China’s Film Industry Finally Joins the Space Race
China was a latecomer to space exploration, and in the movies, it has been a latecomer to science fiction, too. But that is about to change.
The country’s first blockbuster set in space. “The Wandering Earth,” opens Tuesday amid grandiose expectations that it will represent the dawning of a new era in Chinese film making.
“The Wandering Earth,” shown in 3-D, takes place in a distant future in which the sun is about to expand into a red giant and devour the Earth. Therefore, earth’s governments rally and come up with a novel solution: they speckle the planet with 10,000 gigantic jets, and blast it out of its orbit and off on a hundred-generation journey to a new home 4.2 light-years away. However, a malfunction of the Earth Engine system leaves the planet caught in Jupiter’s gravity, and gradually being pulled toward destruction. A frantic group of workers have to scramble to reactivate the jets and correct the Earth’s course.
So far, the reviews have been positive. “Filmmakers in China see science fiction as a holy grail,” said Raymond, an independent critic, who noted that Hollywood had set the technological standards, and thus audience expectations, very high.
“The Wandering Earth” is adapted from works by Liu CiXin, the writer who has led a renaissance in science fiction here, becoming the first Chinese winner of the Hugo Award for the genre in 2015. His novels are sprawling epics and deeply researched. That makes them plausible fantasies about humanity’s encounters with a dangerous universe.
The openings also come as China reached a milestone in space: the landing of a probe on the far side of the moon in January. Although decades behind Russia and the United States, China has now put astronauts in orbit and has ambitious plans to join — or even lead — a new age of space exploration.
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2 . Extreme sorrow claws my mind. I am a statistic. When I first got here. I felt very much lonely. I found no sympathy. I saw only thousands of others whose bodies were as badly mangled as mine. I was given a number and placed in a category, which was called “traffic death”.
The day I died was an ordinary school day. How I wish I had taken the bus! But I was too cool for the bus. I remember how I wheedled (哄骗) the car out of Mom. “Special favor,” I pleaded. “All the kids drive.” After school, I rushed to the parking lot, excited at the thought of driving a car and being my own boss.
It doesn’t matter how the accident happened, I was going too fast taking crazy chances. But I was enjoying my freedom and having fun. The last thing I remember was passing an old lady who seemed to be going awfully slow. I heard a crash and felt a terrific shake. Glass and steel flew everywhere. My whole body seemed to be turning inside out. I heard myself scream.
Suddenly, I awakened. It was very quiet. I saw a police officer and a doctor. I was saturated with blood. Pieces of jagged glass were sticking out all over. Strange that I couldn’t feel anything. Hey, don’t pull that sheet over my head. I can’t be dead. I’m only 17. I’m supposed to have a wonderful life ahead of me. I haven’t lived yet. I can’t be dead!
Later I was placed in a drawer. My folks came to identify me. Why did they see me like this? Why did I have to look at Moms eyes when she faced the most terrible ordeal of her life? Dad suddenly looked very old. He told the man in charge, “Yes — he is our son.”
Please — somebody — wake me up! Get me out of here. I can’t bear to see Mom and Dad in such pain. My grandparents are so weak from grief they can barely walk. My brother and sister move like robots.
Please don’t bury me! I’m not dead! I promise if you give me just one more chance, God. I’ll be the most careful driver in the whole world. All I want is one more chance. Please, God, I’m only 17.
1. Why did the writer become a statistic?| A．Because he was majoring in statistics (统计学) in the school. |
| B．Because he felt very lonely at that moment. |
| C．Because he was dead due to a traffic accident. |
| D．Because he made a fatal mistake in statistics. |
| A．On the way to the school. | B．On the way home. |
| C．Near a police station. | D．Near an old lady’s house. |
| A．I was driving too fast. |
| B．I was too young to drive. |
| C．I wanted to avoid knocking down an old lady. |
| D．I was not familiar with the road condition. |
| A．How careless a young driver is! | B．Dead at 17. |
| C．An avoidable tragedy. | D．Safe drive on the road. |
3 . Aaron Carter isn’t like other 12-year-olds. He doesn’t go to school, and he’s already got a job. He is a big pop star. A few years ago he started his singing with Crazy Little Party Girl, which became a hit at once. Now he goes around the world and his songs are in the tops.
Because he’s traveling around all the time Aaron doesn’t have to go to school, but don’t envy him too much — he still has to do lessons and homework. And he is good at learning.
“I have to fit my schoolwork around my singing,” he explains. “But I’m lucky because I have a private tutor who travels with me. I sometimes have to have lessons on a plane. That’s really interesting!”
Aaron’s favorite subject is math but he hates history. He knows clearly that having a good singing career doesn’t mean he can go without schoolwork.
“It would be easy to think that I don’t need to do well in exams, but that would be crazy,” he says. “It’s important to get my qualifications (资格) so that I have something to fall back on. Besides, it’s interesting to learn about other people and cultures.”
Aaron’s favorite type of music is rock ‘n’ roll. “The best thing about being a singer” he says, “is that you get to travel all around the world. But the worst thing is that you’re away from home so much that you don’t get to see your friends or family.”
1. According to the passage, we learn that Aaron Carter is________.| A．a composer | B．a successful singer | C．a history lover | D．a young businessman |
| A．Aaron Carter doesn’t go to school because he likes singing better. |
| B．Aaron Carter has his own teacher. |
| C．Aaron likes math as well as history. |
| D．Aaron Carter likes traveling all around the world and dislikes seeing friends and family. |
| A．check in | B．return to | C．depend on | D．decide on |
4 . Yu Pengnian is an 88-year-old real estate Chinese businessman. He amassed a fortune of $1.3 billion dollars during his career but instead of keeping the money and living like an emperor, he decided to give it all away. All of his fortune will be spent on helping poor Chinese students get a better education.
And Yu isn’t the only super-rich person in China who has this spirit of giving. Chen Guangbiao, a Jiangsu recycling tycoon, has given millions of dollars to charity and promises to give all of his money to charity when he dies.
Yu and Chen are among the many businessmen who have become prosperous during China’s economic rise. An American business magazine, Forbes, estimates that there are 117 billionaires in China and hundreds of thousands of millionaires. What sets Yu and Chen apart from the rest, though, is their tremendous generosity when it comes to donating money to charity.
Last week Bill Gates and Warren Buffett came to Beijing. Gates and Buffett, two of the world’s richest men, are also the world’s biggest philanthropists. They invited fifty of China’s richest people to have dinner with them and talk about the spirit of giving. At first, only a few people accepted their invitation. It seemed some of the invited guests were afraid that Buffett and Gates were going to pressure them into giving their wealth to charity.
A lot of people are angry at the billionaires who are not willing to give away their fortunes. They criticize them for being miserly and not caring about the poor and the less fortunate. But I think this criticism is wrong. A gift, any gift, should come from the heart. Instead of criticism, these reluctant billionaires should be encouraged to follow the examples of Yu Pengnian and Chen Guangbiao. Encouragement is always a better strategy than criticism. As we say in English, “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”
1. He amassed a fortune of $1.3 billion dollars during his career… The word “amassed” means________.| A．stimulated | B．contemplated | C．immigrated | D．accumulated |
| A．helping poor Chinese students get a better education |
| B．helping the students in earthquake-stricken area |
| C．helping his off-springs lead a rich life in the future |
| D．achieve his aim of living like an emperor |
| A．Yu Pengnian is the only super-rich person in China who has the spirit of giving. |
| B．Chen Guangbiao is a real estate Chinese businessman. |
| C．Yu and Chen become wealthy during the rise of China’s economy. |
| D．When Bill Gates and Warren Buffett invited fifty of China’s richest people to have dinner with them, they all felt honored and accepted their invitation at once. |
| A．When it comes to charity work, they are very generous. |
| B．They had dinner with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, talking about the spirit of giving. |
| C．They are pressured into giving their fortune to charity. |
| D．They are both businessmen. |
| A．The author wants to tell us that flies prefer honey to vinegar. |
| B．The author wants to prove that encouragement is always a better strategy than criticism when it comes to charity. |
| C．The English saying expresses the main theme of the passage. |
| D．The author wants to criticize those billionaires who are not willing to give away their fortunes for being miserly and not caring about the poor and the less fortunate. |
5 . Shanghai Disneyland Annual Pass
Shanghai Disneyland is a place where every moment is packed with joy, surprises, romance, fantasy and excitement. It's place where friends and families come together to enjoy magical adventures, and with the new Annual Pass, available from January 25, 2019. Guests will be able to enjoy a whole year of never ending magic! Start your year-long magical journey today from the moment you purchase the new Annual Pass!
As a pass Holder, you'll enjoy exclusive benefits, including a full year of events and parties, Disney Character greetings, and discounts on delicious food and merchandise! You'll also receive invitations to special events and so much more!
There are three types of Shanghai Disneyland Annual Pass (Different pass types are subject to restrictions specified on the “Shanghai Disneyland Annual Pass Calendar”):
Any-day Annual Pass: 365 days of park access, may exclude some park hours for special events Weekday + Sunday Annual Pass: Subject to the pass calendar, offers a minimum of 250 days of park access during pass validity period, includes most weekdays, Sundays, and part of the Summer and Winter Holidays. Sunday Annual Pass: Subject to the pass calendar, offers a minimum of 45 days of park access during pass validity period, includes most Sundays |
Pass eligible visit dates are subject to the pass calendar, found on the “Shanghai Disneyland Annual Pass Calendar” page on the Shanghai Disney Resort official website and the Shanghai Disney Resort official WeChat Account. Guests will have visibility for the following three months of the Pass calendar (including the current month). The Pass calendar for a new month will be released in the middle of each month. We may restrict the number of persons with access to the Park due to capacity.
Launch Channel:
From January 25, 2019, guests can purchase the Shanghai Disneyland Annual Pass through the Shanghai Disney Resort official WeChat account, the Shanghai Disney Resort official WeChat Mini Program “E-gift Ticket,” the Shanghai Disneyland Main Entrance ticket booths, and the Shanghai Disney Resort Reservation Centre at 400 - 180 - 0000 or +86-21-3158-0000. The Annual Pass can be redeemed and used to enter the park from January 25,2019.
From February 15, 2019, guests can purchase the Shanghai Disneyland Annual Pass via the Shanghai Disney Resort Official Website and app. The Annual Pass can be redeemed (兑换) and used to enter the park from February 15, 2019.
Annual Pass Holders must redeem their Annual Passes at the Shanghai Disneyland Main Entrance ticket booths during park hours every day.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation!
1. Which of the following ISN’T a selling point of the Shanghai Disneyland Annual Pass?| A．Lower prices while shopping in the resort. |
| B．Meeting your favorite Disney character. |
| C．Access to special activities. |
| D．Fast-pass to the not attractions. |
| A．You can’t use an Annual Pass on the day you buy it. |
| B．Once you buy an Any-day Annual Pass, you can enjoy yourself in Shanghai Disneyland any day in one year. |
| C．On May 9th, a Pass Holder can know the Pass calendar of August. |
| D．Weekday + Sunday Annual Pass holders have at least 205 more days of park access than Sunday Annual Pass holders. |
| A．the E-gift Ticket mini program |
| B．+86-21-3158-0000 |
| C．the Shanghai Disney Resort Official Website |
| D．the Shanghai Disneyland Main Entrance ticket booths |
Are your children getting on your last nerve? Did a coworker's comment rub you the wrong way? There's no need to plug the steam coming out of your ears. In fact, science now gives you full permission to release those emotions; you might actually be happier for it. If that seems counter—intuitive(违反直觉的), hear us out. A new study suggests that people tend to be happier if they can feel and express emotions as they want. That goes for unpleasant emotions like anger and hatred, too.
An international team of researchers recruited 2,300 university students from the United States, Brazil, China, Germany, Ghana, Israel, Poland, and Singapore. They then asked the participants to tell them which emotions they desired and which ones they actually felt, and then compared those responses to how the participants rated their overall happiness or life satisfaction.
The results showed an interesting trend. While participants wanted to experience more pleasant emotions, they reported higher life satisfaction if the emotions they experienced matched those they desired. More surprising still, 11 percent of people wanted to feel less of positive emotions, such as love and empathy, and 10 percent of people wanted to feel more negative emotions, such as hatred and anger.
At first glance, these result might seem confusing. But there's a simple explanation, according to the study's authors. Happiness is "more than simply feeling pleasure and avoiding pain," they write. It is also learning to release negative emotions when you feel them, instead of ignoring them or bottling them up.
"If you feel emotions you want to feel, even if they're unpleasant, then you're better off," lead researcher Dr Maya Tamir from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem told the BBC News website. 71
7 . In the villages of the English countryside there are still people who remember the good old days when no one bothered to lock their doors. There simply wasn't any crime to worry about.
Amazingly, these happy times appear still to be with us in the world’s biggest community. Anew study by Dan Farmer, a gifted programmer, using an automated investigative program of his own called SATAN, shows that the owners of well over half of all World Wide Web sites have setup home without fitting locks to their doors.
SATAN can try out a variety of well—known hacking tricks on an Internet site without actually breaking in. Farmer has made program publicly available, amid much criticism. A person with evil intent could use it to hunt down sites that are easy to burgle.
But Farmer is very concerned about the need to alert the public to poor security and, so far, events have proved him right. SATAN has done more to alert people to the risks than cause new disorder.
So is the Net becoming more secure? Far from it. In the early days, when you visited a Website your browser simply looked at the content. Now the web is full of tiny programs that automatically download when you look at a Web page, and run on your own machine. These programs could, if their authors wished, do all kinds of nasty things to your computer.
At the same time, the Net is increasingly populated with spiders, worms, agents, and other types of automated beasts designed to penetrate the sites and seek out and classify information. All these make wonderful tools for antisocial people who want to invade weak sites and cause damage.
But let’s look on the bright side. Given the lack of locks, the Internet is surely the world's biggest (almost) crime—free society. Maybe that is because hackers are fundamentally honest. Or that there currently isn't much to steal. Or because vandalism(蓄意破坏) isn't much fun unless you have a peculiar dislike for someone.
Whatever the reason, let’s enjoy it while we can. But expect it all to change, and security to become the number one issue, when the most influential inhabitants of the Net are selling services they want to be paid for.
1. By saying “...owners of well over half of all World Wide Web sites have set up home without fitting locks to their doors” (Lines 3—4, Para. 2), the author means that________.| A．those happy times appear still to be with us |
| B．there simply wasn’t any crime to worry about |
| C．many sites are not well protected |
| D．hackers try out tricks on an Internet site without actually breaking in |
| A．to investigate the security of Internet sites |
| B．to improve the security of the Internet system |
| C．to prevent hackers from breaking into websites |
| D．to download useful programs and information |
| A．it causes damage to Net browsers |
| B．it can break into Internet sites |
| C．it can be used to cause disorder on all sites |
| D．it can be used by people with evil intent |
| A．we should make full use of the Internet before security measures are strengthened |
| B．we should alert the most influential businessmen to the importance of guaranteeing quality of their services |
| C．influential businessmen should give priority to the improvement of Net security |
| D．net inhabitants should not let security measures affect their joy of surfing the Internet |
| A. extended B. tasty C. reserve D. resistant E. pause F. consume G. slows H. supplies I. associated J. properties K. tapping |
Extreme conditions produce extremely tough plants. The big difference between "drought—tolerant" plants and these tough plants: metabolism. Many different kinds of plants have developed tactics to weather dry spells. Some plants
Resurrection plants, defined as those capable of recovering from holding less than 0.1 grams of water per gram of dry mass, are different. They lack water—storing structures, and their existence on rock faces prevents them from
What else can do this dry—out—and—revive trick? Seeds—almost all of them. At the start of her career, Farrant studied seeds such as avocados(牛油果) , coffee and lychee(荔枝). Though
9 . The most important day I remember in all my life is the one on which my teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, came to me. I am filled with wonder when I consider the immeasurable contrasts between the two lives which it connects. It was the third of March, 1887, three months before I was seven years old.
On the afternoon of that eventful day, I stood on the porch, dumb,
Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog, when it seemed as if a tangible white darkness shut you in, and the great ship, tense and anxious, groped her way toward the shore with plummet(铅锤) and sounding-line(测深索), and you waited with beating heart for something to happen? I was like that
I felt approaching footsteps. I stretched out my hand as I would to my mother. Someone
The morning after my teacher came she led me into her room and gave me a doll. The little blind children at the Perkins Institution had sent it and Laura Bridgman had dressed it; but I did not know this until
| A．hesitant | B．reluctant | C．expectant | D．defendant |
| A．consequently | B．unconsciously | C．deliberately | D．simultaneously |
| A．come forth | B．brought about | C．left behind | D．hidden away |
| A．panic | B．result | C．position | D．marvel |
| A．succeeded | B．exposed | C．inherited | D．demonstrated |
| A．fog | B．ship | C．shore | D．plummet |
| A．compassion | B．compromise | C．compass | D．companion |
| A．paradise | B．habitat | C．residence | D．harbor |
| A．took | B．shook | C．clung | D．rescued |
| A．share | B．devote | C．reveal | D．celebrate |
| A．beforehand | B．backward | C．afterward | D．forward |
| A．illustrate | B．exhibit | C．guess | D．imitate |
| A．fluttered | B．flourished | C．flashed | D．flushed |
| A．unrealistic | B．uncomprehending | C．unsurmountable | D．unproductive |
| A．title | B．name | C．credit | D．role |
