Many people think of the brain as a mystery.They don’t know much about intelligence and how it works. When they do think about what intelligence is，many people believe that a person is born smart，average，or dumb—and stays that way in the whole life.But new research shows that the brain is more like a muscle—it changes and gets stronger when you use it.And scientists have been able to show just how the brain grows and gets stronger when you learn.

Everyone knows that when you lift weights，your muscles get bigger and you get stronger.A person who can’t lift 20 pounds when he/she starts exercising can get strong enough to lift 100 pounds after working out for a long time.That’s because the muscles become larger and stronger with exercise.And when you stop exercising，the muscles shrink and you get weaker.That’s why people say “Use it or lose it！”

But most people don’t know that when they practice and learn new things，parts of their brain change and get larger a lot like muscles do when they exercise.Inside the cortex (皮层) of the brain are billions of tiny nerve cells，called neurons.The nerve cells have branches connecting them to other cells in a complicated network.Communication between these brain cells is what allows us to think and solve problems.When you learn new things，these tiny connections in the brain actually multiply and get stronger.The more you challenge your mind to learn，the more your brain cells grow.Then，things that you once found very hard or even impossible to do—like speaking a foreign language or doing algebra (代数)—seem to become easy after learning them for a period of time.The result is a stronger，smarter brain.

Scientists started thinking that the human brain could develop and change when they studied animals’ brains.They found out that animals that lived in a challenging environment were more “perspicacious”—they were better at solving problems and learning new things.

1.According to the first paragraph，________.

A．the function of our brain is like that of the muscle

B．until now it’s impossible to explain the brain’s mystery

C．many people believe one’s intelligence is naturally determined

D．one’s brain grows stronger as the age increases

2.Training muscles is compared to________.

A．using the brain

B．connecting things in your brain

C．lifting weights

D．doing research about the brain

3.What does the underlined word “perspicacious” in the last paragraph probably mean?

A．Strong.B．Smart.

C．Popular.D．Active.

4.The following paragraph will most probably talk about________.

A．the differences between animals’ brains and humans’ brains

B．the relation between human brains and muscles

C．scientists’ findings about animals’ brains

D．how to make your brain smarter through self?development

A winter wonderland on the outskirts of Quebec City has become one of Canada's hottest attractions and most sought out accommodations. Guests stay close for warmth in sleeping bags on beds of ice, hats pulled over their ears to prevent frostbite, while sipping cocktails (鸡尾酒) in glasses also made of ice. 

A cool place to host a memorable wedding or for a romantic getaway, the Quebec Ice Hotel has attracted 600,000 curious tourists, including 30,000 who stayed overnight, since opening seasonally 11 years ago. Like Victoria and Jeremy Martin, dozens of couples will exchange vows (誓约) this winter in a temporary church next to the hotel, sculpted entirely from blocks of ice with seats covered in furs.

     Average temperatures fall below minus 20 degrees C (minus four F) in winter, but inside the hotel's 36 rooms it is relatively cozy. Thick walls of packed snow and ice act as an insulator, trapping body heat inside. Each room is uniquely decorated, using designs created by Quebec architecture students.Two hotel bars also sell special cocktails in ice glasses.

     First-time guests of the hotel, however, are recommended to stay only one night as sleeping in sub-zero temperatures is not very refreshing. This year for the first time the ice hotel has teamed up with a bricks and concrete Quebec City hotel to offer packages for one-night accommodations at each. Prices for one night only at the ice hotel start at 200 US dollars per person.

     The 3,000-square-metre (32,300-square-feet) buildings take six weeks starting in December to build, using 15,000 tonnes of snow and 500 tonnes of ice, at a cost of some 750,000 US dollars. Eleven weeks after its seasonal grand opening, the hotel will close on March 27 and then melt away with the arrival of spring.

1.What is true with the ice hotel?

A. 630,000 people have visited it.

B. 30,000 people visit it each year.

C. It has stayed open for many years.

D. Wedding ceremonies are often held there.

2.What can we learn about the hotel rooms?

A. It can be -20°C inside. 

B. The temperature is always below 0°C.

C. The rooms all look alike.

D. Each room costs $200 per night.

3.First-time guests are advised to stay there only one night because _____.

A. they may not be able to stand the cold

B. their other night is with an ordinary hotel

C. new guests have less advantages over old ones

D. the first-day service is just for a test run

4.If you choose to visit the ice hotel during the Christmas season, you'll find _____.

A.it doesn't exist at all

B. it is just being built

C. most of its rooms are vacant

D. it is crowded with guests

Although problems are a part of our lives, it certainly doesn’t mean that we let them rule our lives forever. One day or the other, you’ll have to stand up and say – problem, I don’t want you in my life.

1. Problems with friends, parents, girlfriends, husbands, and children – the list goes on. Apart from these, the inner conflicts within ourselves work, too. These keep adding to our problems. Problems come in different shapes and colors and feelings.

But good news is that all problems can be dealt with. Now read on to know how to solve your problems.

Talk, it really helps. What most of us think is that our problem can be understood only by us and that no talking is going to help. 2. Talking helps you move on and let go.

Write your problems. 3. When you write down your problems, you are setting free all the tension from your system. You can try throwing away the paper on which you wrote your problems. By doing this, imagine yourself throwing away the problems from your life.

Don’t lose faith and hope. No matter what you lose in life, don’t lose faith and hope. Even if you lose all your money, family… you should still have faith. 4.

Your problems aren’t the worst. No matter what problem you get in life, there’re another one million people whose problems are huger than yours. 5. Your problems might just seem big and worse, but in reality they can be removed.

Go about and solve your problems because every problem, however big or small, always has a way out.

A. But the truth is that when you talk about it, you’re setting free the negative energies that have been gathering within you.

B. When we have a problem, a pressing, critical, urgent, life-threatening problem, how do we try and solve it?

C. Tell yourself: when they can deal with them, why can’t I?

D. Of course, we’ve been fighting troubles ever since we were born.

E. We can often overcome the problem and achieve the goal by making a direct attack.

F. Having a personal diary can also be of huge help if you don’t want a real person to talk with.

G. With faith and hope, you can rebuild everything that you lose.

We always want what we cannot have.When we’re young，we want to stay out late，have romantic relationships and be____.However，when we’re____，we want to go back to being young and we____the days when we didn’t have to worry about complex love affairs，____pressure and money problems.

Young people believe adulthood____freedom from parents and schoolwork.When they get older，they feel that____is freedom from work pressure and family responsibilities.To____this feeling，people say，“The grass is always____on the other side of the fence.”

As____，we like to be like adults but as young adults，we ____to be young again.We think about staying out late and____our own money to spend.Suddenly，we see that love can result in ____hearts；staying out late makes it hard to get ready for____the next morning.We find out that adult life is not as____as we thought it would be and suddenly，____becomes very scary.

Life is____.It gives us time to____but also requires us to work.The time will come when we must grow up and we will always look back wishing we____being young a bit longer.That time will not come back.It is normal to want what we cannot have but the____is that to be happy is to appreciate what we have.That is the first step to grow up.____life becomes more complex，we will not regret the time we wasted wishing we were adults.

1.A．comfortable B．dependent C．polite D．independent

2.A.defeated B．older C．married D．confident

3.A.like B．forget C．miss D．regret

4.A.job B．study C．age D．health

5.A.creates B．shows C．limitsD．means

6.A.adulthood B．childhood C．parenthood D．neighborhood

7.A.reduce B．ExperienceC．describe D．understand

8.A.thinner B．greener C．yellow D．colorful

9.A.researchers B．adults C．teenagers D．elders

10.A.decide B．wish C．return D．stop

11.A.making B．worrying about C．having D．showing off

12.A.healthy B．AmbitiousC．excited D．broken

13.A.breakfast B．school C．work D．exercise

14.A.richB．busy C．poor D．easy

15.A.love B．life C．career D．future

16.A.long B．fair C．short D．beautiful

17.A.study B．think C．liveD．play

18.A.stopped B．imagined C．enjoyed D．tried

19.A.reason B．ResultC．truthD．dream

20.A.When B．If C．Unless D．Before

Once upon a time there was a rich merchant1.__________ had 4 wives. He loved the 4th wife the most. He took great care of her and gave her nothing 2._________ the best. He also loved the 3rd wife very much. He was very 3._________ （pride）of her and always wanted to show off her to his friends. He also loved his 2nd wife. She is4._________very considerate person, always patient and in fact is the merchant’s close friend. 5._________ the merchant faced some problems, he always turned to his 2nd wife and 6._________ would always help him out and tide（帮助渡过）him 7.__________ difficult times. Now, the merchant’s 1st wife is a very loyal partner and has made great 8._________ （contribute）in maintaining his wealth and business as well as 9.__________ （take）care of the household. 10.__________, the merchant did not love the first wife and although she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of her.

假如英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌的以下作文。文中共有10处错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及单词的增加、删除或修改。

增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号∧，并在此符号下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线\划掉。

修改：在错词下面划一横线，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。

Hello, boys and girls! Today, I am going to talk with what you should do when a fire alarm go off. If you hear 

the alarm, stand in line at the door and wait your teacher to lead you outside. Stay close to your teacher and classmate. Don't panic or get out of line, and trying to remain quiet and calmly. Soon the firefighters will come and put out a fire. If it's a false alarm and there is no fire, your teacher will lead us back to the classroom. If you notice that when someone is missing and hurt, tell your teacher immediately. 

作为即将参加高考的高三学生，学习任务重，压力大，所以你认为有效的学习显得尤为重要。请根据你的切身体会，以“How to Be an Efficient Learner？”为题，从合理安排、劳逸结合等方面谈谈你对有效学习的看法。

注意：1.短文标题和开头句子已给出，不计入总词数；2.词数：120左右；3.参考词汇：agenda n．日程表；balanced adj.均衡的。

How to Be an Efficient Learner?

Being Senior Three students，we have a tight schedule and seem to have endless homework to do everyday.

A farmer grew some vegetables in his garden. One day his wife was ill and he had no money. He had to sell some cabbages and carrots in the market. The next morning he took two baskets of vegetables to town. But it was raining hard that afternoon and there were few people in the street. When his vegetables were sold out, it was dark. He bought some medicine and hurried to his village.

On his way home he saw a person lying on the snow. He placed his baskets on the ground and was going to help the person to get up. At that time he found it was a dead man and there was much blood on his body. He was so afraid that he ran away quickly, without taking the baskets with him.

The next afternoon the farmer was sent to the police station. Having shown the baskets, an officer asked: “Are these yours?” “Yes, sir.” the farmer answered timidly(胆怯地)。”Have you killed the man?” “No, no, sir.” the farmer said in a hurry.” When did you see the dead man?” ”About seven last evening.” “Did you see who killed the man?” “No, Sir.” The officer brought out a knife and asked, “Have you seen it yet?” ”No, Sir.’ The officer became angry and told the policemen to beat him up and send him into prison.

That evening the officer went on trying .Pointing to the knife, he asked again,” Have you seen it yet?” ”Yes, Sir.” The officer was happy and asked,” When and where?” “I saw it here this afternoon, sir.”

1.The farmer decided to sell the vegetables to .

A. buy some food for his family

B. buy some medicine for his wife

C. go to see a doctor

D. go to the cinema

2.The farmer didn’t sell out his vegetables until the evening because .

A. they were too bad

B. they were very expensive

C. it rained hard that morning

D. few people liked to go out on such a bad day

3.The farmer ran away quickly because .

A. the policemen were coming towards him.

B. his wife was waiting for him at home

C. he was afraid to see a dead man.

D. it was so late that he couldn’t stay there any longer.

A man once said how useless it was to put advertisements in the newspaper."Last week," he said,"my umbrella was stolen from a London church. As it was a present, I spent twice its worth in advertising, but didn't get it back."

"How did you write your advertisement?" asked one of the listeners, a merchant.
"Here it is," said the man, taking out of his pocket a slip cut from a newspaper. The other man took it and read,"Lost from the City Church last Sunday evening, a black silk umbrella.. The gentleman who finds it will receive ten shillings on leaving it at No. 10 Broad Street."
"Now," said the merchant,"I often advertise, and find that it pays me well. But the way in which an advertisement is expressed of extreme importance. Let us try for your umbrella again, and if it fails, I'll buy you a new one."
The merchant then took a slip of paper out of his pocket and wrote: "If the man who was seen to take an umbrella from the City Church last Sunday evening doesn't wish to get into trouble, he will return the umbrella to No.10 Broad Street. He is well known."
This appeared in the newspaper, and on the following morning, the man was astonished when he opened the front door. In the doorway lay at least twelve umbrellas of all sizes and colors, and his own was among them. Many of them had notes fastened to them saying that they had been taken by mistake, and begging the loser not to say anything about the matter.

1.The result of the first advertisement was that _____.

A. The man got his umbrella back

B. The man wasted some money advertising

C. Nobody found the missing umbrella.

D. The umbrella was found somewhere near the church.

2.The merchant suggested that the man should ________.

A. buy a new umbrella

B. go on looking for his umbrella
C. write another and better advertisement
D. report the police

3."If it fails, I'll buy you a new one," suggested that the merchant ________.

A. was quite sure of success
B. wanted to buy him a new umbrella
C. didn't know what to do
D. was rich enough to buy one

4.The story is mainly about _________.

A. a useless advertisement
B. how to make an effective advertisement
C. how the man lost and found his umbrella
D. what the merchant did for the umbrella owner

It’s 8;30, time for John to start work. So he turns on his radio. Then he eats breakfast. As he eats , he reads his e-mail and reviews his to do list. Then he sits on the sofa and thinks about an article he needs to write --- wait a minute! Radio ? Breakfast ? Sofa ?What kind of workplace is this ? Well,actually it is John’s house, and he is a telecommuter—he works at home,communicating with the workplace through the internet.

Like John,millions of people ---and their employers--- are finding that telecommuting is a great way to work . Telecommuters can follow their own schedules. They work in the comfort of their homes, where they can also look after young children or elderly parents,they save time and money by not traveling to work. Their employers save,too,because they need less office space and furniture. Studies show that telecommuters change jobs less often.This saves employers even more money.Telecommuting helps society,too,by reducing pollution and traffic problems.

Jobs that are suited to telecommuting include writing,design work, computer programming and accounting(会计). If a job involves working with information, a telecommuter can probably do it.

1.From the passage we know that John does his job ______.

A. By telephone B. Through the Internet

C. In his office D. Away from home

2.One of the advantages of telecommuting is that you can ____.

A.work for several employers

B. Enjoy a lot of traveling

C. Get along well with other workers

D. Work on your own schedule

3.Telecommuters change jobs less often,so ______.

A.their employers can save money

B. their employers will give them a higher pay

C. they can get more work experience

D. they will have a longer paid holiday.

4.The underlined phrase “suited to”in the third paragraph probably means “______”.

A. acceptable B. bad for

C. difficult for D. fit for