初三506期

More than just a race (P4-5)
Pre-reading
1. How do you keep fit?
2. What sports do you like the most?
3. What do you know about the Spartans?

While reading
Choose the answer: 
1. According to the second paragraph, which of the following is NOT true?
A. There were 20 obstacles over the 6km race.
B. The writer’s team enjoyed the race.
C. The writer’s team completed the race.
D. Everybody should finish the race by themselves.
 
2. According to paragraphs 3-4, we learn that _____.
a. the Spartan Race started in Greece
b. the Spartan Race is named after the Spartans
c. the Spartans were great warriors in Ancient Greece
d. one Spartan warrior could defeat 300 men from other armies
A. ab     B. bc       C. cd      D. ad
 
3. What’s the purpose of the story?
A. To introduce the Spartan Race.
B. To introduce the great Spartan warriors.
C. To call on people to enjoy sports.
D. To show the advantages of an adventure.

Words in use
用所给单词正确形式填空：
wonder, spread, strong, name after, fit

1. The street _________ the famous South African leader, Nelson Mandela.
2. Fear _____ quickly through the village.
3. I ____ whether they will arrive on time.
4. I swim twice a week to try and keep _____.
5. I'm not _____ enough to fight him.

Post-reading
1. Discussion:
What is the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done?

2. More about Spartan Race:
A Spartan race is a series of obstacle races of varying distance and difficulty ranging from 6km to marathon distances. They are held in the United States and have gone to 20 countries and regions. The series include the Spartan Sprint (斯巴达勇士竞速赛), the Super Spartan (斯巴达勇士超级赛 ), the Spartan Beast (斯巴达勇士野兽赛 ), and the Ultra Beast (斯巴达勇士超级野兽赛). Spartan Race also has a military series in which obstacles are designed by the United States military. There are also winter and team events.

Good and bad side to being a journalist (P4)
Pre-reading
1. What do you want to be when you grow up?
2. Why do you want to have that job?

While reading
Choose the answer: 
1. According to the writer, being a journalist gives her a chance to do all of the following EXCEPT _____.
A. write different kinds of stories
B. meet different people
C. discover new things
D. stay away from pain and frustration
 
2. According to the third paragraph, when she saw her story in the paper, the writer might feel _____. 
A. disappointed    B. happy
C. scared   D. encouraged
 
3. What does the second last paragraph mainly talk about?
A. How a journalist writes a good story.
B. Journalism is sometimes rewarding.
C. A journalist works long hours.
D. It’s necessary for a journalist to care more about the poor.
 
4. What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A. Working in journalism is easy.
B. Journalists are usually well paid.
C. The writer loves her job as a journalist.
D. The writer encourages people to work in journalism.

Words in use
用上所给单词或短语翻译下列句子：
1. 我可以相信你能替我保守秘密吗? (secret)
2. 哥伦布发现了美洲。(discover)
3. 我们报纸每周出版一次。(publish)
4. 她答应过尽力帮助我们。(promise)
5. 海上的空气改善了她的健康状况。(make a difference)

Post-reading
1. What do you know about a journalist?
2. Did you know?
•A journalist is a person who collects, writes, or distributes news or other current information. A journalist's work is called journalism.
•A reporter is a type of journalist who researches, writes, and reports on information to present in sources, conduct interviews, engage in research, and make reports. The information-gathering part of a journalist's job is sometimes called reporting, in contrast to the production part of the job such as writing articles.

Hearing voices in your head (P6)

Pre-reading
1. What hi-tech gadget (高科技产品) impresses you the most?
2. If you could invent one, what would it be? Why?

While reading
Choose the answer: 
1. Which of the following about Pilot is NOT true?
A. The New York-based Waverly Labs is making it.
B. It is a smart earpiece that translates spoken language.
C. It can let people talk immediately with a foreigner.
D. A French girl came up with the idea of making it.
 
2. How does Pilot translate between two languages?
A. A smartphone app picks up the foreign language and translates it.
B. There are two apps in each earpiece for translation.
C. It picks up the speaker’s words and translates them on the internet.
D. It helps people quickly learn a foreign language.

3. What does the last paragraph tell us?
A. Technology helps people a lot.
B. Machine-based translation is not perfect.
C. Most of the subtitles on YouTube are wrong.
D. Pilot is not a good translation machine.

Words in use
用所给单词或短语的正确形式填空：
1. My grandma ______ (used to) go shopping every morning.
2. After missing a term through illness he had to work hard to _________ (catch up with) the others.
3. We _________ (come up with) some new suggestions in yesterday’s meeting.
4. He ______ (translate) the French novel into English.
5. He ________ (pick up) his hat and went away.

Post-reading
Debate:
Can hi-tech translation machines replace human translators in the future?

参考答案及解析
P4-5
Choose the answer: 
1. 解析：Ｄ。根据第二段四五句We worked as a team. We pulled each other over walls, supported each other when

we were tired and ran across the finish line together.可知，参赛者可以团队合作，故Ｄ说法是不对，故选Ｄ。
2. 解析：Ｂ。通读第三、四段可知，斯巴达比赛始于美国，根据古希腊斯巴达勇士命名，故bc正确，所以选B。
3. 解析：A。通读全文可知，本文主要介绍了斯巴达比赛的一些情况，故选A。

Words in use:
1. is named after 2. spread 3. wonder 4. fit 5. strong

P4:
Choose the answer: 
1. 解析：D。根据第二段最后一句It can come with pain and frustration可知，作为记者会伴随着痛苦和挫折，故选D。
2. 解析：D。根据第二段第一句The crew onboard Shenzhou-11 consists of two Chinese astronauts, Jing Haipeng, 40 and Chen Dong, 37以及第三段第一句Jing and Chen will undergo a 30-day mission on Tiangong-2.可知，景海鹏和陈冬为期30天的太空之旅，不只是待在神舟十一号上，故选D。
3. 解析：B。倒数第二段主要讲了从事新闻业有时候也是很有价值的，作者举例她写的一篇稿子改善了那些人的生活，作者觉得这很有意义，故选B。
4. 解析：C。作者最后总结，新闻业有危险、枯燥、工作时间长、工资通常也不高，但是她仍然喜欢这个工作，因为她觉得这个工作也是让人兴奋、很有意义的工作，故选C。

Words in use:
1. Can I trust you to keep a secret?
2. Columbus discovered America.
3. Our paper is published weekly.
4. She has promised to try her best to help us.
5. The sea air has made a difference to her health.

P6:
Choose the answer: 
1. 解析：D。根据第二段最后一句The company’s boss, Andrew Ochoa, says he came up with the idea after being unable to talk to a French girl he liked.可知，答案这个想法是Andrew Ochoa想出来的，故选D。
2. 解析：A。根据第三段Their speech will become text on a smartphone app. Then the app will translate it into a spoken language.可知，答案选A。
3. 解析：B。最后一段主要讲了机器翻译并不完美，并且举例说明这一观点，故答案选B。

Words in use:
1. used to 2. catch up with 3. came up with 4. translated 5. picked up