Last year, I baked biscuits for complete strangers to say “thank you”. I’d had to call 999 because I found my husband unconscious on the floor. Within minutes, a police car arrived and soon my husband received medical care in hospital.
A week later, when I dropped off still-warm biscuits and presented a thank-you note at the police station, the policemen thanked me for delivering gifts.
I drove away feeling light and happy. Later, I realized that my natural high might have been more than it seemed.Research has shown that sharing gratitude has positive effects on health. People who express gratitude will increase their happiness levels, lower their blood pressure and get better sleep.
What about people who receive gratitude?Research has confirmed that when people receive thanks, they experience positive emotions.“Those are happy surprises,”says Jo-Ann Tsang, a professor of psychology. When someone is thanked,he’s more likely to return the favor or pass kindness on, and his chances of being helpful again doubles, probably because he enjoys feeling socially valued.
The give-and-take of gratitude also deepens relationships. Studies show that when your loved ones regularly express gratitude,making you feel appreciated,you’re more likely to return appreciative feelings, which leads to more satisfactory in your relationships.
Nowadays,however,many people don’t express gratitude. Our modern lifestyle may be to blame. With commercial and social media, everything is speeding the younger generation to feel they’re the center of the world. If it’s all about them, why thank others?
Why not thank others? Just take a look at how many positive effects can saying “thank you”have on personal health—and the well-being of others.
If you aren’t particularly grateful, I strongly suggest you learn to be.People who are instructed to keep gratitude journals,in which they write down positive things that happen to them,cultivate gratitude over time.
1. What health benefits can people gain from expressing gratitude?2. How do people probably respond when they receive gratitude and feel socially valued?
3. Please decide which part of the following statement is false, then underline it and explain why.
▷ Saying “thank-you”improves relationships,but nowadays some young people don’t want to do it because everything is making them feel blamed by the whole society.
4. If possible, who would you like to express gratitude to most? Why? (In about 40 words)
2 . Many industries are facing a shortage of labour. Warehousing has grown rapidly. And robots are now indispensable,picking items off shelves and helping people pack an exponentially rising numbers of boxes. They are even beginning to walk slowly along some pavements, delivering goods or food right to people’s doors. Having more robots to boost productivity would be a good thing.
And yet many people fear that robots will destroy jobs. A paper in 2013 by economists at Oxford University was widely misinterpreted as meaning that 47% of American jobs were at risk of being automated.
In fact,concerns about mass unemployment because of robots are overblown. The evidence suggests robots will be ultimately beneficial for labour markets. A Yale University study found that an increase of one robot unit per 1,000 workers boosted a company’s employment in Japan. Research from the Bank of Korea found that notarization moved jobs away from manufacturing into other sectors, but that there was no decrease in overall vacancies(空缺).Another study，by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and colleagues elsewhere, looked at Finnish firms and concluded that their use of advanced technologies led to increases in hiring.
For all that, the march of the robots will bring big changes to workplaces. The skills and firms that are rewarded will shift,too.But that need not be the disaster many fear. One supposed example of “bad automation” is self-service checkouts in supermarkets because they displace human workers. Checkout staff who retrain to help customers pick items from aisles may well find that dealing with people in need is more rewarding than spending all day scanning barcodes.
Certainly, some people will be on the losing end of change even as the robots make society as a whole better off. One lesson from the freewheeling globalization of the 1990s and 2000s is that the growth in trade that was overwhelmingly beneficial triggered a political backlash(强烈抵制)because the losers felt left behind. That is one more reason why firms and governments would do well to recognize the value of retraining and lifelong learning. As jobs change, workers should be helped to acquire new skills, including how to work with and manage the robots that will increasingly be their colleagues.
The potential gains from the robot revolution have just started. It won’t be the plot in some films where the robots fight against their human masters and cause mass unemployment.
1. What does the underlined word “indispensable”mean in Paragraph 1?| A．Essential. | B．Spare. | C．Detective. | D．Complicated. |
| A．To prove that robots will not be a disaster. |
| B．To remind us of the big changes at workplaces. |
| C．To illustrate checkout staff will scan barcodes slowly. |
| D．To tell firms the value of retraining and lifelong learning. |
| A．It will push losers to leave behind. |
| B．Robots may lead to mass unemployment. |
| C．People will help robots to gain new skills. |
| D．Robots and people may become co-workers. |
| A．jobs will be at risk due to robots |
| B．no evidence shows that robots will destroy jobs |
| C．notarization will quickly boost mass employment |
| D．people have benefited a lot from the robot revolution |
3 . The hydrogen-powered drone(无人机)，called “Qingting” in Chinese pronounced the same as the Chinese word “dragonfly”,has completed the automatic inspection of the 500 kilovolt of Wangnan Line.
It is the first time that a fuel-cell drone powered by hydrogen has been used in the national electrical power system to carry out inspection programs, meaning that hydrogen energy equipment has been firstly applied into the inspection of power grid(网).
The inspection drone traditionally is powered by lithium batteries which can last 20-30 minutes on average.There exists a certain threat to inspection safety if the drone falls out of control due to its use of large-capacity lithium battery pack, which easily leads to burn and explode. Thus, the current urgent need of inspection work for power grid requires a new kind of drone with long battery life,continuous inspection,and high security.
It is introduced that, this year State Grid Wenzhou Power Supply Company,together with Jinling Carbon Energy Digital Intelligence Technology Laboratory, finally successfully invented the first hydrogen-powered drone after half a year’s exploration and perseverance. As an electric drone taking hydrogen fuel cell to generate the power and hydrogen,hydrogen does not burn in thefuel cell during the operation of “Qingting”. Instead,it can be transformed directly into electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen through the action of platinum-carbon catalyst in a clean and carbon-free way, and the only product is water.
It is learned that it offers power autonomy of 2 hours, about four times that of the lithium battery drone. The life of hydrogen fuel cell is more than 2000 hours,about 20 times that of the lithium battery.The battery of hydrogen fuel cell contains no heavy metal pollutants, whose materials can be recycled after destruction. It is tested that the “Qingting”drone fails to burn or explode when it falls out of control,which performs better in safety.
The success of the initial inspection of the“Qingting”drone has filled the gap of the application of hydrogen fuel in the electric power drone. Next, the company will expand the multi-directional application of hydrogen drones in inspection for power grid by carrying different functional equipment to make breakthroughs in the technical barriers. Moreover, under the national policy of actively promoting the application of clean energy, accelerating the development of hydrogen fuel cells in the field of unmanned aviation vehicles(UAVs)is of significance.
1. What can we learn about the traditional drone?| A．It is powered by hydrogen. |
| B．It can work for a long time. |
| C．It may burn if failing to control. |
| D．It can ensure the safety of power grid. |
| A．How “Qingting” works. |
| B．Why “Qingting”is safe. |
| C．What advantages“Qingting”has. |
| D．What effects“Qingting”has on the environment. |
| A．The battery it uses is recyclable. |
| B．It has been used to examine power grid. |
| C．It can change hydrogen directly into electricity. |
| D．It can prevent the hydrogen battery from explosion. |
| A．Hydrogen fuel has been applied into other fields. |
| B．Hydrogen fuel has a bright future in many fields. |
| C．Hydrogen drone is widely used in the field of UAVs. |
| D．Hydrogen drone has taken along limited functional equipment. |
4 . Tours come in many creative forms, such as guided walking tours, self-guided walking tours, coastal walks and bush walks.
Guided Walking Tours
Guided walking tours are an informative and fun way to deeply understand the area about a city’s history and the people there. You can take this kind of tour anytime and anywhere. Guided walking tours come with a guide with the knowledge and history of the area and they can help you with a lot of the history that happened in the area. Guided walking tours are better at showing sites in-depth.
Self-Guided Walking Tours
Self-guided tours are good if you wish to do things at your own pace. With self-guided tours, you usually have a brochure on the area that you follow and it will tell you about local people’s favorite landmarks. Self-guided tours are suitable for individuals or close friends. You can take them in any season you like.
Coastal Walking Tours
Coastal walks are ideal for those who enjoy breathtaking views. Coastal walks will often take you inland for part of your journey, only to rejoin the coastline at some other spectacular views mother nature has provided. Coastal walks are for all year round. I have done some great walks in winter and seen mother nature at her best, and the best part about doing tours during winter is that there are not very many people that will almost have the tour to themselves.
Bush Walking Tours
Bush walks, according to research, can help reduce depression and raise self-esteem. Bush walks can be a family activity with your dog throughout the year. Some bush walks may take more than one day. Whenever you want to take a bush walk, you should keep in mind that all bush walks should be researched thoroughly as you may need special equipment like waterproof trousers. At the very least you should let your family or friends know where you are going. This is useful if you get lost.
Hope you can find the most suitable tour for yourself.
1. What can we learn about guided walking tours from the passage?| A．It can be a family activity that may include pets. |
| B．You can have a further understanding of the area. |
| C．You can enjoy breathtaking views during the tour. |
| D．You can know the landmarks with the help of local people. |
| A．Bush walking tours. | B．Guided walking tours. |
| C．Coastal walking tours. | D．Self-guided walking tours. |
| A．You can participate anytime of the year. |
| B．You should buy special equipment in advance. |
| C．You will take part in both inland and coastline journeys. |
| D．You need a brochure to introduce the tours’ special features. |
Oil dominates every aspect
Standing on the shore of a lake, I couldn’t help admiring the hundreds of small rock that
7 . Family is the warmest place where members always help each other, especially in the most difficult times.
My husband and I went through tough times many years ago. However, we didn’t mention the difficulties to our children. The only thing they knew clearly was that we had to
Our situation wasn’t improving, and we knew that we would have to look for outside help. Just as we reached the point of
You could imagine how overjoyed we were to receive it, which was enough to bring us through the desperate time. We couldn’t help but
Later, our son applied for a student loan so that he could attend university. It was then that we
Finally, with great
| A．make up for | B．come up with | C．cut back on | D．look forward to |
| A．bother | B．harm | C．encourage | D．support |
| A．anger | B．desperation | C．hope | D．relief |
| A．receiver’s | B．giver’s | C．organizer’s | D．partner’s |
| A．related | B．contributed | C．distributed | D．devoted |
| A．recall | B．infer | C．imagine | D．wonder |
| A．discovered | B．thought | C．ensured | D．admitted |
| A．pessimistic | B．disappointed | C．frightened | D．guilty |
| A．interaction | B．explanation | C．expectation | D．hesitation |
| A．obviously | B．willingly | C．gradually | D．accidentally |
8 . Tips on How to Use Body Language in Interviews
When was the last time you went to an interview? How did it go? There are lots of things to remember and prepare. However, one important thing to think about is your body language as it can really help you get the job. With a good understanding of body language in interviews, you can communicate the right messages, and even understand what the interviewer is saying or thinking. Here are some really useful things you need to know about body language in interviews.
Greetings
When greeting the interviewer, smile, look him in the eye and introduce yourself in a strong and confident voice. Also, remember that in most English-speaking countries (the UK, the USA, Australia, Canada, etc.), a firm handshake is seen as a sign of trust; and a limp handshake could make you appear weak or disinterested. Experts recommend waiting for the interviewer to extend his hand first.
Palms (手掌)
When possible, keep your palms facing up to show that you’re open, trustworthy and interested. Research has shown that if we can’t see the other person’s open palms, we subconsciously become suspicious of them.
Mirroring
Mirroring involves copying what someone does with their body. For example, if the interviewer places a hand on their leg, you should do the same, but not too obviously. Experts have shown that mirroring someone can make him like you, or even think that you’re more honest and trustworthy. However, be careful—if the other person knows about this technique, he might notice you doing it.
Sitting position
When sitting, if you lean back, you could appear lazy or arrogant; and if you lean forward too much, you might appear aggressive. The ideal posture is to sit with your back straight and your shoulders back a bit, leaning in very slightly. Sit with your legs slightly apart to give the impression of self-confidence and try to angle your knees and feet so they’re pointing towards the interviewer.
1. A good understanding of body language can help you ______.| A．succeed in getting the job |
| B．express the correct messages |
| C．know more about the interviewer |
| D．perform better than other interviewees |
| A．extend your hand first |
| B．sit with your legs apart |
| C．keep your palms facing down |
| D．copy what the interviewer does |
| A．Adventure. | B．Entertainment. | C．Life. | D．Profile. |
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