Nowadays, many people post their original pictures on the Internet to share their life but that may tell more than you think.
Pictures often have information left by digital cameras or smartphones. This kind of information, called Exchangeable Image File Format (EXIF), can tell small facts you can’t get from pictures directly. It tells exactly when and where the picture was taken, what kind of camera or phone and which picture apps you used.
For example, if you take a picture from your window and post it online, it means that you are showing your location to some people you don’t know. They can successfully deduce where your home is from EXIF. Maybe they will post something strange to your home or even come to your door!
Here is some advice for you to keep personal information safe when sharing pictures. On computers, edit pictures with Photoshop before sharing them. What’s more, you can send the pictures to a computer first, open the data documents of pictures, and click on “No EXIF data”. While on smartphones, when you have to send pictures on the Internet, do not click “original pictures”. And you can also turn off location services for the camera before you take pictures. There’s one more thing you can do—take pictures with a traditional camera that can’t connect to the Internet.
Next time you post your pictures, please make 100% sure of your online safety. Just try to follow the ways to keep away from showing your personal information on the Internet.
1. According to the passage, EXIF can tell _________.| A．the camera you use | B．the picture you like |
| C．the computer you have | D．the document you send |
| A．guess | B．teach | C．correct | D．send |
| A．Use cameras with Internet connection. |
| B．Turn on location services on smartphones. |
| C．Click on “No EXIF data” on smartphones. |
| D．Edit photos with photo editing apps on computers. |
| A．The Danger of Smartphones | B．Stop Sharing Pictures |
| C．Be Careful with Your Pictures | D．The Information on Smartphones |
2 . Online learning is a good way to learn a language. By using the Internet, you can practise at any time of the day or night for as many minutes or hours as you have. You can practise anywhere—at home, on the bus or in the park.
Here are some websites (网站) for you to learn English online.
MOOEC
MOOEC has courses for learners at all levels. The courses are short. If you’re not sure if online study is right for you, MOOEC is a good place to start, because it will just take a little bit of your time. People in Australia built the website, so there are some courses about Australia and its history.
FutureLearn
You may learn many online courses by yourself, but you can talk with other people and practise your spoken English while taking courses on FutureLearn.With more than one million users, it’s easy to find someone to talk with you.
Duolingo
As a free language learning website, Duolingo is a great choice for beginners to learn vocabulary and grammar. It’s not very useful if you have learned some English before.
engVid
This website offers free video lessons. They are mainly about English conversations. So if you want to make a fluent (流利的) conversation, the website is a good choice for you.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．What online learning is. | B．How to learn a language online. |
| C．The advantages of leaning online. | D．The importance of leaning a new language. |
| A．FutureLearn | B．Duolingo | C．engVid | D．MOOEC |
| A．short and cheap | B．easy and free |
| C．useful but difficult | D．interesting but expensive |
①listening ②speaking ③reading ④writing
| A．①② | B．①③ | C．②③ | D．①④ |
| A．advise readers to learn English online |
| B．compare the four English learning websites |
| C．tell readers how to find useful websites to learn English |
| D．show why online learning is good way to learn English |
3 . Now, the VOA Special programmer WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
(MUSIC)
Today, we will show the word “waste”. It is something people tell us not to do. At home, parents tell us not to watch food in the classroom, teachers tell us not to waste time. On sports team, coaches tell us not to waste energy.
Waste often happens because we use something too much or because we do not use it well, we often use “waste” in arguments. lf we are unhappy with someone, we can say: “Don’t waste my time.” And if you are not happy with something you did, you can say, “Well, that was a complete waste of time.”
We also find it in some useful expressions. The first one is “Haste makes waste.” “Haste” means doing something very quickly. “Haste makes waste” means if you move or do something in a hurry, you could make mistakes. And then it takes more time to correct mistakes. So, if you see your friends doing homework in a hurry, you can suggest, “Be careful with your work, you might make mistakes and then our teacher will make you do it again. Haste makes waste, you know.”
The other common expression is: “Waste Not, Want Not.” This means that if you never waste anything, especially food or money, you will always have it when you need it the most.
Now Let’s hope learning about “waste” in this Words and Their Stories was not a “complete waste of your time.”
(MUSIC)
I’m Anna Matteo!
Listen again next week for another Words and Their Stories programme from VOA.
1. This passage nay be from ________.| A．a story book | B．a grammar book |
| C．an English dictionary | D．a radio programmer |
| A．by telling stories | B．by giving examples |
| C．by using pictures | D．by describing facts |
| A．白费口舌 | B．水滴石穿 | C．欲速则不达 | D．万事开头难 |
| A．Don t waste energy. | B．Don’t waste my time. |
| C．Haste makes waste. | D．Waste Not, Want Not. |
| A．The speaker wishes her programme can help a lot. |
| B．The speaker suggests her programme is boring. |
| C．The speaker is worried about her programme. |
| D．The speaker thinks nobody believes her words. |
4 . There are many interesting things around the world. Here is something fun to visit.
 | The Piano House This House in Huainan City of An Hui Province looks like a large piano, with a glass violin in the middle. Some university students in Hefei built it and hoped to bring the city plenty of tourists. It works! Now it has become one of the favorites of tourists in China. If you are a music lover, don’t miss it. |
 | Singing Roads In Japan, some roads can play music as cars travel over them. Grooves are carefully cut into the road. The spaces between the grooves make different music as cars touch therm. The closer the grooves are, the louder the music will be. Drivers can hear the beautiful songs best when driving at 50 kilometers an hour. And all say they can make them keep wide-awake when they feel tired. |
 | Mr. Toilet House This large building in South Korea was built by Mr. Toilet in 2007. His real name is Sim. Sim built it to tell people how important toilets are to the health of a society. There is a Children Museum inside. And now it is a popular place for school learning trips and students love it. Opening time: Tuesday-Sunday, March-October 10:00-18:00; November-February 10:00-17:00. Closed on Mondays. |
| A．The Piano House | B．Singing Roads |
| C．Mr. Toilet House | D．Children Museum |
| A．those roads in Japan are very wide |
| B．Japanese cars are running very fast |
| C．there are some pianos on these roads |
| D．cars touch the spaces between the grooves |
| A．spaces | B．songs | C．drivers | D．tourists |
| A．11:00 a. m. Monday | B．9:00 a. m. Tuesday |
| C．3:30 p. m. Friday | D．5:30 p. m. Sunday |
| A．who Mr. Toilet is | B．when Sim built it |
| C．why students like it | D．how Sim built it |
Who says you can’t see the world if you stay at home? Virtual* vacations let you travel around the world without leaving your sofa. All you need is VR headset*. Then you can connect your VR headset to your computer or smartphone.
Taking a virtual vacation is very easy. First, decide where you want to go and what you want to see. You can choose a place you have been in the past or a place you’d like to go. Maybe you feel like relaxing on a beautiful beach in Sanya. Perhaps you want to walk side by side with elephants in Africa. You can even take virtual space vacations!
The next step is to find a quiet place. Make sure you are away from all distractions*. A study or a room may be a good place to enjoy your vacation. Once you are sitting or lying comfortably alone, take five deep breaths* to relax. Now you can begin your trip!
A VR headset gives users a special 3D experience, making them feel as if they are walking around inside a real world.
Although a virtual vacation can last from just a few minutes to 20 minutes or more, you will feel refreshed after it. That’s why it is as meaningful as a “real” vacation.
What to travel around the world from the comfort of your home? Try virtual vacations!
1. When you take a virtual vacation, you don’t need a ________.| A．computer | B．smartphone | C．3D glasses | D．VR headset |
| A．A virtual vacation can only last 20 minutes |
| B．It is difficult for you to take a virtual vacation |
| C．A VR headset cannot give users a special experience |
| D．You can decide where to visit during a virtual vacation |
| A．relaxed | B．bored | C．surprised | D．sad |
| A．It’s impossible to take a virtual space vacation. |
| B．It’s popular to take a virtual vacation all over the world. |
| C．Virtual vacations make you comfortable to travel at home. |
| D．Virtual vacations make you keep away from all distractions. |
6 . It’s said that cats are not just pets to us all these years. They are, in fact, learning from their owners and taking them as models. Scary, huh?
A new study from the University of Messina shows that indoor cats who live closely to their owners copy the lives of their owners. For example, they sleep at the same time and eat at the same time. Just like a parent for a child, the same is true for a cat owner and his cat.
Many owners think their cats are as family members, so they spend much time with cats, hoping to give the best care and love for their cats. This is one of reasons the cats learn from their owner’s actions.
Another reason is that cats are clever animals with a long memory. Jane Brunt, director of the Catalyst Council, told Discovery News. “Cats watch us and notice our actions, knowing where their food is and what time to eat meals, where the washing areas are and how to open the cupboard door that’s closed.”
A new study also shows that cats understand 25—35 basic men’s words, such as food, eat, sit, no, stay, and stand. If owners train a cat to learn these words, cats will got closer to them. But in fact, cats can’t understand our ‘meows’.
So try to do better when you are in front of cats. If you spend a lot of time searching the kitchen, your cat will copy you and take food to its bowl for the night meal, too. That’s why cat owners and cats overweight rates often seem to synchronize.
Next time you reach for your kitchen, think twice. If your cat is watching, maybe she will overeat as well.
1. The text is mainly about ________.| A．cats and owners |
| B．cats and home |
| C．cats and language |
| D．cats and parents |
| A．change quickly | B．go down |
| C．get lower | D．be the same |
| A．Cats can learn from men’s actions. |
| B．Cat can’t find food from closed cupboard. |
| C．Cats are always looking at their owners. |
| D．Cats understand most of our language. |
| A．people need to live with the cats |
| B．children can keep cats in their houses |
| C．people should share the story of cats and men |
| D．pet owners should have healthier ways of life |
7 . How could we tell time if there were no watches or clocks anywhere in the world?
The sun is probably the world’s first “clock”, except in the far north, where the Eskimos live. There, it’s dark most of the winter, and light most of the summer. But in most of the world, people have used the sun as a clock. Even today, if you don’t have a clock, you can still know that when the sun shines, it’s day and when it’s dark, it’s night. The sun can also tell you if it’s morning, noon, or afternoon.
People who live near the sea can tell time from the tides. In the daytime, for about six hours, the water rises higher and higher on the beach. And then it goes down and down for about six hours. The same thing happens again at night. There are two high tides and two low tides every 24 hours.
Seamen on the ship learn how to tell time by looking at the moon and the stars. The whole sky is their clock.
In some places in the world the wind comes up at about the same time every day or changes direction or stops blowing. In these places the wind can be the clock.
A sand clock is an even better clock. If you had fine dry sand in a glass shaped like the one in the picture, you would have what is called an hourglass. The sand in the hourglass goes from the top part to the bottom in exactly one hour. When the hourglass is turned over, the sand will take another hour to go back again.
1. From the passage we can know there are ________ ways to tell time besides the clock and watch.| A．3 | B．4 | C．5 | D．6 |
| A．they know very little about the sun |
| B．the sun there never goes down in winter |
| C．it’s too cold for them to go out to watch the sun |
| D．it has long dark winters and long light summers |
| A．News | B．Science | C．Advertisement | D．Sports |
| A．Different Ways to Tell Time |
| B．Useful Machines to Tell Time |
| C．The History of the Clock |
| D．The Development of the Clock |
Emperor penguins are the largest penguins on the earth. The largest emperor penguin is over a meter tall and up to 40 kilograms heavy.
For many months each year, emperors live near the sea in large groups called colonies. However, in May, the weather gets colder and ice covers large part of the sea. Each colony moves many kilometers from the water. There, each mother penguin lays just one egg. Then all the hungry mothers must walk back to the sea to find food. The father penguins put their eggs on top of their feet, under a special piece of skin called the brood pouch.
Working together
For two months, the father penguins keep the eggs safe and warm. They do this through some of the coldest weather on Earth. By July, it is winter in Antarctica. Most animals leave for warmer places, but the father penguins stay. In this time, without food, a father penguin can lose almost half of his body weight, so he is thinner.
New Life
By August, the babies begin to hatch. The mother penguin returns just in time to see her baby come out of its egg. The chick is then moved to her brood pouch. This can be difficult. If the chick falls, it may freeze quickly because of the really cold weather, so the penguin parents must be very careful. Once the chick goes into its mother’s brood pouch, the father penguin can go back to the sea to find food.
Growing up
Over the next few months, penguin parents take turns going to the sea for food. They each make the trip over a few times, bringing back food for the chick. The chick grows quickly and is always hungry.
Into the Water
By December, winter is ending. The chick is five months old and can live by itself. Soon it goes into the water for the first time. It will swim and eat. By next April, it goes back here. After a few more years, it, too, will start its own family.
1. The underlined word “hatch” in Paragraph 4 means ________.| A．pushing out from its body | B．putting the egg on top of its feet |
| C．coming out of an egg | D．moving to the brood pouch |
| A．Mother penguin will feed it. |
| B．The chick will die because of the cold. |
| C．Father penguin will play with it. |
| D．The chick will sleep on the snow. |
| A．How Emperor Penguins Find Food |
| B．Emperor Penguins and Cold Weather |
| C．Different Kinds of Penguins |
| D．How Emperor Penguins Look After Babies |
Imagine you know that you’re dreaming while you’re asleep. You can try every food on the planet for free, travel around the world, hang out with famous people or lost loved ones, and maybe even have an interesting conversation with your dog. All of this may happen once you learn how to have lucid dreams.
Some people have lucid dreams naturally, while others need to practice. There are a few things that you can do to help increase your chances of experiencing a lucid dream. Keeping a dream diary is a great first step for anyone who wants to learn to have lucid dreams. But what next? The key to lucid dreaming is knowing that you are in a dream. To do that, most people need a “reality check.”
For example, you might try pressing your finger against a wall to see if you are dreaming. If you are not, the wall would stop your finger. In a dream, however, your finger might simply pass through the wall. Getting used to doing reality check while awake may help make it easier to do it while you are asleep.
Besides, scientists are developing technology to help people have lucid dreams. For example, Curzio Vasapollo invented a device called ZMax, a headband that can monitor eye movements and body movements to help people have a lucid dream.
Why would someone want to have lucid dreams? As it turns out, lucid dreaming can have many advantages. Alix Generous, a young woman living in her own world, said in her TED talk, “I love lucid dreaming because it allows me to be free and live a life I wish for.” Also, Lucid dreams may encourage creativity. For example, British American filmmaker Christopher Nolan got ideas from his own lucid dreams when he wrote the 2010 sci-fi movie Inception.
However, some studies suggest that lucid dreams may be bad for people’s health. In lucid dreams, people need to wake up during the night, so they may not have enough sleep if they do it several times every night, day after day.
What do you think? Would you like to try a lucid dream?
1. In lucid dreams, _________.| A．people are totally awake | B．people do nothing special |
| C．people can decide what to happen | D．there is always something bad happening |
①Writing down the dream ②Doing a “Reality check”
③Using modern inventions ④Having body movements
| A．①②③ | B．①②④ | C．①③④ | D．②③④ |
| A．They can make people stay active. |
| B．They can help people get enough sleep. |
| C．They can encourage people to write books. |
| D．They can help people get away from real life. |
| A．A Report on Dreams | B．Lucid Dreams and Advantages |
| C．How to have Lucid Dreams | D．An Introduction of Lucid Dreams |
One of the best things to do in London, is a classic British pub quiz! The interesting entertainment of quiz nights always include: pictures, a music round and creative challenges so that everyone feels they can take part in. Pub owners say they hold quiz nights because everyone drinks like fish, so it is good business for them.
How does the quiz work? A quiz master is in charge of the quiz and reads questions out loud. The questions are about things they usually don’t pay attention to or “trivia”. For example, you may be asked to answer what the oldest national park is in England. People answer questions in teams. There are usually several rounds and a quiz can go on for 2 to 3 hours!
The quiz covers different topics, including history, geography, science, sport, TV, music and more. In a recent survey, 1,000 people from all walks of life answered the pub quizzes on the Internet. More than half of the people didn’t know the answer to the question: “How many countries make up Great Britain?” About eighty percent people had no idea of the question: “What is the world’s largest desert?”
To win the pub quiz, you need to study. For example, make sure you know the names of the winners of sport matches and TV shows. Besides studying it’s also very important to choose your team. Try to have a mix of men and women, and no more than five people. Once you get your team together, always trust your first answer, don’t think about it too much.
In some pubs if you take part in the quiz, you can get free drinks. But if you’ve paid to be in the quiz, there is usually a prize. Most people only go for the fun of it!
1. English pubs hold quiz nights to __________.| A．buy drinks | B．enjoy music | C．show picture | D．make money |
| A．old stories | B．useful messages |
| C．unimportant facts | D．boring information |
| A．The quiz game is popular. | B．Quiz questions are difficult. |
| C．Geography questions are the hardest. | D．People can choose questions to answer. |
| A．choose a team carefully | B．learn to do well in TV shows |
| C．make sure to get free drinks | D．think about your answer slowly |
