1 . Some researchers from the London School of Economics, Oxford University and University College London carried out a research on the Exploring What Matters course. The course is taught throughout the country and is run by volunteers, who have no formal training but bring people together to explore “the things that really matter in life”.
The study found that satisfaction levels of those taking part increased by one point, increasing from 6.4 out of 10 to 7.4 after the course. Researchers said that this increase was greater than the boost people would get from being partnered rather than single (+0.59), and being employed rather than unemployed (+0.7).
So far, more than 6,000 people in the UK have taken part in the eight-week course. People involved in the course learn how to cultivate (培养) happiness by taking positive action in their daily lives. They also learn how to have better relationships and create stronger communities.
“I was quite sceptical,” said Jo Newstead, are tired health worker in London. “But I really enjoy it. There are nice people from all different backgrounds and we usually have a full discussion. It has made me focus on what I can do to help improve things for myself and for others.“
Mark Williamson, director of Action for Happiness, was not surprised by the study’s results. “This new research backs up what hundreds of people have already told us: taking part in these groups is life-changing,” he said. “But the thing we’re most excited about is that people coming out of this experience not only feel better about themselves, but also feel more connected to others and want to do more for others,” he added.
1. What do we know about the course?A.It is run by universities. | B.It is managed by volunteers. |
C.It is taught all the year round. | D.It explores difficult things in life. |
A.By making comparisons. | B.By describing processes. |
C.By analysing causes. | D.By giving examples. |
A.How to learn the course well. |
B.Benefits of taking the course. |
C.What people learn from the course. |
D.Problems to be solved during the course. |
A.It makes people politer and kinder. |
B.It makes people happier and more helpful. |
C.It makes people smarter and more caring. |
D.It makes people more confident and humorous. |
1.唐诗的地位及影响;
2.列举唐代(Tang Dynasty)著名诗人;
3.期待更多交流。
注意:
1.词数80左右;
2.可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
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3 . Boundaries are everywhere. Some are for security. Some are for privacy. But some are just for us to
One day, after supper, I took a walk on the
Suddenly a maple leaf was blown off and
Finally, he stood up, threw away the stick
Many times we
A.build | B.adjust | C.break | D.expand |
A.driveway | B.crosswalk | C.bikeway | D.sidewalk |
A.rolled | B.hid | C.swung | D.bent |
A.joining | B.contrasting | C.comparing | D.connecting |
A.boundary | B.style | C.figure | D.pattern |
A.threatened | B.urged | C.inspired | D.reminded |
A.laid | B.landed | C.sank | D.put |
A.absorbed | B.excited | C.controlled | D.trapped |
A.threw away | B.picked up | C.sent off | D.reached out |
A.annoyed | B.satisfied | C.delighted | D.concerned |
A.findings | B.vision | C.observation | D.progress |
A.heavily | B.carefully | C.accidentally | D.repeatedly |
A.bitter | B.sweet | C.embarrassing | D.curious |
A.restrict | B.start | C.close | D.operate |
A.facilities | B.materials | C.tools | D.weapons |
4 . My father was the kind of guy who could walk into a room full of strangers and leave with new best friends for life! He was a hard worker and was known as “Mr Fix-It” to everyone. He was also one of the most cheerful, affable (和葛可亲的) and gentle people you would ever meet, which made us, his beloved daughters feel proud.
But when Dad was in his fifties, my family began to notice him struggling. His work and skills began to become worse and worse, and he became depressed and withdrawn. This was not the man I knew. At the age of fifty-eight, Dad was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. As for our family, it was the worst.
Our first step was to attend a meeting hosted by the Alzheimer’s Association to learn more about the disease and programs that might help us. That meeting inspired me to start a Walk to End Alzheimer’s® team. But I still wanted to do more. In 2017, I became a board member of the Alzheimer’s Association Delaware Valley Chapter.
The loss from this disease is gradual. My father’s decline continued for several years. Losing my father more and more each day was leaving a big hole in my heart and my life. I decided to fill that hole with action to honor my father.
That’s why I recently decided to leave a gift to the Alzheimer’s Association by naming it as a beneficiary of my retirement plan. My future gift will provide money to support research because I don’t want another person in my family or someone in other families to have to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease.
I am so proud to be able to honor my father and other family members who lost their fights to Alzheimer’s in this way. My dad was an inspiration to me, and I hope, through my gift, I can inspire others to join in the fight to end Alzheimer’s.
1. What can we infer about the author’s father before having Alzheimer’s?A.He was an outgoing man. | B.He hiked with strangers. |
C.He made a living by sales. | D.He was a popular repairer of cars. |
A.She consulted many experts. | B.She established a research team. |
C.She gained more relevant information. | D.She funded the Alzheimer’s Association. |
A.Research funds for the disease. | B.A record of her father’s mental state. |
C.Her research papers on families like hers. | D.Experts’ suggestions on her father’s disease. |
A.Her precious gift. | B.Her father’s firm confidence. |
C.Her future expectation. | D.Her father’s original motivation. |
5 . As an intense heat wave sweeps through China, residents are seeking relief in air raid shelters and swimming pools to stay cool, and dozens of cities, including Shanghai, Chongqing and Hangzhou, have issued their highest-level red alert warnings. Shanghai has issued three red alerts this year, with the temperature hitting 40.9 Celsius on July 13, matching the record set in 2017 since 1873. The fact that Shanghai has experienced only 16 days of 40°C-plus temperatures since the city began keeping records in 1873 should give us an idea about the seriousness of the situation.
Medical experts say extreme heat could cause nausea (恶心), fatigue, sunstroke and even death, with senior citizens and people with long-term illnesses particularly vulnerable to heat waves.
Extreme heat events, which began a month ago, have affected the lives of more than 900 million people in China. Between June 1 and July 12, the average number of days with temperatures above 35°Cwas 5.3, up 2.4 days over normal years, breaking the national record set in 1961, according to the National Climate Center.
Parts of Europe are also in the grip of heat waves and experiencing extreme weather events after the western part of North America faced extreme heat waves last year. In response to the exceptionally high temperatures, the United Kingdom has declared a national emergency and issued the highest-level red alert warning for Monday and Tuesday for the first time. More alarmingly, the average global temperature in June this year was 0.4°C higher than normal years and the highest since 1979, with temperatures in countries such as Spain, France and Italy exceeding 40°C.
Unfortunately, extreme heat, which is directly related to climate change, will become more frequent and intense in the next 30 years, setting new records for high temperatures. As global warming intensifies, losses and devastation will increase, forcing natural and human systems to raise their adaptation limits.
1. What can we know about the heat waves this year?A.It may cause more harm to the old and people with long-term illnesses. |
B.The number of days above 35°Cin June breaks the national record. |
C.Shanghai has experienced a higher temperature than that in 2017. |
D.The whole Europe as well as America are suffering from the heat waves. |
A.By analyzing and concluding. | B.By explaining and contrasting. |
C.By giving examples and quoting. | D.By giving figures and comparing. |
A.Becoming more serious. | B.Remaining stable. |
C.Staying unpredictable. | D.Getting controllable. |
A.The solutions to the climate change. | B.The economic losses from heat waves. |
C.The increase of severe heat waves. | D.The destructive effect of global warming. |
6 . Aasritha Duriseti recently noticed her grandmother’s difficulty opening a bottle cap. Fortunately, she found a solution in her eighth-grade engineering class at Carson Middle School in Herndon, Virginia, whose assignment was to adapt existing products to make daily life easier for people with challenges.
Aasritha’s creativity kicked in as she researched existing bottle-opening devices. She used a piece of wood shaped like a cellphone and put three holes on it, each in different sizes and lined with a layer of dried, sticky hot glue, which provided firm grips (防滑力) for common bottle caps. With a simple twisting (拧) motion, her grandmother could open bottles without assistance.
“Students in the class used more than their math, physics and tool skills. They also learned to look at problems from another’s point of view,” said Teacher Mark Bolt, “Engineers need to put themselves in their product users’ shoes to build effective solutions.”
Other students in the class also showed sensitivity as they watched friends and family struggle with daily tasks.
Michael Kuwashima noticed how dyslexia—a reading disorder that the brain tends to confuse the order of numbers, letters and other images-made it difficult for a friend to follow along on pages full of text. Therefore, Michael created a small adjustable window-blind-style device. “My friend could isolate (分离) small sections of text while reading,” he said.
Arjan Garg focused on a different problem. Sometimes putting on clothes can be hard for people with a limited range of motion. Arjan created a “dressing stick” using four wood sticks of different sizes to fit different clothing.
The students tried different versions of their products along the way to make the best one to show the class.
Rather than requiring step-by-step directions for creating their projects, Bolt preferred to leave students’ creative paths open. “If we want to do better, we have to have a chance to fail,” he said.
1. Why did Aasritha create a new bottle-opening device?A.She hoped to get a higher score. |
B.She was interested in engineering. |
C.She had difficulty opening bottle caps. |
D.She wanted to help her grandmother. |
A.Working with others. |
B.Conducting field experiments. |
C.Understanding others’ feelings. |
D.Communicating with product users. |
A.With the aid of a guidebook. |
B.Through trial and error. |
C.With the help of classmates. |
D.Under the detailed instruction. |
A.An inspiring class. |
B.An excellent teacher. |
C.Some scientific methods. |
D.Some talented students. |
Born in 1930,in Ningbo, Tu Youyou has become the first female Chinese scientist
8 . Two weeks earlier, my husband, Russ, had gotten an early-morning call telling us to move to a safer place immediately. The wildfire tearing through Northern California had spread and
We’d jumped in the car with our cats and a few belongings. For days, we’d
Now we’d been given
How will we go on? It felt as if our lives had been
Russ
Words that must have come from one of my books, a passage I couldn’t
A.cleared | B.headed | C.prevented | D.pointed |
A.begged | B.lived | C.asked | D.moved |
A.good | B.true | C.bad | D.false |
A.encouragement | B.reward | C.advice | D.permission |
A.ruins | B.flames | C.dangers | D.flowers |
A.refuse | B.clean | C.survive | D.remember |
A.saved | B.destroyed | C.decorated | D.enriched |
A.counted | B.hid | C.discovered | D.put |
A.ashes | B.water | C.fire | D.spot |
A.watered | B.cleaned | C.smoked | D.folded |
A.pleasant | B.sincere | C.clear | D.simple |
A.reflect on | B.carry on | C.put on | D.cheer on |
A.success | B.burden | C.information | D.courage |
A.analyze | B.understand | C.recall | D.recite |
A.judge | B.hear | C.forget | D.ignore |
9 . A flower festival is an event during which many types of flowers are shown to the public. In some cases, a flower festival may be a small event attended by local people who grow plants as a hobby.
Usually, a flower festival takes place at a time of year when many types of flowers are fully open.
Some festivals are arranged to encourage flower growers to grow certain types of plants. People are invited to show their flowers at the festival.
Besides competing for prizes, many flower growers show their plants in flower shows for business purposes. Some people use these events to win contracts with companies that buy large numbers of flowers. Some take the chance to market flowers to customers,
A.There will be competitions. |
B.These flowers can be very expensive. |
C.Other festivals are big international events. |
D.Some festivals focus on a certain type of plant. |
E.Some growers have created new types of flowers. |
F.Usually, some flower festivals are held in the big parks. |
G.Flower festivals can also encourage local economic (经济的) development. |
10 . In its reaction to reports that its Kindle business is exiting the Chinese mainland market, Amazon said customers can still buy Kindle devices through online and offline, while some of its devices have been sold out in the mainland.
No one knows whether customers bought all its products or the company produced too few, leading to the sellout, but it is obvious that Kindle has shut down several online sales channels, forcing many in China to put their Kindles up for sale.
On the other hand, Data shows the number of digital readers was higher than before. The total market value of the digital reading industry grows 21.8 percent over that in 2019.
The reason for the industry’s growth even as Kindle drops is the popularity of smartphones. When it can take care of most daily needs, why would one want a Kindle device? In fact, all electronic devices that specialize in single functions are fading out, be it Kindle, MP3 or MP4 players. Even tablets account for only one-tenth of mobile devices sales because one cannot use one to make a phone call.
Besides, Kindle itself has problems. The electronic books that can be bought are expensive, while Kindle Unlimited, a program that allows customers to read any number of eBooks for a monthly subscription fee, seldom includes new titles .
In a nutshell, while electronic reading is a booming (繁荣的) market, the market for electronic reading devices is becoming smaller. That’s why many people joke that the only function left for a Kindle device is to act as a cover for a steaming cup of instant noodles.
Of course, Kindle offers some very good professional resources for scholars, while also allowing users to install an electronic dictionary to let them read in different languages. That’s why many users are saddened and hope Kindle does not disappear forever. Maybe Kindle can find a way to reinvent itself and continue serving its customers.
1. Why have the Kindle devices been sold out according to the passage?A.The reason is unknown. | B.Too many offline private deals. |
C.Kindles are out of stock presently. | D.The government takes some measures. |
A.Tablets provide call function. | B.MP3 and MP4 are more popular. |
C.Smartphones are multifunctional. | D.Kindles are equipped with the latest books. |
A.Kindle has many functions. |
B.Kindle is very popular with consumers. |
C.Kindle is very fit to cover steaming instant noodles. |
D.Kindle’s many functions can be replaced by smartphones. |
A.Users are disappointed with Kindle. | B.Kindle must reinvent itself to get back. |
C.Kindles will quit from market for ever. | D.Electronic dictionaries can’t be got in Kindle. |