Surviving Hurricane Sandy(飓风桑迪)

Natalie Doan, 14, has always felt lucky to live in Rockaway, New York. Living just a few blocks from the beach, Natalie can see the ocean and hear the waves from her house. “It’s the ocean that makes Rockaway so special,” she says.

On October 29, 2012, that ocean turned fierce. That night, Hurricane Sandy attacked the East Coast, and Rockaway was hit especially hard. Fortunately, Natalie’s family escaped to Brooklyn shortly before the city’s bridge closed.

When they returned to Rockaway the next day, they found their neighborhood in ruins. Many of Natalie’s friends had lost their homes and were living far away. All around her, people were suffering, especially the elderly. Natalie’s school was so damaged that she had to temporarily attend a school in Brooklyn.

In the following few days, the men and women helping Rockaway recover inspired Natalie. Volunteers came with carloads of donated clothing and toys. Neighbors devoted their spare time to helping others rebuild. Teenagers climbed dozens of flights of stairs to deliver water and food to elderly people trapped in powerless high-rise buildings.

“My mom tells me that I can’t control what happens to me,” Natalie says. “but I can always choose how I deal with it.”

Natalie’s choice was to help.

She created a website page matching survivors in need with donors who wanted to help. Natalie posted information about a boy named Patrick, who lost his baseball card collection when his house burned down. Within days, Patrick’s collection was replaced.

In the coming months, her website page helped lots of kids: Christopher, who received a new basketball; Charlie, who got a new keyboard. Natalie also worked with other organizations to bring much-needed supplies to Rockaway. Her efforts made her a famous person. Last April, she was invited to the White House and honored as a Hurricane Sandy Champion of Change.

Today, the scars(创痕) of destruction are still seen in Rockaway, but hope is in the air. The streets are clear, and many homes have been rebuilt. “I can’t imagine living anywhere but Rockaway,” Natalie declares. “My neighborhood will be back, even stronger than before.”

1. When Natalie returned to Rockaway after the hurricane, she found _________.

A. some friends had lost their lives

B. her neighborhood was destroyed

C. her school had moved to Brooklyn

D. the elderly were free from suffering

2. According to Paragraph 4, who inspired Natalie most?

A. The people helping Rockaway rebuild.

B. The people trapped in high-rise buildings.

C. The volunteers donating money to survivors.

D. Local teenagers bringing clothing to elderly people.

3.How did Natalie help the survivors?

A. She gave her toys to other kids.

B. She took care of younger children.

C. She called on the White House to help.

D. She built an information sharing platform.

4. What does the story intend to tell us?

A. Little people can make a big difference.

B. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

C. East or west, home is best.

D. Technology is power.

California Condor’s Shocking Recovery

California condors are North America’s largest birds, with wind-length of up to 3 meters. In the 1980s, electrical lines and lead poisoning(铅中毒) nearly drove them to dying out. Now, electric shock training and medical treatment are helping to rescue these big birds.

In the late 1980s, the last few condors were taken from the wild to be bred(繁殖). Since 1992, there have been multiple reintroductions to the wild, and there are now more than 150 flying over California and nearby Arizona, Utah and Baja in Mexico.

Electrical lines have been killing them off. “As they go in to rest for the night, they just don’t see the power lines,” says Bruce Rideout of San Diego Zoo. Their wings can bridge the gap between lines, resulting in electrocution(电死) if they touch two lines at once.

So scientists have come up with a shocking idea. Tall poles, placed in large training areas, teach the birds to stay clear of electrical lines by giving them a painful but undeadly electric shock. Before the training was introduced, 66% of set-freed birds died of electrocution. This has now dropped to 18%.

Lead poisonous has proved more difficult to deal with. When condors eat dead bodies of other animals containing lead, they absorb large quantities of lead. This affects their nervous systems and ability to produce baby birds, and can lead to kidney(肾) failures and death. So condors with high levels of lead are sent to Los Angeles Zoo, where they are treated with calcium EDTA, a chemical that removes lead from the blood over several days. This work is starting to pay off. The annual death rate for adult condors has dropped from 38% in 2000 to 5.4% in 2011.

Rideout’s team thinks that the California condors’ average survival time in the wild is now just under eight years. “Although these measures are not effective forever, they are vital for now,” he says. “They are truly good birds that are worth every effort we put into recovering them. ”

1. California condors attract researchers’ interest because they _________.

A. are active at night

B. had to be bred in the wild

C. are found only in California

D. almost died out in the 1980s

2.Researchers have found electrical lines are _________.

A. blocking condors’ journey home

B. big killers of California condors

C. rest places for condors at night

D. used to keep condors away

3.According to Paragraph 5, lead poisoning _________.

A. makes condors too nervous to fly

B. has little effect on condors’ kidneys

C. can hardly be gotten rid of from condors’ blood

D. makes it difficult for condors to produce baby birds

4. This passage shows that _________.

A. the average survival time of condors is satisfactory

B. Rideout’s research interest lies in electric engineering

C. the efforts to protect condors have brought good results

D. researchers have found the final answers to the problem

Why College Is Not Home

The college years are supposed to be a time for important growth in autonomy(自主性) and the development of adult identity. However, now they are becoming an extended period of adolescence, during which many of today’s students are not shouldered with adult responsibilities.

For previous generations, college was a decisive break from parental control; guidance and support needed to come from people of the same age and from within. In the past two decades, however, continued connection with and dependence on family, thanks to cell phones, email and social media, have increased significantly. Some parents go so far as to help with coursework. Instead of promoting the idea of college as apassagefrom the shelter of the family to autonomy and adult responsibility, universities have given in to the idea that they should provide the same environment as that of the home.

To prepare for increased autonomy and responsibility, college needs to be a time of exploration and experimentation. This process involves “trying on ” new ways of thinking about oneself both intellectually(在思维方面) and personally. While we should provide “safe spaces” within colleges, we must also make it safe to express opinions and challenge majority views. Intellectual growth and flexibility are fostered by strict debate and questioning.

Learning to deal with the social world is equally important. Because a college community(群体) differs from the family, many students will struggle to find a sense of belonging. If students rely on administrators to regulate their social behavior and thinking pattern, they are not facing the challenge of finding an identity within a larger and complex community.

Moreover, the tendency for universities to monitor and shape student behavior runs up against another characteristic of young adults: the response to being controlled by their elders. If acceptable social behavior is too strictly defined(规定) and controlled, the insensitive or aggressive behavior that administrators are seeking to minimize may actually be encouraged.

It is not surprising that young people are likely to burst out, particularly when there are reasons to do so. Our generation once joined hands and stood firm at times of national emergency. What is lacking today is the conflict between adolescent’s desire for autonomy and their understanding of an unsafe world. Therefore, there is the desire for their dorms to be replacement homes and not places to experience intellectual growth.

Every college discussion about community values, social climate and behavior should include recognition of the developmental importance of student autonomy and self-regulation, of the necessary tension between safety and self-discovery.

1.What’s the author’s attitude toward continued parental guidance to college students?

A. Sympathetic. B. Disapproving.

C. Supportive. D. Neutral.

2.The underlined word “passage” in Paragraph 2 means _________.

A. change B. choice

C. text D. extension

3.According to the author, what role should college play?

A. To develop a shared identity among students.

B. To define and regulate students’ social behavior.

C. To provide a safe world without tension for students.

D. To foster students’ intellectual and personal development.

4.Which of the following shows the development of ideas in the passage?

I: Introduction P:Point Sp:Sub-point(次要点) C:Conclusion

根据短文内容，从短文后的七个选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

The Science of Risk-Seeking

Sometimes we decide that a little unnecessary danger is worth it because when we weigh the risk and the reward, the risk seems worth tasking. 1. Some of us enjoy activities that would surprise and scare the rest of us. Why? Experts say it may have to do with how our brains work.

The reason why any of us take any risks at all might have to do with early humans. Risk-takers were better at hunting, fighting, or exploring. 2. As the quality of risk-taking was passed from one generation to the next, humans ended up with a sense of adventure and a tolerance for risk.

So why aren’t we all jumping out of airplanes then? Well, even 200,000 years ago, too much risk-taking could get one Killed. A few daring survived, though, along with a few stay-in-the-cave types. As a result, humans developed a range of character types that still exists today. So maybe you love car racing, or maybe you hate it. 3.

No matter where you are on the risk-seeking range, scientists say that your willingness to take risks increases during your teenage years. 4. To help you do that, your brain increases your hunger for new experiences. New experiences often mean taking some risks, so your brain raises your tolerance for risk as well.

5. For the risk-seekers, a part of the brain related to pleasure becomes active, while for the rest of us, a part of the brain related to fear becomes active.

As experts continue to study the science of risk-seeking, we’ll continue to hit the mountains, the waves or the shallow end of the pool.

A. It all depends on your character.

B. Those are the risks you should jump to take.

C. Being better at those things meant a greater chance of survival.

D. Thus, these well-equipped people survived because they were the fittest.

E. This is when you start to move away from your family and into the bigger world.

F. However, we are not all using the same reference standard to weigh risks and rewards.

G. New brain research suggests our brains work differently when we face a nervous situation.

假设你是红星中学高三学生李华。你的英国朋友Jim 在给你的邮件中提到他对中国历史很感兴趣，并请你介绍一位你喜欢的中国历史人物。请你给Jim回信，内容包括：

1. 该人物是谁；

2. 该人物的主要贡献；

3. 该人物对你的影响。

注意：

1. 词数不少于50；

2. 开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。

Dear Jim,

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

假设你是红星中学高三一班的学生李华。你班同学参加了学校的“地球日”系列活动。请按照以下四幅图的先后顺序，以“Actions for a Greener Earth”为题，给校刊“英语角”写一篇英文稿件，介绍活动的全过程。

注意：词数不少于60。

提示词：地球日Earth Day

I was living a life in my screen and hardly noticed what was around me. So when my friends invited me to go camping for a long weekend without the cell service, I thought this was exactly what I needed. Here’s how keeping away from my phone for 48 hours changed me.

I realized my bedtime routine was usually centered on one thing: my phone. Right before I went to sleep, I browsed through news websites and checked my emails. When I woke up in the middle of the night, I did the same thing. The problem with this was I felt anxious every night. I felt free without my phone at that weekend camp. I felt asleep listening to the sound of crickets.

When I had my phone, I was always checking the time and thinking of future plans. My thought was: “Who’s going to text me now? What will I do next?” Without my phone, I truly savored what I was doing in the moment, sitting by the river, riding a bike, or singing the old songs. There was no need to rush through any of it. I listened to what my body wanted instead of what my phone was telling me to do.

You know that moment when you’re hanging out with a group of people and no one has anything to say? The typical response: Everyone immediately pulls out their phones. So what did we do without a phone to avoid embarrassing silences? We actually talked to each other. Instead of burying our faces in our screens, we looked one another in the eye, had a moment of pure human connection and then continued talking. And you know what? People actually listened.

So, now what? Now I’m back to the real world.

1.When the author’s friends invited him to go camping, he .

A. didn’t really want to go

B. wanted to take his cellphone

C. didn’t think life would be any different

D. considered it a good chance to escape cellphone

2.What change did the author experience according to Paragraph 2?

A. He broke his bedtime routine.

B. He no longer cared about news.

C. He fell in love with sounds of nature.

D. He began to pay attention to his future plans.

3.The underlined word “savored” in Paragraph 3 can be replaced by “ ”.

A. ignored B. recorded

C. enjoyed D. remembered

4.At that weekend camp, the campers .

A. often felt very lonely

B. found some other fun activities

C. got into good conversation with each other

D. often needed to deal with embarrassing silences

If you live in the U.S., you’re probably used to throwing banana peel into the trash. But people in other countries, including India, have been taking advantages of their nutritional benefits for many years.

While the flesh of a banana is soft and sweet, the skin is thick, hard and slightly bitter. To eat the peel, you can fry, bake, or boil it for at least 10 minutes. Also, the riper bananas get, the thinner and sweeter banana peel will become. That’s because of a natural plant hormone(激素) called ethylene(乙烯) that fruits release as they ripen. Ethylene interacts with the sugars and fiber in the banana skin, changing complex sugars into simple sugars and breaking down pectin, a form of fiber in bananas that keeps them stiff. That’s why the older your banana is, the flimsier(不结实的) it feels.

The sweet flesh of a medium-sized banana contains great percentages of your daily recommended intake of various nutrients, such as:

·12% of your daily fiber, which helps with digestion and may help lower your risk of diabetes(糖尿病)

·17% of your vitamin C, which is important for your immune system as well as your growth

·20% of your vitamin B6, which aids the body’s ability to turn food into energy

·12% of your potassium, which helps with the development of cells, tissues, and organs throughout the body

If you eat the skin along with the flesh, you will get an even bigger increase in these same nutrients.

Eating the peel is not only good for your body but also better for the earth. The average American ate 11.4 pounds of bananas in 2014. Since a medium-sized banana weighs about 0.3 pounds, that equates to about 38 bananas per person, or about 12 billion for the whole of the U.S. And since most of us throw away the peel, that also means a lot of organic waste.

1.We can learn from the text that in the U.S. people .

A. like eating bananas

B. waste a lot of food every year

C. don’t make good use of banana peel

D. know little about the value of the flesh of bananas

2.What’s the role of ethylene in bananas?

A. Helping bananas grow faster.

B. Making banana peel stay strong.

C. Keeping banana flesh from going bad.

D. Helping to soften and sweeten banana peel.

3.Which of the following helps humans digest?

A. Vitamin C. B. Potassium.

C. Vitamin B6. D. Fiber.

4.The last paragraph mainly shows that eating banana peel benefits our .

A. diet B. economy

C. environment D. physical health

Imagine being a crew member, hundreds of years ago, sailing in southern waters. Your captain is searching for food while exploring unfamiliar waters. Your job is to watch the sea off the ship’s side for ice. The wind is cold on your face. Alongside the ship, a fish darts past. Another slows to a stop and raises its head above the water to look at you. How could a fish do that?

Did the sailors see fish with feathers or swimming birds? Today, we know that the sailors saw birds that developed the ability to swim. Their wings became flippers, and they could “fly” through the water with amazing speed.

There are many types of penguins. Only two kinds raise their young on the continent of Antarctic. Adelie penguins grow up to 29 inches tall and have a white ring around each eye. Emperor penguins have yellow orange color near their necks. Standing about 35 inches tall, they are the tallest penguins living today.

Emperor penguins have nests on top of their feet. Father Emperor penguins keep the egg on top of their feet for more than two months, until the egg is ready to hatch. The mother penguin goes out for food during that time. Imagine holding an egg on your feet for two months until someone returns with food!

Male and female penguins are both good parents. Once the chicks hatch, both parents travel long distances to find food for them in the sea. It may be days before the parents return and the chicks eat again. When they return with food, the fun really begins. Chicks chase their parents, begging for food. Penguin chicks eat huge amounts at one time.

Eventually, the adult penguins stop feeding the chicks. This is nature’s way of forcing children to grow up. When the penguin chicks are hungry enough, they find their way to the sea. Without any swimming lessons, they make their way into the icy waters and swim as only penguins do.

1.What does the author mainly want to tell us in Paragraph 1?

A. It is dangerous to sail in unfamiliar waters.

B. The ice covers southern waters as far as we can see.

C. Penguins seemed unusual when the sailors first saw them.

D. It is difficult to find food if sailing in southern waters.

2.We now know that penguins seen by the sailors hundreds of years ago were .

A. fish with the ability to fly

B. birds that had learned to swim

C. birds that could fly into the sea

D. fish with black and white feathers

3.Why does the author say “the fun really begins” when the parents return with food?

A. The chicks play games with each other while eating.

B. The chicks run after the parents while trying to get food.

C. The chicks have to find their way to the sea to get more food.

D. The chicks have to search for the food the parents have hidden.

4.Emperor penguin chicks will be forced to grow up when they .

A. must learn how to feed others

B. have to find a new place to live

C. have to find food by themselves

D. need to adjust to the changeable weather

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

Testing the five-second rule

You may have seen a friend drop food on the floor, pick it up, and eat it, while declaring, “Five-second rule! ” It’s said that food dropped on the floor for five seconds or less is still likely to be clean. 1. .

Students at Britain’s Aston University, led by microbiology professor Anthony Hilton, tested the rule and found it to have some scientific basis. The study’s results show that food dropped for five seconds is less likely to contain bacteria than if it sits there for longer, according to Hilton.

The students also found that the type of flooring where the dropped food lands has an effect. 2. Bacteria are most likely to transfer from tiled (铺瓷砖的) surfaces to moist food when the food has stood there for more than five seconds.

3. Therefore, consumers should still be cautious. “However, the findings of this study will bring some light relief to those who have been employing the five-second rule for years, despite a general consensus that it is purely a myth,” professor Hilton said in a statement.

The research team at Aston also surveyed 500 people to find out who employs the five-second rule. Of the people surveyed, 87% said they would eat food dropped on the floor, or have done so in the past. 4. “Our study showed people are also more likely to follow the five-second rule, which our research has shown to be much more than an old wives’ tale,” Hilton says.

Still, scientists say you should be careful about eating food dropped on the floor, especially if you have doubts about the cleanliness of the surface. 5.

A. But is that true?

B. Carpeted surfaces posed the lowest risk.

C. Of those people, the majority were women.

D. We’ve just lost our last excuse to eat food off the floor.

E. Usually people recover from the infection in five to ten days.

F. There is still a risk of infection if certain bacteria are present on the dropped surface.

G. A biologist points out that one in six Americans get sick from food poisoning every year.