by Helena Fox

If you’re looking for a moving story that explores themes of mental illness，grief, and love, pick up a copy of How It Feels to Float and follow Biz as she comes of age. This moving novel will stay with you long after you finish reading it.

Two Can Keep a Secret

by Karen M. McManus

Put on your crime-solving cap and get swept away in this thriller about a girl, a boy, and a string of unsolved murders. As threats and hints pile up, you’ll be burning the midnight oil trying to finish the book before dawn.

Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

by Julie C. Dao

The first book in the Rise of the Empress series takes the bones of a traditional fairy tale—a poor girl fated for power, an evil queen determined to stop her, love for someone who doesn’t love back . and magic— and gives them a richly imagined East Asian setting.

Dune

by Frank Herbert

If the Star Wars movies have made you fall in love with the space opera, eventually you’re going to read, Dune Trilogy (沙丘三部曲), Frank Herbert’s most famous creation. The story of centuries-old political plotting—about warring factions battling over control of the extremely valuable planet Arrakis—is a classic and remains a wonderful introduction to the larger, more complex world of science fiction, the Dune Trilogy, just beyond the Star Wars trilogy.

【1】What is How It Feels to Float mainly about?

A.A girl’s space adventures.

B.Challenges of growing up.

C.The murder of a teenage girl.

D.An old women’s happy life.

【2】What kind of book is Two Can Keep a Secret ?

A.A fairy tale.

B.A love story.

C.A mystery story.

D.A science-fiction story.

【3】What do Forest of a Thousand Lanterns and Dune have in common?

A.Both are one of a book series.

B.Both have an authentic setting.

C.Both have been adapted to movies.

D.Both involve seeking magic power.

The spot of red was what first caught Randy Heiss’s attention on December 16, 2018. He was hiking the remote land behind his farm in a small town near the U.S.-Mexico border, and there lying on the grass was a balloon. He walked toward it with his dog, thinking he should pick it up and throw it away.

That’s when he noticed the balloon’s string was attached to a piece of paper. “Dayami,” it read on one side, in a child’s writing. Heiss flipped the paper over. On the back he saw a numbered list, all in Spanish. His Spanish wasn’t very good, but he could see it was a Christmas list!

Heiss was charmed. He suspected that a child had tried to send Santa Claus a Christmas wish list by balloon, something he used to do himself when he was a kid. Nobody had ever returned the letters Heiss had sent, but he wondered whether he could find the girl who had sent this one.

It would be difficult, but Heiss had a few clues. About 20 miles to the southwest, just across the border, was the city of Nogales, Mexico, with a population of about a quarter million. Based on the wind direction, he was almost sure that was where it came from. Heiss brought the note home to his wife, who is fluent in Spanish and helped him translate the list. They determined that Dayami, probably a girl, had asked for a doll, a dollhouse, doll clothes and art supplies.

Heiss then posted his search about finding Dayami on Facebook, attaching photos, hoping some of his friends in Nogales might know the girl’s family. A few days passed with no results; Heiss worried that time was running out before Christmas. On December 19, 2018, he decided to send a private Facebook message to Radio Xeny, an AM radio station based in Nogales. To his surprise, someone from the station called him back right away and promised him to post his search on the station’s Facebook page immediately.

Paragraph 1:

The next morning, Heiss awoke to a message from Radio Xeny.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph 2:

Dayami’s eyes were wide open with wonder.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

【1】What are the speakers discussing?

A.Where to travel.

B.What kind of transport to take.

C.How to solve the traffic problems.

【2】Why does the man suggest taking the streetcar?

A.It is cheap.B.It is less crowded.C.It won’t be stuck in a traffic jam.

【3】How will the speakers go to the harbor?

A.By underground.B.By bike.C.By bus.

Weeks later, I stood in front of the classroom and proudly read my homework. But things started to get strange. I looked around the room, only to find my classmates with big smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes and my stone-faced teacher. I was completely lost. “What could be causing everyone to act this way?”

Oh well, I dropped the paper and sat down at my desk, burning to find out what I had done wrong. As a classmate began his report, it all became clear, “My report is on George Washington, the man who started the American War of Independence.” The whole world became quiet! How could I know that my teacher meant that George Washington?

Of course, my subject result was awful. Sad but fearless, I decided to turn this around. I talked to the headmaster Miss Lancelot, but she said firmly: No re-dos; no new score. I felt that it was not fair, and I believed I deserved a second chance. So I threw myself heartily into my work for the rest of the school year. Ten months later, I sat in the headmaster’s office again, but this time a completely different conversation. I smiled and flashed back to the terrible moment at the beginning of the year as the headmaster told me I was good enough to skip (跳過(guò)) the 6th grade and started the 7th grade next term.

【1】People in the class acted strangely because ________.

A.I was too proud of my homework

B.I mistook what the homework was about

C.the whole world suddenly became quiet

D.the teacher’s face turned to a stone

【2】We can infer from the passage that ________.

A.the headmaster didn’t like the writer at all

B.the writer’s classmates felt sad at his mistake

C.the writer knew little about American history

D.the writer’s grandpa was a very wise man

【3】Which of the following proverbs can best describe the main idea of this story?

A.Seeing is believing.

B.Where there is a will, there is a way.

C.One is never too old to learn.

D.A friend in need is a friend indeed.

1、歷史悠久；

2、中醫(yī)優(yōu)勢(shì)（療效好、副作用少、價(jià)格低）。

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。

參考詞匯：疫情：epidemic 中醫(yī)；traditional Chinese medicine 副作用：side effect

Dear Mike,

I’m very glad to learn that you are extremely interested in traditional Chinese medicine.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

“We have created a new plastic that has the mechanical properties required by commercial fishing gear. If it eventually gets lost in the water environment, this material can degrade on a realistic time scale,” said lead researcher Bryce Lipinski, professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell University. “This material could effectively reduce persistent plastic accumulation in the environment.”

Commercial fishing contributes to about half of all floating plastic waste that ends up in the oceans. Fishing nets and ropes are primarily made from three kinds of polymers, none of which easily degrade. “While research of degradable plastics has received much attention in recent years,” Lipinski said, “obtaining a material with a mechanical strength comparable to commercial plastic remains a difficult challenge.”

Coates and his research team have spent the past 15 years developing the new plastic called isotactic polypropylene oxide, or iPPO. While its original discovery was in 1949, the mechanical strength of this material was unknown before this recent work. The high isotacticity and polymer chain length of their material makes it different from previous plastics and provides its mechanical strength.

Lipinski and other scientists want no race of the polymer to be left in the environment. He notes there is precedent (先例) for the biodegradation of small chains of iPPO which could effectively make it disappear and ongoing efforts aim to prove this.

【1】What is the feature about the new polymer?

A.It can solve the problem of plastic consumption.

B.It can degrade plastic waste in the sea water.

C.It has been developed to solve plastic pollution.

D.It has been developed to lower fishing costs.

【2】What can we infer from paragraph 3?

A.It requires great effort to invent the new plastic.

B.Fishing should be forbidden in the sea.

C.Fishing nets and ropes are not the major pollution source.

D.Degradable plastics were not paid attention to until recent years.

【3】What did the recent study find about iPPO?

A.Its original discovery.B.Its mechanical properties.

C.Its complex structure.D.Its mechanical strength.

【4】What is Lipinski’s attitude towards the future of iPPO?

A.Doubtful.B.Promising.

C.Unconcerned.D.Disapproval.

For many in China, delivery drivers like Mr. Zhang are the only connection to the outside world. Once a common but invisible presence on the streets of nearly every Chinese city, the drivers are now being honored as heroes. What exhausting and dangerous work! Mr. Zhang, who works for Hema, a supermarket chain owned by the tech giant Alibaba, crisscrosses (穿梭) the city armed only with the face masks and hand sanitizer that his company supplies each morning.

The epidemic has brought some unexpected bright spots. Before, Mr. Zhang said, he sometimes ran red lights during rush hour in order to meet his delivery goals for the day. Now, the streets are empty. He has no problem getting around. People are nicer, too. Some customers barely opened the door or avoided eye contact. After the outbreak erupted, everyone said thank you.

【1】Why Zhang Sai couldn’t send food to customers’ doors?

A.To keep away from the deadly disease.

B.To reduce the chance of being transmitted.

C.To avoid communicating with others.

D.To give himself a day off.

【2】What does the underlined word “relented” in paragraph 1 refer to?

A.promisedB.denied

C.admittedD.refused

【3】What advantages did the epidemic bring accidently?

A.Economic prosperity and long culture.

B.Busy business and peaceful people.

C.Splendid surroundings and energetic persons.

D.Empty streets and friendly people.

【4】What can be the best title for the text?

A.The biography of Zhang Sai’s.

B.How did Zhang Sai send food?

C.The driver Zhang Sai during the epidemic.

D.How was Zhang Sai infected?

增加：在缺詞處加一個(gè)漏字符號(hào)，并在其下面寫(xiě)出該加的詞。

刪除：把多余的詞用斜線(xiàn)劃掉。

修改：在錯(cuò)的詞下劃一橫線(xiàn)，并在該詞下面寫(xiě)出修改后的詞。

注意：1. 每處錯(cuò)誤及其修改均僅限一詞；

2. 只允許修改10處，多者（從第11處起）不計(jì)分。

There was a small boy who found a bright copper penny where walking down the street one day. He was so exciting that he found money and it didn’t cost him anything. This experience lead him to spend the rest of his days walking with his head down, eyes wide open, looking for treasure. During his lifetime he lucky found much money for the total of $13.96.

He got money for nothing. Except for that he missed the breathless beauty of 31,369 sunsets, the colorful beauty of 157 rainbow and the fiery beauty of hundreds of maples. Birds flying, sun shining, and the smiles of a thousand passed people are not a part of her memory.

Do you know who is living like this? He always bends his head down and fears of things that never happen, hoping find that copper penny…for nothing.

With numerous rides, a variety of wildlife from both land and sea and shows filled with action-packed excitement, no wonder it's a hit with visitors from all over the world. Whether riding on the world's biggest steel roller coaster, Dragon Mountain, or enjoying a show filled with fun-loving dolphins and intelligent whales, you’re sure to have the time of your life at MarineLand. Having been in business for more than 50 years, this park has something for every member of the family!

Highlights＆Attractions:

The King Waldorf Stadium Show：This entertaining, educational and heart-warming show features dolphins, white whales, sea lions, and walruses and is sure to leave you in awe as well as help you understand and appreciate these wonderful marine mammals(海洋哺乳動(dòng)物).

Arctic Cove: It featuring one of the largest white whale collections in the world, visitors are able to purchase a pass to Arctic Cove where they can touch and feed the whales as well as view them underwater.

Friendship Cove: Breathtaking underwater viewing allows you to enter the magic world of the killer whale below the water surface or on a surface level walkway.

Hotels：

Villager Lodge: It is located in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Diplomat Inn: Within half a mile of the Skylon Tower, it is the choice for an inexpensive location.

Marriott Niagara Falls Fallsview Hotel&Spa: It is close to popular attractions and the Scotiabank Convention Center.

Days Inn Lundy's Lane: It is located just two miles from the gorgeous Niagara Falls and the Skylon Tower Observation Deck.

Hours of Operation:10:00 am-5:00 pm(Sept. 11th—Oct. 13th)

Phone:417—823—0981

【1】What can be learned about MarineLand Theme Park?

A.It is only suitable for kids.

B.It was opened fifty years ago.

C.It has both land and marine animals.

D.It has the world's biggest roller coaster.

【2】What is special about Arctic Cove?

A.It has the largest white whale collection in the world.

B.It allows visitors to enter the magic world of the killer whale.

C.It features an entertaining show starring various marine mammals.

D.It provides visitors with a chance to interact with white whales personally.

【3】Which hotel suits you best if you have a tight budget?

A.Diplomat Inn.

B.Villager Lodge.

C.Days Inn Lundy's Lane.

D.Marriott Niagara Fails Fallsview Hotel&Spa.

【1】Why does the woman recommend Easyspeak Electronics?

A.It is near the man’s house.

B.It offers a sale until the weekend.

C.It provides good technical assistance.

【2】What does the woman suggest the man do?

A.Take his old phone to the shop.

B.Write down his phone number.

C.Check the functions of new phones.