1 . POETRY CHALLENGE
Write a poem about how courage, determination, and strength have helped you face challenges in your life.
Prizes
3 Grand Prizes:Trip to Washington, D.C. for each of three winners, a parent and one other person of the winner’s choice. Trip includes round-trip air tickets, hotel stay for two nights, and tours of the National Air and Space Museum and the office of National Geographic World.
6 First Prizes:The book Sky Pioneer:A Photobiography of Amelia Earhart signed by author Corinne Szabo and pilot Linda Finch.
50 Honorable Mentions:Judges will choose up to 50 honorable mention winners, who will each receive a T-shirt in memory of Earhart’s final flight.
Rules
Follow all rules carefully to prevent disqualification.
■Write a poem using 100 words or fewer. Your poem can be any format, any number of lines.
■Write by hand or type on a single sheet of paper. You may use both the front and back of the paper.
■On the same sheet of paper, write or type your name, address, telephone number, and birth date.
■Mail your entry to us by October 31 this year.
1. How many people can each grand prize winner take on the free trip?| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．Six. |
| A．A plane ticket. | B．A book by Corinne Szabo. |
| C．A special T-shirt. | D．A photo of Amelia Earhart. |
| A．Typing your poem out. | B．Writing a poem of 120 words. |
| C．Using both sides of the paper. | D．Mailing your entry on October 30. |
2 . Some parents will buy any high-tech toy if they think it will help their child, but researchers said puzzles help children with math-related skills.
Psychologist Susan Levine, an expert on mathematics development in young children at the University of Chicago, found children who play with puzzles between ages 2 and 4 later develop better spatial skills. Puzzle play was found to be a significant predictor of cognition(认知) after controlling for differences in parents’ income, education and the amount of parent talk, Levine said.
The researchers analyzed video recordings of 53 child-parent pairs during everyday activities at home and found children who play with puzzles between 26 and 46 months of age have better spatial skills when assessed at 54 months of age.
“The children who played with puzzles performed better than those who did not, on tasks that assessed their ability to rotate(旋转)and translate shapes,” Levine said in a statement.
The parents were asked to interact with their children as they normally would, and about half of children in the study played with puzzles at one time. Higher-income parents tended to have children play with puzzles more frequently, and both boys and girls who played with puzzles had better spatial skills. However, boys tended to play with more complex puzzles than girls, and the parents of boys provided more spatial language and were more active during puzzle play than parents of girls.
The findings were published in the journal Developmental Science.
1. In which aspect do children benefit from puzzle play?| A．Building confidence. | B．Developing spatial skills. |
| C．Learning self-control. | D．Gaining high-tech knowledge. |
| A．Parents’ age. | B．Children’s imagination. |
| C．Parents’ education. | D．Child-parent relationship. |
| A．They play with puzzles more often. |
| B．They tend to talk less during the game. |
| C．They prefer to use more spatial language. |
| D．They are likely to play with tougher puzzles. |
| A．A mathematical method. | B．A scientific study. |
| C．A woman psychologist | D．A teaching program. |
3 . I work with Volunteers for Wildlife, a rescue and education organization at Bailey Arboretum in Locust Valley. Trying to help injured, displaced or sick creatures can be heartbreaking; survival is never certain. However, when it works, it is simply beautiful.
I got a rescue call from a woman in Muttontown. She had found a young owl(猫头鹰) on the ground. When I arrived, I saw a 2-to 3-week-old owl. It had already been placed in a carrier for safety.
I examined the chick(雏鸟) and it seemed fine. If I could locate the nest, I might have been able to put it back, but no luck. My next work was to construct a nest and anchor it in a tree.
The homeowner was very helpful. A wire basket was found. I put some pine branches into the basket to make this nest safe and comfortable. I placed the chick in the nest, and it quickly calmed down.
Now all that was needed were the parents, but they were absent. I gave the homeowner a recording of the hunger screams of owl chicks. These advertise the presence of chicks to adults; they might also encourage our chick to start calling as well. I gave the owner as much information as possible and headed home to see what news the night might bring.
A nervous night to be sure, but sometimes the spirits of nature smile on us all! The homeowner called to say that the parents had responded to the recordings. I drove over and saw the chick in the nest looking healthy and active. And it was accompanied in the nest by the greatest sight of all — LUNCH! The parents had done their duty and would probably continue to do so.
1. What is unavoidable in the author’s rescue work according to paragraph 1?| A．Efforts made in vain. |
| B．Getting injured in his work. |
| C．Feeling uncertain about his future. |
| D．Creatures forced out of their homes. |
| A．To rescue a woman. |
| B．To take care of a woman. |
| C．To look at a baby owl. |
| D．To cure a young owl. |
| A．A new nest. |
| B．Some food. |
| C．A recording. |
| D．Its parents. |
| A．It’s unexpected. |
| B．It’s beautiful. |
| C．It’s humorous. |
| D．It’s discouraging. |
4 . For people, who are interested in sound, the field of sound technology is definitely making noise. In the past, sound engineers worked in the back rooms of recording studios, but many of today’s sound professionals are sharing their knowledge and experience with professionals in other fields to create new products based on the phenomenon we call sound.
Sound can be used as a weapon. Imagine that a police officer is chasing a thief. The thief tries to escape. And the officer can’t let him get away. He pulls out a special device, points it at the suspect, and switches it on. The thief drops to the ground. This new weapon is called a Long Range Acoustic Device(LRAD, 远程定向声波发射器). It produces a deafening sound so painful that it temporarily disables a person. The noise from the LRAD is directed like a ray of light and travels only into the ears of that person, but it is not deadly.
For those who hunger for some peace and quiet, sound can now create silence. Let’s say you are at the airport, and the little boy on the seat next to you is humming(哼唱) a short commercial song. He hums it over and over again, and you are about to go crazy. Thanks to the Silence Machine, a British invention, you can get rid of the sound without upsetting the boy or his parents. One may wonder how the Silence Machine works. Well, it functions by analyzing the waves of the incoming sound and creating a second set of outgoing waves. The two sets of waves cancel each other out. Simply turn the machine or point it at the target, and your peace and quiet comes back.
Directed sound is a new technology that allows companies to use sound in much the same way spotlights(聚光灯) are used in the theater. A spotlight lights up only one section of a stage; similarly, “spotsound” creates a circle of sound in on targeted area. This can be useful for businesses such as restaurants and stores because it offers a new way to attract customers. Restaurants can offer a choice of music along with the various food choices on the menu, allowing customers more control over the atmosphere in which they are dining. Directed sound is also beginning to appear in shopping centers and even at homes.
1. What could be inferred from Paragraph 2 about the effect of the LRAD?| A．It causes temporary hearing loss. |
| B．It slows down a running man. |
| C．It makes it easy to identify a suspect. |
| D．It keeps the suspect from hurting others. |
| A．silence the people around you |
| B．remove the sound of commercials |
| C．block the incoming sound waves |
| D．stop unwanted sound from affecting you |
| A．They travel in circles. |
| B．They clear the atmosphere. |
| C．They can be transformed into energy. |
| D．They can be directed onto a specific area. |
| A．creative designs of restaurant menus |
| B．ideal sound effects on the theater stage |
| C．different choices of music for businesses |
| D．strict control over any suspicious customer |
| A．How professionals invented sound products. |
| B．Inventions in the field of sound technology. |
| C．The growing interest in the study of sound. |
| D．How sound engineers work in their studios. |
5 . Choose Your One-Day-Tours!
Tour A - Bath &Stonehenge including entrance fees to the ancient Roman bathrooms and Stonehenge -￡37 until 26 March and ￡39 thereafter. Visit the city with over 2,000 years of history and Bath Abbey, the Royal Crescent and the Costume Museum, Stonehenge is one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments dating back over 5,000 years.
Tour B - Oxford & Stratford including entrance fees to the University St Mary’s Church Tower and Anne Hathaway’s -￡32 until 12 March and ￡36 thereafter. Oxford: Includes a guided tour of England’s oldest university city and colleges. Look over the “city of dreaming spires(尖顶）” from St Mary‘s Church Tower. Stratford: Includes a guided tour exploring much of the Shakespeare wonder.
Tour C - Windsor Castle &Hampton Court: including entrance fees to Hampton Court Palace -￡34 until 11 March and ￡37 thereafter. Includes a guided tour of Windsor and Hampton Court, Henry VILL’s favorite palace. Free time to visit Windsor Castle(entrance fees not included).With 500 years of history, Hampton Court was once the home of four Kings and one Queen. Now this former royal palace is open to the public as a major tourist attraction. Visit the palace and its various historic gardens, which include the famous maze(迷宫) where it is easy to get lost!
Tour D –Cambridge including entrance fees to the Tower of Saint Mary the Great -￡33 until 18 March and ￡37 thereafter. Includes a guided tour of Cambridge, the famous university town, and the gardens of the 18th century.
1. Which tour will you choose if you want to see England’s oldest university city?| A．Tour A | B．Tour B |
| C．Tour C | D．Tour D |
| A．Windsor Castle & Hampton Court | B．Oxford & Stratford |
| C．Bath & Stonehenge | D．Cambridge |
| A．It used to be the home of royal families | B．It used to be a well-known maze |
| C．It is the oldest palace in Britain | D．It is a world-famous castle |
Bad news sells. If it bleeds, it leads. No news is good news, and good news is no news. Those are the classic rules for the evening broadcasts and the morning papers. But now that information is being spread and monitored(监控) in different ways, researchers are discovering new rules. By tracking people’s e-mails and online posts, scientists have found that good news can spread faster and farther than disasters and sob stories.
“The ‘if it bleeds’ rule works for mass media,” says Jonah Berger, a scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. “They want your eyeballs and don’t care how you’re feeling. But when you share a story with your friends, you care a lot more how they react. You don’t want them to think of you as a Debbie Downer.”
Researchers analyzing word-of-mouth communication—e-mails, Web posts and reviews, face-to-face conversations—found that it tended to be more positive than negative(消极的), but that didn’t necessarily mean people preferred positive news. Was positive news shared more often simply because people experienced more good things than bad things? To test for that possibility, Dr. Berger looked at how people spread a particular set of news stories: thousands of articles on The New York Times’ website. He and a Penn colleague analyzed the “most e-mailed” list for six months. One of his first findings was that articles in the science section were much more likely to make the list than non-science articles. He found that science amazed Times’ readers and made them want to share this positive feeling with others.
Readers also tended to share articles that were exciting or funny, or that inspired negative feelings like anger or anxiety, but not articles that left them merely sad. They needed to be aroused(激发) one way or the other, and they preferred good news to bad. The more positive an article, the more likely it was to be shared, as Dr. Berger explains in his new book, “Contagious: Why Things Catch On.”
1. What do the classic rules mentioned in the text apply to?
| A．News reports. | B．Research papers. |
| C．Private e-mails. | D．Daily conversations． |
| A．They’re socially inactive. |
| B．They’re good at telling stories. |
| C．They’re inconsiderate of others. |
| D．They’re careful with their words. |
| A．Sports new. | B．Science articles. |
| C．Personal accounts. | D．Financial reviews. |
| A．Sad Stories Travel Far and Wide |
| B．Online News Attracts More People |
| C．Reading Habits Change with the Times |
| D．Good News Beats Bad on Social Networks |
7 . Monthly Talks at London Canal Museum
Our monthly talks start at 19:30 on the first Thursday of each month except August. Admission is at normal charges and you don’t need to book. They end around 21:00.
November 7th
The Canal Pioneers, by Chris Lewis. James Brindley is recognized as one of the leading early canal engineers. He was also a major player in training others in the art of canal planning and building. Chris Lewis will explain how Brindley made such a positive contribution to the education of that group of early “civil engineers”.
December 5th
Ice for the Metropolis, by Malcolm Tucker. Well before the arrival of freezers, there was a demand for ice for food preservation and catering, Malcolm will explain the history of importing natural ice and the technology of building ice wells, and how London’s ice trade grew.
February 6th
An Update on the Cotsword Canals, by Liz Payne. The Stroudwater Canal is moving towards reopening. The Thames and Severn Canal will take a little longer. We will have a report on the present state of play.
March 6th
Eyots and Aits-Thames Islands, by Miranda Vickers. The Thames had many islands. Miranda has undertaken a review of all of them. She will tell us about those of greatest interest.
Online bookings:www.canalmuseum.org.uk/book
More into:www.canalmuseum.org.uk/whatson
London Canal Museum
12-13 New Wharf Road, London NI 9RT
www.canalmuseum.org.uk www.canalmuseum.mobi
Tel:020 77130836
1. When is the talk on James Brindley?| A．February 6th. | B．December 5th. |
| C．November 7th. | D．March 6th. |
| A．The Canal Pioneers. | B．An Update on the Cotsword Canals |
| C．Eyots and Aits-Thames Islands | D．Ice for the Metropolis |
| A．Miranda Vickers | B．Malcolm Tucker |
| C．Chris Lewis | D．Liz Payne |
8 . Lessons in the Lost Art of Listening
When was the last time you listened to someone? And when was the last time someone really listened to you? I once asked people what it meant to be a good listener. The typical response was a blank stare.
Of course, technology plays a role. People find phone calls interrupting them, preferring text or wordless emoji. Besides, schools and colleges rarely offer classes or activities that teach careful listening. You can join clubs to perfect your public speaking, but who attempts to achieve excellence in listening? The loud unpleasant mixture of sounds of modern life also stops us from listening.
Generally, listening goes beyond simply hearing what people say. It also involves paying attention to how they say it and what they do while they are saying it, in what context, and how what they say is related to you. It’s not about merely holding your peace while someone else holds forth. Quite the opposite. A lot of listening has to do with how you respond—the degree to which you facilitate the clear expression of another person’s thoughts and, in the process, have a clear mind of your own.
Good listeners ask good questions. They engage in exploring the topic, not to divert attention. There are curious questions like “Wouldn’t you agree…?” or “Don’t you think…?” These questions have strong tendencies. They will greatly influence the other person to change his or her view. And you’d better stay away from some personal questions like “What do you do for a living?” or “What part of town do you live in?” Just try to find out what excites people. Ask about the last movie they saw or for the story behind a piece of jewelry they’re wearing. Also good are expansive questions, such as, “If you could spend a month, where would you go?” Research indicates that when people who don’t know each other well ask each other this type of question, they feel more connected than if they spend time together achieving a task.
Because our brain can think a lot faster than people can talk, be careful with the tendency to take mental side trips when you are listening. Smart people’s attention is easily taken away by their own runaway thoughts. They may also assume they already know what the other person is going to say.
The reward of good listening will certainly be more interesting conversations. Researchers have found that attentive listeners receive more information from speakers, even when they don’t ask any questions. We are, each of us, the sum of what we attend to in life. The gentle voice of a mother and the criticism of a boss both ultimately form and shape us. And to listen poorly, selectively or not at all limits your understanding of the world and prevents you from becoming the best you can be.
1. One of the factors that influence listening is that ________.| A．our confidence in listening is decreasing | B．our speech creates a lot of noise around us |
| C．listening skills are seldom taught in school | D．texting causes a better effect than phone calls |
| A．Why the art of listening gets lost by itself. | B．Why effective methods are used in listening. |
| C．How people make themselves well understood. | D．How people can reclaim the lost art of listening. |
| A．Avoid being absent-minded. | B．Come up with curious questions. |
| C．Focus on the speaker’s personal information. | D．Try to find common interests with the speaker. |
| A．Listening and speaking deserve equal attention. |
| B．Good listeners maximize the benefits for themselves. |
| C．Bad listening ultimately contributes to people’s failure. |
| D．Listeners’ clear mind facilitates speakers’ expression of thoughts. |
9 . Choosing where to live may be one of the biggest decisions you’ll make when you move to Sydney, but you’ll have plenty of help.
Temporary arrival accommodation
Before you move to Sydney, we recommend that you book a temporary place to stay. Once you get here, you can look for longer-term accommodation.
--sydney.edu.au/accommodation/short-term
On-campus-residential colleges (fully catered饮食全包的)
The University has eight residential colleges on the Camperdown/Darlington Campus, including International House, a residential community of global scholars. Colleges provide comfortable, fully furnished single rooms and daily meals, along with sporting, cultural, leadership and social programs. They also include on-site tutorials(辅导课) in addition to campus-based classes.
--sydney.edu.au/colleges
On-campus residences (self-catered饮食自理的)
The University has two self-run residences—Queen Mary Building (QMB) and Abercrombie Student Accommodation—on the Camperdown/Darlington Campus. Both just under a year old, they house up to 1000 students. These residences provide modern single-study rooms with large common living, learning and study spaces, shared kitchens, a theatre, gyms, soundproofed music rooms, art studios, sky lounges and rooftop gardens.
--sydney.edu.au/campus-life/accommodation/live-on-campus.html
Off-campus living
More than 90 percent of our students live off campus. The University is close to many dynamic and multicultural suburbs such as Annandale, Newtown, Chippendale and Glebe. A great place to search is our large online database of properties.
--sydney.edu.au/campus-life/accommodation/live-off-campus.html
1. Where can you find a place to live temporarily?| A．On “sydney.edu.au/colleges”. |
| B．On “sydney.edu.au/accommodation/short-term”. |
| C．On “sydney.edu.au/campus-life/accommodation/live-on-campus.html”. |
| D．On “sydney.edu.au/campus-life/accommodation/live-off-campus.html”. |
| A．Their own kitchens. |
| B．On-site tutorials. |
| C．Daily meals. |
| D．Gyms. |
| A．Living off campus. |
| B．Living in host families. |
| C．Living in self-catered flats on campus. |
| D．Living in fully catered houses on campus. |
10 . People have different ways of dealing with a common cold. Some take over the counter medicines such as aspirin while others try popular home remedies(治疗) like herbal tea or chicken soup. Yet here is the tough truth about the common cold: nothing really cures it.
So why do people sometimes believe that their remedies work? According to James Taylor, professor at the University of Washington, colds usually go away on their own in about a week, improving a little each day after symptoms peak, so it's easy to believe it's medicine rather than time that deserves the credit, USA Today reported.
It still seems hard to believe that we can deal with more serious diseases yet are powerless against something so common as a cold. Recently, scientists came closer to figure out why. To understand it, you first need to know how antiviral drugs work. They attack the virus by attaching to and changing the surface structures of the virus. To do that, the drug must fit and lock into the virus like the right piece of a jigsaw(拼图), which means scientists have to identify the virus and build a 3D model to study its surface before they can design an antiviral drug that is effective enough.
The two cold viruses that scientists had long known about were rhinovirus(鼻病毒) A and B. But they didn't find out about the existence of a third virus, rhinovirus C, until 2006. All three of them contribute to the common cold, but drugs that work well against rhinovirus A and B have little effect when used against rhinovirus C.
''This explains most of the previous failures of drug trials against rhinoviruses,'' study leader Professor Ann C. Palmenberg at the University of Wiscons in Madison, US, told Science Daily.
Now, more than 10 years after the discovery of rhinovirus C, scientists have finally built a highly detailed 3D model of the virus, showing that the surface of the virus is, as expected, different from that of other cold viruses.
With the model in hand, hopefully a real cure for a common cold is on its way. Soon, we may no longer have to waste our money on medicines that don't really work.
1. What does the author think of popular remedies for a common cold?| A．They are quite effective. | B．They are slightly helpful. |
| C．They actually have no effect. | D．They still need to be improved. |
| A．By breaking up cold viruses directly. |
| B．By changing the surface structures of the cold viruses. |
| C．By preventing colds from developing into serious diseases. |
| D．By absorbing different kinds of cold viruses at the same time. |
| A．The surface of cold viruses looks quite similar. |
| B．Scientists have already found a cure for the common cold. |
| C．Scientists were not aware of the existence of rhinovirus C until recently. |
| D．Knowing the structure of cold viruses is the key to developing an effective cure. |
| A．Drugs against cold viruses | B．Helpful home remedies |
| C．No current cure for common cold | D．Research on cold viruses |
