“Barefoot Mike” gets a lot of attention when he shows up at the beginning of a race. He loves to run and has been running since he was a kid. He loves to and often competes in 10K races. But That’s not the reason he gets so much attention. People notice him because when he runs, “Barefoot Mike” runs barefoot.
Running barefoot has become a huge trend in the world of running. “I didn’t set out to be a trend setter,” laughed “Barefoot Mike”, otherwise known as Mike Whitaker. “I’ve always been a runner, but until a few years ago, I always wore shoes. Then one day I was running after a rainstorm. I stepped off into the grass to avoid a puddle (水坑) on the sidewalk, and accidentally stepped into a huge muddy puddle that had been hidden in the grass. I tried to keep running, but the wet and dirty shoe made it really hard. I figured the best solution was to just get rid of the shoes.”
Mike took off his shoes and dropped them into the nearest trash can. “Then I started running. At first I went really slowly because I was watching out for rocks or other things that could hurt my feet, but there really weren’t any problems.” He started going faster. “It felt so good!” Mike said. “My knee, which always ached, didn’t ache. My foot was able to spread out so I had better balance. And my feet didn’t feel all hot and sweaty. It was awesome!”
“There are actually potential health benefits to running barefoot” said Dr. Nancy Bower, a podiatrist (足科医师).
A recent study agrees. A team of researchers recently videotaped several people running—first wearing shoes and then barefoot. In almost every case, when wearing shoes, the runners tended to land on the heel of their foot, which they call “heel-striking.” Many runners have impact injuries such as knee pain. Heel-striking may be the cause of these injuries or may make an existing injury worse. When running barefoot, the runners tended to land on the middle part of the foot. The force is spread out throughout the foot. The ankle, shin (胫部), knee and hip don’t get the shock of a hard landing with every step.
1. Why does Mike receive a lot of attention while running?| A．Because he runs very fast. | B．Because he loses his shoes. |
| C．Because he wears no shoes. | D．Because he wears strange clothes. |
| A．He liked running barefoot. |
| B．He was advised to run barefoot. |
| C．His shoe became very uncomfortable. |
| D．His dream of becoming famous motivated him. |
| A．was very tired | B．was badly hurt |
| C．gave up running | D．felt unexpectedly great |
| A．is bad for one’s health |
| B．is caused by existing injuries |
| C．happens when one runs barefoot |
| D．can be avoided by wearing sports shoes |
| A．How to choose shoes. | B．Why people need shoes. |
| C．Useful tips on running barefoot. | D．The advantages of running barefoot. |
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【推荐1】“My Edinburgh” photography competition
Edinburgh Libraries invites you to take part in the “My Edinburgh” competition on Edinburgh Collected. Add a photo of your favourite place in Edinburgh to Edinburgh Collected and tell us what makes it special to you.
The photography competition is free to enter but all entries must be entered via the Edinburgh Collected website (www.edinburghcollected.org). The competition is open to all, students and professionals alike. Your photo might show the place that offers your favourite view of the city, your favourite park, street, or local pub. It doesn’t matter, so long as you tell us what makes that place special to you.
Entries will be judged by a group of experts from Edinburgh College of Art, Museums and Galleries Edinburgh and Edinburgh Napier University. Entries will be judged on their photographic qualities as well as descriptions.
The closing date for entries is 31 August and winners will be chosen in September.
We will give a canvas print (照片帆布油画) for1st, 2nd and 3rd place entries and the winner will also receive a voucher for a Jessops Academy Photography Course.
Entrants must create an account with Edinburgh Collected to upload your photo(s). There is no limit to the number of entries you can upload, but there will be only one winning entry per entrant.
1. What do we know about the photography competition?| A．It asks entrants to pay to enter. | B．It is held by Edinburgh College of Art. |
| C．It is only for professional photographers. | D．It accepts photos of a place in Edinburgh. |
| A．Prize money. | B．A canvas print. |
| C．A voucher for photography courses. | D．A chance to visit Edinburgh Napier University. |
| A．Enter only one photo. | B．Send the entry by email. |
| C．Upload the entry before 31 September. | D．Create an account with Edinburgh Collected. |
【推荐2】2024 Illustration Competition
Enter the competition most respected and admired in the industry for creativity in illustration, the Communication Arts Illustration Competition. Selected by distinguished professionals, the winning entries will be distributed worldwide in the Communication Arts Illustration Annual and on commarts.com, ensuring important exposure of the creations. Each winner will receive a professionalized Award of Excellence, made from solid aluminum, and an award certificate. Communication Art’s Award of Excellence is one of the most desired awards. If chosen, winning places you in the highest ranks of your profession.
What To Enter With
Any illustration first published or produced from Jan. 2023 to Jan. 2024 is qualified. Entries may originate from any country. Descriptions in English are necessary for the judges to read.
Entries Can Be Submitted In The Following Formats
Digital Images: RGB images in JPG format with a maximum file size of 2 MB. GIF images may be livelier, but would be turned down, and so would the PNG ones.
Motion Entries: In MOV, MP4 or MPG format, with a maximum file size of 500 MB.
Illustration Competition Categories & Entry Fees
Category | Single illustration | Series of illustrations |
Books (covers, jackets, etc.) | $ 40 | $ 80 (limit of 5) |
Motion (media for films, videos, etc.) | $ 90 | $ 180 (limit of 3) |
Student Work | $ 20 (Image) $ 45 (Video) | $ 40 (Images, limit of 5) $ 90 (Video, limit of 3) |
For more categories, please download the category PDF.
Late Fees
Entries must be registered no later than Jan. 13, 2024. Entries registered after that date will be charged a fee of $10 each. No entries can be registered after Jan. 27, 2024.
1. What will the winner gain?| A．A personalized award certificate. | B．Wide recognition in the industry. |
| C．Exposure to world-famous works. | D．A bonus from Communication Arts. |
| A．A student work from Argentina. |
| B．A newly produced motion entry. |
| C．A PNG image with a file size of 1 MB. |
| D．A series for covers of three illustrations. |
| A．$ 80. | B．$ 110. | C．$ 150. | D．$ 240. |
【推荐3】The Tokyo Olympics have been postponed until 2021. That delay offers a chance for reflection. The International Olympic Committee wants to make the games more popular with young people. To that end, it is introducing new events, such as skateboarding, surfing and climbing. Why not go further and let national teams compete at video games? Electronic sports such as "Fortnite", are vastly more popular than strange Olympic sports like curling（冰壶）. In fact, they are more appealing than most mainstream sports. Only 28% of British boys aged 16-19 watch any traditional live sports; 57% play video games.
Some may complain that e-sports are not proper sports. Many parents, observing their teenagers sitting on the sofa all day shouting "Quick, pass me the shotgun!" at a screen, would agree. Yet video games are highly competitive, with professional teams that play to packed stadiums. There are perhaps only 200 tennis stars in the world who can make a living from playing in major competitions. By contrast, "League of Legends", a fantasy game played by teams of five, supports over 1,000 on good wages. Its World Championship final last year was watched by 44 million people.
Those against e-sports offer moral objections, too. They are addictive. Prince Harry has called for "Fortnite" to be banned for this reason. They are violent. At a time of global disharmony, it is bad idea to make virtual（虚拟的）killing an Olympic sport. The Olympics aim to promote peace.
Neither of these arguments is convincing. The idea that an activity, rather than material, can be addictive is controversial among doctors, as is the existence of a causal（因果的）link between gaming and violence. And the belief that warlike sports have no place in the Olympics is hard to agree with history. Wrestling was introduced in 708 BC. It is still there.
1. Why is the International Olympic Committee bringing in new events?| A．To replace mainstream sports. | B．To attract more young people. |
| C．To make up for the delay. | D．To show innovations. |
| A．E-sports are proper games. | B．Tennis has declined greatly. |
| C．Tennis players' salary is lower. | D．E-sport players have achieved a lot. |
| A．Positive. | B．Skeptical. |
| C．Unconcerned. | D．Discouraged. |
| A．To introduce how e-sports develop. |
| B．To show what benefits e-sports can bring. |
| C．To explain why young people like playing e-sports. |
| D．To argue e-sports can be included in the Olympics. |
【推荐1】People and other great apes are known for their willingness to help others in need, even strangers. Now, researchers have shown for the first time that some birds-specifically African grey parrots-are similarly helpful.
"We found that African grey parrots voluntarily help familiar parrots to achieve a goal, without obvious immediate benefit to themselves," says Desiree Brucks of the Max Planck Institute for Birds Study, Germany.
Parrots and crows are known for having large brains relative to the size of their bodies and problem-solving skills to match. For that reason, they are sometimes considered to be“feathered apes," explains Brucks. However, earlier studies showed that, despite(尽管)their impressive social intelligence, crows don't help other crows. In their new study, Brucks and his fellows wondered: what about parrots?
To find out, they placed pairs of grey parrots and blue-headed parrots in boxes alongside each other with a transfer(转移)hole between the two, and a hole facing a human experimenter that was either kept open or closed. Both parrot species quickly learned that they could exchange tokens(筹码)with the experimenter for a nut treat-but only the grey parrots helped their neighbors when their own hole facing the scientist was closed, preventing them from gaining any personal reward.
In the very first round, seven out of eight grey parrots were willing to transfer tokens in their possession to their neighbors so that their friends could feast when they could not. The fact that they did so without knowing they would later be tested in the other role showed that those giving were not expecting the favor to be rewarded, said Brucks.
Significantly, the grey parrots appeared to understand the nature of the task, instead of acting out of playfulness. When they saw the other parrot had an opportunity for exchange, they'd pass a token over-but otherwise, they would not. And, like humans, the grey parrots appeared to favor their friends, sharing more tokens with birds they had previously closely associated with, though they still gave some to those they are familiar with.
1. Parrots are considered "feathered apes" mainly due to .| A．their brain size | B．their body structure |
| C．their language skills | D．their intelligence level |
| A．To learn how parrots take on their tasks. | B．To discover whether parrots are helpful. |
| C．To prove parrots are socially active birds. | D．To find out links between apes and crows. |
| A．Parrots passed their tokens through it. | B．Parrots got their rewards through it. |
| C．Researchers exchanged tokens through it. | D．Researchers fed the parrots through it. |
| A．They are naturally interested in playful tasks. |
| B．They rarely build friendship with their neighbors. |
| C．They use tokens to get favors from their neighbors. |
| D．They are more likely to help their friends if possible. |
In the 1960s and 1970s, hippies made bell-bottomed blue jeans popular. In the 1980s, Michael Jackson made parachute pants all the fashion. Now try to find these items in today’s clothing stores!
Why do fashions change? The answer is probably as simple as the fact that people change. Over time, the new replaces the old. People are influenced greatly by popular culture, including athletes, musicians, movie stars, as well as popular films, televisions shows, books and music. We are also influenced by the fashion industry’s advertising.
The stars of popular culture are always searching for a new angle to maintain (保持) their popularity. Often these new angles come in the form of new clothing or hairstyles. When people see these new styles, they often want to imitate their favorite stars. To do so, they seek out the latest fashions to make themselves look like the people they want to imitate. In this way, fashions evolve and change over time.
For years, clothes have been used to separate people into groups. Even today, brand-name clothing that is more expensive than other types of clothing can be used by some people to distinguish themselves from others. Unfortunately, this can often have the effect of distancing certain groups from others.
Don’t forget that it’s always OK to develop your own sense of style that is unique and separate from what the fashion world determines! Stay true to yourself and let your personality — not your clothes — speak for who you are.
1. The examples of bell-bottomed blue jeans and parachute pants in Paragraph 2 are used to show that _______.
| A．people often have different dressing styles |
| B．trends of fashion are changing all the time |
| C．people are always affected greatly by the stars |
| D．hippies and Michael Jackson are good designers |
| A．new films and shows replace the old |
| B．movie stars are changing over time |
| C．popular culture influences people |
| D．advertisements change rapidly |
| A．clothes may separate and distance people |
| B．people like imitating others’ dressing style |
| C．the author has clearly gone out of fashion |
| D．fashion is all about clothes people wear |
| A．the advantages of staying unique and separate |
| B．the bad effects of following fashions and styles |
| C．the good benefits of popular styles to people |
| D．the importance of having one’s own personality |
【推荐3】If you live in a big city, you might see trees start budding even before spring officially arrives.
A new article published in the journal Science found that trees in urban areas have started turning green earlier than the rural trees due to cities being hotter and also having more lights.
“I found artificial light in cities acts as an extended daylight and causes earlier spring greening and later autumn leaf coloring,” author Lin Meng said. Meng is a researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Her research collected observations and satellite data from 85 cities in the United States between 2001 and 2014.“ I found trees start to sprout new leaves and turn green six days earlier in cities compared to rural areas,” Meng said.
While the early appearance of spring and longer growing seasons may not seem like a big deal, Meng said there were serious effects on humans and wildlife. For one thing, early budding plants are at risk of spring frost. And changes in the growing season could also lead to an earlier and longer flower season, meaning a higher risk of allergies for humans. Meng also thought that this could lead to a bigger problem if the trees become out of sync with the insects.“ That may result in food shortage and may affect insect development, survival and reproduction,” she said.
Despite the concerns, Meng said it wasn’t all bad news.“ If we have a longer growing season, trees would absorb more carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere,” she said. “ They’d have a longer period to do the cooling effect that can help reduce the heating effect in cities.” In terms of solutions, Meng said that cutting artificial light would reduce harm done to trees and that if light pollution was removed, early tree greening could be changed.
1. Which of the following may cause city trees to turn green earlier?| A．The higher temperature. | B．The reduced amount of lighting. |
| C．The shorter daytime. | D．The later autumn leaf coloring. |
| A．Lose. | B．Reduce. | C．Add. | D．Grow. |
| A．The causes of early appearance of spring. | B．The advantages of having a longer spring. |
| C．The harm of city trees turning green early. | D．The ways of solving longer growing seasons. |
| A．Planting more trees. | B．Shortening the nighttime. |
| C．Making flower seasons longer. | D．Reducing light pollution. |
【推荐1】When I was in primary school, I was actually a little shy. One thing that absolutely frightened me was speaking in front of many people, whether strangers or acquaintances. It was my sixth-grade teacher, Mr. Bamick, who helped me overcome that. That year we had to present four oral book reports in front of the class. Some of the kids were even glad to do it, but I was frightened to death. Mr. Bamick recognized my fear, so he told me to do a report on a book that was about something that really interested me. So I did the first report on baseball.
When it came time for me to present it to the class, Mr. Bamick cut me some slack and let me read the report rather than present it from memory. Some of my classmates laughed at me for the presentation, but Mr. Bamick encouraged me. By the end of the year I had completed all four of the oral book reports. It wasn’t easy or comfortable for me, but I did it.
Years later I realized that Mr. Bamick had a great effect on me in sixth grade. One of the opportunities I get when I win a tennis tournament (锦标赛) is to make comments to the fans who attend the match. Some of these are carried live on television and all of them are before thousands of people. It’s still not one of my favorite things to do, but, with Mr. Bamick’s help, I get through it from time to time. Before long, I was asked to bring my favorite childhood teacher to a national event in Dallas. I was excited when Mr. Bamick joined me for the event. It meant a lot to me that he was there.
We all need heroes in our lives. They can be role models or they can be important persons in our world. Mr. Bamick believed in me and helped me to believe in myself. It was he who helped me build the person I became.
1. In what aspect did Mr. Bamick help the author?| A．Improving her learning skills. |
| B．Winning her classmates’ trust. |
| C．Encouraging her to read more books. |
| D．Overcoming her fear of public speaking. |
| A．Played a funny joke on the author. |
| B．Gave the author a feeling of pride. |
| C．Made the task slightly easy for the author. |
| D．Asked the author to take part in a competition. |
| A．She is a spokesperson. | B．She is a tennis player. |
| C．She wants to be a teacher. | D．She enjoys commenting on books. |
| A．My best oral book report. | B．A typical kid in primary school. |
| C．My favorite childhood teacher. | D．An unforgettable national event. |
【推荐2】As a kid, I was always chubby (圆胖的). In college I started blowing up. It got out of control when I went to law school.
I’d made a decision a thousand times: I’m going to lose weight now. But what motivated me to get serious about it was turning 30. I weighed 414 pounds. I was always tired. Some of my family members have suffered from heart disease, and I was scared. I also wanted to look better. So after my birthday, I walked into the office of a weightloss doctor.
She was very understanding. Her focus was on balanced meals and she wanted me to exercise.
Walking was all I could do at first. I started by walking a few blocks and gradually increased the distance, until one weekend, I found myself saying, “Wow, this seems pretty easy.” So I started to run.
I was losing nine or ten pounds a month, and I had more energy. I started to think about the New York City Marathon. For years, I watched the runners and thought, “This looks like fun, but I could never do that.” But now I realized that maybe I could. I joined the New York Road Runners. I ran a 10 km, then a halfmarathon. I still wasn’t confident I could run a full 26 miles. But I told myself I was going to do it, no matter what.
By my 33rd birthday, I was down to 180 pounds. I started formally training for the marathon. And on the morning of November 1, I stood on the Verrazano Bridge in Staten Island with more than 40,000 other runners, waiting for the event to start.
It was unbelievable to have the audience cheering me on, handing me cups of water. And I crossed the finish line. My friends sprayed me with beer, as if I’d won the Super Bowl. And at that moment, I knew: If I set my mind to something, nothing is impossible.
1. The underlined phrase “blowing up” in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to________.| A．going weaker | B．becoming fatter |
| C．becoming healthier | D．growing high |
| A．180 | B．414 | C．594 | D．234 |
| A．The author formally trained for the marathon for three years. |
| B．The author started by running when losing weight. |
| C．The marathon the author ran started on the Verrazano Bridge. |
| D．The author has won the Super Bowl. |
| A．Where there is a will, there is a way. | B．Pride comes before a fall. |
| C．A good beginning is half done. | D．Practice makes perfect. |
【推荐3】I learnt to swim when I was a teenager. I went to the local swimming pool with my two sisters. It was old and cold and not very nice. I can still remember my instructor: his name was Colin Firth, like the actor. But he wasn't as good-looking！
-Rachel Robbins
My father was a swimming instructor so I guess it’s just in the blood. I can’t remember a time when I couldn’t swim. I spent most of my childhood holidays at the beach and I still go at any opportunity I get.
-Simon Fordham
It took me a long time to learn. I wasn’t a natural. I still don’t swim very well. I certainly wouldn’t like to be in a boat in rough(汹涌的) seas. I never really learnt to put my face in the water. It hurts my eyes and I can’t see.
-Geoffrey Hopkins
One day I was standing by the deep end of the swimming pool and I suddenly fell in. I don’t know how I did it but I managed to get to the side. I was coughing but I could swim! My brother saw me when I got out and thought it was very funny. But he didn’t laugh when I hit him.
-Karen Marks
My first experience of swimming was when I was 8 or 9 years old. I was on a small boat with about ten other boys. It was very small and someone pushed me in the water. The water was very clean and I could see everything. I remember feeling very peaceful and comfortable, and I wasn’t worried at all. I started swimming, not very well, but another boy helped me to return to the beach.
-Phillip Parker
1. Who can be described as a born swimmer?| A．Karen Marks. | B．Rachel Robbins. |
| C．Simon Fordham. | D．Geoffrey Hopkins. |
| A．Boring. | B．Difficult. |
| C．Important. | D．Interesting. |
| A．Rachel Robbins enjoyed her swimming courses. |
| B．Karen Marks was angry when his brother laughed at him. |
| C．Phillip Parker learned to swim with an instructor. |
| D．Phillip Parker fell in the water and was forced to learn to swim. |
