Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s love of water started at an early age. Born on 11 June, 1910 in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, France, by the age of just four he’d already learned to swim. Though he was pretty bad at school, he had a gift for understanding mechanical objects. As a teenager, he bought a movie camera, took it apart to understand how it worked and then put it back together again. He used it to create home movies.
In 1930, Jacques joined the French Naval Academy and planned to become a pilot, but three years later he had a car accident and got injured. To regain his power, doctors suggested that he swim, and during his travels with the French Navy in 1936 a friend gave him some goggles (护目镜) to help him see underwater. His plans to take to the sky might have been killed but luckily his eyes were opened to a magical world under the sea.
In 1950, Jacques got hold of an old British warship and turned it into a research vessel (船) that he named the RV Calypso. He used it to sail around the world and as a base for exploring underwater habitats and shipwrecks (遇难船) — from the Antarctic to the Amazon. But he soon realized that to collect money for his research he needed to get the public interested, so he began writing books and making TV series about his adventures. He finally won three Oscars for his films.
In the 1960s, Jacques joined in three futuristic projects to build underwater labs, nicknamed Conshelf Ⅰ, Ⅱ and Ⅲ. And in 1963 he and five other researchers spent 30 days living under the sea! During his many explorations, Jacques began to notice the harm humans were doing to the sea, so in 1973 he set up the Cousteau Society for the Protection of Ocean Life.
Jacques spent the rest of his life supporting environmental causes such as banning whale hunting. He died in 1997, but will always be remembered for his pioneering underwater exploration!
1. What opened the door for Jacques to explore the sea?| A．His experience of learning to swim. | B．His experience of traveling with the French Navy. |
| C．His doctor’s encouragement. | D．His friend’s suggestions. |
| A．To afford his trip to Britain. | B．To follow his dreams of filming. |
| C．To raise money for his research. | D．To share his trips with the public. |
| A．Humans knew little about the sea. |
| B．Humans had harmed the sea a lot. |
| C．Humans did a great job in protecting the sea. |
| D．Humans should be spending more money on researching the sea. |
| A．following the time order | B．making comparisons |
| C．examining differences | D．giving examples |
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【推荐1】If anyone knows what makes a great children's book, it must be Sussex author and illustrator(插图家) Jane Hissey. Her "Old Bear" books have achieved classic status in a variety of formats.
I caught up with Jane at her home in the East Sussex countryside and asked her what she thinks is the secret of a classic children's book. "That's a difficult one. I suppose it's got to be relevant to the child's stage of development-for young children, pictures on a page that are familiar, for older children, an experience. The book should be familiar, but hold some surprises too to keep the interest. It must inspire and delight, but there are the things that happen every day."
After the birth of her first child, she gave up teaching and worked on her own artwork, drawing pictures of teddy bears. An editor from a publishing company saw her work and invited Jane to do a children's book. Over the years, from the first "Old Bear" book in 1988, her children have made a huge contribution—not least in terms of plot. She said, "I used to give my children the toys to play with—and they had tea parties and so on. One of my bear characters, "Little Bear", is the same age as Ralph, my youngest, who's seven now. All the children have joined in my work and, in years to come, they will realize how much."
"I hope I'll know when people are getting tired of the characters. If ever they did, I think I'd go on drawing them for fun," Jane continued, "My own children have been very useful to me in my work, but as they are older now, I'll just have to hope that other people's children can inspire me. "
1. What is Jane's opinion about a successful children's book?| A．It contains something unexpected. |
| B．It offers an escape from everyday life. |
| C．It's attractive as children get older. |
| D．It's set in a place known to its readers. |
| A．She got to know an editor. |
| B．Her husband encouraged her to try. |
| C．Her artwork attracted professional. |
| D．She wrote stories for her own children. |
| A．By helping her concentrate on her work. |
| B．By telling her how they found her stories. |
| C．By suggesting characters for her stories. |
| D．By giving her ideas for her stories. |
| A．Encouraged. | B．Uncertain. | C．Tired. | D．Unfit. |
【推荐2】When it comes to big celebrations, like birthdays, many families have their own traditions they like to do each year — from special meals to decorating the house with balloons and flags. But one family do something a little different and it’s proved very popular on social media.
A woman named Jenny Cimato has gone popular on TikTok after sharing her family’s special birthday tradition.
In a video posted under the name @jencimato, the mum explained that they call it the Bag of No. She says, “It started when my daughter was really young and she was asking for things in the checkout (结账) line at the grocery store. What I decided to do was once a year for her birthday I’d go and I’d get all those items that she had asked for, that I would normally say ‘no’ to and I’d put them in a bag for her birthday. ”
We call it the Bag of No and it just turned into fun. She knew that I’d say no at that moment, but she knew she’d eventually get it for her birthday and you know it kind of took the pain away when you say no in the store when they’re little.
Jenny continued, “Even though she’s turning 16 this year and doesn’t ask for things at the checkout line much anymore, she still asks like ‘The Bag of No is still coming, right?’”
The mum then began to show off what she had put in the most recent bag, including chocolate bars, sweets, potato chips, and a few unusual items like putty.
The video has since been watched more than 48, 000 times and gained over 5,000 likes. People on TikTok thought it was a “great idea” and some even said they’d be stealing the idea to use with their own families.
1. What can we learn about Jenny’s daughter from Paragraph 5?| A．She felt sad on her birthday. | B．She went on a healthy diet. |
| C．She was hopeful of the Bag of No. | D．She thought mum made a mistake. |
| A．To be safe. | B．To be economic. |
| C．To be instructive. | D．To be eco-friendly. |
| A．Honest and flexible. | B．Caring and creative. |
| C．Confident and proud. | D．Humorous and smart. |
| A．A Funny Video | B．A Mother and Daughter |
| C．A Popular TikTok | D．A Special Birthday Tradition |
【推荐3】Every morning, after breakfast, Guan Xiangdong quickly wears his heavy protective suit and visits the ward area to participate in the treatment of critically sick patients.
In Sanya, the southernmost city on the island province of Hainan, it is so hot in August that many medical workers find that their clothes inside the protective suits quickly get soaked with sweat. But Guan, the senior doctor of critical care medicine from Guangzhou-based First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, usually works up to five hours—and occasionally, more than six—in the protective garb, before he can leave the isolation wards (病房) and remove his protective equipment.
After the great effort of the medical workers in that time, hospitals in Sanya are already starting to clear, Guan says. Previously, all the wards were occupied. “Seeing patients cured and discharged from hospitals is the happiest thing for me.” “But symptoms like loss of taste and diarrhea are relatively milder compared with those infected by the Delta variant,” he says.
It is the 14th time Guan left Guangzhou to help other cities in their fight against the pandemic over the past two-and-a-half years. Guan says he was honored and happy to learn that he has been named among this year’s top 10 “most beautiful doctors” in China by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee and the National Health Commission, due to his outstanding performance in the fight against COVID-19. He says that the title of “the most beautiful doctor” belongs to every medical worker in the country who has fought hard against the pandemic.
Earlier this month, Guan celebrated his 60th birthday in Sanya. He says he doesn’t have repentance being unable to celebrate his birthday with family members. Guan celebrated his birthday last year in Zhengzhou, Henan province, and in Kashgar, Xinjiang, in 2020.
1. What can we learn from the second paragraph?| A．Guan and his team went to Sanya in October. |
| B．It’s easy to let the protective suit dry. |
| C．Guan had little free time when he came to Sanya |
| D．Guan usually works up to 7 hours everyday in Sanya |
| A．headache | B．loss of eye sight |
| C．vomit | D．loss of taste |
| A．regret | B．compliment |
| C．satisfaction | D．award |
| A．Good colleagues help you achieve success |
| B．The deep emotion between patients and doctors |
| C．Hero doctor quick to sing the praises of colleagues |
| D．The isolation experience in Sanya |
【推荐1】When Allison Barnes left school she trained as a teacher. Back in those days, teaching was what girls from the country did: teaching or nursing.
When she graduated, in the early 80s, there were no jobs for teachers at all. She worked in a bank, cleaned houses, did screen printing at a factory, sold photographs in Kings Cross, worked in catering and as a security guard. Then finally she got a job at the Office of the Status of Women and she worked there for about eight years. That was, for her, a very big break. Following that she worked in policy and research for all of her career, in a whole lot of different areas in the public service.
When she got to 55, she had done 30 years. After she retired, she started on a graduate certificate of environmental science at ANU. However, she withdrew because she found not having a background in science at all was difficult.
Then she travelled overseas, but soon she was diagnosed with cancer. When she finished treatment she wanted to do something to make herself feel a bit normal. That’s when she registered in CIT ( Canberra Institute of Technology ) for a certificate IV in visual arts. Probably about three-quarters of her class were under 25. She was one of the oldest ones there, and she also had no hair. She stayed on at CIT and started the diploma. By the time she completed it she had lots of artwork, so she applied for ANU art school and was offered a place in print and drawing.
“When you leave work you’re usually an expert in whatever you did. Then you start something new and everyone is younger than you, they know more than you do, they’re probably better at risk-taking, I think they’re better educated. It’s easy to feel intimidated (胆怯的). But remember you have skills that you’ll be able to build on.” Allison says, “Art gives me a different place in the world. When I’m making staff, and I’m hard at it, I feel very joyful.”
1. What did Allison Barnes do after graduation?| A．She started as a public servant. | B．She quit the career as a teacher. |
| C．She tried different kinds of jobs. | D．She became a guard in a factory. |
| A．To struggle against cancer. | B．To interact with new people. |
| C．To show her enthusiasm in art. | D．To regain a sense of normality. |
| A．Positive. | B．Sympathetic. | C．Helpful. | D．Considerate. |
| A．Never late to pursue one’s passions. |
| B．Opportunity knocks only once. |
| C．Easier said than done. |
| D．The older, the wiser. |
【推荐2】Every year as a kid at Girl Scout summer camp, the night I looked forward to most was the closing campfire, a few hours of silliness that marked our final evening together. All week, my roommates and I had kept perfecting our skit (滑稽短剧) performance, editing lines and practicing scenes.
Skits and songs are deeply rooted in the camp experience. The days might be all about sports or nature, but nighttime entertainment is a kid’s dream. Similar to a talent show, some performances are educational but mostly, they just make you laugh. Talent is not important, and audience engagement (参与) through call and response is essential.
Away from phones and peers back home, social norms (规范) disappear and space for self-exploration forms. Shy kids come out of their shells, and cool kids let their guard down. They get to open up this door to a part of themselves that they wouldn’t have felt safe to show at school or at home.
It’s been a decade since my last performance as a camp counselor (顾问), and I never thought of skits from a skill-building aspect. But I now realize this rich camp tradition left a great impression on me. Through camp skits, I developed my sense of humor, built confidence in front of a crowd and learned how to accept others for their strangeness.
Maybe we can make our schools or communities more like summer camps by bringing the silliness of skits into our families and classrooms to reconnect with ourselves and each other. The next time you’re sitting around a campfire with friends and family, give it a try. Let your guard down, accept the discomfort and invite your loved ones to join in on the improvising (即兴创作). And remember: the more funny noises and childlike humor, the better.
1. What is the main purpose of skit performances at summer camp?| A．To amuse and engage the audience. | B．To showcase talent and skills. |
| C．To educate the audience. | D．To compete with fellow campers. |
| A．Leave. | B．Relax. | C．Grow. | D．Respond. |
| A．She developed a competitive spirit. |
| B．She understood social norms better. |
| C．She became more tolerant. |
| D．She became more creative. |
| A．Take up challenges in life. |
| B．Accept our imperfections. |
| C．Participate in more community activities. |
| D．Break out of our comfort zone. |
【推荐3】High school is the time when you discover who you are. Friends leave you and relationships break up. It is terrible. I’m not going to lie. My senior year was the worst year of all. I lost a lot of my “friends” and started to become really unhappy about the lack of social interactions (交往) until suddenly an amazing person came into my life.
It was the second semester of my senior year. Tension was high for me with applying to colleges and trying to get perfect grades. I had lost people who had been my friends for years. One day, our school posted names of students who were going into the military, and I saw a girl named Dominique C. It was super unusual to see another Dominique. I knew I had to meet her. One day, I noticed a guy I talked to on a daily basis was talking with her. He saw me and introduced me to Dominique C. She was the complete opposite of me, with short black hair and big green eyes. But somehow, we just clicked at once.
Many people never understood how we became friends. We both had very different social circles, but we were basically the same person. We both loved literature. Studying Greek together, we understood each other’s thoughts. We reacted to everything in the same way. We only knew each other for a few months, but we acted as if we were friends for years.
This year has been hard on our friendship. Due to Dominique C joining the military and me studying in and out of the state college, Dominique C and I have hardly talked. Together we communicate as much as we can during breaks.Still our friendship is strong.
I am lucky to have Dominique C in my life. Every time we cried together and held hands down the hallways, it actually made my day. And fighting for French fries and hamburgers always had me in tears. I cannot wait to spend the summer with Dominique C.
1. What did the author try to do in the second semester of her senior year?| A．Get high scores. |
| B．Drop out of school. |
| C．Visit different colleges. |
| D．Learn to become positive. |
| A．Learned a lot. |
| B．Became friends. |
| C．Completed the task. |
| D．Joined the military. |
| A．She had a different character from the author. |
| B．She had many common friends with the author. |
| C．She looked completely different from the author. |
| D．She spent too much time in learning Greek. |
| A．They study in the same college. |
| B．They have a strong relationship. |
| C．They often fight over some big things. |
| D．They hardly communicate during breaks. |
