As you drive the streets of Maine, you will often notice the various unwanted things people place outside, all with one extremely attractive word — FREE! And you will find most of them are serviceable, and often valuable!
So why don’t the state’s people just sell them? The answer is tied in with Maine’s belief in keeping it simple: It’s easier to give something away than to go through the trouble of advertising and then receiving phone calls, followed by the unavoidable bargaining. But there is also the light joy of seeing an item collected by someone who can use it.
What strikes me is the speed with which unwanted goods are taken away. There seems to be an army always ready to collect them at a moment’s notice.
Case in point: For years I had a large piece of old steel near my garage. I finally decided to pull it outside my house. No sooner had I turned my back than a pickup truck appeared. The driver jumped out and asked,“You are getting rid of this?” When I nodded, he lifted it, yelled a sincere “Thanks!” and drove away.
I have a guilty little secret. For me, the word “free” speaks of some deep desire to acquire, and to compete, in case someone else beats me to a free gift. I once carried a picnic table home. My son remarked, “but we already have a picnic table. Why did you get another one?” I replied, “Because it was free!”
As I write this, I am glancing out the window at a Windsor chair my neighbor has put out. The sign says FREE, but the chair is missing one leg. I could either repair it or use it for firewood. Hmm … Too late! While I hesitate, a senior citizen has pulled up. The chair is his, and I have a sense of loss.
1. How do people of Maine look at selling unwanted things?| A．It is a deep-rooted tradition. | B．Selling such things is a real pleasure. |
| C．The process is too complex. | D．It is a good chance to make money. |
| A．Things thrown away will quickly be collected. | B．The driver needed the old steel very much. |
| C．People prefer to collect expensive goods. | D．The old steel was particularly valuable. |
| A．He can’t give more gifts to his son. | B．He shows much interest in free things. |
| C．He has a hobby of collecting tables. | D．He wants to become a strong competitor. |
| A．The chair is of no use. | B．The chair is missing a leg. |
| C．He fails to get the chair. | D．His neighbor rejects the chair. |
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【推荐1】Since my retirement (退休) from teaching music in 2001, I have spent a good deal of time painting as an artist. I actually began drawing again in the summer of 1995 when my father died, so perhaps I was trying to recover from the loss of my father, or maybe it was just that it brought back memories of him. In any case, I drew pen and ink animals and landscapes (风景画) much influenced by Krenkel and St. John for five years.
For some strange reason, I had been waiting until my retirement to start doing watercolours again, but as soon as I walked out of the school door for the last time I picked up my brushes and rediscovered Andrew Wyeth, who quickly became my favourite artist. I had looked through all the art books I had on my shelves and found his watercolours to be the closest to how I thought good watercolours should look. So I painted landscapes around Minnesota for three years and tried out many other types of painting. However, watercolours remained my first choice, and I think I did my best work there, showing my paintings at a number of art exhibitions.
Art is now together with my piano playing and reading. There is a time for everything in my world, and it is wonderful to have some time doing what I want to do. As Confucius once said, “At seventy I can follow my heart’s desire.”
1. The author started drawing again in 1995 because ______ .| A．he hoped to draw a picture of his father |
| B．he couldn’t stop missing his father |
| C．he had more time after retirement |
| D．he liked animals and landscapes |
| A．had been taught by Krenkel and St. John |
| B．painted landscapes in Minnesota for 5 years |
| C．believed Wyeth to be the best in watercolours |
| D．started his retirement life at the age of seventy |
| A．Very enjoyable. | B．A bit regretful. |
| C．Rather busy. | D．Fairly dull. |
【推荐2】Should teens do housework after school?
First of all, to be responsible, teenagers should learn how to manage their time.
Finally, doing household chores can help teens become better leaders.
| A．Take my personal experience for example. |
| B．People adopt different stands toward this issue. |
| C．Besides, being responsible means being independent. |
| D．Parents feel angry if their teens don't help with the housework. |
| E．Secondly, it gives teens the sense that they're part of the family. |
| F．Doing household work can help them develop good time management skills. |
| G．As a result, when I was selected as the leader in group projects, I felt confident about it. |
【推荐3】You’re primarily left-handed if you use your left hand for most activities — even if you tend to write with your right hand. Historically, there used to be a social prejudice against lefties (左撇子) .
It’s estimated that 8 to 15 percent of the adult population is left-handed. Of course, we now know that handedness is determined by genetics and random chance. What we’re just learning, however, is far more interesting.
Lefties may be quicker thinkers. According to an Australian study published in 2006, left-handed people tend to have faster connections between the right and left sides of the brain.
Emotions seem to be arranged differently depending on handedness.
| A．Lefties have the upper hand in some sports. |
| B．Lefties experience the world in a different way. |
| C．In fact, there’s nothing special about the left-handed. |
| D．So they can use both sides of their brain more easily. |
| E．Lefties are more likely to have certain health problems. |
| F．Even schools once tried to break left-handed students of their “bad habit” . |
| G．For lefties, feelings is more likely to come from the right side of the brain. |
【推荐1】It’s a common experience: You’re looking through a social media page, and you see pictures of friends traveling or going to parties. Suddenly you start to wonder why you’re not doing those things. Are you missing out on something fun and exciting because you’re locked into everyday life? This experience has come to be known as the fear of missing out, sometimes shortened FOMO. To some extent people have always worried about missing out on things. But with the rise of social media, FOMO is becoming much more common.
Wanting to be in on the fun when exciting things are happening is completely normal. But for some people, it can lead to fascination with checking their phones to find out what other people are doing. Even while doing things that are fun or necessary, people can feel like there’s something better going on elsewhere. This urge to connect can ironically lead them to disconnect from the people they are actually with. It prevents them from being satisfied with the good things in their lives. It can even be dangerous; some people try to check messages while driving.
It’s important to remember that what people choose to post on social media does not necessarily reflect their life overall. People tend to pick and choose the things they share, so we only ever know a small part of anyone else’s life.
It’s also important to be modest and accept your limitations. You cannot be everywhere and do everything that might be interesting or productive, and that’s OK.
It might even be necessary to turn off your phone or log out of social media for a while. Get rid of the constant reminders of everything that’s happening in the world. You can even set particular times in your day to check email and social media. By stepping away for a time, you can help keep other people’s lives in perspective.
Finally, focus on the things in front of you. Relish them, do them well and let everything else go. When you fully engage with life, you’ll worry less about what you’re not doing.
Don’t let the fear of missing out cause you to miss out on the good things you have in life. Relax, enjoy what you do and let other people enjoy their lives without envying them.
1. The fear of missing out is mainly caused by________ according to the passage.| A．locking into others’ life |
| B．the frequent use of social media |
| C．the rise of social media |
| D．travelling or going to parties |
| A．No checking messages while driving. |
| B．Checking social media unwillingly. |
| C．Being pleased with my good things. |
| D．Separating from the people around. |
| A．enjoy | B．ignore | C．hate | D．envy |
| A．Try to check and find out what people have shared in media. |
| B．Let other people enjoy our lives without envying theirs. |
| C．Don’t let thoughts of what you could be doing steal your happiness. |
| D．Pick and choose the things people share on social media. |
【推荐2】Is looking fashionable (时髦的) more important than being comfortable? Many people seem to think so, judging (判断) by the things they wear. But fashion is not everything. It is more important to be a healthy and good person.
People go to great lengths to be fashionable. Some people think they have to have a certain body type, so they go on extreme, unhealthy diets in order to change their bodies. In addition, many women wear uncomfortable fashions, such as high - heeled shoes that cause pain to their feet, and tight body shapes that limit (限制) blood flow. Men and women alike spend time and money on products that change their natural hair colour or hairstyle. Some people even spend several hours a day in front of a mirror. Is fashion so important that people spend so much time and effort on changing what they look like?
If the purpose of fashion is to make a person feel good, it does not make sense that he or she would go through so much discomfort to be fashionable. Fashion should not come first. People should put their health and positive image in the first place. What people wear does not say anything about their personalities. Instead of spending hours in choosing a dress, perhaps you should call your friends and do something together, such as playing soccer or badminton. Instead of going on strict diets and forcing yourself to stay hungry, why not eat some healthy foods and then exercise? By doing these things, you can keep a healthy lifestyle and truly grow as a person.
1. What is the author’s attitude to people’s putting fashion above health?| A．Curious. | B．Encouraging. | C．Unsupportive. | D．Unclear. |
| A．The fashion industry is strong. | B．Beauty products are harmful to health. |
| C．People try very hard to be fashionable. | D．Both women and men search for beauty. |
| A．Going skiing with friends. | B．Starting a new diet with a friend. |
| C．Changing hairstyles every week. | D．Shopping for fashionable clothes. |
| A．To introduce the latest fashion trends. |
| B．To tell readers how to remain fashionable. |
| C．To advise readers to value health over fashion. |
| D．To show readers advantages and disadvantages of dieting. |
【推荐3】Over the past few decades, East Asia has seen a surprising rise in the rate of short-sightedness. And a growing pile of evidence suggests that the main underlying reason for this is education—specifically, the fact that children spend large parts of the day in comparatively dimly(昏暗地)lit classrooms.
For most people, short-sightedness is not a pleasant thing. Glasses and contact lenses are an expensive, lifelong struggle. In parts of rural China, where some families cannot afford either, children struggle in the very schools that are causing the problem. Governments in Asia are increasingly worried about the public-health implications of entire generations growing up short-sighted. Those in other parts of the world should start worrying, too.
The evidence suggests that regular exposure to bright daylight is vital in properly controlling the growth of children’s eyes. Too little light leads to short-sighted eyes. Researchers think that this explains why rates are so high in Asia, where a strong cultural emphasis on the value of education leads to long school days and, often, private tutoring in the afternoon and evening. That leaves little time for sunshine. Western children, whose parents are increasingly worried about a competitive job market, are beginning to go the same way.
Special eyedrops(眼药水), as well as clever glasses and contact lenses, may be able to slow the progression of short-sightedness once it has started. But prevention is better than mitigation(缓解), and the science suggests a cheap, straightforward measure. A series of encouraging trials shows that giving schoolchildren—and especially those in primary education—more time outside can cut the number of students who go on to develop short-sightedness. However, it seems that the greatest resistance to this attempt comes from parents. They may worry that other parents might not follow suit, leaving their children at a disadvantage in the classroom.
Governments are well placed to solve such collective-action problems, while reassuring anxious parents that a bit less classroom time is unlikely to be catastrophic. After all, countries such as Finland and Sweden do well in global education rankings with a less intense approach to education. Giving more outdoor time to young children would still leave room for them to cram for exams in their teenage years. And longer breaks in the playground may also make a dent in other rich-world problems such as childhood obesity. Far-sighted governments should send the kids outdoors.
1. What does the author blame education for?| A．A high rate of eyesight problems. | B．Unfair competition in the rich world. |
| C．Great pressure on both students and parents. | D．Students’ being unaware of their eyesight problems. |
| A．They can easily find a job in the future. | B．They spend much time outdoors every day. |
| C．They are also likely to be pushed by parents. | D．They are more optimistic than Asian children. |
| A．The frequency of exams. | B．The call of the government. |
| C．The cooperation between parents. | D．The parents’ attitudes towards stress. |
| A．Take account of | B．Make a plan for |
| C．Make a comparison between | D．Reduce the number of |
【推荐1】Are you having difficulty falling asleep? Try drinking a glass of warm milk. If that doesn't work, listen to beautiful soft music. Still no luck? Try thinking about sheep jumping over a fence. If you are still awake, take a sleeping pill. But people who take pills often become dependent on the drugs. So you lie awake knowing that the new workday will soon arrive. If you have been in such condition for at least one month, you may have primary insomnia（失眠症）.
A new study has found that you might fall asleep more quickly and stay asleep longer if you try "cerebral hypothermia". It is not a complex medical process. It just means cooling down your brain. Eric Nofzinger and Daniel Buysse from the University of Pittsburgh Medical School led the study. They examined twelve people who had sleeping problems. Twelve others had no sleeping problems. Each of them wore a soft plastic cap on their head at bedtime.
The caps had tubes inside filled with water. The researchers moved the water through the tubes and then changed the temperature of the water. Other studies showed that people who had sleeping problems often had more chemical reactions in the front of their brains. The researchers thought cooling down the brain might help.
On the first two nights of testing, the patients wore caps with no water. On the next two nights, the caps were worn, but the water was not cooled. Then the researchers cooled the water a little for another two nights. On the final two nights of the study, the temperature of the water was made much cooler.
The researchers found that the water caps didn't help the patients until the temperature was about 14℃. Most of the patients fell asleep faster and slept better when the coolest water was moving around their heads.
Dr. Nofzinger and Dr. Buysse noted that this was only the beginning of the brain temperature study. But they believed they had discovered something important that needed more research.
1. What is the purpose of Paragraph 1?| A．To ask readers a question. | B．To tell sleeping problems. |
| C．To put forward the topic of the passage. | D．To offer ways to insomnia. |
| A．They showed more chemical reactions. |
| B．They were required to wear plastic caps. |
| C．They all suffered from sleeping problems. |
| D．They cooled themselves by drinking water. |
| A．It turns out disappointing. | B．It proves widely practical. |
| C．It stands out among studies | D．It still has a long way to go. |
| A．It's time to cool yourself down. | B．A medical process benefits sleep |
| C．A new way might help with sleep. | D．Cooling down your brain matters. |
【推荐2】Forget losing weight or saving money—we suggest one simple task to add to your list of inspiring New Year’s decisions: read a book. Trust us, and your brain will thank you. Not only does reading increase the amount of daily pleasure in your life, but it could also delay dementia (痴呆) and even help you live longer.
But still, picking the perfect novel isn’t easy. Thankfully, Business Insider asked a Harvard professor to recommend the one book he thinks every student should read in 2018—and we suggest adding it to your list, too. (No time for all the books on your list? Here’s a shortcut: Read the endings to some of the world’s most famous books, instead.)
Steven Pinker, Professor of Psychology at Harvard, recommends The Internationalists by legal scholars Hathaway and Shapiro. The book makes a surprising claim that the Kellogg-Briand Paris Peace Pact (条约) of 1928, which declared war illegal, has caused a steady drop in war throughout history.
“But in their fascinating and evidence-rich book, they make a lifelike case,” Pinker said. “And like The Clash of Civilizations and The End of History, the book presents a sweeping vision (视野) of the international scene, making sense of many developments in the news and recent history.”
Other professors at Harvard recommended classics like Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, as well as Just Mercy by Stevenson, The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith, and Robot-Proof by Joseph Aoun.
So, go ahead and give (at least) one of these books a read in 2018! And while you’re at it, you should add the following 20 books you really should have read by now to your list, too…
1. Why does the author say “Forget losing weight or saving money”?| A．Because losing weight or saving money is a harder task than reading. |
| B．Because reading much might cause you to pick up weight or spend more. |
| C．Because losing weight or saving money has nothing to do with reading books. |
| D．Because reading books is much more important than losing weight or saving money. |
| A．A time-saving way to read books. | B．A lazy person’s way to read books. |
| C．A quick way to know about endings of books. | D．A wise way to deal with too many books to read. |
| A．The Paris Peace Pact. | B．The Internationalists. |
| C．Hathaway and Shapiro. | D．A wide vision of the international scene. |
| A．More advice on reading books. |
| B．The main contents of the 20 books recommended. |
| C．The names of the 20 books recommended. |
| D．The brief introduction of the 20 books recommended. |
【推荐3】Extreme heat often brings extreme wildfires, and this year is no exception, with heat waves fueling giant outbreaks of fires in the western United States and Canada, as well as across the Mediterranean and in Siberia. However, the wildfires can have the opposite effect on temperatures, cooling Earth's surface regionally and globally.
Thick wildfire smoke can temporarily block sunlight near the ground, causing regional temperatures to drop by several degrees. Wildfire smoke can also have global cooling effects by making clouds in the lower atmosphere more reflective or blocking sunlight in the upper atmosphere, similar to what a volcanic eruption does.
Scientists have only recently begun studying these effects, with Australia's record 2019-2020 bushfire season marking the first time researchers detected wildfire smoke-caused global cooling. The effect is far too small to balance human-caused global warming, but beyond that, researchers say it's too early to predict what it means for the broader climate system. But with fire seasons growing severer around the world and this summer witnessing much extreme fire weather in North America and elsewhere, the search for answers is growing increasingly urgent.
Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research reported that those Australian fires poured so much smoke into the Southern Hemisphere's atmosphere which caused a “strong and rapid” global cooling effect of about 0.06℃ (0.01°F). According to the lead study author John Fasullo, this was largely due to how smoke particles interact with clouds in the lower atmosphere.
While Fasullo's research highlights the cooling effects of smoke in the lower atmosphere, on occasion, wildfire smoke rushes into the higher atmosphere. There, it can have additional effects on the climate, which is something that is poorly known. “We might still be in the initial stage of understanding how large and how important the effects of these wildfires are,” says Sergey Khaykin, a fire weather expert at Sorbonne University in France.
1. What does the second paragraph mainly talk about?| A．Wildfire breaks out more often now. | B．Wildfire smoke cools Earth's surface. |
| C．Regional temperatures increase due to wildfire. | D．Volcanic eruption affects the upper atmosphere. |
| A．They are too small to be noticed. | B．They can be accurately predicted |
| C．They deserve an in-depth study. | D．They can improve the global climate. |
| A．By giving an example. | B．By listing figures. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By doing an experiment. |
| A．Climate change is in need of a global solution. |
| B．The higher wildfire smoke rushes, the cooler it gets. |
| C．Weather experts are satisfied with Fasullo's research. |
| D．The influence of wildfires needs to be explored further. |
