Here is a letter from the Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe Bryant on The Players' Tribune website on November 30th.

“...This season is all I have left to give. My heart can take the pounding(重击).My mind can handle the grind(苦差事)but my body knows it's time to say goodbye."

“Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest players in the history of our game. Whether competing in the Finals or hoisting jump shots after midnight in an empty gym, Kobe has an unconditional love for the game. I join Kobe's millions of' fans around the world in congratulating him on an outstanding NBA career and thank him for so many thrilling memories.”

——Adam Silver, NBA commissioner (总裁)

“We're all sad. This era of Lakers basketball has been one of the most fun, exciting prosperous eras we could imagine. We're in full support of him. But it's still very sad.”

——Jeanie Buss, Lakers president

“I know his purpose is to finish out this season and play. It's always sad when greatness decides to hang it up" 'I thought he had at least another year in him.”

——Byron Scott, Lakers coach, and Bryant's teammate during the 1996-97 season

“He pushed me to be better more than any player I've faced. Kobe is the greatest competitor I have ever faced. I am glad he has found peace. I don't know if we'll see another one like him.”

——Shane Battier, of the Miami Heat

“Hard to believe @ kobe bryant is finally going to hang it up. One of the NBA's great champions. Enjoy the rest of this season, my friend.”

——Scottie Pippen, retired NBA All-Star

1. What can we learn from Kobe Bryant's letter

   A. He'll finish this season before he retires.       

   B. He'll return to basketball court soon.

   C. He has lost passion for basketball.

   D. He'll retire immediately after the letter.

2. According to Byron Scott,        .

   A. Kobe has an unconditional love for basketball  

   B. Lakers team has played very well this year

   C. Kobe is supposed to play at least for another year

   D. it is difficult to find another player like Kobe

3. Where can we most probably read the comments

   A. In a newspaper.                  B. From an Internet page.

   C. In a sports magazine.            D. In a TV program.

The United States of America was founded in 1776 after the 13 independent American states rose up against the ruling British, defeated them in the American Revolutionary War, and signed the Declaration of Independence, the document which declared the creation of the new country.

The men who led the revolution, drafted the Declaration of Independence, and wrote the first American laws are known as " founding fathers". Benjamin Franklin, whose picture is on the US 100-dollar note, was appointed to prepare the Declaration that was eventually signed by the other founding fathers.

Franklin was born in 1706 in Boston to a soap maker named Josiah Franklin. His father could not afford full schooling for all his children, but Benjamin loved books and worked in his elder brother's printing business before starting a newspaper called the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1729. He wrote and drew cartoons for the newspaper. In addition, he worked to improve living conditions in the city: introducing street lights, cleaning the roads and building libraries. In the 1740s, Franklin retired from his newspaper and turned to science with great success. He was a very smart man and his work on electricity, including the “kite experiment” which confirmed the nature of lightning, made him famous throughout the world.

Franklin earned the title of the “First American” for his efforts to unite the 13 American states, and to win their independence. This part of the story starts in London. He was sent to the city to persuade the British to treat the American states more fairly. It was here that he began interacting with important political thinkers and activists of the time and developing his own political ideas.

Following his return to America in 1761 he became much more active in American politics and in the battle against British rule.

After the United States of America was established, Franklin held several important positions such as the first United States Postmaster General, Ambassador to France and President of Pennsylvania. He is also famous today for his wise sayings, including “a penny saved is a penny earned” and “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.

4. What is the article mainly about?

    A. The American Declaration of Independence.

    B. Benjamin Franklin's early life.

    C. The American War of Independence.

    D. Franklin's contributions to American society.

5. How did Franklin begin developing his own political thinking?

    A. By persuading the 13 American states to unite.

    B. By discussing ideas with political activists in Britain.

    C. By fighting against British rule in America.

    D. By writing articles for his own newspaper.

6. What can be inferred about Franklin from the article?

    A. His most important contribution was in science.

    B. He was the leader of the “founding fathers”.

    C. He came from a very wealthy family.

    D. He was successful in many different areas.

7. What is the correct order for the following events from Franklin’s life?

    a. He started a newspaper business.

    b. He carried out the kite experience on electricity.

    c. He worked for his brother in a printing company.

    d. He was appointed the Ambassador to France.

    e. He helped write the Declaration of Independence.

    f. He visited England to discuss independence.

    A. c, a, b, f, e, d    B. e, c, a, b, f, d    C. a, c, f, b, d, e    D. f, d, a, b, c, e

Tiny monitoring devices have become an increasingly common way for scientists to study elusive animals that are difficult to track on a day-to-day basis. However, now it seems that smart. Seals have caught on to the trick and are using it to their advantage to catch fish!

    To find out if that is true, a team of researchers from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland selected a group often young grey seals that had neither encountered the ocean nor been exposed to any kind of acoustic（声音的）tags. The researchers then placed the seals one at a time, inside a pool that contained 20 foraging boxes, only two of which housed fish — one with tags and the other without.

Each seal was allowed to explore the boxes twenty separate times. In order to ensure that mammal was not depending on its memory, the fish were moved to different boxes each time. At first, there was no difference in the amount of time it took the seals to discover the tagged and untagged fish. However, after they had been in the pool a few times, they started locating the tagged fish much faster.

    To confirm that this indeed was the case, there searchers conducted a second experiment using two boxes — one with pieces of fish and the other with just acoustic tags. Sure enough, the seals were all attracted to the one that was sending out signals.

    While this experiment involved only seals, the researchers believe that other marine mammals may also be using the information to catch prey. Sadly, predators like sharks that have been tagged by scientists may be negatively affected, as pings they emit could warn their prey of their presence. Besides potentially messing up nature’s food chain, the “dinner bell” effect of the acoustic tags could also mean that the conclusions reached by previous fish studies may not be correct. Now that the secret is out, scientists will have to come up with another way to conduct their studies — one that is not detectable by the crafty marine animals.

8. What does the underlined part “the trick” in Paragraph 1 refer to?

    A. Tracking sea animals on a day-to-day basis.

    B. Following the sound that fish make.

    C. Attaching tiny monitoring devices to sea animals.

    D. Looking for ways to catch fish.

9. What is implied about the ten young grey seals?

    A. They have acoustic tags attached to them.

    B. They were not born in the ocean.

    C. They have been trained to recognize acoustic tags.

    D. They have better hearing than normal seals.

10. After doing the two experiments the researchers most probably concluded that ________.

    A. seals can really make use of the acoustic signals to prey

    B. seals can be easily fooled by acoustic tags

    C. seals are much cleverer than most of the other sea animals

    D. it’s really easy for seals to find their prey

11. The researchers seem to believe that sharks tagged by scientists ________.

    A. may benefit from the tags                 B. may attract seals by mistake

    C. may be annoyed by the emitted pings      D. may find it hard to find prey

     At Dulles High school in Sugar Land, Texas, the roster(候选名单)for Advanced Chinese begins with Jason Chao and ends with Kathy Zhang. In between comes an unexpected name: Elizabeth Hoffman. Hoffman, now a 12^th grader, began learning Chinese in the eighth grade, has spent a summer studying in Nanjing and plans to perfect her Mandarin next fall. When asked by her peers---why she is learning Chinese, she responds with a question: “why aren’t you?”

As China rushes toward superpower status, America’s schools and government officials are responding to Hoffman’s opinion. Earlier this year Eush Holt of New Jersey introduced legislation(立法)calling for increased money of programs for less commonly taught languages, “For reasons of economics, culture and security, we should have much better facilities(设备)with Chinese languages and dialects,” he said. The State Department has pointed out Chinese is becoming a “critical language”, but the most recent data show that only 24,000 students in Grade 7 to Grade 12 study Chinese.

Still, the number is growing. In Chicago public schools, enrollment in Chinese classes has skyrocketed from 5000 students in 2005 to nearly 35,000 students this year. In the Santa Clara County, California, enrollment has quadrupled during the same period. In 2007, when the College Board first introduces advanced-placement language exams in Chinese and Italian, 2,400 high school plan to offer AP Chinese---10 times the number of students that plan to offer AP Italian.

Much of the interest can be explained by China’s increasing competitiveness. “People are always trying to judge what languages are going to be useful for the future,” says Marty Abbot, the director of education at the National Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Stephanie Wong, a student At Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, California, chose Chinese so that she could speak with her grandfather. Wong also predicted that Chinese will be important if she becomes a doctor. 80 percent of people in her hometown are Asians.

12. What does the first paragraph mainly discuss?

   A. Dulles High School offers a Chinese course

   B. Elizabeth Hoffman takes the lead in learning Chinese

   C. Elizabeth Hoffman suggests her school offer a Chinese course

   D. Jason and Kathy are the top students at Dulles School

13. According to the text, Chinese is becoming a “critical language” because ______.

   A. American government has pointed it out

   B. Rush Holt introduced legislation calling for opening Chinese

   C. many students in the world choose to learn Chinese

   D. China rushes toward superpower status

14._______ arouses America’s schools interest in Chinese.

   A. The fact that Chinese is becoming a “critical language”

   B. The beautiful Chinese traditional culture

   C. China’s increasing competitiveness in the world

   D. The population of people speaking Chinese

15. We can infer from the passage that ________.

   A. if a language is useful for the future it may become a critical language

   B. in America, more people speak Italian than Chinese

   C. the number of enrollment in Chinese classes will be increasing forever

   D. more money will be spent on facilities with Chinese languages

Could Organizing Your Home Change Your Life?

Marie Kondo is an expert on organizing and cleaning. She is considered an expert on clearing away unused or unnecessary things, better known as clutter. Actually, she did write a book on the issue, which is called “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”.         16        It has sold more than 2 million copies.

Marie Kondo says people can improve their lives by changing the way they think about all their stuff-- everything from books, documents and photographs to clothing and personal mementoes. “      17      ” And this is pretty good.” Ms. Kondo writes.

This is not the first time an organizing expert has written a book on clutter. Other books suggest wonderful things will happen when you organize your home. One book says that if you throw out 50 things from your home, you will actually find your life.        18       . And still others promise a better job, more money and a perfect family if you simply organize the things that fill your life.       19       . She told the Business Insider website that some of her clients have lost weight. “Your self-perception is improved by living in a clean and neat room,” she said. “This can change lifestyles and, in turn, appearances.”

Marie Kondo teaches a method of organizing she calls KonMari. It is more of an event or ceremony. This is the part that followers say makes it more lasting. Ms. Kondo says KonMari creates a different relationship between you and your possessions. If the object meant something to you or served you well, you thank it for its service before throwing or giving it away. In her book, Ms. Kondo suggests that you touch the item and ask one simple question: "Does it bring me joy?"       20       .

A. Her book is a best-seller around the world

B. Marie Kondo makes some of the same claims

C. On the contrary, Marie Kondo disagrees with it.

D. Unnecessary things just take up too much space in your home.

E. If it doesn’t, you give it away so that it may give joy to someone else.

F. Another book says that if you make clutter disappear, you will also lose weight.

G. When you put your house in order, you put your affairs and your past in order too.