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The loss of handwriting in our high-tech world saddens me. People of all ages openly admit their handwriting as keyboards replace pen and paper. Increasingly, schoolchildren deal with assignments on computer and struggle to write, having had little practice. I am of the generation that learnt to write with a dip pen in kindergarten and a fountain pen in high school; by the time I reached university, like everyone else. I used a functional ballpoint. Handwriting has filled every aspect of my life since I was first taught to shape letters on the lined pages of my exercise books.
From the age of 12,I kept a handwritten journal, recording my thoughts and feelings regarding both the significant and mundane aspects of my life. Through this daily practice I connected with myself, explored experiences and found a way to interpret and make sense of my relationships. Although I rarely reread my written material, the process of writing has remained with me as a means of processing my feelings and filtering（过滤） my experiences.
Yet today, handwritten letters are as rare as a red panda. Few of us write any longer, even to those to whom we are close, We communicate difficultly when we e-mail or text, both methods characterized by speed and informality. The deep thinking which accompanied a handwritten letter is almost entirely absent. We may be communicating more frequently and with more people, but the depth and quality of our communication has reduced.
Sadly, modern technology tends to be temporary. Few of us keep old e-mails or even print them out, so a sense of history and memory is lost. Archivists（档案管理者）report that more information has been lost in the past decade than in the previous 150 years. It is too easy to press the delete button.
In many other areas of records, material is now in the digital format. Yet saving material in a digital format only is extremely unstable. How it will survive the future remains a problem.
In this digital world of text, e-mails and instant messaging, the perceived value of writing is no longer obvious and the case for retaining the practice of writing needs to be made. Should we save the bumble pen and paper when laptops and mobiles are functional, universal and unstoppable? Should children continue to be taught to write with a pen and paper?
With its passing a good mode of self-expression is being lost. I invite readers to engage with handwriting and become aware of this special skill that has created civilization for centuries.
Paragraph outline | Detailed information |
The current 1.of handwriting | ▲Students 2.to computers to complete their homework ▲With little practice, students have 3. writing. ▲We seldom write letters even to people we are close to. |
The author’s link with handwriting | ▲The author4. himself to handwriting from kindergarten to university ▲The author kept 5.of his thoughts and feelings by keeping writing journals. ▲The author also takes 6.of writing to process his feeling and filtering his experiences. |
The 7.with modern communication methods | ▲There is an 8.of depth and quality in e-mail and texts ▲The temporariness of modern technology tends to give 9. to the loss of some history and memory ▲Saving materials only in a digital format is not very stable. ▲A style of self-expression is being lost. |
The author’s 10.to people for handwriting | Write as much as possible and realize the importance of this special art |
In creating A.J. Fikry’s ordinary-yet-extraordinary life, the author Gabielle Zevin has thrown every clichés(老生常谈) into the mix. The hero, A.J. Fikry, lost his beloved wife Nic in a road accident. The sales of his bookstore have been decreasing. The enthusiastic new sales representative Amelia won’t stop annoying him with new books. His rare and very valuable first edition has gone missing. But the unexpected arrival of Maya left in his care brings about a series of events with love and hope to his life.
There are few real surprises in the plot and attentive readers will be able to tell where the story is headed. But that is not the point; the clichés and the predictable plot take nothing away from Zevin’s work The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry because it’s how she tells the story that first charms the readers, then holds their attention, making them read the whole book in a single sitting and finally give the book a long hug when they are finished. This book is a love letter to the joys of reading.
Each chapter begins with the title of a short story or a book and a note from A.J. Fikry describing what he likes about it, essentially introducing each character by what they read. The characters are so realistic that it’s hard not to fall in love with all of them: Maya, “the fantastic book-worm,” Amelia, “the giantess” with questionable taste in fashion, Lambiase, the adorable police chief, and A.J. Fikry, the reluctant hero who hates electronic reading devices that will “send centuries of a lively culture into what will surely be a rapid decline.”
The passage of time, race issues, and the bureaucratic argument of children’s services are all put aside in the telling of this story, not because there’s anything to hide or because reality is not allowed to interfere, but because the author chooses to focus on the important stuff. For example, it focuses on Lambiase who organizes a reading club for policemen at the book store. His original intention is to help promote business, but over the years he becomes a genuine book-lover, one who tends to always have simple advice for his cynical(愤世嫉俗的) friend, A.J. Fikry. “Bad timing,” Lambiase claims, “I’ve been a police officer for twenty years now and I’ll tell you pretty much every bad thing in life is a result of bad timing, and every good thing is the result of good timing.”
More than anything else, this novel is not only about the selling of them or the reading of them, but how books and stories become part of our lives, how we find ourselves within what we read and how we carry books with us. It is also about the power of unexpected happiness and always believing that something wonderful is just around the corner. The Late Bloomer is the book within a book which brings together A.J. Fikry and Amelia. It reminds them that life doesn’t follow a set script, things happen when they are meant to happen, and there is no such thing as “too late” for anything. Life is the big picture. Always look at the big picture. Enjoy it. Don’t get too concentrated on the details, because it will all be over before you know it. In the long run nobody, not even you, will remember the ordinary details because they are, in the end, quite irrelevant.
A.J. Fikry’s final words of wisdom to teen-aged Maya convey the same feelings in literary terms: “We are not quite novels. We are not quite short stories. In the end, we are collected works. We have read enough to know there are no collections where each story is perfect. Some of us hit. Some miss.”
1.The author’s attitude towards Zevin’s book is _________.
A. supportive B. critical
C. objective D. indifferent
2.How many characters of the novel are mentioned in the passage?
A. Four. B. Five.
C. Six. D. Seven.
3.The police chief organizing a reading club is mentioned to prove _________ in the novel.
A. there is really nothing to hide B. reality is not allowed to interfere
C. important stuff has been focused on D. everything is a result of timing
4.What can be implied in Paragraph 5?
A. The novel underlines happiness will always be around.
B. The novel mainly talks about the marketing of the book.
C. It is The Late Bloomer that brings A.J and Amelia together.
D. It is important to do things on the basis of overall situation.
5.The underlined sentence in the last paragraph most probably means _________.
A. our life is full of ups and downs B. we should collect works all our life
C. our life is closely connected with books D. we should read books all our life
6.The passage is mainly about _________.
A. the extraordinary life of A.J. Fikry B. the moral lesson of no “too late” in life
C. a comment on The Later Bloomer D. a review of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Whales, seals and walruses stay warm in cold water because they have a thick layer of blubber. We humans rely on something like blubber—neoprene rubber wet suits—to spend time in cold water. But the thick versions for really icy water are heavy and clumsy. So rather than taking after big marine mammals, what if we could learn from the littler ones, like beavers and otters?
“These animals are quite small and they can’t carry around a thick layer of blubber. So instead they have fur that is evolved to trap air, and this air provides a layer of insulation for them in water.”
Alice Nasto is a graduate student in mechanical engineering at MIT. Scientists have known about this air-trapping insulation mechanism for a long time, but they had not teased out the details of how it works. So Nasto and her colleagues took on the challenge.
“We’re creating these furry samples from these rubbery materials by laser cutting molds and casting these hairy surfaces. And through our approach we can precisely control the spacing of the hairs and the length of the hairs.”
The researchers then created a system to gather data when their pelts (毛皮) entered and moved through a liquid—in this case not water, but silicone oil, which makes it easier to see air bubbles. The key is to keep the pelt’s air layer intact (完好的).
“So when they’re crossing the air water interface, initially their hairy texture is full of air. And then you go into water. How much of the air comes down with you as you’re moving in through the interface. So that’s what this model will tell you.”
They found that the denser the hairs, the more the air gets trapped，which should keep the animal—or potentially the human in a future furry wet suit—warm. The research is in the journal Physical Review Fluids.
“What we would like to work on moving forward is understanding, after you dive into the water, how do you maintain this air layer trapped in your fur. And there’s lots of interesting properties of the fur in nature that we haven’t yet looked at in our model that could help explain how this mechanism might work.”
So for now, cold-water divers and surfers will still emulate seals or sea lions. But the day may come when they’ll more closely resemble otters or beavers.
1.What can make littler mammals keep warm in cold water?
A. An air-trapping insulation mechanism. B. A thick layer of blubber.
C. A fur that is evolved to trap air. D. A neoprene rubber wet suit.
2.Nasto and her colleagues have revealed _______________.
A. the denser the hairs, the more the air can be carried with.
B. the way this air-trapping insulation mechanism works.
C. how the air layer trapped in the fur is maintained in water.
D. the existence of the air-trapping insulation mechanism.
3.The passage is most probably taken from ______________.
A. a newspaper B. a travel book
C. a medical report D. a science magazine
4.What is the best title for the passage?
A. A Fantastic Layer of Fur B. An Important Research
C. A Wonderful Mechanism D. A Graduate’s Challenge
Many of us have wondered what Earth is like beneath the surface. So have writers and scientists. In French novelist Jules Verne’s masterpiece Journey to the Center of the Earth, explorers go down to Earth’s center and discover amazing wonders.
But in real life, human beings haven’t even come close to the planet’s core (核心). The core is over 6,000 km down. The deepest hole ever created, according to the BBC, is the Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia, which only goes 12.3 km down.
So how do we know about everything down below without any samples？
One good way to start is to think about the Earth’s density (密度), Simon Redfern of the University of Cambridge in the UK told the BBC.
“The density of the material on Earth’s surface is much lower than the average density of the whole Earth, so that tells us there’s something that has greater density,” Redfern said.
The challenge is to find out which heavy materials the core is made of. And the main material scientists have found is iron. The idea is that when Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago, a lot of iron made its way down to the core, taking up about 80 percent of it. Today scientists are still working on finding out which other materials the core could be made up of.
You might also wonder how we know the size of the core. There’s a one-word answer: seismology (地震学).
When an earthquake happens, seismic stations around the world record the shockwaves it sends throughout the planet. It’s like hitting one side of the planet with a huge hammer and listening on the other side for the noise.
Early research found that some shockwaves, called “S-waves”, went missing. S-waves can only travel through solid material, but not through liquid, so they must have found something molten in Earth’s center. By following the S-waves’ paths, scientists found out that rocks became liquid around 3,000 km down.
There are still many questions about the Earth’s core to answer. But the study of the dark world below isn’t just for scientists’ curiosity.
The movement of Earth’s molten iron core builds up a powerful magnetic (有磁力的) field. It protects us from radiation from the sun and is needed for compasses and GPS systems to work.
So perhaps none of us will ever set eyes on the core, but it’s good to know it’s there.
1.The author mentions Jules Verne’s novel Journey to the Center of the Earth in the first paragraph to .
A. discuss the possibility of going down to Earth’s center
B. show how much humans have discovered about Earth
C. paint a picture in our imagination of the dark world below
D. show humans’ deep interest in Earth’s center
2.We can learn from the article that “S-waves” .
A. are often used to predict earthquakes
B. cannot travel through liquid material
C. are the most noticeable shockwaves produced by earthquakes
D. can travel most rapidly at 3,000 kilometers below Earth’s surface
3.We can infer from the last three paragraphs that .
A. research into Earth’s core has hardly made any progress in recent years
B. improvements in GPS systems could help people find out more about Earth
C. Earth’s core helps to protect humans from harm
D. scientists are likely to reach Earth’s center within dozens of years
Parking Information
There is a mix of paid and free parking on Granville Island. Below you will find all relevant information to parking and traffic management.
FREE PARKING STALLS（停车位）
Free parking throughout Granville Island for all motorized vehicles is intended for visitors only. Free parking stalls are available and vehicles are limited to occupy one stall, once per day, and within the maximum posted time limit. When the posted time limit is reached you move your vehicle, or should you require additional parking during the same day, your vehicle must be parked in a pay parking stall.
Free Parking restrictions are strictly enforced from 7 am to 7 pm, 7 days a week.
Once your vehicle is parked, you are not permitted to move to another free stall on Granville Island at any other time through out the day. You may move to any of the pay stalls.
PAID PARKING STALLS
Pay parking restrictions are strictly enforced from 7 am to 7 pm,7 days a week.
Daily Parking
The Daily Pass is valid for 24 hours from the time of purchase. The pass is VOID（无效） if not placed face up with the date and time visible. The pass is VOID if not parked in a pay parking lot.
Weekly Parking
The Weekly Pass is valid for 7 days from the time of purchase. The pass is VOID if not placed face up with the date and time visible. The pass is VOID if not parked in a pay parking lot.
Monthly Parking
Monthly parking is limited and available on a first come first serve basis and sold starting on the twenty-sixth (26) of every month. Monthly Parking Passes are available at the Granville Island Administration Office from 8:30am-5:00pm.
A monthly parking pass allows a vehicle to be parked in an appointed parking stall only when it is clearly displayed.
Lost monthly passes cannot be replaced.
1.Visitors to Granville Island can .
A. park their cars for free as long as they wish
B. move their cars to different free stalls
C. pay the parking when the time limit is reached
D. use the same free stall for many times
2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the notice?
A. paid parking pass is valid only when it is clearly displayed.
B. Cars with the Daily Parking Pass can be parked in a free stall.
C. One can buy the Monthly Parking Pass on any day of the month.
D. One can apply for a new Monthly Parking Pass if it is lost.
In life, we will succeed and fail often for reasons that are entirely out of our ________. We can work harder than anyone else in the office and still not be ________. We can be incredibly nice and love someone deeply, and they may not love us ________.
The bottom line is that life is not ________.
That is a tough ________ to swallow for many of us. As a result, some people ________ after being hit by even one unfair blow from life. But if we let life’s unfairness ________ us, we will never receive the beautiful blessings that life has ________ for us.
My first ________ marriage felt very unfair to me. No matter how hard I had tried to be a good wife, I could not make the relationship ________. I could have been ________ by that experience. But I believed that I could be ________ married one day ________ I always wanted to experience traditional family life. And then, I met this kind, thoughtful, generous man.
What I’ve learned over the years is that we can do all the things that ________ a good outcome, but get ________ things in return instead.
When we are faced with life’s seeming unfairness, our ________ needs to jump in. When life doesn’t go ________ plan, we have to let go of the outcome that we have been ________ and keep trying, and doing the right thing. ________ that life is neither fair nor straightforward. And by knowing that if we remain confident, we can drive our unfair experiences away and use them for our ________.
1.A. reach B. control C. date D. order
2.A. promoted B. paid C. pleased D. proved
3.A. more B. back C. enough D. unconditionally
4.A. easy B. smooth C. fair D. ideal
5.A. feeling B. word C. fact D. pill
6.A. died down B. looked down C. shut down D. settled down
7.A. confuse B. manage C. betray D. defeat
8.A. in charge B. in return C. in place D. in store
9.A. arranged B. failed C. happy D. trial
10.A. work B. start C. end D. worsen
11.A. teased B. discouraged C. hurt D. shocked
12.A. proudly B. casually C. happily D. shortly
13.A. if B. while C. because D. though
14.A. bring B. require C. serve D. deserve
15.A. bad B. inferior C. silly D. cheap
16.A. faith B. courage C. judgement D. effort
17.A. ahead of B. according to C. regardless of D. related to
18.A. achieving B. affecting C. expecting D. declining
19.A. Accept B. Assume C. Fancy D. Consider
20.A. career B. marriage C. fate D. benefit
