11．　　For Pineda, it was a long way to succeed.
　　His story began in El Salvador; where he was born with something wrong with his mouth. He had great(1)       in speaking. At age 2, his family's house burned down. Pineda was hurt (2)      , and his legs needed to be cut. His mother died when he was 8, and he (3)       years on the streets before he was taken in by an orphanage (孤儿院).
　　Finally, at the orphanage, Pineda began to receive support and encouragement. He taught himself to play the guitar. He began his (4)       with other musicians. Then the group went to Chicago, where Pineda, then 18, (5)       the attention of many people, who wondered what they could do to help him.
　　A hospital offered him free medical care. A rich man agreed to (6)       for Pineda's tickets to and from El Salvador.
　　When he was in the hospital, Pineda began (7)       music, and wondered if he might be able to record his own album (音乐专辑). Soon with the help of a musician, "The Sound of Gratitude (感激)" was born. On October 15th, Pineda went to a Chicago club to (8)       his new songs to strangers, and to the friends who had helped him come so far.
　　It was (9)       that Pineda had come into such a good luck, after having so many years of hardship (艰难). "We have a (10)       in El Salvador, 'Suffer (受难) first, then enjoy.' I guess that's what's happening." he said.

13．　　Artificial intelligence (AI) (人工智能) is the ability of a computer program or a machine. The computer or the machine with AI can think and learn. It is also a field of study that tries to make computers "smart". John McCarthy, a scientist, came up with (提出) the name "artificial intelligence" over 60 years ago. Many things such as learning and problem solving can be done by computers, though not in the same way as people do.
An unusual goal of AI research is to create computer programs. They can learn, solve problems, and think logically (逻辑地). At present, AI can successfully understand human speech, recognize (识别) human faces, operate self-driving cars and compete in some game systems like playing chess. However, some people also consider (认为) AI a danger to humans if it develops too quickly. A famous British scientist also was not for this kind of technology.
　　Math is the basic language of AI. If students are good at math, they will be more likely to become successful AI designers (设计者) in the future. We need not only bright students, but also average (普通的) students. As for (对于) average students , if they get enough math skills, they can also become successful AI designers. Besides, a good knowledge of computer science is also necessary for AI designing.
　　Scientists hope to create creative (有创造力) and emotional (有感情的) AI. The AI can possibly understand human feelings or create art. Many ways and tools have been tried to discover this wide and exciting field.

14．　　Want to save the earth? Plant a tree!
　　What's causing global (全球的) warming? Is it man-made? Or are temperatures simply changing naturally? Whatever the case, we can at least try to slow things down. But how?
　　The Wilderness Project has an idea. (1)      . If the earth has more trees, greenhouse gases will be reduced, and this will help stop global warming. (2)       and improve air quality (质量). (3)      . In Belgium, the Organization for Forests worked with farmers to help them plant more trees. In Spain, the Canopy Project plants one tree for every Spaniard (西班牙人) in order to improve the environment. In Germany, a teenager named Felix Finkbeiner has been leading a global movement to plant more trees. (4)      .
　　Now, lots of people all over the world have already been planting more trees. In fact, if everyone plants one tree, just one, it will do great good to our environment.
　　So what can you do to help? (5)      , although you need to get advice on how to look after it. Or you can join a tree planting project such as the ones mentioned above to help save the earth.
　　So, go on, plant a tree…and save the earth!

15．　　Do you like playing basketball? If so, you must be very shocked and sad about the death of Kobe Bryant, a famous NBA basketball player, Kobe died in a helicopter (直升机) accident in California on January 26, 2020. Just three days before the accident, he sent out Chinese New Year wishes, and encouraged Chinese fans to live (实践) their dreams and dare to win.
　　Bryant is a popular basketball player in China. On March 7, 2019, Kobe Bryant visited a middle school in Shenzhen to meet students. At the school, he also shared his new sports novel.
　　Kobe was known for trying the hardest to be the best. And he called it "Mamba Spirit". He once said, "Life is too short to get bogged down. You have to keep moving. You have to keep going. "He retired from basketball in 2016, but he still woke up before the sun rose to go training at 4:00 a. m. From middle school to college, Bryant's stories went along with so many Chinese people and fired up their love for basketball. "I grew up watching him play. Because of bin, I began playing basketball," one of his fans said. His excellent performance, strong will and continuing training made him a superhero among Chinese fans.

16．
　　When you see quite a beautiful girl on the street, which word will you use to describe the beauty of her? In Chinese, we may use these Chinese sayings as Chenyuluoyan or Biyuexiuhua. However, do you know where the sayings are (1)            ?
　　In Chinese ancient history, there (2)             four well-known beauties named Xishi, Wang Zhaojun, Diaochan and Yang Yuhuan. Here are two (3)             about Xishi and Wang Zhaojun.
　　Xishi lived during the Spring and Autumn period. One day, she (4)             to a river to wash silk with her friends. Some fish were swimming in the clear water. When the fish saw Xishi, they swam down to the bottom of the water (5)            . The fish were shocked by the beauty of Xishi and felt embarrassed of (6)            .
　　Wang Zhaojun lived during the Han Dynasty. The king of Han wanted to send her to the king of the enemy country as a gift. A few days later, (7)             Wang was on the way with a group of guards, something interesting happened. There was a wild goose (8)             above the head of Wang Zhaojun. It was so shocked by the beauty of Wang (9)             it even forgot to flap wings. Then it fell down heavily into the forest.
　　Nowadays, if a girl's beauty is overwhelming, we can say she is the one that "can make the fish sink and the wild goose (10)            ".

17．Tony: What are you going to do after leaving school?
Helen: I'm thinking about becoming a pilot. That way I would be able to travel.
Tony: (1)      
Helen: Of course I do. I like to visit different places, make different friends and learn different things.
Tony: That sounds good. You seem to be very healthy. (2)      
Helen: It's just so so. I find it difficult to learn it well.
Tony: What can you do if you are not good at English?
Helen: (3)       I'll try to learn it better. (4)      
Tony: Maybe I'll try to be a businessman. I'd like to go into business and make some money.
Helen: (5)      
Tony: But I think being busy is better than doing nothing.
Helen: Yes, I agree with you.

23．新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情改变了我们的生活和学习方式。假如你是李华。你很关心国外笔友Jack，请你给他写一封信。
内容包括：
1. 为了抗击疫情，给他提供有关保持健康的四条建议。
2. 你的线上学习情况。
3. 鼓励他克服恐惧心理，保持积极心态，相信一定会战胜病毒。
参考词汇：the novel coronavirus (新冠肺炎)；mask (口罩)；virus (病毒)
要求：
1. 语言流畅、书写规范、卷面整洁、可适当发挥；
2. 文中不得出现你的真实姓名和校名等；
3. 80—100词左右，文章的开头已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Jack,
　　How are you?
　　As we know, the novel coronavirus has changed our life. To protect ourselves, here are some good suggestions for you. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua