1 . San Francisco Fire Engine Tours
San Francisco Winery TourRunning: February 1st through April 30th
This delicious tour goes through the city on its way to Treasure Island where we will stop at the famous Winery SF. Here you can enjoy 4 pours of some of the best wine San Francisco has to offer.(Included in tickets price)
Departing from the Cannery: Tour times upon request.Duration(时长): 2 hours
Price: $90
Back to the Fifties Tour
Running: August 16th through August 31st
This tour transports you back in time to one of San Francisco’s most fantastic periods, the 1950s! Enjoy fun history as we take you through San Francisco for a free taste of ice cream.
Departing from the Cannery: 5:00 pm and 7:30 pmDuration: 2 hours
Price: $90
Spooky Halloween Tour
Running: October 10th through October 31st
Join us for a ride through the historical Presidio district. Authentic fire gear(服装) is provided for your warmth as our entertainers take you to some of the most thrilling parts of San Francisco.
Departing from the Cannery: 6:30 pm and 8:30 pmDuration: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Price: Available upon request
Holiday Lights Tour
Running: December 6th through December 23rd
This attractive tour takes you to some of San Francisco’s most cheerful holiday scenes. Authentic fire gear is provided for your warmth as you get into the holiday spirit.
Departing from the Cannery: 7:00 pm and 9:00 pmDuration: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Advance reservations required.
1. Which of the tours is available in March?
A.San Francisco Winery Tour. | B.Back to the Fifties Tour. |
C.Spooky Hallowen Tour. | D.Holiday Lights Tour. |
A.Go to Treasure Island. | B.Enjoy the holiday scenes. |
C.Have free ice cream. | D.Visit the Presidio district. |
A.Take some drinks. | B.Set off early in the morning. |
C.Wear warm clothes. | D.Make reservations in advance. |
2 . Two women in their 50s stand beholding in front of Guanyin of the South China Sea, an ancient Chinese sculpture in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri. Over the past 20 years, they have been visiting the museum, describing the “mother Buddha” as “beautiful and tranquil, a symbol of religious traditions in China”. Measuring 2.4 meters high, 1.68 meters wide and 1.1 meters thick, the larger-than-life sculpture was carved from the trunk of a single poplar tree, which has created a sense of calm and warmth in the hall.
Since its launch in 1933, the museum has been actively collecting, preserving, studying and exhibiting works of Chinese art, ranging from ceramics to furniture, and from paintings to sculptures. And its Chinese art collection contains masterpieces in various historical stages.
An exhibition on the theme of Lively Creatures—Animals in Chinese Art was held at the museum, displaying tens of Chinese ancient paintings with images of animals in many art forms. The creatures on the paintings represented celebration, personal messages, and even political and religious agendas.
Organizers of the exhibition produced a set of cards, with images of animals on one side and their cultural meanings in Chinese artistic tradition on the other. The cards are provided for visitors for free.
“I find it very interesting, and the way that the things are drawn is very cool,” says 17-year-old high school student Camden Lombard after visiting the exhibition. “I want to go to China someday to find more,” he adds.
“It’s kind of eye-opening and we’re bringing the world together,” says Makar, an educator with the school outreach and education programs of the museum. “There are so many similarities as well as beautiful differences, and we are just trying to understand and appreciate one another.”
“We’re in a moment when it’s sometimes hard to look outside of your own personal viewpoints,” says Howard, manager of volunteer engagement at the museum. “I think having access to seeing what other cultures have created, what they valued and appreciated, and what was important to them, is really important in building that understanding about all the people we share this planet with.”
1. The two women kept visiting the Nelson-Atkins Museum for ________.A.the grand appearance of the exhibition hall |
B.their affection for Chinese religious traditions |
C.the great size of the ancient Chinese sculpture |
D.their curiosity about the delicate artistic carving |
A.The organizers gained a handsome profit. |
B.The cards reflected multinational cultures. |
C.The visitors had rich travel experiences in China. |
D.The paintings displayed the charm of Chinese culture. |
A.Instructive and romantic. | B.Imaginary and fascinating. |
C.Informative and multicultural. | D.Educational and entertaining. |
A.To bridge different cultures. | B.To popularize religious symbols. |
C.To exchange personal viewpoints. | D.To demonstrate Chinese paintings. |
3 . If you’ re reaching for the last piece of pizza at a party, and meanwhile see another hand going for it, your next move probably depends on how you feel and whom the hand belongs to. Your little sister — you might just grab the pizza. Your boss — you probably will give up.
Now researchers have made progress in understanding how mammals’ brain encodes social rank and uses this information to shape behaviors — such as whether to fight for the last pizza slice. They discovered that an area of the brain called the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was responsible for representing social rank in mammals; changes to a mouse’s mPFC affected its dominance behavior. But it was unknown how the mPFC represented this information and which neurons(神经元) were involved in changing dominance behaviour.
In the new study, Professor Kay Tye let groups of four mice share a cage. Some mice became more dominant and others more subordinate. As soon as the mice were paired up, he discovered, the activity of their mPFC neurons could predict — with 90 percent certainty — the rank of their opponent.
“We expected animals might only signal rank when they are in a competition,” says co-researcher Nancy. “But it turns out animals walk around with this representation of social rank all the time.”
When the researchers next asked whether the activity of the mPFC neurons was associated with behaviour, they found something surprising. The brain activity patterns were linked with slight changes in behaviour, such as how fast a mouse moved, and they also could predict — a full 30 seconds before the competition started — which mouse would win the food reward.
The winner was not always the more dominant, but the one engaged in a winning mindset. Just as you might sometimes be in a more competitive mood and be more likely to snatch that pizza slice before your boss, a subordinate mouse might be in a more winning mindset than a more dominant mouse and end up winning.
The areas of the mPFC associated with social rank and winning mindset are next to one another and highly connected. Signals on social rank impact the state of the brain involved in winning mindset. In other words, a subordinate mouse’s confidence and winning mindset may partially decrease when faced with a dominant one.
“This is further evidence to suggest that we are in different brain states when we are with others compared to when we’re alone,” says Tye.
1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?A.To provide background information. | B.To state the importance of social rank. |
C.To give readers an example of social rank. | D.To introduce the topic of the reading passage. |
A.The mPFC neurons. | B.The researchers. |
C.The brain activity patterns. | D.The changes in behaviour. |
A.Brain activities can influence social rank. |
B.Dominant opponents boost winning mindset. |
C.Social rank and winning mindset affect behaviour. |
D.Animals only exhibit their rank in competition. |
A.Winning mindset establishes dominance. |
B.Social rank guides competitive behaviour. |
C.A subordinate mouse can never been a winner. |
D.Awareness of different people around you make your brain use different neurons. |
4 . Five years ago, Meredith Arthur, a 45-year-old San Francisco resident, arrived at a neurologist appointment. She spoke a mile a minute, explaining why she thought it might hold clues to her neck pain, frequent dizziness and headaches. “I was presenting my inexpert case to an expert, who stopped me and said, ‘I know what’s wrong. You have generalized anxiety disorder.’”
Arthur is one of the 40 million American adults who experience an anxiety disorder—the most common form of mental illness—every year. Its major factor is the uncertainty about situations in daily life.
“I describe anxiety as a future-oriented emotional response to a perceived threat,” says Joel Minden, PhD, a clinical psychologist. “We anticipate that something bad will happen. Maybe we have evidence. Maybe we don’t. But we have a belief that something catastrophic might occur.”
Almost immediately, Minden says, your sympathetic nervous system kicks into high gear. This leads to the release of adrenaline and cortisol, two of the crucial hormones (荷尔蒙) that drive your body’s fight-freeze-flight response and cause anxiety’s physical symptoms. Your heart races, your blood pressure rises, your pupils dilate, you get short of breath.
Meanwhile, cortisol curbs functions that your brain considers non-essential: It affects immune system responses and suppresses (抑制) the digestive system, the reproductive system, and growth processes. This was helpful for our ancestors trying to outrun tigers but is not so much when you can’t stop struggling with the problem whether you might have caught COVID-19 when the guy behind you in line at the grocery store coughed.
Anxiety can show itself in many ways. You might perceive something as threatening even when it isn’t or go to great lengths to avoid uncomfortable situations. You might constantly overthink plans or spend all of your time creating solutions to worst-case scenarios. Maybe you feel indecisive and fear making the wrong decision. Or you might find yourself restless, nervous, and unable to relax.
The good news is that anxiety is very manageable with some combination of medication, therapy, and lifestyle adjustments.
1. What does the underlined word “curbs” in paragraph 5 most probably mean?A.activates | B.restricts | C.damages | D.removes |
A.Social factors are to blame for anxiety disorders. |
B.Anxiety is the most common illness in the US. |
C.Mental well-being has been Meredith Arthur’s concern. |
D.anxiety disorders can be controlled with certain treatments. |
A.Trying to find solutions to the worst situation from time to time. |
B.Hesitating to make the final decision for fear of mistakes. |
C.Heart racing and blood pressure rising at the imagined situation. |
D.Feeling restless or nervous even when there’s nothing threatening around. |
A.The advance of science and technology. |
B.The effects of the anxiety disorders. |
C.Tips to minimize negative effects of anxiety. |
D.The anticipation of Meredith Arthur. |
5 . For high school students, just thinking about your career probably isn’t enough. You have to actively do some research and plan. Here are some of the best careers for the future and how you can get your foot in the door.
Registered Nurses
To become registered nurses, you’re going to need either an associate degree in nursing, a Bachelor of Science in nursing, or another officially approved diploma(文凭) from a nursing program. If you want to be a practicing physician, you’ll need a medical degree in your chosen field on top of your four-year degree.
Data Analysts
Big data is a growing field with profitable opportunities for college graduates. You are required to have a master’s degree in computer science or another related field. Data science is a traditionally male-dominated industry and only 26 percent are held by women. Thankfully, it is holding out an olive branch to females and there are some terrific programs specially designed for them to break into this dynamic field.
Plumbers (管道工) and Electricians
Not all of the best careers for the future will require a four-year undergraduate degree. There’s a serious demand for skilled positions jobs like plumbers and technicians. Many of these positions require a high school degree and often an associate degree in a related field, but don’t necessarily require graduation from a four-year university.
Cybersecurity (网络安全) Experts
The average salaries for cybersecurity experts can start at $80, 000 for IT Security Consultants and can reach six figures for other positions such as a security director. The best way to start your path in cybersecurity is with a bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, engineering, or other related fields.
1. In which job will the gender distribution probably be more balanced?A.Data Analysts. | B.Registered Nurses. |
C.Cybersecurity Experts. | D.Plumbers and Electricians. |
A.A master’s degree in computer science. |
B.A certificate of high school graduation. |
C.A bachelor’s degree in information technology. |
D.A diploma officially approved from a medical program. |
A.A health lecture. | B.A school website. |
C.A job advertisement. | D.A science magazine. |
6 . If you haven’t decided how to spend your summer, you may want to think about the possibility of participating in a summer program.
Virtual Experience:Harvard’s High School Programs
If you’re wondering what college is like, Harvard offers online college programs just for high school students who are curious. Harvard’s high school programs allow you to take real courses and earn college credit. Financial aid is available for qualifying students.
Virtual Experience:American University High School Summer Scholars
This multi-week, online program helps high school students pursue their interests in a variety of topics. Each online course is 1-credit hour. Rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors with a 3.0 GPA (Grade Points Average) can choose 1 course from 14 subjects-from Political Action and Public Policy to Oceanography and more.
Virtual Experience:Worcester Polytechnic Institute(WPI) — Frontiers Program
This online, summer program is designed for high school students entering their junior and senior years. Program participants are challenged to explore the outer limits of their knowledge in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) with current laboratory techniques and exploring unsolved problems across a wide range of disciplines.
Virtual/In-Person Opportunities:Immerse Education Programs
Immerse Education’s summer programs offer in-person and online courses in a variety of subjects and take place throughout the United Kingdom and Australia. Students ages 11-18 from around the world get to learn on the campuses of Cambridge, Oxford, London and the University of Sydney.
1. Which program will you possibly choose if you are from a family on a tight budget?A.Immerse Education Programs. |
B.Harvard’s High School Programs. |
C.American University High School Summer Scholars. |
D.Worcester Polytechnic Institute(WPI)-Frontiers Program. |
A.They provide access to online learning. | B.They set academic requirements. |
C.They offer participants college credits. | D.They take place in the United States. |
A.College staff. | B.College students. |
C.Program organizers. | D.High school students. |
7 . It’s that time again when we’re busy buying and giving them. Sometimes we call them
The words come from different
The words gift and present are well-matched synonyms that mean almost the same thing.
Gift can also act like an adjective to describe another noun. What do you call the type of shop where you can buy presents for people? A gift shop. Present doesn’t work well in this role of
Still,
A.gifts | B.awards | C.friends | D.families |
A.mistake | B.difference | C.plan | D.promise |
A.games | B.stories | C.situations | D.languages |
A.giving | B.speaking | C.leaving | D.listening |
A.dream | B.chance | C.advice | D.idea |
A.possession | B.attitude | C.colors | D.decisions |
A.Therefore | B.Moreover | C.However | D.Otherwise |
A.behavior | B.use | C.spelling | D.development |
A.transparent | B.concrete | C.positive | D.public |
A.thanks | B.attention | C.donations | D.discounts |
A.wrong | B.easy | C.unlucky | D.cool |
A.explaining | B.correcting | C.analyzing | D.describing |
A.because of | B.according to | C.in spite of | D.in addition to |
A.actions | B.events | C.words | D.directions |
A.order | B.offer | C.make | D.prefer |
8 . Desperate to help his 96-year-old mother to speak her mother tongue again, Keith McDermott made an
Ray moved to America after meeting her husband when she was only 18, hence waving goodbye to her
So Keith, 70,
“When you have a parent in their nineties, you will find you two have something in common: you’re both old, so I am very sympathetic to my mother’s feelings of loneliness and isolation. I’m feeling it myself. ” Keith hopes to
A.indication | B.appeal | C.assignment | D.apology |
A.lady | B.traveler | C.explorer | D.gentleman |
A.senior | B.childhood | C.enthusiastic | D.lonely |
A.friends | B.life | C.tongue | D.Relatives |
A.hope | B.tension | C.similarity | D.home |
A.Concerning | B.Apart from | C.Despite | D.Due to |
A.blue | B.faded | C.fragile | D.clear |
A.leave | B.return | C.quit | D.talk |
A.given | B.supposed | C.remembering | D.neglecting |
A.go | B.fly | C.happen | D.start |
A.searched | B.mentioned | C.linked | D.posted |
A.embarrassed | B.touched | C.hooked | D.puzzled |
A.stable | B.happy | C.fluent | D.passionate |
A.take up | B.make up | C.bring up | D.set up |
A.remind | B.accuse | C.inform | D.cure |
9 . Some of the most attractive pictures to come out of the Alaska earthquake are the photos that show slope (斜坡)failures, in which parts of formerly solid hills caved in,tore or let loose. And if there happened to be a road or building on top of the slopes that failed,the result was horrible.
Slopes can fail without earthquakes, as the result of pouring rain qr w:eathering. But the shaking caused by a quake — particularly a large one like what occurred near Anchorage on Friday — can either speed up the process or create entirely new failures that wouldn't have otherwise happened.
Several slope failures were documented in the Anchorage area in the hours after the earthquake Friday, the most interesting of which was on Vine Road southwest of Wasilla. It’s as if someone came along with a large destroying ball and dropped it on Vine Road, which wrinkled like a broken egg.
Scientists seemed surprised at how many slope failures occurred as a result of the 7.0-magnitude (震级)quake. The center of the quake was deep, at 27 miles below the surface — a key reason why the damage in Anchorage was relatively light. Such an earthquake would be expected to produce shaking over a large area, but probably with reasonably modest top ground accelerations, Friday’s earthquake would certainly be felt, but the surface of Earth wouldn't be moving badly enough to produce widespread landslides.
Photos from Alaska show a lot of lateral (横向的)spread, in which the ground tears open. Whatever is on top of the ground at the place it tears in half is also torn in half afterwards, like highways or buildings. The buildings surrounding the spread are also at risk of damage because of the force of the ground spreading out away from the tear. There’s also documentation of block spread,in which part of the ground breaks off a hill and slides away mostly perfect.
1. What do we know about slope failures?A.They may cause earthquakes. |
B.They usually happen with a road on top. |
C.They always happen with earthquakes. |
D.They may pull parts of the hills apart |
A.Earthquakes have great effect on slope failures. |
B.Most slope failures occur after the pouring rain. |
C.Earthquakes result in slope failures immediately. |
D.Slope failures occur mainly with large earthquakes. |
A.It produced shaking over a large area. |
B.It caused fewer slope failures than expected. |
C.It wasn’t felt for its deep center. |
D.It didn’t produce landslides. |
A.Land slides. | B.Slope failures. | C.Lateral spread. | D.Block spread. |
10 . I had not hugged a friend or a family member for more than two years.
I hadn’t had that
There was war in my home town in Bosnia, so I found every moment was full of
That same night my parents managed to arrange my escape from our war-torn city. They desperately wanted at least some of my childhood to be
Now, due to our pandemic lives, hugging a stranger is the
A.love | B.courage | C.warmth | D.trust |
A.cold | B.fine | C.mild | D.hot |
A.regretted | B.hated | C.denied | D.missed |
A.disappeared | B.remained | C.arrived | D.left |
A.thrills | B.miracles | C.dangers | D.potentials |
A.finally | B.hardly | C.immediately | D.simply |
A.though | B.since | C.unless | D.when |
A.walked | B.rushed | C.wandered | D.returned |
A.aimless | B.hopeless | C.powerless | D.useless |
A.dragged | B.invited | C.forced | D.persuaded |
A.Hopefully | B.Painfully | C.Carefully | D.Thankfully |
A.virus | B.scar | C.mark | D.cure |
A.acceptable | B.admirable | C.imaginable | D.reasonable |
A.normal | B.unusual | C.legal | D.exceptional |
A.out | B.up | C.down | D.in |
A.happiness | B.loneliness | C.calmness | D.eagerness |
A.kiss | B.trust | C.hug | D.dream |
A.last | B.best | C.first | D.most |
A.ever | B.still | C.yet | D.even |
A.warn | B.pray | C.swear | D.beg |