1 . Mark Twain looked down upon those people who think it is possible for someone to learn how to write a novel. “A man who is not born with the novel-writing gift has troublesome time of it when he tries to build a novel”, he said.
But now new technology is making a difference to help an author write a novel. Michael Green, a US data scientist-turned-novelist, felt that technology could help him.
He said that the process had become difficult to manage: “In the midst of editing, I got to the point where I started feeling like I had a lot of plots and characters” he said “I had all these documents on the deeper aspects of the world I was creating. I was worried about not being able to keep track of it all. That is when I switched into my more data science-minded approach to solving a complex problem with a lot of different places.”
Green went on to create Lynit, a digital platform to help authors plan and weave together the many elements that form a story, such as the themes, characters and major events.
“As the author gets a new idea that they want to bring into the story they are able to input it into a natural framework,” he said “piece by piece they are adding to the story. As new ideas come in, they change, maybe by creating new nodes (节点) new relationships.”
Once the book has been published, technology is also playing an ever-increasing role in publicity and connecting with readers. Websites and APPs from specialist firms allow authors to participate in live-question-and-answer sessions with their audience. Michael Green believes technology will become even more important as a new generation of tech savvy (精通技术的) writers becomes more well known.
“What I’m finding with the Generation Z and even younger writers is that they are looking for technology to give them guidance,” he said, “They see it as a tool to learn and grow with rather than extra work.”
1. What difficulty did Green face in writing his book?| A．He felt that he was not creative enough |
| B．He would reduce important plots |
| C．He had trouble organizing his thoughts. |
| D．He was afraid the characters wouldn’t attract readers |
| A．It creates new relationships for others |
| B．It can generate images based on words |
| C．It can translate thoughts into sentences |
| D．It brings authors closer to their readers |
| A．Tech-savvy writers become known thanks to technology |
| B．Young writers rely too heavily on technology. |
| C．Technology should be prevented as extra work |
| D．New technology matters to growing young writers |
| A．What Can We Learn from Mark Twain? |
| B．Can Technology Help Authors Write a Book? |
| C．How Can Authors Become Skilled in Technology? |
| D．Do We Really Need Technology as Our Guidance? |
2 . Follow this four-day route, and you’ll lose yourself in the wizarding world of Harry Potter.
Day 1 Overview Edinburgh
It was in Scotland’s capital city that J. K. Rowling started to plot the adventures of Harry and his pals. With stoned streets, winding alleys and medieval (中世纪的) architecture, the city certainly has a few things in common with the settings from the books and films. She wrote the early chapters in various cafes around the city’s Old Towns.
Day 2 Overview travel to Fort William
Travel by train from Edinburgh to Glasgow. From there, you can take the West Highland Line toFort William. This is a great way to see some famous spots from the window, including the mysterious Rannoch Moor, the place where Death Eaters board the train in the movie Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows.
Day 3 Overview all aboard the Hogwarts Express
Witness the sweeping cinematic scenery of the movie Harry Potter by booking a seat on the Jacobite Steam Train. Stop for lunch in Mallaig and then make the return journey to Fort William. Please be sure to book the steam train in advance, as it is exceedingly popular. By the way, it runs seasonally.
Day 4 Overview lakes and glens (峡谷)
In the films, mysterious, misty landscapes frame the background of Harry’s tale, so it’s no surprise that the film producers chose the Highlands for many scenes. Spend a day wandering through some of these beautiful spots and feel the magical atmosphere.
1. Where did J. K. Rowling create Harry Potter at first?| A．In Edinburgh. | B．In Mallaig. |
| C．In Glasgow. | D．In Fort William. |
| A．Reviewing the movie early. |
| B．Booking tickets in advance. |
| C．Bringing lunch ahead of time. |
| D．Buying one-way ticket specially. |
| A．Current Affairs. | B．Technology. |
| C．Tours. | D．Biography. |
3 . Be it sugar or social media, the response in our brain is the same: It produces a “feel-good” chemical called dopamine. It first brings about pleasure, but it doesn’t last very long. It is then followed by pain so that we have to search for the pleasurable things again.
“This cycle of pleasure and pain made sense in the time of early humans when we had to constantly search for our basic needs-food, water, shelter,” says Dr. Anna Lembke, a Stanford Medical School researcher. “But our brains weren’t adjusted to put out the ‘fire of dopamine’ caused by pleasurable things that are so easily available in modern life.”
In addition, when we’re repeatedly exposed to pleasure-producing things, we’re not able to take joy in the same rewards. Instead, we need stronger and stronger stimulus (刺激) just to feel good. Otherwise, the cycle will lead us to anxiety, depression and many other problems.
“This is a universal problem—not one limited to those struggling with the disease of addiction. If we want to stay mentally healthy, we must rethink how to break the cycle in a dopamine-overloaded world,” says Lembke.
Her suggestions for the addicts?
Take a 30-day break from anything that we rely on for pleasure. This doesn’t mean going cold turkey forever. But this first month is key to breaking the pleasure-pain cycle and it’s a lot easier to cut out an addictive behavior entirely at first. Then re-introduce the pleasurable things little by little, like just a few bites of ice cream at a time or just one hour online a night.
Another strategy is to create physical distance between us and our addiction. That could mean just removing the addictive thing from our personal space. For someone who’s addicted to video games, that could mean a separate laptop for work and one for play.
“In a time of abundance, we have to strike a pleasure-pain balance, which means intentionally avoiding pleasure and seeking the kind of purposeful pain that keeps us healthy, such as exercise,” Lembke says. “By doing so, we will reset reward pathways and eventually be a lot happier. It’s not easy, but it’s well worth doing in the long term.”
1. What can we learn about dopamine from the text?| A．It has always been harmful to humans. |
| B．It gives us less joy for the same rewards. |
| C．It can be caused by anything available. |
| D．It can lead to a lasting good feeling. |
| A．Abandoning. | B．Waiting. | C．Cooking. | D．Repeating. |
| A．Avoid pleasure in life. |
| B．Set a strict limit on pleasurable things. |
| C．Change reward pathways. |
| D．Expose ourselves to repeated rewards. |
| A．Ways to Live With Dopamine in Peace |
| B．Tips on Getting Rid of Social Media Addiction |
| C．Strategies for Making Most of the Modern Life |
| D．The Need to Strike a Pleasure-pain Balance |
4 . Humans have long been trying to make sense of our place in the universe. Waiting at a launch site in French Guiana? NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is the latest step forward in that ancient quest (探索).
Using telescopes, astronomers have seen many galaxies (星系) such as the Andromeda Galaxy and the NGC 3227 Galaxy. So far, the most distant galaxy ever discovered, GN-z11, was spotted by the Hubble Space Telescope. To the untrained eye, it looks like a red blob (小点点), but it’s basically like looking back in time about 13.4 billion years ago. That’s just about 0.4 billion years after the Big Bang.
“Hubble is limited in how far back in time it can look, so finding this one was just a lucky break,” says Marusa Bradac, an astronomer at the University of California. “Astronomers only spotted it because decades of using Hubble have let them cover much of the sky, and this particular early galaxy is surprisingly bright although it is 25 times smaller than the Milky Way Galaxy and has just one percent of its mass.”
Already, with that one galaxy, we’ve started to question some of our assumptions about how galaxies grow. The powerful, $ 10 billion James Webb Space Telescope has technology that should let it see back to 0.1 ~0.2 billion years after the Big Bang, the period when the very first galaxies possibly formed.
“If all go well, the James Webb Space Telescope will help us to build up the story of how the first galaxies ever formed and how they grew into galaxies we see today and we live in today,” says Bradac. “But the chances of seeing those first born stars with the new telescope are small. There’s maybe even more of a chance that we might see some of those stars explode. Such information can help us understand how galaxies formed and changed into the familiar shapes and structures seen today. That’s what’s amazing about the new telescope.”
1. When did the Big Bang take place?| A．Around 13.0 billion years ago. |
| B．Around 13.4 billion years ago. |
| C．Around 13.6 billion years ago. |
| D．Around 13.8 billion years ago. |
| A．The Milky Way Galaxy. | B．The GN-z11 Galaxy. |
| C．The Andromeda Galaxy. | D．The NGC 3227 Galaxy. |
| A．The great potential of the new telescope. |
| B．The need for new scientific breakthroughs. |
| C．The cost of the James Webb Space Telescope. |
| D．The importance of the Hubble Space Telescope. |
| A．Find the first born star in the universe. |
| B．Witness the occurring of the Big Bang. |
| C．See the explosion of some of the first born stars. |
| D．Get a complete understanding of the universe. |
5 . There is a curious love triangle that sits at the center of the new documentary Fire of Love. It’s between a man, a woman and a volcano. Well, all of them are volcanoes.
Their names might not be especially well-known today, but in the 1970s and ‘80s, French scientists Katia Krafft and Maurice Krafft were very famous for their photographs and writings about the volcanoes. When they died in 1991 on Mount Unzen in Japan, their deaths were covered globally. But their story has somewhat faded in the public memory in the past three decades? though Werner Herzog did spotlight them in his 2016 documentary Into the Inferno.
The Kraffts? who first bonded over Mount Etna and Mount Stromboli and were married in 1970, witnessed about 140 eruptions on every continent except Antarctica and won an Emmy for their National Geographic documentary Mountains of Fire. They would famously drop everything to get to an active volcano, and were often the first on site. They were also known for their willingness to get dangerously close.
Filmmaker Sara Dosa once met the Kraffts while making an earlier film about Iceland many years ago. In 2020, with the help of Image’ Est, a French museum, and Maurice Krafft’s brother, Bertrand Krafft, Dosa and her team were able to get access to over 180 hours of footage shot by the Kraffts. So Dosa decided to make something about the Kraffts in the true spirit of the Kraffts.
“We wanted to let them play themselves. We see them as the authors of their own story,“ Dosa said. ”This is a co-creation, shot by them and starring them. We’re just stringing together the pieces of their life for the audience to connect with.”
However, Fire of Love is anything but a filmed Wikipedia(维基百科)page. Dosa and her team have drawn on the techniques of French New Wave films to help shape the style of their film, including playful multiple screens.
1. Where did Katia Krafft and Maurice Krafft pass away?| A．On Mount Etna. | B．On Mount Stromboli. |
| C．On Mount Unzen. | D．On Mount Krakatoa. |
| A．They were enthusiastic about studying volcanoes. |
| B．They were well-known for their short-lived marriage. |
| C．Their deaths were related to the biggest volcano. |
| D．Their love story appeared in many volcano books. |
| A．Bertrand Krafft. | B．Sara Dosa. | C．Werner Herzog. | D．Katia Krafft. |
| A．A love story. | B．A biography. | C．A documentary. | D．A film review. |
6 . Eric Carle, the author and artist behind The Very Hungry Caterpillar and dozens of other children’s books, has passed away at the age of 91. Mr. Carle’s lively, creative and colorful works were loved by children around the world.
Mr. Carle was the author or illustrator of over 70 books for children, including The Grouchy Ladybug, The Mixed-Up Chameleon and Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me. The Very Hungry Caterpillar was Mr. Carle’s best-known book. It was published in 1969. Since then, over 55 million copies of the book have been sold, and it has been translated into more than 70 different languages.
Mr. Carle was born in Syracuse, New York in 1929. His parents were German. As he was growing up, Mr. Carle spent a lot of time with his father, who would take him out walking in nature. His father would show him small creatures, explaining their life cycles and filling the young boy’s head with wonder.
Mr. Carle thinks this helps explain why so many of his books are about nature. Many are about bugs like crickets, fireflies, ladybugs and butterflies. Others are about animals, like foxes, squirrels, kangaroos and bears.
In 1952, Mr. Carle got a job as an artist at the New York Times. Author Bill Martin, Jr. asked Mr. Carle to illustrate his book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, which is Mr. Carle’s first try. The book came out in 1967 and was a big hit. After that, he created many children’s books that were very popular with his children.
Most of Mr. Carle’s books are meant for younger readers. He said that he wanted to help make school a fun and welcoming place. “I believe that children are naturally creative and eager to learn,” he said. “I want to show them that learning is really both fascinating and fun.”
Mr. Carle will be missed, and his creative art and sweet, funny stories will continue to bring joy to very eager readers all around the world.
1. When was The Very Hungry Caterpillar published?| A．In 1929. | B．In 1952. | C．In 1967. | D．In 1969. |
| A．His parents grew up in the countryside. | B．His father led him close to nature. |
| C．Nature gave him a lot of hope. | D．The topic on nature is child-friendly. |
| A．The Mixed-Up Chameleon. | B．The Very Hungry Caterpillar. |
| C．Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me. | D．Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. |
| A．To remember a great writer. | B．To introduce children’s books. |
| C．To encourage kids to read more. | D．To draw more concern for kids. |
7 . What limits you from hiking more often? If not having a suitable hiking partner is keeping you out of the woods, why not take a look at the great hiking clubs across Canada?
Yukon Outdoors ClubMembership cost: $10 for a single membership
Description: The club organises day hikes, backpacking trips, mountain biking, and cross-country skiing trips for members to gain new skills and valuable information. The trips are open to everyone and range from easy to moderate to difficult.
UBC Varsity Outdoor ClubMembership cost: Students $40; non-UBC students $60
Description: The UBC Varsity Outdoor Club is a social group that hikes and rock climbs. Members lead trips, run skills workshops, and host presentations. Members can borrow equipment from the club. The UBC VOC has also constructed a few huts in the Coast Mountains.
Pender Harbor Hiking GroupMembership cost: Free
Description: The Pender Harbor Hiking Group offers a way for members to meet like-minded people and get fit. Hikes are scheduled two months in advance, so check the website regularly to find a hike that suits you! Hikes are usually one and a half to two hours long every Monday and Wednesday morning, but some full-day hikes are scheduled, depending on member interest.
Vernon Outdoors ClubMembership cost: A single membership is $25, and students pay $10. Children are free when they come with a registered family member.
Description: The Vernon Outdoors Club is an active group that enjoys hiking and cycling. Members are encouraged to share their activity ideas and interests. The group organises a Tuesday Activity each week.
1. If you want to learn some mountain biking skills, which club will you choose?| A．Vernon Outdoors Club |
| B．UBC Varsity Outdoor Club |
| C．Yukon Outdoors Club |
| D．Pender Harbor Hiking Group |
| A．They are mostly held on weekends. |
| B．Their schedule is always emailed to the members. |
| C．More full-day hikes are offered than half-day hikes. |
| D．They are arranged two months ahead of time. |
| A．$50 | B．$60 | C．$75 | D．$125 |
8 . A method to transform a commonly thrown-away plastic to a resin (树脂) used in 3D printing could allow for making better use of plastic waste. A team of Washington State University researchers developed a simple and efficient way to transform polylactic acid (PLA)(聚乳酸), a bio-based plastic used in products such as filament, plastic silverware and food packaging to a high-quality resin.
“We found a way to immediately turn this into something that’s stronger and better, and we hope that will provide people the inspiration to upcycle this stuff instead of just throw it away,” said Yu-Chung Chang, a postdoctoral researcher in the WSU School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and a co-corresponding author on the work. “We made stronger materials just straight out of trash. We believe this could be a great opportunity.”
Although it’s bio-based, PLA, which is categorized as a number 7 plastic, doesn’t break down easily. It can float in fresh or salt water for a year without degrading (降解). It is also rarely recycled because like many plastics, when it’s melted down and re-formed, it doesn’t perform as well as the original version and becomes less valuable.
“It’s biodegradable and compostable, but once you look into it, it turns out that it can take up to 100 years for it to rot away in a landfill,” Chang said. “In reality, it still creates a lot of pollution. We want to make sure that when we do start producing PLA on the milliontons scale, we will know how to deal with it.”
While the researchers focused on PLA for the study, they hope to apply the work to poly-ethylene terephthalate (PET) (涤纶树脂), which is more common than PLA and has a similar chemical structure and presents a bigger waste problem. They have filed a temporary patent and are working to further optimize (优化) the process. The researchers are also looking into other applications for the upcycling method.
1. What can the method help do according to paragraph 1?| A．Solve financial crisis. | B．Change waste into wealth. |
| C．Control plastic production. | D．Determine 3D printing skills. |
| A．Promising. | B．Unrealistic. | C．Imaginable. | D．Reliable. |
| A．Invaluable to recycle. | B．Easy to deal with. |
| C．Hard to break down. | D．Difficult to sort out. |
| A．Applications for an upcylcing method. |
| B．A better method to break down plastic. |
| C．3D printing with newly found materials. |
| D．A new way to turn plastic into valuable products. |
9 . Harbin Ice Festival 2023
Ever think of what Elsa’s ice palace might look like in real life? Ice stairs ice walls, and ice towers? When winter approaches, Harbin turns into a kingdom of ice and snow.
The annual Harbin Ice and Snow Festival opens in late December and lasts for around 3 months, till late February.
What’s New for Harbin Ice Festival
Every year, there is a special theme for the Ice Festival. A huge Snowflake Ferris Wheel(摩天轮) has already been built inside the park. Visitors will be able to ride on the Ferris Wheel and overlook the ice castles in early 2023. For this upcoming festival, the highlight may be when the giant Snowflake is colorfully lit up at night, shining high in the sky.
Yearly Time Line
Dates | Activities |
Early December | Ice Harvest |
December | Carving and Building |
Christmas period | Unofficial Opening |
Jan. 5，2023 | Opening Ceremony |
Jan. 18 to Feb. 15，2023 | Special Celebrations for Chinese New Year |
Late Feb. to early Mar. | Ice and snow sculptures start to melt |
Click here and Book Now! Tickets for Harbin Ice and Snow World are on sale now!
*Dec. 25, 2022—Jan. 5, 2023: ¥ 170 / person (half price for children)
*Jan. 6, 2023—Feb. 28, 2023: ¥ 230 / person (half price for children)
Contact us for available tour dates before they are fully booked.
Attention
As long as the ice and snow sculptures are open to visitors, it is impossible to take photos of the charming ice buildings without any visitors in! This might be different from what you see in the media.
1. When can visitors have a ride on the Ferris Wheel at the earliest?| A．In late February, 2022. | B．In late December, 2023. |
| C．At the end of 2022. | D．At the beginning of 2023. |
| A．The opening ceremony will start officially. |
| B．There will be special celebrations. |
| C．The festival will open informally. |
| D．Ice will begin to be carved. |
| A．¥ 425 | B．¥ 510 | C．¥ 340 | D．¥ 690 |
10 . Friends are very important to us. Sometimes we just want to develop some new friendships. Here are some of the best apps for you to make new friends.
Atleto
Research shows that exercising with a friend promotes more motivation and healthier lifestyle habits. Atleto is an app that builds on this “exercise contagion (传染)” phenomenon by bringing together athletic people to take exercise and organize group activities. You can choose from over 40 sports and find your community of people who like to be in a sweat.
Friender
Studies show that we’re eager to find people similar to us. Suppose you’re sick of boring surface-level conversations. Then, Friender solves that problem quickly with an algorithm (算法) that only matches you based on your favorite activities and interests. This friend-finding app makes it easy to get into conversations that you care about. If you don’t have many hobbies to type into an app, one of the easiest ways to start is to try out new hobbies.
PawDate
Dogs are great companions, but sometimes it’s nice to talk to humans, too. This app connects pet owners to meet up at dog parks or walk with their pups. You get to set up doggie play dates and find new friends at the same time It’s a win-win.
Skout
Skout started back in 2007 to help people make new friends. The matches are based on geographical distances and preferences. It’s perfect for meeting people while traveling, moving and entering a new chapter of life. Skout is able to discover people directly by checking into a location and seeing who else on the app is there.
1. Who is Atleto intended for?| A．Those who like to walk their dogs. |
| B．Those who want to play sports together. |
| C．Those who want to develop new hobbies. |
| D．Those who like to do community service. |
| A．Solve conversation problems. |
| B．Share their favorite activities. |
| C．Make new friends while traveling. |
| D．Have conversations with like-minded people. |
| A．Atleto. | B．Friender. | C．PawDate. | D．Skout. |
