Tim, my seven-year-old son, is learning to play the drums. It is an___ that has always caught his attentipn ___he hears them played. Before I____his first lessons, drums were all he wanted. At the age of 3 he___ his mini drum set during a show. Using that same drum set he perfected the timing and rhythm of a popular church song____ enough for his mom to sing along to. My son had found his passion at a young age and had a natural____to catch on quickly.
Wanting to act quickly to __ his talent, I immediately signed him up for drum lessons. No sooner had my first payment cleared than his passion __. He did not want to take instructions. He wanted to play the drums_______, To him the drums were a way of ___. Ian wanted to “play the beat of his own drum.”
The challenge was that music has more than one __ Rock doesn’t sound like smooth jazz and smooth jazz doesn’t sound like___ You can’t play every __ that exists to the same beat. If ___were a series of songs, the melodies __ could be calming and peacefiil, or violent and chaotic. Each event we face has its____own sound, so we have to learn __ to play the tune of the moment. You should understand that even with all the natural talent in the world there is always___ for improvement.
You can't do it all without ___.
You won’t know how to play every beat life throws at you without practice.
You can’t____talent forever.
1.A. arrangement B. enjoyment C. instrument D. advertisement
2.A. anyway B. however C. whatever D. anytime
3.A. paid for B. waited on C. took off D. burst into
4.A. founded B. played C. lost D. learned
5.A. similar B. horrible C. good D. strange
6.A. taste B. talent C. tendency D. habit
7.A. improve B. decrease C. discover D. admit
8.A. rose B. strengthened C. progressed D. disappeared
9.A. by himself B. in his way C. in person D. with others
10.A. expression B. possession C. permission D. impression
11.A. form B. sound C. beat D. advantage
12.A. nature B. culture C. view D. folk
13.A. poem B. song C. sport D. game
14.A. luck B. life C. truth D. music
15.A. at times B. as usual C. in general D. on average
16.A. quite B. well C. fast D. very
17.A. when B. where C. how D. why
18.A. place B. spot C. scenery D. room
19.A. instructions B. efforts C. contributions D. experiences
20.A. figure out B. put off C. rely on D. take in
The world itself is becoming much smaller by using modem traffic and modem communication means. Life today is much easier than it was hundreds of years ago, but it has brought new problems, 1. Pollution means making things dirty. It comes in many ways. We see it, smell it, drink it and even hear it.
Man has been polluting the earth. 2. Many years ago, the problem was not so serious because there were not so many people. When the land was used up or the river was dirty in one place，Man moved to another place. But this is no longer true. Man is now slowly polluting the whole world.
3.It’s bad for all living things in the world, but it is not the only one kind of pollution. Water pollution kills our fish and pollutes our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us angry more easily.
4. They stop people from burning coal in houses and factories in the city, and from putting dirty smoke into the air.
The earth is our home. We must take care of it. 5. And we must take care of the rise in population at the same time.
A. The more people，the more pollution.
B. One of the biggest is pollution.
C. Air pollution is still the most serious.
D. Many countries are making rules to fight pollution.
E. That means keeping the land，water and air clean.
F. I hope scientists can find ways to solve the serious problem.
G. Strange diseases have appeared in some places because of pollution.
Dogs were living as companions to the early settlers of North America over 10,000 years ago.
The oldest domestic dogs in the Americas were thought to be around 9500 years old. Angela Perri of Durham University, UK, and her colleagues have carried out fresh radiocarbon dating on the two dog skeletons that gave this date, discovered in the prehistoric Koster site in Illinois, and found they were even older: around 10,100 years old.
A third dog from another Illinois site called Stilwell II was older still，at 10,190 years old. That makes it the oldest known domesticated dog in the Americas.
The team concluded that all three dogs were domesticated as their skeletons were complete and unskinned, and so hadn’t been butchered for food. They had also been carefolly buried, evidence they were valued by their owners. The Stilwell II dog, which probably resembled a small English settler, was under what seemed to be the floor of a living area.
It is unclear why it took so long for tame dogs to arrive in the Americas, given that they were domesticated at least 14,000 years ago in Eurasia. By this time, people were already moving into North America from Siberia; there is evidence some reached Chile 18,500 years ago. Geneticists have found signs of at least three waves of migration over the following millennia. There is no evidence that domestic dogs accompanied them.
“We don’t know if dogs were part of the first waves of immigration to the Americas” says Luc Janssens of Ghent University in Belgium. “It could be so, but no archaeological bones have yet been found.”
It is “overwhelmingly probable” that some of the early settlers did bring dogs to the Americas, but they may not have had “the time or the spiritual compulsion to bury them’％ says Pat Shipman of Pennsylvania State University.
1.How old is the oldest known domestic dog in the Americas?
A. About 9500 years. B. About 10,100 years.
C. 10,190 years. D. 18,500 years.
2.The underlined word “butchered” in the fourth paragraph could be replaced by .
A. killed B. bought
C. trained D. raised
3.What is the attitude towards when tame dogs arrived in the Americas in the last three paragraphs?
A. Undoubted. B. Unsure.
C. Indifferent. D. Unconfident.
4.What is the main topic of this passage?
A. The earliest domestic dog in the Americas.
B. The first dog arriving in the Americas.
C. How dogs were domesticated in the Americas.
D. When the oldest dog was found in the Americas.
When was the last time you used plastic plates? Next time, why not try some edible ones? You’ll help the environment and your guests won’t go hungry.
“I used to work in school catering and saw a lot of money being thrown away. I thought that was criminal, so I decided to do something about it,” said Italian school chef Tiziano Vicentini.
Now, Vicentini has an amazing range of edible plates for schools. The plates are made out of bread dough, so you can eat them afterwards. “These dishes cost a few pennies each and are either eaten by the kids, or go into recycling bins for animal food,” explained Vicentini, 50, of Milan.
But now other companies are developing edible plates, too. The Edible Plate Company offers edible plates, bowls, trays and cups. Their products are environmentally-friendly, 100% biodegradable and can be used for all types of catering and home use. And they’re made from a natural plant. After use, they can be fed to animals or left to degrade naturally. They also have a range of cutlery (餐具）made from corn and potato starch (淀粉).
These plates will also help reduce the amount of plastic we create. Waste from plastic causes damage to the environment, costing governments millions in waste management. Plastic bags often end up in landfill sites. And the burning of plastic waste causes toxic gases that pollute the air.
In response to this, governments around the world are introducing tough recycling regulations. And many shops are offering biodegradable plastic bags and eco-safe packaging on their products. To help matters, the International Organization for Standardization (the ISO) has also developed a system to evaluate the biodegradability of products, with a certification and logo scheme. Meanwhile, how about a nice plate for lunch?
1.Which of the following is not the advantage of edible plates?
A. They are expensive. B. They can degrade naturally.
C. They are environmentally-friendly. D. They are made from natural plant.
2.Which of the following statements is true?
A. Tiziano is from Germany.
B. Edible plates are only used for school catering,
C. Corn and potato starch can be used to make cutlery.
D. The Edible Plate Company doesn’t produce edible bowls.
3.What does the underlined word “this” refer to?
A. The air pollution.
B. The edible cutlery.
C. The toxic gases caused by the burning of plastic.
D. The damage to the environment caused by plastic waste.
4.What is the main idea of this passage?
A. The measures to stop the pollution.
B. The ways to reduce the plastic waste.
C. How to make edible plates from natural plants.
D. The plate solution to eating and environmental problem.
A new family moved in next door and I got to meet the mother of the family, Lydia.
Lydia is Korean, and her family moved to our city so her husband could go to graduate school. We started talking, and she was apologetic about how bad her English was, but I didn’t care. I knew how hard it was to learn a second language. I enjoyed chatting with Lydia as we watched our kids play.
It was what came next that challenged me: Lydia asked if I’d be willing to help her with her English.
Now, I am not a teacher. I admire teachers, and I’m grateful for teachers, and it’s because I admire what they do so much that I was very, very sure that I couldn’t do it myself.
But Lydia was sure that she wanted my help. I was doubtful. I wasn’t sure my “help” was even worth being called by that name.
But because she asked me, I said “yes.”
And that was the beginning of 过 friendship. Lydia and I spent afternoons sitting together and reading the newspaper, and as we did, she asked me questions when she had them — questions about language, yes, but also questions about the new culture she found herself in.
In turn, I asked my own questions, growing curious about her home country and culture. We bonded over our shared faith and our struggles as mothers of kids with special needs. When I complimented (恭维)her cooking, she began to teach me about Korean food, eventually leading to a shared trip to explore the Korean grocery stores in our city.
Because of Lydia, I learned more about my own hometown than I ever could have learned by myself.
I’m still not sure that I’m any good as a teacher. But I’m grateful I said “yes” when my neighbor asked me to help her with her English. That meant spending extra time with my neighbor, and that extra time meant she didn’t remain just my neighbor. She became my friend.
1.What was Lydia sorry about?
A. Her bad English. B. Her carelessness.
C. Nobody teaching her English. D. Her poor life in a new place.
2.What can be concluded from the fourth paragraph?
A. The author admired teachers.
B. The author wanted to be a teacher.
C. The author didn’t want to help Lydia.
D. The author was not confident in helping Lydia.
3.Why was the author grateful at the last paragraph?
A. She managed to learn English well.
B. She made friends with her neighbor.
C. She learned how to cook Korean food.
D. She realized her dream of being a teacher.
4.What can we learn from the passage?
A. No pains, no gains.
B. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
C. To help others is to help ourselves.
D. Where there is a will, there is a way.
Bus Tours in Washington DC
The Lights Night Tour in Washington DC
Duration: 3 hours $56.33
Highest-rated Night Tour in DC! The ONLY DC Night Tour where the Tour Guides HOP OFF with you at each stop and tell you about each monument and attraction. Hop aboard the The Lights Night Tour! The best time to take a tour of Washington DC is at night.
Best Mount Vernon & Arlington Cemetery Tour from Washington DC
Duration: 6 hours $78.96
See Arlington Cemetery, Old Town Alexandria and George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate on this small group bus tour from Washington DC. Your tour guide will accompany you through Mount Vernon, telling you about all of the attractions there and the history of George Washington’s home on the Potomac River.
The Best Minibus Tour in Washington DC
Duration: 3 hours $46.92
See all the key attractions DC has to offer in a 3-hour format. You will learn all about the history and trivia that surrounds Washington and visit the major monuments and attractions DC has to offer.
Please Note: Rates for this tour vary by day of the week. When you choose your specific date on the availability calendar, the rates for that date will be displayed.
The Blossoms Tour in Washington DC
Duration:3 hours $56.99
BEST WAY to Experience the Cherry Blossoms! Each year from mid March to mid April, see the beautiful Cherry Blossoms in Washington DC and get great photos because you’ll be led to all the best spots by the best guides. The annual spring bloom in DC is a magical time and this tour promises to provide the very best tour opportunity for you!
1.Which tour would provide you with a sightseeing boat?
A. The Lights Night Tour
B. Best Mount Vernon & Arlington Cemetery Tour
C. The Best Minibus Tour
D. The Blossoms Tour
2.What is special about The Best Minibus Tour?
A. Its price is not fixed. B. The best time to take it is at night.
C. The tour guide accompanies you. D. You can get great photos of cherry.
3.Which date suits The Blossoms Tour most?
A. July 4 B. August 15
C. March 27 D. October 8
