1 . There is no such thing as a perfect woman, and Nothing but Thirty screenwriter Zhang Yingji wanted to convey this message in telling the stories of three different women, who have found very different ways to climb their own mountains.
Wang Manni is a woman who will climb any mountain as long as she finds it challenging. Zhong Xiaoqin is one who will only climb if she has someone to go along with her. She will not overexert herself, and she will definitely stop once she has reached a comfortable place. Gu Jia, on the other hand, has already started to think about reaching the peak before she even starts the climb, regardless of whether she is alone or has company.
In a sense, the scriptwriter purposely created Gu Jia as the perfect woman of thirty. She is married, with a successful husband and a young son. She is living the dream, but Gu Jia does not feel complete. She feels lost. She is flawed. She has episodes of succumbing to her own greed and disregard to those around her.
“She is someone who chases alter perfection.” said Tong Yao (who portrays Gu Jia). “Obviously, this is stressful for those around her. She hides things. She isn’t perfect, but in front of others, she has to stay perfect.”
Her chase for perfection and her stubbornness to maintain this image has effected many of the relationships in her life. She chases after what she believes is right for others. Because of this, she and her husband start to see and value things differently, which puts a strain on their relationship.
Gu Jia’s personal struggles give life to the character. Many viewers are able to relate to her, and, through her character, find a shadow of themselves. There’s still a lot left that we can learn from the women of Nothing but Thirty, but maybe like them, we too can find the courage in ourselves to walk on that road which is truly meant for us.
1. According to the article, which of the following best describes Zhong Xiaoqin’s personality?| A．Ambitious and goal-driven | B．Moderate and content |
| C．Aimless and impulsive | D．Visionary and independent |
| A．She has her own worries and insecurities. |
| B．She leads a seemingly perfect and enviable life. |
| C．She can be greedy and insensitive to others’ feelings. |
| D．She is discontented with life because of her husband. |
| A．is a perfectionist | B．stands up to her husband |
| C．balances her work and life well | D．displays some identifiable traits |
| A．To call attention to the rise of feminism. |
| B．To introduce the plot of Nothing but Thirty. |
| C．To contrast the main characters of Nothing but Thirty. |
| D．To encourage viewers to find inspiration in Nothing but Thirty. |
Home /Tours/ China Packages/Beiiing BJ28: 3 Days Private Beijing City Tour including Hotel From $419 per Free Inquiry We Guarantee 100% No Shopping Stops! Itinerary Tour Prices Price Includes Day1 Arrival in Beijing，Visit Hutong Alleys(胡同小巷) According to your flight schedule, your guide and driver will pick you up at the airport today. After greetings, we will drive to the hotel in about one hour. If time permits, we will arrange for you a Hutong tour by rickshaw to explore the old, traditional alleys of Beijing. There are some workshops, bars and restaurants in Hutongs and all these will give you a better understanding of the special Hutong culture. What's more we will also pay a visit to a local family living in one of the old-style folk yards, Rickshaw riding in old Hutongs where you will not only see how a typical local family lives, but also learn about the Chinese folk customs. Day 2 Visit Tiananmen Square, Forbidden city, Mutianyu Great Wall, Bird’s Nest The first stop of today's Beijing city tour is the Tiananmen Square. Located in the center of Beijing, it has become the symbol of the city, and even China. Walking north through the square, we will come to the Forbidden City. With over 70 palaces and 9000 rooms， it is the world＇s largest and most- complete ancient wooden architectural complex(建筑群). In the afternoon, we will continue to visit the Mutianyu Great Wall, which is one of the most famous and best-preserved Great Wall sections. Upon arrival, you will be certainly attracted by its breathtaking landscape. On the way back, we will pass by the Bird's Nest, also known as the Olympic National Stadium. We will make a brief stop there for you to take some pictures of this magnificent building. Day 3 Visit Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace Today's city tour of Beijing will begin with a visit to the Temple of Heaven where the royal ceremonies to pray for good harvest were held in ancient times. Nowadays, it has developed into a popular park where many local people do exercise, play chess, fly kites dance and have fun. Then, your guide will accompany you to visit the Summer Palace, a large and well-preserved royal garden. You will have a great time to enjoy the wonderful scenery and historical sites inside. At the end of the tour, we will accompany you to the airport according to the flight schedule. Hope you enjoy travelling with us! |
| A．like to do shopping in China |
| B．are interested in Chinese culture |
| C．prefer to visit natural wonders |
| D．like Chinese literature and arts |
| A．a large vehicle that is used to transport goods |
| B．a motor vehicle with room for a few passengers |
| C．a small vehicle for carrying one or two passengers |
| D．a road vehicle with two wheels driven by an engine |
| A．A tour of the inside of the Bird's Nest is arranged on Day 2. |
| B．The locals often hold ceremonies in the Temple of Heaven. |
| C．The Forbidden City is famous for its old-style folk yards |
| D．The arrangement of a Hutong tour depends on the time |
3 . Like many schools worldwide, the pandemic forced Safe Passage to address an issue it’s been debating for years: how to best integrate (使……完整，使……整体) online or remote learning into its education plans.
Holland says students will be at a disadvantage in today’s workplace if they don’t have access to digital tools.
“Blended learning is a combination between technology and face-to-face classroom learning,” says Holland. “It’s not a bolt-on solution. If you see technology as this cool thing you just bolt on to an existing curriculum, you are in big trouble.”
Jean-Francois agrees.
“A lot of grants will include purchasing laptops or tablets. But education is a lot more complex,” she says. “
“We need to figure it out, but figure it out one step at a time,” says Johnson. “You have to know what people are able to accept and use — cognitively, socially, and emotionally. Determine that, then move forward.”
| A．Most remote learning involves technology like tablets. |
| B．The Rotary clubs raise money to buy tablets and pack the items for delivery. |
| C．With the unpredictability of the pandemic, many schools will be making the same kind of decisions in the coming year. |
| D．At the same time, students benefit most when technology is integrated into the entire curriculum, not just provided through a mass distribution of laptops. |
| E．We need to use this time and lean into developing teachers in new ways we haven’t thought of before. |
| F．Students have formed small groups to share smartphones with others who don’t have one. |
4 . “Is data the new oil?” asked advocates of big data back in 2012 in Forbes magazine. By 2016, with the rise of big data’s fast-growing cousin deep learning, we had become more certain: “Data is the new oil,” stated Fortune magazine.
Amazon’s Neil Lawrence has a slightly different comparison: Data is coal. Not coal today, though, but coal in the early days of the 18th century, when Thomas Newcomen invented the steam engine. Newcomen built his device to pump water out of the southwest’s rich tin (锡) mines.
The problem, as Lawrence said, was that the pump was rather more useful to those who had a lot of coal than those who didn’t: it was good, but not good enough to be able to buy enough coal in to run it. That was so true that the first of Newcomen’s steam engines wasn’t built in a tin mine, but in coal works near Dudley.
So why is data coal? The problem is similar: there are a lot of Newcomen in the world of deep learning. New companies are coming up with revolutionary new ways to train machines to do impressive tasks, from reconstructing facial data from images to learning the writing style of an individual user to better predict which word they are going to type in a sentence. And yet, like Newcomen, their innovations are so much more useful to the people who actually have large amounts of raw material to work from.
But there is an ending to the story: 69 years later, James Watt made a nice change to the Newcomen steam engine, adding a condenser (冷凝器) to the design. That change, Lawrence said, “made the steam engine much more efficient, and that’s what triggered the industrial revolution.”
Whether data is oil or coal, then, there’s another way the comparison holds up: a lot of work is going into trying to make sure we can do more, with less.
“If you look at all the areas where deep learning is successful, they’re all areas where there’s lots of data,” points out Lawrence. That’s great if you want to classify images of cats, but less helpful if you want to use deep learning to diagnose rare illnesses. “It’s generally considered unacceptable to force people to become sick in order to acquire data.”
It’s not as impressive as teaching a computer to play a game better than any human alive, but “data efficiency” is a vital step if deep learning is to move away from simply taking in large amounts of data and giving out the best correlations (关联) possible.
1. The first of Newcomen’s steam engines wasn’t built in a tin mine because________.| A．its operation required a lot of coal | B．it would lose its function in a tin mine |
| C．it was in greater demand in coal works | D．the rich mines required more advanced aids |
| A．Reconstructing facial data. | B．Predicting a word in a sentence. |
| C．Classifying images of cats. | D．Diagnosing rare diseases. |
| A．Watt’s condenser helped the steam engine consume less coal. |
| B．Data involving patients is often collected through immoral ways. |
| C．Teaching machines to learn is a vital step towards data efficiency. |
| D．Thomas Newcomen’s steam engine had revolutionary applications. |
| A．acquiring data is as complex as mining for coal |
| B．a change is required to make more out of less data |
| C．data is the new fuel to start an information revolution |
| D．a larger amount of data is needed to accomplish something |
5 . Anne of Green Gables (1985)
Lucy Maud Montgomery’s novel Anne of Green Gables, previously filmed in 1934, was afforded a TV-movie treatment in 1985. Anne Shirley is an orphan girl sent to live with a foster family on Canada’s Prince Edward Island. Though she has great difficulty controlling her temper and vivid imagination, Anne eventually wins over her new guardians, bossy Marilla Cuthbert and Mailla’s shy brother Mathew. Anne’s journey is a happy one, but starts out difficult like those of many children adopted at an older age.
Martian Child (2007)
Martian Child tells the story of a widower, David, and his continuation of the adoption process he had started before his wife’s death. His new son, Dennis, believes that he is a Martian. David must contend with this belief and gain access into Dennis’s world. Both characters are born outsiders and they recognize their common sense of loss. Martian Child is a wonderful story for any adopted child, especially those who have created their own origin story to cope with the absence of their birth family.
Despicable Me (2010)
Despicable Me is championed for showing kids how much their presence impacts the lives of their adoptive parents. Gru is a super-bad guy until he meets orphans Margo, Edith and Agnes. They overturned his life and his evil plans as they work to warm his heart and home. Despicable Me is a funny kid movie on the surface, but truly has a lot to say about the love of a child and the effect of that love on their new parents and home.
Annie (2014)
In this remake of one of the most-beloved adoption stories, Annie’s positive attitude shines in the midst of incompetent social workers and greedy foster parents. The songs are cheerful and catchy and the film is happy. While this film could be very challenging for children who have experienced destructive placements, it is generally family-friendly. It also gets points for allowing Annie to exemplify several of the strengths of foster kids: hopeful, brave, tough and smart.
1. The films all deal with the theme of________.| A．family conflict | B．parenting | C．adoption | D．child care |
| A．Annie & Despicable Me | B．Annie & Anne of Green Gables |
| C．Martian Child & Anne of Green Gables | D．Despicable Me & Martian Child |
| A．Optimism sees Annie through her bad times. |
| B．David tries hard to help Dennis cope with his new life. |
| C．The films all have happy endings despite early difficulties. |
| D．Despicable Me illustrates the power of love in a serious way. |
6 . How does VR work? How does wearable tech make you think you’re standing on Mars when you’re actually about to bump into the kitchen counter? We’ll be explaining how virtual reality headsets work here.
Let’s start with some basics.
The headset set-up is being used by Oculus, Sony, HTC, Samsung and Google, and usually requires three things. A PC, console or smartphone to run the app or game, a headset which secures a display in front of your eyes (which could be the phone’s display) and some kind of input-head tracking, controllers, hand tracking, voice, on-device buttons or trackpads.
Total immersion is what everyone making a VR headset, game or app is aiming towards— making the virtual reality experience so real that we forget the computer, headgear and accessories and act exactly as we would in the real world. So how do we get there?
VR headsets like Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR are often referred to as HMDs and all that means is that they are head mounted displays. Even with no audio or hand tracking, holding up Google Cardboard to place your smartphone’s display in front of your face can be enough to get you half-immersed in a virtual world.
The goal of the hardware is to create what appears to be a life size, 3D virtual environment without the boundaries we usually associate with TV or computer screens. So whichever way you look, the screen mounted to your face follows you. This is unlike AR which overlays graphics onto your view of the real world.
Video is sent from the console or computer to the headset via a HDMI cable in the case of headsets such as HTC’s Vive and the Rift. For Google’s Daydream headset and the Samsung Gear VR, it’s already on the smartphone slotted into the headset.
VR headsets use either two feeds sent to one display or two LCD displays, one per eye. There are also lenses which are placed between your eyes and the pixels which is why the devices are often called goggles. In some instances, these can be adjusted to match the distance between your eyes which varies from person to person.
1. The VR headset set-up calls for the following items except _________.
| A．a game | B．a headset | C．a PC | D．a smart phone or console |
| A．one invades another world which is quite different |
| B．one is exposed to a virtual world as realistic as the real world |
| C．one travels in a strange foreign country |
| D．one is absorbed in the advanced technology of the headset |
| A．VR headsets. | B．VR app. | C．VR smart phones. | D．VR lens. |
| A．To overlay graphics onto your view of the real world. |
| B．To create an environment that appears to be a life-size and 3D virtual. |
| C．To generate a situation that is similar to TV or computer screens. |
| D．To introduce an environment that enables one to live in a different world. |
7 . The TheatreWorks Writers’ Lab:
a development space for worldwide writers
24-HOUR WRITING COMPETITION
A programme of TheatreWorks Writer’s Lab
LET YOUR IDEAS SPARK
5 Stimuli
24 Hours
1 script
Are you up for it? Anyone can discover a new you through the competition!
The 24-hour writing competition organized by TheatreWorks Writers’ Lab is back for its 9th year!(Held at the peaceful seaside resort, Aloha Changi, the challenge is on again to stimulate one’s heart and mind to produce a script within 24 hours.)
TheatreWorks Writers’ Lab has for the past 16 years discovered and nurtured new talent, and provided research and development opportunities for existing writers.
Dates: Thu 29 July (4 pm) to Fri 30 July(4pm) 2010
Venue: Aloha Chanji
Competition Categories Prizes for each category
Youth Category 1st Prize: $800
15 to 18 years 2nd Prize: $500
Open Category 3rd Prize: $200
19 years and above Merit Prize: $100
Registration Fee Registration Deadline
Youth-$25 15 July 2016
Open-$25 Limited to 100 places
Visit www.theatreworks.org for a registration form.
1. The underlined word “nurtured” probably means _________.| A．discovered | B．provided | C．emphasized | D．cultivated |
| A．5 | B．8 | C．16 | D．24 |
| A．The event was held by TheatreWorks Writers’ Lab. |
| B．The highest prize is $800. |
| C．The competition is limited to existing writers. |
| D．The registration forms can be downloaded online. |
8 . Like most people, I’ve long understood that I’ll be judged by my occupation, that my profession is used by people to see how talented I am. Recently, however, I was disappointed to see that it also decides how I’m treated as a person.
Last year I left a professional position as a small-town reporter and took a job waiting tables. As someone paid to serve food to people, I had customers say and do things to me I suppose they’d never say or do to the people they know. One night a man talking on his cell phone waved me away, and then called me back with his finger a minute later, saying angrily that he was ready to order and asking where I’d been.
I had waited tables during summers in college and was treated like a peon (勤杂工) by plenty of people. But at 19 years old, I believed I deserved inferior treatment from professional adults. Besides, people responded to me differently after I told them I was in college. Customers would joke that one day I’d be sitting at their table, waiting to be served.
Once I graduated I took a job at a community newspaper. From my first day, I heard a respectful tone from everyone who called me. I assumed this was the way the professional world worked—politely and formally.
I soon found out differently. I sat several feet away from a person in advertising department with a similar name. Our calls would often get mixed up and someone asking for Kristen would be transferred to Christie. The mistake was immediately clear. Perhaps it was because of money, but people used a tone with Kristen that they never used with me.
It’s no secret that there’s a lot to put up with when waiting tables, and fortunately, much of it can be easily forgotten when you pocket the tips. The service industry exists to meet others’ needs. Still, it seemed that many of my customers didn’t get the difference between server and servant.
I’m now applying to graduate school, which means someday I’ll return to a profession where people need to be nice to me in order to get what they want. I think I’ll take them to dinner first, and see how they treat someone whose job is to serve them.
1. What makes the author disappointed?
| A．Professionals tend to look down upon workers. |
| B．Talented people have to do the job waiting tables. |
| C．One’s position is used to measure one’s intelligence. |
| D．Occupation affects the way one is treated as a person. |
| A．Waiting tables is a hard job. |
| B．Some customers are difficult to deal with. |
| C．The man making a phone call is absent-minded. |
| D．Some customers show no respect to those who serve them. |
| A．She felt it unfair to be treated as a servant. |
| B．She found it natural for professionals to treat her as inferior. |
| C．She was embarrassed each time her customers joked with her. |
| D．She felt badly hurt when her customers regarded her as a peon. |
| A．see what kind of person they are |
| B．experience the feeling of being served |
| C．share her working experience with her customers |
| D．help them realize the difference between server and servant |
9 . Self-driving cars raise fears over "weaponisation"
Autonomous vehicles are in danger of being turned into "weapons", leading governments around the world to block cars operated by foreign companies, the head of Baidu's self-driving car programme has warned.
Qi Lu, chief operating officer at the Chinese internet group, said security concerns could become a problem for global car-makers and technology companies, including the US and China.
"It has nothing to do with any particular government -- has to do with the very nature of autonomy," he said on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show last week. "You have an object that is capable of moving by itself. By definition, it is a weapon."
Increasingly, self-driving technology is seen as advancing faster than regulators can keep up with. Regional and national governments are struggling with the issue of when to allow autonomous cars on to their roads and under what conditions.
Multinational companies will have a "high bar" to meet local policy requirements for autonomous driving," Mr. Lu said. "The days of building a vehicle in one place and it runs everywhere are over. Because a vehicle that can more by itself by definition it is a weapon."
Baidu is investing heavily in Apollo, its open-source autonomous car software, as it looks to shift away from its core business of internet advertising into artificial intelligence. At CES, it unveiled Apollo 2.0, which offers improved security, alongside a new $200m fund to invest in south-east Asian efforts to improve autonomous driving.
Mr. Lu, who joined Baidu from Microsoft a year ago, said autonomous vehicles should reduce fatalities on the road, whether caused accidentally or intentionally as an act of terrorism. Pointing to incidents in London and Charlottesville where cars were used intentionally to run down pedestrians, he said: "In the future, these cars won't move if they see a human in front of them -- it doesn't matter who controls the car."
Despite the "overwhelming benefits" of autonomous driving. Mr. Lu said it would not happen without a "log of dialogue" between companies, regulators and politicians. "How we ensure safety, in my view, is going to be journey," he said.
Mr. Lu also said the open nature of Apollo, to which any company can contribute new software coding, would help Baidu navigate regulatory challenges.
"Apollo is created by Baidu but not owned by Baidu," he said. "We fundamentally believe that an open system that cultivates an environment where the best of breed can participate is better than one single company that does it alone."
1. Which of the following is banned by governments all over the world?| A．Self-driving cars used as offensive weapons. |
| B．Vehicles that are capable of moving by itself. |
| C．Undocumented self-driving car programme. |
| D．Autonomous cars owned by foreign companies. |
| A．self-driving cars can be seen as weapons because they are autonomous |
| B．some government have strong hostility towards self-driving technology. |
| C．autonomous technology is advancing faster than regulators can understand. |
| D．customers can only buy and drive self-driving cars from domestic brands. |
| A．Baidu's artificial intelligence project |
| B．Baidu's electric self-driving car. |
| C．Baidu's autonomous car software. |
| D．Baidu's core business of the future. |
| A．They can change direction in accordance with the operator |
| B．They can avoid any obstacle ahead of them. |
| C．They can give priority to cars rather than pedestrians. |
| D．They can stop automatically when detecting a living creature. |
10 . People start new businesses for different reasons. Sometimes they have a great ideal.
Reich was an engineer in Seattle. Because he cared about the environment, he biked to work every day. He carried his work and his laptop in a bike bag. When someone took his bag, he tried to buy a new one. But he couldn’t find one he liked. So he decided to make his own. Riding a bike every day leads to lots of tire punctures(轮胎刺破). As a result, he had plenty of used inner tubes in his apartment. Inner tubes are the inside part of a bike tire. They are soft, flexible, and feel like leather. They are also waterproof--all perfect qualities for a bag.
The design loved by friends and others, Reich quit his job, and started his own business--Alchemy Goods. At first, he depended on his friends for inner tubes. But business was good, and he quickly ran short of these tubes. He needed a new supply. So he asked local bike stores to send him used inner tubes instead of throwing them away. To date, he has used over 300,000 inner tubes. Having a good supply of these materials is a critical part of Reich’s business.
Each bag uses as many recycled products as possible. The straps, for example, are old care seat belts. Reich’s goal is to use 1000 percent recycled materials. This is not easy. “It’s hard to come up with a product that is endlessly recycled.
| A．There is a lot of trash available that businesses can recycle. |
| B．Other times, they decide to make a living by doing something they enjoy. |
| C．Like other entrepreneurs, Reich believes this makes sense for business and the environment. |
| D．We’re a step ahead, but we’re not perfect. |
| E．Eli Reich cuts a seat-belt from an old car to make bags for his company. |
| F．Reich emphasizes that he uses recycled materials, but he creates high quality products. |
