Learning Chinese calligraphy
As someone who paints, draws, and loves all
After taking the lesson, I now understand the difficulty of calligraphy and that it will take efforts and commitment
1. What is one benefit of selling online?
| A．It improves income. | B．It helps those in need. | C．It broadens the market. |
| A．They offer no insurance to the seller. |
| B．They charge the seller for advertising. |
| C．They aren’t readily accessible to sellers. |
| A．Using a separate E-mail address. |
| B．Selling items of great value online. |
| C．Meeting the buyer at a private place. |
| A．By presenting personal information. |
| B．By providing false accounts of products. |
| C．By selling products at an unreasonable price. |
1. What does the woman want to change?
| A．The time of the meeting. |
| B．The subject of the meeting. |
| C．The location of the meeting. |
| A．Classmates. | B．Boss and employee. | C．Teacher and student. |
1. What does the man want to do?
| A．Make a reservation. | B．Change his flight. | C．Cancel his order. |
| A．On January 13th. | B．On January 14th. | C．On January 15th. |
| A．The shopkeeper can help. |
| B．He is not interested in art. |
| C．He knows the area very well. |
6 . Maya Lin, designer and sculptor, has created some of the most iconic works and spaces with the belief that art can address important issues. Her latest projects are no different, from museums to sculptures for Presidential centers.
Lin, 62, grew up in Ohio, the daughter of college professors who were Chinese immigrants. As a 21-year-old student at Yale University, she gained national prominence when her entry won a design competition for the new Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Her winning design — two black granite (花岗岩) walls engraved with the names of US service members who died in the Vietnam War (1954-1975) or remain missing — is considered one of the most influential in modern architecture.
Lin went on to design the 1989 Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, and dozens of other projects globally, all with social and environmental justice in mind. She told The Wall Street Journal she uses facts in her art. She said, “I am going to present you with what the story is, but I am not going to draw the conclusion for you.” Currently underway is Lin’s plan for the new Museum of Chinese in America in New York City. Lin said she wants it to be a celebration of Chinese American stories and contributions to the country.
Lin is also designing a sculpture to honor former President Barack Obama’s mother, who died in 1995, at the Obama Presidential Center in Illinois. When Obama awarded Lin the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, he called her work “physical acts of poetry, each reminding us that the most important element in art or architecture is human emotion.”
1. What is Maya Lin’s principle to make her creation?| A．Art is to lead to reputation | B．Art is a physical act of poetry. |
| C．Art is to create something distinguished. | D．Art can be a medium to approach affairs. |
| A．US soldiers’ sacrifice in the Vietnam War. |
| B．The influence of the Vietnam War on America. |
| C．The bloody and cruel scenes of the Vietnam War. |
| D．Vietnamese soldiers’ fearless fight in the Vietnam War. |
| A．Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. |
| B．Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama. |
| C．Museum of Chinese in America in New York City. |
| D．Obama Presidential Center in Illinois. |
| A．Designing with talents |
| B．Stirring up emotions in art |
| C．Becoming a great Chinese immigrant |
| D．Creating the most influential architecture |
| A．Eating in a cafe. | B．Cooking her lunch. | C．Studying for an exam. |
| A．He missed the bus. | B．His bike broke down. | C．He had to change clothes. |
9 . “I was captivated by weightlifting during the London 2012 Olympic Games,” says Fiona Clements, a software developer working in London. “I think it’s partly because the effort is so obvious—you can see every flash of doubt, pain and happiness of success on the athletes’ faces.”
Clements was 48 at the time. She thought she’d left it far too late to even consider trying it, but then she kept thinking about it. “It took until September 2022, but I finally went for it.” Clements signed up for a beginner’s class with Sally Moss, a strength coach who is an expert in Olympic lifting, and loved it from her first class. Now 58, Clements can lift 50kg and push 21kg overhead. She says she has never felt stronger.
Resistance training, to use the term for any type of exercise where you’re working against weight, whether it’s using dumbbells(哑铃), exercise bands or just your own body weight, is extremely beneficial.
“I just thought that it would be impossible to make a difference to my body as an older woman,” says Joann a Blacker, a small business owner, who took up strength training at 53. “I’d gained weight and felt awful. I certainly didn’t think that weightlifting would be the way I would change my body.”
Blacker can now lift 40kg for 10 repetitions and feels more than ready to deal with training alone. Clements, at the same time, has already signed up with her local gym, for the days she’s not training with Moss. “I can feel these bands of hard muscle when I move my arms and legs that I’m pretty sure weren’t there before,” she says. “But the best part is that I’m actually able to understand the sport I love. It still feels like magic when that bar goes overhead.”
1. What does the underlined word “captivated” in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Uninterested. | B．Attracted. | C．Upset. | D．Satisfied. |
| A．She was fearful of the pain. | B．She found it hard to get a top coach. |
| C．She was doubtful about its lasting effects. | D．She thought she was too old to have a go. |
| A．She increased her willpower. | B．She improved her body shape. |
| C．She found a part-time job in this field. | D．She had her busy daily life changed. |
| A．She has a deeper understanding of it. | B．She suggests starting it at a local gym. |
| C．She enjoys muscle-building most of all. | D．She finds it more magic than hard work. |
10 . When temperatures rise, humans sweat, dogs pant (喘息), and cats… don’t move enough to overheat? Well, partially. Cats, which need to maintain an internal body temperature of 101°F to 102°F, have several methods for keeping cool in sweltering weather.
It’s a misconception that cats sweat through their paws to cool themselves off. As summer wears on you might see moist paw prints, but as veterinarian Kimberly May told The Washington Post, “Any secretions (分泌物) there or from their nose, mouth, or tongue are not for sweating; they’re for protection and moisture and are insufficient to cool the blood.”
Instead, cats recreate the sweating process—which is similar to human’s via evaporation (蒸发)—by grooming themselves regularly. The saliva (唾液) from their tongues acts like sweat that cools their body when it evaporates—which is why you can also help cool your cat down by using a damp washcloth to lightly wet their fur. In extreme weather, cats will also pant, but unlike dogs who pant regularly to keep themselves cool, a panting cat is a sign of more dangerous over-heating or other serious diseases.
And if you’re tempted to shave your fur friend to help keep him cool—don’t!
“Fur acts as a thermal regulator to slow down the process of heat absorption,” James H. Jones, an expert in comparative animal exercise physiology and thermoregulation at the University of California at Davis, told The Washington Post.
Fur coats are highly evolved—in the winter they keep animals warm, but in the summer, they work both to protect delicate skin from the sun and slow dehydration, Jones notes that, according to research, shaved camels performed worse in the deserts than those with their fur undamaged.
But even with these methods for keeping cool, cats also need to stay indoors to keep comfortable. So even though they evolved from wild ancestors and are able to tough it out, leave the air conditioner or a fan on for your cats when you go out, and make sure to leave them plenty of water.
1. What is the common misunderstanding of how cats cool themselves off?| A．Cats pant regularly to keep themselves cool. |
| B．Cats rarely know how to cool themselves down. |
| C．Cats sweat through their paws to cool themselves off. |
| D．Cats produce secretions from their tongue for protection. |
| A．By making comparison. | B．By analyzing data. |
| C．By explaining cause and effect. | D．By listing numbers. |
| A．To show the camels are resistant to heat. |
| B．To emphasize the importance of the fur coats. |
| C．To illustrate the fur coats are highly evolved. |
| D．To prove the fur coats unnecessary in summer. |
| A．Changing people’s wrong views on cats’ cooling. |
| B．Telling us to help cats cool themselves in summer. |
| C．Uncovering the secrets of cats cooling themselves off. |
| D．Comparing cats with other animals on keeping cool. |
