1 . I have the same 24 hours in a day as you do, but I have made specific choice that allow me to make the most of every day and still feel happy and relaxed.
Pick the most important.
Combine your activities.
Many people go crazy trying to figure out how to spend time with friends, family, work, play, etc.
You would think learning takes more time from you, but actually there are always new ways of doing things that can save you time on daily tasks, freeing you up for the most important. Always be looking for a new way to gain back an hour here or there.
Lighten up.
The world won't come to an end in most cases just because you left a few things undone. Celebrate progress and keep refining (改进) toward a happy productive existence.
| A．Speed up. |
| B．Be an active learner. |
| C．Stop trying to balance time between them all. |
| D．Make choices about what is meaningful in your life. |
| E．The things you do well usually give you greater joy. |
| F．Perhaps these tips will help you make the most of your time. |
| G．This is why making lists is important in any productivity handbook. |
2 . China is a country with many colorful days and festivals. The Dragon Head Raising Day (Longtaitou) is one of them. This special day is on the second day of the second month in the Chinese lunar calendar (阴历). It stands for the start of spring and farming. This year, the day falls on March 4th.
The dragon is important in Chinese culture. We Chinese people call ourselves the “descendants (传人) of the dragon”. Therefore, people celebrate the Dragon Head Raising Day with many customs about dragons.
On the day in ancient times, people put ashes (灰) in the kitchen. This was to “lead the dragon into the house”. People believed that with the help of the dragon, they could have a good harvest in autumn.
Also, people eat special foods on that day. The foods are usually named after dragons. For example, people eat “dragon whisker (细须)” noodles and dumplings called “dragon teeth”.
Today, many customs have faded away. But one that has remained is the cutting of hair. It was said that a haircut during the first lunar month may bring bad luck to the mother’s brothers. So many people have their hair cut on the Dragon Head Raising Day.
1. Why is the dragon deeply rooted (扎根) in Chinese culture?| A．Chinese people think the dragon is a symbol of power. |
| B．Chinese people see the dragon as a symbol of good luck. |
| C．Chinese people think the dragon stands for the start of spring and farming.. |
| D．Chinese people consider themselves the descendants of the dragon. |
| A．disappear gradually | B．become stronger |
| C．run away | D．die off |
| A．Because the dragon liked the ashes. |
| B．Because the ashes led the dragon into the house. |
| C．Because the ashes brought a good harvest. |
| D．Because the ashes could bring good luck. |
| A．Putting ashes in the kitchen. | B．Eating dragon whisker noodles and dumplings. |
| C．Cutting hair. | D．Eating special foods. |
3 . The AIDA model is the foundation of modern marketing and advertising practice. It outlines the four basic steps used to persuade potentials to make a purchase. The first three steps lie in creating attention (A), decorating interest (I), and building desire (D) for the product, before the fourth step — the “call to action” (A) — tells them exactly how and where to buy. AIDA can channel the customer’s feelings through each stage toward reaching a sale.
Attracting the customer’s attention is the first challenge and this may be achieved by using an attracting phrase or picture. Once someone’s attention has been clutched, it must be turned into real interest. This is best done by providing a brief description of the product’s benefits to the consumer rather than simply listing the product’s main features or problem-solving claims.
Now, it is time to transform that interest into a desire for a product or service. This is where consumers need to believe their lives could be better by possessing the product. It could be a vital step towards turning a potential into a real customer.
“Call-to-action” is where all of the initial hard work pays off and leads to the action from a potential customer. For example, they might pick up the phone to discuss the idea of a trial of the services or, alternatively, they may just buy that product or service that has been promoted to them all along.
And AIDA is used to great effect in the movie industry. Movie studios begin their marketing campaigns months in advance. The campaigns develop by offering attractive flashes of the movie without giving too much away. Desire is inspired by the release of the full preview which is fully designed to show the exciting moments of the movie, from special effects to humorous lines of dialogue on the opening weekend. Advertisements in newspapers and on television focus on the movie’s release, inviting the consumer to go and buy a ticket.
1. What is the purpose of practising AIDA?| A．To create jobs. | B．To increase sales. |
| C．To research markets. | D．To introduce products. |
| A．Seized. | B．Freed. | C．Cheated. | D．Affected. |
| A．Action. | B．Interest. | C．Desire. | D．Attention. |
| A．To design an AIDA model. | B．To display how AIDA works. |
| C．To show how to make a movie. | D．To advertise the movie industry. |
4 . As I walked onto the soccer field I had a knot(结) in my stomach. I was too shy to
When the coaches came, I felt as if I was going to pass out. With no
This
Like most high school students, my
| A．give up | B．pass by | C．try out | D．walk away |
| A．logic | B．sports | C．language | D．communication |
| A．just | B．even | C．never | D．always |
| A．warm up | B．make up | C．calm down | D．turn around |
| A．ask | B．pass | C．show | D．throw |
| A．nearly | B．really | C．hardly | D．partly |
| A．kept | B．expressed | C．proved | D．admitted |
| A．match | B．activity | C．experience | D．performance |
| A．checking | B．realizing | C．practicing | D．considering |
| A．When | B．After | C．Unless | D．Before |
| A．quick | B．clever | C．perfect | D．pleased |
| A．speed | B．record | C．position | D．standard |
| A．break | B．escape | C．change | D．holiday |
| A．life | B．team | C．friends | D．coaches |
| A．better | B．kinder | C．warmer | D．quieter |
| A．beg | B．feel | C．pretend | D．imagine |
| A．add | B．buy | C．deserve | D．promise |
| A．ideas | B．attitudes | C．creations | D．qualities |
| A．effort | B．money | C．brain | D．trust |
| A．happy | B．strict | C．careful | D．patient |
5 . As you walk around the UK in March, you might notice that some people are wearing a daffodil(水仙花) on their coats. The British wear these yellow flowers to show they support one of this country’s best-known charities: the Marie Curie Cancer Care.
The Marie Curie Cancer Care tries to ensure everyone diagnosed with cancer is cared for in the best possible way. It also helps fund research into possible cures through other organizations. Founded in 1948, it has been continuing with its goal ever since.
The charity was named after Marie Curie, a renowned scientist. She experimented with newly-discovered elements to create the theory of radioactivity. Unfortunately, over-exposure to the radioactive elements made her develop a disease and die in 1934. Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize in two different fields. Because of her pioneering work which led to chemotherapy (化学疗法), the charity shared the name of Marie Curie.
The daffodil is one of the first plants to flower during spring in the UK, which marks the return of flowering plants to the ecosystem after winter. Because of this, the charity uses the daffodil as a metaphor for bringing life to other people through charitable giving.
Everyone you see wearing a daffodil has donated money to the charity, but each daffodil is worth only what you want to pay for it. The charity does ask that you stick to a minimum amount of £1.
The charity encourages people to start wearing their daffodils at the start of March, when the “Great Daffodil Appeal” kicks off. But that doesn’t mean you can only wear them in March. People are sometimes seen walking around with daffodils on their clothes all year round.
1. What does it mean when the British wear a daffodil on their coats?| A．They support a charity. | B．They are recovering from cancer. |
| C．They’ve been helped by a charity. | D．They’ve been diagnosed with cancer. |
| A．Beautiful. | B．Modest. | C．Famous. | D．Humorous. |
| A．Because patients required that. | B．Because it was launched by her. |
| C．Because she greatly supported it. | D．Because it could show respect for her. |
| A．It can be used as medicine. | B．It’s thought to stand for hope. |
| C．It’s widely worn worldwide. | D．It’s sold to the wearers at a high price. |
6 . We’re lucky to live in an age when the sum total of human knowledge is pretty available at the click of a button. We’ ve never had access to so much information.
Watch out for confirmation prejudice(偏见).
Acknowledge small differences. In life, most situations are varying and complicated. Admitting that can enrich the way that we view the world. For example, what colour is the sky? Well, the obvious answer is blue. But at sunrise or sunset, it can be red. On a cold misty morning, white or gray.
Practise intellectual humility (谦逊). One approach to, well, arguing, is to let go of the idea of being “right”. Or at least seriously consider that you might actually be wrong.
Engaging in critical thinking isn’t as fun as picking up a pitchfork, or feeling like you’re fundamentally right. But in the long run, it leads to a more curious, educated and harmonious society, which is the biggest win of all.
| A．Avoid mistakes |
| B．Check your sources |
| C．We all enjoy feeling like we’re right |
| D．But not all of what’s out there is quite what it seems |
| E．So pay attention to differences in many situations |
| F．So don’t rush to decide, and be actively prepared to change your mind |
| G．Putting yourself into the other person’s shoes can have more fruitful outcomes |
7 . Sulphur-crested cockatoos (葵花凤头鹦鹉) are common in western Australia, where they normally live in wooded areas. But as forests have been cut down, cockatoos have gotten used to living near people. Scientists report that people in Sydney, Australia are in a battle with these birds.
Last year, scientists at the Max Planck Institute reported that the cockatoos had learned how to open the covers of trash bins. That’s not an easy job. The cockatoos must lift the heavy cover with their beaks (喙) and then walk along, pushing the cover up until it falls over.
When scientists first began studying the cockatoos in 2018, only three areas near Sydney had cover-opening cockatoos. A year and a half later, cockatoos in 44 different areas knew the trick. This time the scientists weren’t just studying cockatoos. They were also studying humans.
The scientists spent weeks studying more than 3,200 trash bins in four different areas of Sydney. They wanted to see how many bins were protected and what methods were used.
In one area, over half the bins were protected. The most common way of protecting the bins was to put a brick or some other heavy objects on the cover. Some people put things like rubber snakes on the top of their bins. The scientists discovered that the humans were teaching each other tricks, too. In most neighborhoods, many people used the same cockatoo-stopping methods as their neighbors.
The researchers say it’s like a race between humans and cockatoos to learn new ways of doing things. Now many cockatoos have learned how to push heavy items off the bins. As a result, humans have figured out ways to attach the items to the top of their bins. The scientists describe the situation as a “human-wildlife conflict”. They expect these conflicts will become more common as humans take over more areas that used to be wild.
1. What can we infer about the cockatoos from the text?| A．They like copying humans’ behavior. |
| B．They are newly found in Australia. |
| C．They don’t like living with people. |
| D．They are very clever birds. |
| A．How the cockatoos learned the trick. |
| B．Why the birds in more areas did the trick. |
| C．How humans responded to the birds’ trick. |
| D．Why humans taught the birds to do the trick. |
| A．They wanted their habitat back. |
| B．They intended to make humans angry. |
| C．They could adopt new ways to open bins. |
| D．They disliked looking for food themselves. |
| A．A battle over trash bins between cockatoos and humans |
| B．A human-wildlife conflict all over Australia |
| C．A problem caused by cockatoos to humans |
| D．A big problem of “homeless” cockatoos |
8 . Math and music are two entirely different fields of study, but there is a strong relevance between them. At some point, they tend to overlap, and it is common for people good at math to be good at music. It may seem illogical to compare the two, but there are more similarities between math and music than you would imagine.
Numbers can tell us more about music. Sounds strange but it’s true. Music is divided into sections that are called measures, where each measure has equal amounts of beats. This is comparable to mathematical divisions of time. Now, each piece of music will tell us how many beats there are in each measure. All the music notes have numerical connections and a number of beats. It is important to understand the value of fractions (分数) and notes to count the music correctly.
The biggest similarity between math and music in pattern. For example, music has repeating choruses while math uses patterns to explain the unknown. You can use different mathematical phenomena in music. These include geometry (几何学), signal processing, etc. In fact, research has shown that when music shows some mathematical structure, it tends to be more popular.
In addition to their shared elements, math and music can be taught using the principles of both. A student who enjoys math and music can benefit from both. For example, music can enhance cognition and reasoning skills. For instance, Einstein listened to music when solving math problems to increase clarity. Similarly, playing music can improve cognition, as it increases communication between the two brains.
Music is a gateway to many things, and until now, you probably didn’t realize that it’s just as demanding, analytical, logical and scientific as math. Something as simple as learning “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on the piano is actually setting your child up for bigger and better things; maybe they’ll pick up Pythagoras (毕达哥拉斯) in a flash, maybe they’ll be a genius in math, perhaps they’ll one day discover their own theory of relativity.
1. What does the author think about math and music?| A．Math and music are deeply intertwined. |
| B．Music is a totally different subject from math. |
| C．It sounds reasonable to compare math and music. |
| D．People expert at math all tend to be music lovers. |
| A．Measure is a piece of music. | B．Math helps in reading music. |
| C．Music sound appears strange. | D．Music beats equal to math numbers. |
| A．Patterns are common in both math and music. |
| B．Certain music skills are practised via choruses. |
| C．Music principle seems easier than mathematics. |
| D．Reasoning skills in math chiefly rely on music. |
| A．Musical involvement promotes to be a genius. |
| B．Music allows kids to combine math with piano. |
| C．Music offers kids potential success in mathematics. |
| D．Music may enhance the mathematics skills of all kids. |
9 . A brown and dry lawn is not something many gardeners would boast about. But that is exactly the kind of yard competition organizers in Sweden were looking for when they launched the prize for the “World’s Ugliest Lawn”. People from around the world were invited to post pictures of their dehydrated(脱水的)grass to social media in a bid to win the uncertain honor.
The intention, according to those behind the project, was to raise awareness of “saving water on a global scale by changing the norm for green lawns”. Lawns, which can require large amounts of water to maintain, are coming under increasing examination as climate change makes periods of drought more frequent and intense.
The global initiative was launched on the official website for Gotland in Sweden. “Huge amounts of water are used to water lawns for aesthetics(美学). As the world gets warmer, lack of water in urban areas is projected to affect up to 2.4 billion people by 2050. By not watering lawns for aesthetic reasons, we can protect the availability of groundwater,” the competition organizers said.
The unlikely title has been awarded to Kathleen Murray who lives in Sandford in Tasmania, Australia. According to the organizers, Murray’s lawn “boasts deep and dry divots created by three wild bandicoots(袋狸)and not one dust-covered decimeter is wasted on watering”. Murray said in the press release about her triumph, “I am terribly proud! I knew I would have my 5 minutes of fame, even if it was for having the ugliest lawn on the planet! I am now free of ever taking care of my lawn again.”
A press release by the Gotland, office added, “For the planet and its declining stockpiles of life-giving liquid, thank you, Kathleen, as well as those naughty bandicoots damaging your lawn for the greater good.” Organizers added, “Gotland aims to show to Sweden and the world that sustainable behavior doesn’t have to be dull.”
1. What can we say about the yard competition organized in Sweden?| A．People had even doubted its authenticity. |
| B．People worldwide were unwilling to join. |
| C．Its participants must be professional gardeners. |
| D．Its entries must agree with the existing aesthetics. |
| A．To call on people to protect lawns. | B．To encourage people to be creative. |
| C．To challenge the norm of aesthetics. | D．To remind people of water shortage. |
| A．Ambition. | B．Success. | C．Sorrow. | D．Barrier. |
| A．People’s Whelming Reaction To A Yard Contest In Sweden |
| B．Lawns And Rare Bandicoots Calling For Urgent Protection |
| C．A Lawn Named The Ugliest Globally All For A Good Cause |
| D．The World’s Ugliest Lawn Unaccepted By The Whole World |
10 . More people than ever are interested in learning to speak Chinese. The challenge that many face is finding the best resources to learn this new language. Fortunately, there are 4 amazing tools that can make learning Chinese much easier.
HelloTalk
This is an app that connects anyone interested in learning a foreign language to a native speaker who is willing to engage in conversation with learners, and help them practice and master their new language. It includes a voice-to-text feature that is perfect if you cannot understand your conversation partner. The text- to-voice feature that is included helps you to learn the proper pronunciations.
iTalki
No tool is going to take the place of one-on-one interaction(互动) with a real person. This is why iTalki is one of the most popular online language learning systems. If you join the iTalki community, you will be connected with an instructor who is a native speaker. They will work with you one on one to improve your vocabulary and conversational language skills.
FluentU
FluentU has made a wide variety of videos for your viewing pleasure. Each one is in Chinese and is a real-world movie or video. With FluentU, you can interact with the videos, pause and get pronunciation and definition information. In addition to this, there are quizzes(小测验) added to the videos to help you evaluate your own progress.
Pleco
This mobile app was designed specifically to help users learn Chinese. It includes an OCR reader that can be used to scan(扫描) Chinese language characters for translation, the ability to translate Chinese words from other apps and web pages, a document reader and an audio translator. It also comes with several dictionaries and the ability to create flashcards.
1. What’s the advantage of iTalki over other tools?| A．Providing one-on-one instruction. | B．Providing various learning videos. |
| C．Providing the text-to-voice feature. | D．Providing interesting playing games. |
| A．They offer the most famous learning tools. | B．They record your learning process directly. |
| C．They help you improve your pronunciation. | D．They provide you with various funny videos. |
| A．HelloTalk. | B．iTalki. | C．FluentU. | D．Pleco. |
