1 . Regardless of how famous they are, and despite the star treatment they receive, many celebrities make it a point to give back to charities. Some have even set up their own private foundations. Their widely publicised visits to troubled areas of the world help to raise awareness of issues such as famine and poverty. According to Jane Cooper of Unicef UK, celebrities have a unique ability to reach huge numbers of people, many of whom might not otherwise be engaged in charitable causes. She pointed out that famous faces had played a significant role in raising funds in recent years, and their energies had produced tangible results, such as enabling millions of children in poorer countries to attend school.
But in spite of these successes there is evidence to suggest that celebrity endorsement (代言) may be overrated. In a survey of members of the public to find out if celebrity involvement would encourage people to donate, researchers found that the impact was not as great as previously thought. When shown a list of well-known organisations and famous people who represent them, over half of respondents were unable to match the celebrity with the cause. What’s more, three quarters claimed that they didn’t respond to celebrity endorsement in any way. The survey also showed that a few names did stand out as being associated with particular charities. But the presence of a celebrity in a campaign, was not a significant factor when it came to a decision to donate time or money. Instead, the majority of people contribute because of personal connections in their lives and families which make a charity important to them.
In another study aimed at young people, most participants cited a compelling (无法抗拒的) mission as their main motivation to give. The second most important incentive was if a friend or peer recommended supporting a particular cause. Only two percent of respondents said they were motivated by celebrity endorsement. This seems to contradict the general assumption that teenagers are particularly influenced by famous people. One possible explanation is that there is a general fatigue (疲倦) with celebrity culture. There is also a suspicion that the stars are the one who benefit most when they offer to do charity work. Some critics have accused that celebrities might actually take attention away from issues by attracting more attention than the causes they represent.
So taking all these issues into account, is it time for charities to rethink their campaign strategies and look for alternative ways to reach new audiences? Whichever point of view you favour, there seems to be opportunities for more research into how charity campaigns might develop relationships with celebrities to maximise their potential. This in turn will open up more engagement, and better targeted campaigns-which can only benefit those who really matter — the people and animals that are in need of assistance.
1. What does the underlined word “tangible” in paragraph I probably mean?| A．Definite. | B．Complicated. | C．Limited. | D．Temporary. |
| A．they gain benefit from the charities |
| B．they are forced to finish a necessary task |
| C．they believe in the famous people they like |
| D．they are inspired by the people around them |
| A．what celebrities achieve in doing charities |
| B．How young people react to celebrity culture |
| C．why young people are hardly influenced by celebrities |
| D．who is to blame for taking attention away from charities |
| A．Objective. | B．Positive. |
| C．Negative. | D．Unclear. |
2 . After beating bone cancer, Hayley Arceneaux thinks rocketing into orbit on SpaceX’s first private flight should be no problem at all. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital announced the 29-year-old doctor’s assistant will rocket into space later this year.
Arceneaux, a former patient at St. Jude, will become the youngest American in space, beating NASA record-holder Sally Ride by over two years. She will travel with businessman Jared Isaacman, who is using the spaceflight he bought to raise money for charity. Two other yet-to-be-chosen space flyers will join them. Arceneaux will be the first person to launch with a prosthesis an artificial device that replaces a missing or injured part of the body. When she was 10, Arceneaux had an operation at St. Jude to replace her knee and a piece of metal was put in her left leg. She still limps and has occasional leg pain.
“My battle with cancer really prepared me for space travel,” she recently told The Associated Press. “It made me tough, and then also I think it really taught me to expect the unexpected and go along for the ride.” Arceneaux wants to show her young patients and other cancer survivors that “the sky is not even the limit anymore.” “It’s going to mean so much to these kids to see a survivor in space.” she said.
Isaacman announced his space flight on February 1, promising to raise $200 million for St. Jude. As the flight’s self-appointed commander, he offered one of the four seats aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft to St. Jude. The hospital chose Arceneaux from among its many workers who had once been patients. The idea was that one of them could represent the new generation, noted Rick Shadyac, president of St. Jude’s financing organization.
Arceneaux was at home in Memphis, Tennessee, when she got a surprising call in January. She was asked if she would represent St. Jude in space. As a lifelong space fan who loves adventures, Arceneaux has traveled widely and loves roller coasters. Isaacman, who flies fighter airplanes for fun, considers her a perfect fit. The launch is planned for this fall at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, with the spacecraft orbiting Earth for two to four days.
1. Which statement is true about Hayley Arceneaux?| A．She works where she used to be a patient. |
| B．She is an adventure hater. |
| C．She is the youngest American in space. |
| D．She is the first woman space flyer. |
a. She received a surprising call. b. She was diagnosed with a serious disease.
c. She was chosen to rocket into space. d. She was operated on at St.Jude.
| A．a c d b | B．b c d a | C．b d a c | D．c a b d |
| A．To carry out medical research. |
| B．To explore space. |
| C．To expect the unexpected. |
| D．To collect money. |
| A．Generous and strong. |
| B．Caring and optimistic. |
| C．Brave and honest. |
| D．Patient and representative. |
3 . Tobias Weller is nothing short of extraordinary.
At 9-years-old, he’s dealt with things most of us won’t face in our lifetimes. Simple tasks, like standing on his own two feet, are impossible for him and he requires assistance for most activities we consider basic. But Just because he’s someone who needs help, that doesn’t mean he can’t give help.
At first Tobias decided to complete a sponsored one-kilometer walk. But for some reasons, the race was canceled, and Tobias’ plans were destroyed.
The moment young Weller learned about Captain Tom, a 100-year-old British vet who has now raised 41 million dollars for charities by walking in his walker, he decided if a century-year-old man could walk for miles, he could also make it happen.
Forget the one kilometer, Tobias was going to walk a marathon—26.2 miles—in order to raise money for his two favorite charities. He went up and down his street for months. First with 50 meters a day, but as he grew stronger, the distance expanded and eventually he built up to 750 meters a day. It took him 70 days to cross that finish line, but he did it.
His mother, Ruth Garbutt, presented him with a medal as he crossed the finish line.
She said: “I’m so, so proud of Tobias. I’m bursting with pride for all he’s achieved and how hard he’s worked during the marathon…He couldn’t push the walker at the start of the marathon and now he can, he can push it on the flat and he’s proved today he can push it uphill as well.”
Honestly, just wow. The amount of pain and extreme tiredness he must have suffered during his walks is unimaginable. But he never stopped, he just kept pushing, and in the end he raised over $111, 000 for his charities.
“I’m pleased to raise loads of money. Other children who aren’t as lucky as me can benefit from the money that’s been raised.” Tobias said.
1. Tobias decided to walk a marathon mainly to ________.| A．challenge himself |
| B．strengthen his body |
| C．contribute to charities |
| D．compete with Captain Tom |
| A．It was canceled finally. |
| B．It lasted more than two months. |
| C．Tobias finished it without a walker. |
| D．Tobias was awarded the first prize. |
| A．Ambitious and calm. | B．Strong-willed and kind. |
| C．Courageous and honest. | D．Determined and cooperative. |
4 . Urban planners may soon have a new way to measure traffic jams. By putting in the different routes by which vehicles can travel between locations, researchers have developed a new computer algorithm (运算法则) that helps quantify regions of jams in urban areas and suggests ways around them.
The study, published in the Journal of Physics: Complexity, used traffic speeds from taxis in New York City to demonstrate how road infrastructure (基础设施) and driver behavior can create complex road networks that differ among cities.
The team approached the issue by designing a computer algorithm to capture the topology-or relationship between the different routes between locations-of road networks. “We found that the most significant traffic bottlenecks in Manhattan seem to arise as a result of the city’s structural layout,” said study co-author Daniel Carmody. “For example, the fact that a bridge enters Manhattan at a range where traffic is already limited due to Central Park slows traffic in the area considerably.”
The researchers performed a comparative analysis using traffic patterns in Chengdu, China, to test if the algorithm works equally well in areas with different layouts. Manhattan has a long and thin structure, while Chengdu is round. There are significant differences in the way traffic moves between these two different setups, the researchers said.
“The bottlenecks in Chengdu seem to arise due to the function of the buildings in a particular area,” Carmody said. “For example, it is hard to travel in and out of the central business district in Chengdu because of the large amount of traffic alone. Beltways, or faster streets around busy areas, have emerged in circles around this area, which is not surprising because this feature was intentionally built into the city.”
In Manhattan, the bridges and underpasses that form the entry and exit points cause traffic slowdowns. However, in lower Manhattan, where drivers seem to obey the lower posted speed limits, traffic moves more smoothly, forming a new traffic beltway with the southern end of Central Park acting as a block between lower and central Manhattan.
“It surprised us that there is an emergent beltway in such a busy area of Manhattan,” Carmody said. “This indicates that, unlike in Chengdu, beltways seem to arise from driver behavior even when they aren’t part of the structural plan of a traffic network.”
“The researchers have imagined that this technology could give urban planners a means to quantify traffic patterns, leading to better traffic,” Carmody said. “As methods of transportation develop, new problems will emerge, and we hope that our tools will give planners new ways to measure what is going on with city traffic.”
1. According to the new study, what contributes to traffic jams in Manhattan?| A．The number of bottlenecks and beltways. |
| B．The location of bridges and underpasses. |
| C．Road facilities and driver behavior. |
| D．Road signs and urban population. |
| A．compare the layouts of the two cities |
| B．find better infrastructure for one city |
| C．design traffic patterns with the algorithm |
| D．assess the effectiveness of the algorithm |
| A．Because of lower posted speed limits. |
| B．Because drivers follow the traffic rules. |
| C．Because it is planned in the traffic network. |
| D．Because a beltway has emerged around the area. |
| A．City planners. |
| B．Slower drivers. |
| C．Infrastructure developers. |
| D．Road sign designers. |
5 . Sawyer Current’s first visit to Isla Mujeres, a small island off the coast of Cancun, Mexico, was meant to be a getaway. But instead of relaxing on white sand beaches, Current was disappointed at the number of unwanted animals wandering the streets. “Dogs were everywhere, coming out of the bushes and along the sides of the road,” she recalls of that trip 25 years ago. “They were dirty and covered with fleas and scars.” “It was sad,” she says. “I just couldn’t stand to watch it.”
Current decided to help fix it. She built a second home on Isla Mujeres in 2000, and beginning with a skinny, toothless cat she rescued from the streets, she went on to find homes for more than 2,000 dogs and cats. Today, thanks to Current’s efforts, the island no longer has a wild-dog problem, and “people are more aware of their pets’ needs,” says Marcelino Velazquez, 34, a property manager from Isla Mujeres. “They vaccinate them and don’t abandon them on the streets. The way of thinking has changed.”
For Current, it was a hard-fought transformation. “At first I was angry and thought it was horrible,” Current says of the conditions on the island when she began her work. “But these weren’t bad people. They were people without resources.” When she first arrived, the community had no small-animal vet, and animal control consisted of a team of government workers who’d round up street dogs in a truck and kill them. “I used to follow the truck, and when they’d go for lunch, I’d let the dogs out,” she says. “One time I let the air out of their tires.”
At one point she was caring for more than 65 rescued dogs in her home, and she estimates she has spent about $1 million of her own savings on her efforts. “It was exhausting,” she admits. Now Isla Animals has an on-site shelter with a small staff, and many volunteers and donors among the island’s tourists. Each year the group re-homes more than 170 pets, many of which fly with volunteers to families in the U.S. and Canada.
“There’s nothing in the world like finding a starving dog, nursing it back to good health and finding it a loving home,” Current says.
1. What made Current feel disappointed with the island?| A．Insects biting people. | B．People without resources. |
| C．Houses in poor conditions. | D．Animals abandoned in the streets. |
| A．To show the local people how to solve their problems. |
| B．To draw public attention to what she was doing. |
| C．To stop the workers from killing the animals. |
| D．To help the government punish bad people. |
| A．Loving. | B．Ambitious. | C．Intelligent. | D．Cautious. |
6 . Because the commercial internet has been developed with so little regard for privacy, tech companies have been able to turn personal data into considerable profits, raising billions of dollars off their ability to collect and sell information about anyone who has wandered within shouting distance of their software. This week, Google announced a step in the right direction-but not a huge step, nor one that will stop Google from continuing to collect immense amounts of personal data.
At issue is how online companies track internet users as they browse (浏览) from site to site online, typically through cookies (information that a website leaves in your computer so that the website will recognize you when you use it again). The most harmful version, “third-party” cookies, is the web alternative of a company posting security guards across the internet to monitor what you do, even when you’re on other companies’ sites.
Google declared in a blog post Wednesday that it would no longer use or support third-party cookies, nor would it create or use any other technology that tracks individual users across the web. Given that Google is a main supplier of online advertising technology, its change in approach will impact far and wide.
That’s welcome news, although with huge amounts of warning. As Lee Tien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation noted, third-party cookies were already on the retreat, with Apple and other makers of popular web browsers moving to block them. Meanwhile, Google, Facebook and other Big Tech companies continue to collect personal information in large quantities from people who use their sites and services through first-party cookies and similar techniques.
The concerns about personal data collection are the same whether it’s being collected through first-party or third-party techniques, said Michelle Richardson of the Center for Democracy and Technology. “Companies may use the information to discriminate among internet users, offering different goods, services and even prices to different users.”
Instead of helping advertisers track individuals, Google says, it is improving a technology that assigns users namelessly to large groups with common interests. That’s an improvement, even though it too may be at risk of abuse. But why do any form of tracking at all? Privacy advocates say pitches (兜售) can be targeted effectively by basing them on where the user is at the moment, not where he or she has browsed previously online.
Ultimately, lawmakers are going to have to lay down regulations giving people far more control over whether and how personal information is used online. Ideally the federal (联邦的) government will set a strong floor under online privacy protections, but until then it will be up to state lawmakers or voters to act, as this state has done with its groundbreaking online privacy laws. It’s good to see Google move the ball forward, but there’s much farther to go.
1. What does the underlined phrase “on the retreat” in Para 4 most probably mean?| A．Exposed. | B．Removed. | C．Emerging. | D．Fading. |
| A．is developing new technologies to stop data collection |
| B．refuses to work with companies tracking privacy |
| C．intends to abandon its advertising technologies |
| D．resolves to stop the use of third-party cookies |
| A．are still collecting personal information |
| B．are blocked by big companies like Apple |
| C．are mainly used by advertising companies |
| D．are less concerning than third-party cookies |
| A．It is less satisfactory than expected. |
| B．It needs to be more forceful to be effective. |
| C．It will accelerate the disappearance of cookies. |
| D．It has driven lawmakers to make new regulations. |
7 . Sevenhugs HugOne
Do you want to improve the quality of your sleep? Sevenhugs has created HugOne that tracks different sleep patterns to help families consistently rest better. There are dozens of devices and tools devoted to monitoring the sleep. But, HugOne is the world’s first family smart home sleep system, which integrates a calculation rule for sleep patterns of children and adults.
HugOne is a well-designed product, full of a sense of science and technology. It connects to a number of smaller sensors called “minihugs”, which are placed on the edge of each bed. They monitor the sleep patterns and other data coming from the person sleeping in that bed. The data are then sent to an app on the smartphone.
● The benefits of HugOne include:
* Having a smart alarm clock on the app as HugOne learns your sleep cycle and automatically sets and sounds to when the best moment in your sleep cycle is identified.
* Monitoring temperature and humidity in your bedroom as well as indoor air quality for the main living space.
* Linking with smart lamps and thermostats, allowing users to fall asleep with sunset light and preferred nighttime temperatures, and wake up to sunrise light and preferred daytime temperatures.
* Ensuring safety from electronic transmissions when you sleep-when the minihug senses a presence in bed, it shuts off its electronic transmissions and starts recording sleep data and sending them to the app.
● The following are selected from customers’ comments:
I prefer HugOne, since it’s convenient to use. I simply place the minihug in the corner of my bed under the sheet and it goes to work monitoring my sleep cycle. It’s really good.
—Robert Compton
● HugOne available for purchase includes:
I think HugOne is a humanized product. It’s shareable, and I’ve connected eight minihugs to the HugOne base in my house. All my family members think highly of it.
—Chris Hanawalt
HugOne will provide maximum protection for your sleep. If you want to get more detailed information, please call the sellers at 1-800-576-1899 or visit devicesforbettersleep.com.
Style: Sleep Tracking System ＋ 2 Sleep Sensors
Colour: Blue ＋ Rose
1. How does HugOne effectively work?| A．It controls sleep patterns automatically. | B．It creates smart systems for a better sleep. |
| C．It collects sleep data through the minihugs. | D．It makes a calculation of the data sensors need. |
| A．adjust temperature, humidity and air quality in bedrooms |
| B．update the sleep cycles by aid of an alarm clock on the app |
| C．record sleep data when there are electronic transmissions in bed |
| D．help users fall asleep and wake up naturally with preferred temperatures |
| A．providing statistics | B．drawing a comparison |
| C．giving a demonstration | D．using recommendations |
8 . A Bridge Linking Art and the Audience
According to a 2018 report, people aged between 16 and 24 make up about 15 percent of the population but only 10 percent of museum-goers. Similarly, people aged over 35 go half as much as you would expect from their population size. We have reached the point of recognising the disconnection between art and the audience but haven’t yet determined how to bridge the gap. Two answers to tackling this challenge lie in telling a greater diversity of art histories and communicating these stories in more accessible ways.
In 2018, a radio program called Art Matters was started with the aim of discussing art from a pop-culture viewpoint with topics that would engage younger and more diverse audience. It offers an accessible pathway to art history with conversations on different topics. Art history is about storytelling; art content shines when there is an effort to bring audience along for the discussion.
More traditional institutions are paying attention. Recently the Getty Museum issued a social-media challenge for people to recreate paintings using items they had at home. Users displayed incredible creativity, and the museum was flooded with submissions. This reaction proves that there is a potential desire for the audience to engage with art topics if the format is appealing. Since many people feel intimidated and think that there’s a base level of understanding required to join the conversation, the Getty initiative serves as a reminder that there are many pathways to engaging with it.
Another result of the Getty challenge was the exposure given to a diversity of artworks. The famous opera singer Peter Brathwaite, for example, made scores of attractive recreations highlighting centuries of black paintings. His efforts opposed the idea that there were not many historical paintings of black figures. It is extremely important that we do a better job of showing the complex and diverse stories that are represented in art.
Social media have offered a platform for people who have not traditionally had a seat at the table. Anyone can recognise a gap in the field and address it. Accounts have gathered tens of thousands of followers. They are the proof that there is hunger to hear these art histories, and these themes work brilliantly for museum programming.
But there is only so much that can be done without the museums and galleries changing meaningfully from within. We need to see a better balance of these stories represented in permanent collections. We also need a much wider diversity of people and interests represented on board. Ensuring that art-and writing and talking about art-is able to continue on the rising generation of storytellers, inside and outside of institutions, getting the funding and support they need to paint a brighter picture for the part.
1. What challenge is the author trying to tackle?| A．People doubt a great diversity of artworks. |
| B．Fewer and fewer young people go to museums. |
| C．Art appears too distant from common audience. |
| D．Adult audience has a different understanding of art. |
| A．Tired. | B．Worried. | C．Annoyed. | D．Surprised. |
| A．make the art history stories accessible in a traditional way. |
| B．change meaningfully for activities like the Getty challenge. |
| C．limit the number of storytellers both in and out of institutions. |
| D．improve the permanent collections by adding famous artworks. |
| A．lacks the channels to understand and talk about art history. |
| B．prefers to view artworks and hear art stories on social media. |
| C．feels satisfied with people and interests represented on board. |
| D．refuses to engage with diverse art topics and art history stories. |
9 . My Biggest Challenge
As a writer on an adventure sports magazine, I’d always fought shy of doing the adventurous stuff myself, preferring instead to observe the experts from a safe distance and relay their experiences to readers in the form of written language. Thus, when I was challenged to take part in a mountain climb in aid of raising money for charity — and to write about it afterwards — I was unwilling, to say the least.
I was lucky enough to have a brilliant climbing coach called Keith, who put me through my paces after my daily work. He gave me knowledge about everything from the importance of building muscle groups to how to avoid tiredness through nutrition. It quickly became apparent that the mechanics of climbing were more complex than I had imagined. There was the equipment and techniques I’d never even heard of, all of which would come in handy on the snow-capped peak I’d be climbing.
Aware of the challenge, Keith made a detailed action plan and I forced myself to stick to it, doing a daily workout at the gym and going on hikes with a heavy pack. I perfected my technique on the climbing wall and even went to climb the mountains to get vital experience. My self-belief increased alongside my muscle power and I became confident about finishing the climb.
All too soon I was on a plane to my destination. On that day, when I looked up at the mountain, I thought of abandoning it. But then I remembered all the hard work I’d done and how disappointed Keith would be if I gave up at the last minute-not to mention letting down the charity and the sense of failure I’d experience myself. With a deep breath I gathered my equipment and headed out into the sunshine to meet the rest of the group.
And as I sit here now, tapping away on my laptop, I’m amazed at the details in which I can recall every second of the climb: the burning muscles, the tiredness, the minor problems along the way. Could I have been better prepared? Possibly. Would I be back for another go? Thankfully not. The feeling of being excited when I stood on top of the world is a never-to-be-repeated experience but one I will enjoy forever nevertheless.
1. At the beginning of the activity, the author revealed his ______.| A．disappointment in the coming adventure. |
| B．expectation of writing about his experience. |
| C．lack of enthusiasm for the challenge he’d been offered. |
| D．curiosity about taking part in the mountain climb for charity. |
| A．The knowledge about climbing was really confusing. |
| B．The equipment was the key factor to reach the peak. |
| C．Climbing was much more complicated than expected. |
| D．Hard training was far more important than making plans. |
| A．He was relieved that he wouldn’t have to do it again. |
| B．He was well satisfied that he had done his best for it. |
| C．He was surprised that he had managed to complete it. |
| D．He was regretful that it wasn’t as smooth as imagined. |
10 . Aubrey is a FedEx driver who has made regular delivery stops in a rural neighborhood in Indiana. During her stops there, she would see an 11-year-old boy, Elijah, playing basketball with an old and rusty bent hoop.
"It was crazy to me how happy he was with the broken hoop. Every time I saw him, he was so joyful playing basketball. Seeing him so happy stuck with me," said Aubrey.
The FedEx driver thought about Elijah many times over the months, and decided that she wanted to bless him in a special way. "I just wouldn't stop thinking about it. I really wanted to get him a hoop. He deserves it."
Aubrey went out and bought a new basketball hoop and installed it when the family wasn't home. She left a note that read: "Just wanted you and your son to have the best hoop that'll grow with him and all his friends." She signed herself "just one of the FedEx drivers in the area".
"I read the note, and the moment I realized who it was from, I started to cry," said Coledo, Elijah's mom. "When Elijah came home and I showed it to him, he got really emotional. He got teary-eyed but he's an 11-year-old boy, so he really didn't want to admit he was crying," laughed Coledo. "He just sat there for 10 minutes staring at the hoop until it really touched him that she went out of her way to do something just for him."
Aubrey had no idea how much her surprise gift had impacted Elijah and his family. They all had gone through a difficult year with Coledo's husband suffering a serious injury, and Coledo crashing her car. "It's just been a hard year. We're so humbled and grateful she would do this for us. This has been a huge thing for us," said Coledo.
When Aubrey made another FedEx delivery to their neighborhood, Elijah saw her, ran to her and hugged her. Elijah also gave Aubrey a card he made for her. And he invited her to play a game of basketball with him and his younger brother.
"It was almost like we'd always known each other. I really bonded with the boys," said Aubrey. "I'm just really happy they know that someone is out there for them."
1. Aubrey bought Elijah a new basketball hoop because ________.| A．she wanted to make a friend using a surprise gift |
| B．she was eager to donate to children in the rural area |
| C．she was impressed by Elijah's passion for basketball |
| D．she thought Elijah was unhappy with the broken hoop |
| A．Touched. | B．Satisfied. | C．Relaxed. | D．Honored. |
| A．It helped Elijah achieve his dream. |
| B．It reduced the family's financial burden. |
| C．It gave the family warmth at a difficult time. |
| D．It encouraged Elijah to bond with the other boys. |
