1 . Anyone who has seen a waterfall up close will agree that their majesty(壮观)is almost indescribable. These are the four falls on the planet, each of which is wonderful in its own way.
Niagara Falls
At 3,950 feet wide, Niagara Falls is far from the largest waterfall around, but it is the falls with the largest volume of water traveling through it and is undoubtedly the best known waterfall on the planet. It receives somewhere between 14 and 20 million visitors annually. It has three separate parts: American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls and Horseshoe, or Canadian Falls.
Chutes Kongou
Also known as Kongou Falls, Chutes Kongou measures 10,500 feet wide, making it the world’s third largest existing waterfall. It’s part of the Ivindo River in Gabon, and is roughly 185 feet tall. Among the most powerful waterfalls in the world, roughly 31,800 cubic feet of water f low down it each second. It is located within the Ivindo National Park, which was set up to protect the biodiversity of the Ivindo River.
Salto Para
Salto Para, or Para Falls, is an 18,400-foot wide waterfall on the Rio Caura in the Bolivar region of Venezuela. These half-moon-shaped falls are formed where two parts of the river come together and drop down almost 200 feet, each side of which is a green jungle island.
Chutes de Khone
Chutes de Khone—also known as Khone Falls—is the largest waterfall in the world. At 35,376 feet wide, it’s almost twice the width of its next largest competitor. The falls are part of the Mekong River in Laos, and occur where the river divides into seven large channels and many more smaller ones. It’s made up of several different rapids and falls, pouring down from a height of 69 feet.
1. What is special about Niagara Falls?A.It is the most famous waterfall. | B.It is next to a green jungle island. |
C.It is made up of four separate parts. | D.It is a half-moon-shaped waterfall. |
A.In Laos. | B.In Canada. | C.In Gabon. | D.In Venezuela. |
A.Salto Para. | B.Chutes de Khone. |
C.Chutes Kongou. | D.Niagara Falls, |
2 . Nicholas Chorier is not a usual photographer. He is a kite aerial (航空的) photographer. He uses a kite to hoist (吊起) his camera into the skies and clicks photographs. As a teenager, Nicholas had two passions — photography and kite flying. During a trip to India to make a photo report on kite making, he learnt about this unique style of photography. Fascinated, he literally tied his two hobbies together for a living. Nicholas learnt to make strong kites modeled on the Japanese kites, Rokkaku that could stand high winds. A newbie in his chosen field, he then set out to train himself,
Today he is one of the most well-known kite aerial photographers in the world. The technique is to tie a basket containing the photography equipment to the string of the kite and then fly it, thus launching the camera into air. From the ground, Nicholas controls the angles of the camera with a remote. An air-to-ground video link enables him to see the view from the kite’s point. Once satisfied with the frame, he clicks a picture, However, the job does have its pitfalls, too. Once, his kite disappeared in the Yamuna River, with his expensive camera following it.
He is especially fond of India, having made a couple of trips and taken many spectacular photos. “India is a too vast and beautiful country to be captured through the cameras in one life,” he says. He recently released a book, Kite’s Eye View: India between Earth and Sky. Though it includes photographs of “No Photo” sites like the Taj Mahal, it shows them from a totally different perspective.
1. What were Nicholas’s two hobbies?A.Design and reading. | B.Traveling and drawing. |
C.Kite making and selling. | D.Photography and kite flying. |
A.A technique. | B.A Japanese. | C.A kind of kite. | D.A beginner. |
A.Benefits. | B.Choices. | C.Secrets. | D.Risks. |
A.Creative. | B.Honest. | C.Humorous. | D.Warm-hearted. |
3 . On a typical day, off the coast of a small Brazilian island, Joao Pereira de Souza, who was a fisherman, headed out fishing. He was sad to find a lot of oil on the water. Staring at the waves with the oily shine, he decided it was not a good day to fish. But walking along the beach that day, he found a struggling penguin(企鹅), covered with oil and going to die because of hunger.
Pereira took the penguin home, gently cleaned it and spent the next week nursing it back to health. He named it Dindim, a Portuguese word meaning “ice pop”.
Dindim is a Magellanic penguin, a species known for living in the seas of South America. In order to breed(繁殖), he must return to Patagonia, 8,000 kilometers from Pereira’s home. Pereira took Dindim back to the ocean and taught him how to swim again. Soon, it was time for Dindim to return to life in the wild. Pereira watched Dindim swim away, believing it would be the last time to see him.
But the next June, Dindim returned. The two shared a gentle mouth-to-nose greeting (问候), and Dindim stayed for a month, swimming around Pereira’s house. The time to leave arrived, and Pereira thought this surely would be the last time he would see Dindim. But 11 months later, the penguin returned again.
Pereira was unsure whether the returning penguin year after year was the same one. He put a tracking device on Dindim. To his surprise, it was Pereira’s Dindim, returning year after year, for more than a decade.
Pereira and Dindim share a friendship that bridges human life and the natural world.
1. What can we know from paragraph 1?A.A penguin was freed. | B.Pereira caught a lot of fish. |
C.The water was polluted heavily. | D.Fish and penguins lived peacefully. |
A.He took Dindim to a doctor. | B.He trained Dindim to swim again. |
C.He shared a greeting with Dindim. | D.He made Dindim stay for a month. |
A.Patient and caring. | B.Brave and honest. |
C.Self-confident and humorous. | D.Outgoing and active. |
A.To record how penguins breed. | B.To search for more penguins. |
C.To find the source of the pollution. | D.To find out if the returning penguin was Dindim. |
4 . Research suggests that confidence is important to health and psychological well-being. But developing and maintaining confidence isn’t easy and it’s an easy thing to lose when you feel like you’ve failed or made a mistake.
Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
Do you compare how you look to people around you? Or do you compare your salary to what your friend earns? Making comparisons is natural. But it isn’t likely to help boost your self-confidence.
Surround Yourself With Positive People
The people you spend time with can influence your thoughts and attitudes about yourself, perhaps more than you realize.
Self-talk that is optimistic can help you overcome self-doubt and take on new challenges. The next time you begin to think that you have no business speaking up in a meeting or that you are too out-of-shape to work out, remind yourself that your thoughts aren’t always accurate. Then find a way to turn those thoughts around into more positive self-talk.
Set Realistic Goals
The more you achieve your goals, the greater your confidence in yourself and your abilities. To set realistic goals, write down what you want to achieve.
A.Be Kind to Yourself |
B.Practice Positive Self-Talk |
C.It may even have the opposite effect |
D.So, pay attention to how others make you feel |
E.Next, ask yourself what chance you have of achieving it |
F.Here are a few positive effects of learning how to be confident |
G.Fortunately, there are several ways you can increase your self-confidence |
5 . The Best School Camps in Victoria
Burnside Camp
Located on the Surf Coast near Anglesea, Burnside Camp is set over 4-hectare beautiful bushland (灌木丛) close to opollution-free peaches, Running throughout the year, Burnside Camp serves as a fantastic base for groups of up to 88 students. Camp programs centre on outdoor adventure activities. These include biking, canoeing, and exciting bush night hikes.
Mill Valley Ranch
Mill Valley Ranch is one of the best school camps in Victoria for large groups of students. It can accommodate up to 100 students. At Mill Valley Ranch, activity programs typically centre on confidence and character building. When outdoors, this sees young people given the opportunity to experience everything from horse riding to archery (射箭). However, it is also possible to organize a wide range of other team games and activities.
Camp Wilkin
Set in Anglesea, Camp Wilkin covers a 15-acre area home to resident kangaroos, which is in easy reach of quiet bushwalks and fantastic beaches. It offers the best school camp accommodation in Victoria for large groups, accommodating up to 163 students. And it also offers a variety of outdoor activity programs. Camp facilities include large meeting rooms suitable for everything from presentations to group learning activities.
Halls Gap
Halls Gap can hold up to 56 students. One of the best school camps in Victoria for natural sightseeing, it features reserved activities taking the form of short journeys to experience some of the largest waterfalls in Victoria. Halls Gap Camp students can also join in rock climbing. Such activities are in the company of local tour guides.
1. What can students do at Burnside Camp?A.Learn to repair bikes. | B.Run their own startups. |
C.Attend archery lessons. | D.Go on bush night hikes. |
A.Halls Gap. | B.Burnside Camp. | C.Camp Wilkin. | D.Mill Valley Ranch. |
A.It is the best camp in Victoria. | B.It requires advance booking. |
C.It features outdoor activities. | D.It centres on character building. |