I have never forgotten the firm belief I had in the arrival through the chimney (烟囱) of the little Santa Claus (圣诞老人), the kind, white-bearded old man who at midnight left in my tiny shoe a present I found the next morning.
Midnight! It’s the perfect hour children don’t know. What great efforts I made not to go to sleep before the little old man appeared!
I had both a great desire and great fear of seeing him, but could never stay awake until then, and the next day my first look was for my shoe. He never failed to carefully wrap (包装) every present for me. I would run barefoot to get my treasure. It never was a very expensive present, for we were not rich. It was a cookie, an orange, or very simply a fine red apple. But it felt so precious that I barely dared to eat it. What a great role imagination plays in a child’s life!
I do not at all agree with the idea that the lies about Santa Claus should be stopped. Doubts and truth come all too soon on their own. I very well remember the first year, when I was five or six, I doubted that it was not Santa Claus who put the cookie in my shoe. Since then, it has never tasted as good as the first few years of my life.
I noted that my son believed in him longer; boys are more naïve (天真的) than little girls. Like me, he made great efforts to stay awake until midnight. Like me, he loved the cookie baked in Heaven’s kitchens. And like me, the first year of his doubts was the last year of the visit of the good old man.
1.As a little girl, the author loved the gifts on Christmas Day because ________.
A. they usually cost a lot of money
B. she always got the very gifts she asked for
C. they were beautifully wrapped
D. she believed they were from Santa Claus
2.According to the article, what role does imagination play in a child’s life?
A. It adds value to the common Christmas gifts.
B. It makes a child curious about everything.
C. It encourages him to climb the chimney.
D. It makes him doubt whether Santa Claus really exists.
3.By saying “Doubts and truth come all too soon on their own” in Paragraph 4, the author feels ________.
A. unsatisfied with being cheated
B. sorry for realizing that Santa Claus doesn’t exist
C. happy at finding out the facts of Santa Claus
D. angry about parents’ lying to children about Santa Claus
A few months after we moved to a small city in France, I wanted to meet my husband for lunch at the university where he worked. I got lost. I had to call him for help. One of his friends said to him later, “How could she get lost? She just needed to go straight.”
Well, no. That’s the problem. You never “just go straight”, because France is the land of roundabouts (弯道). Highways, major streets, little village lanes – if you go straight long enough, you’ll end up going in circles.
Even after a year here, I’d still get lost going to the grocery store, or just about anywhere that wasn’t within a hundred yards of my house.
I admit I have a horrible sense of direction, can’t read a map, and am not such a good driver. Plus, I’ve been spoiled (宠坏) by living in American cities, where you just indeed need to “go straight”. But in France, driving became my nightmare — the roads are roundabouts within roundabouts.
Finally I found a solution: a GPS program on my smart phone. I rely on it to get anywhere, even places I’ve been.
But it does leave me feeling very bad and helpless when, often, the program doesn’t work, can’t find a GPS signal, or gives wrong information. I’d have to wait until my GPS gets recovered, or else I use my old solution: I call my husband. Is the GPS making us more stupid, or helping us going around more? In my case, it’s probably both.
1.The friend of the writer’s husband’s thought ________.
A. the roundabouts were confusing B. the way to the university was simple
C. she didn’t lose her way D. she was a foolish woman
2.The writer thinks if one just “goes straight” in France, he will probably ________.
A. arrive at his destination at last B. come back to where he starts
C. find his way out of the city D. end up in a grocery store
3.Which of the following statements is NOT true about the writer?
A. She lacks the sense of direction.
B. She once lived in a different country.
C. She has stayed in France for more than a year.
D. She has already got used to the French way of life.
4.What does the writer think of the GPS program?
A. It’s a satisfactory solution to her problem.
B. It improves her sense of direction.
C. It doesn’t always work very well.
D. It is a useless device for her.
He is both a great director and a great animator (卡通片制作者). He is Japan’s Walt Disney.
Hayao Miyazaki, the 72-year-old Japanese master of fantasy animation (奇幻动画), one of the most respected animation directors in the world, announced his retirement on September 6. Here are some key words about his films.
Good and evil (邪恶)
Miyazaki rarely tells stories in simple good and evil. The worlds he creates tend to be complex (复杂的) and unclear. The bad figures often don’t seem so bad once you get to know them. Miyazaki has explained that the lack of clear good and evil is because he sees the 21st century as a complex time, in which old ideas need to be re-examined, even in children’s films.
Children
The heroes in Miyazaki’s films are usually children or teens, more often young girls. Sometimes they can see the spirit world; they are curious and friendly, even to strange creatures. The stories often deal with growing up.
Sky and water
Two of Miyazaki’s great loves are the sky and water, and he uses them in related ways. Flight is a forever theme — Miyazaki has never done a film without flying of some kind. His imagination seems to fly and leave behind the pull of gravity (重力), a force and control that he feels a bound (束缚) from setting him free.
Water is another way for Miyazaki to fight gravity. In his films he likes the unexpected floods with crystal-clear water, and objects floating on the surface seem to be supported by magic.
Peace
Miyazaki’s negative view of the war goes far more than surface deep. Violence is usually seen as wrong and painful, and Miyazaki’s heroes are often peacemakers.
1.What can we know about good and evil from Miyazaki’s films?
A. The figures cannot be simply judged as good or evil.
B. He uses his films to show good finally defeats evil.
C. The complex time tends to turn good into evil.
D. Children should learn to clearly tell good from evil.
2.According to the article, children in Miyazaki’s films are ______.
A. all little teen-aged girls B. always able to see spirits
C. curious trouble makers D. kind to people and creatures
3.Miyazaki’s love for flight may come from ______.
A. the relation between sky and water
B. his hate for gravity since his childhood
C. his desire to be free from gravity
D. his love for water that can flood the world
4.In Miyazaki’s films we may NOT see ______.
A. the appealing castle in the sky
B. children with the problems of growing up
C. objects magically floating on the water
D. a world left in ruins in the end
假如你是某学校的一位老师叫Anna，你校新生李华因学校不允许携带手机，感到很困惑，他写信想征求你的意见。请根据以下要点给李华写一封回信。
内容要点：1.手机方便交流；
2.带手机上学会影响教学；
3.花大量时间玩手机影响学习，有害健康；
4.理解学校的管理。
注意：1.短文必须包括所有的内容要点，可根据行文逻辑适当发挥；
2.词数：90-100；
3.开头结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
参考词汇：conversation n.交流；managementn n.管理。
Dear Li Hua,
I'm glad to have received your letter dated Oct 6,asking my advice on whether students can carry smartphones to school or not.______________________________________________________________________________
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Yours sincerely,
Anna
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短文。短文中共有10处错误，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（∧），并在此符号下面写出该加的词。
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（从第11处起）不计分。
When my father bought me a computer as a birthday gift in last year,I felt very exciting.As we all know, computers are getting more and more usefully now.Much informations can be stored in them.We can also learn that has lately happened in the world on Internet.In the past,people had to do lots of work which was very dangerous. Now,but,computers can do it instead.When an exam is coming,I often did some exercises on my computer.Then it will correct it and tell me the right answers.In this way it is more convenient for me to preparing for exams than before.The computer has become my real friend.
Nearly all wild lions live in Sub-Saharan Africa,but a small number of Asian lions live in India's Gir Forest. Although the two species live far from each other,Asian lions and African lions are1.same species（种类）.
Asian lions once prowled（潜行）around from the Middle East2.India.Now,only 200 to 260 of these3. (amaze) animals survive in the wild.The Gir Forest's dry woods4.(be) once a royal hunting ground.Today they are a reserve5.the endangered Asian lions6.(protect).
Lions are the only cats that live in groups,7.(call)prides（狮群）.All of a pride's female（雌性）lions are related and female babies8.(usual)stay with the group as they grow.Young males eventually（最后）leave and may have their own prides by9.(take)over a group headed（领头）by another male.
Male lions usually defend the pride's territory（地盘）.They mark the area and run after animals that come to their territory.Female lions are the pride's primary10.(hunt).They often work together to hunt large mammals.
