1 . Do you know there are apps that make it easy to help others, our planet, and ourselves, so we lead more giving and meaningful lives? Check out four of the best ones and spring into action!

Be My Eyes

This app connects visually impaired people in need of some help with sighted people with a few minutes of spare time to offer through video calls. The help needed may be something like finding a missing object in the home. This app is available in over 150 countries and in more than 150 languages. Volunteers register and detail which languages they speak. When someone needs help,a message reminder appears on their device.

Zooniverse

Want to help with cutting edge global research? Zooniverse is an app with millions of registered volunteers that lets you become a citizen researcher! Help professional scientific researchers through your mobile device or the companion website. Global volunteers taking part in this exciting crowd sourcing project typically don⁵t have a scientific background but their contribution is highly valued.

My Selfless Act

This is a social networking site and app promoting the idea of giving back to the community through volunteering. It offers information on local volunteering opportunities globally and encourages the sharing of ideas and activities.

Aloe Bud

Created by someone who struggles with his mental illness, routine and remembering daily self-care, Aloe Bud is a welcoming and simple “self-care pocket companion” app. It gently reminds users about self-care activities in physical, mental and emotional needs. These reminders relate to anything from drinking enough water to taking screen breaks to maintaining connections.

1. What is Zooniverse intended to do?

A．Help with disabled people.	B．Provide access to research.
C．Share community resources.	D．Organize self-care activities.

2. What is probably the major concern of users who choose Aloe Bud?

A．Personal well-being.	B．Community service.
C．Professional development.	D．Volunteering information.

3. Which app targets users with eye problems?

A．Aloe Bud.

B．Zooniverse.

C．Be My Eyes.

D．My Selfless Act.

2 . When I first picked up Michelle Zauner’s memoir “Crying in H Mart,” I was attracted by the familiar name of the local Korean market 10 minutes away from my house. Looking through its pages was no different from looking through an old photo album, reminding me of my old memories. And I wanted to look at each and every photo, up close.

Despite being a struggling artist making up for lost time with a sick mother, Zauner somehow made her unique experiences related to her audience. One of the factors that helped make this possible was food. Every food and every aspect of Korean culture she described seemed so familiar to me, as I’m a Korean American. Not only this, we have similar experiences, and have common feelings of being torn apart by two cultures that seem to refuse to accept us just for being who we are. Zauner shone a new light on my attitude to my own identity.

In other ways, this relatability to such a specific target audience can become a weakness. This memoir was obviously meant for a Korean, specifically a Korean American audience. With such a small audience of 0.6 % of the United States population in 2019, the story that Zauner wanted to tell would not be received by many.

An avoidable point of the memoir that caused confusion could have been the organization of the timeline. Looking at the book as a whole, there was no specific order in which Zauner organized the events of her life. The most effective way to do this would have been to progress through the book stating with her earliest memories with her mother and ending with her moments of grieving.

I felt thankful that I was able to discover such a novel that made me feel understood for the first time in years. And most of all, 1 felt inspired that there are people like Zauner who make mistakes but try again. Even when the world tells them it’s too late, they try again. Even when they feel lost, they try again and find a way. And there was one thing I was sure of after I read he book: I will try again.

1. What does the underlined word “this” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A．Making up for lost time.	B．Designing a book like an album.
C．Bringing back the author’s old memories.	D．Letting Zauner’s readers understand her experiences.

2. Which aspect of the book is discussed in paragraph 3?

A．Its small readership.	B．Its difficult languages.
C．Its weak market in Korea.	D．Its sales in America in 2019.

3. What is the author’s purpose in writing paragraph 4?

A．To point out one limitation of the book.

B．To describe Zauner’s life in order of time.

C．To explain why he falls in love with the book.

D．To introduce an effective way to write a memoir.

4. What did the author learn from reading “Crying in H Mart”?

A．To be thankful.	B．To stay positive.
C．To understand others.	D．To avoid making mistakes.

3 . Around one heart attack in 50 in rich European countries is caused by long exposure to loud traffic, according to the World Health Organization. The ill-effects of noise pollution in such countries are second only to those from dirty air. Long-term exposure can cause hormonal (荷尔蒙的) imbalances as well as mental-health problems.

Roadside barriers can help decrease the noise, but they are expensive—up to $600,000 per kilometer. Besides, they work less well on windy days and are impractical along city streets.

Happily, there is another option. By adding rubber powders, recycled from used tyres, to the bitumen (沥青) and broken stones used to make asphalt (柏油路), engineers are designing quieter streets. First used experimentally in the 1960s, this rubberized, softer asphalt cuts traffic noise by around 25%. Even better, it also lasts longer than the normal sort. Not surprisingly, rubberized asphalt is catching on.

Rubberized asphalt keeps the noise down in a couple of ways. Gaps between the stones in standard asphalt must be small, because if they are too big the bitumen binding (粘合剂) cannot do its job properly. Adding rubber thickens the bitumen. That allows bigger gaps, which help to trap and spread sound waves. The rubberized bitumen itself is flexible, which enables it to absorb more unwanted sound energy.

Bitumen is made from oil, which means its price has risen over the past decade alongside that of the oil. Thrown-away tyres, by contrast, are cheap and are likely to get cheaper. Nowadays enough tyres are recycled in America each year to produce 20,000 miles of the stuff, enough to rebuild about 0.5% of America's roads.

Rubber roads are also popular in China, Brazil, Spain and Germany. Their popularity could spread further, since it is now possible to make rubberized asphalt less expensively than the traditional sort.

1. What do the first two paragraphs mainly talk about concerning noise pollution?

A．It does more harm than air pollution.

B．It becomes the main cause of heart attack.

C．It may cause health problems in the long run.

D．It can be got rid of by putting up roadside barriers.

2. How does the rubber work when added to the bitumen to reduce noise?

A．By absorbing sound energy.	B．By allowing bigger gaps in the bitumen.
C．By holding the broken stones together.	D．By trapping and spreading sound waves.

3. What is the author's attitude to rubberized asphalt?

A．Favorable.

B．Objective.

C．Doubtful.

D．Unclear.

4. What is one reason why the rubber road is getting popular worldwide?

A．It has a good recycling.	B．It has a lower cost.
C．It has a high standard.	D．It has an unwanted flexibility.

4 . Scientists from the National University of Singapore studied how much time twins spent in natural spaces compared with each other and found that they shared a similar level of desire to be in nature.

“The reason we decided to study this in twins is that we could estimate heritability(遗传性)based on the genetic similarities in identical twins(100%)versus genetic similarities in non-identical twins(50%),” said Chia-chen Chang, who led the study. “If a trait(特性), such as the desire to be in nature, is clearly more similar between identical twins than non-identical twins, this will then suggest a trait is heritable.”

Using the TwinsUK registry, researchers surveyed 1,153 pairs of twins—identical and non-identical—about how they experienced nature. They were required to answer questions involving how frequently they visit natural spaces such as public parks and private gardens and rate their familiarity with nature. After comparing and analyzing the collected data, researchers found that identical twins were more similar to each other in their attitudes towards nature.

While previous studies have found that spending time in natural spaces improves mental well-being, this varies from person to person. For the first time, the researchers say, this study has indicated why that is by suggesting there is likely to be a genetic component in our preference for nature and our likelihood to visit natural spaces.

However, heritability declined with age, perhaps showing that environmental factors such as access to nature and green spaces bring about a love of the outdoors as one grows older. That is to say, a person's desire to be in nature and how often they experience it are influenced by both genes and personal experiences. Those who live in urban environments without access to nature could end up having a lesser appreciation of it. Hence, it's necessary that diverse urban planning is needed to provide access to natural spaces-and the benefits they offer—for all.

1. Why were twins chosen as subjects of the study?

A．To acquire more accurate results.	B．To confirm the previous studies.
C．To measure their gene similarity.	D．To identify their specific hobbies.

2. How did the researchers carry out the study?

A．By analyzing previous data.	B．By referring to online resources.
C．By asking and answering questions.	D．By doing an experiment in the lab

3. What is special about this study?

A．It takes genes into consideration.	B．It takes advantage of the Internet.
C．It provides a new insight into the role of nature.	D．It reveals the link between nature and mental health.

4. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．One's love for nature is invariable.	B．City planning leaves much to be desired.
C．It may be a better choice to live in rural areas.	D．Genes are the only factor in shaping one's traits.

5 . The vast majority of parents expect their children to grow up to be healthy, happy, and productive members of society.     1     If we don’t give parenting everything we’ve got, our kids will wind up unemployed, living in our basements, and there will be no one to blame but ourselves. That’s what I like to call the “perfect parent myth”.

The standards of perfection for parents these days are extremely high. Perfect parenting expectations begin with a drug free natural birth. Once our young are born we must breastfeed each baby for years. If we can’t breasted, we must at least feed on demand.     2     Let’s also not forget to organize our children’s days so they are engaged in educational pursuits in case they fall behind the curve (弯道). We must be involved in every aspect of our children’s schools. There is no free time for the perfect parent.     3    

These standards are unreasonable. They’re also crazy. Parents can’t be perfect. Why? Because we’re human and so are our children.     4    They are predictable and when they are unruly we can shut them down. Parenting is nothing like that.

    5    But, by the parent being less than perfect, the child will need to adapt and develop skills to overcome little disappointments. There is flexibility and room for real-life mistakes and limitations to our parenting abilities.

A．We must make our own baby food.

B．They are pushing themselves too far.

C．Robots would be much easier to parent.

D．There is only unlimited devotion to our children.

E．A good enough parent meets the needs of their children.

F．Parents have no enough time to live up to these high standards.

G．To meet those goals, parents are told that they must spare no effort.

6 . Thirty-five years ago, with just one acre of land, a couple of seeds and a bucket of hope, one Nigerian-born scientist began his mission to defeat famine (饥荒) on his continent.

News of the drought across Africa in the early 1980s troubled Nzamujo. Equipped with a microbiology PhD and his faith, he travelled back to Africa. There, he found a continent ecologically rich, diverse and capable of producing food. He believes drought wasn’t the only reason for widespread hunger, and that sustainability had been left out.

Nzamujo began designing a “zero waste” agriculture system that would not only increase food security, but also help the environment and create jobs. In 1985, he started his sustainable farm “Songhai” in the West African country of Benin.

Nzamajo lives on the farm and constantly updates his techniques. He credits his degrees in science and engineering for Songhai’s success. But he also thanks his spiritual and cultural roots, and his father — a driving force in his life who encouraged him to pursue his studies to the highest degree and to use Songhai to share his knowledge.

Songhai has several “eco-literacy” development programs. They range from 18-month training courses for farmer-enterprisers, to shorter stays to learn techniques like weeding. People come from all over the world to study Nzamujo’s methods.

After seeing success on his first zero waste farm, he expanded throughout Benin and western Africa. Today, the Songhai model is applied across the continent, including Nigena. Uganda, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Nzamujo says they've trained more than 7.000 farmer-enterprisers and more than 30, 000 people in total since it began.

Nzamujo believes zero waste agriculture is now steadily tackling the issues he set out to defeat, hunger, unemployment and environmental declines. And he wants to see it go further.

1. Which factor related to famine was unnoticed in Nzamujo’s eyes?

A．Poor soil.	B．Water shortage.
C．Lack of resources.	D．Unsustainability.

2. What does the author intend to do in paragraph 3?

A．Introduce a solution.	B．Give examples to the readers.
C．Add some background information.	D．Summarize the previous paragraphs.

3. How does Songhai help to ease the problem of famine?

A．By offering land.	B．By trading seeds.
C．By educating farmers.	D．By selling technology.

4. Which of the following best describes Nzamujo?

A．Critical and careful.	B．Learned and responsible.
C．Optimistic and generous.	D．Considerate and ambitious.