Love, success, happiness, family and freedom----how important are these values to you? Here is one interview which explores the fundamental questions in life.
Question: Could you introduce yourself first?
Answer: My name is Misbah, 27 years old. I was born in a war-torn area. Right now I’m a web designer.
Q: What are your great memories?
A: My parents used to take us to hunt birds, climb trees, and play in the fields. For me it was like a holiday because we were going to have fun all day long. Those are my great memories.
Q: Does your childhood mean a lot to you?
A: Yes. As life was very hard, I used to work to help bring money in for the family. I spent my childhood working, with responsibilities beyond my age. However, it taught me to deal with problems all alone. I learnt to be independent.
Q: What changes would you like to make in your life?
A: If I could change something in my life, I’d change it so that my childhood could have taken place in another area. I would have loved to live with my family in freedom. Who cares whether we have much money, or whether we have a beautiful house? It doesn’t matter as long as I can live with my family and we are safe.
Q: How do your get along with your parents?
A: My parents supported me until I came of age(成年). I want to give back what I’ve got. That’s our way. But I am working in another city. My only contact with my parents now is through the phone, but I hate using it. It filters（过滤）out your emotion and leaves your voice only. My deepest feelings should be passed through sight, hearing and touch.
1. In Misbah’s childhood,_________.
| A．he was free from worry |
| B．he liked living in the countryside |
| C．he often spent holidays with his family |
| D．he liked going into nature |
| A．A rich life. |
| B．Peace and freedom. |
| C．A beautiful house. |
| D．Money for his family. |
| A．By talking to them face to face. |
| B．By calling them sometimes. |
| C．By paying yearly visits. |
| D．By writing them letters. |
相似题推荐
I thought you were supposed to be keeping my teeth straight with the benefit of no braces (牙箍)! Yet I wake up every morning to see that my overbite is slowly coming back and the rows of teeth aren’t aligned (使对齐). Now I don’t think you’re even helping me anymore. Do you have any idea what I went through to get you?
First of all, I wasted two precious years of my life waiting for your arrival. Those braces were murder on my teeth. You didn’t experience the pain I had to go through! Almost every week, I replaced my old wires. By getting braces, I had the “wonderful” opportunity to choose from a wide variety of soups. For two years, 104 weeks, soup became more than 90 percent of my diet.
I will admit that you kept my teeth in order for a few months. However, recently I think you’re snoozing (打盹) on the job. After brushing my teeth and slipping you on, I see that you don’t even fit correctly over my teeth anymore. During some nights, you don’t even stay on the whole time. I wake up some days and feel nothing in my mouth. Then I have to take more time to thoroughly search my bed to see where you’ve hidden yourself. Do you realize how frustrated I am?
Don’t even get me started on how you affect my language. If I were to say this sentence “Can you pass me the bottle of water?” it would come out sounding like “Ken you peth me-the ball of wudu?” Now I don’t even attempt saying words like “rewind” “reconnect” “replay” or anything else that starts with “re”. In general, you steal my ability to talk efficiently. The ridicule I get from my friends is almost unbearable.
You had better shape up or I’ll have to replace you with something better.
Hana
1. What is Hana’s purpose in writing the letter?| A．To express her dissatisfaction. |
| B．To seek help from her dentist. |
| C．To describe her interesting experiences. |
| D．To explain the process of straightening her teeth. |
| A．Her retainers hurt her. | B．Her retainers affect her diet. |
| C．She has to brush her retainers. | D．She has to look for her retainers. |
| A．Because of her ugly face. | B．Because of her poor English. |
| C．Because of her limited understanding. | D．Because of her incorrect pronunciation. |
Question: Could you introduce yourself first?
Answer: My name is Misbah, 27 years old．I was born in a war-torn area．Right now I’m a web designer．
Q: What are your great memories?
A: My parents used to take us to hunt birds, climb trees, and play in the fields．For me it was like a holiday because we were going to have fun all day long．Those are my great memories．
Q: Does your childhood mean a lot to you?
A: Yes．As life was very hard, I used to work to help bring money in for the family．I spent my childhood working, with responsibilities beyond my age．However, it taught me to deal with problems all alone．I learnt to be independent．
Q: What changes would you like to make in your life?
A: If I could change something in my life, I’d change it so that my childhood could have taken place in another area．I would have loved to live with my family in freedom．Who cares whether we have much money, or whether we have a beautiful house? It doesn’t matter as long as I can live with my family and we are safe．
Q: How do your get along with your parents?
A: My parents supported me until I came of age．I want to give back what I’ve got．That’s our way．But I am working in another city．My only contact with my parents now is through the phone, but I hate using it．It filters（过滤） out your emotion and leaves your voice only．My deepest feelings should be passed through sight, hearing and touch．
1. In Misbah’s childhood, ．
| A．he was free from worry |
| B．he liked living in the countryside |
| C．he was fond of getting close to nature |
| D．he often spent holidays with his family |
| A．Peace and freedom | B．A beautiful house． |
| C．A colorful life． | D．Money for his family． |
| A．By chatting on the Internet． | B．By calling them sometimes． |
| C．By paying weekly visits． | D．By writing them letters． |
| A．What was your childhood dream? | B．What is your biggest achievement? |
| C．What is your parents’ view of you? | D．What was your hardest experience in the war? |
【推荐3】J.K. Rowling is the writer of Harry Potter, which is now one of the bestsellers in the world.
J.K. Rowling was born in Bristol on July 31st, 1965. She has one sister who is two years younger than her. Both girls loved listening to their father reading bedtime stories to them. They especially loved stories about magical worlds. Rowling wrote her first story, called Rabbit, at the age of six.
After she graduated from the university, Rowling worked as a translator in London. During this time, on a long train trip in the summer of 1990, the idea came to her of a boy who has magic but doesn't know it. In 1992 Rowling began to teach English. She lived with her baby daughter, Jessica, and spent much time finishing the first Harry Potter book for young readers. It appeared in June 1997. To her surprise, the book was greatly successful. The film came out in November 2001. Now Harry Potter series(系列) is popular with people of all ages and about 60 million books were sold in 200 countries.
Why has the series been so successful? There are a few things. Many other magical stories take place in faraway lands or in past or future times. But Harry lives in modern England. He's also a very normal boy: polite, friendly, brave and clever. So when other children read about Harry, they can imagine being like him.
J.K. Rowling is very happy with the success, and she is now busy finishing the whole series of seven books. She's writing full time and she's really enjoying life. She says she will go on living a normal life with her daughter and writing children's books.
1. From the passage, we know ___________.| A．J.K. Rowling met a boy named Harry on a long train trip |
| B．J.K. Rowling loved listening to stories when she was very young |
| C．J.K. Rowling is two years younger than her sister |
| D．Harry Potter is J.K. Rowling's first story |
| A．July 1965 | B．the summer of 1990 |
| C．June 1997 | D．November 2001 |
| A．likes to travel all over the world with her daughter |
| B．is too busy to enjoy her life |
| C．is excited about her success every day |
| D．is still writing stories for children |
| A．There are magical things. | B．The stories happened in the modern world. |
| C．It has seven books. | D．It took much time to finish. |
【推荐1】The cost-of-living crisis will hit, us hard with rising energy prices and increasing costs. However, things aren’t totally hopeless.
Accountability (责任心)
The cost-of-living crisis will force us all to prioritize what we spend money on.
Item exchanging
We generally tend to spend more in the cold months. And when you have an entire household of people to provide for, the cost can quickly add up. So imagine how much money you could save by acquiring some items without spending an extra penny. Don’t be shy about asking those you are closest to if they have an extra blanket they no longer use, or a toy they are about to get rid of.
Information sharing
The best thing about a community is the wealth of knowledge. You might not inherit a pair of shoes or a cardigan, but you could get essential money-saving advice. From the latest government support available to where to shop for reduced items, those in your community may hold the key to crucial financial help.
Cooking together
Banding with your closest friends or neighbors to prepare and share meals works well for small communities.
| A．The worst they can do is say “no”. |
| B．Here’s how your community could help you cope. |
| C．This is why it will be important for you to voice your needs. |
| D．Many people are struggling with increasingly high costs of living. |
| E．That’s not to say you have to be at each other’s houses for dinner every night. |
| F．However, exchanging things they no longer need will occupy lots of your space. |
| G．As prices increase, keeping more of our cash for the bare necessities will become vital. |
【推荐2】It was just after 5 pm. I was holding a cup of tea at Sainsbury’s, the second largest chain of supermarkets in the U. K. We were around a dozen customers in the supermarket’s cafe, and most of us were on our own. Despite placing the special sign “Reserved for customers in the mood for a chat” in an obvious position, I got no takers.
Government announcers tell us that Britons of all ages are suffering loneliness. About 200, 000 senior citizens have not spoken to a friend or relative for over a month. Family doctors suspect that some of their patients are making appointments because they are lonely. The receptionists also agree that the front desk is a magnet for the isolated to come and experience a bit of human contact. And the young, even with their busy lives on social media, are also affected. New research from Sainsbury’s Living Well Index reveals that almost two thirds of the people aged between 18 and 24 have admitted to sometimes feeling lonely.
To ease the problem of loneliness, Sainsbury’s has launched “Talking Tables,” which are reserved spaces where people can have a chat. They appear in a variety of formats. A sign-posted table located in cafés in-store is one of them. The concept has been developed in close association with Chatty Café. Alexandra Hoskyn was inspired to start a network of Chatty Cafés in the U. K. in 2017 after finding herself socially isolated as a new mother at home with young children.
“We know from our Living Well Index that community connections are a key driver of helping people live well,” says Judith Batchelar, director of Sainsbury’s brand. “We hope that by bringing people together at our ‘Talking Tables,’ we can develop the potential of our store space to help people be better connected to the communities they live and work in.”
A European friend suggested that all this unsolicited(自发的) friendliness may not seem very British. However, a staff member at the Sainsbury’s sounded more positive: “It’s early days, and you cannot change people’s habits overnight.”
1. Who might come to “Talking Table”?| A．Only the lonely old people. |
| B．People having communication problems. |
| C．Teenagers active in social media. |
| D．Anyone eager to chat. |
| A．“Talking Table” is a pioneer in the UK. |
| B．“Talking Table” was inspired by some new mothers. |
| C．Friendliness can change British habits directly. |
| D．“Talking Table” can produce a sense of belonging. |
| A．Personal ambition. | B．Physical and mental health. |
| C．Communication in the community. | D．Relations with family. |
| A．The largest supermarket chain in the UK Sainsbury’s. |
| B．The supermarket’s cafes helping ease loneliness. |
| C．The latest study on loneliness of senior citizens. |
| D．The approaches to getting rid of loneliness. |
【推荐3】Does it feel like you are forever chasing (追逐) a rainbow? That happiness is just around the corner but when you step forward, you find that the things that once can make you happy no longer make you happy like before?
We often tell ourselves that if we achieve a certain something, we will finally be happy.
When unchecked, this eventually becomes an endless cycle that always limits our ability to be happy.
| A．If that is so, then you are not alone. |
| B．What exactly is the hedonic treadmill? |
| C．There are many factors that can influence our happiness. |
| D．These changes can be either positive or negative in nature. |
| E．However, things usually don’t work out this way in most cases. |
| F．We move in circles and stop only when we make an effort to do so. |
| G．Humans have the habit of falling into the hole of wanting too much. |
【推荐1】Teaching comedy is a delicate craft that Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Teaching Artists handle with expertise. Sabrina Mandell, specializing in clowning and physical comedy, believes in starting with examples of what she finds funny, helping students understand humor and its subtlety (微妙之处). She emphasizes the importance of discovering what works for individuals rather than specifying a right way.
Overcoming fear is crucial in comedy, with Mark Jaster noting that comedians must be willing to push beyond social norms. Sabrina also advocates opening up emotionally, recognizing the closeness of laughter and tears. After all, pushing students to face fear head-on can tap into their full comedic potential.
Precision is also essential in comedy, requiring crisp, clean, and well-timed performance. Jim Gagne emphasizes the need for precision in comedy compared to the flexibility allowed in drama. Teaching comedic timing is challenging, with some students naturally possessing the talent, while others need more guidance to refine this essential skill. Jim, however, believes it can be developed through awareness, practice, and thorough exploration.
Play and fun are crucial in teaching comedy. Sabrina emphasizes the importance of rediscovering the joy of play. Mark envisions a comedy lab where exploring its mysteries is as significant as its performance.
Despite the desire for laughs, teachers emphasize the importance of storytelling within comedic scenes. Jim provides a valuable insight: “In drama, you throw the dishes down; in comedy, you throw them up.” This comparison underscores that comedy demands a different approach, one that is more lighthearted and humorous. Nevertheless, the ultimate goal is to truly engage the audience and genuinely make them laugh.
1. What does Sabrina Mandell find important when teaching comedy?| A．Conveying her sense of humor to students. | B．Prioritizing storytelling over humor. |
| C．Focusing on creating physical humor. | D．Inspiring students to explore their humor. |
| A．fear is one of the primary sources of humor | B．comedians need to go beyond social conventions |
| C．laughter and tears enhance the comedic effect | D．it enables people to unlock comedic potential |
| A．He considers it merely a natural gift. |
| B．He emphasizes precision more in comedy than in drama. |
| C．He thinks teaching precision requires a sense of timing. |
| D．He believes precision in comedy is similar to flexibility in drama. |
| A．Comedy aims to find out mysteries. |
| B．Comedy requires a serious and dramatic approach. |
| C．Comedy brings the audience new inspirations. |
| D．Comedy can be taught through play and exploration. |
【推荐2】Recently a new US study has shown that couples who expect their children to help care for them in old age should hope they have daughters because they are likely to be twice as attentive overall.
The research by Angelina Grigoryeva, a sociologist at Princeton University, found that, while women provide as much care for their elderly parents as they can manage, men do as little as they can get away with and often leave it to female family members.
Using data from the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study, a study which has been tracking a cross-section of over-50s for the last decade, she calculated that women provide an average of 12.3 hours a month of care for elderly parents while men offer only 5.6 hours.
“Whereas the amount of elderly parent care daughters provide is associated with limitations they face, such as employment or childcare, sons’ caregiving is connected only with the presence or absence of other helpers, such as sisters or a parent's spouse （配偶）,” she explained.
“Sons reduce their relative caregiving efforts when they have a sister, while daughters increase theirs when they have a brother.”
“This suggests that sons pass on parent caregiving responsibilities to their sisters.”
In the UK, the 2011 census （人口普查）showed that there are now around 6.5 million people with caring responsibilities — a figure which has risen by a tenth in a decade.
But many are doing so at the risk of their own health. The census showed that those who provide 50 hours or more of care a week while trying to hold down a full-time job are three times more likely to be struggling with ill health than their working counterparts （相对应的人）who are not careers.
1. What does the underlined phrase “is associated with” in Paragraph 4 mean?| A．is faced with | B．is related to |
| C．is filled with | D．is fond of |
| A．American couples are preferring daughters to sons a lot |
| B．sons are twice likely as daughters to care for parents in old age |
| C．having a brother makes women do their share less |
| D．men tend to take less care of their parents than women |
| A．The number of people providing care has increased by 6.5 million. |
| B．More people have left behind their work to look after the elderly. |
| C．Many people who both work and care others can be threatened by health problems. |
| D．People shouldn't take much responsibility to care for the old. |
| A．Positive. | B．Subjective. |
| C．Objective. | D．Negative. |
【推荐3】The short film Piper, released by Pixar in 2016, won the 89th Academy Award for Best Animated Short film. Piper was written and directed by Alan Barillaro, previously working in the animation department. It’s a wonder that he had the fortune to win Oscar for his first film.
The short film follows a baby bird named Piper, as she learns and overcomes her fears of finding food at the seafront. Piper is encouraged to peck（啄）at the sand beach but gets wet through with water from a wave. Discouraged by the terrible wave, she hopes to get food from her mother but fails. After gathering up the courage again, she meets a hermit crab（寄居蟹）who shows her not to be scared of the ocean but to embrace it. Finally, she discovers the secret of the ocean and feeds herself even her family. It’s a story about facing challenges and not being discouraged by failure. Like Piper, we can always find solutions and come out stronger than ever before.
Somehow Pixar manages to fit all of these into a five-minute-long short film, without using any spoken language and entirely by animation. Movements and personified facial expressions are what drive this story in this film. Much like the nature documentary, the continuous pulling of the shallow focus adds the sense of realism. The clean and clear animation allows for even the slightest micro-expressions to be picked up by the audience. And the music is consistent with Piper’s emotions, making the audience feel the same way.
This film and lots of others by Pixar make us laugh and cry all the time. By fitting a simple story with simple characters, we are led through challenges to a satisfying conclusion for our characters. It’s one of the best short films in a long time.
1. What is the storyline of the short film?| A．A mother instructs her child to find food. |
| B．A bird overcomes fears and grows independent。 |
| C．A bird family tries to adapt to life at the seafront. |
| D．A sand beach offers food to the birds living nearby. |
| A．Animation and music. | B．Sound and virtual scenes. |
| C．Movements and speeches. | D．Clear pictures and vivid lines. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Critical. | C．Favorable. | D．Negative. |
| A．A documentary. | B．A review. | C．A story. | D．An essay. |
【推荐1】Dr Almeida left school at 16 with little formal education but got a job as a laboratory technician in histopathology ( 组织病理学 ) at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Later she moved to London to further her career and in 1954 married Enriques Almeida, an artist.
The couple and their young daughter moved to Toronto in Canada and it was at the Ontario Cancer Institute that Dr Almeida developed her outstanding skills with an electron microscope.
She pioneered a method which better visualized ( 成像 ) viruses by using antibodies to gather them. Her talents were recognized in the UK and she was invited to work at St Thomas’s Hospital Medical School in London.
On her return, she began to cooperate with Dr David Tyrrell. Dr Tyrrell and his team were able to grow quite a few common cold-associated viruses. One sample, known as B814, was discovered in 1960. They found that they were able to transmit ( 传染 ) common cold symptoms to volunteers but they were unable to grow it in routine cell culture ( 细胞培养 ). However, volunteer studies showed its growth in organ cultures ( 器官培养 ). Dr Tyrrell wondered if it could be seen by an electron microscope. They sent samples to Almeida who found that they were like flu viruses but not exactly the same. She identified what became known as the first human coronavirus ( 冠状病毒 ).
Dr Almeida had actually seen particles ( 微粒 ) like this before while investigating viruses in mice and chickens. However, when she sent her paper about this discovery to a medical journal, it was rejected. It was two years later that the first photographs of the virus she had seen were published in Journal of General Virology. It was named coronavirus because of the crown surrounding it on the viral image.
1. Why did Dr Almeida return to work in the UK ?| A．Because her family did not like Toronto. |
| B．Because the UK appreciated her talents. |
| C．Because she bettered an electron microscope. |
| D．Because she was the first one to visualize viruses. |
| A．It could be grown in routine cell culture. |
| B．It was unable to develop in organ cultures. |
| C．It’s exactly the same with influenza viruses. |
| D．It was identified as the first human coronavirus. |
| A．Its viral image. |
| B．Its deadly power. |
| C．It original sample. |
| D．Its first appearance. |
【推荐2】Since November last year, cyclists in the northern Dutch town, Krommenie, have been part of a revolutionary experiment—a length of 70 meters of the town's main bikeway has been resurfaced with a layer of glass tiles treated with a non-slip coating. The panels, which are laid on a bed of concrete, are only one centimetre thick, but it's what's inside the glass that makes them truly impressive—each individual section contains a solar cell and together they form one long energy producing net work.
There were a number of reasons to start with a bike path. One is that when you start an innovation like this you want a step that is doable, but still guarantees that things are pretty safe for road users. In a bike path, the loads are not too heavy, and the requirements are not too severe. The Krommenie experiment has four goals. One is to see how it performs technically and what the energy production is. The second goal is to know what the satisfaction of the users is; do they have any kind of discomfort or negative perception? And the last thing, is to see if the road managers are comfortable with this type of road which is completely new.
More than 150 ,000 cyclists have used the bike path in the first six months of its operation and the trial has met with no serious problems, even during recent testing using heavyweight vehicles. Some wear and tear on the non-slip coating was expected and has been repaired.
Despite the trial's promise, there is still one major problem to deal with—the initial cost of road construction using the solar panels is higher than it is for standard forms of surfacing. But the researchers predict that will come down, when the technology enters mass production.
1. What does the underlined word " panels" in the first paragraph refer to?| A．Bikeways. | B．Glass tiles. |
| C．Solar cells. | D．Non- slip coatings. |
| A．It is very easy to build. | B．It is cheap and light. |
| C．It is frequently used. | D．It is workable and safe. |
| A．Promising. | B．Expensive. |
| C．Unnecessary. | D．Impractical. |
| A．Its trial was a great success with no problems. |
| B．It has no limit to the weight of heavy vehicles. |
| C．It cannot be put into regular use at the moment. |
| D．Its management will be difficult and expensive. |
【推荐3】If you like to spend your time up to your elbows in dirt and have the ability to grow plants that don't wither and die, you may have been told you have a green thumb. This is not a medical emergency, but a slang term meant to show one's natural talent for gardening. But where did the phrase come from?
Both green thumb and green fingers have been common expressions in England and the United States for well over a century, with the Oxford English Dictionary citing use of green fingers as early as 1906 from the novel The Misses make-believe by Mary Stuart Boyd. Green thumb, meanwhile, was used first in 1937 Ironwood Daily Globe newspaper article, which described the phrase as gardening slang.
There are several stories about its origins. Some believe it is a result of growing potted plants, which can often have green algae（藻）on the underside that coat hands. Others point to a story about King Edward I and his love of green peas, which were shelled by subservient workers—one would be honoured for doing the most work and having the greenest thumb. There is also the fact that plants contain chorophyll (叶绿素) which can easily discolour your hands.
However the phrase was cultivated, we have a pretty good idea of how it caught on. In the 1940s, wartime Britain enjoyed a popular gardening radio show titled In Your Garden hosted by C.H. Middleton that made use of both green thumb and green fingers.
Why, then, is the phrase focused more on the thumb when all of your fingers are likely to get discoloured? It might have something to do with an old English proverb: "An honest miller (磨坊主) has a golden thumb." The quality of corn flour could be judged by rubbing it between the forefinger and thumb. Mixed together in the collective consciousness, these two expressions may have resulted in the green thumb we hear about today.
1. What can we learn about the two slang terms from paragraph 2?| A．They have different meanings at first. |
| B．Green thumb was preferred by Americans. |
| C．They were first included in English dictionaries. |
| D．Green fingers appeared earlier in written history. |
| A．chlorophyll in plants |
| B．King Edward I's hobby |
| C．the green algae that grow on pots |
| D．King Edward I's skilled gardeners |
| A．The thumb is raised to show praise. |
| B．"Thumb" is often used in English sayings. |
| C．People connect the phrase with the "golden thumb". |
| D．People think other fingers are useless in gardening. |
| A．How did "green thumb" come to English? |
| B．Why do westerners prefer the finger "thumb"? |
| C．Why are gardeners said to have a "green thumb"? |
| D．Is there a relationship between "green thumb" and "thumb"? |
