1 . Handwashing is one of the easiest ways to protect against disease, but lack of running water is a problem for 3 billion people in the world, according to the World Health Organization(WHO) and UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund. Tippy taps are one way. Sometimes, the little things make such a big difference. These low-cost handwashing stations are helping people stay healthy.
There are different ways to build and use tippy taps. But the basic tools include a plastic water bottle, sticks, and rope. Hang the bottle from a branch or pole. Press a foot pedal to tip the bottle and release water. Then wet your hands and scrub with soap for at least 20 seconds. Done!
In Uganda, Faridah Luanda has been teaching her neighbors how to make tippy laps. Washing hands is very difficult in her neighborhood because they don't have access to washing facilities. When COVID-19 started and people were told to clean their hands frequently, they needed to be creative. Luanda and her neighbors have set up 800 tippy taps in the community. “We are helping ourselves,” Luanda says “Children, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable people—they cannot be left behind.”
In Guatemala, people have set up nearly 400 tippy laps. Each cost about $12 to make.
Tippy taps are also being used in the United States. Kids from the Lake & Park School, in Seattle Washington, heard about the project. They raised $4,000 to support it. In Tucson, Arizona, they' re helping the homeless. Two were set up at a shelter called Sister Jose Women’s Center. COVID-19 forced the shelter to close. But workers continued to give out food. They needed a way to let people wash their hands before eating. The tippy tap is such a simple solution.
1. What does the author think of tippy taps?| A．They are invented by the WHO | B．They can ease the water shortage. |
| C．They are money-saving and effective. | D．They are too expensive to popularize. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．Lazy. | B．Weak | C．Dirty. | D．Foolish. |
| A．The homeless. | B．The school children. |
| C．The volunteer workers. | D．The patients in hospital. |
2 . I took one of the bags from my car. It was still dark out. I headed for a group of three men, standing around a tree, probably using it as a windbreaker. As I walked toward them, one of them watched me, perhaps questioning my motives. “I thought you all might need some fresh new socks,” I said, handing him a pair. He looked confused at first but took them and said, “Thank you.” I gave him two more pairs for his friends. I moved on. An hour later, I had given out all the socks. Most people were sleeping, and I felt like Santa. On her first day teaching students from poor families at an after-school program in New York City, Alyssa Kapasi noticed how many kids were lining up for free sandwiches and fruit in the school cafeteria. One of the workers explained that many of these students don’t get enough to eat at home, so a school lunch or an after-school meal might be the most food they would get all day.
Kapasi, who attends private school, was very surprised. What’s more, she made up her mind to help. “I want other kids to understand that if you see a problem, you don’t have to wait to grow up to fix it,” says Kapasi. She and a group of friends are now putting their programming skills to work to create an app called Food for Thought, which will allow parents, students, and even kind-hearted strangers to donate to a lunch account for a student in need at a nearby school.
About 20 million American kids receive free lunches. Two million more can have low-price meals, and those students’ families have to pay for part of their food. When they don’t have the money on any given day, the students might have to settle for an “alternative (可替代的) meal” such as a cheese sandwich.
The app — which is getting financial (财政的) support from a GoFundMe page — provides anonymity (匿名) to those who receive lunch and donors. To receive help, a family will need only a recommendation (推荐) from a school teacher, and no one else has to know.
“I want to make an app that all users feel no shame in using,” says Kapasi. She hopes to test the app in a school district this fall.
1. Why does Kapasi want to create an app?| A．To teach kids how to help others. | B．To practise her programming skills. |
| C．To introduce her school to the public. | D．To solve the problem of hunger in schools. |
| A．Buy. | B．Make. | C．Accept. | D．Offer. |
| A．Visit a GoFundMe page. | B．Get in touch with Kapasi. |
| C．Be recommended by teachers. | D．Donate something else instead. |
| A．They won’t lose face in using it. | B．They will make money by using it. |
| C．They will know who offers them help. | D．They won’t meet their donors until this |
3 . Belly fat（stomach fat） has long been thought to be especially bad for your heart, but now, a new study adds more evidence to the idea that it may also be bad for your brain.
The study, from the United Kingdom, found that people who were overweight and had a high waist — to — hip ratio （a measure of belly fat） had slightly lower brain volumes （容量），on average, compared with people who were just over weight or had a healthy weight. Specifically, belly fat was connected with lower volumes of gray matter, the brain tissue （组织）that contains nerve cells.
“Our research looked at a large group of people and found obesity （肥胖）,specifically around the middle， may be linked with brain shrinkage （萎缩），” lead study author Mark Hamer, a professor at Loughborough University, said in a statement.
Lower brain volume， or brain shrinkage， has been linked with a higher risk of memory recession， which leads to being forgetful.
The new findings, published on Jan. 9 in the journal Neurology ， suggested that the combination of obesity （as measured by body mass index, or BMI） and a high waist—to—hip ratio may cause brain shrinkage.
However, the study found only a connection between belly fat and lower brain volume, but couldn't prove that belly fat actually caused brain shrinkage. It could be that people with lower volumes of gray matter in certain brain areas are at a higher risk of obesity. Future studies are needed to find out the causes for the connection.
1. What can we infer about belly fat from the new study?| A．Belly fat may have a bad influence on our brain. |
| B．Belly fat can help increase brain volumes. |
| C．Belly fat affects people's diet. |
| D．Belly fat is bad for our eyes. |
| A．A tall and thin man. |
| B．A man with too much belly fat. |
| C．A short and thin man. |
| D．A man with normal body weight. |
| A．Going ahead. | B．Getting poor. |
| C．Getting active. | D．Going around. |
| A．The real cause of getting obesity. |
| B．The danger of getting too much fat. |
| C．The bad effect caused by belly fat and brain shrinkage. |
| D．The reasons for the connection between belly fat and brain shrinkage. |
4 . One day while trying to print all the class worksheets we needed for the day, I found myself shouting at my printer in front of my son. “Why won’t this stupid thing print?” I shouted. My son came up to me quietly, saying, “Calm down, Mommy. Maybe if you don’t shout at the printer, it will work. You need to have patience.”
He was right. I needed patience-patience with this whole situation. I stopped myself, realizing this was not the behavior I wanted my son to see. He was also right that I needed to calm down. Just like what I told him to do, I took a few deep breaths and walked away from the collapsed printer. Later that day when we were outside, I tried to keep the sense of calm I had slightly achieved. Once I blocked out all the anxiety over the virus, school, and my work-I found the afternoon peaceful and pleasant. I played flying disc with my son, simply enjoying each other’s company while the birds sang. It was an everyday moment I’ll never take for granted again.
From then on, things got a little easier. I started to give myself, and everyone else, some favour. I stopped holding myself to my perfectionism standards with every little thing because they were truly impossible to keep to.
With that favour, I changed my focus. Getting every school worksheet done correctly is not important. Neither is cleaning the house. And, apart from getting fired, neither is my work. Spending time with my family, and staying healthy emotionally and physically, became my main concerns. We took walks. We danced our hearts out during the Disney Family Sing-Along. We got up early and walked secretly into our backyard with telescopes to bird watch. Who knows, birding may be the new hobby we’re never giving up.
1. What did the author’s son ask his mother to do?| A．Print later. | B．Stop printing. |
| C．Change another printer. | D．Stay calm. |
| A．Sensitive. | B．Stubborn. |
| C．Broken-down. | D．Unfriendly. |
| A．By giving up dreams. |
| B．By focusing on others. |
| C．By stopping pursuing perfection. |
| D．By paying little attention to work. |
| A．Watching birds. | B．Doing house cleaning. |
| C．Seeking after her career. | D．Finishing school worksheets. |
5 . Animals are natural resources that people have wasted all through our history.
Animals have been killed for their fur and feathers, for food, for sport, and simply because they were in the way. Thousands of kinds of animals have disappeared from the earth forever. Hundreds more are on the danger list today. About 170 kinds in the United States alone are considered in danger.
Why should people care? Because we need animals. And because once they are gone, there will never be any more.
Animals are more than beautiful or interesting or a source of food. Every animal has its place in the balance of nature. Destroying one kind of animal can create many problems.
For example, when farmer killed large numbers of hawks, the farmers’ stores of corn and grain were destroyed by mice. Why? Because hawks eat mice. With no hawks to keep down their numbers, the mice multiplied quickly.
Luckily, some people are working to help save the animals. Some groups raise money to let people know about the problem. And they try to get the governments to pass laws protecting animals in danger.
Quite a few countries have passed laws. These laws forbid the killing of any animal or plant on the danger list. Slowly, the number of some animals in danger is growing.
1. Animals are important to us mainly because .| A．they give us a source of food |
| B．they are beautiful and lovely |
| C．they keep the balance of nature |
| D．they give us a lot of pleasure |
| A．Became more. | B．Became less. |
| C．Turned black. | D．Ate food. |
| A．people have known the importance of animal protection since a long time ago |
| B．animals play an important role in people’s life |
| C．the number of hawks is on the decrease |
| D．many countries passed laws forbidding the killing of any animal |
| A．Save the Animals |
| B．Useful Animals |
| C．Laws for Animals |
| D．Animals in Danger |
6 . The 64-year-old Mahendra, the Secretary at People for Animals (PFA), talks about his disabled and wounded dogs like a father talks about his children—with the same love, affection and warmth. It was this love that led him to establish India's first shelter home for dogs living with disabilities.
It all started in 1998. While taking a midnight walk, Mahendra came across a very weak dog on the street, whose bones were visible under its skin. Mahendra decided to feed it and for the next couple of days it became the centre of his life, until the night when he found it dead.
After that, Mahendra started providing treatment to all wounded and sick dogs he came across. Some time later, someone told Mahendra about PFA, India's largest animal welfare organization, chaired by Mrs Maneka Gandhi. Mahendra contacted her and she was impressed by the work he was doing. Mrs Gandhi asked him to start a PFA chapter in Ahmedbad.
Thus, in 2004, he started the shelter. It took a long time for Mehendra to find the land where the shelter could be set up. Finally, Ramesh Bhai Patel, a native farmer from a village named Jundal, agreed to give his land for nothing. Along with a team of four doctors and many volunteers, the shelter now has 25 dogs that were unable to walk at all when they were brought in. Today, they' re slowly healing. Dogs that have healed with proper treatment are sent back to where they came from if the environment there is safe. However, the shelter will be home to the blind dogs for all their lives, says Mahendra.
The shelter runs on money coming from Mahendra's own pension of Rs. 45,000. There have been some financial crunches now and then, but Mahendra is determined that no matter what challenge comes their way, they' ll fight through.
1. What made Mahendra decide to do something for disabled and sick dogs?| A．His contact with PFA. | B．The encouragement of Gandhi. |
| C．A walk with a sick dog of Gandhi. | D．The death of a homeless sick dog. |
| A．He secured government funds. |
| B．He got a land from a local farmer for free. |
| C．He learned medical knowledge from doctors. |
| D．He met with much difficulty in finding volunteers. |
| A．Advantages. | B．Crisis. |
| C．Services. | D．Details. |
| A．Kind-hearted. | B．Humorous. |
| C．Open-minded. | D．Modest. |
7 . Social media is often a collection of highlights of people’s lives rather than a true reflection of reality. Although it can be a great tool to keep up with the lives of our friends, families and celebrities, it can also be pretty damaging as we judge our lives in comparison to those we see online.
One woman shared her experience which showed exactly why we shouldn’t believe everything we see on social media. After heading to the pool, Jen watched as a young mum and her daughter entered, dressed in swimming suits. The mum took a few selfies (自拍) with her child. Jen said the young girl then asked if they could get into the pool but was told to wait while her parent took a photo of her in front of the pool.
“Mama glanced over at her but never got off the phone,” Jen wrote. “After 10 minutes mama ended her call, and then they left the pool. I sat there thinking about what I’d witnessed for a while afterwards. I imagined the photos she took being perfectly edited and posted so social media with a caption like ‘Pool time with my girl!’ ”
Jen then thought about another mum at home, in a messy house, tired because she’s spent her day cooking, caring, cleaning and playing with her children. “She’s going to look at that photo and she is going to compare herself to the ‘perfect mama’ at the pool. She’s going to feel like a failure. She’ll never know that how she spent her time that day was so much better in her children’s eyes than that ‘perfect mama’ at the pool.” Jen wrote.
What we see on social media isn’t always real. Sometimes, and often, it’s a complete set-up. Jen later added that she in no way intended to judge the mum for her actions or her reasons for doing it, but simply wanted to say that the edited photos we see on social media “are not a full depiction of real life”.
1. What can we learn about the young mum at the pool?| A．She was very familiar with Jen. |
| B．She didn’t swim in the pool at all. |
| C．She liked editing the photos of her daughter. |
| D．She was accompanying her daughter attentively. |
| A．She does a good job as a mum. |
| B．She dislikes photos on social media. |
| C．She loves exploring the true story of a photo. |
| D．She is not so good as the “perfect mama”. |
| A．Description. | B．Comparison. |
| C．Imagination. | D．Qualification. |
| A．Real life depends on social media. |
| B．Be yourself when using social media. |
| C．Social media is affecting our real life. |
| D．What we see on social media doesn’t reflect real life. |
8 . Whenever she was having a tough day, Selena Berry would look at the sky and imagine herself, flying high in the clouds above her troubled neighbourhood and challenging school life. "Flying makes you feel big, "Betty said. "You’re on top of everything. You look down and all you see is the view, the beauty. "
This summer, Berry and seven other African-American students in the Chicago area participated in a program to learn how to fly. The program is new and challenging for participants. In the end, successful students will graduate with a private pilot’s license.
The unique program is called Tuskegee Next. "It is a special effort to increase the number of African-Americans who can work as pilots. "said Stephen L. Davis, who owns a big company Wheaton , lllinois and founded the organization. The main mission of the group is to help students follow in the footsteps of the country’s first black military pilot Tuskegee. It costs about $25, 000 to take the lessons and pay for the flying time. But it is free for these students. Davis donates his own money and raises funds to cover the costs.
For much of his early life, Davis wanted to become a pilot. But growing up, he could not afford the expensive schooling. By the time he could afford lessons, he had a wife and children and did not want to take the risk. For the students, the benefits of learning to tly are greater than being pilots. "When you don’t see black pilots, you don’t think you can do it, he said. "Even if these kids don’t become pilots, learning to fly will give them confidence to do other great things. "
Tuskegee Next targets African-American teenagers from rough communities who might never have such a chance. The experience will change their lives and let them see a happy future. Some of the students in the program will receive a small stipend, which makes up for the summer jobs they would have otherwise.
All eight of the students have passed the written exam. Now they are spending hours piloting a Cessna airplane with an instructor. Some are already flying the planes alone. On a recent sunny afternoon, 20-year-old Quiana White spent about an hour alone in a Cessna airplane practicing turns. This was her first solo flight and her classmates crowded around her after she landed. "You’re not the same person once you go up on your own, "she said. "No matter what happens, I know I’m a pilot. "
1. Thinking of being in the sky brought Selena Berry_____| A．some relief from her daily life |
| B．some memories of her school life |
| C．some trouble her neighbours made |
| D．the beautiful view she saw from the sky |
| A．It encourages teenagers to serve in the army. |
| B．It aims to find another Tuskegee in the country. |
| C．It helps black teenagers build hope for their future. |
| D．It is a commercial organization founded by Davis. |
| A．Chance. | B．Fine. |
| C．Job. | D．Pay. |
| A．It quotes community leaders who see the difference this program has made. |
| B．It quotes students who have experienced its positive influence on their lives. |
| C．It quotes family members who have noticed the progress made by their kids. |
| D．It quotes a study that shows the program has positively changed the lives of teenagers. |
9 . A severe drought(干旱) that has caused water levels in Southeast Asia's Mekong River to drop to their lowest in more than 100 years could have devastating(毁灭性的) consequences for fish, as well as the tens of millions of people living and working along the river, experts warn.
This year, the dry conditions in the Mekong region persisted(持续) due to warm Pacific Ocean currents(洋流)known as the EI Nino effect. But climate change is also a driving factor, experts say, causing the rainy season to shorten considerably. The situation was made worse by hydropower (水利发电)dam operators upstream, in China and Laos , with holding water for their own purposes.
Many rice farmers in the region have been unable to plant their main crop, raising fears 'of a heavily diminished harvest this fall. Less water flow could also have a devastating impact on fish reproduction in the Mekong River basin. Perhaps even more alarming, experts expect that droughts and disruptions(中断)to the water flow of the Mekong will become more common, and they warn that it could eventually lead to the ruin of the entire ecosystem.
Originating in the Tibetan highlands, the Mekong River flows through six Asian counties before emptying into the South China Sea. The river basin is home to the largest inland fishery in the world and more than 60 million people depend on it for their livelihoods.
Few rivers in the world rise and fall with the seasons as much as the Mekong, which can drop Few rivers in the world rise and fall with the seasons as much as the Mekong, which can drop up to40 feet in some places at the end of the dry season. When the rainy season arrives, they normally produce a flood pulse that brings with it sediment(沉淀) important to agriculture as well as huge amounts of tiny fish, including many critically endangered species such as the Mekong giant catfish, that are swept into the Tonle Sap Lake and other floodplains where they can mature.
1. What is true about the Mekong River?| A．The Mekong River basin is home to the largest fishery in the world. |
| B．The average depth of the Mekong River in the dry season is 40 feet. |
| C．The water of the Mekong River has fallen to the lowest level in history. |
| D．The Mekong River originates in China and flows into the South China Sea. |
| A．The benefits of the Mekong River this year, |
| B．The climate change of the Mekong River this year. |
| C．The natural disasters of the Mekong River this year. |
| D．The reasons for the drought of Mekong River this year. |
| A．Plentiful. | B．Decreasing. | C．Large. | D．Disappointing. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Neutral. | C．Worried. | D．Puzzled. |
10 . Bats (Firefly Books, 2011)by Phil Richardson helps to show readers the truth about bats. While bats get a bad name for their connection to mysterious vampires (吸血鬼）and their nightly habits, Richardson shines light onto the species and shows that bats are amazing and complex creatures for various reasons. The following is information about bat protection.
Bats are under threat in many areas of the world. Some have gone down to such a level that the remaining numbers may not be enough to keep the species. Threats to bat populations matter not just because bats are attractive creatures in their own right.Our increasing familiarity with the term biodiversity from television, newspapers, magazines and other media reflects the importance biologists place on this kind of protection.
The easiest way to appreciate what is included is to recall the idea of food chains and webs from biology lessons at school. It all starts with the producers,the plants that produce the food in their leaves by photosynthesis (光合作用）. Animals such as caterpillars then join the chain and eat the leaves, other animals such as birds eat the caterpillars, and so on up the chain.If a species dies out, then there is a break in the chain, and predators (捕食者）that relied on that species could also die or grow weaker as there is less food available.
There is another important point,a single insect-eating bat may eat hundreds of insects a night. So bats help to keep a balance in the natural world.Besides, they are a great help to humans,as farmland, gardens and house wooden structures all suffer attacks from injurious insects and bats are useful in keeping down their numbers.
1. What is the general impression people have of bats?| A．Bats are not related to mysterious vampires. |
| B．Bats are often active during the day. |
| C．Bats are not good creatures. |
| D．Bats are helpful to humans. |
| A．Animals that feed on birds. | B．Animals that produce the food. |
| C．Animals that are under threat. | D．Animals that feed on leaves. |
| A．Bats only eat insects. | B．Bats can help balance nature. |
| C．Bats are helpless to humans. | D．Bats can reduce the number of people. |
| A．Bat protection needs attention. | B．Bat population is increasing. |
| C．Bats are insect-eating animals. | D．Bats are short of food. |
