湖南省常德市第一高级中学2023-2024学年高二上学期期末考试英语试题

Window Cleaning Available

Professional traditional method only (mop and blade)! Cleaning glass for over 10 years! Prices start from ￡3.50 to￡7.00. Disabled discounts available! No chemicals! We have space available on our round covering all areas of the west Midlands.

Phone: 07775 359361

Smart Home

At Smart Home we provide our clients with a range of home assistant services, including pre move-in and post renovation cleaning, pest control, air-conditioning maintenance and deep cleaning services.

Phone: 08825 378451

Healing, Balance And Relaxing Massage (按摩)Therapies

Focus on high-quality service and customer satisfaction! A variety of offerings to choose from!

-Relaxing massage￡25/hour

-Hot stone massage￡35/hour

-Deep tissue massage￡30/hour

Special offer! Add the Indian head massage for only extra￡10

Phone: 07432 256741

Year 2-6 Math And English Tutoring

I am an A level student currently studying Biology, Chemistry and Physics. I achieved a B in Math and a B in English GCSE level of education. I am keen on tutoring children from year 2 to year 6 in order to prepare them for their SATS in both year 2 and year 6 and help them achieve the best level possible.

Phone: 07446 251339

Zhou Dongyu was born into an ordinary family in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province in early 1992. In 2010, Zhang Yimou chose Zhou from more than 8,000 actresses to star in Under the Hauthorn Tree, and she soon became known to the people of her hometown after winning Best Actress at the 56th Valladolid International Film Festival in Spain, the Outstanding New Actress Award at the 14th China Huabiao Awards and Best New Performer at the 20th Shanghai Film Critics Association Awards for her role in Under the Hauthorn Tree.

The luck of the young actress continued from there. In 2011, she was admitted to the Beijing Film Academy (BFA), China's most respected film school.

In the three years there, Zhou received a number of film offers and starred in several, but the characters always seemed the same. "I'm always that innocent girl—the first-love type," she once lamented. She felt the need to break out of the pigeonhole(禁锢). In 2013, Zhou auditioned(试演) for a small role in Breakup Buddies. "Actually, the director turned me down at first. But days later, he called me in for an audition. ‘I have to land this role' was all I could think on the way to the audition. It was the perfect opportunity to change my image." During her audition, Zhou was asked to do some name-calling. Two days later, she was told that she had been cast as a rural hairdresser, turning her previous lovable, innocent image upside down and resulting in the most memorable female character in the film.

After Breakup Buddies, Zhou began to receive a wider variety of offers, and she ended up playing an ill-tempered genius in The Ark of Mr. Chow and an agent in the TV drama Sparrow. "I still need to further improve my skills by playing different characters," says Zhou. "By doing this, I get a deeper understanding of a wider variety of people I might not have otherwise ever known."

A lot of manufactured glass today made from sand and sodium carbonate （碳酸钠） can be reused or melted down and recycled into new items, but it doesn't break down in the environment and will sit in landfills for thousands  of years. A team of Chinese scientists aimed to deal with this environmental concern by developing an eco-conscious alternative.

In a study published recently in the journal Science Advances, a team at the Chinese  Academy of Sciences' Institute of Process Engineering describe how they engineered biodegradable glass made from amino acids(氨基酸). That glass would have a smaller impact on the environment and can break down in a few weeks or in several months.

In a test, glass beads (玻璃珠)made out of amino acids were placed under the skin of mice, and the breakdown of the bead and the skin healing process were observed for 30 days. A diagram from the study shows how the mice's bodies broke down the beads. In that month, the glass implant degraded beneath the skin, the wound site healed, and fur grew back. "Throughout the experimental period, no mice exhibited any pain-related behavior that may have been caused by the glass implantation, and none of them experienced obvious weight loss," the researchers wrote in their paper.

Although amino acids do degrade over time in the environment, this biodegradable glass is not as durable as traditional glass, because amino acids can break down quickly in heat. In order to overcome this hurdle, the researchers chemically modified the amino acids using the heating-cooling procedure applied in glass manufacturing. This is when materials for the glass are heated to become soft and then rapidly cooled so as to make the glass tougher.

"It's important to point out that this biodegradable glass is currently in the lab stage, and far from large- scale commercialization," emphasized Yan Xuehai, a professor involved in the study, in a press release.

In late September, 2023, NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission（任务）delivered bits of rock and dust collected from a distant asteroid（小行星）to Earth. The sample, from the asteroid named Bennu, is the first of its kind brought to the United States. Now, the public can see the asteroid's rocky debris（碎片）on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History a few days ago.

Scientists think the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid is composed of some of the solar system's oldest materials, formed in dying stars before the planets existed. Examining this ancient matter could hold clues about how organic materials first arrived on Earth, so NASA launched the OSIRIS-REx mission in 2016 to collect samples from Bennu's surface. The spacecraft arrived at the asteroid in 2018, surveyed the rock for an ideal collection site and ultimately took a sample back to Earth in 2020. Recently, an initial examination of the sample revealed evidence of a high carbon content and water on Bennu.

When the team was unpacking their sample, they found that "bonus" material from the asteroid covered the collector. The presence（存在）of this extra matter delayed NASA's processing of the sample. "The very best 'problem' to have is that there is so much material that it's taking longer than we expected to collect it," said Christopher Snead, the OSIRIS-REx deputy sample curator. Next, more of the material from Bennu will go on display at the museum. In the next two years, scientists will continue analyzing the sample and will save at least 70 percent of the Bennu rocks for further research.

NASA administrator Bill Nelson believes that studying Bennu samples will advance our understanding of the solar system for generations. It promises to shed light on(弄明白)what makes our planet unique. By studying this 4.5-billion-year-old sample and sharing it with the public, NASA aims to inspire future scientists and encourage them to explore new fields.

Europeans and other western nations have controlled car industry for over a century. But a newcomer will soon be running after them at their heels.It is more than ten years since they did better than America to become the most productive car-makers in the world. China is producing the best cars in the world, and on the way to controlling car production.

China has gradually built its car-making capabilities during different periods. And then its state-owned companies reached arrangements with western makers like General Motors in the 1980s. This produced cars that were far better designed, and soon China's roads were becoming busy with western clones.

It still pays relatively low wages and has millions of skilled workers. Skilled workers are important to reduce the costs because they make vehicles that need fewer rebuilds. Some Chinese vehicles in the past ten years haven't had the design expected by western buyers, so haven't sold in enough cars in Europe to worry the western makers.Chinese-designed and built vehicles are not far behind in their design, and starting to enter European markets. Xpeng is one Chinese start-up that only produces electric vehicles. Having sold well in China, it is making its first moves into Europe via Norway with its G3 model. The next revolution in car industry is replacing petrol vehicles with electric. With all of China's advantages, it could finally become the home of the best cars in the world.

A. How did this happen?

B. Yet this is changing rapidly.

C. These cars sold well at home and abroad.

D. The Chinese are not exactly newcomers.

E. China also has excellent shipping links, like Shanghai.

F. China is also in a good position to build cars for the right price.

G. It originally began making Soviet-designed vehicles in the 1950s.

When I moved to Washington, D.C, I left all of my friends behind.1 new acquaintances to home-cooked meals was my best 2 to make new friends. Given that my food was pretty good, everyone was soon asking me for the3 , which was how Bun Bo Bae, my cooking blog came into being.

In hindsight(事后看来), I've probably been 4 to start a food blog. I spent most of my childhood in the kitchen with my mom. I would watch her cook,5  a lot of knowledge of cooking. To my6 , I left for college before I could learn my mom's best dishes. 

I went to France to study. I was 7  alone for the first time in my life. There were no roommates, dorms or dining halls. I was 8  homesick. So, I started calling my mom and asking for the recipes for my favorite dishes. As it9 , my mom didn't have any recipes. She just taught me how to cook intuitively(凭直觉地); thus, I learned to cook by 10 and feeling my food. 

Bun Bo Bae was initially a space for me to put what I learned into writing. I wanted to write down every 11 I was given in detail. Later on, I 12 more. I created some recipes by myself. Soon my food blog and follower count grew.

Bun Bo Bae increased my 13 at work. I knew I was a great cook, but I had no idea how to make a website. So I taught myself web building. And the14 helped me land my job at NPR, where one of my recipes was 15 in a famous cafeteria.

We rely on news to learn about what is happening in the world around us. That's to say: News (matter)! But we usually find reports on the same events contain different even contradictory information. Why?

Let's take the two news reports on the Henderson Tower fire as an example. The first news report, which focuses on firefighters' efforts to put out the fire, tells us the fire spread quickly and left people (trap). And the firefighters got the fire control. However, the second news report attaches importance to deaths and (injury). The fire has left dozens of people hurt, five of are in a critical condition. From the examples above, we know it is (advise) to remember journalists may have different priorities. They may contradict each other in terms of factual details, as events in the real world are usually complicated and constantly (change). In addition, news reports written at different stages of an event could contain different information as news facts (bring) to light.

To sum up, it's smart to read news reports written from various perspectives, which brings us accurate understanding of a situation!

注意：1. 写作词数在80左右, 开头结尾已经给出，不计入总词数；2. 中国文化周：Chinese Cultural Week；3. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Dear Sir or Madam,

……

Yours sincerely

Li Hua

As the nurse had instructed, Amy walked up and down the halls of Mercy Hospital again and again. As she walked past room after room filled with husbands and wives, laughter and encouragement, she was only reminded of how alone she was.

She couldn't help but notice the bright bouquets (花束) in so many of the rooms. One woman had at least fifty roses beside her bed. How strongly Amy wished to also receive flowers!

Months before, her husband and parents had lost their lives in an accident. She only had grandparents, but they were old and weren't able to go to the hospital with her. So, when she would soon give birth, she came to the hospital by herself. She had never felt so lonely. She wanted to have her hand held by someone to feel supported and loved.

As she continued walking, she passed a room filled with people. Curiously, Amy stuck her head in to see what was going on.

The new mother Laura on the bed inside saw Amy. Although she didn't know what happened to Amy, she noticed how sad Amy looked. And she wanted to cheer her up. "Hi! It looks like you're getting ready to have a baby!' said Laura holding a beautiful baby girl. "Let's hope so," Amy said, trying to sound cheerful.

"I'm Laura. Would you like to hold her?" the mother asked. Amy was so touched by her kindness and nodded. Getting to her was the hard part. Laura had more flowers in her room than Amy had seen all day.

As Amy held the baby, she smiled. "Are you having a boy or girl?" Laura asked "I don't know. I'll find it out tonight," Amy said. "Good luck. You will be a great mom," Laura said. When Amy left, Laura learned she was alone and then whispered to the nurses, "Give all of these flowers to her. Don't let her know they are from me."

Hours later, Amy lay in her own bed, alone, waiting to be delivered of a child. She was so scared. As tears fell down her face, she heard a knock at her door.

注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；2. 请按如下格式作答。

A nurse came in with five beautiful flowers.

……

Amy stopped by Laura's room to visit and curiously found all her flowers gone.

May you have an enjoyable vacation!