1 . A cousin sent an email saying she had been out cutting her lawn (草坪) for two hours in the hot Nebraska sun and the smell of grass was in her nose. She said it reminded her of her dad working outside.
“Not a breath of cool air out there, unbearable for all the crew but Dad. During their lunch break, Dad would have a couple of sandwiches and skip the iced tea. He’d have creamed coffee. That was my hero—loyal, very, very hard-working, so wonderful. Funny what a smell can remind you.”
Her dad and my dad were brothers. There were five boys in the family. The boys were cut from the same cloth. Every one of them enjoyed hard work.
It wasn’t easy raising a large family during the Depression (大萧条), yet their farm was the first one for miles around to have electricity. Their dad made a small power station using batteries. Resourcefulness (足智多谋) was second nature.
When my parents married, they didn’t have much. When they got a dog, he managed to build a doghouse from wood.
I think of my dad when I see a barbecue. He loved to grill (烧烤). Burgers, hot dogs, steak. For years, he and Mom hosted a huge Fourth of July brunch and grilled pancakes and sausages before the neighborhood parade.
He loved grilling out especially when it was hot — 90℉ (about 32℃) was good, even 100℉ (about 37.8℃) wasn’t too high. That was also his favorite time to mow (割草). He and all his brothers were most comfortable outside. It came from the farm imprint, spring planting, summers in the fields and fall harvest.
At my dad’s retirement party, at a large university where he had worked his way up to purchasing director, he was standing by himself, looking at the crowd, having a good time when he laughed and said, “I never did want a desk job.”
I don’t think I realized until that moment how much our dad loved us. He had enjoyed his career and the people he worked with, but until the day he died, there was nothing as beautiful as a stand of wheat or a field of corn.
Here’s to dads everywhere who work hard and do what needs to be done for the love of family.
1. What made the cousin think of her Dad?| A．The hot sun. | B．The smell of grass. | C．The unbearable crew. | D．The hard work. |
| A．They had similar sizes. | B．They had similar clothes. |
| C．They had similar hobbies. | D．They had similar qualities. |
| A．Humorous. | B．Creative. | C．Devoted. | D．Demanding. |
| A．To show her respect for fathers. | B．To stress the importance of working hard. |
| C．To show that raising a family is never easy. | D．To describe the important role a father plays in a family. |
2 . China’s national parks: The Combination of nature and culture
China is vast and beautiful. It includes just about every type of landscape and wildlife species imaginable, from tropical jungle to Himalayas. These massive ecosystems are home to an incredible wealth of biodiversity, including rare plant life and popular species like the beloved giant panda.
Sanjiangyuan National Park
The first national park to be trialed as part of the new system was Sanjiangyuan—the source of the Yangtze, Yellow and Mekong (Lancang) rivers. Situated in Qinghai province in far northwest China, the park covers 123,000 sq km of high-altitude wilderness on the Tibetan Plateau. Protected species include snow leopards, wild yaks, and Tibetan gazelles and antelope.
Wuyi Mountain National Park
Both a Biosphere Reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Wuyi Shan is one of the world’s largest subtropical primordial forest systems. Its dramatic gorges and rivers are home to thousands of types of protected wildlife like migratory birds and rare amphibians. And many visitors come to explore the archaeological remains of Han City as well as numerous 11th-century Daoist temples and shrines.
Giant Panda National Park, Sichuan
China has been working hard in recent decades to reestablish the endangered giant panda, creating 67 panda reserves across Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. The new Giant Panda National Park encompasses these reserves and is home to more than 1000 wild pandas.
Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park
Situated in the Changbai Mountains along China’s border with Russia, this park covers the wild habitats of the big cats and has seen success in encouraging leopards and tigers to repopulate. Since 2017, 12 Siberian tiger cubs and 11 leopard cubs have been born here. Nearby is Jingpo Lake National Geopark near Mudanjiang in Heilongjiang province, with lakes, volcanic craters and ancient lava flows.
1. What’s special for Sanjiangyuan National Park?| A．It’s the origin of three rivers. | B．It’s located on the Himalayas. |
| C．It’s situated in the southwest China. | D．It’s home to thousands of migratory birds. |
| A．Sanjiangyuan National Park. | B．Wuyi Mountain National Park. |
| C．Giant Panda National Park, Sichuan. | D．Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park. |
| A．Home to the wildlife. | B．Varieties of landscape. |
| C．Places of high-altitude. | D．Reserves of baby animals. |
3 . Increased human activity and climate change have caused a rise of algae (藻类植物) in water bodies around the world—sometimes choking ecosystems of sunlight and oxygen. In more extreme cases, they can produce dangerous poisons that can sicken or kill people and animals. But the plenty of algae could prove crucial as our population rises beyond eight billion people worldwide because algae are crops that don’t need land, freshwater, or fertilizer to fill nutritional gaps.
And even though they are so closely associated with human’s bad impact on Earth, algae could also play vital roles in slowing climate change and helping fight against pollution, viruses, and more. With microplastic pollution documented in almost all habitats related to water, a study showed that algae can help filter microplastics from water. Algae can also filter chemicals that can be used for fertilizer.
Algae can produce more effective biofuel than traditional sources. Rescarchers at a German algae growing facility are already using it to fuel plane. Researchers believe this and other sustainable fuels could reduce carbon released from airplanes by up to 80 percent.
Animal feed containing a kind of red algae reduces harmful methane(甲烷)released from cattle by more than 80 percent. The addition works by changing the environment in a cow’s stomach, stopping the production of methane before it can be released.
Red algae can stop the copies of some viruses, and have been shown to stimulate the body’s immune (免疫的) system and could become a powerful anti-HIV medicine.
In 2019, freshwater algae were launched into space to change the CO2 breathed out by astronauts on the International Space Station into oxygen. Since algae are also high in protein, they could replace up to 30 percent of astronaut food in the future.
1. What can we know about algae from the first paragraph?| A．Better late than never. | B．Every coin has two sides. |
| C．All is well that ends well. | D．Two heads are better than one. |
| A．They avoid climate change. | B．They absorb pollutants in the air. |
| C．They reduce microplastics in the water. | D．They filter most poisonous chemicals. |
| A．Change animal feed into methane. |
| B．Store carbon released from airplanes. |
| C．Help researchers to create traditional sources. |
| D．Create biofuel and reduce methane in cows’s stomach. |
| A．By helping fight against diseases. | B．By increasing human’s strength. |
| C．By producing more oxygen than other plants. | D．By replacing much food for astronauts. |
4 . A robot created at Standford University is diving down to shipwrecks (沉船) in a way that humans can’t do. Known as OceanOneK, the robot allows its operators to feel like they’re underwater explorers, too.
OceanOneK resembles (像) a human diver from the front, with arms, hands and eyes that capture the underwater world in full color. The back of the robot has computers and eight multidirectional thrusters (推进器) that help it carefully explore the sites of fragile shipwrecks. When an operator at the ocean’s surface uses controls to direct OceanOneK, the robot’s touch-based feedback system causes the person to feel the water’s resistance.
The idea for OceanOneK came from a desire to study coral reefs in the Red Sea at depths beyond the normal range for divers. While OccanOneK was designed to reach maximum depths of 656 feet, researchers had a new goal:1 kilometer, hence the new name for OceanOneK. The researchers changed the robot’s body by using special foam to increase buoyancy (浮力) and fight the pressures of 1, 000 meters more than 100 times what humans experience at sea level. OceanOneK also got two new types of hands and increased arm and head motion.
During OceanOneK’s deep dive in February, team members discovered the robot couldn’t rise when they stopped for a thruster check. Flotations on the communications and power line had collapsed, causing the line to pile on the top of the robot.
OceanOneK’s descent was a success. It dropped off a memorial marker on the seabed that reads, “A robot’s first touch of the deep seafloor — A vast new world for humans to explore.” Khatib, a professor, called the experience an “incredible journey.” “This is the first time that a robot has been capable of going to such a depth, interacting with the environment, and permitting the human operator to feel that environment,” he said.
1. What can we learn about OceanOneK?| A．Its eyes are colorful. |
| B．It functions automatically. |
| C．It looks like its operator from the front. |
| D．It is remotely controlled to explore underwater. |
| A．By listing data. | B．By raising questions. |
| C．By reasoning and analyzing. | D．By presenting an argument. |
| A．Successful operation. | B．Deep diving. |
| C．Pressure resistance. | D．Flexible exploration. |
| A．A Creative Explorer | B．The Ambitious Exploration |
| C．A Self-driven Seeker — A Robot | D．A Deep-Sea Explorer — OceanOneK |
5 . It was a snowy day during the spring break when I walked into a great restaurant. In this blizzard weather, it was the only restaurant that remained open.
The restaurant has a long history in Hong Kong. Its owners, the couple, Peter and Michelle, have been running the restaurant since 2007.
“Things have changed a lot in the past 30 years,” Peter said. “Chinese students 20 years ago thought that a 70-cent bowl of rice was too expensive, but now a $20 meal is acceptable”. He also said that the new generation of Chinese students engaged with other students, bringing all their non-Chinese friends to visit the restaurant.
Peter takes great pride in his own cooking. He was curious about how the food was made and why particular foods or sauces had specific tastes. He chose to serve mainly Guangdong and Sichuan food at the restaurant, featuring the family-style Chinese dim sum or hot pot.
When I asked whether he would modify the taste of the dishes to suit the taste of most Americans, Peter said, “We are not like those American Chinese restaurants. We provide the genuine Chinese taste to our customers, and they will love it because it is delicious, and their taste will suit the taste of our dishes, not the other way around.”
“If I hear complaints from my customers, I will be so upset that I can’t fall asleep at night”, he said. “Luckily most of my favorite dishes received wide acclaim from my customers and it takes more than one person’s effort.”
He compares himself with the craftsmen in China who are proud of preserving ancient Chinese art and whose motivation is only on people’s enjoyment of their work and thought.
Such a spirit of craftsmanship has been remarkable and greatly valued in the past. The craftsman’s spirit with perfection, precision, concentration, and patience remains in Peter and his cooking.
1. How long have the couple been running the restaurant?| A．16 years | B．20 years | C．30 years | D．70 years |
| A．Its customers are mainly Chinese. |
| B．It sticks to its original taste of the dishes. |
| C．It adjusts the taste according to the customers. |
| D．Its menu merely contains Guangdong and Sichuan food. |
| A．Generous and patient. | B．Ambitious and economical. |
| C．Thoughtful and humorous. | D．Precise and devoted. |
| A．He believes that cooking just needs one person’s effort. |
| B．He shows an interest in preserving ancient Chinese art. |
| C．He takes pride in cooking the best typical Chinese cuisine. |
| D．He cares about the taste of the dishes rather than customers’ complaints. |
6 . People often wonder about some of the best places to see. A good point of reference is to first look at attractions labeled as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. These sites are culturally or physically significant places listed by the United Nations for their importance to humanity as a whole.
The Mogao Caves, China
Also known as the Mogao Grottoes, the caves are located along the cliffside above the Daquan River in Gansu province. First built in 366 and comprising 492 caves, the Mogao Caves are known as the biggest collection of Buddhist art in the world. The Mogao Caves, vital sites on the historic Silk Road, are a perfect display of Chinese art history over a period of a thousand years.
Redwood National Park, US
Lying in the mountainous region north of San Francisco in California, US, the Redwood National Park is significant for its collection of redwood trees—the tallest and oldest trees in the world—as well as its variety of sea and land wildlife. Once abundant throughout the mild regions of the world, the Redwood trees of California are among the only living examples left of this old plant species, a biological group which has existed for 160 million years.
Machu Picchu, Peru
Situated in the Andes Mountains, this fascinating ancient city is remarkable both for its beautiful setting as well as its use of complex city planning. Standing at 2, 430 meters above sea level, the city of Machu Picchu is covered in both mist and mystery.
1. Where is the text probably taken from?| A．A report. | B．A lecture. |
| C．A travel brochure. | D．A tour commentary. |
| A．They lie above sea level of 2430 meters. |
| B．They are of significance on the Silk Road. |
| C．They are the best places to see various wildlife. |
| D．They have yet to become UNESCO World Heritage Sites. |
| A．They are tourist attractions. | B．They are located in mild regions. |
| C．They present the perfect art history. | D．They are full of plant and animal species. |
7 . Humans’ ever spreading presence around the globe influences patterns of biological evolution in ways that we are just beginning to explore. On the Galápagos Islands, a body of evidence shows that the effect of our presence is increasing.
Luis F. De Leon from the University of Massachusetts Boston, together with other 6 scientists spent two years observing Darwin’s finches (雀科小鸟) to evaluate our effects on their behavior. They started by conducting feeding observations on coexisting finch species at sites that ranged from non-urban areas to urban areas. They also employed finch-human interaction experiments to test whether and how finches respond to human presence. To measure whether finch feeding preferences varied with the degree of urbanization, “cafeteria” experiments were carried out — finches were presented with a selection of human and native food items.
The scientists found that Darwin’s finches fed almost on human foods like rice and cookies or introduced garden species at urban locations. In contrast, at non-urban sites, finches fed mainly on native plant species and insects. Interaction tests suggest that urban birds get more accustomed to the presence of humans. Finally, at all sites of regular human presence, finches preferred human foods to natural foods.
The researchers warn that exploiting urban environments might present challenges for organisms (有机体), including shorter lifespans brought by the consumption of highly processed foods. Furthermore, the year-round availability of abundant human foods in urban environments might affect ecological and evolutionary processes that promoted species diversity. While the results clearly show a shift to human foods at urban sites, the adaptive significance of that shift is still an open question.
These findings also suggest that human behavior is the main driver of finch preference for human foods. The researchers propose a possibility that the effect of human behavior is facilitated by our tendency to feed birds, directly or inadvertently via food dropping or littering.
1. How did the scientists carry out the study?| A．By carrying out experiments in labs. | B．By training finches and observing results |
| C．By observing finches in different sites. | D．By analyzing findings from previous experiments. |
| A．Rice. | B．An insect. |
| C．The leaves of a native plant. | D．The seed of an introduced plant. |
| A．All finches observed are willing to approach humans. |
| B．Human food availability might lead to biodiversity loss. |
| C．The reason for the shift of finch diets remains unknown. |
| D．The more processed foods finches consume, the longer they live. |
| A．Illegally. | B．Voluntarily. | C．Deliberately. | D．Unintentionally. |
8 . My dad doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would bake great bread, but he is and he does. Every Saturday he produces homemade bread. When he’s done, the whole house smells delicious.
The rest of the week, Dad fixes cars at work. The shop where Dad works is running so well that he is always occupied. He is under a lot of stress. I think Dad began baking bread to help him relax.
I’ve been feeling kind of stressed out myself since I found out I didn’t make the school swim team. Now I’ll have to wait a whole year to try out again. Plus, I’m taking some difficult classes this year.
I think Dad knew I was feeling bad. Last Saturday he asked me how things were going. I said OK, even though I didn’t feel OK at all. He looked at me for a moment, and then he said it was time for me to help. Then he headed to the kitchen.
I followed right behind him. Once we were there, Dad got out his big mixing bowl, handed me a large wooden spoon, and told me to mix while he added the ingredients. Dad isn’t big on measuring. He knows how much of each ingredient to use, and the bread always turns out great.
When I finished stirring, Dad showed me how to knead the dough (揉面团). Next came the most difficult part — doing nothing. We put the dough back into the bowl and then we waited for more than an hour for the dough to slowly rise and double in size. Next, we divided it into two and waited for it to rise again. Afterward, we put the dough into pans and waited another hour for the dough to rise and double.
Dad said the waiting is always the hardest part. “It’s hard to resist putting the dough directly into the oven, but if you do, the bread will be hard. The most important lesson of all is learning to be.” Dad taught me more than how to bake bread.
1. What can we learn about the author’s father?| A．He is living a relaxing life. | B．He tries his best to make ends meet. |
| C．He has a special way to deal with stress. | D．He is more like a baker than a mechanic. |
| A．School isn’t going well. | B．She dislikes making bread. |
| C．She feels sorry for her father. | D．Some classes aren’t worth it. |
| A．Dad is unskilled. | B．Dad dislikes measuring. |
| C．Dad has a craze for measuring. | D．Dad is careful about ingredients. |
| A．Never give up. | B．Take life easily. |
| C．Believe in yourself. | D．Enjoy time with family. |
9 . SEED Madagascar Volunteer
Whether your passion is sustainable community development or vital- conservation work, we can offer you an unforgettable experience. No particular skills are required to volunteer in a short term with us and training is given locally, but if you do have particular experience in areas relevant to your program, all the better!
Who it’s for
High schoolers, university and college students, corporate team building groups are all welcome.
At a glance
·Program length: 2—4 weeks
·Start dates: flexible, please discuss with our team
·Group size: 10—30 participants
·Activities: construction/conservation/English teaching—combined as required
·Location: Anosy region, Southeast Madagascar
What’s included
·Transport costs for the duration of the program from Day 1 collection at Fort Dauphin airport to drop-off at the program’s end
·Use of our beautiful campsites and facilities
·All meals while on program (Optional meals out at Fort Dauphin restaurants are extra.)
·Full training for building and construction tasks and conservation field research techniques
·Malagasy language lessons
Additional costs
| International flights(leave/return to the UK) | £680—£1,000 |
| Internal flights (from Antananarivo to Fort Dauphin) | £280—£400 |
| Comprehensive travel insurance | £60—£150 |
| Tourist visa | £20 |
| Medical preparations | £30—£80 |
| Personal equipment | £0—£100 |
Get started
Contact us today via our online form: Online enquiry form
1. What should you bear in mind if you want to apply for SEED Madagascar Volunteer?| A．It lasts for four weeks. | B．It doesn’t have fixed start dates. |
| C．It requires relevant experience. | D．It is intended for high school students. |
| A．Comprehensive travel insurance. |
| B．Conservation field research techniques. |
| C．Short term training for different languages. |
| D．Transport from Antananarivo to Fort Dauphin. |
| A．£560. | B．£680. | C．£1,360. | D．£2,000. |
10 . A new APP uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to tell you what your pet is thinking. It’s called Happy Pets and it analyses an animal’s facial features, tells you what breed(血统) it is and indicates which of the five most common animal emotions—happy, angry, neutral, sad and scared.
The Happy Pets app uses AI, or machine learning. It’s a technology that’s used for vision in robotics and self-driving cars and it works by taking in images and assigning importance to them. One common use for AI is in facial recognition technology. Many of us can unlock our mobile phones with an image of our face and it’s important part of security processes in, for instance, airports.
But this is the first time this kind of technology has been used for animals. It then had to learn to recognize facial features. This is sophisticated because photos can be taken in so many different ways: from the side, above, below, in bright light. And different animals can have such different facial features. Think about how different the noses of a border collie(边境牧羊犬) and bulldog are, for instance. Once the AI behind Happy Pets had learned all this, it then had to be able to detect emotions based on specific facial features that are associated with each emotion, which it has learned from thousands of examples. For instance, if a dog tightens its eyes and mouth while changing the position of its ears in a particular way, it’s a sign of being scared.
In an online article for Melbourne University’s Pursuit, the researchers write they’re happy with how the app performs. The researchers would love feedback about how they could develop the app further.
1. Which of the following may go beyond Happy Pets’ function?| A．Learning the kinds of pets. |
| B．Showing pets’ main feelings. |
| C．Teaching pets’ facial recognition. |
| D．Analyzing the pets’ facial features. |
| A．The robot’s eye. | B．A security system. |
| C．The vision of self driving. | D．A machine learning system. |
| A．Typical. | B．Complex. | C．Scientific. | D．Traditional. |
| A．Because faces can definitely show animals feelings. |
| B．Because it wants to have emotions of humans. |
| C．Because it enables Happy Pets to detect emotions based on specific facial features. |
| D．Because the types of animals are based on the looks. |
