假如你是一名英国学生Harry,有一位中国笔友Li Hua想了解一下你的家乡爱丁堡，请你根据提示回复一封电子邮件。
注意：开头部分已给出，不计入总词数。
爱丁堡：苏格兰的首府，政治和文化中心。
人口：133万。
面积：260平方公里 (square kilometers)。
地理位置：苏格兰 (Scotland) 的东南部。
交通：机场位于市中心，公共交通十分便利。
天气：气候温和 (mild climate)。
旅游：最受欢迎的旅游城市；古老建筑众多；每年吸引200多万名游客，是理想的度假胜地。
词数：110左右。
Dear Li Hua,
How are things with you? Today I’m writing to tell you something about Edinburgh which you asked about in the last e-mail.
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请根据语境用括号内单词的正确形式或根据汉语意思填空，每空一词。
1._____(以……为根据) an important decision more on emotion than on reason, you will regret it sooner or later.
2.He only wants freedom, justice, and _________ (平等).
3.The election results have still not been _________ (官方地) announced.
4.He will fight even more desperately if _________ (trap).
5.Trains are _________ (rely), cheap and best for long-distance journeys.
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。
China’s industrial output is expected to rise by around 6.5 percent this year, marking the best 1. (perform) since 2010, 2. the Made in China 2025 strategy (策略) helps to raise productivity and revenue (税收).
The increase is 0.5 percentage points 3. (high) than the targeted growth, partly 4. (drive) by strong efforts to increase the use of new technology at traditional enterprises (企业), Miao Wei said on Monday.
“The country’s industrial economy has maintained steady and sound growth thanks 5. the Made in China 2025 strategy. It promoted the combination of manufacturing and new technologies such as 6. Internet, big data and cloud computing,” Mina added.
The ministry also predicted that the country’s industrial output would be likely 7. (grow) by around 6 percent next year, with revenue from the telecommunications, Internet, and software and information technology service 8. (increase) by 50 percent, 30 percent and 13 percent, respectively.
According to Miao, the country will also publish policies 9. promoting the development of digital economy. The data show that the country’s digital economy added up to 22.58 trillion yuan last year, ranking second 10. (global) and accounting for around 30 percent of national GDP.
All of us in Monte Vista Christian School know we’ll one day have graduation photos for the yearbook taken. As the time ______, the girls start to have a ______ about what they’ll wear and where to take the photos, while the boys ______ hardly talk about it. As for me, I ______ for my photos to be taken by the sea.
When I arrived there, I met my photographer, Annie. She asked me to make some poses and I ______ her advice. After that, I asked if she could make me look ______ by taking photos in a different way, ______ I’m less than 1.6 meters tall. To my ______ she responded, “I will make no ______ to make you look like someone you’re not. You look good in your own way.” She ______ that she wouldn’t try to edit the photos either.
I was shocked by what she said. Girls always ______ to look perfect by using different visual angles. When you go to a photo studio, photographers always try to hide your ______ by telling you to stand in a certain way. And picture editors can easily ______ your look by making you appear any you want to. ______, that’s not the case here. Seeing I was ______. Annie explained: “Everyone has his uniqueness. You need to ______ your own beauty. You cannot live in a world of ______ photos.”
It was the first time that I had met a photographer who doesn’t ______ photos at all. After the shoot, I saw the photos — they are ______ special and natural. But what’s even more special are Annie’s ______, which will always stay in my heart.
1.A. flows B. approaches C. shrinks D. develops
2.A. discussion B. request C. reason D. complaint
3.A. by accident B. in addition C. by comparison D. in advance
4.A. accounted B. applied C. searched D. arranged
5.A. considered B. declined C. followed D. consulted
6.A. taller B. prettier C. thinner D. stronger
7.A. unless B. though C. since D. while
8.A. delight B. astonishment C. relief D. satisfaction
9.A. decision B. choice C. promise D. attempt
10.A. added B. swore C. explained D. admitted
11.A. pretend B. manage C. desire D. pay
12.A. preferences B. advantages C. personalities D. imperfections
13.A. expose B. recover C. change D. recognize
14.A. However B. Therefore C. Otherwise D. Anyway
15.A. annoyed B. confused C. discouraged D. embarrassed
16.A. foster B. admire C. describe D. advocate
17.A. vivid B. colorful C. artificial D. popular
18.A. polish B. organize C. cut D. exhibit
19.A. causally B. roughly C. partially D. truly
20.A. attitudes B. words C. actions D. skills
Real-life Room Escape Games
Real-life room escape games are a type of physical adventure game in which people are locked in a room with other participants and have to use the things in the room to settle a series of puzzles, find clues, and escape the room within a set time limit.
The games are based on Escape the Room video games, such as Crimson Room and QP-Shot, created by TAKAGISM Inc. by Toshimitsu Takagi in 2005, in which the player is locked inside a room and must explore his or her surroundings in order to escape. 1. Other inspirations include adventure board games and movies. Real-life room escape games are becoming popular in the United States, Japan, and China.2. For example, some games require you to escape prison cells while others require you to escape space stations.
3. Soon, they were exported to North America, Asia and Australia. Examples include the two pioneer companies Hint Hunt and Adventure Rooms.
The games were so successful that new locations began opening up across China, in cities big and small, according to Want China Times. In the southern city of Shenzhen, for example, the first escape game location opened last August. 4. “These real-life escape games can help those who stay at home on their computers and iPads all day to experience real social circles,” Tian Xiaochuan, who owns two room escape game stores in Jinan, told Want China Times. Earlier this year, The South China Morning Post said the real-life escape games are a hit among “highly stressed students and overworked young professionals”. 5. Some players get so involved that they tear down equipment or decorations inside their “prisons”, as Zhu Yumeng, chief operating officer of Beijing room escape game store Taoquan told China Daily.
A. Each game adds local themes to settings.
B. And seven new game locations quickly followed.
C. They should also be brave enough to face their fears.
D. Sometimes the excitement becomes a bit much, though.
E. Weekend or day event escape games have been held in some stores.
F. Permanent real life escape games in a fixed location were first opened in Europe.
G. Players must be observant and use their critical thinking skills to escape the room.
What Cocktail Parties Teach Us
You’re at a party. Music is playing. Glasses are clinking. Dozens of conversations are driving up the decibel (分贝) level. Yet among all those distractions, you can tune your attention to just one voice from many. This ability is what researchers call the “cocktail-party effect”.
Scientists at the University of California in San Francisco have found where that sound-editing process occurs in the brain — in the auditory cortex (听觉皮层) just behind the ear, not in areas of higher thought. The auditory cortex boosts some sounds and turns down others so that when the signal reaches the higher brain, “it’s as if only one person was speaking alone,” says investigator Edward Chang.
These findings, published in the journal Nature last week, explain why people aren’t very good at multitasking — our brains are wired for “selective attention” and can focus on only one thing at a time. That inborn ability has helped humans survive in a world buzzing with visual and auditory stimulation (刺激). But we keep trying to push the limits with multitasking, sometimes with tragic (悲剧的) consequences. Drivers talking on cellphones, for example, are four times as likely to get into traffic accidents as those who aren’t.
Many of those accidents are due to “inattentional blindness”, in which people can, in effect, turn a blind eye to things they aren’t focusing on. The more attention a task demands, the less attention we can pay to other things in our field of vision. Images land on our retinas (视网膜) and are either boosted or played down in the visual cortex before being passed to the brain, just as the auditory cortex filters sounds, as shown in the Nature study last week. “It’s a push-pull relationship — the more we focus on one thing, the less we can focus on others,” says Diane M. Beck, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Illinois.
Studies over the past decade at the University of Utah show that drivers talking on hands-free cellphones are just as influenced as those on hands-held phones because it is the conversation, not the device, that is distracting their attention. Those talking on any kind of cellphone react more slowly and miss more traffic signals than other motorists.
Some people can train themselves to pay extra attention to things that are important — like police officers learn to scan crowds for faces and conductors can listen for individual instruments within the orchestra as a whole. Many more think they can effectively multitask, but are actually shifting their attention rapidly between two things and not getting the full effect of either, experts say.
1.What have scientists in University of California found about “the cocktail-party effect”?
A. Usually there is only one person who is speaking alone.
B. All kinds of annoying sounds drive up the decibel level.
C. The higher brain processes sounds and images selectively.
D. Sounds are sorted out before reaching the higher brain.
2.What do we learn from the passage?
A. We are biologically incapable of multitasking.
B. We survive distractions in life by multitasking.
C. We cannot multitask without extra attention.
D. We benefit from pushing the limit with multitasking.
3.Which of the following is an example of “inattentional blindness”?
A. A careless driver lost his eyesight after a car accident.
B. Police scanned the crowds and located the criminal.
C. A manager talked on a hands-free phone with his client.
D. A pedestrian had a car accident because of phubbing (低头).
4.The main purpose of the passage is to ______.
A. compare and contrast
B. inform and explain
C. argue and discuss
D. examine and evaluate
