1 . Family Kayaking

Price: £37 Adult; £21 Child (8 — 16 Years)
Dates: April-October

This activity is designed as a first-time kayaking (皮划艇) experience or for those with little water confidence. During this fun activity you’ ll learn the basics, try out the kit, go on a tour of the Beaulieu River with your trusty guide and maybe play a game or two along the way. A range of boat options will be available to choose from. Children under 12 will be required to take part on a double kayak with an adult. This activity is for those of 8 years and older.

What’s Included?
*Full introduction to the equipment and its use
*Up to 90 minutes of fun, learning and exploration
*Various kayaks to choose from (weight limit 150kg)
*Qualified coach on hand to support you
*Discuss your next steps and further kayaking options
*Toilets and changing rooms available

We can run extra activities at a time to suit you. If you can’t easily find the date you’re after please contact the office and we will be happy to help. We’re confident that what we do is excellent and provides real value for money. However, if for any reason we let you down, you’ ll be eligible (有资格的) for our 100% satisfaction guarantee and we’ll give your money back, no questions asked.

1. How much should an adult with a 9-year-old child pay for the activity?

A．£21.

B．£37.

C．£58.

D．£74.

2. What is required of children under 12?

A．Being good at swimming.

B．Learning the basics in advance.

C．Being accompanied by an adult.

D．Attending an extra 90-minute activity.

3. What can you do if you are dissatisfied with the service?

A．Get your money back.

B．Complain to the office.

C．Ask for an extra guided tour by a qualified coach.

D．Discuss your further kayaking options with your guide.

2 . Is it OK to kill time? Machines used to find this question difficult to answer. But a new study shows’ that artificial intelligence (AI) can be programmed to judge right from wrong.

“We show that machines can learn about our moral values,”says Dr. Patrick Schramowski, author of this study, based at the Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany.

“There is general agreement that AI research is progressing rapidly and that AI’s influence on society is likely to increase,” Schramowski reports. “From self-driving cars to health care, AI systems deal with increasingly complex (复杂的) human tasks in increasingly autonomous ways. It is important to carry out research in this area so that we can trust the decisions they make.”

Schramowski’s AI system is named the Moral Choice Machine (MCM). He and his team trained it with sets of newspapers, articles, and other texts that appeared between the years 1510 and 2009.

Once the scientists had trained the MCM, it accepted the moral values of the given text. When asked whether one may steal money, harm animals or kill a living being, it will answer “No.” But if you ask “Should I kill time?” it will tell you it’s okay. Because it has understood that the behavior means no harm. You will generally get a reasonable answer from the machine.

“The MCM did this not by repeating the text it found,” reports Schramowski. “It could tell the difference between contextual information provided in a question.”

Furthermore, the study shows that the machine takes up moral values indicative of the time and kind of society the written sources come from, showing the changing social norms (准则) over ages.

For example, when they limited its training data to news articles from 2008 to 2009, the AI system favored work and school over family life. But when it could only explore news from the late eighties and nineties, it favored marriage and parenting.

1. What does Schramowski mainly talk about in paragraph 3?

A．Their research methods.	B．AI systems’ bright future.
C．The great value of their study.	D．The difficulties of AI research.

2. How did the researchers train the MCM?

A．They let it repeat moral stories.

B．They showed it many kind acts.

C．They offered it a lot of written material.

D．They talked with it about decision-making.

3. What can the MCM do after training?

A．Improve social rules.

B．Tell right from wrong.

C．Help humans make decisions.

D．Create texts about moral values.

4. What can we learn from the example in the last paragraph?

A．Social values change over time.

B．Technology should be used wisely.

C．AI systems have their own limitations.

D．It’s hard for machines to make moral choices.

5 . Off the coast of northeastern Queensland, Australia, near Magnetic Island in Florence Bay, the Great Barrier Reef corals (大堡礁珊瑚) are having a baby boom (激增).

“Every year there are more anrd more coral babies,” says Hillary Smith, an ecologist at ames Cook University in Australia.

That’s thanks to a simple but effective strategy for cleaning the region’s coral reefs: “seaweeding”. Like weeding (给……除杂草) a garden, seaweeding involves pulling big handfuls of large algae (水藻) off reefs and taking them away.

Experts say getting climate change under control is key to keeping the world’s reefs healthy. But meanwhile, local efforts such as seaweeding can help corals grow and reduce the effects of climate change.

The health of coral reefs around the world is dire: By 2050, 95 percent of the world’s coral could experience heat stress, according to a 2020 report by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network. Algae is a big problem: Already, algae cover has increased on two-thirds of reefs around the world, and one study published in 2021 showed that half the world’s coral reefs have died since the 1950s. Removing seaweed from reefs requires a great deal of work but is not complex, making it a good project for citizen scientists eager to help restore (恢复) reefs.

When the project first began in 2018, Smith says researchers weren’t sure if removing seaweed would benefit the reef or if removal might have the opposite effect in some way. But now, “It’s all looking really positive for the reef,” she says.

Volunteers are ready and waiting to help near Townsville and at other affected Australian reefs, says the Earthwatch Institute’s Fiona Wilson.“We need lots of willing hands to remove seaweed. It takes weeks of time,”she says. “But obviously recovery of the Great Barrier Reef is a passion for many people, so we draw volunteers.”

1. What contributed to the growth of the Great Barrier Reef corals in Florence Bay?

A．Local efforts to remove seaweed.	B．Reduced effects of climate change.
C．Fewer human activities in the region.	D．The use of new restoration technologies.

2. What does the underlined word “dire” in paragraph 5 mean?

A．Strange.

B．Acceptable.

C．Excellent.

D．Terrible.

3. How did researchers feel about the project at first?

A．They were hopeful of it.	B．They were excited about it.
C．They were uncertain about it.	D．They were uninterested in it.

4. What does Wilson say about the recovery of the Great Barrier Reef?

A．It is still a long way off.	B．It is less difficult than thought.
C．It will take hard work and skill.	D．It attracts and needs volunteers.

6 . I had been off work for twelve weeks after the birth of our second child. You might think that maternity leave (产假) would be about the new baby, and for the first few weeks that was probably the case. But my maternity leave turned into a magical vacation with my three-year-old.

Every week we tried to go on a special trip that would create memories for us. But the daily activities, such as trips to the store and after-dinner walks, were what made the days so special. Who would have realized the beauty of the moment when that small hand reached unconsciously (无意识地) up for yours? And also the pride you felt as you got to see the growth of your child’s mind.

The last week that I was off, I had been trying to help prepare her, and myself for the end of my leave. I would mention that I would be going to work and she would get to stay with Daddy. Sometimes she would ask why I had to return to work. I said that I needed to earn money to pay for the house and the car and food.

Today, we were headed to the grocery store. Part of our store ritual (习惯) was to take a little change with us to buy a lemonade (柠檬味汽水) to share.

As she was climbing into the car to go, she found a quarter on the floor and shouted excitedly, “Oh, I will buy a house and car with it.”

I was surprised and asked, “Why?”

She stated, “So you don’t have to go back to work, Mommy.”

She was quiet on the way to the store. So was I. When we got there, I collected a second quarter from the car and handed it to her for our lemonade. She fed the quarter I had given her into the machine, but kept the one she had found clenched (攥住) in her hand.

I explained to her that we didn’t have enough money to buy a lemonade without the other quarter. But she wouldn’t give up that quarter. And she was perfectly cheerful not having her special treat that day because the quarter she had found had a higher purpose.

1. What did the author do during her maternity leave?

A．She stayed at home all the time.

B．She devoted herself to her new baby.

C．She made plans for a magical vacation.

D．She spent a lot of time with her older child.

2. Which of the following best describes the author’s life during her maternity leave?

A．Happy.

B．Boring.

C．Easy.

D．Lonely.

3. Why was the author quiet on the way to the store?

A．She was worried about her new job.

B．She was moved by her daughter’s words.

C．She wanted to give full attention to driving.

D．She tried to remember where she’d lost her money.

4. What did the author’s daughter finally do with the money she had found?

A．She bought a toy car.

B．She gave it to someone in need.

C．She treated her mother to a lemonade.

D．She kept it to buy something important.

9 . With the_______ of economics (经济), the problem of the left-behind children (留守儿童) has _______ a serious social problem. More and more people have _______ we should do something to help them.

The biggest problem is that the children are all _______ for the love from their parents. Many of them can just get a call or a letter from their parents half a year, a year or even several years. So some children can't _______ what their parents look like. When they meet their own _______, they have no one to talk with. Nobody gives them enough care.

Because of being too _______ away from their parents, the left-behind children's study is the second _______ problem. From a survey (调查) about their study, only two percent of the children get good _______, while ten percent of them are common and eighty-eight percent of them are poor. What a pity!

There are also many other ________ of the left-behind children, such as having ________ ability to protect themselves, unhealthy lifestyles, ________ too much pocket money and too much time on the Internet and so on.

________ a word, to ________   all the problems of the left-behind children needs the government, families and schools to try ________ best together.

1.

A．development

B．awareness

C．potential

D．change

2.

A．thrown

B．become

C．caught

D．exchanged

3.

A．thought

B．realized

C．managed

D．asked

4.

A．lonely

B．excited

C．sleepy

D．eager

5.

A．remember

B．reflect

C．observe

D．forget

6.

A．things

B．troubles

C．love

D．feelings

7.

A．far

B．close

C．deep

D．right

8.

A．oldest

B．smallest

C．strangest

D．biggest

9.

A．grades

B．methods

C．gifts

D．medals

10.

A．stresses

B．problems

C．requests

D．opinions

11.

A．many

B．much

C．no

D．some

12.

A．taking

B．receiving

C．spending

D．needing

13.

A．At

B．Through

C．By

D．In

14.

A．look

B．solve

C．make

D．check

15.

A．their

B．your

C．its

D．his

10 . Have you read The Tale of Peter Rabbit? It’s a very famous children’s book, written by Beatrix Potter.

Beatrix was born in 1866. She and her brother kept many small animals as pets — rabbits, mice, frogs and even bats! They both liked to draw their pets, but Beatrix liked drawing animals from her own imagination most. She also loved enjoying and drawing nature when they visited beautiful places like Scotland and the Lake District.

To make some money, Beatrix started drawing cards with animals. She liked writing and illustrating (图解) letters too. One day, she wrote a letter to her friend’s son, and told the story of Peter Rabbit. She decided to make the story into a book. The Tale of Peter Rabbit was published in 1902, and it was a great success! She wrote, illustrated and published many more books. She also created dolls, painting books, games and other things according to her characters.

Three years after The Tale of Peter Rabbit was published, Beatrix bought a farm in the Lake District. She learned about farming and bought more farms and land to help protect the landscape. She enjoyed country life very much, and was very active in protecting the environment.

When Beatrix died, she left almost all her farms and land to the National Trust, an organization which protects historic places and landscapes. You can even visit Hill Top Farm today, which is exactly like it was when Beatrix lived there!

So if you haven’t read The Tale of Peter Rabbit, or other Beatrix Potter’s books, why not visit your local library or bookshop today?

1. What inspired Beatrix Potter to write “The Tale of Peter Rabbit”?

A．Her love for farming.	B．A letter to a friend’s son.
C．Her interest in the environment.	D．A visit to the Lake District.

2. What did Beatrix Potter do besides writing books?

A．She taught art classes.	B．She created dolls and games.
C．She worked for the National Trust.	D．She became a professional farmer.

3. How did Beatrix Potter contribute to environmental protection?

A．By writing books about it.	B．By delivering speeches.
C．By donating money.	D．By buying farms and land.

4. What happened to Beatrix Potter’s farms and land after she died?

A．They were sold to private investors.	B．They were left to the National Trust.
C．They were turned into public parks.	D．They were used for agricultural research.