In the early part of his life, Seiichi Sano was a busy business owner. Later in life, he took on other difficult activities. At the age of 80, he climbed Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain. Soon after, he started surfing.
Sano turned 90 this year. After being recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest male to surf, he’s considering trying other activities. “Maybe I’ll try bouldering,” he said, suggesting he might do it first in a gym. “Outside it might be a bit dangerous.”
But maybe he will just stick with what he knows. “I think it would be interesting to surf until I’m 100,” Sano said. “I think I can take better care of myself when I have goals like this. Even now, I take better care of myself than I did before.”
Sano said he got the idea to try surfing from a worker at his local bank. The man’s skin was always dark but healthy. He did not look like a usual banker. His secret, he said, was surfing. So Sano found a teacher.
“I don’t consider myself an old man,” he said in his wet suit, board standing next to him. “I have never thought of myself as an old persona. I always feel that I can still move forward. I can still do it. I can still enjoy it.”
Sano joined hundreds of other surfers recently at Enoshima. All the surfers were younger, of course. Several young students who also worked with Sano’s surf teacher, 46-year-old Kazuto Shimizu, talked about Sano.
“To be honest, I was surprised by his age,” said Shimizu. “I was most worried that he would get injured. I did not know how fit he was, physically.”
Sano still runs a business that supplies wood to building companies. He works 9-to-5 at the job. Surfing reduces tension for him.
1. What made Sano get a Guinness World Record for surfing?| A．His age. | B．His wonderful skill. | C．His fast speed. | D．His competition result. |
| A．The idea of enriching his life. | B．The decision to improve his health. |
| C．His dream of becoming world-famous. | D．The unusual appearance of a bank worker. |
| A．Creative. | B．Adventurous. | C．Careful. | D．Generous. |
| A．He has difficulty training Sano. | B．He prefers to teach young people. |
| C．He was concerned about Sano’s health. | D．He praised Sano for his love for work. |
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【推荐1】Kindergarten outside? Yes，indeed.It’s part of a growing worldwide trend toward outdoor education.The schools are called Forest Kindergartens.
Now the numbers are small in the U. S.，but the idea is well established in Europe，with schools in Scotland，England，and Switzerland.By far most of such schools are in Germany，which has more than 400 Forest Kindergartens.
Children attending such particular school enjoy a good amount of outdoor education each day，rain or shine.Some lessons are focused on nature；others are academic topics delivered in a natural setting.In all cases，students are active—not sitting at desks or on mats on the floor but walking，running，jumping，solving problems like how to get the mud off the bottoms of their shoes before their parents find out.
At these forest kindergartens，students learn science by observing and doing it，learn math by applying it to the natural world around them，learn letters and words by putting them together using sights and sounds.The children learn to make comparisons using natural things like apples and rocks.They develop an appreciation for animals and plants in their natural environment—not just by looking at pictures in a book or on a computer screen.
Some of the science activities involve teamwork，like explaining the best way to move a heavy object，showing how a lever(杠杆)works.In other sessions，teachers encourage students to develop their motor skills by building wooden tools such as hammers and knives.
These students also learn how to get along with one another，individually and in a group.They also develop healthy levels of selfconfidence，just from being able to do the everyday activities that the school offers.
In a time when so many children are being classified as obese because of longtime watching television and playing video games，these outdoor schools help children learn just as much，if not more，from opening their eyes to the world around them.
1. Which of the following country has the most Forest Kindergartens?| A．The U. S. | B．Germany. |
| C．The U. K. | D．Switzerland. |
| A．Children are doing an experiment with chemicals. |
| B．Teachers are writing something on the blackboard. |
| C．Smart phones are widely used to help children learn. |
| D．Everything in nature is likely to be applied to teaching. |
| A．Negative. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Positive. | D．Uncertain. |
【推荐2】Large clothing companies are developing robots to make clothes. The process of using robots or computers for human work, known as automation, has raised concerns about jobs for many people around the world.
Many clothing companies are unsure about publicly discussing automation. Such reports may cause public concern that automation will take jobs from workers in poor countries. For this concern, one industry inventor, Jonathan Zornow, said he had received online criticism and a death threat in connection with his work.
Sewing, the act of using a needle and thread to make clothes, is especially difficult to automate. Robots do not have the fine touch skill that human hands do. Robots are getting better, but it will take years to fully develop their ability to handle cloth.
Work at a leading scientific and technological enterprise grew out of efforts to create software to guide robots that can handle all types of materials, such as thin wire cables. Researchers soon realized one of the best targets for automation was clothing. The enterprise worked with the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute in Pittsburgh. They identified a San Francisco company with a promising way to deal with the fabric problem. The start-up hardened fabric with chemicals. The hardened fabric was then similar to other material robots could handle, like metal for, example. Once the robots finished sewing the piece, the clothing was washed to remove the chemical.
There are other efforts to automate sewing factories. Another company in Georgia has developed a machine that can sew clothing by pulling the cloth over a special table, for example.
Sanjeev Bahl, who opened a small jeans factory in downtown Los Angeles two years ago, has studied the start-up’s machines. He is preparing to set up his first experimental machine. At his factory in September, he said that many sewing jobs are ready for a new process. “If it works,” he said, “I think there’s no reason not to have large-scale jeans manufacturing here again.”
1. Why was Jonathan Zornow threatened?| A．His work was not fruitless. |
| B．His robots were too dangerous to use. |
| C．His factory adopted human-controlled machines. |
| D．His invention would endanger workers’ employment. |
| A．It produced fabric softener. | B．It processed all kinds of worktables. |
| C．It had a partnership with a big business. | D．It worked to develop some metal products. |
| A．Tolerant. | B．Suspicious. | C．Conservative. | D．Approving. |
| A．Robots are as intelligent as humans. | B．Robots are not to replace sewing workers. |
| C．Companies develop robots to make clothes. | D．Companies increase the production of clothes. |
【推荐3】One of the newest taboos (禁忌) in American society is the topic of fat. Unlike many other taboos, fat is a topic that America talk about often. It is not taboo to talk about fat; it’s taboo to be fat.
The “in” look is thin. In the work world, most companies prefer youthful-looking, slim executives to sell their image and their products to the public. The thin look is associated with youth, vigor and success. The fat person, on the other hand, is thought of as lazy and lacking in energy, self-discipline and self-respect. After all, people think, how can people who care about themselves, and therefore the way they look, allow themselves to become fat? In an image conscious society like the U.S. , fat is “out”.
It is not surprising, then, that millions of Americans have become obsessed (着迷) with staying slim and “in shape”. The pursuit of youthful physical appearance is not, however, the only reason for America’s obsession with diet and exercise.
Recent research has shown the great importance of diet and exercise for personal health. As in most technologically developed nations, the life-style of North Americans has changed very quickly during the course of last century. Modern machines do all the physical labor that people were once forced to do by hand. Cars and buses transport us quickly from point to point. As the result of inactivity and disuse, people’s bodies can easily become weak and vulnerable ( 脆弱的 ) to disease. In an effort to avoid such a fate, millions of Americans are spending more of their time exercising.
The effects of this new appreciation of the importance of exercise is clear: parks are filled with joggers and bicyclists, physical education programs are enjoying a newly-founded fame and many companies are providing exercise equipment for their employees to use during the work day.
1. In the United States, fat is something ________.| A．people usually pay no attention to |
| B．belonging to the same treatment as other taboos |
| C．people always talk about |
| D．not regarded as a taboo topic |
| A．They are energetic and successful. |
| B．They are lacking in self-discipline. |
| C．Their work helps them to look youthful. |
| D．Their appearances affects their behavior. |
| A．Celia takes part in a marathon. |
| B．Margaret plays badminton every Saturday. |
| C．Mary does her housework by hand. |
| D．Cecilia goes to her office by car. |
| A．Because these parks are fit for sports. |
| B．Because people now recognize they should do more exercise. |
| C．Because people are taking part in physical education programs. |
| D．Because people are enjoying prestigious(受尊敬的) status in parks. |
【推荐1】It's not easy to make an award-winning film. It's even harder for a filmmaker to win a lifetime achievement award. Chinese director Ang Lee was recently given this honor by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
The academy called him “one of the world's most pioneering and revered contemporary filmmakers”. He has made many classic films in different genres. More importantly, whether it's an Eastern or Western story, he is able to bring out its “original flavor” Sohu News said.
Lee came to fame in the 1990s with a comedy trilogy that he calls Father Knows Best. In these three films, he told stories about Chinese families. The success of the trilogy paved his way to Hollywood. He then was hired to direct an adaptation of the British novel Sense and Sensibility, as well as the American drama The Ice Storm and superhero movie Hulk. His career reached a peak with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The film is an exciting combination of different genres—historical romance, martial arts and the classic American Western.
Lee's deep understanding of both East and West comes from his life experience. Born in Taiwan, Lee later studied filmmaking in the US. After graduation, he stayed in Hollywood to look for opportunities. He experienced six years of “development hell” in which he had nearly no income and no chance to direct.
But Lee says the “movie gods” have been very good to him, so he values every chance. In recent years, he has been trying new filmmaking technology, including high-frame rate filming, 3D and other innovations that he believes are the future of film, “A part of you has to keep honest and fresh. I just hope my whole career is like a never-ending film school,” Lee said.
1. Ang Lee won the lifetime achievement award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for ________.| A．his excellent English-language films | B．winning every other BAFTA film award |
| C．his outstanding work in filmmaking | D．selflessly helping young filmmakers |
| A．Hulk. | B．The Ice Storm. |
| C．Sense and Sensibility. | D．Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. |
| A．A serious punishment. | B．A difficult situation. |
| C．Secret preparations. | D．A process of learning. |
【推荐2】Stephen Hillenburg the US animator whose childhood summers on a Maine island later inspired him to create the famous cartoon Sponge Bob SquarePants (《海绵宝宝》), passed away on Nov. 26 at the age of 57.
Hillenburg was interested in the ocean as a child and developed a love for art. He studied Natural Resource Planning and Interpretation at college, with an emphasis on marine resources. “It dawned on me that if I was going to do a show on animals, I’d do a show about undersea animals--all the ones that I’m interested in and know a lot about,” Hillenburg told Enterlainrment Weekly in 2010. “I focused on the sponge because it’s one of the more special creatures.”
But although he wasn’t sure whether people would like a cartoon about the ocean, he stuck with it. “We just try to make ourselves laugh, then ask if it’s appropriate for children,” Hillenburg told The Associated Press in 2001. “The essence (精华) of the show is that SpongeBob is an innocent in a world of worldly characters.”
What Hillenburg probably didn’t expect was that the adventures of this “innocent” character in his underwater hometown would be such a success. There have been nearly 250 episodes to date. It has won several Emmy Awards, and has been shown in more than 60 languages.
SpongeBob was popular because he appealed not only 10 children but to older viewers as well, including college students, who held viewing parties for the show. Children liked SpongeBob’s innocence, teenagers and young adults loved the show’s humor, while the more mature enjoyed it as part of meme culture. But it was above all the character’s innocence that attracted people.
The show’s most important message, Hillenburg once said, “is that innocence prevails--which I don’t think it always does in real life”.
1. What can we learn from the passage?| A．Hillenburg created Sponge Bob SquarePants especially for children. |
| B．Hllenburg was sure that Sponge Bob SquarePants would be a success at first. |
| C．Hillenburg’s educational background contributed to Sponge-Bob SquarePants. |
| D．Hillenburg’s childhood summers had nothing to do with Sponge Bob SquarePants. |
| A．It attracts children, adults and old people. |
| B．It has won Emmy Awards for many times. |
| C．It focuses on the innocence of SpongeBob. |
| D．It is about very unusual undersea creatures. |
| A．wins | B．happens | C．counts | D．grows |
【推荐3】Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Trevor was kept mostly indoors for his earliest years, bound by the extreme measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s cruel white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.
Born a Crime is the story of a naughty young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and extremely religious mother, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty and abuse.
The stories here are by turns funny, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether living on caterpillars for dinner during hard times or being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, Trevor describes his world with a keen wit and incredible honesty. His stories form a moving and funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.
Throughout the book, Noah reveals many examples of his mother’s stubborn determination to prevent apartheid from suffocating her free spirit. Humor became a survival mechanism for both her and her son. In an interview, Noah said, “Laughter is an escape. I feel like laughter reminds you of your best self, your freest self.”
1. What can we infer about “apartheid” in paragraph one?| A．It’s a traditional custom in South Africa. |
| B．It’s a religious belief in South Africa. |
| C．It’s a criminal act performed by Trevor Noah’s parents. |
| D．It’s a policy of separating people on grounds of race. |
| A．Trevor Noah is a criminal in South Africa. |
| B．Trevor Noah is the host of a famous TV show. |
| C．Trevor Noah was in prison for five years after birth. |
| D．Young Trevor Noah was kept indoors because he was naughty. |
| A．Fearless and humorous. | B．Rebellious and guilty. |
| C．Funny and generous. | D．Honest and curious. |
| A．To introduce an autobiography of a famous person. |
| B．To appeal to readers to fight with racial discrimination. |
| C．To praise a mother’s love for her child. |
| D．To stress the importance of being humorous. |
