1 . We’re giving London’s Lidos some love this summer. Whether you're an outdoor swimming fanatic or are yet to dip your toes into the water, there are plenty of options for you. Let’s dive right in!
Brockwell Lido
Located in the corner of Brockwell Park and surrounded by low line art decorated with redbrick walls, the unheated 50m pool has a dedicated army of year-round swimmers, and queues often stretch all around the block on summer days. Do book ahead if you can. There’s also a gym and fitness center on-site, all operated by Fusion, with the added bonus of an outdoor sauna available during the winter season.
Hampton Pool
Hampton Pool is well-known for its famous moonlight swims, taking place late at night in the summer months. Not a night owl? During the day, two outdoor pools are available—a 36m one for the adults, and a 12.5mlong one for learners and toddlers. They’re heated year-round. As well as the moonlight and Christmas Day swims, Hampton Pool offers other special events including picnic concerts in the summer months.
Charlton Lido
Charlton Lido has all the equipment and classes a gym fanatic might need, but we’re here to talk about the outdoor pool. 50m long, heated, surrounded by a sun terrace in the summer months, with drinks available to buy from Coffee Corner in June-September. Members can take part in classes such as aqua aerobics in the outdoor pool free of charge.
Oasis Sports Centre
Central London’s only heated, outdoor pool, this one comes with the added bonus of being located on a sun terrace. The outdoor pool is just one part of the Oasis Sports Centre, which also houses a gym, indoor pool and exercise studios. The 27.5m long outdoor pool is surrounded by a patio area and sunbathing deck, with the added bonus of a sauna nearby. Sure, views of the rooftops of Covent Garden make it feel like something of a hidden gem (宝石).
1. Which swimming pool is suitable for a night swimmer?| A．Brockwell Lido. | B．Hampton Pool. |
| C．Charlton Lido. | D．Oasis Sports Centre. |
| A．It is a pool built outdoors. | B．It is surrounded by a sun terrace. |
| C．It has a large pool for toddlers. | D．It offers free training sessions. |
| A．They are heated outdoor pools. |
| B．They are decorated with red walls. |
| C．They have pools of similar size. |
| D．They offer an added sauna service. |
2 . Tips for Discussing Current Events with Children
Often the news children see and hear can be confusing and alarming. Maybe you don’t let your child read or watch the news.
The first thing to keep in mind is to find out what your child already knows. Your child may have already heard about an event but lack context for an understanding of the details. Ask your child questions about what news topics are being discussed in school or what stories they recently saw in the newspaper or on TV.
Another way you can help your child understand the news is to seek out child-appropriate news sources. Explain to your child the importance of getting news from reliable sources. There are multiple well-regarded websites that have news stories for younger children.
All in all, by talking with your child about current events, you can help your child to feel more confident in their understanding of the world.
| A．Finally, be careful not to upset your child. |
| B．Besides, be honest with your child about your feelings. |
| C．But they can hear about events from other children at school. |
| D．This is not likely to be an attractive option for older children. |
| E．Then you can help them fill in gaps in their understanding of events. |
| F．You can also help them become a better and more informed global citizen. |
| G．Older children may want to read the same news sources that you read or watch. |
3 . Cherry Hill East graduate Max McGee will start his first day as a sports anchor (主持人) on ESPN’s Sports Center on Jan.31. After three years of covering Baltimore and Maryland sports for WIZ-TV, McGee’s new position will involve carrying out live interviews with athletes, reviewing previous games and looking ahead to others.
A graduate of Cherry Hill East, McGee got his first broadcast experience on a sports show. It was an idea encouraged by the late East softball coach Charlie Musumeci. “I remember him coming up to me after school,” McGee remembered. He said, “You’d probably be really good on camera. I know you talk about sports. Why don’t you give it a shot?” “He really started something,” McGee added, “He saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself.”
In 2008, McGee had a hard time. He was recovering from a setback (挫折) he experienced when he attended Camden County College and played baseball. He dreamed of playing baseball as a career, but was cut by his team.
“My dream wasn’t over,” McGee added. “It was just a different chapter because I realized I would be able to talk about sports for a living, instead of playing them. And that was great.”
He graduated in 2012. Then he went on to study journalism at Temple University in Philadelphia, where he joined All Sports Update, a student-run program on Temple TV, and got broadcast experience through WHIP radio. After 14 months of searching for a reporter’s job, he landed a job in Lake Charles, Louisiana, as a news reporter and producer at KPLC-TV.
“I didn’t intend to be a news reporter, but looking back on it, it was probably the best thing that ever happened in my career,” McGee noted.
His advice for kids who might want to be sports anchors one day is to stop worrying about which school to attend or what subject to study, and get on camera as much as possible.
1. Jan. 31 is special for McGee because he will __________.| A．prepare for the graduation party in Camden County College. |
| B．interview Charlie Musumeci in Maryland. |
| C．report sports news for WJZ-TV. |
| D．begin his new career in ESPN. |
| A．He was one of the most famous sports anchors in Cherry Hill. |
| B．He inspired him to start a career as a sports anchor. |
| C．He invited him to join East softball team. |
| D．He dreamed of playing baseball. |
| A．Experienced. | B．Thoughtful. | C．Friendly. | D．Creative. |
| A．Getting their teachers’ opinions. | B．Choosing their schools carefully. |
| C．Getting enough chances to practice. | D．Learning to work well with others. |
4 . For anyone coming of age (成年) in the last 60 years, Lego has been a long-standing friend. The tiny plastic bricks that fit together have provided great pleasure for generations.
In 1932, Christiansen founded the construction toy company the Lego Group. By 1949, his company began producing tiny plastic building bricks that children seemed to love. Nine years later, the Lego bricks took shape. Lego also kept pace with technology. Through the 1980s, Lego sets began to include electric lights and sound-making equipment. But by 2003, Lego nearly went broke (破产) as the firm dealt with changing play habits. Kids were more interested in playing video games and surfing the Internet than playing with Lego bricks.
The company took quick action. Within 10 years, Lego achieved great success. It was mainly because of Lego’s Future Lab. The lab was made up of 50 or so researchers, scientists and designers. Their job was to invent new play experiences for children. To that end, the company joined hands with universities and others in the hope of finding out what kids wanted. And the effort finally paid off.
“From the youngest builders to adults, we have a Lego solution for every builder of any age, building skill and interest for any play occasion,” Amanda Madore, senior manager at Lego Systems Inc, said. “We focus on what the brand means to children—both physically and digitally—and we continue to serve their needs, so we believe our business potential is as limitless as our play material.”
Although Lego bricks have always been fun to play with, research has shown they can be central to a child’s education and cognitive acuity (认知敏锐度). Specifically, Lego bricks are an important tool that can help children with autism (自闭症). Research has found that children with autism become more social and communicative while playing with the bricks in group settings. Part of the reason is that Lego requires children to communicate, set rules, make decisions and work with others. In this sense, Lego bricks are hard to replace.
1. Why did the Lego Group face great challenges in the early 2000s?| A．It failed to keep up with the times. | B．Its after-sale service was poor. |
| C．Its original customers had grow up. | D．It paid too much attention to technology. |
| A．The company mainly aims to attract kids. | B．Lego bricks are of really high quality. |
| C．Lego bricks help deal with mental problems. | D．The company will satisfy individual needs. |
| A．They can be regarded as a treatment. | B．They can promote communication. |
| C．They can improve education systems. | D．They can take the place of other toys. |
| A．When Lego became popular. | B．Why Lego has stood the test of time. |
| C．What Lego has taught builders. | D．How Lego bricks were created. |
5 . In a 2012 study, Boaz Keysar, a professor at the University of Chicago in the US, led an experiment on the relationship between foreign languages and people’s way of thinking.
In the experiment, people were asked to make a choice: Just take one pound or take a 50percent chance of winning 2.50 pounds. When given this choice in their native language, most people took the safe option of only getting one pound. But they were more willing to make the riskier choice when asked in a foreign language, leading to more profits overall, according to The Guardian. As Keysar put it, “People just hate the chance of losing, but they hate it less in a foreign language.”
In another study published this year, Keysar and his team did an experiment in which participants were given a series of related words like “dream”, “snooze”, “bed” and “rest”. Later, when asked which words they remembered hearing, people were more likely to mistakenly remember “sleep”, which was not on the list, in their native language. But it was much less likely to happen if they did the test in a foreign language. As Keysar explained, people have more careful thinking when using a foreign language, leading to more accurate memories.
The foreign language effect may even influence our personality. Silvia Purpuri at the University of Trento, Italy, looked at people’s willingness to face uncertainty and enter unfamiliar situations. Being tolerant (宽容的) of uncertainty allows people to have more creative ideas and be more open to new things. It turns out that people naturally score more highly on this trait (特点) when they can speak or use a foreign language because speaking a foreign language requires taking risks.
The evidence is clear: By learning a foreign language, you’re not just learning a language—you’re gaining a new state of mind.
1. What does the first experiment suggest?| A．People like expressing in a foreign language. |
| B．People are afraid of losing in face of money. |
| C．People make quick choices in their native language. |
| D．People prefer riskier decisions in a foreign language. |
| A．Colorful. | B．Simple. | C．Usual. | D．Exact. |
| A．Cool-headed. | B．Open-minded. | C．Light-hearted. | D．Easy-going. |
| A．Learning foreign languages helps a lot. |
| B．People should learn to face uncertainty. |
| C．Foreign languages influence how people think. |
| D．Personality has an effect on language learning. |
6 . On Aug. 7, 2021, Xu Shixiao and her partner, Sun Mengya, won gold in the first women’s canoe double 500 m event at the Tokyo Games. It was also the first Olympic gold medal for China in the event.
In 2005, the 13-year-old, who was much taller than her peers, attracted the attention of a rowing coach who came to look for potential paddlers in her school.
“Every day my canoe turned over dozens of times. I drank lots of water in rivers,” recalls Xu of her first canoeing training. Xu kept training for a year and she made the final of a national race for teenage athletes out of a dozen paddlers at the centre.
In 2013, the news that women’s canoeing was still not an Olympic event dealt her a heavy blow.
When Xu Shixiao went to work as usual in the furniture company five years ago, she was surprised to get a call from her former coach, inquiring about her willingness to return to canoeing and compete in the Tokyo Olympic Games.
| A．Xu quickly made her decision. |
| B．Yet Xu’s journey to the Olympics was a rough one. |
| C．It was impossible for her to change the sport at age 21. |
| D．She made all efforts to reach the goal and never gave up. |
| E．Xu agreed to train at a rowing centre because she thought rowing a boat was fun. |
| F．Compared with athletes who are in their early 20s, Xu’s physical recovery is slower. |
| G．The Olympic medalist will participate in competitions at home and abroad this year. |
7 . Charity isn’t only about big donations. Here are the innovative ways people are helping those in need — even when money is tight.
ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE, INDIA
The Ice Bucket Challenge, a social media initiative that started in the United States and spread around the world, raises a huge $115 million dollars for ALS (or Lou Gehrig’s disease) research.
FRIGOS SOLIDAIRES, FRANCE
MOBILE SHOWER FOR WOMEN, GERMANY
Offering services where they’re needed is also key to the success of a blue-and-white travelling shower mobilized, literally, by the Sozialdienst Katholischer Frauen e.V. Berlin.
LITTLE FREE LIBRARIES, VARIOUS COUNTRIES
Another visible example of the gift network in action are Little Free Libraries (LFLs), which sit atop eye-level posts.
STUFF A BUS, CANADA AND THE U.S.
In Edmonton, the transit service parks vehicles in front of local supermarkets for its annual “Stuff a Bus” campaign each November.
| A．Anyone can take, leave or exchange a book from the box. |
| B．All you need is to build a box and fill it with books you’ve read. |
| C．A similar program in Italy encourages stores and individuals to donate food. |
| D．Volunteers collect food and cash donations to fill buses heading for food banks. |
| E．The Dusmobil vehicle provides hot showers for homeless women in ten locations. |
| F．The idea is to take a video of yourself dumping a bucket of ice water over your head. |
| G．Imagine if those in need could help themselves to food with anonymity(匿名) and dignity. |
8 . A form of gene therapy that is already being trialled in patients with Parkinson’s disease might provide a treatment for severe alcohol addiction.
Alcohol misuse is the biggest risk factor for death, disability and ill health among people aged 15 to 49 in the UK, responsible for 9,641 deaths during 2021. Like other addictive substances, alcohol triggers the release of a feelgood chemical in the brain called dopamine. However, long-term drinking decreases dopamine release, and people who are addicted to alcohol don’t tend to feel pleasure in drinking it any more. “It seems that they’re drinking more because they feel a need to maintain a drunk state,” said Prof Kathleen Grant at Oregon Health and Science University.
The idea of the gene therapy was to try to reset this dopamine reward pathway by enhancing the function of brain cells that synthesize dopamine. Like humans, some macaque monkeys are more likely to drink heavily than others: if you begin to offer them the choice of 5% alcohol alongside their regular food and water, some monkeys will eventually almost always choose the alcohol. Grant and her colleagues wondered whether resetting their dopamine reward pathways might contain their desire to drink alcohol. To do this, they used a harmless virus to deliver the gene for a protein called glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) to an area of the brain that is involved in addiction and reward. “We targeted the cell bodies that produce dopamine with this gene to increase dopamine synthesis, thus supplementing or restoring what long-term drinking has taken away,” Grant said.
The research, which was published in Nature Medicine, found that the macaques permanently started overexpressing dopamine and decreased their alcohol consumption by up to 90%. “We are entering an era of gene therapy for neurological disorders and perhaps mental disorders, and I think this study is very promising in that direction.” Grant said.
She added that animal studies are needed before the technique could be tested on humans. Also, because the gene therapy procedure involves brain surgery, it would probably only ever be used in the most severe cases of alcohol addiction.
1. Why do severe alcohol addicts drink more?| A．Because they long for desired pleasure. |
| B．Because they have a form of gene defect. |
| C．Because they want to escape from reality. |
| D．Because they suffer from deadly disability. |
| A．Stimulate. | B．Produce. | C．Charge. | D．Delay. |
| A．The life habit of macaque monkeys. |
| B．The way to control alcohol addiction. |
| C．The working mechanism of dopamine. |
| D．The function of the protein called GDNF. |
| A．Employ it to treat severe alcohol addiction only. |
| B．Replace it with more efficient methods if necessary. |
| C．Confirm its effectiveness with more tests on humans. |
| D．Put it into widespread use on other common species. |
9 . Some new museums are opening around the world. Here are four of them deserving to be visited.
Maison Gainsbourg, Paris
The Parisian townhouse where the French singer Serge Gainsbourg lived has been closed off to the public since his death in 1991. This spring, though, it’ll finally open as a museum focusing on his life and work. The project has been led by his daughter—the actor and singer Charlotte—and the main attraction will surely be Serge’s living area, with his piano, art deco bar and a huge collection of sculptures.
National Museum of Norway, Oslo
This year, the National Museum of Norway will open on Oslo’s waterfront, becoming the largest museum in the Nordic countries. The museum collection includes 100,000 objects, with highlights including the Norwegian Baldishol tapestry(挂毯) and an array of Golden Age Flemish landscapes.
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
The expansion of the Art Gallery of New South Wales has cost a cool $177 million. That’s a lot of money. But it is properly amazing. Visitors enter via a vast glass facade(幕墙), which hangs above a pair of oil tanks from the Second World War period. Torres Strait Islands’ artists’ artworks are given priority in the new gallery spaces.
Museum of Art & Photography, Bengaluru
Opening towards the end of the year, this brand-new gallery in southern India was founded by businessman Abhishek Poddar. He’s known for his collection of art and photos and more than 18,000 of his own pieces will be on display here. Expect everything from sculptures to paintings. Can’t make it out to Bengaluru? The museum is going to have digital exhibits on its website, so you can get your culture enjoyment remotely.
1. What is special about Maison Gainsbourg?| A．It used to be a museum. |
| B．It focuses on a singer’s life. |
| C．It is free to visitors all year round. |
| D．It displays sculptures by Serge Gainsbourg. |
| A．The Norwegian Baldishol tapestry. |
| B．A huge collection of art and photos. |
| C．Works of Torres Strait Islands’ artists. |
| D．Artworks about the Second World War. |
| A．Maison Gainsbourg. |
| B．National Museum of Norway. |
| C．Art Gallery of New South Wales. |
| D．Museum of Art & Photography. |
10 . The findings of Nielsen Book Research’s annual survey show that only 32% of British children under 13 are read to daily by an adult, for pleasure, down four percentage points on the previous year.
Most parents stop reading to their child by the age of eight, with just 19% of eight to 10-year-olds read to daily by an adult, across all socio-economic groups, down 3% on last year. Boys were less likely to be read to daily than girls at 14%, compared with 24%.
Another survey carried out by the National Literacy Trust found that the number of 8-to-18-year-olds reading for pleasure has now dropped to 52.5%, from 58.8% in 2019, with only a quarter(25.7%)reading daily, compared with 43% in 2018. The majority of boys and girls in every age group said they preferred screen time to reading.
Publisher Egmont, which co-funded the Nielsen research, said that the decline in parents reading to children signals a significant threat to children’s well-being. It highlighted a strong relation between older children being read to, and children choosing to read independently for pleasure; 74%of 8-to-13-year-olds who were read to each day also read independently, compared with just 29%of those who were read to less than once a week.
Child expert Alison David stressed that a daily story time should be a part of the school day, as normal, unquestionable and as unchangeable as a lunch break. Ideally, she said, this should run into their teens. “The Department for Education states that nothing is more important than ensuring every child can read well, and the way to do this is to introduce a passion for reading for pleasure. This won’t be achieved by guided reading lessons and tests. Space must be made in the school day for story time,” said David. “Teachers are vastly overburdened by the curriculum (课程). Unless time is made for stories, it won’t happen for all children every day, which it needs to—for our children’s futures.”
“Whether your children are dressed up today or not, sit down with them for 10 minutes every day and share a story,” said Kirsten Grant, director of World Book Day. “We all know how important it is to our children’s health to give them their ‘five a day’. It’s just as important for their well-being to read with them for ten a day.”
1. What are the two surveys about?| A．Children’s reading habits. | B．Gender differences in book choices. |
| C．Children’s after-class activities. | D．Parent-child relationships. |
| A．In paragraph 1. | B．In paragraph 2. | C．In paragraph 3. | D．In paragraph 4. |
| A．Reduce the burden of school teachers. |
| B．Decrease the number of guided reading tests. |
| C．Lengthen the lunch break period for children. |
| D．Make space for reading in the school curriculum. |
| A．To entertain. | B．To advertise. | C．To persuade. | D．To defend. |
