广西钦州市灵山县2023-2024学年高二上学期期中考试英语试题

    OPENINGS AND PREVIEWS

    Animals Out of Paper

    Yolo！Productions and the Great Griffon present the play by Rajiv Joseph，in which an origami（折纸术）artist invites a teenage talent and his teacher into her studio. Merri Milwe directs. In previews. Opens Feb.12.（West Park Presbyterian Church，165 W.86th St.212-868-4444.）

    The Audience

    Helen Mirren stars in the play by Peter Morgan，about Queen Elizabeth II of the UK and her private meetings with twelve Prime Ministers in the course of sixty years. Stephen Daldry directs. Also starring Dylan Baker and Judith Ivey. Previews begin Feb.14.（Schoenfeld，236 W.45th St.212-239-6200.）

    Hamilton

    Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote this musical about Alexander Hamilton，in which the birth of America is presented as an immigrant story. Thomas Kail directs. In previews. Opens Feb.17.（Public，425 Lafayette St.212-967-7555.）

    On the Twentieth Century

    Kristin Chenoweth and Peter Gallagher star in the musical comedy by Betty Comden and Adolph Green，about a Broadway producer who tries to win a movie star's love during a cross-country train journey. Scott Ellis directs，for Roundabout Theatre Company. Previews begin Feb.12.（American Airlines Theatre，227 W.42nd St.212-719-1300.）

Throughout history, music spread among people of different cultures. In today's technological advanced society, however, people spread music online, sometimes without an artist's permission. This can lead to many problems, and music companies are now cracking down on this practice. Sharing music online without permission is theft.

Sharing music online prevents recording companies from making money from their efforts. They say that sharing music online has resulted in a huge drop in profits and sales over the past 10 years. People who find music for free online are not paying for CDs or every piece of music downloaded. To truly understand the influence of music piracy (盗版行为) on creators, one must understand how many people are involved in the recording process. For the sale of each album, profits must be shared among musicians, sound engineers, music producers, managers, advertisers, and the company selling the product. Many people believe sharing music only affects the recording artist, but the reality is that sharing hurts business for all companies involved.

There are many people who don't see the harm in sharing music online and even think they have the right to do it. One online blogger states that he originally paid for an entire CD and that he should be able to do with the material whatever he wants. While he may have legally paid for the music, he does not have the right to share it without permission, which means people like the blogger are thieves.

Although we don't spread music the same way we did before, there's no doubt that people around the world love to share music. However, Internet piracy will prevent musicians from continuing producing albums for fear of theft. Therefore, if people want to continue listening to their favorite artists, they need to buy their music so that artists will make enough profits to continue their music careers.

Splash (落水声)! Did you hear that? Can you guess what it is? Can you figure it out? If you guessed the ocean, then you're correct! I believe that my organization, Reef Check, is the most worthy of receiving the Chocolate Heart money. Do you want to know why? Well, soon you'll find out.

First of all, Reef Check needs the money to repair and clean coral reefs (珊瑚礁) which are home to millions of sea animals. Reef Check hopes to educate the public about the value of reef ecosystems (生态系统) and the danger that sea animals and plants are facing. Based in Los Angeles, Reef Check has volunteer teams in more than 90 countries, making community volunteers, businesses, universities, and other non-profit organizations work together. It works to create a worldwide network of volunteer teams trained in Reef Check's scientific methods that survey coral and rocky reefs and report on reef health. Also, Reef Check takes action to protect remaining ancient reefs and repair reefs in danger worldwide.

For example, imagine you are a poor sea animal, whose home just got destroyed or wasn't clean. What would you do? What could you do? Nothing much, really. But that's exactly Reef Check's job! To clean and protect these homes for many sea animals!

Furthermore, in 1997, Reef Check carried out the first-ever survey of coral reef health that provided scientific evidence that our coral reefs were in danger because of overfishing, illegal fishing, and pollution. The results surprised many biologists who had not realized the seriousness of human influence on reefs. In August 2002, Reef Check presented its report, The Global Coral Reef Crisis - Trends and Solutions, at the World Summit in South Africa. The report warned that there was no reef in the world that remained untouched by human influence, such as overfishing, pollution, and climate change.

In short, everyone should have a home including animals from the sea. So don't leave them out! Be generous and give them a home!

Pay a visit to the Chicago River and you'll find that it has a wonderful new addition to the local wildlife. Among the birds and fish, visitors may spot a small robot moving up and down the busy waterway. This is Trashbot, the creation of a startup called Urban Rivers, using cutting-edge technology to clean up trash in the area.

In some ways, Trashbot is like the vacuum cleaners (真空吸收器) found in American homes. But it isn't. While its free movement and lack of onsite handlers may give the impression that this is a self-driving machine, this could not be further from the truth. At any point in time, Trashbot might be controlled by one of the Internet users.

Anyone with a web connection can get into Urban River's website and take a two-minute turn at piloting Trashbot. The company's goal is to use this time to direct Trashbot to pick up trash, and then carry this to a collection point on the river bank, where it can be later removed.

The idea for Trashbot started a few years ago when Urban Rivers' project the "floating gardens" on the Chicago River got clogged up (被堵塞) with trash. To solve this, they started employing old-fashioned human litter pickers to collect trash from the river. However, this turned out to be ineffective.

The idea of a robot boat was born then, but the team wasn't sure how to pilot it. Teaching a computer to understand what trash is isn't easy, Trash is a somewhat abstract concept (概念) . We know it when we see it. At this point they decided to turn to the Internet for help.

"We figured that we could put out a call so that this boat could be controlled by people around the world," says Nick Wesley, one of the brains behind the project. "Letting people take control of a robot to clean up trash makes for a really cool experience."

If you are already making the time to exercise, it is good indeed! With such busy lives, it can be hard to try and find the time to work out. Working out in the morning provides additional benefits beyond being physically fit.

Your productivity is improved. Exercising makes you more awake and ready to handle whatever is ahead of you for the day.

    Your metabolism(新陈代谢) gets a head start. If you work out in the mornings, then you will be getting the calorie(卡路里)burning benefits for the whole day, not in your sleep.

Studies found that people who woke up early for exercise slept better than those who exercised in the evening. Exercise energizes you, so it is more difficult to relax and have a peaceful sleep when you are very excited.

    If you work out bright and early in the morning, you will be more likely to stick to healthy food choices throughout the day. Who would want to ruin their good workout by eating junk food? You will want to continue to focus on positive choices.

There are a lot of benefits to working out, especially in the mornings. Set your alarm clock an hour early and push yourself to work out! You will feel energized all day long.

A. You will stick to your diet.

B. Your quality of sleep improves.

C. You prefer healthy food to fast food.

D. There is no reason you should exercise in the morning.

E. You can keep your head clear for 4-10 hours after exercise.

F. After you exercise, you continue to burn calories throughout the day.

G. If you are planning to do exercise regularly, or you're doing it now, then listen up!

My career as a chef started at the age of 25, but my 1 for cooking started at an early age, when I was about 5 years old — by watching my grandmother and my mom in the kitchen 2 daily meals for the family. I was also 3 by going with my grandfather to markets to 4 the freshest ingredients. My grandfather taught me the art of picking and recognizing "the 5 ."

From my youth, I have had this passion for food. Growing up in Morocco, I witnessed the most amazing hospitality and 6  through my grandparents. They opened their 7  to everybody, and fed and sheltered the poor, travelers, family and friends.

I remember as a young kid coming home from school to the 8  of fragrant (芳香的) fresh bread coming out of the oven. Those smells stimulated (刺激) my senses at a young age. The 9 were fresh and seasonal — they were very simple dishes but delightfully 10 .

Food is almost as 11  as it is necessary. Food makes people feel things. I really think that food tastes its best when there is a 12  behind it. It shapes cultures, religion, politics and health. Food brings people together, and goes straight to the 13 .

In my kitchen, I try to duplicate (复制) smells and flavors that make me think about more than what I'm actually smelling or 14 — it makes me think of life, my family, and my history. I love to cook food that 15 people's emotions and memories; my philosophy is to "keep food real and simple."

The Chinese New Year is now (wide) known as the Spring Festival because it starts from the beginning of Spring. (it) origin (起源) is too old to be known. Several explanations are hanging around. But all agree that the word Nian, which modern Chinese means "year", was originally the name of a monster beast started to eat people the night before the beginning of a new year.

One legend goes that the beast Nian had a very big mouth that would swallow a great many people with one bite. People were very (frighten). One day, old man came to help them, offering to subdue (制伏) Nian. He told people (put) up red paper decorations on their windows and doors at each year's end to scare away Nian in case it came back again, because red was the color the beast feared the most.

Today, the custom of putting up red paper and setting off fire-crackers  (be) still around.  , people have long forgotten why they are doing all this, except that they feel the color and the sound add to the  (excite) of the celebration.

假如你是李华，计划和同学去敬老院（nursing home）陪老人们过重阳节（the Double Ninth Festival）。请给外教露西写封邮件，邀她一同前往，内容包括：1.出发及返回时间；2.活动：包饺子、表演节目等。

注意：1.词数100左右；2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；3.结语已为你写好。

Sara Savick remembers one special Easter when she was nine years old. Her parents gave her a baby duckling in a yellow basket.

"Mom said later that she bought the little duck because she felt sorry for it," recalled Sara. The people at the pet store colored the feathers pink for Easter. Sara named the duck Pinky.

Sara's mother really didn't think the baby duck would survive very long. But to her surprise, Pinky grew and got stronger and stronger. Soon, the little duckling was a healthy, hungry duck with white feathers.

"We fed Pinky oatmeal, cooked and uncooked, and small pieces of vegetables," said Sara. Pinky lived inside the house with Sara and her family. She specially fancied taking baths with Sara. Everyone treated Pinky as a family member.

But just when everything appeared to be perfect, the night of the "talk" came. Sara's Mom and Dad sat her down, explaining that the best thing for Pinky was to live a normal duck life, with other ducks. It was not natural for ducks to live indoors with a family, her father told her. He added Pinky needed to swim in ponds and do all the same things that ducks in the wild do.

Sara started to cry, knowing what was going to happen. Sara's parents decided to take Pinky to a park, which was two miles away. There was a pond with a lot of other ducks. Pinky would have the chance to live a natural life and Sara could still visit her.

The big day came, Sara and her parents put Pinky in a box and drove to the park. Sara said that Pinky did not look happy; maybe Pinky was convinced that she was a human, not a duck.

注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为 l50 左右;2.续写部分分为两段,每段的开头语已为你写好;

Paragraph 1

Everyone was sad when they left Pinky at the pond, even Sara's father.

Paragraph 2

The next morning, when looking out of the kitchen window, Sara couldn't believe her eyes!