1 . My Ph. D. adviser called me into his office, saying I needn't bring my notebook. After 15 minutes of listing my positive things, he looked me in the eye and said,“You are fired from the lab.”
I had moved to Israel from my native India the year before, excited to experience a new culture and study for a Ph. D. At first things went well in my new lab. Then, 3 months before I was fired, I ran into some problems. I made a few mistakes in the lab that slowed my research, but I wasn't aware that my adviser noticed them, and he never spoke to me about any concerns. I’m still not sure why he fired me, but I guess it was because of those mistakes. He wasn't confident that I could complete my research in time as we'd planned.
The first few days after I was fired were especially difficult. I spent hours staring at my computer screen, unable to get anything done. One day all I could do was sit on a beach, crying. I tried to change his mind with promising results, but he stuck to his decision. I could not break the news to my family in India, as the fear of disappointing them overwhelmed （压垮）me. I soon got into a state of sadness and anxiety. Meanwhile, the date for me to leave the country was drawing near, as my visa required me to be registered as a student. I was lonely and without hope.
Around that time, I watched Dasvidaniya, a Bollywood movie that's about a man who has 3 months to live. One line from the movie stuck out to me :“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade（柠檬水）” .What kind of lemonade could I make out of my present situation? My desire to complete a Ph. D. was never in doubt. After much reflection, I told myself that one failed attempt was not the end of the world, and that I needed to give it another try. With renewed confidence, I emailed expected advisers and applied to other programs. Within 2 months, I landed an offer from a Ph. D. program in Italy. I accepted it and relocated to Europe, happy that my goal of completing a Ph. D. was alive once again.
I’m thankful that I didn't give up on my dream and that I found another professor willing to take me on.
1. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The personality of the adviser. |
| B．The author's problems in study. |
| C．The possible reason for the author's being fired. |
| D．The author's difficulty in adapting to a new culture. |
| A．He applied for a new visa. |
| B．He got addicted to computer games. |
| C．He tried to change the adviser's mind. |
| D．He shared the news with his family in India. |
| A．Persuading the adviser to let him stay. |
| B．Being responsible for different programs. |
| C．Holding the belief to get a doctor's degree. |
| D．Getting accepted by another Ph. D. program. |
| A．Direction is more important than effort, |
| B．Turn to movies for comfort when in trouble. |
| C．A doctor’s degree is important for the future. |
| D．Difficulties in life can be turned into something positive. |
2 . Do you still remember the scene in the famous movie Titanic, directed by Cameron, where Jack was frozen to death in the icy cold water so that Rose could survive on the floating door alone? It broke many people’s hearts. Two decades later, people are still asking the question, “wasn’t there enough room on the door for both of them?” Cameron once responded by saying it wasn’t a question of room, but buoyancy（浮力）— if both of them had tried to stay on the door, he argued, the whole thing would sink.
But several guys from “Mythbusters”, an Australian-American science entertainment television program, decided to put the theory to the test themselves. They discovered that if Rose had took off her life jacket to the bottom of the door, there would have been enough buoyancy to keep both of them afloat.
“It was an artistic choice, the thing was just big enough to hold her, and not big enough to hold him,” Cameron said. “I think it’s all kind of silly, really, that we’re having this discussion 20 years later. But it does show that the film was effective in making Jack so attractive to the audience that it hurts them to see him die. The film is about death and separation; he had to die.”
Since Jack was doomed to die, Cameron said, it could have happened in a variety of different ways. It’s not about the door not being big enough: that’s just a practical method for his death. “Whether it was that, or whether a chimney（烟囱）fell on him, he was going down,” Cameron said. “It’s called art: things happen for artistic reasons, not for physics reasons.”
1. According to Cameron, why can’t audience accept Jack’s death?| A．They are artistic people. | B．They like the movie. |
| C．They love Jack. | D．They are eager for truth. |
| A．Jack died by accident. | B．Jack’s death was unavoidable. |
| C．The chimney fell on Jack. | D．The door could make a difference. |
| A．Jack Had to Die | B．A Door of Life and Death |
| C．Audience Knew Better | D．Science Behind Movie |
| A．A popular magazine. | B．A movie poster. |
| C．A government report. | D．A notice board. |
3 . Captured(捕获的) carbon dioxide(CO2) could be used to extract(提炼) useful metals(金属) from recycled technology such as smartphone batteries rather than just being buried underground. The technique could help make it more economical to capture the greenhouse gas before it enters the atmosphere.
“If you also extract metals by filling CO2, you add value to a process that is known to be costly,” says Julien Leclaire at the University of Lyon, France.
CO2 is the main cause of modern climate change, so many people have attempted to develop technologies to capture it when it comes from power plants and other major sources. The gas can then be stored underground. The problem is that such carbon capture and storage (CCS) is expensive. “No one wants to pay the price for it,” says Leclaire.
To make CCS more appealing, Leclaire’s team has found a use for the gas.
His team collected CO2 from a car gas, cooled it, then pumped it into a mix of chemicals. The CO2 combined with the mix to make many molecules(分子) of various shapes and sizes.
The team found that this process could sort out mixtures of metals, because one metal would dissolve(溶解) in the liquid while another would form a solid. In a series of experiments, they successfully separated three kinds of metals-all of which are used in batteries, smartphones and computers.
If the process can be widely used, it could be a more environmentally friendly way to recycle batteries and other electrical equipment, says Leclaire. This is normally done using highly reactive chemicals, which are potentially polluting. Replacing them with CO2 should lead to a much lower environmental pollution, he says.
Other researchers and companies are trying to change captured CO2 into useful materials like plastics, which are normally produced from petrol, but this is chemically difficult. Leclaire says his approach is more in line with how CO2 behaves naturally. “Instead of copying what we know how to do better and cheaper with oil, let’s find things you can only do with CO2,” he says.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．Extracting useful metals from recycled technology is widely used now. |
| B．Useful metals in the atmosphere are used to make smartphone batteries. |
| C．Abandoned smartphone batteries may have been buried underground before. |
| D．The greenhouse gas CO2 could be cleaned up after entering the atmosphere. |
| A．CO2 is the main cause of modern climate change. |
| B．CO2 can be used to recycle many resources. |
| C．Captured CO2 can be changed to useful gas. |
| D．CO2 is harmful to people’s health. |
| A．It could end the use of plastics. |
| B．It could reduce environmental pollution. |
| C．It could make more metals available to humans. |
| D．It could help reduce the cost of battery production. |
| A．The Ways to Make Smartphone Batteries |
| B．The Reason for Capturing Greenhouse Gas |
| C．Collecting CO? Is Starting to Make New Progress |
| D．Captured CO2 Could Be Used to Help Recycle Useful Metals |
4 . On the outside, 12-year-old Luna seems like your average kid. It's not until you get to know her that you learn that Luna is anything but average.
Born with a heart defect (缺陷)called dextrocardia, Luna has had three open-heart operations and continues to pursue her interests in art and fashion. But when Luna was approached by athletic shoe company Saucony to design a shoe for sale across the country, it came as quite a surprise.
“This is so incredible. I got to use my art and creativity for something new that I'd never thought I'd be able to design,“ Luna said. She is one of six patients from Boston Children's Hospital ( BCH) who have partnered with Saucony to design their own shoe to launch the Shoes with Soul campaign.
“Rather than just a donation, we wanted to create an experience and a moment that would not only raise money, but also awareness to highlight all the amazing work that's being done at BCH,“ says Chris, Saucony's vice president. “Specifically, we wanted to give some of the BCH kids an opportunity to share their story and their talents with the world. ”
Luna's design is fashion. u On the tongue ,they digitalized one of my drawings, and then on bottom it's a really bright pink color, and on the inside ,the sole of the shoe is actually another drawing I did of a sunset,“ she said. "Thinking about kids everywhere around the world wearing my shoe is amazing. It blows my mind.”
The income from the shoe sales will benefit the Boston Children's Hospital Cardiac Fitness Program, which encourages kids to “find your possible" through personalized exercise programs tailored for each individual patient's heart condition.
“It feels really good to help people and it's really something I can relate to,“ says Luna. “The advice I would give a kid or someone like me is never give up. There are a lot of kids out there with your condition and you're not alone.”
1. What can we learn from Chris' words?| A．It's unwise to raise money. |
| B．It's optional to seek donations. |
| C．It's wonderful to study art. |
| D．It's necessary to show kids' talents. |
| A．I'm overjoyed. | B．['m very serious. |
| C．My mind goes blank. | D．My mind is racing. |
| A．Gifted and determined. | B．Generous and serious. |
| C．Grateful and helpful. | D．Creative and sensitive. |
| A．Tell us a story of a disabled girl. |
| B．Set a good example to the disabled. |
| C．Launch Saucony's new brand shoes. |
| D．Introduce a campaign with kid patients. |
5 . The Assassin's Creed series has been about building immersive （沉浸式的）and accurate historical worlds. As their newest game releases f Assassins Creed Origins, they have also released their Discovery Tours. These tours give players a chance to walk the streets of ancient Egypt, explore Alexandria and the pyramids, and learn about wildlife and geography. For students, experiencing the ancient world in this interactive way can be more interesting and effective than just reading a textbook or watching a documentary about what they are studying.
Assassins Creed is not the only game series that can be educational either. What is important about the role of historical games is the level of choice. When watching a film, students are passive receivers of content. However, when playing a game students have an active role to play in history. A focus on choice and consequence is an important element of teaching and understanding history, so historical games can be a valuable teaching tool even if they aren't completely historically accurate. They have the power to immerse students in faraway worlds and allow them to think critically about cause and consequence, think about why historical events unfolded the way they did, and even think about possible alternative outcomes. All of these are critical for historical thinking processes. No longer do students need to rely only on reading textbooks or on instructors for knowledge.
When carrying this out in your class, remember that not all students enjoy playing video games, but they can still be a valuable learning tool. The instructor also needs to be an active facilitator and taking note of teachable moments. A video game is not going to teach a class ； it requires an awesome instructor to make everything come together. With the power of video games, ancient worlds no longer need to be limited to the pages of a textbook.
1. What does the underlined phrase “this interactive way“ in paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Walking an ancient street. | B．Playing a new game. |
| C．Reading a textbook. | D．Watching a documentary. |
| A．Why it is different from the film. | B．Why it gains popularity. |
| C．How it benefits teaching. | D．How it came into being. |
| A．The teachers. | B．The players. |
| C．The designers. | D．The audiences. |
| A．A vivid description of ancient architecture. |
| B．An account of a new history learning method. |
| C．A detailed explanation of a social problem. |
| D．An online advertisement of a stylish trend. |
6 . The drop in garment prices over the last 20 years has allowed us to buy more and more clothes. We now have 5 times more clothes than our grandparents had.
It has become a challenge to wear a garment more than five times. Garment quality is declining every year. As a result, our clothes immediately look faded or shapeless not long before purchasing them.
What's more, chemicals used in every part of the textile production are greatly harmful. Even clothes made of 100% natural fiber still contain a lot of chemicals.
Clothing has clearly become disposable.
How can we avoid the environmental impact from the fashion industry?
| A．We don't have many greener options in the fashion industry. |
| B．As a result, we generate more and more textile waste. |
| C．They can present a real danger to our health. |
| D．Trends are changing so quickly that we cannot keep up. |
| E．Think twice before throwing away your second-hand garments. |
| F．To achieve the goal we should first reflect on our lifestyle and buy less. |
| G．This, in turn, has serious consequences on our consuming habits, our health and our planet. |
7 . Earlier this year, we asked our readers to vote for their favorite children's museums. Shortly after announcing the winners, these museums had to close their doors to help protect their communities from the spread of COVID-19. But they also bring some of their programming online.
The Magic House | St. Louis, Missouri
The folks at The Magic House in St. Louis are sharing their expertise through their Magic at Home series. Each edition features a project that kids and their parents can do with household materials, like making a banjo or animal figures.
City Museum | St. Louis, Missouri
While the City Museum is closed to visitors, the museum staff, artists and historians have launched City Museum on Air. This series takes place each weekday with an eclectic lineup of programming - everything from free art classes, storytelling sessions and museum tours at upcoming exhibits.
Kohl Children's Museum | Glenview, Illinois
This winning children's museum calls itself "The place where awesome lives," and would-be visitors can bring that awesome into the home through its library of online teaching resources, story time sessions and "Home Zone" projects. Kids can learn how to fold paper airplanes, learn about the physics of wheels or make their own recycled paper.
1. What results in the closing of children's museums?| A．The spreading of a disease. | B．The decrease of would-be visitors. |
| C．The readers' votes on museums. | D．The development of digital programming. |
| A．At weekends. | B．At any time. |
| C．On weekdays. | D．On holidays. |
| A．Stressing hands-on experience. | B．Demonstrating how 4 wheel works. |
| C．Offering story-telling courses. | D．Teaching how to copy animal figures. |
8 . Overview
If you've been missing afternoon drink outings to bars, restaurants, or pubs, this Withlocals Virtual Aperitivo(意大利小吃)Lesson with a Roman Local is a great way to still experience a fun, social activity while sipping(抿一口)on some delicious drinks. Your instructor teaches you how to make a traditional Italian aperitivo in real time, and talks about Italian culture in a private, online setting that you can experience right from home.
What To Expect
Stop at: Rome
It is a fun virtual experience with a local from Rome. Pour yourself a drink(or two)and join a local host or a class on how the Romans spend their afternoons. Ingredients(材料)list and Aperitivo workshop included. Excited to get started? Please have these ingredients ready before we start the class!
Duration: 1 hour
Admission Ticket Free
Frequently Asked Questions
The answers provided below are based on answers previously given by the tour provider to customers' questions.
Q: What is the maximum group size during Withlocals Virtual Aperitivo Lesson with a Roman Local?
A: This activity will have a maximum of 10 travelers.
Reviews by Viator travelers
Amazing class and host!
Adi, Jun. 2020
Bea is an incredible host! She guided us through the class very well and gave us a lot of historical context on everything we made. The crostini recipes were delicious, the aperitivos were amazing, and most of all, we loved learning about the culture and history behind all of it.
1. What can travelers experience in Withlocals Virtual Aperitivo Lesson?| A．Talking about the local culture online. | B．Taking a face-to-face class. |
| C．Staying with a Rome local. | D．Making a traditional French aperitivo. |
| A．Arrange a schedule for two hours. | B．Book a ticket in advance. |
| C．Prepare ingredients before class. | D．Join any group as you like. |
| A．The patience of the host. | B．The gains from the class. |
| C．The size of the class. | D．The drinks and food. |
9 . People have different ways of dealing with a common cold. Some take over the counter medicines such as aspirin while others try popular home remedies(治疗) like herbal tea or chicken soup. Yet here is the tough truth about the common cold: nothing really cures it.
So why do people sometimes believe that their remedies work? According to James Taylor, professor at the University of Washington, colds usually go away on their own in about a week, improving a little each day after symptoms peak, so it's easy to believe it's medicine rather than time that deserves the credit, USA Today reported.
It still seems hard to believe that we can deal with more serious diseases yet are powerless against something so common as a cold. Recently, scientists came closer to figure out why. To understand it, you first need to know how antiviral drugs work. They attack the virus by attaching to and changing the surface structures of the virus. To do that, the drug must fit and lock into the virus like the right piece of a jigsaw(拼图), which means scientists have to identify the virus and build a 3D model to study its surface before they can design an antiviral drug that is effective enough.
The two cold viruses that scientists had long known about were rhinovirus(鼻病毒) A and B. But they didn't find out about the existence of a third virus, rhinovirus C, until 2006. All three of them contribute to the common cold, but drugs that work well against rhinovirus A and B have little effect when used against rhinovirus C.
''This explains most of the previous failures of drug trials against rhinoviruses,'' study leader Professor Ann C. Palmenberg at the University of Wiscons in Madison, US, told Science Daily.
Now, more than 10 years after the discovery of rhinovirus C, scientists have finally built a highly detailed 3D model of the virus, showing that the surface of the virus is, as expected, different from that of other cold viruses.
With the model in hand, hopefully a real cure for a common cold is on its way. Soon, we may no longer have to waste our money on medicines that don't really work.
1. What does the author think of popular remedies for a common cold?| A．They are quite effective. | B．They are slightly helpful. |
| C．They actually have no effect. | D．They still need to be improved. |
| A．By breaking up cold viruses directly. |
| B．By changing the surface structures of the cold viruses. |
| C．By preventing colds from developing into serious diseases. |
| D．By absorbing different kinds of cold viruses at the same time. |
| A．The surface of cold viruses looks quite similar. |
| B．Scientists have already found a cure for the common cold. |
| C．Scientists were not aware of the existence of rhinovirus C until recently. |
| D．Knowing the structure of cold viruses is the key to developing an effective cure. |
| A．Drugs against cold viruses | B．Helpful home remedies |
| C．No current cure for common cold | D．Research on cold viruses |
10 . Twenty years ago, I became involved in pet therapy (治疗) work. As digging deeper into the job, I had an urge to be a recorder of their daily work to let more and more people know their efforts and contributions. After all, they could not say our languages. It was when I got familiar with the work that I got my golden retriever puppy (金毛寻回犬), whom I named Angel. As she matured and went through obedience training, I realized that she would be a good partner.
Angel is ten now and still works every week. As a rule, she visits two hospitals, a day care for the elderly, and our library’s PAWS for Reading program. Angel has also helped out at a children’s special-needs camp. She is so popular that everywhere we go people recognize her, especially the kids she has worked with.
We have seen some very special things through our pet therapy work. I brought Angel to our local hospital to visit a woman who was completely paralyzed (瘫痪的) on her right side from a stroke. One day, my husband, Jack asked her if she wanted to give Angel a treat. She nodded and gently took the treat, raised her right hand and started petting Angel. Her friend was in the room and said, “She hasn’t been able to move that hand since she had her stroke!”
Somehow it seems appropriate that when Angel visits the hospital, she also performs tricks for the patients with her paws. The best one is when she crouches on the floor and crosses her paws. She stays still and doesn’t move until Jack says “Best wishes”. It’s the best wishes for all the people Angel meets as well as for her.
1. Why does the author want to be a recorder?| A．Pets cannot record themselves. | B．Pets should be highly praised. |
| C．Pets’ labor should be made aware of. | D．Pets daily work is important. |
| A．Busy but rewarding. | B．Interesting but tiring. |
| C．Funny and amusing. | D．Important and demanding. |
| A．She cured her disease. | B．She visited her at times. |
| C．She gave her best wishes. | D．She played tricks on her. |
| A．A loyal dog. | B．Selfless love. |
| C．A silent angel. | D．Great devotion. |
