1 . When the young donkey Daisy May came to us，she was pregnant. With no donkey experience. I was unprepared for what might come next.
After some difficulty，Daisy’s baby was born. I thought the poor thing was dead. I planned to put the loss behind us and make sure she never got pregnant again. Just then，I heard a little noise. I couldn’t believe that baby was breathing and looking at me!We called him Samson，and of course I became his mother as much as Daisy was.
When Samson was nine months old，I had to separate Daisy and Samson for a few hours a day to wean(使断奶)him，but otherwise he went wherever she did. I think she would be lost without him. His donkey stepdad Bernard taught him to always be ready to have fun. They enjoy playing football together and going for a roll on a hot summer day.
I asked a worker to make a harness(马具)for my three little donkeys. When I brought it home I taught them one by one how to pull a cart. Samson watched and freely followed Daisy. When he was three，I put the harnness on him and he knew exactly what to do.
That was 15 years ago. Now，the most exciting thing about Samson is that he has become a little renowned. People come from all over to see him perform. The neighbors bring their grandchildren，and my sons bring their friends.
Samson shakes hands，unties my shoe，picks up a hat and more. And when I ask him if he has any bad habits，he tries to pick my pocket!He surprisingly learned these tricks himself. I just ask him to do them and he understands.
The relationship I have with my“baby”Samson has been an amazing experience. Every day is a fun day with this superstar donkey.
1. Why was the author at a loss for what might happen next at first?| A．She wasn’t ready to be a mother. |
| B．She never raised a donkey before. |
| C．The donkey was pregnant by accident. |
| D．The donkey gave birth to a dead baby. |
| A．He was surrounded by love. |
| B．He was separated from his family. |
| C．He was unwelcome to the neighbors. |
| D．He was skilled in entertaining people. |
| A．Friendly and courageous. | B．Intelligent and lively. |
| C．Carefree and creative. | D．Patient and fortunate. |
| A．Strange. | B．Proud. |
| C．Humorous. | D．Famous. |
2 . Since it first opened after four years of construction in 1937 at a cost of $27 million，the Golden Gate Bridge has made its appearance in films and poetry.
CNN Travel spent a day climbing into and ground the bridge，learning these secrets from the people who know and love it best.
Why is it called the Golden Gate Bridge?It’s not golden.
“The Golden Gate Bridge gets its name because it spans what is called the Golden Gate Strait，”said Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz，spokesman for the Golden Gate Bridge，Highway and Transportation District，which operates the bridge. It’s a three-mile-long and one-mile-wide body of water that connects the Pacific Ocean to the San Francisco Bay.
What color is the bridge?It looks red.
“It’s not red，although you’re not crazy to think so. Visitors all call it red，”said Russell. “Back in the day，the US Navy，then part of the War Department，oversaw the waterways and wanted to paint this bridge black and yellow for high visibility，”said fellow painter Jarrod Bauer. “They ended up mixing paint to create the color International Orange，which is similar to the color of red lead，”he said.
Does the bridge get entirely painted every year?
No，and it doesn’t need to be. It’s true that the top coat has been fully repainted over time with new and environmentally-improved International Orange top coats.
Who performs bridge rescues?
McVeigh and his fellow ironworkers，the so—called“Cowboys of the Sky”，have that responsibility. McVeigh has lost count of how many troubled souls he’s been called to rescue over the past 17 years.
In September in 2018，the bridge started constructing a suicide(自杀)prevention system，also known as the safety net，to keep people from jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s expected to be completed in 2021.
1. What’s the true color of the Golden Gate Bridge?| A．Red. | B．Red lead. |
| C．Black and yellow. | D．International Orange. |
| A．McVeigh. | B．Jarrod Bauer. |
| C．Russell. | D．Paolo. |
| A．It is safer now because of the safety net. |
| B．It got its name because of its color. |
| C．It took much time and money to be built. |
| D．It needs to be repainted once a year. |
3 . Everyone knows that walking is one of the best means of exercise for health, so physicians often recommend 150 minutes a week. But that’s a measure of volume (量). What about the walking speed? Does that make a difference? A recent paper indicates the answer may be yes.
Previous research had only focused on total amounts of exercise in minutes or steps. A team of experts in Sydney looked at whether people who walked similar distances but at different speeds gained more or less health benefits
The researchers studied 11 English and Scottish population-wide reports that included more than 50,000 regular walkers with an average age of late 40s. The walkers were grouped according to four walking speeds: slow, average, brisk(轻快的) and fast. Lastly, the researchers figured out the death( from heart disease and cancer) rate during an average follow-up period of 9.2years.
New researchers showed marathoners had less arthritis(关节炎) than non-runners.
Participants who walked at an “average” speed, as opposed to ” slow ” , had a 20 percent lower risk of death. Those walking at a “ brisk ” or “ fast ” pace enjoyed an additional 4 percent lower death rate. While the best speeds vary with one’s own age and fitness, a pace below 20 minutes per mile is considered average, and below 18 minutes per mile is considered brisk. All the benefits came from lower heart-related deaths. Walking pace had no effect on cancer rates.
“Our paper is the first paper to keep apart walking pace from the physical activity volume ,”
Explained Emmanuel Stamatakis , a professor of the Charles Perkins Center. “We also took steps to role out ( 排除 ) the possibility that the slow walkers were in poor health to begin with.”
“Walking more is better than walking less. But don’t fall into the trap of thinking that any walk improve health. Keep out of the ‘ slow ’ zone. Make sure you’re putting some effort into your walk”, Stamatakis noted. “ An appropriate effort for those in a comfortable walking routine might be slightly out of breath.”
When you’re short of time, simply walk faster to increase the pay-off. “ A faster pace means you are challenging yourself to make adaptations for better health and fitness,” said Stamatakis.
1. What’s the finding of the recent paper?| A．Slow walkers are in poor health at first. |
| B．Walking speed influences one’s health. |
| C．Walking pace has some effect on cancer rates. |
| D．Walking 150 minutes a week is good for health. |
| A．They were divided into groups by walking pace. |
| B．They were put into different age group. |
| C．They were groups by health condition. |
| D．They were organized by nationality. |
| A．Participants are from eleven countries. |
| B．Participants include people of all ages. |
| C．It collected data during an average of 9.2 years. |
| D．It focused on total amounts of exercise in minutes. |
| A．Working more. | B．Walking a little faster. |
| C．Trying other exercise. | D．Changing the present lifestyle. |
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5 . “The price of books for our students is just getting higher and higher and，combined with the rising cost of tuition，it’s killing these students，”said Peter Jason，a college professor. “Remember，students are one of the poorest groups of people in America. Almost half of them have at least one part-time job. In fact，one of my students has three jobs. And she still manages to have high scores and go to school full-time. ”
Textbook prices are traditionally high. Adding to that problem, many college teachers change textbooks year after year; they either upgrade to a new edition or switch to an entirely different textbook. This further hurts students because if an instructor no longer uses a particular textbook，that book has no resale value.
Dr. Jason decided to make reading a little easier and a lot cheaper for his students by writing his own book on public speaking. “Many books have an increased price because of CD-ROMs，lots of color photographs and pictures. I talked to my students，and many of them，like me，prefer to keep things simple! So，a few years ago，I wrote my own textbook. Compared to most other public speaking books，mine is half the number of pages，and one-third the price. That is，$30 instead of $90. When I wrote a second edition last year，students only had to buy the 35 new pages, For only $7. 00，they had almost a new book. Now my loose-leaf textbook enjoys great popularity among the students. Maybe in the future more writers and publishers will try it. ”
1. What did Dr. Jason say about students at college?| A．They are short of money. |
| B．They need better textbooks. |
| C．They should do part-time jobs. |
| D．They are trying to get high scores. |
| A．To choose cheaper textbooks. |
| B．To write a textbook himself. |
| C．To speak to his students. |
| D．To use old textbooks. |
| A．About 7 dollars. | B．About 30 dollars. |
| C．About 37 dollars. | D．About 90 dollars. |
| A．Dr. Jason’s textbook has CD-ROMs and nice pictures. |
| B．More writers and publishers will write simpler textbooks. |
| C．Dr. Jason teaches public speaking at a college. |
| D．Dr. Jason’s textbook is not well received. |
6 . Barcelona’s famous Segrada Familia is finally set to get a building license to work on the still uncompleted church.
This UNESCO World Heritage basilica(长方形基督教堂)，which is Barcelona’s most visited tourist attraction，began building in 1882 based on a design by architect Francisco Lozano. However，when he stepped down，architect Antoni Gaudi took over the design in 1883.The building won’t be finished until 2026—one hundred years after the architect was killed by a streetcar in the city. His body was buried in a room under the floor of the Sagrada Familia.
To get its paperwork rubber stamped，the church authorities have agreed to finally pay the government a 36 million fee for a building permit. Gaudi was told to get the paperwork processed，but the architect failed to do so—proceeding with construction. The money from the church’s permit will be used to upgrade transport links and beautify the area.
Gaudi played an active role in directing the construction of the Sagrada Familia until his death in 1926.He would often request that work be modified and adjusted until it was exactly what he had in mind. However, interpretation of the designs by present day architects is particularly challenging because of the nature of the existing designs.
Gaudi and his works have become symbols of Barcelona，the capital city of Catalonia，northeast Spain. The unfinished building is called a masterpiece of Gothic architecture and it is perhaps the most unique and mysterious building in the style ever constructed. The popularity of the site with tourists has helped fund the push to complete the church and pay for the paperwork.
1. What do we know about the Segrada Familia?| A．It has been completely constructed. | B．It was first designed by Antoni Gaudi. |
| C．It will get a building permit in 2026. | D．It began to be built 138 years ago. |
| A．He wished to be buried in the church. | B．He is remembered as a great architect. |
| C．He didn’t know a permit was necessary. | D．He is to blame for the unfinished church. |
| A．Its unusual design style. | B．Its two famous architects. |
| C．Its special building materials. | D．Its illegal construction paperwork. |
| A．in the support of the government | B．by reducing construction costs |
| C．with the aid of tourist income | D．through donations from architects |
7 . When faced with the decision to get out of bed or have a few more minutes of sleep, which do you choose? Believe it or not, that decision could make a world of difference in the rest of your day.
About 85 percent of Americans use an alarm clock to wake up in the mornings, according to sleep researcher Till Roennenber. And while there are no official numbers on snoozing (打盹), a quick survey of social media makes it clear that hitting the snooze button is a popular pastime.
As to how the snooze button will affect your day, scientists have mixed opinions. Some scientists think people who hit the snooze button in the mornings are actually clever, creative and happy while some said that hitting the snooze button will ruin your life, or at the very least your day. "I feel that hitting the snooze button has got to be one of the worst things that ever happened to human sleep,” researcher Jonathan Horowitz said. "The chances of you ‘snoozing’ and actually experiencing a meaningful rest are close to zero.”
According to some sleep experts, when hitting the snooze button，you are in fact confusing your body and mind, and throwing yourself into a deep state of being sleepy. The body needs some time to wake up, so, when returning to what will be a light sleep for a brief period of time, you are putting your body back into a sleep mode before waking it again. At that point your body won’t know what it wants, resulting in a sort of half awaken state.
If you really want to take advantage of an alarm clock, the key is to form a healthy sleep cycle. Focus your efforts on getting enough sleep each night and waking up at the same time each day so that when your alarm goes off you feel rested.
1. What can we infer about hitting the snooze button from Paragraph 2?| A．People do it just for fun. | B．It is a common practice. |
| C．People take it seriously. | D．It is a bit childish. |
| A．It is meaningful in the long term. |
| B．It makes people become lazy. |
| C．It brings us a sense of satisfaction. |
| D．It affects our body and mind. |
| A．Forming a good sleep habit. | B．Trying to relax ourselves. |
| C．Making use of willpower. | D．Using an extra alarm. |
| A．Ways to keep refreshed in the morning. |
| B．The snooze button and people's character. |
| C．Should you rely on the snooze button? |
| D．How to avoid the light sleep mode? |
8 . Self-driving cars have been backed by the hope that they will save lives by getting involved in fewer crashes with fewer injuries and deaths than human-driven cars. But so far, most comparisons between human drivers and automated vehicles have been unfair.
Crash statistics for human-driven cars are gathered from all sorts of driving situations, and on all types of roads. However, most of the data on self-driving cars' safety have been recorded often in good weather and on highways, where the most important tasks are staying in the car's own lane and not getting too close to the vehicle-ahead. Automated cars are good at those tasks, but so are humans.
It is true that self-driving cars don't get tired, angry, frustrated or drunk .But neither can they yet react to uncertain situations with the same skill or anticipation of an attentive human driver, nor do they possess the foresight to avoid potential perils. They largely drive from moment to moment, rather than think ahead to possible events literally down the road.
To a self-driving car, a bus full of people might appear quite similar to an uninhabited corn field. Indeed, deciding what action to take in an emergency is difficult for humans, but drivers have sacrificed themselves for the greater good of others. An automated system's limited understanding of the world means it will almost never evaluate ( 评估) a situation the same way a human would. And machines can't be programmed in advance to handle every imaginable set of events.
Some people may argue that the promise of simply reducing the number of injuries and deaths is enough to support driverless cars. But experience from aviation (航空) shows that as new automated systems are introduced, there is often an increase in the rate of disasters.
Therefore, comparisons between humans and automated vehicles have to be performed carefully. To fairly evaluate driverless cars on how well they fulfill their promise of improved safety, it's important to ensure the data being presented actually provide a true comparison. After all, choosing to replace humans with automation has more effects than simply a one-for-one exchange.
1. What makes the comparison between self-driving cars and human-driven cars unfair?| A．Self-driving cars never get tired. | B．Statistics are collected differently. |
| C．Machines can make decisions faster. | D．Self-driving cars know the world better. |
| A．Dangers. | B．Self-driving cars. | C．Pedestrians. | D．Human-driven cars. |
| A．Driving steadily. | B．Climbing steep slopes. |
| C．Evaluating the cost of loss. | D．Making complex decisions. |
| A．A poster. | B．A novel. | C．A brochure. | D．A magazine. |
9 . Looking for work?Tutors Wanted:Math/Science/Humanities+Test Preparation
JOB OVERVIEW:
JOB POSTED:2 days ago
WAGE:$27-30 per hour
JOB TYPE:Part time
SCHEDULE:Afternoons,evenings,weekdays,weekends
JOB DESCRIPTION:
We're looking for tutors to join us before the next school year starts.
Our ideal candidate(候选人）will be able to assist middle and high school students with test preparation and academic work in math,science and/or the humanities(人文学科）。
We'll pay for your training before this fall and can also offer flexible summer tutoring opportunities(including the chance to teach group classes).
Once our fall semester starts on Aug 21,we'll have even higher demand for tutoring sessions on Sundays from 12 am to 8 pm as well as from 3 pm to 9 pm Monday-Thursday.
What we offer:
●Flexible scheduling.Tutors work from 15 to 30+ hours per week depending on availability and student demand.
●Free Sunday dinners during the academic year.
●Health insurance reimbursement(医疗保险报销）for staff working over 30 hours per week.
●We are five minutes' walking distance from the Menlo Park Caltrain station.
Applicants must:
●Be able to show mastery of the subjects they tutor.
●Be willing to tutor students through the full academic year.
Application instructions:
●Email us your resume.
●Let us know your scheduling preferences and potential start date.
●Tell us which of the subjects you are able to tutor-Mathematics,Sciences,Humanities, or Foreign Language.
1. Which period of time needs the most tutors during the academic year?| A．Weekday mornings. |
| B．Sunday afternoons and evenings. |
| C．Friday afternoons and evenings. |
| D．Saturday and Sunday mornings. |
| A．free job training every month |
| B．free lunches and dinners during the academic year |
| C．health insurance reimbursement |
| D．accommodation near Menlo Park Caltrain station |
| A．is good at one or more academic subjects |
| B．will work every evening throughout the academic year |
| C．has the opportunity to become a full-time tutor |
| D．must have previous tutoring experience |
10 . The African grey parrot’s ability to talk and mimic sounds makes it a charming companion. African grey owners often report that their greys oftentimes talk in context and can understand their people’s emotions (情感). The African grey parrot is not just a top talker - this bird is also known for its extreme intelligence, which gives them the name “The Einsteins of the Bird World”.
The bird is medium-sized, dusty-looking and almost pigeon-like. It has a bright red tail, intelligent orange eyes, and a stunning scalloped (扇形的) pattern to its feathers. Their diet in the wild consists mostly of nuts, seeds, fruits, and leafy matter.
At home, African greys need plenty of toys that challenge their intelligence, such as food searching and puzzle toys. Nutri-Berries by Lafeber Company are a perfect choice, which, with a balance of grains, seeds and other nutrients in the shape of a berry, encourages African greys to hold, bite off, and even play with, just as they do in the wild.
African greys seem especially affected by stress and disturbing noise in their environment and can be put more at ease by placing one corner of the cage against a wall as opposed to in the middle of a room.
African grey parrots are more likely to suffer from lack of Vitamin-A/beta-carotene, and therefore benefit from eating vegetables high in beta-carotene, such as cooked sweet potato and fresh kale. Lack of Vitamin-D is another concern, especially for greys on a poor diet. Offering a balanced, pill-shaped diet, such as Nutri-Berries, helps prevent vitamin and mineral shortage.
1. Why are African grey parrots called “The Einsteins of the Bird World”?| A．Because of their brain size. | B．On account of their intelligence. |
| C．Owing to their rich emotions. | D．Due to their talking ability. |
| A．A brand of bird food. | B．Puzzle toys for birds. |
| C．A type of round fruit. | D．Wild Intelligence games. |
| A．They may get ill due to lack of Vitamin |
| B．They prefer to stay in the middle of the room. |
| C．They are dusty looking with blue eyes. |
| D．They are smart and love to have fun. |
| A．In a wildlife magazine. | B．In science fiction. |
| C．In a travel guide. | D．On a shopping website. |
