1 . You have distinct opinions on where the best coffee is in your local area. But if the entire city had a high chance of providing a tasty cup, it could be the personal heaven for coffee lovers.
Rome, Italy
Italy is known for its love of quality food, and the same applies to the coffee. Rome is packed with cafes that keep the city running. Coffee brewers take their business very seriously, so that you rarely meet a watered-down cup.
Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne loves coffee so much that they hold an annual coffee festival and have their own coffee-related publication, the Melbourne Coffee Review. What makes Melbourne coffee shops unique is the way the city is divided: the city is divided into several villages, each with its own specific culture. The most recommended drinks to get in Melbourne are typically lattes or other coffee drinks with milk.
Vienna, Austria
When it comes to coffee, Vienna goes hard: the city had its coffee shops listed as “intangible heritage(非物质文化遗产)” by UNESCO in20l1. Vienna cafes pride themselves on their atmosphere, taking the furnishings and decoration of shops quite seriously. These spaces are great social or people-watching atmospheres. Viennese particularly enjoy cappuccinos and the local Wiener Melange.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Considered the “birthplace of coffee”, and one of the world’s top coffee bean producers today, it’s no surprise that coffee is an important part of Ethiopian culture. If you have friends or relatives there, expect to be invited to coffee ceremony. You’ll enjoy roasting and grinding(研磨) the beans, then brewing them in a clay pot before finally enjoying the final product with your hosts.
1. Which city hosts a coffee festival every year?| A．Rome | B．Melbourne. |
| C．Vienna. | D．Addis Ababa. |
| A．Their atmosphere is unique. | B．They are hardly decorated. |
| C．Their signature coffee is the latte. | D．They divide the city into blocks. |
| A．Produce coffee beans. | B．Buy hand-made cups. |
| C．Enjoy self-made coffee. | D．Decorate coffee shops. |
2 . Covid-19 has brought a great deal of trouble for all of us since March 2020. During this time, mobile phones have been the solution for the boredom and restlessness caused from staying indoors. The most downloaded apps on play store 2020 are;
TikTok
TikTok was the most downloaded app. With over 111.9 million downloads, TikTok has seen a huge growth in 2020, twice more than what it got in 2019. 20% of its total downloads were from India and around 9. 3% of the total downloads were in the US.
Zoom
Zoom was the second most installed app in the overall downloads category. With nearly 94. 6 million installs, Zoom is the most used app for online meetings and virtual classrooms. 17% of its downloads were in the US and India. Offices and educational institutes were shut down and to continue working and studying from home, people relied heavily on Zoom for video conferencing and calling.
WhatsApp ranked third in overall downloads with more than 100 million downloads. It is one of the most popular and widely used chat applications; WhatsApp also supports communication between international phone networks.
It ranked fourth in the overall downloaded list. Facebook is the world’s most popular social networking application. Facebook builds technologies that give people the power to connect with friends and family, find communities and grow businesses.
1. What do we know about TikTok?| A．It is an India-based app. | B．It has most users in America. |
| C．It is used for growing business. | D．It has doubled its download than in 2019. |
| A．TikTok. | B．Zoom. | C．WhatsApp. | D．Facebook. |
| A．Communication. | B．Training. | C．Teaching. | D．Payment |
3 . It may seem as if Mother's Day was invented by a company named Hallmark, but people have been taking time on the calendar to give a shout-out to Mom for a long time. The Greeks and Romans had mother goddess festivals — although their celebrations didn't involve the menfolk taking their underappreciated mothers out to dinner. A more recent tradition was Mothering Sunday, which developed in the British Isles during the 16th century. On the fourth Sunday in April, young men and women who were living and working apart from their families were advised to return to their mothers’ houses.
Mother's Day as it is observed in the United States started in the 1850s with Ann Jarvis, a West Virginia woman who held “Mothers' Work Days” to promote health and hygiene(卫生 ) at home and in the workplace. During the Civil War, Jarvis organized women to improve sanitary conditions for soldiers on both sides, and after the war she became a peacemaker, furthering the cause by bringing together mothers of Union and Confederate soldiers and promoting a Mother's Day holiday.
Jarvis's work inspired another 19th-century woman, Julia Ward Howe. In 1870 Howe published her “Mother's Day Proclamation”, which envisioned(设想) the day not as appreciation of mothers by their children but as an opportunity for women to exercise their collective power for peace. Howe started holding annual Mother's Day celebrations in Boston, her hometown, but after about a decade she stopped footing the bill and the tradition faded away.
It was Jarvis's daughter Anna who succeeded in getting Mother’s Day recognized as a national holiday. After her mother died, in May 1905, Anna started holding yearly ceremony on the anniversary and conducting a tireless PR campaign to have the day made a holiday. In 1908 she succeeded in enlisting the support of John Wanamaker, the Philadelphia department store magnate and advertising pioneer, and by 1912 West Virginia and a few other states had adopted Mother's Day. Two years later, President Woodrow Wilson signed a resolution declaring the second Sunday in May a national holiday.
It wasn't long, though, before whatever ideals the day was supposed to celebrate were buried under an amount of greeting cards and candy. By the 1920s Anna Jarvis was campaigning against the holiday she had been instrumental in creating. “I wanted it to be a day of emotionalism, not profit,” she said.
1. It can be inferred from the first paragraph that .| A．mothers didn't get enough appreciation in the past |
| B．Mother's Day was invented by Hallmark |
| C．young people all returned to their mothers' houses |
| D．Greeks and Romans were the first to celebrate Mother's Day |
| A．Ann Jarvis. | B．Julia Ward Howe. |
| C．Woodrow Wilson. | D．Anna Jarvis. |
| A．Because it was extremely emotional. |
| B．Because the festival was not profitable. |
| C．Because the celebrations went against the original spirit. |
| D．Because the day was celebrated in the form of exchanging greeting cards and candy. |
| A．The Definition of Mother’s Day |
| B．The Argument on Celebrating Mother's Day |
| C．The Story Behind the Creation of Mother's Day |
| D．Different Forms of Celebration on Mother's Day |
4 . When leaving school, I was pleased that my exam results meant that I could study engineering at university. But I also wanted to travel before starting my course. A friend of mine told me about the Schools Exploring Society, an organization which helps students take a gap year （a year between leaving school and going to college）. It has three foreign journeys a year, taking 16-20-year-olds on science and nature trips. I love being outdoors, and a mountaineering trip to Alaska was on offer. So I signed up immediately.
There was one problem, though. I had to raise a large amount of money for the trip. It was a big task, but I managed to make it. I washed cars, worked in a cafe and also sold off some of my old books, clothes and CDs. Then, just before starting out, I started worrying. Can I do this? Am I fit enough? What if I see a bear?
Seventy of us traveled to Alaska. The first two days after arrival were spent in a school hall preparing our equipment and five tons of food. Then we left for the beautiful Talkeetna Mountain. On the trip we dug paths and recognized plant species. Then we climbed a mountain that was over 6,000 feet high. It was tiring but exciting.
Looking back, a gap year was so right for me. I learned a lot about accepting other people for what they are. We had to help each other and it made me less selfish. My gap year has also made me more able to concentrate. Now, whenever Tm worried about anything, I think I did Alaska-I can do this!
1. We can learn from Paragraph 1 that the author .| A．hadn’t taken foreign trips before |
| B．made the trip together with his friends |
| C．was not satisfied with his exam results |
| D．was going to study engineering at a college |
| A．His body was not strong. |
| B．He couldn’t afford the trip. |
| C．He had no outdoor experience. |
| D．He had little time to prepare for the trip. |
| A．was well worth it |
| B．got him interested in plants |
| C．made him fall behind others in study |
| D．helped him know more about himself |
| A．To explain how to prepare for trips. |
| B．To advise on how to spend a gap year. |
| C．To describe his experience in his gap year. |
| D．To encourage students to do part-time work. |
5 . The language Centers first Trivia Night tested students' knowledge on different languages and their histories last Friday at Douglass commons.
"We have decided to conduct this event when the weather is bad so that students who have nowhere to go and stay on campus can come and find a comfortable shelter during a cold winter day," Language Center Director, Teresa Valdez said. According to Valdez, the idea for Trivia night came a year ago from a junior and team-member called Elizabeth de Los Reyes. The event engaged students' interest in languages and showed the high-quality services that the Language Center provides.
Participants competed in small groups that each represented a different language and country. There were five teams in total: Russia, China, Japan, Spain and France. The competition consisted of four rounds with each round consisting of three questions relating to the following topics literature, language, geography, culture and history.
After a few warm-up questions about how people greet each other in different languages, what continent Turkey is found in, and who is the first man to fly to the moon, the questions became increasingly difficult. Each round offered an increasing amount of points a team could receive. The final question was worth 20 points. If a team did not answer it correctly, the points were taken from the total.
In the meantime, students enjoyed pizza, snacks, and drinks while sharing their linguistic (语言的) interest. Most of the participants knew two or three languages. Others knew more, such as first-year Bartek Jezierski from Poland, who can speak English, Polish, German, Spanish, and Russian.
The winners from first to third place were France, Japan and Russia respectively. All five teams were given some prizes—a blue shopping bag, a cup and stuffed toys. However, students believed the most important prize of the evening was the process of the competition—how students from diverse backgrounds and cultures were able to participate in a friendly competition, and shared their mutual (相互的) love of languages.
1. What is one of the purposes of Trivia Night？| A．To attract students to learn languages. |
| B．To help the students suffering from coldness. |
| C．To collect opinions from the students on its services. |
| D．To select the best students for the Language center. |
| A．3 | B．4. | C．12. | D．20. |
| A．Quiet. | B．Relaxing. | C．romantic. | D．Depressing. |
| A．Some snacks and drinks. |
| B．Various prizes for winners. |
| C．The course of the competition. |
| D．The services provided by the language center. |
6 . Stories are shared in many ways. They are described in books and magazines. They are read around the campfire at night. They are randomly distributed from stand-alone booths. But what else?
To revive literature in the era of fast news and smartphone addiction, Short Edition, a French publisher of short-form literature, has set up more than 30 story dispensers (分发机) in the USA in the past years to deliver fiction at the push of a button at restaurants, universities and government offices.
Francis Ford Coppola, the film director and winemaker, liked the idea so much that he invested in the company and placed a dispenser at his Cafe Zoetrope in San Francisco. Last month, public libraries in some other cities announced they would be setting them up, too. There is one on the campus at Penn State. A few can be found in downtown West Palm Beach, Fla. And Short Edition plans to announce more, including at the Los Angeles International Airport.
“Everything old is new again,” said Andrew Nurkin, director of the Free Library of Philadelphia, which is one of the libraries that set up the dispensers. “We want people to be easily exposed to literature. We want to advance literacy among children and inspire their creativity.”
Here’s how a dispenser works. It has three buttons on top indicating choices for stories that can be read in one minute, three minutes or five minutes. When a button is pushed, a short story is printed.
The stories are free. They are chosen from a computer category of more than 100,000 original submissions by writers whose works have been evaluated by Short Edition’s judges, and transmitted over a mobile network. Offerings can be tailored to specific interests, like children’s fiction or romance. Short Edition gets stories for its category by holding writing contests.
Short Edition set up its first booth in 2016 and has 150 machines worldwide. “The idea is to make people happy,” said Kristan Leroy, director of Short Edition. “There is too much unhappiness today.”
1. What do we know about the stories sent by dispensers?| A．They are easily read. |
| B．They are short in form. |
| C．They can be bought from booths. |
| D．They can be found in magazines. |
| A．Paragraph 3. | B．Paragraph 5. |
| C．Paragraph 6. | D．Paragraph 7. |
| A．To introduce French literature. |
| B．To get rid of smartphone addiction. |
| C．To make people have access to literature. |
| D．To reduce the financial stress of libraries. |
| A．Everything Old Is New |
| B．Online Reading: a Virtual Tour |
| C．Short Edition Is Getting Popular |
| D．Taste of Literature, at the Push of a Button |
7 . Faced with a declining population and workforce, Japan has been increasingly turning to robots for help. Over the years, the robots have carried out a large number of human tasks, including building products and providing care for the elderly.
However, the robots currently being used by companies, like Walmart and Amazon, are only able to perform single, repetitive tasks, such as stacking boxes. Model-T, on the other hand, has a wider range of movement and is able to hold, pick and place objects of several different shapes and sizes into different locations, making it ideal for convenience and grocery stores, which sell a large variety of items.
Model-T robots are operated from a distant location by human “pilots” wearing a virtual reality (VR) headset and special gloves, which allow them to feel the product the robot is holding in their hands and guide it to the right shelf.
The VR-controlled robots are ten times cheaper than automated robots, because they don’t require advanced programming and are easier to develop and maintain. And their easy-to-use controls require little training. Tomohiro Kano, a general manager in charge of development at FamilyMart, believes this will enable the chain to recruit workers who would typically not work in stores.
Though Model-T appears to be getting rapidly through the experiments, it is not quite ready to enter the workforce. Besides being a lot slower than humans, it is also only able to lift packaged items, and cannot get hold of things such as fruits and vegetables. The company is working to improve the weaknesses and hopes to introduce a faster, more skillful Model-T within the next two years. They believe that in addition to the stores, the robots could also be useful in hospitals, allowing doctors to do operations from remote locations.
1. What is one of the features of Model-T according to the text?| A．It works much faster than humans. | B．It can easily hold all kinds of objects. |
| C．It can be operated from a distance away. | D．It is harder to produce than an automated robot. |
| A．The low price of Model-T. | B．The easiness to operate Model-T. |
| C．The low-level programming of Model-T. | D．The strict training for maintaining Model-T. |
| A．Model-T is now being massively produced. |
| B．Japan’s workforce will be reduced by Model-T. |
| C．The weaknesses of Model-T have been overcome. |
| D．Model-T may be used in wider fields in the future. |
| A．Technology. | B．Economy. | C．Lifestyle. | D．Environment. |
8 . Dolphins have been known to show many human-like behavioral characteristics. These include forming complex relationships to accomplish common goals, teaching one another survival skills, and “babysitting” each other’s kids. Now, some researchers at Largo, Florida have discovered another thing the intelligent animals share with humans — a love for the television!
For their research, Kelly A. Winship and Holli C, Eskelinen observed 11 bottlenose and five rough-toothed dolphins. The animals were treated to two TV shows — Planet Earth and the popular kids’ series, SpongeBob SquarePants. The researchers say the dolphins did not seem to care what was being played. They were equally attracted by both — the realistic imagery of Planet Earth and the cartoon in SpongeBob SquarePants.
Interestingly, however, the male dolphins spent more time staring at the screen than the females. They also responded more strongly to the programming by either showing aggression (indicated by head moves), or interest (shown by raising their heads or pressing their foreheads against the TV), or even blowing bubbles (indicating interest or aggression). Winship and Eskelinen, who published their findings in the journal Zoo Biology, believe the display of aggression was most likely a result of the failure to physically interact with, or manipulate, the TV.
Though there is a lot more to learn about the animals’ television preferences, the scientists believe suitable programming could be used as part of enrichment programs for dolphins unfit to be released in the wild. The researchers also think monitoring their response to different kinds of shows could provide scientists with some insight into the dolphins’ thinking process.
1. What have researchers newly discovered about dolphins?| A．They somewhat behave like humans. | B．They offer help to each other |
| C．They are highly intelligent. | D．They enjoy watching TV shows. |
| A．The time of body moments. | B．Program preferences. |
| C．The strength of response. | D．Interacting methods. |
| A．Have control over. | B．React to. | C．Catch sight of. | D．Turn on. |
| A．Learning about their TV preference. | B．Enriching their life in the wild. |
| C．Monitoring their daily behaviors. | D．Studying how they think. |
9 . Johnny Cash was born in 1932 in the southern state of Arkansas. His parents were poor cotton farmers. As a school boy, he began writing songs and he performed on radio programs. After high school, he joined the United States Air Force and served as a radio operator in Germany.
He returned to the United States in 1954 and formed a band with two friends and performed at local events. They began recording for Sun Records in Memphis. One of the songs Cash wrote became the first country music hit record for the company. It was “Cry, Cry, Cry.”
Johnny Cash performed all across the United States and Canada. By 1958, Johnny Cash was a successful recording artist, songwriter and singer. He was invited to perform at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.
Johnny Cash won many awards, including eleven Grammy Awards and the Kennedy Center Honors. He was elected to both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
He died on September 12, 2003, in Nashville at the age of seventy-one.
Fans say that Johnny Cash's music was important because it told simple stories about life and death. They say he cared about social issues and continued to express support for those who are poor and without political power. One of the last songs he recorded was one made popular by the rock and roll group Nine Inch Nails. It is called “Hurt.”
1. Johnny Cash returned to the United States after ________.| A．he finished high school | B．he formed a band |
| C．he served in US Air Force in Germany | D．his song Cry, Cry, Cry became famous |
| A．Johnny Cash performed his famous song Cry, Cry, Cry at the Grand Ole Opry |
| B．Johnny Cash didn't care about social problems |
| C．Johnny Cash's music was only loved by his fans |
| D．the Grand Ole Opry is a place where famous singers hold their concerts. |
| A．Beat | B．Failure | C．Strike | D．Success |
| A．he won many awards in his lifetime |
| B．he often performed in the Grand Ole Opry |
| C．his songs expressed support for the poor people with no political power |
| D．his songs were sung by the rock and roll group Nine Inch Nails |
10 . Affordable Beach Vacation in Corfu
Corfu, an island off the coast of Greece, offers visitors sunkissed shores with clear water and lots of beaches.
Finding the Perfect Beach
Our first pick is Sidari Beach. It’s a blue flag beach perfect for couples looking for a more private feel, as it’s far from bigger tourist destinations. Issos Beach makes for the perfect place for watching the sunset. Dassia Bay has a bit more water sports. Paleokastritsa is an amazing West Coast village with six beaches on offer, including Rovinia Beach.
Getting around Corfu
Corfu offers bike rentals and bus service as a cheaper alternative (替代) to taxis. The best time to visit Corfu is during the “shoulder season” in April/May. The weather isn’t as warm as the high seasons but it remains perfect. It is not crowded in this period, but you still need to book ahead of schedule as Corfu stays popular throughout the year.
Eating Out For Less
There are a lot of well-priced restaurants but street food is also a big winner. Some popular choices are Souvlakia and Pita Gyros. There are also many cheeses special to Greece, including Tirokafteri and Ladotyri. Corfu also has many unbelievable desserts (甜食). Stazei Meli is a tourist favourite to give them a try.
1. Which place is probably the best choice for couples?| A．Sidari Beach. | B．Dassia Bay. |
| C．Issos Beach. | D．Rovinia Beach. |
| A．Rent a bike. | B．Book in advance. |
| C．Wear warm clothes. | D．Set off in April/May. |
| A．It cooks popular dishes. | B．It severs well-priced food. |
| C．It produces special cheese. | D．It sells amazing desserts. |
