2．　　Mr. Brown is already 89 years old. He used to sell ice-cream in New York. Last month, his daughter died and left him with two grandchildren. He had to look after them.
　　"What should we do? We have to make money," Mr Brown said to his wife. Then he decided to sell ice-cream again. He got up early every morning and worked until midnight.
　　Steve is a reporter. He often bought ice-cream from Mr. Brown. Soon he learned about his story. He wanted to help the old man, so he posted a photo online. Lots of people read Mr. Brown's story and came to buy ice-cream. That was not enough. Steve started to raise money for Mr. Brown. He planned to raise＄3,000, but in fact, he got more than＄201,000.
　　Now Mr. Brown is rich. He doesn't need to make money. But he says, "I'm really thankful to Steve and other kind people for helping me. I want to help others, too." He keeps on selling ice-cream. He gives ice-cream to kids for free. He also gives his money to poor families.
　　Just as the saying goes, "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." Try to help, and you will feel different.

3．　　If you feel sad or upset, remember not to watch a happy movie. A sad movie may be more suitable for you.
　　Some scientists at Ohio State University, the U.S., have found that sad movies can make people happier. They published their study in a magazine called Communication Research.
Scientists asked 361 college students to watch a sad movie called Atonement. The movie tells a story of two lovers who were separated. They died during World War II at the end of the movie. The 361 college students answered questions from the scientists before, after and three times during the movie to find out their different feelings, including sadness.
　　According to the result of the survey, scientists found out that people felt better after watching the sad movie. Scientists believed this was because the movie made them think about their own lives and relationships. Compared to those of the unlucky lovers in the movie, their lives were full of hope.
　　"I want to live my life to the fullest, and this movie has made me think a lot," one student wrote.
　　Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, the leader of the study, explained that bad moods (情绪) would make people more thoughtful. "Good moods are generally a sign that everything is fine. You don't have to worry, and you don't have to think about problems in your life," she said. "But bad emotions, like sadness, make you feel terrible about your situation. Therefore, seeing a sad movie may make you feel bad, but that will cause you to think more about your own close relationships and value them more."

4．　　On the early morning of December 17, the Chang'e-5 lunar probe (月球探测器) landed safely on the grasslands in Inner Mongolia, meaning the Chang'e-5 mission (任务) ended successfully.
　　Chang'e-5 was launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan Province on November 24, 2020. On December 1, the probe got to the moon. During the stay on the moon, it collected 1,731 grams of rock and soil samples (样品). On December 3, our national flag was shown on the moon. After that, the probe was ready to go home.
　　China is no stranger to lunar exploration (探月) programs. Over the years, it has sent a number of increasingly challenging missions to the moon. One of the most famous missions was the historic landing of Chang'e-4 spacecraft on the moon's far side in 2019. As Chang'e-5 reached a new area of the moon, this launch successfully pushed the limits (极限) even further. It's no doubt a great step forward for the space industry.
　　This is a truly historic event for China's space program, making China the third nation in the world to bring samples back from the moon. The success has also made Chang'e-5 the first spacecraft to bring back samples from the moon since 1976 when a Russian spaceship brought back 170.1 grams of samples to the earth. This was no easy task, but China has made it.

5．根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
　　Do you want to be cleverer and get more knowledge? Five ways can make you cleverer.
　　▲ Don't Watch TV Too Much
　　(1)       If you're too tired, listen to some music. When you're with your friends or family, leave the TV off and have a conversation. All of these things make your mind run better than television does and also allow you to relax.
　　▲ (2)      
　　Taking exercise always leads to greater learning. Use your body to clear your head and create more energy. Afterwards, you will feel more energetic and can concentrate (专注) more easily.
　　▲ Read Challenging Books
　　If you want to improve your thinking and writing ability, you should read books that make you concentrate. (3)      
　　▲ Early to Bed, Early to Rise
　　You'll be most refreshed if you go to bed early and don't sleep more than 8 hours. (4)      
　　Waking up early makes you active all day.
　　▲ Take Time to Reflect (反省)
　　Spending time alone on reflecting gives you a chance to organize your thoughts. Afterwards, you'll have a better understanding of what's important and what isn't. (5)      

A. Reading a classic novel will make you think more clearly.
B. Try to Learn
C. Watching a lot of TV does no good to your mind.
D. Then the unimportant things won't trouble you anymore.
E. Take Exercise
F. The more you sleep, the better it is.
G. The early morning hours are most peaceful and productive (多产的).

6．阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C和D四个选项中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
　　One Friday night, a poor art student Joseph was playing the violin at New York subway station. In front of him was a (1)       with a few dollars. He needed some more money for his tuition (学费).
　　Joseph was playing his last piece of music when a middle-aged man who looked excited (2)       and put a 50-dollar banknote (钞票) into the hat. Joseph nodded to the man (3)      .
　　The next (4)      , Joseph came to the same place as usual. (5)       from the night before, he took out a large piece of paper and laid it on the ground. The paper said, "Last night, a gentleman put something unexpected into my hat (6)      . Please come to get it."
　　Interested, many passers-by stopped, wondering what the unexpected thing could be. Just then, a man (7)      through the crowd to Joseph and shouted excitedly, "Thank God you're here. I knew you are a(n) (8)       man."
　　"Did you lose something, sir?" asked Joseph.
　　The man nodded, "Yes, a lottery ticket."
　　Joseph took out a ticket, "Is this one (9)      ?"
　　The gentleman (10)       the ticket and then hugged Joseph tightly, saying "Thank you, thank you, young man."
　　It turned out that the middle-aged man (11)       the ticket the other day and was excited to find that he was the lucky (12)       of ＄100,000. Overjoyed, he took out a (13)       banknote and put it in Joseph's hat on his way home. (14)      , the lottery ticket was also thrown in. When Joseph found it was a winning lottery ticket, he decided to return it to the owner. To thank Joseph, the owner (15)       him＄500 as a gift.
　　Joseph's honesty paid off.

7．阅读下面短文，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式(不超过3个单词)。
　　Tea is the leaf of a plant which grows widely in China. It is our national drink and tea-drinking is one of the daily activities of Chinese people. In China, (1)             a visitor comes, he is served with a cup of tea.
　　Tea-drinking has (2)             history of over 4,000 years. According to Tea Classics by Lu Yu, tea was discovered by Shen Nong, and became a drink in the State of Lu because of Zhou Gong. According to a legend, Shen Nong tasted hundreds of wild plants (3)            (stop) people from eating poisonous (有毒的) plants. One day, he was poisoned by an unknown plant but (4)            (save) by eating leaves of an evergreen plant. Later, people called the leaves that saved his life "Cha (tea)".
　　Drinking tea does good to people in many ways. When people are tired, they feel better after drinking a cup of tea. Compared with people who don't drink tea, tea drinkers are likely to enjoy a (5)            (long) life. It is said that drinking tea can also help fat people lose weight.

8．假如你是李明，你的英国朋友Henry给你发来电子邮件，询问关于新冠疫情 (COVID-19 pandemic) 对你们生活习惯带来的改变。请你根据以下要点给他回邮件，并表达你对此变化的看法。
要点：
1. 在公共场所戴口罩的多了；
2. 去人群聚集场所的人少了；
3. 更注重身体锻炼了；
4. 养成了餐前餐后勤洗手，餐中用公筷的习惯；
5. 你的看法……
要求：
1. 语言通顺，条理清楚，书写规范；
2. 要点齐全，内容可适当发挥；
3. 词数：100左右 (开头和结尾已给出, 不计入总词数)。
参考词汇：病毒 virus (n.) 口罩 facial mask (n.) 公筷 serving chopsticks (n.)
Dear Henry,
　　How is everything going? You asked me about how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our living habits in your e-mail, and I'm glad to share with you the new changes.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
　　Please take care and stay in touch.
Yours,
Li Ming