Famous British physicist Stephen Hawking, 1. mental genius and physical disability made him a household name and inspiration across the globe, has died at age 76.
Propelled(推动) to superstar by his 1988 book A Brief History of Time, which became 2. unlikely worldwide bestseller, Hawking devoted 3.(he) to unlocking the secrets of the Universe. His genius and wit 4.(win) over fans from far beyond the world of astrophysics, earning comparisons with Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton.
Hawking died 5.(peaceful) at his home in the British university city of Cambridge in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
“We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today,” professor Hawking’s children said in a statement 6. (carry) by Britain’s Press Association news agency. “He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live 7. for many years.”
Hawking refused to accept the predictions that he would only live for a few years after developing a form of motor neurone disease in his early 8. (twenty). The illness gradually robbed him of mobility, 9.(leave) him confined to a wheelchair, almost completely paralysed and unable to speak except through his voice synthesiser(合成器).
“His courage and persistence with his brilliance and 10. (humorous) inspired people across the world,” his family said.
When I was a young man I had much ego (自负). I thought I _______ everything. I looked forward to fame and success. I can even remember once in college _______ telling one of my friends: “If only everyone listened to me, then they would all be happy.” I _______ left school, ready to take on the world. Little did I know the world was about to take on me.
In the _______ following college, instead of success, I found struggles. I had _______ in finding work. My jobs were either temporary or were _______ badly. When my wife and I had children, we were _______ to learn that both of our sons had Autism (自闭症) and would need to be _______ for the rest of their lives. I had no _______why this had happened to us.
In time, however, I began to ________. My ego was decreasing fast. Instead of success, I found my ________ in moments of love. Playing and ________ with my sons brought me so much happiness. My boys ________ me more about peace, patience, joy and love than I could have ever learned on my own. I began to share the ________ I learned through my writings and my life. I finally realized that my ________ in this world had nothing to do with fame or success. ________, it had everything to do with allowing love and light into my life and ________ it with everyone I could.
You may not be happy 100% of the time. ________ can be in this world. Yet, you will find a joy no earthly (世俗的) ________ could ever give. Put all of your moments, days, and years to good use then. ________ them with love.
1.A. knew B. deserved C. possessed D. confirmed
2.A. calmly B. honestly C. proudly D. eagerly
3.A. frequently B. finally C. suddenly D. smoothly
4.A. years B. months C. weeks D. days
5.A. fun B. regret C. power D. trouble
6.A. done B. paid C. prepared D. judged
7.A. exhausted B. annoyed C. shocked D. embarrassed
8.A. taken charge of B. paid attention to C. put up with D. taken care of
9.A. belief B. hope C. opinion D. idea
10.A. agree B. change C. struggle D. improve
11.A. challenge B. joy C. luck D. goal
12.A. laughing B. toying C. swimming D. working
13.A. fetched B. brought C. prepared D. taught
14.A. theories B. contents C. lessons D. truths
15.A. demand B. career C. purpose D. world
16.A. Therefore B. Again C. Also D. Instead
17.A. sharing B. owning C. admiring D. enjoying
18.A. Somebody B. Nobody C. Everybody D. Anybody
19.A. person B. matter C. success D. experience
20.A. Live B. Fill C. Exchange D. Equip
Life is kind of like a party. You invite a lot of people, some leave early, some stay all night, some laugh with you, some laugh at you, and some show up really late. But in the end, after the fun, there are a few who stay to help you clean up the mess. And most of the time, they aren’t even the ones who made the mess. 1. They are the ones who matter most. Here are four things real friends do differently:
They face problems together. A real friend is someone who sees the pain in your eyes while everyone else still believes the smile on your face. 2. Just look for someone who will face them with you.
3. Your word means everything. If you say you’re going to do something, DO IT! If you say you’re going to be somewhere, BE THERE! If you say you feel something, MEAN IT! If you can’t, won’t, and don’t, then DON’T LIE. Real friends keep promises and tell the truth upfront.
They accept each other. Trying to change a person never works. A real friend is someone who truly knows you and loves you just the same. 4. Be yourself and people will love the real you. If you feel like changing something about your friend, ask yourself what change you can make in yourself instead.
They support each other’s growth changes. Our needs change with time. When someone says, “You’ve changed,” it’s not always a bad thing. 5.Don’t apologize for it. Instead, be open and sincere, explain how you feel, and keep doing what you know in your heart is right,
A. They keep their promises.
B. No one is happy all the time.
C. They make time for each other.
D. Don’t change so that people will like you.
E. Sometimes it just means you’ve grown.
F. These people are your real friends in life.
G. Don’t look for someone who will solve all your problems.
Imagine waking up one day and finding that your beautiful local beach is no more—gone, its fine white sand swept away by an abnormal storm. You go about your daily business for 12 long years and then suddenly the beach is back, all its glory restored by another storm. This is what happened on the island of Achill, off the coast of Ireland, where people are celebrating the return of the beautiful Ashleam Bay beach that was taken from them in 2005.
That in itself is unusual enough, but the story gets even better! You see, another beach in Achill did a disappearing act once, but took much longer to return. The beach at Doonagh, located only six miles away from Ashleam Bay, was restored earlier in 2016 after waves created by spring storms had swept away all the sand in 1984, leaving just rock pools behind.
There is local legend that stretches back hundreds of years that says this beach at Ashlcam Bay returns for a short every seven years then disappears again. But this time around it took a bit longer than that. It was last seen in 2005 and it stayed for a few months at that time before it was washed away again.
As you can imagine, everyone on the island of Achill is thrilled to have their sandy beach back, and even though no one knows how long it’s going to be around for, they are making the most of the time they’ve got before it disappears again.
Some may be quick to believe climate changes cause the phenomenon, but that’s not the reason these two beaches in Achill keep disappearing, Dr Kevin Lynch, a geographer at NUT Galway, says that these occurrences are the result of hydrodynamics (流体力学) and sediment(沉积物) supply, rather than climate changes.
Regardless of what’s causing them, disappearing and reappearing beaches are just part of what makes nature so fascinating.
1.What is people’s reaction to the return of the Ashleam Bay beach?
A. Full of fear.
B. Quite delighted.
C. Very disappointed.
D. Extremely con fused.
2.What can we learn about the beach at Doonagh?
A. It is not located in Ireland.
B. It disappeared 12 years ago.
C. It once disappeared for more than 30 years.
D. It is just made up of rocks and pools.
3.According to the local legend, when should the Ashleam Bay beach have come back?
A. In 1982.
B. In 2012.
C. In 2016.
D. In 2018.
4.What does Dr Kevin Lynch think of the phenomenon?
A. Some abnormal storms lead to ocean’s enlargement,
B. It is hard to uncover the mystery of beach’s disappearing.
C. Climate changes can result in beaches disappearing completely.
D. Hydrodynamics and sediment supply cause two beaches to disappear.
Durian(榴莲) is probably the smelliest fruit in the world, letting out an unusual unpleasant smell which would make anyone bring up. However, nobody was aware of what gave this fruit its unique smell, so a team of researchers from Singapore decided to take a look at its genome (基因组) and find out,
Durian is well-known throughout Southeast Asia as the king of fruits, mostly because of its awful appearance and smell. However, the origin of this unpleasant smell was unknown, so researchers decided to map the genome of the fruit, and find the gene that controlled it. A group of genes, volatile sulfur compounds (含硫化合物), became very active in the fruit, and they were found responsible for resulting in the unpleasant smell.
The fruit confuses everyone with a sulfuric smell, like rotten onions and ingredients. The smell lasts long, mostly because the fruit contains more volatile sulfur compounds. Other species usually benefit from two gene copies at most, but durian has four, leading to the striking smell.
However, this smell might be an advantage for durian in the wild. Although we find it unpleasant, many animals might be attracted by it. If they eat the fruit, then they can easily spread its seeds everywhere, thus contributing to the distribution of the species.
The mapping of the durian genome also showed some other information on the species. First of all, the fruit has an impressive number of genes, namely 46,000. Also, with the help of these genes, they saw how it evolved, and discovered it was related to the cacao tree. All the other discoveries have been published in the journal Nature Genetics.
Despite the striking smell, many people actually enjoy eating the fruit. However, not all durian species are edible, and some of them may even cause damage to our health, Even so, the fruit is often imported, significantly contributing to the economy.
1.What give durian its unique smell?
A. Onions nearby.
B. Two gene copies.
C. Rotten ingredients in it.
D. Volatile sulfur compounds.
2.What does the underlined word “evolved” in Paragraph 5 probably mean?
A. Developed.
B. Escaped.
C. Predicted.
D. Tolerated.
3.What can we infer from the text?
A. No birds enjoy eating durian.
B. Durian can be planted all over the world.
C. Some of durian species can not be eaten.
D. Durian has no relationship with the cacao tree.
4.What’s the best title for the text?
A. What’s Durian?
B. The Influence of the Smell
C. The Distribution of Durian
D. The Mystery of the Unpleasant Smell of Durian
Dutch beachcomber (海滩拾荒者) Wim Kruiswijk has accumulated a collection of 1,200 messages-in-bottles over the course of nearly 4 decades and has responded to almost all of them,
68-year-old Kruiswijk says that his unusual hobby began in 1983 when he found three drift bottles (漂流瓶) on his local beach, each containing letters and return addresses. He wrote to all three addresses and was surprised to receive responses from each one. It was this experience that aroused his interest in hunting and collecting messages in bottles, and he hasn’t stopped looking for them since.
“I find my messages in bottles on the beach of Zandvoort, where I live, and on the Dutch Islands,” Kruiswijk recently told Great Big Story. “Messages in bottles is slow mail. It takes you days, or weeks, or months to find a bottle. ”
In the early years, Kruiswijk would find as many as 50 bottles a year, but since 2000 that has slowed to around 20-30 finds, mainly due to beach cleaning efforts. He believes that the rise of the Internet has also played a role in the diminishing number of messages in bottles, telling Dutch news site PZC, “I used to get a response at half the bottle messages that I answered. Now that’s less; many people want ‘instant satisfaction’.”
Throwing a message in a bottle out into the sea is a longstanding human tradition dating back to the time of the Greek philosopher Theophrastus, about 310 BC，who used the bottles to study water currents. Scientists still apply the method to this day, as a means to help researchers develop ocean circulation maps, and to crowdsource scientific studies of ocean currents.
In the past bottles have also been used to send distress messages from sailors in trouble. They also have been used for memorial tributes, or to send loved ones’ ashes on a final journey. One of the more common uses though is just to send invitations out to prospective pen pals, a quaint notion in these modern times, but, as Kruiswijk so clearly shows, an effective one.
1.What does Paragraph 2 mainly tell us?
A. Kruiswijk found secrets hidden in drift bottles.
B. What made Kruiswijk become a beachcomber.
C. How Kruiswijk formed the hobby of collecting drift bottles.
D. Kruiswijk liked to do some research on bottles thrown into the sea.
2.How did Kruiswijk feel the first time he received response from drift bottles?
A. Satisfied.
B. Asionished.
C. Frightened.
D. Disappointed.
3.Why do Kruiswijk find fewer drift bottles than before?
A. People hate to receive messages from strangers.
B. Many drift bottles have not been washed up onto the beaches.
C. Drift bottles appearing on the beach are cleared up rapidly.
D. Fewer people are interested in Kruiswijk’s message in bottles.
4.What’s the purpose of Theophrastus using the bottles?
A. To ask for rescue.
B. To look for a pen pal.
C. To study ocean currents.
D. To send a message to his loved person.
