1 . Training for Saving
First Aid at Work 3 days £279
Suitable for people aged 16+ who might need to provide first aid by responding to a wide range of accidents, injuries and illnesses that they could encounter in their workplace. Ideal for organizations whose needs assessment has identified a requirement for additional first aid training, especially, having employees with a disability or a medical condition.
Lunch break. Classroom setting. Certificate to issue.
AED with Life Support 2 days £107
Right choice for people, over 16, who want to learn how to use an automated external defibrillator （AED）. First aid for unresponsive adults in addition. Currently available at our London, Edinburgh and Reading venues; however, you can organize a training session for a group of up to 15 people at your workplace by requesting a group booking.
Certificate valid for three years.
First Aid for Teachers Training 1 day £50
Specially designed for those working in a school environment and wishing to have the first aid skills to act in an emergency. Ideal for teachers and other school staff over 16. First aid skills to help a child who is unresponsive and breathing or not breathing, choking, having an allergic reaction or a head injury.
Not qualify the learner to act as a first aider.
Fire Marshal Training 4 days £364
Take this if you are over 16 and responsible for fire safety or appointed fire marshals in the workplace. Come to understand how a fire starts and spreads; how to assess and manage these risks; and how to use firefighting equipment. You must be physically able to carry out the practical elements of the course.
Role play. Classroom environment. Certificate.
1. What can be learnt in the course AED with Life Support?| A．Steps to deal with massive injuries. |
| B．Process of preventing a terrible fire. |
| C．Operation of certain medical equipment. |
| D．Treatment for an adult's mental problems. |
| A．First Aid at Work. | B．AED with Life Support. |
| C．First Aid for Teachers Training. | D．Fire Marshal Training. |
| A．Providing certificates for trainees. |
| B．Having the same requirement for age. |
| C．Offering discount for group booking. |
| D．Taking more than one day to complete. |
2 . Last year, 138,000 San Francisco residents used Airbnb, a popular app designed to connect home renters and travelers. It’s a striking number for a city with a population of about 850,000, and it was enough for Airbnb to win a major victory in local elections, as San Francisco voters struck down a debatable rule that would have placed time restrictions and other regulations on short-term rental services.
The company fiercely opposed the measure, Proposition F, with a nearly $10 million advertising campaign. It also contacted its San Franciscan users with messages urging them to vote against Proposition F.
Most people think of Airbnb as a kind of couch-surfing app. The service works for one-night stays on road trips and longer stays in cities, and it often has more competitive pricing than hotels. It’s a textbook example of the “sharing economy”, but not everyone is a fan.
The app has had unintended consequences in San Francisco. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported last year, a significant amount of renting on Airbnb is not in line with the company’s image: middle-class families putting up a spare room to help make ends meet. Some users have taken advantage of the service, using it to turn their multiple properties into vacation rentals or even full-time rentals. Backers of Proposition F argued that this trend takes spaces off the conventional, better-regulated housing market and contributes to rising costs.
“The fact is, widespread abuse of short-term rentals is taking much needed housing off the market and harming our neighborhoods,” said ShareBetter SF, a group that supported Proposition F. Hotel unions have protested the company’s practices in San Francisco and other cities, saying that it creates an illegal hotel system.
San Francisco is in the middle of a long-term, deeply rooted housing crisis that has seen the cost of living explode. Actually, explode is a generous term. The average monthly rent for an apartment is around $4, 000. Located on a narrow outcropping of land overlooking the bay, San Francisco simply doesn’t have enough space to accommodate the massive inflow of young, high-salaried tech employees flocking to Silicon Valley.
As the Los Angeles Times reported, some San Francisco residents supported the measure simply because it seemed like a way to check a big corporation. Opponents of Proposition F countered that the housing crisis runs much deeper, and that passing the rule would have discouraged a popular service while doing little to solve the city’s existing problems.
1. The intention of Proposition F is to ________.| A．place time limits in local election. | B．set limits on short-term rental. |
| C．strike down a controversial rule. | D．urge users to vote against Airbnb. |
| A．It shrinks the living space of middle-class families. |
| B．Users are taken advantage of by the service financially. |
| C．It makes the house market more competitive. |
| D．It indirectly leads to high house rental price. |
| A．explosion of the living cost | B．its geographic characteristics |
| C．generosity of local enterprises | D．inflow of migrant population |
| A．objective | B．supportive |
| C．negative | D．indifferent |
3 . More than half the world’s population live in cities, and by 2050 the UN expects that proportion to reach 68%. This means more homes, roads and other infrastructure. In India alone, a city the size of Chicago will have to be developed every year to meet demand for housing. Such a construction increase is a bad sign for dealing with climate change, because making steel and concrete, two of the most common building materials, generates around 8% of the world’s CO2 emissions (排放). If cities are to expand and become greener at the same time, they will have to be made from something else.
Wood is one of the most promising sustainable (可持续的) alternatives to steel and concrete. It is not, however, everyday wood that is attracting the interest of architects.
Rather, it is a material called engineered timber. This is a combination of different layers, each designed to meet the requirements of specific parts such as floors, panels and beams (横梁). Designers can use it to provide levels of strength like steel, in a product that is up to 80% lighter. In addition, engineered timber is usually made into large sections in a factory for future use, which reduces the number of deliveries to a construction site.
According to Michael Ramage of the University of Cambridge, a wooden building produces 75% less CO2 than a steel and concrete one of the same size. However, if building with wood takes off, it does raise concern about there being enough trees to go round. But with sustainably managed forests that should not be a problem, says Dr Ramage. A family-sized apartment requires about 30 cubic metres of timber, and he estimates Europe’s sustainable forests alone grow that amount every seven seconds. Nor is fire a risk, for engineered timber does not burn easily. Besides, fireproofing layers can be added to the timber. All in all, then, it looks as if wood as a building material may get a new lease of life.
1. Why is India mentioned in paragraph 1?| A．To point out the severe pollution. |
| B．To predict the population increase. |
| C．To indicate the high degree of urbanization. |
| D．To show the great need for building materials. |
| A．It is produced at a low cost. |
| B．It hardly appeals to architects. |
| C．It helps save energy in transportation. |
| D．It possesses greater strength than steel. |
| A．Becomes cheaper. | B．Gains popularity. |
| C．Requires less work. | D．Proves sustainable. |
| A．Making Future Cities More Attractive |
| B．Living in a World with Less Emission |
| C．Building Sustainable Cities with Woods |
| D．Growing More Trees for Future Building |
4 . Humans are not the only ones who underwent self-domestication. So did our close relatives, the bonobos, and the species we call our best friend. A tiny proportion of the genome differentiates dogs from wolves, and yet millions of dogs are comfortably curled up in our homes, while wolves move around at the edge of extinction.
When our research group began its work almost 20 years ago, we discovered that dogs also have extraordinary intelligence: they can read our gestures better than any other species. Wolves, in contrast, are mysterious and unpredictable. Their home is the wilderness, and that wilderness is shrinking.
But not so long ago the evolutionary race between dogs and wolves was so close, it was unclear who would win. Dogs, in fact, did not descend from wolves. Instead, dogs and wolves shared a wolflike ancestor.
Folklore supposes that humans brought wolf puppies into camp and domesticated them. Or as wolf expert David Mech wrote in 1974, “Evidently early humans tamed wolves and domesticated them, eventually selectively breeding them and finally developing the domestic dog from them.” But this story has not held up. Taming an animal occurs during its lifetime. Domestication happens over generations and involves changes to the genome.
So how did wolves turn into dogs? Back in the Ice Age, as our human populations grew more sedentary, we probably created more rubbish, which we then dumped outside our camps. These leavings would have included tempting pieces of food for hungry wolves. Not every wolf would have been able to scavenge, however. These animals would have had to be unafraid of humans, and if they displayed any aggression toward us, they would have been killed. After generations of selection for friendliness without intentional selection by humans, this special population of wolves would have begun to take on a different appearance. Coat color, ears, tails: all probably started to change.
Animals that could respond to our gestures and voices would be extremely useful as hunting partners and guards. They would have been valuable as well for their warmth and companionship, and slowly we would have allowed them to move from outside our camps to our firesides. We did not domesticate dogs. The friendliest wolves domesticated themselves.
1. What can be summarized about wolves and dogs from the first three paragraphs?| A．Wolves are smarter than dogs. |
| B．They are very much racially divided. |
| C．They are close relatives but dogs seem to be on the winning side. |
| D．Dogs have made their ways to indoor life while wolves to the wild. |
| A．diverse | B．limited |
| C．living in the same place | D．involving regular migration |
| A．Dogs evolved from wolves. |
| B．Selective breeding developed domestic dogs. |
| C．Taming and domesticating an animal are the same thing. |
| D．Friendliness as a quality translates into an evolutionary strategy. |
| A．From Wolf to Dog | B．Dog: Our Favorite Pet |
| C．An Intentional Domestication | D．A Competition Story between Wolf and Dog |
5 . Educational programs often use fear-based messaging and films of crash scenes to reduce risky driving behavior among young people. But does this “scary” approach work? A new study suggests that fear-based messaging fails to reduce risky driving behavior, while fear-based Virtual Reality (VR) films showing a violent collision may actually lead young drivers to take more chances behind the wheel.
A team of psychologists in Belgium conducted a study of 146 students who had been legally driving for less than five years. The researchers examined the impact of both content (fear vs. positive) and delivery mode (2D vs. VR) of driver safety intervention programs.
By showing a serious consequence such as death, fear-based driver education films attempt to arouse a sense of fear and persuade young people to drive more carefully. Positively framed films take the opposite approach, using humor and modeling safe driving behaviors that result in positive consequences.
Three tests were used to analyze the risk-taking behavior of the young drivers before and after participating in the intervention program. One was a questionnaire. Another was a test on traffic, which asks participants to watch video clips of driving situations and choose whether they view a situation as too risky, for example, choosing whether to pass another car in icy conditions. A third test was used to measure the level of emotional arousal (such as feeling afraid) after watching a film.
The results showed that participants who viewed the fear-based VR film reported riskier driving behaviors afterward, while those who viewed a positively framed VR film exhibited the greatest reduction in risky driving behavior. This finding supports other research that has shown that exposing participants to an extreme collision tends to activate defensive mechanisms, such as paying attention for a shorter time, disengaging, rejecting a message, and an increase in risky behaviors.
“Fear appeals have been used in many health and environmental campaigns, such as smoking and anti-drug,” says Dr. Cutello of the research team. “Further experimental research is needed to determine whether the use of fear is effective.”
1. What is the new study about?| A．VR’s application on driving education. | B．Young drivers’ risky driving behaviors. |
| C．The deadly consequence of violent crashes. | D．The effect of drivers’ educational programs. |
| A．To assess driving emotions. | B．To judge driving behaviors. |
| C．To gain driving competence. | D．To keep safe driving in mind. |
| A．Drivers show fewer risky behaviors. | B．Drivers were less able to focus long. |
| C．Drivers were unwilling to cooperate. | D．Drivers became more open to advice. |
| A．More research should be conducted. | B．Fear-based education shouldn’t be used. |
| C．The result of his research is unconvincing. | D．The use of fear education has been cut down. |
6 . In the long history of humans, women’s stories have often been overlooked. Yet as modern society has allowed women to speak for themselves, more and more women are standing up to choose how to live their lives. Here are five powerful films that just might inspire you to re-imagine what it means to be a woman.
Hi, Mom (2021)
Directed by Chinese comedian Jia Ling, this heartwarming comedy, about a woman who accidentally meets her mother during time travel, became a hit with audiences this year, leading the mainland box office right after Chinese New Year.
Leap (2020)
This 2020 film about the Chinese national women’s volleyball team presents their history from 1981, when they won the Women’s World Cup, to the year 2016. Actress Gong Li stars as the legendary volleyball player Lang Ping, and Peter Chen from Hong Kong is the director.
Coco Avant Chanel (2009)
The life of Coco Chanel serves as a guide to all women wishing to establish their own careers. Audrey Tautou, famous for her iconic performance in Amelie, stars as the glorious French fashion designer. It is French director Anne Fontaine’s most famous film.
The Joy Luck Club (1993)
Based on the novel The Joy Luck Club, Chinese director Wang Ying tells the stories of four Chinese women and their daughters who were all born and lived in the US. Their conflicts also reflect the collision between traditional Chinese culture and American culture.
The Story of Qiu Ju (1992)
Directed by Zhang Yimou, the 1992 film describes a peasant woman Qiu Ju who lives in a rural area of China and fights for justice. It is a screen adaptation of writer Chen Yuanbin’s novel The Wan Family’s Lawsuit.
1. Why does the author select the above 5 movies?| A．To arouse attention to women. |
| B．To speak highly of great mothers. |
| C．To support women’s fight for equal rights. |
| D．To introduce the history of women movies. |
| A．It inspired a lot of women. |
| B．It is set in a foreign country. |
| C．Its actress became world-famous for her role. |
| D．Its director has a different culture background. |
| A．Hi, Mom | B．Leap |
| C．The Joy Luck Club | D．The Story of Qiu Ju |
7 . The German ship Polarstern is normally designed to break up heavy ice. But in September, 2019, the ship set sail from Norway with the goal of getting frozen into the Arctic ice cap for a year. The mission (任务) was part of a $155 million project known as MOSAiC, led by Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute ( AWI), whose goal is to learn more about the ice that forms near the North Pole. The ice cap here isn’t completely solid, and it’s a collection of floes — floating sheets of ice. As summer approaches, some of the ice melts and many floes break free.
By October, 2019, the ship was frozen into the Arctic ice north of Siberia. The mission wasn’t without its challenges. First and most importantly, the Polarstern had to find an ice floe that is used as its primary research base. The ice floe must be solid enough to anchor the ship and to support all the research equipment the scientists needed to use. However, doing it proved easier said than done. Once the ship was frozen in place, the scientists had to wrestle with the dangerous polar bears that were wandering around. Dealing with extreme cold was another challenge. They also had to face the long and dark polar night, a period during winter when the sun doesn’t rise at all in the central Arctic. In September, 2020, the boat finally returned to Bremerhaven, Germany.
"We are watching the Arctic sea ice die," said the mission’s leader, Markus Rex. The team reports that the ice shelf is full of holes, and that the ice that remains is thin and melting. Recent satellite measurements support that idea. The size of this year’s ice cap is the second smallest ever recorded.
Next comes the long process of studying all the data that was collected during the last year. Thomas Krumpen, one of the scientists, said "We’ll likely be busy with it over the next ten years."
The scientists hope this abundant information will help them make better predictions about climate change.
1. What does MOSAiC try to do in the Arctic?| A．Protect the ice cap. |
| B．Stop the ice melting. |
| C．Study the ice deeply. |
| D．Break up heavy ice. |
| A．Finding the right floe. |
| B．Fighting the extreme cold. |
| C．Avoiding polar bears. |
| D．Reducing the loneliness. |
| A．Carefree. | B．Positive. | C．Tolerant. | D．Objective. |
| A．Expensive. | B．Confidential. | C．Fruitful. | D．Casual. |
8 . Family-friendly walks
PADLEY GORGE
Next to Grindleford Station, eight miles north of Bakewell, lies Padley Gorge. Trails are kept as natural as possible---it's more a case of finding the gaps in the woods than following a path.
LONGSHAW ESTATE
The 1.7-mile walking route around this National Trust estate skirts the upper end of Padley Gorge. People love the stepping stones, but Longshaw is mostly all about the giant fallen trees, left in place for little hands and feet to delightfully climb over.
HIGGER TOR
A pile of giant rocks dominates Higger Tor, the best of several lookouts along the Ringinglow Road between Hathersage and Sheffield. Walk through the nearby fields, then let the kids climb over hundreds of strangely smooth grey stones. The views out over the Hope Valley are great and impressive, and the rock pools in Burbage Brook are perfect for rowing in.
STANAGE EDGE
Popular with rock climbers, this stone cliff marks the boundary of the mysterious land of the Dark Peak cliff and the grass-covered flat land of White Peak. It's a six mile circular walk from Hathersage. Alternatively, park at the Hollin Bank Car Park and climb half a mile to the top, out of breath.
CHATSWORTH ESTATE
A three-mile circle from Calton Lees Car Park takes in a ruined factory, the pretty village of Edensor and views of Chatsworth House. Appreciate the stretch along the River Derwent---deer often hang out there.
1. Whom is the text intended for?| A．Friends. | B．Farmers. |
| C．Families. | D．Climbers. |
| A．HIGGER TOR and STANAGE EDGE. |
| B．LONGSHAW ESTATE and HIGGER TOR. |
| C．PADLEY GORGE and LONGSHAW ESTATE. |
| D．STANAGE EDGE and CHATSWORTH ESTATE. |
| A．PADLEY GORGE. | B．LONGSHAW ESTATE. |
| C．STANAGE EDGE. | D．CHATSWORTH ESTATE. |
9 . One in five Brits won’t answer the door to anyone they’re not expecting, according to a new study. When asked how often they might respond to unexpected guests, 46 percent of people quizzed by Hillarys.co.uk said they would only answer if it was someone they want to see, while 20 percent said they would never answer the door to anyone they were not expecting.
When asked who they would be most likely to avoid answering the door to, salesmen understandably came out on top followed by neighbors. More interestingly, 25 percent are ignoring family members, 19 percent said they’d pretend not to hear their friends and 16 percent admitted they’d ignore their partners.
This reminds me of a family friend who used to lie on her living room floor when she saw her annoying neighbor coming up the drive. My neighbors are lovely, but there have been times I wished for a solid wooden door with a small hole. We have a glass panel (嵌板) that makes it difficult to retreat on the living room floor when an unwelcome visitor is standing outside.
Interestingly, two fifths of surveyed respondents also admitted ignoring trick or treaters — I’m surprised it’s not more. We fully accepted all things Halloween-related, taking our children out and loading up a bowl of candies for our young visitors, and a lot of people seemed to be “out” that night. I think that’s fair enough — Halloween definitely isn’t for everyone and I admit I’d gone off it myself by 9 pm when some crazed banging and letter box shaking started at my front door.
I’d forgotten to turn the pumpkin lights off, but that didn’t mean I was up for welcoming a group of noisy older kids after hours. But, being British, I waited until they’d moved on before quietly stepping out to turn out the lights.
1. Who are probably the most unwelcome knockers for British?| A．Neighbors. | B．Family members. |
| C．Business partners. | D．Door-to-door salesmen. |
| A．To make a replacement. | B．To escape to a place. |
| C．To see something clearly. | D．To treat someone politely. |
| A．She is socially inactive. |
| B．She doesn’t accept Halloween customs. |
| C．She wouldn’t answer the door to trick or treaters. |
| D．She thought more British would welcome trick or treaters. |
| A．To offer reasons for British indifference. |
| B．To warn us not to answer the door for strangers. |
| C．To introduce Brits’ reaction to unexpected visitors. |
| D．To tell us some ways to deal with unexpected visitors. |
10 . My sister and I spent our childhoods in a small north-British town, where nature’s riches made up for noise of a big city. We spent our time playing outdoor games - hide-and-seek was our favourite. Eating out was unheard of then; neither were expensive birthday parties. Special treats were reserved for Sundays, festivals and birthdays.
We were living a life where we cared and looked out for each other at the same time. Mom worked hard at her job from morning till evening. Even though we went through tough times, providing my sister and me with the best possible education remained a big priority for our mother, which meant most of her hard-earned money was spent paying our school fees. We were always careful and financially struggling, but somehow we always felt a sense of satisfaction in our lives.
Life for us moved at this easy, contented pace until, of course, our birthdays approached. When it drew near, there would be an air of expectation and tense excitement. Honestly, I did look forward to the gifts. I imagined sharing Mom’s handmade chocolates wrapped in shiny, colorful paper, with my classmates. Fifteen minutes before lunch, our teacher would allow us to distribute the candies. And out came the box from its hiding place under my books - and with a smile on my face and a happy heart, I would hand over two chocolates each to my friends. Then, I would rush out of the room just to admire the pleasure of hearing them open up the wrappers and taste the mouth-watering chocolates in pure delight. They would then ask me if there were a few more of these delicacies(美味) until I ran out of these treats entirely.
The years passed by, and my mother settled into a peaceful, retired life, while my sister and I married and had families and children of our own. Yet, the memory and delightful flavor of those gift-wrapped, handmade and unforgettable chocolates were still a hit among us sisters. This memory will stay with us forever.
1. What can we learn about their childhood?| A．They lived a simple but full life together. |
| B．The mother couldn’t afford her kids’ education. |
| C．They were guilty about their background. |
| D．They always got gifts from classmates on birthdays. |
| A．A good chance. | B．A top task. | C．A major fault. | D．A great joy. |
| A．Unattractive. | B．Tasteless. | C．Expensive. | D．Pleasant. |
| A．Delicate wrap and words. |
| B．Special colors and recipes. |
| C．Mother’s affection and devotion. |
| D．Pleasure from sharing with others. |
