广西南宁市武鸣区2023-2024学年高三上学期开学考试（8月月考）英语试题

A professional Program

Learn Floral Design in Madrid in 2023, one of the most beautiful European cities.

Designing with flowers has become a growing profession in recent years thanks to platforms such as Instagram, innovation in varieties, and the interest of a generation of artists who use flowers as their means of expression. Generating income and creating a flower-related business is no longer unique to families, but a profession taught in schools.

Madrid Flower School opened in the Spanish capital in order to offer a space where students are attracted by a lot of flowers and leaves, techniques and colors, styles, and fashions, where trial and error is allowed and where we open history books and browse art galleries as much as we go through fashion magazines or shoot through the camera. The charm that flowers show demands physical, emotional, and intellectual devotion. The result is happiness. And we teach you how to experience and deliver it.

Contact us at hola@ madridflowerschool.com to find out about upcoming events and to reserve your place.

Cell phone +34 682 277 696

Investment

£5,400 4weeks 

£ 500 enrollment(注册) fee includes flowers, materials, and tools +80 hours of in-person classes.

To qualify for the MFS Flora Designer Certificate, 85% attendance is required.

In-person Courses

Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to1:30 p.m.

Payment Methods

By credit card on the website.

Payment by bank transfer to Madrid Flower School S.L.

Send a copy of the deposit to hola@ Madrid flowerschool.com indicating the date and course paid. 

Closing Date For Registration

14 days before the start of the course.

In my mind, the effect that experience had on me lasted forever. I was determined to learn swimming at the age of ten. There was a pool, at the K.P.L.B., offering the opportunity. My mother constantly warned against it, and bore fresh in my mind the details of each drowning in the river. But the K. P.L.B. pool was safe. 

My fear of water started from childhood. It began when I was four years old and father took me to the beach. There the huge waves knocked me down and swept over me. 

The K.P.L.B. pool was quiet. I was afraid of going in all alone, so I sat on the side of the pool to wait for others. Then came a big boy. He yelled, "Hi, Skinny! How'd you like to be ducked?" With that he picked me up and threw me into the deep end. I landed in a sitting position, and swallowed water. But I was not frightened out of my wits — when my feet hit the bottom, I would make a big jump, come out of the surface. It seemed a long way down. I gathered all my strength when I landed and made what I thought was a great spring upwards. Then I opened my eyes and saw nothing but water. I tried to yell but no sound came out. I went down, down, endlessly.

When I came to consciousness, I found myself on the bed in the hospital. 

I never went back to the pool. I avoided water whenever I could. This misadventure stayed with me as the years rolled by. It deprived me of the joy of boating and swimming. Finally, I decided to get an instructor. Piece by piece, I practiced hard and finally he built a swimmer. Several months later, the instruction was finished, but I was not. Sometimes the terror would return. 

This went on till July. I swam across the Lake Wentworth. Only once did the terror return. When I was in the middle of the lake, I put my face under and saw nothing but bottomless water. I laughed and said, "Well, Mr. Terror, what do you think you can do to me?"

I had conquered my fear of water.

Around the world, rivers seem to be flooding or shrinking. While Pasistan's rivers have left one-third of that country flooded and millions of people without homes, a drought unseen for 500 years has left Europe's major waterways almost dry. In the United States, the Kentucky River suffered deadly flooding this summer, while the Colorado River dropped sharply, which brought about water distribution cuts across several states.

There is little disagreement about what's going on. Scientists have warned for years that our changing climate will cause the frequency of both rainfall and droughts to increase, making the wet wetter and the dry drier, with more extreme impacts on rivers. The question now may be how to manage those waterways affected by climate change and, specifically, what role dams should or should not play in relieving the disasters we've been seeing lately and will see more of.

Advocates say water storage dams will become more significant which can stop water during flooding and allow it out in times of droughts. Dams, they say, can help relieve climate change by producing clean hydropower. "Dams and hydropower are fundamental to climate relief and adaptation," says Richard Taylor, a leading hydropower expert.

Not so. People holding opposite opinions claim that dams do more harm than good. Their arguments have long centered on the negative impact most dams have on biodiversity and river ecosystems, and increasing data show that dams actually worsen both floods and droughts. They also point out studies have shown that lakes created by dams often produce far more harmful greenhouse gases than people previously understood.

"Dams are thought to be a climate solution," says Isabella Winkler, who co-leads International Rivers, a U.S.-based advocacy group. "They have been praised as a source of green energy but they are actually not." Besides, scientists warn that many existing dams use operating rules based on old climate assumptions. New dams, experts agree, must be built for the worst cases.

A new method of lie detection shows that lie tellers who are made to multi-task while being interviewed are easier to spot. The extra brain power needed to concentrate on a secondary task other than lying was particularly challenging.

Professor Aldert Vriji from the University of Portsmouth designed an experiment to identify lie tellers. The 164 participants in the experiment were first asked to give their levels of support or opposition about various societal topics that were in the news. They were then given a truth or lie condition by chance and interviewed about the three topics that they felt most strongly about. Truth tellers were instructed to report their true opinions while lie tellers were instructed to lie about their opinions during the interviews.

For the secondary task, participants were given a seven-digit(数字) car number and instructed to recall it back to the interviewer. Half of them received additional instructions that if they could not remember the car number during the interview, they may be asked to write down their opinions after the interview.

Participants were given the opportunity to prepare themselves for the interview and were told it was important to come across as convincing as possible during the interviews — which was incentivized by being entered into a prize draw.

The results showed that lie tellers' stories sounded less reasonable and less clear than truth tellers' stories, particularly when lie tellers were given the secondary task and told that it was important.

"The pattern of result suggests that the introduction of secondary tasks in an interview could help lie detection but such tasks need to be introduced carefully. It seems that a secondary task will only be effective if lie tellers do not neglect it. This can be achieved by either telling interviewees that the secondary task is important, or by introducing one that cannot be neglected,'' said Professor Vriji.

Table manners are the ultimate way to show respect or some accidental disrespect to your host. 

In France, you are supposed to use two hands to eat—either fork and knife or fork and bread. Bread isn't meant to be an appetizer. When you eat the bread, tear off a piece of it to eat instead of biting directly into the bread. When not in use, the bread belongs on the table or tablecloth instead of the plate.

Finishing everything on your plate is a no-no in many Asian countries. leaving a small amount on your plate symbolizes that you've had your fill and acknowledges your host's generosity.

So, tipping, in their culture, is rude. Even if they don't assume you're being rude, they can also be very confused by the extra money, thinking you have overpaid. Whether it's a taxi driver, a server, or a bellhop, don't tip them. It's not good manners.

Among the local people of China and the Inuit people of Canada, a light burp (打嗝)at the end of a meal is considered a compliment(补充), as it indicates that you've eaten well. For this is how food is offered to the spirit of a dead person.

A. Instead it serves to assist the food to the fork.

B. It suggests that your hosts don't feed you enough.

C. Many people in Japan believe that good service is standard.

D. In Brazil, bread and pizza are normally eaten with a fork and knife, too.

E. Here are some of the very specific dining dos and don'ts from around the world.

F. You may also drink directly from the soup bowl—spoons, however, are uncommon.

G. Furthermore, don't lick your chopsticks or leave them upright in a bowl of rice.

Two friends and I moved into a house off campus when I was a junior at Iowa State University. We were all a bit afraid of our landlord, a 1  middle-aged man. He gave us a lecture about paying the rent on time and 2  the house and appliance(家用电器).

But during the fall semester, my housemates and I held a party in our house. We drew a large crowd and had a great time. The last 3  left in the morning. 4 , we decided to sleep in and clean the house and yard the next morning. 

We were 5 at about 7:00 a.m. by our landlord. We let him in and 6 to arouse his anger. 7 , he picked up a party invitation that had been laying on the sidewalk and asked, "Why didn't you girls invite me?" He 8 the house and spent a few minutes helping us pick up 9 from the yard. We were 10 that our landlord had been so understanding.

A few months later, I made a mathematical error while balancing my check book and my bank soon 11 me that I had my rent check returned. I was anxious when I knew that. I 12 the courage to call him and explained what had happened. He said, "It happens. Would you like to wait until next month and send a 13 payment then?" I've never forgotten our landlord's kindness and 14 .

He taught me an important lesson about not judging a book by its 15 . I'm proud to say that I have not bounced a check since then.

"A barbecue restaurant owner I know told me to come back on Monday, so as to leave the weekends to out-of-town visitors," said Huang Yang, a native of Zibo city in Shandong province works outside his hometown. He recently returned home for a visit and wanted to have some barbecue, he failed to find seats in four different restaurants.

Thanks to social media recommendations, Zibo has (wide) spread on Chinese social media platforms. Videos on sites such as Xiaohongshu show thousands of people traveling to the city to try its local barbecue, which they say (wrap) in a pancake and has a "distinct taste".

Taking advantage of the barbecue craze, Zibo has gone all out to promote local tourism resources, while (work) to ensure the safety of visitors and the quality of tourism products. To provide visitors a happy experience, market regulators have carried out inspections on barbecue restaurants to ensure food safety. number of patrol (巡逻) personnel has been increased to ensure visitors' safety. The local government has released a map of barbecue joints and added 21 new bus routes (make) urban transportation easier. The latest promotion has given visitors free (admit) to scenic spots as long as their destination is Zibo. According to data from on-demand service platform Meituan, Zibo has seen an 800 percent increase in accommodation bookings for the upcoming holiday (compare) to 2019, ranking first in Shandong province in terms of growth rate.

注意：1. 写作词数应为80左右;2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。3. 参考词汇：研讨会 seminar

Dear David,

……

Yours sincerely,

Li Hua

At the age of 17, I formed a band with three classmates. After we won the first prize at our school's talent show, we decided to see if we could get some local performances. When we found out we'd gotten booked for a charitable event at a large hospital, we were excited. For two weeks, we practiced hard, getting together every day after school to sharpen our skills and learn enough songs to fill a one-hour show.

On the day of the concert, we showed up early to check out the stage. We set up and did a quick sound check, then went backstage to have a soda and rest. While we were back there, the hospital's entertainment director came over to talk to us.

"Okay, boys, I just want to fill you in on a couple of important details," she told us. "A lot of the people in the audience are suffering from severe physical or mental disabilities. Also, many of them are very old. Don't let that alarm you. They have very few chances to see live entertainment of any kind, so they enjoy any kind of musical talent. Just play your regular show, and you'll do fine." With that, she left, going to help the volunteers and staff that were assisting the patients to their seats.

Soon enough, it was show time. Everything was perfect, and we played probably the best show of our lives. We hardly missed a note on any of our songs. Unfortunately, we couldn't enjoy our performance. As each song finished, there was a short pause. This was the time when the audience would normally applaud. Now, we were getting nothing. Zero. The deafening silence only made us more determined to win the audience over. We tried harder. Loud songs, soft songs, it made no difference. After forty-five minutes, we decided to end our set early. Why bother finishing when no one was appreciating us anyway? We unplugged(拔去）our instruments and went backstage.

注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

A moment later, the entertainment director ran back to us.

……

Returning to the stage, we played our final three songs.