词下划一横线，在该词下面写出改正后的词。
注意： 每处错误及修改均仅限一次; 只允许修改10处，多者从第11处起不计分。
This afternoon I was having a PE lesson while I fell down and hurt my foot. I was in greatly pain at that moment, but I tried to act as if nothing has happened until the class was over. Though I had difficulty walk back to my classroom, I still didn’t tell anyone but even refused the offer of help of my classmates. As result, the hurt in my foot became bad. Now I know I am wrong. We can tell others our need for help and accept his help. Some day we can help others in return for. In this way, we can get along to each other happily and peacefully.
