1 . How important is fish farming? Very. Although it’s an ancient business, the rise of aquaculture (水产养殖) has been one of the biggest revolutions in food supply over the past half century.
Aquaculture has made fish more affordable for consumers around the world, popularizing the consumption of what used to be expensive, and easing the pressure on hard- pressed wild stocks (库存). Aquaculture also has many clear environmental benefits: compared with other ways of growing animal protein, it uses little or no land, and has low greenhouse emissions. And while the world has traditionally had a bad record of regulating wild fishing, fish farming generally occurs within the boundaries of governments, meaning it should, in theory, be much easier to ensure that good practices are upheld.
Crowding large numbers of fish into limited spaces means that waste products, including waste, uneaten food and dead fish, are poured into the surrounding waters, polluting them. Besides, the pesticides and drugs used to treat conditions that upset fish in concentrated numbers can also affect local wildlife. Many farmed fish are fed on other fish, so the industry also puts pressure on wild stocks: about a fifth of all caught fish, some 18 million tonnes, is used for fish oil and fish meal production. There is also the problem of fish escaping, with potentially dangerous effects on surrounding ecosystems.
In 2018 the Scottish Parliament’s environment committee published a report into the fish farming industry’s environmental effects, stating that key problems simply hadn’t been tackled, and that the Scottish government’s plan to double salmon output by 2030could cause “irrecoverable damage” to ecosystems. Since then, protections have been toughened. There is now more pressure from regulators to situate farms in remote, deep-water locations. Meanwhile, though, catches of Scottish wild salmon have fallen to their lowest level since records began in 1952. “There are good reasons for fish farming and real dangers to it as well.” concludes an official. “The question is how to make it work.”
1. What does the underlined word “upheld” in paragraph 2 mean?A.Supported. | B.Allowed. | C.Prohibited. | D.Admitted. |
A.The reasons for fish farming. |
B.The downsides of aquaculture. |
C.The development of sea exploring. |
D.The effects of aquaculture on surrounding farming. |
A.The Scottish government plans to double fish output now. |
B.The problems of fish farming are likely to be solved. |
C.The fish farming industry has no effect on environment. |
D.The massive fish farming may damage ecosystems. |
A.Objective. | B.Doubtful. | C.Critical. | D.Disapproving. |
2 . Time and time again, I hear someone ask why anyone would want to keep an “ugly” building or a building that is dirty and clearly in need of work. I think you could say we preservationists look at buildings through a different angle — an angle that can see the swan (天鹅) in the ugly duck, the story in the simple lines, the book behind the cover.
Take the Queen Emma Building for example. While people may remember that building being named as one of the ugliest buildings in town, the angle from which a preservationist will view the building is that it is uniquely constructed with an artistical brise-soleil to block the sun. The designer used standard concrete bricks to form a decorative wall. Unfortunately, the brise-soleil was removed in 2011, making the building look like many of the contemporary buildings in town.
Sometimes people remember a beautiful site that was replaced by a “horrid” piece of architecture and can’t get over their anger, even when that building becomes an important part of our story. This is particularly true in San Francisco where many preservationists themselves dislike anything newer than the Victorian era. Yes, it was a tragedy that many failed to appreciate the Victorian buildings and let many get torn down several decades ago, but those losses also tell another important story. It tells the story of the 1950s and 1960s when there was hope for a more equal society with inexpensive housing for the working class. Should that history be wiped from our memories?
Preservation is not just about keeping pretty, well-kept buildings, but about conveying parts of our history-not just the history of huge events, but the story of how everyone used to go to a certain corner market. Our history cannot be told only in buildings that meet someone’s criteria of beauty; sometimes our history is painful, but no less important.
1. How do preservationists see buildings?A.They are devoted to repairing famous buildings. |
B.They focus on their value rather than appearance. |
C.They prefer ugly buildings to beautiful ones. |
D.They pay great attention to ancient buildings. |
A.It’s regrettable. | B.It’s confusing. |
C.It’s pleasing. | D.It’s unbelievable. |
A.To wipe the history of the Victorian era. |
B.To restore the architecture before the Victorian era. |
C.To work off the deep anger of the working class. |
D.To make land available for cheap housing. |
A.What kind of buildings are of historical value? |
B.Why do architects make ugly buildings? |
C.Are ugly buildings worth preserving? |
D.Are preservationists’ work meaningless? |
3 . 2023 Illustration Competition
Enter the competition most respected and admired in the industry for creativity in illustration, the Communication Arts Illustration Competition. Selected by distinguished professionals, the winning entries will be distributed worldwide in the Communication Arts Illustration Annual and on commarts. com, ensuring important exposure of the creations. Each winner will receive a professionalized Award of Excellence, made from solid aluminum, and an award certificate. Communication Art’s Award of Excellence is one of the most desired awards. If chosen, winning places you in the highest ranks of your profession.
What To Enter With
Any illustration first published or produced from Jan. 2022 to Jan. 2023 is qualified. Entries may originate from any country. Descriptions in English are necessary for the judges to read.
Entries Can Be Submitted In The Following Formats
Digital Images: RGB images in JPG format with a maximum file size of 2 MB. GIF images may be livelier, but would be turned down, and so would the PNG ones.
Motion Entries: In MOV, MP4 or MPG format, with a maximum file size of 500 MB.
Illustration Competition Categories & Entry Fees
Category | Single illustration | Series of illustrations |
Books (covers, jackets, etc.) | $ 40 | $ 80 (limit of 5) |
Motion (media for films, videos, etc.) | $ 90 | $ 180 (limit of 3) |
Student Work | $20 (Image) $ 45 (Video) | $40 (Image, limit of 5) $ 90 (Video, limit of 3) |
For more categories, please download the category PDF.
Late Fees
Entries must be registered no later than Jan. 13, 2023. Entries registered after that date will be charged a fee of $ 10 each. No entries can be registered after Jan. 27, 2023.
1. What will the winner gain?A.A bonus from Communication Arts. | B.Exposure to world-famous works. |
C.Wide recognition in the industry. | D.A personalized award certificate. |
A.A newly produced motion entry. | B.A series for covers of three illustrations. |
C.A student work from Argentina. | D.A PNG image with a file size of 1 MB. |
A.$80. | B.$90. | C.$110. | D.$120. |
4 . Nowadays, the demand on charities is greater than ever.
Have you heard of the Ice Bucket (桶) Challenge? The social media initiative started in the United States and spread around the world, raising $115 million for the research on ALS (渐冻症) — a disease which Hawking suffered from. You take a video of yourself dumping (倾倒) a bucket of ice water over your head, and then encourage three more people to do the same.
Manju Kalanidhi, a journalist in India, thought it was an amazing way to raise awareness of ALS and raise funds for its research.
“
Manju didn’t have a big army of volunteers, but she did have donations and people who need food.
A.But it didn’t make sense in her country. |
B.In such a novel way, she put them together successfully. |
C.The rate of giving has increased among the wealthiest nations. |
D.I gave a bucket of rice to someone in need and clicked a photo. |
E.Luckily, the world never goes short of kind and creative souls. |
F.This has been making it so easy to motivate people to give back. |
G.The participant donates $100 if they don’t complete the challenge. |
5 . We tend to think of large cities as melting pots — places where people from all sorts of backgrounds can mix and interact. But according to new research, people in big cities tend to primarily interact with other individuals in the same socioeconomic bracket (阶层), but people in small cities and rural areas are much more likely to have diverse interactions.
The researchers used GPS data collected in 2017 from 9.6 million cellphones across 382 metropolitan (大都市的) areas in the United States to determine how often people of different socioeconomic ranks crossed paths during the day — essentially how many times people had the opportunity to interact, even briefly, with someone in a different income bracket. They collected data on almost 1.6 billion path-crossings.
This large amount of extremely precise data allowed the researchers to see what has been missed by similar studies in the past. People living in the 10 most populous metropolitan areas, which include cities like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, along with their surrounding areas, were significantly less likely to interact with people of different socioeconomic ranks than people in metropolitan areas with fewer than 100,000 residents.
The good news is that there are ways to build cities to promote more socioeconomic mixing. Looking at large cities, the researchers found that those that placed frequently-visited hubs (中心) in between different neighborhoods — instead of in the center of each neighborhood — were less separated.
“These big cities have managed to develop diverse interactions because the hubs that people visit the most — which turn out to be shopping centers, squares, and similar places — are between rich and poor neighborhoods,” said Hamed Nilforoshan, a doctoral researcher at Stanford University. “Those hubs act as bridges, allowing people to see each other and interact.”
1. What might be a conclusion of the new research?A.Urban residents interact more. | B.Large cities act as melting pots. |
C.Urbanization leads to different social ranks. | D.Big cities showcase socioeconomic separation. |
A.By bridging the income brackets. | B.By studying the frequency of interaction. |
C.By comparing residents’ behavior patterns. | D.By collecting data on people’s social ranks. |
A.Position the hubs properly. | B.Construct more shopping centers. |
C.Control the urban expansion. | D.Design unique residential neighborhoods. |
A.Income Bracket: What to Do with It? | B.Diverse Interactions Count in Big Cities |
C.Socioeconomic Separation: How to Fix It? | D.Metropolitan Cities Are Great Melting Pots |
6 . When scientists and the public worry about sea level rise, they mostly focus on when and where communities will be permanently flooded. But there’s another consequence of rising seas that will affect many more people much sooner: getting cut off from roads and other critical infrastructure (基础设施). It’s a threat that society has not paid nearly enough attention to, says Allison Reilly, a civil engineer at the University of Maryland.
In a new paper, Reilly and her colleagues show the width and pace of the isolation (隔离) threat. Inspired by her work on the eastern shore of Maryland, where people already need to adjust their travel and work schedules to account for tides that frequently flood roads, Reilly and her colleagues calculated that, with one meter of sea level rise, twice as many people across the coastal United States will be isolated than will be fully flooded.
Worse still, many places currently considered at low risk of sea level rise suddenly become much riskier when isolation is taken into account, Reilly says. While planners know that low-lying Florida will be severely flooded, Maine, with its high rocky coasts, is generally thought to be at low risk. But Reilly’s work shows many Mainers are in great danger of being cut off by flooding in coastal communities and river valleys.
This far more immediate effect of rising seas needs to become part of the broader planning process. That kind of planning is starting to happen around the Chignecto Isthmus, an interprovincial land bridge in Canada, connecting New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The New Brunswick and Nova Scotia governments are considering a variety of plans to raise or replace the dikes (坝). For Ollerhead, a Nova Scotian, that work can’t start soon enough. “It will take a lot of sea level rise before Nova Scotia becomes an island, but you could have a storm that cuts off the major transportation links for days, weeks, or months,” he says. “It’s nearly impossible to predict when, but it will happen eventually.”
1. What is the threat Allison Reilly mentioned in paragraph 1?A.The rising sea level. | B.Flood-related isolation. |
C.Permanent flooded areas. | D.Irreparable infrastructure. |
A.Conclusions of a new paper. | B.Calculations of collected data. |
C.Situations of Eastern Maryland. | D.Influences on coastal United States. |
A.To clarify a point. | B.To offer a solution. |
C.To present an assumption. | D.To illustrate a reason. |
A.Dismissive. | B.Doubtful. | C.Favorable. | D.Unclear. |
7 . While there are many summer programs for high school students in NYC, the Career Edge, an NYU high school summer program, affords students an exceptional college and career readiness experience. It has served thousands of high school students from around the world in exploring career paths and experiencing what it is like to live on the NYU campus and learn at a well-known university.
Program overview
The program offers you the chance to explore a career path before you declare it as a college major. Many students choose to attend multiple weeks, taking a different course each session.
Academic experience
The courses focus on the content that provides a comprehensive overview of your area of interest. Field trips to related companies and organizations bring what you learn in class to life.
NYC experience
Living and learning in NYC is an unforgettable adventure. You’ll dive deep into the course content that immerses you in industry, while enjoying the culture and excitement of the city.
Students’ feedback
Tony: The Finance class was great. We explored Wall Street, visited Federal Hall and the Museum of American Finance, and learned how to trade stocks. The instructor made the course interesting and entertaining.
Ava: The Integrated Marketing class was very informative. The instructor was a real professional. Visits to digital agencies and marketing firms gave me an insider’s view of what it’s like to work in the field.
1. Who is the program intended for?A.College students. | B.Primary school students. |
C.Junior middle school students. | D.Senior high school students. |
A.Learn American history. | B.Set up new organizations. |
C.Visit some places in NYC. | D.Work in a foreign company. |
A.It’s costly. | B.It’s boring. | C.It’s ordinary. | D.It’s wonderful. |
Sugar, protein and fat: if you’re good at scanning those nutrition facts on food and drinks packages, it’s thanks in large part to Burkey Belser, who is a well-known American graphic designer (平面设计师). But his work extended far beyond groceries. If you’ve noticed the Drug Facts box on over-the-counter medicines seems to be like the food label, that’s because Belser designed it, as well. He also created the yellow Energy Guide box for home appliances.
Belser’s passion for design started at a young age. He studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and began a journey to become a graphic designer. His exceptional talent and skill quickly gained recognition, earning him numerous awards and accolades.
Belser’s work is seen on billions of products. The nutrition fact box has been copied around the world. Creating the official food information box was a complicated process, with input from business groups and health advocates, along with Food and Drug Administration( FDA) experts. The design team worked through 35 versions before the product came out, and it was a huge success. “ That is a masterpiece of information architecture, and quite a victory for social responsibility, ” commented one Italian designer.
The nutrition label reflects Americans’ evolving (演变) relationship with food, shifting from an emphasis on vitamins and minerals to addressing obesity (肥胖) and related conditions. Belser’s work not only made an impact within the industry but also played a crucial role in effectively communicating important messages to the public.
Speaking of his success, Belser said that luck had probably played a big role. But he added, “ I’d say the willingness to work hard sets the stage to take advantage of whatever luck comes your way.”
1. What can we learn about Burkey Belser from paragraph 1?A.He worked in groceries. | B.He majored in medicine. |
C.He designed package labels. | D.He updated home appliances. |
A.Opportunities. | B.Degrees. | C.Suggestions. | D.Praises. |
A.It helps fight Americans’ obesity. |
B.It improves the public’s eating habits. |
C.It makes information easily accessible. |
D.It promotes the food industry’s images. |
A.His good luck. | B.His determination. |
C.Public donation. | D.Business cooperation. |
9 . Today, many people are turning to social media for their fitness routines, with TikTok, one of the most popular platforms. Indeed, its fitness category has some 300 billion views. But are the posted works, exercises and challenges really safe and effective?
While fitness influencers can encourage people to become more physically active, which is a positive, the quality and accuracy of their content is a concern, according to a 2023 review in Frontiers in Public Health.
“There are a lot of unsustainable and unrealistic workouts on TikTok, and even some dangerous advice,” said Jess Brown, a certified personal trainer in Westchester, New York. “What’s more, much of the fitness information on TikTok isn’t backed by science or posted by fitness professionals. The workouts are usually generalized to anyone, too, and don’t take into account your health, your family history, your flexibility, your range of motion—the list goes on,” said Monica Jones, a certified personal trainer in Washington, DC.
One of the more popular TikTok fitness trends involves developing your abdominal muscles. These challenges often show an influencer doing one exercise or series of movements that, if repeated daily for a week or two, is promised to result in a sexy six-pack. “No way,” Brown said. “We’ve proven again and again that spot reduction isn’t a thing.”
“Unfortunately, there will always be trends centered around getting fast results, because those grab people’s attention. But it’s important to look at your fitness and health as a lifelong journey, not something you can achieve within 10 to 90 days,” Jones said.
How can you separate quality workouts from dangerous ones? First, check the information of the posters. They should be certified fitness professionals who have experience working with people. You also want a coach who emphasizes improving strength and health, not one who focuses on body type. A quality influencer should encourage mental well-being, self-care and the importance of listening to your body in addition to physical fitness.
1. What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about?A.The problems of fitness content on TikTok. |
B.The lack of sustainability on TikTok workouts. |
C.The needs for personalized workout on TikTok. |
D.The absence of scientific backing in fitness information on TikTok. |
A.Sustainable workout routines. | B.Long-term health improvement. |
C.Certified fitness professional guidance. | D.Easy exercise with immediate results. |
A.Fitness should be a lifelong journey, not a quick achievement. |
B.Fitness training should be specific to body type and flexibility. |
C.Fitness influencers must prioritize fast results over long-term health. |
D.TikTok workouts must promote mental well-being over physical fitness. |
A.Personalized workout plans. | B.Paying attention to detail in exercises. |
C.Taking a balanced approach to fitness. | D.Certification and reputation in fitness training. |
10 . What is your favourite colour? Do you like yellow, orange, red?
Do you prefer greys and blues? Then you are probably quiet, shy, and you would rather follow than lead. You tend to be pessimist (悲观主义者). At least, this is what psychologists tell us, and they should know, because they have been seriously studying the meaning of colour preference, as well as the effect that colours have on human beings.
A.On the other hand, black is depressing. |
B.They tell us, among other facts, that we do not choose our favourite colour as grow up—we are born with our preference. |
C.The rooms are painted in different colours as you like. |
D.If you do, you must be an optimist (乐观主义者), a leader, an active person who enjoys life, people and excitement. |
E.Light and bright colours make people not only happier but more active. |
F.Life is like a picture or a poem, full of different colours. |
G.Colours do influence our moods—there is no doubt about it. |