There are two ways that I often hear the term “hobbyist” being thrown around. The first is by professional woodworkers and is usually in a disparaging (贬低的) tone, like “a hobbyist couldn’t possibly be as good, fast, and talented as a pro”. The other way is by hobbyists themselves and having a beginning like the words “I’m just a... ”. In either case, I don’t understand why this is.
To my way of thinking, being a qualified and skilled woodworker can mean that you are a slave to the hard work. I’ve done the work and it isn’t always fun and pretty. It’s not often that you get to do the kind of woodworking that you want and often you are left begging to be paid for the work that you do complete. The other thing to keep in mind that even the most successful furniture makers often supplement their incomes with teaching and writing. Making woodworking courses is well-paid.
A few years ago I turned furniture making into a hobby, and this ended up being the best decision I could have made for my overall welling-being. For some time I was starting to dislike woodworking because of all the other stuff I mentioned earlier. Add more pressure to the situation by having a young family and wanting to contribute to the household income, and the stress wasn’t good. Getting a job outside of furniture making allowed me the freedom to build what I wanted, when I wanted. I’ve stayed in the woodworking industry all these years, but what I make in my hobbyist shop simply brings in some money to help feed a healthy tool addiction.
So please don’t be ashamed of your hobbyist name. Hobbyists get to explore as many aspects of the craft as they want. They don’t have the pressure of putting food on the table and paying the rent, so they can do whatever they want. No rabbit holes (未知的世界) are off limits for the hobbyist because in the end it’s just your personal time and some materials. So, go ahead, be a proud hobbyist, and hold your chest out with pride.
1. According to the passage, why do professionals sometimes look down upon hobbyists? (no more than 10 words)2. According to paragraph 2 what things make the author a slave to the hard work? (no more than 20 words)
3. Why did the author decide to turn furniture making into a hobby? (no more than 15 words)
4. How do you understand the underlined part? (no more than 1 words)
5. Do you think being a hobbyist is a good thing? Why or why not? (no more than 20 words)
I used to hate old books. When I say “old books”, I don’t mean classics, though. I mean books with yellow pages, broken spines (书脊) and odd wood-like smells that you need to be careful not to break because they are already so worn down. One can assume that I didn’t own many old books. I had a few here and there that my parents had gifted me, but nothing too special.
In fourth grade, I was ready to venture into a new world of reading, one that went beyond the likes of children’s chapter books and juvenile (青少年的) topics. Just then, I found my parents’ old copies of the entire Harry Potter book series. Visually, my parents’ books were my worst nightmare. I remember thinking to myself that reading these books was out of the question. However, I eventually had to come to terms with the fact that if I wanted to read the books, I would have to read my parents’ copies. And so began the terrible journey of reading seven old books.
When it was time for me to read the final copy, I was kind of a changed woman. I still strongly disliked old books, but the plot of the entire Harry Potter series had attracted me so much that I had almost entirely forgotten what the books looked like. By the end, I had devoted an entire shelf in my room to the Harry Potter books.
Now, I love old books. I love how the covers are sometimes so worn down that you can barely read the title of the book, but you can understand what it’s about anyway. After all, an old book is a representation of generations of readers who have chosen to live in a specific fictional world because the story it contains is just that good. Old books have meaning, and I love how much they mean to me now.
1. Who did the old copies of the entire Harry Potter book series belong to?(no more than 5words)2. What does the underlined part “out of the question” in Paragraph 2 mean?(one word)
3. How did the author like the plot of the entire Harry Potter series?(no more than 5 words)
4. What does the author mainly talk about in the last paragraph?(no more than 10 words)
5. What kind of books do you like reading? Why?(no more than 20 words)
I still remember the days when I was a youthful student in an engineering school. I lived a casual life, without caring about the future. I smoked, drank with friends and made girlfriends. Little did I realized that casualness would certainly lead to loss.
Two years had passed and I was staring down a report card that highlighted FAIL in more than half the subjects. I didn’t care, at least not till my dad found out about it. You see, I studied in India and unlike the United States where the students are expected to finance their own education, my dad financed me.
Then came the day when my dad found out my habit of smoking. He lost his temper but he just told me, “son, your allowance is cut in half from this moment on.” It hit me like a roundhouse kick from Bruce Lee. I was jolted (震摇) out of my bones! I couldn’t comprehend how to pay off the debts that I had accumulated in college. I owed everybody money: the grocery store, the bars, the restaurants, and my friends. I was living a life filled with credit.
When I came back to college, I knew if I didn’t change the way I live my life I wouldn’t be able to pay everybody off. So I decided to make some changes, drastic changes. I quitted smoking, cut off from my friends who led me down the wrong road, starting hanging out in libraries and reading my engineering books.
One year later, I went from a miserable failure to a Cum Laude(优等成绩). Life was never the same again. This incident made me know that anything is possible if you take action and do something about it, however small or large. Even today it still motivates me when I feel that I’m about to lose or give up. It reminds me that I can do it!
1. What’s the author’s attitude when he saw his report card? (no more than 10 words)2. At what time did the father cut the author’s allowance in half? (no more than 15 words)
3. Why did the author say he was living a life filled with credit? (no more than 15 words)
4. What does the underlined sentence in the last paragraph mean? (no more than 10 words)
5. What can you learn from the passage? (no more than 15 words)
There are always people who take great pleasure in finding faults with others. However, life can become wonderful when you are not constantly busy pointing out its flaws.
A few years ago, I received a letter from Kerry, a seventeen-year-old, who described herself as an expert fault-finder. She was almost always bothered by things and found that people constantly annoyed her. Nothing was ever good enough. She was extremely critical of herself and also found faults in her friends, which made her quite a boring person to be around.
Unfortunately, it took a terrible accident to change her attitude. Her best friend had a serious car crash and was badly injured. What made it almost unbearable was the fact that the day before the accident, Kerry had visited her friend and spent the entire time criticizing her choice of boyfriends, her lifestyle, her relationship with her mother, and various other things she felt the need to point out. It wasn’t until her friend was badly hurt that Kerry realized that she needed to appreciate life rather than harshly(严厉地) criticize everything. She was able to extend her newfound wisdom to other aspects of her life as well.
Perhaps most of us aren’t as extreme in fault-finding, but if we are honest, we can be sharply critical of the world. I’m not suggesting that you ignore problems or pretend things are better than they are, but rather that you learn to accept things as they are — most of the time, especially when they’re not of significant importance.
Train yourself to “bite your tongue” and with a little practice, you’ll become really good at letting things go. When you do, you’ll regain your enthusiasm and love for life.
So learning to accept and appreciate life’s imperfections can bring about positive changes in our attitude and well-being. By redirecting our focus to the good things in life, we can create a more fulfilling and joyful existence.
1. Why was Kerry a boring person to be around? (no more than 15 words)2. What caused Kerry to change her attitude? (no more than 10 words)
3. What did Kerry realize after her friend was badly hurt? ( no more than 15 words)
4. How do you understand “bite your tongue” in Paragraph 5?(no more than 2 words)
5. How do you like people who always find faults in others? And why? ( no more than 25 words)
When Li Toh first came to China to pursue his flute (长笛) dream, the Malaysian man had never expected that his dream could take root in China.
Toh’s love for the Chinese bamboo flute began in primary school when his elder brother joined the Chinese orchestra in middle school to learn to play the musical instrument. He said the clear sound of the bamboo flute guided him onto the road of flute learning. As he got older, Toh went to Singapore for further study.
According to Toh, there were few professional Chinese bamboo flute teachers in Malaysia, and the learning environment for bamboo flute players was limited. In 2005, Toh made a bold decision. He applied for retention (保留) of his admission qualifications to the university he had already attended, and set off for Beijing. A new chapter of his life thus began.
After getting his bachelor’s degree, Toh started to teach the Chinese bamboo flute in Malaysia and Singapore. His desire to improve his performance skills and his thirst for knowledge drove him back to Beijing to continue his studies.
Toh had planned to return to Malaysia after graduation, but upon graduation, Guangxi Arts University offered him a job. During his stay in China, he has also joined teams and performed in countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines and Cambodia. They tried to combine the Chinese bamboo flute with local musical instruments. Communication and innovation promoted the development of diverse art culture and enriched the cultural layers of art.
In recent years, Toh would return to Malaysia during holidays to promote the art of the Chinese bamboo flute. Having been in China for more than a decade, Toh’s love for the country has long been rooted in his heart, and he is looking forward to the prosperity and development of cultural industries in China.
1. What made Toh start learning the bamboo flute? (no more than 4 words)2. What does the underlined word in Paragraph 3 mean? (1 word)
3. Why did Toh return to Beijing? (no more than 13 words)
4. What did Toh do in China after graduation? (no more than 12 words)
5. What do you think of Toh? Please give your reasons. (no more than 20 words)
“I know I should do it, but exercising makes me feel miserable. I’m out of breath, hot and sweaty, and it just hurts. ” Does this sound familiar? You’re not alone.
About 97 percent of us think that getting enough exercise is important for health. One study of 3, 500 adults who used a fitness tracker found that less than 4 percent actually met the goal of 150 minutes of moderate activity per week.
Aside from health, what are your motivations for exercising? A 2024 study of 489 young Spanish adults found that men exercise to improve their self-image, while women are more likely to be motivated by weight loss or reducing body fat. The findings suggest that there’s a relationship between intrinsic motivation and level of physical activity, but how do you get intrinsically motivated if exercise makes you feel miserable?
Here are a few suggestions to help you overcome your bad feelings about exercise:
First, recognize that most habitual exercisers experience some discomfort with their workout. The trick for you is to limit the discomfort while exercising. Your exercise should be physically challenging, but if you’re really struggling, dial it down. Ease up, go slower, use less weight, take a break, or stop sooner; whatever it takes so that you can feel the effort you’re making but you’re not overwhelmed by it. You’re not being a quitter as long as you complete the exercise and do it again the next time.
Second, pair exercise with something that you enjoy. Get earbuds so you can listen to music or a favorite podcast. You can also give yourself a reward for finishing the workout. For example, you could only watch a favorite program on days that you’ve exercised.
Third, do the activity with a friend. If you set a routine exercise schedule with your friend, you’ll go, even if you don’t feel like doing so. You wouldn’t want to disappoint your friend, would you?
Maybe instead of hating exercise, you can dislike it less and take pride in doing it and enjoying its effects.
1. How many of the people involved in the study actually get enough exercise?2. What do the findings of 2024 study suggest?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
Even the most habitual exercisers experience some discomfort with their workout, so the more physically challenging, the more effective your exercise would be.
4. What other ways can make you dislike exercise less? Why? (In about 40 words)
About 15 years ago, Andrew McLindon, an entrepreneur and avid cyclist was riding his bike in Austin, Texas, when he thought about a friend’s 12-year-old son. The boy had never known the joy of biking because he suffered from hydrocephalus, a build-up of fluid in the brain that often causes balance disturbances.
When he got home, McLindon, now 60, went online and found a three-wheel recumbent bike with a seat belt, perfect for a child with balance issues. Soon the boy was pedaling around the street with his peers, having fun and getting exercise. But there was more, as McLindon got from his friend’s reaction. “To see his son interacting with other kids,” McLindon says. “I’ll never forget the smile on his face.”
That smile launched the McLindon Family Foundation. Funded by donations, the group works with pediatric rehab clinics (儿科康复诊所) to find children who can benefit from owning an adaptive bike and to help craft each bike to the particular needs of the child. A bike may include a headrest, a shoulder harmess, a seat belt, and a caregiver’s steering and brakes in the back. The bikes are expensive: $3,000 to $4,000, and that’s with the foundation’s steep manufacturer’s discount, For kids lucky enough to get one, they’re a life changer.
“We worked with a 14-year-old who has spina bifida (脊柱裂),” says McLindon. “She spent most days on the couch watching TV. Soon after she got her bike, she was training for special-needs triathlons. In a magazine interview, she said, ‘I always knew there was an athlete in me.’”
So far, the foundation has given away 450 bikes, and that’s just a start. “I do a lot of things. I run a lot of companies,” McLindon says. “But getting these kids their bikes is the most important thing that I do.”
1. What kind of disease is “hydrocephalus” ?(no more than 15 words)2. What inspired McLindon to launch the McLindon Family Foundation?(no more than 15 words)
3. What’s the purpose of the McLindon Family Foundation?(no more than 15 words)
4. What does the bike recipient mean by saying “I always knew there was an athlete in me”?(no more than 10words)
5. What kind of person do you think McLindon is? Please explain in your own words.(no more than 20 words)
Active workstations may improve cognitive performance.
Extended sedentary behavior, whether at work or home, increases a person’s risk of preventable chronic diseases. A recent study suggests that active workstations incorporating a walking pad, bike, stepper and/or standing desk are successful strategies for reducing sedentary time and improving mental cognition at work without reducing job performance.
“Being sedentary is the new smoking when it comes to our cardiovascular health, and office workers may spend a large part of their eight-hour workday sitting at a computer screen and keyboard. Our findings suggest that it is feasible to blend movement with office work that previously would have been done during long periods of sitting. Active workstations may offer a way to potentially improve cognitive performance and overall health, simply by moving at work,” says Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, M.D., a preventive cardiologist at Mayo Clinic and senior author of the study.
The research involved 44 participants in a randomized clinical trial where four office settings were evaluated over four consecutive days. The settings included a stationary or sitting station on the first day, followed by three active workstations (standing, walking or using a stepper) in a randomized order. Researchers analyzed participants’ neurocognitive function based on 11 assessments that evaluated reasoning, short-term memory and concentration. Fine motor skills were assessed through an online typing speed test and other tests.
When participants used the active workstations, their brain function either improved or stayed the same, and their typing speed slowed down only a bit. However, the accuracy of their typing was not affected. The study revealed improved reasoning scores when standing, stepping and walking as compared with sitting.
“These findings indicate that there are more ways to do that work while remaining productive and mentally sharp. We would do well to consider an active workstation in the prescription for prevention and treatment of conditions like obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes,” says Dr. Lopez-Jimenez.
1. According to the latest study, what can an active workstation do?2. How did the researchers conduct the trial involving 44 participants?
3. Underline the incorrect part of the following sentence and explain the reason.
The trial shows that to some degree moving at work improved participants’ brain function except that they made a few mistakes while typing.
4. What other way(s) can you suggest to improve our cognitive performance/ brain function in our daily life? And explain how.
In every gym class I've taken, I felt like the odd one out. Opening the door, I hesitantly asked, “Is this where the HIIT class is?” The instructor yelled, “Grab a dumbbell and yoga mat. We're late for warm-up!” Breathing heavily on the mat, I wasn't sure if I'd make it through the hour.
Glancing around the room, I seemed to be the only one struggling. Everyone else, in their tightly fitted gym wear and not a sign of sweat to be seen, looked as if they belonged. I, on the other hand, with my messy hair and oversized clothes, wondered why I had ever bothered coming.
Earlier that year, I had decided to give fitness a real shot. All my life, exercise had been a foreign concept and in school, gym class was a place of guaranteed embarrassment and humiliation.
I nervously showed up to my university gym for spin class (动感单车课程) on a Sunday morning. I had considered canceling multiple times, but I told myself that showing up was all that mattered.
The instructor was incredibly kind. Within minutes of seeing my weak form, he knew I was new to the class. He walked us through all the various positions on the bike multiple times.
The first time I tried to stand on the bike pedals, I felt my legs shake and immediately sat down. But with each class, my comfort on the bike grew and I became less focused on how I looked and more focused on looking inward. Whether I needed to think about something bugging me, dream about the future or just mindlessly pedal, spin class became my hour a week just for me.
The more I spun, the more I realized how powerful my body was. For what felt like the first time, I was proud of my body's capabilities.
After nine months of spinning, I wanted to challenge myself again. And that's how I found myself in the high-intensity class. If spin class got me used to moving my body, then HIIT class taught me that I have to continuously work to build my fitness and tackle my insecurities.
In all, what truly matters is showing up, not what you wear or your fitness abilities. Because once you show up, the rest gets easier, one sweaty adventure at a time.
1. Why did the author feel like the odd one out in the gym class?(no more than 10 words)2. What does the underlined part mean in paragraph 3?(no more than 10 words)
3. What did the author realize about her body after attending spin class for nine months?(no more than 6 words)
4. Why did the author decide to challenge herself by attending a high-intensity class? (no more than 12 words)
5. What message does the author convey in the text? How does it inspire you?(no more than 25 words)
It’s May, which means that millions of students are getting ready to receive their college diplomas. Grace Bush is one of them. Grace is just 16 years old — at the age when most teenagers have not even completed high school, Grace has graduated from Florida Atlantic University（FAU）with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. What’s even more astonishing is that the brilliant girl received her high school diploma from Florida Atlantic High School a week after she had graduated college!
While pursuing two diplomas would have been enough to keep most kids busy, Grace, who graduated with a 3.86 grade-point average, seemed to even find time to play the flute for two bands.
Though this youngest FAU graduate has attracted national attention with her unique accomplishments, for Grace, this is not deviant. That’s because she comes from a family of overachievers. Her 19-year-old sister Gisla, who is currently pursuing a master’s degree, also graduated at 16, while her 17-year-old sister Gabrielle, is already pursuing her master’s degree and is scheduled to graduate from FAU this summer.
Grace’s education began when she was a toddler（刚学会走路的孩子）. She learned to read by snuggling（依偎）close to her two sisters while they were being taught and was proficient by the time she turned two. From then on, her mother decided to include Grace in all the school sessions she had with her two elder sisters. Not surprisingly, by the time she turned 13, the home schooled girl was ready for high school and college.
Grace plans to return to FAU in the fall to pursue a master’s degree. Following that, the young girl wants to obtain a law degree and pursue a career that she hopes will end as a judge on the U. S. Supreme Court.
1. What is Grace Bush interested in besides studying?（no more than 3 words）2. What does the underlined word “deviant” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?（only I word）
3. How did Grace Bush receive education before she was 13 years old?（no more than 5 words）
4. What does Grace Bush hope to be in the future?（no more than 6 words）
5. What do you think of Grace Bush and her two sisters? Please explain.（no more than 25 words）
