Perhaps Van Gogh（1853-1890）isn’t the most famous artist in the world, but his personal story is probably the most well known. The paintings he created didn’t become famous until after he died. Last year marked the 125th anniversary of his death. An art exhibition was in Beijing till Dec. 6, in which more than 3,000 photos of the artist’s masterpieces were shown. However, the paintings that made him famous after his death did little for him when he was alive.

Van Gogh was born into a rich family in the Netherlands. He started his career working for an art dealer. But then he tried other things like teaching in England. He also tried to become a priest, but failed the exams.

Finally, he found something else to believe in while he was living in a small mining town in Belgium—art. He returned to his childhood love of painting and drawing.

He was an important and great artist in a generation that challenged the Impressionist style. Post-Impressionists, like Van Gogh, wanted to show the world as it felt to them, not always as it looked.

Van Gogh used different forms and colors to make his art more abstract. The way he used colors was especially impressive. In Wheatfield with Crows (1890), the colors are very intense. Corn is yellow, grass is green, and crows are black. But the colors are used in such a way that it looks better than a photograph.

Unfortunately, Van Gogh’s art wasn’t very popular while he was alive. He was poor and was thought to have mental problems, which led him to cut off his ear and eventually die by shooting himself. Arguably, it wasn’t the art that gave him mental problems. What made him so sad may have been the difficulty of working as an artist in a practical world.

1.What can we know about Van Gogh from the passage?

A. He was born into a rich family in the Netherlands 125 years ago.

B. He was a teacher, a priest and a miner before he became an artist.

C. He did not get much wealth or fame from his works before he died.

D. He decided to be an artist when he worked as an art dealer.

2.According to the passage, Van Gogh impressed people deeply by ________.

A. how he used colors in his paintings

B. how he became famous for his paintings

C. how he showed the world exactly as it looked

D. how he began to love art while living in Belgium

3.What might have caused Van Gogh’s mental problems?

A. The art of painting. B. The loss of one of his ears.

C. Pressure from his family. D. Not being accepted or recognized.

4.What can be the best title of this passage?

A. Wheatfield with Crows B. An Artist’s Sad Story

C. Childhood of Van Gogh D. An Art Exhibition of Van Gogh

Times are a little tough at our house right now. Neither of us makes a lot of money, but years of experience have taught us how to walk between the raindrops and make it from one month to the next with a fair amount of grace. I cook a lot at home, more when we're facing lean times. When I know that I have to keep us fed on not much money, I fall back on my grandmother's recipes. She taught me to cook.

When I was a kid, my twin brother and I spent long summer weeks and Christmas vacations with my mother's parents in the mountains of North Carolina. Rather than go hunting with my grandfather on frozen mornings, I found myself more and more in the kitchen with my grandmother, watching her making a lemon cheese pie with her soft hands.

My great-grandmother died when my grandmother was 11 years old. As the eldest daughter, she was expected to take on all of the housework while attending school. Throughout the Great Depression, she learned how to make a little food go a long way. Vegetables were cheap, so she cooked a lot of them, mostly only using small amounts of meat for seasoning. Roast beef was a twice-a-month luxury, but there was nothing she couldn't do with a chicken, every part of it. Nothing went to waste.

Now I understand that her food was sacred. I feel connected to my grandmother and to hundreds of years of family when I'm in my kitchen making country food. In the delicious smells is a long tale of victory over hard times, of conquering starvation—of not just surviving, but finding joy and pleasure in every meal of every day.

From grandmother I learned to take real satisfaction in feeding people. My grandmother would beam with pleasure over a heavily laden table and say, “Do you know what this would cost at the restaurant? ” I never knew what restaurant in particular she had in mind, but I knew that the question was totally not fair, because no restaurant anywhere can cook like a grandmother. But now, thanks to her guidance and years of practice, I can.

1.According to the passage, the author cooks a lot at home because__________.

A. she wants to try out her grandmother’s recipes

B. she and her husband are quite particular about food

C. she enjoys cooking at home

D. she and her husband are embarrassed financially

2.What does the underlined word “lean” mean in the first paragraph?

A. with a bad harvest B. with little money

C. with little enengy D. with little work

3.According to the passage, the author’s grandmother__________.

A. learnt to cook throughout the Great Depression

B. was careful in budgeting

C. preferred chicken to beef

D. was careful in cooking vegetables

4.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

A. Cook like My Grandmother B. My Grandmother’s Sacred Food

C. My Grandmother’s Recipe D. Joy and Pleasure in Cooking

Imagine you’re at a party full of strangers. You’re nervous. Who are these people? How do you start a conversation? Fortunately, you’ve got a thing that sends out energy at tiny chips in everyone’s name tag. The chips send back name, job, hobbies, and the time available for meeting-whatever. Making new friends becomes simple.

This hasn’t quite happened in real life. But the world is already experiencing a revolution using RFID technology.

An RFID tag with a tiny chip can be fixed in a product, under your pet’s skin, even under your own skin. Passive RFID tags have no energy source-batteries because they do not need it. The energy comes from the reader, a scanning device, that sends out energy (for example, radio waves) that starts up the tag immediately.

Such a tag carries information specific to that object, and the data can be updated. Already, RFID technology is used for recognizing each car or truck on the road and it might appear in your passport. Doctors can put a tiny chip under the skin that will help locate and obtain a patient’s medical records. At a nightclub in Paris or in New York the same chip gets you into the VIP section and pays for the bill with the wave of an arm.

Take a step back: 10 or 12 years ago, you would have heard about the coming age of computing. One example always seemed to surface: Your refrigerator would know when you needed to buy more milk. The concept was that computer chips could be put everywhere and send information in a smart network that would make ordinary life simpler.

RFID tags are a small part of this phenomenon. “The world is going to be a loosely coupled set of individual small devices, connected wirelessly,” predicts Dr. J. Reich. Human right supporters are nervous about the possibilities of such technology. It goes too far tracking school kids through RFID tags, they say. We imagine a world in which a beer company could find out not only when you bought a beer but also when you drank it. And how many beers. Accompanied by how many biscuits.

When Marconi invented radio, he thought it would be used for ship-to-shore communication. Not for pop music. Who knows how RFID and related technologies will be used in the future. Here’s a wild guess: Not for buying milk.

1.The article is intended to .

A. warn people of the possible risks in adopting RFID technology

B. explain the benefits brought about by RFID technology

C. convince people of the uses of RFID technology

D. predict the applications of RFID technology

2.We know from the passage that with the help of RFID tags, people .

A. will have no trouble getting data about others

B. will have more energy for conversation

C. will have more time to make friends

D. won’t feel shy at parties any longer

3.Why are some people worried about RFID technology?

A. Because children will be tracked by strangers.

B. Because market competition will become more fierce.

C. Because their private lives will be greatly affected.

D. Because customers will be forced to buy more products.

4.The last paragraph implies that RFID technology .

A. will not be used for such matters as buying milk

B. will be widely used, including for buying milk

C. will only be used for buying milk

D. will probably not be widely used

Third-Culture Kids

Did you grow up in one culture, your parents came from another, and you are now living in a totally different country? If so, then you are a third-culture kid!

The term “third-culture kid” (or TCK) was coined in the 1960s by Dr. Ruth. She first came across this phenomenon when she researched North American children living in India. Caught between two cultures, they form their very own. 1. About 90 percent of them have a university degree, while 40 percent pursue a postgraduate or doctor degree. They usually benefit from their intercultural experience, which helps them to grow into successful academics and professionals.

2. In fact many hardships may arise from this phenomenon. A third-culture kid may not be able to adapt themselves completely to their new surroundings as expected. Instead, they may always remain an outsider in different host cultures. Max, for example, experienced this fundamental feeling of strangeness throughout his life as a third-culture kid. 3. While this can be a way to create a network of friends all around the world, it can be difficult for a third-culture kid like Max to maintain close friendships and relationships.

For a third-culture kid, it is often easier to move to a new foreign country than to return to their “home” country. After living in Australia and South Korea for many years, Louis finally returned to Turkey as a teenager. But she felt out of place when she returned to the country where she was born. 4. She did not share the same values as her friends’ even years after going back home.

While a third-culture kid must let go of their identity as foreigner when he/she returns, the home country can prove to be more foreign than anything he/she came across before. The peer group they face does not match the idealized image children have of “home”.5.

As a part of the growing “culture”, TCKs may find it a great challenge for them to feel at home in many places.

A. Yet being a third-culture kid is not always easy.

B. In general, they often reach excellent academic results.

C. This often makes it hard for them to form their own identity.

D. However, their parents can help them see the opportunities of a mobile lifestyle.

E. Their experience abroad helps them to gain a better understanding of cultural differences.

F. Unlike other teens of her age, she didn’t know anything about current TV shows or fashion trends.

G. Additionally, making new friends and saying goodbye to old ones will at some point become routine for a third-culture kid.

I was having a great morning until I sat down in front of my office computer. “Your password has expired(失效),” a server message flashed on my ______, with instructions for changing it.

____ a new code doesn’t seem like a big deal, ______ you work at my company, where we have to change it monthly with no less than eight characters.

Suddenly I was angry. What made it ______ was that I was deeply depressed after my recent ______. Of course, that didn't mean ______ to the empty input field waiting for me to ______ a password. I remembered a(n) ______ from my former boss. He'd said, “I’m going to use a password to change my life.” It ______ me，reminding me that I shouldn’t let myself be a(n) ______ of my recent breakup and that I was strong enough to do something about it.

I made my password Forgive? h3r, and I had to type this ______ several times a day for the next 30 days. The simple action changed the way I looked at my ex-wife. That ______ reminder led me to accept the way things had happened and adopt a new way of dealing with my depression. ______ the month wore on, I felt a slow recovery begin to ______. By the time my server reminded me of my password the following month, I felt _______. One month later, when I was asked again to ______ my password，it became Quit smoking4ever. I quit smoking and ______ it brings great results.

Seeing how these ______ helped to materialize my goals kept me excited and ______ to follow my mothly goal. While it's sometimes difficult to come up with your next goal, ______ at it brings great results.

1.A. table B. mind C. screen D. behalf

2.A. Putting up with B. Coming up with C. Changing into D. Leaving out

3.A. until B. because C. although D. unless

4.A. worse B. further C. better D. less

5.A. illness B. unemployment C. quarrel D. divorce

6.A. nothing B. anything C. it D. such

7.A. type B. put away C. share D. come across

8.A. tip B. experience C. comment D. promise

9.A. interested B. confused C. inspired D. taught

10.A. witness B. victim C. agent D. volunteer

11.A. system B. technique C. statement D. secret

12.A. constant B. correct C. initial D. former

13.A. When B. If C. As D. Since

14.A. set apart B. take place C. slip away D. get across

15.A. stressed B. cheerful C. free D. confused[

16.A. translate B. ensure C. seek D. reset

17.A. fluently B. straight C. fortunately D. quickly

18.A. recipes B. possessions C. reminders D. mottoes

19.A. motivated B. touched C. amazed D. devoted

20.A. struggling B. consulting C. contributing D. keeping

China launched the Shenzhou XI manned spacecraft 1. Monday morning of October 17 to transport two astronauts to the Tiangong II space laboratory. The spacecraft 2. (send) skyward at 7:30 am atop (在…顶上) a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China, 3. (carry) two male astronauts – Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong. After the launch, the spacecraft will travel two days before docking(对接) with the Tiangong II, 4. was lifted from the Jiuquan center in mid-September. Then the astronauts will enter the space lab and stay there for 30 days, and it will be the longest space stay by Chinese astronauts.

The main 5. (task) of the Shenzhou XI mission are to test docking technologies for the country's 6. (plan) space station, to verify the life-support capability of the spacecraft-space lab combination as well as conduct 7. (science) research.

China is 8. third country in the world that has 9. (depend) fulfilled manned spaceflight following the former Soviet Union and the United States. Its space program aims 10. (place) a permanent manned space station into service around 2022.

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。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(＼)划掉。

修改：在错的词下画一横线，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；

允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

My high school life has made me learn many things. Between them teamwork is the most significantly for me. In fact, I didn’t realize its importance after I was elected monitor. In the begin, I did almost all the duties myself. However, others students cared little about class activities. Therefore, I worn out and depressed. Then I turned to my head teacher but he advised me to cooperate with others. Gradually, I realized the strengths of my classmates and managed to have everyone to play a part in class. It is working in teams instead of on my own which has freed me from trouble and make my work more efficient.

假设你是一中的李华，你在某英文论坛上看到一个帖子。澳大利亚中学生Martin想来中国旅游，你向他推荐了北京市，请根据以下提示写一封电子邮件。

1.自我介绍；

2.推荐理由：

3.你的祝愿。

注意：1. 词数：100左右

2．文章的开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数；

3.参考词汇： 英文论坛：English Forum

Dear Martin,

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Best wishes!

Yours,

Li Hua

Many people go to school for an education. They learn languages, history, geography, physics, chemistry and mathematics. Others go to school to learn a skill so that they can make a living. School education is very important and useful. Yet no one can learn everything from school. A teacher，no matter how much he knows, cannot teach his students everything they want to know. The teacher’s job is to show his students how to learn. He teaches them how to read and how to think. So much more is to be learned outside school by the students themselves.

It is always more important to study by oneself than to memorize some facts or a formula(公式). It is actually quite easy to learn a certain fact in history or a formula in maths. But it is very difficult to use a formula in working out a maths problem. Great scientists, such as Einstein, Newton and Galileo didn’t get everything from school. But they were all so successful. They invented so many things for mankind. The reason for their success is that they worked hard all their lives, wasting not a single moment. They would ask many questions as they read and they did thousands of experiments.

Above all, they knew how to use their brains.

1.The subject which is not spoken of in the article is _____

A. maths B. history

C. psychology D. physics

2.The teacher’s job is to teach ___________.

A. everything the students want to know

B. the students everything that they know

C. the students some facts of formulas

D. the students how to learn

3.Einstein, Newton and Galileo did so many things for mankind because_____.

A. they learned a lot at school.

B. they knew how to learn new things outside class by themselves.

C. they were so useful.

D. they went to college and learned form professors.

4.From the passage we know that if we want to be successful , we should _______.

A. only learn more at school

B. needn’t go to school

C. only learn science subjects

D. learn to learn at school and learn more outside school

Are you looking for some new and exciting places to take your kids to? Try some of these places:

Head to a natural history museum. This is where kids can discover the past from Dinosaur (恐龙) models to rock collections and pictures of stars in the sky. Also, ask what kind of workshops and educational programs are prepared for kids and any special events that are coming up.

Go to a Youtheater. Look for one in your area offering plays for child and family visitors. Pre-show play shops are conducted by area artists and educators where kids can discover the secret about performing arts. Puppet (木偶) making and stage make-up are just a couple of the special offerings you might find.

Visit art museums. They offer all kinds of activities to excite your kids' interest. Many offer workshops for making hand-made pieces, traveling exhibits, book signings( 签名) by children's favorite writers, and even musical performances and other arts.

Try hands-on science. Visit one of the many hands-on science museums around the country. These science play-lands are great fun for kids and grown-ups alike. They'll keep your child mentally and physically active the whole day through while pushing buttons, experimenting, and building. When everyone is tired, enjoy a fun family science show, commonly found in these museums.

1.If a child is interested in the universe, he probably will visit _________ .

A. a Youtheater B. a natural history museum

C. an art museum D. a hands-on science museum

2.What can kids do at a Youtheater?

A. Look at rock collections. B. See dinosaur models.

C. Give performances. D. Watch puppet making.

3.What does "hands-on science" mean in the last paragraph?

A. Learning science by doing things. B. Science games designed by kids.

C. A show of kids' science work. D. Reading science books.

4.Where does this text probably come from?

A. A science textbook. B. A tourist map.

C. A museum guide. D. A news report.