1 . 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. |
2 . Long March (长征) exhibition
The Shanghai History Museum is putting on an exhibition to remember the Long March. More than 220 photos and 40 other things are on show. All the exhibition is explained in Chinese. The show will end on November 20.
Time: 10：00 am-4：00 pm
Address: 1286 Hongqiao Road
Ticket: 8 yuan for Chinese/15 yuan for foreigners
Thai elephants
Eight elephants from Thailand are an attraction for visitors at Changfeng Park by riding bikes, playing basketball, dancing and blowing a musical instrument. The elephants give three shows a day at 9:30 am, 3:30 pm and 8:00 pm, and there is an extra show at 1:30 pm at weekends. The show will end on November 15.
Address: 189 Daduhe Road
Ticket: 30-40 yuan
Dancing dolphins
Dolphins jumping from the water to touch a ball, dancing to music, kissing people and doing easy maths problems, have made a large part of the aquarium in Peace Park, which interests children greatly. Seals and sea lions also perform.
Time: 10:30 am, 4:00 pm, and 7:30 pm
Ticket: 20 yuan for adults and 10 yuan for children
1. Where can one see the Long March exhibition?| A．In Shanghai History Museum. | B．In Changfeng Park. |
| C．In Peace Park. | D．On 189 Daduhe Road. |
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
| A．Ten yuan. | B．Twenty yuan. | C．Thirty yuan. | D．Forty yuan. |
| A．The Long March exhibition is explained in English. |
| B．The sea animals can work out difficult maths problems. |
| C．Thai elephants’ shows can only be seen in the day. |
| D．The sea animals perform three times a day. |
3 . As a young adult, Noah Webster was a teacher. At this time, the colonies were fighting for independence from Britain. Yet the books that American children used in school all came from Britain. The books were all about British people and British places. Webster wanted books that would mean more to American children. So he wrote three books that used American examples—a grammar book, a spelling book, and a reader. These books were very popular, and millions of them were sold.
Webster was interested in changing the spellings of words. He wanted words to be spelled the way they were pronounced. For example, he thought the word “head” should be spelled “hed”, and the word “laugh” should be spelled “laf”. People liked Webster's suggestions.
However, few words were actually changed. One group of words that were changed were words in which an unpronounced “u” followed an “o”. That is why Americans write “color” and “labor”, and the British write “colour” and “labour”.
With the money he made from his books, Webster was able to write. It was the first American English dictionary, published in 1828.Webster's dictionary had over 70,000 words and gave the meaning and origin of each. To this day, Webster’s work is the example that most dictionaries of American English follow.
1. Which of the following statements is TRUE?| A．Noah Webster had to borrow books from Britain when he was a student. |
| B．Noah Webster had his own government when he was very young. |
| C．When Noah Webster taught at schools, he wrote some storybooks. |
| D．As a teacher, Noah Webster wasn’t satisfied with the books he used. |
| A．Webster spoke English in a different way |
| B．American people didn't write English as exactly as English people did |
| C．Webster was good at correcting mistakes in textbooks |
| D．American people didn't like speaking English |
| A．his teaching methods | B．his dictionary |
| C．his fighting for freedom | D．learning foreign languages |
4 . My 12-year-old daughter, Lauren, came home from school yesterday, proudly waving her grade book to me. She had been awarded A-1 in most subjects such as mathematics, language arts and science—a great achievement! Then she sadly pointed out that her perfect score was damaged by a B-1 in French and a C-1 in Physical Education.
I asked her what the scores meant. She said that the letter showed the achievement(成绩) and the number showed the effort. That moment I realized that the grades were misleading. I reached out my hands and gave her a big hug and told her in my mind she had a perfect score. It didn’t matter that her grade in French was a “B”—the “l” showed that she had tried her best. That is something to make any parent proud.
Everybody is different. Everybody has different potential(潜能). Not all of us will become linguists(语言学家) or sports stars. But without 100％effort no potential can be achieved. If I see a salesperson fail at sales, the first thing I want to examine is the effort being put in. If there is a problem with effort, the salesperson has no future. But if I see a salesperson isn’t successful with l00％effort, he or she is worth my effort in helping. Maybe a bit of training or some advice from a more successful person will help. I know that 100％effort, focus in the right direction, will always bring a result whether that is an “A” or a “C”. As long as you make 100％effort, you are great.
1. The author’s daughter was weak in _______.| A．maths. | B．science. | C．chemistry. | D．physical education. |
| A．High grades make parents proud. |
| B．Grades are important to children. |
| C．People hold a wrong idea of grades. |
| D．High grades show great achievements. |
| A．will give him training. |
| B．is willing to offer help. |
| C．will find an easy way for him. |
| D．may think he has no future. |
| A．trying his or her best. |
| B．achieving good grades. |
| C．having different potential. |
| D．giving other people useful advice. |
5 . Happiness is not a warm phone, according to a new study exploring the link between young life satisfaction and screen time. The study was led by professor of psychology Jean M. Twenge at San Diego State University (SDSU).
To research this link, Twenge, along with colleagues Gabrielle Martin at SDSU and W. Keith Campbell at the University of Georgia, dealt with data from the Monitoring the Future (MtF) study, a nationally representative survey of more than a million U. S. 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-graders. The survey asked students questions about how often they spent time on their Phones, tablets and computers, as well as questions about their face-to-face social interactions and their overall happiness.
On average found that teens who spent more time in front of screen devices — playing computer games, using social media, texting and video chatting — were less happy than those who invested more time in non-screen activities like sports, reading newspapers and magazines, and face-to-face social interactions.
"The key to digital media use and happiness is limited use," Twenge said. "Aim to spend no more than two hours a day on digital media, and try to increase the amount of time you spend seeing friends face-to-face and exercising — two activities reliably linked to greater happiness."
Looking at historical trends from the same age groups since the 1990s, it's easy to find that the increase of screen devices over time happened at the same time as a general drop-off in reported happiness in U. S. teens. Specifically, young peopled life satisfaction and happiness declined sharply after 2012. That's the year when the percentage of Americans who owned a smartphone rose above 50 percent. By far the largest change in teens' lives between 2012 and 2016 was the increase in the amount of time they spent on digital media, and the following decline in in-person social activities and sleep.
1. Which method did Twenge's team use for the study?| A．Calculating students' happiness. |
| B．Asking students certain questions. |
| C．Analyzing data from a survey. |
| D．Doing experiments on screen time. |
| A．By making a comparison. |
| B．By giving an example. |
| C．By making an argument. |
| D．By introducing a concept. |
| A．To draw a conclusion from the study. |
| B．To offer some advice to the readers. |
| C．To prove social activities' importance. |
| D．To support the researchers' finding. |
| A．Quitting Phones Equals Happiness |
| B．Screen Time Should Be Banned |
| C．Teens' Lives Have Changed Sharply |
| D．Screen-addicted Teens Are Unhappier |
6 . Located in the Bahamas, Andros Island is also known as “The Sleeping Giant”，yet with only about 8.000 people living on it. Now the island has a new luxury resort Caerula Mar Club- which opened this February. The once-abandoned property was discovered by a well- known HGTV reality star couple who transformed it into a hotel. The Canadian design duo Bryan and Sarah Baeumler were vacationing in the Bahamas in the summer of 2017 when they discovered a once-abandoned resort. They instantly decided to purchase it with hopes to transform the 10-acre beachfront property into a luxury hotel.
However, they had no idea how much the investment would end up costing them. Here most supplies had to be shipped in, and the property was in bad shape. The budget for the remodelling should be around $ 4 million, but they've spent well over $ 10 million. What's worse, in the fall of 2019, category 5 Hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas, and their employees and friends were affected.
Finally, several months later, as they prepared to open the resort to the public, the Coronavirus pandemic （大流行病）struck. They'd just been fully booked throughout the fall and winter months when the new disaster stopped everything as the Bahamas were put on lockdown.
With tourism opening up again, new plans are now for an October launch, but they're just taking things one day at a time. "I think at the end of this pandemic, well find many people are searching for a different experience，” says Bryan. "Instead of crowding into large resorts, they'll be going to properties where they can meet people, connect with the locals and experience nature. Our hotel is just such a place.”
Now the couple is focusing on the future while creating new development for visitors. “We certainly have plans to responsibly and sustainably develop the island that will help support the local economy says Bryan.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．Life on Andros Island is fast-paced. |
| B．Andros Island is lightly populated. |
| C．The couple built the hotel as planned. |
| D．The couple found the luxury hotel accidentally. |
| A．Finances and disasters. | B．The bad local economy. |
| C．Poor health conditions. | D．Local people's objections. |
| A．He thinks it's not worth the price. | B．He is worried about it. |
| C．He is confident about it. | D．He thinks it should be reevaluated. |
| A．The sustainable ways of developing the island. |
| B．The political effects of the hotel on the island. |
| C．The promising future of the tourism on the island. |
| D．The couple's determination to contribute to the island. |
7 . Everyone wants to be regarded as a reliable person. Being reliable is really necessary when it comes to maintaining(维系)friendships and doing well at work. Read on for ways to be more reliable.
Try not to over-promise.
Don't demand credit. People who demand praise for the things they've done often lose the goodwill that comes from the help they provided.
Respect everyone's time. The biggest rule of reliability is to have respect for other people's time. If you tell someone you can meet at a certain time, you've made a promise.
Be as truthful as possible. If you failed to finish the work on time, say so. If you don't understand the task, be honest about it. Don't hide or bend the truth and avoid spreading unreliable information.
| A．Change plans in advance. |
| B．Hang out with other reliable people. |
| C．It' s impolite to say "no" to a friend's request. |
| D．Your friends and co-workers know that you helped out. |
| E．Being on time shows others that you are a person of your word. |
| F．Saying "yes” to everything seems to be agreeable and thoughtful. |
| G．Telling the truth will let people come to see you as a person of reliability. |
8 . An advance in electronic publishing could make the e-book you are reading seem as dated as a silent film. Publishers hope to explore the growing success of e-books by releasing versions with added soundtracks（电影配音）and musical accompaniments.
The noises in the first multimedia books — released in Britain on Friday - include rain hitting a window in a Sherlock Holmes tale. When the plot of a book reaches the most exciting part, background scores will create tension.
Supporters argue that sound effects are the next logical development for e-books and will add excitement for younger readers. Critics, however, will argue that the noise will ruin the simple pleasure of having the imagination stimulated by reading.
Caroline Michel, chief executive of the literary agency, said the new generation of computer- literate readers was used to multiple sensory input. She said, “Young people have split computer screens where they may be watching television and replying to an email at the same time. If that's what the market wants then we should respond to the market.”
Book track's sound effects work by estimating the user's reading speed. Each lime you turn a page, the software reassesses where you have reached in the text and times the sounds to switch on accordingly. If the soundtrack becomes out of synch （同步），a click on any word will reset it.
Some authors fear that a soundtrack could destroy the peace and quiet of libraries and ruin the pleasure, of reading. David Nicholls, author of Our Day, the bestseller now released as a film, said, “This sounds like the opposite of reading. I have enough trouble reading an e-book because I'm constantly distracted by emails.
Stuart MacBride, the crime writer whose novel Shatter the Bones was an e-book bestseller, sells 18% of his books as electronic downloads. He said, “If I'm reading, I will do the noise in my head. I don’t need someone to tell me what lea cups clinking sounds like. That would irritate （激怒）me.”
1. What do publishers expect an e-book soundtrack to do?| A．Help to release an e-book as a film. | B．Help readers improve reading speed. |
| C．Add tension at a book's exciting point. | D．Get readers familiar with the background. |
| A．Mr. Darcy. | B．Caroline Michel. |
| C．David Nicholls. | D．Stuart MacBride. |
| A．He was a person who was easy to get angry. |
| B．He knew a great deal about tea and tea culture. |
| C．Eighty-two percent of his books described crime. |
| D．He imagined sounds related to the story when reading. |
| A．Opinions about e-books with soundtracks. |
| B．Response to the need of the book market. |
| C．Reasons for traditional e-books becoming outdated. |
| D．Suggestions on encouraging readers’ imagination. |
9 . At some point in the near future, self-driving cars may become common on the roads. Self-driving cars have already been test-driven, but they are not yet available for the public.
Self-driving cars have already been test-driven thousands of miles.
Another issue is that self-driving cars have maps programmed into their memory, but these maps aren't always updated and accurate.
| A．Self-driving cars has disadvantages. |
| B．These cars had only passengers, no drivers. |
| C．The safety problems have almost been addressed. |
| D．New roads are built, and old roads are closed down. |
| E．So why aren't self-driving cars common on roads today? |
| F．The self-driving cars can react to things only once they actually occur. |
| G．Self-driving vehicles also have difficulty adjusting to weather conditions. |
10 . Extreme athletes have been using wingsuits（翼装）to fly for many years. However, the pull of gravity makes it impossible to speed up or fly higher. To push past the limitations, Peter Salzmann teamed up with German car maker BMW. The result is an electrified wingsuit, which allows flyers to rise to higher altitudes at the speed of up to 186 miles per hour!
The 33-year-old professional wingsuit pilot first thought of creating the design in 2017, "At the time, I was developing suits for skydiving with a friend," he explains. "One evening after a day of testing, we threw out lots of ideas about how we could improve performance. One of them was a supporting motor-and it's an idea I just couldn't shake off. I found the idea of being able to jump from my local mountain wearing the wingsuit and land in my garden exciting."
To help with the process, Salzmann reached out to the experts at BMW's Designworks Studio. It took the team three years and multiple test jumps to perfect the design. The result is an updated version of wingsuit with two 5-inch propellers（螺旋桨）, Powered by a battery, the propellers can be controlled using an on/off switch and even stopped mid-flight using the emergency button, if the flyer encounters an airplane or a flock of birds.
On November 6, 2020, Salzmann, wearing his hi-tech suit, leaped from a helicopter from an altitude of 10,000 feet to soar around the mountain peaks. The expert pilot fired up the electric motors and rocketed forward, gliding above four mountain peaks. The task completed, the pilot opened his parachute（降落伞）and gently landed.
It is unclear if Salzmann and BMW plan to make the electrified wingsuits available to the general public. But, one can always hope!
1. What do we know about the new wingsuit?| A．It flies faster and higher. |
| B．It breaks away from gravity. |
| C．It's equipped with a car motor. |
| D．It has been used for many years. |
| A．What Salzmann's friend did to help him. |
| B．What Salzmann experienced in his career |
| C．How Salzmann became a professional pilot. |
| D．How Salzmann came up with the new design. |
| A．Press the emergency button. | B．Reach out to an expert. |
| C．Check the propellers. | D．Open the parachute. |
| A．Explore. | B．Search. | C．Fly. | D．Dig. |
