1 . The world’s hottest rainforest is located not in the Amazon or anywhere else you might expect, but inside Biosphere (生物圈) 2, the experimental scientific research facility in the desert outside Tucson, Arizona. A recent study of tropical trees planted there in the early 1990s reported a surprising result: They have withstood temperatures higher than any likely to be experienced by tropical forests this century.
The study adds to a growing number of findings that are giving forest scientists something that’s been in short supply lately : hope. Plants may have unexpected resources that could help them survive — and perhaps even prosper — in a hotter, more carbon-rich future. And while tropical forests still face both human and natural threats, some researchers believe terrible reports of their approaching decline due to climate change may have been overstated.
“Biology is clever, ”says Scott Saleska, an ecologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson and co-leader of the Biosphere 2 study. “It’s a lot smarter than our models yet represent.”
The last few years have seen a flood of alarming reports about forests and climate change’s effects on them. Scientists have announced that the Amazon forest is no longer a reliable carbon sink; the Amazon rainforest may be nearing a tipping point; tropical forests globally are already close to the hottest temperatures they can tolerate and climate change is killing off old trees.
One thing is certainly true: Our fossil fuel emissions are creating a climate that humans have never seen and trees haven’t experienced in a very long time.“We’re pushing tropical forests into temperatures they’ve never seen since the Cretaceous — since there were dinosaurs,” says Abigail Swann, an ecologist and climate scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle.
1. Where is the hottest rainforest located according to the article?| A．In the Amazon tropical forest. | B．In a research facility in Arizona. |
| C．In the rainforest in Brazil. | D．At the University of Arizona. |
| A．Forest scientists still lack numbers of findings about rainforest. |
| B．Plants may not survive in hot and carbon rich future than expected. |
| C．Plants may survive in hotter and more carbon-rich environment. |
| D．People may overstate the climate change in the future. |
| A．We have never seen the climate change due to greenhouse. |
| B．The fossil fuel emissions may destroy the whole ecosystem. |
| C．The temperatures may reach as high as those in dinosaur period. |
| D．The fossil fuel emissions may create a climate plants can’t bear. |
| A．The world’s hottest rainforest in the wild |
| B．Plants may die of fossil fuel emissions due to mankind |
| C．The Amazon forest is declining quickly in the future |
| D．Plants may stand hotter temperature than expected |
2 . Tony Williams, 75 from Alton, East Hampshire, lost his wife Jo back in May, when, tragically, Jo, passed away from cancer just nine days after she was diagnosed.
And ever since, Tony has been completely alone, explaining the continuous loneliness is “like torture, with no family nearby”. Tony took finding a friend into his own hands, even putting two adverts in his local newspaper and handing out cards. Heartbreakingly, he received no responses.
But after a poster he placed in his window made headlines this week, the retired physicist has been overwhelmed with responses from people wanting to be his friend. In just a couple of days, he's had between 50 and 70 phone calls with strangers, and meanwhile he's received thousands of emails.
Tony said: “I just regret it's impossible for me to answer even a small part of calls and emails. If I could meet them all I would tell them how much I care for them and how much I'd like to reach out to them as they did to me. The love, kindness and compassion they've shown actually brought tears to my eyes.”
He has even had phone calls from as far as America and Canada!
Tony met his late wife Jo, who he describes as his “best friend and soul mate,” in a bar more than 35 years ago, and describes their marriage as a “perfect harmony”. The couple, who lived in Gloucestershire for 25 years, were unable to have any children, and so depended on each other heavily for company and support.
“For weeks and weeks, it looked as if I was pushing doors open and they were immediately slammed in my face. And then I was isolated and almost totally abandoned. And I thought, I've got to do something about that," he recalled.
Tony's determination has paid off, getting hundreds of people queuing up to be his friend. We're so pleased for you, Tony!
1. Why did Tony advertise in the local newspaper?| A．To inform people of his wife's death. | B．To draw attention to the old's loneliness. |
| C．To seek a second marriage. | D．To find someone as a friend. |
| A．He is working as a physicist. | B．He is now in a sweet trouble. |
| C．He has a complete family. | D．He lives in Gloucestershire. |
| A．Disappointed. | B．Sympathetic. | C．Moved. | D．Surprised, |
| A．Tony loves his wife very much | B．Tony's children live far from him |
| C．Tony has become world-famous | D．Tony used to have many friends |
3 . Stories are a powerful way to communicate. We all learn through stories. I’ve raised a three-step formula anyone can use to create powerful stories that will help you make your point. First, identify your truth. Second, think of the decisive experiences that have led you to this "truth". Third, shape those experiences into a story that you can tell at the drop of a hat. Here’s an example of how I have used this formula.
Years ago, I had an assignment to conduct a team-building session. The client was my friend. I arrived at his office 5: 00 p. m. the day before our session. He asked me if I had an agenda for tomorrow’s meeting. I told him that, first we'll do A, then B, followed by C. We’ll finish up with D. Still he asked if I had an agenda.
At first, I thought he hadn’t been listening to what I just said, so I repeated myself, "First we'll do A, then B, followed by C. We’ll finish up with D. "He said," Yes, I know. That's what you just said. Do you have an agenda?
At that point, it dawned on me that he was looking for a printed agenda. I said, "No, but we really don't need one. I’ve done many meetings like this. It will go fine.” He said, “I’m not comfortable winging it.” So we created an agenda using Powerpoint. The next day, the meeting went off smoothly. We followed the agenda I had in my head and he had on the PowerPoint slide. Everyone agreed it was one of the best meetings of this type they had ever attended.
It became clear to me that if I want to influence not just this client, but anyone, I need to adapt my communication style to theirs. From that day on, I modify my communication style to meet the needs of the other person.
1. What does Paragraph 1 mainly talk about?| A．How to form powerful stories | B．Stories come from experiences. |
| C．How to communicate with powerful stories. | D．Stories play an important part in communication. |
| A．By listing figures. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By making remarks. | D．By presenting research findings. |
| A．The author winged it. |
| B．The author's friend used Powerpoint. |
| C．The author and his friend created an agenda separately. |
| D．The author and his friend made an agenda using Powerpoint. |
| A．Adopt | B．Follow | C．Change | D．Create |
4 . Optional Tours in Langkawi
Line One
(Mangrove tours and eagle feeding)
Catch exciting movement and magnificent views of how eagles try to get their food skillfully at kilim river mangrove jungle safari visit limestone bats cave and have lunch on floating restaurant.
Price: adult rate RM 160.00/ person child rate (age 3—12yrs) RM 120.00/ person infant (below 3yrs) free
Time: 9:00 am—14:00 pm
Line Two
(Snorkeling and baby shark feeding)
Pulau Payar marine park with spectacular corals and colorful tropical marine life is one of the most beautiful and exotic marine parks in Malaysia.
Price: adult rate RM 220.00/ person child rate (age 3—12yrs) RM 150.00/ person infant (below 3yrs) free
Time 8:00 am—17:00 pm
Line Three
(Day cruise around Langkawi archipelago)
Experience swimming among fishes and view spectacular corals and exotic marine life.
Price: adult rate RM 450.00/ person child rate (age 3—12yrs) RM 350.00/ person infant (below 3yrs) free
Time 9:00 am—17:00 pm
Line Four
(Amazing sunset cocktail and dinner cruise)
Experience the amazing sunset scenery around the Andaman sea while having cocktail and dinner.
Price: adult rate RM 350.00/ person child rate (age 3—12yrs) RM 250.00/ person infant (below 3yrs) free
Time 16:00 pm—21 :00 pm
1. What is special about Line One?
| A．It provides food. | B．It is the cheapest. |
| C．It lasts the longest. | D．It allows tourists to feed animals. |
| A．RM 450. 00. | B．RM 800. 00. | C．RM 900.00. | D．RM 1250.00. |
| A．Line Four. | B．Line Three. | C．Line Two. | D．Line One. |
5 . Customer Service Diploma
Subject: Business, Marketing&. Sales
Location: United Kingdom
Delivery method: Online
Course type: Part-time, Short(less than 3 months), Full-time
Price: Now £45, was £299-85% discount
About the course
Our Customer Service Diploma is the perfect course for anyone looking to working in the Customer Service sector. It’s packed with information of 11 modules, teaching you everything you need to succeed in this profession. Your qualification will be recognized and can be checked for validity(有效)on our dedicated website.
Description
This course consists of eleven information of packed modules, including:
● Make a great first impression, learn how positive attitude, dress and body language affect your perception(感知).
● Learn how to care for your customer’s needs, from seeing customer service from their perspective to the importance of communication.
● The course will teach you how to deal with difficult customers, how to hold back anger, how to control your own emotions and how keeping calm can solve the problem that bit faster.
Benefits of the Customer Services Diploma
The benefits of a customer services diploma are endless, but here are some you can take notes of right way:
● Your motivation levels will increase as you see your clients become more comfortable with you and the service you provide.
● Learn essential problem-solving skills you can use daily.
● See your confidence soar as you get more comfortable with dealing with customers face to face, over the phone and online.
1. Who may be most interested in the course?| A．People with a diploma of teaching. |
| B．People interested in part-time work. |
| C．People interested in customer service. |
| D．People interested in training life skills. |
| A．Flexible course types. | B．A lower price of £299. |
| C．Packed information of customers. | D．Accommodation during the course. |
| A．Learning how to manage your marketing team. |
| B．Learning how to better communicate with customers. |
| C．Learning how to express your emotions freely and strongly. |
| D．Learning how to check your qualification on the dedicated website. |
6 . The Master Gardener Foundation
Aim
The Master Gardener Foundation provides free information to the public on environmentally safe gardening practices and water conservation. The information is research-based and encourages limited use of farm chemicals and fertilizers.
Donation Activities
The master gardeners here did much donation work. They donated over 35,000 volunteer hours, serving 40,000 adults and more than 5,200 children. They did this through about 35 plant clinics, 6 demonstration gardens, 4 youth gardens, as well as a classroom program and dozens of workshops. The Master Gardener Foundation provides roughly two-thirds of the financial support for all these valuable activities.
Washington State University currently provides the salary and benefits of the Master Gardener Program. The foundation funds office space and supplies, as well as a part-time program assistant.
The Master Gardener Program
Safe and green gardening and water use practices are vital to preserving our environment. The Master Gardener Program seeks to provide this kind of education and information to the citizens for free. It is a highly successful example of cooperation between a foundation and volunteers.
Waiting for Your Donations
The Master Gardener Foundation is a non-profit organization, and all donations are allowed by law and support the Master Gardener Program and activities.
Please consider a donation to the Master Gardener Foundation and help keep our environment green!
1. What does the underlined word “this” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
| A．Science research. | B．Adopting children. |
| C．Donation work. | D．Contributing money. |
| A．It’s very expensive. |
| B．It proves to be unsuccessful. |
| C．It provides education just in producing farm chemicals. |
| D．It’s a bridge between the foundation and volunteers. |
| A．To encourage donations. |
| B．To describe volunteer work. |
| C．To spread the agricultural knowledge. |
| D．To give some suggestions to gardeners. |
7 . In October, 2019, Beijing Daily warned the youth that they shouldn't let Internet slang （俚语） deepen the generation gap（代沟），after People Daily started a discussion on Chinese microblog Weibo on how to "explain" the youth's Internet slang terms to parents. The post got 40,000 likes. People were commenting that they couldn't keep up with the rapidly developing Internet lingo （术语）in China.
People also fear that Chinese Internet slang will negatively influence broader linguistic （语言的） trends of Mandarin Chinese, in particular, the gradual taking over of pinyin, the romanization of traditional Chinese characters using the Western alphabet. As pinyin gets widely used when people text or write on mobile phones or computers, while less and less people write characters by hand, people gradually forget how to write them, which is called "character amnesia" in China.
2019’s latest slang terms add a further simplification: the use of pinyin acronyms. "Awsl" in pinyin, for instance, means Ah, wo si le (Oh, I'm gonna die), and is used if something is too cute or adorable. "Nsdd" stands for ni shuo de dui (you're right).
Certainly, as an age-old written language, Chinese has been evolving and developing over the years. But the Chinese Internet lingo is unlikely to replace the existing use of Mandarin Chinese, but will rather be enriching it by adding another layer.
Acronyms aren't new. They have appeared with the limited space available in early-generation cell phone messaging. Some of them have become a part of the English language, such as BTW (by the way) and LOL (laugh out loud), while others had a rather short lifetime. That's likely to be what's going to happen with China's Internet slang terms. Some are going to be old in a few weeks, while others might make it into mainstream use, and as they do, young net users are coming up with new slang words to differentiate themselves.
In China, using Internet slang means belonging to a certain generation that likes to watch the same talk shows, play the same games, etc., and therefore, creates unity. Older generations don't have to feel left out, and certainly don't have to fear a degradation (没落)of the Chinese language. While language development is unavoidable, Internet slang is not going to let 6,000 years of Chinese written language completely change overnight.
1. The public are worried about Chinese Internet slang abuse because| A．It's used by children to keep secrets from parents. |
| B．It can cause confusion even among young people. |
| C．It was invented in response to the limited messaging space. |
| D．It will rarely have a positive effect on linguistic trends of Chinese. |
| A．They add variety to the language. |
| B．They are replacing its traditional vocabulary. |
| C．They make the language more global. |
| D．They only have temporary effects on Chinese. |
| A．a sense of purpose |
| B．a sense of group identity |
| C．a sense of cultural pride |
| D．a sense of safety |
| A．Is Media Helping Older Generation Understand Internet Slang? |
| B．Is Chinese Language Too Powerful to Be Largely Affected? |
| C．Is Mandarin Chinese Useful to Bridge the Generation Gap? |
| D．Is Internet Slang Deepening the Generation Gap, Ruining Chinese? |
8 . Empathy, namely the ability to understand another person's feelings, is probably one of the most important skills a person might have. Empathy is not just for building and maintaining strong and healthy relationships, but to work more effectively and achieve greater success in life.
Empathy is often acquired beyond verbal language. You can experience empathy by noticing a person's facial expressions and voice. You try to tell when he needs attention, acknowledgement, or an offer of help. You grasp when he wants you to leave and give him space or when he wants you to quietly stand by. Empathy demonstrates you care.
However, having an endless capacity for empathy is dangerous. With empathy, you will feel others’ stress, anxiety, and anger. If you let these emotions sit in your body, your mind can be emotionally controlled. Absorbing other people's feelings can make you easily affected by feelings of depression and hopelessness.
In fact, extreme empathy can break the bond of trust that you were hoping to strengthen. When you take on other people's emotions, you may feel responsible for easing their pain. You are driven by a strong desire to fix their problems and interrupt to offer aid. However, your intrusive reaction will make them feel disrespected and less understood.
Non-reactive empathy is especially useful when you feel the desire to jump in and fix people. To acquire non-reactive empathy, you should receive whatever might pass into your mind in a calm way. Notice when emotions begin to arise in your body. Name the emotion and offer what you sense to the person to help him or her better understand the experience. Then you can relax your body and let the emotion fade away.
1. Which is NOT mentioned as the advantage of empathy?| A．Keeping healthy relationships. |
| B．Working more effectively. |
| C．Making friends with people. |
| D．Improving your social status. |
| A．Persuading her to stop crying. |
| B．Accompanying her quietly. |
| C．Blaming her for her mistakes. |
| D．Telling her that everything is possible. |
| A．Absorbing others' feelings. |
| B．Interrupting to give help. |
| C．Being sensitive to bad emotions. |
| D．Letting emotions fade away. |
| A．To introduce a common problem. |
| B．To add some background information. |
| C．To provide some advice for readers. |
| D．To summarize the previous paragraphs. |
lh 34min | Drama, Music | 9 October 2020 (USA)
Storyline: A Filipina teen from a small Texas town fights to pursue her dreams as a country music performer while having to decide between staying with her family or leaving the only home she has known.
Ticket Price: children (ages 2-12) $8, adults (ages 13&up) $15
2 Hearts (2020)
lh 40min | Drama, Romance | 16 October 2020 (USA)
Storyline: For two couples the future unfolds in different decades and different places, but a hidden connection will bring them together in a way no one could have predicted. Based on an inspirational true story, 2 Hearts is a romantic journey that celebrates life, love and generosity of spirit, and challenges audiences to believe miracles are possible.
Ticket Price: children (ages 2-12) $8, adults (ages 13&up) $12
The War with Grandpa (2020)
lh 34min | Comedy, Drama, Family | 9 October 2020 (USA)
Storyline ： Peter is thrilled that Grandpa is coming to live with his family. That is, until Grandpa moves into Peter's room, forcing him upstairs into the creepy attic. And though he loves his grandpa, he wants his room back - so he has no choice but to declare war. With the help of his friends, Peter devises outrageous plans to make Grandpa surrender the room. But Grandpa is tougher than he looks. Rather than give in, Grandpa plans to get even.
Ticket Price: children (ages 2-12) $13, adults (ages 13&up) $18
Honest Thief (2020)
1h 39min | Action, Crime, Drama | 16 October 2020 (USA)
Storyline： They call him the In-and-Out-Bandit because he has stolen $9 million from small-town banks while managing to keep his identity a secret. But after he falls in love with the bubbly Annie (Kate Walsh), Tom decides to be honest, only to be cheated by two ruthless FBI agents.
Ticket Price: children (ages 2-12) $6, adults (ages 13&up) $14 More information, please click here.
1. Which might interest Lily who enjoys music?
| A．Yellow Rose. | B．2 hearts. | C．The War with Grandpa. | D．Honest Thief. |
| A．$50 | B．$62 | C．$40 | D．$46 |
| A．It falls in the category of “drama." | B．It is based on a true story. |
| C．It is a crime movie. | D．Its tickets are free of charge. |
10 . Since their beautiful baby daughter Ella came into their lives, James and Ola Jordan's home has undergone a transformation in the past nine months. The designer marble coffee table has lost pride of place to a playpen. "Everything is about Ella, and that is how we always wanted it to be," says adoring mum Ola. "Our home was quite stylish before she came along; now there are toys everywhere. I can't remember the life we had without her. Ella has taken over our home —and our hearts."
The former Strictly Come Dancing professionals, who married in 2002, had longed to be parents and considered themselves blessed when Ella was born during the outbreak of coronavirus after their years of medical treatment and attempts. James tells us: "People say how this time of year becomes special again when you see it through the eyes of a child. I get that. Already she loves the Christmas lights and the tree, although she isn't going to understand what it's all about.”
There is no doubt that Ella is the couple's most precious gift ---and the icing on Christmas cake for James will be the moment she says "Dada". "We all keep saying it to her, she is not having any of it," laughs 43-year-old James. "It's just 'Mama, Mama... '"says Jam: “Ola knew that I would always be a big part of bringing up our little girl. And likewise, I always knew Ola was going to be a great mum, and very hands on."
Having James around so much has been a bonus for Ola, four years younger than James. "It has just been us and our baby so I feel lucky that James has been here. But I have missed not being able to meet up with other new mums and swap advice." "Ella is yet to meet another baby, and we will arrange another room for the new family member," says James. “but at least she is lucky that she has a really funny dad. She is always laughing and is such a happy little girl."
1. Their home was _______before they were blessed with Ella.| A．conservative | B．fashionable |
| C．messy | D．comfortable |
| A．even colder | B．even better |
| C．more surprising | D．more believable |
| A．They are expecting a new baby. |
| B．Ella doesn't want any playmate. |
| C．James doesn't like Ella now. |
| D．He is simply making a joke. |
| A．spare the rod and spoil the child |
| B．a wife 's health is a man's wealth |
| C．parents are over the moon about a baby |
| D．all the glory comes from mothers |
