Poet William Stafford once said that we are defined more by the detours(繞行路)in life than by the narrow road toward goals. I like this image. But it was quite by accident that I discovered the deep meaning of his words.

For years we made the long drive from our home in Seattle to my parents’ home in Boise in nine hours. We traveled the way most people do: the fastest, shortest, easiest road, especially when I was alone with four noisy, restless kids who hate confinement(限制)and have strong opinions about everything.

Road trips felt risky, so I would drive fast, stopping only when I had to. We would stick to the freeways and arrive tired.

But then Banner, our lamb was born. He was rejected by his mama days before our planned trip to Boise. I had two choices: leave Banner with my husband, or take him with me. My husband made the decision for me.

That is how I found myself on the road with four kids, a baby lamb and nothing but my everlasting optimism to see me through. We took the country roads out of necessity. We had to stop every hour, let Banner shake out his legs and feed him. The kids chased him and one another. They’d get back in the car breathless and energized, smelling fresh from the cold air.

We explored side roads, catching grasshoppers in waist-high grass. Even if we simply looked out of the car windows at baby pigs following their mother, or fish leaping out of the water, it was better than the best ride down the freeway. Here was life. And new horizons.

We eventually arrived at my parents’ doorstep astonishingly fresh and full of stories.

I grew brave with the trip back home and creative with my disciplining technique. On an empty section of road, everyone started quarreling. I stopped the car, ordered all kids out and told them to meet me up ahead. I parked my car half a mile away and read my book in sweet silence.

Some road trips are by necessity fast and straight. But that trip with Banner opened our eyes to a world available to anyone adventurous enough to wander around and made me realize that a detour may uncover the best part of a journey----and the best part of yourself.

1.Why did the author use to take freeways to her parents’ home?

A. She needn’t stop on the way.

B. It would be faster and easier.

C. Her kids would feel less confined.

D. She felt better with other drivers nearby.

2.What does the author discover from the trip according to Paragraph 6 ?

A. Freeways are where beauty hides.

B. Getting close to nature adds to the joy of life

C. Enjoying the beauty of nature benefits one’s health

D. One should follow side roads to watch wild animals

3.Why did the author ask the kids to get out of the car on their way back home

A. To give herself some time to read

B. To order some food for them

C. To play a game with them.

D. To let them cool down

4.What could be the best title for the passage

A. Charm of the Detour

B. The Road to Bravery

C. Creativity out of Necessity

D. Road trip and Country Life

Anyone who has worn a cast (石膏) knows that rebuilding muscle strength once the cast is removed can be difficult. Now researchers at the Ohio Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute (OMNI) at Ohio University have found that the mind is critical in maintaining muscle strength following a long period of not moving and that mental imagination may be key in reducing the associated muscle loss.

Strength is controlled by a number of factors---the most studied by far is skeletal muscle. However, the nervous system is also an important, though not fully understood, determining factor of strength and weakness.

Brian C. Clark and colleagues set out to test how the system functions in strength development. They designed an experiment to measure changes in wrist (腕) muscle strength in three groups of healthy adults. Twenty-nine subjects wore a hard cast that extended from just below the elbow (肘) past the fingers, effectively preventing the hand and wrist from moving, for four weeks. Fifteen subjects who did not wear casts served as the control group.

Of the 29 people wearing a hard cast, half were asked to regularly perform an exercise, imagining they were strongly contracting their wrist for five seconds and then resting for five seconds. This was repeated four times in a row followed by a one-minute break for a total of 13 rounds per session and five sessions per week. The other half performed no imagination exercises.

At the end of the four-week experiment, both groups who wore casts had lost strength in their unmoving limbs (肢體) when compared to the control group. But the group that performed imagination exercises lost 50% less strength than the non-imagination group. The nervous system’s ability to fully make the muscle recover also returned more quickly in the imagination group compared to the non-imagination group.

1.What does the underlined word “critical” mean in the first paragraph?

A. Serious. B. Embarrassing.

C. Important. D. Normal.

2.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Scientists have partly understood the nervous system.

B. Whoever has worn a cast for long may have difficulty in muscle recovery.

C. Scientists have already spent a lot of time in studying skeletal muscle.

D. The number of the subjects in the experiment was 29 in all.

3.What can we learn from the experiment?

A. The control group lost 50% less strength than the non-imagination group.

B. The imagination group lost more strength than the non-imagination group.

C. The control group wore casts but didn’t perform the imagination exercise.

D. The speed of non-imagination group’s muscle recovery was slower.

4. Where can you most probably find the passage?

A. In a science magazine. B. In a storybook.

C. In a textbook . D. In a book review.

Do women’s minds work the same as men’s? Absolutely not. At least, that is what most men are convinced of. Psychologists view the subject either as a matter or frustration or a joke. Now the biologists have moved into this minefield, and some of them have found that there are real differences between the brains of men and women. But being different, they point out hurriedly, is not the same as being better or worse.

There is, however, a definite structural variation between the male and female brain. The difference is in a part of the brain that is used in the most complex intellectual processes-the link between the two halves of the brain.

The two halves are linked by a trunkline of between 200 and 300 million nerves, the corpus callosum. Scientists have found quite recently that the corpus callosum in women is always larger and probably richer in nerve fibres than it is in men. This is the first time that a structural difference has been found between the brains of women and men and it must have some significance. The question is "What?", and, if this difference exists, are there others? Research shows that present-day women think differently and behave differently from men. Are some of these differences biological and inborn, a result of evolution? We tend to think that is the influence of society that produces these differences. But could we be wrong?

Research showed that these two halves of the brain had different functions, and that the corpus callosum enabled them to work together. For most people, the left half is used for word handing, analytical and logical activities; the right half works on pictures, patterns and forms. We need both halves working together. And the better the connections, the more harmoniously the two halves work. And, according to research findings, women have the better connections.

But it isn't all that easy to explain the actual differences between skills of men and women on this basis. In schools throughout the world girls tend to be better than boys at "language subjects" and boys better at maths and physics. If these differences correspond with the differences in the hemispheric trunkline, here is an unalterable distinction between the sexes.

We shan't know for a while, partly because we don't know of any precise relationship between abilities in school subject and the functioning of the two halves of the brain, and we cannot understand how the two halves interact via the corpus callosum. But this striking difference must have some effect and, because the difference is in the parts of the brain involved in intellect, we should be looking for differences in intellectual processing.

1.Which of the following statements is CORRECT?

A. Results of scientific research fail to support popular belief.

B. Brain differences point to superiority of one sex over the other.

C. Biologists are conducting research where psychologists have given up

D. The structural difference in the brain between the sexes has long been known.

2.The corpus callosum functions in __________.

A. forming the nerve fibers.

B. differing man from woman.

C. enabling the brain to work.

D. processing the most complex intellectuality.

3.According to the passage it is commonly believed that brain differences are caused by ______factors.

A. social B. psychological C. physical D. biological

4."these differences" in paragraph 5 refer to those in ________.

A. school subjects

B. skills of men and women

C. the brain structure of men and women

D. activities carried out by the brain

5.At the end of the passage the author proposes more work on ________.

A. the brain structure as a whole

B. the functioning of part of the brain

C. the distinction between the sexes

D. the effects of the corpus callosum

單詞拼寫

閱讀下面句子，用本學(xué)期所學(xué)詞匯（Book 1 —Book 2 Module 2）的正確形式填空。

1.There is a lot of _________(信息)you need on the Internet, such as music and travels.

2.All of the students of Class 2 show a positive a__________ towards their studies.

3.The handsome teacher is _______(尊敬)by all the students in our class for his rich knowledge and patience.

4.I’m s . Get me something to eat please.

5.The government ought to create more jobs for u people.

6.When you finish typing, remember to save your ______（文件）

7.Iron dose not r______ in the dry air.

8.My mother taught me to ____________（感謝） the kindness of the people who ever helped us.

9. Just as you need the air to b______, you need the opportunity to succeed.

10.Zhou Kai was made _____ （隊(duì)長）of the school football team.

書面表達(dá)

假定你是楊明，作為一名交換生（an exchange student）剛結(jié)束在英國為期一個(gè)月的學(xué)習(xí)。學(xué)習(xí)期間，你和房東Mr．Wilson結(jié)下了深厚的友誼。請按下列要點(diǎn)給Mr．Wilson發(fā)一封郵件：

1．對Mr．Wilson在你生活上的照顧和學(xué)習(xí)上的幫助表示感謝；

2．希望保持聯(lián)系；

3．邀請他來中國游玩。

注意：

1．詞數(shù)：100左右；

2．可以適當(dāng)增加細(xì)節(jié)，以使行文連貫；

3．開頭已經(jīng)寫好，不計(jì)人總詞數(shù)。

Dear Mr．Wilson,

Time flies! I've been back home．

Best wishes．

Yours,

Yang Ming

Today is Sarah’s birthday. She is seventy-five. We asked a few old friends to dinner.

Like most elderly people, I suppose, we spent most of the evening talking about old times. Thirty years ago, the village used to be a quiet place. Now it has changed. Every Sunday hundreds of cars pass through the village at what I think a dangerous speed. They make the village almost as noisy as the streets of a large town. As a boy I enjoyed riding on the backs of the farm horses. Things are different now. Today there are very few horses working on the farms. The farm workers today drive tractors, not horses. A man is not of much use on a farm unless he knows all about machines. Now almost every house in the village has a TV set. Is it a good thing for children to spend the evening sitting in front of a TV set? When I was young I did not waste my time indoors. I would spend the long summer evenings outdoors. I would play with my friends, go fishing or walk by the river. When my grandchildren asked me the reason why I haven’t bought a TV set, I tell them there are many books I still want to read. I can’t find time for both reading and watching TV.

1.The old like to talk about _______.

A. themselves B. others C. the past D. nothing

2.When I was a boy, I _______ riding on farm horses.

A. used to see people

B. disliked

C. was fond of

D. saw some elderly people

3.Which is NOT right according to the passage?

A. In the past the village was a quiet place.

B. It is a good time for children to watch TV all evening.

C. On Sundays many cars pass through the village at a dangerous speed.

D. When I was young I didn’t waste my time indoors.

4.I would rather _______ than _______.

A. watch TV; do some reading

B. play with friends; go fishing

C. do some reading; watch TV

D. go fishing; play with friends

Liverpool city council want to clear the city of fat pigeons. They say that people are feeding the birds, which makes them fat. The pigeons get bigger because their normal diet would consist of seeds and insects, not high-fat junk food they are eating in the city centre.

The council want people to know that everyone who feeds the pigeons is responsible for the streets being so crowded with these birds. They hope to encourage the birds to move away from the city centre and into parks and open spaces.

Ten robotic birds have been brought into the city centre to scare the pigeons away and visitors are asked not to give the pigeons any food. The mechanical birds - known as “robops” - will sit on the roofs of buildings. They can be moved around to different locations. They look like a peregrine falcon, which is a bird that kills pigeons. They even make noises and flap their wings to scare the pigeons. They hope that the pigeons will go away before the city becomes the European Capital of Culture in two years.

1.Pigeons in Liverpool get fat because they eat ________ .

A．birds B．seeds

C．insects D．high-fat junk food

2.What do Liverpool city council try to do?

A．They want the pigeons to move out of the city centre.

B．They want people to feed the pigeons with healthy food.

C．They want people to keep the pigeons at home.

D．They want to keep robotic birds instead of pigeons.

3.The robotic birds are used to _________.

A．make the city colorful

B．drive away the pigeons

C．help feed the pigeons

D．show people directions

4.This passage is most probably a(n) __________.

A．notice B．news report

C．short story D．a(chǎn)dvertisement

閱讀下面材料，在空白處填入適當(dāng)?shù)膬?nèi)容（不多于3個(gè)單詞）或口號內(nèi)單詞的正確形式。

Have you ever heard “Tuhao, let’s be friends?” Are you puzzled, wondering 1. it means? Then you’re possibly out of date.

Nowadays, the Chinese words “tuhao” and “dama” have become so familiar with many Chinese people that they often play jokes 2. each other when chatting about the daily life. For example, if you take out your new 3. (fashion) mobile phone, your naughty friends may call you “tuhao”, laughing loudly and happily.

4. (amaze), the two wildly popular words have become hot words in English too. Recently, the BBC produced a program to introduce “tuhao”, 5. can be considered as “new money (暴發(fā)戶)” in English.

Besides, The Wall Street Journal has also borrowed “dama” from the Chinese pinyin 6. (describe) bargain-hunting middle-aged Chinese women 7. (call) “a force in the global gold market”. 8. (expert) say the Chinese language’s influence on English will continue during 9. entire 21st century, 10. it is expected that “tuhao” will be welcomed by the Oxford University Press to appear in the new word lists.

單詞拼寫

1.The (疲憊不堪的) climbers were rescued by helicopter.

2.The acceptance of new members is (嚴(yán)格) controlled.

3.Because of his special experience, he was chosen to be an (助理) to the president for energy affairs.

4.The symptoms of flu may be unpleasant, but they (消失) within a few days.

5.An exchange of (紀(jì)念品) is popular now.

6.He was wearing a very (嚴(yán)肅的) expression and I knew something was wrong.

7.The book gives a short (描述) of the city.

8.I want to thank everyone who has (鼓勵) and supported me.

9.The story was first written in English and later (翻譯) into Chinese.

10.Christophe Pires was born and brought up in France, but he speaks English (流利地).

書面表達(dá)

假設(shè)你是高中生李華，有感于校園中存在的隨意涂寫（to scribble) 和亂丟垃圾（to litter)的行為，請用英語給校長寫一封100-120個(gè)詞的信。信中應(yīng)包括以下內(nèi)容：

1.說明寫信目的；

2.對這些行為進(jìn)行批評；

3.提出建議。

注意：信的抬頭、落款及信得第一句已給出（不計(jì)詞數(shù)）。

November 4, 2015

Dear Mr. Headmaster,

I am Li Hua, a student from Class 1, Senior I.

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Yours faithfully,

Li Hua