1 . How to Communicate With a Deaf Person
Communicating with a deaf person doesn’t have to be as difficult as it might seem. The trick is to be patient, straightforward, and to remember that deaf people communicate visually.
Method1:Starting Your Conversation
Position yourself carefully. Make sure that the light in the room is shining directly onto your face, and that you’re not standing with your back to a light.
Find out how the person prefers to communicate. Some deaf people are better lip-readers than others. Some deaf people may prefer to write back and forth or to use an interpreter. Man interactions between the deaf and the hearing require a combination of these methods.
Method2:Communicating Through Lip-reading.
Keep your sentences simple and use plain language.
When someone else is speaking, don’t turn away from the deaf person in your group.
| A．Get the person’s attention. |
| B．It’s important not to talk too quickly. |
| C．Or, they’ll miss parts of the conversation. |
| D．If so, it’ll make them feel left out of the conversation. |
| E．Stand directly in front of the person,at a normal distance. |
| F．The best way to know which methods are most effective is to ask. |
| G．Try not to be too difficult when using your words in the beginning. |
2 . We’ve all been there: in a lift, in line at the bank or on an airplane, surrounded by people who are, like us, deeply focused on their smartphones or, worse, struggling with the uncomfortable silence.
What’s the problem? It’s possible that we all have compromised conversational intelligence. It’s more likely that none of us start a conversation because it’s awkward and challenging, or we think it’s annoying and unnecessary. But the next time you find yourself among strangers, consider that small talk is worth the trouble. Experts say it’s an invaluable social practice that results in big benefits.
“Dismissing small talk as unimportant is easy, but we can’t forget that deep relationships wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for casual conversation. Small talk is the grease(润滑剂) for social communication,” says Bernardo Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast. “Almost every great love story and each big business deal begins with small talk,” he explains. “The key to successful small talk is learning how to connect with others, not just communicate with them.”
In a 2021 study, Elizabeth Dunn, associate professor of psychology at UBC, invited people on their way into a coffee shop. One group was asked to seek out an interaction(互动) with its waiter; he other, to speak only when necessary. The results showed that those who chatted with their server reported significantly higher positive feelings and a better coffee shop experience. “It’s not that talking to the waiter is better than talking to your husband,” says Dunn. “But interactions with peripheral(外围的) members of our social network matter for our well-being also.”
Dunn believes that people who reach out to strangers feel a significantly greater sense of belonging, a bond with others. Carducci believes developing such a sense of belonging starts with small talk. “Small talk is the basis of good manners,” he says.
1. What is important for successful small talk according to Carducci?| A．Showing good manners. |
| B．Relating to other people. |
| C．Focusing on a topic. |
| D．Making business deals. |
| A．It improves family relationships. |
| B．It raises people’s confidence. |
| C．It matters as much as a formal talk. |
| D．It makes people feel good. |
| A．Conversation Counts |
| B．Ways of Making Small Talk |
| C．Benefits of Small Talk |
| D．Uncomfortable Silence |
| A．Addiction to smartphones. |
| B．Inappropriate behaviours in public places. |
| C．Absence of communication between strangers. |
| D．Impatience with slow service. |
3 . About 17 million blind and visually impaired (视力受损的) people live in China, according to a 2018 report. The nation does not have the same history of using guide dogs as exists in other countries.
The first guide dogs were used in 1916, and many countries have a rich culture of working with man’s best friend to help the visually impaired. The cost of specialist training to produce such a reliable animal can add up to tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of US dollars. Dogs also have physical limitations, for example being color blind, causing allergies or sadly having a limited lifespan.
This month, a team led by Zhongyu Li, at the University of Berkeley California, revealed a modern prototype (原型). The new four-legged model is designed to guide people with a lead, and is able to find the right way to avoid obstacles. Laser ranging systems recreate a virtual map of the robot’s surroundings and enable it to guide itself and the person through an environment with ease, even in narrow spaces.
The type of coding needed for the robot to understand its relative position in space, and to account for dangers in a changeable environment, will not be easy or cheap to make it available to the public, especially in a population as large as China.
It may still be far-fetched to imagine robots walking through the busy streets. As AI improves, along with the performance of robots, the dream may be realizable. Coding can be directly copied and put into mass produced units, with hardware also becoming cheaper by the year. Robotic guide dogs of the future will need to calculate routes in real time, accounting for many factors such as traffic density (密度), weather conditions and pedestrian footfall. Fast interconnected 5G networks with low latency and widespread coverage will be vital for this.
The blind and visually impaired are a significant minority of the population, and for many the chance to lead an independent and normal life is often as a stepping stone to greater contributions within China’s economy. Robotics can expand horizons for disabled people and allow them to feel more included in society.
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．How the first guide dogs came into being. |
| B．The necessity lo train real-life guide dogs. |
| C．How guide dogs help the visually impaired. |
| D．The disadvantages of using real-life guide dogs. |
| A．To track the robot’s movement. |
| B．To make the robot’s service life longer. |
| C．To keep weather conditions informed. |
| D．To help the robot lead the way successfully. |
| A．Good road conditions. |
| B．Fast 5G networks. |
| C．Full support from the blind. |
| D．A virtual map of surroundings. |
| A．They have yet to be mass-produced. |
| B．They will surely replace real-life guide dogs. |
| C．They are equipped with expensive hardware. |
| D．They stand for a stepping stone to vision recovery. |
4 . Do you know Ma Yun? He is the founder and chairman of Alibaba Group. Ma was born in Hangzhou. At an early age, Ma wanted to learn English, so he rode his bike each morning in order to go to a nearby hotel and talked with foreigners. He would guide them around the city for free in order to practise and improve his English.
Ma was never afraid of failure in his youth. Although he failed the College Entrance Examination three times, Ma entered Hangzhou Normal University. He majored in English and graduated in 1988. While at school, Ma was elected student chairman. He later became a lecturer (讲师) in English and International Trade at the Hangzhou Dianzi University.
In the early 1995, he went to the United States, and with the help of his friend he got introduced to the Internet. In April 1995, Ma, his wife and a friend collected twenty thousand dollars and started an Internet company. He named their company “China Yellow Pages”. Within three years, his company had made 5,000,000 Yuan. In 1999, he decided to give up his job in the US, and went back to Hangzhou with his team in order to found Alibaba. Alibaba is a China-based business-to-business marketplace site on the Internet, which serves more than 79 million members from more than 240 countries and areas. In September 2014 Alibaba became one of the most valuable companies in the world. Ma Yun became one of the most successful businessmen in China.
1. Why did Ma Yun guide foreigners around the city for free?| A．Because he was a translator. |
| B．Because he wanted to practise his spoken English. |
| C．Because he was a volunteer. |
| D．Because he wanted to make money. |
| A．China Yellow Pages. | B．Hangzhou Dianzi. |
| C．Alibaba. | D．Taobao. |
| A．The Story of Alibaba | B．The Story of China Yellow Pages |
| C．How Ma Yun Learned English | D．The Story of Ma Yun |
5 . Volunteers needed
HSE is an organization aimed at creating a free online English learning platform for all English learners. It will help you learn and practice English skills by connecting you with native English speakers around the globe and strengthening intercultural ties. The following are positions available for now.
Tutor
Working language: Chinese and English
Commitment: 2 hours per week
Tutors’ primary job is to give students one-on-one classes. Each class is taught on WeChat and lasts for 30 minutes. In class, tutors will discuss topics with the students according to our internal materials.
Application Process
Interview (in English, 10-15 minutes)
(If accepted) Read internal materials
Editor
Working language: Chinese and English
Commitment: 2 hours per week
Editors will write and polish (润色) text as requested in either Chinese or English. Such text usually includes class materials and text contents about to be published on our WeChat Official Account.
Application: show past works (original/edited)
Translator
Working language: Chinese and English
Commitment: 2 hours per week
Translators will translate our internal documents. These documents usually include volunteer profiles (简介), interviews with college students, and promotion information. You are free to use translation devices or software to make sure the documents are free of significant errors.
Administrative assistant
Working language: English
Commitment: 2 hours per week
Manage student information by organizing the information and updating processed information in the HSE Volunteers Group Chat.
Manage volunteers’ information by updating their status (状态) (active/inactive).
Contact us
When contacting us, please tell us the position you are interested in.
Location: No. 5 Zhujiang W Rd, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510000, CN
1. What’s the aim of HSE?| A．Building a free English learning platform. |
| B．Creating a link between English learners. |
| C．Helping English learners find jobs easily. |
| D．Encouraging English learners to practice online. |
| A．They all provide a good pay. |
| B．They all need to deal with students. |
| C．They all have the same working hours. |
| D．They all require excellent writing skills. |
| A．Tutor. | B．Editor. |
| C．Translator. | D．Administrative assistant. |
6 . With COVID-19 outbreaks at different stages around the world, in many countries lockdowns(封城)are being carefully eased off while urging citizens to keep on practicing the social distancing rules. Singapore is trying a new way of carrying it out—a robot dog.
The government has arranged Spot, a yellow and black robotic dog made by Boston Dynamics Company, at one local park. The same robot has ever been seen dancing to hit song “Uptown Funk” before. However, 2020 is an extremely difficult year and the company is trying to assist the national coronavirus-control effort. In turn, the job has been handed over to Spot.
The four-legged robot dog patrols(巡查)the park and broadcasts a pre-recorded message to encourage visitors to observe safe distancing measures. As it walks around the park, the dog says in a female voice, “Let’s keep Singapore healthy. For your own safety and for those around you, please stand at least one meter apart. Thank you.”
Spot is one of the world’s most advanced robots and unlike wheeled robots, it is capable of going pretty much anywhere. The dog can go and can walk up to three miles per hour over different areas, making it ideal for operation in public parks and gardens. Furthermore, it is remotely controlled and has cameras with 360-degree vision and analytic tools to scan the surroundings and help officials estimate the number of people gathering in the park.
For now, the project is currently set to run in a limited trial for two weeks at one park during off-peak(非高峰)hours. But if all goes well, authorities will consider expanding the program to improve enforcement(强制) of social distance throughout on Singapore.
Spot is also being used in other ways during the public health crisis beyond just patrolling a park. The government says it’s also using Spot in another capacity—at a local isolation facility where the robot helps bring medicine to patients.
1. What do we know about Spot in the passage?| A．It’s a dog-like robot that can speak. | B．It’s a robot that can sing a popular song. |
| C．It’s a wheeled robot that can walk anywhere. | D．It’s a robot newly invented during the pandemic. |
| A．It enforces people to follow the rules. | B．It politely tells people to keep apart. |
| C．It works day and night to patrol the park. | D．It warns visitors against throwing trash anywhere. |
| A．Some smart features of the robot. | B．The robot dog’s basic equipment. |
| C．The working condition of the robot. | D．The experiment process of the project. |
1.展会的宗旨、时间、地点；
2.展出内容：中国名画；
3.约定会面的时间和地点。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3.开头结尾已为你写好，不计入总词数。
Dear Mr.Smith，
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
8 . It’s known to all that coffee can make you feel more awake, and now it seems that coffee may also improve your maths skills. And the best news is that you don’t even need to drink it to see the improvements — you just need to smell it. Coffee is actually very healthy. It is loaded with antioxidants and beneficial nutrients that can improve your health. The studies show that coffee drinkers have a much lower risk of developing several serious diseases.
A new study by researchers from Stevens Institute of Technology has revealed that the scent of coffee may help your maths skills. Professor Adriana Madzharov, who led the study, said: “It’s not just that the coffee-like scent helped people perform better on analytical tasks, which was already interesting. But they also thought they would do better, and we proved that this expectation was at least partly responsible for their improved performance.”
In the study, 100 business students took a 10-question algebra test. Half the group took the test in the presence of a coffee-like scent, while the other half took the test in an unscented room. The results revealed that the group in the coffee-smelling room scored significantly higher on the test than those in the unscented room.
In a follow-up study, the researchers quizzed 200 new participants on their belief about various scents and their effects on human performance. Their answers showed that they believed they would feel alert in the presence of a coffee scent. This suggests that their expectations about performance may have influenced their improved skills.
The researchers believe that the findings could have major effects on the real world. Professor Madzharov added: “Olfaction is one of our most powerful senses. Employers, architects, building developers, retail space managers and others can use subtle scents to help shape employees’ or occupants’ experience with their environment. It’s an area of great interest and potential.”
1. Which of the following best explains “scent” underlined in Paragraph 2?| A．Smell. | B．Flavor. |
| C．Taste. | D．Fragrant. |
| A．Summarize the previous paragraphs. |
| B．Provide some evidence for the findings. |
| C．Add some background information. |
| D．Introduce a new topic for discussion. |
| A．200 new participants took a 10-question maths test. |
| B．100 business students thought they would feel more alert in the presence of a coffee scent. |
| C．150 new participants believed coffee have influenced their improved skills. |
| D．50 business students scored higher in the maths test with the presence of coffee than those without the scent of coffee. |
| A．Coffee is Very Healthy |
| B．The New Function of Coffee |
| C．The New Findings of Coffee Will Affect the World |
| D．The Scent of Coffee May Help One’s Maths Skills |
9 . One ambitious high school student knew exactly how to show his family that he got accepted into his dream college — by surprising them on Christmas Day.
Barrington Lincoln, class president at Lutheran High School North in Ferguson, got accepted into Morehouse College in Atlanta back on Dec.15th. But for months, he knew he wanted to make the news known in a big way to his mother and aunt, Lincoln told ABC News. “I thought of the surprise in October,” he said, adding that once he got accepted he would purchase two school T-shirts from Morehouse’s online store.
On Christmas Day, in a now video on Twitter, Lincoln, 17, gifted his mom Lisa McDonald and his aunt Shirley Gray the T-shirts with the school’s name on it. When the two sisters opened the gifts, they had no idea what they meant.
In the video, Lincoln nudges (用肘轻推) his family, “You know what that means right? I got in!” While McDonald falls heavily on the couch in delight, Gray asks, “You’ve been holding out on us?”
“I didn’t expect anything like that,” McDonald told ABC News. “It’s so satisfying to see him get the return on his studying.” “He always wanted to be the first in line and help everybody stay in line,” his mother added. McDonald said it’s especially sweet since she had to work an extra job to afford his private school after his father, a former Marine, passed away in 2015. Lincoln was only 15.
“All kids need to have quality education,” the mother added. “I am putting an investment in his future.”
1. What did Lincoln choose two T-shirts for his mother and aunt mainly for?| A．To show he loves them forever. |
| B．To tell them his academic success. |
| C．To give them a Christmas gift. |
| D．To show he had grown up already. |
| A．Embarrassed. | B．Satisfied. |
| C．Puzzled. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．You’ve been telling a lie to the two of us. |
| B．You’ve been longing to tell us the truth. |
| C．You’ve been keeping it a secret from us. |
| D．You’ve been playing a joke with two of us. |
| A．Lincoln bought the T-shirts in the local supermarket. |
| B．Lincoln’s parents could hardly afford his education. |
| C．The video had been popular before December 15. |
| D．Lincoln’s mother felt her efforts paid off at last. |
10 . Museum Guide for London
London’s museums are among the best in the world and the incredible choice can be overwhelming. So this is a list of the 4 top London museums visitor should aim for.
The British Museum
You can explore the whole world and go back through history by visiting the British Museum. Whatever your interest is, whether it’s a specific country or era, you will be amazed by what you can see by wandering around here.
Hours: Fri 10: 00 AM-8: 30 PM; Sat-Thu 10: 00 AM-5: 30 PM
Phone: +44 20 7323 8299
Natural History Museum
If you want to get up close and personal with massive dinosaurs then this is the place for you! The most amazing thing about the Natural History Museum for visitors is that it is free!
Hours: Sun-Sat 10: 00 AM-5: 50 PM
Phone: +44 20 7938 9123
Science Museum
The Science Museum is packed full of buttons to push, levers to pull and things you should touch and explore as interactivity is the key here. From space rockets to huge old steam engines from the industrial revolution, which will appeal to the scientific types as it offers fascinating stuff for all.
Hours: Wed 12: 00 AM-11: 59 PM; Thu-Tue 10: 00 AM-6: 00 PM
Phone: +44 20 7942 4000
Museum of London
At the Museum of London you can journey back in time to pre-historic London and then work your way through to the present day via all the major events in London’s rich past. Much of what is on display has been found locally, which helps bring it all to life.
Hours: Sun-sat 10: 00 AM-6: 00 PM
Phone: +44 20 7001 9844
1. Which museum can you call for further information if you are a lover of animals?| A．+44 20 7938 9123 |
| B．+44 20 7001 9844 |
| C．+44 20 7942 4000 |
| D．+44 20 7323 8299 |
| A．The British Museum. |
| B．Natural History Museum. |
| C．Museum of London. |
| D．Science Museum. |
| A．Explore the history of the whale world. |
| B．Discover the major events happening during the pre-historic London. |
| C．Enjoy the stay with real dinosaurs. |
| D．Appreciate the huge old steam engines from the industrial revolution. |
