Restaurant owners, too, must deal with the high prices. Mark Hutchens, owner of the 50 Yard Line Steakhouse in Lubbock, raised his menu prices for beef items by about 5 percent in November. Since then, the owner of the small eating house has tried to make cuts elsewhere to avoid passing it on to customers. \just think you have to stay competitive and keep your costs low.\
―White-tablecloth restaurants have adjusted the size of their steaks, making them thinner‖, says Jim Robb, director of the Colorado-based Livestock Marketing Information Center. ―And fast-food restaurants are cutting costs by reducing the number of menu items and are offering other meat options, including turkey burgers, Robb said. Chain restaurants also try to buy beef as much as they can, which essentially gives them a discount‖, Iowa State University assistant economics professor Lee Schulz said.
The high prices are welcome news for at least one group: ranchers(大农场经营者), especially those in Texas who for years have struggled amid drought（干旱） and high feed prices. But even as ranchers breathe a sigh of relief, some worry lasting high prices will cause consumers to
permanently change their buying habits -- switching to chicken or pork. Pete Bonds, a 62-year-old Texas rancher and president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, said that's a big concern. ―But such fears may be unfounded, Robb said. ―Three years ago, economists thought consumers would start finding substitutions for beef as the drought spread. We're surprised we haven't seen more of that,\
South Dakota rancher Chuck O'Connor thinks that consumers won’t abandon beef for good. \anymore, I don't think that's going to happen,\58. The price of beef has increased because______.
A. there is a growing demand of fresh beef among Americans B. cattle producers have succeeded in raising a new type of cattle C. ranchers have found ways to deal with high feed prices D. there is a lack of rain and the export of beef is increasing
59. Which method is NOT used by restaurant owners to deal with the high beef prices? A. They have made the steaks smaller than before
B. They have increased the prices of beef-related dishes
C. They have made hamburgers with many other kinds of meat D. They have sought discount by purchasing large amounts of beef 60. Jim Robb gives an example in the sixth paragraph in order to_____. A. tell people that it is a tough job to look for substitutions for beef B. explain that customers won’t change their buying habits completely C. show his fear that chicken or pork may be an alternative to beef D. indicate that ranchers may be least affected by the high beef prices
C
Your New Year’s plan to move more is one of the toughest to stick to, and a group of scientists working with obese(过度肥胖的)mice think they’re starting to understand why
Rather than our sedentary(久坐的)lives causing weight gain, says Alexxai Kraviz, the National Institutes of Health neuroscientist who led the study, changes in brain chemistry after we start gaining weight affect our capacity to move.
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―Obese mice can move just fine,‖ says Kravitz, who published the work with his team in Cell Metabolism ―They just don’t.‖
What Kravitz’s team found is that the activity of a particular dopamine(多巴胺)receptor linked to movement goes down as mice gain weight on a high-fat diet. So the nice slow down and they move less. And when the researchers restored the activity of that dopamine receptor—DR2—the mice started moving more, even though they were still obese. The team also saw that lean mice missing the DR2 receptor acted like obese mice. This is the target, says Kravitz—restoring that dopamine receptor function. ―Maybe 20 or 30 years down the road, we could do that in people,‖ he says.
And there is one more thing: The scientists fed normal mice and the mice lacking DR2 the same high-fat diet. Both sets of mice gained weight at the same rate.
Kravitz says this is important because mice lacking DR2 move less from the get-go, whereas a normal mouse takes a little time to start seeing that dopamine receptor-related loss of exercise. The ability to exercise seems to be disconnected from weight gain, he says.
―Exercise is a healthy thing to do, but its impact on weight loss has been exaggerated,‖ he says. ―We have to be realistic about the size of the effect of exercise on weight, as opposed to health benefits.‖
Still, before you abandon your New Year’s exercise plan, keep in mind that this study was done using a high-fat diet, and not the normal calorie restriction that people maintain when they diet. That’s a big drawback to the work, says Vicki Vieira-Potter, a University of Missouri physiologist not involved in the study
―They feed the mice with high-fat diet, it damages the receptor, and that decreases activity. Those who plan to lost weight should remember high-fat diet is a nice way to cause obesity in the lab, but it’s not the same as the normal situation of obesity,‖ she sys.
Sine also says that a lot of the weight gain in the mice came after they stopped moving around, which indicates that the loss of movement did impact obesity. 61. Alexxai Kravitz is likely to agree that______.
A. high-fat food leads to the lack of DR2 B. less movement results from weight gain C. weight gain leads to the inactivity of DR2 D. the lack of DR2 results in less movement 62. What can we infer from the research mentioned in the passage? A. High-fat diet is bound to cause obesity.
B. High-fat diet has little influence on the rate of weight gain C. The research team aim to deal with human obesity
D. Obese mice’s ability to move is affected by the inactivity of DR2
63. The underlined word ―exaggerated‖ in Paragraph 7 can be replaced by ―______‖ A. underestimated B. excluded C. overlooked D. overemphasized 64. According to Vicki Vicki-Vieira-Potter, ______.
A. Alexxai Kravitz’s team misread the results of the research B. the total loss of movement can do harm to the function of DR2
C. besides diet, other factors behind obesity shouldn’t be ignored in daily life D. obesity is mainly caused by high-fat diet people take.
D
When Charles Lee handed me the small red notebook in 1974, he changed my life. ―While you are traveling, you should keep notes of things you see and do,‖ he explained.
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I was 20 years old, a junior in college, spending a term at the University of London. Charles was a retired traveling salesman. I was staying with him in his cottage in Kendal, located in the Lake District of northern England. It was a one-week homestay the university arranged for us before classes began.
I took his advice. I wrote in the notebook every day during the homestay. Back in London, I recorded weekend trips to Wales, Yorkshire, France, and Spain. I commented on my classes, professors, and classmates. I contrasted my life at a small college in the US with my wandering through the streets of London, my introduction to life in a big city, and my initial travels outside the US. I tracked ideas I had about my life and my future.
When I wrote in the notebook, I struggled with a sense of my audience and purpose. Who would read this? Were these writings just for me, or did I want others to read them? Was I recording events and ideas just as a prompt(提示)to memory, or was there some larger purpose for this daily exercise? I knew I was recording events, thoughts, words that were important to my life. I imagined a future me sitting down to read the pages. I wondered what it would feel like to read those words later. I wondered where I would be and what my life would be like.
I filled the notebook Charles gave me. I bought a new one and filled it. Then another and another. I continued writing in notebooks for four decades. By that time, they filled two boxes in my garage. I had reread some of the journals. Specific volumes had provided me with the background I needed for dozens of articles for magazines. But I had never read them all. Recently, I decided to bring my collection of notebooks into my office and replay my life. As I opened the first box, I suddenly became nervous would I like the former me described on those pages? There was a risk in opening that first notebook. I did it anyway.
Charles had been right. I remembered the big events and the central happenings, but on each page were many details I hadn’t retained(保留).
The pages revealed highlights from college classes and stories about roommates and friends. I read anxious comments I’d written as I’d launched my teaching career, learned to write lesson plants, assigned grades for student work, and solved discipline problems. I reflected on my coming marriage, then the wedding, and eventually the proud moments when I held each of my three girls as a father. I recounted more trips---returning to Europe, teaching in South America, going on safari(游猎)in Africa, and exploring Greenland. I relived memories of trails hit, rivers crossed, and mountains climbed.
The writings in those journals framed my life. I hadn’t written every day. I often skipped a few days or even weeks, but I always picked up the writing when it felt important. Journals went with me when I traveled , and I often wrote in them at school when my own students were writing.
It took several long evenings to read through the notebooks, taking me on tour spanning(持续)42 years. As I read I could recall sitting on a bench in Trafalgar Square in London or in our apartment in Peru to write to the future me. It was then that I realized: I am now the person I was writing to throughout those years.
65. What can we learn about Charles Lee?
A. He was an Englishman the author came across B. He gave the author a notebook as birthday present
C. The author gained valuable experience of life from him D. The author once lived in his house as a college graduate
66. One reason why the author kept writing journals was that he wanted to _______.
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A. let others read what he wrote in the future B. know what his life would be like in the future C. live up to Charles Lee’s expectation for him D. leave something special to his three daughters 67. How did the author feel when he opened the first box filled with his journals?
A. Curious B. Surprised C. Worried D. Disappointed 68. By mentioning the highlights in Paragraph 10, the author intends to tell us _________.
A. the regrets he had about his life B. the themes of his articles for magazines C. the big events that happened to him D. the benefits of keeping journals 69. We can learn from the passage that the author _________.
A. rarely wrote journals at school B. even wrote journals when traveling C. keeps a daily journal of his life D. had kept writing journals for five decades 70. What would be the best title for the passage?
A. A gift to my future self B. My interesting experience of life C. A red notebook D. Rereading my journals
第II卷 (非选择题，共35分)
第四部分 任务型阅读（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）
Life is not easy when you are pursuing something worthwhile and ready to learn from the best experiences. It always takes tests and then fails us to learn anything worthwhile. Here are five life lessons which people will learn the hard way in majority of cases.
It takes consistent time and effort to be an expert in any area. People usually get discouraged when it takes more time than they thought it would. At this time, people refer only to people who have already achieved what they want to do. Look at any successful person and you’ll notice one thing common in all of them: they took time to learn and mastered their skill like no one else. There is no elevator to success; you have to take the stairs.
You don’t have to live your life in a way society wants you to. Many old beliefs are being performed these days and are followed blindly. Parents sometimes force their children to select a career they don’t want because other children have selected that career. Worst of all, people follow them without even asking. There is no harm in believing in old beliefs but when you pursue them before your interest, sooner or later you’ll realize that you should first do what you think is right. We don’t care about the things we get easily. Take health for example. Very few people take their health seriously. They know that if their health is lost, they won’t be happy, but they still eat junk food and never exercise. Why? Because they don’t take their health seriously and the real reason behind that is they have got it for free. We spend thousands on cars and take care of them nicely. Imagine what would have been the price of human body if we had to pay for it?
Be brave to take the road less traveled. In our whole life, we always want to follow the same path that everyone suggests, do the same thing everyone does, take the same career path everyone takes, wear the same clothes everyone wears, and hang out with the same people we work with. Why? Because we are scared to fail. But when you get bored of life, you realize that you are not meant to do what everyone does and that your destiny is different than anyone else’s out there in the world. But the price we pay to realize this is high because it takes a great amount of courage to follow your own trail by listening to your heart.
Break the rules sometimes. We follow rules so that things are in order and no one is disturbed unnecessarily. This is true in case of traffic and other company rules but when it comes to your life, there are rules made by people who are scared to do something apart from their routine and therefore they made rules to prevent others doing so. But when time passes by and you think you are not being
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directed towards your goal and these so-called rules are your biggest obstacles, BREAK THEM. Sometimes, we need to be bold and act courageously. 5 life lessons you will learn the hard way Be (71) ▲ to achieve success ●Time-consuming tasks often bring (72) ▲ to people. ●What successful people have in (73) ▲ is that they took time to learn and mastered their skill. ●Old beliefs have their value, but their being followed (74) ▲ sometimes may make people suffer. ●It is not a good idea to abandon what you are (75) ▲ in for old beliefs. Live your own life Never ignore the Most people don’t (76) ▲ what they get for nothing, like health. things we get easily Take the road by ●People are usually trying to be like someone else because they are afraid of (77) ▲ . listening to your heart ●You need to be (78) ▲ to listen to your heart before you pay a high price. Break the sometimes rules ●People tend to follow rules so that they can (79) ▲ making things out of order. ●When rules become (80) ▲ to your goal, you should break them boldly and courageously.
第五部分 书面表达（共1题；满分25分）
请阅读下列文字及图表，并按照要求用英语写一篇150词左右的文章。 假设你参加所在年级的英文写作比赛，请按照要求完成一篇短文： 1．简要描述下图内容，并点明主题； 2．联系实际，表达该图带给你的启示。 注意：1.短文的标题已给出(不计词数)； 2．参考词汇：spoil宠坏； 3．词数150左右。
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英语试卷答案（2017 4 25）
听力：1-5 ABBCA 6-10 BCBAC 11-15 AACAB 16-20 CABCA 单选：21-35 DADDD CDACC DCBAB 完形填空：36-40 ACACD 41-45 DACAB
46-50 CDCCA 51-55 ADBDC
阅读理解：56-67BD 58-60DAB 61-64DCDC 65-70CBCDBA 任务型：
71. patient 72. discouragement 73. common 74. blindly 75. interested 76. treasure/value 77. failure 78. courageous 79. avoid 80. obstacles 作文One possible version
Too Much Care Spoils A Child
As is shown in the picture above, the blooming plant is being destroyed by over-watering. Often
people do things with good intentions, but the result may be quite different. Such can also be the case with us while we grow up.
To spare us the kind of hardships they had in their childhood, our parents tend to offer us too much care, for example, making beds, washing clothes and even carrying school bags for us. They are doing all these without knowing that they are actually spoiling us.
As far as I am concerned, we children can't depend on our parents in everything, and at the same time our parents are supposed to let ourselves do whatever we can. As children, what we really need is to experience difficulties and take challenges so that we can learn from our own mistakes and grow to be independent. Only in this way can we become stronger to shoulder our due responsibilities.
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