1 . The kitchen is not just where we prepare meals. In many places, the kitchen is the heart of the home. It’s where we connect with our family and friends. We have open talks about our pleasures and problems we met during the day while we make dinner or have a bite to eat. So, it can be a very busy room in the house.
Sometimes you need order in the kitchen for things to run smoothly. And sometimes you need one person to be in charge. Imagine you are cooking dinner for your friends. As you are making the soup, your friend Sara tastes it and says, “This needs more salt.” So, she adds more salt. Harlan comes to taste your soup and throws some fresh black pepper into the pot and some dried herbs. Cecilia tastes the soup and pours in some vinegar. What will the soup be like?
You are happy to spend time with your friends. But, quite frankly, all their opinions about your soup are becoming annoying. Worst of all, you taste the soup and it’s awful! And that is where we get the expression “too many cooks spoil the soup”.
This expression describes an age-old problem: If too many people help to complete a task, it may not go very well. But, you may think, “If many people are trying to get something done, the task will get done faster.” After all, American English also has the expression “many hands make light work”.
To answer that point, I will draw your attention to the word “cook”. Now, the cook is the leader in the kitchen. They may have assistants to help them. But the cook has the final say. So, what if a kitchen has many cooks? Who is the leader? Everyone! And that’s where the trouble comes.
1. What does the author think of the kitchen according to the first paragraph?| A．It is crowded in many houses. | B．It is where we feed our body and soul. |
| C．It helps to brighten up people’s day. | D．It serves as the most useful place in a home. |
| A．To describe a common phenomenon (现象). |
| B．To vividly introduce a saying. |
| C．To explain a way to be a good cook. |
| D．To stress the importance of teamwork. |
| A．A group of students get a task done together. |
| B．Some volunteers discuss how to help others. |
| C．Five designers want their own idea to be accepted. |
| D．Many retired workers learn how to be a cook. |
| A．What Happens with Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen? |
| B．Should a Cook Be Open to Suggestions? |
| C．What Could a Cook Do to Everyone’s Satisfaction? |
| D．Why Will Too Many Cooks Work in the Kitchen? |
2 . Tips to Learn Any Foreign Language
Know your motivation
It might sound obvious. But if you don’t have a good reason to learn a language, you are less likely to stay motivated in the long run. But wanting to impress Chinese-speakers with your English isn’t the best reason.
The key to learning as quickly as a child may be simply to take on certain childlike attitudes: a desire to play in the language and a willingness to make mistakes. It means being ready to put yourself in potentially embarrassing situations.
Have fun with it
Think of some fun ways to practise your new language: make a radio play with a friend, draw a comic picture, write a poem or simply practise by listening and copying songs.
We have one more language-learning tip before we go. Remember that the best possible outcome of speaking a language is communicating with others. Being able to have a simple conversation is a huge reward in itself. Reaching milestones like that early on will make it easier to stay motivated and keep practising. And don’t worry about your current speaking ability!
| A．Act like a kid |
| B．This can be scary |
| C．Leave your comfort zone |
| D．Trying to know English culture is a better one |
| E．If you can’t find a way to have fun with a new language |
| F．Most people will be patient, encouraging and happy to help |
| G．You’re learning a language to be able to use when you go abroad |
China has a large number of Chinese dishes, a wide range of flavors, and complex cooking methods, which are
Sichuan cuisine has a variety of flavors,
The second and third place are dominated by two traditional Hangzhou dishes,
The “eight major cuisines” have their own systems, which represent different customs and cultural characteristics of different places, but in the final analysis
4 . I am a teacher and I love children. I set up a classroom library of books that I bought
I read the children a story. It is about a girl who is
I turn him towards the class and put my
“Anybody who makes fun of you, I’ll kick them.”
“Me, too,” says another.
When the boy sees the class become united (团结) , he is very happy 60 and smiles at me .
1.| A．for | B．in | C．with | D．use |
| A．fruit shop | B．toy shop | C．flower shop | D．book shop |
| A．like | B．complain | C．hate | D．decorate |
| A．very | B．so | C．too | D．such |
| A．expensive | B．modern | C．different | D．same |
| A．at school | B．at home | C．in the factory | D．in the shop |
| A．Before | B．After | C．Ago | D．Later |
| A．runs | B．shouts | C．cries | D．plays |
| A．On | B．Since | C．For | D．With |
| A．speaks | B．says | C．tells | D．talks |
| A．disappeared | B．losing | C．missing | D．appeared |
| A．head | B．hands | C．heart | D．face |
| A．worried | B．sad | C．nervous | D．excited |
| A．puts on | B．puts down | C．puts away | D．puts up |
| A．excited | B．sad | C．noisy | D．unhappy |
| A．the match was over; they were | B．the match was over; were they |
| C．was the match over; were they | D．was the match over; they were |
6 . This Way to Dreamland Daydreaming means people think about something pleasant, especially when this makes them forget what they should be doing. Daydreamers have a bad reputation for being unaware of what’s happening around them. They can seem forgetful and clumsy.
But daydreamers are also responsible for some of the greatest ideas and achievements in human history.
Feeling safe and relaxed will help you to slip into daydreams.
It’s also important to know how to avoid daydreams for those times when you really need to concentrate. “Mindfulness”, being focused, is a tool that some people use to avoid falling asleep.
| A．Having interesting things to think about also helps. |
| B．They stare off into space and wander by themselves. |
| C．Without wandering minds, we wouldn’t have relativity , Coke or Post-it notes. |
| D．At one time, daydreaming was thought to be a cause of some mental illnesses. |
| E．It involves slow, steady breathing for self-control that helps people stay calm and attentive. |
| F．Daydreams are often very simple and direct, quite unlike sleep dreams, which may be hard to understand. |
| G．Therefore, it’s a good idea to keep a notebook or voice recorder nearby when you’re in the daydream zone. |
7 . Forgiveness
To forgive is a virtue, but no one has ever said it is easy. When someone has deeply hurt you, it can be extremely difficult to let go of your hate. However, forgiveness is possible, and it can be surprisingly beneficial to your physical and mental health. People who forgive show less sadness, anger and stress and more hopefulness, according to a recent research.
Calm yourself.
Don’t wait for an apology. Many times the person who hurt you does not intend to apologize. They may have wanted to hurt you or they just don’t see things the same way.
Take the control away from your offender (冒犯者). Rethinking about your hurt gives power to the person who caused you pain. Instead of focusing on your wounded feelings, learn to look for the love, beauty and kindness around you.
Don’t forget to forgive yourself.
| A．Why should you forgive? |
| B．How should you start to forgive? |
| C．Recognize the benefits of forgiveness. |
| D．Try to see things from your offender’s angle. |
| E．For some people, forgiving themselves is the biggest challenge. |
| F．To make your anger die away, try a simple stressmanagement technique. |
| G．If you wait for people to apologize, you could be waiting an awfully long time. |
8 . There are things we all do, or don’t do, that lead us to waste far more time than we realize in the moment. The biggest time regret, I think, is dwelling on (沉湎于) mistakes and shortcomings.
I also missed too much for fear of my own shortcomings.
| A．Eventually, I got tired of this. |
| B．Regret is another big waste of time. |
| C．I was doing it for the wrong reason that I was afraid to fail. |
| D．For years, I stayed in a comfortable place, doing things I disliked. |
| E．The goal is to learn something from them, and then release the failure. |
| F．When you finally relate it to your own past experiences, it probably becomes easier. |
| G．Dwelling on mistakes wastes time and, worse still, makes us more likely to repeat mistakes. |
9 . As we all know, insects can be remarkably agile (灵活的) in flight. This is really hard to build into flying robots, but MIT Assistant Professor Kevin Yufeng Chen has developed an insect-sized drone (无人机) that approaches insects’ agility.
Typically, drones require wide open spaces. “If we look at most drones today, they’re usually quite big,” says Chen. “Most of their applications involve flying outdoors. The question is: Can you create an insect-sized drone that can move around in very crowded and complex spaces?”
According to Chen, he overcame many problems when building the drone. The insect-sized drone requires a fundamentally different construction from a larger one. The large drone is usually powered by a motor, but the motor loses efficiency as you shrink it. So, Chen says, “For an insect-sized drone, you need to look for alternatives.” The principal alternative until now has been employing a small, rigid actuator (执行器) built from new materials. Chen designed a more agile tiny drone using soft actuators instead of hard ones.
Each actuator can beat nearly 500 times per second and weighs just 0.6 gram, approximately the mass of a large bee. It gives the drone insect-like agility. “You can hit it when it’s flying, and it can recover,” says Chen. “It can also turn over in the air.” The drone looks a bit like a tiny cassette tape with wings, though Chen is also working on a new one shaped like a dragonfly.
Chen says his drone can be useful in industry and agriculture. It can perform machinery inspections to ensure safety and function. Its potential applications include completing search-and-rescue missions following a disaster. “All those things can be very difficult for existing large-scale drones,” Chen explains.
1. What can we know about the actuator designed by Chen?| A．It weighs about six grams. |
| B．It drives the insect-sized drone. |
| C．It loses efficiency too much. |
| D．It employs conventional materials. |
| A．Easy. | B．Costly. | C．Fruitless. | D．Challenging. |
| A．Its safety standards. | B．Its flying range. |
| C．Its possible applications. | D．Its design principle. |
| A．An Insect-like Small Drone |
| B．The Future of Insect-sized Drones |
| C．How Drones Will Change the Agriculture |
| D．What Challenge Drone Development Faces |
10 . Everyone has “down days”. Maybe it’s because of the bad weather, or the disappointing grades on a difficult test, and some days teenagers just act uninterested in life or school. But these symptoms(症状) often pass quickly, as teens move on to new school subjects, or meet with friends to prevent themselves from thinking what troubles them at the moment. But if a teenager displays symptoms of sadness for more than two lasting weeks, it might point to something serious.
As teenagers develop, they push new boundaries(边界), complain about rules and look for more free rights from their parents. According to the online Health Guide on Adolescent Development, parents must be lasting figures in their teenagers’ life, providing safe boundaries for teens to grow, even if the teenagers act like these boundaries are unwanted.
Parents need to provide rules, while also remaining flexible(灵活的) and respectful of the growing teens’ need for freedom. For example, teenagers will often feel frustrated, embarrassed, and even angry that thought they want freedom, they still need to ask their parents for an agreement to go to a friend’s house, or need their mothers to take them to school.
The US Department of Education says that parents should respect and support their teen’s choices as long as those choices won’t have long-term harmful effects. For example, even if a parent doesn’t enjoy the music his or her teen listens to, it’s unlikely that the choice of music will prevent that teen from entering a good college, or lead to health problems. However, if that teen is drinking alcohol and driving, parents must get through strict punishments to teach that there are bad results for poor choices that come with increased freedom.
1. Why do teen’s feelings of bad days usually disappear quickly?| A．Their teachers help them. |
| B．They take some medicine. |
| C．Their parents talk with them. |
| D．They change their attention. |
| A．Freedom must be given at anytime. |
| B．Teens are mad at being controlled. |
| C．Teens need both freedom and proper rules. |
| D．Rules must be absolutely strict for teens. |
| A．Support their helpful hobbies. | B．Tell them which college to attend. |
| C．Cancel their after-school activities. | D．Get them away from singing pop songs. |
| A．How to Be With Growing Teens |
| B．Causes of Teens’ Sadness |
| C．Teens’ Worries About Strict Rules |
| D．The Importance of Making Friends With Teens |
