1 . Counseling(咨询)Services
Counseling Services is a place on campus where you can find someone to talk when you're feeling hopeless, lonely, depressed, confused, upset over a relationship, or just anxious. If you or anyone you know has been disturbed by recent events, please come to Counseling Services, which can provide a safe and comfortable environment for all students.
Service Time
Counseling Services will be closed from Monday. December 21st 2020 through the beginning of Spring Term 2021. But we will continue to provide Tele-health services by phone and email Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. We will be fully closed on the following dates: December 24th. 25th. 30th. 31st. January 1st. 2021.
Appointment
To make an appointment, call (715) S36-552I during our business hours: Monday-Friday 8:00 am-12:00 am, 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm. We are open 8:00 am to 6:00 pm on Wednesdays.
What You Can Get
In addition to services on phones or on line, you can now check out our Attacking. Anxiety and Depression Workshop Videos, or see what our office is up to on Instagram and Facebook. We have also been collecting COVID-19 specific online resources.
If you want to know more, please click here.
1. Who may need Counseling Services?| A．Anyone living alone | B．Pupils wanting to live comfortably |
| C．Students suffering from anxiety | D．Students feeling hopeful |
| A．Wednesday | B．Friday | C．Monday | D．Tuesday |
| A．Counseling Services will be closed on Monday. |
| B．COVID-19 specific online resources are provided. |
| C．Counseling Services is a place outside school. |
| D．Counseling services are available on December 25th. |
| A．A textbook. | B．A guidebook. |
| C．A magazine. | D．A website |
2 . Located in the southeast of Canada and with a population of approximately 6 million, Toronto is a big and beautiful city, which has developed from a relatively unknown place over the past half century to the center of culture, trade and communication in Canada.
With its colorful ethnic mix, rich history and breathtaking buildings. Toronto offers non-stop adventures to the tourists. To get a sense of how big, various and magical Toronto is, the best place to start is the CN Tower. From this point, visitors can get a bird's-eye view of the city's amazing scenery and unique geography.
In addition to being an important center of culture, trade and communication in Canada, Toronto is also a major muti-ethnic city. It is the most populous city in Canada and its citizens come from countries around the world and from different kinds of ethnic backgrounds. Every day, in most places of the city, a hundred different languages can be heard on the streets, from Hindi to Greek to French. This, perhaps, explains why former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau once said that Canada is a mosaic（嵌合体）of cultures and languages rather than a melting pot.
Street signs in Toronto are mostly in English. Weekly and daily newspapers are published in various languages, and the city hosts the successful international film festival each September. It is also home to a popular baseball team the Toronto Blue Jays. Toronto has something for everyone.
Moreover, Toronto has been rated one of the most livable cities in the world by United Nations Human Settlements Programme for many years. At the same time, Toronto is one of the safest, richest cities in the world with the highest standard of living.
1. What's the purpose of the text?| A．To draw more tourists to Toronto. |
| B．To introduce something about Canada. |
| C．To introduce some famous sights of Toronto. |
| D．To tell us how Toronto develops from the past. |
| A．Toronto is in the center of Canada. |
| B．Toronto is a city with a history of half a century. |
| C．The street signs in Toronto are all written in English. |
| D．From the top of the CN Tower we can see the whole Toronto. |
| A．It's worth visiting. |
| B．It's just a common city in Canada. |
| C．There are too many foreigners in the city. |
| D．There aren't many places of interest to visit. |
| A．A personal diary. | B．A news report. |
| C．A tourist handbook. | D．A student's notebook. |
3 . Vegan leather(纯素皮), a cruelty-free and environment-friendly substitute for animal leather has long been the ultimate goal of sustainable fashion. Now, an alternative may be making the jump from the lab to cupboards, and its source may surprise many people: the forest floor.
Mycelium(菌体丝), the fibrous roots of fungi(真菌), is being made into durable clothes and bags with a lower carbon cost than animal's skin or plastic, and it's a material that won't pile up in landfills. While products made from it aren't available to buy yet, industry experts say the material has great potential to influence the market for animal and synthetic(合成的)leathers. And it has a unique look and feel.
Leather production relies on skin from cattle and sheep, whose raising is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Leather processing also uses dangerous chemicals and generates large mounts of waste from treating raw skin. By contrast, fungi's growth is effectively carbon neutral since they catch and store carbon that would otherwise be emitted or remain in the atmosphere, according to Nature. Pure and untreated fungi-leather also breaks down easily.
A number of companies are relying on consumer's interest in a true fungi leather. Some 66% US respondents to a survey by the consulting firm Mckinsey & Company said they consider sustainability when making a luxury purchase. California-based Mckino is perhaps closest to producing a commercially available product called Reishi. "It has the same quality and artistic value as animal leather and it will be launched in partnership with top brands in the coming months," said Sophia Wang, the company's co-founder.
One of the challenges with fungi-leather is making a uniform "mat" with consistent thickness, appearance and color, according to Nature. It's also necessary to balance durability with biodegradability(降解).
1. What do we know about Mycelium?| A．Its products are available now. |
| B．It is likely to gain some market share. |
| C．It has a high carbon emission. |
| D．It accounts for a large part of waste. |
| A．By making a comparison. |
| B．By reasoning and arguing. |
| C．By analyzing the research process. |
| D．By providing background information. |
| A．Most people like animal leather. |
| B．Consumers are indifferent to Reishi. |
| C．Sophia has confidence in Reishi. |
| D．Mckino ranks among top brands |
| A．Opinion. | B．Agriculture | C．Fashion. | D．Lifestyle. |
4 . On a scale of 0 to 10, I’d say my happiness ranks at about 6. I’m glad to know I’m a 6, because, as a famous management saying puts it, “You can't manage what you don’t measure.” If you want to improve an aspect of your life, you need to be able to assess progress toward your goal-and that means measuring it.
The goal of this column is to help you manage and improve your happiness. A number of people have asked me whether quantitative happiness measures are really accurate and reliable-and it’s a reasonable question. So let’s take a look behind the curtain. But not just for intellectual curiosity; as you will see, understanding the measurement of happiness can itself make you better at improving your own well-being-and avoid some critical errors.
The best method scientists have to understand with confidence how something affects something else is a randomized, controlled trial. Think of the tests currently under way to find a vaccine for COvID-19. They take a long time because the drug companies with trial vaccines are conducting experiments that randomly assign people to a treatment group they get the vaccine and a control group (they get a placebo), and then waiting to seif the drug is effective and safe by comparing the two groups after enough time has passed.
In the research on happiness, this usually isn’t possible. Want to know if people are truly happiest in Denmark, as some studies suggest, and test it with a randomized experiment? You would need to randomly take two groups out of their homes, move one group to Copenhagen, and the other to, say, Dayton, Ohio- but make sure they think it might be Copenhagen and never get the truth. Follow up a few years later to see who is happiest. Obviously, that’s ridiculous. So with randomized controlled trials largely not available to them, happiness researchers instead rely on self-reported happiness surveys, where large groups of people anonymously report their levels of life satisfaction. Then, the researchers use fairly complex statistical techniques to mimic（模拟）a controlled experiment in order to show how different aspects of people’s lives affect-or at least are associated with-their happiness.
1. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 1 probably refer to?| A．An aspect of life. | B．One's goal. | C．Happiness. | D．Progress. |
| A．To introduce a latest medical breakthrough. |
| B．To show the difficulty in finding the vaccine. |
| C．To illustrate the process of randomized experiments. |
| D．To prove the impossibility of randomized researches on happiness. |
| A．The experiment takes a long time. |
| B．It is difficult to analyze the data collected. |
| C．It is impossible to carry out the process strictly. |
| D．The subjects are unwilling to share their feelings. |
| A．A magazine. | B．A diary. | C．A science report. | D．A textbook. |
5 . From Mr. Ward Hoffman.
Sir, I was halfway through Professor Raj Persaud’s article “What’s the tipping point" (Financial Times Weekend, April 9-l0) when it occurred to me that what I was reading was not ironic(讽刺的). If Prof Persaud wants to know why Americans tip in restaurants, he need only ask the first American he meets in London.
Americans tip in restaurants for one reason, and one reason only: we tip to supplement(补贴) the salary of restaurant workers. Quality of service does not enter into it, beyond the fact that one may tip a bit less for poor service, or a little more for good service.
Not tipping at all in a non-fast-food restaurant is not a choice. In the US, one used to tip about 15 percent for dining in a family-style restaurant or in an up-market(高档的) restaurant. Here, in San Francisco Bay area restaurants, we are encouraged to tip 20 per cent or more, to help restaurant workers live in this very expensive area.
After eating at an Italian restaurant in my city, I left a tip of 20 per cent on the non-tax part of our dinner bill. It was expected. There is nothing more complicated(复杂的) than that about Americans tipping in restaurants.
Ward Hoffman,
Palo Alto, CA 94306, US
* * *
From Mr. Philip McBride Johnson.
Sir, I agree with most of Raj Persaud’s opinion about the doubtful value of tipping, but with one exception(例外). Tips can be very useful when one is a repeat customer or diner.
It is only when the tipper is a stranger and likely to remain so that the system does not work to his or her advantage. But frequent a hotel or a restaurant, always tip a bit more, and the difference in service and treatment will be easily felt.
Philip McBride Johnson,
Great Falls, VA 22066, US
1. What can we learn from Hoffman’s letter?| A．Quality of service determines tipping in the US. |
| B．Americans don’t tip in non fast-food restaurants. |
| C．Tipping in US up-market restaurants is unnecessary. |
| D．How to tip in the United States is not complicated. |
| A．a stranger in a restaurant is likely to tip a bit more |
| B．diners receive better service if they frequent a restaurant |
| C．repeat dinners may get good service if they tip a bit more |
| D．the tipping system works to the advantage of new customers |
| A．feels doubtful about the value of tipping |
| B．believes tipping improves quality of service |
| C．wants to ask Hoffman about tipping in the US |
| D．thinks tipping a bit more one can get good service |
| A．notice | B．handbook | C．book review | D．newspaper |
6 . By now, most of us have picked up at least one pandemic hobby. And there's a seemingly common pandemic hobby trend: People who haven't been able to go anywhere are making imaginary travel plans. Maybe you're among those who have spent hours researching locations-even though you're not actually planning to travel.
It turns out that you aren't alone. People who seem to be sticking to public safety recommendations are still planning trips they don't intend to book. And, when I suddenly found myself addicted to an imaginary girls' trip to Joshua Tree, I wondered whether this was a healthy distraction.
"It's an escapist imagination," said Regine Galanti, a psychologist, adding that there's nothing wrong with escapism during a global pandemic.
On the one hand, distractions are often beneficial right now. We are a full year into living with COVID-19 as a pandemic, and that means you've probably had to navigate a range of emotions like discomfort, sadness, or even boredom. So any hobby that doesn't harm anyone or endanger your well-being is probably a worthy attempt.
Even if vacation planning is your happy place, Dr. Galanti suggests you "actually think about what you're trying to achieve." Why? "Maybe what you're saying is, I need a vacation from work," Dr. Galanti explains. "Then take three days off even if you are not going anywhere. "When you figure out what you're looking for, you might be able to find a small socially distanced adventure in your backyard or a quiet place. Vacation planning is a good way to spend some time, but there might be an even better way to get what you're desiring.
Anyway, when uncertainty is all around us, creating things to look forward to isn't a terrible idea. And when things are safer, you'll have all your plans in place.
1. Why do people make imaginary travel plans during the pandemic?| A．To develop a new hobby. | B．To stay safe and sound. |
| C．To be distracted from reality. | D．To get ready for future travel. |
| A．Express. | B．Balance. | C．Adapt to. | D．Deal with. |
| A．Objective. | B．Negative. | C．Supportive. | D．Unclear. |
| A．Figures. | B．Lifestyle. |
| C．Food and recipe. | D．Science and technology. |
7 . Tourist Guide to the National Gallery
Opening hours: Daily 10: 00 am- -6: 00 pm; Friday 10: 00 am- 9: 00 pm
Closed: 2426 December
Reasons to visit:
With over 2, 300 paintings in the collection, there are hundreds of reasons to visit the Gallery. Here are some to get you started...
Get into great art. From Leonardo da Vinci to Vincent van Gogh: See priceless works of art for free.
Get creative. Brush up your skills, and create your own great works of art...
Learn about art. Discover more about paintings...
Regulations:
Talk in a low voice when you use your cellphone in the gallery
Please do not touch the paintings or other exhibits. Do not take pets in or cross the barriers.
Consume food and drink in designated areas only i.e. not in rooms that contain paintings.
Follow our no smoking policy in any part of the building.
Follow our no photograph policy in exhibitions where a sign is displayed.
Access:
The National Gallery aims to make access to the paintings enjoyable and welcoming to the widest possible public. There are a range of facilities to help you see the collection, visit exhibitions and come to events.
The Gallery offers British Sign Language-interpreted talks on paintings for visitors who are deaf, and special art sessions(展期) for visitors who can't see.
Address: The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square London WC2N 5DN
Click here to find more information.
1. What are visitors allowed to do in the National Gallery?| A．Make a phone call. | B．Take a dog in. |
| C．Smoke a cigarette. | D．Take photos. |
| A．Young visitors. | B．Deaf visitors. |
| C．Blind visitors. | D．Old visitors. |
| A．In a newspaper. | B．On a poster. |
| C．In a magazine. | D．On the Internet. |
8 . An artist in Oakland, California is using his skills to help the homeless. Greg Kloehn builds very small shelters that make life on the streets a little more comfortable. The structures offer the homeless some safety and protection from bad weather. Each little house also has wheels on the bottom so it can go wherever its owner goes.
Greg Kloehn has given away at least 20 tiny houses. Several are on the roadside near an active railroad. On a recent day, Mr.Kloehn stops at one to visit Oscar Young. The two men hug. Inside his little shelter Mr.Young gets relief from cold nights on the streets. Mr.Kloehn also visits SweetPea, another friend who also lives in one of the little homes the artist built. She says it keeps her safe and protects her belongings.
In the mornings, Mr. Kloehn searches the streets for building materials. He gathers what he can and takes it to his studio. There, he puts the houses together. Empty coffee bags become roof material. A washing machine door and refrigerator part become windows. Nails,screws and the sticky glue hold all the pieces together. The artist also attaches a small electrical device to the house. The device is powered by the sun.
Some of the people living on the streets once had normal houses of their own. But some of the people say they have learned to live with less and they are thankful to that man.
Mr.Kloehn says his work is not a social project. He says he is just someone using his skills to help his homeless neighbors.
1. The following are the advantages of the small shelters EXCEPT ________.| A．saving power and energy |
| B．protecting possessions of the homeless |
| C．decorating the streets where they are |
| D．keeping the homeless safe and comfortable |
| A．Greg Kloehn has sold at least 20 tiny houses |
| B．an act of kindness has made people simple and grateful |
| C．the shelters are immovable |
| D．the government has got involved in the action |
| A．an official report |
| B．an art review |
| C．a science magazine |
| D．a news report |
| A．An artist creates homes for the homeless. |
| B．A more comfortable shelter on the streets. |
| C．A successful social project in Oakland. |
| D．An artist makes a living by designing small shelters. |
9 . Despite the lack of new releases due to the outbreak of COVID-19, there was no shortage of good films in 2020. We've rounded out the top 4 films. Check them out!
Soul
In the first Pixar cartoon to have an African-American lead character. Jamie Foxx provides the voice of a music teacher who dreams of making it as a jazz pianist. But just after a successful interview, he falls down a manhole and finds himself in a soul world where human spirits are assigned their personalities. And things get even stranger from there.
Nomadland
When Fern loses her husband and can't afford to live in a house, she packs her few belongings into a camper and drives off into the Nevada desert. She encounters a large community of senior citizens who have also been forced to live on the road, supporting themselves with short-term- jobs along the way. What makes Nomadland unique is that while Fern is played by an Oscar-winning actress, nearly all she meets are real people who relate their own experiences. Written and directed by Chloe Zhao, the film is a combination of documentary and fiction.
The Croods: A New Age
The prehistoric family from 2013's hugely enjoyable cartoon, The Croods, directed by Joel Crawford, makes a welcome return, so we can expect more crazy adventures and unusual animals. In the much-delayed- sequel, they meet another family, the Bettermans, whose advanced lifestyle and technology make the Croods look even more primitive than they did already. There's conflict but they learn to appreciate each other's differences.
Wolfwalkers
The year's finest cartoon film comes from Cartoon Saloon, an Irish studio specialising in stylised hand-drawn 2D art. Its latest production is set in the mid-17th Century, when English soldiers are trying to occupy the wild woods. One hunter's daughter meets with a girl wolfwalker and they make joint efforts to rescue the forest. It's a heartwarming story of friendship and an inspiring adventure about two girls finding themselves Wolfwalkers stands proud as new classic.
1. What is the film Soul about?| A．pianist's dream coming true. | B．A musician's romantic journeys. |
| C．A music teacher's unusual experiences. | D．An African-American actor's success story. |
| A．Soul. | B．Nomnadland. | C．The Croods: A New Age. | D．Wolfwalkers. |
| A．Science. | B．History. | C．Entertainment. | D．Medicine. |
10 . Standing in my office 25 years ago was an unknown young astronomer with a half-smile on her face. She had come with an impossible request that my team modify (修改) our thoroughly tested software to make one of our most important scientific instruments do something it had never been designed for, and risk breaking it. All to carry out an experiment that was basically a waste of time and couldn’t be done-to prove that a massive black hole lay at the center of our Milky Way.
My initial “no way” gradually gave way in the face of her cheerful but firm determination. Andrea Ghez, one of three winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics，impressed me with her work on providing solid evidence of a supermassive black hole with the mass of four million suns living at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
That determination and the willingness to take calculated risks has always characterized Andrea. For 25 years she has focused almost completely on Sagittarius (人马座) A *—the name of our own local supermassive black hole. It is remarkable that an entire field of study has grown up in the quarter century, of searching for and finding evidence of these monsters thought to lie at the heart of every large galaxy.
Andrea did her work at the W. M. Keck Observatory’s twin telescopes on Maunakea, Hawaii, in the calm and clear air almost 14000 feet above the Pacific Ocean. She started using the very first instrument fixed on Keck Observatory’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRC), now gracing the lobby at our headquarters.
Andrea is fond of pointing out that one of the reasons for her success has been this tight and rapid loop (循环) between the needs of the astronomers and the engineers who respond to the challenge.
This is my friend and longtime colleague, the one who refused to take “no” for an answer: Andrea Ghez, winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics.
1. Which words best describe Andrea Ghez?| A．Determined and creative. | B．Confident and adaptable. |
| C．Brave and kind. | D．Cooperative and generous. |
| A．Because of Andrea’s determination. |
| B．Because of Andrea’s final success. |
| C．Because Andrea provided an experimental evidence. |
| D．Because Andrea modified their tested software. |
| A．The Noble Prize for physics. | B．Friendship between colleagues. |
| C．How Andrea won the Nobel. | D．What makes Andrea different. |
| A．A research paper. | B．A website about scientists. |
| C．A science fiction. | D．A daily newspaper. |
