修改时间：2024-07-31 浏览次数：562 类型：期末考试
A Canadian man is asking forgiveness for a birdbrained thing he did 17 years ago: inadvertently（无心地） encouraging seagulls to trash his hotel room.
Back in 2001, Burchill checked into the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, B.C, for a business meeting. He brought a small suitcase full of Brothers Pepperoni from his hometown to share with former Navy buddies in the area. But his room had no fridge so he opened a window to keep it cool. And then he went for a long walk. That was when things got messy. Really messy. The result was such a housekeeping nightmare that the hotel permanently banned him.
“I remember walking down the long hall and opening the door to my room to find an entire flock of seagulls in my room. There must have been 40 of them and they had been eating pepperoni for a long time.” Burchill said.
When he walked into the room, Burchill recalled he frightened the birds. They “immediately started flying around and crashing into things as they desperately tried to leave the room.” The result was a tornado of seagull feathers, pepperoni chunks and fairly large birds whipping around the room. The lamps were falling. The curtains were trashed. The coffee tray was just disgusting.
Eventually, Burchill called the front desk and requested help cleaning up the room. “I can still remember the look on the lady's face when she opened the door. ”said Burchill. A short time later, he received a note from the hotel saying he'd been banned for life.
Recently, Burchill visited the hotel to apologize in person, in hope of making amends with the woman who had to clean the seagull-and-pepperoni-trashed room, but was told she was no longer there.
“When I was talking to the people at the desk and the manager, they did say that they had heard this story from a long-term employee that works there,” said Burchill, “I was just kind of in and out. I didn't want to overstay my welcome.” So he apologized and was forgiven. Burchill left them a present of about a pound of Brothers Pepperoni as a peace offering. It seemed to have worked.
Researchers say getting a good night's sleep is probably the best tool for memory and learning. But short periods of sleep may help our brains work better, says a recent study on napping. And taking a nap may also help old adults fight off age-related memory loss.
CDC, an American scientific organization, found that 50 to 70 million Americans have chronic（长期的）sleep disorders. So, someone who naps as a way of paying off a sleep debt may not experience the same improvements from napping as a well-rested person would. Also, that only children, the very old, sick or lazy people nap is not an uncommon opinion.
Researchers recently looked at information provided by nearly 3,000 Chinese adults, aged 65 years or older, to learn if napping after a mid-day meal had any effect on the mental performance of the subjects.
First, they asked the people if they napped and for how long. Then, based on their answers, researchers put them into four groups: non-nappers (0 min), short nappers (≦30 min), moderate nappers (30-90 min), and extended nappers (≧90 min). Nearly 60% of the people said they did take a nap after lunch and that their naps lasted anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes. Most of the subjects said they napped for about an hour.
The study found that people who took an hour-long nap did much better on mental tests than those who did not nap. The hour-long nappers also did better on the tests than those who napped for shorter and longer periods. In this study, it seemed that the most effective nap lasted for about an hour, but not much longer.
Yet Doctor Michael Twery notes that an hour long nap may be too long for young, healthy adults. 30 minutes is enough to remove the pressure to sleep and will help us feel more awake.
If you'd love to be more eco-friendly but don't know where to begin, start with a few small changes.
Adjust your thermostat（恒温器）to save on heating and cooling costs. In summer, set your thermostat to 78 ℉when you're at home and raise the temperature when you're away. In winter, turn your thermostat to 68 ℉ and lower it by 5°-10° when you're sleeping or out of your house. To stay warm in winter, put on a sweater or another layer instead of turning up the thermostat.
Turn off lights and unplug power strips that you're not using. Some devices can still use energy even when they're turned off. So, turn off the power strips at night to completely cut off energy use. If you need to leave your computer or TV on, try setting it to sleep mode.
Make your taps and toilets low-flow. Cut back on water waste by installing flow restrictor(节流装置) inside your taps and installing a low-flow shower head in your bathroom. This can save 3 to 4 gallons of water for every minute. If you're replacing a toilet, look for a low-flow one to save thousands of gallons of water a year.
Adjust your washing machine to use cold water instead of warm. Since more energy is spent drying the clothes, skip the machine and hang your washed clothes on a clothesline. If you don't have space for a clothesline or can't hang clothes outside, set up a clothes drying rack that you can use inside. Try running your clothes through an extra spin cycle to remove even more water from the clothes. This will make them dry quicker.
A. Replace burned out light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. B. By doing some small things at home, you can easily reduce your carbon footprint. C. Remember to fix leaky taps or toilets as soon as you notice water dripping. D. Choose sustainable options when you purchase things that are normally packaged in plastic. E. This is an easy way to reduce energy use. F. Use less energy during summer months and winter by controlling your heating and cooling bills. G. Wash your clothes with cold water and line dry them. |
A boy from a farmer's family stopped from school due to poverty, and went back farming to1the family. When he grew up to 19 years old, his father died. After that, all the family2 him including his mother and grandma in sickness.
At first, he 3a pool and wanted to feed fish. But others told him it couldn't be used to feed fish, but only to grow crops. What he could do was to cover the pool and thereafter he became a 4.
Then he heard raising chickens was a way of making money. He borrowed some money from relatives and 5 chickens. 6 a flood attacked the town, and after that all the chickens got sick and almost 7. His mother could hardly 8 it and died in the gloom.
He 9the businesses of making wine, fishing or even digging embrasures (炮眼) on the cliff for others.
When he was 35, he had no wife, no money, but only lived in a house made from earth which would 10in any storm. But he still wanted to 11 . He borrowed some money to buy a truck. But when he drove it on the road after a short while, he had an 12 and broke his leg. He became crippled. Everyone said he was 13 .
But later he became a boss, who owned a capital of 200 million. Now lots of people know his past and his business experiences. A journalist made a(n) 14with him.
“Why do you 15after so many failures?”
He was sitting in front of a broad table and just had finished a cup of water. Then he held the16cup in hand and asked, “If I loose my hand, what will happen to this cup?”
“Broken!” answered the journalist.
He 17his hand and the cup fell to the floor, with a bang sound, but not 18.
“Even if ten people were there they would believe it was broken. But, it isn't a(n) 19cup. It is made of 20.”
Which would you rather be, a mathematician orauthor? Perhaps you will never be(face) with this kind of choice. Lewis Carroll was a mathematician and author. He was a lecturer in mathematics at Oxford University. But he is(good) known as the writer of two of the most famous children's books have ever been written (Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass). The author's real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, but he(prefer) to use the penname “Lewis Carroll” when he wrote, and this is the name we remember him by. Alice in Wonderland,(publish) in 1865 when the author was 33 years old, was followed by Through the Looking Glass in 1871. books were written for a real girl called Alice and they (read) by millions of children since they were first published. These stories are about a dream world in which Alice meets strange creatures and has interesting (adventure). I'm sure you know this already,if you don't you'd better read the stories yourselves.
Ten-year-old Sami loved to visit his grandfather's house. The house was near the beautiful blue sea. At the seaside stood thick and tall palm trees with green coconuts hanging from them. When the coconuts fell down, Sami would break them open and drink the coconut water. Sami liked to play under the trees. It was always great fun to spend the holidays at Grandpa's place.
This winter vacation, Sami was surprised when he came to his grandfather's village. There were hardly any trees left. He saw houses built near the sea. People had cut down many palm trees and there was hardly any greenery left.
Grandpa's house was different. He never allowed his trees to be cut. He hugged each palm tree in his courtyard. He also named the two big trees near the front door--one was Petu, and the other Betu. He had planted them with his own hands and today they had become large, massive trees with thick trunks. They were tall and green and gave the sweetest, juiciest coconuts.
One night, Sami was awakened by a strange sound. He could not sleep. He tossed（辗转）and turned in bed. Suddenly, the ground shook as if the earth was splitting. He sat up straight and then ran to Grandpa. He clung（附着）to his grandpa tightly. Grandpa cried out, “It's an earthquake! It's an earthquake!" They ran outside the house. They thought that would be safe.
Suddenly, there was a loud sound; the earth was not splitting but the sea was roaring. People were shouting, screaming and crying, “The sea is rising! The sea is rising." The villagers started running away from the beach. Sami watched dumbstruck（呆若木鸡）.
The waves were rising higher and higher. Sami thought, “How big the waves are!" He went into the house again and saw water coming in from all sides. He was scared.
Sami remembered his mother telling him long ago, “You must always get out of the house if the floods come too near." He ran outside the house with Grandpa. But the water came surging（汹涌） in.
Waves about twelve meters high came rushing in, drowning everything. Water was all around and everywhere.
注意：1）所续写短文的词数应为 150 左右；
2） 应使用 5 个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3） 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4）续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1
Grandpa held Sami's hand tightly but a huge wave separated them.…
Paragraph 2
“Sami, Sami!” Grandpa cried. “Don't be scared, little one, come to me, quickly.”…
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