1 . Traveling on foot in Thailand is an amazing experience. While you get ready for a thrilling experience of a lifetime, take a look at some of the best places for your adventure.
Chiang Mai
The trails in Chiang Mai are perfect for amateur hikers. Hiking here is a superb choice as there are beautiful forests, valleys and rivers as well as various tribal (部落的) villages with ethnic minorities that you can explore.
Tips: Pick up a hiking option from an experienced operator that has in-depth knowledge of the area because it is a fairly large one.
Doi Inthanon
Doi Inthanon is the highest mountain in Thailand. It is also one of the most beautiful places with three impressive waterfalls that flow down quickly. As you travel along the 47-kilometre road to the top, you will pass a few small villages of the Karen Hill Tribes and rice fields.
Tips: Make sure to have an experienced guide.
Hua Hin
One of the most incredible things to do is hiking in Hua Hin. The area features its elephant camps. You can care for the elephants, like feeding and bathing them. It must be a special experience to ride on the back of a tall elephant while exploring this beautiful region.
Tips: Make sure to pack extra clothes if you plan to bathe the elephants.
Kamphaeng Phet
As a historically significant part of Thailand, Kamphaeng Phet is a quiet and charming province with many cultural and natural attractions. You can explore the ancient ruins that are scattered throughout the province.
Tips: Be respectful of the statues and other religious monuments.
1. What do Chiang Mai and Doi Inthanon have in common?A.They are suitable for professional hikers. |
B.They have 3, 000-meter waterfalls. |
C.They are located in the urban areas. |
D.They have some tribal villages. |
A.Look after the elephants. | B.Set up the animal camps. |
C.Design minority clothing. | D.Visit religious monuments. |
A.Chiang Mai. | B.Doi Inthanon. |
C.Hua Hin. | D.Kamphaeng Phet. |
2 . A WONDERFUL NIGHT AT CHANGSHA AQUARIUM(海洋馆)
Have you ever seen sea animals at night? What do they do? Eat? Sleep? Swim? Let’s go and enjoy the happy time. Time: 6:30 p. m.~8:30 p. m. on Saturday.
Tour A 6:30p. m.~7:00 p. m. | Tour B 7:00 p. m.~7:30 p. m. | Tour C 7:30 p. m.~8:00 p. m. | Tour D 8:00 p. m.~8:30 p. m. |
Walking with the penguins | Playing with the seals | Feeding the fish | Taking pictures with the dolphins |
*You can’t eat anything while you are watching the sea animals.
*Each tour costs 15 yuan. You can buy the tickets at the gate of the aquarium.
*You can decide which tour you will join after you arrive at the aquarium.
1. If you want to enjoy 4 tours, how much will you pay for them?
A.15 yuan. | B.30 yuan. |
C.45 yuan. | D.60 yuan. |
A.Feed the fish. | B.Eat food. |
C.Take pictures. | D.Walk with the penguins. |
A.Half an hour. | B.One hour. |
C.One and a half hours. | D.Two hours. |
3 . The Best School Camps in Victoria
Burnside Camp
Located on the Surf Coast near Anglesea, Burnside Camp is set over 4-hectare beautiful bushland (灌木丛) close to opollution-free peaches, Running throughout the year, Burnside Camp serves as a fantastic base for groups of up to 88 students. Camp programs centre on outdoor adventure activities. These include biking, canoeing, and exciting bush night hikes.
Mill Valley Ranch
Mill Valley Ranch is one of the best school camps in Victoria for large groups of students. It can accommodate up to 100 students. At Mill Valley Ranch, activity programs typically centre on confidence and character building. When outdoors, this sees young people given the opportunity to experience everything from horse riding to archery (射箭). However, it is also possible to organize a wide range of other team games and activities.
Camp Wilkin
Set in Anglesea, Camp Wilkin covers a 15-acre area home to resident kangaroos, which is in easy reach of quiet bushwalks and fantastic beaches. It offers the best school camp accommodation in Victoria for large groups, accommodating up to 163 students. And it also offers a variety of outdoor activity programs. Camp facilities include large meeting rooms suitable for everything from presentations to group learning activities.
Halls Gap
Halls Gap can hold up to 56 students. One of the best school camps in Victoria for natural sightseeing, it features reserved activities taking the form of short journeys to experience some of the largest waterfalls in Victoria. Halls Gap Camp students can also join in rock climbing. Such activities are in the company of local tour guides.
1. What can students do at Burnside Camp?A.Learn to repair bikes. | B.Run their own startups. |
C.Attend archery lessons. | D.Go on bush night hikes. |
A.Halls Gap. | B.Burnside Camp. | C.Camp Wilkin. | D.Mill Valley Ranch. |
A.It is the best camp in Victoria. | B.It requires advance booking. |
C.It features outdoor activities. | D.It centres on character building. |
4 . The world is full of fascinating destinations. We are here for you, providing a private tour to suit your particular needs and help you enjoy a great travel around Austria.
Time
June to August is the busiest time of the year with crowds of tourists and lower room availability. If you want to avoid the crowded tourists, the best time to visit Austria lasts from April to May and from September to October. During these months, the weather is pleasant, better for enjoying outdoor activities such as sightseeing, biking, hiking and adventures. Winter is also a great time to visit since the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations are held everywhere, attracting tourists from all over the world.
Cities
Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck are three must-see cities that shouldn’t be missed in your Austria tour packages. Vienna, the capital city of Austria, is famous for its lively art. Salzburg is also a great region where you can enjoy amazing views of the Eastern Alps. It’s also the birthplace of the famous composer Mozart and the film setting for the Sound of Music. Innsbruck, another significant place for sightseeing in Austria, is known for its mountainous backdrop and lots of natural beauty. There are also some. worthy medieval(中世纪的)towns to visit, such as Bad Ischl, Durnstein, Hallstatt, etc.
Transportation
Austria has a wide rail network, connecting all its domestic cities and neighboring countries. Riding on comfortable trains is the best way to travel through the green valleys, the historic towns and the scenic villages.
1. When is Austria the most crowded with tourists?A.From April to May. | B.From June to August. |
C.From September to October. | D.From November to December. |
A.Its art. | B.Its mountains. |
C.Its filming. | D.Its medieval towns. |
A.Taking a bus. | B.Taking a bike. |
C.Taking a train. | D.Taking a boat. |
5 . You hate me. You don’t even know me and you hate me. Before we’ve even spoken, you hate me. At least that’s how it feels on my end of the call as a female collections officer at a call center.
I dread the moment when I have to log on to our phone system first thing in the morning because I never know who is going to be on the other end of that call.
Sometimes it’s an easy task. The caller is pleasant and has accepted personal responsibility for their debts, and we get through the phone call with ease. Then there are the ones who call in looking for a fight, or looking for someone to blame. Through the luck of the phone system, that person is me.
I’ve had people who shout at me, call me horrible names, accuse me personally of taking their money and threaten me. Why? I think it’s because I am invisible. I think I would be treated with the same level of disrespect if we were face to face. Fortunately for me, I have had years of experience in customer service, so I’m fairly rich in not letting the negative encounters bother me.
The biggest and most effective skill when it comes to the job is empathy (同理心). I can appreciate the situation which the caller is in because I’ve been there. That’s why I’m good at my job — I understand what you’re going through, and I’m here to help.
Some days though, no matter how much I try to leave the stress behind when I hang up the phone, it stays with me. I may do some deep breathing, go for a quick walk or simply stick my head outside for a burst of fresh air. I do this so I don’t carry that negativity on to my next call. That next call may be a person having the worst day of their life, but I don’t want to ever be the one who makes it worse. We are all humans just trying to get by in life, which makes you and me equal. So please, the next time we talk, remember that.
1. What does the underlined word “dread” in paragraph 2 probably mean?A.Enjoy. | B.Fear. | C.Expect. | D.Avoid. |
A.They get angry too easily. | B.They blame her for their debts. |
C.They do not see her as a real person. | D.They accuse her of taking their money. |
A.She can offer callers best advice. | B.She is always respected by callers. |
C.She can put herself in others’ shoes. | D.She isn’t easily influenced by negativity. |
A.To call for understanding of her job. | B.To explain why she is good at her job. |
C.To introduce what she is responsible for. | D.To complain about her being treated badly. |
6 . African penguins live on the rocky coasts of South Africa, Namibia and nearby islands. Like other types of penguins, the birds have white feathers covering their chests and black feathers covering their backs. They form lifelong pair bonds with mates, but they nest in huge colonies — so, scientists wondered how the birds were able to identify their partners among the sea of black-and-white birds. They wondered if their chest spots had something to do with it. To test this theory, they studied 12 African penguins at a zoo and marine park near Rome called Zoomarine Italia.
In one test, they hung two life-size photographs of the African penguins. One showed a random member of the colony, while the other showed the test subject’s mate. The scientists recorded the birds’ interactions with the photos: How long did they spend looking at each one, as well as how much time did they spend standing near each photograph? The penguins spent more time gazing at the photo of their partners — about 23 seconds longer, on average — than looking at the other photo. They also stood next to the image of their beau s for twice as long. Then, the researchers covered up the heads of the birds in the photographs, leaving only their speckled bodies visible, and the penguins still lingered near their partners’ portraits.
In another experiment, the researchers hung up two photos of a bird’s mate — but, in one, they had digitally removed its spots. In this case, the penguin again spent more time looking at the photo with the dots.
Finally, the researchers posted two photographs of penguins with digitally removed spots — one of the test subject’s mate and the other of a random penguin from the colony. In this scenario, the penguins did not appear to recognize their partners. They spent roughly the same amount of time gazing at or standing near both photos.
Together, the results of these experiments suggest African penguins are zeroing in on their partners’ spots and using them like name tags, scientists say.
“Our results provide the first evidence of a specific visual cue responsible for spontaneous individual recognition by a bird and highlight the importance of considering all sensory modalities in the study of animal communication,” the researchers write in the paper.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?A.African penguins live on the rocky coasts of North Africa. |
B.Scientists are curious about the African penguins. |
C.African penguins have white feathers covering their backs. |
D.Scientists studied 12 African penguins only at a zoo near Rome. |
A.Their partners’ voice. | B.Their partners’ heads. |
C.Their partners’ back feathers. | D.Their partners’ speckled bodies. |
A.Losing sight of. | B.Taking delight in. |
C.Paying attention to. | D.Speaking highly of. |
A.In a science report. | B.In a travel brochure. |
C.In a biology textbook. | D.In a fashion magazine. |
7 . If you explore somewhere interesting, you should never miss the three beautiful bookstores in the world.
City Lights
City Lights, an independent bookstore-publisher combination specializing (专门从事) in world literature, the arts and politics, is still one of the world’s greatest bookstore since it was founded by the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. It became well-known for publishing important poem Howl and Other Poems. Having been a gathering place for American literary icons (偶像), like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. City Lights is located at 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco.
Shakespeare and Company
Originally founded in 1919 by Sylvia Beach, Shakespeare and Company is a combination of a bookstore and a reading library, specializing in English-language literature. In the 1920s, the store was a meeting point for literary icons such as Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce. Located in the 5th arrondissement (郡,法国行政区), on Paris’s Left Bank, the current store was opened in 1951, named after and in honor of the earlier store that closed during World War II.
Selexyz Dominicanen Bookstore
The 800-year- old Domonican church in Maastricht has been turned into one of the most beautiful bookstore in the world- Selexyz Dominicanen Bookstore. The store keeps the character and charm of the old church. It houses the largest stock of books in English in the city. Reading here is a special experience.
1. Where is City Lights?A.In Maastricht. | B.In Paris. | C.In San Francisco | D.In Berlin. |
A.Sylvia Beach | B.Ernest Hemingway | C.James Joyce | D.Lawrence Ferlinghetti |
A.It became well-known because of a poem. | B.It was closed during World War II. |
C.It keeps the character of an old church. | D.It contains a great number of travel books. |
8 . In recent studies we have been investigating mirror writing by typical 4- to 6-year-old children. The term is used because the characters — numbers and capital letters — are reversed (反向), yet are correct when looked at in a mirror.
Mirror writing entered the scientific literature in 1878. The explanations for the phenomenon were not only insufficient but also often wrong. One of them is — writing with the left hand. Throughout the 20th century, scientific journals have published mirror writing mostly produced by left-handed children. Even today, left-handedness is often the favorite explanation of teachers when children produce mirror writing.
The explanation we find for the phenomenon of mirror writing of characters works on two successive levels, the first cerebral and the second behavioral. The cerebral level shows that the brain removes orientation (left or right) when storing images, a process called symmetrisation or mirror generalization. This mirror-generalization process leads children aged 5 to know, from memory, the shape of the characters, but not their left/right orientation. Given the features of the process — horizontal mirror in the visual modality (视觉模式) — it is important to note that the initial learning of the form of the characters by the children is mainly visual, and that the children only produce horizontal mirror writing.
At the behavioral level, when children write the characters from memory, they must give them an orientation. In countries whose primary languages are written in Latin characters — written from left to right — children most often point them toward the right. This leads them to reverse mainly the left-oriented characters: J, Z, 1, 2, 3, 7, and 9. However, when spatial constraints cause them to write from right to left, the children instead reverse the right-oriented letters.
Since this explanation has nothing to do with the handedness of the children, it can be predicted that right-handed children will reverse characters almost often as left-handed children, and that – left-handed or right-handed – children will primarily reverse left-oriented characters in Western culture. This is because they strictly orient the characters in the direction of writing.
1. What aspect of a character does mirror generalization help children to know?A.Its form. | B.Its pronunciation. |
C.Its meaning. | D.Its orientation. |
A.Paragraph 2. | B.Paragraph 3. |
C.Paragraph 4. | D.Paragraph 5. |
A.M. | B.C. | C.8. | D.9. |
A.Handedness is the main reason for mirror writing. |
B.Right-handed children won’t write reversed characters. |
C.Left-handed children reverse right-oriented characters more often. |
D.Children in the US tend to primarily reverse left-oriented characters. |
9 . Scientists are now digging into precisely why exercise holds so many benefits for our mental health and memory. The answer, studies say, lies in our brain chemistry.
Each time you work up a sweat, your body releases feel-good happy hormones (荷尔蒙), including endorphins, dopamine and endocannabinoids, the latter being responsible for the so-called runner’s high. Now researchers are also pointing to myokines (肌肉因子) as an important contributor to the mental health benefits of exercise. When our muscles contract, myokines are released into the bloodstream, helping your muscles and organs communicate. They think this communication increases resilience to stress, reduces symptoms of mental suffering and anxiety and has a direct effect on depression.
A 2021 scientific report published in Neuropharmacology showed evidence that myokines boost brain function, like improving memory and mood. “Myokines reduce systemic inflammation (炎症), which is especially beneficial for people with drug-resistant depression whose low mood is linked to high inflammation,” explains Dr Jennifer Heisz, an expert in brain health and associate professor in the department of kinesiology at McMaster University in Canada.
A recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine showed that treatment for depression can be much more effective when physical activity is added to the usual care. Participants found benefits after 12 weeks of exercising for 30 to 60 minutes a day. “While exercise is not a replacement for professional mental health treatment, physical activity can complement and enhance the effects of the treatment,” says lead researcher Ben Singh, a research fellow at the University of South Australia.
“It is amazing to consider how moving our bodies can heal our minds,” says Heisz. Whether you’re cycling, walking around your neighbourhood or doing yoga, getting sweaty is good for your body and mind. To get the biggest overall health boost, the key is to zero in on sports and activities you enjoy, so you’ll keep going back to them.
1. How do myokines boost our mental health?A.By bonding muscles with organs. |
B.By slowing down our bloodstream. |
C.By contracting muscles through the body. |
D.By releasing happy hormones in our brain. |
A.Doubtful. | B.Negative. |
C.Uncertain | D.Approving. |
A.Adapt to. | B.Give up. |
C.Focus on. | D.Put off. |
A.By making comparisons. |
B.By presenting research findings. |
C.By offering suggestions. |
D.By conducting some experiments. |
10 . Noah Wall recently celebrated his ninth birthday. The little boy from Cumbria, England, uses a wheelchair to get around. He’s extremely smart and loves learning about the solar system. His life is pretty normal, which is astonishing considering doctors didn’t even expect Noah to survive his birth.
His mom, Michelle Wall, was pregnant when tests revealed that her little one had spina bifida (脊椎裂) . When they performed more tests, a scan of Noah’s head showed a cyst(囊肿) that was destroying his brain.
Michelle and her husband Rob prayed for a wonder. On the day Noah was born, he let out a huge cry the moment he appeared to let his parents know that their little guy wasn’t going down without a fight!
Scans showed that just 2 percent of Noah’s brain had survived the cyst in his head. Seven weeks after birth, he received an operation to close the opening in his spine and place a shunt (分流管) in his head to lead fluid (积液) away from his brain. Yet Noah is not mentally disabled. In fact, he’s impressively clever! At 9, he is physically active and dreams of becoming an astronaut someday.
“They told us he might not be able to speak, hear, eat, or anything,” Michelle said. “But I see he can tell the time, read, do maths and love science. He can talk about the solar system. He has unbelievable dreams. ”
Noah has gone through 11 surgeries so far and there are many more to come, but he has already exceeded everyone’s expectations —in every possible way!
“Every single day he does something that impresses me,” Michelle said. “I’m so extremely proud of him. I will help him all I can and always be there for him.”
Noah! What a wonderful reminder of the importance of keeping hope alive.
1. Why is the nine-year-old Noah Wall’s life astonishing?A.The doctor judged him not to survive. | B.He is too smart to explore the solar system. |
C.His full recovery created a great wonder. | D.He will live through 11 operations. |
A.Gone beyond. | B.Subscribed to. |
C.Lived up to. | D.Set the stage for. |
A.Doubtful. | B.Positive. | C.Cautious. | D.Objective. |
A.A Touching Family | B.A Medical Wonder |
C.A Powerful Child | D.A Wonderful Reminder |