Ash Barty, the world’s No.1 women’s tennis player, shocked the sports world by announcing that she would leave the tennis court forever. Barty made the announcement in a video she made public on the social media site, Instagram. In the video she discussed her thoughts about retiring with her good friend Casey Dellacqua. Dellacqua, who is also a retired tennis player, used to be Barty’s doubles partner.
“I know how much work it takes to bring the best out of yourself as a professional tennis player,” she said. “It’s just I don’t have that in me anymore, 80 it’s times for me to put the bats down and go after other dreams.”
Even though she is only 25, Barty has been playing tennis for a long time. She started when she was four and turned professional when she was 14. For over two years, Barty has been ranked the world’s No.1 women’s tennis player. She has won 15 important women’s singles tournaments in the world in her career, not including some small-sized competitions. This includes three “Grand Slam” events—the biggest prizes in tennis. In 2019, Barty won the French Open. In 2021,she won Wimbledon. And this January, she won the Australian Open, becoming the first person born in Australia to win the Australian Open in 44 years.
Other tennis players retired when they were young. Some returned to the sport after a while. But very few players went out while they were No.1 While many other players support Barty’s decision, the majority of tennis fans see her move as a loss for tennis. Barty created a lot of interest in tennis and inspired many younger players to take up the sport. Barty said she knew some people wouldn’t understand her decision, but she’s okay with that. “I’ve given absolutely everything I can to this beautiful sport of tennis,” she said, “and I’m really happy with that.”
1．What was the shocking news to the sports world?| A．Barty’s excellence as a tennis player. | B．Barty’s intention to retire from tennis. |
| C．Barty’s great enthusiasm for social media. | D．Barty’s get-together with her former partner. |
| A．She is not interested in tennis any longer. |
| B．Playing tennis stops her realizing her dreams. |
| C．Playing professional tennis is very demanding. |
| D．She has to say goodbye to tennis due to injuries. |
| A．She brought home at least fifteen medals in all. |
| B．She turned professional after she had played tennis for 14 years. |
| C．She was the only Australian who won the Australian Open. |
| D．She was first ranked the best woman tennis player five years ago. |
| A．Shameful. | B．Predictable. | C．Irresponsible. | D．Regrettable. |
Being a single parent can be extremely difficult. I recently went through a rough time while raising my four daughters on my own. Things had not been going well for me ever since we decided to take care of ourselves. My financial situation was not great since I had four growing girls to feed on my own. As a result of that, my family car was left in bad shape. As it broke down from time to time, I only used the car when it was absolutely necessary to do so.
But one rainy night, we desperately needed groceries so the five of us went for a quick run to the store. Once we had loaded groceries to the car, it wouldn’t start no matter how I tried. I was helpless in the parking lot with my four daughters aged 9, 5, 2 and a 6-weeks old. To make matters worse, I was not able to call anyone because my phone was disconnected.
One of my girls had mistakenly left a light on, and my battery was dead. I had no family to speak to and was on my own. I must have asked more than twenty people for help during the two hours. They all ignored me. Not even a no. They just acted like I didn’t exist. My 5-year-old was melting down. My newborn screaming, my two-year-old crying she was hungry, and my oldest desperately trying to help. I was crying and felt like the worst mom ever
When everything seemed hopeless, an elderly man, most probably in his 70s, came over and gave me a plate of chicken strips, biscuits and some water. He asked me to feed my girls and myself. He also said that he arranged for a tow truck to come get my car and his wife was on the way to fetch us back home. The tow truck came, the old man’s wife arrived to fetch us and we were finally back home.
The next morning, the old man appeared at my front door along with a mechanic （修理工）.
After the mechanic left, I tried to find the old man.
To advance wind turbine (汽轮机，涡轮机)technology to meet the requirements of extremely rough environments like that on Mars, Ames partnered with NSF (the National Science Foundation) and the Department of Energy. " It was clear that a lot of the same features were also found in the cold regions of the Earth,“ says Bubenheim. "NASA took the leadership on the team because we had the longest-term technology—a Mars turbine.”
Years before, NSF had worked with a company called Northern Power Systems ( NPS) , based in Barre, Vermont, to build a 3-kilowatt wind turbine on Black Island off the coast of Antarctica. The main purpose of this turbine was to power communications to the NSF's South Pole station. In 1993 , Ames awarded the same company a Small Business Innovation Research ( SBIR) contract (合 同)to construct a similar wind turbine at the South Pole.
Jonathan Lynch, the chief technology officer at NPS, says the South Pole has less wind than Black Island but is even colder. " It's hard to have steels that work in those temperatures,“ he says. " The cold affects the parts and everything gets extremely fragile. We looked at which materials were appropriate for flexible wires, irons, and steels, and what lubrication (润 滑) systems were going to work and for what temperatures over a long period of time.”
In 1997, NPS made a 3-kilowatt turbine at the South Pole, and then began developing a 100-kilowatt turbine that could function in the same extreme conditions. The first types of the larger turbine were successfully deployed in Kotzebue, Alaska and Golden, Colorado. " They were fully tested in loads to make sure they worked, and we then built a lot of them, " says Lynch.
By 2000, the wind turbine technology had won an R&D 100 Award from R&D Magazine , and since then, says Bubenheim, "It's been copied and put in a lot of places around the globe. "
1．From the first paragraph, we can infer that_____.| A．the team wanted to build a wind turbine used on Mars |
| B．Mars and the Earth have the same features |
| C．NASA played the most important part in the team |
| D．the team was made up of Ames, NSF, the Department of Energy and NASA |
| A．The wind turbine technology was invented by Ames. |
| B．NPS made wind turbines for NSF and Ames. |
| C．NSF and Ames both used the wind turbines at the same place. |
| D．The wind turbine technology was only used in America. |
| A．The South Pole has worse condition than the Black Island. |
| B．NPS had confidence to build a wind turbine for the South Pole. |
| C．The materials for the turbines have to stand the extreme cold. |
| D．NPS had more challenges in building a wind turbine for the South Pole. |
| A．made | B．invented | C．used | D．advanced |
Agatha was in the library, reading the Girl Detective series, when she noticed something strange. Her best friends, Timmy and Florence, were talking to each other in whispers while keeping a good, safe distance from her! When she waved at them, they looked away.
Things only got stranger in art class. Timmy and Florence went to sit at a different table from Agatha busy painting and glanced at her when they thought she wasn’t looking.
Now, Agatha considered herself to be something of a detective. After all, she had read many detective stories for children and even had an old broken magnifying glass(放大镜)abandoned by her father. When the rest of the class went out for lunch, she slipped to Timmy and Florence’s table and examined it carefully with the magnifying glass.
There was paint, and red and pink construction paper. What could they be doing? This was definitely a mystery that needed solving!
After lunch Timmy and Florence chatted to her as if nothing was going on, but they kept smiling at her in a slightly strange way. Of course, Agatha could have asked them what they were up to, and they might have told her -but she wouldn’t have a chance to become a detective!
On the way home from school, Florence and her mum happened to walk ahead of Agatha and her mum. Agatha saw them go into the bookshop. Strange, again. Florence didn’t read much—no matter how many detective stories Agatha recommended to her!
The next day at school, Agatha kept an eye on her friends and tried to work out their mystery, but they seemed determined to keep things secret. She asked them if they would like to play with her after school, but they said they couldn’t because they were busy. Even more mysterious…
When Agatha’s mum came to pick her up after school, she was so lost in the unsolved mystery that she hardly noticed her busy father was coming along, which was unusual. When they arrived home, her father said she could go into the living room.
I was standing across the lady in the laundry (洗衣店). I got angry as I thought she had
“Can’t you just check to
It’s not the first time I’ve
I always give myself
| A．sold | B．hidden | C．lost | D．stolen |
| A．firmly | B．slowly | C．quickly | D．rudely |
| A．guess | B．request | C．imply | D．see |
| A．if | B．because | C．though | D．when |
| A．returned | B．came | C．left | D．joined |
| A．note | B．plan | C．problem | D．idea |
| A．save | B．call | C．find | D．help |
| A．apologized | B．agreed | C．argued | D．explored |
| A．honestly | B．bravely | C．unfairly | D．finally |
| A．annoyed | B．happy | C．frightened | D．excited |
| A．went around | B．looked around | C．came around | D．turned around |
| A．time | B．energies | C．permission | D．opportunities |
| A．information | B．order | C．translation | D．instruction |
| A．easy | B．unwilling | C．uncertain | D．ready |
| A．ignorance | B．kindness | C．mercy | D．inspiration |
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