第一卷(共85分)
一、听力(共两节;满分20分)
第一节 听下面5段对话。每段对话后有一个小题,从题中所给的A、B、C三个选项中选出最佳选项,并标在试卷的相应位置。听完每段对话后,你都有10秒钟的时间来回答有关小题和阅读下一小题。每段对话仅读一遍。
1. What does the woman want the man to do now?
A. Paint the shelf for her. B. Help her fix the shelf. C. Look for the car key.
2. Who will visit Christian this evening?
A. Emma and her sister. B. Christian’s sister. C. Emma and the man.
3. When did the man graduate from university?
A. In 1975. B. In 1979. C. In 1985.
4. What does the woman recommend the man to do?
A. Play the violin. B. Play the guitar. C. Learn to paint.
5. What does the woman mean?
A. She is tired of being a housewife.
B. She regrets never taking a job before.
C. She wants to stay at home all day long.
第二节 听下面5段对话或独白。每段对话或独白后有几个小题,从题中所给的A、B、C三个选项中选出最佳选项,并标在试卷的相应位置。听每段对话或独白前,你将有时间阅读各个小题,每小题5秒钟;听完后,各小题将给出5秒钟的作答时间。每段对话或独白读两遍。
听第6段对话,回答第6至8题。
6. What are the speakers mainly talking about?
A. Summer jobs. B. Winter vacation. C. Summer camp.
7. Who worked as a waiter?
A. The woman. B. The man’s friend. C. The woman’s
friend.
8. Where will the man find a job probably?
A. At the boys’ camp.
B. In a road building company.
C. At the Sea View Hotel.
听第7段对话,回答第9至11题。
9. Who might the woman be?
A. A nurse. B. A saleswoman. C. A designer.
10. What did the man ask the woman for?
A. Some medicine. B. Some information. C. Some money.
11. Which button should the man press to sit up straight?
A. The buttons at the top.
B. The buttons at the bottom.
C. The button in the middle.
听第8段对话,回答第12至13题。
12. Why doesn’t the boy want to be the president in the end?
A. He doesn’t want to get up early.
B. He doesn’t want to travel much.
C. He doesn’t want to be very busy.
13. What is the relationship between the speakers?
A. Mother and son. B. Teacher and student. C. Aunt and nephew.
听第9段对话,回答第14至17题。
14. What might the woman’s job be?
A. She’s a diver.
B. She’s a lifeguard.
C. She’s a swimming instructor.
15. Who called the ambulance?
A. The woman. B. One of the students. C. The man’s colleague.
16. When did the ambulance arrive?
A. Immediately. B. Ten minutes later. C. Twenty minutes later.
17. How did the girl react when she awoke?
A. She didn’t know what happened.
B. She went back in the pool.
C. She couldn’t help crying.
听第10段独白,回答第18至20题。
18. Why did the speaker feel sad along the way?
A. There were no sheep on the grassland.
B. It was too cloudy to travel that day.
C. The grassland was becoming a desert.
19. What animals do the greatest damage to the grass?
A. Cattle. B. Horses. C. Sheep.
20. What will the speaker do next?
A. Plant some trees at home.
B. Make some suggestions for others.
C. Try to solve the problem alone.
二、单项填空(共15小题;每小题1分,满分15分)
请认真阅读下面各题,从A、B、C、D四个选项中,选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
21. She was determined to marry an African boy, which was considered as a from tradition.
A. departure B. decline C. discrimination D. demand
22. In order to overcome the economic crisis, she a new idea for increasing sales.
A. put up with B. added up to C. came up with D. live up to
23. —Do you remember we got to know each other?
---It was in 2000 we both studied in Nanjing University.
A. when it was that; when B. when was it that; when
C. when it was that; that D. when was it that; that
24. As she more and more experience on the stage, the comedian’s confidence built up
gradually.
A. abused B. accompanied C. accumulated D. accelerated
25. As our agent, you should send us your market report at least once every three month.
A. normally B. regularly C. universally D. completely
26. —When will the official permission be given for the event to take place?
---Not until good preparations for it.
A. have you made B. you will have made C. will you have made D. you have made
27. Although the doctor is claiming a major breakthrough in the fight against cancer, I am of his chances of curing the patients.
A. specific B. sceptical C. stable D. sincere
28. When to strong sunlight, babies tend to increase temperature, nervous and anxious.
A. expose; felt B. exposing; feeling C. exposed; feeling D. exposing; felt
29. Last night, I to be fully absorbed in my work, but found myself disturbed by noises from my neighbour upstairs.
A. had intended B. were intended C. intended D. had been intended
30. —I heard you would go to Dalian for your holiday?
—I , but I have some important business to deal with.
A. would like B. wanted C. was eager D. planned to
31. I don’t exactly know what the woman is, but I think she can be but a doctor.
A. anybody B. something C. anything D. everybody
32. But for Miss Liu’s help, I have been admitted into Peking University.
A. wouldn’t B. shouldn’t C. could D. might
33. The last line added was the Jubilee Line, which was open in 1979 the twenty-fifth anniversary of Elizabeth II being the queen.
A. in sight of B. in honour of C. in place of D. in favour of
34. —He was caught smoking while working in the gas station. So dangerous! He should have been warned of the potential risk.
--- , but he ignored my warnings.
A. So he had B. So had he C. So was he D. So he was
35. ---I had a quarrel with my seatmate yesterday. It is my fault so I feel very guilty.
—She is just over there. . Go and apologize to her.
A. It is up to you B. Believe it or not
C. To tell the truth D. You know the drill
三、完形填空(共20小题;每小题1分,满分20分)
阅读下面短文,从短文所给各题的四个选项A、B、C、D中,选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
There is something graceful about a well-made hurricane lamp, especially the antique ones. Mom had affection for them.
I can remember 36 through countless flea markets for hurricane lamps, which are 37 to keep their light lit through the 38 of moments. Mom tried hard to buy the lamps in 39 , as her favorite of all the lamps had no mate.
The spring after Mom’s first 40 with cancer, we went to a local craft fair to pass the time, to keep 41 . We were still waiting to hear from the doctors on the 42 of her follow-up tests. 43 to search something for my mom, I bounded ahead of her and baby brother as they 44 along the tables. I didn’t 45 far before something caught my eye. Standing proud on the display table sat a lamp.
I was excited, as I 46 back through the crowd to my mom. “Mom! You have to see something!” I shouted. “ 47 . I think I’m going to get these lamps. What do you think?” She 48 so 1 could see them but I didn’t even look at them. “You’ve got to see what I found first,” I 49 her through the fair. When she saw the lamp, she picked up the lamp 50 , running her
fingers over the bowl, over the hurricane glass, and 51 it closely. “See this?” She pointed at a very small mark in the glass. “The one at home has the same mark.” She smiled. It was the first time I had seen her 52 smile since the doctors first found the cancer.
When the lamp 53 in our house, next to its mate, she cried. She went to light the lamps and sit on their glow until she could sleep. Years later, I understood her 54 for those lamps, through the darkest moments of her life. Mom was my hurricane lamp. She was inextinguishable (永不媳灭的) --- through the darkest moments. She lit my way without 55 . She still does.
36. A. seeing B. finding C. living D. searching
37. A. designed B. allowed C. decided D. evolved
38. A. happiest B. coldest C. busiest D. hardest
39. A. group B. double C. pairs D. packs
40. A. acquaintance B. battle C. knowledge D. appointment
41. A. busy B. merry C. leisure D. easy
42. A. results B. discussions C. procedures D. processes
43. A. Arranged B. Determined C. Required D. Permitted
44. A. wondered B. wandered C. ran D. hung
45. A. manage it B. do it C. make it D. carry it
46. A. jumped B. leaped C. walked D. raced
47. A. Hang on B. Hang about C. Hang around D. Hang up
48. A. held them on B. held them up C. held them back D. held them down
49. A. grabbed B. moved C. dragged D. caught
50. A. typically B. immediately C. occasionally D. hesitantly
51. A. inspecting B. looking C. testing D. knocking
52. A. finally B. deliberately C. lastly D. truly
53. A. took its way B. took its place C. took its control D. took its name
54. A. anxiety B. care C. need D. worry
55. A. fail B. sadness C. pain D. tear
四、阅读理解(共4篇,15小题;每小题2分,满分30分)
阅改下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项A、B、C、D中,选出最佳选项,并在在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
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56. If Mr. Green wants someone to arrange all the details of his holiday on the Fraser Island, which one should he turn to?
A. Fraser Dingo Four Wheel Drive Adventures B. Fraser Magic 4WD Hire
C. Aussie Trax 4X4 Rentals D. None of them
57. When visiting the Fraser Island, tourists are likely to experience all EXCEPT .
A. taking an overnight walk B. having a comprehensive camping
C. getting close to the wildlife on the bay D. taking a flatboat crossing
B
Industrial emissions (排放) of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming greenhouse gases have raised the global average temperature by about 0.8°C since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. But studies have disagreed about what impact the rise is having on the world’s species, says Mark Urban, an ecologist at the University of Connecticut, Storrs. Some have estimated that as many as 54% of species could eventually become extinct as a result of the climate change, but others have suggested no significant impact.①
Such disparate result might originate from the limited nature of some individual studies, possibly because they focused only on a few species or a relatively small geographical region, says Urban.② To address these limits, Urban used statistical methods to help blend the results of previous studies into an apples-to-apples comparison that estimates the risk of extinction of species worldwide.
③He chose to analyze only the results of studies that had assessed extinction risks of more than one species. Then he researched into the details, such as the regions in which species considered, whether those species were limited to one small region or were widely spread, and whether the species were free to move as climate changed or were blocked by barriers such as mountain ranges or urban development.④
Effects of climate change aren’t always immediate, Urban says, and the risks of extinction he’s estimated are the long-term results of species not being able to find a suitable habitat. Maybe the habitat will merely shrink to a size that can’t support the species, or maybe it will disappear entirely. In some cases, he notes, a species might not be able to outpace the shift in its range, dying out before it can reach a new homeland. For over the generations that rapid warming might kill them off before they can spread to a suitable new habitat.
58. What is the passage aimed to tell us?
A. It is the Industrial Revolution that raised the global average temperature.
B. Mark Urban is an ecologist at the University of Connecticut, Storrs.
C. The climate change contributes to almost all the species dying out.
D. Global warming is not a main factor accounting for species extinction.
59. The sentence “And different teams have often used different methods to come up with their predictions.” can be placed in .
A.① B.② C.③ D.④
60. According to Mark Urban in Paragraph 4, some species died out mainly because of .
A. the rising temperatures B. human activities
C. their low birth rates D. the loss of their habitats
C
The first person in the world to receive two facial transplants says he is feeling well, three months after his latest groundbreaking operation.
Jerame Hamon had his first transplanted face removed last year after signs of rejection following a treatment with an antibiotic (抗生素) during a cold.
The 43 year old remained in a hospital in Paris without a face for two months while a compatible donor was sought.
He said: “The first face I accepted immediately. This time it’s the same.”
Mr. Hamon suffers from neurofibromatosis (多发性神经纤维瘤), a genetic condition that spoiled his face severely.
His first transplant, in 2010, was a success, but he caught a common cold in 2015 and was given antibiotics. The drug was incompatible with the immunosuppressive (免疫制疫的) treatment he was having to prevent a rejection of the transplanted material.
The first signs of rejection came in 2016 and last November, the face, suffering from the death of most of cells, had to be removed.
Mr. Hamon lived without a face in a room at Georges-Pompidou hospital in Paris without being able to see, speak or hear until January, when a face donor was found and the second transplant carried out.
To avoid further rejection, Mr. Hamon—dubbed “the man with three faces” by French media ―had special treatment to clean the blood prior to the transplant.
His new face remains smooth and motionless, and his skull, skin and features are yet to be fully
matched. But he is positive about his recovery.
“If I hadn’t accepted this new face it would have been terrible. It’s a question of identity… But here we are, it’s good, it’s me,” he told AFP news agency from the hospital, where he is still recovering.
The hours-long operation was led by Prof Laurent Lantieri, a specialist in hand and face transplants who carried out Mr. Hamon’s initial surgery eight years ago.
“Today, we know that a double transplant is practicable, it’s no longer in the field of research,” he told Le Parisien newspaper.
Anaesthetist Bernard Cholley said: “Anyone who loses their face and then has to wait for a possible and imagined transplant for an unknown length of time—that’s something that nobody has ever had to go through here.”
“I’m amazed by the courage of a patient who has been able to get through such a different experience.”
The first face transplant was carried out in 2005 in northern France. Since then, some 40 operations have been performed around the world.
61. What is the meaning of the word “compatible” (underlined in Paragraph 3)?
A. accessible B. adaptable C. adjustable D. acceptable
62. From the passage we can learn that .
A. Mr. Hamon has fully recovered from his new operation
B. Prof Laurent Lantieri carried out two face surgeries on Mr. Hamon
C. Mr. Hamon is the first one in the world to receive a face transplant
D. Mr. Hamon received his second face transplant in 2016
63. What is the correct order of what happened to Mr. Hamon?
a. His first transplanted face had to be removed.
b. He was given antibiotics.
c. He suffers from neurofibromatosis.
d. He received the first transplant.
e. He caught a common cold.
A. cdeba B. ebdca C. cbdea D.ecbda
64. What is the best title of this passage?
A, A man with two faces B. Prof Laurent Lantieri success stories
C. Successful Double Transplants D. A groundbreaking operation
D
Are you a different person when you speak a foreign language? That’s just one of the questions the New Yorker’s writer and native North Carolinian Lauren Collins explores in her autobiography, about her tough efforts to master French after marrying a Frenchman whose name —Olivier---she couldn’t even pronounce properly. When in French ranges from the humorously personal story to a deeper look at various theories of language acquisition and linguistics (语言学).
The couple met in London “on more or less neutral ground: his continent, my language.” But the balance shifted when they moved to Geneva for Olivier’s work. The normally voluble (健谈的) Collins found herself at a loss — “nearly speechless.” The language barrier, and her dependence on her husband for simple things like buying the right cut of meat worsened her mixed feelings about “unlovely, but not ridiculous” Geneva. She comments, “Language, as much as land, is a place. To be cut off from it is to be, in a sense, homeless.”
Her sense of alienation (疏离感) leads to an examination of America’s miserable record when it comes to foreign languages, “Linguists call America ‘the graveyard of languages’ because of its singular ability to take in millions of immigrants and make their native languages die out in a few generations,” Collins writes. Educated in Wilmington, N.C., and at Princeton, she could --- like the vast majority of Americans — only speak their mother tongue.
Eight months after she moved to Switzerland, Collins gives up on the natural acquisition of language and finally attends a French course. As she struggles with grammar and vocabulary, Collins notes smartly that vert (green),verre (glass), ver (worm), vers (toward), and vair (squirrel) compose a quintuple homonym (同形异义). “Although it’s difficult, French can try” she says.
French is actually considered among the easiest languages for an English speaker to learn, especially compared to Arabic or Mandarin Chinese. Collins, whose notably rich English vocabulary includes glossolalia (nonsense speech) and shibboleth (catchword or slogan), finds plenty of terrific French words to love. She writes, “English is a trust fund, an unearned inheritance (遗产), but I’ve worked for every bit of French I’ve banked.”
Unlike Jhumpa Lahiri, who became so hooked on Italian and used it to write In Other Words,
Collins’s goals for learning French were more modest, “I wanted to speak French and to sound like North Carolina.” She also wanted to be able to deal with chimney sweeps and butchers, communicate with her in-laws, and “to touch Olivier in his own language.” She admits that she feels different speaking French. ‘‘Its austerity (朴素) made me feel more confused.”
Readers looking for the romantic spark of classic cross-cultural love stories featuring an outgoing American and a shy Frenchman will find flashes of it here. Among the many cultural differences the couple argue over are her enthusiastic American habit of applying the verb love to express enthusiasm for shoes, strawberries, and husbands alike. But there’s far more to Collins, book than fantastic comedy, and those who have experienced linguistic crossings themselves tend to find particular resonance (共鸣) in its inquiry into language, identity, and transcultural translation.
Arranged by chapters named for verb tenses, When in French works its way from The Past Perfect (Le plus-que-parfait) to The Present (Le Present) and The Conditional (Le Conditionnel). Collins ends on a delightful note with Le Futur---fitting for a new mother about to move with her hard-won French husband, French language, and Swiss-born daughter to the French-speaking city of her dreams, Paris.
65. Which of the following statements is NOT the reason why Collin studied French?
A. She is eager to understand her husband in his own language.
B. She aims at dealing with everyday life affairs in French.
C. She wants to communicate with her husband’s relatives freely.
D. She tries to apply French to serve her writing career.
66. What does she mean by her comments “Language, as much as land, is a place. To be cut off from it is to be, in a sense, homeless.” in paragraph2?
A. Understanding the language of a country helps you find the sense of belonging there.
B. If you understand the language of one country, you can get a house easily there.
C. You should forget your native language in order to get a home in a foreign country.
D. Language, as well as land, is a place on which you can build your own home.
67. What can be inferred from Paragraph 3?
A. Only English-speaking people can immigrate into America.
B. Other languages except English are forbidden in American’s universities.
C. American culture replaces immigrants, native languages gradually.
D. So many immigrants may die very soon in America.
68. Who can find particular resonance (共鸣) in When in French?
A. Those who have to learn a foreign language.
B. Those who have suffered from linguistic crossings.
C. Those who became addicted to French.
D. Those whose native languages have died out.
69. Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined word “Le Futur” in the last paragraph?
A. The past B. The Present Perfect C. The Future D. The Present Continuous
70. This text would be probably found in .
A. science section of a local newspaper
B. literature section of a science journal
C. biography section of a social magazine
D. review and recommendation of a magazine.
第二卷(共35分)
注意事项:请将第二卷上的答案写在答题纸上!
五、任务型阅读(共10空,每小题1分,满分10分)
认真阅读下列短文,并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入最恰当的单词。
注意:每空一词。
A recent study points out a so-called “gender-equality paradox(性别平等悖论)”:there are more women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) in countries with lower gender equality. Why do women make up 40 percent of engineering majors in Jordan, but only 34 percent in Sweden and 19 percent in the U.S.? The researchers suggest that women are just less interested in STEM, and when liberal Western countries let them choose freely, they freely choose different fields.
We disagree.
From cradle to classroom, a wealth of research shows that the environment has a major influence on girls’ interest and ability in math and science. Early in school, teachers, unconscious prejudice push girls away from STEM. By their preteen years, girls outperform boys in science class
and report equal interest in the subject, but parents think that science is harder and less interesting for their daughters than their sons, and these misunderstandings predict their children’s career choices.
Later in life, women get less credit than men for the same math performance. When female STEM majors write to potential PhD advisors, they are less likely to get a response. When STEM professors review applications for research positions, they are less likely to hire “Jennifer” than “John,” even when both applications are otherwise identical—and if they do hire “Jennifer,” they pay her $4,000 less.
These findings make it clear that women in Western countries are not freely expressing their lack of “interest” in STEM. In fact, cultural attitudes and discrimination are shaping women’s interests in a way that is anything but free, even in otherwise free countries.
“Gender-equality paradox” research misses those social factors because it relies on a broad measure of equality called the Gender Gap Index (GGI), which tracks indicators such as wage difference, government representation and health outcomes. These are important markers of progress, but if we want to explain something as complicated as gender representation in STEM, we have to look into people’s heads.
Fortunately, we have ways to do that. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is a well-validated tool for measuring how tightly two concepts are tied together in people’s minds. The psychologist Brian Nosek and his colleagues analyzed over 500,000 responses to a version of the IAT that measures mental associations between men/women and science, and compared results from 34 countries. Across the world, people associated science more strongly with men than with women.
But surprisingly, these gendered associations were stronger in supposedly egalitarian (主张平等的) Sweden than they were in the U.S., and the most pro-female scores came from Jordan. We re-analyzed the study’s data and found that the GGI’s assessment of overall gender equality of a country has nothing to do with that country’s scores on the science IAT.
That means the GGI fails to account for cultural attitudes toward women in science and the complicated mix of history and culture that forms those attitudes.
Comparison
A recent study
The author’s idea
Opinions
“Gender-equality paradox” (71) ▲ from the personal reason that women are less
The environment including cultural attitudes and discrimination is (72) ▲ women’s
interested in STEM.
interests.
Facts
(73) ▲ with Jordan and Sweden, America had the least percentage of women majoring in engineering.
• Early in school: Girls perform
(74) ▲ than boys in science.
• Later in life: Female STEM majors are more likely to be (75) ▲ by potential PhD advisors.
Tools
It is (76) ▲ on GGI.
IAT (77) ▲ how tightly two concepts are tied together in people’s minds.
Findings
Women in liberal Western countries tend to (78) ▲ STEM.
• The GGFs assessment of overall gender equality is not (79) ▲ to that country’s scores on the science IAT.
• The GGI can’t (80) ▲ people’s cultural attitudes towards women in science, which are formed by a mix of history and culture.
六、书面表达(满分25分)
请阅读下面的漫画及相关文字,并按照要求写一篇150词左右的文章。
A: Today’s university students depend on their parents too much.
You see, the boy even doesn’t know how to wash socks.
B: Oh, it’s awful. Both parents and children are to blame.
A: Yeah. Learning to be independent is a must.
B: Parents can’t help children to do everything. And children should learn to take care of themselves, too.
写作内容
1. 用约30个词概括上面图文的主要内容;
2. 分析当前学生缺乏自理能力的原因;
3. 谈谈如何培养学生的自理能力(至少两条)。
写作要求
1. 写作过程中不能直接引用原文语句;
2. 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。
江苏省徐州市2017-2018学年高二下学期期末考试
英语试题答案
一、听力:
1—5 BCBCA 6—10 ACBAB 11—15 ACCBB 16—20 CACCB
二、单项选择:21-25 ACACB 26-30 DBCAD 31-35 CABDD
三、完形填空:36—40 DADCB 41—45 AABBC 46—50 DABCB 51—55 ADBCA
四、阅读理解:56—57 CC 58—60 DBD 61-64 DBAD 65-70 DACBCD
五、任务型阅读:
71. results/comes/originates/arises 72. influencing/shaping/affecting/determining 73. Compared
74. better 75. rejected/refused 76. based/ built/reliant 77. measures 78. avoid 79. related 80. explain
六、书面表达
One possible version:
University students rely too much on their parents in China, which is a very big problem. According to the picture, the boy is calling his mother for instructions on how to wash socks.
From my point of view, it’s parents and students that should take the blame for their lack of self-independence. For one thing, parents discourage their children from trying to be independent. They usually take control of every little detail in the daily life, rather than give children chances to do some easy housework. For another, students take everything in their life for granted, thinking it’s parents’ duty to feed them, clothe them and even clean their messes.
Taking these factors into consideration, measures must be taken immediately to strengthen students’ self-independence. For parents, keep in mind that trust and encouragement make a
difference. They are expected to motivate students to take responsibility for themselves. For us students, it’s high time that we should learn to meet challenges in life bravely.
Text 1
M: I can’t find the key to the car. I need to go to the shops.
W: I’ll look for it later. Right now I want you to help fix the shelf before I paint it.
Text 2
M: Hello, Emma. Are you sure that Christian has come back from Austria?
W: Yes. His sister told me. I’m going to visit him this evening.
M: Do you think I can go with you?
W: Of course you can. Wait at home and I’ll call you later.
Text 3
W: Would you like to tell me something about your university life?
M: Sure. I was admitted to Cambridge in 1975, and I graduated four years later. I finally became a lawyer ten years after I graduated.
Text 4
M: I’ve been thinking of learning to play an instrument. I can’t decide between the violin and the guitar. What do you think?
W: Knowing how musical you are, maybe you should take up painting!
Text 5
M: Oh, what’s wrong with you, my dear?
W: I feel so bored. I have to stay at home all day long doing housework and taking care of the kids. They always make the house a mess. I can’t bear it! How I wish I hadn’t quit my job!
Text 6
W: It’s almost vacation time. Have you found a summer job yet?
M: I suppose I can work at the boys’ camp. But camp jobs don’t pay much. So I won’t consider it.
W: I think I can get a job at the Sea View Hotel. A friend of mine was a waiter there. He got a lot of tips. Tips are a great way to make extra money, you know.
M: What I want is a job outside. This summer, I think I might work for a road building company or something like that. I hear physical work pays pretty well.
W: It would be good experience.
Text 7
W: Morning, Mr. Johnson. Do you need some more medication?
M: No, my leg is feeling fine, actually. But this bed is really uncomfortable.
W: You told me that you’d like to be able to move and control it yourself.
M: That’s true, but I don’t know how to use it. This controller is huge, and there are too many buttons.
W: Yeah, it can be pretty confusing. See these buttons at the top here? They control the part of the bed near your back, so you can either sit up or lie down.
M: OK, but what about these buttons at the bottom?
W: Those ones control the part of the bed by your feet. Why don’t you try playing around with it?
M: OK…whoa, that’s nice! This is much better. But what does this big red button in the middle do?
W: That is the emergency call button. Please don’t press it unless it’s a real emergency.
Text 8
W: What do you want to be when you grow up?
M: Well, Auntie Molly, I want to be president of the U.S. one day!
W: Wow, that’s great! But that’s a really hard job. It might be the hardest job in the world.
M: But you get to live in a big white house and fly in a big plane whenever you want.
W: That’s true, but you’ll also have to give a lot of speeches, and you probably won’t have much free time. Presidents are very busy. They usually don’t even have a chance to spend time with
their parents.
M: Then I don’t want to be the president anymore. I want to be a cowboy instead.
W: That sounds fun, too. But are you okay with getting up really early? Because that’s what cowboys have to do.
M: That’s not true. I can train my horses and cows to sleep late, and we can get up late together!
Text9
M: I saw you on the news! You’re a hero! Come on, tell me all the details.
W: Well, I was watching the pool from my chair, like I always do. There was a group of kids taking diving lessons in the deep end.
M: Go on…
W: I guess one of the students hit their head on the diving board, because I saw that someone was
sinking to the bottom of the pool.
M: So, what did you do next?
W: I jumped in the pool after their instructor jumped in and brought the kid back to the surface. It was a young girl, and she had swallowed a lot of water.
M: Wow. Did you give her mouth-to-mouth?
W: Of course. Then I told one of the kids to call for an ambulance.
M: Quick thinking!
W: The girl coughed the water up almost immediately, and just like that, it was over. We cleaned the wound and bandaged it up, and the emergency services arrived twenty minutes later.
M: How was she?
W: She had no memory of the past ten minutes. She wanted to go back in the pool. She didn’t even know why her parents were crying.
M: She must have been in shock.
Text 10
This August, I finally got my wish to go to the grasslands. In my imagination, the land would be boundless, making people feel open-minded; the cloudless blue sky would make everyone feel comfortable and free.
As we approached the grassland, I got very excited. However, my excitement did not last long. There were many places where we could see a little sand. And some places had no grass at all. My mood had changed, and I felt a little sad. This was not what I had imagined.
What caused this? First, over-development. Along our way, man-made attractions are everywhere. There are many motorcycles for tourists to ride, and the grass cannot survive under such wheels. Second, overgrazing. Too many cows, sheep, and horses on the grasslands have damaged the plants there, especially sheep because they often eat the roots of the plants. If the roots are eaten, the grass cannot grow again. The grass itself is actually the best protection against desertification. If this barrier is gone, it is easy for a grassland to become a desert.
I want to do something about this. Although I cannot solve the problem by myself, I can at least make some suggestions. I think protecting our home is a way to protect our future…