1 . I’ve been writing for most of my life. The book Writing Without Teachers introduced me to one distinction and one practice that has helped my writing processes tremendously. The distinction is between the creative mind and the critical mind. While you need to employ both to get to a finished result, they cannot work in parallel no matter how much we might like to think so.
Trying to criticize writing on the fly is possibly the single greatest barrier to writing that most of us encounter. If you are listening to that 5th grade English teacher correct your grammar while you are trying to capture a fleeting (稍纵即逝的) thought, the thought will die. If you capture the fleeting thought and simply share it with the world in raw form, no one is likely to understand. You must learn to create first and then criticize if you want to make writing the tool for thinking that it is.
The practice that can help you past your learned bad habits of trying to edit as you write is what Elbow calls “free writing”. In free writing, the objective is to get words down on paper non-stop, usually for 15-20 minutes. No stopping, no going back, no criticizing. The goal is to get the words flowing. As the words begin to flow, the ideas will come from the shadows and let themselves be captured on your notepad or your screen.
Now you have raw materials that you can begin to work with using the critical mind that you’ve persuaded to sit on the side and watch quietly. Most likely, you will believe that this will take more time than you actually have and you will end up staring blankly at the pages as the deadline draws near.
Instead of staring at a blank start filling it with words no matter how bad. Halfway through your available time, stop and rework your raw writing into something closer to finished product. Move back and forth until you run out of time and the final result will most likely be far better than your current practices.
1. When the author says the creative mind and the critical mind “cannot work in parallel ” in the writing process, he means ______ .| A．one cannot use them at the same time | B．they cannot be regarded as equally important |
| C．they are in constant conflict with each other | D．no one can be both creative and critical |
| A．putting their ideas in raw form | B．ignoring grammatical soundness |
| C．attempting to edit as they write | D．trying to capture fleeting thoughts |
| A．To organize one’s thoughts logically. | B．To get one’s ideas down. |
| C．To choose an appropriate topic. | D．To collect raw materials. |
| A．it overstresses the role of the creative mind | B．it does not help them to think clearly |
| C．it may bring about too much criticism | D．it takes too much time to edit afterwards |
| A．It allows him to sit on the side and observe. | B．It helps him to come up with new ideas. |
| C．It saves the writing time available to him. | D．It improves his writing into better shape. |
Whenever I heard strangers singing out loud, whether it was in the supermarket or on the street, I used to think how annoying it was. That was until a few months ago.
Recently, my daughter Zoe started her second year of middle school with a new sense of awareness, asking me to fix the “little girl” pattern on her wheel-chair seat. Not wanting her to stand out at school, I spent hours filling in pale yellow stars with a black marker, eager to erase whatever childish signs I could.
Shortly after, Zoe got really sick and had to miss 20 days of school. This meant our days were filled with rushing between hospital appointments and meetings with the school, as we tried to make sure she didn’t fall behind on her schoolwork.
I felt pulled back to a time when she was little and her sickness was a huge part of her life. Back then, it seemed like Zoe lived in hospitals, as she spent so much time in them. No matter how sick she got, however, she always had a positive attitude.
But this was different: Zoe was no longer singing like she normally did. Zoe usually sang all the time, whether she was playing, riding in the car, or just doing her homework. There was no need for a radio in our house; Zoe provided the music for us.
Consumed (被折磨) with my motherly worries, it was more concerning to me than her sickness.
One day, however, I heard her beautiful voice as I was cooking dinner. I stopped what I was doing and just smiled. “Pure delight,” I thought to myself. Her voice slowly grew stronger, and soon, both the car and the house were filled with her music once more.
How had I not noticed her singing had completely stopped, weeks and weeks ago? Now, thankfully, she’s back in school, smiling and singing, and I’m thankful for each and every song she sings.
These days, whenever I hear a stranger singing a song to themselves, I don’t get mad. Instead, I smile, as I know that by singing out loud, they’re simply sharing their happiness with the world.
1. How did the author use to feel when she heard strangers singing? (no more than 5 words)2. What do you think Zoe was like? (no more than 10 words)
3. What does “it” in Paragraph 6 refer to? (no more than 10 words)
4. Why did the author say “There was no need for a radio in our house”? (no more than 15 words)
5. What does singing mean to people, according to the author? (no more than 15 words)
3 . Robots in the art world are nothing new. In fact, for centuries, people have built robots as art objects — or simple machines that perform a series of movements — in ancient China and Japan. However, what’s different now is that artists and engineers are building robots that actually create art.
In 1973, British-born painter Harold Cohen wrote a computer program and called it AARON. At first, AARON only made simple outlines whose color and details Cohen would later add. Fifty years later, landscapes add just about anything else a human could paint. So can AARON be called an artist or creative? In 2010, Cohen addressed these questions. He explained, “AARON can generate unlimited numbers of images.” So according to Cohen, the simple answer is yes — AARON is creative.
It’s not just paintings that robots are creating, though. Last year, a robot called Shimon released its first album on Spotify. Shimon began life as a simple robot marimba, however, it’s learned how to jam, write original songs and compose lyrics. Shimon does this by analyzing huge amounts of music-roughly 50,000 rock.
It may be cool to hear a song created by a robot, but is there any other reason to build robots that can play music? According to Gil Weinberg, one of Shimon’s creators, he and his team “hope and believe that these new abilities would push human cooperators to new uncharted directions that could not be achieved in human-to-human cooperation.”
While questions about robots creating art are fun to think about, there are many other ways that robots can help artists in the way they create their works. For example, advancements in 3D-printing technology will allow artists to build more complex pieces for their sculptures.
1. What was AARON able to do at first?| A．Paint people and landscapes. |
| B．Prepare basic outlines for Cohen. |
| C．Draw pictures of itself and Cohen. |
| D．Color paintings under Cohen’s instructions. |
| A．It is both a marimba and guitar player. |
| B．It has created about 50,000 original songs. |
| C．It is expected to push humans to achieve more. |
| D．Its creators hope that it can outperform humans. |
| A．Positive. | B．Worried. | C．Neutral. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．Analyzing huge amounts of music. |
| B．Composing lyrics. |
| C．Playing guitar. |
| D．New abilities to new uncharted directions. |
| A．AARON and Shimon |
| B．Robots in the Real World |
| C．Programmed Creativity |
| D．Advancements in Technology |
4 . Ford has announced it has hired a pair of Boston Dynamics’ Spot robotic dogs. Ford is using the robotic dogs to help it 3D-map its Van Dyke Plant “By having the robots scan our plant, we can see what it actually looks like now and build a new engineering model. That digital model is then used when we need to change the equipment in the plant for new products,” said Mark Goderis, Ford’s digital engineering manager. The automaker named one of them Fluffy. The other is keeping its name Spot assigned to it by Boston Dynamics.
The dogs are used to capture 360-degree images of areas in the plant that are difficult to get to using a traditional 3D camera on a tripod. They’re equipped with five cameras and can climb stairs and kneel down to get into hard-to-reach places. Their four legs allow the robots to walk like a dog, around the plant at speeds of up to 3 mph — so they’re not exactly zippy. Besides, the battery lasts for only two hours.
Mark said that the old way of scanning with a camera on a tripod could take two weeks. Using the robotic dogs cuts that time in half. It also used to cost $300,000 to do it the old way. The robotic dogs are cheaper, but Ford didn’t say by how much.
At present, the metal dogs are followed by their handler, Paula Wiebelhaus, who manages the robotic dogs through a controller with a display that sees what the dogs see. But in the near future Ford wants to be able to program the dogs to go to different parts of the plant and report back what they see without being followed by a human. They can also ask for a ride on the back of a mobile robot that Ford has named Scouter. Like the dogs, it’s also capturing 3D scans of its environment.
1. What can we learn about Ford from Paragraph 1?| A．It uses robotic dogs to build plants. |
| B．It is the main producer of robotic dogs. |
| C．It has named one of the two robotic dogs. |
| D．It will replace its engineers with robotic dogs. |
| A．Go anywhere they want. | B．Shoot 360-degree photos. |
| C．Cary at least 5 cameras. | D．Keep working for two days. |
| A．Quick-moving. | B．Energy-saving. | C．Funny-looking. | D．Eye-catching. |
| A．The advantages of robotic dogs. | B．Ford’s new way of saving money. |
| C．Mark’s interest in high technology. | D．The functions of traditional cameras. |
| A．Paula operates robotic dogs through voice. | B．Scouter works well with the robotic dogs. |
| C．Ford will buy more robotic dogs soon. | D．The robotic dogs need to be improved. |
5 . Tired of underpaid jobs and inconvenient hours, three entrepreneurial (富于企业家精神的) McLean teens decided to start their own company.
Their new company, TeenServ aims to solve teenage unemployment with a platform that matches students and community members who need short-term assistance with various tasks Through TeenServ, residents sign up to post jobs they need done. Teens signed up to work can choose to accept a job depending on their schedules and work preferences. Website users can pick up shifts wherever and whenever they want, making it convenient for hectic schedules.
A year ago, Jack Lannin, Quin Frew and Ben Jeannot worked as lifeguards at a local pool. Lanin told Tysons Reporter that they were upset when a pay change “almost cut their salary in half,” and they wanted to find another job but there were few options. Then they came up with the idea for TeenServ. “Aside from getting a real job, refereeing sports or yard work, there isn’t rally a good way to make money,” Lannin said, adding that even becoming a referee requires a significant sat-up cost for teens — around $70 — to pay for training and a uniform.
They started out by going door to door and asking community members if they would pay teens fair wages for short-term yard work. Soon enough,they began gathering opportunities. With help from an entrepreneurship class at McLean High School and feedback from teens, the students were able to turn their idea into a reality. So far, the website has employed more than 200 teens, according to Lannin. TeenServ pays students up to $18 per hour — well above Virginia’s minimum wage of $7.25.
The business is focused on mostly McLean for now, but TeenServ’s owners hope to expand around Fairfax County. That involves building up a base of teen workers before allowing residents to post jobs elsewhere in the county. After all, if residents need time-specific jobs done, they can’t be the ones waiting.
1. What is TeenServ’s goal?| A．To increase the number of teen workers. |
| B．To help teens decide on their future career. |
| C．To encourage teens to start their own business. |
| D．To connect community employers to local teens. |
| A．Regular. | B．Flexible. | C．Traditional. | D．Busy. |
| A．They failed to find a part-time job. |
| B．They received a significant pay cut. |
| C．They obtained little funding for their start-up. |
| D．They lost a game due to a referee’s unfair decision. |
| A．Create more time-specific jobs. |
| B．Raise Virginia’s minimum wage. |
| C．Grow their business outside of McLean. |
| D．Allow McLean residents to post jobs elsewhere. |
| A．Three entrepreneurial McLean teens and their company TeenServ. |
| B．The main reasons of teenage unemployment in McLean. |
| C．The challenges three entrepreneurial McLean teens are facing. |
| D．The bright future of the platform TeenServ. |
6 . Audubon Summer Day Camp 2022
Campers at Bent of the River’s Audubon Summer Day Camp can explore nature in a fin and safe environment within the 700 acres of a nature sanctuary (保护区). Audubon Camp develops campers’ curiosity through outdoor exploration, which helps campers understand the natural world. These unique experiences and adventures can grow into a lifelong appreciation of the environmental situation.
Camp Activities:
Activities like hiking, stream-walking, river exploration, crafts, nature-themed games, live animal interactions, and birding are included.
Camp Staff:
The staff are selected based on their experience and skills in working with the youth in environmental education and their interest in local ecology and natural history. All staff must pass background checks and are required to hold current CPR and First Aid certifications to make the camp a safe place to experience nature.
Camp Age Groups:
Camp groups are sorted by grades. Naturalists are campers entering grades 1-4 in Fall 2022 and EcoDiscoverers are campers entering grades 5-8. Volunteer junior counselor opportunities are available for teens aged 14-18. For more information on junior counselor opportunities, please email bentoftheriver@audubon.org or call 203-405-9113.
Camp Hours & Length:
Most camps last one week from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Twilight Explorers week offered to EcoDiscoverers runs from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Camp Registration:
Registration opens on April, 2022. Camp spots will be reserved only after registration is completed and tuition is received.
Pricing:
Tuition is $300 per camper per week for registration made by May 1, 2022, and $325 per camper per week for registration made after May 1, 2022. Campers can get a 10% discount if they register as a group (at least 2).
1. What’s the purpose of Audubon Summer Day Camp?| A．To promote the local tourism. |
| B．To offer teenagers enough outdoor sports. |
| C．To keep the ecological balance of the area. |
| D．To raise campers’ interest in exploring nature. |
| A．Playing hide-and-seek. |
| B．Saving injured wild birds. |
| C．Uncovering the mystery of rivers. |
| D．Conducting a survey of the local people. |
| A．Mastering first aid knowledge. |
| B．Excelling in cultural education. |
| C．Having a strong interest in world history. |
| D．Being excellent student leaders at school. |
| A．Junior counselor opportunities are aimed at adults. |
| B．Naturalists should be teens fond of natural science. |
| C．Campers are arranged by their academic performance. |
| D．EcoDiscoverers can apply for the Twilight Explorers week. |
| A．$1,200 | B．$1,170 | C．$1,300 | D．$1,080 |
7 . Katie always wanted to be a performer. She, the youngest of the three kids from Cleveland, was crazy about musicals and Disney movies from an early age and would often watch them singing with her mom, Karen. However, Katie’s happy childhood took a turn when her mother was diagnosed (诊断) with cancer. When the doctor informed the family that Karen’s disease was terminal, they decided to make a trip to Disney World.
The family spared no expense for their once-in-a-lifetime vacation and stayed at Disney’s hotel for eight nights. They spent their days in the parks, seeing the sights, greeting characters, all the while pushing Karen in her wheelchair and watching her face light up with joy. They all shared in the merriment of experiencing the parks for the first time with Karen. The trip to Disney World at the height of Karen’s battle with cancer allowed them to escape into a world of magic and laughter. This was the day Katie decided she wanted to work for Disney.
Sadly, Karen lost the battle and died later, but the whole family remembered her every day and often thought of that Disney vacation. Katie went on to go after her dream. After she received her degree in musical theater, she struggled for years, working as a waitress and trying to be a performer. Her hard work finally paid off when she was hired to work for Disney.
As a Disney performer, Katie is aware that many other families visit the parks and have similar stories to her own. She encourages everyone, especially children, who may be experiencing a hard time. “Every moment is meant for you, even the painful ones,” she says. “It’s just like in your favorite Disney movie: There is always some kind of conflict or hardship or pressure. Remember to celebrate those moments, too, because they are taking you to whatever your version of a happy ending is.”
1. What made Katie decide to work for Disney?| A．The dream that she wanted to live a life full of magic. |
| B．The memory that she watched Disney movies as a kid. |
| C．The great courage her mother showed in fighting cancer. |
| D．The great joy the Disney vacation brought to her family. |
| A．Kind and curious. | B．Patient and helpful. |
| C．Strong-willed and determined. | D．Strict and independent. |
| A．Experience must be bought. |
| B．Sweet is pleasure after pain. |
| C．Many drops make a shower. |
| D．Good medicine tastes bitter. |
Reading broadens our horizons and gives us wisdom. Reading can also be a bridge bonding family members.
Rose is my daughter. I read stories to her every night when she was a little girl. So I had her captivated by books when she was at an early age. For example, almost every night she would go to bed early, waiting for my reading. When Rose was about eight, we changed our routine. We took turns selecting our books and reading out loud.
There was no regular pattern in the books selected. I remember that we began with Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, enjoying the company of those rough sailors and stumbling (结结巴巴地读) over the eighteenth-century seamen’s dialect. But we loved the book, and learned a lot about pirates daily life, adventures, tricks, greed and so on. We later went through many books, like the chick lit series.
In due course Rose grew up and left for McGill University in Montreal. She was educated in French and was enthusiastic about speaking the language. Her first visit home was at Christmas.
There was a gift from her, an audiobook with six cassettes. It was Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, read by Rose. Her reading was interrupted occasionally by a giggle, and her voice made me remember how happily Rose and I read together in our bedroom every night when she was a kid.
As I write this, Rose is a third-year medical student at Dalhousie University. Now she is interested in medicine while I am interested in history. However, we manage to combine our different personal interests. We recommend selected reading materials to each other. We are currently loving The Crimson Portraitby Jody Shields, a well written novel about the development of plastic surgery during World War I. Our first written collaboration an article on Canadian medical history, will be published this year.
1. What does the underlined word “captivated” in Paragraph 2 probably mean? (Only 1 word)2. What did the author and her daughter learn from Treasure Island? (no more than 10 words)
3. What did Rose’s reading Shopaholic Takes Manhattan make the author remember? (no more than 10 words)
4. How were the author’s interest and Rose’s interest combined? (no more than 10 words)
5. What do you think of the author’s way of bringing up her daughter? (no more than 20 words)
9 . In the world of online shopping, many online purchases are based on careful consideration of star ratings and product reviews left by complete strangers. But should you trust customer reviews when deciding what to purchase? And do these mysterious reviewers have your best interests in mind? Here’s what you need to know.
Consumers today are skeptical, says Zach Pardes at review platform Trustpilot. “We live in a time when trust is completely under attack,” Pardes says. “So people are reading reviews and consuming them more than ever before, but I think there is a healthy skepticism at times of what they’re reading. Fake reviews do exist. Fake reviews include, but aren’t limited to, robot-generated reviews and reviews that are influenced by the seller.”
Of course, not all user reviews you read online are fake. High-quality reviews are a valuable too when making a variety or purchases. Pardes says Trustpilot features a team in place to detect and remove fake reviews. Perhaps one of the best-known review websites is Yelp. Yelp takes measures to ensure “high quality content,” says Katheen Liu, a company spokes person. That includes allowing Yelp’s community of business owners and users to fag content that may go against the site’s terms of service.
Since user reviews do provide helpful information, reviews as a whole shouldn’t be repudiated. But how can you tell the difference between what’s real and what’s not? It’s close to impossible for the everyday consumer. But if you conduct your investigations carefully, you can make an informed purchase.
Check more than one review source. Pardes advises consumers to read reviews on multiple platforms.“If you’re about to book a $10,000 vacation, you’d never rely only on the photos and the reviews posted by that hotel’s marketing team,” he says. “You’re going to want to use a third-party independent resource.” Read more than a handful of reviews. Pardes says there is “safety in numbers.” Question perfection. Pardes says consumers shouldn’t trust reviews that show only five stars.“Nobody’s perfect, so you can’t possibly have a perfect five-star review in every single category of your business,” he says.
1. What can be inferred from paragraph 2?| A．Consumers have lost trust in sellers. |
| B．Consumers are often influenced by sellers. |
| C．Consumers often fail to recognize fake reviews. |
| D．Consumers are cautious of product reviews now. |
| A．Both hire professionals to rate companies. |
| B．Both produce robot-generated reviews. |
| C．Both serve mainly business owners. |
| D．Both aim to offer real user reviews. |
| A．A fake review. | B．A review website. |
| C．The measure. | D．The high-quality content. |
| A．Overestimated. | B．Dismissed. | C．Hidden. | D．Blamed. |
| A．How to get the most out of online reviews. | B．The significance of informed purchases. |
| C．Where to look for reliable reviews. | D．The truth behind five star ratings. |
10 . We are all born social and company to live happy and fruitful life. Healthy and supportive mutual relationships help reduce stress and promote the, physical, mental and emotional well-being by building skills like time management, assertiveness( 坚定自信), sociability and empathy.
Making friends has made me feel secure. However, I have to be cautious to pick up friends sharing similar tastes and values. In addition, having added to one’s circle of friends helps one feel supported.
It is true that finding time to cultivate relationships is all about effective time management. My busy uncle finds time to catch up with family and friends during his tea and lunch breaks. Similarly my friend Somya uses her time on her way back home from work in her chauffeur-driven car to catch up with people. The modern inventions of SMS and e-mail help send wishes for birthdays and anniversaries to show your love and care.
Assertiveness is as much applicable to relationships. My friend Mohana emphasizes that neither being a passive observer nor being aggressive helps relationships. It is assertiveness in our relationships that opens the lines of effective communication. It emphasizes helping friends in need and also strengthens mutually supportive relationships.
It is also true that assertiveness by intuition promotes discretion(自行决定权) of friends and helps Lalitha distinguish positive people from drains of energy. She can easily figure this out by the flow of the conversation, the way each feels understood, accepted and supported, and by how I feel, happy, bored or energized in the relationship. It also helps to know whether all benefit from each other’s positive aspects.
Handling stress in life is all about cultivating mutually supportive relationships and working on them. Manisha always says she feels great when sharing her feelings after a hard day with people who share similar ideas. Actually we all need someone who would not just hear us, but listen to us, and we need to cultivate the art of listening and understanding people.
1. A busy person can develop his social relationships by________.| A．inviting friends for dinner | B．making friends with strangers |
| C．working hard for high positions | D．getting together in the intervals of business |
| A．Being passive. | B．Being assertive. |
| C．Being aggressive. | D．Being relaxed. |
| A．lonely | B．bored | C．stressed | D．energetic |
| A．Manisha. | B．Mohana. | C．Lalitha. | D．Somya. |
| A．How should we handle our stress in life? |
| B．What is to be done for applicable relationships? |
| C．How can we pick up friends supporting us? |
| D．How people build mutually supportive social relationship? |
