She is widely seen as proof that good looks can last forever. But, at nearly 500 years of age, time is catching up with the Mona Lisa.
The health of the famous picture, painted by Leonardo da Vinci in 1505, is getting worse by the year, according to the Louvre Museum where it is housed.
“The thin, wooden panel on which the Mona Lisa is painted in oil has changed shape since experts checked it two years ago，”the museum said.Visitors have noticed changes, but repairing the world’s most famous painting is not easy.Experts are not sure about the materials the Italian artist used and their current (现在的) chemical state.
Nearly 6 million people go to see the Mona Lisa every year, many attracted by the mystery of her smile.“It’s very interesting that when you’re not looking at her, she seems to be smiling, and then, you look at her and she stops，”said Professor Margaret Livingstone of Harvard University.“It’s because direct vision (视觉) is excellent at picking up detail, but less suited to looking at shadows.Da Vinci painted the smile in shadows.”
However, the actual history of the Mona Lisa is just as mysterious as the smile.Da Vinci himself loved it so much that he always carried it with him, until it was eventually sold to France’s King Francis Ⅰ in 1519.
In 1911, the painting was stolen from the Louvre Museum by a former employee, who took it out of the museum hidden under his coat.He said he planned to return it to Italy.The painting was sent back to France two years later.
During World War Ⅱ， French men hid the painting in small towns to keep it out of the hands of German forces.
Like many old ladies, the Mona Lisa has some interesting stories to tell.
1.The underlined sentence in the first paragraph means the Mona Lisa________.
A. is losing its value
B. is being damaged after so many years
C. is getting more valuable with years passing
D. will rot away
2.The smile of the Mona Lisa can only be seen ________.
A. by indirect vision B. at a distance
C. by direct vision D. in shadows
3.From the last paragraph, we can infer that ________.
A. many interesting stories have been written about the Mona Lisa
B. people are interested in the stories about the Mona Lisa
C. some mysteries still remain to be solved about the Mona Lisa
D. many more stories will be told about the Mona Lisa
4.Experts haven’t had any repairs on the Mona Lisa because ________.
A. it is now in a poor chemical state
B. they don’t know how to replace the wooden panel
C. they don’t have the materials Da Vinci used
D. they are afraid it will be done further damage
♦Yuanxiao, Chinese Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival is celebrated on the 15th of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar. The festival ends the New Year’s celebration. It is a fun festival. People carry lanterns and go into the streets at night to watch lion or dragon dances, play games and light firecrackers. Yuanxiao, a sweet dumpling made of rice flour, is the traditional food eaten during the festival. In Chinese, the festival is named after this food, which is said to represent family unity and happiness because it is sticky (粘的), round and sweet.
♦The Dai WaterSplashing Festival
The Dai minority in Yunnan celebrate the WaterSplashing Festival in the middle of April. The festival celebrates the Dai Lunar New Year and lasts for three days. There are dragon races and fireworks displays on the first day and a fair on the second day. At the fair, young lovers throw love pouches to each other. The third day is the actual watersplashing day, people splash water on each other to wash away illnesses and bad luck and bring good luck for the coming year.
♦Losar
Losar is a Tibetan word for New Year.“Lo” means “year” and “sar” means “new”. As the most popular festival among Tibetans, it is celebrated from the first day in the first month to the fifteenth day based on the traditional Tibetan calendar.
On the last day of the year, people clean their houses and prepare for the festival. On the first day of the New Year, Tibetan women usually wake up early at about 5 o’clock, and prepare for a special kind of barley wine for the family which have tsamba (糌粑), brown sugar, and milk dregs (渣). The whole family have to drink the wine in their beds and then continue to sleep, while the housewives sit in front of their windows, waiting for the sunrise. As soon as they see the sun rays in the east, they go to the well for the first bucket of water in the New Year. It is said that water in the well is the freshest and sweetest at this time and the family who get the lucky water earliest will be the most fortunate.
1.People eat yuanxiao during the Lantern Festival because ________.
A. it is the traditional food and has its symbolic meaning
B. it is delicious and easy to be made
C. it is sticky, round and sweet
D. it is made of rice flour
2.What can we know from Paragraph 2 about the word “fair”？
A. Young people splash water on each other at the fair.
B. It is the time when young people have meetings.
C. Young people find their lovers there.
D. Young people sing and dance there to celebrate the festival.
3.How many days does Tibetan Losar last?
A. 2 B. 3
C. 15 D. 25
4.The passage is mainly about________.
A. the culture and custom in China
B. the reason why people celebrate festivals
C. several festivals in China
D. the history of three festivals in China
Back in the old days, there were three wise men in ancient Greece. These three wise men were from three different generations. Socrates was the oldest of the three. He passed his knowledge to his student, Plato, who then passed it on to Aristotle. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were all great philosophers (哲学家). Together, their schools of thought have since become the foundation of Western philosophy.
Aristotle was born in 384 BC. His father, Nicomachus, was a doctor to the king of Macedonia. As the son of a doctor, Aristotle was no stranger to science. Growing up, he learned quite a lot about medicine and biology from his father. Later, after Nicomachus passed away, he was sent to study in Plato’s Academy in Athens. Aristotle was about eighteen years old then.
Plato’s Academy was Europe’s first university. It offered courses on various subjects. Shortly after Aristotle began his study there, he devoted himself to learning everything on the curriculum. He soon proved himself an excellent student. Because of his wide range of interests, Aristotle never limited his range of education. As a result, he became the leading expert in many fields. Philosophy was simply one of them. Aristotle was in the Academy for nearly 20 years. He first joined as a student and then stayed on as a teacher. By the time that Plato died around 347 BC, Aristotle had already built up a very good name for himself. However, he did not get the job as the head of the Academy. That post went to Plato’s nephew. Some people believed that Aristotle felt angry at the choice. But there is no proof to that theory. Regardless of what he had truly felt, Aristotle decided to leave Athens. So in 347 BC, he quit the Academy and went to work for Hermeias, ruler of Atarneus, in Asia Minor (today’s Turkey). Aristotle was not alone in this time. He and another Academy member, Xenocrates, who was also a famous philosopher, founded the Assus Academy. They taught there for several years. During his stay in Atarneus, Aristotle was on very good terms with Hermeias. He even married the man’s niece, Pythias. Interestingly, when Aristotle later wrote his famous book, Politics, he said that the ideal ages for marriage was 37 for the husband and 18 for the wife. Given that Aristotle was 37 years old at the time, it is very likely that Pythias was 18.
1.Which of the following is NOT a philosopher?
A. Socrates. B. Xenocrates.
C. Plato. D. Nicomachus.
2.What’s the right order of the following events?
a．Socrates passed his knowledge to his student, Plato.
b．Aristotle was sent to Plato’s Academy.
c．Aristotle wrote his famous book, Politics.
d．Aristotle learned about medicine and biology from his father.
e．Plato died.
A. a, c, b, d, e B. a, d, b, e, c
C. d, a, c, b, e D. b, a, e, c, d
3.According to the passage we can know in Plato’s Academy________.
A. students were provided with only a few subjects at that time
B. Aristotle worked hard but he was still not famous
C. Aristotle didn’t have a very good time for 20 years
D. Aristotle was not only a student but also became a teacher
4.The passage mainly tells us ________.
A. some information about Aristotle
B. three wise men in ancient Greece
C. the foundation of Western philosophy
D. Europe’s first university
针对最近报道的“扶起摔倒的老人而官司缠身”，“救人反而惹来麻烦”等事件，你们班开展了一次主题班会：老人摔倒，你会伸手去扶吗？请结合讨论情况写一篇短文，并发表自己的看法。
赞成帮助 | 帮助他人是我们的职责，是中华民族的良好传统等 |
反对帮助 | 现在有些人丧失良知，帮助他们会惹来麻烦，官司缠身等 |
你的看法 | …… |
注意：1.词数：100左右；
2．开头已给出，不计入总词数。
Recently, our class held a heated discussion about whether we should lend a helping hand when an old man has a fall. The opinions vary from person to person.
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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作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅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(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)画掉。
修改：在错的词下画一横线，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。
Dear classmates，
I’ll tell you everything about my future. Every one of us is thinking about the future. Do you know what that mine is? I have decided to become the middle school teacher. Does it sound surprising？I have this dream when I was only a child. I love children. As we all can see, teachers are great needed in our country, especially in the countryside. Many parents want his children to be welleducated, and they don’t want them to be teachers. Perhaps one of the main reason is that teachers work too hard but get too little. In spite that, I am determined to devote all my life to teach in my hometown.
阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
Oscar Pistorius was born into Henke and Sheila Pistorius in Johannesburg, South Africa on November 22, 1986, with fibular hemimelia (腓侧半肢畸形) in both legs. When he was 11 months old, his legs were amputated (截肢) halfway 1. his knees and ankles. In most homes, that would bring years of sadness. Not so in 2. .
“I grew up in a home where disability was not 3. issue，” Pistorius says. “My parents made me cherish 4. I had.”
Pistorius started running in 2004, and became more and more successful. 5. (know) as “the Blade Runner” and “the Fastest Man on No Legs”， Pistorius took part in the 2004 Summer Paralympics (残奥会) in Athens and 6. (come) third overall in the T44 (one leg amputated below the knee) 100metre event.
At the 2012 Summer Olympics on August 4, Pistorius became the first amputee runner 7. (compete) at an Olympic Games. In the 400 metres race, he took second place in the first heat of five 8. (run), finishing with a time of 45.44 9. (second) to advance to the semifinals on August 5. He ran in the second semifinal, where he finished eighth with a time of 46.54 seconds. In the 200 metres competition he set a new world record of 21.30 seconds in his heat on August 29, 10. was defeated in the final by Alan Oliveira of Brazil and took silver.
