Last week the electricity in my flat went out.1. My typical evening is spent watching TV and scrolling (滚动) through social media. Tonight this wasn’t possible. My roommate and I weren’t prepared with candles and matches. We just rely on electricity.
So for me it was an early night, 2. That night, losing our electricity felt like losing a basic necessity, as basic as running water. But really, electricity is a luxury that we’ve grown to take for granted. I use electricity all the time, even when it’s not really necessary.
3. And as I’m writing this, I have my lights on, even in the middle of the day when I don’t really need them.
4.It contributes to global warming. It is harming our environment and we need to do what we can to stop it. Not only that, but if we continue to use the same large amount of energy, we will soon run out of it.
How would we survive in a world without electricity? Our daily lives go around it. We wouldn’t be able to function. 5.So, shouldn’t we start preparing for it now? Cutting down on our use of electricity would save energy resources so that they could last for longer. And if everyone does it, we can make a big difference.
A. Yet we know one day we will run out of it.
B. Our over-use of electricity is a big problem.
C. This left me in complete darkness the whole night.
D. It is a real problem to cut down on the use of electricity.
E. I know for sure I could cut down on my use of electricity.
F. I couldn’t help but think, do we rely too much on electricity?
G. I turn on the TV in the background even when Tm not watching it.
The world seems gloomy (阴沉的) and gray when you’re feeling blue. In fact, being down might even affect how you perceive (感知) the colour blue. A recent study about colour was published in the journal Psychological Science. It shows a direct connection between a person’s ability to perceive colour and their emotions.
Psychologists have long known that emotions can affect the way people perceive things. That’s in part because chemicals from your brain might affect how you process what you see. “Color is such an important part of our experience,” says lead author Christopher Thorstenson, a psychologist at the university of Rochester, in New York. There’s reason, he says, that sad people commonly describe the world as “colourless” and “gray”, and happy people use words like “bright” and “colorful”.
In the experiment, the researchers randomly assigned people to one of two groups. People in the sadness group watched a sad scene from The Lion King. Those in the “amusement” group watched a comedy.
Everyone was then asked to look at red, yellow, green, and blue patches (斑点) that had been changed to a grayish colour. “Some of the patches are pretty difficulty to make out,” Thorstenson admits he says it takes some time to figure out their shade. People were scored on how accurate their colour perception was. Then they completed an emotional evaluation.
The result? Sad people had a hard time seeing the difference between shades along the blue-yellow colour axis (色轴). But they did not have problems seeing colours in the red-green spectrum (光谱). Thorstenson says this could be the result of an evolutionary need to see red as a response to anger.
Thorstenson says these results highlight the possible important of dopamine in sight. Dopamine is a chemical that sends signals to the brain. Researchers are hoping to focus more on dopamine in the future. “We know dopamine affects how we see colours, too,” Thorstenson says “How we feel can really influence how we see the world around us” he says.
1.According to paragraph 2, how people describe the world reflects ________.
A. how they feel B. how they think
C. their world view D. their language skills
2.In the experiment, the participants were asked to watch different programs so as to ________.
A. check their feelings B. influence their moods
C. develop their interests D. test their personalities
3.Why were the patches made grayish in the experiment? ________
A. To make them look prettier
B. To make them hard to recognize
C. Because it changed the participants’ attitudes
D. Because it was good for the participants’ eyes
4.Which colour is easier to recognize for sad people? ________
A. Blue B. Yellow
C. Red D. Gray
My daughter Kelly is a cautious person. She needs to warm up to situations’ and is hesitant to try new things. When with close friends, she becomes a leader who laughs loudly and chants, “Girls rule, boys drool.” But when that comfort zone is not around her, she is shy and nervous.
This has been challenging for me at times. “Shy”’ is not a word that I think has ever been used to describe me. But this has been a year of firsts for my girl that has filled her with a new sense of confidence. This year she moved to lap lane in swimming where she was preparing for a swim team. This year she learned to ride a bike without training wheels. And this year she completed her first kids’ triathlon (三项全能).
On Saturday, with a thunderstorm coming soon and my son’s birthday party later in the day, we all went out in the dark of the morning for Kelly to participate in her first triathlon. We practiced transitions from swim to bike to run with her, we got all the equipment she’d need, and we kept talking about the race. But as we waited the two hours for the older kids to finish before her turn, she held my leg a little harder and told me she loved me a few too many times. She was nervous but trying to keep it together.
And then it was her turn. From the second she jumped into the water, my heart soared. My daughter transformed into the most confident human being I had ever seen. She dominated that swim, crushed that bike ride and ran to the finish with the biggest smile on her face.
I can honestly say that I never felt so proud of someone in my entire life. It wasn’t because she did a sport or anything like that. It was because she was afraid of something and conquered that fear with confidence and a fire I hadn’t seen before.
All day I would find myself just looking over at her and smiling. She might be wearing the finalist medal but I felt like I won that day. I won the chance to see my girl shine.
Shine on, sweet baby.
1.Kelly is nervous when ________.
A. boys are around her B. she changes into a leader
C. she is away from her mom D. situations are new to her
2.We can know from Paragraph 3 ________.
A. the race began in the early morning B. the whole family gave Kelly support
C. Kelly was eager for her turn in the race D. Kelly prepared for her brother’s birthday party
3.In the ending paragraphs the author “felt like I won that day” because Kelly ________.
A. overcame the fear B. expressed love to her
C. won the gold medal D. took part in the sport
Plan on traveling around the USA this summer? If you need help in arranging the trip, or want ideas about where to go and what to do, there are a number of outstanding websites that can make your American dream come true.
http://byways.org The National Scenic Byways Program covers 150 memorable roads. Some are natural routes, such as Route 1 along the California coast. Others focus on history (such as Route 6) or man-made attractions (the Las Vegas Strip). For each, you are provided with a map, told the route’s length and how long is allowed, and given detailed suggestions on sights and stop-offs. |
www.oyster.com This is the best website for reviews of hotels in US cities and resorts. The reviews are impressively thorough, covering locations, rooms, cleanliness, food and so on. Importantly, these are not promotional photos by the hotels, but more honest and real ones taken by inspectors. Search facilities are excellent from the 243 hotels reviewed in the New York, you can narrow down what you are looking for by locations, facilities and styles, or just pick out a selection of the best. |
www.101 usaholidays.co.uk This is the latest offering that features 101 holiday ideas to the USA. It’s an impressively diverse selection, ranging from touring in the footsteps of Martin Luther King to a golfing break in Arizona and a cycling and wine-tasting trip in California’s Napa Valley. Narrow down what you are looking for — whether by price, region, theme and who will be traveling — and then just the photos of the relevant holidays remain on view. It’s a really clever design. |
www.mousesavers.com Walt Disney World in California can make dreams come true, but the price is not affordable for the majority of people. So turn to long established Mouscsavers.com, dedicated to giving big discounts on tickets, hotels and dining at Walt Disney World. The website also offers general money-saving tips, suggestions for cheap and free stuff and brief coverage of other Florida and California theme parks. |
1.If you are going to the USA for the man-made attractions, you can drive along ________.
A. Route 1 B. Route 6
C. the Las Vegas Strip D. the California coast
2.Why are the photos of the hotels in US cities and resorts real in www.oyster.com?
A. Because there are qualifications of the authority.
B. Because they are taken by inspectors of the website.
C. Because there are comments of customers on each photo....
D. Because they were taken by customers who once lived there.
3.Travel ideas for a big family with kids and the old are available at ________.
A. www.oyster.com B. http://byways.org
C. www.mousesavers.com D. www.101 usaholidays.co.uk
4.What can be inferred from the passage?
A. California’s Napa Valley is famous for its wine.
B. www.mousesavers.com is a newly established website.
C. The National Scenic Byways Program covers all the roads in the USA.
D. Discounted tickets of Walt Disney World are not available for everyone.
Every week in China, millions of people will sit in front of their TVs watching teenagers compete for the title Character Hero, which is a Chinese-style spelling bee (拼写大赛). In this challenge, young competitors must write Chinese characters by hand. To prepare for the competition, the competitors usually spend months studying dictionaries.
Perhaps the show’s popularity should not be a surprise. Along with gunpowder and paper, many Chinese people consider the creation of Chinese calligraphy (书法) to be one of their primary contributions to civilization. Unfortunately, all over the country, Chinese people are forgetting how to write their own language without computerized help. Software on smart phones and computers allows users to type in the basic sound of the word using the Latin alphabet. The correct character is chosen from a list The result? It’s possible to recognize characters without remembering how to write them.
But there’s still hope for the paint brush. China’s Education Ministry wants children to spend more time learning how to write.
In one Beijing primary school we visited, students practice calligraphy every day inside a specially decorated classroom with traditional Chinese paintings hanging on the walls. Soft music plays as a group of six-year-olds dip brush pens into black ink. They look up at the blackboard often to study their teacher’s examples before carefully attempting to reproduce those characters on thin rice paper. “If adults can survive without using handwriting, why bother to teach it now?” we ask the calligraphy teacher, Shen Bin, “The ability to write characters is part of Chinese tradition and culture,” she reasons. “Students must learn now so they don’t forget when they grow up.” says the teacher.
1.What can we learn about the Character Hero? ________
A. It’s the most-viewed TV programs in China.
B. It’s open to people of all ages and all walks.
C. It draws great public attention across the country.
D. It aims to spread Chinese culture to the world.
2.Why are Chinese people forgetting how to write the characters?
A. Chinese people are using the Latin alphabet instead of the characters.
B. Chinese people no longer use brush pens or practice calligraphy.
C. Chinese people needn’t write by hand as often with the help of technology.
D. Chinese people don’t refer to dictionaries very often.
3.According to Shen Bin, being able to write characters by hand is ________.
A. helpful to keep Chinese tradition and culture alive
B. a requirement made by the Education Ministry
C. necessary for adults to survive in China
D. an ability to be developed only when you are students
4.Where does this text probably come from? ________
A. A science report. B. A news report.
C. Children’s literature. D. An advertisement.
今年一月，孝感遭遇极寒天气，暴雪肆虐，持续时间较长，让我们感受到了大自然的威力。为了大家的安全，部分老师和同学主动在校园、走廊等处铲冰、扫雪、铺防滑垫等，为大家做好安全服务。假定你是李华，请你给Xiaogan Daily的编辑写一封信，要点如下：
1. 描述志愿者们助人为乐的事迹；
2. 表达你对这些志愿者的感激和欣赏；
3. 呼吁大家向他们学习，积极参与有利他人的活动。
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
3. 书信的开头和结尾已写好，不计入总词数。
参考词汇： 走廊corridor; 铲冰shovel ice; 防滑垫 non-slip mat
Dear Editor,
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Best wishes.
Yours,
Li Hua
