陕西省西安市阎良区关山中学2023-2024学年高一上学期第三次质量检测英语试题

Free Learning Tools for Self-learners

CCtalk

CCtalk is one of the most popular learning tools on your journey of self-growth and discovery. It offers over 4, 000 free courses from various disciplines. One of the best things about the platform is that it is available in many other languages other than English. It also has a mobile app to keep your learning on the go. 

Gaotu

Talking about learning on-the-go, Gaotu is also one of the most popular mobile learning apps. The app offers you the opportunity to learn a language in bite-sized units. Flashcards, multiple-choice questions and translation exercises help you pick up vocabulary and grammar. 

Learning Communication

If you are the learner who likes text only, Learning Communication is a great resource. This site offers over 50 million e-books and textbooks on just about any subject you can think of. From an introduction to essay writing to the philosophy of artificial intelligence, Learning Communication offers you the full range of reading. 

MOOC

MOOC offers self-learners more than 600 online courses, sets of teaching materials, and lecture series on its open education platform. This makes it one of the most valuable learning tools on the Internet. Unlike courses on other platforms, MOOC's courses and lectures are not intended to introduce broad topics. Instead, learners can explore specific subjects in depth. 

The world's oldest pen pals have both become 100 years old after many years of transatlantic letters and have now switched to Zoom. Centenarians (百岁老人) Geoff Banks from Honiton, Devon, and Celesta Byrne from the US, started writing to each other aged just 16 in 1938. They met as part of an educational project to put British and American students in contact — and decades later they are still corresponding. 

Former engineer Geoff even kept in touch with Celesta during WWII when he served as a mechanic on British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious in the Pacific. It has been so long that Geoff, a retired engineer, barely remembers how they started talking. Geoff said, "I honestly struggle to remember how we got in touch, and I think it was something to do with an American school's scheme. It matched us up with Americans for a pen pal relationship, and somehow I ended up with a letter from an American girl, and we have just kept corresponding ever since. There were a couple of years when we struggled to keep in touch because of the war. Now I correspond mainly by email. Email is much easier for me these days because I can't write very well anymore. We just talk about daily lives and our families really, but we don't discuss the football. "

They now touch base via video app Zoom. Geoff said, "I have this new thing called Zoom to chat with her, but I leave all the technology to younger people. They're much better at pressing all the buttons. "

Despite having chatted for decades, the pair only met twice — first in 2002 while Geoff visited New York aged 80, and then again two years later. Having such a unique relationship, the pair deny there is any romance there. Celesta said, "We're just friends, like people who live next door. It's nice to hear his voice. "

While some critics claim that history curricula (课程) teach unnecessary content, others argue that these curricula need to be more comprehensive. Despite ongoing debates about content, one universal truth remains: strong history curricula are necessary for developing the productive citizens of tomorrow. 

The greatest academic value that history curricula provide is not the recall of important dates and names. Rather, understanding the historical inquiry process is the most important component. This process teaches students how to become critical thinkers and understand the dynamic nature of the telling of history. 

Through strong history curricula, students are shown both a variety of primary and secondary sources and are taught to critique them. This is where the historical inquiry process begins. Students not only begin to analyze and ask questions about the content, but they also learn about the author's credibility and potential bias (偏见). Students are then able to contextualize the information they learn and can think more critically about historical context and those who tell it. 

With this framework, students can then understand the causal relationship between human nature, values, philosophy, actions, and their consequences. It teaches students to recognize recurrent themes and lessons that are necessary to understand modern society. Most importantly, it teaches students to develop a healthy skepticism (怀疑论) when presented with information today because our actions are history in the making. 

Forty years ago, renowned scholar James Fitzgerald argued that no education is complete without the teaching of historical inquiry. He believed that the only way to move forward in life is to understand what's behind us. 

Today, this principle still holds true. Students take both the factual knowledge and the historical inquiry skills they learn in the classroom and apply them to real world circumstances. Throughout their lives, students who are taught with strong history curricula will take the lessons they learn from our predecessors and become involved, active, productive citizens who want to create a history that tomorrow's students will be proud to learn about. 

Elephants eat plants. That's common knowledge to biologists and animal-loving schoolchildren alike. Yet figuring out exactly what kind of plants they eat is more complicated. 

A new study from a global team that included Brown University conservation biologists used innovative methods to efficiently and precisely analyze the dietary habits of elephants in Kenya. Their findings on the habits of individual elephants help answer important questions about group food searching behaviors, and aid biologists in understanding the conservation approaches that best keep elephants not only sated (饱的) but satisfied. 

"When I talk to non-ecologists, they are surprised to learn that we have never really had a clear picture of what all of these large animals actually eat in nature, " Kartzinel, an expert botanist who has conducted field research in Kenya, said. "The reason is that these animals are difficult and dangerous to observe from up-close, they move long distances, they feed at night and in thick bush and a lot of the plants they feed on are quite small. "

Then the team compared the diets of individual elephants through time. In their analysis, they showed that dietary differences among individuals were often far greater than what had been previously assumed, even among family members that ate together on a given day. 

This study helps address a classic paradox (悖论) in wildlife ecology. Kartzinel said: "How do social bonds hold family groups together in a world of limited resources?" In other words, given that elephants all seemingly eat the same plants, it's not obvious why competition for food doesn't push them apart and force them to search for food independently.

"The simple answer is that elephants vary their diets based not only on what's available but also their preferences and physiological needs, " said Kartzinel. These findings help inform theories of why a group of elephants may search for food together: The individual elephants don't always eat exactly the same plants at the same time, so there will usually be enough plants to go around.

These findings may offer valuable insights for conservation biologists. To protect elephants and create environments in which they can successfully grow their populations, they need a variety of plants to eat. 

Knowing How and When to Say Sorry Can Build Better Friendship

Have you ever argued with a friend and said or done something you regretted? . Knowing how to apologize can help you become friends again and to understand why you fell out in the first place. 

Why do we argue?

We argue for all kinds of reasons. For example, you might think your football team is fantastic, but your friend disagrees, or you don't want someone to join in your game. Sometimes, especially if you are angry, things can become out of control, and you'll say or do something you regret. . But it's important to resolve your differences afterwards so bad feelings don't get worse. This is where an apology can help. 

What does saying sorry mean?

We all make mistakes, and apologizing is a way of admitting we've got something wrong and will try not to do it again.  . An apology needs to show the other person that you are genuinely sorry, you accept responsibility for your actions, and that you want their forgiveness. 

?

Sometimes another person may pressure you into taking the blame when it has nothing to do with you. If you feel this is happening, try talking about why you argued in the first place and explain how it made you feel. If you still can't agree, you could ask a parent or teacher to help you resolve the problem. 

Does apologizing always work?

A genuine apology is a magic word. It may take time for someone to understand and forgive. . But you can feel good about trying to fix things and promising yourself to do better next time. 

A. What if it's not my fault

B. How should we apologize to others

C. Try it again if you fail to get others' forgiveness

D. Even after you've said sorry, you could still feel bad

E. Arguing and disagreeing with others occasionally is normal

F. It may be hard to say sorry, but if you want to make something better you must try

G. Sometimes it can be hard to put things right, especially when feelings have been hurt

At the age of 91, living alone, Thomas was quietly enjoying his old age. His days were filled with 1  and leisure. He would watch TV and 2  leave his place. His lack of physical activity 3  his granddaughter, Diana. She wanted her grandpa to live a long and happy life and she finally had a perfect 4 . 

Armed with a handful of love—a(n) 5  little dog named Frederica, she set out to6  her beloved grandpa. Diana knew her grandpa's 7  for animals. Thomas was even considering getting a dog in the past, but his family 8  him. This time, Diana 9  to take matters into her own hands. She knew that having a puppy would be a 10  for the elderly man, so she was ready to 11  him with whatever he would need. What a wonderful and 12  decision!

Thomas' face 13  up when he saw what his granddaughter was holding in her arms. He then 14  the puppy from the floor and immediately fell in love. The whole family were astonished by the immediate 15  between Thomas and the cute puppy. In the following days, Thomas began his remarkable 16 . He used to kill

most of his time inside by watching TV. But now with Frederica, he has developed a new 17 . 

"Now, my grandfather gets up early to go outside with Frederica, and the dog 18 him when he works in the garden. They go for walks on the beach — all sorts of activities my grandfather used to 19 to do, " Diana said in an interview, "He is much more active and 20 . "

The winners of the 2023 Hugo Awards (announce) at the 2023 Chengdu World Science Fiction Convention this October, with Chinese writer Hai Ya's The Space-Time Painter (win) the Hugo Award for Best Novelette. Hai became the (three) Chinese winner of this award, following Liu Cixin and Hao Jingfang. 

Drawing (inspire) from the painting masterpiece One Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, Hai has written a thriller which combines the elements of traditional Chinese culture and historysci-fi and detective genres (体裁) . Hai has created the character of painting prodigy (奇才) Zhao Ximeng, who painted for an emperor about 1, 000 years ago. After much misery and suffering, the painter's mind abandons his physical body and enters a spacea modern police officer is investigating a case involving an ancient painting. The sci-fi narrative, connected (close) to Chinese history, reveals the political power struggle of the period when the ancient painting was created. 

Hai, alsofinancial worker, thinks himself more of a sci-fi enthusiasta writer. "I have a very busy job, leaving me little time to write, " he said. "But I believe if I'm willing to put efforts in it, I (see) hopes and the dawn. "

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词;2. 只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。

I bought a book about motivation the few weeks ago. My mother asked me that I would like to share it with others when she finished reading the book. Of course, I was willingly to give it to those who wanted it. It occurs to me that I should send it to my friend, Pam. She supported me through my learning journey but I valued her friendship greatly. Fortunately, she was being admitted into a key university last year. I told her pass it on to someone else if it wasn't fit to her. I hoped that it would be reading instead of sitting on my bookshelf. 

要点如下: 1. 做家务的经历；2. 你的感受和收获。

注意： 1. 词数100左右；2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。