16．　　Once upon a time, there was a little sparrow. This sparrow was always on the hunt for something to eat and one day he happened upon a big bean. But before he could (1)       it, he had to wash his hands. He hid the bean on a bridge and flew down to the (2)       below to clean up.
　　"I just can't wait for my wonderful (3)      ," the sparrow said to himself. Then he (4)       his way back up to the bridge. "I won't have to work for a week!" But when he got back to his (5)       place, the bean was gone!
　　As the sparrow flew around looking for his lost treasure, he saw a (6)       coming over the bridge. "(7)       , can you help me find my bean?" the sparrow asked. "Please, do I look like I have time to find a tiny bean?Find it (8)       ," said the farmer as he walked away.
　　Next, the sparrow saw a soldier coming over the bridge. He asked the soldier the (9)       question. "Please, little bird, I have no time for you, " he said and walked on. Then a minister (大臣) came walking by, but (10)       the sparrow could even ask, he laughed and walked away. The little bird had (11)       given up hope, when the king came up the bridge, riding on an elephant. The sparrow repeated his question, but the king didn't (12)       him. The sparrow sat on the bridge, hungry and sad.
　　An ant came by. After he heard the sparrow's story, he went up to the elephant. "Tell the king to find that poor bird's (13)       , or I will go inside your ear and bite you!" The elephant stopped, turned to the king and said, "Go help that sparrow, or I will throw you off. " The king was (14)       . He called the minister over and the minister ordered the soldier. Then the soldier went over to the farmer, "Find that bird's bean, or I'll kick you off this bridge!" The farmer (15)       all day and as the sun was setting, he finally found the bean. The sparrow was thankful, and he ate well for the next week.

17．The Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Period was an age of great culture development in China. Here are some great characters of that time.

18．　　One teacher praises a student by saying "You're so smart!" Another teacher says "You must have worked really hard at this!" Which student does better in school?Studies show that students who hear the words of the second teacher will do better. Those students are learning that their effort is important.
　　Psychologists (心理学家) looked at what students did after they were given different types of praise. Some students were told that they were good at a task. They didn't try very hard the next time. Other students were told that they had worked hard at a task. They worked even harder the next time. The first group of students was learning that they had a set amount of skill. They didn't think they could do any better. This is called a fixed mindset (思维模式). The second group was learning that they could do better if they kept trying. This is called a growth mindset. People who have a growth mindset believe that the brain can grow;people can do better and learn new skills. If they work hard, they can be successful.
　　How can teachers and parents help students succeed?They can focus mainly on effort and not simply on ability. When students succeed, teachers and parents should praise the actual work rather than intelligence (智力) or talent. When students fail, they should be told how they can do better. Teachers, parents and students need to value effort, not intelligence.

19．　　Maggie, Travis and Lucy's science teacher set a special test for them. They had to work out different kinds of problems within limited time to get out of a locked room.
　　For the past hour, Maggie, Travis and Lucy had been locked inside a room decorated like a mad scientist's laboratory. Together they decoded(破译)a secret language and solved a difficult maths problem.
　　The last challenge, however, stopped them. The key to the door was trapped in a block of ice.
　　"We have to melt the ice, " Lucy said.
　　"But there's nothing hot here!" Maggie complained.
　　Travis pulled off his sweatshirt and wrapped(裏)it around the ice. "This keeps me warm" he reasoned.
　　A few minutes passed by, but the ice didn't melt.
　　"Isn't cloth an insulator(隔热材料)?" Lucy asked. She tried to remember what she had learned in science class. "Heat always flows from warm objects to cold ones. The heat in the air will eventually melt the ice, but we need to find something that will help heat move from the air to the ice more quickly. "
　　"What about glass?" Maggie asked.
　　"Glass is also an insulator. It keeps heat from moving, " Lucy said. Then she noticed a large metal tray (金属托盘) across the room. "This might work!"
　　Lucy put the block of ice onto the tray. Everybody's eyes moved between the clock and the ice. Would they be able to free the key in time?
　　At last, the key lay in the water on the tray. The three friends rushed out of the room in the last minute.
　　"We made it!" Travis cheered. "Good thing you paid attention in science class!"

20．　　He was an old man who fished alone in a boat and he had gone eighty﹣four days now without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him. But after forty days without a fish, the boy's parents had told him that the old man was now exactly and finally salao, which is the worst form of unlucky, and the boy had gone at their orders in another boat which caught three good fish the first week.
　　It made the boy sad to see the old man come in each day with his boat empty and be always went down to help him carry fishing tools.
　　The old man was thin with deep wrinkles (皱纹) in the back of his neck. His hands had the deep scars (疤) from dealing with heavy fish. But none of these scars were fresh.
　　Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same colour as the sea and were cheerful and full of confidence.
　　"Santiago," the boy said to him as they climbed from the bank where the boat was pulled up. "I could go with you again. We've made some money."
　　The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him. "No." the old man said. "You're with a lucky boat. Stay with them."
　　"But remember how you went eighty﹣seven days without fish and then we caught big ones every day for three weeks."
　　"I remember," the old man said. "I know you did not leave me willingly."
　　"It was papa made me leave. I am a boy and I must do what he told me to."
　　"I know." the old man said. "I quite understand that. "
　　"He hasn't much faith (信念)."
　　"No." the old man said. "But we have. Haven't we?"
　　"Yes." the boy said. "Can I offer you a beer on the Terrace and then we'll take the fishing tools home?"
　　"Why not?" the old man said. "Between fishermen."
　　They sat on the Terrace and many of the fishermen made fun of the old man and he was not angry. Some other older fishermen looked at him and were sad. But they didn't show it and they spoke politely about the sea, the weather and of what they had seen.

21．　　Nature is full of great ideas. (1)      
　　Many blind people use canes to move around. They tap their canes on the ground in front of them to feel if anything is in their way. One amazing invention was a new cane to help blind people. It helps them move around more safely. This invention was an idea from bats. (2)       These signals (信号) are almost the same as the bats use when they fly.
　　How bats get around
　　Bats make sounds when they fly at night. People cannot hear these sounds, but they help bats fly in the dark. Bats send sound waves out of their mouth or nose. These sound waves hit objects around them. Then they come back as an echo. The echo tells bats how far away things like trees are. (3)      
　　An amazing idea
　　The scientist who invented the new cane watched how bats fly. (4)       He added something that sends and receives sound waves. Finally, he tested the cane. It worked!
　　(5)      
　　The cane sends out signals. When an echo is sent back, the cane's handle vibrates (振动). This helps the person holding the cane know how far away an object is. They will also know how big the object is.
　　This cane shows that great ideas really can come from nature.
A. How the cane works
B. Then he built a lightweight cane.
C. It also helps them know where to find food to eat.
D. The cane works by sending out sound waves or signals.
E. People will get more new ideas from the bats and other animals.
F. Some inventors get ideas from nature to make some useful things.

22．　　Hand gestures have been commonly used in our daily communication. They add to the message by filling in what words sometimes leave behind. But are you aware of the history that goes behind some of these popular hand gestures? Probably not. Unsurprisingly, each of them has its special history.

回答下面5个问题, 每题答案不超过6个词。

33．根据短文内容及首字母提示, 填写所缺单词, 使其意思完整．
　　I grew up in the countryside. At around 10 years old, I began to learn cooking. The first skill I mastered was making dough (面团). Since my parents often came home (1)l       , a prepared dough would help my family have supper sooner. I thought it would be (2)e       because I often saw my mum do it — just mix water and flour, right?Not quite!It turned out to be a (3)m       for a while. First I made the dough too soft. Then I made it too hard. But as I kept trying, I learned the trick.
　　Later, I cooked fried dishes and things like dumplings and I (4)f       in love with cooking. It's a good way to relax. More importantly, thanks to my cooking skill, I live better (5)d       the COVID-19 pandemic. Now working at home, I cook every meal instead of ordering takeout. It (6)s       money and I don't have to wait for delivery drivers to feed me.
　　Besides cooking, I did a lot of (7)f       work in my childhood. I got to know how to plant vegetables. (8)T       it was hard work, the experience taught me things that many of my friends still don't know. For example, the part of a potato that has sprouts (芽) can be planted as a seed. I once discussed this with my friends from the city. They thought it was a (9)p       that they didn't have the chance to learn these things in their lives.
　　Some might say we can learn these things from textbooks. But it can't compare to the (10)j       of learning firsthand, watching plants blossom and grow. It brings a new way to look at the world.

34．学校英语俱乐部将组织题为"One Thing I will Do for ______"的征文比赛．请根据提示, 写一篇短文参赛, 分享你将为朋友、家人、学校或社会做的一件事．

注意事项:
1. 补全题目, 如"my friend, my parents, our school"等;
2. 文中不能出现真实姓名、校名等信息;
3. 词数:100左右(文章开头已给出, 不计入总词数);
4. 文章必须包含所有要点, 可适当发挥, 使短文连贯、通顺．
One Thing I will Do for ______
　　I have made great progress in the past three years. Now I want to do one thing for ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________