1 . Camera flashes cut across the softly lighted downtown Los Angeles restaurant, as the crowd at Ludo Bites jostles (推挤) for the photo-of the Columbian River king salmon duck. “This is the game we all now play, ” chef and owner Ludo Lefebvre said. “We cook, we smile-and the people, they don’t eat. They get their cameras.”
Not so long ago, diners, hungry for special meals, would pull out a point-and-shoot at a restaurant for a quick picture of sliced birthday cake.
No more. Taking a cue from Twitter and Facebook cultures, serious foodies (美食家) and casual consumers alike are using digital technology to document each bite, then sharing the pictures online.
Flickr, the photo-sharing website, has seen the number of pictures tagged as “food” jump from about half a million in 2008 to more than 6 million today, according to company officials. In the group “I Ate This” on Flickr’s site, nearly 20,000 people have uploaded more than 307,000 images of their latest meals.
Camera manufacturers are joining the trend, selling cameras that offer “food” settings, which adjust to enhance colors and textures (质地) on close-ups.
“I am sharing my experiences with my friends,” said Hong Pham, 33, a Los Angeles radiologist who runs the food blog Ravenous Couple. “Why shouldn’t I share what inspires me?”
But what is documentary fun for people such as Pham is souring the gastronomic (烹饪的) set.
Managers regularly face diners demanding to be moved away from camera flashes and sounds. Waiters find themselves tongue-tied as customers take out voice recorders to capture a recitation of each course. Some chefs have had enough.
Chef Grant Achatz allows only no-flash photography in his restaurant. He, like many other chefs, finds himself torn between being flattered by the public’s enthusiasm and annoyed with the effect the picture-taking is having on the restaurant’s operation.
Some consumers now believe food should be consumed visually as well as physically. “What happened to the enjoyment of just eating the food?” said Andrew Knowlton, the restaurant editor for Bon Appetite magazine. “People are losing sight of why you go out.”
1. Who is the most supportive of taking pictures of food in restaurants?| A．Grant Achatz. | B．Andrew Knowlton. |
| C．Hong Pham. | D．Ludo Lefebvre. |
| A．delicately-made dishes are visually inviting |
| B．they will share with others their dining experience |
| C．cameras can be specially set for food photography |
| D．they can profit by selling pictures to famous websites |
| A．More pictures will be uploaded at websites like Twitter and Facebook. |
| B．Consumers used to take pictures in restaurants only for their birthdays. |
| C．Rules should be set out that there is no food photography in restaurants. |
| D．Chefs are likely to accept picture-taking in their restaurants to a limited extent. |
| A．news story | B．feature article |
| C．commercial advertisement | D．survey report |
2 . We are the sum of our actions. I believe that the actions you take determine who you are. But, you say, had an abusive father/mother, I was poor growing up, just wasn’t born smart, I have a disease... All of these things do not make you who you are. They only broaden your knowledge or experience. They are things that happen to you, circumstances. You are not the sum of your circumstances, but of your “action” to them.
This is why rich kids become drug addicts or wife beaters; kids from ghetto (贫民窟) become doctors or loving fathers, and everything in between. All walks of life produce all walks of life. So, it is all about your own choices/reactions/actions/behavior, Every human being has within them a mechanism that guides their actions. The more you rebel against your inner guide, the more you tune your selective hearing to the “me” channel, the father down the “bad” side of the scale you will slide. On the other hand, if you not only listen to but act upon, the “universal” channel, the farther up the “good” side of the scale you will fly.
Even psychiatrists have in recent years discovered that in order to change thinking, a person must frst change behavior. At first thought, it would seem the opposite is true, it is not. We all have the same range of human emotions. When we feel slighted (被看轻), it sounds in our heads like: “I want to slap them, curse them, get even, and cause them the same pain they caused me. Acting upon these thoughts perpetuates (使继续) cycles of abuse, addiction, and pain. It’s when you choose not to act upon these thoughts, and instead, forgive and heal, that your thoughts and perceptions will start to change also. You change because right actions produce right results. You are choosing to heal properly by forgiving, and accepting life and mankind as it is, and in turn yourself as you are, which is the only way to have peace, joy, and true happiness.
I will admit that if you have a parent who accepts you as a whole person, inclusive of “good and bad”, you may have an edge or jumpstart (快速启动) on understanding life, yourself, and others. If you don’t, it may just take you longer to understand, accept, and act on it. Either way, who you are is determined by you, and you are determined by your actions. So, tune in everybody, to that universal channel, and act right!
1. The author argues that an abusive parent a person once had ________.| A．affects the reaction he will take in different circumstances |
| B．prevents him from understanding life |
| C．has little to do with what kind of person he is |
| D．determines the tough circumstances he lives in |
| A．poor children are more likely to succeed in their work |
| B．the occupation a person engages in affects his personality |
| C．wealthy children tend to be spoiled by their parents |
| D．circumstances contribute little to a person’s future success |
| A．our behavior is guided by our thought | B．human beings share similar emotions |
| C．we have to cultivate our behavior first | D．it’s wrong to act upon your thoughts |
| A．we should accept life and mankind as it is |
| B．everyone is determined by what he does |
| C．understanding life promotes right action |
| D．it is better to have a parent who accepts both your “good and bad” |
| A. application | B. currently | C. initial | D. detection | E. previously | F. feasibility |
| G. primarily | H. intelligent | I. active | J. availability | K. predictable |
The agricultural sector is going to face enormous challenges in order to feed the 9.6 billion people that the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) predicts are going to inhabit the planet by 2050: Food production must increase by 70% by 2050, and this has to be achieved in spite of the limited
One way to deal with these issues and increase the quality and quantity of agricultural production is using sensing technology to make farms more “
Precision agriculture, also known as “smart farming”, is not new, In the beginning, it was about position technologies
It’s something that’s already happening, as corporations and farm offices collect vast amounts of information from crop yields, soil-mapping, fertilizer
The European Union has sponsored several projects on the topic. The
Several private companies are also starting to be
In the center of Rome stands the Pantheon (万神庙) --- a temple dedicated to all gods. A mere 6,611 kilometers away, China has its own “pantheon” --- the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, Northwest China’s Gansu province.
Mogao is a complex of caves cut out of the side of a sandstone and rock cliff that
Having been a key outpost on the ancient Silk Road for centuries, the city of Dunhuang provided shelter for tired traders along the route east to west or vice versa. And it is
When I experienced the Mogao Caves and Dunhuang for the first time, the mighty weight of history was perceivable: the artworks awe-inspiring and the stories
For many, the feeling one gets when dipping their toes in the ocean or breathing crisp mountain air is a unique experience tied to the landscape. So
Golden dunes stretch out into the distance, going up and down like the sea in a storm. Sand is whipped up by the wind and carried,
It is remarkable that many of the artworks of Mogao exist today considering the relentless power of the desert and the climate
But here is
| A．The call to prayer happens too frequent and should be reduced. |
| B．The loudspeakers announcing prayer time damage people’s life. |
| C．The first call to prayer is too early and should be after sunrise. |
| D．Arabs make too much noise during the prayer time in mosques(清真寺). |
| A．He thinks Israel is a country of Judaism(犹太教). |
| B．He is a racist and his aim is ti reduce Arab population. |
| C．He intends to create an atmosphere of freedom and equality. |
| D．He believes the country should protect citizens from the noise. |
| A．The bill destroys the harmony between Jews and Arabs. |
| B．The bill doesn’t respect the right of the Arabs. |
| C．The bill shows the hatred against the Arabs. |
| D．The loudspeaker hurts all of the society. |
6 . Some things we cannot copy where I live. We will never celebrate Christmas inside a picture postcard. We have no winter wonderland, though once, inspired by a snowfall seen on the black-and-white television, I did collect some ice from the inside of the freezer to throw at my brother. By the time I got to him, all I had was a handful of rain.
What we do have is electricity. As long as the Tennessee Valley Authority can light up the southern night with strands of color, shining from every house and mobile home, they can have their white Christmas. I have seen lights wrapped around mailbox posts. In the country, you need a whole lot of extension cord (电缆) to electrify a mailbox.
I have seen them strung across the Peterbilt trucks. My mother never takes down her lights, strung on a cedar beam (雪松木梁) in the living room, though she does unplug them. The rich folks have switched to white lights, a lot of them, to be elegant. But it will always be lights of color, shining through a night which smells of woodsmoke, that mean Christmas to me.
I find it especially hard not to live in the past at this time of year, when I would do anything to see the world like a child again. It is why I fill the refrigerator every December with chocolate-covered cherries and watch, for the hundredth time, those 50-year-old Christmas specials about Santa Claus.
It is important that some things stay the same — that, at some point this season, someone will say, “We’re going to look at Christmas lights. Do you want to come?”
I go sometimes and sometimes just say no. It is enough to know someone is going. I have a fine memory of the lights; I do not want it to grow less than it was by putting on it new lights bought at Walmart.
1. What is the primary feature that the author values about Christmas in their location?| A．Snow-covered landscapes. | B．Traditional winter wonderland scenes. |
| C．Colorful Christmas lights. | D．Cedar beams in living rooms. |
| A．bring convenience to his life | B．create a Christmas atmosphere |
| C．generate warmth in harsh winter | D．save cord to power a mailbox |
| A．They prefer white lights for elegance. | B．They use fewer lights for simplicity. |
| C．They avoid using extension cords. | D．They rely on woodsmoke for lighting. |
| A．He takes delight in bidding farewell to the past. |
| B．He gets fed up with looking at Christmas lights. |
| C．He dislikes the color options available at Walmart. |
| D．He feels relieved that Christmas lights tradition is preserved. |
7 . Road traffic accidents are caused by a number of factors which can be grouped into three categories: human factors, vehicle factors and road environment factors. Table 1 explains each factor and gives examples.
Table 1: Factors involved in road traffic accidentsFactor | Description | Example |
| Human | Things people do or don’t do | Speeding, not obeying traffic rules, using phone while driving |
| Vehicle | Things that are wrong with the vehicle | ? |
| Road environment | Things outside the vehicle that affect driving | Condition of road, time of day, weather conditions, road repairs |
One factor alone or several factors together can cause an accident. However, human actions are by far the greatest causes of car accidents. Diagram 1 shows that human factors are involved in 95% of all car accidents. Although other factors are also involved in 28% of these accidents, in 67% of cases, human factors alone are the cause of the accident.
Although behavior such as not paying attention to road, swerving to avoid an animal and eating while driving causes accidents, most road deaths are caused by speeding, driving after drinking alcohol, driving when tried and not wearing seat belts. As shown in Diagram 2, speeding is involved in more deaths than any other behavior in both city (50%) and country accidents (32%). Drivers and / or passengers not wearing seat belts is the second most common cause of road deaths.
1. Which of the following is best suited in the blank in table 1?| A．Vehicles of this type to be recalled at once. |
| B．Weak brakes, no seat belts in cars, old tyres. |
| C．250,000 people killed in car accidents in 2023. |
| D．Regular car maintenance, professional service. |
| A．Speeding kills more drivers in cities than in countries. |
| B．Two or more factors are combined to cause an accident. |
| C．Country drivers are more likely to get tired when driving. |
| D．Drunk driving cause more deaths than not wearing seat belts. |
| A．The dangers of driving a car. | B．The effects of alcohol on driving. |
| C．Human factors in road traffic accidents. | D．How to prevent deaths on our roads. |
8 .
Eyes in the sky Several space telescopes planned for Launch after the James Webb Space Telescope（JWST）promise to deliver incredible science. Here are three of the most important. | ||
| Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars （PLATO） Expected launch date: 2026 This European Space Agency project will search a million stars looking for blips in their light that indicate the presence of an orbiting planet. Similar kinds of previous telescopes have only been able to see planets that are close to their stars and so pass in front of them frequently. Plato will linger on each star for longer and so has the chance to detect planets that are more distant from their star, with a longer orbital period. In particular, the mission is focused on trying to spot signs of rocky exoplanets in the habitable zone, the narrow region of a star system in which temperatures are right for liquid water. It also has the tools to characterize such worlds, providing clues to how Earth-like they may be. | Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Expected launch date: 2025 Like the James Webb Space Telescope, the Roman Space Telescope, named after the first female executive at NASA, will observe mainly infrared radiation. But while the JWST focuses on detail, Roman is going for the big picture. The telescope has a panoramic（全景的）field of view more than 100 times greater than the JWST’s. During its first five years, Roman will image more than 50 times as much sky as the Hubble Space Telescope covered in its first 30 years. That will allow it to make the first wide-field infrared maps of the sky. It is hoped this will help solve mysteries like the true identity of dark matter and dark energy. Astronomers can see the influence of these substances on the universe but have not been able to explain what they are. | Laser Interferometer Space Antenna（LISA） Expected launch date: 2034 We first detected gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of space, in 2015. So far, we have seen waves from black hole and neutron star collisions（碰撞）. LISA, a mission led by the European Space Agency, will be a much larger gravitational wave detector than existing ground-based ones. It will consist of three spacecraft positioned 2.5 million kilometres apart in a triangular formation. This space detector will be sensitive to gravitational waves with extremely low frequencies. Among other things, it could allow us to spot planets in other galaxies just from the subtle way in which they influence the gravitational waves produced by their parent stars. Until now, all confirmed discoveries of exoplanets have been in our own Milky Way galaxy. |
| A．It is designed to detect gravitational waves in the fabric of space. |
| B．It is aimed to look for planets that are closely orbiting their stars. |
| C．It is the first of its kind to be able to see blips in the stars’ light. |
| D．It observes each star for longer so as to detect more distant planets. |
| A．The Roman Space Telescope can observe infrared radiation while the JWST cannot. |
| B．The Roman Space Telescope has a larger field of view compared to the JWST. |
| C．The James Webb Space Telescope make the first wide-field infrared maps of the sky. |
| D．The James Webb Space Telescope can image more than 50 times as much sky as the Roman. |
| A．All of the three space telescopes are being led by the European Space Agency. |
| B．With the help of LISA, we might be able to find planets outside of the Milky Way galaxy. |
| C．Getting wide-field infrared maps of the sky, scientists are sure to spot what dark matter and dark energy are. |
| D．Scientists have already confirmed the clues to the existence of all the exoplanets with the aid of gravitational waves. |
Light the Cities of the Future
A previously unlit cycle path in the Netherlands has recently drawn our attention. It has been resurfaced with a material that consists of thousands of shining stones in order to create a well-lit route. The Van Gogh Path, so called after the artist who lived in the town of Nuenen in 1883, combines the traditional with the contemporary in a gesture that acknowledge ledges Van Gingh’ masterpiece The Starry Night, but also shows the way ahead for city lighting. The Van Gogh Path is not a single case; it is not difficult to foresee a time when natural materials could help light the cities of the future.
Why should we care about city lighting? What’s wrong with current electrical city lighting anyway? Well, the problem that it causes is two-fold. First, of course, electrical lighting in most cities comes from non-renewable resources. According to the International Energy Agency, almost 20% of global electricity is consumed for lighting, which is responsible for high levels of carbon emissions. But there’s also the belief that electrical light itself is a form of pollution by destroying our view of the night sky.
From the above reasons, then, it seems wise to investigate other approaches. The city of Glasgow is attempting to use intelligent street lighting to monitor how citizens interact with the urban landscape and minimize electrical consumption and thus emissions. This “Smart City approach” is seen by many as the way of the future, but some designers aren’t convinced. They are pioneering the altogether more original approach of using materials from the natural world in order to replace electrical light entirely. They believe that this new “technology” can one day completely replace microchips and digital systems as we find better ways of making use of the light-producing mechanisms (制) that already exist in the natural world.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________We Britons have about 60 words for happiness: blissfulness, ecstasy, pleasure, delight...The list is as varied as it is surprising, given that we only just scraped into the top 20 happiest countries in the world this year. Finns, who
In the decade
For the fourth year running, the UK has slipped down the global happiness rankings,
In many ways, though, my admittedly luxurious stay revealed to me
