Giving Money to Families with Kids Can Relieve Child Poverty
Nearly 1 in 5 American children is officially poor. That’s roughly 15 million kids. But the number living with a significant deprivation——insufficient food, seriously overcrowded housing or a lack of access to medical care due to cost-is actually much higher. According to the latest studies, it’s more like 1 in 3.
A mountain of evidence now shows that poverty can lead to cognitive (认知的) and emotional damage in children. Child poverty is too harmful and punishing to ignore. A growing number of academics believe there is a solution: the government should give monthly cash allowances, without conditions, to every family with kids.
When Michael Harrington’s classic book, The Other America, called attention to America’s general poverty rate of about 25% in 1962, Washington developed social programs that brought the rate down sharply. Valuable policies intended to relieve child poverty have been enacted since then, but they are not enough: 1 in 3 children does not receive the full benefits of these programs because their parents do not qualify for them.
A family with two children receiving $300 to $400 a month per child could improve their standard of living immediately. Money can buy food, heat, coats, eye-glasses and regular doctors’ visits, including transportation, and help pay for childcare. It can also help reduce family stress and help parents provide a psychologically nourishing environment for learning and social development. Studies demonstrate children’s improved educational performance when families are simply given more money.
For far less money-about $100 billion-the number of children living in official poverty could be cut in half. Such a policy would be a humane, practical, efficient victory for a nation too willing to neglect its poor.
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2 . Once you get past the fact that it has no skin, the new robot from Disney Research is an impressive success in robotics. The new robot can imitate human facial movements, specifically blinking (眨眼睛) and slight head movements. A sensor in its chest area alerts the robot when to turn and face a person in front of it, and its eye movements shift from direct eye contact to rapid eye movements. It also moves slightly up and down to imitate breathing.
While most such robots generally focus their eyes on a human face and stay there, that’s not how people interact with each other. The Disney Research team explained: Gaze (注视) has been shown to be a key social signal, shaping perceptions of interaction partners. For example, people who make more eye contact with us are perceived to be similar to us, as well as more intelligent, sincere, and trustworthy. Furthermore, gaze appears to convey complex social and emotional states.
Given the importance of gaze in social interactions as well as its ability to communicate states and shape points of view, it is obvious that gaze can function as a significant tool for an interactive robot character. Thus, the aim of the team’s work is to develop a system to imitate a human-like mutual gaze.
It’s not hard to imagine how Disney might use this technology for animatronic (电子动画的) characters at its theme parks. The company’s research team has been working on making more lifelike robots for some time; in 2018 it showed its Stickman robot that could do backflips (后空翻) in mid-air to almost the height of a human performer with arms raised over his or her head.
They’ll just need to add something that looks like skin over the eye-tracking robot’s head. In this way, it will look more like a human.
1. What is the main feature of Disney’s new robot?| A．It has advanced sensors all over its body. |
| B．Its appearance is similar to a human being. |
| C．It can make some facial movements like humans. |
| D．Its movement is controlled by human facial movement. |
| A．It is expected to sell well. |
| B．The gaze is a popular concept. |
| C．This function can be designed easily. |
| D．The gaze is important in social communication. |
| A．represent one of the human-like robots made by Disney |
| B．prove Disney has been a pioneer in robot production |
| C．show it has been the most high-level robot until now |
| D．indicate animatronic characters are losing charm today |
| A．Record the gaze of the new robot. |
| B．Increase the sales of the new robot. |
| C．Improve the skills of its Stickman robot. |
| D．Explore new applications of its technology. |
Europe’s most beautiful towns Clovelly, the UK Donkeys (驴) used to be the only way to get up and down the streets of Clovelly, a pretty fishing village in Devon, southwest England. Today, villagers still haven’t managed to bring cars in because it sits at the bottom of a 400-foot cliff (悬崖) .Goods are transported by man-powered vehicles. If tourists can’t face the walk back up to the car park, they can take a ride in a special car instead. Dinkelsbühl, Germany Acute historic center, wood houses and solid towers—Dinkelsbühl has it all. It sits on the German Romantic Road, a route known for its attractive towns. Surrounded by medieval (中世纪的) walls with a huge church, it was the setting for a famous film named The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser. Giethoorn, Netherlands They call it the Dutch answer to Venice, but Giethoorn lacks one thing that the Italian city has: over tourism. As in Venice, life centers around the water. There are no cars in the downtown so the only way to get around is on foot or on the water. Take a boat tour around the houses sitting on islands. Hungry? Stop at the Michelin-starred restaurant Hollands-Venetië. Anghiari, Italy On a hillside, Anghiari is a delight—a tiny walled town. It’s a crowded area with narrow and up-and-down streets, full of grand palaces which were built by the mysterious “men of arms”. Find out more about them at a museum named the Museo della Battaglia di Anghiari, which traces the history of a medieval battle that took place on the plain outside town. |
1. How would tourists probably tour in Clovelly today?
| A．By car. | B．On foot. |
| C．By riding a donkey. | D．By taking a man-powered vehicle. |
| A．Clovelly and Dinkelsbühl. | B．Clovelly and Giethoorn. |
| C．Anghiari and Giethoorn. | D．Dinkelsbühl and Anghiari. |
| A．artists | B．soldiers | C．architects | D．historians |
| A．Tourists can enjoy fishing in both Clovelly and Giethoom. |
| B．Anghiari is a small and crowded town located on a flat ground. |
| C．A tourist can watch a film at a huge church in Dinkelsbühl. |
| D．Giethoorn is a better choice than Venice if tourists prefer a less crowded tour. |
4 . I was among 31 murderers sent to the Louisiana State Penitentiary in 1962 to be executed or imprisoned for life. We were unskilled, impulsive and uneducated misfits, mostly black, who had done dumb, impulsive things — failures, rejects from the larger society. Now a generation has passed since I’ve been here, and everything is much the same as I found it. The vast majority of us are handed over to suffer and die here so politicians can sell the illusion that permanently putting people to prison will make society safe.
Getting tough has always been a “silver bullet”, a quick FIX for the crime and violence that society fears. Each year in Louisiana — where excess is a way of life — law-makers have tried to outdo each other in legislating harsher penalties. The only thing to do with criminals, they say, is get tougher. In the process, the state boasts one of the highest look-up rates in the country, and imposes the most severe penalties in the nation.
If getting tough resulted in public safety, Louisiana citizens would be the safest in the nation. They’re not. Louisiana has the highest murder rate among states. Prison, like the police and the courts, has a minimal impact on crime because it is a response after the fact, it doesn’t work. The idea of punishing the few to discourage the many is fake because potential criminals either think they’re not going to get caught or they’re so psychologically distressed that they don’t care. about the consequences of their actions. The threatened punishment, regardless of its severity, is never a factor in the equation.
Prison has a role in public safety, but it is not a cure-all. The only effective way to contain crime is for society to work to prevent the criminal act in the first place. Our youngsters must be taught to respect humanity of others and to handle dispute without violence. It is essential to educate and equip them with the skills to pursue their life ambitions in a meaningful way. As a community, we must address the adverse life circumstances that breed criminality. These things are not quick, and they are not easy, but they are effective. Politicians think that’s too hard a sell. They want something they can point to at re-election time. So the drumbeat goes on for more police, more prisons, more of the same failed policies.
Ever see a dog chase its own tail?
1. Which of the following situations is not regarded as a “silver bullet”?| A．Employing a roundabout way to help students correct their mistakes. |
| B．Setting up refuges to shelter the homeless war victims. |
| C．Training farmers with farming techniques to help them out of poverty. |
| D．Adopting effective policies to save economy from worsening. |
| A．they are proud and boastful of high lock-up rates | B．they fail to address the root of the problem |
| C．they don’t treat people of different races alike | D．they give priority to precaution over punishment |
| A．turn over a new leaf. | B．get a kick out of it |
| C．an eye for an eye. | D．prevention is better than cure |
| A．Prisons — A Tool for Election. | B．Why Prisons Don’t Work |
| C．An Appeal from a Murderer. | D．Why Society Is a Safer Place |
| A．Engine trouble. | B．Poor weather. |
| C．Tall waterfalls. | D．Tight budget. |
| A．Amazing as well as tough. | B．Funny while incredible. |
| C．Disappointing but rewarding. | D．Fascinating and well-paid. |
| A．A mechanic. | B．A photographer. |
| C．A travel writer. | D．A weatherman. |
| A．She had run a long way. |
| B．She felt weak and tired in the subway. |
| C．She had done a lot of work. |
| D．She had given blood the night before. |
| A．By lifting her to the platform to get others’ help. |
| B．By moving her with the help of his girlfriend. |
| C．By holding her arm and pulling her along the ground. |
| D．By waking her up and dragging her away from the edge. |
| A．Danger in the subway. | B．A subway rescue. |
| C．How to save people. | D．A traffic accident. |
7 .
| Supersized activities for your little ones at Sentosa During the June Holidays | |
| Storytelling Comes Alive! Date: Every Wed-Sun at 11:30 am. 3:30 pm & 5:30 pm Venue: Images of Singapore Forecourt Admission: Free Enjoy SUPERSIZED activities for the entire family this June at our international award winning interactive event, Story Telling Comes Alive! This is where the story teller uses a giant storybook, puppetry and characters coming alive to bring the exciting and fun stories to life. | Boogie with Captain Palawan Date: Every Tuesdays to Fridays Time: 2:25 pm &4:15 pm Admission: Free Join in the boogie fun with Captain Palawan on the Beach! Bop to the rhythm and you may dance your way to some prizes! |
| Art Excursion at Sentosa Date: 8 & 15 June 2015 (Children) 22 June 2015 (Family) Time: 9 am - 5 pm Admission: $120 per child (SentosaPlayPass: $90 per child) $360 per family (SentosaPlayPass: $270 per family) Unleash your child’s creativity with the Art Excursion conducted by My Art Studio. Participants will have the opportunity to exchange creative ideas inspired by what they experience as they move through various stations in Sentosa. | Storytelling at Underwater World Singapore Date: 1-24 June 2015, every Sat& Sun Time: 11:45 am &3:15 pm Venue: Underwater World Singapore Admission: $20 per adult $10 per child (No admission charge for anyone with a SentosaPlayPass) Come and listen to storyteller, Denise Tan, as she shares stories about marine animals and marine conservation in the Living Fossils Hall filled with displays of ancient marine animals. |
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*Available during weekdays from 9-5pm at bugis, ChangiAirport, Chinatown, City Hall and Orchard stations. Somerset station is open from 9am-12(noon) on weekends.
1. John, who is a SentosaPlayPass holder, needn’t pay for the activities EXCEPT ______.
| A．Storytelling Comes Alive | B．Art Excursion at Sentosa |
| C．Boogie with Captain Palawan | D．Storytelling at Underwater World Singapore |
| A．Boogie with Captain Palawan is an activity that happens daily. |
| B．Denise Tan will share her stories at Images of Singapore Forecourt. |
| C．Storytelling Comes Alive is recognized globally for its engaging content. |
| D．You will win prizes if you spend at least $40 in a single receipt at Sentosa. |
| A．Bugis station | B．Somerset station |
| C．any TransitLink ticket office | D．any Sentosa ticketing office |
SCREENGRABS | |
| BBC1 PLANET EARTH 9 PM Fresh Water provides an expensive subject for the third programme in the BBC’s fascinating new natural-history series. Broadly, we investigate the world’s lakes and rivers and the creatures which inhabit them. Thus we visit the deepest lake on the planet, Lake Baikal in Siberia. We observe large colonics of Indian smooth-coated otters (水獭) looking around. A magical series which give us a real sense of context in relation to the planet we inhabit. | ITV1 AGATHA CHRISTIE'S POIROT 9 PM Cards on the Table. Tonight’s mystery concerns the death of one of the richest and most mysterious men, Mr Shaitana (Alexander Siddig) who has a fascination with crime. Shaitana hosts dinner and a game of bridge in his apartment, but when the time comes the first guests to take their leave, they discover that their host has been killed by a knife through his heart. |
| BBC2 FAMILY GUY 11.45PM Road to Europe. Without proper identification, Brain and Stewie stow away on a plane they think is leaving for England. They’re wrong, and soon they’re in Saudi Arabia (Brain: “Oh my God, we are finished. We are lost in the desert.”) at a beginning of a long trip home. | CHANNEL4 THE GAMES: LIVE 9 PM For the first time on The Games, the men fight in a Kendo Tournament, using 1.2m shinai (Bamboo swords). The woman compete in the cycling, racing wheel-to wheel on competition bikes with no brakes. Plus other news the English Institute of sports in Sheffield. |
1. The Fresh Water series at 9 PM ______.
| A．explores the lakes, rivers and the creatures in them |
| B．is devoted to the freshwater creatures in the world |
| C．explains the relationship among inhabitants on the earth |
| D．focuses on the deepest river on the planet |
| A．hide secretly | B．talk excitedly | C．operate easily | D．guide successfully |
| A．BBC1 | B．BBC2 | C．ITV1 | D．Channel 4 |
9 . Have you ever heard someone describe themselves an INTJ or an ESTP and wondered what those cryptic-sounding letters could mean? What these people are referring to is their personality type based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
The Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator is a self-report inventory designed to identify a person’s personality type, strengths, and preferences. The questionnaire was developed by Isabel Myers and her mother Katherine Briggs based on their work with Carl Jung’s theory of personality types. Today, the MBTI inventory is one of the most widely used psychological instruments in the world.
Based on the answers to the questions, people are identified as having one of 16 personality types. No one personality type is “best” or “better” than another. It isn’t a tool designed to look for dysfunction or abnormality. Instead, its goal is to allow people to further explore and understand their own personalities including their strengths, weaknesses, possible career preferences, and compatibility with other people. The questionnaire itself is made up of four different scales.
1. Are you outwardly or inwardly focused? Extraversion / Introversion
Extroverts are energized by people, enjoy a variety of masks, a quick pace, and good at multitasking while introverts often like working alone or in small groups, prefer a more deliberate pace, and like to focus on one task at a time.
2. How do you prefer to take in information? Sensing / Intuition
Sensors are realistic people who like to focus on the facts and details, and apply common sense and past experience to figure out practical solutions to problems while intuitives prefer to focus on possibilities and the big picture, easily see patterns and dseek creative solutions to problem.
3. How do you prefer to make decision? Thinking / Feeling
Thinkers tend to make decisions using logical analysis, objectively weigh pros and cons, and value honesty, consistency, and fairness while feelers tend to be sensitive and cooperative, and decide based on their own personal values and how others will be affected by their actions.
4. How do you prefer to live your outer life? Judging / Perceiving
Judgers tend to be organized prepared, like to make and stick to plans, and are comfortable following most rules while perceivers prefer to keep their options open, like to be able to act spontaneously, and like to be flexible with making plans.
1. The purpose of MBTI is to help people _________ .| A．better understand their unique features | B．find a topic to socialize with others |
| C．easily put themselves in a fixed category | D．self-diagnose mental health issues |
| A．Carl Jung is the co-founder of MBTI test | B．MBTI can be used in career planning |
| C．Some personality types are better than others | D．introverts may feel boosted at a party |
| A．entrepreneur | B．accountant |
| C．programmer | D．writer |
| A．psychology textbook | B．popular magazine |
| C．news release | D．business report |
10 . Harry woke at five o’clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn’t want to walk into the station in his wizard’s robes——he’d change on the train. He checked his Hogwarts list again to make sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was safely shut in her cage and paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up. Two hours later, Harry’s huge, heavy truck had been loaded into the Dursley’s car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Harry and they had set off.
They reached Kind’s Cross at half past ten. Uncle Vernon dumped Harry’s trunk on to a trolley and wheeling it into the station for him. Harry thought this was strangely kind until Uncle Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face.
‘Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine - platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don’t seem to have built it yet, do they?’
He was quite right, of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all.
‘Have a good term,’ said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. Harry turned and saw the Dursleys drive away. All three of them were laughing. Harry’s mouth went rather dry. What on earth was he going to do? He was starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig. He’d have to ask someone.
He stopped a passing guard, but didn’t dare mention platform nine and three-quarters. The guard had never heard of Hogwarts and when Harry couldn’t even tell him what part of the country it was in, he started to get annoyed, as though Harry was being stupid on purpose. Getting desperate, Harry asked for the train that left at eleven o’clock, but the guard said there wasn’t one. In the end the guard strode away, muttering about time-wasters. Harry was now trying hard not to panic. According to the large clock over the arrival boards, he had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money and a large owl.
Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do, liking tapping the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley. He wondered if he should get out his wand and start tapping the ticket box between platforms nine and ten.
Quoted from JK. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
1. Harry woke up so early in the morning probably because he _________.| A．wanted to try on his new jeans | B．needed to put Hedwig back in her cage |
| C．was asked to get prepared beforehand | D．looked forward to his new life of Hogwarts |
| A．rage | B．fear | C．regret | D．complain |
| A．Uncle Vernon had always treated Harry kindly and cared very much for him. |
| B．Harry arrived at the train station an hour before the scheduled departure time. |
| C．The Dursleys were happy to get rid of Harry and see him stuck in embarrassment. |
| D．Harry completely forgot how to find the way to Platform nine and three-quarters. |
