1 . Education has always been a hot topic.How to educate children can be a sweet but painstaking task for parents, many of whom try to offer their children the best environment. Competition between parents over children's education may start from the kind of animated (动画) series children watch.
By watching this show, children can learn more about the history of the Tang Dynasty and the development of Buddhist culture in China. Foreign shows can open a window for children to gain a better understanding of the outside world. So, children ought to be encouraged to watch both as long as the content of the show is beneficial.
This can also be applied to other things beyond animated series.
| A．Chinese shows have their own advantages. |
| B．Foreign animated series are always the first choice for parents. |
| C．Children often follow their parents' advice when choosing animated series. |
| D．For example,children can be encouraged to read folk tales at home and abroad. |
| E．Once the view is formed in children's minds, parents' education proves a failure. |
| F．This show is based on one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature. |
| G．For some parents, watching foreign animated shows is better than watching Chinese ones. |
2 . Finding a suitable name for a baby is a big deal in China.When picking out a Chinese name,parents usually select two or three characters that have a carefully thought out meaning, but when deciding on an English name, many of them struggle.That's where Jessup and her company, Special Name,come in. In the last few years, Jessup has helped name 677,900 Chinese babies, and earned over $400,000 in the process, more than enough to pay her college fees.
Jessup came up with the idea for Special Name in 2015,after accompanying her father on a business trip to China.One of her dad's business partners,a Mrs.Wang, asked her to help choose an English name for her daughter.Jessup felt honored and quickly realized the importance of choosing a proper name in Chinese culture.The woman wanted people to be surprised by the things her daughter could achieve,so Jessup suggested the name"Eliza"after the character Eliza Doolittle from the play Pygmalion.Mrs.Wang seemed delighted with Jessup's choice."If Mrs.Wang needed this service,maybe other parents would as well,"Jessup thought.
After returning to UK,Jessup borrowed ￡1,500 from her parents and paid a web designer to build a website,She then spent her free time filling up a database(数据库)with around 4,000 English names,associating them with five major personality characteristics,like honesty and optimism.
In the beginning, Jessup offered the service for free to promote the website,but later,she started charging fees.The business is almost completely self-sufficient,requiring only a small team in China that manages technical operations.She updates the database each month,allowing her to focus full-time on studies.
1. What's the purpose of Special Name?| A．To help Chinese teens go abroad. |
| B．To strengthen children's personalities. |
| C．To pick an English name for a Chinese baby. |
| D．To make a deal with Chinese parents. |
| A．A suggestion from a business partner. | B．Her interest in Chinese culture. |
| C．A Chinese mother's request. | D．A character from a play. |
| A．A woman with achievements. | B．A famous actress. |
| C．A successful businesswoman. | D．A western culture expert. |
| A．It offers free service. | B．It's updated every day. |
| C．It's operated completely by itself. | D．It is easy to manage. |
3 . Smart Home Products for Living a Connected Life
What makes something a smart home product? Generally, it’s defined by its ability to connect to a Wi-Fi network, allowing users to interact（互动）with it from their smartphones.We’ve rounded up some cool, diverse offerings that you’ll love to have in your home.
Nest Cam IQ
walmart.com
$299.00
The Nest Cam IQ is a beautifully designed home security camera that can recognize faces. It can warn you if there’s a stranger in your home. The device also supports two-way communication via built-in microphones and a powerful speaker.
Logitech Harmony Elite
amazon.com
$249.99
The Logitech Harmony Elite is one of the best universal remote controls available on the market. It can control just about every piece of electronics you own（it supports over 270，000 devices！）in every room of your house or apartment, including TVs，streaming devices, and sound systems.
Apple HomePod
bhphotovideo.com
$349.00
The Apple HomePod has better audio quality than any other smart speaker available today. Available in white or space gray, the Siri-powered device also allows you to control a number of devices with your voice.
August Smart Lock Pro
amazon.com
$279.99
The August Smart Lock Pro is compatible（兼容的）with most locks. A mobile app allows you to manage access to the lock, check its usage history, and get informed when someone opens the door. You can control it and check on the state of your door with voice commands.
1. What can the Nest Cam IQ help you do？| A．Properly use your smartphone camera |
| B．Control electronics with your voice. |
| C．Check the locks of your house. |
| D．Keep your home safe. |
| A．Nest Cam IQ. |
| B．Apple HomePod. |
| C．August Smart Lock Pro. |
| D．Logitech Harmony Elite. |
| A．Technology. |
| B．News. |
| C．Society. |
| D．Education. |
4 . Independence is something that can be difficult to achieve. But don’t worry because here we have four books that can help you. If you don’t buy less than three of them, you’ll be given a 20% discount!
The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
Taking care of your finance is hard. Dave Ramsey, a famous businessman, is here to take you on the whole process of planning your finance, and show the myths of cash advances and debt consolidation (债务重整), to make sure your finance is healthy.
Price: $14.49
Grace’s Guide by Grace Helbig
Grace Helbig shared her tips to becoming a grown-up. The book is full of personal stories of Helbig, her struggles and the lessons she learnt from failing many times. This book is your on-the-go fun read with pictures and drawings of Helbig, and worksheets (作记录) to practice.
Price: $7.95
The Oh She Glows Cookbook by Angela Liddon
Having suffered from eating disorder and living on diet, Angela Liddon promised to eat healthily forever. She threw out her fat-free butter spray (黄油喷雾) and low-calorie frozen dinners after learning how to properly cook. This book contains more than 100 recipes (食谱) covering breakfast, salads, soups, power snacks and the main dishes for a healthy meal at any time of the day. We all know that healthy eating is all part of being independent.
Price: $22.22
Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
Life can be hard, especially when it comes to relationships with others. In the book, Strayed gives advice on love and life. She writes about different subjects: a son rejected by his parents, a mother who has lost her child. And the message hidden throughout all her advice is always that, if you want a good life, you have to create it.
Price: $8.76
1. How much will you save at least if you buy three of the listed books?| A．$5.68. | B．$6.24. | C．$8.95. | D．$9.10. |
| A．It is about how to grow up healthily. |
| B．It is mainly about how to work better. |
| C．It is based on its author’s life experience. |
| D．It teaches readers to learn from others’ life stories. |
| A．Grace’s Guide. | B．Tiny Beautiful Things. |
| C．The Total Money Makeover. | D．The Oh she Glows Cookbook. |
5 . One-year-old Tallulah turned purple and stopped moving after the sweet became stuck in her throat. Her mum Leigh-Anne said the drama began during a visit to her grandma’s house when her grandparents gave her older kids some sweets.
“Then at about 4:45 pm, Tallulah started to choke—we all went into a panic.”
“It seemed like it went on for ages. Not one of us knew what to do.”
“I rang an ambulance while my grandma and granddad tried to get the sweet to come up.”
“Tallulah was panicking at first but then she started to go purple—she almost had no oxygen left in her.”
With her daughter limp (无力的) and time running out, Leigh—Anne knew she couldn’t afford to wait for the ambulance to arrive.
“The only thing I could think was to go out into the street.” She said.
“I rushed out and screamed for someone to help while my grandma rushed out crying with Tallulah.”
At exactly the moment, Caitlin, who is studying public services at Redcar College, was passing by Queen Street. She said, “I was waiting to go to work when I heard someone screaming for help, so I ran straight over.”
The 17-year-old girl added, “Something just clicked and I went into auto mode. The little girl was completely limp, so I checked her airways and tilted (使倾斜) her over and started hitting her back. I turned her round and tapped on her chest, then after what felt like forever she coughed up the sweet and spat it out.
As soon as she started crying I felt a huge relief. I was just so pleased I was able to help.”
Caitlin was taught her lifesaving skills when she joined the Army Cadets four years ago.
1. When did Tallulah get choked?| A．While eating sweets. | B．While enjoying a drama. |
| C．While having a meal. | D．While taking some medicine. |
| A．To buy some needed tools. | B．To search for timely help. |
| C．To get a breath of fresh air. | D．To wait for the ambulance to arrive. |
| A．Brave and selfless. | B．Kind and energetic. |
| C．Determined and generous. | D．Quick-thinking and helpful. |
| A．First aid skill sounds important. | B．Screaming for help makes sense. |
| C．Eating sweets endangers baby girl. | D．Heroic teenager saves baby girl’s life. |
6 . In a major medical breakthrough, Tel Aviv University researchers have “printed” the world's first 3D vascularized (有血管的）engineered heart using a patient’s own cells and biological materials. Their findings were published on April IS in a study in Advanced Science.
“This is the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart,” says Prof. Tal Dvir of Department of Materials Science and Engineering, who led the research for the study. “This heart is made from human cells and patient-specific biological materials. In our process, these materials serve as the bioinks, something made of sugars and proteins that can be used for 3D printing of complex tissue models，” Prof, Dvir says. “People managed to 3D print the structure of a heart in the past, but not with cells or with blood vessels (血管).Our results demonstrate the potential of our approach for engineering personalized tissue and organ replacement in the future.”
According to Prof. Dvir，the use of “ native ” patient-specific materials is important to successfully engineering tissues and organs.
The researchers are now planning on culturing the printed hearts in the lab and “ teaching them to behave” like hearts, Prof. Dvir says. They then plan to transplant the 3D-printed heart in animal models.
“We need to develop the printed heart further，” he concludes. “The cells need to form a pumping ability ； they can currently contract (收缩），but we need them to work together. Our hope is that we will succeed and prove our method’s efficacy (功效)and usefulness. “Maybe, in ten years, there will be organ printers in the finest hospitals around the world，and these procedures will be conducted routinely. ”
1. What does Prof. Dvir think of an early 3D-printed heart?| A．It was highly practical. | B．It was too expensive. |
| C．It was personalized. | D．It was too simple. |
| A．It can be cultured in the lab. |
| B．It can match a patient perfectly. |
| C．It has been transplanted in animals. |
| D．It has been widely used in hospitals, |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Positive. |
| C．Disapproving. | D．Cautious. |
| A．To explain the basic principle of 3D technology. |
| B．To introduce a breakthrough of medical research. |
| C．To doubt the medical value of a new invention. |
| D．To prove the effectiveness of the new technology. |
7 . There are billions of people on this planet, and many of us love to eat meat. Can the demand be filled in a sustainable(可持续的) and affordable way? A bunch of businessmen are not only optimistic but are working to make this happen sooner than you may think.
The environmental effects caused by meat consumption (食用)—waste, animal treatment, health problems and even the greenhouse gas effects that are potentially caused by methane gas produced by cows—have given rise to a number of startups(新兴公司)looking to develop meats in different ways.
For example, San Francisco-based Memphis Meats is developing cell-based meats in its labs without requiring any animals. Israel’s Future Meat Technologies is doing the same by producing fat and muscle cells that are being tested by chefs in Jerusalem. All of these companies use special processes to harvest cells from animals and grow them in a lab.
But don’t worry if you’re not a meat lover. Startups such as Jet Eat, which is also based in Israel, are working on food products grown in labs that are plant-based and replicate (复制) meats using natural elements while still keeping flavor, consistency and the “overall sensory experience”, according to a report on NoCamels. Jet Eat, which was founded in early 2018, aims to 3D-print their lab-grown products by 2020.
As you can imagine, there are plenty of barriers facing the industry. Educating the public is a big one. Another controversial issue is the labeling of the products. Recently both the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) announced that they will begin jointly controlling the new “cell-based meat” category.
Many of us have concerns about the challenges facing future generations as our global population increases and the earth’s natural resources decreases. The good news is that there are plenty of businessmen around the world—like those producing lab-grown meats—who are working to solve some of these problems and make a little money in the process. Nothing wrong with that.
1. Why do some companies begin to develop new kinds of meats?| A．To analyse the causes of air pollution. |
| B．To stress the importance of protecting wild animals. |
| C．To make people less interested in eating meat and more healthy. |
| D．To meet people’s demand for meat in environmentally friendly ways. |
| A．They cost less. | B．They are plant-based. |
| C．They are more delicious. | D．They are available on the market now. |
| A．How to let people accept the meat. | B．How to give the meat an elegant name. |
| C．How to produce the meat in large amounts. | D．How to reduce the cost of making the meat. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Opposing. | C．Ambiguous. | D．Cautious. |
8 . Like Marty McFly’s banana-powered DeLorean （德罗宁时光机）,a future generation of flying cars could tip over the idea that all flying is bad for the climate. Firms such as the Rolls Royce, Lilium and Vertical Aerospace have argued that flying cars could be a green mode of transport despite the large amounts of energy they need to get off the ground.
One study into the environmental impact of such vertical （垂直的）takeoff and landing （(VTOL)） vehicles suggests their backers could be right — at least in some circumstances. Gregory Keoleian at the University of Michigan and colleagues found that VTOLs, if they ever took to the skies, would produce 6 per cent less emissions than an electric car over a 100-kilometre journey. "The VTOL is particularly energy intensive （集中的）during takeoff and landing. The flight phase,however,is much more efficient,and over long distances,makes fully loaded VTOLs competitive with ground based vehicles," says Keoleian. Flying cars would also have the advantage of being able to fly in a straight line, bypassing meandering routes.
However , don't act immedialely . The difference was only very small and there are several big catches. Flying cars don't really exist yet — they are only at the prototype （蓝本）stage. The prototypes rely on electric power and act as a taxi, but another issue is that the study is a bit of an apples-for-oranges comparison.
The researchers assume that each electric car carries an average of 1.54 passengers while the passengers and drivers of the flying car are three and one. The reason for this assumption is that the flying car will provide a shared taxi service like UberPool, but in fact electric cars can do the same. In addition t due to the need for energy during take-off, the emissions from the flight below 35 km will be more than those of electric vehicles.
Keoleian and his team conclude flying cars could have a minor role in sustainable transport. But even if they do prove to be green, they have a lot of other hurdles to cross first.
1. Why do firms like the Rolls Royce argue for flying cars?| A．They are banana-powered. | B．They are energy-saving. |
| C．They run faster. | D．They need less energy to take off. |
| A．They are nearly perfect. |
| B．They are able to fly in a straight line. |
| C．They can win out over long distances. |
| D．They can save 6% energy than electric cars. |
| A．Problems. | B．Advantages. |
| C．Differences, | D．Efforts. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Supportive. |
| C．Disapproving. | D．Neutral. |
9 . Much of the work in today’s world is accomplished(完成) in teams. Most people believe the best way to build a great team is to gather a group of the most talented individuals.
To explain this phenomenon, the researchers explored the degree to which a good performance by a team requires its members to coordinate(协调) their actions.
Another possibility is that when there is a lot of talent on a team, some players may make less effort. Just as in a game of tug-of-war(拔河比赛), whenever a person is added, everyone else pulls the rope with less force.
| A．It’s not a simple matter to determine the nature of talent. |
| B．Sports team owners spend millions of dollars attracting top talent. |
| C．The group interaction and its effect drew the researchers’ attention. |
| D．Stars apparently do not follow this basic principle of sportsmanship. |
| E．Several recent studies examined the role of talent in the sports world. |
| F．Building up a dream team is more complex than simply hiring the best talent. |
| G．This task interdependence distinguishes baseball from football and basketball. |
10 . You’ll find it amazing to support people when you go out to eat! Just look for restaurants that hire people with disabilities，which are making the world a more inclusive place. Each bakery，café and restaurant below has a wonderful and heartwarming story.
Hugs Care: McKinney，Texas
Ruth Thompson once had a vision to create a nonprofit café that would be run and operated primarily by adults with special needs. With hard work，a strong passion and an amazing team，Hugs Café opened its doors in 2015.“Hugs Café is now so much more than a job to our 23 teammates，which is enhancing the meaningful lives of adults with special needs through training and employment at Hugs Café. Thompson says.
Vinny＆Bay’s Coffee and Eatery: Panama City，Florida
“A lot of people plan their vacations around coming to this coffee shop，”says café owner Kara Rigby. Vinny ＆ Bay’s Coffee and Eatery was established “so that Baylee had a place to work，”Rigby adds. Baylee is Rigby’s daughter’s friend who has a disability. The coffee shop’s goal become training for individuals like Baylee. Some workers have even started at Vinny ＆ Bay’ s and were able to work in a regular workplace. Rigby says that her employees” have a whole lot more abilities than disabilities. They love unconditionally，and it changes the whole environment and business.” Rigby believes that incorporating even just one or two disabled individuals into a business can change the whole atmosphere—for the better!
Sugar Pl um Bakery: Virginia Beach，Virginia
Head to Sugar Plum Bakery to find a delicious carrot cake and see people with disabilities successfully working alongside none—disabled workers. Sugar Plum has been promoting the integration of adult s with developmental disabilities by providing training and employment opportunities to more than 1，000 people with disabilities since 1987.Whether they’re scooping cookies or making cupcakes，Sugar Plum’s disabled employees are the backbone of the bakery.
1. What do the three restaurants have in common?| A．They are established by adults with special needs. |
| B．They are supported by charities or local government. |
| C．The provide training and employment to disabled individuals. |
| D．The employers and employees there are all individuals with disabilities. |
| A．Hugs Café set up in 1987 now has 23 teammates |
| B．Rigby founded her coffee shop to help Baylee，her daughter |
| C．Disabled individuals are not able to work in a regular workplace |
| D．Sugar P1um Bakery hires both normal people and people with disabilities |
| A．Disabled workers there are the most important part. |
| B．The bakery get s support and strength from backbone. |
| C．The customers are always backing the disabled workers. |
| D．The employees have a whole lot more abilities than disabilities. |
