阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。
I started working as a volunteer for the City of Surrey this summer. I did this because I've always enjoyed 1. (help) people in any way I can. I thought if I became a volunteer for the City of Surrey, I would be able to achieve that goal. And being a volunteer for the City of Surrey 2. (real) helped me branch out in many different directions. I volunteered over 256 hours of 3. (serve) during the summer helping with day camps, teen dances and so on.
I worked hard and did my best to show everyone that this is 4. I love to do. I started by taking every course 5. (offer) through the volunteer program and then began to apply for paid positions. By the end of the summer I 6. (hire) as a dance instructor. Working for the City of Surrey has provided me with so many opportunities 7. would not have presented them-selves anywhere else. I got a well-paid job much8. (early) than I had expected.
I was 9. (thank) that I had been given the chance 10. (work) for such an amazing city and do my part to make it the best it can be.
In my second year of high school, I met the anthropology (人类学) teacher, Mr. Croft. I didn’t know anything about anthropology, so I never signed up for Mr. Croft’s class. _____, this didn’t stop him from positively _____ my life.
Mr. Croft was a _____ twenty-four hours a day — after school, before school, and in and out of his _____. Mr. Croft inspired and taught every student at East High, _____ me. He often _____ me to become all I could possibly be.
How could I possibly _____ Mr. Croft?
After I graduated from high school, I had an opportunity to _____ football for thirteen-year-olds. To get a feel for the boys’ _____, I had each of them run out for a _____. I wanted to see who could run, catch and throw so I could ____ a team in my mind.
Two days into practice, a tall kid appeared on the field. He got in _____, and when he ran out for a pass, I threw the ball. It hit him square in the _____. He picked up the _____ and ran it back to me. It came time for his second pass and I _____ him in the head again. With his nose bleeding and his lip swelling, he _____ the ball, raced it back to me, and got back in line.
Later I got to know that he was the son of my anthropology teacher, Tommy Croft. I was _____. He said, “I’m here because I want to play football. And I promise _____ you’ll help me, I know I can do it!”
“Get back in line,” I told him. Here, at last, was my _____ to be a Mr. Croft to a Croft. Here was my chance to give something back. For the first time in my life, I _____ the meaning of “an educational system”. What goes around really does come around!
1.A. Besides B. Otherwise C. However D. Therefore
2.A. controlling B. influencing C. saving D. supporting
3.A. teacher B. worker C. helper D. director
4.A. office B. bedroom C. home D. classroom
5.A. directly B. especially C. simply D. eventually
6.A. encouraged B. asked C. persuaded D. reminded
7.A. repay B. forget C. refuse D. respect
8.A. play B. coach C. follow D. watch
9.A. characters B. courage C. abilities D. success
10.A. show B. test C. pass D. score
11.A. join B. train C. manage D. organize
12.A. way B. line C. team D. competition
13.A. chest B. back C. arm D. head
14.A. glove B. hat C. ball D. sweater
15.A. kicked B. knocked C. beat D. hit
16.A. threw away B. put aside C. picked up D. got back
17.A. interested B. touched C. puzzled D. shocked
18.A. when B. if C. because D. though
19.A. aim B. dream C. part D. chance
20.A. understood B. found C. conveyed D. interpreted
How to overcome challenges in your life
We all face tough and difficult challenges in life. To overcome challenges you need to have that “never quit” attitude in life. If you develop it, you’ll overcome quite a bit.
Motivate yourself. Say “YES, I CAN.” The challenge should bring out the best of you in this situation. Slow it down, and think that process through. 1. If you develop that mindset (心态), you’ll get it done.
2. Remain calm when you’re facing serious troubles and problems in life. You have to recollect yourself, and calm down. You can’t solve problems when you’re panicking. Take a deep breath, relax, and slow it down. Think things through calmly.
Let failure and fear fuel you in a positive way. Everyone fails at times. If you fail the first, second, or third time, don’t give up. 3. Learn what made you fail at overcoming these challenges.
Simplify the challenge you’re facing. Make the challenge easier than it is. 4. As you get through each step, you develop more confidence and you believe you can get it done, and then you will.
Stay positive and confident. 5. You have to find out all the ways you can use to overcome it, and put them to full use with all your effort. It’s our own mental stability that’s the difficult part. When you do it mentally, you’ll actually be able to do it.
A. Stay calm and cool headed.
B. Think the best, not the worst.
C. Start by breaking it down into steps.
D. To overcome a challenge, you have to believe you can really do it.
E. Most people will avoid any challenge, because they’re scared of failing.
F. Develop that confidence in saying there’s no way you’re going to fail at this.
G. Pick yourself up, and learn from why you’ve failed, and move on in a positive direction.
It‟s no secret that American infrastructure is aging. Concrete(混凝土) structures, in particular, are in desperate need of repair.
Cracks (缝隙) are very common due to various chemical and physical phenomena that occur during everyday use, which can be quite harmful as they provide an easy route in for liquids and gasses and the harmful substances they might contain. But continuous repair work is difficult because it usually requires a huge amount of labor and investment. So since 2013, I‟ve been trying to figure out how these harmful cracks could heal themselves without human involvement. The idea was originally inspired by the amazing ability of the human body to heal itself of cuts, bruises and broken bones. In the same way, can we provide necessary products to concrete to fill in cracks when damage happens?
My colleagues from Binghamton University and I have found an unusual candidate to help concrete heal itself: a fungus (真菌) called Trichoderma reesei. We initially screened about 20 different species of fungi in order to find one that could stand the difficult conditions in concrete. Of all the fungi we tested, only T. reesei could survive this environment. Despite the sudden PHincrease, its spores (孢子) developed into threadlike things and grew equally well with or without concrete.
We propose including fungal spores, together with nutrients, during the initial mixing process when building a new concrete structure. When the unavoidable cracking occurs and water finds its way in, the sleeping fungal spores will start to grow. They then will work as an activator within the calcium-rich conditions of the concrete to promote precipitation (析出) of calcium carbonatecrystals. These mineral deposits can fill in the cracks. If cracks form again and environmental conditions become favorable, the spores could wake up and repeat the process.
Our research is still in the initial stage and there’s a long way to go to make self-healing concrete practical and cost-effective. But the scope of American infrastructure’s challenges makes exploring creative solutions like this worthwhile.
1.Why does the author mention the self-healing of human body?
A. To show how amazing human body is.
B. To prove everything will turn out to be fine.
C. To provide a possibility of concrete healing itself.
D. To stress that it’s unnecessary to have medicines.
2.What do we know about T. reesei?
A. It has been applied to building a new concrete.
B. It can bear the tough conditions in concrete.
C. Its spores will be useless after one repair.
D. It poses potential risks to environment.
3.What does the underlined word “this” in the last paragraph refer to?
A. The challenges of American infrastructure. B. The research on self-healing concrete.
C. The process of cracking. D. The promotion of spores.
4.Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
A. The Danger of Cracks B. The Aging of American Infrastructure
C. The Most Powerful Fungus D. Concrete Filling Its Own Cracks
Scientists have solved the mystery of why the overwhelming majority of mammoth fossils(化石)are male.
Much like wild elephants today, young male Ice Age mammoths probably travelled around alone and more often got themselves into risky situations where they were swept into rivers, or fell through ice or into mud, lakes or sinkholes that preserved their bones for thousands of years, scientists say.
Females, on the other hand, travelled in groups led by an older matriarch who knew the landscape and directed her group away from danger.
"Without the benefit of living in a herd led by an experienced female, male mammoths had a much higher risk of dying in natural traps such as mud holes, rock cracks and lakes, "said co-author Love Dalen of the Swedish Museum of Natural History in a report published on Thursday in the journal Current Biology.
The study used genetic data to determine the sex of 98 woolly mammoth fossils in Siberia Researchers found that 69% of the samples were male, a heavily unbalanced sex ratio, assuming that the sexes were fairly even at birth.
"We were very surprised because there was no reason to expect a sex bias in the fossil record," said first author Patricia Pecnerova, also of the Swedish Museum of Natural History. Therefore, researchers believe that something about the way they lived influenced the way they died.Most bones, tusks, and teeth from mammoths and other Ice Age animals haven't survived," explained Dalen.
"It is highly likely that the remains that are found in Siberia these days have been preserved because they have been buried, and thus protected from weathering."
These giant, tusked plant eaters disappeared about 4,000 years ago. While there is no scientific agreement about the causes of their disappearance from the planet, most believe that climate change, excessive hunting by humans and the spread of other animals into mammoth feeding grounds were influential factors.
1.The underlined word "matriarch" in paragraph 3 means _______.
A. figure head B. female leader
C. experienced animal D. mature mammoth
2.Why do the majority of mammoth fossils come from male animals?
A. Scientists find it easier to study male fossilized bones.
B. There were more male mammoths in comparison to females
C. Male mammoths were better able to adapt to the changing circumstances.
D. Male mammoths more frequently died in places where fossils could form.
3.Which of the following is suggested as a reason for mammoths dying out?
A. The increasing competition for food.
B. The cooling of the earth's temperature.
C. The disappearance of male mammoths.
D. The risky behaviour of younger mammoths.
4.What is the text type of the passage?
A. A newspaper article. B. An academic essay.
C. A historical description. D. A science fiction story.
Who decided that blue jeans and T-shirts are “cool” for kids to wear today? Who designs the clothes you see for sale in stores? All of these questions concern the world of fashion.
Fashion refers to the styles of dress that are currently popular. Fashion goes beyond just clothes, though. It’s important for some people to wear only the latest fashions and styles. For others, though, keeping up with trends isn’t that important. The one thing that stays the same with fashion is this: it always changes!
In the 1960s and 1970s, hippies made bell-bottomed blue jeans popular. In the 1980s, Michael Jackson made parachute pants (降落伞裤) all the fashion. Now try to find these items in today’s clothing stores!
Why do fashions change? The answer is probably as simple as the fact that people change. Over time, the new replaces the old. People are influenced greatly by popular culture, including athletes, musicians, movie stars, as well as popular films, television shows, books and music. We are also influenced by the fashion industry’s advertising.
The stars of popular culture are always searching for a new angle to maintain (保持) their popularity. Often these new angles come in the form of new clothing or hairstyles. When people see these new styles, they often want to imitate their favorite stars. To do so, they seek out the latest fashions to make themselves look like the people they want to imitate. In this way, fashions evolve and change over time.
For years, clothes have been used to separate people into groups. Even today, brand-name clothing that is more expensive than other types of clothing can be used by some people to distinguish themselves from others.
Unfortunately, this can often have the effect of distancing certain groups from others. Don’t forget that it’s always OK to develop your own sense of style that is unique and separate from what the fashion world determines! Stay true to yourself and let your personality — not your clothes — speak for who you are!
1.The examples of bell-bottomed blue jeans and parachute pants in Paragraph 3 suggest that _____.
A. fashion always changes
B. stars are always influential
C. people have different dressing styles
D. hippies and Michael Jackson are good designers
2.Fashions change mainly because _____.
A. advertisements change rapidly
B. popular culture influences people
C. movie stars are changing over time
D. new films and shows replace the old
3.In the last paragraph, the author mainly wants to stress _____.
A. the advantages of staying unique
B. the bad effects of following fashion
C. the good influences of popular styles
D. the importance of having one’s own personality
4.We can learn from the text that _____.
A. fashion is all about clothes
B. the author has gone out of fashion
C. clothes may separate and distance people
D. people like imitating others’ dressing style
