A Faithful Dog

More than seven hundred years ago, the Prince of Wales had a very big and brave dog called Gelert.

One day the Prince wanted to go hunting with his men. He told his dog to stay at home and look after his baby son. The baby was in a wooden cradle, which was like a small bed.

When the Prince came back from hunting, Gelert ran out to meet his master. He wagged his tail and jumped up to put his paws on the Prince's chest. Then the Prince saw the blood on Gelert's jaws and head.

"What have you done?" the Prince said. He rushed into his house and looked for his baby son. The cradle was lying on its side on the floor. The clothes were torn and there was blood on them.

"So you have killed my son?" the Prince said angrily. "You unfaithful dog!" He took out his sword and killed the dog. Just as Gelert was dying, he managed to bark. Then the Prince heard a baby call to the dog.

The Prince ran out of the house and saw his son lying on the ground unhurt. Near him was a dead wolf. Then the Prince knew that Gelert had defended the baby and killed the wolf.

The Prince ran back into the house but he was too late. Gelert was dead. The Prince was very sad indeed. Tears ran down his face when he realized he had killed his faithful friend. The Prince carried the body of his brave dog to the top of a mountain and buried him there. After this, the Prince never smiled again. Every morning at dawn, he walked up the mountain and stood by the dog's grave for a few minutes.

If you go to Mount Snowdon in Wales, people will show you where Gelert is buried. There is a sign by his grave. It reminds people of a brave and faithful dog.

21. Gelert was the dog of the Prince of ___.

A. Wales                      B. Scotland                                  C. Ireland                                 D. England

22. The Prince told the dog to _____ when he was leaving.

A. watch the door                                           B. welcome his friends

C. take care of his baby at home                                D. stop the strangers

23. The dog was very ____ when his master came back from hunting.

A. fearful                                B. glad                                    C. afraid                                  D. tired

24. The Prince never smiled again because _______

A. the wolf was killed by Gelert

B. Gelert had killed his baby son

C. he had killed his faithful friend Gelert

D. he had buried the dog on the top of mountain

Not only kids of Tiger Moms go to Harvard.

Dawn Loggins of Lawndale, N.C. is on her way to Harvard, one of the eight world-famous universities in the eastern US. Nobody encouraged her to study or paid for her special classes. This girl created her own future.

The teen was abandoned by her family last summer, when her parents and two sisters moved to Tennessee. She found herself homeless and had to spend the night on friend's sofas.

The school bus driver learned about Dawn's situation and invited Dawn to move in with her family. Soon, Dawn had a job at Burns High School. She worked from 6 a.m. to 7:40 a.m. before the first school bell rang. She swept floors and picked up trash again in the afternoons, before diving into her studies in the evenings.

Dawn's hard work paid off. she finished school with a 3.9 GPA and scored 2,110 on the SAT.

"There were times when I felt like it would be easiest if I gave up," the 18-year-old said."But it was never in me to give up, because I realized that I was never going to be successful unless I got an education."

Even before Dawn's family left her, she led a difficult life. Her family was poor and cups of noodles were often the only food. Dawn "studied by candlelight" because her parents couldn't afford to pay the electricity bill(电费).

Dawn has now reconnected with her family. They are proud of her accomplishments(成就) and are attending her high school graduation.

25. What does the underlined word "abandoned" mean in Chinese?

A. looked after                                                                            B. given up 

C. worried about                                                                           D. thought of

26. Who helped Dawn when she found herself homeless?

A. Her teachers.                                                                         B. Her neighbors.  

C. A Tiger Mom.                                                                        D. A school bus driver.

27. Which of the following words describes Dawn?

A. Open-minded.                                                                          B. Good-natured.

C. Strong-willed.                                                                           D. Warm-hearted

28. What is the best title for the text?

A. Another Harvard girl.

B. A girl in candlelight.

C.The role of Tiger Moms.

D. From homeless to Harvard.

The idea that red means stop and green means go has influenced our lives in more ways than just traffic signals(信号). We have been taught from a young age that the color1 red means danger and green means it's okay to move forward. But why were those color1s chosen for traffic lights in the first place? For something we have to look at every day, why couldn't they have been prettier color1s?

Well, it's important to know that before traffic lights for cars, there were traffic signals for trains. At first, railway companies used red to mean stop, white to mean go, and green to mean warn. As you could imagine, trains ran into a few problems with white meaning go. For example, one train mistook a bright star for a white light and something unexpected happened. Because of that, railway companies finally moved green meaning go and used yellow to mean warn. And it's been that way ever since.

Red has always been a color1 that mean danger, long before cars were even around. This most likely started because it's the color1 with the longest wavelength (波长) so it can be seen somewhere farther than other color1s.

But, believe it or not, yellow was once used to mean stop. Back in the 1900s, some stop signs were yellow because it was too hard to see a red sign in a poorly lit area. Finally, highly reflective materials (高反射材料) were developed and red stop signs were born. Since yellow can be seen well at all times of the day, school zones, some traffic signs, and school buses continue to be printed yellow.

So next time you are impatiently waiting at a traffic light, don't get so mad at them, they've certainly come a long way.

29. What were traffic signals for before traffic lights for cars?

A. Trains                                B. Boats.                       C. Planes                       D. Bicycles

30. Which of the following color1s meant go at first?

A. Red.                                           B. Yellow.                       C. White.                       D. Green.

31. Why does red mean danger?

A. Because it's the brightest color1.                                   B. Because it can be seen far away.

C. Because railway companies say so.                  D. Because it has the shortest wavelength.

32. What does the text mainly tell us?

A. How important traffic lights are.  

B. Which color1 has the longest wavelength.

C. What red, yellow and green can be used for.

D. Why traffic lights are red, yellow and green.

Does this situation seem familiar to you? Your English is progressing well, the grammar is now familiar, the reading comprehension is no problem, you are communicating quite fluently, but: Listening is STILL a problem! First of all, remember that you are not alone. Listening comprehension is probably the most difficult job for almost all learners of English as a foreign language. The most important thing is to listen as often as possible. The first step is to find listening resources. The Internet is really a useful tool for English students. You can download The RealPlayer from RealMedia. The RealPlayer allows you to use the Internet like a radio station.

Once you have begun to listen on a regular basis, you might still be frustrated (懊恼) by limited understanding. What should you do?

Here is some of the advice I give my students:

●Accept the fact that you are not going to understand everything.

●Stay relaxed when you do not understand—even if you continue not to understand for a long time.

●Do not translate what you hear into your native language.

●Listen for the general idea of the conversation. Don’t concentrate on detail until you have understood the main ideas.

I remember the problems I had in understanding spoken German when I first went to Germany. In the beginning, when I didn't understand a word, I insisted on translating it in my mind. This method usually resulted in confusion. Then, after the first six months, I discovered two very important facts. Firstly, translating creates a wall between the listener and the speaker. Secondly, most people repeat themselves constantly. By remaining calm, I noticed that — even if I didn’t pay much attention, I could usually understand what the speaker had said.

33.The best way to improve our listening is to _________ .

A. practise as much as possible

B. use the Internet like a radio station

C. find as many listening resources as possible

D. speak naturally and read as much as possible

34.Which of the following is a good habit when listening?

A. Try to understand everything.         B. Try to get the main ideas.

C. Pay much attention to details.         D. Translate each word in your mind.

35.Why did the writer mention his/her experience in Germany?

A. To prove the importance of translating.

B. To tell us the importance of staying calm.

C. To point out an ineffective method of listening.

D. To show the problems of speaking a foreign language.

Tips for cooking on a Tight Schedule

From my experience, there are three main reasons why people don’t cook more often: ability, money and time.    36     Money is a topic I’ll save for another day. So today I want to give you some wisdom about how to make the most of the time you spend in the kitchen. Here are three tips for great cooking on a tight schedule:

Think ahead. The moments when I think cooking is a pain are when I’m already hungry and there is nothing ready to eat. So think about of the coming week. When will you have time to cook? Do you have the right materials ready?     37  

Make your time worth it. When you do find time to cook a meal, make the most of it and save yourself time later on. Are you making one loaf of bread?    38   it takes around the same amount of time to make more of something. So save yourself the effort for a future meal.

    39    This may surprise you, but one of the best tools for making cooking worth your time is experimentation. It gives you the chance to hit upon new ideas and recipes that can work well with your appetite and schedule. The more you learn and the more you try, the more ability you have to take control of your food and your schedule.

Hopefully that gives you a good start.   40   and don’t let a busy schedule discourage you from making some great changes in the way you eat and live!

A. Try new things.

B. Ability is easily improved.

C. Make three or four instead.

D. Understand your food better.

E. Cooking is a burden for many people.

F. Let cooking and living simply be a joy rather than a burden.

G. A little time planning ahead can save a lot of work later on.

When Glen Kruger picked a small cat from an animal shelter, he did not expect much. Yet right from the start, eight years ago, there was an uncommon connection between him and the small black cat. He   41 her Inky.

“I grew up on a hundred-acre farm and had only cats   42 playmates,” Kruger, the seventy-year-old man, says. “My hearing was damaged by the    43  of farm equipment, so I learned to connect with   44  . They react to what they see and what you do.”

Inky was a gentle cat,   45  the house with five other cats. But on a January night in 2009, Inky did    46   that would make her different from    47  cats forever.

Kruger had gone down to the basement to   48  the wood stove (火炉）for the night. When he was finished, he   49  to the top of the stairs and reached to turn off the lights. In doing so, he slipped and    50  his back against an old shelf. The heavy shelf came crashing down and sent Kruger down the stairs.

   51  in a pool of blood on the basement floor, Kruger felt   52 going into shock（休克）.  He shouted for help,   53  his wife, Brenda, was asleep in their bedroom at the opposite end of the house.   54  Kruger noticed Inky watching from the top of the stairs.

“Go get Brenda,” Kruger said to Inky.

Inky   55  to the bedroom door and scratched (抓、挠)    56  until Brenda opened it. Then Inky led her to the   57  . Brenda found her husband   58  the stairs and called 911. Kruger was rushed to the hospital. “I spent six months    59  there,” says Kruger. “Although I became lame, I was blessed.” Since the accident, Inky has   60  left Kruger’s side.

41. A. gave                       B. chose                                   C. named                                   D. remembered

42. A. like                        B. as                                      C. except                                  D. among

43. A. sound                      B. alarm                                   C. noise                                   D. voice

44. A. animals                     B. friends                                 C. farmers                                  D. neighbors

45. A. sharing                     B. visiting                                 C. dividing                                  D. discovering

46. A. anything                    B. nothing                                 C. something                                 D. everything

47. A. familiar                     B. lovely                                               C. ordinary                      D. outstanding

48. A. turn on                      B. shut off                                C. take off                       D. give up

49. A. marched                     B. flew                                   C. struggled                     D. climbed

50. A. bent                         B. hit                                    C. shook                        D. pulled

51. A. Falling                     B. Lying                                  C. Appearing         D. Thinking

52. A. it                          B. itself                                  C. him                          D. himself

53. A. and                      B. but                                     C. or                            D. so

54. A. Thus                                   B. Otherwise                               C. Then                          D. Rather

55. A. walked                     B. ran                                    C. returned                       D. withdrew

56. A. rapidly                     B. suddenly                                C. madly                         D. urgently

57. A. bedroom                     B. basement                                C yard                         D. house

58. A. at the bottom of               B. in the middle of                C. at the top of                  D. in the front of

59. A. regretting                   B. resting                        C. relaxing                       D. recovering

60. A. never                      B. ever                          C. still                           D. already

I  61  (travel) to many places since I went to college. What impressed me deeply was  62 (I) travel to Tibet last year. I took the train there with my friends and enjoyed the scenery all the way. When the train was close to Tibet, I had   63  headache. Then I   64  (find) it difficult to breathe and felt   65  (tire). I knew that all my symptoms(症状) were called altitude sickness. And it took me a few hours to get used to it.

Tibet is known as the “Roof of the World”   66  has a number of famous   67  (place) of interest including Potala Palace and Mount Everest. So when I felt a little   68  (well), I couldn’t wait to head towards them. I was very happy  69  (see) that the top of Mount Everest was covered with snow even   70  July and when the sun came out, it became pure and beautiful.

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( \ )划掉。

修改: 在错的词下划一横线，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。

One day, in my way to school, I noticed two anxious foreigners was surrounded by a group of people. I stopped and found that they were tourist from Canada who carelessly left a very importantly wallet in a taxi. So I take them to the nearest police station. With help of the policemen, we got in touch with the taxi company. We were telling that the wallet had just been found. And two passports, flight tickets, or some money were still inside it. Finally the two Canadians got our wallet back. They thanked for me and left.

假设你是新华中学高一学生李华。你的英国笔友Jim在给你的邮件中提到他很想了解你上次外出旅行的情况，请你给Jim回信，内容包括：

1. 旅行目的地及时间；

2. 选择该地点的原因；

3. 旅行中的收获。

注意： 1. 词数不少于100；

2. 开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。

Dear Jim,

Yours,

Li Hua