1 . When I was worried my son was coming down with a little something, I remarked that his eating was slowing down a bit.
“I’ve noticed how fast you eat,” my wife’s Auntie Carmel said. I looked down at my plate — the plate from which my food had just been emptied — and looked up at her scientific stare. “I’m not being critical,” she assured me, “and I find it fascinating.” She said “fascinating” the way a polite member of the FBI might describe your recent Internet searches.
“You do eat pretty fast,” whispered my wife by the time I’d placed my knives and forks down. Her mother shared the same view shortly after that, and soon the entire table were unanimous in this opinion.
We were at my wife’s parents’ home in Dublin because Auntie Carmel was visiting from New York, and it was a good chance for her to meet our son, who immediately adored her. We all adore Auntie Carmel for her ability to speak her mind in a way that never seems rude.
In fairness to Carmel, I do eat quickly. I’m fond of saying it’s because I come from a large family. I now realize this makes no sense. There is also the fact that my wife’s mum and Auntie Carmel themselves both come from a family of 12. The same is true for her dad. Yet somehow, none of them eat as if their legs were on fire.
It’s a habit I picked up along the way, and I might have been permanently blind to it without this intervention. Left unexamined, it might have coloured my parenting, demanding my speed as a default (默认) for my son, for I remarked that his eating was slowing down a bit. For now, at least, he can clear his plate as slowly as he likes.
1. How does Auntie Carmel feel about the author’s eating habit?| A．Disturbing. | B．Embarrassing. |
| C．Interesting. | D．Puzzling. |
| A．At a loss. | B．In agreement. |
| C．Out of patience. | D．Under consideration. |
| A．She is skilled at expressing herself. |
| B．She is particular about table manners. |
| C．She lives alone in New York. |
| D．She tends to criticize others. |
| A．Children in large families usually behave badly. |
| B．Children's eating habits are not easy to change. |
| C．The small family usually has strict family rules. |
| D．The family size isn't related to one’ s eating speed. |
2 . Art Activities for Teens
Art & Design Lab for Teens
Friday, 3 p.m.——5 p.m.
Start your weekend off with some art and inspiration（灵感）! Each Friday we offer new gallery adventures, different materials, and techniques to feed your creativity. Stay the whole time or stop by to connect with artists and other creative teens.
For ages 13——18, no registration (登记)required.
Fee: Free.
Five-Day Course
Monday, July 17——Friday, July 21
This year's Teenage Art School explores how artists react to a place, combining text and pictures to create statements about life. Artist-producer Sarah Yates will guide your exploration of working with paint.
This free course is for 14-to 17-year-olds. Whether art is just a hobby or something you are studying, Teenage Art School will help you develop your skills as an artist. There is also a chance to win Bronze Arts Award.
China in the Making
Saturday, June 8, 10 a.m.——3 p.m.
What can art-making materials tell us about the natural world, global trade, social and cultural frameworks, and artists' ideas? This series of gallery conversations and studio experiences immerse（浸入)participants in hands-on exploration while exploring the history of a material once so highly valued in China that it was known as "white gold".
Materials provided; Pre-registration required.
Fee：$50（members：$30）.
Contemporary Gallery
July 26——August 2, 4:00 p.m.——5:30 p.m.
Join us as we close out our Teen Artist Academy with an exhibition and a dance performance. Artworks created by youth in our Teen Artist Academy, a 3-week summer camp where teens, ages 14-17, learned to plan public artworks will be on exhibit. This event is free and open to the public.
1. What's the purpose of "Five-Day Course"?| A．To offer you some inspiration for painting. |
| B．To develop your interest in painting. |
| C．To make sure you get an award. |
| D．To teach you some skills in art. |
| A．You have to pay for it. |
| B．You can join in it without registration. |
| C．You can take part in it at any time. |
| D．You can learn about Chinese arts there. |
| A．Five-Day Course. | B．Contemporary Gallery. |
| C．China in the Making. | D．Art & Design Lab for Teens. |
3 . Singapore’s tradition of eating out in places called hawker centers is now recognized by the United Nations for its cultural importance.
A hawker is a person who sells food or goods and advertises by shouting at people walking by on the street. Hawkers are an important part of Singaporean culture. Open-air eating areas where hawkers sell their goods are very popular. Famous chefs, such as Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsay have praised them.
On Wednesday, the United Nations, cultural agency, UNESCO, added the city’s “hawker culture,” to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Singapore sought to have hawker culture added to the list about two years ago. Now that it has been recognized, Singapore must provide a report every six years to UNESCO. The report must show efforts the city-state has made to save and support its hawker culture.
“These centers serve as ‘community dining rooms’, where people from diverse backgrounds gather and share the experience of dining over breakfast, lunch and dinner,” UNESCO said.
In the 1970s, Singapore cleaned up its streets so the city moved street hawkers to new eating centers. These areas were part of an effort to improve the island. Now, the centers offer many different low-cost meals for local people and provide a pleasing social setting. The 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians showed its stars enjoying meals at a famous night market. Some sellers even received Michelin stars from a famous restaurant rating system for their meals costing only a few dollars.
But, now the average age of a hawker in Singapore is 60 years old. Younger Singaporeans now want to work in offices. They are less interested in working in small restaurants. The COVID-19 health crisis also hurt sales, preventing foreign visitors and locals from eating out.
1. What do we know about hawkers from paragraph 2?| A．They sell goods in the open-air area. |
| B．They are famous chefs. |
| C．They are Singapore natives. |
| D．They are popular all over the world. |
| A．For the efforts Singapore has made. |
| B．For its importance in showing Singapore’s culture. |
| C．For the report Singapore provided. |
| D．For the recommendation by UNESCO. |
| A．To advertise the film. |
| B．To introduce the stars. |
| C．To show the popularity of hawker centers. |
| D．To help the sellers receive Michelin stars. |
| A．The difficulties hawker culture are facing. |
| B．The average age of hawkers. |
| C．The effect caused by COVID-19. |
| D．The future of the hawker culture. |
4 . Glenn Cunningham and his brother were in charge of heating the classroom at school before the teachers and other students would arrive. But disaster struck one day when someone accidentally poured gasoline in a container and an explosion took place.
“When they looked at my legs the doctors thought they should amputate(截肢) my legs because they said if I got an infection I would not only lose my leg, but also lose my life," he is quoted as saying in the book American Miler: The Life and Times of Glenn Cunningham. “Even though the doctors said I'd never walk, they couldn't convince me because I knew I was going to be able to walk again.”
Creams and massages (按摩) aided his recovery but it was over a year before he could walk again. “My family was wonderful,” he said. “I had lost all the flesh on my knees. Yet my family kept changing the dressings and massaging my legs, though there was little muscle left to massage. Even after I was able to stand, holding onto either the bed or a chair, a neighbor kid said, ‘Aw, you are never gonna walk again!’ But by then I knew that nothing was going to stop me.”
His talent shone through early when just at 12 years of age, he had defeated all the runners in high school. During his senior year in high school, he created a new state record for the mile: clocking 4:28.3 in Manhattan. During the 1930s, he won two National Collegiate Athletic Association titles.
Having built a reputation as one of the finest runners in his country, Cunningham would go on to compete in the 1,500-meter event at the 1932 Olympics. He narrowly missed out on a medal as he finished fourth. Cunningham was at his peak by the time he made his second Olympic appearance at Berlin in 1936. He did not disappoint, setting a new US record at the event by clocking 3: 48. 4 but fell short of New Zealand's Jack Lovelock.
From being almost crippled (跛的)as a child to creating world records and going on to win a medal at the Olympics, Cunningham's career remains an inspiration for athletes.
1. What was Cunningham doing when the accident happened?| A．Reading a book. | B．Heating the container. |
| C．Greeting teachers and students. | D．Warming the classroom. |
| A．He would lose his life if he lost his legs. | B．He could get an infection while being amputated. |
| C．He had to sacrifice his legs to survive. | D．He had a great chance of being able to walk again. |
| A．They helped him to recover from the disaster. | B．They didn't allow him to do sports. |
| C．They gave him full-body massages. | D．They encouraged him to develop more talents. |
| A．He got a medal at his first Olympics. | B．He won a place at his second Olympics. |
| C．He set a record in his first year of high school. | D．He represented his school in an international race. |
5 . No matter where he parks his VW bus coated in chalkboard paint, Jonathan Sherman comes back to find great new art adorning the sides.
Once a week, he washes it and creates a new canvas for the amateur artists of American Fork who are inspired to fill its sides.
The story behind what has become known as the “Chalkbus” even inspired a mini documentary by college students, the Daily Herald reports.
The idea to make it a rolling chalkboard came to Sherman when the bus was due for a new paint job and he painted it black matte primer and then gazed over at his daughter drawing chalk on the sidewalk. He invited her to try and the van, and the plan was formed.
“People were like, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t do that, people are going to draw all kinds of horrible things on there,’ you know, ‘You’ re asking for trouble,’” Sherman said. “People really haven’t drawn anything bad on there, they always draw cool things.”
He started driving it several years ago, and frequently found drawings when he parked it in at the movie theater or grocery store. When he found someone drawing on the bus, he left them alone to finish before talking with them.” It’s always a positive conversation,” he said. Sherman, a licensed marriage and family therapist, said the bus seemed to provide something people were missing. He took it each year to the Out of Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk in Salt Lake City and let people draw on it there.
“A lot of people are really disconnected in society. And a lot of people suffer in silence,” he said. “Anywhere I can find a little small connection, I think it just alleviates a little bit of a burden somewhere for somebody to know that, you’ re seen and you matter.”
“I’ve just noticed how many meaningful connections have come as a result of or have come because of the existence of the Chalkbus,” McKinnon said. “Because the Chalkbus exists, I’ve made friends that I wouldn’t have made. I want people to have peace, love and happiness.”
1. How did Sherman react when seeing someone painting on his bus?| A．He watched him/ her in a cold manner. |
| B．He stayed angry but kept silent. |
| C．He fought with the person. |
| D．He watched him/ her and then talked with the person. |
| A．Relieves. | B．Bears. | C．Accepts. | D．Improves. |
| A．Immoral behaviors happening in public. |
| B．“Chalkbus” inspires drawing and connectivity. |
| C．“Chalkbus” promotes young artists born in colleges. |
| D．Newly-born style of art—Chalkbus drawing. |
| A．A guidebook. | B．A scientific fiction. | C．A fashion magazine. | D．A news report. |
6 . Do you like running enough to make it a habit? Tierney Wolfgram does; she has made running a lifelong career and isn't stopping.
In February, the 16-year-old from a high school, US, competed at the 2020 US Olympic Trials. She finished the marathon(42.195 km)with a time of 2:42:47 as the youngest competitor in the race and ranked 76th out of 390 runners. However, the cross-country(越野的)season was postponed to winter because of the COVID-19. So she jumped at the opportunity to train for another race-the Parkway Marathon in California. In November, Wolfgram broke the Women's American Junior marathon record with her time of 2:31:49. The old record was 2:34:32, which had stood since 1984.
“I'm completely stunned, ”said Wolfgram's coach. “I knew she was going to break it, but she really showed out！”
During the run, Wolfgram once hit a wall pretty hard, but she overcame it to finish. “I guess I can say I gave it my all, ”she told Runner's World. “When I finished, all I was thinking was I felt super happy,” Wolfgram said This was only her third marathon. In 2018, when Wolfgram was 15 years old, she ran her first marathon just because she wanted to see if she had the ability to do it. “I believed that I would get faster as the distances got longer. . . I'm still glad that I did it. ”
When preparing for that first marathon, she ran up to 120 miles per week. Although her parents didn't have any background in running, they helped Wolfgram train. At first, her dad would take her out in the morning and run about 13 miles. The distance would gradually increase each day. On top of her runs in the morning, she would do cross-country practice after school.
Now Wolfgram will consider attending the Olympics Games in 2024 after it's scheduled.
1. What can we learn about Wolfgram from Paragraph 2?| A．She was the champion at the 2020 US Olympic Trials. |
| B．She put off the cross-country season for the COVID-19. |
| C．She broke an Olympic marathon record in November. |
| D．She prepared for the Parkway Marathon in California. |
| A．Doubtful | B．Worried. | C．Shocked. | D．Interested |
| A．Her parents' encouragement. | B．Her desire to prove she could do it. |
| C．Her coach's support and help. | D．Her hope to break the national record |
| A．Sports. | B．Lifestyle | C．Culture. | D．Opinion |
7 . On a rainy afternoon, maybe one of the following books will keep you company leisurely, allowing you to spend your time alone as well as stepping into a different world.
Don’t Shed Your Tears for Anyone Who Lives on These Streets, by Patricio Pron
In April 1945, Italy, a writer disappeared at a conference and was found dead at another place. Thirty years later, a young man interviewed survivors from the conference, trying to uncover the truth about what happened and its consequences. This novel, by a well-known Argentine writer, explores art, crime and politics.
When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi
At thirty-six, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed (诊断) with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient. This autobiography finds hope and beauty in the face of death as Kalanithi attempts to answer the question “What makes a life worth living?”.
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Set in a small Alabama town in the 1930s, the story focuses on honest, highly respected lawyer Atticus Finch who puts his career on the line when he agrees to represent Tom Robinson, a black man accused of committing a crime.
Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A true (as told to me) story by Bess Kalb
Bess Kalb saved every voicemail from her grandmother Bobby Bell who died at ninety. In this book, Bobby is speaking to Bess once more, in a voice as loving as it ever was in life and brings us several generations of brave women. They include Bobby’s mother, who traveled alone from Belarus to America to survive, and Bess’s mother, who always fought against convention.
1. What type of book is the first novel?| A．Sci-fi. | B．Biography. | C．Detective books. | D．History books. |
| A．To Kill a Mockingbird. |
| B．When Breath Becomes Air. |
| C．Don’t Shed Your Tears for Anyone Who Lives on These Streets. |
| D．Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A true (as told to me) story. |
| A．Bobby Bell. | B．Bess Kalb. | C．Bess’s mother. | D．Bobby’s mother. |
8 . A new study, published in Music Education Research, examined whether an extended music education had an impact on pupils’ experienced satisfaction with school. Nearly 1,000 pupils at ten Finnish schools with extended music classes and comparison classes participated in a survey that measured the quality of school life at Year 3 and Year 6.
According to the results, the differences between the extended music classes and the comparison classes were significant at Year 6. But there were no differences between the groups at Year 3. The most likely explanation is the amount of music lessons which was four hours per week for the extended music classes and one lesson per week for the normal classes.
Merely attending an extended education class at Year 3 did not cause differences in school satisfaction. To explore whether belonging to any extended education class would have the same benefits, some extended education classes that focus on visual arts and sports were recently included in the analysis. However, school satisfaction in these classes did not differ from that in the normal ones at Year 6.
"Singing in a choir and group performance are popular activities at extended music classes. Other studies have established that people find it very satisfying to synchronize (合拍)with one another. That increases connection within the group and may even make people like each other. Other objects in the school do not have as much training in synchrony and cooperation as music lessons, which could explain part of the phenomenon,” says doctoral student Pävi-Sisko Eerola, at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
A particular answer may be that girls usually tend to give more positive scores on satisfaction with school and they also make up the majority of pupils at extended music classes. However, the gender differences do not fully explain the observed results. In fact, it seems that extended music classes improve the quality of school life more for boys than girls.
Maybe it’s impossible to adopt the Finnish music education system, but the benefits of having a few extra hours of art and self-expression via music every week are dramatic and necessary.
1. What did the new study find?| A．Elder kids are content with school when receiving more music lessons. |
| B．Extended music education is getting popular in many Finnish schools. |
| C．Primary pupils have different preference for the class arrangements. |
| D．Music education may have different functions in different grades. |
| A．They pay more attention to kids’ feelings and emotions. |
| B．They stress visual appreciation and physical activity. |
| C．They are extended to the same length and frequency. |
| D．They are attended by both younger and elder kids. |
| A．They can promote teamwork between students. |
| B．They can build good teacher-student relationship. |
| C．They effectively practice studenls’ singing skill. |
| D．They will develop students’ interest in music. |
| A．The researchers. | B．Music teachers. |
| C．Finnish students. | D．School administrators. |
9 . On Monday, I stopped my car in front of my daughter Juliet’s middle school. She jumped in the front seat, feeling down. She asked me to help her study for her science test.
“Dad, I need to memorise a unit about the Reproductive Cycle of Plants. And I can hardly make it.”
“You know memorising seems like the best way to study, but in fact you can do better in tests if you work on trying to understand the material.”
Juliet was open to my advice. It was Monday afternoon and we had two nights to study before the test on Wednesday. I suggested a plan. “Tomorrow night, you are going to teach the material to me. Tonight, read the unit. Prepare to teach.”
Asking her to teach me was an unusual idea but I was determined to do it. Studies show teaching somebody else is a very useful way to learn. Even if you don’t do the teaching, the act of preparing to teach leads to more learning than just trying your best to memorise the material.
On Tuesday afternoon, Juliet sat down with her science book facing me and said, “Okay Dad, let’s study.” I wanted her to teach me. But false starts happened. I couldn’t be too hard on her. So instead we started with me asking her some simple questions. She knew some but not others. When she didn’t know the answers, I encouraged her to check the book.
She started checking things that didn’t make sense. And she was actively seeking to test her understanding. I was happy to see it. She wasn’t memorising; she was trying to make sense of things, which was exactly what I had hoped she would do.
1. Why did Juliet feel down?| A．Because she failed her science test. |
| B．Because she had trouble memorising a unit. |
| C．Because she knew nothing about planting. |
| D．Because she couldn’t follow her teacher. |
| A．Memorising. | B．Testing. |
| C．Questioning. | D．Understanding. |
| A．Making her check the book. |
| B．Using simple questions to test her. |
| C．Encouraging her to read the unit. |
| D．Asking her to teach me the unit. |
| A．A Creative Father |
| B．An Unexpected Test |
| C．Learning from Teaching |
| D．Preparing for Teaching |
10 . However exciting space travel sounds, astronauts must still suffer with bad food. Now, food in space has to be dehydrated (使脱水) or precooked and stored. This means astronauts aren’t really eating fresh food.
New technology may change this. Scientific American reports that a specially-designed oven will be sent into space this autumn with NASA’s NG-12 cargo mission. Far from the common vacuum-packed meals, astronauts may get to enjoy freshly baked cookies before the end of 2020.
Why aren’t they baking cookies in space already? For one thing, there’s the risk of a fire. Engineers also have to overcome the challenge of micro-gravity(微重力), which prevents heat from circling inside ovens the same way it does on Earth.
Astronauts will still have to wait a while before they can have their cookies, though. After baking, the results will be sent back to Earth for safety testing. If successful, this will be the first oven to bake food in space.
“ I believe... that will be game-changing for both science and astronauts,” food technology researcher Maeena Naman Shafiee told Scientific American.
One of the main diving forces behind this project has been NASA’s 2018 research into the effects of “confinement and isolation”. Unlike on the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts traveling out of Earth’s orbit may not be able to speak to their loved ones on future missions, which could lead to negative feelings.
It’s hoped that the chance to bake and sense familiar smells can bring joy to astronauts.
“Is the ISS going to smell like fresh-baked cookies? We don’t know,” said NanoRacks’ communications manager Abby Dickes. “But that’s feeling we all know and love... that will make someone feel at home.”
Baking cookies in space would mark an important step, offering a small comfort in the difficult and unfamiliar environment of space travel. Astronauts have already grown plants aboard the ISS.
With commercial space travel now being planned, who knows what other developments may surprise us in the future?
1. What can astronauts do with the new oven in space in the future?| A．They can cook a meal | B．They can eat cookies. |
| C．They can bring more fresh food | D．They can prepare food quickly |
| A．Cooking in space needs some special cooking skills. |
| B．Micro-gravity makes it dangerous to cook in space. |
| C．It’s expensive and inconvenient to bring fresh food to the space. |
| D．It’s difficult to heat food the same way as on Earth because of different gravity. |
| A．To prepare some fresh food for astronauts. |
| B．To bring the feeling of home to the astronauts. |
| C．To make improvements in space travel. |
| D．To provide a new game for astronauts to play in space. |
| A．unknown | B．imaginable | C．surprising | D．confusing |
