【推荐2】How to Create the Perfect Spring Planter

Spring containers are an easy solution for jazzing up a colorless balcony and boring corners of any garden at this time of year.     1    

Choosing the right container is important. Always think about the style of your garden.     2     They are solid pots for spring as they don’t blow over in those early spring winds. Check that the pot has a large drainage (排水) hole to ensure that the soil drains well, but always cover it with a crock (like a piece from a broken flower planter) so that the soil doesn’t block the hole and create problems with drainage later down the line.

Choosing the right compost (堆肥) is the key to the success of any planting. I think it’s best to use soil-based compost so that the soil does not become too heavy or waterlogged, especially in spring when we could have plenty of showers.     3     And too much water in the soil will freeze, preventing the plants from taking up the vital water.

Plant combinations are important, so always think about mixes which will last as well as annual and perennial (多年生的) ones.     4     A bunch of pots forces the eye to look around and take in each pot and plant combination. A nice option is planting summer flowers like Dahlia or Lily to create a summer impact.

    5     It can be achieved by using tall plants. If you don’t have a tall plant then you can always raise your pot off the ground with old house bricks or decorative pot feet, or use steps in your garden to create interest and drama.

A pleasant smell is always a lovely addition to a space as well as wildlife. Select the right plant for your location in your garden－sun or shade-loving.

A．I like good, weighty planters.

B．It can still be frosty right up to May.

C．And besides, they are so easy to care for.

D．I also like to group pots together in different sizes.

E．Capitalize on those variations to help choose companions.

F．You may find some of these plants in smaller pots or even multi-packs.

G．Height is important to think about when you’re designing your arrangement.

【推荐1】The topic of China’s “slash youth” has fueled heated debate on social media recently, drawing attention to the diverse pursuits of the younger generation.

The s lash youth, which could also be called slashers or slash-generation — means those who refuse to be defined or bound by just one personal identity. They are keen to present themselves as multiple and sometimes different identities, such as a nurse and model, a teacher and stand-up comedian, and an engineer and band player. Rather than material comforts, they pursue meaningful achievement.

A diverse career can enable them to develop new experiences and talents as well as social and professional networks, leading to greater flexibility in life and work, recognition and satisfaction.

A study on “slash youth” published in the China Youth Research magazine analyzes the background of this phenomenon: with part of modern society’s structured organization and stability norms (规范) broken, flexible labor markets and structural unemployment has appeared, removing the sense of job security of the young people in employment. Young people also face the problem of self-realization, including the sense of powerlessness, lost sense of value and lack of self-identity in the profession, which forces them to re-find the meaning of work.

“The ‘slash life’ shows that our society is becoming more and more diversified and inclusive, and it welcomes everyone’s self-fulfillment,” said Shi Yanrong, an associate researcher from Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences. “Young people no longer have to rely on work and money for their sense of self-worth. They tend to create their own identities.” The researcher added that against the background that people have multiple interests and are willing to pay for these interests nowadays, the “slash life” of the youth would drive the growth of a new economy, just as animation culture affected the market.

1. What do we know about the slash youth?

A．They tend to undertake multiple careers.

B．They are keen to pursue material comforts.

C．They enjoy posting themselves on social media.

D．They can easily adjust themselves to challenges in life.

2. What is paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．The importance of flexible labor markets.	B．Reasons for the appearance of slash youth.
C．The pursuit of the youth in their profession.	D．Causes of losing self-identity among the youth.

3. What does Shi Yanrong think of the slash life?

A．It boosts the rise of a new economy.	B．It helps increase people’s independence.
C．It inspires young people’s creativity at work.	D．It enables young people to earn high incomes.

4. What is the purpose of the text?

A．To provide career guidance.	B．To analyze a cultural difference.
C．To introduce a social phenomenon.	D．To share a unique life experience.

【推荐3】Why do some people feel obliged to do the craziest things, while most of us are happy to sit on the sofa and watch their exploits on TV? Robin Styles ponders(考虑)this question.

Generally, we love to watch someone's bravery and drama--a single person against the wilds of nature, testing their endurance beyond belief. And our pleasure is greater because we live a comfortable and increasingly risk-free life, where the greatest test of endurance is getting to work through the rush hour.     1    However, there are countless ways to test the limits of your endurance, if you should wish to do so, by attempting something unpleasant, uncomfortable or just plain dangerous.

American Lynne Cox swims in sub-zero temperatures through the planet's most dangerous oceans wearing only a swimsuit--for fun! According to Lynne, there is always something driving her on. At age 9, when she was swimming in an outdoor pool one day, a violent storm blew up, but she refused to get out of the pool. Something make her carry on. Then she realized that, as the water got colder and rougher, she was actually getting faster and warmer, and she was really enjoying it. At age 14, she broke her first endurance record. Years later, experts discovered that Lynne has a totally even layer of body fat, like a seal.     2    .

The famous British explorer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, has led many major expeditions (远征) in the extreme cold, including walking right round the Arctic Circle. He has also led expeditions in the extreme heat, and discovered the Lost City of Ubar in the Omani desert.     3    Sir Fiennes has said, "If I am getting sick, I find a very powerful way of conquering it is to know that my father would have definitely done it."

    4    There is probably no such thing as a "normal" adventurer. Unsurprisingly, risk-takers tend to be single-minded and unusually determined people who hate the stability and routine that most people prefer. They tend to take risks for the "fun" of it. The excitement becomes addictive, and they want more and more of it. Ordinary life seems boring in comparison.

A．She is perfectly made for doing what she does, it seems.

B．Adventurers are clearly different from the rest of us.

C．What she did was really beyond our imagination.

D．It seems that many adventurers spend their lives trying to live up to the image of a parent.

E．And most of us would prefer it to remain that way.

F．Many adventurers have amazed the world with their extraordinary skills.

【推荐1】In 2020, many robots took up jobs, giving both humans and animals a helping hand.

A hospital ward (病区) treating coronavirus (冠状病毒) patients in Wuhan, China, was run by robots. The robots looked after patients who had the disease very mildly, giving out food and keeping the hospital clean. This reduced the risk of doctors and nurses catching the disease. If a patient fell more seriously ill they were sent to a human-run part of the hospital for more treatment.

In May, a robot dog forced people to follow social-distancing rules to stop the spread of coronavirus in Singapore. Spot, made by US company Boston Dynamics, went round Singapore’s Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park to check that people kept at least one metre apart from each other.

In June, a teenager in New Zealand won a national science award for inventing a robot that can take out the bins (垃圾箱) for elderly and disabled people. Thomas James, who is 17 years old, came up with his great idea after an elderly neighbour was told by a doctor not to take out her bin in case she fell over. The smart machine took the teenager two years to design and build, using Lego models to test his early ideas.

Over summer, a super-cute SlothBot was tested at the Atlanta Botanical Garden in the US. Designed by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the animal-like robot is powered by sunlight and moves slowly between trees, collecting information around it. The SlothBot’s inventor, Professor Magnus Egerstedt, came up with the idea after observing sloths (树懒) in Costa Rica. Researchers hope that the solar-powered robot will help protect endangered forest species in the wild.

1. About robots in a hospital wart in Wuhan, which is NOT true?

A．They can take care of patients with the mild disease.

B．They can send food to patients and pick up rubbish on the floor.

C．They can help doctors to decrease the chance of catching coronavirus.

D．They can treat a seriously-ill patient.

2. What can we learn from SlothBot?

A．The robots are likely to be used in wild forest species protection.

B．The robot is powered by sunlight and runs quickly under the trees.

C．The researcher got the idea by watching many endangered wild forest species.

D．Researchers used Lego models to test their ideas.

3. In the past one year, robots can help humans and animals in the following aspects ______.
a. In a hospital
b. Advising people to keep social distance in public places
c. Helping the old people stand up when they fell over
d. Gathering information of wild forest species
e. Taking out rubbish for the people with disabilities

A．abe

B．bed

C．ade

D．acd

4. What is the author’s attitude to the rise of robots in our life?

A．Supportive

B．Unclear

C．Doubtful

D．Worried

【推荐2】Here come some of the ways advised to keep delighted and a healthy mood by Harvard.

♦ Be grateful and say thanks often

    1    . The tiny purple flowers on the sidewalk, the beautiful sunset, and the smile in your partner’s eyes. When you have a grateful heart that is appreciative of life’s beauty, wonder and blessings, you’re automatically filled with delight. Always be appreciative of the blessings in your life. And it’s equally important to express your appreciation to those who’ve made your life better in some way.

♦     2    

If your tendency is to imagine the very worst case whenever you have a trouble, train yourself to change that tendency. Ask yourself what good can come from the situation or what you can learn from it. Optimism surely fuels success and delight.    3    . Try to find humor and laughter in life’s everyday struggles.

♦ Understand and forgive

Step into others’ shoes and understand a situation from another’s perspective, and we’re more likely to handle the situation with objectivity and effectiveness. There will be less conflicts and more delight.

Hate and anger are forms of self-punishment. When you forgive, you’re actually practicing kindness to yourself. Most importantly, learn to forgive yourself. Everyone makes mistakes.    4    .

♦ Keep learning and be a problem solver

Learning keeps us young and olive. When engaging our brains toward productive uses, we’re much more likely to feel delighted and fulfilled.

Delighted people are problem solvers. When facing a challenge in life, they don’t beat themselves up and fail into a depressive state.     5    . By becoming a problem solver, you’ll build up your self-confidence and your ability to accomplish whatever you set to.

A．Be optimistic and laugh often

B．Pay attention to the little details in your life

C．Do what you love freely and live happily in the present

D．Laughter is the most powerful treatment to anger or depression

E．It’s through our mistakes that we learn and grow to be bigger and better

F．Only by making mistakes repeatedly will we realize it is normal to make mistakes

G．Instead they face the challenge and channel their energies to finding a creative solution

【推荐3】When couples get married, they usually plan to have children. Sometimes, however, a couple can not have a child of their own. In this case, they may decide to adopt a child. In fact, adoption is very common today. There are about 60 thousand adoptions each year in the United States alone. Some people prefer to adopt infants, while others adopt older children, some couples adopt children from their own countries, and others adopt children from foreign countries. In any case, they all adopt children for the same reason — they care about children and want to give their adopted child a happy life.

Most adopted children know that they are adopted. Psychologists and child-care experts generally think this is a good idea. However, many adopted children, or adoptees, have very little information about their biological parents. As a matter of fact, it is often very difficult for adoptees to find out about their birth parents because the birth records of most adoptees are usually sealed. The information is secret so no one can see it. Naturally, adopted children have different feelings about their birth parents. Many adoptees want to search for them, but others do not. The decision to search for birth parents is a difficult one to make. Most adoptees have mixed feelings about finding their biological parents. Even though adoptees do not know about their natural parents, they do know that their adopted parents want them, love them and will care for them.

1. According to the passage, some couples adopt children because ________.

A．They have a sense of love for children.

B．They want to enrich their life experience.

C．They want children to keep them company.

D．Children need to be taken good care of and live a happy life.

2. Why is it difficult for adoptees to find out about their birth parents?

A．They are usually adopted from distant places.

B．Their birth information is usually kept secret.

C．Their adoptive parents don’t want them to know their birth parents.

D．Their birth parents often try to conceal (隐藏) their birth information.

3. Adoptees find it hard to make the decision to search for their birth parents, because ________.

A．They generally hold bad feelings towards their birth parents.

B．They have mixed feelings about finding their natural parents.

C．They are fully aware of the expenses involved in the search.

D．They do not want to hurt the feelings of their adoptive parents.

4. What does the underlined word “infants” in Paragraph 1 most probably mean?

A．teenagers	B．babies over 2-year old
C．new babies	D．persons under the age of 18

5. What can we infer from the passage?

A．Adoption has much to do with love.

B．Understanding is the key to successful adoption.

C．Most people prefer to adopt children from overseas.

D．Early adoption makes for closer parent-child relationship.