Brief Introduction

The elf owl (a kind of owl) is mostly found in the southwestern parts of the United States and Mexico. During the spring and summer seasons, it moves to Arizona and New Mexico. It returns to Mexico for the winter. The elf owl doesn’t build its nest. It lives in tree holes.

Features

The elf owl is a yellow bird. Its wings are dark and about .48-61 centimeters long. Its eyes are bright yellow. Its feet are large. It is the smallest owl of the species. It is about 12.5-14.5 centimeters long. It is also the world’s lightest owl, weighing not more than 40 grams. In general, female elf owls weigh more than male ones.

The female usually lays three eggs at a time. After the young elf owls are born，their mother will feed them with worms(蠕虫) for up to 3-4 weeks. After 10 weeks, the young ones are fully grown and ready to take flight.

Living Habits

The elf owls are not aggressive birds. When danger comes, they will fly away in the other direction, rather than stay and fact the danger or the enemies. Besides flying，the elf owl can also walk and climb like a parrot. The elf owl is most active after dusk，during the night, and just before dawn. It can produce many different kinds of sounds. It can live for 3-6 years in the wild. If they are kept in cages, they can live for 10-14 years. The elf owls are now in danger because of the loss of habitat. Cutting down trees will result in lack of places for them to live in.

【1】According to the first and second paragraphs, an elf owl may _________ .

A. build its nest in trees B. have yellow wings

C. have big and dark eyes D. live in Mexico in winter

【2】What can we learn from the text?

A. The female elf owl takes care of her children for about four weeks.

B. The elf owl sleeps at night and looks for food during the daytime.

C. The female elf owl lays one egg at one time.

D. The elf owl can live no longer than six years.

【3】What is the character of the elf owl?

A. Shy. B. Peace-loving.

C. Hard-working. D. Selfish.

要点：1.介绍传统艺术―年画；

2.欢迎Alice来中国体验中国年画的创作。

注意：1.词数100左右。

2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

提示词：年画Chinese New Year paintings

Dear Alice,

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Yours truly,

Li Hua

【题目】根据短文内容，选择最佳答案。
Two recent studies have found that punishment is not the best way to influence behavior.
One showed that adults are much more cooperative if they work in a system based on rewards. Researchers at Harvard University in the United States and the Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden did the study.
They had about two hundred college students play a version of the game known as the Prisoner's Dilemma. The game is based on the tension between the interests of an individual and a group. The students played in groups of four. Each player could win points for the group, so they would all gain equally. But each player could also reward or punish each of the other three players. Harvard researcher David Rand says the most successful behavior proved to be cooperation. The groups that rewarded the most earned about twice as much in the game as the groups that rewarded the least. And the more a group punished itself, the lower its earnings. The study appeared last month in the journal Science.
The other study involved children. It was presented last month in California at a conference on violence and abuse（虐待）. Researchers used intelligence tests given to two groups. More than eight hundred children were aged two to four the first time they were tested. More than seven hundred children were aged five to nine. The two groups were retested four years later, and the study compared the results with the first test. Both groups contained children whose parents used physical punishment and children whose parents did not.
The study says the IQs of the younger children who were not spanked were five points higher than those who were. In the older group, the difference was almost three points. The more they are spanked, the slower their mental development.
（1）Which of the following is TRUE according to the second study?
A.Children's IQs have much to do with physical punishment.
B.The study is about violence and cooperation of children.
C.The children tested were divided into groups of four.
D.Children's mental development only relies on their IQs.
（2）What does the underlined word “spanked” refer to?
A.punished
B.blamed
C.tested
D.praised
（3）What might be the best title for the text?
A.The Best Way to Correct Misbehavior
B.Punishment Is the Best Way of Education
C.Cooperation Is the Most Successful Behavior
D.Punishment or Reward: Which Works Better on Behavior?

Pinyin is a useful tool, which 【1】 (teach)in China to school kids. It is not merely used by westerners like us. It has proved to be a useful tool for Chinese people 【2】 (they)to learn standard pronunciation in their early education.

The first step is to learn how 【3】 (pronounce) each letter in pinyin correctly and the meaning of the tone markers. Then you have to do【4】 (drill) as many as you can. Turn that into a game. It can be【5】 (much) fun than you would expect. Start 【6】single syllables and to that a lot and then syllable（音节）pairs. Slowly move on to larger groups. Understand the initial, final and the tones.

But most importantly, what you need is good feedback. You’d better have someone that can correct your mistakes immediately.

Find a native Chinese, 【7】 pronunciation is quite perfect to correct you. If you take Chinese classes, the teacher will【8】 (probable) have you do exercises every class. Do this very seriously.

If you are self-studying, try to meet native Chinese people and ask them to give you some feedback.

Otherwise, try to be self-critical and listen very carefully. Good【9】 (listen) is more than 50% of 【10】 it takes to pronounce correctly.

【题目】根据短文内容，选择最佳答案。
There is a story about a man who lost his legs and left arm in an accident. After the accident, only a finger and thumb on his right hand remained.
He was a brilliant, creative, and educated man. He had gained a lot of experience while traveling around the world, so he became very depressed after his accident. He was afraid that he would spend the rest of his life suffering and would no longer be able to spend his life in a meaningful way. Then, he realized that he still had partial function of his right hand and could still write even though it was very difficult. An idea occurred to him, “Why not write to other people who need encouragement?”
He wrote to the prison ministry about sending letters to the prisoners. The prison minister replied, “Writing to the prisoners is acceptable, but your letters will not be answered.”
Filled with excitement, the man knew he could write his letters. He began sending one-way messages of God's love, hope, strength, and encouragement. He wrote twice a week, testing his strength and ability to the limit. He poured his heart and soul into his words and shared his experience, sense of humor, optimism, and faith.
It was difficult to write those letters, especially without hope of a reply. One day he received a letter from the prison ministry. It was a short note from the officer who monitored and checked the prison mail.
The letter said, “Please write on the best paper you can afford. Your letters are passed from room to room until they fall to pieces!”
No matter what circumstances life may present, we all have unique experiences, abilities, and God-given talents. We can discover ways to reach others who desperately need messages of encouragement and strength.
（1）Before the man had the accident, he __________.
A.had toured around the world
B.had visited local prisons
C.had tried doing exercise to recover himself
D.had been friends with the prison minister
（2）In order to live in a meaningful way, the man began to ________.
A.receive the school education
B.write to other people who needed encouragement
C.meet the people who were depressed
D.help other people who lost arms and legs
（3）From the officer's short note we are told that __________.
A.the man would be offered free paper to write letters on
B.some of the prisoners were not satisfied with his letters
C.the prisoners eagerly wanted to write back to the man
D.his letters were very popular among the prisoners
（4）What can be the best title for the passage?
A.Stories about a Humorous Person
B.Popularity of Special Letters
C.Special Letters of Encouragement
D.Relationship between Writers and Prisoners

【题目】Many new stations were constructed between 1918 and 1938, _____ by an architect named Charles Holden.
A.the most famous of them were designed
B.and the most famous of which were designed
C.the most famous of them designed
D.the most famous of which designed

A complete DNA read – out for every newborn will be technically possible and affordable in less than five years, promising a revolution in healthcare, says Jay Flatley, the chief executive of Illumina. Only social and legal problems are likely to delay the age of “genome sequences,” or genetic profiles. By 2019 it will have become routine to map infants’ genes when they are born, Dr Flatly told The Times.

This will open a new approach to medicine, by which conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease can be predicted and prevented and drugs used more safely and effectively.

A baby’s genome can be discovered at birth by a blood test. By examining a person’s genome, it is possible to identify raised risks of developing diseases such as cancers. Those at high risk can then be screened more regularly, or given drugs or dietary advice to lower their chances of becoming ill.

Personal genomes could also be used to ensure that patients get the medicine that is most likely to work for them and least likely to have side – effects.

The development, however, will raise legal concerns about privacy and access to individuals’ genetic records.

“Bad things can be done with the genome. It could predict something about someone – and you could possibly hand the information to their employer or their insurance company.” said Dr Flatley.

“People have to recognize that this horse is out of the barn, and that your genome probably can’t be protected, because everywhere you go you leave your genome behind. Complete genetic privacy, however, is unlikely to be possible”, he added.

As the benefits become clearer, however, he believes that most people will want their genomes read and interpreted. The risk is nothing compared with the gain.

【1】In the first two paragraphs, the author mainly wants to tell us about__________.

A. the significant progress in medicine

B. the promise of a leading company

C. the information of babies’ genes

D. the research of medical scientists

【2】Which of the following is a problem caused by this approach?

A. The delaying in discovering DNA.

B. The risk of developing diseases at birth.

C. The side effects of medicine on patients.

D. The letting out of personal genetic information.

【3】What does the underlined sentence “… this horse is out of the barn” mean?

A. Genetic mapping technique has been widely used.

B. people can’t stop genetic mapping technique advancing.

C. People are eager to improve genetic mapping technique.

D. Genetic mapping technique is too horrible to control.

【4】What’s Dr Flatley’s attitude towards the technology?

A. Tolerant. B. Conservative. C. Positive. D. Doubtful.

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限一词。

2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

I’m Li Hua, a senior three student in our school. Last Monday I received three America students. We had a wonderful time. And I tasted the pleased feeling of friendship.

In the afternoon, after divided into two groups, we began to work for the coming English speech context. Just as I was wondering what to do next, I saw a familiar figure passed by our classroom. It was my English teacher. I wondered that he would say. He said that it was a competition that everyone would like to take part in it. He added that was pretty fluent with English, but I needed to arrange my time good.

In the evening, at about half past ten, we finished working. I don’t know the result, but I’m sure without our help, winning the championship will be the effort.

A big crowd gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer them on.

The race began. No one in the crowd really believed that any of the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower. “They will never get to the top! They will never succeed！” someone said.

One by one, the tiny frogs began to collapse(跌下).

The crowd kept shouting, “It is too difficult! No frog will make it！”

More tiny frogs got tired and gave up, but one continued climbing, higher and higher. This one wouldn’t give up.

In the end, he was the only one left—the only one to get to the top. The other frogs naturally wanted to know: How did the frog make it?

One frog stepped forward to ask the winner. It turned out that the winner was deaf.

He had won because he was able to keep his own mind. He was able to keep trying. He couldn’t hear criticism; neither could he hear praise.

We learn a lesson from this story: Don’t let others’ praise or criticism to hold you back on your way to success.

写作内容

1．用约30个单词概括上述寓言故事的大意；

2．用约120个单词就“如何对待别人的批评和表扬”这个主题发表你的看法，并包括如下要点：

(1)叙述这个寓言故事给你的启示以及你对他人的批评和表扬的态度；

(2)谈谈中学生应该如何对待老师的批评和表扬。

写作要求

1．写作过程中不能直接引用原文语句；

2．作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；

3．不必写标题。

评分标准

内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。

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Gates said in an interview with the social networking and news website Reddit：“I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence.First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent.That should be positive if we manage well.A few decades after that though the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern.”

Well，maybe I don’t have to worry about my computer and kitchen equipment yet.After I use them I can always pull the plug.But in the future，machines might find a way to prevent us from switching them off.There’s a terrible thought!

Maybe the problem with computers too clever for us is not that they are evil like some we’ve seen in scifi movies.What could put us in danger is that they might be too efficient.That’s what philosopher Nick Bostrom from Oxford University believes.He says that machines are indifferent to humans and in pursuit of their own goals，the destruction of people might be just additional damage.Bostrom gives us an example：A machine which might have as its only goal to produce as many paperclips as possible might look at human bodies as extra material for paperclips and go after you.Because it is，well，a machine，it would not take pity on you.

It’s a good thing that American writer Isaac Asimov thought about how far robots can go and left us his three rules of robotics.He states that a robot may not hurt a human being or allow the human being to come to harm.

I’m glad my machines at home are “dumb”．All my cleaner wants to take over is the carpet in my living room.Let’s hope they don’t create an appliance which wants to take over the world!

【1】The author quoted Bill Gates’ words in Paragraph 2 in order to make the text .

A. betterknown B. more persuasive

C. betterorganized D. more interesting

【2】An intelligent paperclip machine would harm us because .

A. it is much cleverer than us

B. it would take over the world

C. it would see us just as material

D. it has the strong feeling of destroying us

【3】How does the author feel about Isaac Asimov’s rules of robotics?

A. Optimistic. B. Sympathetic.

C. Disappointed. D. Regretful.