1 . On Oct. 11, hundreds of runners competed in a cross-country race in Minnesota. Melanie Bailey should have
As reported by a local newspaper, Bailey was more than two-thirds of the way through her
Once there, Lenoue was
As for Bailey, she is more
Although the two young women were strangers before the
A.designed | B.followed | C.changed | D.finished |
A.delay | B.chance | C.trouble | D.excuse |
A.judge | B.volunteer | C.classmate | D.competitor |
A.race | B.school | C.town | D.training |
A.agreed | B.returned | C.stopped | D.promised |
A.courage | B.aid | C.patience | D.advice |
A.went away | B.stood up | C.stepped aside | D.bent down |
A.medical | B.public | C.constant | D.equal |
A.interrupted | B.assessed | C.identified | D.appreciated |
A.hunger | B.pain | C.cold | D.tiredness |
A.worried | B.ashamed | C.confused | D.discouraged |
A.game | B.problem | C.lesson | D.deal |
A.leave | B.cure | C.bother | D.understand |
A.ride | B.test | C.meet | D.show |
A.secret | B.display | C.benefit | D.exchange |
2 . The goal of this book is to make the case for digital minimalism, including a detailed exploration of what it asks and why it works, and then to teach you how to adopt this philosophy if you decide it’s right for you.
To do so, I divided the book into two parts. In part one, I describe the philosophical foundations of digital minimalism, starting with an examination of the forces that are making so many people’s digital lives increasingly intolerable, before moving on to a detailed discussion of the digital minimalism philosophy.
Part one concludes by introducing my suggested method for adopting this philosophy: the digital declutter. This process requires you to step away from optional online activities for thirty days. At the end of the thirty days, you will then add back a small number of carefully chosen online activities that you believe will provide massive benefits to the things you value.
In the final chapter of part one, I’ll guide you through carrying out your own digital declutter. In doing so, I’ll draw on an experiment I ran in 2018 in which over 1,600 people agreed to perform a digital declutter. You’ll hear these participants’ stories and learn what strategies worked well for them, and what traps they encountered that you should avoid.
The second part of this book takes a closer look at some ideas that will help you cultivate (培养) a sustainable digital minimalism lifestyle. In these chapters, I examine issues such as the importance of solitude (独处) and the necessity of cultivating high-quality leisure to replace the time most now spent on mindless device use. Each chapter concludes with a collection of practices, which are designed to help you act on the big ideas of the chapter. You can view these practices as a toolbox meant to aid your efforts to build a minimalist lifestyle that works for your particular circumstances.
1. What is the book aimed at?A.Teaching critical thinking skills. | B.Advocating a simple digital lifestyle. |
C.Solving philosophical problems. | D.Promoting the use of a digital device. |
A.Clear-up. | B.Add-on. | C.Check-in. | D.Take-over. |
A.Theoretical models. | B.Statistical methods. |
C.Practical examples. | D.Historical analyses. |
A.Use them as needed. | B.Recommend them to friends. |
C.Evaluate their effects. | D.Identify the ideas behind them. |
3 . When John Todd was a child, he loved to explore the woods around his house, observing how nature solved problems. A dirty stream, for example, often became clear after flowing through plants and along rocks where tiny creatures lived. When he got older, John started to wonder if this process could be used to clean up the messes people were making.
After studying agriculture, medicine, and fisheries in college, John went back to observing nature and asking questions. Why can certain plants trap harmful bacteria (细菌)? Which kinds of fish can eat cancer-causing chemicals? With the right combination of animals and plants, he figured, maybe he could clean up waste the way nature did. He decided to build what he would later call an eco-machine.
The task John set for himself was to remove harmful substances from some sludge (污泥). First, he constructed a series of clear fiberglass tanks connected to each other. Then he went around to local ponds and streams and brought back some plants and animals. He placed them in the tanks and waited. Little by little, these different kinds of life got used to one another and formed their own ecosystem. After a few weeks, John added the sludge.
He was amazed at the results. The plants and animals in the eco-machine took the sludge as food and began to eat it! Within weeks, it had all been digested, and all that was left was pure water.
Over the years, John has taken on many big jobs. He developed a greenhouse — like facility that treated sewage (污水) from 1,600 homes in South Burlington. He also designed an eco-machine to clean canal water in Fuzhou, a city in southeast China.
“Ecological design” is the name John gives to what he does. “Life on Earth is kind of a box of spare parts for the inventor,” he says. “You put organisms in new relationships and observe what’s happening. Then you let these new systems develop their own ways to self-repair.”
1. What can we learn about John from the first two paragraphs?A.He was fond of traveling. | B.He enjoyed being alone. |
C.He had an inquiring mind. | D.He longed to be a doctor. |
A.To feed the animals. | B.To build an ecosystem. |
C.To protect the plants. | D.To test the eco-machine. |
A.To review John’s research plans. | B.To show an application of John’s idea. |
C.To compare John’s different jobs. | D.To erase doubts about John’s invention. |
A.Nature can repair itself. | B.Organisms need water to survive. |
C.Life on Earth is diverse. | D.Most tiny creatures live in groups. |
4 . Bike Rental & Guided Tours
Welcome to Amsterdam, welcome to MacBike. You see much more from the seat of a bike! Cycling is the most economical, sustainable and fun way to explore the city, with its beautiful canals, parks, squares and countless lights. You can also bike along lovely landscapes outside of Amsterdam.
Why MacBike
MacBike has been around for almost 30 years and is the biggest bicycle rental company in Amsterdam. With over 2,500 bikes stored in our five rental shops at strategic locations, we make sure there is always a bike available for you. We offer the newest bicycles in a wide variety, including basic bikes with foot brake (刹车), bikes with hand brake and gears (排挡), bikes with child seats, and children’s bikes.
Prices
Hand Brake, Three Gears | Foot Brake, No Gears | |
1 hour | €7.50 | €5.00 |
3 hours | €11.00 | €7.50 |
1 day (24 hours) | €14.75 | €9.75 |
Each additional day | €8.00 | €6.00 |
Guided City Tours
The 2.5-hour tour covers the Gooyer Windmill, the Skinny Bridge, the Rijksmuseum, Heineken Brewery and much more. The tour departs from Dam Square every hour on the hour, starting at 1:00 pm every day. You can buy your ticket in a MacBike shop or book online.
1. What is an advantage of MacBike?A.It gives children a discount. | B.It offers many types of bikes. |
C.It organizes free cycle tours. | D.It has over 2,500 rental shops. |
A.€15.75. | B.€19.50. | C.€22.75. | D.€29.50. |
A.The Gooyer, Windmill. | B.The Skinny Bridge. |
C.Heineken Brewery. | D.Dam Square. |
5 . As cities balloon with growth, access to nature for people living in urban areas is becoming harder to find. If you’re lucky, there might be a pocket park near where you live, but it’s unusual to find places in a city that are relatively wild.
Past research has found health and wellness benefits of nature for humans, but a new study shows that wildness in urban areas is extremely important for human well-being.
The research team focused on a large urban park. They surveyed several hundred park-goers, asking them to submit a written summary online of a meaningful interaction they had with nature in the park. The researchers then examined these submissions, coding (编码) experiences into different categories. For example, one participant’s experience of “We sat and listened to the waves at the beach for a while” was assigned the categories “sitting at beach” and “listening to waves.”
Across the 320 submissions, a pattern of categories the researchers call a “nature language” began to emerge. After the coding of all submissions, half a dozen categories were noted most often as important to visitors. These include encountering wildlife, walking along the edge of water, and following an established trail.
Naming each nature experience creates a usable language, which helps people recognize and take part in the activities that are most satisfying and meaningful to them. For example, the experience of walking along the edge of water might be satisfying for a young professional on a weekend hike in the park. Back downtown during a workday, they can enjoy a more domestic form of this interaction by walking along a fountain on their lunch break.
“We’re trying to generate a language that helps bring the human-nature interactions back into our daily lives. And for that to happen, we also need to protect nature so that we can interact with it,” said Peter Kahn, a senior author of the study.
1. What phenomenon does the author describe at the beginning of the text?A.Pocket parks are now popular. | B.Wild nature is hard to find in cities. |
C.Many cities are overpopulated. | D.People enjoy living close to nature. |
A.To compare different types of park-goers. | B.To explain why the park attracts tourists. |
C.To analyze the main features of the park. | D.To find patterns in the visitors’ summaries. |
A.Walking is the best way to gain access to nature. |
B.Young people are too busy to interact with nature. |
C.The same nature experience takes different forms. |
D.The nature language enhances work performance. |
A.Language study. | B.Environmental conservation. |
C.Public education. | D.Intercultural communication. |
1.人物简介及事迹;
2. 意义或启示。
注意:
1. 词数100左右;
2. 题目已为你写好。
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7 . Henry Raeburn (1756-1823)
The ExhibitionThis exhibition of some sixty masterpieces celebrating the life and work of Scotland’s best loved painter, Sir Henry Raeburn, comes to London. Selected from collections throughout the world, it is the first major exhibition of his work to be held in over forty years.
Lecture SeriesScottish National Portrait (肖像画) Gallery presents a series of lectures for the general public. They are held in the Lecture Room. Admission to lectures is free.
An Introduction to Raeburn Sunday 26 Oct., 15:00 DUNCAN THOMSON | Raeburn’s English Contemporaries Thursday 30 Oct., 13:10 JUDY EGERTON |
Characters and Characterisation in Raeburn’s Portraits Thursday 6 Nov., 13:10 NICHOLAS PHILLIPSON | Raeburn and Artist’s Training in the 18th Century Thursday 13 Nov., 13:10 MARTIN POSTLE |
Monday-Saturday 10.00-17.45 Sunday 12.00-17.45
Last admission to the exhibition: 17.15. There is no re-admission.
Closed: 24-26 December and 1 January.
Admission£4. Children under 12 years accompanied by an adult are admitted free.
Schools and CollegesA special low entrance charge of £2 per person is available to all in full-time education, up to and including those at first degree level, in organised groups with teachers.
1. What is the right time for attending Raeburn’s English Contemporaries?A.Sun. 26 Oct. | B.Thurs. 30 Oct. | C.Thurs. 6 Nov. | D.Thurs.13 Nov. |
A.£4. | B.£8. | C.£12. | D.£16. |
A.They should go on Sunday mornings. | B.They should come from art schools. |
C.They must be led by teachers. | D.They must have ID cards with them. |
8 . You’ve heard that plastic is polluting the oceans — between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes enter ocean ecosystems every year. But does one plastic straw or cup really make a difference? Artist Benjamin Von Wong wants you to know that it does. He builds massive sculptures out of plastic garbage, forcing viewers to re-examine their relationship to single-use plastic products.
At the beginning of the year, the artist built a piece called “Strawpocalypse,” a pair of 10-foot-tall plastic waves, frozen mid-crash. Made of 168,000 plastic straws collected from several volunteer beach cleanups, the sculpture made its first appearance at the Estella Place shopping center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Just 9% of global plastic waste is recycled. Plastic straws are by no means the biggest source (来源) of plastic pollution, but they’ve recently come under fire because most people don’t need them to drink with and, because of their small size and weight, they cannot be recycled. Every straw that’s part of Von Wong’s artwork likely came from a drink that someone used for only a few minutes. Once the drink is gone, the straw will take centuries to disappear.
In a piece from 2018, Von Wong wanted to illustrate (说明) a specific statistic: Every 60 seconds, a truckload’s worth of plastic enters the ocean. For this work, titled “Truckload of Plastic,” Von Wong and a group of volunteers collected more than 10,000 pieces of plastic, which were then tied together to look like they’d been dumped (倾倒) from a truck all at once.
Von Wong hopes that his work will also help pressure big companies to reduce their plastic footprint.
1. What are Von Wong’s artworks intended for?A.Beautifying the city he lives in. | B.Introducing eco-friendly products. |
C.Drawing public attention to plastic waste. | D.Reducing garbage on the beach. |
A.To show the difficulty of their recycling. |
B.To explain why they are useful. |
C.To voice his views on modern art. |
D.To find a substitute for them. |
A.Calming. | B.Disturbing. |
C.Refreshing. | D.Challenging. |
A.Artists’ Opinions on Plastic Safety |
B.Media Interest in Contemporary Art |
C.Responsibility Demanded of Big Companies |
D.Ocean Plastics Transformed into Sculptures |
9 . The Biggest Stadiums in the World
People have been pouring into stadiums since the days of ancient Greece. In around 80 A.D., the Romans built the Colosseum, which remains the world’s best known stadium and continues to inform contemporary design. Rome’s Colosseum was 157 feet tall and had 80 entrances, seating 50,000 people. However, that was small fry compared with the city’s Circus Maximus, which accommodated around 250,000 people.
These days, safety regulations-not to mention the modern sports fan’s desire for a good view and comfortable seat — tend to keep stadium capacities (容量) slightly lower. Even soccer fans tend to have a seat each; gone are the days of thousands standing to watch the match.
For the biggest stadiums in the world, we have used data supplied by the World Atlas list so far, which ranks them by their stated permanent capacity, as well as updated information from official stadium websites.
All these stadiums are still functional, still open and still hosting the biggest events in world sport.
·Rungrado 1st of May Stadium, Pyongyang D.P.R. Korea. Capacity: 150,000. Opened: May 1,1989.
·Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor, Michigan, U. S. Capacity: 107,601. Opened: October 1, 1927.
·Beaver Stadium, State College, Pennsylvania, U. S. Capacity: 106,572. Opened: September 17, 1960.
·Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio, U. S. Capacity: 104,944. Opened: October 7,1922.
·Kyle Field, College Station, Texas, U. S. Capacity: 102,512. Opened: September 24, 1927.
1. How many people could the Circus Maximus hold?A.104,944. | B.107,601. | C.About 150,000. | D.About 250,000. |
A.Michigan Stadium. | B.Beaver Stadium. | C.Ohio Stadium. | D.Kyle Field. |
A.They host big games. | B.They have become tourist attractions. |
C.They were built by Americans. | D.They are favored by architects. |
10 . When almost everyone has a mobile phone, why are more than half of Australian homes still paying for a landline (座机)?
These days you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in Australia over the age of 15 who doesn’t own a mobile phone. In fact plenty of younger kids have one in their pocket. Practically everyone can make and receive calls anywhere, anytime.
Still, 55 percent of Australians have a landline phone at home and only just over a quarter (29%) rely only on their smartphones according to a survey (调查). Of those Australians who still have a landline, a third concede that it’s not really necessary and they’re keeping it as a security blanket — 19 percent say they never use it while a further 13 percent keep it in case of emergencies. I think my home falls into that category.
More than half of Australian homes are still choosing to stick with their home phone. Age is naturally a factor (因素)— only 58 percent of Generation Ys still use landlines now and then, compared to 84 percent of Baby Boomers who’ve perhaps had the same home number for 50 years. Age isn’t the only factor; I’d say it’s also to do with the makeup of your household.
Generation Xers with young families, like my wife and I, can still find it convenient to have a home phone rather than providing a mobile phone for every family member. That said, to be honest the only people who ever ring our home phone are our Baby Boomers parents, to the point where we play a game and guess who is calling before we pick up the phone (using Caller ID would take the fun out of it).
How attached are you to your landline? How long until they go the way of gas street lamps and morning milk deliveries?
1. What does paragraph 2 mainly tell us about mobile phones?A.Their target users. | B.Their wide popularity. |
C.Their major functions. | D.Their complex design. |
A.Admit. | B.Argue. |
C.Remember. | D.Remark. |
A.They like smartphone games. | B.They enjoy guessing callers’ identity. |
C.They keep using landline phones. | D.They are attached to their family. |
A.It remains a family necessity. |
B.It will fall out of use some day. |
C.It may increase daily expenses. |
D.It is as important as the gas light. |