1 . Students at Summer Creek and Kingwood Park High schools have joined a project called “Students Helping Veterans (退伍军人) : Big Heroes, Tiny Homes” over the past school year.
The high school’s students and teachers partnered together to create a tiny home community in the Houston area, for homeless veterans. Generous local community donations helped fund the project. Besides, the schools collaborate with architects, engineers and other community partners in the local community to design and build homes expected to be 200 to 300 square feet in size. They eventually want to build a community where veterans can be surrounded by other veteran neighbors who understand and relate to their difficulties and issues when coming back to civilian life.
As a team, the students attend regular meetings together to work on the design. They are motivated by the purpose behind the project which keeps them focusing on the tasks at hand. With every nail that goes in, they know that they are improving a veteran's life and providing him a secure home where he can spend his golden years. "The kids are doing something for someone without any reward except knowing they are doing it for someone," said Missy Tayler, their proud teacher.
"They wanted to serve their country and protect us, and they came back but they didn't get the same treatment," said senior student Sarah Dalby, describing her motivation to help. She added that when she started the project, she barely knew how to use a saw but she is a fast learner and loves the work. “You have to appreciate the armed forces of our country for giving us the individual liberties that we enjoy,” senior student, Nicolas Logan said when explaining his own motivation to participate in the project.
1. What does the underlined phrase “collaborate with” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Learn from. | B．Team up with. |
| C．Compete against. | D．Make up with. |
| A．High school students and teachers. |
| B．Local architects and engineers. |
| C．Citizens and organizations from local communities. |
| D．Governments of Houston areas. |
| A．Caring and cooperative. |
| B．Demanding and considerate. |
| C．Humorous and determined. |
| D．Independent and intelligent. |
| A．To express the teachers' feelings. |
| B．To explain the secret of the project. |
| C．To explain the students' motivation. |
| D．To reveal a potential educational benefit. |
2 . Unique and Weird New Year's Eve Traditions
German
In some parts of Germany, they do lead （铅）pouring. Pour a dollop （团）of lead into cold water and the shape it dorms may be telling you about the year to come. A heart shape, naturally, means love will come your way. A crown predicts wealth and fortune. A star indicates happiness. But if you see a cross, you're almost dead!
Latin America
If you are in Latin America, make sure you have some colourful underpants to ring in the New Year. End — of — the — year partiers put on colourful underwear to ensure certain types of outcomes of the following year, red for love and yellow for success.
Naples, Italy
Neapolitans like throwing things out of the windows, at least on New Year's Eve. Furniture, kitchen machines, grandma.. Well, maybe not the last one. Let's hope not, anyway. This tradition is meant to symbolize an out — with — the — old gesture and get a new beginning of the new year. These days people are a bit more mindful of what they throw into the street below.
Spain
In 1909, winegrowers in the Alicante region of Spain had a brilliant idea: Start and promote an annual tradition that would involve people in having to buy and eat more grapes. Everyone must eat 12 grapes on New Year's Eve to pray for wealth of the coming year. Now, it's a popular custom in Spain. But the problem is that people have to eat a grape for each bell striking at midnight.
1. Germans would like to see the following shapes of lead Except ________.| A．a heart | B．a cross |
| C．a star | D．a crown |
| A．They hate cooking at home. |
| B．They are more careful about what to throw now. |
| C．They throw their grandma out of the window. |
| D．They like making gestures in front of the windows. |
| A．They buy lots of wine. |
| B．They pray with 12 grapes. |
| C．They eat as many grapes as possible. |
| D．They eat a grape for each bell striking, |
3 . About ten men in every hundred suffer from color blindness in some way. Women are luckier, only about one in two hundred is affected in this matter. Perhaps, after all, it is safer to be driven by a woman!
There are different forms of color blindness. In some cases a man may not be able to see deep red. He may think that red, orange and yellow are all shadows of green. Sometimes a person cannot tell the difference between blue and green. In rare cases an unlucky man may see everything in shades of green -a strange world indeed.
Color blindness in human beings is a strange thing to explain. In a single eye there are millions of very small things called “cones”. These help us to see in a bright light and to tell difference between colors. There are also millions of “rods”, but these are used for seeing when it is near dark. They show us shape but no color.
Some insects have favorite colors. Mosquitoes prefer blue to yellow. A red light will not attract insects, but a blue lamp will. In a similar way human beings also have favorite colors. Yet we are lucky. With the aid of the cones in our eyes we can see many beautiful colors by day, and with the help of the rods we can see shapes at night. One day we may even learn more about the invisible colors around us.
1. According to the passage, with the help of the “cones”, we can _________.| A．tell different shapes | B．see in a weak light |
| C．kill mosquitoes | D．tell the difference between blue and green |
| A．Women are more careful. |
| B．There are fewer color-blind women. |
| C．Women are fonder of driving than men. |
| D．Women are weaker but quicker in thinking. |
| A．red light | B．yellow light |
| C．blue light | D．green light |
| A．color and its surprising effects | B．women being luckier than men |
| C．danger caused by color blindness | D．color blindness |
The Terra-cotta Warriors | The Terracotta Army or the "Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses", is a collection of terracotta sculptures showing the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. The purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife, and to make sure that he had people to rule over. Other terracotta non-military figures were also found in other pits and they include officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians. Sadly, no photography or filming is allowed inside. |
Eiffel Tower | If you are planning a romantic getaway to Paris, don't think about posting a selfie in front of the Eiffel Tower. Taking photos is illegal, but the problem isn't with the building itself. The light show on it, designed by Pierre Bideau in 1985, is actually an artistic display and protected by copyright, Snopes.com explains. And since the lights go every five minutes, snapping a photo that doesn't break the law is impossible. |
Westminster Abbey | Westminster Abbey is a wonderful Gothic church. Yet no matter how historic or breathtaking it may be. you're not allowed to take photos. Luckily, there is a pretty good reason for it, according to the church's website: "We want you to take in its unique beauty and history without any distractions. We want to keep the sacred atmosphere of a church." |
The Sistine Chapel | As it's one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world, it's an upsetting thing that tourists aren't allowed to take photos around or inside. The chapel went under repair work funded by the Nippon Television Network Corporation of Japan. The costs ended up being $4.2 million. In return, Nippon got special rights to film and photograph the artwork. That copyright actually ended three years after each part was complete, but the Vatican decided to keep the ban in place to protect the precious artwork from harmful camera flashes. |
| A．Different figures buried underground. |
| B．Masses of amazing palaces around. |
| C．A wonderful film of a great emperor. |
| D．The future life of the non-military people. |
| A．The Terra-cotta Warriors | B．Eiflfel Tower |
| C．Westminster Abbey | D．The Sistine Chapel |
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
5 . Your Perfect 2-Day Custom Private Tour in Paris
To keep you safe during COVID-19, what you can expect during your visit
• Face masks required for travelers and guides in public areas.
• Hand sanitizer（消毒剂） available to travelers and staff.
• Guides required to regularly wash hands.
Overview
Spend two perfect days in Paris exploring the city just the way you want on a private, fully customized tour. Whether you want to see the city's most significant attractions or discover treasures, your local guide designs an itinerary （旅行 日 程）,just for you and arranges all necessities, so you don't have to worry about anything. Your tour can be aimed toward personal interests like art, history, food and wine, architecture or fashion.
• 2-day tour in Paris with a private guide.
• Explore Paris your own way with a fully customizable tour, accompanied by a knowledgeable insider guide.
• Visit top Paris attractions such as the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre and Montmartre.
• Get suggestions on what to do and see based on your interests.
• Enjoy care-free sightseeing - your guide takes care of all planning and necessities.
Included
• Local guide.
• Public transport costs (taxi ride, bus, metro etc.).
• Custom tour planning and hotel service for your two days.
Not included
• Full-day private car (can be booked for €395/day).
• Museum tickets (we can buy them for you, at cost).
Additional info for travelers
• Confirmation will be received at time of booking.
• Not wheelchair accessible.
• Near public transportation.
• No heart problems or other serious medical conditions.
• Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level.
• Operated by Discover Walks.
1. What must the tourists or the guides do during their tour in Paris?| A．The tourists have to wear face masks at any place. |
| B．The guides have to wash their hands regularly. |
| C．The tourists have to hire a local guide by themselves. |
| D．The guides have to confirm the booking. |
| A．The tour can be adjusted to the tourists' own interests. |
| B．The tourists can enjoy free sightseeing. |
| C．The tourists can use private cars for free. |
| D．The tourists can take advantage of wheelchairs. |
| A．The tour takes into consideration health condition of the applicants. |
| B．The tourists have to take care of their own luggage. |
| C．The tour includes all Paris tour attractions. |
| D．The tourists can only take public transport. |
6 . Tracking wildlife is a tough job. Take the case of a one-eared leopard named Pavarotti.
Kasim Rafiq, a wildlife biologist at Liverpool John Moores University. “So I used to get up at the crack of dawn, follow his tracks and try and find him. So one day, I went out, and I was looking for him. And his tracks took me off road through this woodland area...and...”
Before he knew it, the wheel of his Land Rover was stuck in a deep hole. He wasted several hours getting it out. And then, on the way back to camp, he came across some local tour guides and their safari (观赏野兽的旅行) guests, who’d had way better luck spotting Pavarotti. “Basically, they laughed and they talked to me that they’d seen him that morning.”
Rafiq then realized that tourist wildlife sightings might be an untapped source of information about wild animals.
So he and his team worked with a safari lodge in Botswana to analyze 25,000 tourist photographs of wildlife. They compared those data to the estimates they made with traditional wildlife biology methods.
It turned out that the estimates from tourists’ photos were just as good as those gleaned (四处搜集) from traditional methods. And the tourists were actually the only ones to see elusive (难以捉摸的) leopards — the researchers would have missed the cats without the citizen science data. The results are in the journal Current Biology.
The idea is not to put wildlife researchers out of a job. “The reality is there are so many interesting things we still have to find out about these large carnivores (食肉动物) and so many conservation (保护) projects that need to be carried out that we don’t have the time or resources to do them all.” And tourist photos might help make sure that all the local carnivores are spotted.
Thanks for listening for Scientific American-60-Second Science. I’m Christopher Intagliata.
1. What happened to Rafiq when he tracked Pavarotti?| A．He was lost in the woods. |
| B．He was trapped in a deep hole. |
| C．He found Pavarotti with tourists’ help. |
| D．He met Pavarotti on the way back to camp. |
| A．The photos are sources of information about wildlife. |
| B．The photos are mirrors of the wildlife researchers’ life. |
| C．The photos taken by tourists are of high quality. |
| D．The photos taken by tourists are especially beautiful. |
| A．The researchers have missed the data of cats. |
| B．The information from tourists’ photos was equally good. |
| C．The value of tourist photos hasn’t been proven. |
| D．Only the traditional methods can track wildlife. |
| A．On TV. | B．In a magazine. | C．On a radio. | D．In a book. |
7 . Vaccination（接种疫苗）is among the most effective ways to help us prevent diseases. For viruses that don't change too much-the measles virus（麻疹病毒）, for example—getting vaccinated is a once-and-for-all method to prevent you from becoming infected with the virus. If you had two measles vaccines when you were a child, you will be protected for life.
However, it's a different story when it comes to influenza（流行性感冒）, commonly known as "the flu", which generally peaks between December and February. Flu vaccines cannot protect us in the long term.
There is no long-term immunity（免疫）, according to Theodore Strange, associate medical director at Staten Island University Hospital in New York. "The virus essentially 'changes its coat'—HIN1, H2N3, and so on," he told the website Healthline.
Apart from a person's immune protection from flu vaccination declining over time, flu viruses are also constantly changing. So the vaccines are likely to be updated from one season to the next to protect against the viruses that research suggests may be the most common during the upcoming flu season.
Thus, to develop effective flu vaccines, over 100 national influenza centers around the world conduct year-round surveillance（监测）for influenza. Researchers will test thousands of influenza virus samples from patients, according to the official website of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention（CDC）. The World Health Organization also suggests there are three or four influenza viruses that are most likely to spread among people during the upcoming flu season.
But even when a vaccine is developed, getting it can prove to be difficult, as it is in high demand and short supply. The timing of influenza vaccine production and distribution is unpredictable, thus the availability of the flu vaccine supply does not always coincide with（与……一致）peak demand.
So scientists prioritize（划分优先顺序）access to the vaccination. The CDC recommends key populations, such as medical staff, teachers, students, children and those aged 60 and above, receive flu vaccines.
This year the situation seems more complicated, as the upcoming flu season coincides with the COVID-19 pandemic. This could overwhelm hospitals, straining（过度使用）resources and healthcare workers' time.
1. What do we know about influenza?| A．Influenza viruses are continuously changing. |
| B．It commonly peaks between November and December. |
| C．Getting two flu vaccines can protect people against the viruses. |
| D．HINI and H2N3 are the most easily infectious flu viruses. |
| A．They update vaccines once a year. |
| B．They monitor the flu throughout the year. |
| C．They focus on one or two viruses during a period. |
| D．Influenza centers worldwide share virus samples from patients. |
| A．Because not all people can afford it. |
| B．Because some people refuse to get vaccinated. |
| C．Because the vaccine is not safe for everyone. |
| D．Because the vaccine doesn't always meet the demand. |
| A．It could be more challenging than ever for medical workers. |
| B．Enough resources have been prepared to cope with it. |
| C．Flu vaccines will be provided for the public in November. |
| D．The flu vaccines are expected to help prevent COVID-19. |
8 . Welcome to the Sydney Opera House
Ticket Info and Guided Tours
Visitors can enjoy the Sydney Opera House foyer for free, but for a more insightful visit, you'll need to book a tour.
There are several different ways to experience the Sydney Opera House, and multiple tours are available including back-stage passes and walking tours.
Tour Type Adult （AUD $ ） Child
Guided Walking Tour $ 42 $ 22
Guided Walking Tour + Dinner $ 73 $ 52
Guided Walking Tour + Tasting Plate $ 82.20 $ 64. 80
Backstage Tour $ 175 $ 175
Opening Hours and the Best Time to Visit
The Sydney Opera House is open year-round with the following opening hours：
● Monday—Saturday ： 9am—8 ： 30pm
●Sunday： 9am—5pm
As for the best time of day, it's recommended to book the earliest Sydney Opera House tour of the day to beat the crowds. To enjoy sunny weather with fewer crowds, try visiting in the shoulder season (October, November, February, or March )
Points of Interest
●The Steps
Before entering the Opera House, take a picture of the building from the steps outside.
●The Sails
Step beneath the sails on a guided tour and enjoy harbor front views.
●The Concert Hall
The Concert Hall is the largest venue with seats for more than 2000 people. It features contemporary live music shows and highly -regarded orchestral (管弦乐的)performances. It is also here that you will find the world's largest mechanical tracker-action pipe organ.
● Opera Bar
After your tour, head to the Opera Bar for a bite to eat or drink in the sun.
● Badu Gili
Badu Gili, which is ‘water light’ in the language of the Gadigal people-takes place most evenings after sunset at 9pm, 9：30pm, and 10pm. The seven-minute display is free to view.
1. How much will a guided walking tour for two adults cost?| A．$ 64. | B．$ 84. | C．$ 128, | D．$ 168. |
| A．9：30 am, a Monday in February. | B．10：00 am, a Sunday in December. |
| C．5：00 pm, a Friday in September. | D．6：00 pm, a Saturday in March. |
| A．A local language. | B．A pipe organ. | C．A light show. | D．A dinning area. |
9 . In the summer of 1967, Walker was about to enter the sixth grade after having recently moved to the new town. Her mother signed Walker up for Girl Scouts（童子军)to help her get used to the place. She was paired with a girl named Laurie Luna in a four-person tent. At the camp, Walker and Lima's lives were tightly tied. As a Girl Scout, you have someone to rely on, to know where you're going, to talk over things with, and to develop a friendship. It was a wonderful time for these girls to look back on.
After boating with Luna one afternoon, lightning hit a tree outside the girls' tent. "It happens in the mountains in summertime. Then a storm blew in and sent us all to our tents," Walker remembers. "Lightning struck and its path led through me. I was lying on the floor seriously burned and unconscious(昏迷的)."As bad luck would have it. Walker had been standing on her bed at the time. Instantly, two-thirds of Walker's body was burned.
The other three girls in the tent screamed and ran away, but Luna quickly realized her friend was not among them. She thought Walker must be missing and went back to look for her — only to find Walker on the floor of the tent. Seeing Walker, she sped to the counselors, brought help and, in doing so, saved Walker. The counselor raced to give Walker first aid treatment, who then was rushed to the hospital by a nurse.
"The timing of getting artificial respiration(人工呼吸)and being taken to the hospital allowed me to recover with few health problems and to continue on with my life——to be a teacher, a wife, a mother, and a part of the world," Walker says.
1. What can we say about Walker from the first paragraph?| A．She was a newcomer to the town. | B．She and Luna became classmates. |
| C．Her mother disliked staying with her. | D．She was the fourth girl in Girl Scouts. |
| A．She got lost in the mountain. | B．She was hit by a big lightning. |
| C．She was late for the boating. | D．She was ill because of the storm. |
| A．By relying on her strong will. |
| B．By calling someone for help. |
| C．By using her skills learned at school. |
| D．By receiving instant treatment in time. |
| A．Walker had a few health problems after the treatment. |
| B．All girls in Walker's tent did something helpful for her. |
| C．Walker might be grateful for what Luna had done for her. |
| D．Luna sent Walker to the hospital with a nurse at once. |
10 . Using 1900 as a starting point, here's a look at some of the most powerful and destructive hurricanes in the last 120 years in the US.
Most powerful hurricanes
Hurricane Camille, which landed on August 17, 1969 near Waveland, Mississippi, is the most powerful storm to strike the Gulf Coast. Camille is one of the four category(级别)-5 hurricanes ever to make a landing in the US, the others being the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and Hurricane Michael in 2018.
According to the National Weather Service, the actual wind speed of Hurricane Camille might be around 175 mph along the coast.
Until the arrival of Hurricane Katrina,Camille's more than 24-foot storm wave in Pass Christian, Mississippi, held the record. Katrina's storm wave along the Mississippi coast reached 30 feet.
Costliest hurricanes
Hurricane Katrina is not only the costliest-ever US hurricane but also the most expensive natural disaster in the country's history. Not only did it cost as many as 1,836 lives and leave millions of people homeless, but it also caused $ 160 billion in damages.
Katrina landed near the Gulf Coast on August 29,2005 as a category-3 storm. The hurricane's record-breaking waves flooded 80% of the city.
Deadliest hurricanes
The category-4 Hurricane Galveston made a surprising landing along the Texas coast on September 8,1900. It caused a 16-foot storm wave and its wind speed reached 150 mph.
A large part of the city of Galveston, Texas, was left in ruins. The number of death reached 12,000 on Galveston Island and the mainland. It remains the deadliest weather disaster in the US history as it gave the people no time to move out.
1. How many category-5 storms have stricken the US since 1900?| A．1. | B．2. | C．3. | D．4. |
| A．Hurricane Camille. | B．Hurricane Andrew. |
| C．Hurricane Katrina. | D．Labor Day Hurricane. |
| A．It has caught the people by surprise. |
| B．It has caused the biggest waves. |
| C．It has had the highest wind speed. |
| D．It has brought in the heaviest rainfall. |
