1 . A 23-year-old woman has achieved an unbelievable feat that many of us dream of -visiting every country on Earth.
Lexie Alford was born into a family of travel agents, which gave her the opportunity to
I also loved visiting Northern Pakistan, for the natural beauty of the mountains and kindness of the locals were astonishing,” Lexie Alford said. “The most pleasant surprise about travelling to all these misunderstood areas of the world was that the countries that I had the
“My
A.remark | B.settle | C.tour | D.love |
A.fund | B.quit | C.switch | D.register |
A.powerful | B.ideal | C.developed | D.remaining |
A.ranked | B.modified | C.followed | D.criticized |
A.inspire | B.grill | C.understand | D.accompany |
A.occasionally | B.simply | C.completely | D.temporarily |
A.dream | B.button | C.family | D.observation |
A.platform | B.agency | C.process | D.country |
A.dull | B.official | C.natural | D.challenging |
A.adult | B.youth | C.bosses | D.agents |
A.most | B.least | C.greatest | D.worst |
A.started with | B.showed off | C.ended up | D.searched for |
A.advice | B.compromise | C.belief | D.information |
A.save | B.appreciate | C.worsen | D.make |
A.honor | B.career | C.time | D.assessment |
2 . The second Sunday in May is a volunteer day in my neighborhood. Last year, my neighbors and I decided to
The day before we went to the hospital, many of us were feeling quite
We arrived early at the hospital and were greeted
It was then time to start making cards—we brought crayons, glue and shiny things to
We left the hospital when it was dark. Although we were tired, we were happy to see
A.exchange | B.volunteer | C.recover | D.live |
A.cakes | B.cards | C.toys | D.soccers |
A.annoyed | B.tired | C.relaxed | D.nervous |
A.children | B.neighbors | C.friends | D.athletes |
A.warned | B.forced | C.forbade | D.asked |
A.quietly | B.warmly | C.equally | D.secretly |
A.worrying | B.disappointing | C.confusing | D.encouraging |
A.try | B.experiment | C.job | D.goal |
A.law | B.promise | C.ice | D.record |
A.excite | B.educate | C.touch | D.frighten |
A.luck | B.dream | C.stress | D.joy |
A.limited | B.traditional | C.positive | D.confident |
A.younger | B.better | C.worse | D.cooler |
A.believed | B.found | C.doubted | D.forgot |
A.smiles | B.tears | C.pain | D.anxiety |
3 . The STAR Eco Station is an environmental science museum, a wildlife rescue center, and a shelter for endangered and illegally-traded foreign animals confiscated (没收) by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It carries out the mission “Preservation through Education” by educating visitors about the preservation of the environment and the inter-dependence of all living things.
Field tripsSTAR Eco Station hosts field trips for schools and camps throughout Southern California. Each field trip lasts two hours, consisting of a one-hour gathering and a one-hour tour of the facility, with lessons associated with California State Science Standards.
Throughout the field trip, students learn about the latest developments in environmental protection and the ways in which wildlife interacts with various ecosystems. The students also receive an up-close and hands-on experience with our rescued foreign wildlife. The tour includes different environmental exhibits that showcase the ways students can help protect animals in the wild.
Field trips are offered on weekdays only, from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. or 12 p.m.-2 p.m. The rate is $6 per visitor, both child and adult, with a $120 minimum. We offer one free adult per 10 children for groups of 40 or more. Maximum capacity is 120 people per field trip.
Public toursGuided tours of the STAR Eco Station introduce visitors to over two hundred rescued foreign wildlife. Each tour is led by an Eco Station staff member, and features fun animal facts, hands-on animal encounters, surprising rescue stories, environmental exhibits, and original approaches to going green. Visitors may only see the animals on a guided tour, for both your safety and the safety of our animals.
The guided tour lasts approximately 45-60 minutes. Public tours are offered on Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (last tour begins at 3 p.m.). Our guided public tours start every hour on the hour. Visitors are served on a first-come, first-served basis. No reservations are required. However, tours may sell out. We suggest larger groups schedule a private tour.
Note:Our regular public tours times are subject to change without notice. Please call in advance for the most up-to-date information.
1. The STAR Eco Station aims to ________ .A.help research wildlife abroad | B.raise awareness of wildlife protection |
C.collect money for animal shelters | D.provide a knowledge of unusual animals |
A.Make a speech on the environment. | B.Take part in foreign wildlife rescue. |
C.Get to know why species get endangered. | D.Learn how living things affect each other. |
A.large groups are served first | B.it is available on weekdays |
C.its time could change | D.booking is needed |
4 . Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in New Zealand
Nature has shaped New Zealand with the beauty of a movie set. Few destinations(目的地)boast so many natural wonders packed into such a small area. Here are the best attractions travelers can explore.
Kaikoura, South Island
Birders, wildlife and seafood lovers will love the charming coasted village of Kaikoura. Between the Seaward Kaikoura Range and the Pacific Ocean, Kaikoura offers excellent coastal hikes and popular whale watching tours. In addition to whales, passengers may spot fur seals, dolphins and a wide variety of birds.
Queenstown, South Island
Queenstown is New Zealand’s adventure capital. Bungee jumping, jet boating, rock climbing, mountain biking and downhill skiing are just some of the thrilling things to do here. In addition to the adventure sports? Queenstown offers all the comforts, with first-class hotels, spas, restaurants, galleries and shops.
Bay of Islands, North Island
A three-hour drive north of Auckland, the beautiful Bay of Islands is one of the most popular vacation destinations in the country. There are more than 144 islands on the bay, making it a perfect place for sailing. Penguins, dolphins, and whales live in these waters, and the area is a popular sport-fishing spot. The towns in the area such as Russell, Opua and Paihia are great bases for exploring this scenic bay.
Rotorua, North Island
This is a land where the Earth speaks. Boiling mud pools, volcanic craters and steaming hot springs show the forces of New Zealand’s dramatic landscapes. Visitors can take a walking tour of these geothermal(地热的)wonders and bathe in the springs while visiting the interesting attractions to learn about the area’s rich Maori history and culture.
1. Where can visitors experience Extreme sports?A.In Kaikoura. | B.In Queenstown. |
C.At Bay of Islands. | D.In Rotorua. |
A.It is suitable for fishing. |
B.There are few islands there. |
C.There are many military bases there. |
D.It belongs to South Island of New Zealand. |
A.It offers coastal hike tours. |
B.It offers popular whale watching tours. |
C.It is the best known for varieties of wildlife. |
D.It is a good place to have a hot spring bath. |
Chinese workers once demonstrated their great efficiency in 2018.
A video
The construction took place at the Nanlong Railway Station in the city of Longyan. It began on January 19 and finished
Measuring 246 kilometres in
6 . Last year a group of friends and I began a project called The World Needs You. Its aim is to show how
“Do the children need anything else?” I asked the coordinator(协调人) when we sent our
“Umbrellas!” she said. “Most of our
Of course! I thought. It doesn’t snow much here,
A.lucky | B.easy | C.wealthy | D.quick |
A.glasses | B.needles | C.gloves | D.bowls |
A.rewards | B.pleasure | C.tips | D.love |
A.common | B.scientific | C.simple | D.good |
A.own | B.use | C.accept | D.afford |
A.donations | B.screens | C.luggage | D.staffs |
A.customers | B.kids | C.teachers | D.employees |
A.concerned | B.angry | C.wet | D.nervous |
A.but | B.so | C.and | D.or |
A.candles | B.umbrellas | C.tickets | D.houses |
A.weep | B.recover | C.work | D.understand |
A.suffered from | B.made out | C.talked up | D.looked into |
A.response | B.level | C.pay | D.height |
A.in need of | B.in favor of | C.for lack of | D.in time for |
A.Surprisingly | B.Hopefully | C.Interestingly | D.Luckily |
7 . Batman may not have any superpowers, but his inspiration certainly does.
More than 1,400 bat species live around the world, except in Antarctica and a few remote islands. Over their 50 million years of evolution, bats have developed clever solutions to life’s challenges, from a built-in sonar (声呐) system for finding food to fast, flexible wings that produce the fastest level-flight speed of any animal on Earth.
“There is still a lot to learn, but it is clear that bats really do have superpowers,” says Rodrigo Medellín, an ecologist. “Bats are showing us how to live a better life, for instance, by serving as models for healthy living and long lives.”
As a general rule in biology, smaller animals have shorter lives than larger ones. But bats are rule breakers: they’re the longest-lived mammals (哺乳动物) relative to their body size. Recently, scientists looked inside bats’ cells for the secrets to their exceptionally long lives. They focused on telomeres (端粒), which are the protective structures found at the ends of chromosomes (染色体). In most animals, telomeres tend to get shorter with age. But the telomeres of the longest-lived group of bats, Myotis, do not appear to shrink (收缩) with age. Understanding why bats live so long may help humans live longer one day.
In addition to living longer, bats remain healthy throughout their lives, with very low risk of developing cancer. Furthermore, bats can carry deadly viruses without getting sick. So further research into their unique immune (免疫的) systems may actually give insight into how people can live with viruses and not get sick.
Beyond their own abilities, bats also support many other parts of their ecosystems. Three out of every four bat species eat insects. Many are pests that cause damage to important agricultural crops, such as cotton. Scientists estimate that insect-eating bats may save U.S. farmers about 1 billion per year. In addition, many bat species help improve plant health and diversity.
“Bats are unsung heroes of biodiversity,” says Medellín. “It’s about time we appreciated them.”
1. What can be learned about bats from the text?A.They fly the fastest of all land animals. |
B.They are at low risk of falling sick with a virus. |
C.They live mainly on the islands of Antarctica. |
D.They are the longest-lived animals given their size. |
A.Animals’ telomeres rarely shrink with age. |
B.Myotis’s telomeres do not shorten as they age. |
C.Smaller animals usually live shorter lives than larger ones. |
D.More research into bat telomeres could help people live more healthily. |
A.To show what bats feed on. |
B.To call on people to protect bats. |
C.To explain how bats benefit the farmers. |
D.To highlight the importance of bats to the ecosystem. |
A.Bats Offer Clues to Treating Diseases |
B.How Bats Deal with Life’s Challenges |
C.Scientists Unlock the Secrets to Long Lives |
D.Why Bats Are Superheroes of the Animal World |
8 . If you don’t know what to watch on Friday night, look no further than this list of the top 3 movie recommendation engines. They all offer something different. If you want to exchange thoughts about what we offer on our website, just contact us through e-mail.
Top 3. Nanocrowd. The site goes well beyond a simple search engine like Netflix. Nanocrowd allows you to drill down into a more refined search. On the results page, you click which three-word category you prefer, based on keywords related to the movie you input into the search field, and Nanocrowd immediately refines your search to get the best film for you.
Top 2. Taste Kid. It’s simple enough. You input a film you like and it returns results that offer similar action to your favorites. But it goes beyond just movies. If you really like “The Godfather”, Taste Kid fills you in on what kind of bands you’ll like to listen to, books you’ll want to read, and “other stuff” that’s related to that film. Taste Kid is a full entertainment recommendation engine.
Top 1. Jinni Jinni. Whether you want to search for films in the search field or you want to find films based on your mood, time available, setting, or reviews, the site has it all. I searched for movies based on my mood and followed that with a search based on my plot preference. Each time, films that I’ve watched and loved in the past, or that I haven’t watched but definitely want to see popped up. But perhaps the most competitive feature that Jinni offers is its plot search. You can input terms like, “movies that have gangsters” or “films that show Chris Farley yelling” and the site will return films that match your question.
1. If you seek relevant information about a film, ________ can be a good choice.A.Jinni Jinni | B.Taste Kid |
C.Netflix | D.Nanocrowd |
A.Plot search. | B.Refined search. |
C.Category search. | D.Keyword search. |
A.On the poster. | B.In a science magazine. |
C.On the Internet. | D.In an academic research. |
9 . Many companies employ some form of ranking systems to assess employees’ performance, and then determine promotion accordingly. Performance rankings don’t necessarily involve competition for physical or financial resources, but they do create competition for another kind of resource: social status.
To better understand how social status ranking affects men and women differently, my colleagues and I conducted a series of lab experiments. The participants were asked to complete simple tasks and they were told that they would receive one Euro for each task they completed. This meant they were all equally rewarded, and were thus not competing for financial resources. Then, we told one group of participants that they would be ranked against each other based on their performance, while participants in the other group weren’t told anything.
We found that just anticipating that they would be ranked significantly impacted participants’ performance, and that the impact was noticeably different for men and for women. When participants weren’t told that they’d be ranked, men and women performed at essentially the same level. But when they were told that they would be ranked, men performed better than those who weren’t told anything, while women performed a lot worse.
It’s also found that the gender difference caused by competitive environments isn’t simply because of the misconception that women are naturally less competitive than men. Rather, these environments trigger the assumption that men are superior and that women should be kind to others. And it in turn leads to gender differences in performance.
In sum, these findings suggest that competitive social ranking systems can have a major effect on performance, and more importantly, they can have very different effects on men and on women. It’s hard to imagine a world in which competition is removed entirely —so how can organizations get the benefits of competitive environments while providing a fairer environment for their female employees?
1. Performance rankings certainly involve competition for ________.A.financial reward | B.social status |
C.physical resources | D.higher income |
A.The effect of ranking differed for men and women. |
B.Participants would be financially rewarded differently. |
C.Both groups of participants knew they would be ranked. |
D.Women would perform better if they knew they’d be ranked. |
A.The competitive environments caused by social prejudice. |
B.The belief that men are better and that women should be kind. |
C.The misconception that women are trained to be less competitive. |
D.The fact that the ranking system treats men and women differently. |
A.How gender inequality can be removed for good. |
B.How organizations get more benefits of gender equality. |
C.How to provide a fairer environment for female employees. |
D.How to conduct an accurate study about working performance. |
10 . If you’ve ever felt like throwing up at the back of a bus or weak and unsteady after a boat cruise, you’ve experienced motion sickness. Its common symptoms are dizziness, headaches, sweating and throwing up.
According to Fred Mast, a medical professor at the University of Bern, human-made acceleration creates a disturbance between our vestibular system, which is responsible for controlling balance, and our vision. Since the human brain hasn’t evolved enough yet to settle that conflict, it leads to motion sickness and it doesn’t take a lot of speed to cause the disturbance.
Motion sickness can also strike when there is unreal acceleration, such as in three-dimensional video games or some movie scenes that make the viewers’ brain think it’s moving. One in three people experience motion sickness at some time. Certain people are more susceptible to it. These include: children, young adults and pregnant women. About seven in ten of them tend to suffer. The good news is that motion sickness is not a symptom of anything more serious. Once the motion or sensation of motion stops, it goes away.
Sufferers can avoid motion sickness by making changes to how they travel. Sitting facing forward in the front of a bus allows you to see the movement, while situating yourself in the middle of a cruise liner or next to the wing of an airplane will help. Staying away from alcohol and heavy meals ahead of car, boat or plane trips also works. Access to fresh air and staring at the horizon through a window can minimize the disturbance. Antihistamines and sympathomimetics, drugs that act as stimulants, can also counteract the symptoms.
Mast theorizes that motion sickness will become less strong as future generations adapt to vehicular motion -although he admits that it could take centuries and likely would only happen if our transportation systems stay the same. If speeds continue to increase, he says, “It might start all over.”
1. What do we know about motion sickness from the passage?A.Motion sickness can happen even if we aren’t in a moving vehicle. |
B.The disturbance is caused only when vehicles move at a high speed. |
C.Vestibular system keeps the balance between vehicles and our vision. |
D.Dizziness, stomachaches and sweating are the symptoms of motion sickness. |
A.Some people are better at resisting it. |
B.Some people are slower to react to it. |
C.Some people are more skilled at dealing with it. |
D.Some people are more likely to be affected by it. |
A.Useful tips to ease motion sickness. | B.Travel suggestions given by experts. |
C.Symptoms sufferers may experience. | D.Causes contributing to motion sickness. |
A.Our transportation systems won’t change much in the future. |
B.It won’t take much time for people to get rid of motion sickness. |
C.People can avoid motion sickness if faster vehicles are invented. |
D.Motion sickness can be relieved if people get used to the acceleration. |