1 . Raffles EL Week
Be absorbed in the world of words, metaphors and imagery in our annual Raffles EL Week! Come and participate in the exciting activities we have for you!
The learning adventures begin from 20 May 2021 to 24 May 2021. Read on to find out where the actions are!
Activities that add fun to your recesses!
ONCE UPON A TIME... A fan of fairy tales? This activity is definitely right up your alley!
Let our student librarians tell you fairy tales from all over the World! Suitable for all levels. Date: 20 and 23 May Time: 9:30 am Venue: School library | HOW WELL CAN YOU SPELL? Show your spelling skills in this Spelling Bee challenge! Get to compete with peers from different classes too! Date: 20 and 21 May (P1 & P2 pupils)
22 and 23 May (P3 & P4 pupils) 24 May (P5 & P6 pupils) Time: 9:30 am Venue: Lower canteen area |
Story Writing Competition Do you love writing stories? Take part in our annual story writing competition! The theme this year is “Fractured Fairy Tales”. Rules & Regulations: ·In less than 500 words, pick a fairy tale you like and modify it to make us laugh at an unexpected characterization, plot development or a different point of view. ·You may submit only one story and we will pick one winner from each level (P1-P6). ·The winning entries will be published in our Raffles Magazine in Term 4. ·Email your entry to: elweek@raffles.com by 30 May 2021. ·If you have any questions, go to the General Office and approach any of the friendly staff there. | |
Organized by: The English Department Partners: Writers’ Association
1. How often is Raffles EL Week held?| A．Once a month. | B．Every two years. | C．Once a year. | D．Every two months. |
| A．Writing an original fairy tale. |
| B．Not going over the word limit. |
| C．Being a member of Raffles Magazine. |
| D．Submitting your entry at the General Office. |
| A．Students at all levels can go to the Spelling Bee challenge every day. |
| B．There will be one winner for the school story writing competition. |
| C．Student librarians will be telling fairy tales in the school library. |
| D．Its purpose is to get pupils to compete with peers from other classes. |
2 . Black Valley, 63 kilometers from downtown Chongqing, is one of the best preserved natural wonders around the municipality. The national 5A-level scenic spot is a popular summer resort for sightseeing, forest adventures, outdoor camping, hunting and angling.
Located in Heishan town, Wansheng Economic Development Zone, the scenic spot spans over 103 square kilometers, 97 percent of which are covered by primitive forests. With over 110,000 negative oxygen ions in each cubic centimeter of air, it is dubbed as a natural oxygen bar and “the most beautiful healthcare-themed valley.”
Black Valley is also known as “the natural gene bank of Chongqing and Guizhou regions” for the diversity of its rare plants and wildlife, including Cathaya argyrophylla, Davidia involucrata, Trachypithecus francoisi and clouded leopards.
Scenic spot level: AAAAA
Address: Heishan town, Wansheng Economic Development Zone, 63 kilometers from downtown Chongqing Opening hours: 8:30 am - 3:30 pm (peak season from November to February), 9:00 am-3:00 pm (off season from March to October)
Ideal sightseeing season: from May to September
Ticket price: 60 yuan ($8.72) during off season and 100 yuan during peak season, sightseeing bus and cable not included.
Notes:
1. It is recommended that tourists start from the higher southern area for a downward journey.
2. The average temperature is 18.1 degrees.
3. It’s a good idea to experience the local folk culture of the Miao ethnic group, especially when you choose to visit in May when the traditional Caishan Festival of Miao ethnic group is celebrated.
1. What can we know about Black Valley?| A．It lies in downtown Chongqing. |
| B．Plants and wildlife are rarely seen there. |
| C．A visit there costs at most 100 yuan. |
| D．The air is very high in negative oxygen ions there. |
| A．January. | B．March. | C．May. | D．July. |
| A．Culture. | B．Travel. | C．Nature. | D．Wildlife. |
3 . Drone（无人机）Training for Recreational Flyers
When: Saturday 12 December 9 a. m. to 1 p. m
Website: www. drone-wise. com. Au
Where: Hall ACT
Cost: $ 285 pp（per person）
This is the perfect training course if you plan to buy a drone soon. Best of all, no experience is required and the drones will be provided，so you just need to book online and come along on the day. The training course is held at Hall ACT. The 4-hour beginners course is $285. This includes written material, use of the Drone-wise aircraft for flying and morning tea. If you are under 18 years of age, you will need to be accompanied by a parent or grown-up friend or relative. Book your place today at drone-wise. com. au/our-training-courses.
Led by Martin Bass and Tim Robinson, commercially rated drone pilots with considerable experience, this training course is a chance to get.
Basic Knowledge
Recreational drone flying and the law
Risks and how to manage them
Flying environment
Basic Flying Skills
Pre-flight planning and checks
Aircraft handling skills
Obstacle avoidance
Your Instructors:
Martin Bass. Martin is a pilot with over 20-year experience He is also a commercial drone pilot and enjoys recreational drone flying as well. In his other role as a consultant and trainer to local government, Martin is an experienced educator and holds an honorary position with the University of Western Sydney.
Tim Robinson: Tim is an experienced photographer as well as a commercial drone pilot. His photos are about nature and wildlife. Tim is also an experienced adult educator and has lectured at the University of Technology Sydney and the University of Canberra.
1. What do we know about this training course?| A．it will last for an hour. |
| B．It requires experience of flying drones. |
| C．It asks people to pay more for morning tea. |
| D．Adolescents are not allowed in with no companion. |
| A．High-level drone flying skills. |
| B．A chance to be a commercial drone pilot. |
| C．An understanding of different aircraft types. |
| D．Knowledge of dealing with risks of drone flying. |
| A．They work at the same university. |
| B．They are experienced in photographing. |
| C．They are good at commercial drone flying. |
| D．They pay much attention to wildlife protection. |
4 . These days there is so much tempting technology to look at: smart phones, tablets, computer games and TV screens. Much of children's entertainment and education comes from using them, so it's no wonder they spend so much time staring at them. But even if the saying that looking at a screen for too long gives you square eyes isn't true, there is still some concern. So, should we be worried?
Certainly for children who spend hours glued to a screen, there is a concern that their health might be at risk. Also there is a fear that their eyesight is declining too. Although there's not much evidence to prove this yet, recent findings have brought the problem into light.
Chris Hammond, consultant at St Thomas' Hospital, says “We find short-sightedness is becoming more common It has greatly spread in East Asia, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea where approaching 90 of 18-year-olds are now short-sighted.”
But can this be linked to children's obsession with using electronic gadgets? Annegret Dahlmann, expert at Moorfields Eve Hospital in London. says lack of natural light seems to be the key issue. She's suggested that children in East Asia study a lot, using computers, smart phones or tablets, and they go outside less. Wearing glasses is one solution, but it's not ideal.
This leads to a dilemma: achieving short-term academic success or protecting your long-term eyesight. It's always going to be a challenge to drag children away from their screens and it's likely that more and more studying will be done online. But despite that, Professor Hammond says. “In countries like urban China, where 10% of children in each class per year are becoming short-sighted from about the age of six. there's an argument for saying we should be trying to prevent it.” It's evidence we can't turn a blind eye to. So, maybe it's time to hit the “off” button and get our children outside?
1. What can we infer from the first two paragraphs?| A．Recent findings have opened our eyes to the issue of eyesight. |
| B．Looking at a screen for too long will get you square eyes. |
| C．It has been confirmed that children's eyesight is failing. |
| D．Using electronic gadgets affects children's education. |
| A．Wearing glasses. | B．Heavy school work. |
| C．Lack of natural light. | D．Booming technology. |
| A．Learning online or offline. |
| B．Reading for pleasure or exams. |
| C．Focusing on study or protecting eyesight. |
| D．Protecting eyesight or promoting technology. |
| A．Study hard. | B．Head outdoors. | C．Quit computer. | D．Challenge more. |
5 . Bioluminescence, unlike other sources of light（the sun, fire, light bulbs）, which produce energy from heat, is defined as “the emission of light from living organisms（such as fireflies and bacteria）as the result of internal chemical reactions”. It is one of the wonders of nature that just about any of us can witness.
While a few organisms can produce bioluminescent light outside of the oceans（think fireflies）, most of the bioluminescence going on is in salt water. In fact, the vast majority of bioluminescent organisms evolved in order to provide light in deep sea marine ecosystems—either to light up prey or as a warning against predators（捕食者）—far below sunlight's reach into the water column.
Humans have been putting natural bioluminescence to work for a while—19th century coal miners would trap fireflies（instead of open-flame candles or lanterns that could cause explosion）in jars to light their way. But nowadays researchers are hard at work synthesizing（合成）the chemical reactions behind bioluminescence for a range of modern-day applications.
Using bioluminescence to help cure disease is a big focus of some biomedical research companies, given the promise of using heat-free organic light to detect metastasizing（转移的） cancer cells, stem cells, viruses or bacteria within living tissue. The military also has big hopes for applying the chemical reactions of bioluminescence to create light that won't cause the heat-seeking sensory equipment of the enemy whether on land，at sea or in the sky. Some other practical applications of bioluminescence include an effort to connect genes from bioluminescent organisms into trees that would light up when the sun sets.
While none of these “technologies” is yet ready to become mainstream, it's good to know that the future looks bright.
1. What exactly causes biolunninescence?| A．Heat energy. | B．Chemical reaction. | C．Salt water. | D．Living organism. |
| A．To ensure safety. | B．To seek comfort. |
| C．To provide convenience | D．To save money |
| A．The heat-seeking sensory equipment | B．A simple cure for all kinds of diseases. |
| C．An all-natural alternative to street lights. | D．An effective virus-killer within living tissues. |
| A．The good and bright future should be ours. |
| B．Bioluminescence is widely used in our life. |
| C．The technologies are good enough to apply. |
| D．The search is on for the use of organic light sources. |
6 . The spot of red was what first caught Randy Heiss's attention on December 16. He was biking on his ranch in Patagonia, Arizona, a town near the U. S. -Mexico border. Heiss walked toward it, and found on the grassland was a broken balloon with its string attached to a piece of paper.
“Dayami,” it read on one side, in a child's writing. It was a Christmas wish list, all in Spanish He suspected that a child had tried to send Santa Claus a Christmas wish list by balloon, something he used to do himself when he was a kid. And he wondered whether he could find the child who had sent this one.
It would be difficult, but based on the prevailing wind, Heiss was pretty sure where it came from—just across the border, the city of Nogales, Mexico.
Heiss then posted about his quest on Facebook, attaching photos, hoping his friends in Nogales might know the girl's family.
A few days passed with no leads. Heiss worried that time was running out before Chirstmas. On December 19. he sent a private Facebook message to Radio XENY. a radio station based in Nogales The next morning. Heiss awoke to a message from Radio XENY: They had located Dayami, an eight-year-old girl, and her family, who indeed lived in Nogales. “It just changed my entire day.” said Heiss. Having bought just about everything on Dayami's list and a few other toys, as they had learned that Dayami had a younger sister, Heiss and his wife. at the Radio XENY. met the family.
“Their eves were wide open with wonder.” Heiss said of the two sisters' reactions. “Like. ‘Oh my gosh, this really did work!’”
Not wanting to disappoint the girls who still believed in Santa Claus, Heiss and his wife told them they were “Santa's helpers”.
“It was a beautiful and healing experience for us...” Heiss said, “Since our only son died ten years ago, being around children at Christmas time has been absent in our lives.” Heiss said. “We now have friends for life. And, for a day, that border fence with its wire melted away.”
1. What did Heiss find when hiking on his ranch.| A．A Christmas wish list from a child | B．A mass of grassland. |
| C．A letter addressed to him. | D．A beautiful red balloon. |
| A．Examples. | B．Clues. | C．Suggestions. | D．Plans. |
| A．He wanted to make up for his lost son. |
| B．He wanted to make friends with Dayami. |
| C．He wanted to realize his childhood dream. |
| D．He didn't want to spoil Santa Claus for the girls. |
| A．Love knows no borders. | B．A bold attempt is half success. |
| C．God helps those who help themselves. | D．Nothing is impossible to a willing heart. |
7 . The first known dress, as well as the earliest known bar and restaurant in France, were identified this week. The discoveries, reported in the journal Antiquity, provide a glimpse of what early life was like in both ancient Egypt and southern France thousands of years ago.
The garment, which dates to around 3482 BC, is known as the Tarkhan Dress, and now looks like a shabby and dirty shirt. When new, however, the linen dress would have looked fashionable even today, as researchers determined it featured a natural pale gray stripe with pleated sleeves and bodice. Its edge is missing, so the original length of the dress is unknown.
"The survival of highly perishable textiles（纺织品）in the archaeological record is exceptional（例外的）, the survival of complete, or almost complete, articles of clothing like the Tarkhan Dress is even more remarkable," Alice Stevenson, head of the University College London（UCL）Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, said in a press release.
Now that the dress' age has been confirmed, it has been named Egypt's oldest garment and is the oldest known surviving woven garment in the world. To calculate its age. Michael Dee of the University of Oxford and colleagues measured a small Sample of the dress to determine how much radiocarbon remained in the linen. Linen is especially suitable for radiocarbon dating, according to the researchers, because it is made of flax fibers that grow over a relatively short time. The dress, currently on display at the UCI.
Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, features wear and tear that date back to its earliest days. The researchers believe that a young teenager or a very slim woman wore it.
A separate study in the same journal reports the discovery of a hotel in southern France. At first the researcher thought that they had found a bakery, since they determined that the site once featured three huge ovens. They later, however, found that another nearby room across from a courtyard, had furniture lining its walls.
1. Why is it difficult to determine the length of the garment?| A．Its bottom edge is gone. | B．It has broken into pieces. |
| C．Part of the bottom is missing | D．The edge of sleeves is missing. |
| A．Really in high quality. | B．Valuable and unusual. |
| C．Lasting for quite a long time | D．Being rotten or destroyed easily. |
| A．linen is especially suitable for radiocarbon dating |
| B．the dress proves to be the oldest woven one in the world |
| C．how radiocarbon in the linen is measured by the researchers |
| D．the researchers of University of Oxford knew the dress' age |
| A．TV series. | B．A book review. |
| C．A science report. | D．A fashion show. |
8 . The Children’s Library is currently offering pick-up service. Customers may tell us your requests for any books or movies over the telephone by calling(561)655-2776, on Mondays between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Customers can click here to browse our available titles. Limits on requests are 15 per family. Pick-up time is 10 a.m, to noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays of the same week when requests are made. Please note some items listed as available may become unavailable before your order is filled.
Once a request is made, library staff will call you to confirm your request, and reserve pick-up time for Tuesday or Thursday between 10 a.m. and noon. When arriving for pick-up, customers are asked to “drive-through” the Rovensky staff parking lot, attached to the building which houses the Children’s Library. On arrival, call our Children’s Library to let them know you are here and a staff member will place your bag. Please remain in your vehicle. Please place all returns in our book drop.
The Children’s Library offers a variety of programs throughout the year, including Preschool Story Time, Family Story Time and special events. Programs for children in kindergarten and higher grades are offered during the season, November through April, on selected weekdays. Children are invited to borrow books, use iPads, play games, build with blocks and enjoy special programs at no charge.
Children of all ages, newborn through 17, must always be accompanied by an adult while in the Children’s Library. Likewise, all adults must be accompanied by a child.
1. When can customers make a call to tell their requests?| A．1: 00 a.m., Monday. |
| B．10: 30 a.m., Monday. |
| C．10: 30 a.m., Tuesday. |
| D．11: 30 a.m., Thursday. |
| A．Pay a fee to use an iPad. |
| B．Offer programs for children. |
| C．Take fewer than 15 family members. |
| D．Drive to the staff-only parking lot. |
| A．A notice. | B．brochure. | C．A newspaper. | D．A webpage. |
9 . If you've ever pulled a rolling suitcase through the airport, chances are that you've also been annoyed by this common occurrence: the suitcase starts rocking back and forth on each wheel and finally tips over.
"It's a very classic phenomenon in physics," said Sylvain Courrech du Pont, a physicist at the University of Paris Diderot. "So if you disturb the system it goes very easily unstable. This is shared by many, many phenomena in nature."
Courrech du Pont and his students wanted to get to the bottom of why luggage tips. So they built what looks like the structure of a wheeled suitcase, and then filmed it rolling on a treadmill (a machine for running). Then they modeled what they saw mathematically.
And here's what they found. Under normal rolling conditions, the forward motion of the suitcase is perpendicular(垂直的） to the wheels' axis of rotation（旋转轴）. All is good. But when you hit a bump or drag the handle fiercely and abruptly, one wheel lifts up. All of a sudden the pulling motion is no longer perpendicular to the still-rolling wheel's rotation axis, and the wheel corrects that by accelerating towards the center. But by that time the other wheel's coming down, the same thing happens, and now the suitcase is really rocking.
"And the first reaction you will have maybe is to slow down. But actually if you slow down you'll experience very big rocking. Therefore, the way back to a smooth ride is to keep up your speed," he says, "or move even faster, once rocking begins.
There are other solutions to suitcase instability—like doing a better packing job. "If you put heavy contents close to the axis of symmetry, then it will be stable, too."
And Courrech du Pont has one more piece of advice to avoid rocking in the first place: "If you go slow enough, it will always be stable." Keep that in mind, next time you're running to your gate.
1. What can we infer from the first two paragraphs?| A．Everyone has been upset by a rolling suitcase at the airport. |
| B．Physical phenomenon can be found in our daily life. |
| C．The disturbance of the system results from the instability of the suitcase. |
| D．The phenomenon of suitcase rolling is rare at the airport. |
| A．It hits a bump |
| B．One wheel lifts up. |
| C．One wheel falls down. |
| D．It is not perpendicular to the axis. |
| A．tip it over |
| B．accelerate its moving. |
| C．slow down its moving |
| D．drag its handle with great strength. |
| A．one | B．two |
| C．three | D．four |
10 . Clara Daly was seated with her mother on an Alaska Airlines flight from Boston to Los Angeles when a flight attendant asked an urgent question over the loudspeaker: “Does anyone on board know American Sign Language?”
Clara, 15 at the time, pressed the call button. The flight attendant came by and explained the situation. “We have a passenger on the plane who’s blind and deaf,” she said. The passenger seemed to want something, but he was traveling alone and the flight attendants couldn’t understand what he needed.
Clara ,who was dyslexic, had started learning sign language over the past year to help her communicate without reading or writing She walked toward the front of the plane, and knelt by the aisle seat of Tim Cook, then 64. Gently taking his hand, she signed, “How are you? Are you OK?” Cook asked for some water.
When it arrived, Clara returned to her seat. She came by again a bit later because he wanted to know the time. On her third visit, she stopped and stayed for the rest of the flight..
“He didn’t need anything. He was lonely and wanted to talk,” Clara says.
So for the next hour, she talked about her family and her plans for the future. Cook told Clara how he had gradually become blind over time and shared stories of his days as a traveling salesman. Even though he couldn’t see her, she looked attentively at his face with such kindness.
Clara's generosity didn't go unnoticed. The passengers around him were all taken by Clara. A passenger named Lynette Scribner took a photo of one of the moments Clara was communicating with Cook and shared it on Facebook. The post has received more than 1100,000 likes, 500,000 shares .
1. What do we know about Clara Daly?| A．She had learned ASL for many years |
| B．She was good at reading and writing |
| C．She had shot to internet fame . |
| D．She was feeling lonely on board. |
| A．Some company | B．a watch . | C．a photo | D．Some water |
| A．She was generous and impatient. | B．She was optimistic and serious |
| C．She was traditional and helpless | D．She was considerate and selfless |
| A．No passengers noticed Clara’s kindness except Lynette Scribner. |
| B．The passengers around were all taken good care of by Clara. |
| C．Clara’s act of kindness was spread through internet. |
| D．Lynette Scribner took a photo of Clara and her mother. |
