Walter was always sitting in the same chair when I came to visit. He would look up and smile when he saw me and pa t the chair next to him for me to sit down. He loved to tell me about his lost golden years when he was an excellent baseball player. I was a good listener. After a couple of hours of talking, I would shake his hands and say goodbye to him. I hoped that I brought a little sunshine into Walter’s life.
I met Walter when I was a high school student participating（参加）in a volunteer program of visiting elderly people in a nursing home. It was the first of many such activities, ranging from playing with disabled children to sitting with cancer patients in a hospital. These activities seemed to satisfy my desire to be useful and to feel a meaningful connection to the lives of others.
My parents inculcated me with a belief that there was no greater human value than kindness, and encouraged me to make helping others and contributing to society important goals in life. Volunteer work provided a way of attempting to realize the truth of these messages.
I learned that volunteerism is not a one- way act of helping someone less fortunate. Involvement in the life of another person has enriched my life as well. Seeing how people deal with the challenges of their lives has taught me valuable lessons in courage and dignity. Many of the people whom I have met as a volunteer are an unforgettable part of my life. Perhaps I received far more than I ever gave.
This is why volunteerism works— each of us has so much need for human connection and so much to give to others.
1. What did the author do every time he visited Walter?（no more than 10 words）2. What was the first activity the author took part in as a volunteer? （no more than 10 words）
3. What is the meaning of the underlined word in Paragraph 3?（1 word）
4. What is the main idea of Paragraph 4?（no more than 10 words）
5. If you are to be a volunteer, what will you do? （no more than 20 words）
Near the small own of Grottoes, Virginia, a narrow dirt road goes from the house of Stephen Curry’s grandfather to the woods nearby. A far cry from the bright lights and shiny courts of the National Basketball Association (NBA), it was along this road that Stephen’s grandfather built a simple basket by attaching a piece of plastic to a telephone pole.
Like his fathers, basketball star Dell Curry, Stephen spent many childhood hours playing on this muddy basketball court. He probably didn’t realise it at the time, but it was where he learnt to be creative and flexible as a player. You see, with every shot, the weak plastic backboard gave way. The bumps and rocks that lined the road under the basket caused the ball to bounce in all directions. Knowing where the ball would go wasn’t easy. He had to adjust his own playing style as a result. Shooting with great accuracy was another thing he learnt. Only shots perfectly aimed at its centre went into the heavy, thick basket. In this way, practising day in and day out helped Stephen sharpen his skills.
Despite his father’s successful career, Stephen was thought by many people, including his high school teammates and coaches, to be too short, too thin and too weak to follow in his father’s footsteps. But Stephen carried on. Playing basketball was his dream. He would not give up. He finally end up playing college ball at a small, little-known school, Davidson College, not too far from where he lived. His creativity and perseverance made him Davidson’s star player.
Selected for the NBA in 2009, Stephen joined the Golden State Warriors. He performed beyond everyone’s expectations with his accurate shooting and continuous efforts. In 2015, Stephen won his first NBA championship, and he led the Warriors to their first championship since 1975.
After receiving the Most Valuable Player award for two years in a row, Stephen explained his philosophy, “I never really set out to change the game. What I wanted to do was just be myself..I know it inspires a lot of the next generation, a lot of people who love the game of basketball to value the skill of it, value the fact that you can work every single day to get better. You’ve got to be able to put in the time and the work. That’s how I got here. That’s how I continue to get better every single day.” Inspiring others to believe in themselves, Stephen Curry is living proof that what other people think of you does not have to influence what you become. Through self-belief, hard work, perseverance and some help from an old hoop, he has shown that anything is possible.
1. Why does the author mention the “simple basket” at the beginning of the passage? (No more than 15 words )2. What made the ball go in all directions? (No more than 10 words )
3. What does the underlined word “day in and day out” mean in English? (No more than 5 words)
4. When did Stephen Curry led the Warriors to their first championship? (No more than 10 words)
5. What can we learn from Stephen’s success? (No more than 10 words )
Do We Need Art in Our Lives
No one will be surprised to hear that the arts are under fire in this day and age. We view the arts as something of a hobby, something that’s fun but certainly can’t pay the rent. If it’s not a useful skill, no wonder arts funding is being cut in schools. Do we really need art in our lives?
In schools, time and money is at a premium (稀有而珍贵), now more than ever. With teachers having to fit so many lessons into every day, it’s easy to see why art is dropping more and more by the wayside. Budgets are dropping at an alarming rate, and what school is going to drop teaching in essential subjects such as math or science when they can drop art instead?
It seems as though the loss of art in daily life is a sad fact of life, but it doesn’t have to be. There are actually a lot of practical uses for art for many people. For example, art therapy has helped people with a range of illnesses, both mental and physical, cope with their symptoms. Art is found almost anywhere you look in your home. Practical items, such as bedspreads, furniture or clothing, are all art forms in themselves and arouse emotions in the people interacting with them.
Art also gives us insight into the world. History tells us what happened and when it happened, but it can’t tell us how the population at large felt about it, which is where art steps in. We know a lot about how people in the past lived and worked, because their art has given us such a deep insight into their daily lives. We wouldn’t have that insight without it.
Most of all, we need art in our lives as it gives us a form of self-expression. Being able to talk about our feelings is essential to staying healthy. You may not think you talk about your feelings, but you may express them in other ways. Some like to cook or bake, some like to work on machinery, and others may like to paint or draw. Whatever you like to do in your spare time, you’re probably creating art every day.
So, do we need art in our lives? Many people would say no, but the art they’re thinking of is the art you see in galleries. Art is actually much more accessible and is truly needed in everyday life. It helps those in need, gives people in the future an idea of what life was like, and is a vital form of self-expression.
1. Why do some schools drop art?2. From which three aspects can art benefit our lives?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
We need art in our lives but art only exists in galleries and theatres.
4. Explain how art benefits you by giving an example. (About 40 words)
Milan-based company Krill Design is changing the way we think about waste by creating furniture products from a plastic-like biomaterial named Rekrill. The special material is biodegradable, and can be used repeatedly.
Founded in 2018, Krill uses fruit skin, orange seeds and coffee grounds collected from businesses in Italy to create their unique designs, including bookends, clocks, bowls, and lamps. Each product is made through a four-step process. “There are a lot of companies that create designs, and we want to be different,” says MarcoDi Maio, director of operations at Krill.
Krill has worked together with some well-known brands and has also joined in a Co. ffee Era project with the government of Milan to reduce coffee waste produced in three of the city's neighborhoods. Krill has made products that match the color of food waste. For example, bright orange products are from orange skin and rich dark brown products are from coffee grounds.
Rekrill is as strong as wood and breaks down safely unless it's touched by water or acidity. It is also safe for fish to eat. But despite its eco-friendly benefits, Rekrill is more expensive than common plastic due to its complex production process. However, Krill hopes that as awareness of the environmental impact of plastics grows, Rekrill will be more widely used. Krill is exploring the use of other food waste, such as eggshells and leftover tomatoes and grapes, aiming to make its production process more efficient and cost-effective.
The company believes Rekrill is the material of the future. Every small step they take toward a sustainable world contributes to a more recyclable economy and inspires others to follow suit.
1. How does the company Krill Design change the way people think about waste? (no more than 10 words)2. How many steps does each product need before it is made? (no more than 2 words)
3. What is the disadvantage of Rekrill compared with common plastic? (no more than 5 words)
4. What does the underlined word in paragraph 1 mean? (no more than 1 word)
5. What do you think of Rekrill and explain? (no more than 20 words)
I work with Volunteers for Wildlife, a rescue and education organization at Bailey Arboretum in Locust Valley. Trying to help injured, displaced or sick creatures can be heartbreaking; survival is never certain. The effort made in vain is unavoidable in some rescue work. However, when it works, it is simply beautiful.
I got a rescue call from a woman in Muttontown. She had found a young owl (猫头鹰) on the ground. When I arrived, I saw a 2-to 3-week-old owl. It had already been placed in a carrier for safety.
I examined the chick (雏鸟) and it seemed fine. If I could locate the nest, I might have been able to put it back, but no luck. My next work was to construct a nest and anchor it in a tree. The homeowner was very helpful. A wire basket was found. I put some pine branches into the basket to make this nest safe and comfortable. I placed the chick in the nest, and it quickly calmed down.
Now all that was needed were the parents, but they were absent. I gave the homeowner a recording of the hunger screams of owl chicks. These advertise the presence of chicks to adults; they might also encourage our chick to start calling as well. I gave the owner as much information as possible and headed home to see what news the night might bring.
A nervous night to be sure, but sometimes the spirits of nature smile on us all! The homeowner called to say that the parents had responded to the recordings. I drove over and saw the chick in the nest looking healthy and active. And it was accompanied in the nest by the greatest sight of all—LUNCH! The parents had done their duty and would probably continue to do so.
1. Why does the author think that the effort is in vain in some rescue work?2. What did the author do to make the chick calm down?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
The young owl in the nest looked healthy and active, and the homeowner’s parents prepared some lunch for the chick.
4. What can you do to help animals in need?（in about 40 words）
Rembrandt Harmenszoon was born in the Netherlands in the city of Leiden. There were six children in his family. His parents wanted him to get a good education and provided opportunities for him to study with successful painters. Among them was the famous painter, Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam.
Rembrandt was very talented and studied with Lastman for six months and then moved back to Leiden and began to teach other artists even though he was only 22 years old.
Sometimes he used members of his family as models. His father was the subject of Bearded Man in Furred Oriental Cape and Robe. His son Titus is seen in Titus at His Desk, and Prodigal Son in the Tavern features Rembrandt and his wife Saskia.
One of his most famous paintings is Nightwatch which shows a group of men in their military uniforms. A war had recently ended in the country and the men were dressed up for a military practice. Nightwatch was a controversial(有争议的) piece. Some of the people in the painting were not pleased with the results because they did not have a prominent(突出的) place in the picture. When Rembrandt painted it, the colors were bright, but it became clouded with smoke and dirt and eventually became known as Nightwatch. In this painting we see Rembrandt’s use of light and shadow which makes his work so distinctive.
This great Dutch artist was very productive and popular with people. He enjoyed painting pictures of Bible characters and scenes of Bible stories. During his lifetime he produced over 600 paintings. You can see his paintings in museums and galleries all over the world today.
1. When did Rembrandt begin to teach other artists? (no more than 8 words)2. Who in Rembrandt’s family appeared in his paintings according to Paragraph 3? (no more than 10 words)
3. What makes Rembrandt’s work Nightwatch very distinctive? (no more than 10 words)
4. What does the author want to tell us about Rembrandt in the last paragraph? (no more than 7 words)
5. What are you interested in? And why? (no more than 20 words)
Rock climbing is not an easy sport. It requires not only physical strength, but also complete mental concentration. But don’t tell 20-year-old Sasha diGuilian that. This fearless girl who has been controlling the sport ever since she entered this field, is just getting warmed up.
The youngster says that she began climbing even before she could walk. As a baby, she was constantly escaping from her bed and as a young child always leading her friends to the nearest rocks or hills. Then at the age of seven she attended her brother’s birthday party at a local rock climbing gym and knew she had found her gift for rock climbing.
Soon after, she joined the local center in her home town of Alexandria, Virginia and began climbing — first once a week, then twice and soon, almost every day. Her moment came at the age of nine when she won her first climbing competition by taking part in an event that she hadn’t even known, until she went to the gym for her normal climbing routine(常规). Her competitive nature and love for the sport immediately reached the peak and she began training seriously, but this time outside the gym — climbing real mountains.
As a youngster, she won the Junior Continental Championships from 2004 to 2010. Then, as soon as she was old enough, she went on to win the Pan American Championship, the US National Championship and in 2011, at just 18 years of age, was crowned Female Overall World Champion in Arco, Italy .
She is also the youngest woman to have completed a 5.14d graded climb. It is something that even most experienced climbers fear to try, because a small slip could result in a severe injury or even death.
1. What does rock climbing require?(no more than 10 words)2. What did Sasha diGuilian realize when she attended her brother’s party at a rock climbing gym? (no more than 8 words)
3. What did Sasha do when her competitive nature and love for the sport reached the peak? (no more than 5 words)
4. What is the main idea of Paragraph 4?(no more than 8 words)
5. What sport do you like best and why?(no more than 20 words,)
A small town in southwest Britain is banning plastic bags in an attempt to help the environment and cut waste — a step that environmentalists believe is a first for Europe.
Shopkeepers in Modbury, population 1,500, agreed to stop handing out disposable plastic bags to customers on Saturday. They said paper sacks and cloth carrier bags would be offered instead.
Last month, San Francisco became the first U. S. city to ban plastic grocery bags. Internationally, laws to discourage the use of plastic bags have been passed in parts of South Africa and Ireland, where governments either tax shoppers who use them or fine companies that hand them out. Bangladesh already prohibits them, and so do at least 30 remote Alaskan villages.
Modbury, about 225 miles southwest of London, has also declared a bag amnesty (宽限期), allowing local people to hand in plastic bags that have piled up at home. They will be sent for recycling.
The Modbury ban was the idea of Rebecca Hosking, who saw the effect of bags on marine life while working in the Pacific as a wildlife camerawoman. She said response in the town so far had been “really positive”.
“Modbury is quite an old-fashioned town and a lot of people have wicker baskets to go out shopping anyway,” Hosking told Sky News Television.
The Worldwatch Institute, an environmental research agency, states that 100 billion plastic bags are thrown away each year in the United States alone. More than 500 billion are used yearly around the world.
1. Why doesn’t Modbury allow the use of plastic bags?（no more than 10 words）2. What would be provided instead of plastic bags by shopkeepers in Modbury?（no more than 10 words）
3. What does the underlined word in paragraph 3 most probably mean?（1 word）
4. How will the plastic bags handed in by people of Modbury be dealt with? （no more than 6 words）
5. What is your opinion of disposable plastic bags? And why? （no more than 25words）
Sharing a room with a family member or a friend can be tough, but it becomes especially difficult when you're sharing it with someone you hardly know. Here are things you can do to help you deal with having a roommate, no matter who it may be.
First of all, you have to remember that you get what you give. If you are nice to others, then others will be nice to you as well. You also need to set boundaries for yourself and for the other person. So before your new roommate moves in, talk to him. Set the rules early on and discuss your expectations.
Remember that there are two things that make up any good relationship: trust and respect. The same thing applies to having a roommate. You have to respect each other. Suppose he has that new PS3 game that you've always wanted to try out, what should you do? Ask permission first. If he says no, don’t take it against him. If he lets you borrow his stuff, take care of the item and treat it as if it were your own. Make sure that you return it in the same condition as when you borrowed it.
For chores that can be shared, you may want to divide it equally so that you don’t do all the housework. Take turns in washing the dishes. You may do it every other day or you may split the task so that you only have to do it in the morning and your roommate only has to do it at night.
When it comes to food and grocery items, determine what can be shared. Don't be too mean when it comes to sharing food. The advantage of sharing food is that both of you can save on time and food preparation.
1. Before your roommate moves in, what should you two do? (no more than 10words)2. What is important for good relationship among roommates? (no more than 5words)
3. What does the underlined word “chores” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?(no more than 3 words)
4. What does the author suggest in Paragraph 4?(no more than 10 words)
5. What is the purpose of this passage?(no more than 20 words)
AI art, aka (又名) computation art or generative art, refers to the creation of any artwork through the use of artificial intelligence programs. This can include art forms like music, photography and video, but in this article we’ll focus on 2D and 3D illustrative art.
AI art should not be confused with digital art, which refers to artworks created using any type of digital software. Typically, with digital art, the creator has to employ some level of artistic skill and technique, and understand how to use tools such as Adobe Illustrator.
With AI art, in contrast, you typically only have to type in a text prompt (提示词). A finished artwork is then created by generative AI algorithms without any further input needed.
AI art is controversial (有争议的) within the art and design professions for two main reasons. Firstly, and most obviously, allowing people to generate art through software means they’re less likely to pay someone to create it by hand. And that’s inevitably (不可避免的) going to lead to job losses and the loss of freelance work to professional artists. The second reason is that AI art generators are trained on art made by humans. Yet in most cases, these artists have not been paid for this sampling of their work. And by copying their style, which they may have taken decades of hard work to develop, AI art generators are arguably carrying out the biggest copyright theft in history.
It all reminds us of the story of how an aging Pablo Picasso was one day sketching (素描) in a park. A woman approached him and asked him to sketch her. The famous artist took one look at her, and dashed off an abstract likeness in seconds. She loved it, and asked how much she should pay. “5,000 francs,” he replied. “Why so expensive?” she cried in shock. “It took you less than a minute!” He replied: “No, Madame, it took me a lifetime.”
The artist community is now in a similar position, on a massive scale. AI art generators are taking out the equivalent of 5,000 francs of value multiple times a second, and yet artists aren’t getting a penny. A number of court cases are testing out this argument in court.
1. What is AI art?2. With digital art, what does the creator have to do?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
➢The author tells the story of Pablo Picasso to show that he is a very great artist
4. Are you a supporter of AI art? Why or why not? (In about 40 words)
