1 . There are many ways to travel within a city. We can walk, cycle, or take a bus. But no matter which way we travel, we have to follow the route (线路) the city planners laid down for us.
Parkour practitioners (跑酷爱好者), however, see the city in a completely different way. To them, there are no designed routes. There are no walls and no stairs — they jump, climb, roll and crawl to move across, through, over and under anything that they find in their path. The city is their playground.
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has noticed that this activity is drawing more and more people to it — there are 100, 000 people taking part in parkour today in the UK alone, according to The Guardian — and how it is helpful for people to be much stronger: It trains coordination and balance. So the FIG is thinking about recognizing parkour as a new sport and adding it to the Olympics by 2024.
But parkour practitioners themselves don’t seem to be happy with the idea. They see parkour as “a lifestyle”, wrote the website NextSportStar. “It’s a competition against the conditions rather than just a sport.”
Indeed, many do parkour just to “escape the daily routine and experience the city in different ways”, wrote reporter Oli Mould on The Conversation. They see parkour as a way to express themselves through relaxing moves and creative routes while freeing themselves from the pressure.
It’s great that the FIG wants to develop a new sport and stay close to a new cultural form. But it would be greater if they knew that not everything in life is a competition.
1. How do the parkour practitioners do parkour?| A．They plan the way themselves. |
| B．They move on as they wish. |
| C．They run faster than others. |
| D．They follow certain routes. |
| A．It’s a special way of life. |
| B．It draws their attention. |
| C．It helps balance people’s life. |
| D．It’s good for people to keep healthy. |
| A．It is more exciting than other sports. |
| B．It is worth adding to the sporting event. |
| C．It is more a lifestyle than a competition. |
| D．It encourages people to challenge themselves. |
| A．Parkour practitioners |
| B．Making the city their own |
| C．Training in a different way |
| D．A new sports competition |
2 . Russ Fee was asleep inside his tent last summer in Canada’s Banff National Park when a series of screams shocked him awake. Throwing on his shoes and grabbing a lantern his wife had handed him, he ran out to investigate. Despite the darkness, he could make out a neighboring tent. Backing out was a wolf, dragging something in his teeth—a man.
Moments earlier, Elisa and Matt, were asleep with their two young children when the wolf tore into their tent. “It was like something out of a horror movie,” Elisa recalled. For three minutes, Matt threw his body in front of Elisa and the boys and fought against the wolf. At one point, Matt got the upper hand, but the wolf turned the tables and dragged Matt outside while Elisa was pulling on his legs trying to get him back but in vain.
It was then that Russ Fee entered the picture. He ran at the beast, kicking it in the hip. The wolf dropped Matt and emerged from the tent. Fee felt like he had hit someone that was way out of his weight class.
Before the wolf could turn its anger on Fee, Matt, his arms bloodied, restarted the battle. The men threw at the wolf with rocks, forcing it back. Then the families fled to the shelter of the Fees, minivan and called an ambulance.
“Attacks are so rare that a person here has a greater chance of being killed by a dog, lightning, a bee sting, or a car collision with a deer than being injured by a wolf,” said Matt.
Fee did think about drawing back, if less heroic, during the heat of battle. The moment the wolf locked eyes with him, Fee said, “I immediately regretted kicking it.”
1. What were the two families doing in the park?| A．They were making a horror movie. | B．They were camping in the wild. |
| C．They were studying wolves. | D．They were investigating the park. |
| A．change the situation completely. | B．turn the table in another direction |
| C．tackle a problem wisely | D．compete violently with someone |
| A．Many deer are killed by vehicles. | B．There are many accidents in the park. |
| C．Wolves seldom attack people there. | D．People are often attacked by dogs. |
| A．Courageous and helpful. | B．Responsible and inspiring. |
| C．Indifferent and brave | D．Clever and determined. |
3 . Some scientists have traced the increase in earthquakes, especially in areas not known for the presence of fault lines or past seismic (地震的) activity, to human actions. The idea of humans causing earthquakes may seem strange at first. After all, you can run around your backyard and jump up and down as you want, and the ground isn’t going to start shaking. However, scientists have identified a variety of large scale human activities that can result in earthquakes.
Scientists have confirmed over 700 places where human activities have caused earthquakes over the last century. While many human-related earthquakes are mild and don’t cause much damage, some of them can be serious and dangerous. In fact, scientists believe human activity has caused earthquakes with magnitudes as high as 7.9 on the Richter scale.
Scientists believe most human-related earthquakes are the result of mining. As companies drill deeper and deeper below Earth’s surface to get natural resources, holes left behind can cause instability that leads to collapses that cause earthquakes. Another human activity leading to earthquakes is fracking (水力压裂) for oil and gas, including the high pressure waste water processing that usually goes with fracking. In this process, water, sand and chemicals are pressed underground under high pressure to break rocks to release natural resources.
Building large dams can also cause earthquakes. For example, about 80, 000 people died in China in 2008 as a result of a 7.9-magnitude earthquake caused by 320 million tons of water that had been collected in the Zipingpu Reservoir after a large dam was built over a known fault line.
These aren’t the only human activities that can result in earthquakes, though. Scientists point out that earthquakes can also be caused by other human activities, such as construction of skyscrapers and nuclear explosions.
1. What does the underlined part “fault lines” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Regions with active human actions. | B．Places associated with natural balance. |
| C．Zones where natural resources are rich. | D．Areas where earthquakes tend to happen. |
| A．They break the balance of nature. | B．They destroy the stability of rocks. |
| C．They use high pressure to get resources. | D．They do much damage to Earth’s surface. |
| A．The 2008 earthquake is the worst in history. | B．Construction of dams should be stopped. |
| C．Tons of water must cause earthquakes. | D．The location of a dam matters much. |
| A．Nature punishes humans by means of earthquakes. | B．Progress has been made on earthquake research. |
| C．Humans are to blame for some earthquakes. | D．Earthquakes are no longer nature-made. |
4 . We all love to take photographs. It’s a simple way to record a special moment or an amazing view. In fact, they show a snapshot in time. This hasn’t really changed since the invention of photography in the 1830s.
For many years, we have used traditional cameras to take our pictures with. And we’ve had a range of cameras to choose from. But a great change has come with the development of digital (数码的) technology.
Now we have the smartphone.
Certainly, the growth of the smartphone means more and more of us are taking photos and it opens our eyes to the creative possibilities it can provide.
| A．This has made taking photos quicker and easier. |
| B．That’s something we can do with a traditional camera. |
| C．But one thing that has changed is the equipment we use. |
| D．The first smartphone with a digital camera came out in 2000. |
| E．And for some, it can be a first step to getting into serious photography. |
| F．We can take very good quality photos and share them easily with smartphones. |
| G．But Phil Hall, editor of Tech Radar magazine, thinks there’s nothing to worry about. |
5 . Danielle Waterman, an English woman rugby (橄榄球) player is interviewed and talks about her experience and opinions about the sport.
Having two older brothers taught me a lot about survival.
I was lucky to have supportive parents, especially my mother, who was my role model.
A few years ago, I got hurt in my knee and was told I couldn’t play again.
| A．That’s what women’s sport needs. |
| B．Sometimes I did feel different to other girls. |
| C．I never thought of myself as different from them. |
| D．Playing rugby is my passion, and it enriches me. |
| E．However, I decided to insist on and to get to the Olympics. |
| F．As well as the physical side, the sport also leads me to a happy life. |
| G．There weren’t many female role models in sport when I was growing up. |
6 . Americans are walking away from their jobs in record numbers as remote work has uncoupled jobs from geography, and droves of employees are re-evaluating the relationships they have with their employers.
To keep workers happy and on the job, more companies are turning to “stay interviews,” one-on-one meetings with top performers to give those key people the chance to talk about their current jobs.
“This has become an extremely popular topic to try and help retain employees as much as possible,” said Robyn Hopper, a human resources knowledge adviser for the Society for Human Resource Management. Managers who conduct stay interviews are coached to ask workers open-ended questions about what they like most about their jobs, what they dislike and under what events or circumstances they might leave.
Scott Bonneau, the vice president of global talent attraction at Indeed. com, said: “Employers, particularly in certain sectors, are seeing people leave at a faster rate. I think stay interviews can be quite effective. …It promotes and fosters trust and open communication.”
Sometimes workers switch jobs in pursuit of higher salaries. Other departures are spurred by chances to have more flexible hours, remote work or professional development opportunities. While experts say stay interviews can be a valuable tool to retain top employees, there is one big caveat: Bosses have to actually follow through on the feedback from workers.
“At the end of the day, you can promise the best things in the world, but if you can't execute and deliver, people will tend to look elsewhere,” said Thomas Wu, who recently took a job as the director of finance at an NFT startup.
Carvajal said small businesses, which struggle to compete with huge companies in salaries and benefits, have more at stake and tend to use processes like stay interviews more frequently. Bonneau added, however, that workers who want to stay with their current employers should be honest about their perspectives if they are asked to participate in stay interviews.
1. Why does “stay interview” gain popularity?| A．Remote work promotes geographical freedom. |
| B．Relationships between employers and employees are reevaluated. |
| C．Open communication helps keep the outstanding workers on the job. |
| D．Employers owns an opportunity to promise the best thing. |
| A．higher pay | B．work flexibility | C．career prospect | D．fierce competition |
| A．advantage | B．warning | C．criticism | D．value |
| A．Employers carry out “stay interview” as record number of Americans walk off jobs. |
| B．A large number of workers in America quit office to pursue remote work. |
| C．Small businesses favor “stay interview” to enhance competitiveness. |
| D．”Stay interview” has become a global trend in the job market. |
7 . You probably know Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal as famous UNESCO World Heritage sites—structures and monuments of great cultural value. But what about Beijing opera? Or the art of pizza-making in Naples? What do these have in common?
Traditions like these are known as “intangible cultural heritage”. In comparison with UNESCO World Heritage sites, intangible heritage does not include buildings like palaces and temples. Instead, it includes traditional art forms, such as music, dance, and craft-making—living traditions that are an important part of a place’s culture.
UNESCO began to identify cultural traditions in 2008. By 2017, UNESCO had approved (批准) more than 300 diverse practices. These include cultural events like the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival, performing arts like Spanish flamenco, and handicrafts like Japanese washi paper-making. In 2010, UNESCO also began to include important regional cuisines, starting with French and Mexican food.
Cultural rituals (仪式) are an important part of the UNESCO list. An example is the Tlemcen wedding ceremony in Algeria. The ceremony begins in the bride’s parents’ home, where friends and female relatives help the bride prepare for the ceremony. The bride is first dressed in a golden silk dress. Before leaving the house for the ceremony, her face is wrapped in a golden silk veil (面纱). Later, during the wedding feast, the bride removes her veil, ready to be married. The tradition has passed from one generation to the next, and marks the community’s cultural identity.
Some of the cultural items on the list are dying out and in need of protection. An example is Al Sadu—a traditional form of weaving in the United Arab Emirates. The tradition was once widely practiced by communities of desert Bedouin women. However, as many Bedouins have now moved to cities, Al Sadu is mostly practiced by older women whose number is decreasing.
UNESCO hopes that by bringing attention to cultural traditions such as Al Sadu, they will be more likely to survive. “Cultural traditions are important to fight for.” says Cecile Duvelle of UNESCO. “The more globalized the world becomes,” she adds, “the more important it is not to lose these traditional roots.”
1. Which of the following could NOT be added to the intangible cultural heritage list?| A．Flute music from Peru. | B．A historic bridge in Paris. |
| C．An Irish poetry festival. | D．A traditional Italian diet. |
| A．All of the cultural items on the UNESCO list are not well preserved. |
| B．The traditional weaving—Al Sadu is still popular in Bedouin culture. |
| C．The main ceremony of the Tlemcen wedding takes place in the bride’s parents’ home. |
| D．Typical regional dishes are among the first items on the UNESCO list of intangible heritage. |
| A．Disappearing Cultural Traditions |
| B．Different Types of Cultural Practices |
| C．An Introduction to Intangible Heritage |
| D．Cultural Heritage on the UNESCO List |
8 . Playgrounds for All Kids
Most of us are all too familiar with the typical playground set-up. Monkey bars, swings, and slides, all accessed by steps and surrounded by a sea of sand or wood chips.
Goldberg describes the idea behind designing these playgrounds as completely inclusive. They don’t strictly cater to (迎合) children with disabilities and are not meant to prevent any child from access to play.
The inclusive playground model is now spreading across the county. While the original Harper’s Playground is located in Portland, Oregon, similar playgrounds have popped up throughout the state. Harper’s Playground is now teaming up with those interested in building a park of their own.
Changing the way playgrounds are built will have a wide-spread effect. It will affect the way schools are designed and built, and it will affect how the workplace is treated, and then ultimately it will change the way people with disabilities are thought of and treated.
| A．What are their accessible playgrounds like today? |
| B．Harper’s Playground was created for just this reason. |
| C．Harper’s Playground began to work on its initial designs. |
| D．The equipment and layout provide access to a fun experience for all. |
| E．Slides are built extra wide so a caregiver and a child can go together. |
| F．It hopes to eventually spread across the country and, ultimately, the world. |
| G．The intention of these public playgrounds is to give kids a safe and fun place to play. |
9 . This has been a year full of natural disasters, like hurricanes, wildfires and floods. Behind many of them, though, is an unfolding event that shows no sign of stopping: climate change. Here we meet some students who have been using science to help people deal with the effects of the changing climate. Their research places them among 30 finalists at the 10th Broadcom MASTERS, a research program open to middle-school investigators.
Ryan Honary, a 12-year-old student in California, has personal experience with wildfires. One day, he was with his father at a tennis tournament when he saw wildfires raging across his home state on TV. “I called my mom and asked if she was okay.” Ryan recalls. Once he knew that she was, he asked his dad why wildfires got out of control so often. “We’re planning to send people to Mars but we can’t detect wildfires,” Ryan says.
That’s when Ryan decided to create a way to detect wildfires early — before they get out of control. He linked together a series of mini computers that had sensors to detect smoke. When smoke was detected, data was transferred wirelessly to another computer, which served as a mini meteorological(气象的) station.
Ryan brought his entire system to a park and tested it by holding the flame from a lighter in front of each sensor. When they sensed a fire, they informed the detector. It then alerted an app that Ryan built for his phone. While creating that app, Ryan talked with Mohammed Kachuee, a graduate student at the University of California. He helped Ryan use machine learning to train his app with data from 2018 Camp Fire, the most destructive fire in California history. The app took lessons from how this fire had traveled over time. Using those data, the app “learned” to tell how flames at future events might spread.
Someday, Ryan hopes his sensors might be used throughout his state. “Five of the worst fires in California just happened in the last three months,” he notes.
1. What is the function of the app Ryan built for his phone?| A．To transfer data about campfires. | B．To detect smoke from wildfires. |
| C．To predict how a fire might spread. | D．To show how we can prevent a fire. |
| A．Caring and creative. | B．Brave and optimistic. |
| C．Ambitious and demanding. | D．Hardworking and intelligent. |
| A．The effects of changing climate. |
| B．A boy’s experience with wildfires. |
| C．A research program open to students. |
| D．A student’s scientific research on wildfires. |
10 . Imagine this scenario: In 2050, you find an envelope, inside which is an old CD marked with the date 1998, your great-grandfather's name, and the words "all overseas bank accounts".
If this were to happen, you would be very excited, at least at first. Your excitement would be quickly followed by frustration because it would be difficult for you to retrieve the information on the disk. Even if the record was still in good condition, it would be hard to find a device that could read it.
Computers and digital technology have vastly expanded our capacity to store all kinds of information, but how long will our access to this stored information last? This is a problem that began to worry technology experts. They became concerned that, without better ways of preserving information, future generations might look back on our times as the "digital dark ages". They may not have access to the digital record of our lives and our world.
Vint Cerf, a vice president at Google, argues that this could happen if we do not quickly take steps to address the issue. He uses the term "bit rot" to describe how our digital records may slowly but surely become inaccessible. Most softwares and apps that were used to create documents and websites ten or twenty years ago are already out of date, and in another fifty years they may not even be available. We can read letters from long ago, but will we be able to read a Twitter feed or access a Snapchat exchange a hundred years from now?
Computer scientist Mahadev Satyanarayanan of Carnegie Mellon University has found a way to store everything—all together in the Cloud. Using his state-of-the-art approach, Satyanarayanan has been able to recover and preserve digital records that might otherwise have been lost forever.
Both Cerf and Satyanarayanan stress the importance of deliberate preservation. Important records shall be transferred to new forms of storage technology as they appear. Otherwise, they may disappear into the digital dark ages.
1. What does the underlined word "this" refer to in the 2nd paragraph?| A．The find of a CD. | B．A travel to the future. |
| C．The recovery of bank accounts. | D．An encounter with your great-grandfather. |
| A．Post on Twitter. | B．Store via new technology. |
| C．Upload to the Cloud. | D．Record in traditional letters. |
| A．E-Waste: Dark Side of Digital Age | B．Are We Living in the Digital Dark Ages? |
| C．What Can the Digital Dark Ages Teach Us? | D．Google's Vint Cerf warns of Dark Technologies |
