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。将答案填写在答题卡的相应位置。
A desert doesn't sound like the most promising place to plant a tree. Yet, since 1978, China1. （plant）at least 66 billion of them across its desert northern territories, hoping to transform its sandy dry land and yellow dunes 2. a Great Green Wall.
Ian Teh 3.（record）this amazing undertaking while traveling through northern China last year. His expansive photographs show workers tending young trees,blasting them with water and 4.（fill）irrigation tanks. “Planting trees sounds great on paper, 5. you can feel doubtful,” Teh says. “But when seeing in person, it was impressive.”
The tree-planting strategy is a massive attempt to help fight desertification. 6. (rough) a million square miles of China—a quarter of the country—7.（cover）in sand. Drought, deforestation, overgrazing and other8. （problem）threaten an additional 115,000 square miles, fueling very cruel and 9.（violence）sandstorms that regularly blast cities like Beijing and Dunhuang. Many scientists are feeling doubt that planting trees will make a difference in 10. long run. But China’s State Forestry Administration claims the measure has reduced sandstorms by 20 percent and desertification by nearly 5,000 miles in recent years.
The 92-year-old, thin, calm and proud lady, moved to a nursing home today.She is fully______each morning by eight o’clock,______ she is nearly blind. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move ______.
After many hours of waiting______in the hall of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her______ was ready.As she walked slowly to the elevator, I provided a true _____of her tiny room, _____ the old sheets that had been hung on her window. “I love it,” she stated with the ____of an eight-year-old having just been______ with a new puppy.
“Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room …. just_____ .”
“That doesn’t matter,” she replied. “Happiness is ______ you decide ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the ______ is arranged,it’s how I arranged my mind. I have already______to love it. It’s a decision I make every morning when I ______ up. Each day is a gift, and ______my eyes open I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy ______I’ve stored away.”
She went on to explain, “Old age is like a bank _____. You take what you’ve put in. So, my advice to you would be to put in a lot of ______ in the bank account of memories. Thank you for your part in _____ my memory bank.” And with a smile, she said: “Remember the following simple_____to be happy:Free your heart from hatred, free your mind from worries.Live simply,give more,and expect less.
1.A. attended B. dressed C. observed D. watched:
2.A. even though B. as though C. only if D. in case
3.A. difficult B. possible C. necessary D. comfortable
4.A. eagerly B. nervously C. angrily D. patiently
5.A. dinner B. clothes C. room D. service
6.A. consideration B. love C. story D. description
7.A. including B. containing C. reminding D. offering
8.A. curiosity B. terror C. enthusiasm D. attraction
9.A. rewarded B. presented C. attacked D. awarded
10.A. stay B. pay C. enjoy D. wait
11.A. anything B. nothing C. something D. everything
12.A. window B. furniture C. appliances D. bedding
13.A. decided B. reduced C. afforded D. prevented
14.A. look B. ring C. stand D. wake
15.A. as soon as B. as long as C. as much as D. as well as
16.A. memories B. pictures C. words D. years
17.A. cheque B. office C. account D. machine
18.A. pain B. happiness C. money D. fortune
19.A. visiting B. enjoying C. considering D. filling
20.A. rules B. relation C. regulations D. laws
Living in a culture that is different from your own can be both an exciting and challenging experience. You have to learn different cultural practices and try to adapt to them.
1. They talk about topics such as ages, income or marital status, which Americans think is annoying and intrusive.
In China, elders are traditionally treated with enormous respect and dignity while the young are cherished and nurtured. In America, the goal of the family is to encourage independence, particularly that of the children.2..
Chinese people have different meanings to define friends. 3.Friendship means lifelong friends who feel deeply obligated to give each other whatever help might seem required. Americans always call people they meet friends, so the definition of friends is general and different. There are work friends, playing friends, school friends and drinking friends.
As is well known, the Chinese like to save. 4. It is different in the USA, where far fewer families are saving money for emergencies and education than their Chinese counterparts.5. If you achieve something in the US, it's because you were great. While in China, if you achieve something in China it's because the team, or family, or company is great. Everything you do gets attributed to the greater whole, while in America individual merits are celebrated.
A. Just hanging out together time to time is not friendship.
B. Chinese people put more emphasis on good character and faith.
C.Chinese people value education and career more than Americans.
D. They are always conservative when they are planning to spend money.
E. Basically China values the community and the US values the individual.
F. Chinese people do not have the same concept of privacy as Americans do
G.Unlike the Chinese, older Americans seldom live with their children.
Ancient Fish Returns to Illinois Waters
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is returning a fish called the alligator gar to the state’s rivers.Some people call the fish a “living fossil.” Experts believe the fish first appeared during the Early Cretaceous period more than 100 million years ago.
Randy Sauer is an Illinois state fisheries biologist. He says the fish disappeared from the state’s rivers in the 1990s, although they have continued to do well in southern states. Sauer says biologists want to bring the fish back to northern rivers “because it is important to have top predators to balance the species below them,” he said.
Sport fishermen like to try to catch the alligator gar. Alligator gar are the second-largest freshwater fish in North America. They can grow as large as 2.7 meters and weigh more than 136 kilograms. Sauer says their large size is one reason they disappeared in the 1990s. Experts say alligator gars are “opportunistic feeders.” This means they will eat almost anything -- including small turtles or ducks. They also eat invasive species such as Asian and silver carp. Sauer hopes the re-introduction of the alligator gar will help the state’s efforts to control the carp. Because gar can live up to 60 years, the program will continue to increase for many years.
Sauer notes that female alligator gars do “not sexually mature until 11 years, and the male not till 6 or 7 years.”That means the biologists will try to raise and release a lot of fish early in the program to re-introduce them.
“We’re probably going to stock more heavily than 10 or 20 years down the road when hopefully these fish will find each other and start doing the job on their own,” Sauer says.
Small devices have been placed in 7,000 of the fish so they can be observed after they are released into the waterways of Illinois. As it rains and floods, biologists expect some of the fish will follow the rivers into the states of Louisiana and Texas.
1.why people call the alligator gar“living fossil”?
A. They can grow up to 2.7 meters.
B. They can grow up to 136 kilograms.
C. Their fossil can be found on earth.
D. They have existed for over 100 million years.
2.Biologists will bring the alligator gar back to northern rivers in order to______.
A. keep the species balance.
B. help people make more money.
C. help to protect the environment.
D. increase the number of the alligar gar.
3.According to Randy Sauer, alligar gar died out in northern rivers probably because _______.
A. they ate almost anything.
B. they were caught by sport fishermen.
C. they were very huge in size.
D. the rivers were polluted then.
4.What can we learn from the underlined statement?
A. It will be decades before these fish produce young.
B. There is a long way to go before the fish find each other.
C. 10 or 20 years will be needed to find these fish.
D. These fish can find each other themselves along the waterways.
If you look on the Internet, you will see that almost every day of the year celebrates some kind of food. These “holidays” have become very popular across the United States. They often are trending stories on Twitter, and described in the U.S. media. They give people a chance to enjoy something they might not eat normally, like National Onion Ring Day, for example.Food holidays also give restaurants and other businesses a chance to promote their products.
But where did these distinctly American “holidays” come from?
Many are the invention of an Alabama man, John-Bryan Hopkins. He writes about food for his Foodimentary.com website.Hopkins told Time magazine that when he began his site in 2006, there were only 175 “holidays.” “I filled in the rest,” he said. Some of his favorites are National Oreo Cookie Day on March 6 and National Tater Tot Day on February 2.
The National Day Calendar has a list of all the different food and non-food related “holidays.” In the past, the website used to let anyone create their own day -- for a price. But now, the site only accepts requests from businesses and other organizations.
While some food “holidays” are indeed made-up, many have historical roots. For example, National Beer Day on April 7 marks the end of a U.S. ban on the production, transport, import and sale of alcoholic drinks. The ban lasted from 1920 until 1933. The Salvation Army, a Christian group, launched U.S. National Doughnut Day on June 1, 1938. It was meant to honor women who served soldiers doughnuts during World War I.
But not everyone likes food holidays.Bethany Jean Clement is a food writer for the Seattle Times newspaper.She wrote, “I get that some people might be excited by, say, National Doughnut Day.But you really can have a doughnut any day you want!”
Tavi Juarez, of Foodimentary.com, thinks national food holidays are here to stay. She told the Seattle Times, “In my humble opinion, I believe that food holidays will continue to grow in popularity online. Because there’s a lot of negativity out there, why not choose to celebrate food instead?”
1.What can we learn about food holidays from Paragraph 1？
A. People can enjoy their favorite food on the holidays.
B. Restaurants will make much money during the holidays.
C. People can eat any food they want on the holidays.
D. Only special food are served on the holidays.
2.When did the first National Beer Day probably begin?
A. In 1920 B. In 1933
C. In 1913 D. In 1938
3.How many food holidays are mentioned in the passage?
A. Four B. Six
C. Five D. Three
4.What advice does Tavi Juare give in the last Paragraph?
A. Celebrating food holidays.
B. Celebrating food instead of food holidays.
C. To reduce the negativity of food holidays.
D. To support food holidays online.
Ever happened to have a stranger looking at you with eyes full of anger out of the blue?
It was painful and confusing, but sure a great lesson. First thing that passed through my mind was that it must be a misunderstanding, such a look was not meant for me, but later I saw the old lady’s face changing every time she saw me, at least seven times, no more doubt that she was very angry with me.
I was confused, shocked, and near anger, my brains were spinning, trying to figure out how’s and why’s but somehow managed to not show it on my face. Went home, slept a night over it and decided that I have to find a way to make peace with this lady.
The very next day I bought some nice chocolate praying to see her again and when I caught sight of her, went straight to her and apologized telling her “I am so very sorry if I angered you, I had no such intention, please accept my apologizes”, and handled her the chocolate. Surprised, she told me not to mind her, and apologized too. It was an awkward moment, but we made peace and the embarrassment is replaced by smiles now.
I am very grateful for this experience, it shows me I still have plenty of work to do with my mind, I learned how it is not easy to take knowledge of, accept and forgive acts that we may feel as unfair, and it taught me of possibilities about fixing a conflict. Best advice to keep for myself?
Do not react, do not be quick to judge, sleep it over, and throw in a pinch of empathy for self as well as others.
1.The underlined phrase “out of the blue” in paragraph 1 probably means __________.
A. unexpectedly B. curiously
C. sadly D. gently
2.The author bought some chocolate for the lady in order to_________.
A. see her again B. apologize to her
C. give her a surprise D. break the ice with her
3.Why was the old lady angry，according to the author?
A. She probably misunderstood the author.
B. The author was rude to her before.
C. She didn’t want to see the author.
D. They had a quarrel with each other before.
4.What is the best title for the passage?
A. An unforgettable experience. B. Fixing a conflict.
C. Smiling can make a difference. D. Making peace.
