13．　　You either have it, or you don't — a sense of direction, that is. But why is it that some people could find their way across the Sahara without a map, while others can (1)       themselves in the next street?
　　Scientists say we're all born with a sense of direction, but it is not (2)       understood how it works. One theory is that people with a good sense of direction have simply worked harder at (3)       it. Research being (4)       out at Liverpool University supports this idea and suggests that if we don't use it, we lose it.
　　"Children as young as seven have the ability to find their way around." says Jim Martland, Research Director of the project. "However, if they are not allowed out alone or are taken everywhere by car, they never develop the skills." Jim Martland also emphasizes that young people should be taught certain (5)       to improve their sense of direction. He makes the following suggestions:
　　If you are using a map, (6)       it so it relates to the way you are facing.
　　If you leave your bike in a strange place, put it near something like a big stone or a tree. Note landmarks on the route as you go away from your bike. When you return, go back along the same route.
　　Simplify the way of finding your direction by using lines such as streets in a town, streams, or walls in the countryside to (7)       you. (8)       your steps so that you know how far you have gone and note any landmarks such as tower blocks or hills which can help to find out where you are. Now you need never get lost again!

15．　　When I was 14 years old, I used to babysit (做临时保姆) for the lady next door. Every two weeks she would pay me ＄80. I always looked forward to getting paid so I could go to the shopping centre with my friends on Saturday and spend the money on my favourite things.
　　One Friday evening I heard my mom on the phone with our neighbor and I heard her say a few times, "Oh, that is terrible." After my mom hung up, I asked what was wrong. She said that the neighbor had no food in her house and that she didn't know what she was going to feed her daughter with. Her husband had spent their money on beer and got angry because his wife asked for money to buy groceries (食品杂货). He began to pull dishes out of the cupboards (壁橱) and threw them at the wall. So, the lady didn't have any groceries or dishes.
　　I had an idea. I asked my mom to drive me to McDonald's. I bought the lady and her daughter dinner with the babysitting money she had given me. After I had taken them dinner, I asked my mom to take me to the store and I bought the lady dishes and groceries with the rest of the money. When I knocked on the front door, the lady gave me a big hug and told me how grateful she was that I helped her. When Saturday came around, I didn't have any money to go to the shopping centre with my friends, but I didn't care, because I felt great that I was able to help this family.
　　Later, we moved away from the area. I saw our neighbor three times and she always told me how much she thanked me for caring her and her daughter.

16．New Technology Revolutionizes (变革) Learning
　　More and more people believe that technologies are great for learning. Today, such teaching tools as iPads are used in a lot of courses, including language, history and science.
　　Many teachers are supporters of using iPads in language learning. They say that students now have much more time for discussion in the classroom. Instead of spending valuable class time listening to texts or watching teaching videos, students can do this on their own and come to class prepared for discussion.
　　The teachers also say that iPads allow students to learn at their own pace. Some students might listen to a dialogue only once and understand it, so they can save time for doing other things. Other students, however, might need to listen to the same dialogue again and again to understand it. Using iPads is especially helpful to students who are learning a language at different paces.
　　The students who are using the new tool in some courses are also happy. They believe that using iPads is a more enjoyable way to learn (such as listening to stories and watching movies). The class has become much more interesting and creative.
　　There are other advantages for students. By using iPads, they can pay more attention to the material and learn more. Teaching notes are stored in their iPads and are easy to find . Some students spend more time studying now. "I can listen to my language material or watch teaching videos on the bus, instead of having to wait until I get home," a student explained.
　　Many adults complain that technologies such as iPads are doing harm to students. They worry that students might use iPads to download teaching notes and use them to cheat during exams. Some believe that iPads may separate students from each other. If a student spends more time watching videos on an iPad, he will have fewer opportunities to have face-to-face communication with others.
　　However, technologies are already a part of most students' day-to-day lives. As for cheating, teachers can ask students to hand in their iPads when they take exams. Education needs to make changes with the times as technology is playing an important part. We should look forward to a wonderful future when iPads and other technologies can add a lot to the classroom.

17．　　When students and parents are asked to grade subjects according to their importance, the arts are usually at the bottom of the list. Music is nice, people seem to say, but not important. Too often it is only viewed as entertainment, but certainly not an education priority (优先). This view is shortsighted. In fact, music education is very important for all students.
　　Music tells us who we are. Because music is an expression of the beings who create it, it shows their thinking and values, as well as the social environment it came from. Rock music represents a lifestyle just as surely as does a Schubert song. The jazz influence that George Gershwin and other musicians introduced into their music is obviously American because it came from American musical traditions. Music expresses our character and values. It gives us identity (身份, 特性) as a society.
　　Music provides a kind of perception (感知) that cannot be acquired any other way. Science can explain how the sun rises and sets. The arts can express the emotive (情感的) meaning of the same thing. We need every possible way to discover and respond to our world for one simple but powerful reason: No one way can get it all.
　　The arts are forms of thought as powerful in what they communicate as mathematical and scientific symbols. They are ways we human beings "talk" to each other. They are the language through which we express our fears, our hungers, our discoveries, our hopes. The arts are ways we give form to our ideas and imagination so that they can be shared with others. When we do not give children an important way of expressing themselves such as music, we take away from them the meanings that music expresses.
　　Science and technology do not tell us what it means to be human. The arts do. Music is an important way we express human suffering, celebration, the value of peace and love.
　　So music education is far more necessary than people seem to realize.

18．　　A 108-year-old Message in a Bottle
　　On November 30, 1906, George Bidder dropped a bottle from a boat into the North Sea. The weighted glass bottle sank almost to the sea floor, and then it moved slowly for 108 years and 138 days.
　　Its journey ended when Marianne Winkler found the bottle in 2015. Winkler was then on vacation on Amrum Island. She picked up the bottle when it was washed up onto the beach. She saw a piece of paper inside, but didn't break it open. She could tell that the bottle was old, so she didn't want to damage it. Finally she got the piece of paper out of the bottle. She found that the paper was actually a post-card. On the back of the card there was this message: The Marine Biological Association (海洋生物学会协会) would pay a shilling (先令) for the bottle. A shilling was a unit of money that was used in Great Britain before the early 1970s.
　　Winkler filled out the card and posted it. The association was surprised to get a postcard addressed to George Bidder, the president of the association from 1939 to 1945. The workers of the association searched on the Internet to find a shilling. They found one and sent it to Winkler as a reward.
　　The message in the bottle was the oldest ever re-discovered. For this reason Marianne Winkler got a place in "Guinness World Records" (吉尼斯世界纪录). She broke the record for the oldest message in a bottle.
　　Winkler's bottle was not the only one Bidder sent to sea. Between 1904 and 1906, he sent away more than one thousand bottles. He placed postcards inside them. The bottles were part of a research project to map currents (洋流) in the North Sea. This was the best method at that time. But whether the association could get the bottles back depended on the people who found them. The association reported that about 55 percent of the bottles were returned. They added that the experiment was a success as it showed the east-to-west flow of the North Sea's currents.

19．题目1:
假如你是李华, 你要邀请你的朋友Tony去参观国家博物馆(the National Museum), 请用英语写一封电子邮件, 告诉他你们见面的时间地点, 并简要介绍该博物馆．
提示词语:invite, visit, exhibition, history, rule
提示问题:When and where will you meet?
What can/can't you see or do in the museum?
Dear Tony,
　　I'd like to invite you to visit the National Museum ____________.

20．题目2:
传统节日是中华民族的文化名片, 是我们应该继承和弘扬的文化瑰宝．学校校刊正在开展以"我们的传统节日"为主题的征文活动, 请你用英语写一篇短文投稿, 谈谈你最喜欢的传统节日．
提示词语:lunar month, decorate, family reunion (家庭团聚), culture
提示问题:What is your favorite traditional festival and when is it?
What do people do during the festival/holiday?
There are many traditional festivals in China ____________.