湖南名校联考联合体2023-2024学年高二下学期入学暨寒假作业英语检测

ART GALLERY GUIDES

Martin Lawrence Galleries

Distinguished as the largest contemporary collection in New York, the gallery contains works by Rembrandt, Picasso, Chagall, Keith Haring, Sam Francis, Takashi Murakami and others. Located in a two-floor space in the heart of SoHo, this gallery provides a great fine art buying experience for all ages.

Location: 457 West Broadway, New York, NY, telephone: 212-995-8865.

Email:soho@martinlawrence.com

BertaArt Studio Gallery

BertaArt Studio Gallery is the working studio and exhibition space for International award-winning artist Clara Berta. Her highly abstract paintings have been shown in the United States and collected worldwide.

Location: 816 South Main Street, Los Angeles, CA 90014, telephone: 818-692-0465.

Website: https://bertaart.com

Bill Lowe Gallery

For over three decades, Bill Lowe Gallery has served as a gate to global visual culture for art enthusiasts around the world. Our unique juxtaposition (并列) of style is expressed in exhibitions with great visual drama. This has earned the gallery recognition as a place for the cross-cultural point of beauty and meaning.

Location: 764 Miami Circle, NE, Suite 210, Atlanta, GA 30324, telephone: 404-352-8114.

Website: https://lowegallery.com

Baterbys Art Auction Gallery

Our art collection features limited pieces by 20th Century Masters like Picasso, Chagall, Modigliani, Matisse and Degas among others. We offer specialized services such as art renting and fine art home delivery.

Located: Orlando, FL, telephone: 888-682-9995.

Website: www.Baterbys.com

Family vlogging — the frequent recording and uploading of personal videos of the family, usually on video sharing website — has become big business nowadays, especially among parents of young children. The more viewers such videos can get, the more money the family can make. At first thought, it does seem like an easy way to make money. However, are we doing right by putting their lives up for public attention?

For one thing, as the children grow up, they increasingly become aware that what they do needs to be admirable enough for the public to enjoy — Being young children, they also would want to do whatever it takes to please others. They then feel the pressure to be perfect, and as that is something not always possible, they become anxious and stressed. Comments from viewers and the expectations of sponsors (赞助者) can also affect the parents' reactions towards their children.

Another problem is the lack of privacy in the children's lives. As the children reach adolescence, there is a greaser need for personal space. At 12 or 13, very few children would appreciate being filmed while eating or having a conversation with their friends. Teenhood is a time of significant change in an individual, both physically and emotionally, and is a time when parents need to protect their children and guide them, instead of exposing them to the eyes of the public.

Family vlogging can be irresistible, given how it allows parents to bring greater fun to their family lives. There is also the easy money and the fame to look forward to. Indeed, all would probably go well, but only as long as parents keep in mind that, if not managed well, making their children live their lives in the unforgiving eyes of the public could prove to be a big mistake.

On Dec 9, 2021, astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu held their first open class aboard the Tianhe core module of the Chinese space station for pupils. 

In the 50-minute online class, the three astronauts explained daily life in space, how to walk in a microgravity environment and showed the children how to recycle water, oxygen and carbon dioxide in their environment. Applause broke out among the 1,420-strong audience at the CSTM when one of the three astronauts poured out water, which formed into a perfect ball. Applause broke out again when they put an effervescent tablet (泡腾片) into the water, which sparked into bubbles (气泡). But the bubbles did not burst and instead stayed complete. 

The open science lesson was broadcast live to the nation. On domestic video-sharing website Bilibili alone, the open course was watched at least 6 million times, with more views on other platforms and TV channels. 

For Shi Hao, a space specialist at China Acrospace Science and Technology Corporation, the growing desire of school pupils to pursue knowledge about space reflects the growing potential of China in exploring the universe in the future. 

"I still remember how impressed I was by the launch of Shenzhou VI in September 2005. From then on, I have carved out the dream of pursuing my career in astronautics from the bottom of my heart." Shi said. "For many people like me, this is not only a job, but a lifelong addiction and commitment. It is of vital importance to let Chinese youths touch astronautics during their childhood so as to sustain the building of talents."

He was echoed (回应) by Zhou, who places high hopes on the future of China's space industry. "We have a population of 1.4 billion, of which more than 200 million are pupils at school. By inspiring their enthusiasm, China will get an abundant supply of talents for the national space research team." "Chinese people will step further in the universe and the hope lies in our children," he added.

Technology seems to discourage slow, immersive reading. Reading on a screen tires your eyes and makes it harder for you to keep your place. Online writing tends to be more skimmable and list-like than print. The cognitive neuroscientist Mary Walt argued recently that this "new norm" of skim reading is producing "an invisible, game -changing transformation" in how readers process words. The neuronal circuit that sustains the brain's capacity to read now favors the rapid absorption of information.

We shouldn't overplay this danger. All readers skim. From about the age of nine, our eyes start to bounce around the page, reading only about a quarter of the words properly, and filling in the gaps by inference. Nor is there anything new in these fears about declining attention spans. So far, the anxieties have proved to be false alarms. "Quite a few critics have been worried about attention spans lately and see very short stories as signs of cultural decline," the American author Selvin Brown wrote. "No one ever said that poems were evidence of short attention spans."

And yet the Internet has certainly changed the way we read. For a start, it means that there is more to read, because more people than ever are writing. And digital writing is meant for rapid release and response. This mode of writing and reading can be interactive and fun. But often it treats other people's words as something to be quickly harvested as fodder (素材) to say something else. Everyone talks over the top of everyone else, desperate to be heard.

Perhaps we should slow down. Reading is constantly promoted as a social good and source of personal achievement. But this advocacy often emphasizes "enthusiastic" "passionate" or "eager" reading, none of which adjectives suggest slow, quiet absorption. To a slow reader, a piece of writing can only be fully understood by immersing oneself in the words and their slow comprehension of a line of thought.

The human need for this kind of deep reading is tootenaciousfor any new technology to destroy. We often assume that technological change can't be stopped and happens in one direction, so that older media like "dead-tree" books are kicked out by newer, more virtual forms. In practice, older technologies can coexist with new ones. The Kindle has not killed off the printed book any more than the car killed off the bicycle. We still want to enjoy slowly. formed ideas and carefully-chosen words. Even in a fast-moving age, there is time for slow reading.

Why Walking in Nature Makes You a Better Worker?

We're busy at work, distracted (注意力分散的) by technology and often live in urban environments far from wild spaces.. The average American, for example, spends about 90% of their life indoors. But what happens if we maketime for an hour outside each day?

. You'll have to go out for a walk, which is beneficial if most of your day involves sitting in front of a screen. Research shows short breaks can improve work enthusiasm, and a quick break in natural light will deliver a shot of vitamin D.

There are also a lot of mental benefits when you are in nature-you are happy and your brain can make sense of life. "When people are all out in nature, even in urban nature, people tend to have more positive emotion and energy than when they are indoors.," said Lisa Nisbet, associate professor at Canada's Trent University.

The idea that nature is good for us has been gaining grounds since the 1980s.. Afterwards, shinrin-yoku, the Japanese concept, which is the practice of taking a short, leisurely visit to a forest for health benefits, followed that. Researchers of shinrin yoku have since found plenty of physical and mental benefits, while global studies suggest spending time in nature can, for example, restore our ability to focus, increase our creativity, and even help us live longer.

Of course, many of us live in cities with no ready access toforests or the wilderess.. Various studies have shown that green environments in cities have beneficial effects.

A. We also don't get out much

B. But it doesn't have to be a forest

C. People can get to a forest for a hike

D. In other words, people are happier in nature

E. There are some obvious benefits when being outside

F. Green and blue spaces are better than busy city streets

G. First came the theory that humans have a basic desire to be connected with nature

Just a few months earlier, I would never have pictured myself acting in a play in front of two hundred people. If not for my teacher Mr Bricker, I might never have found that 1 .

In the first and second grade, I was extremely 2 . It just wasn't in my personality to be very outgoing. I would escape into my writing. Mr Bricker always 3 me to write more. I think he was the first person to see my inner 4 .

One day, he announced our class was going to 5 a play. "I need someone to play the lead part of Dorothy." A few 6 students raised their hands at once. I, of course, was not one of them. After school, Mr Bricker said to me, "Dallas, I was 7 you didn't raise your hands." Me, the lead? I was 8 just thinking of standing on stage in front of a lot of people.

"You're great at 9 things, so you won't worry about lines. And you have such a sweet personality. Perfect for Dorothy! I had you in 10 for Dorothy while writing the play!"

I realized it was time to 11  my shyness. After five months of 12 , we finally made the play a success. At the end of the play, when the audience stood and applauded, I knew they were 13  not just for my performance that night, but for the 14  that they knew would come in later years because of my new-found 15 .

Midwives bring new life into the world, and these midwifery students at London's Middlesex University (learn) a new way to do this now. Sarah Chitongo is the educator in this high-tech classroom. Her students use goggles (equip) with augmented reality or AR, so trainee midwives can experience simulated birth. AR is a digital overlay atop something real. It actually allows you (engage) in that type of learning which is more visual than paper-based one.

The training helps prepare students for all the potential risks they might face during childbirth, including (handle) a situation that is very complex. Educators say students' exposure AR makes them more comfortable using it in the classroom. It's about giving the students the ability to engage with tools and things they have been used to and accustomed to, within a serious learning space, so that they get a better (understand) of it. Chitongo says it took her nearly a decade of midwifing before she (see) a breech delivery. She says with AR technology in the classroom, students can better manage happens in the real world and possibly even save a life.

注意：

1. 写作词数应为80左右；

2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；

3. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

It was the day of the big cross-country run. Students from seven different primary schools in and around the small town were warming up and walking the route(路线)through thick evergreen forest. 

I looked around and finally spotted David, who was standing by himself off to the side by a fence. He was small for ten years old. His usual big toothy smile was absent today. I walked over and asked him why he wasn't with the other children. He hesitated and then said he had decided not to run.

What was wrong? He had worked so hard for this event! 

I quickly searched the crowd for the school's coach and asked him what had happened. "I was afraid that kids from other schools would laugh at him," he explained uncomfortably. "I gave him the choice to run or not, and let him decide."

I bit back my frustration(懊恼). I knew the coach meant well—he thought he was doing the right thing. After making sure that David could run if he wanted, I turned to find him coming towards me, his small body rocking from side to side as he swung his feet forward. 

David had a brain disease which prevented him from walking or running like other children, but at school his classmates thought of him as a regular kid. He always participated to the best of his ability in whatever they were doing. That was why none of the children thought it unusual that David had decided to join the cross-country team. It just took him longer—that's all. David had not missed a single practice, and although he always finished his run long after the other children, he did always finish. As a special education teacher at the school, I was familiar with the challenges David faced and was proud of his strong determination.

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. 

We sat down next to each other, but David wouldn't look at me.

I watched as David moved up to the starting line with the other runners.