1 . On Hoxton Street in East London there is a very special children’s writing and mentoring(辅导) center called the Ministry of Stories, which is fronted by its shop , Hoxton Street Monster(怪兽) Supplies, where you can expect to find monster food. The store raises funds for this very special program that fires children’s imagination.
The youth aged 8 to 18 enter the Ministry, through a secret door that is designed to open a world of opportunity by encouraging a love for writing. The organization believes that, “Writing increases self-respect, improves communication and can change lives.” That’s because writing allows children’s voices to be heard.
This year, the workshop is celebrating 10 years of helping children discover a love for writing through creative programs. Founded by Lucy Macnab, Ben Payne and best-selling author Nick Hornby, the organization works with around 1,000 children per year participating in schools, and community programs across Hackney, Islington, and Tower Hamlets. It now has over 400 volunteers and runs its program free of charge for the youth of the areas.
“Through a range of creative writing programs, and one-to-one mentoring, we aim to help young people find their own qualities that can be developed,” Macnab told The Telegraph. “We build confidence, self-respect, and communication skills in both workshops for schools and out of school writing clubs.”
One 10-year participant, Nmeso, said that the weekly after-school club he attends at the Ministry has helped him grow his imagination and improve his academic performance. In fact, he was able to move up a grade in school. What’s even more remarkable is that Nmeso has had a story he wrote published ── along with other writers in the program ──titled Andre Has a Hard Time .This is Nmeso’s success story.
1. What is the function of Hoxton Street Monster Supplies?| A．Advertising the mentoring center. |
| B．Supporting the Ministry of Stories. |
| C．Attracting young children to come. |
| D．Arousing children's interest in food. |
| A．To prove the program is popular. |
| B．To suggest writing is vital for children. |
| C．To attract readers’ attention to the center. |
| D．To show the value of running the program. |
| A．To give the children a better future. |
| B．To help discover the children’s potential. |
| C．To help the children express opinions. |
| D．To develop the children’s writing skills. |
| A．He is ten years old this year. |
| B．He’s got his own book published. |
| C．He has benefitted a lot from the program. |
| D．He becomes very famous as a young writer. |
2 . Elon Musk has expressed his company – Neuralink is close to announcing the first brain-machine interface (接口) to connect humans and computers. Musk told followers in Twitter the technology would be “coming soon” – though he failed to provide details.
Neuralink was set up in 2016 with the ambitious goal of developing hardware to strengthen the human brain. However, little about how this will work has been made public. Neuralink describes the interface as an extremely high-speed connection between the human brain and computers.
Musk has frequently claimed the rapid rise of artificial intelligence poses an existential risk to humanity. Such an interface, he says, is essential if humans are to compete with such technology in the future. At a technology conference in 2016, Mr Musk said humans risked being treated like house pets by AI machines if a brain-computer interface was not built. Last year on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Musk said Neuralink’s technology would allow humans to “effectively combine with AI”.
A paper published in Nature Nanotechnology in 2015 described a concept for this connection, explaining how a flexible circuit (回路) could be injected into a living brain. “We’re trying to lessen the distinction between electronic circuits and neural circuits,” said Harvard researcher Charles Lieber, who co-authored the study. Despite the technology’s potential to increase the human brain, experts have warned that brain-computer interfaces risk being controlled by vicious (恶意的) artificial intelligence.
Such an action could lead to AI controlling the thoughts, decisions and emotions of a person using a brain-computer link. “Technological developments mean that we are on a path to a world in which it will be possible to discover people’s mental processes and directly operate the brain mechanisms underlying their intentions, emotions and decision,” stated a Nature comment piece written by 27 scientists and machine intelligence engineers. “The possible medical and social benefits in it are vast. But we must guide their development in a way that respects, protects and enables what is best in humanity.”
1. What message did Musk convey about his Neuralink?| A．It sells brain-machine interfaces. |
| B．It offers rich data about interfaces. |
| C．It has followers to connect humans and computers. |
| D．Its new technology will be accessible to the public soon . |
| A．Neuralink aims to know the human brain better. |
| B．How the hardware functions is already known. |
| C．The brain-machine interface was invented in 2016. |
| D．The interface is expected to link the human brain and computers rapidly. |
| A．Because they may treat human like house pets. |
| B．Because they may make AI serve human better. |
| C．Because they build neural circuits in human brains. |
| D．Because they rapidly develop artificial intelligence. |
| A．Objective | B．Favorable |
| C．Opposed | D．Indifferent |
3 . Recently I rolled into a local restaurant to try an Impossible Burger, an all-plant patty(人造肉饼) invented by Impossible Foods. It's well known for having an strangely chewy(有咀嚼感), even bloody, meat-like quality, a surprising verisimilitude(逼真) that has made it ''perhaps the country's most famous burger, '' as New York magazine wrote. One bite into its wonderful, smoky taste and, damn, I was convinced.
This is good news, because the time has come to consume fake meat. In the fight against climate change, meat replacement is something we can try. A University of Oxford study recently found that, to keep global warming below 2 degrees this century, we need to be eating 75 percent less beef and 90 percent less pork.
However, diets are culturally enshrined, so changing them will be hard. It isn't easy to replace 75 to 90 percent of beef and pork with fake meat. The first taste of an Impossible Burger—a moment when low expectations work a powerful magic in the product's favor—is one thing. But how do you keep meat-eaters asking for more after their sixth, and their 26th？
To get to true mass adoption, fake meat will need to compete favorably with the real thing on multiple fronts. Impossible Foods' goal is to drive the price of its product below that of Safeway's 80/20 hamburger meat, at which point people will simply vote with their wallets. The new industry also wants to improve on animal flesh in various ways. Fake meat has an advantage over traditional meat because ''you won't need to refrigerate it'' cofounder Niko Koffeman says. Plus, custom(定制的) production could improve choice. ''You could have very soft and tender meat for elderly people,'' Koffeman adds. ''You could have a tailored meat for whatever you need.''
You can tell the world is shifting this way, because the ranchers(牧场主) are nervous. Last year, the US Cattlemen's Association asked the government to define ''meat'' as a product ''coming directly from animals.'' That anxiety—and the power of the science driving it—goes to show that this grand shift isn't impossible.
1. According to passage, the author was convinced by the Impossible Burger because__.| A．it has a special taste that is different from normal ones. |
| B．it contains all non-meat materials that taste like meat. |
| C．more vegetables are used as main materials for the burger. |
| D．one bite of this burger can provide people with the energy needed for a whole day. |
| A．That people think their diet is the best in the world. |
| B．That people are unwilling to go against their culture by changing their diets. |
| C．That people's preference for food is linked to the food choice available to them. |
| D．That people's eating habits are consistently observed and closely connected with their culture. |
| A．Fake meat will not be necessarily stored in a refrigerator. |
| B．The price of fake meat will be just one-fourth of traditional meat's. |
| C．Fake meat will win over older people thanks to its tender and soft taste. |
| D．Fake meat will own a taste that is not found in traditional meat. |
| A．Meat must come from animals. |
| B．The world will probably embrace the idea of fake meat. |
| C．The ranchers are suffering economic loss due to fake meat. |
| D．The definition of meat has been changed because of fake meat. |
4 . You have probably read about robots replacing human labor as a new era of automation takes root in one industry after another. But a new report suggests humans are not the only ones who might lose their jobs.
In New Zealand, farmers are using drones(无人机) to herd and monitor cows and sheep, taking up a position that highly intelligent dogs have held for more than a century. The robots have not replaced the dogs entirely, Radio New Zealand reports, but they have appropriated(盗用) one of the animal's most powerful tools: barking. The DJI Mavic Enterprise, a $3,500 drone favored by farmers, has a feature that lets the machine record sounds and play them over a loudspeaker, giving the machine the ability to act as the dogs.
Corey Lambeth, a shepherd on a farm, told RNZ the machines are surprisingly effective. ''That's the one thing I've noticed when you're moving cows that the old cows stand up to the dogs, but with the drones, they've never done that,'' he said, noting the drones move cows faster, with less stress, than the dogs do.
The drones come in handy for more than just herding(放牧) cows and sheep. The robots allow farmers to monitor their land from afar, monitoring water and feed levels and checking on the animals' health without disturbing them. Jason Rentoul told RNZ that a two-hour herding job that used to require two people and two teams of dogs could be accomplished in 45 minutes using a single drone. ''Being a hilly farm where a lot of stuff is done on foot, the drones really saved a lot of man hours, '' he said.
For now, farmers say, there is still a need for herding dogs, primarily because they have a longer life span than drones, can work in bad weather and do not require an electrical socket every few hours to recharge.
1. What is the main advantage of the drones over herding dogs?| A．The drones can take up a job that the dogs hardly do well any longer. |
| B．The drones can frighten the old cows which are not afraid of the dogs. |
| C．The drones can finish a herding job more efficiently than the dogs. |
| D．The drones can work on a hilly farm and extreme weather while the dogs can't. |
| A．Herding dogs will gradually lose their position on the farmland. |
| B．The drones can only copy the dogs' barking with the current technology. |
| C．The drones are multi-functional and leave the animals undisturbed. |
| D．The market for the DJI Mavic Enterprise is pretty small because of its high price. |
| A．Because the drones can't bark as loudly as the dogs do. |
| B．Because cows are not used to seeing the drones. |
| C．Because the drones are much more expensive than the animal. |
| D．Because the drones' power is limited and they need charging from time to time. |
| A．supportive | B．objective |
| C．critical | D．doubtful |
5 . Attractive lakeside cottages and cabins
Lafitte’s Landing Guest Quarters, Uncertain, Texas
There are five cottages featuring high ceilings and spacious bedrooms. Lafitte’s is a certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat, so you don’t have to go far for bird-watching. Explore the lake on a steamboat, or head to Caddo Lake State Park for night adventures such as Owl Nights and Bat Watches.
Rates: Summer nightly rates range from $559 to $1,899
Lake Placid Lodge, Lake Placid, New York
With 17 cabins sitting along the shores of Lake Placid, the arts-and-crafts-style Lake Placid Lodge offers an exciting summer lake experience. Lakefront cabins come outfitted with hand-built beds and stone fireplaces. Go for a hike, or hit the lake for swimming, fishing, or boating.
Rates: Rates are $120 per night for double occupancy; each additional person is $20 per night.
Lake Crescent Lodge, Olympic National Park, Washington
Its cottages and cabins are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Choose between one-and two-bedroom Singer Tavern Cottages, or stay in the always favored (and often booked) Roosevelt Fireplace Cabins. Spend your days hiking in the surrounding Olympic National Park, or exploring Lake Crescent by boat.
Rates: Nightly rates for cottages and cabins range between $317 and $398.
Tamarack Lodge Resort, Mammoth Lakes, California
It is on the peaceful shores of the Twin Lakes. Choose between recently built Deluxe Cabins and old wood-and-stone cabins. Swimming, fishing, boating, biking, and hiking are popular pastimes.
Rates: Summer cabin rates range from $369 to $999 per night.
1. Where can you observe bats at night?| A．At Caddo Lake State Park | B．At Lake Placid |
| C．At Olympic National Park | D．At the Twin Lakes |
| A．$60 | B．$120 | C．$140 | D．$360 |
| A．Cottages at Lafitte’s Landing Guest Quarters | B．Cabins at Lake Placid Lodge |
| C．Deluxe Cabins | D．Roosevelt Fireplace Cabins |
6 . Growing up, I thought math class was something to be endured, not enjoyed. I disliked memorizing formulas(公式) and taking tests, all for the dull goal of getting a good grade. One of my teachers told my mother that I was “slow”. But my problem wasn't with math itself. In fact, when a topic seemed particularly interesting, I would go to the library and read more about it.
By high school, no one told me that I could become a professional mathematician. What I wanted to do then was to play college football. My ambition was to get an athletic scholarship to attend a Big Ten school.
The chances of that happening were very low. But that didn’t stop my coaches from encouraging me to believe I could reach my goal, and preparing and pushing me to work for it. They made video tapes of my performances and sent them to college coaches around the country. In the end, a Big Ten school, Penn State, did offer me a scholarship.
I wish math teachers were more like football coaches. Students are affected by more than just the quality of a lesson plan. They also respond to the passion of their teachers and the engagement of their peers, and they seek a sense of purpose. They benefit from specific instructions and constant feedback(反馈).
Until I got to college, I didn't really know what mathematics was. I still thought of it as laborious(耗时费力的) calculations. Then my professor handed me a book and suggested that I think about a particular problem. It wasn't easy, but it was fascinating. My professor kept giving me problems, and I kept pursuing them, even though I couldn’t always solve them immediately. The mathematical research I was doing had little in common with what I did in my high school classrooms. Instead, it was closer to the math and logic puzzles I did on my own as a boy. It gave me that same sense of wonder and curiosity, and it rewarded creativity. I am now a Ph. D candidate in mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
1. Why did the writer think math class in school was “something to be endured” before entering college?| A．Because he wasn’t interested in math. |
| B．Because his math teachers didn't care to push him. |
| C．Because he was too smart and talented for math class. |
| D．Because he was training hard for an athletic scholarship. |
| A．a sense of purpose | B．constant feedback |
| C．passion | D．specific instructions |
| A．was busy looking for math problems to solve |
| B．studied on his own just as he was in high school |
| C．met with laborious calculations in his studies |
| D．began to realize what mathematics really is |
| A．Interest is the best teacher |
| B．Be the best—you can make it |
| C．Math, taught like football |
| D．Once your teacher, always your teacher |
7 . About 450 million years ago, animals made one of the most important decisions in Earth's history: They left the wet sea and started living on the dry land. At that moment, humanity's problems with superbugs (超级细菌) probably began. Scientists at the Broad Institute have found evidence that an important group of antibiotic-resistant (耐药性) bacteria are as old as animals themselves.“These bugs likely lived in the very first creatures that were out of the sea and came onto land,” says Ashlee Earl, who co-led the study.
During that time, these superbugs seem to have picked up characteristics that .helped them live in hospitals and even the most common antibiotics, like penicillin. “These bugs became part of these creatures' stomach bacteria," Earl adds. The superbug we're talking is a little guy called Enterococci. And it's the godfather of superbugs. Today Enterococci bacteria have become. a: major source of hospital infections. They, sicken nearly 70, 000 and. kill more than 1,000 each year in U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
“Why, out of the thousand species of bacteria that live in our stomach, have Enterococci become a superbug?" Earl wondered. To figure it out, she sequenced(排序) the genomes of 24 species of Enterococci found in the stomach of all sorts of animals, from bees and pigeons to human and fish. When she looked at what those genes do, Earl quickly realized Enterococci’s secret weapon: “Basically, it's like the. bacteria put on a tough suit." Many of these special genes are involved in hardening the bacteria's cell wall.“They help make the bacteria able to withstand drying out and exposure to disinfectants(消毒剂)”
“Remember, these are bacteria that live in the stomach of animals, but. sometimes they are out in waste." When the waste happens in the ocean, the bacteria end up in an environment that's not too different than. an animal's stomach, wet and filled with nutrients. But when bacteria are out onto land, they find themselves in a much harder environment. They are exposed to U.V. light, starving and drying up. So, to survive, they needed to develop this tough suit.
1. What is the main idea of the first paragraph?| A．Hospitals are fighting against superbugs fiercely. |
| B．It is possible that superbugs can be defeated in the near future. |
| C．Superbugs can be traced back to ancient land animals. |
| D．Humans have lived with superbugs for a long time. |
| A．the harsh environment | B．the hard 'cell wall |
| C．the evolution of Enterococci | D．the abundant nutrients |
| A．They had a comfortable life then. | B．They tended to protect themselves from starving. |
| C．They developed a tough suit. | D．They depended on the sea animals. |
| A．To introduce the concept of superbugs. | B．To explain the changing living environment. |
| C．To compare the gut bacteria with Enterococci. | D．To inform the origination of-superbugs. |
8 . I used to think that the most effective way to resist depression (抑郁) was to have my heart set on happiness. If you valued happiness instead of sorrow as your goal, I thought, one would not suffer from depression.
However, a study, carried out among students living in the UK, found those who said they valued happiness extremely highly tended to show greater signs of depression.
Vogt and colleagues presented 151 students, the majority of them female, with a series of online questionnaires, These examined attitudes from how much they valued happiness to how much their emotions affected them, how easy they found it to put aside emotions, and their levels of depression-related symptoms.
The results, published in the Journal of Happiness Studies, reveal that those who valued happiness more had higher scores for symptoms of depression. The reason is in part because individuals become distracted by their feelings and a lower ability to reframe thoughts or experiences. It is also in part because. of bottling up emotions. “Suppression is not considered a successful emotional regulation strategy because when you try not to think of something you think of it all the time," said Vogt.
While Vogt said the study cannot prove that valuing happiness too much causes symptoms of depression, she said it was highly possible. She also noted that in Russia and east Asian countries the opposite trend had been found.
However, the study has limitations - including that it mainly involved women and did not account for the health or socioeconomic status or participants, although all were young and at university.
1. What did the study find?| A．If you value happiness, you won't get upset. |
| B．The goal of happiness leads to depression. |
| C．Negative :emotions affects one's happiness. |
| D．Female college students are easier to become depressed. |
| A．They are distracted by their feelings. | B．They fail to adjust their thought. |
| C．They welcome every kind of emotions. | D．They think about happiness all the time. |
| A．expression | B．hiding |
| C．value | D．happiness |
| A．objective | B．indifferent |
| C．supportive | D．critical |
9 . I come from a broken family, experiencing my parents' divorce and remarriages. After we grew up, my three siblings and I could go years without speaking. And that is where this story begins.
My sister Jeanne and I were born only 14 months apart, but by the time we were teenagers we had lost touch. By age 19, I couldn't wait to move away from our home in Wisconsin to live on a farm in Virginia, where I worked as a vet assistant. Jeanne got married at 18, moved to Chicago, and became - well, I didn't know what. We lived separate lives in separate states, and our connection somewhat ended.
When I was 24, I was on a trip to New York City for sightseeing one day, I was crossing a very busy street loaded with people. Everyone was in a hurry. I had laughed at something and I suddenly heard my name yelled from somewhere behind me: “Cheryl!" I froze in my steps in the middle of the road. Tears welled up instantly in my eyes. I knew without a doubt that it was my sister Jeanne. I yelled before even turning to look.“Jeanne?”
It was her.“Oh my God!" I screamed, and I began pushing people out of my way to get to her. The crowd started to pert. We must have seemed crazy. And there we were, standing in the middle of a Manhattan street, facing each other and smiling. I couldn't believe it.
I later asked how she'd known it was me - she never saw me! She said it was my laugh. I wouldn't say my laugh is all that unusual, but I guess to a family member it's infectious. It hits your heart and resonates in your mind.
Since that time, my sister and I have never been separated. We both moved back to Wisconsin. I see our sister-to-sister miracle as a lesson, a reminder not to lose touch with loved ones. It is too easy to remain lost.
1. Why Jeanne and Cheryl were separated?| A．Because they both grew up. |
| B．Because they wanted to escape from the family. |
| C．Because they were not willing to keep in touch. |
| D．Because they hated each other very much. |
| A．by her laugh. | B．by her talk. |
| C．by her look. | D．by her dress. |
| A．They saw it as a miracle. | B．They moved back to Wisconsin. |
| C．They remained lost easily. | D．They cherished their sisterhood. |
| A．A diary. . | B．A guidebook |
| C．A novel. | D．A magazine. |
10 . Airbnb rentals
Entire apartment hosted by Daniel
2 guests . Studio. 1 bed.1 bath.$ 135
Airbnb star rate 4.87 (230 reviews)
Entire home: You'll have the apartment to yourself.
Self-check-in: Check yourself in with the lockbox.
Sparkling clean: 13% recent guests said this place was sparkling clean.
Daniel is a superhost
Close to Wells beach and Route 1 shopping, restaurants, and etc. Private with its own full bathroom and full kitchen that's located in the room. High-speed Wi-Fi, and AC/heat. Comfy Queen size bed with bedding linens. I don't do long term rentals for the summer but please message me if you'd like to do a long-term rental from October to May.
Private room in apartment hosted by Sarah
1 guest. 1 bedroom.1 bed，1 shared bath . $213
Airbnb star rate 4.56 (98 reviews)
Sarah is a superhost
A cheerful, sunny room in a bright and well-lit street-side apartment. We love people-watching from the windows and the convenience to the subway. We are just a short subway ride from the downtown. Check-in before 9 p.m.
The space
Private room in a very clean apartment 2 blocks from the subway. Shared bathroom and kitchen. Wi-fi included through your own device.
Entire cabin hosted by Selena
2 guests . Cabin.1 bed.1 bath.$ 90
Airbnb star rate 4.91 (23 reviews)
Selena is a superhost
Our cabin is situated very close to the end of the road that runs north along the east side of the Sechelt Inlet. There is little besides wilderness, accessed only by plane or boat. As a result, it is very quiet up here with little to no traffic. We keep our canoe which is always avaible to our guests to use.
Information for transport
Driving is undoubtedly the best way to get around the coast as there is a lot to see and do, and not a lot of public transport options available. It might be possible for us to come pick guests up from the coast, Do let us know if that is the case.
1. How many guests have rated Daniel's apartment as sparkling clean probably?| A．52. | B．24. |
| C．17. | D．30. |
| A．Sarah's. | B．Selena's. |
| C．Daniel's. | D．None. |
| A．Daniel offers long term rentals in the summer. |
| B．Guests own a full bathroom in Sarah's apartment. |
| C．It is possible to call Selena for a pick up at her convenience. |
| D．You are not allowed to use the Selena's canoe. |
