1 . There have been a few times in my life when I felt very lonely. I particularly remember my loneliness when I moved to New York City. I had a couple of friends in the city, still, it was a time in my life when I needed to put forth some effort to form more meaningful relationships. But the more I went out to parties, the more disconnected and lonely I felt. Feeling lonely in a room full of people, or in my case, a whole city packed with people everywhere, was the loneliest I have ever felt.
So, rather than trying a new way to make friends, I was more likely to ignore phone calls from friends, and I looked at social invitations and opportunities to meet new people as drudgery. Looking back on this period of loneliness, I wonder at the way I isolated myself instead of reaching out to those who were willing to keep me company and offer friendship.
What I have learned from my own experience and the experience of many of my friends is that more often than not, those who feel lonely choose isolation. Indeed many of my own friends describe avoiding social life as a way of dealing with feelings of loneliness.
This behavior is somewhat common, and new research takes a big step towards explaining this behavior. According to leading experts on the loneliness, Stephanie and John Cacioppo, there is an evolutionary explanation for this tendency to isolate when we are feeling lonely. By monitoring lonely people’s brainwaves, they found that lonely people tend to respond negatively to social life. “Loneliness causes some brain-related changes that put us into a socially nervous mode,” Dr. Christian Jarrett explains.
Making ourselves aware of this evolutionary natural tendency could actually be the first step in fighting loneliness. Once we know that we are more sensitive to negativity during lonely spells, we can focus our energy on resisting the desire to put up walls.
1. What happened to the author after she moved to New York City?| A．She had no friends there. | B．She lacked confidence there. |
| C．She needed opportunities for parties. | D．She felt lonely even with people present. |
| A．By refusing to go out to meet others. | B．By looking for solutions on the Internet. |
| C．By trying various methods to make friends. | D．By doing some drudgery to forget her problem. |
| A．Lonely people tend to disgust social life. |
| B．People respond negatively to lonely people. |
| C．Loneliness can do great harm to people’s health. |
| D．Loneliness can be caused by a socially nervous mode. |
| A．We shouldn’t be influenced by negativity. |
| B．We shouldn’t choose isolation when we feel lonely. |
| C．We should make friends based on scientific findings. |
| D．We should spend more time with friends than relatives. |
2 . A bill to conserve endangered species was passed by the U.S. House in a 231-to-190 vote on Tuesday.
The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act would create an annual fund of more than $1.3 billion, given to states, and territories for wildlife conservation on the ground. While threatened species have been recognized and protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1973, that law does not provide constant funding to actively maintain their numbers.
The effort comes as scientists and international organizations sound the alarm about accelerating species decline.
“Too many people don’t realize that about one-third of our wildlife is at increased risk of extinction,” said lead House sponsor Debbie Ding-ell, echoing (呼应) a recent study about climate change.
In the United States, there are more than 1,600 endangered or threatened species, but state agencies have identified more than 7 times that number in need of conservation assistance in their wildlife action plans.
“The bottom line is, when we save wildlife we save for ourselves,” said Collin O’ Mara, CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, which supports the bill. He said species loss threatens everything from the insects that pollinate (授粉) plants in the food chain, to sea life that helps to reduce damages to coastlines from storm.
The bill would improve a 1937 law, the Pittman-Robertson Act, which was passed in response to decreasing game and waterfowl species. That law allows states to tax hunting supplies to pay for wildlife and habitat restoration, but that money is not enough to do the same for non-game species.
The act would also invest more in conservation than the existing program for threatened non-game species, called the State Wildlife Grant Program, which awarded states a total of $56 million this year.
1. What do we know about the Endangered Species Act?| A．It does not involve continuous funding. |
| B．It was passed by the House this Tuesday. |
| C．It has proved to be a failed Act. |
| D．It ensured the population of all the species. |
| A．Human behavior causes species to decline. |
| B．People’s efforts matter a lot in conservation. |
| C．People lack awareness of animal protection. |
| D．The decline of species is beyond imagination. |
| A．To indicate they are at risk of dying out. |
| B．To illustrate how to protect them properly. |
| C．To show they’re more important than others. |
| D．To tell man and nature are an organic whole. |
| A．Entertainment. | B．News. | C．Technology. | D．Health. |
3 . What’s on in Melbourne?
Melbourne Magic Show
The lights are not bright and you take your seat in an elegant back room of a five—star Melbourne hotel. The stage is set, the mood is relaxed and the guests are ready to witness the impossible made by Luke Hocking. You’ve seen magic shows before but probably never this close.
Cooks’ Cottage
Originally located in Yorkshire, England, and built in 1755 by the parents of Captain James Cook, Cooks’ Cottage was brought to Melbourne by Russell Grimwade in 1934. Navigator and explorer Captain James Cook never lived in the cottage—he’d been away from home for almost ten years when his father built it—but this connection to the Cook family was enough to prompt(促使)Grimwade to transport the cottage to the other side of the world.
ArtPlay
ArtPlay brings together children (from babies to 13 years of age) and artists to explore and create innovative art experiences that encourage self—expression and playful exchanges, ArtPlay offers creative encounters that are by, for and with children and can be experienced at ArtPlay or in your own home. Bookings or registration at the door is required for all onsite events.
Flight Experience Australia
Prepare for take—off as you sit in the pilot’s seat of a Boeing 737 jet airliner and take charge of the controls at Flight Experience Australia. As exciting as the real thing, and used by trainee pilots, the flight simulators(模拟器)include scenic flights, city circuits, team— building flights and even a course to overcome fear of flying.
1. What is Luke Hocking?| A．A magician. | B．An architect. | C．A painter. | D．A waiter. |
| A．He sold it to James Cook. | B．He rebuilt it with his family. |
| C．He moved it to Australia. | D．He brought it back to England. |
| A．ArtPlay. | B．Cooks’ Cottage. |
| C．Melbourne Magic Show. | D．Flight Experience Australia. |
4 . The life of a premature (早产的) baby born during the winter storm in Texas was saved thanks to a team of medical professionals, including a doctor and two nurses who traveled from east Austin to Marble Falls in an effort to save a newborn baby's life.
When Arias began experiencing pains, she and her parents headed to the closest hospital, Baylor Scott & White. Arias gave birth to her daughter, Zaylynn, who weighed just over one pound and was in need of advanced special care. However, the hospital does not offer the specialized care premature babies require.
"We had five or six people out at the nurses' station calling hospital networks all over the state of Texas," said Meredith Schubert, the labor and delivery nurse on duty when Arias arrived. "Nobody could answer our cry for help."
They finally reached Dr. John Loyd through a patient, division neonatologist chief at Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin, Texas. Around 5 p.m., after already having worked a full shift, Loyd packed his SUV with equipment and he and two NICU nurses set out for Marble Falls, about 55 miles away. The drive took Loyd and the nurses about two hours as they drove in the night through ice and snow.
After safely arriving at the Marble Falls medical center around 8 p.m., the Dell Children's crew set up a temporary newborn ICU. Together, the Dell Children's and Baylor Scott & White teams worked around the clock to care for the mother and daughter.
Once the weather cleared enough to allow for a helicopter to safely land, Zaylynn was transferred to Dell Children's, where there is a Level IV newborn intensive care unit.
"It was incredible when the helicopter lifted off. There were tears from all of us," said Schubert. "It was a huge relief and sense of accomplishment and joy that Zaylynn was doing so well and getting to the place that she needed to be."
Arias told KVUE that she was grateful to the doctors and nurses who worked together to save her daughter.
1. What did the newborn baby need badly?| A．Professional surgery. | B．Special intensive nursing. |
| C．Immediate transfer. | D．Experienced doctors. |
| A．Timely. | B．Hopeful. | C．Desperate. | D．Encouraging. |
| A．He came with all the necessary equipment. | B．He tried his best to maintain his honor. |
| C．He had enough bravery to drive at night. | D．He drove to rescue at night in severe weather. |
| A．The fine weather. | B．The baby's improvement. |
| C．The takeoff of the helicopter. | D．The baby's arrival at its destination. |
5 . The Curb-cut Effect (路缘坡效应) refers to the fact that supporting small groups of people often ends up helping much larger ranges of society.
Curb cuts: Easing the walking
In the 1940s, hundreds of thousands of World War Ⅱ soldiers returned home with disabilities. Disappointed by the difficulties they faced, Jack Fisher of Kalamazoo, Michigan, as one of them, asked his city government to build an experimental curb cut-a gentle slope that brings the end of a sidewalk down to meet the level of the street-at the corners of several blocks downtown. A few months later, Fisher reported that even residents without wheelchairs were enjoying the impact of the little slopes.
Reading machines: Getting the message
In 1976, technologist Ray Kurzweil invented a machine for the blind and visually damaged to change images into text that it then read aloud. Smart speakers with those voices are now in roughly one-quarter of US homes. By detecting street signs and house numbers, it is helping build the maps that self-driving cars use to navigate the world.
Closed captions (字幕): Following the conversation
Sears launched the first TV with a built-in equipment that allowed deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers to read along with their favorite programs in 1980. In the 1990s, text became increasingly common as DVDs and, later, streaming services added the ability to switch the words on at will. A 2006 survey found that only around 20 percent of the people using captions had hearing problems.
DeafSpace designs: Keeping things quiet
More than 150 designs of the DeafSpace Project came from architect Hansel Bauman. One aim is to clear distracting noises, which can make it difficult for people to use their limited hearing abilities. By keeping conversations and other sound disturbances from walking and jumping around the room, these ways also make it easier for all sorts of students and workers to focus.
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1. Who were the four inventions initially intended to serve?| A．The army. | B．Special groups. | C．All human beings. | D．Professionals. |
| A．A city designer. | B．A city governor. | C．A disabled soldier. | D．An ordinary roadman. |
| A．Sears'. | B．Jack Fisher's. | C．Ray Kurzweil's. | D．Hansel Bauman's. |
6 . I grew up five minutes from Clapham Junction station in south London. Our house backed onto the railway, so the regular sound of passing trains was a sound I found noisy. Clapham Junction was famously busy, but it felt separate from the rest of London, as if its purpose was to carry people away from the capital. I felt I stood on the edge of the city.
During my last year at primary school, I spent every afternoon going across the road with my mum to eat white toast with drinking sugary tea. My mum would argue with the Greek Cypriot owner about politics. They disagreed about everything, but laughed a lot while arguing. Our life seemed uneventful.
But as time passed by, our area changed. The town became modern, and I changed a lot too. I went from a state primary school to a private secondary school. I stopped drinking sugary tea. I cared less about branded skirts but more about books. I spent less time hanging around the common but more travelling to the libraries where I found my interest.
It was then that I discovered Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle and Elaine Dundy's The Dud Avocado. After that I scanned the shelves of bookshops for some writing. In this way I found so many writers who have influenced me: Barbara Pym, EM Delafield and so on.
Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People wasn't like any other book I'd read. For more than sixty years the rock solid, time-tested advice in this book has carried thousands of now famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives. Now this previously revised and updated bestseller is available in trade paperback for the first .time to help you achieve your maximum potential throughout the next century! I read it as a guide anyway. And in a way it was.
1. How did the author feel about her childhood?| A．Meaningful. | B．Unsatisfied. | C．Unforgettable. | D．Colorful. |
| A．She often felt lonely. | B．She usually drank sugary tea. |
| C．She began to become modern. | D．She started to like reading. |
| A．The world. | B．A dream. | C．The inspiration. | D．A plan. |
| A．My Colourful Life | B．Reading Changed Me |
| C．My Hometown Raised Me | D．My Learning Experience |
