Green School in Uruguay
Francesco Fassina(Ecologist and Volunteer)
Michael Reynolds (Architect)
Alicia Alvarez (School Director)
Danila Mendez (Mother of a student)
Narrator : A sunny winter’s day is great news for these Uruguayan children. As pupils of South America’s first sustainable school, they study in a building heated only using solar panels. On top of the normal school programme, they learn about recycling, energy saving,and growing their own food
Francesco Fassina: The school is an autonomous building in the sense that it isn’t connected to any energy infrastructure for water or anything. It’s sustainable in the way it functions; totally autonomous and it works thanks to its connection with nature—the sun and the rain.
Narrator : The building was funded by a local NGO and a detergent company, and designed by US architect Michael Reynolds, a self-professed “garbage warrior” who's devoted his career to building self-sufficient structures out of recyclable material.
Michael Reynolds: People called me an idiot, uh, building with garbage, what a fool, you’re a disgrace to the architectural community, uh, you know. I was trying to contain sewage and treat it and do all of these things that architects didn’ t do
Narrator : The 39 students, so me just starting pre-school and others in their final year before university learn it’s possible to live in a building that produces no waste. NGO volunteers organise regular workshops on sustainability for pupils and teachers too.
Alicia Alvarez: Little by little, we`re becoming qualified. In fact were being trained by them. We`re being trained to learn how the school works. How to maintain it so that the systems don’t deteriorate.
Narrator : Some of the children have even started educating their parents
Danila Mendez: Every day, we walk here, and he finds glass in the sand or plastic or something and he picks it up. He says. “T`m keeping this to throw it away.” He doesn’t leave it there. He picks it up and he throws it away in the right place.
Narrator : For these little garbage warriors, saving the planet has become an integral part of their homework.
1. What are the reasons for being called a green school?2. How did the school come to being?
3. What did the people do to keep the school on?
Food takeaway rider who finds respite from his daily work stress in writing poetry publishes his second collection in as many years, Chen Nan reports.
In 2019, Wang Jibing, a food delivery rider living and working in Kunshan, East China’s Jiangsu province, had an unpleasant experience due to the wrong address left by a customer. Wang searched three buildings and climbed 18 floors before he finally managed to deliver the food to the customer, who rudely scolded Wang for arriving late.
Wang was sad and frustrated. As a husband and father of three children, who shoulders the majority of the financial responsibility in his family, he had to swallow the insult.
“If I argued with him, he would give me negative feedback and the company would have imposed a fine on me. I had no choice but to apologize repeatedly,” recalls Wang, 54, who makes about 6,000 yuan ($823) a month by delivering food.
On his way home that day, Wang wrote a poem, Man in a Hurry, expressing his feelings.
“Wind is born from air in a hurry. A knife is forged from the wind in hurry… Man in a hurry has no four seasons. He only has one stop after another. His world is about the name of a place,” he wrote.
Since then, Wang has been writing poems inspired by his daily life, including a poem New Temple, which was conceived after he delivered food to construction workers repairing an old temple, and Forgive, based on his observation of a young couple fighting.
1. respite from his daily work stress2. shoulders the majority of the financial responsibility
3. swallow the insult
4. imposed a fine on
5. What does writing poetry mean to Wang Jibing?
6. What do you think Wang Jibing is like?
We need to get back to the natural, built-in mechanisms that we have for self- preservation and health. Laughter is one of them.
Laughter Yoga is a way for people to use laughter without telling jokes and being able to get the laughter to help them feel better. The interesting thing is that it helps ease pain, it can ease depression, it’s a way to move and get into your inner child and it’s a lot of fun. And adults don’t remember necessarily how to have fun
The bottom line of our research is that laughter not only makes us feel good but it has a direct effect on our blood vessels. And our blood vessels control the likelihood of us developing a heart attack or a stroke. So if we keep the blood vessels healthy, then we’re going to be healthy.You can burn up to 40 calories for 5-10 minutes of laughter. But equally important is that the blood vessel opening that we see is the same as going jogging or even taking one of our cholesterol medications. You get the same effect in terms of opening up your blood vessels as you do with a good, deep, belly laugh. Laughing on a regular basis is not only good for our soul, but also great for our heart.
Laughter is a way of communication and that’s why it’s contagious. Because when I’m laughing, you’re looking at me and you’re like “wow, this is a positive energy” and you’re more likely to join me in the laughter.
But laughter’s not present at birth. It appears about 3-4 months of age and it’s one of the most important early means of communication between babies and mothers. A mother will tickle the baby and the baby will smile and laugh. And the mother will do more of that. If the baby does not like it, the baby will fuss or cry and the mother stops. It’s a kind of instinctive language that exists before we learn to talk. Laughter, like speech, evolved to change the behavior of other individuals. Does it have to have other purposes? It probably does, but we’re just now starting to tease out what those differences are. Did the benefits of laughter come from the act of laughing or is it the social context, spending time with friends, family, and lovers? All of these are very difficult scientific issues that haven’t been teased out. But laughter clearly feels good when we do it. Isn’t that enough?
1. What are the functions of Laughter Yoga?2. How does laughter help us medically?
3. What role does laughter play in a person’s growth?
4 . HEFEI, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) - A poetry festival kicked off Wednesday to commemorate Li Bai, a famous Chinese poet from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), in Ma’anshan City of east China’s Anhui Province.
More than 500 representatives attended the opening ceremony of the 33rd Li Bai poetry festival, including poetry experts, scholars and poetry lovers from across the country. A poem recital activity will also be held online this year between Chinese and Japanese poem enthusiasts to promote bilateral cultural exchange.
Li Bai is a household name in China as Shakespeare to the UK or Tagore to India. He lived between 701 and 762, also a golden age of Chinese poetry, and his poems are brimful of patriotism and romanticism. He spent his last days in Ma’anshan and wrote about 50 poems about the city throughout his life. It is said he was buried at the foot of Daqing Mountain in the city after he passed away.
A total of 871 poems have been submitted to the organizing committee to participate in this year’s festival. More than 100 statues of Li Bai and figures that appeared in his poems have been collected from all over China for exhibition at the festival.
Participants will pay homage to places in and around Ma’anshan City which Li Bai once visited. They will also pay a visit to Li Bai’s tomb on Thursday.
The first Li Bai poetry festival was held in 1989 in Ma’anshan, and it has become a shining cultural activity of the city ever since. Ma’anshan was named as Chinese City of Poetry by the Poetry Institute of China in 2014.
1. For what was a poetry festival held in Ma’anshan City?2. Who attended the 33rd Li Bai poetry festival?
3. Why is Li Bai recognized as Tagore in India?
4. Besides 871 poems submitted to the organizing committee, what else were acquired?
5. What influence has the Li Bai poetry festival on the City of Ma’anshan?
Japan started releasing nuclear-contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean on August 24th and will continue to do so for at least 30 years. In the face of strong questioning and opposition from the international community, Japan plays word games by referring to the discharged “nuclear-contaminated water” as “treated nuclear wastewater”.
However, the two are fundamentally different. Nuclear wastewater refers to the wastewater produced during the normal, daily operation of a nuclear power plant, such as large quantities of water used to cool down the reactor of the plant. Because the water doesn’t touch radioactive substances (放射性物质) in the nuclear reactor, it can be flushed out after strict processing.
Nuclear-contaminated water refers to cooling water that comes into direct contact with radioactive materials inside the reactor when the reactor is breached after a nuclear accident. The cooling water becomes contaminated with highly radioactive substances, thus becoming nuclear-contaminated water.
The Fukushima nuclear power plant experienced a major incident in 2011, bringing water into contact with radioactive substances. The Japanese side’s conflation (混淆) of this with wastewater from normal operations is a deceptive attempt to hide the truth. The Japanese side claims that the multi-nuclide treatment system ALPS is used to treat nuclear contaminated water, and that the treated water is safe and even meets drinking water standards. However, such statements fail to alleviate public concerns. Japan has yet to address major international concerns, such as the long-term reliability of the purification facility, the authenticity and accuracy of the nuclear-contaminated water data, and the effectiveness if the monitoring arrangement. This is extremely selfish and irresponsible, as the discharge will spread the risks of nuclear contamination to the rest of the world.
1. How does the Japanese mislead the international community?2. In what way nuclear-contaminated water is different from nuclear wastewater.
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
Japan’s deceptive attempts to hide the truth alleviate public concerns over the long-term reliability of the purification facility, etc.
4. How is Japan’s dumping nuclear-contaminated water related to you? (In about 40 words)
6 . Upgrade your problems
In 2017, I spent all my money buying my first flat — which meant I had no money to fix my first homeowner’s problem. I was sleeping on an air mattress because I couldn’t afford furniture. Then I noticed a leaky pipe under the bath, which created a wet puddle (水坑). I couldn’t afford a plumber (水管工) but I didn’t want to introduce myself to the neighbour by crashing through their wet ceiling.
The only option left for me was that I had to solve the problem on my own. I took the bus to a nearby store and talked with the nice guy behind the counter. He explained how to fix it and sold me a pipe cutter and a bit of pipework. I went back home, pushed my head under the bath, and got the job done.
It taught me a lesson that has since become a bit of motto for me: Upgrade your problems.
Having a wet bathroom floor is a problem — and the day before I bought the place, I would have had a landlord to call. But once the place was mine, this became my problem. I saw this as progress: You must own your own property to take care of this sort of situation.
Years later, when I founded my professional services company with my business partner, Adam, this motto became core to how we approach the business. There have been many problems, and there will continue to be new ones. However, we remember the reason we have these problems — it’s because we run our own business! A late-paying customer is a problem, but it’s one we encounter only if we have paying customers.
That is why I still keep the pipe cutter on my desk today. It reminds me that, no matter my level of frustration (挫败), I am fortunate to face the problems I do. The more I solve them, the more I upgrade to even better ones.
1. What did the author notice in his first flat?2. How did the author solve his problem with the bath?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
The author still keeps the pipe cutter on his desk today because it reminds him of his success in business.
4. What else would you do when you encounter problems in life? (In about 40 words)
7 . Capturing a moment in time isn’t just about securing a memory- it can help us appreciate our life more every day.
As a student，my campus has been my whole world. While it may seem limiting，studying with the same classmates and the same teachers in the same classroom every day has given me many opportunities to make great memories. I love the jokes told by my teachers in class，the songs my roommates and I sing together and cheerleaders’ loud cries at basketball games. Even the glow of the sunset with the mixture of purple and vivid red over the playground is mesmerizing.
And that is why I began to record my school life，and I’ve kept this habit for three years up until now. The first attempt, in the form of a diary, fell through as soon as my actual experiences became far more exciting than my words. So I bought a camera, with which I recorded every fascinating moment in my school life. Every weekend I transferred those photos to my phone and posted them on my social media. Without fail, I would find how joyful my school life was and how much progress I made, which in turn instilled(注入) more passion and purpose into the coming weeks.
As I progressed to senior high school, that camera gave way to camcorder(便携式摄像机) More and more videos drove me to learn video editing. Those valuable videos witnessed me joining the school choir(合唱团), training for sports meets, complaining about the burden of studying and having fun in the dormitory. They have become a labor of love and naturally my source of happiness.
When I look back on my diaries, photos and videos during this winter vacation, those fond memories came flooding back. Recording my school life lets me not only capture every precious moment in the course of my growth but also gives me the ability to observe and appreciate my surroundings and create joy in my life. It creates positive impact on my friends, showing them how wonderful life is and how it all depends on how much enthusiasm you show. So imagine how amazed I was when people said they felt youth and vitality through my work!
1. What is the purpose of the author capturing the moment by camera? (no more than 10 words)2. The underlined phrase in Paragraph 2 may have a similar meaning as ______. (no more than 5 words)
3. Why did the author buy the first camera? (no more than 12 words)
4. What is the title of the passage? (no more than 10 words)
5. How do you capture the unforgettable moment in your school life? Please explain it. (no more than 20 words)
Cars are the most important part of life in the United States. Without a car most people feel that they are poor. And even if a person is poor he doesn’t feel really poor when he has a car.
Henry Ford was the man who first started making cars in large numbers. He probably doesn’t know how much the car was going to affect American culture. The car made the United States a nation on wheels. And it helped to make the United States what it is today.
There are many reasons that the car became so popular in the United States. First of all, the country was a large one and Americans like to move around in it. The car provides the most comfortable and cheapest form of transportation. With a car people can go to any place without spending a lot of money.
The second reason that cars are popular is the fact that the United States never really developed an efficient and inexpensive form of public transportation. Long distance trains have never been as common in the United States as they are in the other parts of the world. Nowadays there is good system of air service provided by planes. But it is too expensive to be used frequently.
The third reason is the most important one. The American spirit of independence is what really made cars popular. Americans don’t like to wait for a bus, or a train or even a plane. They don’t like to have to follow an exact schedule. A car gives them the freedom to plan their own time. And this is the freedom that Americans want most to have.
The gas shortage has caused a big problem for Americans. But the answer will not be a bigger system of public transportation. The real solution will have to be a new kind of car, one that does not use so much gas.
1. What do you think is the main idea of this article? (no more than 10 words)2. Why is the air service not well received by Americans? (no more than 10 words)
3. What is the most important reason for American people’s preference for cars? (no more than 10 words)
4. Can you explain the underlined word “shortage” in English? (no more than 5 words)
5. What is the real solution of gas shortage according to the author? (no more than 15 words)
Many teachers say that they don’t often receive information from parents about problems at home. Many parents say they don’t know what the school expects from their children or from them. Sharing information is essential and both teachers and parents are responsible for making it happen. Here are some tips for parents to contact teachers.
Learn everything that you can about your child’s school. The more you know, the easier your job as a parent will be. Ask for a school handbook. This will answer many questions that will arise over the year. If the school doesn’t have a handbook, ask questions. Ask the teachers, for example: what classes does the school offer? What are the school’s rules and regulations(规章制度)?
Ask about teaching methods and material: Are the methods based on evidence of what works best in teaching reading or math? Are the science and history textbooks up to date? Ask if the school has a website and, if so, get the address. School websites can provide you with ready access to all kinds of information: schedules of events, names of people to contact, rules and regulations, and so on.
Keep informed throughout the school year. If your schedule permits, attend teacher-parent meetings held by the school. If you can’t attend the meeting, ask other parents about the content of the meeting. Or, find it out on the school’s website.
Contact(联系) teachers early and often. Contact your child’s teachers at the beginning of the year or as soon as you can. Tell teachers what they need to know about your child. If she has special needs, make these known from the beginning. If you notice a big change in your child’s behavior, school performance or attitude during the school year, contact the teacher immediately.
1. What do you think may be the best title for the passage? (no more than 10 words)2. Please explains the underlined word “essential” in English. (no more than 5 words)
3. What is the one of the things you can do if you can’t attend the teacher-parent meeting? (no more than 10 words)
4. In what case should parents contact the teacher at once? (no more than 10 words)
5. Do you think the communication between teachers and parents is useful? Why? (no more than 20 words)
I was sitting in math class; my teacher, Mrs. Gratz, was trying to get the attention of everyone arriving before the bell that would start the fourth period. As most of my classmates sat down and waited for our teacher to begin the lesson, a student walked in right after the bell rang. He was a real troublemaker. It was painfully obvious to anyone who knew him that he didn’t care much about school or authority. He continued walking through the classroom, sat down next to one of his friends and began talking loudly with him. At this point our teacher had attempted to quiet everyone down several times, succeeding with just about everyone except for him. By him arguing with a teacher for seemingly no reason and causing a scene, I could see on my teacher’s face that she was getting more and more upset as time went on, because her class time was being wasted.
It’s important to present yourself in a positive way to people that can have an effect on your life. Parents, police officers, teachers. Those in positions such as these are the ones who should be respected most, even if you don’t think so. Watching a young man argue back and forth with a teacher, a person of authority, taught me a valuable lesson about how to act when in a situation like this. If you disagree with someone, you should find the proper time and place to deal with it. Truly, the time for wasting time is not during school hours and the place for disrupting (扰乱) a teacher’s lesson is not in school itself.
I try to respect all figures of authority, especially when they treat the people under them fairly and with equal respect. Back in this 7th grade, this event changed my life, and that’s the reason why I still remember and learn from it to this day. Sitting in class and listening to the teacher every day can get boring, but it is also worth quieting down for, because of what you can take away from the class, and what you can gain from just showing some respect.
1. Use one word to describe the student who walked in right after the bell rang? (不多于 1 个单词)2. What examples does the writer give to show who should be respected most? (不多于 4 个单词)
3. When should a student deal with a problem he/she has with a teacher? (不多于 4 个单词)
4. What is the main idea of the passage? (单词数不限)
