Thirteen, for me, was a challenging year. My parents divorced and I moved to a new town with my father, far from my old family and friends. I was terribly lonely mad and would cry myself to sleep each night. To ease my sadness, my father purchased an old horse for me at a local auction. I named him Cowboy.?

Cowboy was without a doubt the ugliest horse in the world. But I didn’t care. I loved him beyond all reason.?

I joined a riding club and suffered rude comments and mean snickers(窃笑) about Cowboy’s looks. I never let on about how I felt, but deep inside, my heart was breaking. The other members rode beautiful, registered horses.?

When Cowboy and I entered the events where the horse was judged on appearance, we were quickly shown the gate. No amount of preparation and love would turn Cowboy into a beauty. My only chance to compete would be in the speed events. I chose the jumping race.?

One girl named Becky rode a big brown horse in the race events. She always won the blue ribbons. Needless to say, she didn’t feel threatened when I competed against her at the next show. She didn’t need to. I came in next to last.?

The stinging memory of Becky’s smirks made me determined to beat her. For the whole next month I woke up early every day and rode Cowboy five miles to the arena (赛马场). We practiced running and jumping for hours in the hot sun and then I would walk Cowboy home totally exhausted.?

All of our hard work didn’t make me feel confident by the time the show came. I sat at the gate and sweated it out while I watched Becky and her horse charge through the course and finish in first place.?

My turn finally came. I put on my hat, rubbed Cowboy’s neck and entered the arena. At the signal, we dashed toward the first fence, jumped it without trouble and raced on to the next one. Cowboy then flew over the second, third and fourth fences like a bird and I turned him toward the finish line.?

As we crossed the line the crowd was shocked into silence. Cowboy and I had beaten Becky and her fancy horse by two seconds!?

I gained much more than a blue ribbon that day. At thirteen, I realized that no matter what the odds, I’d always come out a winner if I wanted something badly enough to work for it.?

The underlined expression "shown the gate" (paragraph 4) most probably means "     __________".?

A. told how to enter the arena?

B. shown how to make the horse beautiful?

C. removed from the competition early?

D. told to enter the timed-speed events?

Why was the writer not confident of victory??

A. He was an inexperienced rider.?    

B. He had not practiced enough.?

C. He believed he was unpopular with the crowd.?

D. He thought his horse wasn’t as good as the others. ?

When the final race finished, nobody cheered because____________.?

A. the audience didn’t like Cowboy?    B. people envied the writer?

C. the win was unexpected?           D. the writer had run out of time

What did the writer learn from his experience??

A. Life can sometimes be unfair.?

B. Anything is possible if one tries hard enough.?

C. A positive attitude will bring success.?

D. One should not make judgments based on appearance.

The best title for the story is ___________.         .?

A. A Race to Remember              B.A Horse’s Tale?

C. Neck and Neck                    D.A Difficult Age ?

Batteries can power anything from small sensors to large systems. While scientists are finding ways to make them smaller but even more powerful, problems can arise when these batteries are much larger and heavier than the devices themselves. University of Missouri(MU) researchers are developing a nuclear energy source that is smaller, lighter and more efficient.

“To provide enough power, we need certain methods with high energy density(密度)”,said Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU. “The radioisotope(放射性同位素) battery can provide power density that is much higher than chemical batteries.”

Kwon and his research team have been working on building a small nuclear battery, presently the size and thickness of a penny, intended to power various micro / nanoelectromechanical systems (M/NEMS). Although nuclear batteries can cause concerns, Kwon said they are safe.

“People hear the word ‘nuclear’ and think of something very dangerous,” he said, “However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pace-makers, space satellites and underwater systems.”

His new idea is not only in the battery’s size, but also in its semiconductor(半导体). Kwon’s battery uses a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor.

“The key part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure(晶体结构) of the solid semiconductor,” Kwon said, “By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem.”

Together with J. David Robertson, chemistry professor and associate director of the MU Research Reactor, Kwon is working to build and test the battery. In the future, they hope to increase the battery’s power, shrink its size and try with various other materials. Kwon said that battery could be thinner than the thickness of human hair.

Which of the following is true of Jae Kwon?

A. He teaches chemistry at MU.

B. He developed a chemical battery.

C. He is working on a nuclear energy source.

D. He made a breakthrough in computer engineering.

Jae Kwon gave examples in Paragraph 4_________.

A. to show chemical batteries are widely applied.

B. to introduce nuclear batteries can be safely used.

C. to describe a nuclear-powered system.

D. to introduce various energy sources.

Liquid semiconductor is used to _________.

A. get rid of the radioactive waste

B. test the power of nuclear batteries.

C. decrease the size of nuclear batteries

D. reduce the damage to lattice structure.

According to Jae Kwon, his nuclear battery _______.

A. uses a solid semiconductor

B. will soon replace the present ones.

C. could be extremely thin

D. has passed the final test.

The text is most probably a ________.

A. science news report  B. book review

C. newspaper ad    D. science fiction story

PART FOUR   WRITING (45%)

请根据下列四幅图画用英语写篇故事,并简要谈谈你的看法。

注意:

1.故事须包括所有图画的内容,可以适当增加细节,使故事连贯;

2.图中学生为Tom;开头已给出,不计入总词数;

3.词数,不少于120。

参考词汇:写生draw from nature 画板drawing board 斧 axe

Tom is a primary school student and he enjoys drawing every much.                 

                                                                             

                                                                              

                                                                             

                                                                             

                                                                              

                                                                             

                                                                             

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