Most people think that it’s fine to be “busy as a beaver.” Little do they know that beavers may work hard, but often they don’t get very much done.
Beavers are supposed to be great tree cutters. It is true that a beaver can cut through a tree very quickly: A six-inch tree takes about 10 minutes. But then what? Often the beaver does not make use of the tree. One expert says that beavers waste one out of every five trees they cut.
For one thing, they do not choose their trees wisely. One bunch of beavers cut down a cottonwood tree more than 100 feet tall. Then they found that they could not move it.
In thick woods, a tree sometimes won’t fall down. It gets stuck in the other trees. Of course, the beaver won’t cut down the trees that are in the way. Hence, a good tree goes to waste.
Some people think that beavers can make a tree fall the way they want it to. Not true. When beavers cut a tree near a stream, it usually falls into the water, but they do not plan it that way. The fact is that most trees lean toward the water to start with.
Now what about dam building? Most beaver dams are wonders of engineering. The best ones are strongly built of trees, stones, and mud. They are wide at the bottom and narrow at the top.
Beavers think nothing of building a dam more than 200 feet long. One dam in Montana was more than 2,000 feet long. The largest one ever seen was in New Hampshire: it stretched 4,000 feet, and made a lake large enough to hold 40 beaver homes.
Beavers do build fabulous dams. But they don’t always build them in the right places. They just don’t plan. They will build a dam across the widest part of the stream. They don’t try to find a place where the stream is narrow. Hence, a lot of their hard work is wasted. Beavers should learn that it’s not enough to be busy. You have to know what you’re doing, too.
1. Which of the following is NOT correct according to the passage?| A．Beavers can cut through a tree very quickly. |
| B．Beavers can make full use of every tree. |
| C．Beavers do not choose their trees wisely. |
| D．Beavers can cut down a cottonwood tree more than 100 feet tall. |
| A．They are no more than 200 feet long. | B．They are also the beavers’ home. |
| C．They are nothing in beavers’ eyes. | D．They are always built in right places. |
| A．extraordinary | B．severe | C．patriotic | D．optimistic |
| A．Early birds catch the worm. | B．Work hard, and you will succeed. |
| C．You should look before you leap. | D．Don’t put the cart before the horse. |
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【推荐1】This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths.
It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend (超越) it. Once we truly know that life is difficult—once we truly understand and accept it—then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.
Most do not fully see this truth. Instead they complain about their problems and difficulties as if life should be easy. It seems to them that difficulties means a special kind of suffering especially forced upon them or else upon their families, their class, or even their nation.
What makes life difficult is that the process of facing and solving problems is a painful one. Problems, depending on their nature, cause us sadness, or loneliness or regret or anger or fear. These are uncomfortable feelings, often as painful as any kind of physical pain. And since life causes an endless series of problems, life is always difficult and is full of pain as well as joy.
Yet, it is in this whole process of solving problems that life has its meaning. Problems are the serious test that tells us success from failure. When we desire to encourage the growth of human spirit, we encourage the human ability to solve problems, just as in school we set problems for our children to solve. It is through the pain of meeting and working out problems that we learn. As Benjamin Franklin said, those things that hurt, instruct. It is for this reason that wise people learn not to fear but to welcome the pain of problems.
1. From the passage, it can be inferred that ________.| A．everybody has problems |
| B．we become stronger by meeting and solving the problems of life |
| C．life is difficult because our problems bring us pain |
| D．people like to complain about their problems |
| A．save space | B．persuade readers |
| C．make readers laugh | D．get readers’ attention |
| A．we do not learn from experience | B．we do not learn when we are in pain |
| C．pain teaches us important lessons | D．pain cannot be avoided |
【推荐2】Life is full of ups and downs, and you must understand that you will sometimes fail at things and it is okay when that happens. Almost all of our life we have been taught that failure is really bad, and when we fail we must drown (沉浸) ourselves in sorrow, this is an entirely wrong approach.
From a kid to an adult, you will fail at many things in life but that will only tell you about yourself. You will get to learn about your true capabilities, the things you are good at, and the things that you are bad at. We must learn to accept the process rather than run from it. Only then will we be able to achieve our goals in life.
Let me tell you something about myself, and how I faced failures in life. In my early years at school, I had trouble with some subjects. I used to get really bad grades. Sometimes I would get an F and that would make me really scared. I used to think: “What will I show my parents?” So what I used to do was cover those grades up. I would turn the F into a B just to please my parents. Well the short version of it is that it didn’t work out and eventually, I was caught doing that. I learned a lot after that. I knew that I had to accept that failure and learn from it, and something good actually came from it. I started doing better with my grades. That F turned into a B naturally, and that B turned into an A.
Whenever you face a failure, never think that you are never going to recover from this. You must think of ways to better yourself. Did you know that it took Thomas Edison 10,000 attempts to perfect the light bulb? Bill Gates failed many times, even his first company was a complete failure. All of this is proof that we must learn from our failures, not run from them!
1. What agrees with the author’s attitude to failure?| A．It should be a painful process for us. | B．It is a way to tell us about our abilities. |
| C．It’s better to find ways to escape from it. | D．Smart people can find ways to avoid it. |
| A．To tell us we can cover our mistakes sometimes. |
| B．To tell us almost everyone will make mistakes. |
| C．To show the right attitudes to failure is crucial. |
| D．To explain everyone will succeed with devotion. |
| A．Slow but sure wins the race. | B．Good beginning is half done. |
| C．Failure is the mother of success. | D．Where there is a will there is a way. |
| A．Clever. | B．Careful. | C．Caring. | D．Optimistic. |
【推荐3】A Thankful Life
At many Thanksgiving dinners, everyone around the table shares something they are thankful for. Most of us can do this easily. But how can we be thankful all the time?
● Focus on the positive and accept the negative （消极）.No matter what happens, it's best to remember the good things. When you're around others, try to say what you like about them. By keeping good in mind, you'll give thanks for it even more than before. At the same time, you can't ignore bad things that have happened.
●
●Make use of quality time. Quality time is also a great way to show thanks. By spending time with others, you show them how much they mean to you. But thankfulness is also better realized by spending time alone.
Find your way to make thanksgiving a part of who you are every day.
| A．Offer acts of kindness. |
| B．Take part in various activities. |
| C．Here are some tips for you to follow. |
| D．What should we do on Thanksgiving Day? |
| E．You usually learn from bad things and become stronger. |
| F．Studies show that volunteers are likely to feel more happiness. |
| G．When you're by yourself, you can think through the best parts of your day. |
【推荐1】Children may not be putting coins in piggy banks for much longer. With the move towards a cashless society, pocket money is moving digital.
To reflect this trend, many mobile budgeting(预算) apps for children have sprung up worldwide：GoHenry, Osper, and Gimi, to name but a few. These apps offer a simple money management service for children, often for a monthly fee paid by the parents. Parents can add money to children’s accounts, set limits and monitor transactions(交易). Children can choose to save their money or spend it using a prepaid card.
These apps aim to teach young children financial concepts(概念), such as budgeting, interest rates and income. For instance, the Swedish app Gimi—with 1.2 million users globally—has virtual savings jars where children can deposit money. Parents can pay children interest as they save. There is also a chores feature, where parents can pay children for completing household tasks. The account is attached to a prepaid card that is currently available in Sweden only, but is expected to be launched elsewhere in Europe in 2020.
Haglund, CEO of Gimi, believes the app can teach children responsible spending habits. “You don’t become better at money management just because you have a degree in economics. It’s more about the attitude and the relationship you have with parents’ money when you’re 6 to 12 years old,” he says.
But Catherine Winter, managing director of financial capability at The London Institute of Banking and Finance, warns that while digital tools can help there needs to be a more structured approach to financial education. The area should “have regular, dedicated, classroom time and ideally should be taught as a standalone subject,” she said. “Children would then have the right context and foundation to get the most out of both the apps and their money.”
1. What does the underlined part “this trend” in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Pocket money moving digital |
| B．Putting coins in piggy banks |
| C．Mobile budging apps springing up. |
| D．Money management service being offered |
| A．It pays children interest as they save. |
| B．It can teach children concepts related to money |
| C．It has 1. 2 million users all over Sweden. |
| D．It is attached to a credit card available in Sweden only. |
| A．Digital tools can help a lot with spending habits |
| B．A regular classroom-based financial education is needed. |
| C．Money management requires financial capability. |
| D．Children can get the most out of their money with the apps |
| A．The importance of financial education. |
| B．The trend towards a cashless society. |
| C．The rise of the digital piggy bank. |
| D．The popularity of money management apps |
【推荐2】Sugar-free cookies, sugar-free candy, and diet soda—are these better for you? After sugar became a no-no in the nutrition and wellness world, sugar-free food and drinks acted as a replacement for once beloved sweet drinks and snacks. Being claimed to be ZERO sugar means the food and drinks are healthier, better for diabetics, and help you slim down ... Right? Wrong. Sugar-free products aren’t better for you. In fact, they are worse. For most sugar-free products, it means that artificial sweeteners (甜味剂) are used instead of real sugar. The problem is that these sweeteners do not come from natural soures and they can do you more harm than good.
Let’s get into what these artificial sweeteners actually are. Sugar-free sugar sounds wrong because there is no such thing as sugar-free sugar. Some of these sugar-free alternatives even contain sugar and the ones that have chemicals your body often does not know how to process. Most artificial sweeteners are a lot sweeter than sugar so only a small quantity of them are needed. That’s why they can market sugar-free alternatives as “low-calorie” or “no-calorie’. It also means that you get no nutritional value from consuming them, which is why so many sugar-free replacements are classified as “non-nutritive”. These artificial sweeteners tend to hide under some names. Actually, they are 200-600 times sweeter than sugar.When you eat sweet stuff, your body continues to desire it and, even though your body cannot metabolize (代谢) these sugar-free alternatives, your brain does not know the difference. In turn sugar-free alternatives relate to weight gain and Type-2 diabetes. Besides, artificial sweeteners also damage your gut’s ability to break down sugar which impacts everything you eat. In other words, your body doesn’t know how to handle artificial sweeteners because they have nothing real to process.
Here is a good rule of thumb: stay away from artificial sweeteners and look for non-sugar, natural sweeteners like stevia (甜叶菊) or date sugar. In the war against artificial sweeteners and real sugar, both lose. Satisfy your sweet tooth with natural sugar that comes from fruits and stay away from products claimed to be sugar-free.
1. What do most sugar-free products have in common?
| A．They don’t taste sweet. | B．They are free of calories. |
| C．They are rich in nutrition. | D．They have artificial sweeteners. |
| A．They are as sweet as sugar. | B．They pose a big risk to health. |
| C．They can be metabolized easily | D．They have long been added to food. |
| A．To keep a balanced diet. | B．To stay away from sugary products. |
| C．To choose fewer artificial ingredients. | D．To take in sugar from natural sources |
| A．Why are sugar-free products bad for your health? |
| B．How will sugar-free products affect your body? |
| C．What can be called sugar-free products? |
| D．Why are sugar-free products popular? |
【推荐3】Dutch cookbook writer Joke Boon suffers from anosmia—the inability to smell. She lost her sense of smell at the age of four. And although her tongue has kept its taste perception (感知), the lack of smell means that she can only distinguish the five basic flavors sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami—as well as fat. Doctors say she has lost around 94% of her tasting perception.
Despite this, she has written five cookbooks. So how does someone without a sense of smell experience food? For Boon, it’s mainly with her brain—by employing a facial nerve.
“You know the feeling when you eat too much wasabi (芥末酱) at once?” says Boon. “I use this nerve a lot to ‘taste’ my food. I can also feel ginger and pepper this way.”
The look of food is important, too. “Color is very important”, she says. “I don‘t like white food because for me white equals no flavor. The texture (质地) and sound of food have big roles, too. A walnut makes a different sound than a hazelnut.”
“It’s to do with the amount of fat—a hazelnut gives a hard sound, a walnut more of a soft sound. When you listen, you also hear the difference between a carrot and an apple.”
Despite her condition, Boon has always liked to cook. “Food was very important during my childhood,” she says. “Even though I couldn‘t taste anything, I wanted to participate. I started experimenting when I was a student and began to write down my recipes (菜谱).”
Boon’s message for those who’ve lost their sense of smell: focus on stimulation of the trigeminal nerve, and taste with your brain and your intellect. Cook your own food, so you can decide what‘s in it. “Not being able to smell is unpleasant,” she admits. “But you can live a pleasant life if you know how.”
1. What does the underlined word “distinguish” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Tell. | B．Enjoy. | C．Smell. | D．See. |
| A．The texture of food. | B．The look of food. |
| C．The sound of food. | D．A facial nerve. |
| A．Their tastes are different. | B．Their colors are different. |
| C．Their sounds are different. | D．Their smells are different. |
| A．Boon’s fight against anosmia. | B．How to enjoy life to its fullest. |
| C．People suffering from anosmia. | D．Cooking food in different ways. |
