At Jenner Park primary School in Wales, pupils between the ages of seven and nine are writing letters to residents of a local care home. The initiative sees children and their elderly pen pals(笔友) exchange updates about their lives,helping to build relationships between generations while also giving the children an understanding of the value of writing letters by hand—an activity that's becoming less and less common.
Laura Johnson,the teacher who coordinates(协调) the scheme at Jenner Park,says:"All of our writing is for a purpose. That's the key in getting children to value handwriting. "As soon as you put an audience there, knowing that someone out there is going to be reading it—whether that's parents or another group of children—there's always the real sense of pride to go along with it,"says Johnson.
The school maintains a focus on handwriting throughout the years,from dedicated handwriting classes in the prep school to a calligraphy club offered to the older groups. It has created something called the pen license. It allows younger children to move from using a pencil to pen once they've reached a certain standard. "There's a lot of excitement about reaching that pen licence stage," says Johnson.
Johnson adds that developing students' writing in this way matters for their life after school:"For us, it's important that we create citizens of the future who have a set of life skills that can make them successful." The dominance of technology is a challenge,she admits, but she also believes both tools have their place."Obviously we're competing with technology continuously."she says."And I know there are people there saying you don't need to bother about handwriting because tech is out there. But we don't see it as competing. We're trying to get pupils to realize that there's a place for handwriting and to know when it's important to use each."
1. Why does the school launch the initiative?| A．To help children to find the meaning of handwriting. |
| B．To encourage children to show pity for the aged. |
| C．To persuade children to choose proper courses. |
| D．To urge children to acknowledge the audience. |
| A．Its after-class activities. | B．Its practice in handwriting. |
| C．Its academic achievements. | D．Its innovation in technology. |
| A．It will win against technology. | B．It will give way to technology. |
| C．It will co-exist with technology. | D．It will cause confusion to people. |
| A．Handwriting promotes the pen pal scheme |
| B．Slow communication reduces misunderstanding |
| C．Creative ideas for dealing with challenges gain popularity |
| D．Putting pen to paper contributes to a love of the written word |
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【推荐1】Along the rocky Algerian coast, just east of where the bulky shape of Mount Chenoua slides into the Mediterranean, the sea and indifference may finally do what the Vandals did not. There, for more than 2,500 years, has stood Tipasa. It is considered as one of the most important archaeological sites in North Africa.
Tipasa fell into ruin in the sixth century. Both its main complex on the coast and an inland monumental tomb were all but forgotten in the olive trees and thin pines. Most of the ancient city, in fact, remains buried beneath sediment (沉积物) up to 12 feet thick. For the last few decades, however, what’s left of Tipasa’s past has been increasingly surrounded by the expanding modern town of Tipasa from three sides. And to the north, the waves lap ever closer.
“What’s special about Tipasa, a UNESCO–recognized World Heritage Site since 1982, is the charm of its landscape, the shared presence of history and archaeology, culture, nature, and architecture. It’s the spirit of the place,” said Lynda Aoudia Benali who has studied Tipasa and the ongoing challenges from both rapid urbanization and insufficient Site management.
Now, Tipasa is entering a new chapter, perhaps its last: It’s become a symbol of an entire continent’s heritage in crisis. Recently, a team reported the results of hard work mapping how sea level rise is affecting nearly 300 World Heritage Sites around Africa’s roughly 20,000 miles of coastline. About 20 percent of the sites examined, including Tipasa, are already at higher risk from flooding and erosion (腐蚀). By 2050 that figure is expected to more than twice.
The Site’s 2lst-century problems have only increased in the last two decades. UNESCO has repeatedly threatened to remove the site of World Heritage status. As recently as 2021, the organization noted a lot of problems at Tipasa, such as modern construction, including a proposed port, which threatened the site’s integrity.
1. What can we know about Tipasa?| A．It was built one thousand years ago. |
| B．It is the most important archeological site in Africa. |
| C．It is considered as a well-known tourist attraction. |
| D．It suffered complete damage in the sixth century. |
| A．Tipasa has its unique characteristics. |
| B．Tipasa has experienced quick development. |
| C．Tipasa became a World Heritage Site in the 1990s. |
| D．Tipasa has been paid much attention to for its management. |
| A．The overdevelopment. | B．The abundant tourists. |
| C．The natural disasters. | D．The severe pollution. |
| A．Its modern construction will be completely stopped. |
| B．Its problems have been solved. |
| C．Its effects of climate change will be avoided. |
| D．Its World Heritage status is under threat. |
【推荐2】It's been a rough year for priceless artifacts around the world. In September 2018, a fire wiped out about 90 percent of the collection at the National Museum of Brazil. In April 2019, Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral lost its famous spire in another fire. Most recently, in October, Japan’s 500-year-old Shuri Castle was destroyed — again, by fire.
It's heartbreaking to see even one piece of human history to up in smoke, but there is no need to be depressed. The truth is that we have lost historic sites and artifacts throughout history, to wars and natural disasters. Many are rebuilt or repaired.
Examples include the 18th-century Dresden Frauenkirche in Germany, which was destroyed during the World War II bombing and rebuilt in 2005. There is also the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, China, which dated back to AD 223. It’s been destroyed by fires and wars and rebuilt as many as 11 times.
So it will probably be no different for the National Museum of Brazil, Notre Dame Cathedral, or Shuri Castle. In fact, right after the fire at Notre Dame, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed that it would be rebuilt in five years. During his visit to China in November, it was decided that Chinese experts will participate in the restoration work.
That said, however, there are less fortunate cultural relics—those endangered in Syria and Iraq where wars are ongoing. According to Artnet News, all six UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Syria have been reported damaged. And yet, somehow, they didn't get nearly as much attention as Notre Dame, and probably won't have a chance to be restored to their former glory any time soon.
It might be true that many damaged artifacts make it back. But “many” is not “all”.
1. What are the similarities among the three places mentioned in the first paragraph?a. They are all of great value. b. They were all destroyed in 2018.
c. Nothing is left after the destruction. d. They are all destroyed by fire.
| A．a, b | B．a, d | C．a, c | D．c, d |
| A．To comfort the heartbreaking readers. |
| B．To give examples of the rebuilt historic sites. |
| C．To introduce two places of interest to the readers. |
| D．To show the importance of rebuilding the historic sites. |
| A．All the cultural relics are damaged in Syria due to the wars. |
| B．People haven’t recognized the importance of the heritage sites in Syria. |
| C．The cultural relics in Syria and Iraq are less fortunate because they are worse destroyed. |
| D．Wars destroyed the heritage sites in Syria and prevent people from restoring them right now. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Critical. | C．Indifferent. | D．Doubtful. |
【推荐3】For Shi Qinling, a pair of scissors has been with her everywhere she goes for the past decade- not as a means of self-protection, but as an artistic expression.
To this paper cutting artist, scissors are like what brushes are to painters, or what pens are to writers. Always taking a pair of scissors also allows her to create art whenever inspiration hits. Most of her paper cutting works are inspired by moments in daily life, such as a neighbor’s dog, her own pets and scenes on the streets. “Some people like to pen their feelings in diaries. I prefer to cut them out,” she said.
In 2010, she started learning paper cutting from Xi Xiaoqin, the national inheritor (继承人) of the intangible cultural heritage of paper cutting. Six years later, Shi was named as a Shanghai paper-cutting inheritor and became the city’s “youngest inheritor” of the paper cutting heritage. Over the past decade, Shi’s works have been exhibited in 23 exhibition.
Similar to local dialects, paper-cutting comes in different styles, depending on the region. In general, the papercutting artworks in the country’s northern area are usually rough patterns used as decorations on windows, walls, roofs, lanterns and other household items. In southern China, paper cutting is used as the base pattern for embroidery (刺绣) and requires more careful workmanship. Shanghai paper-cutting, on the other hand, is a combination of these two styles. Since the 1960s, Shanghai paper cutting has been more frequently adopted in artworks and handicrafts.
“We are very proud to have this unique folk culture and art project. As we have the responsibility to protect and inherit this cultural heritage, we will make more efforts to attract people from different age groups and different fields to try paper-cutting,” said Liu Li, director of the Fenglin Community Development Office.
1. Why does Shi Qinling take a pair of scissors with her everywhere?| A．To create art. | B．To make clothes. |
| C．To protect herself. | D．To share paper-cutting skills. |
| A．They’re mainly related to pens and brushes. | B．They’re mostly inspired by daily life. |
| C．They are popular with young people. | D．They have been recorded in diaries. |
| A．Artworks. | B．Handcrafts. | C．Mixture. | D．Tradition. |
| A．Paper-cutting is a promising art project. |
| B．It is difficult to protect and inherit paper-cutting. |
| C．Everyone should be responsible for protecting paper cutting. |
| D．Paper cutting will attract more people from different countries. |
【推荐1】On average, American kids ages 3 to 12 spent 29 hours a week in school, eight hours more than they did in 1981. They also did more household work and participated in more of such organized activities as soccer and ballet. Involvement in sports, in particular, rose almost 50% from 1981 to 1997: boys now spend an average of four hours a week playing sports; girls log hall that time. All in all, however, children’s leisure time dropped from 40% of the day in 1981 to 25%.
“Children are affected by the same time crunch that affects their parents,” says Sandra Hofferth, who headed the recent study of children’s timetable. A chief reason, she says, is that more mothers are working outside the home. (Nevertheless, children in both double-income and “male breadwinner” households spent comparable amounts of time interacting with their parents 19 hours and 22 hours respectively. In contrast, children spent only 9 hours with their single mothers.)
All work and no play could make for some very messed-up kids. “Play is the most powerful way a child explores the world and learns about himself,” says T. Berry Brazelton, professor at Harvard Medical School Unstructured play encourages independent thinking and allows the young to negotiate their relationships with their peers, but kids ages 3 to 12 spent only 12 hours a week engaged in it.
The children sampled spent a quarter of their rapidly decreasing “free time” watching television. But that, believe it or not, was one of the findings parents might regard as good news. If they’re spending less time in front of the TV set, however, kids aren’t replacing it with reading. Despite efforts to get kids more interested in books, the children spent just over an hour a week reading. Let’s face it, who’s got the time?
1. What does the underlined phrase “the same time crunch” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Children have little time to play with their parents. |
| B．Both parents and children suffer from lack of leisure time. |
| C．Children are not taken good care of by their working parents. |
| D．Both parents and children have trouble managing their time. |
| A．he has plenty of time reading and studying | B．he is free to interact with his working parents |
| C．he is left to play with his peers in his own way | D．he has more time participating in school activities |
| A．They are increasingly ignored by their working mothers. |
| B．They are engaged in more and more structured activities. |
| C．They are spending more and more time watching TV. |
| D．They are involved less and less in household work. |
| A．Extracurricular activities promote children’s intelligence. |
| B．Most parents believe reading to be beneficial to children. |
| C．Efforts to get kids interested in reading have been fruitful. |
| D．Most children will turn to reading with TV sets switched off. |
【推荐2】For most kids, a typical school day includes lessons in math, science, and English language arts. But for Callista Grant, 11, a typical day might also include instruction in American Indian drumming and dancing. She studies the Ojibwe and Lakota languages, too, and enjoys school powwows（帕瓦仪式）.
Callista goes to the American Indian Magnet School（AIMS）, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is open to kids from pre-K to grade 8.
Although other U. S. schools teach American Indian culture, the teachers at AlMS say their school is unique. They connect lessons to American Indian culture . When students learn about plant life cycles in science, they also learn about how native people used herbs for ceremonies and healing. A language arts class may include a reading about the meaning of the jingle dress. Callista says the focus on American Indian culture helps everyone know that "the culture is still alive".
Callista is Cherokee and Ojibwe. Of the 680 students at AlMS, about one-quarter are American Indians. It is a public school that is open to all kids in the community. All students gain from the school's focus. "It's important for everyone to know about the people who were here first and that they still live here today, "says teacher Tamara Goggleye. Lessons give all students a chance to explore their heritage.
Callista represents the school at powwows and other events. She is proud to teach others about their history. "We might lose our culture if we don't show it to our kids," Callista says. "Kids need to help pass down our culture, or it could go away. " AIMS and Callista are working to make sure that won't happen.
1. Why is the American Indian Magnet School different from others？| A．Students in this school learn about plant life cycles. |
| B．Only this school teaches American Indian culture. |
| C．Students here can learn how foreign people use herbs. |
| D．This school link lessons to American Indian culture. |
| A．About 170. | B．About 250. |
| C．About 340. | D．About 680. |
| A．Tradition. | B．Possession. |
| C．Language. | D．Future. |
【推荐3】John J. Lennon, who’s currently serving a 28-year life sentence for drug dealing and a murder he committed in 2001. He is one of 23 out of 2,300 inmates(监犯)participating in an education program, and he advocates greater access to education in prison through TV. Currently, he says the TV is used as “an inability tool; it’s a tool to keep us entertained cells.” But he suggests that prison TVs should stream online courses instead of movies.
“If inmates had the chance to watch an online course then they might say, ‘Hey, look what’s on Channel 3; it’s an interesting lecture from a professor of philosophy.’ Believe it or not, people will tune in, and after the lecture they’re going to go on their gates, hang on their bars, and they’re going to talk about it.”
Education, he says, also makes prison a safer place. “If I’m working on a paper banging away(砰砰响个不停)on my typewriter, I have other things on my mind. I’m not fighting in the prison yard.” Most prison administrators support that view. “They understand it makes prison a safer place if you have a group of guys with their eyes on the prize who are trying to change themselves.”
John J. Lennon arrived at Attica in 2004 with a 9th grade education, but in May will graduate with a two-year associate degree. Attica creative writing workshops have changed his life.
“I came into prison looking up to gangsters(匪徒), now I look up to scholars and intellectuals like Doran Larson, Tim Golden, all these Pulitzer-winning journalists. Education has changed the lens(镜头)through which I view the world. I don’t look up to gangsters anymore. I think its’ a horrible lifestyle.”
Hamilton College professor Doran Larson has been teaching creative writing workshops at Attica since 2006. He says the demand for education from inmates is enormous and that it’s “almost impossible to create a program large enough to satisfy the desire which pushes against the public perception(认识)that such people inside aren’t interested in education.”
Thoughts on prison education have changed over the years. Until 1973, there was a period of rehabilitation(改造)in American prisons. Even after that year, college degree programs were available for inmates nationwide until 1994, when the country’s movement to get tough on crime made prisoners not qualified for Pell fund aid. “We have moved to a punishment mentality(心态),” Larson says. No one cared about these people “as long as they are kept from the outside.”
Larson argues that inmates want to become productive members of society. The prison population is “a huge untapped resource, both commercial and intellectual. And right now there is far from enough being done to tap into skills which can get them off the public dole(失业救济金)and turn them into taxpayers.”
1. Lennon thinks TV programmes in prison should be _________.| A．accessible | B．interesting |
| C．educational | D．philosophical |
| A．Prisoners spend more time watching TV |
| B．Prisoners concentrate on their study |
| C．Prisoners can get along well with administrators |
| D．Prisoners become more organized there |
| A．insisted on punishing criminals seriously |
| B．expected prisoners to be punished mentally |
| C．sought every possible means to prevent prisoners escaping |
| D．suggested establishing a fund for prisoners to receive education |
| A．prisoners should be kept from the outside |
| B．punishment will no longer have an effect on prisoners |
| C．society fails to turn prisoners into useful people |
| D．it’s hard to persuade most prisoners to receive education |
【推荐1】How can you recognize a British, a German, and a Frenchman, apart from their accents and names?
There are ways people dress, but they are very complex and would take a lot of time to explain. Some items of clothing are just more popular in some countries than in others. For example, Germans often wear sandals (凉鞋) with their socks on, which is something a Frenchman would normally never do. In Berlin, where I live, people don’t really dress as smart as they would in Paris or London. The Germans have a reputation for not caring so much about their outward appearance — as long as the clothes are comfortable, they’re happy! They also seem to love sportswear more than people anywhere else.
The French cannot queue, while the British just seem to love it. French people are always late, British people are always on time and the Germans are always early.
French people use their hands a lot more when they speak, and take a lot more time to say something. French people care a lot how things are done or said. The British do care how things are done and said, but only in a context of politeness. The Germans just care how things are done. The French and the British seem to care more how things look, for example, food products and packaging.
When it comes to food, for example in a restaurant, a Frenchman would never think of ordering beer with a meal, which is something tally normal for a German or a British.
I find the Germans the cleanest and most disciplined in public space. The French are the worst and the British somehow in between.
1. According to the passage, how can we tell the three kinds of people apart?| A．By their behaviour. | B．By their nicknames. |
| C．By the colour of their skin. | D．By their facial expressions. |
| A．France. | B．Germany. | C．Britain. | D．India. |
| A．German people care more how things look. |
| B．Frenchmen are strictly in order when queuing for food. |
| C．British people are always likely to care how things are done and said. |
| D．Of the three kinds of people, the Germans are the most self-controlled in public. |
| A．By giving numbers. | B．By giving logical reasoning. |
| C．By making a comparison. | D．By making a detailed description. |
【推荐2】Britain is the sixth fattest country: within the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). For more than a decade, the government has declared obesity (肥胖) a national emergency and promised to take action, only to produce disappointing plans that don’t reach what is required.
It should not have taken a disease like COVID-19 to make people fully aware of the awful consequences of the UK’s obesity. Obesity, as well as its associated conditions of diabetes (糖尿病) and high blood pressure, is strongly connected with a higher risk of death from COVID-19 and will have undoubtedly been a factor in the UK having the highest COVID-19 death rate in Europe.
As the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson’s experience of caching the virus and being admitted to ICU has reportedly resulted in a complete change in him, who has previously prided himself on his dislike of an over-controlling state. The government is expected to set out a new strategy this week, aimed at reducing obesity levels both in the next few months — ahead of a possible second wave of infections and the longer term.
This obvious change is welcome, but only if it results in a complete change in the government’s approach, which doesn’t rely on personal responsibility but on much tougher rules, as with tobacco and alcohol.
There is plenty of evidence about what is needed to cut obesity and in recent years, many reports, including from Public Health England and the former chief medical officer, have called for urgent action. Yet these calls were ignored by the government that has seemingly put the food and drink industry’s financial interests over the health of the nation.
1. What has the government done with obesity in the past ten years?| A．It has denied (否认) it is a national emergency. | B．It has made unsatisfying plans to reduce it. |
| C．It has taken effective steps to control it. | D．It has called for immediate action on it. |
| A．Place less stress on financial interests. | B．Set stricter limits on tobacco and alcohol. |
| C．Carry out a new strategy to cut obesity. | D．Take action to reduce COVID-19 death rate. |
| A．the British government should have paid more attention to solving obesity |
| B．the fast-spread disease COVID-19 resulted in the UK’s obesity |
| C．the Prime Minister caught the virus and was admitted to ICU for obesity |
| D．the British government has taken effective action to battle against obesity |
| A．UK Suffering from COVID-19 | B．UK Ready for a Complete Change |
| C．A Cause of Highest COVID-19 Death Rate | D．Obesity: An Urgent Problem in the UK |
【推荐3】Giving children music lessons won’t just introduce them to music — it could also greatly improve their language skills but it isn’t understood if this is a side effect of a general improvement of cognitive (认知的) skills, or something that directly affects language processing.
Now, we are getting closer to an answer, thanks to a study of 74 Chinese kindergarten children, led by Robert Desimone from MIT. For the study, Desimone’s team chose children from the Chinese education system, with the support of education officials who wanted to see how it might improve their learning.
The 4 to 5-year-old Mandarin-speaking children in the study were divided into three groups. One group received a 45-minute piano lesson three times a week, while another received extra reading instruction classes. The third group acted as controls, taking no extra lessons beyond their usual classes.
The classes lasted for six months, after which the children were tested on their ability to tell words based on differences in tones, consonants (辅音), or vowels (元音). The test results showed that the children who had taken piano lessons performed better at telling the difference between words that differ by a single consonant, when compared with the children who took extra reading lessons. Compared to the control group, both the music learners and the extra reading group did better in telling the difference between words based on vowel differences.
“It looks like for recognizing differences between sounds, including speech sounds, ifs better than extra reading. That means schools could pay more attention to music,” Desimone says. “It’s not worse than giving extra reading to the children, which is probably what many schools are trying to do — get rid of the art education and just have more reading.”
1. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Learning music. | B．The Chinese education. |
| C．A study of children’s schooling. | D．Improvement of cognitive skills. |
| A．Ways to improve their study. |
| B．Extra lessons about reading tips. |
| C．Three extra piano lessons a week. |
| D．Nothing else except their usual studies. |
| A．Learning music determined kids’ interest in study. |
| B．The piano played a key part in kids’ learning. |
| C．Children taking piano lessons didn’t perform well. |
| D．The extra reading group were good at telling vowels. |
| A．Many schools value art education. |
| B．Schools will increase reading classes. |
| C．It isn’t wise to cut back on music lessons. |
| D．Children who learn music perform better at school. |
