International Women's Day is March 8. The first celebration was held in 1911, and the event was recognized by the United Nations starting in 1975.
It's a great time to think about the origin of the word "woman". Some people think the word “woman" is a compound(混合)of the words“womb”and“man". Not so. Rather,it's a compound of "wife" and "man", a combination that can be traced back to Old English. You see, when Old English was first being spoken in the 5th century AD, there were two distinct words for men and women: "wer" meant "adult male",and "wif” meant “adult female". There was a third word,“man", which simply meant "person"or "human being”. These words could be combined:“wer" plus“man"(in the form of "waepman")meant "adult male person" and“wif” plus"man”("wilman") meant “adult female person”.
Those middle forms,“wimnan"and "wommon"with the two M's in the middle, remind me of Noah Webster's efforts to simplify English spelling by suggesting changing the spelling "woman” to“wimmen" to have the spelling better match the pronunciation. He put that in his 1806 Compendious Dictionary o f the English Language, but it didn't become popular.
And the Old English word for "adult male" evolved into a simplified form. The compound word "weapman" melted into the simple word we use today: "man".
Maybe the lesson to take from all this is that the role of women in society has always been complex. Whatever the case, the word "woman" today was originally a compound of the Old English words for"woman” and “human being”.
1. Where can you find the first source of the word "woman"?| A．In paragraph 1. | B．In paragraph 2. | C．In paragraph 3. | D．In paragraph 4. |
| A．To link the spelling to the pronunciation. |
| B．To keep up with the times more closely. |
| C．To satisfy the readers’ requests |
| D．To make it easy to pronounce. |
| A．By the 1600s. | B．In the 5th century AD, |
| C．In 1809. | D．By the Middle English period |
| A．To tell us the origin of Women's Day. |
| B．To tell us the history of the word "woman". |
| C．To stress the roles women are playing |
| D．To teach us the development of a language |
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【推荐1】“As easy as falling off a log(圆木)” is often used to describe a job that does not take much effort. You might hear a student say to her friend that her spelling test was “as easy as falling off a log”.
"A piece of cake” is another expression that means something is extremely easy to do. A friend might tell you that his new job was “a piece of cake”.
Another expression is “as easy as shooting fish in a barrel”. It is hard to imagine why anyone would want to shoot fish in a barrel. But, clearly, fish in a barrel would be much easier to shoot than fish in a stream.
Sometimes, things that come to us easily also leave us just as easily. In fact, there is an expression—“easy come, easy go”—that recognizes this.
When life itself is easy, when you have no cares or problems, you are on “Easy Street”, Everyone wants to live on that imaginary street.
| A．Everyone has his or her own way of saying things or special expressions. |
| B．In fact, it would be “as easy as falling off a log”. |
| C．Another "easy” expression is to "go easy on a person” |
| D．You may win a lot of money in a lottery (彩票), and then spend it all in a few days. |
| E．There are several other expressions that mean the same thing. |
| F．And the last expression means not to worry or work too hard. |
| G．If you ever tried to walk on a fallen tree log, you understand what the expression means. |
【推荐2】On the third Sunday in June, Americans take time to recognize and thank a special person in the family—fathers! Father’s Day celebrates the importance of fathers, young and old and the men thought of as father figures.
The words "the child is father of the man" come from William Wordsworth’s poem My Heart Leaps Up. It means people’s personalities form when they are children. They will most likely have the same qualities as an adult that they had as a child.
Used in everyday speech, one could say, "In his case, the child was father of the man; he loved nature as a child and now works as a botanist(植物学家)".
Let’s say you want to tell a child a story about something that happened long before they were born. You could say it happened when they “were just a twinkle in their father's eyes.” This expression has a humorous and dreamy feel. Here, the word “twinkle” suggests the interest your father had in your mother.
When a much older man is interested in a much younger woman and supports her with his money, he is called her “sugar daddy.” The money part is very important-that's the sugar.
Sometimes fathers are not a good influence or active in the lives of the children. In that case, a person may look for a father figure, a man who is not actually the person's father but who acts like one.
The relationship between a man and his son can be complex. But the relationship between a father and daughter is often simpler. The expression “daddy’s little girl” is understood to mean that, in a father’s eyes, his daughter can do no wrong.
There is usually not a dry eye at any wedding during the traditional father-and-daughter dance, especially if they are dancing to a song like Michael Buble’s “Daddy's Little Girl.”
1. If a boy behaves just like his father, we can say ________.| A．he is just a twinkle in his father’s eyes |
| B．he is his sugar daddy |
| C．like father, like son |
| D．the child is father of the man |
| A．A child is often spoiled by his father. |
| B．People’s characters are formed when young. |
| C．A boy will become a father when growing up. |
| D．A child always shows his true nature. |
| A．moving |
| B．sorrowful |
| C．crazy |
| D．funny |
| A．introduce the origin of Father’s Day |
| B．show a boy should respect his father |
| C．explain the importance of fathers |
| D．tell people several expressions about father |
【推荐3】Musk, the richest man in the world, is good at Chinese. When the United Nations World Food Program appealed to him for $6 billion to tackle the global food crisis, Musk quoted Cao Zhi’s seven-step poem: “Boil beans and burn beans, and beans weep in the cauldron. This is the same root, fried why too fast.”
Besides Musk, it’s amazing to know that an Italian astronaut working on the International Space Station wrote on his social media account: “The universe is so big and has so much stuff to watch, and it’s great to see and know and drink.”
She had studied at a Chinese astronaut training base. Before she came to China, she had learned to speak fluent Chinese. She quoted the Preface to the Works of Lanting because she had a good friend who was a Sinologist. Before the flight, her Sinologist friend suggested that she quote this line from the Preface to the Lanting Collection.
Chinese belongs to an elite(精英的)culture in European and American countries. Ordinary people in Europe and America have no interest in Chinese. They will not learn ancient Chinese poetry or sing Jasmine Flower. First, Chinese is really too difficult for most ordinary people in Europe and America to learn. However, in the elite circles of Europe and America, it is different. No matter in politics, business, aviation and aerospace, or technological research, China is indispensable. Not only the European astronauts have to learn Chinese, but also the staff of the Saudi Arabian and Emirates airlines who work closely with China. Even American astronauts need to learn Chinese ahead of time.
Learning Chinese, starting from children, is the European and American elites based on the future of China’s global influence will be more and more strong judgment. They plan ahead and plan ahead for the next generation.
Learning Chinese is essential if astronauts from around the world want to work on China’s space station. This is why the Italian astronaut learned Chinese in advance. She can learn Chinese, not necessarily go to the Chinese space station, but she can also become a coach for the next generation of European astronauts, to educate the next generation of European astronauts in Chinese.
In particular, China has announced its plan to land on the moon, and its goal is to build a permanent base on the moon. Any astronaut needs to learn at least two languages, either in an American or Chinese spaceship. There is no third option in the future. Therefore, Chinese is directly related to the career and future, the elite of Europe and America do not learn Chinese, really can’t.
1. What can we about the Musk?| A．No man than he is rich. |
| B．He’s an astronaut. |
| C．He married a Chinese wife. |
| D．He is running for president of the United States. |
| A．Learning Chinese is their hobby. |
| B．To prepare for the professional examination. |
| C．To immigrate to China. |
| D．They need to work on the Chinese space Station. |
| A．High school students who major in Chinese are given preference. |
| B．Ordinary families in European countries let children learn Chinese. |
| C．Many American elites began to learn Chinese. |
| D．Most of the Chinese in Chinatown work in education. |
| A．Musk is how to become a millionaire. |
| B．Why foreigners learn Chinese? |
| C．The construction of China’s space station. |
| D．Chinese learning methods and benefits. |
【推荐1】When should a child begin to take music lessons? To answer this question, it’s important to look at the reasons why a parent might want their child to take music lessons.
There is a growing body of research that shows a “window of opportunity” from birth to age nine for developing a musical sensibility within children. During this time, the mental structures and mechanisms(机制) associated with processing and understanding music are in the best stages of development. And that is why it is important to expose children in this age range to music.
The important question then is not when to start lessons, but the goal of music lessons for young children. For example, very young children are exposed to instruments not to master them, but to gain experience and learn to develop meaningful relationships with music. If this is your goal, then the “lessons“ can and should start soon after birth and certainly within the child’s first year. These “lessons” do not have to be-in fact, at first probably shouldn’t be very formal.
Once the child is around age three, it may be time for more formalized “lessons”. Again, the goal is not to learn to play an instrument but to further develop skills like identifying(识别) a beat in music, identifying melody, or identifying instruments.
By age five, most children have built a foundation that has prepared them for formalized music lessons. Even now, the goal of the lessons is not to become a great performer on the instrument but the same as when they play music at three. Piano and violin are the two most common instruments played at his age, but others have tried the recorder, guitar, or ukulele with success.
By age ten, the child will have a variety of skills associated with their instrument of choice. They’ll also have the physical strength to try a different, bigger instrument that requires a higher level of strength and determination. Around this time, the goal of lessons properly changes from gaining experience with music to improving performance ability.
1. Why does the author mention the research finding in Paragraph 2?| A．To tell us how to develop a musical sensibility. |
| B．To explain the phrase “window of opportunity”. |
| C．To inform a new finding in the field of child development. |
| D．To show the importance of experiencing music at a young age. |
| A．To learn to play an instrument. |
| B．To just have some fun with others. |
| C．To recognize different musical instruments |
| D．To become a great performer on an instrument. |
| A．At the age of 1. | B．At the age of 3. |
| C．At the age of 5. | D．At the age of 10. |
| A．The reasons to take music lessons. |
| B．The right age to begin music lessons. |
| C．The importance of formal music education. |
| D．The best way to learn a musical instrument. |
【推荐2】I often dreamed about Pisa when I was a boy. I read about the famous building called the Leaning Tower of Pisa. But when I read the word Pisa, I was thinking of pizza. I thought this tower was a place to buy pizza. It must be the best place to buy pizza in the world, I thought.
Many years later I finally saw the Leaning Tower. I knew then that it was Pisa and no pizza. But there was still something special about it for me. The tower got its name because it really did lean to one side. Some people want to try to fix it. They are afraid it may fall over and they don’t like it leans over the city.
I do not think it’s a good idea to try to fix it. The tower probably will not fall down. It is 600 years old. Why should anything happen to it now? And, if you ask me, I like what it looks like. To me it is a very human kind of leaning. Nothing is perfect. It seems to say.
And who cares? Why do people want things to be perfect? Imperfect things may be more interesting. Let’s take the tower in Pisa. Why is it so famous? There are many other older, more beautiful towers in Italy. But Pisa tower is the most famous. People come from all over the world to see it.
1. What is this passage about?| A．Italian pizza. | B．Italy’s problems. |
| C．How the Leaning Tower of Pisa got its name. | D．Why the writer likes Pisa. |
| A．in Spain | B．not very famous | C．not the same as pizza | D．the same as pizza |
| A．It’s modern | B．It’s falling down | C．It’s 600 years old | D．It’s 60 years old. |
| A．it’s old | B．it’s perfect | C．it sells pizza | D．it’s imperfect |
【推荐3】Madagascar, the world’s second-largest island country located off Africa’s eastern coast, is an island of diverse ecosystems and a biodiversity hotspot. The country has unique wildlife, with 90% of its plants and animals found nowhere else. Madagascar’s wildlife creates some of the country’s most beautiful scenery and popular spots. One of its conspicuous landscapes, attracting tourists from almost all corners of the Earth, is the Avenue of the Baobabs in the Menabe region. This avenue is made up of numerous baobab trees along the dirt road linking Belon’i Tsiribihina and Morondava, creating a unique and beautiful setting.
Baobab trees are common throughout Madagascar. Of the Earth’s eight species, six are native to the country. Some of the baobabs in the country are about 2, 800 years old, with trunks rising to 150 feet. The avenue is a row of about 25 baobabs stretching about 260 meters. Other baobab trees are also found in the nearby pastures (牧草地). This road is one of Madagascar’s most visited places. It is also the most accessible place to see some of Africa’s oldest baobabs. These trees were once part of a forest that was made up of other plants. However, massive deforestation cleared the area of most trees, leaving the baobabs to grow alone.
The baobab trees along the road and the other species growing in the nearby areas are always under constant threat from the increasing population. The trees also face threats from polluted water from the nearby fields, forest fires, and bushfires. Despite being a popular tourist attraction, the Avenue of the Baobabs has no admission fee or visitor center and generates little money for local communities.
Thankfully, non-governmental organizations in partnership with the government have noticed the area and developed activities to protect the avenue. The Ministry of Environment, Ecology, and Forests declared it a temporary protected area in July 2007. In July 2015, the site was declared a national monument (国家保护区), the first in Madagascar. The government and local communities hope the trees can survive for additional 800 years.
1. What does the underlined word “conspicuous” in the first paragraph mean?| A．New. | B．Cultural. | C．Striking. | D．Changing. |
| A．It is a big forest. | B．It has eight baobab species. |
| C．It consists of many different plants. | D．It has Africa’s oldest baobabs. |
| A．The risk to local baobab trees. |
| B．Natural disasters in Madagascar. |
| C．Poor living conditions in Madagascar. |
| D．The quality customer service of the avenue. |
| A．Curiosity. | B．Caution. | C．Hopefulness. | D．Sympathy. |
