Driving to the airport in the early morning. I felt 1. (excite) because I would spend the summer in Paris. While looking for more interesting things 2. (do) besides sleeping and eating on the plane, I jumped at the chance to study French in this city 3. (know) for its art, food, and culture.
My connecting flight (转机) was in Frandfurt, Germany, 14 hours from Denver. But when I arrived there, a feeling of 4. (anxious) began to set in. Being in a big, busy building in a country 5. I could not speak the language made me nervous, 6. as I found my way, I gained confidence. When I boarded the second plane and discovered that the flight was less than an hour, I was filled with excitement.
When I stepped on foreign ground for the first time, I was 7. (extreme) happy. I gathered my bags and joined the crowd of people 8. (wait) for friends and family. I quickly had my first experience trying to communicate9. a language that I had only practiced in school. As I left 10. airport, with one sharp turn, the Eiffel Tower came into view. I was finally in Paris.
More and more people around the world are taking a look at urban farming. It can make our food as ______ as possible. By growing what we ______ near where we live, we decrease the “food miles” linked with long-distance ______. We also get the freshest ______.
Growing fruits and vegetables in cities will ______ the community (社区) greatly. ______ can earn extra income by ______ excessive (多余的) produce at community events and farmers’ markets. As such markets grow, they may ______ full-time staff from the community. Thus more job opportunities will be ______.
Another benefit of urban farming is that it can make our cities ______. It will add plants, bring fresh air, and ______ shading. It can help raise people’s awareness about the ______. With more rooftops and yard gardens, local people would have more peaceful places for ______. What’s more, a greener city will ______ tourists.
However, there exist some ______. For example, land in cities is often expensive. If more urban gardens are ______, the rents and house prices will be raised. Urban soils are often loaded with poisons. This requires soil improvement ______ planting can be done ______. Narrow space in cities can ______ the size of a farm. And getting enough water and sunlight can be a(n) ______ task. Considering all these problems, it seems that we still have a long way to go.
1.A. local B. delicious C. simple D. healthy
2.A. bring B. need C. like D. have
3.A. lines B. calls C. arrangement D. transportation
4.A. material B. evidence C. air D. produce
5.A. enlarge B. protect C. benefit D. unite
6.A. Customers B. Porters C. Growers D. Cleaners
7.A. collecting B. showing C. returning D. selling
8.A. hire B. help C. guide D. pay
9.A. missed B. provided C. ruined D. taken
10.A. larger B. greener C. busier D. quieter
11.A. use B. allow C. increase D. cover
12.A. diet B. technology C. environment D. disease
13.A. communication B. retirement C. competition D. relaxation
14.A. attract B. avoid C. affect D. accept
15.A. difficulties B. losses C. sufferings D. doubts
16.A. tidied B. created C. improved D. designed
17.A. since B. unless C. when D. before
18.A. safely B. gradually C. slowly D. lately
19.A. reach B. limit C. vary D. match
20.A. pleasant B. dangerous C. huge D. immediate
Tips for making family movie night a success
We say this a lot, but we think it’s worth repeating: It’s important to get involved in your kids’ media lives - and your kids will love it too. 1. what’s a good way to stay involved with your kids’ media picks and create an opportunity to discuss them? Host a family movie night! Some tips for making it work:
Schedule it. 2. Turn off cell phones and avoid multitasking during the show.
3. If you’ve pot little kids, pre-select a group to choose from. Avoid watching the same movie over and over again. If you’ve got teens, tell them you’ll watch anything they choose as long as they return the favor when it’s your turn. Obey a “no complaining” rule.
Choose a location (场所). Hang a sheet in the backyard, prepare the necessary equipment, and sit on beach chairs to enjoy a classic like The Wizard of Oz. 4.
Talk about it. The next day, make time to chat about what you watched. Kids might be interested in learning more about Hollywood’s history. 5. Talking with kids about how movie characters handled fictional situations can be a way to form your family’s values or get kids to open up about their lives.
A. Make it a theme night.
B. Take turns choosing the movie.
C. This can be simple or complicated.
D. Make it a regular date and time and don’t break it.
E. Visit the library to follow up on interests excited by the movie.
F. But helping them become wise media consumers can be easier said than done.
G. Or spend the family movie night on the road during vacations or at the grandparents’ house.
The vast majority of people can buy pretty much anything they need. Not anything they want, necessarily, but anything they need to achieve a satisfactory degree of creature comfort: clothing, water, shoes and food.
During my childhood, a Michael Pollan book would have been the prize of my year, were I to find it waiting under my Christmas tree or open it upon my birthday. I also used to be thrilled at receiving necessary things, like simple socks or gloves, as present. Nowadays I have too many gloves. I purchase leather gloves online that appear to be a good deal or just because I like their look.
Prosperity (富足) is a good thing, right? Yes, of course. But for me, I find that the greater ease with which such a generous gift is purchased, the less significance it has when given. This is why I try harder at gifts.
My first line of dealing with this problem is simply understanding the effect of a little time spent. Even writing out a thoughtful or funny card goes a lot further than a “cute top” purchased from a popular shopping website.
Need help? Go to your printer. There’s paper in there. Fold one sheet in half and draw a heart on the front. Open it up and fill the card with a poem or a few words of your own. Not only is it obvious that you took the time to select your words and write them down, but now you force the reader to stop for a short time and consider what you were trying to accomplish with them. The effort made by the two of you is the gift.
No matter how you decide to spend a little more time on your giving, the point is just quite simply that you do. You don’t have to give a person a handmade paper boat to get a reaction. But you won’t be sorry if you do.
1.What does the author think of his childhood gifts?
A. They weren’t what he wanted. B. They weren’t easy to get.
C. They looked good. D. They were useful.
2.What does the underlined part “this problem” in paragraph 4 refer to?
A. How to make a good deal. B. How to choose a popular gift.
C. How little a bought gift matters. D. I low long the time spent on gifts is.
3.A handmade card appears to be more significant because .
A. certain information is delivered
B. it provides a sense of achievement.
C. it takes the giver some time to finish it.
D. both the giver and the receiver are making an effort.
4.The author writes the text mainly to .
A. encourage readers to make gifts
B. advise readers to buy helpful gifts
C. inform readers of the importance of giving
D. persuade readers to make reasonable purchase
Sound travels very well through water-much better, in fact, than it does through air. So it shouldn’t be surprising that many ocean animals make noise. They use sound to communicate and hunt. As biologist Brandon Southall says, “Their whole world is related to sound.”
Dolphins whistle, organizing hunts. Lovesick whales sing so loudly they can be heard hundreds of miles away. But these days they aren’t the only ones sounding off. They have more and more competition from human machines.
Every day, thousands of huge container ships sail across the world’s oceans. On top of the engine noise, the ships’ propeller (螺旋桨) make a loud noise all the time. All that can make it hard for ocean animals trying to listen out for friends, or dinner. Animals swimming nearby a ship can be deafened or even killed.
Underwater construction can also be dangerously loud. When construction machines called pile drivers were used during repairs to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, dead fish appeared.
Geologist (地质学家) pound on the seafloor too, trying to find oil wells and map Earth’s surface. The results are useful lo science, but all that hammering probably gives ocean animal a headache.
As people realize how important sound is to ocean animals, they are looking for ways to reduce human noise. Ships could get quieter just by slowing down. Engineers are also trying to find quieter propeller ships.
Now some companies are using a simple invention called a bubble curtain, which makes sound waves passing through it lose energy and gel quieter. It seems to work - when bubble curtains were fixed on the San Francisco bridge project fish deaths dropped.
We still have a lot to learn about sound in the oceans, but together we can help keep the sea a quieter place.
1.Dolphins and whales arc mentioned to show .
A. sound travels very well through water
B. they are surprisingly noisy in the sea
C. the ocean is filled with sound
D. ocean noise is a big problem
2.What is happening to ocean animals these days?
A. Human noise is causing danger to their safety.
B. There is less food in the ocean for them.
C. They are being killed in large numbers.
D. They are losing their hearing.
3.During the first repair to the bridge, some fish .
A. started to die B. were attracted to it
C. got quiet underwater D. suffered from headaches
4.Bubble curtains are used to .
A. research on fishes underwater B. build the San Francisco bridge
C. stop noisy machines working D. reduce construction noise
I am building a tiny house. Not a dollhouse, but a livable space with bed, kitchen, storage-everything you’d need to live.
Why did I decide to build a house? I hoped it would give me skills that really matter in life, such as using tools for construction. And in building the house, I would understand how much labor goes into a home and truly appreciate what I am living in.
But this past year, life gave me a heavy hit: My father, one of my best friends and my tiny house construction partner, died in a traffic accident.
This is where my enthusiasm conics from now: the desire to finish my house for my father. Because of this decision, I now have some life experiences that some adults don’t have. I can relate not only to people who want to build a house, but also to people who have lost a parent. And to all of them, I can say that giving up is not a choice.
Still, without the help of my friends and family. I would probably stop my project. My friend Luke came to help the week after my father died; he knew I needed to get my walls up. The guidance from fellow tiny house builders and their families has been helpful. Putting windows in is no easy. And installing(安装) electricity is not something you do in your dreams. Ten hours of stabbing (戳) your fingers with metal string and getting shocked a couple times is not ideal.
Sometimes when people get a hard knock, they stay down. I didn’t. I didn’t only want to show that anyone can build their own house; I also wanted to show that when I was handed lemons. I not only made lemonade. I made a delicious lemon cake.
1.One reason why the author decided to build a house was to .
A. save some money B. learn some life skills
C. realize her father’s dream D. improve her living conditions
2.After her father’s death, the author .
A. lives on her own B. decided to give up her plan
C. still looks at life positively D. has helped many needy families
3.When doing her construction work, the author .
A. got a lot of help from other people B. decided to lower her expectations
C. had to leave things unfinished D. found it less challenging
4.The underlined part “gel a hard knock” in the last paragraph probably means .
A. get knocked down B. do a challenging task
C. experience something new D. have an unpleasant experience
