The summer holidays are coming up. It’s time to fill the bookshelves with quality literature for the kids. Here are some great books.

Josephine Wants to Dance by Jackie French

Price: A＄14.99 (for ages4+)

Josephine is a kangaroo who loves to dance. Her little brother, Joey, tells her that kangaroos don’t dance; they jump. But Josephine continues to point her toes and leap through the air. When a ballet group comes to town and the lead ballerina(芭蕾舞演员) is injured, Josephine is called upon to help save the day. Can she do it, and, more importantly, does it matter that she’s a kangaroo?

House of Secrets by Chris Columbus

Price: A＄19.99(for ages 9+)

The Walker kids — Caroline, Brendan and Nell — may have saved the world, but they can’t save their home and must leave Kristoff House. Things can’t get any worse, but then it turns out that the Wind Witch is still alive and planning an attack. To defeat her, the Walkers must return to the book world. The Walkers always help each other, but they must go it alone in their most important mission yet. And this time, if they fail, there’s no chance of coming back.

Edge of Extinction Book 1 by Laura Martin

Price: A＄16.00(for ages 9+)

If you like The Land of the Dinosaurs, you will love this book. Two hundred years ago, the first dinosaur was successfully cloned(克隆). Soon after, humans realized they’d made a big mistake... Thirteen-year-old Sky Mundy’s father suddenly disappeared five years ago. Along with her best friend, Shawn, she steps out into the world above — a world of dinosaurs — to look for him. Then she learns that everything she’s been taught has been a lie.

1.Which book will you choose if your child is five years old?

A. House of Secrets.

B. Josephine Wants to Dance.

C. The Land of the Dinosaurs.

D. Edge of Extinction Book 1.

2.What can we learn about the Walker kids from the text?

A. They live in a secret house.

B. They hate each other.

C. They are afraid of the Wind Witch.

D. They have to carry out the task alone.

3.What is the world like in the last book?

A. Animals live happily together.

B. It is full of dinosaurs.

C. Many dinosaurs attack the earth.

D. Many adults are killed by the dinosaurs.

4.The text is especially helpful for those who .

A. are interested in raising animals

B. want to make friends during the holidays

C. plan to educate their children during the holidays

D. want to explore an unknown world during the holidays

Are you running a restaurant but can’t afford to hire waiters? Well, you could learn from this Japanese restaurant that hires monkeys for the job. In order to make them look more human, the restaurant owner even masks(用面具遮掩) their faces.

The restaurant is Kayabuki, which a traditional Japanese restaurant. They have hired a couple of monkeys named Yat-chan and Fuku-chan to work as waiters (or waitresses, we’re not sure). 16-year-old Yat-chan is the older of the two, but he moves quickly between tables as he takes the customers’ drink orders. Fuku-chan gives customers a hot towel and helps them clean their hands before they order their drinks, as is the custom in Japan. Believe it or not, the pair is actually certified(授予执照) by local authorities to work at the restaurant. The customers like them as well, so they give them beans as tips. One customer, Takayoshi, said, “The monkeys are actually better waiters than some really bad human ones.”

Yat-chan and Fuku-chan were once the household pets of the restaurant owner, Kaoru Otsuka. But the older one started imitating him in restaurant duties, and that was when he realized they were actually capable of working there. “Yat-chan first learned by just watching me working in the restaurant,” he said. “It all started when one day I gave him a hot towel and he brought the towel to the customer.”

Some customers even feel that the little monkeys are just like children, or even better. 62-year-old Shiochi Yano, a regular at Kayabuki, says, “Actually, they’re better. My son doesn’t listen to me, but Yat-chan will.” Customers also say that Yat-chan is able to understand exact orders and remember them. “We called out for more beer,” said one customer, “and he just brought us some beer. It’s amazing how he seems to understand human words.”

1.What can we learn about Yat-chan and Fuku-chan?

A. They both get beans as tips.

B. Fuku-chan is older than Yat-chan.

C. Yat-chan helps customers clean their hands.

D. Fuku-chan takes the customers’ drink orders.

2.According to Takayoshi, the two monkey waiters .

A. can understand exact orders

B. listen to him very carefully

C. can remember the regular customers

D. behave better than some human waiters

3.What does the underlined word, “imitating” in the 3rd paragraph mean?

A. surprise B. copy

C. laugh D. frustrate

4.Why did Kaoru Otsuka let the monkeys work in the restaurant?

A. He couldn’t afford to hire waiters.

B. He thought monkeys worked better than humans.

C. He found his monkeys were able to work like waiters.

D. The officials encouraged him to hire the monkeys.

Amanda Moore noticed that the new student at school always sat alone at lunch. She felt bad about that. The 10-year-old girl decided to befriend Rafael Anaya, but she also noticed something else — he struggled to understand English. Instead of letting that stop her, she used Google Translate to handwrite a note in Spanish asking him to join her for lunch. Her act earned her the “Student of the Month” award for October at her school.

Rafael had moved to Temecula, California from Mexico at the beginning of the school year. He often cried after returning home from school because he felt so lonely. Amanda didn’t know that when she wrote the letter. She simply knew that he spoke Spanish and that he was lonely. She spent the afternoon carefully writing a letter. When she got home, she couldn’t wait to tell her mother, Kimber Kinard, about the letter, wanting her to proofread(校对) it.

But Kinard felt confused, because she didn’t understand Spanish, either. So Amanda helped her use the app to understand it. Kinard was excited and tearful because she thought it was the nicest thing. The note read: “Would you like to sit with me today? Look for me and I will show you where I sit. We can chat or simply tell interesting stories.”

The next day, Amanda handed the note to Rafael. He gave her a hug. But it wasn’t until their maths class that he said “yes” to lunch. The two have been sitting together ever since.

The note helped Rafael feel more comfortable and encouraged him to work harder on his English. He really wants to learn English to talk to Amanda.

The two use gestures and Google Translate to communicate now, but they hope it will become easier when Rafael’s English improves. And Amanda is learning some Spanish.

1.When Amanda wrote Rafael the note, she .

A. asked her teacher for help

B. sensed Rafael’s loneliness

C. knew Rafael often cried after school

D. knew Rafael had moved to Temecula from Mexico

2.The note to Rafael .

A. moved Rafael’s mother to tears

B. was written to arrange an appointment

C. was written to ask him to eat with Amanda

D. was translated by Amanda’s mother

3.We can learn from the text that Rafael .

A. agreed to Amanda’s invitation at once

B. wrote back to Amanda in English using Google Translate

C. was encouraged by the note to improve his English

D. was encouraged by Amanda to communicate with other students

In Mountain View, California, there’s a new pizza shop — Zume Pizza. It has robots and algorithms(计算程序) running the shop. Their job is to solve a familiar problem: it’s football night and you order a ham and mushroom pizza for you and your friends. It arrives later than you’d hoped and it’s cold.

Zume co-founder Julia Collins says, “Pizza is not meant to sit in a cardboard box. The best pizza comes right out of the oven.”

In reality, people tend to order pizzas instead of eating them in a restaurant. Most pizzas are delivered in a cardboard box and are not hot when they arrive, so they don’t taste that good. Zume’s solution is a delivery truck which is equipped with 56 mini-ovens.

Here’s how it works. A customer places an order on the app. Inside the Zume factory, a team of mostly robots puts the 14-inch pizza into its own oven. Whether the truck has five pizzas or 56, it needs just one human worker — to drive and deliver them to your doorstep.

“She doesn’t have to think about when to turn the ovens on or off,” Collins says. “She doesn’t have to think about what route to take or whom to go to first. All of that is controlled by our algorithm.” Four minutes before the truck is scheduled to arrive at a doorstep, the algorithm starts the oven(or ovens) to finish cooking that order. Each pizza is then put into a special pizza box, which is not made of cardboard. The driver then parks, cuts the pizza with a special knife and delivers it hot.

When you call a pizza store and are told “It’ll take an hour,” you hang up and it doesn’t get your business. Because Zume is run mostly by robots, it doesn’t have that problem. This week, Zume is beginning to use trucks to deliver to real customers in Mountain View.

1.Which pizza tastes best, according to the text?

A. One that is made by a factory.

B. One that is right out of the oven.

C. One that is delivered to your home.

D. One that is packed in a cardboard box.

2.How does a customer order a pizza from Zume?

A. By making a call. B. By using an app.

C. By contacting some robots. D. By stopping a delivery truck.

3.What does the underlined word, “it”, in the last paragraph refer to?

A. Zume Pizza. B. The truck.

C. The robot. D. The pizza factory.

4.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

A. The Most Popular Pizza Shop B. An Advanced Delivery System

C. How to Make Pizza More Delicious D. Robots Guarantee Better Pizza

Homework is a good thing. It helps you practice what you’ve learned during the day and establish study habits that will be important in college. 1. What you need to do is take control of your homework.

Set a good mood for studying.

Create a good study area with all the things you will need (for example, a dictionary, pens and textbooks).

Know where to start in your study.

Make a list of everything you need to do in order so you cannot use “I don’t know where to start.” as an excuse. Don’t over-schedule yourself. 2. Study at the same time every day.

Even if you don’t have homework, use the time to review your notes. 3. What’s more, you’ll become good at using time in this way.

4.

Do you ever feel like you cannot stay awake to read something? Keep your mind from wandering by taking notes, underlining sentences, discussing topics with others.

Celebrate your achievements.

5. However, if you have some problems about the amount or type of the homework, you should talk to your teachers.

A. Take advantage of your time.

B. Get more involved in your study.

C. Try to find the best methods that work for you.

D. If you do that, it will be easy for you to fail to stick to your study plan.

E. Once you achieve your goal, offer yourself some reward for it.

F. It can also help you prepare for your classes and get a sense of progress.

G. If you accept homework as part of your day, you’ll deal with in more easily.

The alarm clock was ringing! I got out of bed and walked over to my desk and turned it off. It was 6:30 in the morning and I was very tired. It was very ____ outside and I couldn’t see anything! My mother was already ____ and told me to go and take a shower because I was going to be late for ____. I took a shower for about ten minutes and then I came out and took my towel and ____ myself. Then I got my ____ and put all my books in it so I wouldn’t forget anything when I went to school.

I walked to the ____ so that I could make myself some food. I ate and ____ for about half an hour. My mother still wasn’t downstairs to ____ me to school, so where was she? I went to my parents’ bedroom and saw my mother ____! She must have gone back to bed!

I ____ her up and said, “I’m going to be late for school!”

She turned around and said, “Go and look _____.”

I went to the window and opened the curtains. It was ____ now and I could see outside. But I didn’t see the black road or the green grass. I saw ____ everywhere. There was snow on the trees, the roads, and even my basketball hoop! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I ____ my mother had tricked me! She wasn’t really sleeping; she was just ____. It was a snowy day and I didn’t have any school! I ran up to my mother and ____ her because I was so happy. She gave me a jacket, books, a cap and a pair of gloves and told me to ____ in the snow for a little while. It was really fun but really ____, and I came inside after an hour. My dad was sitting at the table with two cups of ____ chocolate, and one was for me! I drank my hot chocolate really ____ so it would last longer, and I felt warm again. It was one of the best snowy days ever!

1.A. dark B. cloudy C. beautiful D. hot

2.A. busy B. anxious C. awake D. energetic

3.A. breakfast B. school C. date D. work

4.A. cleaned B. washed C. wiped D. dried

5.A. backpack B. box C. key D. pen

6.A. yard B. bedroom C. kitchen D. store

7.A. imagined B. talked C. watched D. waited

8.A. take B. expect C. force D. require

9.A. sleeping B. packing C. cooking D. laughing

10.A. picked B. called C. woke D. pulled

11.A. around B. outside C. inside D. back

12.A. clearer B. cooler C. warmer D. lighter

13.A. green B. black C. white D. color

14.A. figured out B. turned out C. broke out D. stepped out

15.A. hiding B. pretending C. protecting D. observing

16.A. hugged B. shook C. blamed D. disappointed

17.A. stand B. play C. think D. study

18.A. natural B. terrible C. cold D. lucky

19.A. fresh B. sweet C. delicious D. hot

20.A. quickly B. slowly C. gently D. quietly

Before accepting a job offer, you should consider seriously 1. the job is really what you want to do. Why are you interested in this position?

The reasons for 2.(take) a job mainly depend on your desires and your ability. It may be okay to take a job that is not something you 3.(real) want to do right now, if it allows you to get into a 4.(good) position in the future.

Furthermore, you should consider the company 5. offers you the position. Is it a good company 6.(work) for? Do they share your values? If not, does this matter 7. you?

One of the most 8.(satisfy) parts of a job for many people is that the job 9.(challenge) them. It allows them to think and focus on 10.(problem). It’s more than just a desk job.

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。

I went to a new restaurants to have dinner yesterday. The delicious food there left a deep impression on to me. But the service was not as good I expected. Usual, I appreciate waiters come to check on me and to see if there is anything I need. Therefore, the waiters there left me alone. I had to get our attention whenever I needed something. And I hate waiting so long to receive the bill. I am used for fast, efficient service, so this was a worst experience that I ever had.

最近学校正在展开一场急救知识普及活动, 就此你所在的班级举行了一场讨论会,并提出以下几点建议。现请你根据以下要点以First Aid in Fires 为题写一篇文章,说明发生火灾时要注意的几点事项,贴在班级的板报上。

注意事项:

1. 不要惊慌, 保持冷静；

2. 室内有浓烟时, 身体尽量低一些,用湿毛巾捂住鼻子和嘴巴逃出；

3. 不要乘坐电梯或从高层跳下；

4. 你自己还有什么好的建议。

注意：

1. 词数100左右；

2. 可以适当发挥，以使行文连贯。

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Five Must-visit Alternative Movie Theaters in Houston

Wortham Giant Screen Theater — Journey to Yellowstone, Kenya, or even the Triassic period at the Wortham Giant Screen Theater, located inside the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Far from a fossil, the 394-seat theater features a large screen with 4K digital resolution and a six-track sound system, the perfect tools to bring its 3D attractions to life.

Brown Auditorium Theater — Add variety to your cinematic diet at the Brown Auditorium Theater, inside the Museum of Fine Arts, Huston. Brown Auditorium Theater was designed in 1974 by famous architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and updated in 2000. The theater screens both classic and modern films as well as world cinema and documentaries.

River Oaks Theater — Enjoy dinner and a movie in style at the River Oaks Theater, Houston’s typical movie theater located inside the fashionable River Oaks Shopping Center. Spring for extra cost-plus seating to settle into a leather recliner (躺椅) and receive push-of-a -button food and drink service. Showings typically include contemporary documentaries and fiction films and, naturally, the traditional midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Sundance Cinemas Houston — Book your tickets in advance for the easily reserved seating movie theater Sundance Cinemas Houston. The MetroRail-nearby Downtown theater keeps independent films on deck, but doesn’t mind showing the latest great blockbuster (大片). And its on-site cafe serves up pizza, popcorn and more.

Showboat Drive-in Theater — Park the car at The Showboat Drive-In Theater in Hockley where “it’s not just a movie… it’s an experience!” For a small price, families, friends, and lovers alike get snacks, souvenirs, and a double feature of the newest releases.

1.What’s the Wortham Giant Screen Theater unique for?

A. The latest film. B. Advanced equipment.

C. A long history. D. Easy reach.

2.What can you experience in the River Oaks Theater?

A. Drive your car in. B. Buy friends gifts.

C. See cultural films. D. Enjoy convenient food service.

3.Which cinema is located in the city center?

A. Sundance Cinemas Houston. B. Brown Auditorium Theater.

C. River Oaks Theatre. D. Showboat Drive-in Theater.