北京市第四十三中学2020-2021学年高一上学期英语12月月考试卷

I work as a volunteer for an organization that helps the poor in Haiti. Recently I took my son Barrett there for a week, hoping to 1him.

Before setting out, I told Barrett this trip would be tiring and 2. For the first two days, he said almost nothing. I worried the trip was too 3for a 17-year-old.

Then, on day three, as we were 4over high rocky mountains, he turned to me and grinned (咧嘴笑), "Pretty hard."

After that there was no turning back. A five-year-old girl, wearing a dress several sizes 5large and broken shoes, followed Barrett around, mesmerized (着迷). He couldn't stop 6. Later he said 7. "I wish I could speak French." I was 8 — this from a boy who 9and fought against French classes throughout school.

Usually 10, he made friends with Gaby, our host, and kept asking questions about the country and its people. He blossomed (活泼起来).11, the moment that really took my breath away happened in a village deep in the mountains. I was 12a woman villager for an article. 135 cm tall, she was small in figure but strong in 13. Through determination, she had learned to read and write, and 14to become part of the leadership of the 15. Learning her story, Barrett was as 16as I by this tiny woman's achievements.

His eyes were wet and there was a look of love and 17on his face. He had finally understood the 18of my work.

When leaving for home, Barrett even offered to stay 19as a volunteer. My insides suddenly felt struck. This 20achieved all I'd expected. Soon he will celebrate his 18th birthday. He'll be a man.

When building houses, people used to think about not only the climate of the areas but also the building materials and the fashions for their houses. However, since electricity became more and more expensive, people began to pay much more attention to the energy they could get for their houses and the new ways they could find to protect their houses from both cold and heat.

Now, houses of an old yet new type have been widely built. In some parts of the world, people share their houses with their livestock(家禽). During cold weather, they gather their cows, goats, or other animals and keep them on the first floor of their houses. The reasons are that the animals can be protected from the cold and that they can help to heat the houses as well. The body heat given off by the animals rises to the second floor of the houses, where people live in. By sharing their houses with their livestock, people gain a source of heat.

People who live in or near cities do not usually keep livestock. However, home builders use the fact that heat rises. This natural law can be used in building houses in these areas. Instead of keeping livestock on the first floor, builders fill it with large rocks. As they are open to the sun's rays during cold weather, these rocks take in heat. They also give off the heat, and, of course, the warm air rises into the living areas of the houses. So these houses are energy-saving.

House-building becomes a great challenge to building designers and energy engineers. They try to meet this challenge by learning from old traditions and by using modern technology. And someday in the future, people will be able to live in more energy-saving houses.

I think that I always knew I wanted to become an artist. I can't remember a time when I wasn't drawing or painting pictures. My oldest sister and my brother were artistic, and watching them draw fascinated me. They had many different art supplies around the house. Boxes of pastels, little ink bottles and pens were very appealing.

My parents and friends soon saw that I had more than a passing interest in art. It came to define much of my image. Relatives gave me art-related birthday gifts. At school I became "the kid who could draw," a unique distinction, like "brainiest" or "best athlete".

As I got a little older, I began copying pictures: cartoons, comic books, and magazine illustrations.

My third-grade class wrote essays on what we wanted to be when we grew up. To me it was obvious. We read them aloud, and I told about the types of paintings I would some day try. I'd have turtles with paintbrushes tied to their backs walking around on a big sheet of paper. Or I'd fill squirt guns with different colored paints and shoot at the canvas. I actually tried this with friends! Well, it sounded like a good idea.

One of the only discouraging childhood experiences about my artwork happened in the fourth grade. During study time I was drawing a picture. My teacher took it away and wrote an angry note home to my mother. "David would rather be drawing pictures than doing his work!!!" I couldn't believe it, three exclamation points. School "art classes" were pretty uninspiring. Art never seemed to be taken as seriously as other subjects.

In the eighth grade, a big career day was held. Months before, we wrote suggestions for careers we wanted to hear about. On the big day, guest speakers from many fields came to talk, but there wasn't one that came close to an art-related field.

In high school it actually sank in that I was going to be an artist. I already knew. I'd always known. My parents were excited about my choice, too. As I looked into art schools, I felt like doors were being thrown wide open. Until then my art was a private thing, but at art school I found a place where everyone as "the kid who could draw."

People tend to become more personal and hide less of themselves when using email. Researchers from Open University in Britain have found in a recent study that there are good reasons for this.

The team of researchers asked 83 pairs of students, all strangers to each other, to solve a problem. They had to discuss this question: If only five people in the world could be saved from a world disaster, who should they be? The pairs of students had to talk over the problem either face to face or by computers. Dr. Johnson said, "They told their partners four times as much about themselves when they talked over the Internet as when they talked face to face. When the computers were fitted with cameras so that students could see each other, this limited the personal side of the conversation."

Generally the information was not extremely personal. It was mainly about things such as where they went to school, or where they used to live. But some students discussed their love stories, and personal childhood experiences.

Dr Johnson believes that emailing encourages people to focus on themselves. And when they do this, they become more open, especially if there are no cameras. "If you cannot see the other person, it becomes easier to talk about yourself. This is because you are not thinking what the other person is thinking of you. So emailing has become the modern way of talking," said Dr. Johnson. However, this style of talking is not entirely new. "In the 19th century people started to use the 'telegraph' to communicate. Now the same kind of thing has happened and people ended up speaking more freely."

Dr. Johnson thinks that emailers need to know about these effects of emailing, especially when they start work in a company." If you don't know about it, you could find yourself saying more about yourself than you wanted to."

Friends play an important part in our lives, and although we may take friendship for granted, we often don't clearly understand how to make friends. While we get on well with a number of people, we are usually friends with only a very few — for example, the average among students is about 6 per person. In all the cases of friendly relationships, two people like one another and enjoy being together, but beyond that, the degree of intimacy between them and the reasons for their shared interests vary greatly. As we get to know people, we take into account things like age, race, economic condition, social position, and intelligence. Although these factors are not of great importance, it is more difficult to get on with people when there is a marked difference in age and background.

Some friendly relationships can be kept on argument and discussion, but it is usual for close friends to have similar ideas and beliefs, the same opinions and interests — they often talk about "being on the same wavelength". It generally takes time to reach this point. And the more intimately involved people become, the more they depend on one another. People who want to be friends have to learn to put up with annoying habits and to stand differences.

In contrast with marriage, there are no friendship ceremonies to strengthen the association between two people. But the supporting and understanding of each other that results from shared experiences and emotions does seem to create a powerful bond, which can overcome differences in background, and break down barriers of age, class or race.

Viral Marketing

Companies are always on the lookout for new ways to sell products. We're used to seeing ads in newspapers and on television. In recent years, a new type of ad strategy—viral marketing (病毒性营销) —has become popular. It uses the Internet to spread information about a product or service.

The idea of viral marketing is the "word of mouth" effect, that is, to get people to recommend a product to others. On the Internet, that can be done by email messages. Or, the information may be posted on forums, blogs, and other websites.

Advertisers can't force people to spread their message. So, they must think of creative ways to get people to help out. One good way is to give something away. For example, when somebody sends an email using a Hotmail account, there's an ad on the bottom. It tells others how to get a free account. Other companies give away branded screensavers, wallpaper, and sounds. Whenever they're seen or shared, it advertises the product.

Another way is funny and interesting videos. When someone comes across a great ad for BMW, they may send a link to their friends. They may even add the video to a forum or blog. Companies love the effect. It gets more people to watch their ads, visit their websites, and, hopefully, buy their products.

Unfortunately, it's hard to plan viral marketing activities. There are many ads and websites on the Internet. So, designers and marketers must think up creative new strategies. If something is funny, interesting, or useful enough, people will tell their friends about it. If it includes giving something away, the viral marketing activity may be even more successful.