江苏省南京市六校联合体2017-2018学年高二下学期英语期末考试试卷（音频暂未更新）

—Not until _________ your device password correctly.

—You know, I am thinking about dropping out chemistry. I have been working very hard on it, but it's still__________.

    There was my mother, standing in a fuzzy (毛绒绒的) pink bunny(兔子）costume. This can't be, 1 I thought to myself. Being ten was 2 enough.

    Our class was taking a trip to a convalescent home（疗养院) that day.I had 3 to stay at home pretending I'd caught some rare disease. My mother who's a(n) 4, sent me to school anyway.

    When we got there, I 5 wished for that 6. I'd fall to the ground and be 7the humiliation (耻笑) of anyone ever knowing that I 8every day after school there, dressed as a bunny.

“Hi, Shelly!” The residents waved at me, “ Do you know them?” someone asked. “No! They 9 me for someone else. I'm Machille,” I responded. I didn't look up 10 I might make eye contact with them. Then, Mrs. Deist, our teacher, handed us tulips (郁金香) to give to the residents. I quickly went to the back of the 11. My mother just went along her way— hopping（单足跳跃）. Last year, we hopped together. 12, “I'm too old for that now”, I thought.

    I hid behind my class. “ Shelly, how about a game of Fish?” Lou asked. My class and teacher 13 and stared. “ Machille, do you know these people?” Mrs.Deist asked me.

“Um….yes！”  

    “Well you should 14 the way,” she said, smiling. So I stepped forward, handed a tulip to Rose, waved to Frank and gave Mr. Blusso a high-five.

    “My mother is in a convalescent home. I wish she could have someone like you to 15 her.” Mrs Deist said. My mother hopped over then. “This is my mom. Every day she looks after these special people who need nurses' care.” I stood straight as I 16 the information. My mother then explained a program where kids can 17 after school. The residents cheered at the18, and my class seemed excited, too.

    I realized how 19 it made me to make other people smile and feel good. I should never be 20 of that.

    Automatic dishwashers have been around for more than 100 years. It started in 1886 with Josephine Cochrane, a woman in Shelbyville, Illinois. She was a rich woman who could afford servants to wash her dishes, so she really didn't mind the work. What she did mind was that her servants broke the dishes. She hosted quite a few dinner parties, and after every party the servants broke more of her expensive dishes.

    Finally, Cochrane took action. First, she measured her dishes and bent wire into racks to hold them. Next, she put the racks on a wheel in a large copper boiler. Then, the boiler sprayed hot, soapy water on the dishes as a motor turned the wheel. After a hot water rinse(冲洗),the dishes were clean!

    Josephine Cochrane's friends were impressed with the machine and asked her to build more. After that, word got out fast. Soon hotel and restaurant owners who didn't like broken dishes also were interested. Cochrane then knew that she had a wonderful machine, so she received a patent from the government, which said that only the inventor can make money from an invention. Then in 1893 Chicago held a World Fair where inventions from all over the world were shown. Cochrane's labor-saving machine was a big hit. Her dishwasher won the highest award.

    Cochrane's company came out with a smaller machine in 1914. It was supposed to be for the ordinary home, but it wasn't an immediate success. Many homes couldn't produce the extremely hot water it needed. Also, in most homes, dishwashing wasn't considered very difficult compared to most other housework. In fact some people liked to relax at the sink after a hard day! Sales of the home model finally picked up in the 1950s when people had more money and wanted to have more time to enjoy themselves. Now many homes have electric dishwasher that aren't very different from the one Josephine Cochrane invented more than 100 years ago.

    As a teenage rock fan, all Dennis Vorreyer really expected of the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago two weekends ago was the chance to see his favorite bands perform live.

    But he and his father, Jeffrey, who accompanied him to the festival, signed up for Lollapalooza's text-message network, and thus learned about a guitar-playing contest taking place there. Dennis, 14, entered and won a new Gibson guitar. Tad Kubler, the lead guitarist for the Hold Steady, who was involved in the contest, then invited Dennis to perform with the band as it closed its set.

“Having your cell phone everywhere is important for everybody now,” Dennis said. “I never dreamed of playing Lollapalooza.” The modern mobile phone — equipped with camera, Internet access and more— has proved to be a liability for some performers, like Akon and Beyonce, whose regrettable moments were captured by fans and then immortalized on YouTube and similar sites. But for the fans themselves, mobile phones are becoming as important an accessory as an all-access wristband. Beyond using them to record a short souvenir, they are becoming a ticket to everything from free ringtones to VIP treatment.

    On Gwen Stefani's recent tour, as many as 20 percent of the audience at some shows agreed to pay 99 cents for text messages and the chance to win better seats, according to the mobile marketing company Impact Mobile. At festivals like Lollapalooza, thousands of fans sign up to receive continuous updates from concert organizers about promotions and special events.

Even when there is no fee, the service comes at a price: fans must give their phone numbers to marketers. And purists — and some artists — disapprove of fans pecking out text messages or snapping pictures during performances. Still, the arrival of a new generation of phone-based activities could add a new twist to live events at a time when rising ticket prices have discouraged many concertgoers.

Cure for tiredness?

    Staying up late is a potential battle between parents and kids. But the solution could be as simple as changing your meal time.

    Researchers at the University of Surry, UK, found that delaying meals could help change one of the internal body clocks. Besides a “master” clock in the brain, there are clocks in other parts of the body. They are usually synchronized according to factors including light.

During the study, researchers tested 10 participants to examine the effect of changing meal times on their body clocks. The participants were given three meals —breakfast, lunch and dinner. In the first stage, participants received breakfast 30 minutes after waking. Lunch and dinner followed, after 5-hour intervals. In the second stage, each meal was delayed by 5 hours. Right after each stage, blood and fat samples were collected.

    Results showed that later meal times greatly influenced blood sugar levels. A 5-hour delay in meal times caused a 5-hour delay in the internal blood sugar rhythms.

    The discovery showed that meal times are in line with the body clock that controls blood sugar levels.

    This is a small study but the researchers believe the findings could help jet lag sufferers and night-shift workers.

    In a study by the University of Surrey in 2013, researchers explored what happened when a person's body was changed from a normal pattern to that of a night-shift worker's.

    After people work through the night, over 97 percent of the body's rhythmic genes are disrupted（扰乱，使混乱）.

    These findings explain why we feel so bad following a long flight, or after working at night, according to Simon Archer, one of the study's researchers.

    “It's like living in a house. There's a clock in every room in the house and in all of those rooms those clocks are now disrupted, which of course leads to chaos in the household,” fellow researcher DerkJan Dijk told the BBC.

Changing meal times didn't affect the “master” body clock — the one controlling when we get sleepy — but it can reset the body clock that controls blood sugar levels. This wouldn't necessarily cure jet lag completely, but it might reduce the negative effects.

A study published earlier this year suggested that just a weekend camping trip could be enough to reset our body clocks. And now this latest research shows regular food schedules could play a key part too.

    It was already midnight and I was walking quickly out of Recovery Room, knowing I had to be back early next morning. Though in a hurry, I noticed a lone woman with an anxious look on her face. As it turned out, her daughter-in-law had just been transferred to Intensive Care, so I decided to take her up there. Down the hall, she stated, “I bet you're trying to leave, aren't you?” I confirmed her observation, adding that it was quite all right. We soon arrived, and upon talking with the patient's nurse, I was able to let her in right away. She turned to me and said, “Thank you, you will be blessed.”

    The next day, on my way home after my day shift, I noticed a voice mail from my sister in Rochester, which gave me an uneasy feeling. I had to pull off the road as I listened to her message; “Mom had a stroke; she's in the hospital and the Neurologist said it doesn't look good.” My mind darted back to the words I had heard the night before as I cried out with anger; “This is a blessing?”

    The following day I flew up to Rochester. My brother picked me up from the airport and we soon arrived at the hospital. I walked into my mom's room and she looked as if I had never seen her before. Her usual bright smile was replaced with a look of emptiness. All at once the cruel reality of the signs and symptoms of a fresh stroke were there, but I wasn't the instructor, I was just a family member. My mom seemed to recognize me, and I fought back tears as I told her how much I loved her.

    Over the next five days, my mom made unexpected progress, as she began to speak a few words, slowly and almost painfully. With each milestone, it seemed the nurses and aides were almost as excited as we were. Everyone, without exception, treated my mom with kindness and compassion. I think the event that will stay in my memory forever occurred on my mom's fourth day. It was time to repeat the swallowing study to assess if my mom could start eating. All four of us siblings hung together in the waiting room, nervous, our eyes shifting constantly to the door of 2607, anticipating and desperately hoping for good news. As her door opened, the therapist came out with a smile; we instantly knew she had good news, and we collectively breathed a sigh of relief. Five days after her stroke, my mom was ready for transfer to a rehabilitation facility, and I was headed back down South. With a very heavy heart, I said goodbye to my mom and the staff from the Stroke Unit.

    On the way back home, I had plenty of time to think about my own experiences as a Recovery Room nurse. I could envision（想象）the smiles on so many of the faces of our patients as they leave our unit. I was also reminded of the fact that we as health care givers have a certain power: we can add to the stress of a patient's hospital experience, or we can be the one ray of sunshine that leaves a smile on their face.

    Truly, there will always be the pain of knowing that my mom had a stroke, but my memories will always be tempered by the thoughtful care she received in the Stroke Unit. I have since reflected on the words of gratitude spoken to me a week earlier by the visitor I took to the ICU. Yes, I was blessed; it was the kind of blessing that will warm my heart forever.

Digitalization could Pay Off in Health and Sustainability

With technology permeating (渗透) everything we do, it has led to a significant transformation in the workplace — specifically, how, where, who is working and what work employees do. The speed of change across industries has also caused greater uncertainty as many businesses rethink the way they manage their talent and real estate.

For one, automation and artificial intelligence will change many job functions—particularly jobs and tasks that are manual or process driven. Research has found that the future workforce will be divided into three parts；core employees，freelancers（自由职业者）and consultants．Core employees will be concentrated in smaller and fewer locations, ideally in central business districts with transportation and amenities(便利设施) concentrated nearby —reducing their energy and resource usage. This smaller core workforce could mean smaller office footprints requiring less energy from power and less waste produced. In parallel, the appearance of the “liquid workforce”— freelancers, consultants and more — means potentially less commuting(通勤) and perhaps a cleaner way of working. The need for flexibility to accommodate the uncertain operating environment and more project-based work could require possibly less material and waste in the building process.

We've seen how many forward-thinking organizations have already adopted more efficient real estate management in the form of smart buildings and smart offices. This is essentially powered by the Internet of Things(物联网) to drive efficiency and real-time optimization (最优化）of building operations such as automatic monitoring and optimization of air conditioning— of particular interest in Asia, where indoor as well as outdoor air quality is a long-time issue.

    Some features of smart buildings and workplaces also announce a shift to a less paper-based workplace. Companies are also accepting a whole view of sustainability. They're thinking about more than cost-savings or making the most of space. They are considering creating a healthy, fulfilling, and productive environment for employees.

We now speak about healthy buildings instead of simply sustainable ones. In fact, the World Green Building Council now promotes the concept of healthy green buildings—buildings that are not only environmentally sensitive but also provide for the well-being of staff. For instance, buildings with more access to nature and greenery make a significant difference to workers. A survey done last year found that over 90% of those surveyed felt more productive and creative with access to fresh air, indoor light, healthy food, fitness centers and even mental health services.

    Overall, the drive towards a digitized workplace and improved employee experience could just lead us to a healthier, happier life and a more sustainable future.

Scientists have observed that humans experience happiness from a wide range of stimuli(刺激), from traveling to an ideal destination to redecorating one's home or from winning a game of soccer to eating a delicious meal. Simply watching a favorite television show or laughing at a funny joke can lift a depressed mood. While the happiness produced by such experiences tends to be short lived, a wide social network does promote a more long-lasting state of happiness as a lifestyle.

 Surprisingly, income is not a primary factor in determining a person's level of happiness once the basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter have been met. More important is one's social network. Being socially active may be more effective in increasing one's immunity（免疫力）to illness than a vaccine. Misery may love company, but so does happiness, and having close friends and family is vital to one's overall level of happiness. Even sharing one's home with an animal companion can make a person happier.

【写作内容】

1）用约30个单词概括以上材料的主要内容；

2）用约120个词就“幸福”这一话题谈谈你的理解，内容包括：

⑴幸福对你来说意味着什么？

⑵描写一次给你带来幸福感的经历。

⑶面对学习压力，如何提升自己的幸福感？（至少两点）

【写作要求】

1）作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；

2）不必写标题;

【评分标准】

内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。