2025-2026年甘肃庆阳高二下册期末英语试卷(解析版)

1、As President, he appointed men to high government positions ________ he considered most capable, ________ some of them openly defied his authority.

A.which … as though B./ … though

C.which … even if D.whom … as though

2、For a moment nothing happened, then ______ all shouting together.

A.voices had come B.did voices come

C.voices would come D.came voices

3、Smiling doesn’t ________ mean you’re happy. Sometimes, it just means that you’re strong enough to face problems.

A.fortunately B.eventually C.deliberately D.necessarily

4、A new house ________ at the corner of the road and will be completed next month.

A. is building   B. been built

C. is being built D. be building

5、I loved playing computer games, but very little ______ from it.

A.did I learn B.I learnt C.learnt I D.I did learn

6、Ten minutes earlier, _____we could have saved the boy.

A.or B.otherwise C.and D.so

7、 ---Did you go to the fashion show last week？

---I_________，but I was fully occupied the whole week．

A. must go B. must have gone

C. would go   D. would have gone

8、Though he had often made his little sister ________, today he was made ________ by his little sister.

A．cry; to cry

B．crying; crying

C．cry; cry

D．to cry; cry

9、The girl _________ out alone at night.

A.dare not go B.dare not to go C.dares not go D.not dare go

10、Doctor Li Wenliang is reported to have been one of the first whistleblowers _______ the epidemic situation.

A.mentioning B.to mention C.mentioned D.mention

11、--- Have you finished the book?

--- No, I've read up to _______ the children discover the secret cave.

A．in which

B．what

C．that

D．where

12、Some people with similar experiences find it easy to to his troubles.

A.refer B.reply C.relate D.resemble

13、Architects preferred _______ buildings with more light, which_______ with the heaviness of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle ages.

A.to design, contrasts B.designing, contrasting

C.to design, to contrast D.designing, contrasted

14、In the past, a needle like a small sword could be used for letting liquid out of body parts which had______.

A.swollen up B.linked up C.dropped out D.worn out

15、—I’m kind of hungry, Mum!

—But I am occupied now, dear. Turn to Ele.me and order _______ you desire.

A．whichever

B．whatever

C．no matter which

D．no matter what

16、― Mr. Johnson, I’m really sorry _____ you waiting for a long time.

— I know you are very busy at the moment.

A.to have kept B.to be keeping C.to keep D.to have been kept

17、______ in her most beautiful skirt, the girl tried to make herself _____ out at the party.

A.Dressed; stand B.Dressing; stand C.Dressed; stood D.Dressing; being stood

18、There were no tickets________for Friday's performance.

A．preferable

B．considerable

C．possible

D．available

19、I have absolutely no ________ the students who get caught cheating in exams even though they were seriously punished.

A. impact on B. sympathy for

C. concern about D. complaint about

20、—Is your brother going camping?

—He’s signed up but he’s considering________.

A.not to go B.not going C.won’t go D.not go

21、I’m sorry to say your performance didn’t get to the requirements, ________ you cannot be accepted by our company.

A．in a word

B．on the other hand

C．in general

D．in other words

22、Not until he came back home ______ his schoolbag had been left on the school bus.

A. did he find B. he did find

C. he found D. found he

23、Every boy and every girl _________ to attend the evening party.

A.wish B.wishes C.hope D.are hoping

24、In the wake of terrorist attack in New Zealand, we _______ our deepest sympathies to the families who have to live each day with the loss of loved ones.

A．expanded

B．extended

C．explored

D．exposed

25、Since living in the country is cheap ________ with that in big cities, my grandpa decided to spend the rest of his life in the country.

A.in combination B.in comparison C.in contact D.in connection

26、Legend(传说) says that soap was first discovered on Sappo Hill in Rome. According to legend, a group of Roman women were washing their clothes in the River Tiber at the base of a hill. Then some fat from the dead animals ran down into the river. 【1】 The women soon found that using that thing made the clothes easier to wash.

【2】 The evidence for this is Babylonian boxes dated at around 2800 B. C. Words on the boxes present the earliest known written soap recipe, which show how the product was made. They show the product was made from fat combined with wood ash(灰) and water.

【3】 The Ebers Papyrus shows that ancient Egyptians combined both animal and vegetable oils with salts to produce a soap—like thing. According to Pliny the Elder, the Phoenicians made soap from goats’ fat and wood ash in 600 B. C.

Pompeii was one of the cities destroyed by the volcanic eruption (火山爆发)of Mt. Vesuvius in its ruins. The discovery suggests that the industry was started. 【4】 This is a big discovery for us to study the history of soap.

During the early century of the Common Era, although the Romans were well known for their public baths, generally soap was not used for personal cleaning; it was used for the treatment of disease. 【5】

A．It formed something like soap.

B．We can say soap was really important in history.

C．So soap wasn't necessarily used for body cleaning then.

D．Early Romans began to make soap in the first century A. D.

E．Some other countries are also thought to have created soap.

F．Also, it suggests that soap was widely known in the Roman Empire.

G．However, the ancient Babylonians were the ones who invented soap.

27、   There’s a good chance something you've bought online has been in the hands of a “ picker” first. These are the workers in warehouses(仓库)who pick, pack and ship all those things we’re ordering.

At Amazon and other companies, they’re working side by side with robots. Experts say while the robots are replacing some human workers, the machines aren't quite ready to take over completely.

When a robot finds its storage unit, it slides underneath, lifts it up and then delivers it to a worker 一 they’re called pickers. On a recent day, the computer told a picker to grab what looked like a fantasy board (棋盘)game. The picker found it, canned it and placed it on the conveyor belt.

“In a traditional fulfillment center where the associate would walk to the different items , it can take hours to fulfill a customer order. “ Robinson says.

Now, with the help of robots, that task takes minutes 一 and fewer humans.

So is this a sign we're entering a new industrial revolution?

“It’s definitely going to take over a lot of jobs. " says Karen Myers, a scientist at SRI, one of Silicon Valley's oldest research centers.

At the same time, she says, we're running against the limits of technology. Take “the picker” at the Amazon fulfillment center. Myers says those skills are proving to be uniquely human.

“Our fingers are incredibly flexible and the current generation of robotic operators, they’re getting much, much better,” she says. “But they're just not quite there yet. ”

There’s also the robot’s brain.

Remember that board game the Amazon worker was looking for? She could barely see the box filled into the storage bin — but she could tell it was a board game. Robots can’t do that.

Technologists say that, increasingly, humans will work side by side with robots — instead of robots working alone.

Amazon says robots and humans enabled the Tracy warehouse to fulfill customer orders faster. That means more customers and more human workers.

【1】A picker does some tasks except  .

A. picking goods B. producing goods C. spotting goods D. packing goods

【2】With the help of robots, some tasks are   .

A. more efficient B. less straight C. more difficult D. less profitable

【3】Compared with robots, humans are more   .

A. powerful B. artificial C. flexible D. energetic

【4】What is the best title for the text?

A. Robots replacing humans completely.

B. The advantages of shopping online.

C. The future of robots.

D. Robots and humans working side by side.

28、Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer who helped shape the course of American literature. His life was full of tragedies, but he had the great influence on the 19th-century American literature and continues to influence writers to this day.

The early life of Edgar Allan Poe was quite unhappy. Born in 1809, Poe was not yet three years old when his parents died. Adopted by a wealthy family, he got into trouble at school. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, but he dropped out without graduating. His misery (不幸) continued to his adult life. Later, because of a failed marriage, he suffered from mental illness. He was so upset about real life that he turned to writing. Expressing himself in an unreal and imaginary world was his only comfort.

The tragedies in Poe’s life influenced the tone, style and contents of his writing. His stories usually include death, which help build his reputation as a master of “dark” literature. In his The Tell-Tale Heart, the main character goes crazy and kills his roommate while in The Black Cat, the main character kills his cat in a fit of madness.

Poe died at the age of 40 in 1849. His life is short, but his influence is very great. Poe is credited with (被誉为) creating crime fiction, and many say he contributed greatly to the appearance of science fiction. Fascinated (着迷) by the scientific theories and new inventions of his time, he wrote about imaginary societies in the future. Writers such as Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of Sherlock Holmes, regarded Poe as the father of detective fiction. Jules Verne, a French writer who helped popularize science fiction, said Poe’s work had a direct influence on the stories he wrote.

【1】Poe began to write to _________.

A．earn his living

B．find comfort in writing

C．build a good reputation

D．create a beautiful world

【2】It can be learnt that Poe’s works often reflect ________.

A．soldiers’ life

B．his own life stories

C．a sense of peace

D．some political problems

【3】Which can best show Poe’s influence on literature according to the last paragraph?

A．His creation of crime fiction.

B．His unique writing experience.

C．His creation of scientific theories.

D．His contribution to new inventions.

【4】What’s the best title of the text?

A．American literature and writers

B．Escape from real life and find comfort

C．Edgar Allan Poe: a misunderstood poet

D．Edgar Allan Poe：a tragic yet talented writer

29、   Although Bertha Young was thirty she still had moments like this when she wanted to run instead of walk, to take dancing steps on and off the pavement, to throw something up in the air and catch it again, or to stand still and laugh at — nothing — at nothing, simply.

What can you do if you are thirty and, turning the corner of your own street, you are overcome, suddenly by a feeling of happiness — absolute happiness.

Oh, is there no way you can express it without being “drunk and disorderly”? How stupid civilization is! Why should you be given a body if you have to keep it shut up in a case like a rare, rare fiddle(小提琴)?

“No, that about the fiddle is not quite what I mean,” she thought, running up the steps and feeling in her bag for the key — she’d forgotten it, as usual — and rattling the letter-box. “It’s not what I mean, because — Thank you, Mary” — she went into the hall. “Is nurse back?”

“Yes, M’m.”

“I’ll go upstairs.” And she ran upstairs to the nursery.

Nurse sat at a low table giving Little B her supper after her bath. The baby looked up when she saw her mother and began to jump.

“Now, my lovey, eat it up like a good girl,” said nurse, setting her lips in a way that Bertha knew, and that meant she had come into the nursery at another wrong moment.

“Has she been good, Nanny?”

“She’s been a little sweet all the afternoon,” whispered Nanny. “We went to the park and I sat down on a chair and took her out of the pram (婴儿车) and a big dog came along and she pulled its ear. Oh, you should have seen her.”

Bertha wanted to ask if it wasn’t rather dangerous to let her pull a strange dog’s ear. But she did not dare to. She stood watching them, her hands by her side, like the poor little girl in front of the rich girl with the doll.

The baby looked up at her again, stared, and then smiled so charmingly that Bertha couldn’t help crying.

“Oh, Nanny, do let me finish giving her supper while you put the bath things away.

“Well, M’m, she oughtn’t to be changed hands while she’s eating,” said Nanny, still whispering. “It unsettles her, it’s very likely to upset her.”

How absurd it was. Why have a baby if it has to be kept—not in a case like a rare, rare fiddle — but in another woman’s arms?

“Oh, I must!” said she.

Very offended, Nanny handed her over.

“Now, don’t excite her after her supper. You know you do, M’m. And I have such a time with her after!”

Thank heaven! Nanny went out of the room with the bath towels.

“Now I’ve got you to myself, my little precious,” said Bertha, as the baby learned against her.

She ate delightfully, holding up her lips for the spoon and then waving her hands. Sometimes she wouldn’t let the spoon go; and sometimes just as Bertha had filled it, she waved it away to the four winds.

When the soup was finished Bertha turned round to the fire. “You’re nice — you’re very nice!” said she, kissing her warm baby. “I’m fond of you. I like you.”

And indeed, she loved Little B so much — her neck as she bent forward, her pretty toes as they shone transparent in the firelight — that all her feeling of happiness came back again, and again she didn’t know how to express it — what to do with it.

“You’re wanted on the telephone,” said Nanny, coming back in victory and seizing her Little B.

【1】In paragraph 3 and 15, a “rare, rare fiddle” is used to show that ________.

A.Bertha is frustrated by not feeling free to express her musical talents

B.wealthy mothers are not allowed to look after their children

C.Bertha considers her baby girl an extraordinary child

D.people of a certain age are expected to follow a certain code of behavior

【2】What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 11 imply?

A.Bertha wishes to have care-giving time with her baby.

B.Bertha lacks emotional and psychological strength.

C.Bertha desires a closer relationship with Nanny.

D.Bertha suffers from an unrealistic hope of having more babies.

【3】Which of the following best describes the relationship between Bertha and Nanny?

A.Bertha feels that Nanny is a competent nurse and will do anything liberate her from chores.

B.Nanny considers herself the baby’s primary caregiver and Bertha just an occasional visitor.

C.Bertha prefers to leave the child in Nanny’s care so that she can fulfill her inappropriate fantasies.

D.Nanny is tired of working hard for Bertha and would like to find other pleasant employment.

【4】Which of the following sentences best describes Nanny’s possessiveness (占有欲)?

A.“She’s been a little sweet all the afternoon,” whispered Nanny. “...Oh. you should have seen her.”

B.“Now, my lovey, eat it up like a good girl,” said nurse, setting her lips in a way that Bertha knew.

C.“Now, don’t excite her after her supper. You know you do, M’m. And I have such a time with her after!”

D.“You’re wanted on the telephone,” said Nanny, coming back in victory and seizing her Little B.

30、   His palms were sweating. The sun was as hot as the_____he faced today at the National Junior Olympics. The pole was______at 17 feet, three inches higher than his personal best. Michael Stone faced the most______day of his pole- vaulting(撑杆跳) career.

In his childhood, he used to have dreams about flying,______he would be running down a country road, racing between golden wheat fields. At one point, he would take a______and then lift ______the ground, soaring like an eagle. This______about flying was put to______training by Michael's father and coach ,who_____hard work and sweat. If you want something, work for it.

All of Michael’s vaults today seemed to be the reward for his hard work. a______would get him second place, but Michael would not allow himself the______of not winning.

He knew it was time for his_____ jump. Having_____off the tension from his legs, he began to stretch out his arms and upper body. He carefully picked up his pole, his heart beating ____.The running track______him felt like the country road he used to dream about. Visions of the golden wheat fields______his thoughts. The air around him was the purest and freshest he had ever______. Michael was soaring like an eagle in his dreams

Lying on his back with that wonderful hot sun on his face. he______he could see in his mind's eye the______on his mother's face. He knew his dad was probably smiling too,_____laughing. With all the media attention, Michael’s life would never be the same. It wasn’t just because he set a new world record. It was simply because Michael Stone is blind.

【1】A. examination B. competition C. struggle D. debate

【2】A. set B. broken C. kept D. designed

【3】A. energetic B. attractive C. difficult D. interesting

【4】A. what B. how C. which D. where

【5】A. breath B. rest C. walk D. look

【6】A. against B. to C. on D. off

【7】A. hope B. imagination C. dream D. wish

【8】A. strict B. occassional C. basic D. mental

【9】A. took over B. believed in C. called off D. turned on

【10】A. run B. miss C. step D. push

【11】A. thought B. goal C. mind D. opinion

【12】A. another B. first C. next D. final

【13】A. put B. given C. shaken D. cut

【14】A. regularly B. wildly C. suddenly D. normal

【15】A. above B. beside C. below D. within

【16】A. shaped B. confused C. filled D. attracted

【17】A. seen B. tasted C. noticed D. sensed

【18】A. said B. knew C. predicted D. understood

【19】A. tears B. sweat C. sadness D. smile

【20】A. even B. or C. still D. yet

31、I was diving home after attending my uncle's funeral. I took a canyon（峡谷）drive with beautiful scenery to process my_________.

Suddenly I heard a pop. I knew what had happened—a big flat tire! I_________to the side, but this was a canyon drive with not much shoulder_________, and it happened to be around a turning that people couldn't see. That made it_________.

Cars were passing me fast. I couldn't get out. Within minutes, I saw a van stopped behind me. The gentleman walked out,_________a hand, and I dared to walk out very_________. He moved my car out of the _________way while I was talking to the police. Since they couldn't send_________in 20-30 minutes. The gentleman took out my spare tire and started_________the tire for me.

After the job was____________, I thanked him and he left. As we said goodbye, I____________him to pay it forward. I saw in my mirror that the van just____________me, making sure I was OK. At the light, I got a chance to see the____________family in the van. A beautiful young wife with attractive children in the back. They all gave me a big smile and____________at me!

I thought the gentleman had set a successful example for those young children to learn about service and____________.

【1】

A．anger

B．time

C．feelings

D．work

【2】

A．pulled over

B．pulled out

C．pulled down

D．pulled in

【3】

A．limit

B．space

C．speed

D．height

【4】

A．dangerous

B．inconvenient

C．urgent

D．uncommon

【5】

A．lifting

B．clapping

C．offering

D．hiding

【6】

A．hopefully

B．happily

C．willingly

D．carefully

【7】

A．special

B．detailed

C．accurate

D．rough

【8】

A．assistance

B．search

C．information

D．safety

【9】

A．moving

B．changing

C．fixing

D．setting

【10】

A．delayed

B．continued

C．succeeded

D．accomplished

【11】

A．persuaded

B．inspired

C．promised

D．reminded

【12】

A．followed

B．protected

C．inspected

D．chased

【13】

A．talkative

B．impressive

C．last

D．entire

【14】

A．waved

B．shouted

C．laughed

D．bowed

【15】

A．admiration

B．loyalty

C．passion

D．sympathy

32、Mark Roswell returned to his house in Milan, Italy, from visiting his parents-in-law in Beijing. No sooner had he _______ the plane than he put himself straight into quarantine (隔离) in his bedroom for 14 days, _______ from his families and relatives. “Having learned about the COVID-19 disease, we knew what was happening currently in our _______ and we were afraid for ourselves, our families and friends,” said the 48-year-old Italian.

14 days later, he walked outside into the street, _______ a mask and gloves. His Italian friends _______ looked at him, laughing at him about his behavior. “I tried my best to _______ that I should wear them in order to avoid communicating the _______ to others, but no one understood,” Roswell said.

Back from China, many Italians were fully aware what was coming and _______ the word: stay at home. So as most Italians enjoyed themselves in the get-together or _______ into cafes and bars as ________, the Chinese residents of Milan had seemingly ________.

In late February and early March, there was a sudden ________ in Italian infections with the epidemic (流行病). Some families, who keep Chinese citizenship, even began to send children to relatives in China, ________ at the attitude and ________ of Italians around them.

Soon enough the epidemic took away many lives and perhaps it was then that the locals came to realize how ________ the Chinese were behaving.

【1】

A．got off

B．got on

C．pull off

D．took off

【2】

A．appointed

B．kept

C．interrupted

D．separated

【3】

A．office

B．homeland

C．hospital

D．company

【4】

A．buying

B．selling

C．wearing

D．choosing

【5】

A．strangely

B．excitedly

C．angrily

D．delightedly

【6】

A．whisper

B．apologize

C．scream

D．explain

【7】

A．genes

B．means

C．virus

D．criteria

【8】

A．forgot

B．spread

C．clicked

D．complained

【9】

A．hurried

B．sank

C．crowded

D．divided

【10】

A．far

B．constant

C．necessary

D．usual

【11】

A．disappeared

B．forgave

C．suffered

D．arisen

【12】

A．decrease

B．increase

C．memorial

D．expectation

【13】

A．alarmed

B．amazed

C．fired

D．determined

【14】

A．welfare

B．innocence

C．behavior

D．concern

【15】

A．roughly

B．casually

C．differently

D．wisely

33、One fall in the mid-1950s, I took some time off and got a train ticket to visit relatives in Cleveland. I was _________ out of school and had begun working as an office clerk. On my return trip, I noticed a couple across the aisle (通道) — a(n) _________ and a young woman — having a conversation.

_________, I realized the two of them weren’t traveling together after all, but had just met on the train. The woman finally got off at Rochester, New York, leaving the soldier _________. I couldn’t help noticing his good looks out of the corner of my _________.

He asked _________ he could look at the train timetable I was holding, and then if he could _________ next to me so we could chat. He’s a fast mover, I thought. I’ll have to _________ for this one. I invited him to _________ the too-large lunch my aunt had __________ for my trip, and we __________ all the way to my stop in Oneida, and we __________ addresses and he said he would be in __________.

After a week, I still hadn’t heard from him and had begun to think he’d forgotten about me. Then, on Saturday, the phone rang and a __________ voice asked if I would like to see a movie with him that evening. He’d come to Oneida, and we __________ seeing On the Waterfront at the Kallet Theatre.

We had a few more __________ during his Army leave, and then he was __________ overseas. For the next few years, we __________ and he visited me on other holidays. Today we’ve been together more than 55 years, raising three daughters who now have daughters of their own.

Before taking my trip to Cleveland all those years ago, I was warned never to speak to __________ on a train. I’m certainly __________ I didn’t listen.

【1】

A．absent

B．fresh

C．expert

D．anxious

【2】

A．armyman

B．businessman

C．policeman

D．salesman

【3】

A．Immediately

B．Eventually

C．Hurriedly

D．Imaginarily

【4】

A．aside

B．annoyed

C．amazed

D．alone

【5】

A．eye

B．ear

C．shoulder

D．seat

【6】

A．when

B．where

C．if

D．how

【7】

A．sit

B．wait

C．lean

D．bend

【8】

A．set out

B．make out

C．hang out

D．watch out

【9】

A．prepare

B．share

C．deliver

D．order

【10】

A．carried

B．packed

C．allocated

D．stored

【11】

A．argued

B．wept

C．talked

D．ate

【12】

A．found

B．announced

C．exchanged

D．described

【13】

A．need

B．despair

C．pain

D．touch

【14】

A．familiar

B．mature

C．strange

D．particular

【15】

A．gave up

B．added up

C．ended up

D．got up

【16】

A．discussions

B．dates

C．lessons

D．deals

【17】

A．injured

B．attracted

C．assigned

D．employed

【18】

A．separated

B．settled

C．practiced

D．corresponded

【19】

A．strangers

B．officers

C．conductors

D．writers

【20】

A．curious

B．glad

C．aware

D．sorry

34、阅读下面材料，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。

Smell the flowers before you go to sleep and you may just end up with rosy dreams. Have a whiff of rotten(腐烂的)eggs during the night and your dreams may be【1】(pleasant). So says researcher Dr. Boris Stuck, 【2】invited sleeping volunteers to a rose vs. rotten egg test in the University Hospital Mannheim in Germany. The subjects didn’t dream about roses【3】eggs, but rather he found that what they smelt affected the emotions of【4】(they) dreams.

And if you think【5】(smell) have a say in dreams, wait for what TV tells us. A UK study reveals that people exposed【6】black-and-white film and TV in their youth are to have monochromic(单色的)dreams throughout their life more【7】(probable). Eva Murzyn from the University of Dundee tested two age groups— one half 【8】(age) over 55 and【9】other half under 25.

The result? Under 5% of the dreams of the under-25s were in black and white. 【10】(watch)color TV in childhood seems to be the reason why.

35、Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

Expressions about water are almost as common as water itself. But many of the expressions using water have unpleasant meanings.

The expression “to be in hot water” is one of them. It is a very old expression, which can be 【1】 back to 500 years ago. The expression is used to mean being in trouble. One story says it got that meaning from the custom of throwing extremely hot water down on enemies attacking a castle.

Being in “deep water” is almost the same as being in “hot water”. When you are in deep water, you are in a difficult 【2】. Imagine a person who cannot swim being thrown in water over his head. You are in deep water when you are facing a problem that you do not have the ability to solve. The problem is too deep. You can be in deep water, for example, if you invest in stocks in complete 【3】 of the stock market.

"Water over the dam" is another expression about a past event. It is something that cannot be 【4】. The expression comes from the idea that water that has 【5】 a dam cannot be brought back again. When a friend is 【6】 by a mistake she has made, you might tell her to forget about it. You say it is water over the dam.

Another common expression, "to hold water," is about the strength or weakness of an idea or opinion that you may be arguing about. It probably comes from the way of testing the 【7】 of a container. If it can hold water, it is strong and has no holes in it. If your 【8】 can hold water, it is strong and does not have any holes. If it does not hold water, then it is weak and can not be 【9】.

"Throwing cold water" also is an expression that deals with an idea or 【10】. For example, you want to buy a new car because the old one has some problems. But you wife "throws cold water" on the idea, because she says a new car costs too much

36、Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

AI artwork sells for $432,500 — nearly 45 times its high【1】 — as Christie’s becomes the first auction house to offer a work of art created by an algorithm. This portrait, however, is not the product of a human mind. It was created by an【2】 intelligence, an algorithm defined by that algebraic formula with its many parentheses. And when it went under the【3】 in the Prints & Multiples sale at Christie’s on 23-25 October, Portrait of Edmond Belamy sold for an【4】 $432,500, signaling the arrival of AI art on the world auction stage.

From a distance, Portrait of Edmond de Belamy looks almost plausible. Up close, however, the paintwork becomes a grid of mechanical-looking dots, the man’s face a golden blur with black holes for eyes. Look into those eyes. They show no sign of feeling or life. Did a computer make this?

The answer is yes. The first artwork【5】 by AI to be sold at Christie’s, its【6】 price would seem to suggest that in future we will get computers to make art for us. Robot van Gogh will harmlessly cut its ear off and robot Picasso will be a genius.

Is this the future AI art visionaries such as the French collective Obvious, which programmed this “painter” by getting it to compare its own work with 15,000 pre-20th century portraits, have in mind? Or are they just, God forbid, making a fast buck from deceivable art collectors? Because believing the algorithm that knocked this up to be in any meaningful way an “artist” is like thinking your voice-interaction programme is out to get you. Dream on. Computers would need to replicate human consciousness before they could replicate the funny thing humans do called “art”.

Art is a way in which human 【7】 expresses itself, and is equally true of the earliest cave art, Rembrandt’s portraits and Duchamp’s urinal. And that is what is missing from Portrait of Edmond Bellamy. Art is a way humans communicate ideas, perceptions and feelings to each other. It has no 【8】 outside the human passion to communicate. So in what meaningful sense can an AI replica of certain【9】 traits of old master paintings be called art?

For a robot to really make art, it would need an autonomous mind that was emotional as well as【10】. No AI developer has yet claimed to be anywhere near achieving that and if they ever do, their creation will probably have better things to do than paint portraits — like destroy humanity.

Maybe afterwards robots will invent their own kind of art, but it won’t be some poor pastiche of human genius.

It will be beyond anything we organics could imagine.

37、Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

On a broiling afternoon when the men were away at work and all the women napped, I moved through majestic depths of silences, silences so immense I could hear the corn 【1】. Under these silences there was a / an orchestra of natural music playing notes no city child would ever hear. A certain cackle from the henhouse meant we had gained an egg. The creak of a porch swing told of a momentary breeze blowing across my grandmother’s yard. As I 【2】 along a mossy bank to surprise a frog, a 【3】splash told me the quarry had spotted me and slipped into the stream. Wandering among the sleeping houses, I learned that tin roofs crackle under the power of the sun, and when I tired and came back to my grandmother’s house, I padded into her dark cool living room, lay 【4】 on the floor, and listened to the hypnotic beat of her pendulum clock on the wall ticking the meaningless hours away.

I was enjoying the luxuries of a rustic nineteenth-century boyhood, but for the women Morrisonville life had few 【5】. Their lives were hard, endless, dirty labor.

For baths, laundry, and dishwashing, they hauled buckets of water from a spring at the foot of a hill. To heat it, they chopped kindling to fire their wood stoves. They boiled laundry in tubs, scrubbed it on washboards until knuckles were 【6】, and wrung it out by hand. Ironing was a business of lifting heavy metal weights heated on the stove top.

They scrubbed floors on hands and knees, thrashed rugs with carpet beaters, killed and plucked their own chickens, baked bread and parties, grew and conned their won vegetables, patched the family’s clothing on treadle-operated sewing machines, 【7】before the men to start the stove for breakfast and pack lunch pails, polished the chimneys of kerosene lamps, and even found time to tend the flowers that grew around every house. By the end of a summer day a Morrisonville woman had toiled like a serf.

At sundown the men drifted back from the fields exhausted and 【8】. They scrubbed themselves in enamel basins and, when supper was eaten, climbed up onto the porch to watch the night arrive. Presently the women 【9】 them, and the twilight music of Morrisonville began.

The swing creaking , rocking chairs 【10】 on the porch planks, voices murmuring approval of the sagacity of Uncle Irvey as he quietly observed for probably the ten-thousandth time in his life, “A man works from sun to sun, but a woman’s work is never done.”

38、假如你是李华，你的新西兰笔友Pal想学做一道中国传统美食，参加学校即将举办的美食节（Food Fair）。请你就此回复邮件，内容包括名称及做法等。

注意：

1. 词数80左右；

2. 不得透露学校、姓名等任何个人信息。

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39、假定你是李华,你的美国朋友Peter对你所在城市的博物馆很感兴趣,他写邮件向你询问相关情况。请你回复邮件,内容包括:

1.博物馆简介;

2.邀请他来参观

3.你将陪同讲解。

注意:1.词数100左右;2.可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。

Dear Peter,

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Yours sincerely,

Li Hua

40、阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。续写的词数应为120左右。

On December 16, 2008, Randy Heiss was hiking in Patagonis, a town near the US-Mexico border when he noticed there was a red balloon. He walked towards it, and found the balloon’s string was attached to a piece of paper. “Dayami”, it read on one side, in a child’s writing. Heiss turned the paper over. It was a numbered list, all in Spanish.

Heiss suspected that a child had tried to send Santa Claus a Christmas wish list by balloon, something he used to do himself when he was a kid. Nobody had ever returned his letters, but he wondered whether he could find the girl who had sent this one. It would be difficult, but Heiss had a few clues. About 20 miles to the southwest, was the city of Nogales, Mexico. Based on the blowing wind, he was pretty sure that’s where it came from.

Heiss brought the note home to his wife, who is fluent in Spanish and helped him translate the list. They found that Dayami had asked for a doll, a dollhouse, clothes and art supplies. Heiss then posted about his search on Facebook, attaching photos, hoping some of his friends in Nogales might know the girl’s family, but with no success. Heiss worried that time was running out before Christmas. On December 19, 2008, he sent a private message to Radio XENY, a radio station in Nogales.

The next morning, Heiss got a message from Radio XENY: They had located Dayami, an eight-year-old girl whose parents were killed in a car accident. They would arrange a get-together with Dayami at the radio station. So they bought just about everything on Dayami’s list.

Paragraph 1:

Then the Heisses drove for 45 minutes, crossing the border into Nogales.

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Paragraph 2:

Ten years later, Heisses received a phone call from Dayami.

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41、假定你是李华，你校将举办一场英语演讲比赛，与你一起搭档的主持人因病退出，请你写一封电子邮件邀请你校外教John做你的搭档。内容包括：

1.时间：7月10日上午9点；

2.地点：学校会议室；

3.注意事项：提前到场；穿正装。

注意：1.词数100左右；

2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

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