湖南省岳阳市2018届高三英语教学质量检测卷（二模）

    Vandna loved sports and did well in her lessons at her high school in California. When a headache disturbed the 15-year-old girl's walk to class, she 1 it.

    “It was 2.” she thought, “Just a headache—harmless”

But when walking to her next class, she was 3 and collapsed to the floor. 4 she could hear other talking, she couldn't speak. She was 5 to the hospital in an ambulance. Tests indicated Vandna had a stroke affecting the right side of her brain, thus affecting the 6 side of her body.

    What was worse, the stroke caused her brain to began to swell, and she needed operation to 7 the pressure the swelling was putting 8 her brain. The doctors 9part of her skull（头骨）to make room for the swelling. 10 the swelling went down（消退）, her skull was placed back again.

    While the doctors predicted that she would never live a normal life, Vandna 11 improved. She was in a rehab center（康复中心）for about 3 months and began to realize how 12 her daily life might be. She had to wear a brace（支架）on her left leg to support her 13. Her left arm 14 lightly, and she often became tired. Though 15 on a campus wasn't easy, she finished high school and 16 a degree in speech therapy at University of Redlands.

    After the stroke, Vandna became 17 with the American Heart Association. She shared her 18 at public events and urged others to stay 19. She said if you 20 a tough time, remember tough times don't last, but tough people do.

HEARST CASTLE, CA

    Hearst Castle is open for tours daily, except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

Tour A — The Grand Rooms

    View the ground floor rooms of La Casa Grande where Mr. Hearst's guests met their host and were entertained during their stay. See the Assembly Room, where guests met for cocktails, the Refectory, where meals were served, the Morning Room, Billiard Theater. Your knowledgeable guide will bring this big house to life sharing stories about Mr. Hearst, his many guests, and the art collection it contains.

Prices: Adults: $25.00; Children: $12.00.

Tour B—The Upstairs Suites (套房)

    This tour features rooms on the upper floors of Casa Grande. Travel through guest suites on your way to the Library where Mr. Hearst housed a collection of 2,000-year-old Greek pots. Visit Mr. Hearst's private third floor suite including his bedroom and private study where he held business meetings. Learn about the genius of architect Julia Morgan and the way she put Mr. Hearst's art collection into the design.

Prices: Adults: $20.00; Children: $10.00.

Tour C—Evening Tour

    This tour allows visitors to experience the Castle at night as a visitor to the Castle in the 1930s might have. It features highlights from the experience, Upper Floors of Casa Grande, and Garden tours.

Evening tours are offered on most Fridays and Saturdays during March—May & October — December.

Prices: Adults: $36.00; Children: $18.00.

Tour D—Accessible Holiday Twilight

    This tour is wheelchair accessible. Visitors who have difficulty climbing stairs, or who cannot stand or walk for extended period, may also benefit from this tour. Accessible transportation is provided from the Visitor Center to all areas of the Holiday at Hearst Castle tour. Call 866-712-2286 for additional information.

Prices: Adults: $30.00; Children: $15.00.

    Junxi “Emma” Yang played Carnegie Hall before she got to high school. But her piano skills may have to take a back seat to her programming skill.

    According to World Journal, a US-based Chinese media organization, Emma, a 14-year-old student at the Brearley School in Manhattan, New York started coding when she was 6. Four years later, her beloved grandmother began developing Alzheimer's.

    When Emma's family moved to New York from Hong Kong in 2014, she became passionate about programming. By the time she was 10, her grandmother had already developed the disease.

    Emma got right to work. With her coding skills, she had a smartphone app created before long, designed to help people suffering from Alzheimer's.

    “Now, 'Timeless' has moved to the second stage of design,”says Emma.

    Emma hopes her grandmother can benefit from the artificial intelligence technology built into “Timeless,” the app Emma developed, to overcome her memory loss.

    Emma's newly finished app has gained support from Dr. Melissa Kramps, an Alzheimer's specialist, and from Kairo, a developer specializing in artificial intelligence.

    Timeless uses facial recognition to remind someone with Alzheimer's of vital information about the person whose photo they are looking at on their screen. It also signals whether they have just called somebody.

    The app also allows for the photo-talking, then moves to identify the people on the screen.

    The Timeless project is featured on the website Indiegogo for fundraising. Emma is hoping to raise $50,000 and work alongside professional programmers to have Timeless launched by the end of 2018.

    Many people have hailed Emma for her efforts. Bill Gates voiced his support, commending her on her bid to help bridge the gap between people with Alzheimer's and the ones they love.

    A billionaire has recently made one of the biggest charitable（慈善的）donations to a university in China's history. Chen Tianqiao donated $115 million to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to help advanced brain research. The donation will be spent deepening the understanding of how the brain works. Chen has been interested in brain research, believing it can shape the industries such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality. However, this huge donation has caused heated discussions among Chinese scholars and internet users alike.

    Many criticized him for choosing to give money to a foreign university rather than home institutes for brain research, which are developing fast and are on track to catch up with the US in just a few years. Rao Yi, a biologist at Peking University, even said the donation was a typical mistake.

    Others, however, support his choice. They believe Caltech is a more reasonable choice compared with Chinese research institutions. Caltech has a long history and has taken a leading position in biology, and therefore it produces more efficient results. In addition, the results of the research benefit not only the American people, but also the rest of the world.

    A similar controversial case started two years ago when Pan Shiyi, chairman of SOHO China, donated $15 million to Harvard University to help disadvantaged Chinese students.

    Many believe that China is still behind in the management and use of donated money, and that as a result, Chinese charity donators are looking abroad. In comparison, Western countries like the US, which have a long history of donating money, have well-developed systems that use money efficiently. They can also provide full access for donors who want to track the use of the money. To get more donations, Chinese universities should be braver and more honest. They need self-reflection, rather than envy.

    Animal lovers have long suspected that playing with pups was good for the soul, and now science has confirmed it – for students in particular.

    The results of a new study done by researchers at the University of British Columbia concluded that the college students who spent time at drop-in dog therapy sessions experienced an increase in feelings of wellness and a reduction in overall stress. The study, as reported by Science Daily, indicates that playing with pups is not only popular with the students, it's also beneficial to their health. This finding was seen across gender（性别）.

    The study, which published on March 12 in the journal Stress and Health, involved 246 students who were surveyed before and after they dropped by dog therapy sessions. The young participants were given free access to pet, hug with and talk to seven to 12 therapy dogs. Additionally, they filled out questionnaires right before and right after hanging with the dogs, as well as 10 hours later.

    According to researchers, these young adults reported a notable increase in happiness, a significant reduction in stress and a flood of energy right after their sessions with the pups. Although the reported feelings of happiness and satisfaction weren't long-lasting, researchers say other effects have clear, positive advantages.

    “These sessions clearly provide benefits for students in the short-term, so we think universities should try to schedule them during particularly stressful times, such as around exam periods,” Assistant Professor of Psychology at UBC and the study's senior author, Frances Chen told Science Daily. “Even having therapy dogs around while students are working on their out-of-class assignments could be helpful.”

What is bitcoin?

    Bitcoin is a kind of digital currency, which means it doesn't exist as banknotes. At first, bitcoins were only made for collectors.  You can store it in an online “wallet”. And with that wallet, you can spend bitcoin online and in the physical world for goods and services. More and more businesses, restaurants and universities included, accept payments in bitcoins. And, of course, bitcoin has a valuation, which you may have heard about because bitcoin's price has fluctuated up and down.

    What's different about bitcoin?

     That card is connected to information about you, such as your name and billing address. You can use bitcoin the same way, but unlike with a credit card, the trades you make with the currency are completely anonymous（匿名的）. They can't be used to identify you personally.  Is that why the WannaCry attackers picked it as a form of payment?

    The bitcoin currency is unique—no authority can change the value. It's quick and easy to set up a bitcoin account. It's fast—it only takes a few minutes to transfer your payments.

    Possibly, Bitcoin has certainly gained fame in the news media as a technology that can result in crime. But even though the identities of people in a bitcoin trade may be hidden, the public ledger has increasingly helped law trace the movement of bitcoins from place to place.

A. What makes the bitcoin currency unique?

B. Another way of exchanging g bitcoins is at ATMs.

C. So you can use bitcoin to protect your privacy.

D. It's cheap—trade fees are usually zero, or less than 1 US cent.

E. Usually, if you pay for something on the Internet, you use a credit or debit card.

F. However, you can buy it with dollars or euros,, just like you can trade any other currency.

G. The bitcoin was introduced on the internet in 2008 by a software developer called Satoshi Nakamoto.

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). 每处错误及其修改仅限一词；

2). 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

    Stephen Hawking, the brilliant figure in the modern history of physics, passed away on March 14. He is famous for his work on black holes or relativity. Although he was not able to speak or write, but he published many best-sellers on science, included A Brief History of Time. We admire him not only for that he did, but also for his positive attitude towards life. He even appears in several films and sitcoms as a humorous man. Hawking was great. His dead made many people sad and they said they would learn him. All of us should try his best to live more meaningful.

    We use flowers as messengers, to say something we might have trouble saying  (direct) by ourselves. Over time flowers have come to symbolize the most powerful human  (experience): beauty, love, hope, and rebirth. Sweet flowers alone can say what one fears expressing. We've listed some of the most famous flowers  have a special significance.

    In Mao Zedong's poem Ode to Plum Blossom（《咏梅》）, the plum blossom was used  (praise) great soldiers who sacrificed  (they) lives for a better life for Chinese people.

     great Chinese poet Li Bai from the Tang Dynasty once compared Yang Yuhuan's beautiful face  blooming peonies（牡丹）. Flowering in May, peonie's large petals and strong colors are linked to prosperity and  (rich) in traditional Chinese culture.

    The orchid（兰花）is well known for its delicate smell. Beautiful articles and poems  (call) “lanzhang” by Chinese people in ancient times.

    Roses, of course, have the most colorful meaning among all the flowers. Red roses, to this day, mean “I love you.” A red rose, rather than yellow roses, acts as the traditional romantic gift  (give) to your love on Valentine's Day. Sending yellow roses can be risky, as they represent either friendship or envy.

注意：1). 词数100左右；

2). 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Dear Lucy,

Yours,

Li Hua