天津市和平区2019-2020学年高二下学期期中英语试题

—           ! You never know until you try.

—Wait a minute, Johnson. I           my homework in ten minutes.

My friend, Audrey, was a wonderful talker. When another person told a story, she would take 1 of the first empty space by saying, "That2  me of something that happened to me. " Then she would3 to tell a longer, even more dramatic(戏剧性的) story about her experiences. She was always praised for her gift for 4, which made it hard for her to realize the gift of5 could be even more important than the ability to speak skillfully.

She carried on with this6, uncorrected, into adulthood. Then a turning point came during one of her dinner parties. A guest named Stanley was7about his daughter's disease. 8 Stanley opened his mouth to answer, Audrey said, "I know exactly about it" and turned the9 to her own experience with a similar health problem.

She had spoken for a minute or two when Stanley suddenly began10. He offered a simple 11 to his hostess:" I'm sorry, Audrey. I didn't mean to12, but I just can't listen now because I'm too13 about my daughter. "

Of course, Stanley had no reason to apologize and Audrey 14 that. For the first time, she realized she was too insensitive. This15 experience led her to do self﹣observation.

Audrey decided to16 listening. When together with friends, she tried to only listen. When asked about herself, she answered17, without detailed explanation. When speaking, she said with more18. It just made her realize she was an ordinary person and that being ordinary was not a(n) 19 thing. It was just about being herself.

Perhaps our courage to20 our ordinariness is one of the keys to happiness in our valued relationship.

Roald Hahl is one of the greatest storytellers the world has ever known. His books have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide.

Have you ever heard of any of these stories？

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie is a young boy from a poor family and, like most children, he loves chocolate. Charlie buys Wonka chocolate bars hoping to find a golden ticket inside because whoever finds a golden ticket is invited to visit the Wonka chocolate factory and meet its owner, Willy Wonka. And there are some wonderfully strange things inside the factory.

The BFG

The BFG is the Big Friendly Giant and he brings sweet dreams to children while they are sleeping. One night he is seen by a girl called Sophie, and he carried her away to his homeland because he is scared she'll tell the world about his existence (存在). He is actually friendly, but the other giants are not. They hurt the BFG and want to eat people. Sophie decided to get someone to help:the Queen!

Matilda

Matilda is talented and she loves books, but her parents don't understand her intelligence and are cruel to her. Matilda's brainpower is discovered by her teacher. Miss Honey, who helps her develop her intellect and amazing mental powers. But Miss Honey is also being mistreated by Miss Trunchbull, the cruel head teacher, so Matilda tries to find a way to help her.

Boy: Tales of Childhood.

This book is told like a story, but it's not a novel. It's an autobiography(自传)of Roald Dahl's childhood and school experiences, he describes his experiences with a dead mouse, fearful teachers, summer holidays to Norway and getting the job with Shell.

At ten years old, I borrowed a book from the library that had the word "crime" in the title. My mother did not notice this book among my large number of books until I began reading it. The book was confiscated (没收), and we went back to the library. I remember how embarrassed I was as my mother explained that I needed reading material that was different from the book that we had just returned.

The librarian on duty looked down at me, smiling, walked from behind the counter, and gestured to me to follow. We crossed the hallway to the adult fiction section. "Here you are," she said. "It's called I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith, the same author who wrote The Hundred and One Dalmatians." I felt far too old for dog stories. "It's very different from The Hundred and One Dalmatians, though," she said, noticing my disappointment.

I tried to accept that she was right. But I was doubtful. I mean, the title alone was strange. But I still took the book home. I curled up on our window seat, and started reading. To my surprise, I was completely attracted and it spurred (激起)my writing dream.

Two weeks ago, I drove two and a half hours to meet my mother for a Christmas lunch in a tea shop in my old hometown. I had just finished a cup of coffee in the tea shop when I looked up and saw the librarian, who had changed my life. Sixteen years had passed, but for a moment time stood still. I moved toward her- all knees and elbows and energy-and blurted (脱口而出) , "You work at the library! You once showed me I Capture the Castle! I'm a writer now! That's still my favorite book!"

The woman stopped and smiled kindly. But then she tipped her head. I realized that dementaa (痴呆)or something like it had kept her from understanding me. A woman who was probably her sister took her by the elbow and led her gently away. As I watched her go, I wondered how many lives we change without realizing what we do is meaningful. All that woman had really done was lend me a book, but it had captured my world.

It is reported that the United States Postal Service (USDP) has started tests with self﹣driving trucks to transport mail. The Postal Services is partnering with a California﹣based company, called TuSimple, on the project. The tests are being carried out over two weeks.

Two of TuSimple's self﹣driving trucks will transport mail between the southwestern cities of Phoenix, Arizona and Dallas, Texas. The trucks will make five round trips between the cities. Each one will cover a distance of about 3,300 kilometers.

The testing is aimed at seeing whether the self﹣driving technology can reduce transportation times and costs and improve road safety. If successful, the Postal Service could use the trucks to move mail between major U. S. population centers forever.

TuSimple said a human "safety driver" will be sitting in the driver's seat at all times during the trips to intervene if necessary. An engineer will ride in the passenger seat as a watcher to take notes. The trucks will travel on major interstate roads that pass through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

TuSimple noted on its website the trucks are equipped with a camera system that sees about 1,000 meters down the road. It said this provides 35 seconds of reaction (反应) time, giving the system enough time to make the safest driving decisions.

One of the main goals of the technology is to remove the need for truck drivers. Transportation experts say now the United States is facing a shortage of truck drivers. This will result from an aging workforce(劳动力) and the difficulty of getting younger people to work as truck drivers.

Self﹣driving trucks built to transport things have some advantages over driverless cars. They generally run on interstate roads that do not have the complex (复杂的) traffic systems found in cities. This will reduce mapping requirements for the trucks and lower safety risks including people walking on streets or riding bicycles.

You might be familiar with the experience of looking through your Facebook, only to feel like everyone else's life is better than yours.

But such "social comparisons" may be connected with a higher likelihood of having depression. That's one finding from a new study that proved social media behavior has a connection with the mental(精神的)health condition.

In the study, the researchers studies information from around 500 undergraduate students who actively used Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat and completed an online survey to examine certain social media behavior, as well as symptoms (症状)of depression.

The researchers found that people's reasons for using social media -whether it was out of boredom, or for entertainment or news -were not connected with depression. But how they were using social media was, indeed, connected to the condition.

The finding that people with depression were less likely to post photos of themselves with others may be related to the tendency (倾向)for people with depression to isolate themselves, said Anthony Bobinson, a psychology student at Texas State University.

In any case, it's not good to compare yourself to others who seem "better off" than you, Bobinson added. "People want to make themselves look better off than they really are on social media" He said. "This is not someone's 'real life. It's important to recognize that. "

The researchers also stressed that their findings didn't mean that social media use is necessarily a bad thing.

"I don't think it's always bad," Howard, one of the researchers, said. "It can be bad, but it can also provide social support. It can give people a way to be around people that are similar to them." Finally，Howard hopes the study leads to ideas that may teach people how to use technology better rather than taking it away.

Helen was five years old when she made the trip from her homeland to the United States of America with her mother, sister, and brother. Helen grew up hearing many terrible stories about people who were injured in the war. So as a child, Helen was eager to become a nurse to help those people. And indeed, she became one.

In early 1991, her operating room manager at the University of Virginia said, "Helen, I'd like you to take on a small project." "Okay," Helen agreed. "What's up?" Her manager replied, "Our nineteen operating rooms here are generating too much medical waste. Clean stuff that haven't been used. With your twenty years, working in the operating room, you have the knowledge and experience to figure out what to do with them all. "

So for a year, Helen collected clean medical supplies from all their operating rooms and donated them to missions (布道所). She researched the issue of medical waste. She was surprised to find that more than 2. 4 million tons of hospital waste is generated in the USA annually, with the operating rooms being the largest waste generators. "This is valuable waste, which can be utilized again rather than just being thrown away," she said.

Helen worked four ten-hour days in the operating room, and then spent countless hours networking with people on behalf of missions. Before she could say, "How did I get myself into this?" She had formed Medical Equipment Recovery of Clean Inventory (物品清单)(MERCI). For years, she sorted supplies after work, every day including weekends. Gradually MERCI had a steady stream of volunteers helping to sort, and the results were beyond their wildest imaginations. Since Helen started her "small project", MERCI has sorted more than 350 tons of medical supplies valued at ＄75 million, which have been sent all over the world and helped many people.

And now, Helen still leads a very busy life, but she thinks what she has been doing is meaningful.

1）打听是否有人认识这只狗；

2）将狗的照片传到网上；

3）暂时收养或送到流浪动物保护中心（rescue center）。

注意：

1）词数 100 左右；

2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；

3）开头已经给出，不计入总词数.

Dear David，

I've got your email and know that

……

Yours，

Li Jin