1 . What if you could give your child a special gift? A gift that was never the same, always changing? Now what if this gift was free, readily available and lasted forever?
Where do you find such a gift? It's easy: Just open your eyes and look up at the sky with your child, and you'll discover "the theatre over your heads which presents all kinds of shows," or "the art gallery above." says Jack Borden, former Boston television reporter who founded "For Spacious Skies (FSS)", a non-profit educational organization with the purpose of "stimulating and sustaining public awareness of the appearance of the sky".
Borden's big vision is to bring about "new eyes" in young children in terms of how they see the sky. But the most effective teachers and influencers of children — their parents — need to become "sky aware" themselves in order to pass the gift along.
And there's the rub.
"Could you describe the sky right now, without looking out of your window? Are there clouds? If so, what do they look like? Nine chances out of 10, you don't have a clue about the sky's appearance," says Borden. "We know that people are not looking at the sky. If they perceive the sky at all, it's in the context of the weather or astronomy."
"Sky awareness means expanding your horizons so that you begin to see that the sky is the province, not just of the weather reporter, but of the photographer, the artist, the poet, the dreamer. of the physical scientist." says Borden.
And it's the province of parents and their children.
What parent doesn't want to foster observation ability, imagination, creativity, curiosity and environmental responsibility in their children? "There's a lot to this. There's more to it than I ever dreamed," says Borden.
1. What is the special gift for children actually about?| A．A new view of the sky. | B．A new relationship to nature. |
| C．A good relationship with parents. | D．More knowledge about the weather. |
| A．It is almost impossible. | B．It is still unpopular with them. |
| C．It is unimportant for them. | D．It is quite unthinkable. |
| A．The sky has a great effect on people's daily life. |
| B．Many other people also show interest in the weather. |
| C．Many other people also play a role in weather report. |
| D．The sky also produces various effects for many others. |
| A．Borden's dream. | B．Advice to parents. |
| C．Benefits of sky awareness. | D．Requirements for cloud watching. |
2 . There are around 100 tribes(部落)that live in global isolation, mostly in South America and India. The Sentinelese have lived on one of the Andaman Islands in Eastern India for 60, 000 years. They protect their island by fighting against people from outside. Their language is different from any other known language. Another Andaman tribe is the Jarawa. In the past, they were independent and fought against anybody trying to make contact with them. But in 1998, the Indian government built a road across their land, and since then, they’ve had more contact with the outside world.
Some Amazon tribes avoid contact because of unhappy memories. The Mashco-Piro left their vegetable gardens after rubber companies killed most of their tribe at the beginning of the 20th century. Those who survived became nomadic(游牧的)and started hunting animals in the forest.
The Awa live in the Amazon forests ofBrazil. Out of 350 members, 100 have no contact with the outside world. They left their villages and adopted a nomadic lifestyle around 1850 to escape attacks by Europeans. In the following years, farmers in nearby communities started cutting the trees to expand their farmland. The Awa lost most of their hunting land. The few Amazon tribes that still exist are fighting to keep their traditional way of life.
Survival, an organization that fights for the rights of tribal people, says that uncontacted tribes are the most vulnerable(弱势的)humans on the planet and that’s why their environment should be unavailable to the rest of us. After years of pressure, the organization got Brazil’s government to clear non-natives from the Awa land. All non-Awa people are leaving so the tribe can get their forest back.
But some think it's impossible for tribes to stay isolated forever in a connected world. Contact will be made one day. So the question is：Whose choice should it be, ours or theirs?
1. What can we learn about the Sentinelese from the first paragraph?| A．They resist contact from the outside world. |
| B．They speakthe same language as the Jarawa. |
| C．They are wild about fighting with other tribes. |
| D．They have got help from the Indian govemment. |
| A．To protect their hunting land. | B．To search for food sources. |
| C．To avoid threats from Europeans. | D．To maintain their original way of life. |
| A．The tribes should be left undisturbed. |
| B．The tribes should fight for more living space. |
| C．The cribes should live in harmony with nature. |
| D．The tribes should adapt to the connected world. |
| A．The Nomadic Tribes in the World | B．Seeking Survival of Tribes |
| C．The Unavailable Tribal Environment | D．Protecting the Tribal Forests |
3 . JeffBezos has a rule at Amazon, or perhaps more appropriate a philosophy. If a team cannot be fed by two pizzas then that team is too large. The reasoning is quite straightforward and basic. More people means more communication, more bureaucracy, more chaos, and more of pretty much everything that slows things down, hence why large organizations are oftentimes considered as being so inefficient.
In 2013 Gallup released a report called “The State of The American Workplace", in which they found that smaller companies had more engaged employees. In fact,42% of employees working at companies of 10 or fewer were engaged at work versus only 30% of employees at large companies.
Most people are not familiar with the Ringelmann Effect which is the tendency for individual members to become less productive as the size of a group increases. This concept was named after Maximilien Ringelmann, a French professor of agricultural engineering who passed away in 1931.In one of his experiments he asked volunteers to perform a very simple task, to pull on a rope. He found that when only one person is pulling on the rope they give 100% of their effort; however, as more people are added the individual effort goes down.
This experiment was recreated in the 1970's by Alan Ingham who came up with the concept of “social loafing” which helps us understand why the individual effort decreases as the team size increases. So why does this happen? Because it becomes harder to extract the individual contributions and performance of each person.
Organizations should really think about what their team structures look like and create and follow similar “two pizza rules”. It's no coincidence that smaller organizations are oftentimes more nimble while large organizations look like they are stuck in the mud.
1. What is the author's purpose of mentioning “two pizza rules” in paragraph 1?| A．To make a comment. |
| B．To introduce the topic. |
| C．To provide an example. |
| D．To analyze a phenomenon. |
| A．It repeated the Ringelmann Effect experiment. |
| B．It was based on a simple task of pulling a rope. |
| C．It aimed to explore the reason behind the phenomenon. |
| D．It revealed the link between team size and individual effort. |
| A．Balanced. |
| B．Complicated. |
| C．Simple. |
| D．Flexible. |
| A．What Makes a Team More Productive? |
| B．Why Are Smaller Teams Better Than Larger Ones? |
| C．How Can Two Pizzas Be Shared by One Team? |
| D．Which Is More Important: Individual Effort r Team Size? |
4 . 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 |
5 . Welcome to Fresh Start February! This week Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that I would transition to the private sector. Today, my last official day as the Director of the Mayor's Office of Community Affairs. After serving 6 years in the Executive Office of Mayor Muriel Bowser and 2 of those years as Director, of the Mayor's Office of Community Affairs, I am very excited and look forward to starting this next phase in my career.
I am humbled and grateful to Mayor Bowser for trusting in me to be a leader in her administration and to serve as the primary liaison between you-the members of the community, and 13 community affairs offices to foster relationships across all 8 Wards. What can I say, other than it has been an amazing journey and I am grateful!
This journey has been the very foundation of our work in partnership and collaboration between District of Columbia residents and the Executive Office of the Mayor. We have established partnerships with communities, conducted and coordinated several events, town halls, forums, and projects in support of carrying forward mayoral initiatives at the community level.
We have built stronger ties between the Mayor and community organizations civic groups, and Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) while attending to the intersectional needs of the community.
Also, thank you to the 90+ MOCA staff members that have helped me up to provide support to our office directors and District residents throughout the years. Interacting with you all and having the opportunity to work with such dedicared individuals is something I have and will never take for granted. I have often been inspired by the creativity and innovation that they bring to the respective offices. Our work has left a lasting impression on my life.
Again, thank you to our first female two-term Mayor, Muriel Bowser for her leadership and for allowing me to be a part of this great work! I want to thank you for your support throughout this journey, and I am excited about the great work that will continue to go forward. I leave with fond memories of my 8 years total in the John A. Wilson Building.
2 years in the office or Councilmember Anita Bonds and with memories that I will forever cherish. I also know that MOCA is well-positioned to go to the NEXT LEVEL! It has been one of my greatest privileges to serve with you. Until we meet again.
1. А_______________ is a person whose job is to make sure there is a good relationship between two groups or organizations.| A．mayor | B．resident | C．director | D．liaison |
| A．2 | B．6. | C．8. | D．10. |
| A．Muriel Bowser. | B．The private sector. |
| C．Local residents. | D．MOCA staff members. |
6 . Despite the common appearing of tablet computers and e-readers, we simply cannot break our addiction to paper. An estimated four billion trees are cut down every year to make paper or cardboard, an energy-consuming process with a vast environmental footprint. Now chemist Yadong Yin of the University of California, Riverside, and his colleagues have developed “rewritable” paper that could help control that impact.
Printed rewritable paper is made using Prussian blue nanoparticles (纳米粒子). The researchers coated conventional paper with nanoparticles of two chemicals: Prussian blue that gives blueprints their characteristic color, and titanium dioxide (二氧化钛), a substance used in sunscreens.
UV light makes the titanium dioxide nanoparticles donate electrons (电子) to their Prussian blue neighbors, shifting its color from midnight blue to milky white.
By shining that UV light through a transparent (透明的) screen marked with black text, the researchers “printed” blue text on a white background. The text lasts about five days and then naturally fades away: “Every morning I could just push a button, and a printer would give me a fresh newspaper to read over breakfast,” Yin says.
The paper can also be reset by heating and reused more than 80 times, a significant improvement over previous types of rewritable paper. “The key advantages are high reusability and stability, easy handling and low cost,” says Sean X. Zhang, a materials scientist at Jilin University in China, who was not involved in the study but has also worked on developing rewritable paper. By comparison, technologies such as electronic ink—used for Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite—involve moving charged black-and-white particles around, which requires electronics.
Since reporting their invention in Nano Letters early this year, the scientists have used a digital projector to replace their transparent screen. They are now working on increasing the number of times the paper can be reused. Zhang says a key difficulty will be persuading companies to develop the unconventional UV control needed for widespread use. Even though commercialization could be a few years away, Yin says, “We’ve had a lot of discussions with industry investors.”
1. What does the underlined “that impact” in the first paragraph refer to?| A．Human beings’ addiction to paper. |
| B．Common appearance of e-readers. |
| C．Green and sustainable environment. |
| D．A vast environmental footprint. |
| A．Working principles of the new invention. |
| B．Comparison between different papers. |
| C．Key benefits of the new invention. |
| D．The function of UV light. |
| A．expensive | B．unreliable | C．conventional | D．eco-friendly |
| A．Print, wipe, rewrite |
| B．The nanotech commercialized |
| C．The history of paper |
| D．Reduce, reuse, recycle |
7 . A new international study published in PLOS Biology suggests that the popularity of tigers, lions, polar bears and others may actually contribute to their downfall. The researchers used a combination of online investigations, school questionnaires, z00 websites and cartoon films to identify the 10 most beloved animals. The top three were tigers, lions and elephants.
“I was surprised to see that although these 10 animals are the most beloved, a major danger faced by nearly all of them is direct killing by humans, especially from hunting,” said William Ripple, a distinguished professor of forest ecology at Oregon State University and a co-author on the study.“This killing by humans seems sadly ironic （讽刺的）to me, as these are some of our most beloved wild animals.”
Many of these animals are so frequently described in pop culture and marketing materials that they may form an inaccurate “virtual population” that is doing better in the media than in nature, noted lead author Franck Courchamp of the University of Paris. The researchers found, for example, that the average French citizen will see more virtual lions through photos, cartoons, logos and brands in one month than wild lions left in West Africa.
“Unknowingly, companies using giraffes or polar bears for marketing purposes may be actively contributing to the false belief that these animals are not at risk of dying out, and therefore not in need of conservation,” Courchamp said. He suggested in the paper that companies using images of endangered animals for marketing purposes provide information to promote their conservation, and perhaps part of their profits for protection of the animals.
Nearly half of the toy animals sold in the United States on Amazon were one of the 10 beloved animals, while in France some 800,000 “Sophie the giraffe” baby toys were sold last year—more than eight times the number of giraffes living in Africa.
“The appearance of these beloved animals in stores, in movies, on television, and on a variety of products seems to be tricking the public into believing they are doing okay,” Ripple said. “If we don't work together to save these animals, that may soon be the only way anyone will see them.”
1. What is the text mainly about?| A．Animal images are used in marketing. | B．Wild animals are at a high risk of dying out. |
| C．Animals' popularity in life causes their decrease. | D．Efforts are made to protect animals in danger. |
| A．Use animals for marketing purposes. | B．Spare some earnings to protect animals. |
| C．Avoid providing information about animals. | D．Contribute themselves to marketing research. |
| A．To prove these baby toys are a hit in France. |
| B．To advertise for the baby toys among readers. |
| C．To show the distinction between virtual and real population. |
| D．To indicate giraffes rank higher than other animals in France. |
| A．Raising animals at home. | B．A close look at the animals. |
| C．Exposure to animals in the wild. | D．Animals' appearance in the media. |
8 . Skeptics are strange a lot. Some of them refuse to admit the serious threat of human activities to the environment and they are tired of people who disagree with them. Those people, say skeptics, spread nothing but bad news about the environment. The "eco-guilt" brought on by the discouraging news about our planet gives rise to the popularity of skeptics as people search for more comforting worldviews.
Perhaps that explains why a new book by Bjorn Lomborg received so much publicity. That book, The Skeptical Environmentalist, declares that it measures the "real state of the world" as fine. Of course, another explanation is the deep pockets of some big businesses with special interests. Indeed, Mr. Lomborg's views are similar to those of some industry-funded organizations, which start huge activities through the media to confuse the public about issues like global warming.
So it was strange to see Mr. Lomborg's book go largely unchallenged in the media though his beliefs were contrary to most scientific opinions. One national newspaper in Canada ran a number of articles and reviews full of words of praise, even with the conclusion that "After Lomborg, the environmental movement will begin to die down."
Such one-sided views should have immediately been challenged. But only a different review appeared in Nature, a respected science magazine with specific readership. The review remarked that Mr. Lomborg's "preference for unexamined materials is incredible".
A critical eye is valuable, and the media should present information in such a way that could allow people to make informed decisions. Unfortunately, that is often inaccessible as blocked by the desire to be shocking or to defend some special interest. People might become half-blind before a world partially exhibited by the media. That's a shame, because matters concerning the health of the planet are far too important to be treated lightly.
1. According to the passage, which of the following may be regarded as "skeptics"?| A．People who agree on the popularity of "eco-guilt". |
| B．People who dislike the harmful effect of human activities. |
| C．People who disbelieve the serious situation of our planet. |
| D．People who spread comforting news to protect our environment. |
| A．The book challenges views about the fine state of the world. |
| B．Some big businesses intend to protect their own interests. |
| C．The author convinces people to speak comforting worldviews. |
| D．Industry–funded media present confusing information. |
| A．find fault with Lomborg's book |
| B．voice a different opinion |
| C．challenge the authority of the media |
| D．point out the value of scientific views |
| A．To show the importance of presenting overall information by the media. |
| B．To warn the public of the danger of half–blindness with reviews. |
| C．To blame the media's lack of responsibility in information. |
| D．To encourage the skeptics to have a critical eye. |
9 . Research shows students learn better when they’re well nourished. Healthy eating has been linked to higher grades, better memory, faster information processing and improved health leading to better school attendance, according to registered dietitian Elisa Zied, author of Feed Your Family Right. On the contrary, unhealthy eating habits can negatively affect learning. Researchers have studied many areas related to eating and learning.
Skipping breakfast can have a negative impact on learning. A higher percentage of breakfast eaters passed a biology exam in one study of college students. It’s also important to eat a high-quality breakfast. In a study of students between the ages of twelve and thirteen, the average mark increased as breakfast quality improved.
Even with breakfast, the brain can run out of fuel before lunch. In one study of students between the ages of seven and nine, having a mid-morning snack improved memory. The children who ate a smaller breakfast and lunch but consumed a mid-morning snack experienced a smaller decline in immediate and delayed memory. Attention wasn’t affected, however. Zied recommends yogurt with blueberries; this fruit has been proven to be linked to better memory in studies. A hard-boiled egg is also a good snack choice.
Kids who eat healthily are more likely to attend school. Without proper nutrition and adequate calories, students often don’t have enough energy to power the brain, resulting in tiredness and learning problems. In fact, alertness(机敏) improved significantly in students eating breakfast in one study of high school students published in the journal Pediatrics.
A study of public school students published in the Journal of School Health linked high intake of sweetened drinks, such as sugary sodas, to lower scores in math tests. A diet high in junk food and sugary sodas is also linked to childhood obesity, which could result in lower cognitive(认知的) functioning, according to the Yale University research. On the other hand, students with healthy eating habits are less likely to be overweight and more likely to learn well.
1. What is an effective way for students to improve their memory?| A．Eating a big breakfast on a regular basis. |
| B．Staying away from junk food in daily life. |
| C．Eating something healthy at about 10:00 am |
| D．Adding yogurt with strawberries to their daily diet. |
| A．Students will have better attendance at school after eating healthily. |
| B．Students will have a good performance as long as they are well fed. |
| C．A high-quality breakfast will make a difference to students, learning. |
| D．Every student has a strong awareness of eating breakfast. |
| A．They would become less confident at school. |
| B．They would grow too overweight to work out. |
| C．They would become unwilling to attend school. |
| D．They would fall behind other students at school. |
| A．The impacts of eating habits on students’ learning |
| B．The advantages of healthy eating habits |
| C．Some suggestions on how to learn better |
| D．The link between diets and learning |
10 . Parking in the CBD of any Australian city is expensive, hard to come by and often an unavoidable headache. But Rylan Kindness, a 16-year-old entrepreneur (企业家) from Brisbane, thinks he might have the answer to this problem.
It was after Rylan realized his parents were spending hours to try and find parking deals in the city that he came up with the idea for a centralized system. This system shows users the best price for parking in the area they want and offers users a daily deal with a discount .
Rylan now doubles as a high school student and the CEO of Parking Deals Australia, a role he took on four months ago. Parking Deals Australia isn't even Rylan's first business. When he was barely 11, Rylan came up with an idea to sell wholesale scooter parts online, purely because he just wanted some extra money. On the side, he's succeeding in other passions as well. However, he admits it hasn't always been smooth sailing.
“I've learned so many crazy things through trial and error. Every day I fail somewhere but I always try to get better. My biggest failure was when I first set up everything and thought it was what everyone else would like but it's a shock when I see people not enjoying what I’m doing. It makes me want to cry a little bit but then I polish the product and keep going.”he said.
While Rylan didn't want to say exactly how much his now-bustling company is worth, he did admit he's making a tidy profit.“I earn more in one day than I was earning for three months working in a cafe but I'm investing it all back into the business.... what I've learned is that if you're starting a business just to make money, you're definitely going to fail. I'm there to help millions of people and that's what really gets me going,”he said.
Rylan's goal with Parking Deals Australia is to take it countrywide and save millions of people millions of dollars.
1. According to the article, the centralized system can .| A．analyze users' parking habits | B．recommend the cheapest parking spaces |
| C．show the nearest parking lot | D．show available parking spaces |
| A．He got the idea for the parking system from his parents directly. |
| B．He left school to run his own company four months ago. |
| C．He displayed a talent for business when he was about 11. |
| D．He started his business purely for profits. |
| A．To assist people while making a profit. |
| B．To earn some extra money and make bigger investments. |
| C．To get improvement by working through failures. |
| D．To expand his influence on a national scale. |
| A．Hardworking and humor. | B．Bright and curious. |
| C．Generous and cautious. | D．Ambitious and insistent. |
