My mom takes pride in the fact that I was talking in three and four word sentences before I was ten months old. Some say it’s a gift while others simply think I talk too much.

As my thirties came to a close, I found myself reflecting on my life. I’m very happy and have no significant regrets. However, when I looked back on those times of difficulty, I saw a clear common denominator(特征); I didn’t seem to know when to stop talking. Whether it was hurting someone’s feelings, or having carelessly told a secret, the incident could have been avoided had I closed my mouth sooner. So I decided to practice the power of quiet.

To take this step, I needed to understand how people could sit comfortably in a group and not talk. Why does my husband feel completely content to say nothing in a conversation? He’s highly intelligent and has wonderful opinions but he’ll sit quietly and just listen. Even when he’s asked a pointed question, he’ll answer with few words while still communicating effectively. What a talent!

Can you imagine being happy just listening? In surveying those I know who talk less than I do, I got two answers—they either didn’t feel confident enough to speak up, or they just didn’t feel the need to participate in the conversation. Of course there were other reasons for not talking, but these were the two most popular answers.

The first one didn’t work for me. I’m just fine letting people know what I think about them, and hopefully it will make the conversation much more interesting. The second one didn’t work either. I do feel the need to participate. I feel it physically like an electrical pulse through my body; sometimes it’s so strong that it causes me to behave badly in the form of interrupting or speaking in an unusually loud voice. I had to look further.

An interesting thing happened on this journey to the power of quiet. During my weekly yoga class, it came to me like an answer so clear that the words rang in my head like soft, heavenly bells.

I talked too much so people would know I cared about them. It was my way of taking care of those I love. I decided before my fortieth birthday, that from that day forward, those around me would know I loved them, and cared what they thought and felt, but I was going to practice the power of quiet.

As my forty-second birthday approaches, I can say that deciding to talk less has been more about focusing on quality rather than quantity. I’ve found that listening more shows those who I care about that I really do care how they feel. Now when I break in, it means more to them. Oh, sure, I still have my short periods of talking too much, but for the most part this has been one resolution that I can call a success.

1.In Paragraph 3 the writer mentions her husband mainly ________.

A. to show how one communicates effectively

B. to explain the reason for his silence in a conversation

C. to give her high opinion of his communication skills

D. to give an example of those who have the power of quiet

2.By “I had to look further”, the writer means she had to ________.

A. look into the future in order to succeed in practicing the power of quiet

B. try harder to prevent herself from talking too much

C. find out other reasons why she should talk less

D. survey people in other areas who talk little

3.Which of the following best describe the writer’s character?

A. Kind but pessimistic.

B. Selfless but proud.

C. Loving and active.

D. Stubborn and sensitive.

A team of engineers at Harvard University has been inspired by Nature to create the first robotic fly. The mechanical fly has become a platform for a series of new high-tech integrated systems. Designed to do what a fly does naturally, the tiny machine is the size of a fat housefly. Its mini wings allow it to stay in the air and perform controlled flight tasks.

“It’s extremely important for us to think about this as a whole system and not just the sum of a bunch of individual components (元件),” said Robert Wood, the Harvard engineering professor who has been working on the robotic fly project for over a decade. A few years ago, his team got the go-ahead to start piecing together the components. “The added difficulty with a project like this is that actually none of those components are off the shelf and so we have to develop them all on our own,” he said.

They engineered a series of systems to start and drive the robotic fly. “The seemingly simple system which just moves the wings has a number of interdependencies on the individual components, each of which individually has to perform well, but then has to be matched well to everything it’s connected to,” said Wood. The flight device was built into a set of power, computation, sensing and control systems. Wood says the success of the project proves that the flying robot with these tiny components can be built and manufactured.

While this first robotic flyer is linked to a small, off-board power source, the goal is eventually to equip it with a built-in power source, so that it might someday perform data-gathering work at rescue sites, in farmers’ fields or on the battlefield. “Basically it should be able to take off, land and fly around,” he said.

Wood says the design offers a new way to study flight mechanics and control at insect-scale. Yet, the power, sensing and computation technologies on board could have much broader applications. “You can start thinking about using them to answer open scientific questions, you know, to study biology in ways that would be difficult with the animals, but using these robots instead,” he said. “So there are a lot of technologies and open interesting scientific questions that are really what drives us on a day to day basis.”

1.The difficulty the team of engineers met with while making the robotic fly was that ________.

A. they had no model in their mind

B. they did not have sufficient time

C. they had no ready-made components

D. they could not assemble the components

2.It can be inferred from paragraphs 3 and 4 that the robotic fly ________.

A. consists of a flight device and a control system

B. can just fly in limited areas at the present time

C. can collect information from many sources

D. has been put into wide application

3.Which of the following can be learned from the passage?

A. The robotic flyer is designed to learn about insects.

B. Animals are not allowed in biological experiments.

C. There used to be few ways to study how insects fly.

D. Wood’s design can replace animals in some experiments.

4.Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A. Father of Robotic Fly

B. Inspiration from Engineering Science

C. Robotic Fly Imitates Real Life Insect

D. Harvard Breaks Through in Insect Study

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

Today we eat on the go, at our desks and even in front of computers. We eat takeout, delivered and packaged meals, __1.__

“Over the past three decades, people have started eating out more than ever before and purchasing more prepared foods at the grocery store, which tend to contain more fat, salt and sugar than their home-made foods,” noted US healthy living website SparkPeople.

____2.__ It encourages us to value the time we spend preparing, sharing and consuming food, as a recent USA Today article put it. It all started in 1986 with the efforts of Slow Food’s founding father, Italian activist Carlo Petrini, who wanted to bring back food varieties and flavors that had gone dark in the face of industrialization. ___3.__ Now, his idea is almost the mainstream.

Starting at the table, the movement promotes an unhurried way of life founded on the idea that everyone has a right to cooking pleasure, and that everyone must also take responsibility to “protect the heritage (遗产) of food, tradition and culture that make this celebration of the senses possible”, wrote The Phnom Penh Post.

“______4._ It means turning down the speed at which we eat and increasing the amount of time we spend dining together with other people,” Althea Zanecosky, spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, told The Huffington Post. “ ___5._____ Dinner table conversations keep families together,” noted the Belgian non-profit organization Greenfudge.

A. It is a way to bring back the social togetherness of yesterday.

B. It seems that we have adapted our foods to our fast-paced lives.

C. So, the Slow Food Movement has occurred against this fast-food trend.

D. Slow Food doesn’t necessarily mean food that takes a long time to cook.

E. It is based on the idea that we should spend as much time as possible on cooking.

F. It’s not only the food itself but also the time we spend dining together that matters.

G. At that time, he asked people to follow a more sustainable (可持续的) living model.

阅读下面的短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

One day, I went to my favorite cafe for lunch. I ________ a burger and went to the outdoor seats. While waiting for my meal, a homeless man on a bicycle stopped to ask if there was a grocery store nearby. After I gave him ________, he asked if I had ________ from Santa Clara University. (I was wearing a SCU T-shirt. )I told him, yes. Little did I know that this ________ response would lead to a 90-minute conversation. The man, Michael, told me he was very intelligent. ________, drug use had ruined both his formal education and his pursuit of ________ in his work. He drifted from one topic to another, ________ the fact that I was ready for my lunch.

He clearly had more of a ________ to talk than I did. I made ever ________ to give him my full attention, never ________ our talk would go on and on...Eventually, I did eat my meal, bite by bite ________ responses in our conversation. Michael was a bit strange. ________ his interests and viewpoints. We had little in ________, but he was fascinated with talking with, as he ________ it, “intelligent people.” I have to admit, I wish our conversation had been ________ to ten or fifteen minutes, but when Michael finally ________ off, he thanked me for listening so ________ to him and for my ________ to talk with him for so long. It was then that I ________ that, just maybe, that was my purpose in life for today …to be there, in that place, at that time, to ________ in that conversation.

1.A. bookedB. orderedC. madeD. selected

2.A. commandsB. contributions

C. introductionsD. directions

3.A. quittedB. 1eftC. graduatedD. 1earned

4.A. simpleB. carelessC. timelyD. significant

5.A. UnfortunatelyB. UnnecessarilyC. ConsequentlyD. Additionally

6.A. powerB. successC. luckD. strength

7.A. admittingB. recognizingC. ignoringD. covering

8.A. benefitB. ambitionC. needD. chance

9.A. useB. differenceC. decisionD. effort

10.A. wonderingB. expectingC. attemptingD. requesting

11.A. betweenB. inC. beyondD. among

12.A. in terms ofB. in favor ofC. in case ofD. in place of

13.A. publicB. vainC. particu1arD. common

14.A. tookB. sawC. putD. got

15.A. appliedB. 1imitedC. comparedD. referred

16.A. droveB. racedC. rodeD. turned

17.A. attentivelyB. clearlyC. honestlyD. casually

18.A. weaknessB. quietnessC. businessD. willingness

19.A. struckB. occurredC. realizedD. complained

20.A. resultB. engageC. 1eadD. compete

阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

That Beijing, together with Zhangjiakou, succeeded in getting the chance to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, speeds up the development of Zhangjiakou City. Word came 1. the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway, 2.(locate) in North China, is currently under construction, and 3. (expect) to be completed by 2020 in preparation for the cities to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. Starting from Beijing North Railway Station, heading west through the Great Wall three times in the capital's territory, the project is a big challenge, 4. designers say the explosions needed to dig the tunnels will not have an impact on the structure. The line has a 5. (long) of 174 km as a double tracked passenger dedicated line, with ten stations situated along its route. Having a 6. (totally) investment of 31.17 billion yuan ($5 billion), the trip between the two cities will only take 40 minutes, with the train 7. (travel) at an average of 250 km/h. According to the plan, the high-speed railway will build two branch lines—one is to Yanqing Station and the other 8. Taizicheng of Chongli, 9. the Olympic village lies. The full railway, which includes 70-kilometer section through Beijing, will be completed in four and 10. half years.

假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文,请你修改同桌写的以下作文,文中共有10处语言错误,每句中最多有两处,错误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(∧),并在此符号下面写出该加的词。 删除:把多余的词用斜线(﹨)划掉。 修改:在错的词下画一横线,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仅限一词;

2.只允许修改10处,多者(从第11处起)不计分。

Boys and girls,

May I have your attention, please?

There will a lecture in our library, at 4:00 on Wednesday afternoon. We are very honour to have invited Professor Tang Wenfang, who has been studied cultural differences in Tsinghua University for many years, in talk about the differences between American and Chinese cultures, that may be quite an interested topic. After a lecture, you are welcome to share your experience in China with everyone else present. Since you have stayed in China for half a year, because you have anything that what puzzles you, it would be great to talk with Mr.Tang. He will be glad to communicate with you. Please be present on time.

That's all. Thank you.

2022年冬奥会部分项目将在张家口举行，为了确保冬奥会圆满成功，张家口某机构提前发起了志愿者招募活动。假如你是该活动的负责人，请用英文写一篇招募通知，欢迎各界人士踊跃报名参加。

报名时间：2016年9月1日至10月 1 日；

地点：张家口市志愿者招募办公室；

联系电话：0313-123456；

其他内容自拟。

注意：1. 字数120字左右 2. 开头，结尾已为您写好

Notice

Attention, please! Everyone:

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Volunteer Recruiting Office

When you use our university libraries there are different learning spaces available so you can decide what is best for your purpose.

Social learning area

We recognize that you can learn from your friends so we have provided social study areas in all our libraries. Here you can discuss your work with your friends without worrying about disturbing others as a reasonable level of noise is accepted, though we do ask that you’re considerate of other students and staff.

Group study rooms

There are bookable (可预订的) group study rooms of various sizes in the libraries. These rooms are well equipped so that you can easily work in groups or practice presentations.

●Bookings are available to groups of 3 or more students

●Bookings can be made in hourly blocks up to a maximum of 2 hours per group per day

●Bookings can be made for the current week and the following week

●Contact the library’s Help Desk to book a room. Bookings are restricted to student use only.

Silent study spaces

We know that on occasion you may prefer to study on your own. To help you achieve this we have individual quiet or silent study areas.

In order to preserve the quiet study environment and to avoid disturbing other students, discussion about your course work or exams, or using mobile phones isn’t permitted anywhere in these areas.

Food, drink and phones

Cold snacks and drinks can be consumed in most areas of the libraries though we ask that you help keep the learning environment clean and pleasant for everyone by clearing rubbish into the bins provided.

Mobile phones can be used in the social learning areas and group study rooms but not in the silent study spaces or the hallways or stairs that lead to those areas. We ask that you switch your phone to silent mode when you come in the library.

1.What is the purpose of social learning area provided in the library?

A. To offer students access to library staff.

B. To help students learn to be considerate.

C. To keep students free from disturbance.

D. To enable students to learn from each other.

2.What can we know about bookings of group study rooms in the library?

A. They can be made by phone.

B. They are available only to students.

C. They can be made several weeks ahead.

D. They are available to groups of any size.

3.What should students pay attention to when using the library?

A. Taking rubbish out when leaving.

B. Avoiding having cold drinks and snakes.

C. Keeping their mobile phones silent all the time.

D. Using mobile phones only in the hallways or stairs.

4.What is the text mainly intended for?

A. Introducing additional regulations of a university library

B. Showing how to make use of a university library.

C. Recommending a university library the author visits.

D. Explaining why a university library is a good place for study.

As we neared the last days of my mom’s life, I wanted to understand what she was feeling and seeing. The day before she took her last breath I decided to ask her.

First I wanted to make sure she could comprehend what I was saying. I told her I loved her, and she raised her eyebrows in acknowledgment. Then I shared a funny story about a conversation my sister and I had. The corners of her mouth turned up in a smile. I could tell that she was taking in every word. And then I went for it.

“Mom, can I ask you a serious question?” She turned her head and opened her eyes fully. I could tell she wanted to grasp every word that came out of my mouth.

“Mom, do you see any of our dead relatives in the room? Do you see your dad?” she shook her head.

“Do you see your mom?” She shook her head again.

“Do you see dad?” Her response was quite different this time. She began nodding her head.

“Is he here in this room right now?” She nodded. “Can he see me?” She nodded again. Then she tried to communicate with words, but she couldn’t get the words out. The next morning she died peacefully...

A few weeks ago, I was wondering why I haven’t had many dreams of my mom since she died. That night I had one of the clearest dreams I’ve had for a long time. Mom was dressed beautifully. She stared at me with a huge smile. Her eyes were bright and full of life. She was happier than I had seen her in years. And she was younger. We didn’t exchange any words, but it was clear that she was happy and free.

I woke up with joy in my heart.

1.Why did the author do the things mentioned in Paragraph2?

A. To review the past happy days with her mother.

B. To make her mother happy during her last days.

C. To check if her mother could understand her.

D. To show that she has a deep love for her mother.

2.What was the author’s mother like on the last day before her death?

A. She had no sense of hearing at all.

B. She couldn’t move except her eyes.

C. She could still speak in an unclear voice.

D. She could communicate with her body language.

3.What did the author dream that night?

A. Her mother talked with her.

B. Her mother was in high spirits.

C. Her mother’s eyes seemed dull.

D. Her mother looked older than ever.

Standing in line for the latest iPhone at the Apple store, queuing for tickets to Wimbledon or even just waiting at the post office might just have got a lot easier. Japanese car-maker Nissan announces that it has just the thing to relieve the painful legs of tired queuers.

The new system of ‘self-driving’ chairs is designed to detect when someone at the front of the queue is called, and automatically move everyone else one step forward in line. The new invention is shown off in a company video, which shows a busy restaurant with patrons waiting outside.

In the video, diners are sitting in a row of chairs, but will not have to stand when the next hungry diner is called to a table. Instead, the chairs, equipped with autonomous technology that detects the seat ahead, move along a path toward the front of the line. When the person at the front of the queue is called, the empty chair at the front can sense it is empty and so moves out of pole position. Cameras on the remaining chairs then sense the movement and follow automatically.

The system, which is similar to the kind used in Nissan's autonomous vehicle technology, will be tested at select restaurants in Japan this year, Nissan said. “It appeals to anyone who has queued for hours outside a crowded restaurant: it eliminates the boredom and physical pain of standing in line,” Nissan added.

Although Tokyo has some 160,000 restaurants, long queues are not uncommon. Chosen restaurants that meet the criteria will be able to show the chairs outside their restaurant next year. Nissan also released a short video showing the chairs being used in an art gallery, moving slowly in front of the various paintings to let viewers appreciate the art without the need to stand up.

1.What can we know about “self-driving” chairs from the text?

A. They are in hot demand like iPhones.

B. They are intended for queuing diners.

C. They are the inventions of a car company.

D. They are completely different from vehicle technology.

2.Which enables the chairs to detect the seat ahead?

A. Pole position.

B. Autonomous technology.

C. Camera equipped on them.

D. Sensors equipped along the path.

3.Which of the following can replace the underlined word “eliminates” in Paragraph 4?

A. rids. B. ignores. C. steals. D. hides.

4.What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?

A. Queuing is a rare scene outside Japanese restaurants.

B. “Self-driving ” chairs are the most useful in art galleries.

C. Japanese people prefer eating in restaurants to at home.

D. “Self-driving” chairs haven’t been in official use in restaurants.