江苏省扬州市2019-2020学年高三下学期英语3月调研测试

— Actually, you _______ the party. It was canceled at the last moment.

——_______ Parasite from South Korea won a total of four Oscars.

— Gosh! It's no more than two years since he studied in the university.

— School, movies, gatherings, _______. We'll soon be back on track.

    Nothing stays the same for long. Things and people change, often for the 1, it seems, but once in a 2, very much for the better. I grew up on a small farm, living a life that I took for granted. I had a dog and mountains in whichever 3 I looked, and I awoke to the call of birds in the alfalfa (苜蓿) fields. My father worked in the city as a worker. He was quiet and 4. He was not 5 educated, but he was smart, with an engineer's way of looking at problems. He was a man made of leather and chewing tobacco who tried to teach my brother and me useful things, including respect. He also had a 6. I did not like him very much.

    One day I came home from school and his car was already there. Once inside, I was told by my mother that he didn't feel well. His back hurt. My father never missed work; in fact, when he came home, he went to work even more. I remember looking secretly around the corner at him as he 7 on his bed in the middle of the day. I was in 8 school. Multiple myeloma, I learned, is a type of blood cancer. It starts in the 9 that normally make antibodies for the body to use in its immune response against 10. When those cells become ill, they make abnormal antibodies like crazy, 11 out the useful ones. As the cancer grows, the person who has it 12. The disease weakens the body's energy, and the abnormal antibodies cause problems for other cells and 13. Over time, bones 14 look like Swiss cheese, and when they break, they may never 15.

    For the last year of my father's life, his entire day consisted of rising from his hospital bed in the living room and walking to his chair to sit and think. He was 16 in that chair when I came home one day during the fifth grade. I do not remember where my mother and brother were, but the two of us were17. He asked me to sit down. What followed still moves me these 18 later. He told me about his life, his family growing up, what it was like in the Pacific during World War II, his loves, his heartbreaks. It was as if a pipe had 19, his inner self rushing out to me in a great flood. He had been speaking for maybe an hour or more when I realized that he was doing more than telling. He was asking to be forgiven. All it took was understanding that that was what he needed, and I 20 everything, immediately.

    If Thelma Richards continues to pay $917 a month, every month, for the foreseeable future, she'll pay off her student loans by the end of 2042. The problem is, by then she'll be 87 years old. "I don't think I'm going to live that long," she says, laughing. "I'm not joking!" Richards, 65, who lives in Little Falls, N.Y., represents a growing number of older Americans, who are now more likely than ever to hold student debt well into retirement age. According to a January report from the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the number of Americans aged 60 and older carrying student debt doubled in the past five years.

    The rapid rise in older Americans taking on student loans has two main causes. The first is that parents and grandparents are co-signing loans to support the younger generation. The second is that older Americans are increasingly taking student loans for themselves. With blue-collar jobs decreasing, people in their 40s and 50s are going back to school to acquire new skills.

    Richards, for example, who worked as a waitress while raising three children as a single mom, went back to college in her 40s to earn a degree in occupational treatment. While her new profession produces a higher income and health care benefits, it has also left her with a lifetime of debt. Trends leave older borrowers in a bind. They have less time in the workforce and are more likely to become ill, often in a weaker position to pay back loans. Making monthly payments on a fixed income is also more difficult than it is for younger borrowers, whose incomes are more likely to grow.

    According to the CFPB report, more than a third of those aged 60 and older with student debt had given up medical care to afford their loan payments. And there's no way out. Robert Farrington, the founder of the website the College Investor, says one main piece of advice for older borrowers is simply to avoid any loan that isn't repayable in 10 years. "Remember," he says, "if you don't pay, they'll come after you."

    A substitute teacher crunch has forced Chicago area school districts to raise sub pay, to use parents as subs and even to seek out teachers from moonlighting police and fire department ranks. The crunch also means good subs are getting harder to find, some say. "It's not only a quantity problem but a quality problem," said Barbara Radner, director of DePaul University's Center for Urban Education, which serves as expert partner to 31 academically troubled Chicago public schools. "We're getting to the bottom of the talent pool and it's empty," she said. And a bad sub, Radner explained, can move a class backward by confusing students.

    Radner said Chicago's sub shortage is at "crisis" levels and the worst she's seen in 15 years, although city school officials say West Side schools seem to be affected the most. Using the Chicago system's substitute teacher center is like engaging in "Russian roulette", Radner said. "Every sixth sub you get could be a total blowup." Increasingly, she said, principals in schools she works with say they can't get subs, or the subs they get leave midday because they can't handle the job. Chicago school officials are recruiting police officers and firefighters to sub in high-crime areas that some subs refuse to enter. A sub recruitment push is also planned on college campuses—among graduate and doctoral students who may find the part-time work attractive, Schools Chief Executive Officer Paul Vallas said.

    Teachers often leave detailed lesson plans for subs if they know in advance they will be off, and keep "emergency plans" on file for unexpected absences, such as an illness. But Radner said emergency plans can amount to "a recipe for baby-sitter." Carolyn Martin said her daughter's last sub at Bolingbrook's Tibbott Elementary in Valley View District 365 was so unpleasant that she may demand to sit in the classroom next time there's a problem sub. "The last time they had a sub, the substitute teacher had to call the principal into the room," Martin said, "This is a third-grade classroom, and the lady couldn't even handle it".

    Demand for subs is high because of several factors, school officials say. For starters, those who hold sub certificate may not be using them because they have found better-paying jobs in today's booming economy. Six or seven years age, Schaumburg District 54 Associate Supt. Kenneth Cull said, "I used to have 30 real estate agents sign up for sub work because they had college degrees and business was slow. I don't have that anymore." Sub pools have been further consumed by several waves of early teacher retirements and increased student enrollments—both of which have meant more subs are being hired as full-time teachers.

    For more than 2,000 years the Chinese people have been guided by the ideals of Confucianism. Its founder and greatest teacher was Confucius, whose humane philosophy also influenced the civilization of all of eastern Asia. Many legends were spread to illustrate Confucius' beliefs. According to one story, he and his followers passed a cemetery where a woman was weeping at a graveside. She told them she was crying because "my husband's father was killed here by a tiger, and my husband also, and now my son has met the same fate". When they asked her why she did not leave such a fatal spot, she answered that in this place there was no oppressive government. "Remember this, my children," said Confucius, "oppressive government is fiercer and more feared than a tiger".

    In such teaching and with such wise sayings, Confucius tried to bring people a respect for the teachings of the wise men of older generations. He always said of himself that he was a "transmitter, not a maker". He collected and edited the poetry, the music, and the historical writings of what he considered the golden age.

    Confucius laid no claim to being more than a man. Yet when he died he was admired almost as god. Temples were constructed in his honor in every city of China. His grave at Kufow, in what is now Shandong Province, became a place of pilgrimage.

    Though Confucianism is commonly called a religion, it is rather a system of moral conduct. Confucius did not talk of God but of goodness. He did not teach about any god, simply saying, "Respect the gods, but have as little to do with them as possible." His attention was centered on making people better in their lifetime, and his Analects are wise sayings similar to the Proverbs in the Bible.

    Confucius is the Latinized form of the philosopher's Chinese name, which was K'ung-fu-tzu, meaning Master K'ung. He was born in a poor but noble family. His father died when the boy was 3 years old. When he was only 6, people noted his fondness for setting out sacrifices and for ceremony. After his marriage at age 19, he worked for the governor of his district, first a keeper of stores and then as an overseer of parks and livestock. At the age of 22 he began his life as a teacher by establishing a school. He accepted valuable aid from some of his students, but he also welcomed students who could afford to pay only a small fee.

    After some years of teaching and travel, he settled in Shandong for 15 years. When he was 52 years old, he was rewarded with an appointment as governor of a province and never failed to win the credit he deserved. He performed his task so well that a neighboring governor became jealous. Later, Confucius traveled around other kingdoms and wandered about for 13 years. Eventually, he returned to his native state of Lu in his 69th year and died three years later.

China Using Mobile Apps to Follow Spread of Coronavirus

    People in China are using apps on mobile phones to follow and perhaps help slow the spread of the new coronavirus, COVID-19. Some of the apps provide the latest information about areas hit by the virus, while others. Collect data on infected persons.

    The Chinese government is working with two of the country's largest technology companies to keep track of the disease. The two, Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings, created color-based systems that record the health of individuals and identify carriers of the coronavirus.

    In February, Alipay, a payment app operated by Alibaba, released a system that uses colored QR Codes to show the health of people in the city of Hangzhou. A QR code is a sign a smartphone can read with its camera. Once the sign is recognized, the phone takes the user directly to an internet link with information about a subject.

    After completing the questionnaire, users receive a mobile phone message. It includes a color-based QR Code that relates to the health situation they described. Users with a red code are told to quarantine themselves for 14 days and continue reporting their condition by using Alibaba's DingTalk messaging app. Users with a yellow code are told to stay in quarantine for 7 days, while those with a green code can travel freely.

    Chinese state media said the Alibaba system would be deployed at train stations, along major roads and other travel checkpoints. They added that the system is also being used in some neighborhoods. People are asked to show QR Codes when entering their apartment buildings. Customers are asked to do the same before entering the local supermarket. Alipay said it was working with the government to expand the system nationwide.

    Tencent, which operates China's popular messaging app WeChat, reported the launch of a similar QR Code-based tracking system. Tencent developed the system with help from China's National Development and Reform Council, which is currently in use in the southern city of Shenzhen. Officials said they expected it to be deployed to other parts of Guangdong province soon.

    Even before the latest systems were announced, many Chinese were already using mapping and travel apps in an effort to avoid areas with coronavirus infections. One of the apps, developed by WeChat, uses official reports to identify places in the cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou where coronavirus cases have been confirmed.

    One user of the apps told Reuters she finds the maps can provide "psychological comfort." The woman, who did not want her full name reported, said: "You can't guarantee there won't be fresh cases, but you can avoid an area that's already hit."

    The technology website Abacus reported that citizens can request location data from their mobile phone carrier to show they had not been in affected areas. The report said that if requested, China's state-owned telecommunication companies will send users a message listing all the areas they had visited within the past 14 days.

    Recently, several chat screenshots of a Wechat group spread rapidly online. The contents of chat are as follows. The property management company (物业公司) of a community in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, organized the residents to take a vote in the Wechat group to decide whether two medical staff who lived in this community should be forbidden to enter their homes.

    Most of the group members voted for their isolation, supporting the company to deny the two residents entry. Their reason was that the two persons could be carriers of various viruses.

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