1 . When my roommates and I left campus for spring break, we told each other we’d be back soon. Little did we
Ever since the corona-virus outbreak
Just before midnight on April 8, we
After glued to our screens for 36 hours and building a website from scratch, we posted the
Give Essential started as an idea, and snowballed into a
| A．decide | B．know | C．agree | D．promise |
| A．urge | B．research | C．pity | D．relief |
| A．confident | B．excited | C．unsure | D．scared |
| A．turned | B．left | C．hit | D．waited |
| A．touched | B．tired | C．amused | D．frightened |
| A．ability | B．access | C．right | D．idea |
| A．Fortunately | B．Suddenly | C．Easily | D．Obviously |
| A．adapted | B．arose | C．heard | D．differed |
| A．gave way to | B．put up with | C．came up with | D．went back to |
| A．positions | B．plans | C．suggestions | D．items |
| A．experts | B．customers | C．viewers | D．donors |
| A．matches | B．clubs | C．accounts | D．tasks |
| A．role | B．link | C．letter | D．job |
| A．employed | B．changed | C．reached | D．dismissed |
| A．refused | B．regretted | C．pretended | D．offered |
| A．skipping | B．sharing | C．flowing | D．ranging |
| A．group | B．trap | C．store | D．hole |
| A．depressed | B．thrilled | C．ashamed | D．satisfied |
| A．invited | B．advised | C．controlled | D．trained |
| A．shock | B．warn | C．remind | D．surprise |
2 . Why do people undertake volunteer work and what keeps their interest in the work?
Let’s begin with the question of why people volunteer. Researchers have identified several factors that motivate people to get involved. For example, people volunteer to express personal values related to unselfishness, to expand their range of experiences, and to strengthen social relationships. If volunteer positions do not meet these needs, people may not wish to participate. To select volunteers, you may need to understand the motivations of the people you wish to attract.
People also volunteer because they are required to do so. To increase levels of community service, some schools have launched compulsory volunteer programs. Unfortunately, these programs can shift people’s wish of participation from an internal factor to an external factor. When that happens, people become less likely to volunteer in the future. People must be sensitive to this possibility when they make volunteer activities a must.
Once people begin to volunteer, what leads them-to remain in their positions over time? To answer this question, researchers have conducted follow-up studies in which they track volunteers over time. For instance, one study followed 238 volunteers in Florida over a year. One of the most important factors that influenced their satisfaction as volunteers was the amount of suffering they experienced in their volunteer positions. Although this result may not surprise you, it leads to important practical advice. The researchers note that attention should be given to “training methods that would prepare volunteers for troublesome situations or provide them with strategies for coping with the problem they do experience”.
Another study of 302 volunteers at hospitals in Chicago focused on individual differences in the degree to which people view “volunteer” as an important social role. It was assumed that those people for whom the role of volunteer was most part of their personal identity would also be most likely to continue volunteer work. Participants indicated the degree to which the social role mattered by responding to statements such as “Volunteering in hospital is an important part of who I am.” Consistent with the researchers’ expectations, they found a positive correlation (正相关) between the strength of role identity and the length of time people continued to volunteer. These results, once again, result in concrete advice: “Once an individual begins volunteering, continued efforts might focus on developing a volunteer role identity... Items like T-shirts that allow volunteers to be recognized publicly for their contributions can help strengthen role identity.”
1. People volunteer mainly out of ________.| A．school requirements | B．social expectations |
| C．financial rewards | D．internal needs |
| A．People who participate in volunteer programs in schools are sensitive. |
| B．External factors are more important than internal factors in volunteer work. |
| C．Being required to be volunteers may make people reluctant to do volunteer work. |
| D．Volunteer programs in school can encourage people to do more volunteer work in future. |
| A．Follow-up studies should last-for one year. |
| B．Volunteers should get mentally prepared. |
| C．Strategy training is a must in research. |
| D．Volunteers are provided with concrete advice. |
| A．Individual differences in role identity. |
| B．Practical advice from researchers. |
| C．Role identity as a volunteer. |
| D．Publicly identifiable volunteer T-shirts. |
3 . Have you ever had a burger without meat? You might think that a vegetable burger will take away the real meaning of a burger as it will not have the juicy taste of meat. Despite these concerns, the company, Beyond Meat, has managed to successfully make plant-based meat.
On May 2, the company became the first vegan company to become public. Beyond Meat’s initial share price was expected to range from $19 to $21. Impressively, just hours later, Beyond Meat’s stocks rose to $73!
Instead of killing animals, Beyond Meat obtains these components from different plants and combines them to make vegan meat. It contains pea protein that gives the chewy, meaty texture along with canola oil, coconut fat and other binding agents. In addition, the company uses beet juice to simulate the bloody look of beef! The plant proteins are subjected to intense heating, cooling and pressure so that their structure becomes fibrous and copies that of animal meat.
For people who have changed their diet but miss the taste of meat, Beyond Meat satisfies their taste buds. It also has all the nutrients and elements that meat has, but does not come from an animal.
Plant-based meat is also beneficial as fewer animals are killed. As our world’s population continues to grow beyond 7 billion, so does the demand for meat. Livestock farming is not sustainable as it requires more land, consumes more energy and is one of the largest producers of greenhouse gases. Beyond Meat uses 99 percent less water and 93 percent less land. It also has 90 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and it uses 46 percent less energy.
However, there are some people who do not like the smell of a Beyond Meat patty. Others question that processed foods are unhealthy and it is safer to choose whole vegetables instead. Regardless, with another company, Impossible Burger, looking to go public soon, as well as companies such as Tyson Foods and Nestle looking to enter the market, plant-based meat is here to stay. These companies hope to convince many people to switch from meat to plant-based alternatives.
1. Why did Beyond Meat’s stocks rise sharply?| A．People found it convenient to buy plant-based meat. |
| B．People believed the bright future of the company. |
| C．People preferred to spend more money buying meat. |
| D．People are becoming vegans in life. |
| A．What is made up of meat. |
| B．Why plants can be made into meat. |
| C．How plant-based meat is made. |
| D．Whether plant-based meat is allergenic. |
| A．It makes farming sustainable. |
| B．It contains all the nutrients people need. |
| C．It doesn’t have the taste of meat. |
| D．It is environmentally friendly. |
| A．Plant-based meat will become a new trend. |
| B．All people prefer plant-based meat. |
| C．Vegan companies produce unhealthy food. |
| D．The smell of plant-based meat is disgusting. |
4 . Global warming does more than just kill plant species-it also changes the way plants grow. Researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) joined forces with the Leibniz Institute for Plant Biochemistry (IPB) to discover the molecular processes of plant growth. In Current Biology, a scientific journal, they presented their findings on high-temperature plant growth. This could lead to developing plants that can survive global warming.
Plants react to even small temperature changes, but they are unable to move to new locations. “When temperatures rise, plants grow taller... to cool themselves off. Their stalks become taller, and their leaves become narrower and grow farther apart. Yet, this makes the plant more unstable overall,” explains Professor Marcel Quint, an agricultural scientist at MLU. Unstable plants bend faster in the rain and produce less food that’s also less nutritious.
There’s still lots to learn about plant reactions to temperatures. “We are just starting to understand how plants detect the changes in temperature...,” Quint says. Earlier studies have shown that the protein PIF4 directly controls plant growth and is also dependent on temperature. When it’s cold, PIF4 is less active, meaning the plant doesn’t grow. At higher temperatures, PIF4 activates growth-promoting genes, and the plant grows taller. This is new information, says Quint.
To understand it, they investigated the growth of thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana,) seedlings. Normally, its seedlings form short stems at 20℃. These stems become considerably longer at 28℃. They discovered a hormone that activates the PIF4 at high temperatures, thus producing the protein. The findings of the Halle group may help to breed plants that remain stable even at high temperatures and produce many crops.
1. Why did the researchers at MLU and IPB conduct their research?| A．To study the negative effects of global warming. |
| B．To find out how plants help reduce global warming. |
| C．To observe how global warming affects plant growth. |
| D．To understand the ways that plants cause global warming. |
| A．Low temperatures have little impact on plants. |
| B．Plants prefer dry weather to rainy weather. |
| C．Plants are very sensitive to changes in soil. |
| D．High temperatures decrease crop production. |
| A．It mainly exists in the cress seedlings. |
| B．It works differently at different temperatures. |
| C．It is a kind of gene that controls plant growth. |
| D．It is a plant hormone that works at high temperatures. |
| A．Farmers. | B．Botanists. |
| C．Researchers. | D．Environmentalists. |
5 . Peter and Cheryl Pitzer met in 1999. After training together, they fell in love and finally married in 2011. The Pitzers have been using their professional aviation skills to help people around the world regain sight. They are both volunteers for Orbis, a non-profit organization that turns airplanes into teaching hospitals and brings eye care and ophthalmology (眼科学) training to places around the world. The organization’s Flying Eye Hospital that the Pitzers fly together is an ophthalmic teaching hospital on board an MD-10 aircraft.
The Pitzers flew their first flight together with Orbis in November, a journey that took them from Dubai to Saudi Arabia and finally to Ghana, a country in West Africa. The couple stayed an extra week after landing the plane in order to be on the ground to help other Orbis volunteers treat people in need, and to train medical staff in the community. “There was a woman named Mary. When we met her on Monday she was almost completely blind and when we left she could see,” recalled Peter.
“They also did surgeries in the local hospitals with the local doctors and their equipment, and they provide continuing education afterwards,” Cheryl said of the team’s work in Ghana.“The idea is to leave the knowledge behind so that people will have access to proper eye care after the plane is gone.”
The couple say they are grateful to share an occupation that they love-one they can do together and that allows them to give back. “It's awesome to see so many people in poverty regain sight. Our work is worth it,” said Peter. “Cheryl and I have a great personal and working relationship. It's just an interesting and incredible way to give back.”
Cheryl noted the intense (紧张的) planning and coordination it takes to fly a major plane carrying a teaching hospital to remote locations. She said she and her husband have an advantage with that complex task because they “understand each other.”
1. What are Peter and Cheryl Pitzer by trade?| A．They are doctors. | B．They are pilots. |
| C．They are physicians. | D．They are teachers. |
| A．It is a mobile teaching hospital. |
| B．It is a modern general hospital. |
| C．It is a private hospital in Dubai. |
| D．It is a famous hospital in Africa. |
| A．the wealthy | B．the poor |
| C．the disabled | D．the wounded |
| A．It is tiring. | B．It is boring. |
| C．It is rewarding. | D．It is upsetting. |
6 . WISCONSIN WINTER WELCOME EVENTS
The spring semester is here, and we’re excited to welcome both returning and new students to campus. The start of a new semester is an exciting time of the year. It’s the perfect time to step out of your comfort zone, meet new people, and create memorable new experiences.
During the first four weeks of the semester, Wisconsin Welcome offers events for students to meet new friends and find community. We've highlighted just a few of the events offered below:
MSC Comeback Carnival — Thursday, January 23
Ready to get involved in a multicultural student organization? Want to catch up with friends over some free food and fun activities? Stop by the MSC to meet with over 45 multicultural student organizations, have fun, and connect with new and old friends! -6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, MSC Lounge on the 2nd Floor of the Red Gym.
Public Service Fair — Wednesday, January 29
The Morgridge Center for Public Service hosts two Public Service Fairs per year. The fairs draw hundreds of students eager to learn about work and internship (实习) opportunities with local and national organizations. -3:00 pm to 6:00 pm, Gordon Dining &Event Center.
Winter Carnival — Tuesday, February 4 to Sunday, February 9
The Wisconsin Union's Winter Carnival is a long-standing tradition. It challenges you to embrace the cold, snow and play crazily! When you need to warm up a bit, head indoors for hot chocolate and food specials! -Memorial Union.
Spring Student Organization Fair — Tuesday, February 11
The Student Organization Fair is a great opportunity to explore your hobbies and meet different student organizations on campus. Stop by, meet new people, and maybe join a new student organization! - 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm, Kohl Center.
These are just a few of the many events you can check out during Wisconsin Welcome. Go to www.go.wisc.edu/welcome for more events and information, and use WiWelcome on social to stay connected.
We hope you have a great semester!
1. If you want to improve your foreign languages, which event are you expected to join in?| A．MSC Comeback Carnival. |
| B．Public Service Fair. |
| C．Winter Carnival. |
| D．Spring Student Organization Fair. |
| A．make friends | B．develop hobbies |
| C．find jobs | D．purchase textbooks |
| A．It has a quite short history. |
| B．It will be held in the open air. |
| C．It will take place on Monday. |
| D．It will offer free hot chocolate. |
7 . Stress is all around us, but there are some ways we can manage our strew regardless of what comes our way .
How many times do we find ourselves doing something just for money? Don’t get me wrong — I like money as much as the next person. But if most everything we do revolves around how much money we might make, we will end up being miserable. I would suggest you do things because they are the right thing to do, or because it feels good to you. The money will follow.
By having options and the right intentions you reduce the possibility of a situation causing you stress.
| A．There are many lonely people out there. |
| B．You can also see how you can help others. |
| C．Actually, your stress will not melt away immediately. |
| D．How many times have you reached out a helping hand to others? |
| E．Some can be done individually, while others are best done in a group setting. |
| F．If you take this approach you will be a lot happier and healthier in the long run. |
| G．You would be surprised how much these people would appreciate such a simple act of kindness. |
8 . A new study found the greater the improvement in people’s handwashing habits at airports, the more noticeable the effect on slowing the infectious (传染的) diseases, including the flu. The findings were published in late December, 2019, just before the recent coronavirus (冠状病毒) outbreak, but the study' s authors say that its results would apply to any such disease and are relevant to the present outbreak.
People can be surprisingly casual about washing their hands, even in crowded locations like airports where people from many different locations are touching surfaces such as chair armrests, check-in entrances, security checkpoint trays, and restroom doorknobs and taps. On average, only about 20 percent of people at airports have clean hands. The others are potentially polluting everything they touch with whatever infections they may be carrying.
Improving handwashing at all of the world's airports to be three times that rate, so that 60 percent of travelers have clean hands at any given time, would have the greatest effect, potentially slowing global disease spread by almost 70 percent, the researchers found. Adopting such measures at so many airports and reaching such a high level of obedience may be impractical, but the new study suggests that it could potentially be accomplished through education, posters, public announcements, and perhaps improving access to handwashing facilities. It could slow the global rate of the spread of a disease by about 24 percent, they found.
The findings are consistent with recommendations made by both the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. Both have indicated that hand hygiene (卫生) is the most efficient and cost-effective way to control disease spread. While both organizations say that other measures can also play a useful role in limiting disease spread, such as use of surgical face masks, airport closures, and travel limitations, hand hygiene is still the first line of defense-and an easy one for individuals to implement.
1. What is most people’s attitude to handwashing?| A．Favorable. | B．Careless. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Cautious. |
| A．Establishing higher hygiene standards. |
| B．Making handwashing fun and enjoyable. |
| C．Passing special laws to require handwashing. |
| D．Raising people's awareness of handwashing. |
| A．To introduce other measures. |
| B．To stress the importance of it. |
| C．To tell who carried out the study. |
| D．To make the study results more convincing. |
| A．People have many good habits at airports. |
| B．Handwashing reduces infectious diseases. |
| C．New coronavirus is breaking out. |
| D．There is great improvement in handwashing. |
9 . It’s 4 a.m. on Monday when my colleague, Yi Bingkun, and I finished the night shift. It’s the 50th hour since our medical team arrived in Wuhan to help fight against the novel corona virus (新型冠状病毒). The situation here is far more grievous than what we imagined, with more suspected cases and an acute shortage of medical staff. We are here to bring them hope, but it seems that we assume more responsibilities.
The ward was almost overloaded during our first night shift and we continued to receive more patients. My colleague and I plunged into work without delay after wearing protective suits.
However, an emergency occurred when a patient went into sudden cardiac arrest when we had just changed shifts. Yi Bingkun rushed to give chest compressions to the patient to make his heart beat again and I called a doctor for help.
Though all rescue measures failed, the patient’s family, however, sent their gratitude to us. Their every single: “Thank you” made me feel warm and that the efforts we had made were worthwhile. But Kun brought me more warmth. I once asked him whether he felt afraid about the possibility of becoming infected when saving the patient. He told me that “Yes, I was really scared at the time because I do have my family and my kid. But I was more afraid that the life might disappear in front of me.” I really admire his courage. Our night shift should have been finished at midnight, but it ended at 3 a. m. that night. We found our clothes were wet after we took off protective suits. What is impressive is that my colleagues messaged us, asking why Kun and I didn’t come back with the clock pointing to 1 a.m., 2 a.m. or even 3 a.m. They urged us to let them know we were okay as soon as we came back.
The weather is really cold but we feel warm from the bottoms of our hearts. Come on, all my colleagues! Come on, Wuhan! Come on, China!
1. When did the medical team arrive in Wuhan?| A．On Saturday. | B．On Sunday. |
| C．On Monday. | D．On Tuesday. |
| A．Puzzling. | B．Positive. |
| C．Satisfactory. | D．severe. |
| A．He soon recovered from the illness. | B．He finally died of serious illness. |
| C．He was rushed to another hospital. | D．He was infected by a wild animal. |
| A．adventurous | B．lucky |
| C．brave | D．careless |
10 . How To Channel Your Anger When You’re IN IT
We all experience momentary bursts of anger every now and then
Acknowledge that you’re angry.
When you’re angry, you notice it in your body.
The standard advice here is to take deep breaths, in and out. When you’re really in anger though, and the breathing, counting or similar techniques aren’t working, it pays to take cues from your physiological sensations. Ask yourself what your anger wants to do.
Give yourself a time out.
How do you do the exercise above when you're in the middle of a face-to-face conversation? Call a personal timeout.
Change the subject of the conversation.
Let’s say you’ve taken the advice above, but you’re still feeling heated. If you or your partner/co-worker/friend still feel hotheaded, changing the topic of conversation can also be a good way to cope with anger in the moment.
By cooler heads prevail, we don’t mean this. Take what you’ve learned here and cool it, hothead!
| A．Follow your body’s cues, safely and slowly |
| B．Ask yourself what emotion is behind the anger |
| C．You experience it physically far more than you do cognitively |
| D．There are things you can do in the moment to calm yourself, though |
| E．Focusing on something else helps change your mood and how you will respond |
| F．I would like you to be supportive of me and only give me your input when I ask for it |
| G．Walking away gives you time to calm down and collect your thoughts before responding |
