1 . For most people, graduation is an exciting day the celebration of years of hard work. My graduation day... was not.
I remember that weekend two years ago. Family and friends had flown in from across the country to watch our class walk across that stage. But like everyone else in my graduating class, I had watched the economy turn from bad to worse. What I thought would take a week dragged into two. and then four, and 100 job applications later, I found myself in the exact same spot as 1 was before. And the due date to begin paying back my student loans was creeping ever closer.
You know that feeling when you wake up and you are just consumed with fear? Fear about something you can't control—that sense of approaching failure that remains over you as you hope that everything that happened to you thus far was just a bad dream? That feeling became a constant in my life. And the most frustrating part was no matter how much 1 tried, 1 just couldn't seem to make any progress.
So what did I do to maintain my sanity（理智）？ I wrote. Something about putting words on a page made everything seem a little clearer—a little brighter. Something about writing gave me hope. And if you want something badly enough... sometimes a little hope is all you need! So I channeled my frustration into a children's book. And then one day, without any sort of writing degree or contacts in the writing world — just a lol of hard work and perseverance—I was offered a publishing contract for my first book! After that, things slowly began to fall into place. 1 was offered a second book deal. Then, a few months later, I got an interview with The Walt Disney Company and was hired shortly after.
The moral of this story is... don't give up. Even if things look bleak now, don't give up. Things change If you work hard, give it time, and don't give up, things will always get better Oftentimes all we need is the courage to push beyond the river.
1. From Paragraph 2, we can learn that the author probably.| A．was having an exciting graduation |
| B．was getting into financial difficulties |
| C．missed the life in the university |
| D．had just applied for the student loans |
| A．By sending applications. | B．By offering contracts. |
| C．By keeping writing. | D．By publishing books. |
| A．unattractive | B．hopeless |
| C．thrilling | D．promising |
| A．Success belongs to the persevering. |
| B．A contented mind is a perpetual（长久的）feast. |
| C．A smooth sea never makes a skillful mariner. |
| D．Misfortunes tell us what fortune is. |
2 . Smoking in your own home in Thailand may now be considered a crime, if the smoke is considered harmful to other people in the house.
The new law, Family Protection and Development Promotion Act, was initiated (启动) by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security and was announced in the Royal Gazette on May 22, 2019. The law aims at limiting smoking at home which might be hazardous for others’ health living under the same roof. In that case, it will be considered as “domestic violence”. The new law came into force on August 20.
According to the center for research and knowledge management for tobacco control, at the Faculty of Medical Science of Mahidol University, there are about 4.9 million households where one or more family members smoke. An average of 10.3 million people have unconsciously become passive smokers because they’ve been breathing in smoke at home. Scientific studies show that passive smokers are at greater risk of being affected by cancer.
Of 75 child patients from houses where smoking is practiced, 76% of them were found to have nicotine traces in their urine (尿液), with 43% of them having nicotine content going beyond permitted levels. Smoking at home also may lead to physical or emotional violence because of aggressiveness (攻击性) when there is a lack of smoking, and might as well ruin relationships between smokers and non-smoker family members.
According to the new law, anyone who thinks they are affected by domestic smoking can report to officials concerned so that inspectors will be sent to investigate and take legal action against the smokers. Once confirmed, the court may order a person to receive treatment to quit smoking in an attempt to protect the person’s family. In February in 2019, Thailand had banned smoking at six of its airports along with a ban in public places.
1. What do we know about the new law in Thailand?| A．It came into effect on May 22. |
| B．It aimed at protecting the health of non-smokers. |
| C．It regarded smoking at home as a kind of domestic violence. |
| D．It clearly claimed that smoking at home is a crime. |
| A．Anxious. | B．Harmful. |
| C．Beneficial. | D．Essential. |
| A．The purpose of initiating the law. |
| B．Responses to the new law. |
| C．Actions to quit smoking. |
| D．Bad consequences of smoking at home. |
| A．Smoking is illegal anywhere in Thailand. |
| B．Passive smokers are not likely to suffer from cancer. |
| C．People tend to be more aggressive when they are smoking. |
| D．Thailand is making efforts to create a smoke-free environment. |
3 . Ant Forest, a green initiative by the world’s leading payment and lifestyle platform Alipay, received the “U.N. Champions of the Earth” award, the UN’s highest environmental honor. It was given to Ant Forest for motivating half a billion people to adopt an eco-friendly and greener lifestyle, greatly contributing to ecological protection with the help of digital technology.
Alipay achieved this by inspiring its users to do environmentally-friendly things, such as walking, using public transportation, going paperless in the office and more to earn “green energy points”. These points can then be used to water and grow their own virtual young trees. After the virtual young trees have grown up on line, Ant Forest will plant real trees somewhere in China.
The number of Ant Forest users has reached 350 million, reducing 3 million tons of carbon dioxide. “Such programs are quite attractive to me. I feel satisfied to see a real tree planted just by doing some simple things such as riding bicycles and buying tickets online,” said an interviewee.
This initiative of Ant Forest is in line with the Chinese government’s strategy of a “Green Economy”. The country is taking aggressive actions in expanding its green coverage. Now, its efforts are paying off, with improved biodiversity and a healthier economic growth. Rare animal species have been spotted and forest parks are now popular attractions of tourism.
The planet is at a critical point which could result in natural disasters. It seems clear that unless governments, businesses and people form a focused team, it’s difficult to stop global warming. Fortunately, Ant Forest shows that it is possible to make joint efforts while relying on digital technology. And more initiatives are using technology to contribute to a sustainable future of the planet.
1. What was Ant Forest given the award for?| A．It brings convenience to people’s lives. |
| B．It is run by the world’s leading payment platform. |
| C．It technically assists many people to protect ecology. |
| D．It has made the greatest contribution to global development. |
| A．How Alipay makes profits. |
| B．How Ant Forest is carried out. |
| C．What a low-carbon life is like. |
| D．Why Alipay takes up the initiative. |
| A．350 million people have planted real trees. |
| B．Promoting tourism can help save animals. |
| C．China keeps a balance between economy and ecology. |
| D．The expansion of green coverage mainly results from Ant Forest. |
| A．By criticizing natural disasters. |
| B．By stopping the global warming. |
| C．By providing a platform to make joint efforts. |
| D．By encouraging people to donate money to plant trees. |
4 . On the outside, 12-year-old Luna seems like your average kid. It's not until you get to know her that you learn that Luna is anything but average.
Born with a heart defect (缺陷)called dextrocardia, Luna has had three open-heart operations and continues to pursue her interests in art and fashion. But when Luna was approached by athletic shoe company Saucony to design a shoe for sale across the country, it came as quite a surprise.
“This is so incredible. I got to use my art and creativity for something new that I'd never thought I'd be able to design,“ Luna said. She is one of six patients from Boston Children's Hospital ( BCH) who have partnered with Saucony to design their own shoe to launch the Shoes with Soul campaign.
“Rather than just a donation, we wanted to create an experience and a moment that would not only raise money, but also awareness to highlight all the amazing work that's being done at BCH,“ says Chris, Saucony's vice president. “Specifically, we wanted to give some of the BCH kids an opportunity to share their story and their talents with the world. ”
Luna's design is fashion. u On the tongue ,they digitalized one of my drawings, and then on bottom it's a really bright pink color, and on the inside ,the sole of the shoe is actually another drawing I did of a sunset,“ she said. "Thinking about kids everywhere around the world wearing my shoe is amazing. It blows my mind.”
The income from the shoe sales will benefit the Boston Children's Hospital Cardiac Fitness Program, which encourages kids to “find your possible" through personalized exercise programs tailored for each individual patient's heart condition.
“It feels really good to help people and it's really something I can relate to,“ says Luna. “The advice I would give a kid or someone like me is never give up. There are a lot of kids out there with your condition and you're not alone.”
1. What can we learn from Chris' words?| A．It's unwise to raise money. |
| B．It's optional to seek donations. |
| C．It's wonderful to study art. |
| D．It's necessary to show kids' talents. |
| A．I'm overjoyed. | B．['m very serious. |
| C．My mind goes blank. | D．My mind is racing. |
| A．Gifted and determined. | B．Generous and serious. |
| C．Grateful and helpful. | D．Creative and sensitive. |
| A．Tell us a story of a disabled girl. |
| B．Set a good example to the disabled. |
| C．Launch Saucony's new brand shoes. |
| D．Introduce a campaign with kid patients. |
5 . Awe is generally defined as the sense that you are in the presence of something larger and more consequential than yourself. According to a study called “awe walks”, people who took a fresh look at the world around them during brief, weekly walks felt more upbeat and hopeful in general than walkers who did not. Feeling a sense of awe also seems to up our overall feelings of gladness and improve health.
Previous studies have linked increased physical activity to greater happiness and reduced risks for anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses. But no studies had looked into whether mixing awe and activity might increase the benefits of or, on the other hand, reduce them. So, for the new study, scientists concentrated on people in their 60s, 70s and 80s, an age when some people can face risks for declining mental health.
The scientists asked 52 study volunteers to add a weekly 15-minute walk to their normal schedules. All of them were physically healthy and psychologically well-adjusted, with little anxiety or depression. Then they were randomly divided into two groups. One, as a control group, was asked to start walking, preferably outside, but given few other requirements. The other group was not only asked to walk once a week, but also were instructed in how to cultivate awe as they walked. “Basically, we told them to try to go and walk somewhere new, since novelty helps to cultivate awe,” says Virginia Sturm, an associate professor who led the new study.
Both groups were asked to take a few selfies (自拍) during their walks and upload them to a lab website and also complete a daily online assessment of their current mood. After eight weeks, the scientists compared the groups’ responses and photos. Not surprisingly, the awe walkers felt happier, less upset and more socially connected than the control group members.
The findings are subjective, though, since awe, like other emotions, is difficult to quantify, but Dr. Sturm thinks awe walks could be a simple thing for small wonders without any downside.
1. What makes the new study different from the previous ones?| A．It concentrated on older people. |
| B．It found the solution to mental health. |
| C．It associated physical exercise with happiness. |
| D．It took both activity and awe into consideration. |
| A．The volunteers were suffering mental diseases. |
| B．Only the control group practiced weekly walks. |
| C．The study volunteers were divided by age. |
| D．Novelty can produce awe feelings. |
| A．The number of volunteers is small. |
| B．The awe emotion is hard to measure. |
| C．The daily assessments are difficult to complete. |
| D．The period of the experiment isn’t long enough. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Supportive. | C．Indifferent. | D．Critical. |
6 . Let’s face it.You’re likely reading this article in an effort to avoid some other tasks you’re procrastinating (拖延) to learn how to stop procrastination, but the clock is ticking. So why can’t you seem to get rid of that?
Though the psychological causes are still debated, there’s a human tendency to over or underestimate the value of a reward based on its temporal proximity (时间接近). This is often referred to as temporal discounting. For example, if I offered you$100 today or 110 in a month, most would take the hundred and run. But what if instead I offered you 100 dollars in a year or 110 in a year and one month, you might say to yourself if I can wait a year I can wait the extra month.
But the time and value difference are the exact same in each example. It turns out that human motivation is highly influenced by how near the reward is meaning the further away the reward is the more you discount its value. So being online is more appealing than preparing for your test. The problem is surfing the Internet provides many small quick and continuous rewards unlike your test scores which are a future one.
So how do you overcome the urge to put off so many tasks?
Unfortunately there is no definite answer, but try rewarding yourself with a timely snack or other enjoyable activities. The Pomodoro Technique makes use of a timer to work for 25 minutes straight and when you’ve done this give yourself the reward with a 5-minute break. Then start the working clock again, Gradually increasing the amount of work time you put in will improve your time management skills.
It’s been shown that creating a costly deadline is also an effective way to manage your working habits. And try to enjoy the process of achieving something instead of thinking only our minutes of suffering.
1. What does the underlined word “that” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．This article. | B．Procrastination. | C．An effort. | D．The clock. |
| A．interesting | B．accurate | C．understandable | D．influential |
| A．It helps them kill time faster. |
| B．It offers them more information. |
| C．It supplies instant rewards to them. |
| D．It strengthens the bond between friends. |
| A．Rewarding yourself with a future gift. |
| B．Increasing the amount of work time. |
| C．Ignoring the process of doing the task. |
| D．Paying dearly for your procrastination. |
7 . Next time you throw away rotten lettuce or smelly berries you should think about this. Globally, we waste more than a third of the food we produce. That is according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.
A group of Swedish graduate students is working to fight that fact. They are in the Food Innovation and Product Design program and have come up with a way to use produce that is about to go to waste. They turn the food into non-perishable (不易腐烂的) powder. It may help people who have limited access to food.
They are calling it FoPo Food Powder. It is exactly what it sounds like. It is dried, powdered, shelf-stable fruits and vegetables. The powder can be dropped into relief efforts after natural disasters. Or it can be given out in low-resource areas where fresh food and refrigeration are hard to come by.
Ngo, one of the students who developed it, says they are not making something ground breaking. Powdered food has been around since the early days of astronauts. But they are rethinking the waste and delivery channels. Their development team reached out to farmers and retailers to source fruit.
“Today a relief bag for humanitarian disasters contains various foods such as strawberry jam, peanut butter and peas in tomato sauce. We think that an easily transported pack of cheap dried food powder with high nutritional value would fit in perfectly,” Ngo says. The team has been trying to keep its prices down, too. That would aid low-budget humanitarian groups and non-governmental groups.
Freeze-dried food keeps most of the nutritional benefits of raw food. It loses some vitamins and minerals in the drying process. But it is still a good way to get fiber and nutrients.
The group are about to start working with the U.N.’s Initiative on Food Loss and Waste. They want to try and reach more people and countries that could benefit.
1. Why did the group of Swedish graduates develop the FoPo Food Powder?| A．To reduce food waste. |
| B．To cut the cost of food. |
| C．To replace the traditional food. |
| D．To improve the flavor of the food. |
| A．Additional. | B．Reasonable. |
| C．Creative. | D．Worthwhile. |
| A．It is very popular in some poor areas. |
| B．It is an effective way to lower food prices. |
| C．It keeps the nutritional benefits of raw food. |
| D．It provides aids for people in low-resource areas. |
| A．They are about to cooperate with the U.N. |
| B．They are about to write an Initiative for the U.N. |
| C．They will visit and help more people worldwide. |
| D．They will make great profits from their product. |
8 . A simple, yet powerful UK program has been fighting elderly loneliness by recruiting young adults as volunteers to read to seniors with vision problems and mental diseases.
Lily has benefited from the program having her vision “restored” by 15-year-old Amy, a school girl who was paired with Lily through the Reading Friends project. Lily was a librarian and enthusiastic reader who would read “two to three books every week”. After developing a terrible disease, however, Lily found herself unable to read or watch television for any length of time without her eyes hurting.
Not only have Lily’s regular reading sessions with Amy helped to reconnect her with her passion for literature, they have also built a strong intergenerational friendship between the two ladies. “I chose a book and she would come along and read it to me,” Lily said. “But we have only got through two books so far because we end up chatting too much. We have read two historical novels and get on very well.”
Research shows that reading together can help older people to build social networks and connect with others. Evidence also shows that reading has a positive impact on the elderly’s wellbeing and can reduce the risk of developing mental diseases.
Rose, a teacher, is responsible for connecting schoolchildren like Amy with the program and she says that it has had an amazing impact on the youngsters. “We have wonderful young people at our school and we wanted to get them into the community,” Rose said. “It has been fantastic to see them blossom as well as improving their literacy and social skills. They are meeting community members like Lily that they are making friendships with, and library staff can help them, not only with education but outside as well.”
1. What is the main responsibility of volunteers according to the passage?| A．Read books to seniors. | B．Have a chat with seniors. |
| C．Fight diseases for seniors. | D．Make friends with seniors. |
| A．They benefit Lily a lot by restoring her vision. |
| B．They help Amy pick up her love for literature. |
| C．They help Lily volunteer in the reading project. |
| D．They build up the friendship between two ladies. |
| A．By reducing elderly loneliness. |
| B．By curing the elders of vision problems. |
| C．By improving their literacy and social skills. |
| D．By enabling them to read books for a long time. |
| A．A diary. | B．A guidebook. |
| C．A magazine. | D．A novel. |
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1. What is unique for the journey to Canadian Rockies?| A．Mountain views. | B．A thrilling skytrain trip. |
| C．Nature hikes. | D．An expedition cruise. |
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10 . We didn’t expect to see her again so soon: After a tearless farewell with my daughter, we left her new dorm room but then in the campus we saw her jogging against the August heat. I quickly rolled down the car window and Sarina didn’t miss a step as she turned, nodded at us and waved goodbye. I was in disbelief why the tears hadn’t come when we parted on her first day in university.
Our first separation, the day she left my body, was a nightmare of pain and suffering. While all births are amazing, not all women feel amazed about the births. However, our togetherness in the days and months that followed was so sweet that I felt her small body still seemed to be attached to mine. In the years to come, the sound of her feet running across the wooden floors of our house was like the gentle pounding that reminded me my little girl was here and that someday she would run to the paths I couldn’t follow.
Last year Sarina turned 16 and decided to pursue art in college. She was in excitement about college life with so much to expect but I was uneasy because it would be a long plane ride away from home. I tried to imagine what separation would be like, but I couldn’t. Separation, although on the horizon, still felt distant.
That’s why it wasn’t until the next morning when I awoke in a house absent of her footsteps that the tears finally came—and wouldn’t stop. I understood that Sarina had left the house, and I held onto the memory of her running. When the tears stopped, I was relieved that her body knew what it needed on separation day, and that with our love and support, she had the courage to run into an unfamiliar distance, to glance back, yet to keep moving forward.
1. What happened to the author on her daughter’s first day in college?| A．She burst into tears and had a painful farewell. |
| B．She appeared calm and didn't cry at their departure. |
| C．She asked her daughter to show them around the campus. |
| D．She was cross that her daughter went jogging when they departed. |
| A．To expect her daughter’s bright future. |
| B．To remind herself other daughter's pounding steps. |
| C．To recall the suffering during her daughter’s growth. |
| D．To show the strong attachment between mother and daughter. |
| A．Excited. | B．Worried. |
| C．Relieved. | D．Frustrated. |
| A．A heartbroken separation | B．The story of a successful mom |
| C．How to deal with homesickness | D．Moving forward with love and support |
