One of the most important moments in a parent’s life is the celebration of their child’s birth. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, even close relatives aren’t able to join the celebration in person. New parents in Japan have found a way to solve this problem. They are sharing the joys of welcoming a new family member with bags of rice.
These rice bags are not ordinary ones, however. Each of them is in the shape of a baby wrapped (包裹) in a blanket. This “baby” weighs the same as the newborn at birth. There is a photo of the baby on the front of each bag. The bags can allow relatives to imagine the feeling of holding the real baby in their arms.
In fact, the practice of sending rice baby bags is not a new one. Naruo Ono, the owner of a rice shop in Japan, got the idea in 2007. He was a new parent at the time. Some of his relatives lived too far away to come and see his newborn son. He then decided to send them bags of rice that looked like the baby.
The idea was not a big success then, but COVID-19 has given it another chance. Ono has started receiving orders from across Japan since the pandemic began. The bags have created a new problem, though: People haven’t been able to decide what to do with their lovely “rice babies” once the moment is over.
1. What is NOT needed to make a baby rice bag?| A．A bag. | B．Some rice. | C．A toy baby. | D．A picture of the baby. |
| A．during the COVID-19 pandemic, more babies are born |
| B．the COVID-19 pandemic increases the need of rice baby bags |
| C．the COVID-19 pandemic makes the price of rice baby bags go up |
| D．the COVID-19 pandemic makes the cost of making rice baby bags go down |
| A．the idea of rice baby bags is an old one in Japan’s history |
| B．how Naruo Ono helped his relatives by sending rice bags |
| C．how rice baby bags is made and used |
| D．how the idea of rice baby bags came out |
| A．Be Rich? He Made It! |
| B．Cannot Come For the Newborn? Send You One! |
| C．How Do Japanese Welcome a New Family Member? |
| D．Japanese Life Changed by COVID-19 |
相似题推荐
Our world changes a lot. Here are some new things that are appearing in our lives.
Digital (数字的) money
We used to pay with paper money for everything we bought. Now when we use a Wechat Pay or Alipay to shop, money is spent without seeing it. That means we are using digital money. People only need to take a mobile phone wherever they go. Using these ways is much easier and more convenient (便捷) than searching our pockets for change. It is also safer than carrying a lot of paper money.
Self-driving cars
Unlike a human driver, a self-driving car won’t be influenced (影响) by a phone call, the radio or something outside the window. Sensors (探测器) and cameras on the car would agree itself to follow the rules of the road and keep a sa fe space from other cars. This would greatly make the number of road accidents smaller. You could even take a rest while the car drives itself. In the future, driver-less cars would be widely used.
Bionic (仿生的) eyes
They are no longer something only in a science movie. People who can’t see may have a chance to see things clearly—by wearing bionic eyes.
A blind (盲的) eye can no longer feel light, but a bionic eye can use a camera to “see” the things around and send information to the mind. Now the bionic eye only let patients to see lights and uncle ar shapes. A bionic eye with very clear pictures could be just in a few years away.
1. Which one is not the writer’s opinions about Digital money?| A．Cheaper. | B．Easier. | C．More convenient. | D．Safer. |
| A．Wechat Pay. | B．Alipay. | C．Digital money | D．Paper money. |
| A．computer | B．camera | C．mind | D．heart |
| A．The blind can use glasses to see lights and clear shapes now. |
| B．There will be no accident at all if self-driving cars are used. |
| C．There would be a number of self-driving cars on the road. |
| D．We would live a hard life with digital money. |
| A．Science World. | B．Language and Culture. |
| C．Life and Health. | D．Sport News. |
【推荐2】Do you want to live a life full of fun? Do you want to experience great convenience in our daily life? You can try some creative modern inventions. Let’s look at three of them!
 | Time Temp Glasses Are you a person who wants to know the time and temperature during the day? You might like Time Temp Glasses. These special glasses show the time above your left eye and the temperature above your right eye. It is easier than wearing a watch, and you don’t need to guess the temperature. Price: $ 25 for one pair. |
 | Smart Fork If you have a big stomach and are a fast diner (食客), the Smart Fork is a good choice for you! This special fork has two lights: one green and one red. When the green light is on, it’s OK to take a bite of food, and soon the red light goes on. Wait for the green light before you take another bite. Price: $ 9 for one. |
 | Pizza Scissors Are you still cutting your pizza with a knife? The best pizza scissors can make a clean cut without tearing your pizza. They are also easy to use, with long handles to keep your hands away from hot pizza slices. Price: $ 4 for one. |
| A．Time Temp Glasses | B．Smart Fork | C．Pizza Scissors |
| A．one | B．two | C．three |
| A．$25 | B．$9 | C．$34 |
| A．In a tourist guide. | B．In a health magazine. | C．In a sports newspaper. |
【推荐3】Radboud University in Dutch dug a hole in the ground, which is called “purification grave (净化坟墓)”.
It is an invitation to think about what is really important in life. First dug in 2009, the grave was part of a two—year project. However, it made a comeback this year. Signing up (报名) to lie in the several—foot—deep hole for 30 minutes to three hours, every student at the university as well as those at the neighboring university may have a try. To make them pay full attention to things around and themselves, they mustn’t take phones or books with them in the grave. “We dug another grave in the garden,” said Radboud University. “You can decide for yourself how long you want to do this. Telephones and books in the grave are prohibited. It is a place for meditation (冥想). Under you the earth;above you the sky. See what goes through your mind. If you don’t want to lie in the grave, you can also sit near it.”
39 people took part in the 2009 project, but ever since the grave was dug in June, 2019, tens of people have already tried it. Every week, a few people use the grave.
“ Whether getting complete rest or learning something from the experience, you’ll find it really works,” student Feona Kane said.
1. If students from the neighboring university want to have a try in the grave, they should first________.| A．visit the garden directly | B．sign up to get a chance |
| C．dig a hole themselves | D．join the old project |
| A．welcomed | B．prepared |
| C．not protected | D．not allowed |
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
| A．He had no idea about it. | B．He thought it was helpful. |
| C．He believed it was strange. | D．He was afraid of the grave. |
| A．A university lets students lie in a grave to think. | B．A university planned to start a great project. |
| C．Students in Dutch can get a grave in the garden. | D．Students in Dutch started resting in graves. |
【推荐1】Many scientists once believed that physical similarities between identical twins are genetic（基因的）while their personalities, intelligence and other differences between them are an effect of their environment. Now scientists are discovering that the boundaries between genes and environment are not so clear.
Twins Jim Springer and Jim Lewis were adopted（领养）as babies and raised by different couples. When the Jims finally met at age 39, they discovered they had plenty in common. Both were six feet tall, 180 pounds. They had the same smile and the same voice. When scientist Thomas Bouchard Jt. invited the Jim twins to his lab, people there found it very hard to tell them apart.
But the similarities didn’t stop at the physical. They’d both had dogs named Toy. They had both married women named Linda and then their marriage broke up. They’d both been policemen, enjoyed music, and let love notes around the house for their wives. They had so much in common, it seemed unlikely these were just coincidences（巧合）.
The Jim twins were just one of 137 sets of separated twins Bouchard tested. When they compared the twins’ IQ scores, Bouchard and his team reached a surprising conclusion. They concluded that intelligence was mostly connected to genes rather than to training or education. It seemed the difference s in family and environment had little effect.
However, genes can’t control everything, argues geneticist Danielle Reed, who also studies twins. Read’s research shows that though nothing can truly change our DNA, environmental differences that a child experiences before birth and in their first year can sometimes affect the way the DNA behaves, making even identical twins into very different people. “What I like to say is that Mother Nature writes some things in pencil and some things in pen,” She explains. “Things written in pen you can t change. That’s DNA. But things written in pencil you can.”
1. How many physical similarities between the Jim twins are mentioned?| A．2. | B．3. | C．4. | D．5. |
| A．Each seemed to be as tall as their twin. | B．Each had the same hobby as their twin. |
| C．Each had almost the same ability as their twin. | D．Each had about the same IQ level as their twin. |
| A．Only DNA has an effect on our development. |
| B．Environment could possibly change some things about us. |
| C．There are no boundaries between genes and environment. |
| D．Environmental differences can sometimes change our DNA. |
【推荐2】Beauty sleep is a real thing, researches have shown that people who have enough sleep look more attractive (有魅力的) to others. A few bad nights is enough to make a person look “especially” more ugly, their sleep experiments show.
The researchers asked 25 university students to join in their sleep experiment. They were asked to get a good night’s sleep for two nights. A week later, they were asked to sleep for only four hours every night for two nights in a row. The researchers took make-up free (素颜) photos of the volunteers after both the good and the bad sleep.
Next, they asked 122 strangers to have a look at the photos and judge (评价) them on attractiveness, health, and sleepiness, as well as asking them: “How much would you like to make friends with this person in the picture?”
The strangers were good at judging if the person they were looking at was tired, and, if they were sleepy, their attractiveness score was low. The strangers also said they wouldn’t want to socialize with the tired students. The researchers say this is natural for people. An unhealthy-looking face makes people run away. In other words, people don’t want to hang around with people who might be ill.
Dr. Brewer, an expert at the University of Liverpool said “Judgement of attractiveness is often unconscious (无意识的), but we all do it, and we are able to judge on even something small like whether someone looks tired or unhealthy. This study is a good reminder of how important sleep is to us.”
1. When did the researchers take make-up free photos?| A．After two nights’ good sleep. | B．After two nights’ bad sleep. |
| C．Before the experiment. | D．After both two nights good sleep and two nights’ had sleep. |
| A．telling who looked healthier | B．telling who didn’t have many friends |
| C．telling who missed a lot of sleep | D．telling who was attractive |
| A．合伙 | B．玩耍 | C．交往 | D．共事 |
| A．Beauty sleep, More attractive | B．More sleep, More Friends |
| C．Less sleep, Fewer friends | D．No attractiveness, No friends |
【推荐3】Soon computers and other machines will be able to remember you by looking at your eyes! The program works because everyone’s eyes are different. So in the future you won’t have to remember a number when you want to use a machine or take money out of a bank. You’ll just have to look at the machine and it will be able to tell who you are.
The eye-recognition (眼睛识别) program has already been tested in shops and banks in the USA. Britain, Spain, Italy and Turkey. Soon this technology will take the place of all other ways of finding out who people are.
Eye-recognition is a course of recognizing iris (虹膜), which includes the following steps. First, a kind of machine needs to collect different examples of one’s iris from his eyes and store them. Second, when this person goes to the bank to take out money, this machine will have iris feature extraction (采集). Then, this machine will compare the examples kept in it with iris feature extraction. Once the examples and the feature extraction are the same, this person will be identified, and he will take out the money from the bank successfully.
However, scientists are also working on other systems. Machines will soon be able to know you from the shape of your face or hand or even your smell! We have already had machines that can tell who you are from your voice or the mark made by your finger. Eye-recognition is better than other kinds because your eyes don’t change as you get older, and don’t get dirty like hands or fingers, and even twins have different eyes. So the eye-recognition program can be up to 94% correct, depending on how good the technology is. However, some other programs may only be 51% correct now. In Britain, it was found that 91% of people who had tried it said that they liked the idea of eye-recognition.
In the future your computer will be looking at you in the eye, So smile!
1. How does the eye-recognition program work?| A．You type in your number. | B．You say your name. |
| C．You look at the machine. | D．You show your ID card. |
| A．Remembering smells. | B．Remembering fingerprints. |
| C．Remembering the shape of faces. | D．Remembering eyes. |
| A．The eye-recognition program can be up to 51% correct. |
| B．In Britain, 91% of people said that they liked the idea of eye-recognition. |
| C．Everyone’s eyes are different, and even twins have different eyes. |
| D．The eye-recognition program is widely used now. |
| A．You won’t have to remember a number when you take money out of a bank. |
| B．We have already had machines that can tell who you are from your voice. |
| C．Tell people how the eye-recognition program works and what advantages it has. |
| D．The eye-recognition program has already been tested in shops and banks. |
| A．You needn’t remember a number when you take money out of a bank. |
| B．Machines know you from your smell. |
| C．Computers can tell who you are by looking at your eyes. |
| D．Machines can tell who you are from your voice. |
