北京市海淀区高三下学期期中练习英语试卷

Mary has her weakness, ___________ that doesn’t mean she is not qualified for her job.

________ Chai Jing said in her video about the smog has caused public concern.

When I was pushed onto the stage, I felt all the eyes in the hall _________ me.

You ________ reach him on his mobile now --- his mobile is still under repair.

The paper ox my grandmother _________ for me is my most valued birthday gift.

—It is said that John’s paper got an A.
—He deserves it. He _________ a lot before he handed it in.
A. prepared        B. prepares
C. had prepared    D. has prepared

______ opinions on the schedule, we finally reached on agreement.

The long lasting cold current has brought ________ winter in my memory to the east coast of the United States.

Mike will become the first person in his family ______ college education.

Prince William took a visit to the Forbidden City on Feb. 28, ______ emperors once lived.

______ she has earned her PhD, she wants to find a job with higher pay.

—Has James arrived at the hotel?
—No, he ______ by fans for photographs at the airport.

______ worries me that my daughter plays with her cellphone for a long time every day.

—What do you think of the Huawei P7?
—Terrific, I would buy one if I ______ an iPhone 6 Plus last year.

Premier Li Keqiang delivered a speech at the conference, _________ university graduates to start their own business.

Different View
At age 14, 15 and 16, the way we looked was the most important thing in the world to us. My friends and I wanted nothing less than perfection.
In high school, we joined the gymnastics team, and our         because even more important to us. We had no fat, only muscle. On the weekends, we would go to the beach,           of our flat stomachs.
One summer day, all my friends were at my house          . At one point, I was running back to the pool. I         on a bee, and while it was dying under my foot, it stung (蛰) me. I instantly started to feel        . That night, I began to run a high fever and my leg and foot were red, hot and swollen. I couldn’t walk. I could barely          .
When my foot started to go numb, everyone became more        . My foot was not getting enough blood. I had to go to the            , and my leg hurt as if it were badly broken. I couldn’t move. All I could do was think about how soft my middle was becoming. That            me more than any concern over my leg.
That would all           when I heard the doctors mention possibly cutting off my foot. It was still not getting the         supply it needed. The doctors would have to speed up their treatment.
Never before did I have such great         for my foot. And walking seemed like a         from the gods. Less and less would I want to hear my friends talk about         and who was wearing what. More and more I expected visits from other kids in the hospital, who were quickly becoming my friends.
One girl came to visit me          . Every time she came, she brought flowers. She was recovering from cancer and felt she should come back and         the other patients.
She still had no hair, and she was swollen from medications she had been taking. I would not have given this girl a second         before. I now loved every inch of her and looked forward to her           .
Finally, I was improving and soon I went home. My leg was still swollen,      I was walking, and I had my foot! When I would go back to the hospital, I often saw my friend. She was still visiting people and        good cheer. I thought if even there was an angel on this earth, it had to be her.

A．grades B．brains C．bodies D．clothes

A．ashamed B．proud C．sure D．tired

A．dancing B．chatting C．jogging D．swimming

A．stepped B．focused C．held D．took

A．upset B．fearful C．sick D．anxious

A．jump B．run C．stand D．rest

A．concerned B．relieved C．surprised D．interested

A．beach B．hospital C．gym D．school

A．blamed B．impressed C．shocked D．troubled

A．change B．bother C．help D．happen

A．nutrition B．blood C．time D．air

A．observation B．devotion C．appreciation D．evaluation

A．gift B．hand C．promise D．treat

A．homework B．appointment C．movies D．gymnastics

A．suddenly B．regularly C．eventually D．recently

A．advise B．encourage C．serve D．instruct

A．choice B．thought C．glance D．chance

A．words B．ideas C．flowers D．visits

A．but B．then C．so D．for

A．enjoying B．gaining C．discovering D．spreading

What’s on Your Pet’s Mind?
In 1977, Irene Pepperberg of Harvard University began studying what was on another creature’s mind by talking to it. Her first experiments began with Alex. Alex was a one-year-old African grey parrot and Irene taught him to produce the sounds of the English language. “I thought if he learned to communicate, I could ask him questions about how he sees the world.”
At the time, most scientists didn’t believe animals had any thoughts. They thought animals were more like robots but didn’t have the ability to think or feel. Of course, if you own a pet you probably disagree. But it is the job of a scientist to prove this and nowadays more scientists accept that animals can think for themselves.
“That’s why I started my studies with Alex,” Irene said, “Some people actually called me crazy for trying this.”
Nowadays, we have more and more evidence that animals have all sorts of mental abilities. Sheep can recognize faces. Chimpanzees (黑猩猩) use a variety of tools and even use weapons to hunt. And Alex the parrot became a very good talker.
Thirty years after the Alex studies began. Irene was still giving him English lessons up until his recent death. For example, if Alex was hungry he could say “want grape”. Alex could count to six and was learning the sounds for seven and eight. “He has to hear the words over and over before he can correctly say them.” Irene said, after pronouncing “seven” for Alex a few times in a row. Alex could also tell the difference between colors, shapes, sizes, and materials (e.g. wood and metal). Before he finally died, Alex managed to say “seven”.
Another famous pet that proved some animals have greater mental skills was a dog called Rico. He appeared on a German TV game show in 2011. Rico knew the names of 200 different toys and easily learned the names of new ones. When Rico became famous, many other dog owners wanted to show how clever their pets were. Another dog called Betsy could understand 300 words.
One theory for dogs’ ability to learn a language is that they have been close companions to humans for many centuries and so their ability to understand us is constantly evolving (进化). While animals can’t do what humans do yet, some scientists believe that examples like Alex and Rico prove that evolution develops intelligence, as well as physical appearance.
Irene wanted to find out __________.

Alex learnt new words by __________.

The two dogs mentioned in the article could _______.

The article concludes that ___________.

Sports are the base of my life, next to my mother who raised me when my dad left us. I have been into sports since I was six years old. I have known many coaches and heard hundreds of their tips, but they usually focused on drills to develop my skills and reach the next level of play.
When I was in Senior Two, I met the new school basketball coach, Brian Pawloski. I thought I was certain to be selected for the school team since I had been in it the year before. I showed up to the tryouts and put out about 90% effort since I thought I’d make it with no problem. That was a big mistake.
Brian Pawloski is the hardest-working coach I have ever met. He didn’t expect 100% effort, he expected 200% effort. One example: he once made us do 40 suicide drills for the 40 lay-ups (投篮) we missed in a game. Some think this is crazy, but it isn’t. After this conditioning practice, as we were getting a cup of cold water to drink, I said, “coach, that was the best practice I ever had.” I was completely sincere. This man was and is the person who influenced me most at my high school. He expects us to be excellent not just on the court but in the classroom. If I am not working on basketball, I am reading a book that he thinks will help us better understand life’s challenges, including Wooden, Coach, and The Screwtape Letters.
In the first two years I slacked off, not putting forth my full potential. Now, unlike the coaches of my youth, this man was interested in how he did off the court. He always made sure I kept up with my studies and was able to be trusted. I can honestly say that on other coach has given me so much advice on how to succeed in basketball, but more importantly, in life. My school is lucky to have such a great person to teach, coach and influence their students. I will always remember my high-school basketball days as one of the hardest times I have ever worked in my life not only in basketball but in my growth as an individual.
Different from other coaches, Coach Brian ________.

The underlined phrase “slacked off” in the last paragraph probably means ________.

In the author’s eye, Coach Brian is ________.

As we grow old, we realize that we have so little time to read and there are so many great books that we’ve yet to get around to. Ye re-readers are everywhere around us. For certain fans, re-reading The Lord of the Rings is a conventional practice annually. One friend told me that Jane Austen’s Emma can still surprise him, despite his having read it over 50 times.
New sudden clear understandings can be gained from the process of re-reading. Journalist Rebacca Mead, a long-time Englishwoman in New York, first came across George Eliot’s Middlemarch at 17. Since then, she has read it again every five years. With each re-reading, it has opened up further; in each chapter of her life, it has resonated (引起共鸣) differently. Mead evidenced the large number of ways in which really good books not only stand the test of repeat reads, but also offer fresh gifts each time we crack their spines. These kinds of books grow with us.
Scientists have also recognized the mental health benefits of re-reading. Research conducted with readers in the US found that on our first reading, we are concerned with the “what” and the “why”. Second time round, we’re able to better appreciate the emotions that the plot continues to express. As researcher Cristel Russell of the American University explained, returning to a book “brings new or renewed appreciation of both the great book and its readers.”
It’s true that we often find former selves on the pages of old books (if we’re fond of making notes on the pages). These texts can carry us back to a time and place, and remind us of the kind of person that we were then. We’re changed not only by lived experience but also by read experience – by the books that we’ve discovered since last reading the one in our hand.
More so than the movie director or the musician, the writer calls upon our imaginations, using words to lead us to picture this declaration of love or that unfaithfulness in life. A book is a joint project between writers and readers, and we must pour so much of ourselves into reading that our own life story can become connected with the story in the book.
Perhaps what’s really strange is that we don’t re-read more often. After all, we watch our favourite films again and we wouldn’t think of listening to an album only once. We treasure messy old paintings as objects, yet of all art forms, literature alone is a largely one-time delight. A book, of course, takes up more time, but as Mead confirms, the rewards make it adequately worthwhile.
The two books are mentioned in Paragraph 1 mainly to __________.

The underlined expression “crack their spines” in Paragraph 2 refers to ________.

It can be learned from the passage that __________.

The purpose of the passage is to __________.

Every day we are exposed to images, videos, music and news. In this age of visual and aural hyper-stimulation, the medium of radio is making a great comeback.
“We’re at the beginning of a golden age of audio,” said US-based podcaster Alex Blumberg in an article in The Sydney Morning Herald. In the last month alone, 15 percent of US adults listened to a radio podcast (播客). These statistics, released by Edison Research, show the successful evolution of traditional radio broadcasts to the present day’s digital podcast format. The term “podcast” was invented in 2004, but the trend only started gaining mainstream popularity in recent years. With the sharp increase in consumer demand for smartphones and tablets, podcast sales have jumped.
The appeal of the podcast partly lies in its multiplatform delivery and on-demand capabilities (功能). You can listen during those extra minutes of the day when you’re walking to the shops, waiting in a queue or riding the subway. Similar to television shows, podcasts are generally free to download and most offer new content every week.
Donna Jackson, 22, Sydney University media graduate, listens to podcasts two or three times a week, via iTurns. “I listen while I’m wandering around the house doing something else. It makes completing a boring task much more enjoyable… And it’s an easy way of keeping in touch with what’s going on in the rest of the world,” she said, “I mainly listen to BBC podcasts, but recently I’ve also been listening to This American Life and Serial. They have a special skill to really draw you in.”
Unlike television and music, the audio format has the potential to create a deep impression on readers. Blumberg says this owes to the podcast’s ability “to create close relationship and emotional connection.” Sydney University undergraduate Hazel Proust, majoring in social work and arts, agrees. “When you’re listening, it feels as if the voice of the podcast’s storyteller is talking directly to you. It’s comforting, ” said Proust.
It seems the age-old tradition of verbal storytelling is very much alive and well.
From the first two paragraphs, we can learn that ________.

The writer mentions Donna Jackson mainly to ________.

Paragraph 5 is mainly about ________.

What is probably the best title of the passage?

House Sitting
In many countries of the world people do what is called house sitting. It means that if owners of the house are going away, they want someone to come into their home and look after the house and maybe pets while they are away.
In Australia, many people travel. After people retire, they might buy a van and travel all over the country.
So if someone wants to travel or go away for some reason, they might want someone in their home to care for it and keep the gardens tidy. House sitters might have to care for pets. Also, quite a few people have swimming pools in their back yard and they need cleaning. I feel it is a great way of seeing the country, because you go and stay in a new city, get to meet new people, and have time to go sightseeing in a new area.
There are websites where you find the advertisements by people who want to travel, and by replying to the advertisement, you can make arrangements to go and look after their home.
There are some requirements to be a house sitter. You must be a trusted person, so that the home owner knows you will not steal anything. You must be able to go when the house owner wants you to go, so you need lots of free time.You need to be good with pets, able to care for cats and dogs, or other pets they may have.
Some house sitting jobs are just for a few days or a couple of weeks while the house owner have a short holiday. Sometimes it is for much longer. We have had one house sit for six months, while the home owner travelled to Europe.
Then you can travel to many different countries and stay there. One of the important things to get are references from the home owners where you have stayed. A reference is a written letter to say that you are trustworthy and have looked after their home well. You can show these letters to prospective house sitting jobs and they know you will do a good job.

E. You must take a little care over what your description says about you.
F. This is an international house sitting service for all city and country areas.
G. You must have a good car, so you can travel to different parts of the country.

假设你是校图书馆馆长的学生助理李华，图书馆要进行网络系统升级，请在阅览室向在场的留学生口头通知相关事宜，并请他们转告其他留学生。
1．时间：2015年5月1日至5月10日。
2．在此期间，关闭阅览室、暂停电子阅览。
3．仅周二和周五可以借、还图书。

假设你是红星中学高二（1）班的学生李华，请根据以下四幅图的先后顺序，为校刊“英语园地”写一篇短文，记述寒假期间你在中国国家博物馆做志愿讲解员的经历。
注意：1．词数不少于60。
2．短文的开头已给出，不计入总词数。

During this winter vacation, I worked as a volunteer guide in the National Museum of China.