1 . How to Respond when Someone Judges You
Dealing with judgment from other people can be tough, especially when it’s coming from a friend, family member, or colleague. Judgmental people are unavoidable, but you can easily deal with their criticism using positivity and compassion.
Rid yourself of the judgment. Remember that a judgmental person’s words are a reflection of their own beliefs-and not yours. Critical people criticize themselves more than anyone else.
Be sympathetic. Practice sympathy to understand the source of this person’s judgment. It could be that they were judged by parents, family, or friends, in which case this person’s critical attitude would be something they learned(and not necessarily intentional). While that doesn’t excuse their behavior, having sympathy can inform your response. Say things like “
Ask for clarification.
A.Stop talking like this |
B.Set boundaries in the conversation |
C.I understand why you feel that way |
D.I feel like I need to deal with this in my way |
E.I know you want to talk but this is a sensitive subject for me |
F.Judgmental people may not know they’re being rude or unreasonable |
G.So the judgment they pass isn’t actually about you, though it can feel personal |
One morning, I was waiting at the bus stop, worried about
3 . When a leafy plant is under attack, it doesn’t sit quietly. Back in 1983, two scientists, Jack Schultz and Ian Baldwin, reported that young maple trees getting bitten by insects send out a particular smell that neighboring plants can get. These chemicals come from the injured parts of the plant and seem to be an alarm. What the plants pump through the air is a mixture of chemicals known as volatile organic compounds, VOCs for short.
Scientists have found that all kinds of plants give out VOCs when being attacked. It’s a plant’s way of crying out. But is anyone listening? Apparently. Because we can watch the neighbours react.
Some plants pump out smelly chemicals to keep insects away. But others do double duty. They pump out perfumes designed to attract different insects who are natural enemies to the attackers. Once they arrive, the tables are turned. The attacker who was lunching now becomes lunch.
In study after study, it appears that these chemical conversations help the neighbors .The damage is usually more serious on the first plant, but the neighbors, relatively speaking, stay safer because they heard the alarm and knew what to do.
Does this mean that plants talk to each other? Scientists don’t know. Maybe the first plant just made a cry of pain or was sending a message to its own branches, and so, in effect, was talking to itself. Perhaps the neighbors just happened to “overhear” the cry. So information was exchanged, but it wasn’t a true, intentional back and forth. Charles Darwin, over 150 years ago, imagined a world far busier, noisier and more intimate (亲密的) than the world we can see and hear. Our senses are weak. There’s a whole lot going on.
1. What does a plant do when it is under attack?A.It makes noises. | B.It gets help from other plants. |
C.It stands quietly | D.It sends out certain chemicals. |
A.The attackers get attacked. |
B.The insects gather under the table. |
C.The plants get ready to fight back. |
D.The perfumes attract natural enemies. |
A.predict natural disasters |
B.protect themselves against insects |
C.talk to one another intentionally |
D.help their neighbors when necessary |
A.The world is changing faster than ever. |
B.People have stronger senses than before |
C.The world is more complex than it seems |
D.People in Darwin’s time were imaginative. |
4 . Growing up, I was often the first Jewish person my classmates had ever met. I lived in Mississauga, Ontario, and was the only Jewish student in my grade—sometimes the only one in the whole school. This difference set me apart.
Every September, I hated presenting the note my parents had expertly made to a teacher I was just getting to know. The note explained that I would be absent during the Jewish High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I fretted that my teachers would label me the “Jewish kid”.
The real trouble always came as the local new year’s festival approached. I was Jewish and celebrated Hanukkah, not this festival. At school, on one day before the winter break, every class would sit in neat rows in the gym and sing songs from the festival. However, the music teacher sometimes played Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel, a Jewish festival song, and I would feel hundreds of eyes staring at my red cheeks. As my friends counted down the days until the festival, I counted the days until it was over and I could go back to feeling normal.
Each year during primary school, my mother would coordinate (协调) with my teacher to come to my class and tell the story of Hanukkah. She would prepare treats and materials depending on my age. Every time I would proudly stand beside her as she told the story of Hanukkah and explained the symbols. The children who had attended the presentation previously competed to answer questions. After my mom left, I would overhear them showing off their fried treats to kids in other classes.
My mom’s annual visits to my school sparked (激发) interest from other parents as well. Over the years, we had visits from parents who shared how festivals were celebrated in Germany and Italy.
My mom showed me, my classmates and their families that what sets us apart should be celebrated and shared, an intention which I continue to set for myself as I cycle through another holiday season.
1. What does the underlined word “fretted” in paragraph 2 refer to?A.Noticed. | B.Disagreed. | C.Worried. | D.Expected. |
A.Being a trick target. | B.Singing holiday songs. |
C.Being culturally different. | D.Celebrating others’ festival. |
A.They welcomed it warmly. | B.They gave away her treats. |
C.They showed off themselves. | D.They expressed sympathy for her. |
A.She protected her child from being hurt. |
B.She encouraged cross-cultural understanding. |
C.She made Hanukkah a school-celebrated festival. |
D.She saved the Jewish tradition from being changed. |
Chengdu has dozens of new millionaires, Asia’s biggest building, and fancy new hotels. But for tourists like me, pandas are its top
So it was a great honour to be invited backstage at the not-for-profit Panda Base, where ticket money helps pay for research. I
On my recent visit, I held a lively three-month-old twin that had been rejected by
6 . Open an app at your smart phone and scan the code bar on the garbage can. When you throw garbage into the garbage can, it will show the weight of the garbage and the points you can get from doing so.
In some cities, a variety of multifunctional smart garbage cans are being put into use. In Beijing, for example, a smart garbage can is equipped with an LED screen, which not only shows national policies on garbage classification but also shows the correct steps for garbage sorting. It can also calculate the weight of the garbage and the accumulated points one can get. They can be traded for some articles of daily use.
Garbage disposal is a small issue that involves everybody each day. However, it is also a big issue.
A.Garbage sorting has been a new fashion. |
B.Another kind of garbage can is even smarter. |
C.It is no wonder that residents cheered for their presence. |
D.Such a way of handling garbage has appeared in some cities. |
E.It will affect China’s transformation towards green development. |
F.Over 200 million tons of garbage is produced each year in some cities. |
G.The good habit of garbage classification can improve the living environment. |
7 . Choose Your One-Day-Tours!
Tour A - Bath &Stonehenge including entrance fees to the ancient Roman bathrooms and Stonehenge -£37 until 26 March and £39 thereafter. Visit the city with over 2,000 years of history and Bath Abbey, the Royal Crescent and the Costume Museum, Stonehenge is one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments dating back over 5,000 years.
Tour B - Oxford & Stratford including entrance fees to the University St Mary’s Church Tower and Anne Hathaway’s -£32 until 12 March and £36 thereafter. Oxford: Includes a guided tour of England’s oldest university city and colleges. Look over the “city of dreaming spires(尖顶)” from St Mary‘s Church Tower. Stratford: Includes a guided tour exploring much of the Shakespeare wonder.
Tour C - Windsor Castle &Hampton Court: including entrance fees to Hampton Court Palace -£34 until 11 March and £37 thereafter. Includes a guided tour of Windsor and Hampton Court, Henry VILL’s favorite palace. Free time to visit Windsor Castle(entrance fees not included).With 500 years of history, Hampton Court was once the home of four Kings and one Queen. Now this former royal palace is open to the public as a major tourist attraction. Visit the palace and its various historic gardens, which include the famous maze(迷宫) where it is easy to get lost!
Tour D –Cambridge including entrance fees to the Tower of Saint Mary the Great -£33 until 18 March and £37 thereafter. Includes a guided tour of Cambridge, the famous university town, and the gardens of the 18th century.
1. Which tour will you choose if you want to see England’s oldest university city?A.Tour A | B.Tour B |
C.Tour C | D.Tour D |
A.Windsor Castle & Hampton Court | B.Oxford & Stratford |
C.Bath & Stonehenge | D.Cambridge |
A.It used to be the home of royal families | B.It used to be a well-known maze |
C.It is the oldest palace in Britain | D.It is a world-famous castle |
8 . Education is a good opportunity for those of us who expect to better ourselves. But for people in full-time employment, getting the balancing act between work and studying can prove challenging. But look on the bright side.
University is often considered a logical step for people who wish to continue their education after school. While options of Master's degrees, PhDs and other postgraduate qualifications exist, many students leave after obtaining their Bachelor’s and head into the world of work.
In terms of the benefits, learning new techniques that you can bring into the workplace can make you more of an authority in your area and a go-to person for advice.
If you study in a classroom, your experience of the workplace could bring a wealth of knowledge to other students and provide real-life examples for you to draw on. You may also meet like-minded people.
A.Studying part-time in the evenings can be a great choice. |
B.So, what are the benefits of hitting the books once in work? |
C.Then you can expand your professional network in the future. |
D.They may choose adult courses spreading over a number of years. |
E.If the business has a skills shortage, you may be able to fill that gap. |
F.Having done the same job for years, some feel like acquiring new skills. |
G.So, there are a variety of options for those who wish to return to studying. |
9 . When instant cake mixes first appeared in the 1950s, American housewives were doubtful. These mixes, promising easy cake-baking, felt too easy. The manufacturers discovered that requiring the addition of an egg in the baking process was just enough to make the housewives happy with their work. The greater sense of effort gained from a little extra labor is believed to have been essential to the later success of the cake mix.
This reflects the IKEA effect (宜家效应), which is identified by psychologist Michael I. Norton and his colleagues, suggesting we place greater value on things we have worked to create. They conducted four studies in which they asked participants to fold paper cranes and frogs, assemble IKEA boxes, and build sets of Legos. They then asked the builders to bid (出价) for their creations, and compared the prices with bids from people who hadn’t built them. The builders consistently outbid the non-builders.
Interestingly, the IKEA effect works even when people have no opportunity to fully personalize their creations. While most participants’ folding skills left much to be desired, they loved their imperfectly personalized products all the more. Builders valued their wrinkled crane-like creations nearly five times as much as non-builders. Beauty, it seems, is in the eye of the builder.
Today, as cities are suffering from severe housing crises, the IKEA effect can give us insight into the well-being benefits of a self-building approach to housing development. Projects like WikiHouse and the “half-a-house” approach pioneered by Alejandro Aravena’s architecture company Elemental are working to make housing more affordable and sustainable by making it easier for people to build and personalize their own homes.
“The moment people are involved with their built environment, they have a totally different relationship to it,” WikiHouse co-founder Alastair Parvin explained. “When the roof starts leaking or a door starts creaking, they have the power to fix it themselves.”
1. What brought customers the joy of cake-baking according to paragraph 1?A.A better taste. | B.An easy approach. |
C.A detailed recipe. | D.An additional effort. |
A.Creations are based on skills. | B.Extra labor increases perceived value. |
C.Beauty is found through contrast. | D.Strict management brings good quality. |
A.Critical. | B.Objective. | C.Doubtful. | D.Supportive. |
A.To promote a brand. | B.To make a proposal. |
C.To explain a concept. | D.To introduce a study. |
10 . In a gray box, I have a thick pile of love letters. I imagine about sharing them with a granddaughter when I’m 90. But my most treasured love letter is from one of my best friends. It’s a handwritten letter years ago when I was having trouble getting over a man. Her letter is the most romantic in my pile. It made no excuses. It simply let me know that I was loved.
Reflecting on her gift, and the dying art of handwritten letters in our age of emails and emoticons, I chose to conduct an experiment this Christmas: replacing presents with heartfelt, handwritten love letters for my family members.
In our digital era, most of us rarely take the time to share deeply considered thoughts and emotions with the people in our lives. Handwriting captures the writer’s emotions, often preserved longer than digital exchanges. However, technology is taking over. First came typewriters and keyboards. Now a new brain-computer lets people type with their minds. What are we losing when we sacrifice the physical labor behind the written word? We tend to value what we struggle for. Have we undervalued the human exchange of ideas?
That day, I came across a letter my mom wrote to her parents when she was young. She seemed so comfortable with her parents. It was a relationship I didn’t have with her. I was inspired by my mother’s letter to her parents when I sat down to write my letter to her. I wanted her to know my love, and to close the crack that technology and culture had created between us. With each sentence, I was discovering new and deeper ways of seeing my mother, and making myself known to her in more thoughtful ways as well.
Eight single-space pages later, my hand was aching but I was done. It was only the first of my love letters, but it was already clear: What had begun as a fun project was in fact one of the most important undertakings of my life.
1. Why does the author mention her love letters in Paragraph 1?A.To show her grand charm as a young girl. | B.To share them with one of her granddaughters. |
C.To highlight the value of handwritten letters. | D.To look back upon her romantic relationship. |
A.Making our interaction less emotional. | B.Encouraging our thoughtful communication. |
C.Saving our physical labor in conveying emotions. | D.Increasing our effort in handwritten exchanges. |
A.To give her mother a big surprise. | B.To answer her mother’s handwritten letter. |
C.To bridge a communication gap. | D.To make her mother feel more comfortable. |
A.The irreplaceable bond of family members. | B.The tendency of information technology. |
C.The expression of emotions in the digital age. | D.The power of handwritten correspondence. |