1 . The great philosopher Voltaire once said, “Reading makes people see and think clearly.” If you want to be a better sell, try reading the following books.
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is kind of a literary Rosetta Stone, the inspiration, basis, and model for so many modern novels. For a book written in the early 19th century, its modernity is surprising only until you realize that this is the novel that in many ways defines what a modern novel is.
A Wild Child’s Guide to Endangered Animals
From The New York Times bestselling author Millie Marotta comes this gorgeous celebration of the animal kingdom. Highlighting the difficulty of 43 endangered species from around the world, the book takes readers on a trip through freshwater, oceans, forests, mountains, deserts, grasslands and wetlands while learning about rare and well-known animals and their habitats.
Patriarchy and Capitalism
Chizuko Ueno, a leading Japanese sociologist, critic and public intellectual, has been a pioneer in women’s studies and the author of many books, including Patriarchy and Capitalism, which discusses the status of Japanese women.
Know My Name
Chanel Miller’s breathtaking memoir is praised to be the Best Book of the Year in People magazine. In this book, she recalls her whole life. It’s a story of trauma(创伤)and transcendence(超越)，shining with the courage required to move through suffering and live a full and beautiful life.
1. What is special about Pride and Prejudice?| A．It has a long history. | B．It encourages readers. |
| C．It defines modern novels. | D．It includes surprising plots. |
| A．Patriarchy and Capitalism. |
| B．Pride and Prejudice. |
| C．Know My Name. |
| D．A Wild Child’s Guide to Endangered Animals. |
| A．A folk tale. | B．An autobiography. |
| C．A novel discussing female status. | D．A record about endangered animals. |
2 . There are people for whom the motivation lies in their family’s or companions’ duties. For some people, the purpose lies in a soul’s spiritual awakening. Brent Clayton, a firefighter by profession, is such an individual who found his purpose early in life and kept working to fulfill it.
Born on March 3, 1984, Clayton hugely felt the need to serve others. He followed his mission in life and acquired his diploma in Public Safety. He gradually realized the importance of securing people’s lives, which strengthened his faith in his mission. Clayton further pursued his bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne and master’s degree from Federation University. Then, Clayton worked in the military for a period before moving into a role with the prison service as a prison guard, the youngest person to ever be employed by the service at the time.
After spending a decade in the fire service including training and recruitment, he gained enough experience to become Australian most prominent fire service recruitment expert. Clayton devoted many years of his life to the firefighter recruitment process and fire service industry. He wanted people to realize the true value of this profession by establishing its significance. To communicate his perspective, Clayton established Fire Recruitment Australia in 2009. He aimed to train the next generation and prepare them for the future. Clayton used his experience and years-long training to prepare candidates who were as enthusiastic about the well-being of the world as him.
Keeping the point in mind, Clayton wrote the book Fire Service Recruitment-The Process to Success. His idea was to join his learning into an accessible medium so others didn’t have to waste years wondering what to do when applying to become a firefighter. After the success of the book, Clayton introduced candidates to a comprehensive test preparation and learning suite to facilitate success throughout each stage of the selection process. This platform helped him as well as his candidates to work together for the betterment of themselves and society at large.
1. What made Clayton’s belief stronger?| A．The need of serving other people. |
| B．The significance of securing people’s safety. |
| C．The diploma he received from Public Safety. |
| D．The knowledge he learned from college. |
| A．Stubborn. | B．Fearless. | C．Distinguished. | D．Elegant. |
| A．Because he was enthusiastic about the well-being of the world. |
| B．Because he wanted to carry out academic research. |
| C．Because he wanted to realize his dream of being a leader. |
| D．Because he hoped to get young people ready for future career. |
| A．A book for career success | B．A man with great purpose |
| C．An organization for well-being | D．A standard for firefighters |
3 . 2023 Illustration (插画) Competition
Enter the competition most respected and admired in the industry for creativity in illustration, the Communication Arts Illustration Competition. Selected by distinguished professionals, the winning entries will be distributed worldwide in the Communication Arts Illustration Annual and on commarts. com, ensuring important exposure of the creations. Each winner will receive a personalized Award of Excellence, made from solid aluminum (铝), and an award certificate. Communication Arts’s Award of Excellence is one of the most desired awards. If chosen, winning places you in the highest ranks of your profession.
What To Enter With
Any illustration first published or produced from Jan. 2022 to Jan. 2023 is fit. Entries may originate from any country. Descriptions in English are necessary for the judges to read.
Entries Can Be Submitted In The Following Formats
Digital Images: RGB images in JPG format with a maximum file size of 2 MB. GIF images may be livelier, but would be turned down, and so would the PNG ones.
Motion Entries: In MOV, MP4 or MPG format, with a maximum file size of 500 MB.
Illustration Competition Categories & Entry Fees
Category | Single illustration | Series of illustrations |
Books (covers, jackets, interiors, etc.) | $40 | $80 (limit of five) |
Motion (media for films, videos, etc.) | $90 | $180(limit of three) |
Student Work (school assignments) | $20 (Image) $45 (Video) | $40 (Images, limit of five) $90 (Video, limit of three) |
For more categories (advertising, self-promotion, etc.), please download the category PDF.
Late Fees
Entries must be registered no later than Jan. 13, 2023. Entries registered after that date will be charged a fee of $10 each. No entries can be registered after Jan. 27, 2023.
1. What will the winner gain?| A．Exposure to world-famous works. | B．A personalized award certificate. |
| C．A bonus from Communication Arts. | D．Wide recognition in the industry. |
| A．A newly produced motion entry. | B．A student work from China. |
| C．A PNG image with a file size of 1 MB. | D．A series for covers of three illustrations. |
| A．$80. | B．$90. | C．$110. | D．$120. |
4 . Located about 10 km northeast of the city center, the Chengdu Panda Base is a popular place to see lots of pandas of different ages in what’s close to their natural habitat.
Highlights and Travel Tips
The Chengdu Panda Base is a nonprofit research and breeding (繁殖) facility for giant pandas that was originally founded in 1987 and opened to the public in 1993. The center began with a population of just six giant pandas and has since grown to more than 100 pandas.
For visitors, it is more like a nice park than a traditional zoo. The base is large and nice to walk around, since much of it is in a bamboo forest. There are also shops selling panda-related souvenirs, but the prices are usually higher than markets or shops outside the base.
Accessibility Information
While the main road is flat, the base is large, so it is better for visitors with mobility issues to ride the shuttle (往返) bus. Visitors who completely rely on wheelchairs may need help from others to guide. Most restrooms within the base are wheelchair accessible.
Opening Hours and Ticket Prices
| Opening hours | 7:30 am - 6:00 pm |
| Entrance fee | 55 CNY |
| Shuttle bus fee | 10 CNY |
| Average time for this activity | 2-3 hours |
How to Get There
It takes about a half hour and costs around 30 CNY to get to the Chengdu Panda Base from the city center by taxi. You can also get there by public bus or subway, although these routes require a few transfers.
1. What is special about the Chengdu Panda Base?| A．It offers tourists panda souvenirs. | B．It is a zoo with the features of a park. |
| C．It is the largest panda research base. | D．It has more pandas than anywhere else. |
| A．110 CNY. | B．75 CNY. | C．55 CNY. | D．45 CNY. |
| A．A guidebook. | B．A news report. |
| C．An announcement. | D．An exhibition guide. |
5 . Dorothy Lee and her husband were driving home from a study group one night when their car suddenly hit something. Mrs. Lee looked at her husband, who was driving, and saw his head move down and up several times and fall. In the next minutes Mrs Lee managed to avoid a serious accident while stopping the car, called 911 on her cellphone and tried to make her husband come back to life before an ambulance arrived. But at the hospital, soon after learning her husband had died of sudden heart trouble, Dorothy’s heart appeared to give out as well. She experienced sudden sharp pains in her chest (胸腔), lost senses and knew nothing.
Doctor’s of that hospital were surprised at finding: There wasn’t any evidence of heart trouble. Finally, doctors thought that Mrs. Lee had suffered from a broken-heart syndrome (伤心综合症). The disease looks like heart trouble, but appears to have little connection with heart trouble. It is caused mainly by stress and other strong feelings. The disease is uncommon, making up for about 1% to 2% of people — and about 6% of women — who are likely to suffer such sudden heart trouble. It can be very dangerous sometimes, but for the most part patients recover quickly, with no lasting damage to their hearts.
If patients are hospitalized with the broken-heart syndrome, their hearts might be beating as little as 20% of what it should work. But within 48 to 72 hours, many recover to the 60% level that is considered healthy. It is uncommon.
Mrs. Lee’s heart was so weakened by her husband’s death that she nearly died. The 63-year-old woman needed a special balloon pump (球囊泵) during the first days in the hospital. But in spite of warnings by her doctors, she attended her husband’s funeral (葬礼) five days later.
1. What can we learn about the accident?| A．The husband died in it. | B．The wife died later in the hospital. |
| C．The husband died because time was wasted. | D．The husband died of heart trouble after it. |
| A．Her bad health. | B．Worry, anxiety and sadness. |
| C．Her seriously damaged heart. | D．The aging of the heart. |
| A．She was calm in case of emergencies. | B．She was unhealthy but strong minded. |
| C．She was easily hurt and moody. | D．She was caring and generous. |
| A．The broken-heart syndrome is less common among women. |
| B．Patients with the broken-heart syndrome can recover by themselves. |
| C．The broken-heart syndrome could come and go both quickly. |
| D．Most people may suffer from the broken-heart syndrome. |
6 . It’s been nearly two decades since the traditional clothing style Hanfu first started to reemerge in China. Since then it has gone from a small cultural movement celebrating an ancient fashion to a trend that is booming on social media, having been adopted by China’s Generation Z as a means of connecting with their past. Instead of following other cultures blindly, Generation Z now have different opinions about what trend is by promoting local culture while having an objective view of exotic cultural products.
The new tastes of Generation Z—young people born after 1995—are well represented on Bilibili. In the recent New Year’s Eve gala presented by Bilibili, it attracted more than 100 million views within 48 hours with a colourful set of programmes ranging from Peking Opera to classical Chinese cartoons. The same is also true of movie industry. Last year, for the first time, the top 10 most viewed films in China were all domestic films, while the ticket sales for imported films have dropped to only 16.28 percent.
”Generation Z grew up with the rapid development of China and under good economic conditions. With the development of the Chinese Internet industry, they have more access to diverse international information and culture, which bring them a much broader vision and makes them more open and confident in analyzing foreign culture. Apart from taking pride in China’s rapid development, this generation also pursues individuality and values devotion to the country,“ Professor Zhang Yiwu said.
He also noted that the popular rock and punk culture pursued by the 70s and 80s generation is more of a challenge against real life and local culture. Some people who were born in the 1970s and 1980s did not grow up in the Internet age—they experienced the transformation of China going from poor to rich first-hand. This kind of longing and admiration of the West came from a lack of confidence.
However, Generation Z now have the confidence to look at Western culture with equal status. This kind of cultural confidence will result in China being more active and creative in its development on the international stage in the future.
1. What does the underlined word ”exotic“ in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Foreign. | B．Fashionable. | C．Traditional. | D．Elegant. |
| A．To confirm the rise of new media. |
| B．To promote Chinese Internet industry. |
| C．To highlight the popularity of domestic art. |
| D．To show the popularity of New Year’s Eve gala. |
| A．They have a stronger cultural identity. |
| B．They are longing for cultural diversity. |
| C．They have made China develop rapidly. |
| D．They are more fond of foreign culture. |
| A．Confident China, Better Future |
| B．China’s Progress Results in Cultural Confidence |
| C．China’s New Generation Redefine Local Culture as Trendy |
| D．Hanfu Style, Connector of Ancient Fashion and Modern Trend |
7 . The first and only emergency hiking shelter in Golden Ears Provincial Park celebrated its 20th anniversary (周年纪念日) this summer, after helping countless people over the past two decades when they’ve found themselves in trouble near the peak.
At a height of over l,500 meters, Golden Ears is home to some unpredictable weather. According to a 2020 global study, more than 20 percent of hiking accidents happen partially due to poor weather conditions.
The weather became such a problem that Ron Paley, former trail-master for Golden Ears Trail Preservation and Restoration Club, was personally involved in multiple rescues while preparing the future construction site.
“One involved a couple of guys hiking, one of whom hurt his ankle. His friend tried carrying him down the mountain, but it’s hard enough hiking that mountain alone, so there was no way he would have made it while giving a piggyback ride to someone else,” Paley said.
Since the structure was completed on Oct. 1, 2002, many people have visited it — whether for emergency or personal use.
Rick Laing, spokesperson for the Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue, emphasizes that this long-standing shelter is designed to be used in only extreme cases.
“But, a lot of people seem to use it as a destination instead of for emergencies,” Laing said.
The tough conditions of Golden Ears make it likely that many more of the nearly 1 million people who visit the park each year will need to seek out this shelter in the future.
“I’ve done the Grand Canyon and it’s easier than Golden Ears,” Paley said.
It’s because of this challenging terrain (地形) that completing the emergency shelter took more than two weeks and $50,000. But according to Paley, he looks back on the challenge fondly.
“If this shelter has saved even one life, it’s worth it.”
1. What led to the construction of the shelter in Golden Ears?| A．Its great height. | B．Hikers’ requests. |
| C．Sudden weather changes there. | D．Frequent hiking accidents there. |
| A．He lost his life in the park. | B．He was saved by Ron Paley. |
| C．He had hiked that mountain alone. | D．He was carried down the mountain by his friend. |
| A．Unfavorable. | B．Tolerant. | C．Uncaring. | D．Approving. |
| A．To imply the importance of Golden Ears. |
| B．To reveal Golden Ears’ remote location. |
| C．To show the tough conditions of Golden Ears. |
| D．To suggest Golden Ears’ growing popularity. |
8 . Two weeks ago, a 5-year-old girl named Sunshine Oelfke emptied out her piggy bank (存钱罐) onto the living room floor and immediately started counting. Her grandmother, Jackie Oelfke, thought she was playing as she carefully lined up the coins, but then she saw the girl put the coins into a plastic bag and place it in her backpack.
“What are you doing with that money?” Jackie asked her granddaughter.
“I’m taking it to school,” Sunshine replied. “I’m going to take it for milk money. My friend Layla doesn’t get milk— her mom doesn’t have milk money and I do.”
Jackie’s heart melted at Sunshine’s words. Choked with strong feelings, Jackie held her sweet granddaughter tightly in her arms.
Last week, Jackie and Sunshine met with her teacher, Rita Hausher, and handed her the $30 the kindergartner had saved. There are 20 kids in Sunshine’s class and about half don’t get milk. It costs $ 0.45 a carton (纸盒). The total adds up to about $180 a month for every child in the class to have milk every day.
After dropping Sunshine off at school, Jackie posted a tearful video on Facebook to explain her granddaughter’s plan. To her surprise, many people offered to donate toward the cause. Within a week, Jackie raised more than $1,000. Now every student in Sunshine’s class can get free milk for the rest of the year.
Jackie said Sunshine doesn’t see her kind act as a big deal. She was just trying to look out for her friends. “She doesn’t understand the effect she’s brought about,” Jackie said. “But now she knows she can do whatever she puts her mind to.”
1. Why did Sunshine empty her piggy bank?| A．She hoped to show off her savings in class. | B．She needed to train her counting skills. |
| C．She wanted to play with the coins. | D．She intended to pay for her friend’s milk. |
| A．Relieved. | B．Touched. | C．Curious. | D．Proud. |
| A．Two heads are better than one. | B．A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
| C．Nothing is impossible to a willing heart. | D．There’s no such thing as a free lunch. |
| A．Small Coins, Big Changes. | B．Jackie’s Piggy Bank. |
| C．Piggy Bank and Carton Milk. | D．A Moved Grandmother. |
9 . In the past decade, the use of social media has grown in a way that no one could have guessed. It has turned some teenagers into celebrities and turned the famous into the infamous, overnight.
A key feature of social media, however, is its volatility. Trends come and go, disappearing almost as quickly as they appeared.
Short video apps such as TikTok and its Chinese equivalent (等同物) Douyin, took the world by storm. The Telegraph reported that TikTok was ranked 8th on Apple’s App Store in April. And Douyin had more than 300 million domestic monthly active users in June, CNBC said.
Why are these short videos — which are rarely longer than a few minutes — so popular? Jiang Yige, Singapore-based analyst at FengHe Fund Management, has a theory. “Short videos are just right to fill in the little gaps in our busy schedules,” he told CNBC.
These videos — apart from being very convenient — are important to teenagers because they allow them to express themselves, according to Teen Vogue.
Liza Koshy, a user of the US app Musical, who has over 2 million followers, said, “The sense of community that users of short video apps get is another appealing feature.”
Live streaming (直播) is a feature of our social media life that now seems as natural as sunrise. It’s a pretty neat idea: You can watch anyone, anywhere, live. However, China has taken live streaming to a whole new level. In China, more than 100 million viewers monthly watch a live streaming video. Forbes thought that a number of factors had led to the popularity of the live streaming. Among them is viewers’ ability to interact with unknown names.
However, the quick development of social media may be having side effects too. Fake news is one serious problem it causes. Materials shared on these platforms are often not checked for accuracy. The most basic content can be false and can mislead users one way or another. We use social media all the time, which doesn’t mean that we understand the influence it is having on us. We should be mindful of both the time we spend on it and its impact on our minds.
1. What does the underlined word “volatility” in Paragraph 2 possibly mean?| A．Being changeable. | B．Being steady. |
| C．Being promising. | D．Being violent. |
| A．They are very convenient. | B．They help people kill time. |
| C．They provide a sense of community. | D．They allow people to express themselves. |
| A．The information from social media is totally reliable. |
| B．When it comes to social media, people only know short videos. |
| C．People can’t communicate with each other without social media. |
| D．There is still much room for social media to make improvement. |
| A．Objective. | B．Subjective. |
| C．Favourable. | D．Disapproving. |
10 . Why Subscribe to Reader’s Digest?
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From regular columns packed with information to gripping (扣人心弦的) human-interest stories and helpful how-tos, our magazine offers knowledge, positivity and humour. In this month’s issue you’ll find...
An interview with Hugh Dancy:
The newest addition to the cast of Downton Abbey on New York, Law & Order, and the nostalgia (怀旧) of playing an English gentleman.
Saving the sound of the Stradivaius:
Meet the experts fighting to save the unbeatable sound of history’s greatest violins, meeting the love of her life.
Community Power:
Across the UK, communities are coming together to save their pubs, shops, and more.
If Grace Dent ruled the world:
The restaurant critic shares her manifesto (宣言) for world domination.
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1. If readers want to know about an actor, which one should they read?| A．Community Power. | B．If Grace Dent ruled the world. |
| C．An interview with Hugh Dancy. | D．Saving the sound of the Stradivaius. |
| A．£22.99. | B．£3. | C．£47.88. | D．£24.89. |
| A．A part of a fiction. | B．An introduction. | C．An advertisement. | D．A research report. |
