Joel: You're not going to believe this. My dad is running in this!
Debbie: Your dad? The marathon? I didn't know he liked doing sport.
Joel: Well, he doesn't, really. He does a bit of running now andthen, and he goes to the gym and that sort of thing. But there's no way he could finish a marathon.
Three days later
Pete: So Joel, how did your dad do?
Joel: Hahahaha... it took him 7 hours and 12 minutes.
Jess: So he finished it? That's fantastic!
Joel: Yeah, but guess what? He was slower than any other runner in the race!
Pete: Still we're talking about 26 miles here. That's an awful lot of running. There's no way I could do that!
Debbie: It would take me more than a month. And honestly, Joel, do you think you could do it?
Joel: That's not. the point. It took him more than 7 hours. So embarrassing!
Jess: So what? He set himself a goal (目标), and he did it. At the end of the day, that's what matters.
Joel: Well, perhaps you're right. I've never thought about it like that, I suppose.
On a cold January morning, a man sat at a subway station in Washington DC and started to play the violin. He played for about 45 minutes.
Three minutes went by, and a middle-aged man stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to take care of his own things.
A minute later, the violinist received his first tip: a woman threw some money without stopping, and walked away.
Only a 3-year-old boy took the music seriously, going over, sitting down and soon losing himself in the wonderful performance. His mother wished to hurry along, but the kid kept looking at the violinist.
When he finished playing, no one noticed it. No one applauded (鼓掌).
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most beautiful pieces ever written, on a violin worth 3.5 million dollars. Joshua Bell played the same music with the same violin and the seats each cost 100 dollars at a theatre two days before.
Joshua Bell's playing in the subway station was a social experiment. It asks questions: in a common environment at a wrong hour, do we enjoy beauty? Do we stop to make a response (反应) ? If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music. how many other things are we ignoring (忽视)?
Developed by US company OpenAI, ChatGPT has taken the internet by storm, winning 100 million users since it came out in November 2022. People can ask the robot to write stories and emails, create instructions for cooking a certain food, translate languages, and answer all kinds of questions. In its own words, it is "a language model trained in a large amount of internet text to help users get human-like text."
Compared with Siri or other chatbots, ChatGPT uses a much bigger information center for training. It also uses stronger software (软件) and hardware to learn things by itself. For example, if it provides a wrong answer to your question, you can tell it the right one and it will correct itself. "It's a totally different chatbot," computer scientist Liu Xiaoguang from Nankai University told Tianjin Daily. "The knowledge level ChatGPT shows is the same as a university student. That's why it shocked the world."
But one big problem with ChatGPT is that it makes mistakes or even gives false information. When Rezza, a 28-year-old from Indonesia, used the robot to write an essay (论文), it "gave out many examples which other writers actually hadn't mentioned at all", he told The Guardian. Since the robot is trained using words from the internet, it can also pick up biases (偏见) about certain groups. These are all things that need to be dealt with.
Saying no is not easy, but it is necessary sometimes.
It's not easy to say no bravely. However, sticking to your principles (原则) may not always make people like you, but will surely get you more respect. Have you ever bravely said no to someone?
Wang Shanshan, Beijing
When I was in primary school, two of my classmates always asked me to do many things for them, like buying breakfast or copying the materials, which put me under great anxiety. So I decided to refuse all their unreasonable requests. From this experience, I learned to say no to unfair things bravely, because only in this way can I get respect.
Emily, London
My classmates used to laugh at me because of my weight. I cared too much about their opinions so I ate less and paid more attention to my appearance (外貌). After realizing that everyone was unique, I refused to change myself. Now I have got back my confidence and don't care about what others say. I think it is necessary to say no and stand up for myself.
Lucas, Rome
To help me, my classmates showed me their answers directly. However, I still couldn't work out the problems during the next test. Then I realized that if I want to improve myself, I have to say no to their help. Since then, I refused my classmates"help and improved math on my own.
A. Sometimes, we do things that we don't want to do.
B. I used to have difficulty working out math problems.
C. As a result, they didn't order me to do anything any more.
D. There is a big difference between pleasing people and helping people.
E. The more I cared about their comments (评论), the more worried I became.
When you turn on the tap in your house, water comes out. This water has16 a long way. This water comes from rain in the sky. The17 that water arrives to the tap in your house is called the"water supply".
Most of the water on the earth is in the18 . This water has a lot of salt in it. We cannot drink this water. Salt water makes us ill. But when the sun shines, it19 a part of the ocean. This water rises up to make clouds in the sky. The more water rises up, the heavier and larger the clouds become. The clouds will get so heavy and large that they will change colour from white to20 . The water will fall down into rivers and lakes 21 rain and travel back to the sea. This is called the"water cycle". We use half of the rain water 22 falls over the earth.
There are parts of the world where there is 23 fresh water. In the Arab countries, salt water can be made safe to drink. This is done by freezing or boiling it. The salt is left24 and the clean water is then taken off. This process is very25 , but in some areas this is the only way to get clean drinking water.
"I suddenly understood,"Valeria said, "why Mario wanted to buy the farm. He and Pagani were busy(work) together during this period, I'm sure. They must have burned the farm down, Roberto. They could have killed you!"
"I can't believe it,"Roberto said. "My own uncle wouldn't do that. It's(possible)."
"But it must be true, Roberto,"Valeria said. "It's the only explanation."
In the evening, Inspector (警官) Pavone telephoned and asked to speak to Roberto. "So far your uncle(tell) us everything. He burned your farm downto make you(sell) it. Pagani knew that land prices would go up when a big company moved to the town. Then he and your uncle made a project(build) shops and houses on your land so that they could sell them for a profit. They would have become terribly wealthy!"
Roberto could not speak. His own uncle had lied to him and almost killed him.
"Your uncle and Pagani are both criminals (罪犯),"the inspector said. "Your uncle is a foolish and greedy man. He got himself into some (danger) business. They must pay for their(act)."
Roberto held the telephone(quiet) with eyes full of tears.
The inspector was right. Mario and Pagani (put) into prison soon. Roberto did not feel happy, sad or angry about them. He was too(disappoint) to feel anything.
Some months passed. Roberto began to think about the future.
The Earth's going on a trip once again! Whether you have watched The Wandering Earth (流浪地球) in 2019 or not, the name must be well-known to you. Since it was China's first science fiction (科幻) film, the cinemas were soon so crowded when it was on. The Wandering Earth II came out on the first day of the Lunar New Year in 2023. It has become the newest hit.
As a prequel (前篇) to The Wandering Earth in 2019, the new movie describes the fact that humans are in danger of dying out for some reasons. To survive, they make different plans. Finally, they decide to build tens of thousands of huge engines on the surface of the Earth. They plan to drive the Earth to the nearest solar system. The movie shows how humans fight against disasters (灾难). In order to save the Earth, a group of young people have to step forward to start a race against time for life and death.
"The creators of The Wandering Earth II are very similar to the characters in the movie. Their great courage and creative spirit are the engine to push the ‘planet' of science fiction into the future," said Liu Cixin, writer of the story The Wandering Earth and the novel The Three-body Problem. "We all know that China's science fiction still has a long way to go. Luckily, there are a group of people who are working very hard for it."
From The Wandering Earth four years ago-to this year's prequel, director Guo Fan always hope people can remember the idea expressed in them. Because of the love for our homeland, we won't escape from the Earth in a spaceship, but choose lo wander with the planet at last.
Please imagine and write out two reasons. (请展开想象并写出两条合理的原因)
注意：
1. 电影名字可用汉语拼音;
2. 禁止抄袭本试卷中所有语篇内容;
3. 不要出现考生本人信息;
4. 80词左右。
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Teens Around the World |
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Subject: movies |
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Hey, guys! We have seen many movies. Good movies can teach us something and make us laugh or cry. Which movie do you like? What is it about? And why do you like it? Looking forward to your replies. Eric, Canada |
Li Hua,
China
