1 . Big Thinkers Series
The 2022 Big Thinkers Series from New Scientist events features four online talks, covering a wide range of topics by world-class scientist speakers and experts. If you are curious about your planet or your universe, then this series is your place to hear the latest research.
Save £20 off the standard ticket price by purchasing a series ticket to all four talks in the Big Thinkers Series (available on-demand) or purchase single tickets for just £13 per lecture (available by early booking).
Reality+: From the Matrix to the Metaverse with David Chalmers
In this talk, philosopher David Chalmers argues that Metaverse-style virtual worlds experienced through headsets are also genuine and meaningful realities and we can live a meaningful life in VR.
What we don’t know about gravity with Claudia de Rham
We are all familiar with the concept of gravity. In this talk, Professor Claudia de Rham will explore how much we actually know about gravity and how much more there is left to uncover.
A Brief History of Timekeeping with Chad Orzel
From Stonehenge to atomic clocks, here is the 5, 000-year history of how science is used to mark time. Chad Orzel, the internationally bestselling author of How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog, offers us a witty journey through scientific theory and quirky (反常的) historical detail.
Physics at the End of the universe with Katie Mack
The Big Bang theory tells the story of the beginning of the universe for the last 13. 8 billion years. But how does the story end? Join astronomer Katie Mack as she shares what modern astrophysics tells us about the final fate of the universe.
1. How much does a series ticket cost?| A．£13. | B．£20. | C．£30. | D．£32. |
| A．The genuine reality. | B．The secrets of gravity. |
| C．The history of time marking. | D．The final fate of the universe. |
| A．They are all aimed at science lovers. | B．They are all concerned with gravity. |
| C．They will all be given by bestselling authors. | D．They will all be given by excellent physicians. |
Debbie, a 10-year-old boy, was living in North River Heights in upper Manhattan, New York. He had a rare medical facial deformity(畸形). Due to several surgeries, Debbie had been home-schooled by his mother, but as Debbie was approaching the fifth grade, his mother decided to send him to Beecher Prep, a mainstream private school.
In order to protect his face skin, Debbie had to apply ointment (药膏)to his face, which made him look like wearing a special face mask.
At the beginning of the schooldays, he was rejected by nearly the entire student body for his strange look, which was a difficult period for him. Luckily, a girl named Summer, who offered to sit with him on his first day of school, helped him get through the tough time. They often played together and chatted about their favourite subject—science. And they became good friends.
Gradually, Debbie’s outstanding learning ability and kind behaviour made him popular among students. Since Debbie was expert in science, his classmates would turn to him whenever they had problems in learning. Debbie was always more than willing to help them. Naturally his kindness and warm heart won him a group of good friends and Debbie’s classmates got used to the way his face looked as well.
On Halloween, Debbie’s school held varieties of festival activities, every classroom decorated with flowers and toys. All classmates were dressing up. Debbie joined in it and wore a Ghost Face mask and costume. They all had fun pretending to be their favorite characters. Unrecognized, he was walking through the door to his classroom when he overheard his classmate Jack telling his roommates: “I have never seen an uglier face than Debbie’s.” On hearing this, Debbie felt sad and disappointed, leaving secretly. Summer happened to stand behind Debbie and meet the incident, but it was too late to stop it. As Debbie’s best friend at school, Summer thought Debbie was a nice boy and deserved to be treated kindly.
After a second thought, Summer went to Jack’s room.
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Jack decided to say sorry to Debbie.
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1.描述现状；
2.给出建议；
3.发出呼吁。
注意：1.写作词数应为80左右；
2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
全民健康生活方式日National Healthy Lifestyle Day
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4 . Being honest may not get you a lot of friends, but it will get you the right ones. That’s true, so you should pursue authentic positivity in your friendships, the opposite of toxic (有毒的) positivity that would have you encouraging friends in all things, regardless of what you might feel or observe or know about the challenges of life.
1. Ask questions.
A feature of authentic positivity is a curious mindset, a mentality where you are less locked into “telling it like it is” and more interested in wondering and exploring the possibilities together with your friend.
2.
“That’s so disappointing” is sometimes the most positive thing you can say to your friend when they are struggling. Resisting the urge to say “It’s all going to work out; don’t worry” shows your friend that you see them in their pain, and that you are available to support them here and now.
3. Learn to apologize —and ask for an apology.
| A．Name hard truths. |
| B．Don’t disappoint your friend. |
| C．Every friend misses the mark sometimes. |
| D．Instead, friends should be authentic and positive. |
| E．Here are three ways to be an authentically positive friend. |
| F．But that doesn’t mean you need to focus on the negative all the time. |
| G．Positive friends ask each other questions, and listen deeply to the answers. |
On the first day of fourth grade, my teacher, Mrs. Brown, told my class a story about her husband Rob, who is a brain cancer survivor. She became emotional as she talked about their journey through his treatment and recovery. After what Mrs. Brown experienced with Rob’s illness, she decided to devote part of her life to helping people in similar situations. She told us about a local organization she was a part of called Be Head Strong, which works to support and comfort families with a member suffering from brain cancer.
Mrs. Brown never showed any sadness about the disease. She instead spoke only with words of determination to find a cure. Through her positive spirit she showed us how strong hope could be.
My parents taught me form a very young age that making wise choices with my money is important. I would always set aside most of my $2.50-a-week allowance. By the end of the school year, I had saved over one hundred dollars, $131.30 to be exact. One day I was wondering what to do with it. I thought about the stories Mrs. Brown told us. I decided that was where I wanted my money to go.
As the last day of school approached, I told my parents about my gift for Mrs. Brown. My mom helped me wrap the heart-shaped box full of dollars and coins. After all the other kids had left on the last day of school, I handed Mrs. Brown the present. As she opened it, I told her that I wanted the money to go to Be Head Strong to help people like Rob. She broke into tears and hugged me tightly. At last, she invited me to Be Head Strong’s annual fundraiser and auction.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
The night’s theme was hope and giving and many stories were shared.
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At the end of the night’s auction, people were asked to donate what they could.
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6 . HSBC/British Council Mandarin Chinese (普通话) Speaking Competition
Does your school teach Mandarin Chinese? Enter your students into the HSBC / British Council Mandarin Chinese Speaking Competition and they could be heading off to Beijing in April next year!
The competition is for UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man secondary school students and college students.
Regional heats will take place in Newcastle on 6 December and in Glasgow on 16 December this year and the final will be held at the British Museum in London on 10 February next year. The prize is a week-long cultural visit to Beijing in April next year for the winning students and the teacher from the school of the winning group.
Entry rules:
A school may enter up to a maximum of 3 students for the competition. Students entering the Beginner. Intermediate (中级的), Intermediate+ and Advanced categories:
*must be non-native speaking learners of Mandarin Chinese;
*may not be from a Chinese speaking household;
*may not have lived in a country where Mandarin Chinese is an official language.
Beginner category is for students who have learnt Mandarin Chinese for less than 1 year. Intermediate category is for students who have learnt Mandarin Chinese for 1-3 years. Intermediate+ category is for students who have learnt Mandarin Chinese for 4-5 years. Advanced category is for students who have learnt Mandarin Chinese for more than 5 years.
The closing date for entries is 13 October this year. For enquiries, please contact the British Council: Tel: 0161 957 7755; E-mail: chinaschools@britishcouncil.org.
1. When will the competition in Newcastle take place?| A．On 13 October this year. | B．On 6 December this year. |
| C．On 16 December this year. | D．On 10 February next year. |
| A．A British college student from a Mandarin-speaking family. |
| B．A Londoner from a Welsh-speaking household. |
| C．A high school student of Scotland. |
| D．A native of Northern Ireland. |
| A．Intermediate+. | B．Intermediate. | C．Beginner. | D．Advanced. |
7 . It is now China that holds the crown of high-speed train capital of the world. Here are some of our picks for the greatest high-speed rail journeys.
The Shangri-La Train
Currently the longest high-speed rail route in the world and taking less than 11 hours to travel more than 2700 km on the quickest service, the Beijing to Kunming train is a truly epic high-speed train journey. The train is named in honor of one of Yunnan’s most famous cities, mythical Shangri-La.
The Panda Train
Taking between 12 and 13 hours to travel 1690 km, this train zips along from an ancient Chinese capital to the panda capital of the world. In route, the train passes through Yichang. It’s here that you can stop off for a glimpse of the massive Three Gorges Dam.
The Silk Road Train
The first high-speed train to extend out into China’s vast western regions connects the 1776 kilometers between Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, and Lanzhou, capital of Gansu, in a little under 12 hours. The train follows the ancient Silk Road via the town of Turpan, geographically the lowest place in China at 154m below sea level.
The Island Train
When it opened in 2015, this was the world’s first circular high-speed rail-way line, whirling 650km around south China’s tropical Hainan island, in about five hours, providing passengers with wonderful views of the South China Sea and the best beaches.
1. What do we know about The Shangri-La Train?| A．It’s named after a city of Yunnan. |
| B．It has the roughest route of the four. |
| C．It runs at a speed of 245 km/h all the way. |
| D．It travels along the longest railway in the world now. |
| A．The Shangri-La Train. | B．The Panda Train. |
| C．The Silk Road Train. | D．The Island Train. |
| A．An agent | B．A traveller | C．A driver | D．A designer |
8 . China successfully launched 22 new satellites in a single ride on Sunday morning, setting a new national record, from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in southern Hainan Province.
A modified (改进的) version of China’s Long March-8 carrier rocket blasted off (发射升空) at 11:06 am and flew for more than 15 minutes before deploying all of the 22 small satellites into their designated (指定的) orbits.
The satellites, built by seven institutes and private companies, have individual tasks including collecting commercial remote-sensing data, environmental monitoring, forest fire prevention and disaster reduction.
“You can call it a shared rocket if you want, said Xiao Yun”, the commander in chief for the launch. “We prepare one or two types of rockets every year for that. If there are many satellites to launch, we use a big rocket. If only a few to launch, we have smaller rockets.”
Today’s launch marks the 409th mission of China’s Long March rocket series.
Long March-8 has been redesigned and this is the second launch of the Long March-8 rocket, which is designed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) aiming at commercial launches. The first mission launched in late 2020.
It’s clearly noticeable in the launch video that the new rocket lacks the two boosters (助推器) found on its predecessor (上一代), which means the design is one step closer to making the first stages reusable like SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
Reusable design can save launch costs and help achieve better commercial success.
“The Long March-8 can launch 3 tonnes of satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) or medium Earth orbit”, said Wu Yitian, deputy chief designer of the rocket. “Such rockets are urgently needed by the market, especially to launch Earth observation satellites.”
A China Media Group report said the Long March-8 will hopefully become the main type for future LEO missions.
1. What does the underlined word “deploying” in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Placing. | B．Applying. | C．Lifting. | D．Linking. |
| A．SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is equipped with two boosters. |
| B．Reusable design of rockets has a promising future. |
| C．The 22 small satellites launched have a common task. |
| D．LEO missions have adopted the Long March-8 as its main type. |
| A．One or two rockets are shared per year. |
| B．Satellites share the same commercial tasks. |
| C．Satellites launched into space share one rocket. |
| D．Rocket launches have been shared among institutes. |
| A．Reusable Design has been A Trend in Rocket Making Industry. |
| B．Shared Rockets have Achieved Remarkable Success in the Market. |
| C．China Successfully Launches Multi-functional Satellites into Space. |
| D．China Sends 22 Satellites into Orbit with Redesigned Long March-8. |
Ten years ago, Melanie and Jeremy Zanni
Luckily, residents from the town joined hands to help the
“I am so grateful that we are living in a community
10 . Collette Divitto, 31, was born with Down's Syndrome (唐氏综合征) but she is far from disabled. This woman channeled her passion for baking into a cookie business with a global mission to change the world, one, cookie at a time.
Based in Boston, Massachusetts, her company was founded in 2016. Although she didn’t plan on being a business owner, she really created jobs for disabled people with all types of abilities. She said that she opened the bakery after receiving numerous job interview rejections, often being told she was not “a good fit” for the company. “It was sad and it was hard,” she said. “To me, it felt like they didn’t like me at all because of who I am. No one would hire me, so I decided to open my own business.”
The path to success wasn’t easy. Divitto’s mother Rosemary Alfredo didn’t raise her daughter to think of herself as different from her classmates. But this changed when Divitto was in the fourth grade and she was bullied by a boy in her class who started calling her “Down Syndrome”. Her mother had to have a conversation with her about what it meant and from then on, Divitto worked hard to be fully accepted at school.
Divitto is not resting on her laurels (荣誉). A big part of her company’s mission is to help people with disabilities find jobs. She is also the author of two children’s books and she was featured on the documentary Born for Business, about pioneers with disabilities. Divitto also runs a nonprofit organization, Collettey’s Leadership Org.
Her first priority is to let people start seeing abilities in the physically disadvantaged and to employ the 82 percent of the people with disabilities who are capable of working but cannot find jobs. With her drive and vision, Divitto is sure to be a success.
1. What drove Divitto to Start her own business?| A．The desire to help others. |
| B．The failure to find a job. |
| C．The prospect of bakery. |
| D．The passion for baking. |
| A．She attempts to be a pioneer. |
| B．She aims to assist the disabled. |
| C．She wants to enlarge her business. |
| D．She plans to direct a documentary. |
| A．Equal human rights. |
| B．Their working conditions. |
| C．Chances of self-development. |
| D．Recognition of their abilities. |
| A．Independent and strict. |
| B．Ambitious and humorous. |
| C．Determined and responsible. |
| D．Outgoing and knowledgeable. |
