A. engage B. assess C. combination D. intentions E. refresh F. understanding G. relaxed H. consciously I. return J. threatens K. regretfully |
“Dealing with money is a basic life skill”
Why financial transactions are about relationships and why the
quality of the relationship is more important than the transaction itself.
British psychologist, William Bloom, has long argued that society would benefit if money flowed more freely-if, for example, people regularly give part of their salaries or profits to charity.
When you say, “Money should flow more freely,” what do you mean?
“There are two metaphors that I like to use for money. One is the energy of the environment and human nature. Money represents a(n)
Money still isn’t flowing freely.
A lot of it is dammed up in banks and in the hands of a small percentage of extremely wealthy individuals. “We have to build a society in which we are not threatened by each other. The gap between the rich and the poor
How can we deal with money in a healthier way?
“When it comes to money, there is a lot of naiveté. Children need to be taught in school that dealing with money is a basic life skill. They need to be able to read a bank statement in a(n)
Another form of flow is giving. Can that be a kind of spiritual practice?
“Humans are paradoxical beings. It is possible to have pure
Bob’s problems began during his formative years. His parents got divorced when he was young, and neither of his parents wanted to raise him or his brother and sister, so he
Unfortunately, his foster father was a strict authoritarian and often beat him. Bob rebelled against this strict upbringing, and by the time he was eight years old, he
This has raised some interesting questions about the modern family system.
In fact, many people believe that we
3 . Martha Stewart was charged, tried and convicted of a crime in 2014. As she neared the end of her prison sentence, a well-known columnist wrote that she was “paying her dues,” and that “there is simply no reason for anyone to attempt to deny her right to start anew. ”
At least 65 million people in the United States have a criminal record. This can result in severe penalties (惩罚) that continue long after punishment is completed.
Many of these penalties are imposed regardless of the seriousness of the offense or the person’s individual circumstances.
In all, more than 45,000 laws and rules serve to exclude vast numbers of people from fully participating in American life. Some laws make senses. No one advocates letting someone convicted of pedophilia (恋童癖) work in a school.
These laws are also counterproductive (适得其反), since they make it harder for people with criminal records to find housing or a job, two key factors that reduce backsliding. A recent report makes several recommendations, including the abolition of most post-conviction penalties, except for those specifically needed to protect public safety.
The point isn’t to excuse or forget the crime. Rather, it is to recognize that in America’s vast criminal justice system, and second chances are crucial. It is in no one's interest to keep a large segment of the population on the margins of society.
A.Criminals should pay the price of finding housing or a job and getting qualifications for benefits. |
B.Surely, the American ideal of second chances shouldn’t be reserved only for the rich and powerful. |
C.But too often collateral (附随的) consequences bear no relation to public safety. |
D.Where the penalties are not a must, they should be imposed only if the facts of a case support it. |
E.American’s vast criminal justice system provides criminals with necessary support for living. |
F.Laws can restrict or ban voting, access to public housing, and professional and business licensing. |
4 . THE GLOBAL WASTE TRADE IS ESSENTIALLY BROKEN
Cut into hillside in northern Malaysia stands a large, open-air warehouse. This is a recycling factory, which opened last November. On a very hot afternoon in January, Shahid Ali was working his very first week on the job. He stood knee-deep in soggy, white bits of plastic. Around him, more bits floated of the conveyor belt and fell to the ground like snowflakes.
Hour after hour, Ali sorts through the plastic jumble moving down the belt, picking out pieces that look off-color or soiled-rejects (废品) in the recycling process. Though it looks like backbreaking work, Ali says it is a great improvement over his previous job, folding bed-sheets in a nearby textile factory, for much lower pay. Now, if he eats simply, he can save money from his wages of just over $l an hour and send $250 a month to his parents and six brothers and sisters in Peshawar, Pakistan, 2,700 miles away, “As soon as I heard about this work, I asked for a job,” says Ali, 24, a bearded man with glasses and an easy smile. Still, he’s working 12 hours a day, seven days a week. “If I take a day off, I lose a day’s wages,” he says.
In the warehouse, hundreds of bags are stacked more than 60 feet high-each stuffed with plastic wrappers and bags thrown away weeks earlier by their original users in California. The fact that the waste has traveled to this distant corner of the planet in the first place shows how badly the global recycling economy has failed to keep pace with humanity’s plastics addiction. This is an ecosystem that is deeply dysfunctional, if not on the point of collapse: About 90% of the millions of tons of plastic the world produces every year will eventually end up not recycled, but burned, buried, or dumped.
Plastic recycling enjoys ever-wider support among consumers: Putting yogurt containers and juice bottles in a blue bin is an eco-friendly act of faith in millions of households. But faith goes only so far. The tidal wave of plastic items that enters the recycling stream each year is increasingly likely to fall right back out again, casualties of a broken market. Many products that consumers believe (and industries claim) are “recyclable" are in reality not, because of hard economics. With oil and gas prices near 20-year lows, so-called virgin plastic, a product of petroleum feed-stocks, is now far cheaper and easier to obtain than recycled material. That unforeseen shift has yanked the financial rug out from under what was until recently a practical recycling industry. “The global waste trade is essentially broken,” says the head of the global plastics campaign at Greenpeace. “We are sitting on vast amounts of plastic with nowhere to send it and nothing to do with it.”
1. What is the author’s attitude towards Shahid Ali?A.Critical. | B.Merciless. | C.Indifferent. | D.Sympathetic. |
A.The prices of oil and gas have been increasing. |
B.Tons of wastes travel so far before being recycled. |
C.Recyclable products are not really recycled. |
D.Governments don’t support the recycling industry. |
A.Out of stock. | B.Far from pleased. | C.Full of energy. | D.Out of order. |
A.To illustrate how plastic waste has been recycled in the world. |
B.To warn people that the global waste trade is essentially broken. |
C.To analyze the relationship between consumers and factories. |
D.To solve the conflict between the recycling industry and governments. |
5 . Overseas Learning
Somerset Yew Wah Classroom, UK
Somerset Yew Wah Classroom program is a unique English language and life education program in the Yew Wah secondary curriculum catered for Grade 6, Grade 8 and Grade 10 students. Established in 2006, the Somerset English learning and cultural center provides a distinctive opportunity for students to experience an authentic English environment. The Centre is located in a traditional English village in Somerset Sibley’s Barn and the Knowle Hall campus, a newly renovated Victorian-era country house built on 15 acres of land in beautiful open parkland, is situated close to our Sibley Barn’s Centre and was established in 2016. The Somerset program provides an excellent cross-cultural experience which enhances self-confidence, independence, teamwork and leadership skills of students. The Somerset program continues upon students’ return to China.
World Classroom
World Classroom is a concept of learning beyond the school building walls. It is an extension of the experimental, project-based learning at the core of the Yew Wah educational model. The World Classroom program is just one of the unique experiences which allow students to sample major cultures of the world, including European, African, Middle Eastern, Pacific and Anglo-American.
Experiencing China
The program provides secondary students with the opportunities to gain insights into Chinese history and culture by visiting various regions of China. This residential program broadens students’ understanding of their own country. Through first-hand cross-cultural experiences, the programs increase students’ understanding of various cultures, promote critical thinking, and help students develop an appreciation of different viewpoints. The programs ultimately help prepare our students for an evolving modern world by nurturing their cross-cultural knowledge and skills, international-mindedness and attitudes on their becoming true global citizens with a commitment to serve the community and society.
Trips and Excursions
Trips and excursions allow students to enhance societal visions, enrich life experiences and strengthen communication and problem-solving skills. Students participate in Hong Kong Hike, one of the most traditional annual outdoor activities where students rely heavily on teamwork and personal willpower to reach the destinations when facing survival challenges. “After the hike, he grew into almost a different person. He became more mature and now capable of taking care of himself, and more responsible,” said a parent of her son. These qualities are exactly what Hong Kong Hike wants to achieve.
1. Why do students participate in Somerset Yew Wah classroom in UK?A.To do research on British cultures and appreciate beautiful views. |
B.To enhance self-confidence, independence, teamwork and leadership skills. |
C.To have a special campus tour to Sibley’s Barn and the Knowle Hall. |
D.To show their appreciation of British history and their own cultures. |
A.be capable of taking care of himself and their parents |
B.compare learning in China with learning overseas |
C.broaden their understanding of their own country |
D.interpret globalization and promote Chinese culture |
A.It empowers students to have teamwork, willpower and responsibility. |
B.It helps students to share a better understanding of the world around them. |
C.It works out a way to resolve the conflicts between parents and the students. |
D.It enhances students’ international-mindedness and shapes attitudes to others. |
6 . The members of the group saw each other regularly, because they all had serious health problems. Twelve-year-old Marc was autistic (自闭症). But here, in the group circle, they could talk about what they felt. Here they could listen to the others and provide each other with some of the human attention they often so terribly missed.
But that evening, they didn’t know how to talk about what had just happened: Paul had died. The group would never again enjoy his animated laughter. Everyone stared straight ahead. Only sadness and a sense of impotence rose to the surface. No matter what she tried, Jackie, the nurse facilitating the group, couldn’t get a conversation going.
Then Jackie described how people in some cultures, when they were sad and wanted to share their feelings but could not find the words to express their sorrow, would sit in a circle and make rhythmic music together. Then everyone picked up one of the djembe drums in the room. Jackie began softly beating hers and the others joined in. Boom-boom-ta, boom-boom-ta. Slowly, they let the rhythm carry them away. Marc had trouble keeping time with the others and gave Jackie a frightened look. She smiled her encouragement, and he focused as well as he could. Jackie began to play slowly, and the others followed. At her sign, a few began to drum out of time with the beat.
Suddenly, the rhythm of the music changed. Everyone was playing his or her own melody: no one was leading the park. Everyone was carried by the music. Gradually, the sadness found its way out. Karin, in a wheelchair, was the first to think of how much Paul had enjoyed making music with the rest of the group. Then the others told their own stories. Their faces were wet with tears-as were the instruments-but still the rhythm carried them. They felt as one, with each other and with Paul. These were tears of sorrow and mourning, but also of solidarity and connection.
Henri began to smile, and the rest soon joined him. The rhythm quickened. Their combined music held power and energy. Marc felt relieved. A broad smile lit up his face, and the others were happy to see him this way. Then the situation had changed completely. Sorrow had made way for hope.
People have been making rhythmic music in groups, using drums. It is a tradition, wherein healing takes place through the spirit and the emotions, through contact with the body and its subtle powers of self-healing. In a recent study, physician Barry Bittman showed that making rhythmic music in a group affects our physical condition. Immune cells in particular are stimulated to greater activity.
1. The members of the group meet regularly to ___________________.A.find a solution to their health problems | B.tell interesting stories |
C.share their feelings and emotions | D.play music instruments |
A.Marc couldn’t talk about what he felt. | B.Paul’s death made them feel sorrowful. |
C.Jackie couldn’t facilitate other members. | D.Henri found it hard to express his sadness. |
A.She gave him an encouraging smile. | B.She talked about her own experiences. |
C.She taught him how to play djembe drums. | D.She paused and let the rhythm carry on. |
A.Getting together makes people feel sorrowful. | B.It’s a tradition to make rhythmic music. |
C.Why immune cells are stimulated to greater activity. | D.How music captures the rhythm of the soul. |
7 . A cure for the future in the past?
For over fifty years, the people of Britain have relied on the welfare state to make sure they have adequate health services. But now the National Health Service is sick. Government
For some, however, there are
Consider these case studies:
Maude is 76 years old and has been suffering from arthritis for almost ten years. “The pain in my joints was almost
Ron is 46. His high-powered city job was
So is there still a place in our lives for modern medicine? While it is true that some infections and viruses may be
A.support | B.restrictions | C.cutbacks | D.concern |
A.programs | B.alternatives | C.measures | D.scales |
A.comeback | B.living | C.change | D.mess |
A.unique | B.uncertain | C.universal | D.unbearable |
A.permission | B.surgery | C.supervision | D.strength |
A.condition | B.desperation | C.general | D.particular |
A.protect | B.recover | C.relieve | D.treat |
A.eager | B.grateful | C.famous | D.responsible |
A.treatments | B.sources | C.spirits | D.comments |
A.supervised | B.declared | C.recommended | D.tempted |
A.contributing | B.adapting | C.subjecting | D.objecting |
A.moderate | B.active | C.negative | D.suitable |
A.identifying | B.investigating | C.estimating | D.worsening |
A.prevented | B.empowered | C.indicated | D.restored |
A.undertaking | B.invading | C.investing | D.evolving |
A.The ever-rising childcare prices. | B.The balance between work and family. |
C.The budget of family expenses. | D.The selection of a good daycare center. |
A.The prices of childcare vary greatly from state to state. |
B.Increased childcare prices have not led to better service. |
C.Childcare workers’ pay has not increased with the rising childcare costs. |
D.There is a severe shortage of childcare professionals in a number of states. |
A.Caregivers should receive regular professional training. |
B.Less strict rules about childcare might lower the costs. |
C.It is crucial to strike a balance between quality and costs. |
D.It is better for different states to learn from each other. |
A.They find it hard to collect books for the children. |
B.They have called all club members to contribute. |
C.They are satisfied with the result of their work. |
D.They seem disappointed with what they have done. |
A.She had meant to attend the 19th Asian Games. |
B.She did watch the opening ceremony on TV. |
C.She regretted missing the opening ceremony. |
D.She should have asked her classmate to call her earlier. |