河南省濮阳市2017-2018学年高二下学期英语期末（升级）考试A卷

    Where will you go to escape the stress of life and the noise of traffic? To find out, we turned to question-and-answer site Quora, where users have been sharing their opinions. From an Alpine palace in Germany to some amazing English views, these dreamy destinations are so magical that it's hard to believe they're real.

    Gaudi's otherworldly imagination

    Designed by one of Spain's most famous architects, Antoni Gauldi, the Roman Catholic church Sagrada Familia is a legend in itself Construction began in 1882, but less than a quarter of the project was complete when Gaudi died in 1926. Since then, work has progressed slowly. How about the ending? Architects plan to complete the project in 2026, the centenary of Gaudi's death.

    As Barcelona's most popular tourist site, Sagrada Familia attracts three million visitors every year for one good reason: It's a masterpiece unlike anything else in the world which is largely responsible for the city's lively personality.

    A setting that could steal the spotlight from any storybook hero

    With its valleys surrounded by lakes, rivers, hills and peaks, the Lake District in England's northwest is quite literally taken out of fairy tales. This place was Beatrix Potter's inspiration for Peter Rabbit and the residence（居所）of the Lake Poets, including William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey.

    One of nature's most magical illusions

    Once upon a time in the faraway land of the Faroe Islands, Lake Leitisvatn became known as the most striking of all the islands' lakes. At more than 6km long, it is the biggest in the Faroe Islands. In reality, Lake Leitisvatn is actually no more than about 30m above sea level. A steep cliff in front of the lake and a clever camera angle make the lake appear to be much higher than it really is.

    When I was younger, I was too shy to the point where I could not even make eye contact（接触）with people I didn't know. If someone greeted me in the hallway, I would lower my head and hurried passed.

    Funnily enough, this would not have been such a big deal if I had connected with their values and interests. However, everyone in my school was much wealthier than me, and focused on partying and fashion which were contrary to my interests. Although I had a few acquaintances（熟人）, no one seemed to understand me, unable to share my sometimes dark humor and interest in science fiction.

    Halfway through ninth grade, I was once again thrown into a school of strangers. Making friends was difficult, and I sat alone at lunch for the rest of the year. In tenth grade, however, I took part in my school's theatre program, where I met some of my closest friends. The theatre forced me to overcome my shyness and taught me to speak up for myself. Furthermore, pretending to be someone else gave me a sense of previously unknown confidence.

    Although I have a lot going for me right now, I will never forget the struggles I had to overcome when I was younger. This is why, whenever I see someone struggling or standing by themselves, I always invite them to sit with my friends and me. I may not be able to give them my full attention all of the time, but the main point is to let them know someone recognizes their existence and is willing to connect with them.

    Lawns（草坪）are some of the most common things in the world until you really start thinking about them. That's when you realize that they make no sense. Why do people keep these uninteresting, pointless little plants outside their homes? They're not beautiful like flowers, they don't provide food and you have to take care of them constantly.

    Israeli bestselling author Yuval Noah Harari thought these deeds were weird too. He looked into their history and ended up with an interesting story.

    No one considered putting patches of grass outside their homes in ancient times. That changed in the Middle Ages, when French and English kings and nobles started putting patches of grass at their castle entrances.

    “Well-kept lawns demand land and a lot of work,” wrote Harari in his book. “In exchange, they produce nothing of value.” Peasants could never afford to waste their time or land on lawns, so these lawns were a perfect status symbol（身份的象征）for nobility（高贵）.

    When the Industrial Revolution began in the 18th and 19th centuries, the middle classes started being able to afford their own suburban（郊区的）houses. And guess what became the suburban status symbol? A perfectly kept lawn.

    The popularity of lawns continued to grow, taking over public event spaces and sports. In the past, people played sports on all kinds of surfaces—dirt, ice, sand. But in the last couple centuries, they made the switch to green grass.

    “Grass is nowadays the most widespread crop in the USA after corn and wheat,” Harari continued. Lawns spread beyond Europe and the U.S, and they're now status symbols around the world.

    Suburban people may not realize it, but they care for lawns just because centuries ago, French and English kings wanted to show off by intentionally planting something useless. It's strange that people should continue to spend so much time and money on what's really a leftover（遗留物）from the Middle Ages. When you plan your house, you can shake off（摆脱）the cultural leftover and imagine for yourself a rock garden or some other new creation.

    As more and more schools rush to put digital devices（数码设备）in the hands of every student, many parents are becoming increasingly concerned about the quality of their children's education. The promise of increased student academic（学业上的）achievement through the use of technology hasn't produced any significant results in the past 20 years.

    Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles conducted a study in 2014 to determine if the social skills of elementary students were blocked by screen time. Two groups of sixth grade students were compared. One group was sent to an outdoor camp for one week with no screen time, while the control group live life as normal. After one week, the students at camp had made significant improvements over their peers（同龄人）. The good news is that when we limit access to screen time and give children the opportunity to interact face to face, they quickly become better at reading the emotional state of others. The bad news is that we have a generation of children that struggle with this basic emotional intelligence skill.

    Too much screen time has been linked to childhood obesity, sleep disorders, behavior problems, and academic challenges. But is there a difference between schoolwork and entertainment media?

    When students are using technology for academic work they are more likely to be communicating with peers, working cooperatively, and developing other important skills. However, all these are impossible when students watch entertainment media. They just sit and watch!

    Parents have right to be concerned about their children's screen time at school, but they should begin by discussing the use of digital media at home. Some parents are continuously engaged in their own devices, responding to every ring of their phones, receiving and sending messages. How can they expect their children to do better?

    Not too long ago, a young man asked me a question: how do you make study more fun? You can improve your study habits and make your process more enjoyable. It's a matter of many things.

    Manage your time

     All it takes is sitting down with a calendar, and just mapping out everything you need to do and the time you need to do it: projects, tests, part-time work, homework, parties, doctor appointments.

    Set the mood

    First, choose a good study area.  Your spot may be in your dorm/bedroom or the library. If you prefer to lie on your bed or sit in a corner of the library, develop a study routine that will allow you to focus. Clean spaces are said to improve productivity. To help you focus, turn off your phone! And while you're at it, limit your access to the Internet.

    Make it a game

    Are you the competitive type? Try competing against yourself.  Or try joining or starting a study group with fiends and take bets on who can get the most right answers when doing homework.

    Take breaks

    In that hour or two you've scheduled for studying, make sure you also give yourself enough breaks. Set a timer-even a short one, like 25 minutes-and work during that time. When the timer goes off, give yourself a few minutes to relax, drink some water, etc.

    Reward yourself Sweet treats and other snacks often come to mind as a “reward”, and that might work for you, but it's also probably not a great idea to eat a bag of potato chips after every 25-minute study session. Rewards can be as simple as allowing yourself to watch some interesting videos.

A. And we mean a specific, unique spot.

B. it's important to realize and make peace with the fact that studying isn't always going to be “fun”.

C. You can learn how to learn more effectively.

D. Then set another timer and dive back into your studying.

E. Or you can set goals, and then buy yourself something fun when you meet them.

F. Time management may be the secret weapon to succeeding at everything!

G. See if you can improve your reading speed to get yourself under a certain number of pages in five minutes.

    I always preferred to take on（承担）more than I should when I was a young man. At times, it was to prove to myself that I could 1 it. At other times, it was to please someone and gain 2 for my efforts. This sometimes led to 3 or frustration（挫败）.

    When I was an IT manager after college graduation I was 4 to work with a wealth customer and be a go-between（中间人）for my company. I took on the assignment 5, thinking that this might be my time to shine. 6, the customer's demands proved to be more than I could do with. And the company chose to 7 the customer and try to meet his unreasonable requirements rather than stick to what we had 8 offered in the contract. As you can imagine, this led to a lot of unexpected 9 and arguing with some of the staff（职员）who 10 to do anything outside their scope（范围）of work. I remember walking into my office one morning, opening my laptop and 11 the blank screen for long, thinking to myself: What should I do? That was a(n) 12 time in my life and then I finally had to give up my first job and 13 that company sadly.

    Perhaps, I thought then, I could find the 14 that didn't involve dealing with difficult people and difficult situations. But later I realized: Is this15 in our modern world? No, it is impossible. Now, I know, I shouldn't run away from the 16 I faced in life. I had to learn how to deal with them. I 17 not persevering（坚持）in my job. We should train ourselves to look at things from a 18 point of view, because that is far better than being 19 in the bad circle depression. I've come to 20 that when faced with difficulties, I should not give up, but preserve.

    A couple who sold all of their (possess) have been left with nothing after their boat sank just two days into their journey. Tony and Mary began their adventure on  sailboat last week, setting off from the marina in Tarpon Springs.

    While sailing through the popular tourist site, the bottom of their boat (strike) an unseen object underwater and quickly started to take on water, (force) them to evacuate（撤出）. They were left with just their two-year-old dog Remy, their social security cards, one mobile phone and some dog food and clothes.

    Tony, 26, is (original) from Florida and worked in marketing for timeshares. He met Mary, 24, in her home town of Philadelphia, but told the newspaper they both got “tired"  the sales lifestyle.

    In April 2017 they sold everything they had, including his SUV, and bought the 1969 boat they named “Lagniappe” – spending a lot of money to restore . Up until that point, the couple had no sailing experience, so they spent the next month's learning from Tony's father. It was only this month  they decided they were ready and were given a grand send-off（送行）by friends at Tarpon Springs. Two days (late), the boat sank. It remains in the water, and the coast guard has told the couple it could cost up to $10,000 to remove and store it. , they only have $90.

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：在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1）每处错误以及修改仅限一词；

2）只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起)不计分。

    When we are happy, we would like share our happiness with others, making them know our enjoyment. When we are not in a good mood, we wanted to get someone whom can listen to us. Be a listener is not easy. People always complain about our worries, and a good listener should listen to them but learn to comfort them. To be a good listener can help us make good friend with others. The one who always listen to others tends to be easy-going. When he is in the trouble, his friends will be willing to help him. So let's learn to be a good listener from then on.

1）网购的优势；

2）中学生参与网购的利弊：增加社会经验，但费时间；

3）你对中学生进行网购的态度。

注意：1）词数100左右；

2）开头结尾已给出，可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Dear Henry,

Yours sincerely,

Li Hua