1 . Things to do this weekend in NYC: April 12-14 2024

Here are some noteworthy events to check out this week in New York City

Josh Wolf

Gramercy Theatre — 127 E. 23rd St., New York, N.Y. 10010

Sat. April 13 at 7:00 p.m.

Josh Wolf of “Chelsea Lately” will bring his brand of humor to Gramercy’s historic music venue. Josh Wolf’s comedy material is heavily inspired by his family. Wolf, 54, is also known to incorporate (融合) music into his performance, as he does when hosting his own comedy show “The Fantastical Jamboree” at Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club in Las Vegas.

Tickets start at $27.50

“Selena Brunch”

Alamo Drafthouse Staten Island — 2636 Hylan Blvd., Suite 230, Staten Island, N.Y. 10306

Sat. April 13 and Sun. April 14 at 11:30 a.m.

The 1997 Gregory Nava film that made Jennifer Lopez a Hollywood star is getting a nice revisit at Alamo Drafthouse with a “Selena Brunch” this weekend. While enjoying a special menu created for the occasion, see Jenny from the Block in her breakthrough role as the late Tejano star who was tragically murdered at 23. Dishes include a breakfast club sandwich, blueberry donut French toast bake and breakfast tacos, in addition to the regular refreshments on offer.

Though the downtown Brooklyn showings are already sold out, there are still tickets at the Staten Island location.

$12 admission. Prices range from $11.95 to $15.95 for food item

I’m Possible

New Victory Theater — 209 W 42nd St., New York, N.Y. 10036

The Brooklyn-based Omnium Circus company, which prides itself in inclusivity and accessibility for both audience and performers, kicks off a two-week run of its latest show this weekend in Times Square.

“I’m Possible” lives up to its goal to make the Big Top experience accessible to audiences of all abilities with a 90-minute show featuring a gymnast who uses a wheelchair, an tennis player born without legs, and a deaf storyteller.

All performances will incorporate audio description, captioning (字幕), sensory-friendly lighting and sound, and a calm environment where movement and vocalization from audience members are welcome.

Tickets start at $28

1. Where does Josh Wolf get his inspiration for his comedy show?

A．From his favourite music.

B．From his own working experience.

C．From Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club.

D．From his experience with family members.

2. How much will you have to pay if you require top service in Alamo Drafthouse?

A．$ 15.95.

B．$ 23.95.

C．$ 27.95.

D．$ 39.9.

3. Which of the following words may be the most suitable to describe the performance in New Victory Theater ?

A．Entertaining.

B．Encouraging.

C．Terrifying.

D．Puzzling.

2 . In 2009, when Qatar (卡塔尔) bid to host the 2022 Football World Cup, it promised a carbon-neutral (碳中和) event. Even back then, the prospect of neutralizing the carbon-dioxide emissions (排放) generated by hosting hundreds of thousands of fans in newly constructed stadiums, in a desert state, seemed fanciful. So it is proving. In their greenhouse-gas accounting report, published last year, FIFA (国际足联) and the Qatari organizers estimated that the World Cup would generate 3.6 million tons of CO2 emissions. Estimating emissions for big sporting events is a relatively new practice and methods can vary, but that figure is higher than any recent World Cup or Olympics.

It is also likely to be a significant underestimate. A report in May 2022 by Carbon Market Watch (CMW), a climate watchdog (监督者), found that the official forecast failed to account accurately for the emissions generated from stadiums. FIFA, which insists its method is “best in practice”, reckons that the majority of the emissions (52%) will come from fans and players travelling to Qatar, while less than 25% are from stadium construction. That is because organizers expect these stadiums to be used for years after the World Cup, spreading their carbon footprint way into the future.

CMW believes such an excuse is far from reasonable. Before the World Cup, Qataris were able to get by with only one stadium, it points out. Consequently, it estimates that the emissions from stadium construction for the World Cup are undercounted by a factor of eight. It puts the real figure at 5 million tons. Though it amounts to less than 0.02% of the world’s annual emissions, sports teams and organizations should have set a positive example in this.

To remove the doubt from outside, Qatar has established the Global Carbon Council (GCC), a dedicated environmental agency. Beyond adjusting for World Cup emissions, the GCC will promote a path to “a low-carbon future”, a great step for a country with the world’s highest emissions per person. Yet the agency is still at its early stage. Only six projects, saving less than 600,000 tons, have been approved so far.

1. What is the main problem Qatar and FIFA are faced with at present?

A．The 2022 World Cup isn’t as successful as it should be.

B．They may fail to keep the promise to hold a green event.

C．The figure they published is higher than that of other events

D．They are unfamiliar with the new practice of the World Cup.

2. How does Qatar and FIFA cut down the carbon footprint of the World Cup?

A．By insisting on its way of environmental protection.

B．By promising to use the new stadiums for more years.

C．By blaming the greenhouse-gas emissions on travelers.

D．By cooperating with Carbon Market Watch for instructions.

3. Why does the CMW refuse to accept the explanation given by Qatar and FIFA?

A．5 million tons accounts for a little of the annual emissions.

B．The stadium construction for the World Cup sets a bad example.

C．The method they employed in estimating the emissions is unscientific.

D．There will be more stadiums than Qatar actually needs after the World Cup.

4. What can be learned from the last paragraph?

A．The GCC is an agency specially established for the World Cup

B．The Qataris attach great importance to environmental protection.

C．The Qataris need to make more efforts to hold a carbon-neutral event.

D．The GCC has achieved a lot in cutting down greenhouse-gas emissions.

3 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入 1 个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

TikTok will soon be banned in the United States if its parent company ByteDance     1     (refuse) to sell the platform, according to a bill     2     (pass) by the White House on Saturday (April 13).

An earlier version of the new bill, which was attempting     3    （give）the China-based company a six-month deadline to sell the app, was passed in the Senate (众议院) last month, even after both Democrats (民主党人) and Republicans (共和党人) voiced concerns over national security.

The revised bill has now been combined     4     a larger package of international policies, including support for Israel and Ukraine, and is being presented to the Senate where it again waits for     5     (approve).

Over the past month, ByteDance     6     (push) back against the bill, and encouraged its 170 million U.S. users to contact the government and express     7     protest to the ban.

“We will not stop fighting and advocating for you, with     8     we together build this amazing platform,” TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said in a video uploaded in March. “We will continue to do all we can, including using our legal rights, to protect this platform.”

Once the bill passes successfully, it will extend the deadline for ByteDance to sell to nine months, with an     9     (addition) three months available if a sale is     10     progress.

4 . I’m in a coffee shop in Manhattan and I’m about to become the most disliked person in the room. First, I’m going to interrupt the man reading quietly near the window and ask for a drink of his latte. Next, I’m going to ask the line of people waiting to pay if I can cut to the front of the queue. This is how I chose to spend my last vacation. Here’s why.

Growing up, all I ever heard about was “EQ.” It was the mid-1990s, and psychologist Daniel Goleman had just popularized the concept of emotional intelligence. Unlike IQ, which tracked conventional measures of intelligence like reasoning and recall, EQ measured the ability to understand other people — to listen, to empathize (共情), and to appreciate.

My mother, an elementary school principal, prized brains and hard work, but she placed a special emphasis on Goleman’s new idea. To her, EQ was the elixir (万能药) that separated the good students from the great after they left school. She was determined to send me into the adult world with as much of this elixir as possible.

But when I finally began my first job, I noticed a second elixir in the pockets of some of my colleagues. It gave their opinions extra weight and their decisions added impact. Strangest of all, it seemed like the anti-EQ: Instead of knowing how to make others feel good, this elixir gave people the courage to do the opposite — to say things others didn’t want to hear.

This was assertiveness (魄力). It boiled down to the command of a single skill: the ability to have uncomfortable conversations. Assertive people — those with high “AQ”— ask for things they want, decline things they don’t, provide constructive feedback, and engage in direct confrontation (对峙) and debate.

A lifetime improving my EQ helped me empathize with others, but it also left me overly sensitive to situations where I had to say or do things that might make others unhappy. While I didn’t avoid conflict, I was always frustrated by my powerlessness when I had to say or do something that could upset someone. This is my problem and I’m working on it.

1. Why did the author act that way in the coffee shop?

A．To improve a skill.	B．To test a concept.
C．To advocate a new idea.	D．To have a unique vacation.

2. What do we know about the author’s mother?

A．She thought little of IQ.

B．She popularized Goleman’s idea.

C．She was a strict mother and principal.

D．She valued EQ as the key to greatness.

3. What does the word “it” underlined in the fourth paragraph refer to?

A．EQ.

B．AQ.

C．Empathy.

D．Courage.

4. According to the passage, those with high EQ but low AQ are likely to be ______.

A．successful leaders	B．people pleasers
C．terrible complainers	D．pleasure seekers

5 . Long believed to have little social structure, giraffes actually are socially complex, University of Bristol scientists suggest. Their social organization is comparable to that of elephants, dolphins and whales.

Lead author Zoe Miller started research work on giraffes in 2005. “I had noticed that giraffe population numbers were decreasing, and I realized that the tallest of all land animals had hardly had any scientific work done on them, which I just found unbelievable. I decided to devote my career to understanding this species better,” said Muller.

Muller and her team looked at research work done in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Researchers then considered giraffes very unsociable and that they formed no long-lasting relationships. “However, this was not what I saw in Africa, and I started to question why they were described as having ‘little or no social structure’ when I could clearly observe them always together,” Muller said.

Muller was based in Kenya for five years, conducting research on giraffes and their social organization. She and her team found that giraffes are actually a highly complex social species that may live in matriarchal (母系的) social systems and include shared care of their young.

“Giraffes may take part in shared parenting of the young, and remain in groups of related females. These types of social organization are well-known in other species, for example elephants and whales, but nobody has ever before suggested that the same could be true for giraffes,” Muller said.

The grandmother giraffes stay in their family groups, passing on survival benefits in tough times to the younger members of the group. For example, they may know where there is water or where they can find food. “This is important information, as this means we should focus on protecting the older adult females, since they are important members to aid the survival of younger generations,” explained Muller.

1. What did Zoe Muller think of researchers’ work done in the 1950s-1970s?

A．Questionable.

B．Inspiring.

C．Reliable.

D．Creative.

2. In what way are giraffes similar to elephants according to the text?

A．Their population numbers are dropping.

B．They remain in groups of related males.

C．They have been well protected in the wild.

D．They take part in shared raising of the young.

3. Why are older female giraffes particularly worthy of protection?

A．They can help keep the balance of nature.

B．They can help researchers learn about giraffes.

C．They can pass on life skills to the younger generations.

D．They can help younger giraffes get on well with each other.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Secrets of Giraffes: The Older, The Smarter

B．Social Structure: A Gap in Animal Research

C．Giraffes: More Socially Complex than Imagined

D．Survival of Giraffes: The Role of Older Members

6 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小 题。
1. How soon will the speaker get his novel published?

A．In two months.

B．In three months.

C．In eight months.

2. What led the speaker to switch his major in university?

A．The poor job prospect as a reporter.

B．His lasting passion for fiction-writing.

C．The heavy pressure from the professor.

3. What does the speaker mainly talk about?

A．His working career.

B．His childhood hobby.

C．His writing experiences.

7 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小 题。
1. What does the man do?

A．A doctor.

B．A teacher.

C．A musician.

2. Why did the man drop out of college?

A．He got tired of schooling.

B．He lost his mother to cancer.

C．He wanted to get on-the-job training.

3. What do we know about Raphael?

A．He was open-minded.

B．He was a strict teacher.

C．He started a Chinese music group.

8 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小 题。
1. What kind of room did the man book?

A．A double room.

B．A single room.

C．A presidential suite.

2. How does the hotel deal with the mix-up?

A．They give Charles his reserved room.

B．They allow Charles a generous discount.

C．They offer Charles the suite for no extra charge.

9 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What did Spanish merchant take to the Americans?

A．Corn.

B．Wheat.

C．Potatoes.

2. Why did Balboa feel surprised?

A．He saw the Pacific Ocean.

B．There were many jungles.

C．Panama was so narrow.

3. When did Francisco Pizarro leave for the Inca Empire?

A．In 1513.

B．In 1524.

C．In 1533.

4. What was the Inca Empire rich in?

A．Wildlife.

B．Rocks.

C．Gold and silver.

10 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What mainly made the man hesitate to visit the White House?

A．Lack of interest.

B．The tight security.

C．The historical atmosphere.

2. How did the woman get the tour information?

A．From the website.

B．From the local paper.

C．From the travel guide.

3. Where are the speakers probably now?

A．In the White House.

B．In a dining hall.

C．At an airport.

4. What is the man like?

A．Serious.

B．Humorous.

C．Careful.