广西钦州市浦北县2023-2024学年高二上学期期中考试英语试题（音频暂未更新）

Lynda La Plante is the writer of Prime Suspect and the best-selling author of more than 40books. Her new novel Hidden Killers is out now. She is talking about three books that deeply affected her. 

Wuthering Heights

By Emily Bronte

One night as a child, I walked quietly into the bathroom when I heard a voice calling, "Let me in; let me in!" along with a terrible knock on a window coming from my grandma's room. Quite afraid, I cried, "Help me! Where's the ghost?" Grandma looked up and said, "Don't be silly; I'm listening to a story on the radio called Wuthering Heights." I joined my grandma and realized then how you could take a story from a book and change it to a different medium(媒介).

The Water-Babies

By Charles Kingsley

This classic Victorian story caught my imagination as a child. It made me consider the unfairness of life —why is one child sleeping in comfort and another forced to climb through a chimney(烟囱)?I especially loved all the questions Tom asks on his adventures, many of which are about social unfairness. All my life I've asked questions too. 

The Faerie Queene

By Edmund Spenser

I used to have problems reading—I was told I had "word blindness". My mother gave me a copy of Spenser's poem and said, "If you can learn some of this then you'll be able to read anything." I rose to the challenge. I learned it off by heart and was so proud of myself for keeping something that difficult in mind. Then I learned that I could learn words just as well as anyone.

Jenifer Mauer has needed more willpower than the typical college student to pursue her goal of earning a nursing degree. That willpower bore fruit when Jennifer graduated from University of Wisconsin and became the first in her large family to earn a bachelor's (硕士) degree.

Mauer grew up on a farm in a family of 10 children. Her dad worked at a job away from the farm, and her mother ran the farm with the kids. After high school, Jennifer attended a local technical college, working to pay her tuition(学费), because there was no extra money set aside for a college education. After graduation, she worked to help her sisters and brothers pay for their schooling. 

Jennifer now is married and has three children of her own. She decided to go back to college to advance her career and to be able to better support her family while doing something she loves: nursing. She chose the UW-Eau Claire program at Ministry Saint Joseph's Hospital because she was able to pursue her four-year degree close to home. She could drive to class and be home in the evening to help with her kids. Jennifer received great support from her family as she worked to earn her degree: Her husband worked two jobs to cover the bills, and her 68-year-old mother helped take care of the children at times. 

Through it all, she remained in good academic standing and graduated with honors. Jennifer sacrificed (牺牲) to achieve her goal, giving up many nights with her kids and missing important events to study. "Some nights, my heart was breaking to have to pick between my kids and studying for exams or papers," she says. However, her children have learned an important lesson witnessing their mother earn her degree. Jennifer is a first-generation graduate and an inspiration to her family and that's pretty powerful.

    As data and identity theft becomes more and more common, the market is growing for biometric (生物测量) technologies—like fingerprint scans—to keep others out of private e-spaces. At present, these technologies are still expensive, though.

    Researchers from Georgia Tech say that they have come up with a low-cost device (装置) that gets around this problem: a smart keyboard. This smart keyboard precisely measures the cadence (节奏) with which one types and the pressure fingers apply to each key. The keyboard could offer a strong layer of security by analyzing things like the force of a user's typing and the time between key presses. These patterns are unique to each person. Thus, the keyboard can determine people's identities, and by extension, whether they should be given access to the computer it's connected to—regardless of whether someone gets the password right.

    It also doesn't require a new type of technology that people aren't already familiar with. Everybody uses a keyboard and everybody types differently.

    In a study describing the technology, the researchers had 100 volunteers type the word "touch" four times using the smart keyboard. Data collected from the device could be used to recognize different participants based on how they typed, with very low error rates. The researchers say that the keyboard should be pretty straightforward to commercialize and is mostly made of inexpensive, plastic-like parts. The team hopes to make it to market in the near future.

For those who can stomach it, working out before breakfast may be more beneficial for health than eating first, according to a study of meal timing and physical activity. 

Athletes and scientists have long known that meal timing affects performance. However, far less has been known about how meal timing and exercise might affect general health. 

To find out, British scientists conducted a study. They first found 10 overweight and inactive but otherwise healthy young men, whose lifestyles are, for better and worse, representative of those of most of us. They tested the men's fitness and resting metabolic(新陈代谢的) rates and took samples(样品) of their blood and fat tissue. 

Then, on two separate morning visits to the scientists' lab, each man walked for an hour at an average speed that, in theory should allow his body to rely mainly on fat for fuel. Before one of these works, the men skipped breakfast, meaning that they exercised on a completely empty stomach after a long overnight fast(禁食). On the other occasion, they ate a rich morning meal about two hours before they started walking. 

Just before and an hour after each workout, the scientists took additional samples of the men's blood and fat tissue. 

Then they compared the samples. There were considerable differences. Most obviously, the men displayed lower blood sugar levels at the start of their works when they had skipped breakfast than when they had eaten. As a result, they burned more fat during walks on an empty stomach than when they had eaten first. On the other hand, they burned slightly more calories(卡路里), on average, during the workout after breakfast than after fasting. 

But it was the effects deep within the fat cells that may have been the most significant, the researchers found Multiple genes behaved differently, depending on whether someone had eaten or not before walking. Many of these genes produce proteins(蛋白质) that can improve blood sugar regulation and insulin(胰岛素) levels throughout the body and so are associated with improved metabolic health. These genes were much more active when the men had fasted before exercise than when they had breakfasted. 

The implication of these results is that to gain the greatest health benefits from exercise, it may be wise to skip eating first. 

Confidence Building Tips To Make Your Life Better

Confidence is what separates the good from the bad. However, it is easy to lose your confidence in life. Even one bad thing can make you less confident throughout the day.  Here are four confidence-building tips to make your life better. 

Hold a good attitude.

Smile and you will feel better. Yes, smiling, of forcing a smile on your face can help keep a positive attitude for you during the day. By smiling you will become more positive and confident in your abilities. 

For confident persons, there is no such thing as a negative thought. If they ever have a negative view, their next thought is a way to try and fix that problem. Do you think you are not smart enough?  Do you not have the supplies or skills to do that? Get the supplies and practice. Don't let negative thoughts kill your confidence. 

Change your body language.

Your posture reflects the way you feel. Therefore, if you want to feel confident, you should try to make yourself look confident.  . Look as confident as you can, and soon your true feelings will reflect that posture. 

Volunteer.

Those who volunteer build up their confidence while helping the community. By volunteering, you will grow more confident as you can learn new skills and can help find solutions to others' problems. By doing good for others, you are also giving yourself a sense of pride.   

A. Kill negative thoughts. 

B. Be smart and fix the problem. 

C. Stand up straight, close your hands into fists, and smile. 

D. Fortunately, there are ways that can help build up your confidence. 

E. A confident person will study or take a class to help them fix that. 

F. Your body language sends a strong message to others from time to time. 

G. At the same time you will be known as someone who takes time to help others. 

A few years back, I planned to build a networked digital library where theses(论文) from African universities could be stored. I wanted to find a way to make these great 1  visible to the whole world. It took me months and even years to 2  build it to my taste. But finally, it went nowhere. 

The other day, I was at a rest area. I observed that when one ant found food, others immediately 3  to help pull the food to their storage. I tried to 4  the pattern, which unfortunately resulted in 5  one. Quickly, they came together to rescue it. Then they reorganized and 6  in the line they had created. I saw no 7  of supervision(监督),yet they were moving pieces of food that were about 30 times their individual sizes, which is a 8  task. 

As I watched them, the library plan 9  in my mind. Wouldn't it be 10  to trust others to help you? Right there, I made the following 11  . The ants cooperated with each other: I will form a(n) 12  , bringing professionals together. The ants trusted one another: I must 13  the notion(观念) that only by working alone can I ensure quality. The ants were 14  : I will share my ideas with like-minded people. 

It is about a month later now and the project is progressing well. It's true that by 15  everyone in the organization and trusting people, we will achieve success. 

Have you ever  (imagine) what the world looks like through the eyes of a bee? You can try it out with the Mica Toolbox. 

The Mica Toolbox is a free plug-in(插件)  (build) by scientists at the University of Exeter in Britain. Together with ImageJ, a popular piece of software for   (science)pictures, it can turn many images into animal vision. This means people can check out the pictures appear in the brains of animals such as insects, birds, and fish. 

The way we see our world depends on how our eyes deal  light. Human eyes have three types of photoreceptors(感光细胞), and this makes us see the  (color) of red, green, and blue. Animals, however, might see it  (different). A cat's vision is similar to that of  human who is color-blind, while bees can see ultraviolet(紫外线)light, easily finding patterns on flowers that show them the way to honey. 

As of now, the Mica Toolbox has already been used in many research projects,  (look) at, for example, how animals hide  (they). You can download the software from researcher Jolyo n Trosclanko's website. 

注意： 1.词数80左右；2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Dear Henry,

……

Yours,

Li Hua

April 28,2015. That was the day it started, the start of my new life. I woke up in ICU in the hospital, not knowing the extent of my injuries or what had happened fully. My parents came in to see me. They saw me awake for the first time. I started trying to move but failed. 

My dad bent down and said, "Jim, you lost your legs in the motorcycle accident."

My dad, growing up, was always very stoical(坚忍的). He raised me and my brother in the tough love style and showed very little emotion. So when I saw the pain and emotion in his face, I knew I had to be strong for not just myself but my entire family. 

I immediately told my parents, "I'd rather be here without them than not be here at all. "They smiled. First time I'd seen them smile since they walked in the room.

The next month and a half of recovery was long and difficult. I was unable to sleep at night. Thoughts began to run through my mind. Would I have a normal life? Would I enjoy the things that I used to enjoy? All I could do was look forward to the morning when my family and friends came back. 

I got released from the hospital on June 3, 2015, the day after my 27th birthday. I got home, finally, ready to start my new life. But I still had to figure out what I was going to do next. So as I was trying to figure it out, I had a couple of friends that were trying to help me out and get my life started. They were members of the Pip e Hitters Union Motorcycle Club. 

One day, they gave me a text message that said, "Give this guy a call. His name is David. He can help you. "I called David and soon we met. I had a meeting with him and his staff. He told me about his gym called ATF-the Adaptive Training Foundation. It was a non-profit organization aimed at helping people with disabilities come back to normal life through physical training.

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。

Paragraph 1: 

I filled out an application, almost immediately accepted into class.

Paragraph 2: 

At this time, David advised me to find a job.