In a study published in the U. S. journal Science, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences(CAAS) and the University of Florida identified the chemical combinations and genetic recipe for better tomato flavor(味道).

“In recent years, consumers often complain that the modern tomato is less flavorful than it once was” said co-principal researcher Sanwen Huang. “Our results provide a practical road map for breeding tomato varieties with better flavor.”

For the study, a 170-person consumer group was created to evaluate 160 tomatoes representing 101 varieties, based on qualities such as “overall liking” and “flavor degree”. The results pointed to dozens of chemical compounds of interest, and further research using a statistical model discovered 33 flavor compounds connected with consumer liking, such as glucose(葡萄糖). The reason why modern tomatoes don’t taste good anymore is that a total of 13 of these flavor-associated compounds “were significantly reduced in modern varieties,” their paper wrote. Moreover, the researchers found that smaller fruit tended to have greater sugar content, suggesting that “selection for more sizable tomatoes has cost sweetness and flavor”.

Based on this knowledge, Huang and Professor Harry Klee of the University of Florida studied the whole genomes of 398 varieties of tomato, identifying about 250 positions of genes on a chromosome(染色体), which controlled tomato flavor.

“We’re just fixing what has been damaged over the last half century to push them back to where they were a century ago,” said Klee in a statement. “We can make the supermarket tomato taste noticeably better.” Klee said new tomato varieties with better flavor could be ready in three to four years. In addition, “the genes and pathways identified here in the tomato almost certainly point to pathways worth researching for improvement of flavor quality in other fruit crops,” they wrote.

1.According to the text, the study ________.

A. was carried out just through a survey

B. was conducted by Chinese researchers themselves

C. was completely focused on the genes of different tomatoes

D. was done with the background of declining flavor of tomatoes

2.The researchers have found that ________ in the study.

A. bigger tomatoes are much sweeter

B. some genetic positions affect the taste of tomatoes

C. some chemical compounds make tomatoes less tasty

D. a total of 13 flavor-associated compounds make tomatoes appealing in taste

3.What is the influence of the study according to the text?

A. The study lays the foundation for further researches to improve other fruit crops’ flavor.

B. The study makes it possible for us to have noticeably more tasty tomatoes next year.

C. The study provides a road for where to plant tomatoes with better flavor.

D. The study has fixed all the genes of existing tomatoes.

One day I was driven by a rain-storm to take shelter in a little hut by the road-side, which was_______by a shoemaker as his workshop. The man and his son were_______at their work, and_______saying, “Good-day,” we began to talk together.

Before I had been with them long, the old man_______his son out to get something that he_______for his work. The boy was only five minutes_______, but it was too_______for the active old shoemaker to be idle(懒惰的). He became_______, moved about the room, and_______took up a piece of leather and fell to________it, saying, “You know, sir, it will never do to be idle.”

As soon as the rain was over, I went on my way home, ________what I had heard—“It will never do to be idle.” Some people are ________idle; others are idle only now and then I was one of the latter class. I could work only________. So the old man’s words came home to me. They awakened my________, and I began to feel how wrong it was to ________ so much of my life in idleness.

I had often heard and read that________is a very great evil, but now I began to see that it________far more sorrow than people are________. It is the man who is doing nothing that is drawn into disaster, while the busy man is________. It is only the idle that are unhappy. So I made up my mind to________the shoemaker’s rule for the rest of my life.

1.A. regarded B. treated C. used D. counted

2.A. strict B. nervous C. awkward D. busy

3.A. before B. while C. after D. when

4.A. sent B. took C. picked D. gave

5.A. treasured B. needed C. registered D. delivered

6.A. far B. outwards C. forwards D. away

7.A. short B. chose C. long D. loose

8.A. relaxed B. uneasy C. eager D. hopeless

9.A. at last B. at present C. at first D. at once

10.A. cut up B. work upon C. put on D. carry on

11.A. working out B. going after C. dating from D. thinking over

12.A. always B. sometimes C. once D. nowadays

13.A. in particular B. at length C. at times D. in advance

14.A. enthusiasm B. conscience C. hope D. energy

15.A. waste B. complete C. achieve D. deserve

16.A. patience B. pleasure C. comfort D. idleness

17.A. shrinks B. leads C. causes D. reduces

18.A. aware of B. fond of C. confident of D. crazy about

19.A. tired B. safe C. worried D. anxious

20.A. receive B. promise C. explore D. follow

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，每句中最多有两处。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。

The biggest challenge I have overcome is stepping out of my comfort zone. In the year of 2013 which I was 15, I joined an exchange student program. I sent to Germany alone and lived with the host family.

At first it was a huge failure for me. Thanks for my host mom, she helped me a lot. She told me some tips to make friends, such as joining a sports club and invited my classmates to watch a movie. Surprising, all of the tips she gave me work out! She also suggested that I can introduce my culture to my classmates. To my astonish, they were both interested in Chinese culture.

Gradually, my discomfort zone became a part of my comfort zone.

假定你是李华， 给你在美国孔子学院任教的英语老师――――刘老师写封邮件，内容包括：

1．询问她在美国的生活和工作情况；

2．告诉她你的学习情况；

3．希望她来信介绍美国学生的生活。

注意：

1．词数100左右；

2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

孔子学院 the Confucius Institute

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Visitor Oyster cards are electronic smartcards that come fully charged with credit. Whether you're making a one-off trip to London or you’re a regular visitor, using an Oyster travel smartcard is the easiest way to travel around the city's public transport network. Simply touch the card on the yellow card reader at the doors when you start and end your journey.

Advantages of a Visitor Oyster Card

A Visitor Oyster card is one of the cheapest ways to pay for single journeys on the bus, Tube, DLR, tram, London Over-ground and most National Rail services in London:

● Save time----your card is ready to use as soon as you arrive in London.

● It's more than 50% cheaper than buying a paper travel card or single tickets with cash.

● There is a daily price cap----once you have reached this limit, you won’t pay any more.

● Enjoy special offers and promotions at leading London restaurants, shops and entertainment venues----plus discounts on the Emirates Air Line cable car and Thames Clippers river buses.

Buy a Visitor Oyster card

Buy a Visitor Oyster card before you visit London and get it delivered to your home address. A card costs ￡3 (non-refundable) plus postage. Order online and arrive with your Oyster in hand! You can also buy a Visitor Oyster card from Gatwick Express ticket offices at Gatwick Airport Station and on board Eurostar trains travelling to London.

Add Credit to Your Visitor Oyster Card

You can choose how much credit to add to your card. If you are visiting London for two days, you can start with ￡20 credit. If you run out of credit, add credit at the following locations:

● Touch screen ticket machines in Tube, DLR, London Over-ground and some National Rail stations.

● Around 4,000 Oyster Ticket Stops found in newsagents and small shops across London.

● TFL Visitor and Travel Information Centers.

● Tube and London Over-ground station ticket offices.

● Emirates Air Line terminals.

1.When can you use your Visitor Oyster Card?

A. After you become a regular visitor.

B. Only when you end your journey.

C. Once you arrive in London.

D. Before you leave home.

2.What can we learn about the Visitor Oyster card?

A. It can reach you before your journey to London.

B. It requires you to pay as much as the daily price cap.

C. It can provide you a 50% discount at a London shop.

D. It can be delivered to your home address free of charge.

3.Where can you add credit to your Visitor Oyster card?

A. On the Internet. B. At a Tube station ticket office.

C. On Eurostar trains. D. At Gatwick Express ticket offices.

For Canadians, backpacking Europe is a special ceremony signifying a new life stage. Unlike package tours, backpacking is a struggle, full of discovery and chance connections. It is about focusing on something different from our own lives and losing ourselves in a new world, if only for a moment.

Well, that's what backpacking Europe is supposed to do. That’s what it used to do before modern communications, social media, and commercial hostelling (旅社). Older Canadians would not recognize the Europe that they backpacked in the 1960s, 1970s and even the 1980s. Far from a rough adventure into foreign cultures, the European experience has been shattered in part by today's technology.

A few years ago, I took my then 60-year-old father on a backpacking trip across part of Europe and Turkey. As he is an experienced traveler and someone who possesses a strong sense of adventure, I decided that we'd travel on a budget, staying in hostel dorms. For him, backpacking through Europe in 1969 was about independence and struggle. But two things surprised him at the end of our journey. First was how technology-based backpacking had become: Young people were so directly connected to home that they were hardly away in any meaningful sense. Second, the lack of connections we made with locals. Instead of making us feel closer to a place, he found commercial hostelling actually made us more alienated (疏远的).

But there was some room for hope. While technology takes our attention away from the beauty and history before us, there were also ways in which it helped us to connect with our surroundings. Websites like Airbnb have made it easier to stay with enthusiastic locals. Couch Surfing helps organize meet-ups between locals and travelers. The online marketplace Dopios offers a chance to meet locals through enjoyable experiences like a personalized city tour.

Backpacking can never be the way it was for our parents’ generation. But doing a little study of history and culture before leaving, and bravely getting rid of any electronic devices while traveling, will help give young travelers a taste of the glory days.

1.The underlined word “shattered” in Paragraph 2 most probably means ________.

A. broadened B. relived C. ruined D. acquired

2.After the recent backpacking trip in Europe, the author’s father finds ________.

A. backpackers connect less with locals than before

B. young people dislike getting in touch with their family

C. a hostel is a nice place for travelers to meet each other

D. backpacking in Europe becomes more difficult than before

3.What’s the author’s attitude towards technology?

A. Negative. B. Objective. C. Uncertain. D. Uninterested.

4.The text mainly discusses the relationship between ________.

A. adventures and cultures B. technology and traveling

C. young people and their family D. Canadian travelers and Europeans

Think about the last time you felt afraid. Was it a fear of height? Did you oversleep on a weekday and fear you’d get into trouble at the office? In any case, you know what it feels like to feel fear.

But one woman doesn’t the woman, code-named “UM”, gave her first-ever interview after years of being studied by a team of researchers. The woman is given a code name because the researchers want to protect her from anyone who would take advantage of her inability to feel afraid.

UM can’t tell you what fear is because she’s never experienced it. “I wonder what it’s like to actually be afraid of something,” she said. The formal name for the disease is Urbach-Wieth disease, which is characterized by a hoarse(粗哑的)voice，small bumps around the eyes, and calcium deposits(钙沉积的)in the brain.

In the case of UM，the disease has transformed the part of her brain that controls the human response to fear. In the interview, UM talks about an event in her life where she was held at knifepoint and gunpoint, “I was walking to the store，and I saw a man on a park bench．He said. “Come here，please,” so I went over to him. He grabbed me by the shirt，put a knife to my throat and told me he was going to cut me. I told him, “Go ahead and cut me,” I wasn’t afraid at all. And for some reason，he let me go.”

Doctors who have been studying UM’s condition for years have been trying different things that could strike fear into her. They finally figured something out—increasing UM’s carbon dioxide levels．Extra carbon dioxide concentration in the blood is known to cause fear and panic in health individuals. Increasing UM’s carbon dioxide levels did manage to give her a fright．

1.The text starts by_______.

A. challenging the reader

B. solving daily problems

C. listing situations

D. giving explanations

2.Why is the woman with Urbach-Wieth disease given a code name?

A. To tell her case from other patients

B. To respect her privacy

C. To meet the researchers’ demands

D. To ensure her safety

3.From UM’s case，we can know that Urbach-Wieth disease may________.

A. stop the brain from functioning normally

B. lead to a decrease in calcium deposits

C. stop the brain from responding quickly

D. lead to an increase in carbon dioxide

4.What will probably happen to UM from the last paragraph?

A. Dying of the Urbach-Wieth disease

B. Getting the sense of panic

C. Experiencing another danger

D. Speaking with a hoarse voice

With around 100 students scheduled to be in that 9:00 am Monday morning lecture, it is no surprise that almost 20 people actually make it to the class and only 10 of them are still awake after the first 15 minutes; it is not even a surprise that most of them are still in their pajama’s(睡衣). Obviously, students are terrible at adjusting their sleep cycles to their daily schedule.

All human beings possess a body clock. Along with other alerting systems, this governs the sleep/wake cycle and is therefore one of the main processes which govern sleep behaviour. Typically, the preferred sleep/wake cycle is delayed in adolescents, which leads to many students not feeling sleepy until much later in the evenings. This typical sleep pattern is usually referred to as the “night owl” schedule of sleep.

This is opposed to the “early bird” schedule, and is a kind of disorder where the individual tends to stay up much past midnight. Such a person has great difficulty in waking up in the mornings. Research suggests that night owls feel most alert and function best in the evenings and at night. Research findings have shown that about 20 percent of people can be classified as “night owls” and only 10 percent can be classified as “early birds” ------ the other 70 percent are in the middle. Although this is clearly not true for all students, for the ones who are true night owls, this gives them an excellent excuse for missing their lectures which unfortunately fall before midday.

1.What does the author stress in Paragraph 1?

A. Many students are absent from class.

B. Students are very tired on Monday mornings.

C. Students do not adjust their sleep patterns well.

D. Students are not well prepared for class on Mondays.

2.Which of the following is true according to Paragraph 2?

A. Most students prefer to get up late in the morning.

B. Students don’t sleep well because of alerting systems.

C. One’s body clock governs the sleep/wake cycle independently.

D. Adolescents’ delayed sleep/wake cycle isn’t the preferred pattern.

3.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “classified”?

A. Criticized B. Grouped C. Organized D. Named

4.What does the text mainly talk about?

A. Functions of the body clock.

B. The “night owl” phenomenon.

C. Human beings’ sleep behaviour.

D. The school schedule of “early birds”.

Today it is common to see people who walk about with colored wires hanging from their ears wherever they go. They move about in their personal bubbles, sometimes unaware of what’s happening around them. 1. Outside life is shut out. So are you one of “them”?

For me, walking around in my own personal bubble is perfect. 2.What’s even better, wearing earphones seems to give a signal to people which says: “I’m not available for chatting at the moment!”

Suppose you’re at work and about to make an incredible breakthrough, but a colleague suddenly turns up. At this precise moment, the slightest disturbance would break your concentration. 3.Once again, those wires hanging from your ears would be sure to give that “Go away!” signal.

4.It’s probably part of the growing up stage when they just want to ignore their whole family. While their mothers give them lectures about why they should do their homework, they can just turn up the volume(声音) on their MP3 player, smile, and say “Yes, Mum.” Problem solved.

Pretty soon, not only will we have pretty colored wires hanging from our ears—but also our brains will be directly plugged into some new high-tech instrument. We’ll be in a virtual(虚拟) world, communicating with everyone else, or choosing not to, as we like. In this world, we will all be permanently plugged in. 5.and they are changing our social habits along the way.

In the end, there is a thin line between using technology as a tool for making life better and being a slave to it! It’s so strange—suddenly, I don’t feel like wearing my earphones anymore!

A. Listening to music through earphones is the perfect way to ignore such interruptions.

B. I also have wires hanging from my ears.

C. They walk around in their own spaces, with their personal “digital noise reduction systems.”

D. I don’t have to deal with the noise from the environment.

E. After all, I am listening to my favorite music and would rather not be disturbed.

F. Our instruments are changing quickly.

G. In the home situation, teenagers love these wires.

As I rushed among the tables, suddenly, a _______asked if I could mind a child. I was quite ________but I could tell the man was quite desperate. So I had to make a __________ with him that if he wanted his son to stay and wait for him, he had to__________something in the shop.

This was quite_________ for the man to do; I could_________ he was quite poor by the_________he was dressed. It looked as if he had tried to come in his__________clothes. But they still looked a bit old and worn out __________he had often worn them, just to make himself look best. Looking down I could see his_________were also a bit torn and the heels were in a terrible state. I thought he was going for a job interview. In the end he bought a small box of_________for his little son and seated him down in the corner. I could tell the boy was feeling down and only could__________with a bit of cheering up.

Seeing that the kid sat there for quite a while, I was a bit__________as the poor little kid was sitting _______ his own. People watched him and some kids even came over to pick on him. I was_______to see one of them even knocked his cookies off the table．He quickly went and got them back without saying a word．I was hoping his father would_____________up and come back for his son's_________.

At closing time, the only person left was the little boy．After a while, the father finally came in with a tiresome look. I___________he didn't get any job. As they were leaving, I offered the kid a little cake, but the man rejected it. I___________he felt as if I had just abused him．Of course I didn't mean to．But I could understand why he felt like that．I only wished them good__________whatever happened.

The man opened the door to leave－father and son hand in hand.

1.A. sound B. voice C. noise D. tune

2.A. pleased B. frightened C. annoyed D. interested

3.A. date B. decision C. promise D. deal

4.A. do B. leave C. buy D. eat

5.A. easy B. hard C. natural D. possible

6.A. tell B. explain C. think D. prove

7.A. manner B. means C. method D. way

8.A. oldest B. poorest C. prettiest D. best

9.A. even though B. as if C. so that D. now that

10.A. socks B. gloves C. shoes D. pants

11.A. cookies B. sweets C. cigarettes D. cakes

12.A. laugh B. do C. speak D. help

13.A. relaxed B. nervous C. satisfied D. worried

14.A. on B. of C. by D. for

15.A. touched B. disappointed C. astonished D. excited

16.A. hurry B. give C. turn D. run

17.A. chance B. benefit C. future D. job

18.A. hoped B. imagined C. doubted D. guessed

19.A. assumed B. clarified C. confused D. ignored

20.A. night B. progress C. luck D. supper