1 . The ebike has become an essential item, and even the King has been spotted riding one. According to the market research company Mintel, sales have almost tripled over the past five years. While ebikes have become increasingly commonplace, they are still undeniably expensive. You can pick up a perfectly adequate push bike for £300, but most ebikes cost nearly £2, 000. Now, Cycling Electric, designed to help consumers choose an ebike, offers the following recommendations.
Best folding bike
Carbo Model X
Price: £2, 799 | Weight: 13. 3kg
Range: up to 34 miles
This is one of the most convenient bikes, from a little-known label. The lightweight Carbo X is the perfect example of convenience thanks to its carbon frame and belt drive, instead of a metal bike chain. This makes it lighter and less likely to get messy than an electric Brompton, with its more traditional, oily chain.
Most stylish
Temple Cycles Classic
Price: from £2, 995 | Weight: 19kg
Range: up to 74 miles
This Bristol-based brand is known for its elegant pushbikes, which are hand-built in the city. This is its electric version. It’s a very sleek and functional commuter option and not too heavy. Temples have fewer proprietary (品牌专卖的) parts and so are serviceable in any bike shop. Stylish as they may be, the VanMoofs and the Cowboys can be a bit more complex to get back-up and service.
The money-no-object option
Riese & Müller Nevo4 GT Vario GX
Price: £5, 380 | Weight: 28. 4kg
Range: up to 93 miles
This is a prime example of the attention to detail delivering a high-quality experience in functionality, comfort and practicality — if you can afford it. It has the capacity to handle 25kg of luggage in a pannier, powerful road lights and a beautifully smooth motor.
1. Which ebike will a consumer probably choose, who cares most about an excellent experience?| A．Carbo Model X. |
| B．The VanMoofs and the Cowboys. |
| C．Temple Cycles Classic. |
| D．Riese & Müller Nevo4 GT Vario GX. |
| A．An online post. | B．A magazine column. |
| C．A market research report. | D．An official document. |
2 . She applied strategies that web insiders are familiar with (keeping multiple browsers open, refreshing sites every 20 seconds, erasing cookies) and added a few of her special skills. “I drink a lot of coffee, and I’m a fast typer,” she says. Soon enough, Zwinggi had secured appointments for both of her parents. “I felt like a rock star,” she says.
Zwinggi decided that helping others would be her way of giving back. “I feel like I need to will us out of this pandemic,” she says. On February 10, she logged on to Facebook to let people know that she was assisting with bookings. By March 2, she’d secured appointments for 400 people, a feat (壮举) that made Nick conclude, “Marla is an angel.”
Which of the following best describes Zwinggi?| A．Caring and confident | B．Passionate and persevering |
| C．Thoughtful and talented | D．Supportive and skillful |
3 . “If you look at where hydrogen is going to be produced in Europe in the next million years, it’s in two countries, Spain and Portugal,” said Thierry Lepercq, the founder and president of HyDeal Ambition, an industry platform bringing together 30 companies. “Hydrogen is the new oil.”
Lepercq is working with companies like Spanish gas pipeline corporation Enagas and global steel giant ArcelorMittal to design an end-to-end model for hydrogen production, distribution and supply at a competitive price. Criticism has centered on green hydrogen’s higher cost compared with highly-polluting “gray hydrogen” drawn from natural gas. Lepercq argues that solar energy produced in Spain is priced low enough to compete.
Globally, Lepercq said, “Electricity is 20% of energy consumption. What about the 80% that is not electrified? ... You need to replace those fossil fuels. Not in 50 years’ time. You need to replace them now.”
What can be inferred about green hydrogen in Spain according to Lepercq?| A．It is highly priced. | B．It is easy to store. |
| C．It is competitive. | D．It is highly-polluting. |
4 . By day, Robert Titterton is a lawyer. In his spare on stage beside pianist Maria Raspopova — not as a musician but as her page turner. “I’m not a trained musician, but I’ve learnt to read music so I can help Maria in her performance.”
Mr Titterton is chairman of the Omega Ensemble but has been the group’s official page turner for the past four years. His job is to sit beside the pianist and turn the pages of the score so the musician doesn’t have to break the flow of sound by doing it themselves. He said he became just as nervous as those playing instruments on stage.
“A lot of skills are needed for the job. You have to make sure you don’t turn two pages at once and make sure you find the repeats in the music when you have to go back to the right spot.” Mr Titterton explained.
Which of the following best describes Titterton’s job on stage?| A．Boring. | B．Well-paid. |
| C．Demanding. | D．Dangerous. |
5 . Who can apply?
Anyone is qualified to enroll in the Summer Semester, but please note some courses are only available to current students who are enrolled in a UQ degree.
Past applicants have included:
●current UQ students
●students from other universities, including international students
●professionals
●adults from a range of backgrounds
●high-school students
Which word can best describe the past applicants of Summer Semester?| A．Skilled. | B．Young. | C．Diverse. | D．Competent. |
6 . As Mrs. Brown revealed in her award acceptance speech about her journey to creating Eden Village, helping homeless people is something personal, “I watched as my homeless friends walked off into the darkness to a hidden, wet and cold camp while we went home to a warm bed. I had to do something.”
Why is Mrs. Brown’s award acceptance speech mentioned in the paragraph?| A．To express her sympathy for her friends. |
| B．To highlight the influence of the village. |
| C．To show her sincere gratitude for the award. |
| D．To give her reason for setting up the village. |
7 . ......
“No one can read a pamphlet (小册子) about cars and suddenly expect to drive,” said Rollins. “Driving is a skill that requires education and practice. The same is true of responsive parenting. Public health professionals, clinicians, and researchers must collaborate to help families develop psychosocial assets, including responsive parenting and a structured home environment. This could improve childhood obesity rates and other important quality-of-life outcomes,” she continued.
Which of the following would Professor Rollins agree with?| A．Kids’ early exposures to family psychosocial assets are hard to measure. |
| B．Kids’ academic success largely depends on family psychosocial assets. |
| C．Responsive parenting is the most important family psychosocial asset. |
| D．Developing psychosocial assets is a joint effort of experts and families. |
8 . But, it doesn’t have to be all bad news. “One major motivation in studying the link between climate change and human-wildlife conflicts is finding solutions,” said Abrahms. “As we learn about specific incidents, we can identify patterns and tends-and come up with interventions(干预) to try to address these conflicts.”
Some interventions maybe as simple as public-awareness campaigns. Governments can also plan forties when extreme climate events will bring people and wild if e into closer contact. “Once you know the root causes of a conflict, you can design interventions to help both people and wildlife,” said Abrahms. “We can change.”
What does Abrahms think of interventions?| A．They are too simple. | B．They are out-of-date. |
| C．They are changeable. | D．They are beneficial. |
9 . It’s mid-afternoon. You’re full from lunch. The day is warm. You’re starting to feel sleepy. Should you give in to the comfort of a nap (打盹)? In point of advantage, it is worth it. Though there is some disagreement as to whether napping benefits everyone, research suggests naps can boost at least some people’s mental process of understanding in the short term.
Several studies find that a well-timed nap can provide a short-term boost in brainpower. For example, scientists reviewed past research that focused on healthy participants with regular sleep cycles. That review, published in 2009 in the Journal of Sleep Research, shows that napping improves factors ranging from reaction time to alertness (警觉) to memory performance.
“A brief nap can also inspire people with creativity,” a 2021 study in Science Advances found. In that research, participants were given math problems that could be solved with an easy short cut that they weren’t told about. Some participants were encouraged to take a brief nap before tackling the problems. The researchers found those who napped-and spent even just 30 seconds in the first, lightest phase of sleep — were 2.7 times more likely to figure out the short cut than those who stayed awake. But entering a deeper sleep phase had a negative effect on this creative insight. In other words, there may be a “sweet spot” of mental relaxation that clears the way for moments of inspiration.
“Timing your naps right can reduce sleep inertia (睡眠惯性),” says Natalie Dautovich, a psychologist at Virginia Commonwealth University. “A 20-minute nap is recharging and 60 to 90 minutes of sleep can be even more restorative. The nap to avoid is the one lasting more than 20 minutes and less than 60 minutes, which is most likely to lead to sleep inertia.”
“The short-term benefits of naps are well established, but pinning down the relationship between naps and any specific health outcomes, long-term effects of napping, is not always simple. For example, greater daytime sleepiness is symptomatic of many health conditions, and therefore napping may not necessarily be the cause of these conditions but rather a consequence,” says Victoria Garfield, a professor of University College London.
What will the author probably talk about next?| A．The reasons for unhealthy physical conditions. |
| B．The ways to set the appropriate time of napping. |
| C．The association between nap and health conditions. |
| D．The means to get into the habit of long-term napping. |
10 . Marian Bechtel sits at West Palm Beach’s Bar Louie counter by herself, quietly reading her e-book as she waits for her salad. What is she reading? None of your business! Lunch is Bechtel’s “me” time. And like more Americans, she’s not alone.
A new report found 46 percent of meals are eaten alone in America. More than half (53 percent) have breakfast alone and nearly half(46 percent) have lunch by themselves. Only at dinnertime are we eating together anymore, 74 percent, according to statistics from the report.
“I prefer to go out and be out. Alone, but together, you know?” Bechtel said, looking up from her book. Bechtel, who works in downtown West Palm Beach, has lunch with coworkers sometimes, but like many of us, too often works through lunch at her desk. A lunchtime escape allows her to keep a boss from tapping her on the shoulder. She returns to work feeling energized. “Today, I just wanted some time to myself,” she said.
Just two seats over, Andrew Mazoleny, a local videographer, is finishing his lunch at the bar. He likes that he can sit and check his phone in peace or chat up the barkeeper with whom he’s on a first-name basis if he wants to have a little interaction (交流). “I reflect on how my day’s gone and think about the rest of the week,” he said. “It’s a chance for self-reflection. You return to work recharged and with a plan.”
That freedom to choose is one reason more people like to eat alone. There was a time when people may have felt awkward about asking for a table for one, but those days are over. Now, we have our smartphones to keep us company at the table. “It doesn’t feel as alone as it may have before all the advances in technology,” said Laurie Demeritt, whose company provided the statistics for the report.
What do we know about Mazoleny?| A．He makes videos for the bar. |
| B．He’s fond of the food at the bar. |
| C．He interviews customers at the bar. |
| D．He’s familiar with the barkeeper. |
