1 . It has been found in South Australia that a worm-like creature about the size of a grain of rice is the oldest ancestor on the family tree that includes humans and most animals. The creature lived about 535 million years ago. It is considered to be an evolutionary step forward for early life on Earth.
Researchers have been working hard to find evidence of the common ancestor of most animals. Developing its body structure and organization successfully allowed life to move in specific, purposeful directions. This includes everything from worms and dinosaurs to amphibians(两栖动物) and humans. But for our common ancestor, they knew that fossils(化石) of the tiny, simple creatures they imagined would be nearly impossible to find because of its size and soft body. Then, they turned to fossilized burrows(动物洞穴), dated to the Ediacaran Period, found in South Australia.
For 15 years, scientists knew the burrows were created by the creature. There was no evidence of what made the burrows and lived in them until researchers decided to take a closer look at the burrows. Geology professor Mary Droser spotted impressions shaped like ovals(椭圆形) near the burrows.
A 3-D laser scan revealed the impressions containing evidence of a body shaped and sized like a rice grain, with a noticeable head and tail which suggested it had muscles. The muscles would have enabled the creature to move and create the burrows, like the way a worm moves. And the size of the creature matched with the size of the burrows they found.
1. What does the underlined word “It” mean in the first paragraph?| A．A family tree. | B．A grain of rice. | C．A worm-like creature. | D．An evolutionary step. |
| A．They developed the creature in the expected way. |
| B．They studied a large number of worms and dinosaurs. |
| C．They observed the burrows close up. |
| D．They went back to the Ediacaran Period some years ago. |
| A．3-D laser scan. | B．The impressions. | C．Some good ovals. | D．More burrows. |
| A．The researchers worked very hard in the burrow. |
| B．The worm-like creature may be animals’ ancestor. |
| C．It is very difficult to name a new kind of creature. |
| D．Australian people like fossils of many creatures. |
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1. Which function is the most important for one who is in an unsafe situation?| A．The 5Star® button. | B．The large bright screen. |
| C．The powerful speaker. | D．The built-in camera. |
| A．An office lady fond of fashions. | B．A businessman showing himself off. |
| C．A young man interested in high-tech. | D．An old lady with a bad sense of sight. |
| A．Keep your old phone number. | B．Stick to a two-year contract. |
| C．Visit greatcall.com/Flip. | D．Pay monthly fees in time. |
3 . When the pandemic(流行病) hit last spring, 9-year-old Zoe Benard of California started baking(烘) sweet treats with family members. But what started out as a fun way to pass the time has become a one-girl mission to raise $10,000 for Parkinson’s disease research.
Through a series of weekend bake sales since July, the homeschooled fourth-grader has taken in nearly $3,500 through the sale of her homemade banana bread, cookies and brownies. For a weekend sale, she’ll bake up to 25 pieces, four to five pans of brownies and three batches(炉)of cookies.
One hundred percent of the money made by selling treats is given to Team Fox, a research organization set up by actor Michael J.Fox, who has the disease. Zoe’s grandfather, 75-year-old Joe Contogenis, who is the inspiration for her sales, also has Parkinson’s. Contogenis can no longer run or play tennis the way he did before his diagnosis(诊断) three years ago.But he comes to every one of Zoe’s bake sales and is often moved to tears by the generosity of Zoe’s customers.
“She is a little entrepreneur(企业家) and has always been an out-of-the-box thinker,” Christine Eris, her mom, said. “we were cleaning our house out and found a magic set, and now she’s reading books on magic. She taught herself how to solve the Rubik’s Cube in a minute and a half. She just learns and practices things until she perfects them.”
Zoe sells her treats for $1 to $2, or $12 for a full piece of banana bread. Eris said many customers give more because they know it’s for a good cause. One customer arrived with a $200 check and another with a $100 bill. Zoe said her goal is to keep hosting sales until she reaches her $10,000 goal. Then she will either start over or find another cause to support. She also plans to start her own children’s cooking channel on YouTube because she finds the process of baking so fun.
1. What encouraged Zoe to host bake sales?| A．Her grandfather suffering from Parkinson’s. |
| B．The support of a research organization. |
| C．Her favorite actor’s suggestion. |
| D．The kindness of strangers. |
| A．She has improved her creativity by practicing magic. |
| B．She has loved to cook since she was a kid. |
| C．She cares for everyone around her. |
| D．She is good at learning |
| A．To teach people with Parkinson’s to cook. |
| B．To look for a long-term partnership. |
| C．To collect money by hosting sales. |
| D．To enjoy free time with her family. |
| A．Strict and patient | B．Helpful and caring |
| C．Humorous and fearless. | D．Warm-hearted and honest |
4 . Do you remember the last time you got excited over a pair of shoes? Sure, you might have appreciated them, but did you jump for joy and act like they were the greatest thing you’d ever seen? You may not think that shoes are something worth going crazy over, but this woman would disagree. After all, she went wild when she put a pair on for the first time in her life.
It’s amazing how often we take advantage of things in life. When we’re used to something, we don’t always appreciate how lucky we are to have it. While we’re here complaining that our WiFi isn’t fast enough and our videos keep buffering, there are people in Africa who don’t even get to eat three meals a day. While most people work hard for the things they own, it’s important to stop and think of what others don’t have every now and again.
That’s what Laura Grier did one day. The woman was in Bwindi National Park, Uganda, when she felt obliged to stop and help someone by the side of the road. The person in question was standing around without any shoes on, and the sight convinced Grier to give up her own footwear. She had more shoes at home, while this woman had never even worn a pair before.
Laura’s generosity was definitely appreciated by the stranger who treated her benefactor to a celebratory dance. The woman couldn’t keep the smile from her face as she went wild in her brand new shoes. Grier was thrilled that her good deed had made the stranger so happy, and she cheered on the Ugandan woman as she danced in the street.
The next time you buy a pair of shoes, remember how lucky you are to have them.
1. Why did Laura Grier give her shoes to the woman?| A．To show her generosity. | B．To get permission to pass by. |
| C．To offer her help. | D．To reward her dance for her. |
| A．Nervous. | B．Excited. | C．Thankful. | D．Lucky. |
| A．Never expect too much of life. | B．Try to know more about Africa. |
| C．Don’t admire what others have. | D．Appreciate what we already have. |
| A．One Woman Overjoyed by Her First Pair of Shoes |
| B．One Lady Forced to Offer Her Pair of Footwear |
| C．Ugandan Woman Dances to Welcome Her Guest |
| D．Grier Greatly Thrilled at Beautiful African Dance |
5 . Taking pressure off sports competitions
Sports are a great way to have fun and stay active. Competitions can make sports more exciting. But because somebody wins and somebody loses competitions can also make kids be under pressure. A little pressure can be OK. But too much pressure is bad news.
What is a competition?
There are different kinds of competition in sports.
Why do I feel under pressure?
Do you ever have “butterflies” in your stomach? It's that nervous feeling some people get when starting to attend a new school or preparing for a big soccer match. Believe it or not, the best player on your team gets nervous before a big game.
How can I deal with pressure?
When you're competing in sports, you need a lot of energy.
| A．Read on to learn more about sport pressure. |
| B．What if you want to give up? |
| C．But usually only one person or team does. |
| D．It takes a lot of work to become skilled at a sport. |
| E．Even professional players feel nervous sometimes! |
| F．One secret to having lots of energy is to get plenty of sleep. |
| G．You may compete by yourself, as part of a team, or both. |
6 . Movies about the future often show people travelling around in flying cars. Last Tuesday, that vision came a step closer to reality for a Japanese company called SkyDrive, as it showed off its new flying car, the SD-03, in action. The small car flew around for four minutes, staying about 1-2 meters off the ground.
The SD-03 is powered by batteries and has 8 motors, which lift it straight off the ground. What made this test flight special was that a pilot was on board. Toraohiro Fukuzawa, who leads SkyDrive，said, “Of the world’s over 100 flying car projects, only a handful have succeeded with a person on board.”
Many groups worldwide are working to develop flying cars. Some governments, including Japan’s, are supporting the idea, hoping that in the future, flying cars will be useful for short trips like taxi rides in cities. Flying cars could also help reach places that can’t be reached by road.
What happens when a motor fails? If flying cars are crossing a city, an accident could hurt not just people in the car, but people on the ground, too. That’s why the SD-03 has eight motors—as backups.
Some people believe flying cars reduce traffic jams. But new systems will be needed to help control traffic in the air. With many cars flying around, these systems would be too complicated to be managed in real time by humans. Besides, flying cars are expensive. When it’s ready, SkyDrive’s flying car is expected to sell for between $300,000 and $500,000.
However, people who believe in flying cars point out that cars and airplanes faced challenges at first, too. With time, many of the big problems were solved. By 2050, Mr. Fukuzawa hopes people will be able to fly anywhere inside Tokyo in just 10 minutes. “I think flying cars will become normal in the near future.” he says.
1. What was special about this test flight?| A．The car flew higher. | B．The car was cheap. |
| C．The car flew on its own. | D．The car carried a driver. |
| A．To ensure its safety. | B．To increase its flying speed. |
| C．To make it look cool. | D．To enable it to carry more weight. |
| A．Their design. | B．Their application. |
| C．Their cost. | D．Their disadvantages. |
| A．They can be easily bought. | B．They have a long way to go. |
| C．They have a promising future. | D．They are environmentally friendly. |
7 . During a decline in tourism, one national park in Thailand has witnessed a dramatic rise in “visitors” recently. So many are the hermit crabs（寄居蟹）flooding into the otherwise empty beaches of Koh Lanta that shells for them to live in have become in short supply.
The Thai government moved quickly to ease the housing shortage, launching a public appeal for empty shells that netted over 200kg. On December 5 these were distributed around the park in a ceremony.
Hermit crabs rely on shells to protect their soft bodies, moving to larger shells as they grow. On Koh Lanta and the surrounding smaller islands, their rapid increase seems to be a natural phenomenon, rather than directly related to the absence of tourists. But the shortage of shells maybe man-made: pretty ones have long been gathered to be sold as goods. Crabs had begun to make do with potential death-traps such as plastic caps and bottles.
The shell drive was part of a government initiative to “regain the balance of nature”. “I have instructed all national parks to do whatever it takes,” says Varawut Silpa-archa, the minister for natural resources. His inspiration comes from the pause in tourism brought on by COVID-19. A ban on international visitors and the closure of national parks have helped nature recover, bringing endangered leatherback turtles back onto Thai beaches. In the coastal provinces of Phang Nga and Phuket, turtles have laid the largest number of eggs for 20 years.
The government has decided to try to copy the short break forced on it by COVID-19 in future. From now on, all national parks will be required to close for a short period during the off season and to limit the number of tourists through a reservation system when they are open. Although such restrictions mean reduced earnings from tourism in the short term, in the longer run more parks may help to keep the tourists coming.
1. What happened to the beaches of Koh Lanta recently?| A．They saw a constant stream of tourists. | B．They were packed with hermit crabs. |
| C．They became completely empty. | D．They got flooded by seawater. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Indifferent. |
| C．Critical. | D．Not mentioned. |
| A．To warn turtles are dying out. |
| B．To stress ecological diversity of Thailand. |
| C．To illustrate the birth of Varawut’s inspiration. |
| D．To prove beaches are their ideal habitats. |
| A．Authorities Help to Find Shelters for Homeless Hermit Crabs |
| B．Developing Economy or Protecting Animals? |
| C．Governments Are Responsible for the Balance of Nature |
| D．Closing National Parks or Drawing More Visitors? |
8 . Food waste is one of the greatest challenges of our time, and fruits and vegetables are particularly problematic, as an estimated 52% of harvests go bad before reaching consumers. But one Malaysian company claims to have come up with a simple and effective solution to this problem—a tiny sticker (粘贴标签) that stops fruits spoiling for two weeks.
You’ve probably seen stickers on fruits before, but not like the ones created by Stixfresh. Those common stickers are used only to provide consumers with information about the grower and how the fruit was grown, but Stixfresh has a different purpose. It contains a special, all- natural way that slows down the ripening process, keeping the fruit fresh and juicy for much longer.
Stixfresh are made with 100% organic materials and contain a mixture of ionized (电离) Sodium Chloride and beeswax, which helps slow down the bacterial activity in the fruit, thus delaying the ripening process. The company insists that the stickers are so safe that you can actually eat them.
Stixfresh founder Zhafri Zainudin says that he came up with the idea for the stickers four years ago, after visiting a friend who sold fruit. The man complained about losing money every day due to spoiled fruits, but seemed resigned (顺从的), as he knew there was no way to stop nature taking its course. However, the Malaysian entrepreneur had another idea.
“It got me to thinking. Maybe I couldn’t stop nature, but could I slow it down?” Zainudin writes on his company’s website.
The Malaysian businessman partnered with Selangor University to develop and test his stickers. It took him three years to perfect the manufacturing process and effect of his innovative product.
Originally, Stixfresh stickers were only used to prolong the shelf-life of mangos, but the company later realized that they also worked on other fruits of the same size and with similar texture, like dragon fruit and pears.
1. What is the problem with fruits and vegetables?| A．They rot away before sale. |
| B．They are wasted by consumers. |
| C．They aren’t ripe enough before harvests. |
| D．There are too many of them to be eaten in time. |
| A．It records the products growing information. |
| B．It contains information of growing products. |
| C．It shows how to delay their ripening process. |
| D．It tells ways to use organic materials properly. |
| A．his friend’s poor life | B．his good relationship with him |
| C．how he cared about fruit salers | D．how the stickers came into being |
| A．Apples. | B．Grapes. |
| C．Bananas. | D．Watermelons. |
9 . A study of violinists found that merely good players practised as much as better players, leaving other factors such as quality of education, learning skills and perhaps natural talent to account for the difference.
This finding challenges the 10, 000-hour rule promoted in Malcolm Gladwell’s 1993 study of violinists and pianists. Gladwell states that enough practice will make an expert of anyone. “The idea has been popular and entrenched in our culture for years. It’s not an idiom but an overstatement,” said Brooke Macnamara, the lead author. “When it comes to human skill, a complex combination of environmental factors and genetic factors explains the performance differences across people.”
Macnamara and her colleagues set out to repeat part of the 1993 study to see whether they reached the same conclusion. They interviewed three groups of 13 violinists regarded as best, good, or less accomplished about their practice habits, before having them complete daily diaries of their activities over a week. While the less skillful violinists reached an average of about 6,000 hours of practice by the age of 20, there was little to separate the good from the best, with each reaching an average of about 11,000 hours. In all, the number of hours spent practising accounted for about a quarter of the skill difference across the three groups.
Macnamara believes practice is less of a driver. “Once you get to the highly skilled groups, practice stops accounting for the difference. Everyone has practised a lot and other factors are at play in determining who goes on to a higher level,” she said. “The factors depend on the skill being learned: in chess it could be intelligence or working memory; in sport it may be how efficiently a person uses oxygen. To complicate matters further, one factor can drive another. Children who enjoy playing the violin, for example, may be happy to practise because they do not see it as a trouble.”
The authors of the 1993 study are unimpressed. Macnamara said it was important for people to understand the limits of practice, though. “Practice makes you better than you were yesterday, most of the time,” she said. “But it might not make you better than your neighhour or the other kid in your violin class.”
1. What does the underlined word “entrenched” in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Rooted. | B．Advanced. | C．Changed. | D．Unconfirmed. |
| A．It convinced Malcolm Gladwell. | B．It involved violinists and pianists. |
| C．Its process was similar to the 1993 study. | D．Its result is consistent with the 1993 study. |
| A．Practicing for 11,000 hours is their main driver. |
| B．They enjoy keeping diaries about their progress. |
| C．Environmental factors have little relation to their success. |
| D．More practice makes little difference to their further progress. |
| A．What makes an expert? | B．Does practice make perfect? |
| C．The early bird catches the worm | D．Enthusiasm is the key to success |
10 . Summer job offers
Red Lemon shop Assistants(售货员)
We are looking for shop assistants for the summer. If you are a social person and good at salesmanship, we want you to join our team. Good conditions. Perfect for students.
Phone 0151-897-6643 for information about how to apply.
Cinerama Cinemas
We need people to work evenings and at the weekend. Responsibilities include checking tickets and selling popcorn and soft drinks. Watch the latest films ... free! Join our young and friendly team!
Phone 0161-754-6022 for more information about wages (工资)and conditions.
US Au Pairs
Ever wanted to visit California? Are you patient, caring and good with kids? Work as an au pair in Los Angeles this summer. Free food and accommodation(食宿).
Phone 0121-077, 2001 for information about how to get application forms(申请表).
Are You Mad About Sport?
Would you like to spend all summer teaching sport to people from around the world? Then come and work at our international sports camp Sports Star Camp!
Phone 0191-121-5533 for information about how to get and where to send application forms, etc.
1. Which number can you call if you want to get a job that provides free films?| A．0151-897-6643. | B．0161-754-6022. | C．0121-077-2001. | D．0191-121-5533. |
| A．It is a high-paid job. | B．It is perfect for kids. |
| C．It offers job-related training. | D．It requires somebody with patience. |
| A．Jill, who dreams of being a sports star. |
| B．Jack, who wants to become a sports coach. |
| C．Joe, who expects to travel around the world. |
| D．Jim, who loves to take part in sports competitions. |
