A sea turtle named Herman, an octopus called Octavia, and a seal named Lidia all spent this summer at the Smithsonian’ s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. But unlike the zoo’s other residents, they are not real animals. These creatures are actually huge sculptures and they’re made entirely out of plastic trash from the ocean.
These giant artworks, along with 14 others, are part of a traveling exhibit called “Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea”. The Washed Ashore project, led by artist Angela Haseltine Pozzi, works to raise awareness about the problem of plastic pollution in Earth’s oceans.
More than 315 billion pounds of plastic litter the world’s oceans today. Most of the plastic is garbage from towns and cities, as well as trash that people leave on beaches. Rainwater, winds, and high tides bring the trash into the ocean or into rivers that lead to the ocean. Once it is under the waves, the plastic begins to break up into smaller and smaller pieces. It often collects in spots called garbage patches, which spread over large areas of the ocean.
Thousands of marine animals — including whales, sea turtles, and fish — die each year from eating or getting stuck in plastic bags and other items. Plastic pieces can also injure coral and kill sea grass.
Washed Ashore and other organizations are working to stop that from happening. Since 2010, Washed Ashore volunteers have collected 38,000 pounds of plastic trash from more than 3000 miles of beaches. They helped Pozzi create more than 60 sculptures of marine creatures that were harmed by plastic pollution.
The artworks on display at the National Zoo include a 20-foot-long coral reef, a 12-foot-long shark, and a 16-foot-long parrot fish. Each one is made from hundreds of pieces of trash like water bottles and sunglasses.
“These sculptures are a powerful reminder of our personal role and global responsibility in preserving biodiversity on land and in the sea,” says Dennis Kelly, director of the National Zoo.
1. Why is Angela exhibiting her sculptured animal?| A．To prove her talent in sculpture. |
| B．To attract most visitors to the zoo. |
| C．To care about the plastic pollution in seas. |
| D．To teach the people the use of plastic. |
| A．Why plastic is difficult to break up. |
| B．What problems plastic litter causes. |
| C．Where plastic pieces go at last. |
| D．How garbage patches are formed. |
| A．Collecting pollution trash from the beaches. |
| B．Turning trash from the ocean into art. |
| C．Raising 38,000 pounds for plastic pollution. |
| D．Surveying the data of plastic litter in oceans. |
| A．Doubtful | B．Supportive |
| C．Negative. | D．Indifferent |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】More cycling, better public transport and car bans...Places all over the world are taking a range of measures to lower traffic pollution.
Paris
Paris bans cars in many historic central districts on weekends, places odd-even (单双日的) bans on vehicles，makes public transport free during major pollution events and encourages car-sharing programs. A long section of the right bank of the river Seine is now car-free and a monthly ban on cars has come into force along the Champs-Elysees.
The Netherlands
Politicians want to ban the sale of all petrol cars from 2025, allowing only electric or hydrogen vehicles. The new law will allow anyone who already owns a petrol car to continue using it. Most cities encourage bicycle use.
Freiburg
Freiburg in Germany has 500km of bike routes and a cheap and efficient public transport system. One town, Vauban, forbids people to park near homes and makes car-owners pay $18,000 for a space on the edge of town in return for living without a car. People are offered cheaper housing, free public transport, and plentiful bicycle spaces.
Curitiba
The southern Brazilian city of two million people has one of the biggest and lowest-cost bus systems in the world. Nearly 70% of its people go to work by public transport and the result is pollution-free air and traffic-free streets.
Copenhagen
Copenhagen prioritizes (优先考虑) bikes over cars and now has more cycles than people. The city calculates that one mile on a bike is worth $0.42 to society, while one mile in a car is a $0.2 loss. Large parts of the Danish capital have been closed to vehicles for decades.
1. What will happen in Paris during major pollution events?| A．Historic central districts won’t allow cars in. |
| B．Car-sharing programs will raise money publicly. |
| C．People must obey the odd-even traffic restrictions on weekends. |
| D．People can take public transport free of charge. |
| A．put 500km of bike routes into full use |
| B．only allow the sale of electric or hydrogen vehicles |
| C．completely forbid the use of petrol cars |
| D．own the biggest and lowest-cost bus system in the world |
| A．Freiburg and Copenhagen | B．Park and Curitiba |
| C．Paris and Freiburg | D．Curitiba and Copenhagen |
【推荐2】A ten-year-old sperm whale(抹香鲸）was found dead on a beach in Scotland.A necropsy(尸检）revealed that nearly 100 kilograms of plastic and other trash had formed clumps(硬块）in its digestive system.The tragedy quickly made headlines.Why would a top predator in the ocean eat gloves,rope,and plastic cups?
Conventional wisdom suggests that marine animals eat plastic because it is there and they don't know any better.It is true that plastic may smell like food to some of them.But that doesn't explain why only certain types of whales-deep-diving toothed whales,such as sperm whales and pilot whales-turn up dead on beaches with stomachs full of plastic.
It's possible,says Savoca,that plastic trash sounds like food to toothed whales.These species
hunt deep in the ocean,sometimes nearly 500 meters below the surface,where it's pitch black(漆黑）。They use echolocation(回声定位）to hunt for food,typically squid(乌贼）。
By contrast,baleen whales(须鲸），including humpbacks and blue whales,have natural filters(过滤器）for their food.Baleen,the brush-like filter-feeding system they have in place of teeth,as well as their narrow throats,keeping them from swallowing anything much larger than the krill(磷虾群）that forms the basis of their diet.That could help explain why baleen whales are not ending up with plastic filled stomachs.
Fifty years ago,there was almost no plastic in the ocean.The lifespan of a large whale can be
twice that long.In the lifetime of a single whale,we went from an ocean with no plastic to hundreds of thousands of tons of it.Plastic comes on top of other factors affecting life in the ocean-climate change,overfishing,shipping traffic,and noise pollution."it's a real shame because their lives are challenging enough even without the additional pressure we put onto them,"says Savoca.
1. What does Paragraph 2 mainly talk about?
| A．That plastic smells like food to toothed whales. |
| B．That marine animals started to eat plastic decades ago. |
| C．That a number of toothed whales are found dead on beaches every year. |
| D．That conventional wisdom about why marine animals eat plastic doesn't apply to all whales. |
| A．They don't feed on krill. |
| B．They live in the dark depths of the ocean. |
| C．They are not born with brush-like filter-feeding systems. |
| D．They don't determine the location of their food with their eyes. |
| A．Whales have a longer lifespan than humans. |
| B．Plastic has a negative effect on climate change. |
| C．Great changes have taken place in the ocean in the past 50 years. |
| D．Plastic pollution has worsened already serious issues affecting marine life. |
| A．Different diets,different fates |
| B．Silent killers in the ocean |
| C．Plastic trash in-the ocean |
| D．Saving whales |
【推荐3】At any moment, about half the world’s population is wearing denim（牛仔布）clothes. But few realize tiny bits of denim have been adding up to a surprising amount of pollution in water, as a new study shows.
Sam Athey, one of the study’s authors, says, “Even though denim is made of a natural material—cotton, it contains chemicals.” Cotton fibers were treated with many types of chemicals, she notes. Some improve its durability and feel. Others give denim its distinctive blue color.
Athey and her team washed jeans and found that about 50,000 microfibers came off from each pair per wash. Not all of those fibers make their way into the environment. Wastewater treatment plants catch about 83 to 99 percent of them. Catching 99 percent may sound pretty good. But one percent of 50,000 is still 500 fibers per wash. And since every pair of jeans is washed again and again, it still adds up to lots of microfibers entering the water environment.
Denim microfibers showed up in sediment（沉淀物）from the Great Lakes. More of these fibers polluted a series of shallow lakes in southern Ontario. They even turned up in sediment from the Arctic Ocean in northern Canada. The team found denim accounted for 12 to 23 percent of microfibers in the sediment. There were other microfibers too. But the team focused on denim because so many people wear jeans.
“Everyone wears jeans so they could be our largest input of microfibers into our streams and soils,” Athey says. “An easy way to limit that is by washing our jeans less often.” Athey grew up thinking she should wash her jeans after wearing them every couple of times, but most jean companies recommend washing them no more than once a month. “The solution is not that you shouldn’t wear jeans,” she says. “We need to buy fewer denim clothes and only wash them when they truly need it.”
1. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?| A．Chemicals are contained in natural cotton. |
| B．Chemicals can make denim colorful. |
| C．Chemicals prevent fibers from falling. |
| D．Chemicals can make the life of denim longer. |
| A．Denim. | B．Sediment. | C．Microfibers. | D．Chemicals. |
| A．To avoid wearing jeans. | B．To reduce denim consumption. |
| C．To wash jeans more often. | D．To limit input in denim production. |
| A．Science. | B．Entertainment. | C．Tourism. | D．Geography. |
【推荐1】In a new study of more than 50,000 Korean adolescents, those who used a smartphone for more than 4 hours per day had higher rates of adverse mental health and substance use. Jin Hwa Moon and Jong Ho Cha of Hanyang University Medical Center, Korea, and colleagues presented these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on December 6, 2023.
Previous research has shown that smartphone use among adolescents has increased in recent years, and that this usage may be associated with higher risk of adverse health, such as psychiatric disorders (精神紊乱), sleep issues, and eye-related problems.
However, growing evidence suggests that at least some daily internet usage may be associated with better physical and mental health for adolescents.
To deepen understanding of the relationship between adolescents ‘use of smartphones and health, Moon, Cha and colleagues analyzed data on more than 50,000 adolescent participants in 2017 and in 2020. The data included the approximate number of daily hours each participant spent on a smartphone as well as various health measures.
The researchers found that in 2020, the percentage of adolescents in the study who used a smartphone more than 2 hours per day was 85.7 percent — up from 64.3 percent in 2017. Adolescents who used a smartphone for more than 4 hours per day had higher rates of stress, thoughts of suicide, and substance use than those with usage below 4 hours per day. However, adolescents that used a smartphone 1-2 hours per day encountered fewer problems than adolescents who did not use a smartphone at all.
The authors note that this study does not confirm a causal relationship between smartphone use and adverse health outcomes. However, the findings could help inform usage guidelines for adolescents—especially if daily usage continues to rise.
1. What does the underlined word “adverse” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Related. | B．Negative. | C．Favorable. | D．Positive. |
| A．Smartphone use is harmful to teenagers. |
| B．A growing number of teenagers use smartphones. |
| C．A proper amount of smartphone use is beneficial. |
| D．The more use of smartphones, the higher risks of men tal health. |
| A．By comparing different studies. | B．By studying adolescents’ health. |
| C．By analyzing previous information. | D．By collecting data from participants. |
| A．Smartphone use among teenagers on the rise. |
| B．Smartphone use accounting for poor mental health. |
| C．Right smartphone use leading to fewer problems in teenagers. |
| D．Overuse of smartphones linked to mental health risks in teenagers. |
【推荐2】In addition to a list of benefits for a healthy gut, yogurt may greatly reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. A recent study in the American Journal of Hypertension found that men who eat at least two servings of yogurt per week had a 21 percent lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease, and risk among women dropped by 17%.
A team of scientists at Boston University's School of Medicine studied more than 740,000 individuals who had previously suffered from high blood pressure. Using health questionnaires administered over the last 30 years, the scientists measured yogurt intake and weighed it against heart-related health problems such as heart attack or stroke.
In a press release, one of the study's authors showed that the team behind the report had initially wanted to see if fermented dairy products could aid poor cardiovascular health. The study shows a relationship between yogurt and heart health—but it's not yet clear whether eating yogurt actually reduces risk, or that overall healthier people tend to eat more yogurt, so more research will have to be done.
Still, recent studies have found health benefits of a variety of probiotic and dairy foods, including the super-food kefir which significantly boosts gut health. And recent scientific research has found heart-healthy benefits from eating small amounts of cheese every day.
While the researchers didn't target a particular variety of yogurt, it's important to recognize that yogurt brands greatly vary in the dairy aisle, and some are better for you than others. It's clear that yogurt can be a great addition to your diet due to probiotics, calcium levels, and a healthy source of fat.
Regardless of which kind you choose to pick up, this new evidence could finally be the final bit of buzz to get you to include yogurt as your daily diet. Added bonus? There's a way you can try a lot of different yogurts for free this month, too.
1. What can we know about yogurt?| A．Its greater influence on men than women. |
| B．The same influence on women and men. |
| C．The only benefit to people with cardiovascular disease. |
| D．The only benefit to reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke. |
| A．Reduces. | B．Improves. | C．Harms. | D．Resists. |
| A．Education. | B．Culture. | C．Entertainment. | D．Health. |
| A．How Did Scientists Measure the Benefits of Yogurt? |
| B．Why Could Yogurt Lower Your Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke? |
| C．Eating Yogurt Could Lower Your Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke |
| D．Eating Yogurt Is Very Necessary for Old People and Younger Children |
【推荐3】Baleen whales (须鲸), such as the blue whale, are huge sea animals. “Baleen” describes a filter-feeding (滤食的) system in their mouths through which they can eat huge numbers of very small ocean animals. But it appears now that whales are not the first sea animals to filter-feed.
Scientists recently reported their findings about the ancient remains of a sea animal called Hupehsuchus nanchangensis that lived 248 million years ago, during the Triassic Period. They say its fossil (化石), which was unearthed in China’s Hubei Province, presents evidence of a filter-feeding system similar to that of baleen whales.
Unlike blue whales, Hupehsuchus was not large. The animal measured about one meter long. Its mouth was narrow and toothless. Its lower jaw was loosely connected to the rest of the head bone. This permitted the animal to open its mouth wide to take in a large amount of water and the animals it carried. The structure traps little sea animals but lets the seawater flow out.
From two new fossils with well-kept head bones the scientists found evidence along the jaws suggesting the presence of soft tissues that could have served as baleen. “We were amazed to discover the adaptation in such an early sea animal,” said Fang Zichen of the Wuhan Center of China Geological Survey.
Paleontologist Mike Benton said, “Altogether, this points to a soft pocket of skin around the mouth and throat, as in modern baleen whales, and some kind of filtering device hanging from the jaws, like baleen.” But, he added, the baleen and skin were not fossilized.
According to scientists, Hupehsuchus’ feeding style would match that used by baleen whales. This feeding structure is an example of a phenomenon in which distinct organisms independently evolve similar features—like the wings of birds and bats—to adapt to similar environments.
1. Why are baleen whales mentioned in the first paragraph?| A．To present another sea animal. | B．To awaken curiosity about huge whales. |
| C．To draw attention to their current state. | D．To introduce their unique feeding pattern. |
| A．How it filter-fed. | B．Its lower jaw's function. |
| C．Why it grew toothless. | D．Its physical characteristics. |
| A．Baleen surrounded the jaws. | B．It could feed and live in the sea. |
| C．It developed a filter-feeding system. | D．Two undamaged head bones were found. |
| A．Hupehsuchus Proving to Be a Filter-feeder |
| B．Hupehsuchus Appearing Earlier than Whales |
| C．Scientists Unlocking the Secrets of Hupehsuchus |
| D．New Evidence Telling Hupehsuchus'Evolution |
【推荐1】Surrounded by Brothers
I know it is wrong to envy your children. But when I see my son, Tonio and his young brother Sam going down a slide together, one’s arm around the other, I know I have missed something wonderful.
Not only did I never have a brother, but also I had no friendships like theirs. My sister was old enough to help take care of me, so she was more a mother than a playmate, and I was more a pest than a friend. A brother would have been wonderful, but it was not in the family planning.
Now I finally live with brothers, my sons, Tonio and Sam. I am watching them build the kind of relationship that I once dreamed about. They go to bed together. When one comes into our bed after a nightmare, my wife and I know that before morning his brother will follow.
Sam manages the world with more ease than his elder brother, whose frustrations often bring him to tears. With a sincere “Smile, Tonio,” Sam is the one who comforts him. Tonio, on the other hand, has stopped playing with boys at his age who don’t like playing with Sam. They are always backing each other up.
I don’t know what kind of relationship they will have when they grow up. Parents always want their children to have what they never could. I want them to have each other. So I imagine them going to the same college, marrying sisters and living on the same block.
That’s why I was so worried the day Tonio started kindergarten. I felt that I would lose something too. As we headed for school that morning, both boys seemed relaxed, as if neither had any idea that the day was going to be different, that starting then, Tonio would be leaving behind his brother, his best friend, his right arm.
Tonio’s first day was chaotic, with hundreds of children outside looking for their teachers. Before any of us could say goodbye, Tonio disappeared with his new classmates. He turned to wave and then was gone. It was so sudden. Sam even didn’t see him go. Although parents had been asked to ease the craziness of the first day by staying out of the school, I lifted Sam up and took him to Tonio’s classroom, looking for a glimpse of Tonio. Sam spotted him first.
My wife and I didn’t head back home immediately, stopping instead at a coffee shop to treat Sam to hot chocolate. We even let him eat ice-cream with his fingers. Sam was still quiet, so I asked him if he missed his brother already.
He didn’t answer. Instead he asked, “Daddy, is Tonio going to be gone forever?”
“No, Sammy,” I said, feeling happy about his sweet question. “Not forever, just until three o'clock.”
I sometimes think that the greatest thing I have ever done is to help create these brothers. And I didn’t stop with them. We had another child, and for the third time in a row, it was a boy. It wasn’t long before his brothers climbed into the crib to play with him. I am surrounded by brothers.
1. What makes the author envy his sons?| A．He has no friends like Sam and Tonio | B．He has only one brother in his family |
| C．He doesn’t enjoy brotherhood as they do | D．He doesn’t have a good relation with his sister. |
| A．a bad person | B．a lovely brother |
| C．a good companion | D．an annoying person |
| A．They supported each other in different ways |
| B．The two brothers went to the same kindergarten |
| C．Neither of the brothers played with other children |
| D．Tonio often encouraged Same when Sam burst into tears |
| A．Tonio might not do well with his study | B．he was afraid he would lose Tonio forever |
| C．he wanted Tonio to have what he didn’t have | D．Tonio might not spend so much time with Sam |
| A．Sam was very sad because Tonio was gone forever. |
| B．Tonio had a nice day playing with his new classmates. |
| C．the father felt happy when he sensed Sam’s love to Tonio |
| D．Sam was allowed to have ice-cream with fingers as usual. |
| A．The author often plays with his sons whenever he has time |
| B．The author experienced brotherly affection by raising his sons. |
| C．The youngest son is always surrounded by his elder brothers. |
| D．Parents want their children to stay at home and play together. |
【推荐2】Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci ... the art world has never lacked talent. And now, a new painter is ready to join the list, although this one isn't even human.
Next month, the auction house Christie's Prints and Multiples will make history by offering the first piece of art work created by artificial intelligence (AI) for sale. The painting is a portrait of a man called Edmond De Belamy, and is expected to be sold for up to $10,000.
The work, which features a man with a mysterious look on his face, was created by software developed by the French art group Obvious. Laugero-Lasserre, an art collector, called the work "grotesque and amazing at the same time". This isn't the first example of AI-produced artwork, as AI has already been used to write poems and compose songs. However, many people doubt whether it should be called art at all.
According to Russian writer Leo Tolstroy (1828 -1910), art is about creating emotion (情感). It's "a means of … joining people together in the same feelings," he once said.
So, if the emotion behind art is what makes it, the ability to create and use tools is what makes human beings different from other species. And as a tool itself, the AI technology used to create the portrait is the result of a lot of effort made by several designers. Together, they "fed" the AI a huge collection of paintings from the 14th to the 18th centuries, until it was able to work out how to make similar paintings of its own.
The introduction of AI art could be the beginning of a new artistic movement. However, not everyone is ready to welcome these high-tech artists just yet.
"The human mind is what's behind the AI technology. And the human mind is not a cold, hard fact," said Oscar Schwartz, a professor of AI. "Rather, it is something that's created with our opinions and something that changes over time."
1. Why does the author mention the artists in Paragraph 1?| A．To introduce their works. | B．To make an advertisement. |
| C．To present a piece of news. | D．To focus the topic on the AI. |
| A．Strange. | B．Simple. |
| C．Messy. | D．Understandable. |
| A．It comes from human works. |
| B．It shows human ability to create. |
| C．It expresses human feelings effectively. |
| D．It is beyond the imagination of humans. |
| A．Limited. | B．Decisive. |
| C．Useless. | D．Meaningful. |
【推荐3】Mistakes are a part of life. To err is human. Failure is also a part of life, not the end of life. Be happy facing life’s challenges. When you make the effort to be happy and to improve your life, you are actually rewarded along the way.
Life is like a game and maybe you can award (奖励) points for every effort that has been a success for you. Try it. Add ten points for every achievement. And when you have reached 50 points, just yell, “ Hey, I’ve won!” and give yourself a reward. If you happen to have missed your points for whatever reason, tell yourself, “Well, I tried!” which is better than not trying at all. Don’t let it be said you didn’t try.
What is it that you want to make yourself happy? Actually happiness means different things to different people. For example, an athlete will be happy winning his first race. For a new mother happiness would be seeing her baby’s first steps. Happiness for a poor person would mean having a meal just for today. So happiness for you is really something simple that you want for yourself.
It really doesn’t have to be big. As a matter of fact you should always have realistic expectations. Make the best out of every given situation. If you expect a certain result from a situation and it does not happen, don’t get despondent. This just means trying harder next time. We all have in us the power to succeed. Don’t let “ give up ” be a part of your vocabulary.
1. By saying “To err is human”, the author means that________.| A．human beings should try to avoid (避免) making mistakes |
| B．no one is perfect (完美的) and everyone makes mistakes |
| C．mistakes and failures make up our life |
| D．human beings make mistakes easily |
| A．Try to reach 50 points. |
| B．Never stop trying in your life. |
| C．Award yourself for your success |
| D．Don’t be afraid of missing your points. |
| A．examples | B．numbers |
| C．experiments | D．stories |
| A．frightened | B．disappointed |
| C．surprised | D．excited |
【推荐1】Although there are fillers（滤镀）which can change digital photographs to make them similar to a painting, obvious differences still exist.
A brand-new painting Al has been made public recently. Much like the pupils of the old masters, the new Al studies the work of great painters like Vermeer and Van Gogh and learns to reproduce their works.
The Al, named "paintBot", is the creation of a team of researchers from the University of Maryland, the Bytedance Al Lab and Adobe Research.
PaintBot can not only reproduce the work of different artists but create new works based on photographs in the chosen painter's characteristic style.
To train the Alto imitate（模 仿）a given artist's technique, the researchers would present it with between 3 and 10 reference paintings. With each reference painting it studies, the Al gradually learns to recognize the various characteristics of the given artist's technique, including the stroke（笔画）color, position and size—along with the order in which each brushstroke should be made.
PaintBot uses a technique known as reinforcement learning（强化学习）.During the learning process, the Al would practice reproducing reference paintings, which it would then compare with the original work to see how similar the two were and if it was improving its imitation of the artist's style. It takes around six hours for the Al to learn to imitate a given painter.
Once the Al has mastered a particular artist's technique, the researchers could present it with a new image to reproduce in the same style. The Al then uses what it has learnt to produce a new painting, putting down each brushstroke one at a time.
After being trained in a given style, PaintBot takes only around five minutes to produce each of its digital masterpieces.
The way that PaintBot's compositions are built up from thousands of individual brushstrokes makes the AI's works more realistic than those online filters.
1. What does the author say about filters used to change digital photos?| A．They do amazing work. | B．They are out of date. |
| C．They have different uses. | D．They are not good enough. |
| A．Learn the artist's techniques. |
| B．Recognize the value of the painting. |
| C．Compare the painting with other works. |
| D．Understand the artist's family background. |
| A．It follows the given style. | B．It learns from the researchers. |
| C．It just imitates the reference paintings. | D．It mixes techniques of different artists. |
| A．Popular. | B．Valuable. | C．Advanced. | D．Lifelike. |
【推荐2】For more than 2,000 years the Chinese people have been guided by the ideals of Confucianism. Its founder and greatest teacher was Confucius, whose humane philosophy also influenced the civilization of all of eastern Asia. Many legends were spread to illustrate Confucius’ beliefs. According to one story, he and his followers passed a cemetery where a woman was weeping at a graveside. She told them she was crying because “my husband’s father was killed here by a tiger, and my husband also, and now my son has met the same fate”. When they asked her why she did not leave such a fatal spot, she answered that in this place there was no oppressive government. “Remember this, my children,” said Confucius, “oppressive government is fiercer and more feared than a tiger”.
In such teaching and with such wise sayings, Confucius tried to bring people a respect for the teachings of the wise men of older generations. He always said of himself that he was a “transmitter, not a maker”. He collected and edited the poetry, the music, and the historical writings of what he considered the golden age.
Confucius laid no claim to being more than a man. Yet when he died he was admired almost as god. Temples were constructed in his honor in every city of China. His grave at Kufow, in what is now Shandong Province, became a place of pilgrimage.
Though Confucianism is commonly called a religion, it is rather a system of moral conduct. Confucius did not talk of God but of goodness. He did not teach about any god, simply saying, “Respect the gods, but have as little to do with them as possible.” His attention was centered on making people better in their lifetime, and his Analects are wise sayings similar to the Proverbs in the Bible.
Confucius is the Latinized form of the philosopher’s Chinese name, which was K’ung-fu-tzu, meaning Master K’ung. He was born in a poor but noble family. His father died when the boy was 3 years old. When he was only 6, people noted his fondness for setting out sacrifices and for ceremony. After his marriage at age 19, he worked for the governor of his district, first a keeper of stores and then as an overseer of parks and livestock. At the age of 22 he began his life as a teacher by establishing a school. He accepted valuable aid from some of his students, but he also welcomed students who could afford to pay only a small fee.
After some years of teaching and travel, he settled in Shandong for 15 years. When he was 52 years old, he was rewarded with an appointment as governor of a province and never failed to win the credit he deserved. He performed his task so well that a neighboring governor became jealous. Later, Confucius traveled around other kingdoms and wandered about for 13 years. Eventually, he returned to his native state of Lu in his 69th year and died three years later.
1. The story of the woman in Para.1 is mentioned to show____.| A．Confucius was creative and sympathetic |
| B．the government then was fiercer than a tiger |
| C．Confucius’ beliefs are very popular |
| D．Confucius often wanted to influence people |
| A．was tired of spreading his teachings in his late year. |
| B．was not interested in reforming the society |
| C．did not want people to worship him as god |
| D．showed great disrespect for the noble families |
| A．Confucianism is different from common religion. |
| B．God blesses those who show respect and goodness. |
| C．People are advised to keep a distance from gods. |
| D．Confucius highlights the importance of virtue. |
| A．was highly successful |
| B．turned out to be a surprise |
| C．was bound to fail because of his belief |
| D．was not so important as his teaching life |
| A．objective spirit | B．deep admiration |
| C．great openness | D．obvious surprise |
【推荐3】You may not know that up to 40 percent of college students at some schools usually don't get enough to eat. Though some receive assistance through social services and colleges’ food pantries (储藏室）,it often isn’t enough. In fact, almost 600 colleges and universities across the U.S. belong to the College and University Food Bank Alliance(CUFBA) and it is likely that even more have food pantries for their students. Along with community colleges, CUFBA members include private colleges, well-respected state universities and Ivy League schools.
The problem can lead to bad consequences. Like other young adults, these students worry about how they are regarded and know that not having enough money for food results in pity or worse, being looked down on. To be honest I had been judgmental before. I questioned the ability of the other students to manage their resources (财力)and how their parents could ignore the fact that their child was mooching off (乞求）others. I never thought about the money simply not being there. Few will share details of their situation, never mind asking for help. Many of these students finally drop out of school, finding the challenges insurmountable.
One would think that our children would see this need and act correctly, whether by helping personally or starting programs, but teens and young adults rarely see beyond their own experiences. This is not a criticism—it is simply where most are;they haven’t yet had life experiences to show them things can be different. As awareness of this problem has increased, more resources have been made offered, some organized by student groups. But more still needs to be done.
Since awareness of a problem is the first step in solving it, talk to your kids. Ask them to pay more attention to see it, talk to your kids. Ask them to pay more attention to see if they have any classmates in need. Talking openly and non-judgmentally about the problem is important.
1. What does the author want to show in Paragraph 1?| A．Hunger is a serious problem in college. |
| B．There are few food pantries for students. |
| C．Many colleges don’t provide enough food. |
| D．CUFBA failed to help students from private colleges. |
| A．Parents’ not having enough money. |
| B．Parents’ not taking action immediately. |
| C．Students’ being frightened to ask for help. |
| D．Students’ inability to use their money wisely. |
| A．Worthy. | B．Undiscovered. |
| C．Sad to know about. | D．Unable to overcome. |
| A．Ask teens to act properly. | B．Be mindful of the problem. |
| C．Broaden students’ experience. | D．Organize various social groups. |
