Death valley (死亡谷) is famous for its moving rocks. Since the early 1900s, visitors to Racetrack Playa, a dry lake bed in California have wondered how the rocks can move on their own.

These rocks leave long tracks (轨迹) behind them. The long tracks show that the rocks have moved along the ground. Those rocks only move at night and only move once every year or two. And they don’t move at the same time or in the same direction. But how do they move? How can a 350-kilogram rock move? Now scientists have known the key to the question!

Here’s how it happens.

Death Valley is one of the hottest places in the world, but it is cold at night. When it rains, the hard ground becomes soft and wet. When it gets cold enough, the water on the ground will change into very thin ice. Then the strong wind can move flat (平的) rocks along the flat ground In the morning, the sun comes up and dries the ground.

Moving rocks can be found at other places in the world as well, but Death Valley is the most famous.

1.What interests the visitors most in Death Valley?

A.The mountains around Death valley. B.The scenery of Death Valley.

C.The reason why the lake is dry. D.The secret of the moving rocks.

2.What shows the rocks can move?

A.The dry lake bed. B.The long tracks behind them.

C.The weight of the rocks. D.The shapes of the rocks.

3.How is the weather in Death Valley?

A.Hot in the day and wet at night. B.Cool in the day and dry at night.

C.Hot in the day and cold at night. D.Cold in the day and windy at night.

4.What can carry the rocks over the lake bed?

A.The wind. B.The heat. C.The rain. D.The visitors.

5.What’s the best title for this passage?

A.Dry Lake Bed B.Soft and Wet Ground

C.Tracks of Rocks D.Moving Rocks in Death Valley

An elderly carpenter (木匠) was ready to retire (退休). He told his boss that he planned to leave the building business and live a more relaxing life with his wife, enjoying his big family. He would miss the pay check each week, but he needed to retire. He believed they could get by (勉强过活) even on a small amount of money.

The boss was sorry to see his good worker leave and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but soon afterwards he was found to be absent-minded. He used shoddy materials to build the house. How disappointing it was to end his career in this way!

When the carpenter finished all his work, the boss came to inspect (检查) the new house as usual. But after that, he handed the front-door key to the carpenter, saying. “This is your house, my gift to you.”

What a shock! What a shame! If he had known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the worst house he had ever built in his life.

Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or put up a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you ever build. Even if you live it for only one more day, that day deserves (值得) to be lived comfortably.

Life is a do-it-yourself project. Your life today is the result of your attitudes (态度) and choices in the past. Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the choices you make today.

1.According to the article, the carpenter _________.

A.was too old to build a fine house B.had a large family to raise

C.was not in need of money D.was not welcome

2.What does the underlined word “shoddy” in the second paragraph probably mean?

A.Beautiful. B.Best. C.Bad. D.Good.

3.The carpenter was ________ when he learned that the house he had built was for himself.

A.excited B.delighted C.worried D.surprised

4.What is the main idea of the fifth paragraph?

A.We should try our best to do things well. B.We should build a good house to live in.

C.We always like doing something. D.We enjoy building the house.

5.What does the writer mainly want to tell us in the text?

A.We should build a house wisely.

B.Building a house is like building a life.

C.We should pursue (追求) a comfortable life.

D.We should have the right attitude towards life.

根据对话内容，从方框内选择恰当的句子将对话补充完整。（选项中有两项是多余的）

A. Glad to help you.

B. What else can we enjoy?

C. Is it worth (值得) traveling there?

D. Have you decided where to go?

E. Then it must have something special.

F. I don’t think it fun to travel in big cities.

G. Do you have any plan for the summer holiday?

A: Hi, Alice. 1.

B: Yeah, I’d like to do some traveling.

A: 2.

B: Not yet.

A: Do you want to travel in big cities?

B: 3.

A: How about Huangshan Mountain?

B: 4.

A: Sure! In China, It’s considered to be the king of all the mountains.

B: 5.

A: Right. You can see special pines (松树), rocks and clouds. You can enjoy hot springs (温泉) as well.

B: Great! Thank you.

完成句子

根据所给中文意思完成句子，每空限填一词。

1.我想你不用亲自去了。

I don't think you have to go _________ _________.

2.我要鼓励他多加入到我们中来。

I’ll encourage him to _________ _________ more.

3.妈妈花了一个小时整理好房间。

Mom spent an hour _________ _________ the room.

4.他不想过度依赖父母。

He doesn’t want to _________ too much _________ his parents.

5.Lily不再占用你的时间了。

Lily won’t _________ _________ any more of your time.

阅读下面短文，根据短文内容完成句子。

Most of us use alarm clocks to wake up at the right time for school or work. We look at our watches to know the right time for the bus or train. However, there is also a right time to eat, sleep, exercise, and take medicine. We can’t look at a clock for the right time for these activities. We must listen to the clock inside our bodies: the biological (生物的) clock.

Barbara Wells exercised every morning. She woke up at 6:00 a.m. She ran about two miles before she went to work. But Barbara’s legs and back started to hurt. She did some exercise before she ran. But her legs and back still hurt. She ran slower, but the pain didn’t stop. Barbara talked to her doctor. The doctor said, “Don’t run in the morning. Try to exercise later in the day. That is the time when your body is at the right temperature for exercise after work.” Her legs and back didn’t hurt anymore.

Today, doctors are learning more about chronobiology (生物钟学), the study of biological clocks. They are learning about the importance of time for our bodies. For example, it is best for people to go to sleep on time every night and to eat only when they’re hungry. Also, doctors discovered that some illnesses, such as heart attacks, occur (发生) most often in the morning. This information tells them that the best time to take heart medication (药物) may be at night. When patients take heart medication at night, they may prevent a heart attack in the morning.

Many doctors believe chronobiology (生物钟) can help us live healthier lives. It may be the right time to listen to these doctors!

1.We all have _________ clocks inside our bodies.

2.Barbara Wells ran _________ every morning before she went to work.

3.Barbara Wells’ legs and back got well by _________.

4.What is the right time for the person who has a heart attack to take heart medication?

5.Many doctors believe _________.

根据短文内容及首字母提示，填写所缺单词，使短文意思完整。每空限填一词。

Transformers(变形金刚)can change from big robots into super-fast cars. Now, scientists at Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have made these robots for real. They are not made of metal b1. paper.

Some parts of these robots are made of toy-shop materials. They c2. about 100 dollars. After being put in small batteries (电池), the paper robots will start to walk s3.. They transform from paper i4. four-legged robots in just four minutes.

The robots are about 15 cm long, 15 cm w5. and 5 cm tall. You can see that each of them is nearly as big as a book. Each of the robots w6. less than 85 grams (克). They move 5 cm per second. These s7. robots can help people a lot. They can explore (探索) outer space and other dangerous places. They can also get into very small places to help save people.

Scientists think that these robots may s8. a robotic revolution (革命) in the future. They believe that one day when someone wants a robot to walk his dog or play chess with him, he could go to a store with special equipment (设备) to m9. it.

Of course, these robots are not transformers from the movie. Once they have the battery and begin to assemble (组装) t10., they are fixed. This means that they can’t change back into paper or change into other shapes.

书面表达

今年春节晚会上，很多人加入了抢红包游戏活动，但也有人表示担忧。假如你叫李华，你班最近开展了一个有关抢红包游戏活动的调查。请你根据以下提示，用英文给学校校刊《英语园地》写一封信，介绍此次调查的结果并谈谈你的观点。

（1）75%的学生认为有乐趣，能交朋友；

（2）25%的学生认为不能和家人交流，而且长时间看屏幕对眼睛有害；

（3）你认为……

参考词汇：抢红包grabbing red packets

要求：

（1）表达清楚，语法正确，上下文连贯；

（2）短文需包括所有的信息，并适当发挥；

（3）词数：80词左右（短文的开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数）；

（4）不得使用真实姓名、校名和地名等。

Dear Editor,

I am writing to tell you about the survey on the activity of “Grabbing red packets” in our class. About 75% of them think it is a popular form of entertainment...

Yours sincerely,

Li Hua

My brother will come back ________ January or February.

A.on B.in C.at D.of

He became famous around the world ________.

A.in the 1990 B.the 1990s C.in 1990s D.in the 1990s

I'd like to see Shakespeare's play ________ English.

A.with B.at C.in D.of