1 . Four Best Christmas Markets in Italy
BolzanoBolzano market is one of the largest in Italy and one of the first markets in the country. It is the ideal place to join the festive activities. You’ll find a large Christmas tree decorated with lights. Besides, there are little wooden houses filled with traditional gifts, candles, crafts and so much more which can give a medieval (中世纪的) feeling.
TurinThe market in Turin is a traditional Italian Christmas market and one of the first markets in the country. It is decorated with Christmas lights and decorations. Here you’ll find hand-made goods in a typical Piedmontese style as well as famous chocolates from Turin.
VenicePiazza San Marco is home to Venice’s Christmas market. During this time the city turns into a small Christmas village with unique decoration, lights and lots of cheers. There are dozens of Christmas trees as well as little wooden shops and visitors from all around the world. Shops offer the best treats you’ll ever taste, traditional street food and hand-made goods.
MilanOne of the longest running Christmas markets in Milan, is a sight worth seeing. The market dates back to the 1500s when it was once an event to allow locals to pay their respects to Sant’ Ambrogio. Today, there are over 300 stalls (货摊) decorated with lights and selling hand-made goods.
There are so many Christmas markets to enjoy. Start planning your Italy escape today. Are you ready to get into the festive spirit?
1. What do Bolzano and Turin have in common?| A．Both are the earliest created markets in Italy. |
| B．Both make visitors feel in the Middle Ages. |
| C．Both provide hand-made chocolates. |
| D．Both sell gifts in wooden houses. |
| A．Its history. | B．Its decoration. |
| C．Its traditional sea food. | D．Its local people. |
| A．Bolzano. | B．Turin. | C．Venice. | D．Milan. |
2 . How to Express Thanks to Loved Ones
You may feel grateful to your family and friends, but it may not always be easy for you to know how to express that. To truly express your gratitude (感激), you have to be kind and open.
Tell them how much you thank them. You may be taking your family members for granted (想当然) without even realizing it.
Write “thank-you” cards.
Do favors for them. Don’t do favors for your friends just because they’ve helped you out recently or because you want something in return.
| A．Give meaningful gifts |
| B．Thank the person publicly |
| C．When they face troubles and need some help |
| D．It’s one of the easiest ways to show your gratitude |
| E．Remember that a more grateful life is a happier life |
| F．To show how much your family members mean to you |
| G．Instead, help them out just because you care about them |
3 . Want to reduce your risk of dementia (痴呆)? Start counting your steps — you’ll need between 3,800 and 9,800 each day to reduce your risk of mental decline, according to a new study.
People between the ages of 40 and 79 who took 9,826 steps per day were 50% less likely to develop dementia within seven years, the study found. Furthermore, people who walked with “purpose” — at a speed over 40 steps a minute — were able to cut their risk of dementia by 57% with just 6,315 steps a day. Even people who walked about 3,800 steps a day at any speed cut their risk by 25%.
“That would be enough, at first, for sedentary (久坐不动) people,” said Cruz, a senior researcher in health sciences. “In fact, it is a message that doctors could use to inspire sedentary older adults — 4,000 steps is achievable by many, even those less fit,” he added. “Perhaps, more active and fitter people should aim for 10,000, where we see the largest effects.”
But there was an even more interesting result hidden in the study, according to an article entitled “Is 112 the New 10,000?”
The largest reduction (降低) in dementia risk — 62% — was achieved by people who walked at a very easy speed of 112 steps per minute for 30 minutes a day, the study found. Earlier research has marked 100 steps a minute as an easy or middle level of strength.
The article argued that people looking to reduce their risk of dementia should focus on their walking speed over their walking distance.
“We do agree this is a very interesting finding,” said Cruz. “Our take is that strength of stepping matters! Technology could be used to track not only the number of steps but also the speed and so these types of measures can also be applied in commercial watches. More research is needed on this.”
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 2?| A．Old people are more likely to have dementia. |
| B．Young people had better walk 9,826 steps a day. |
| C．It is harmful for people over 40 to walk too fast. |
| D．It is good for people to walk about 3,800 steps a day. |
| A．About 3,800 steps a day at any speed. |
| B．About 100 steps a minute a day. |
| C．At a speed over 40 steps a minute for 30 minutes a day. |
| D．At a speed of 112 steps a minute for half an hour a day. |
| A．The speed. | B．The steps. | C．The reasons. | D．The benefits. |
| A．Those who keep walking are less likely to develop dementia. |
| B．Walking each day can cut your risk of dementia but speed matters. |
| C．Walk a certain number of steps each day to cut your risk of dementia. |
| D．The more steps you take, the less risk of dementia you suffer from. |
4 . When Arsh was a young boy, his parents, Divya Pal and Sanjeev, signed him up for extracurricular activities such as piano, karate (空手道) and gymnastics, but he preferred art. When Arsh turned 8, he received a watercolor paint set as a birthday gift. He spent all his spare time painting. That’s how he started painting.
Around the same time, Arsh often visited a local nursing home, where his mother works. Spending time there inspired him to start selling his art for a good cause. “I want to help people in need through my paintings,” he said.
And so began his fundraising (筹款) program, which he called “Art by Arsh”. He sold his paintings at local art shows, restaurants and libraries, as well as on his Instagram account and Facebook page. He donated his first $1,000 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in 2018, and has since reached various other charities.
Arsh, now 12, mostly makes commissioned (委托创作的) pieces, and several of his customers have come back wanting more. That includes his neighbor, Jolene Schaver, who has five of Arsh’s creations hanging in her home and has bought many more for friends and family. “I was amazed at how talented he was at such a young age, without any formal training,” said Schaver.
Along with selling his paintings to benefit nonprofit organizations, Arsh now also teaches art lessons at the local nursing home. And he thought about accessibility, and realized not all people have the resources (资源) to make art—which has the capacity to comfort and heal (治愈). “One of my future goals is to make art accessible for kids who want to express themselves,” Arsh said. He has already started offering free art lessons to local children, and he hopes to expand (扩展) his classes further in the future.
1. What do we know about the young Arsh according to the first paragraph?| A．He received a painting as a birthday gift. | B．He made a living through painting. |
| C．He showed a lively interest in art. | D．He got a place at an art school. |
| A．To raise money by selling his paintings. | B．To introduce his paintings to more people. |
| C．To donate some of his paintings to charities. | D．To decorate local libraries with his paintings. |
| A．Warm-hearted and humorous. | B．Hard-working and honest. |
| C．Gifted and generous. | D．Kind and brave. |
| A．Form more nonprofit organizations. | B．Learn more about the healing power of art. |
| C．Do more voluntary work at the nursing home. | D．Create more opportunities for kids to make art. |
5 . Human history is full of horse stories like guiding cowboys home on foggy nights and taking wounded soldiers through battle zones. Such sensible and highly trained horses made Elina Jatel, a computer scientist and roboticist, think of robots. “A horse that can take a rider home on its own would be the highest level of autonomy,” Jatel says. “You trust them with your life.” She was drawn to learning how such relationships form and if it could help improve human-robot interactions.
For a year, Jatel engaged herself in the horse world. She watched classes in horse training, and she also talked with students, instructors, trainers and horse owners. Along the way, Jatel even learned to ride.
Horses learn signals from their trainers on how to comfortably interact with people. People, too, must learn their part. Riders must learn what a horse wants or feels based on its behavior, and what signals to use to direct horses to perform in desired ways. Jatel found some similarities, here, to working with robots. People must learn how to direct robots to do specific tasks. They also must learn what to do when robots don’t perform as planned. The goal is to program robots that will respond predictably to inputs from people. But like horses, autonomous robots also should be able to respond on their own as conditions change. For example, a self-driving car must stop to avoid hitting something, even if some human mistakenly tells it to keep going.
Trainers and riders work with horses to build respect. Horses show that respect by matching their pace to a human or giving someone who is leading them a safe degree of personal space. Trainers begin their work with a horse by getting them to show signs of respect in basic interactions, Jatel says. Later, trainers will develop more complex interactions. Gradually, a horse’s respect can grow into trust.
But that trust is not given. And there may be a similar limitation with robots. What would it mean for robots and people to respect and trust each other? For now, she adds, this is largely uncharted territory. But she’s looking to build a path.
1. What drew Elina Jatel’s attention to horses?| A．Horses’ amazing performance. | B．Long history of horse training. |
| C．Horse-human interdependence. | D．Her horse-riding experience. |
| A．To act like real horses. | B．To show respect to humans. |
| C．To follow instructions from humans. | D．To make independent and sensible decisions. |
| A．The limitations of robots. | B．Trust between robots and humans. |
| C．Path toward higher robot efficiency. | D．Similarities between horses and robots. |
| A．History of Human-Horse Relationship | B．Secrets of Human-Animal Interactions |
| C．The Role of Trust in Human-Robot Partnerships | D．Horses as the Inspiration for Autonomous Robots |
6 . 18 years ago, a 14-year-old boy from Kasungu district in Malawi was forced to drop out of school for lack of fees. At the same time, a severe famine was destroying his village, claiming people’s lives and leaving desperation in its wake.
This was a situation to break the strongest of minds but William Kamkwamba did not give up. Young as he was, he knew that education was where his future lay. He found hope in the library and feasted on the knowledge that he harvested from its books. It was there that he came across a science textbook entitled Using Energy. He learned that he could generate electricity using wind. The youngster realized that, if mastered, this power could help his village in exceptional ways.
Armed with determination and an iron will, the teenager set out to build a windmill out of random materials from a scrapyard (垃圾场). Though his outside world was collapsing to dust, the youngster did not hesitate about his purpose. He defended himself from all doubt and criticism. He worked tirelessly until his dream of bringing electricity to his village became reality. Soon, he was caught in the center of media attention that took him to new places that he would never have stepped on without his invention.
In his village, the dust has not settled yet and the winds of change continue to blow across the land. Windmills pump water to irrigate crops, sweeping away another period of hunger. William’s former primary school boasts new and stronger buildings, thanks to the help of well-wishers and the villagers’ united efforts.
What seemed like a hopeless situation has been turned into an inspirational story that motivates each and every one of us, persuading us that no misfortune is set in stone. William refused to be a school drop-out forever. He sought solutions for his problems and continued fighting even when the going got tough. He was able to rise above poverty to become a graduate from one of America’s best universities, Dartmouth College.
1. What inspired William to bring electricity to his village?| A．His realization of the impact of electricity. | B．His awareness of the role of education. |
| C．The science textbook entitled Using Energy. | D．The severe famine destroying his village. |
| A．All people didn’t support William’s dream at first. |
| B．The public had little interest in William’s invention. |
| C．The invention enabled William to make a big fortune. |
| D．The windmill is energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. |
| A．Visible. | B．Avoidable. | C．Unchangeable. | D．Unpredictable. |
| A．Knowledge feasts mind and education promises wealth. |
| B．Necessity inspires invention and hardship makes heroes. |
| C．Criticism promotes success and doubt facilitates creation. |
| D．Adversity motivates inspiration and support pushes solutions. |
7 . Autonomously copying other people’s thoughts or options or simply going with the crowd is often referred to as “herd (群体) behaviour”. Herding can appear to make a lot of sense. In an earlier article, I discussed the so-called “wisdom of crowds”, which suggests that average judgments of large groups of people often outperform individual choices.
Psychology research has attempted to model herd behaviour and suggests that the phenomenon relies on the existence of social connections or patterns between individuals as well as specific mechanisms of passing on information. A key condition is the human ability to “mentalize”, which means being able to read and interpret someone else’s mental state and using the information to explain their options. This action of mentalizing is responsible for people’s tendency to attach meaning to options by the herd, even if many behaviours may have come about at random.
Herd behaviours, while common and easy to explain, hold significant dangers. Contrary to the so-called “wisdom of crowds”, which emerges when the judgments of individual group members are independently collected to produce an average opinion, herd behaviours typically rely on so-called “information cascades”, where people take on others’ beliefs or copy their options without critically evaluating the underlying reasons. This frequently leads to the mirroring of unreasonable or stupid behaviours.
Blindly following the herd can be dangerous. So how can we resist the tendency of following the crowd? The sad news is that psychology research suggests that it’s surprisingly difficult to withstand the influences of the herd. In an experiment, researchers found that warning messages about the potential errors of the crowd were surprisingly ineffective in helping subjects make better choices. It appears there is no quick and easy fix. Instead, long-term attitude changes may be necessary, which could involve individuals adopting more critical approaches towards their peers’ opinion, and questioning others’ behaviours as opposed to blindly following them.
1. Why does the author mention “wisdom of crowd” in Paragraph 1?| A．To introduce the definition of herd behaviour. |
| B．To contradict the judgments of large groups. |
| C．To attract readers to his previous discussion. |
| D．To justify the behaviour of following others. |
| A．Heavy reliance on social activities. |
| B．Ineffective mechanism of information exchange. |
| C．Attaching meaning to crowd’s random choices. |
| D．Analyzing individuals’ mental state. |
| A．By defining. | B．By quoting. |
| C．By making a comparison. | D．By giving an example. |
| A．Following your heart. | B．Thinking twice before action. |
| C．Working out a quick fix. | D．Taking peers’ opinion seriously. |
8 . Can you imagine a civilization without music? Impossible, I would say. In addition, history shows that every culture on this planet has used music all the way.
They say that music is good for the soul, but what about the heart?
Patients suffering from pain have found relief from listening to music. Classical music seems to be the best choice and Mozart and Bach are the most suitable. But heavy metal and other techno sounds can actually excite patients and cause irregular heartbeats, so they are not recommended.
Music may be useful in controlling overweight.Studies show that simply playing soft and relaxing music while eating can have a controlling effect on how full you feel.
There was a lot of publicity about the “Mozart Effect” which showed that a group of college students did better at math while they were listening to some classical music.
| A．Let us see how music affects us. |
| B．The result is that you will eat less. |
| C．Some students find that music can aid concentration, while others need silence. |
| D．There are lots of experiments which are more or less impressive on the benefits of music when treating illness. |
| E．Heavy metal music have no effect on easing pain. |
| F．Let us look at the actual health benefits now. |
| G．Music can help with pain relief. |
9 . It’s a race against time, as generations of cultural heritage conservators at the Dunhuang Academy make a great effort to protect the artistic charm of the Mogao Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, despite erosion (侵蚀) by sand and wind.
The team is dedicated to protecting the 45, 000 square meters of murals (壁画) and more than 2, 400 painted sculptures of the 735 caves of the site, the construction of which spans about a thousand years, from the 4th century to the 14th century. The cultural relics are the product of the cultural exchanges that took place over centuries on the ancient Silk Road. “Our work, repairing murals and painted sculptures, is to better preserve the caves, which promotes the great Dunhuang spirit of inclusiveness (包容) to the world and inspires modern people,” says Su Bomin, director of the Dunhuang Academy.
Commonly seen “diseases” affecting the murals include cracking and flaking (剥落), as well as erosion that is caused by changes in temperature and humidity of the caves, and the deposition of salts. To restore (修复) a mural requires an all-rounder. Restorers should know painting, master the skills of a mason (石匠) and have some knowledge of chemistry and physics, to be able to recognize the problems and their corresponding (相应的) causes and deliver a solution. They must also select proper materials and tools, and conduct experiments, before formally carrying out the restoration and evaluating the effect afterward.
The restoration (修复) should respect the original work and aim to maintain the status quo (现状) of the murals rather than repainting them. When the restorers find some parts of murals missing or fading away, they never repaint them to create a “perfect” appearance in restoration. “Cultural relics are witnesses of history,” explains Su. “When you pursue the so-called intact (完好无损的) look for artistic reasons, you will lose their key meaning.”
Cave conservation is about continuously solving problems. “It needs a long-term research to better preserve the caves, over a much wider time span that goes beyond our lifetimes,” Su says. But at least, they can keep the existing look of the murals for as long as possible.
1. What is the main purpose of paragraph 2?| A．To show the popularity of Dunhuang murals. |
| B．To explain the history of the ancient Silk Road. |
| C．To stress the significance of the restoration work. |
| D．To present the ways of protecting cultural heritage. |
| A．Creative. | B．Well-paid. | C．Interesting. | D．Demanding. |
| A．Spotting the faded murals in time. |
| B．Fixing the missing parts of murals. |
| C．Making preservation(保护) of the murals as they are. |
| D．Repainting to perfect the appearance of murals. |
| A．The Artistic Charm of Mural Paintings. |
| B．The Mural Restoration in the Mogao Caves. |
| C．The Successful Experiment on Cave Conservation. |
| D．The Role of the Dunhuang Spirit in Chinese Culture. |
10 . An estimated 1 to 2 million people work out in virtual reality monthly. If you’re like me and find it hard to spend meaningful time in the gym, VR fitness might be for you. Here are my picks from the apps I’ve tested:
①Les Mills BodyCombat: Les Mills BodyCombat is great for beginners with a lot to offer—the works center around punching, squatting, and knee-striking targets. While the update added workouts and a new mixed reality mode showing you the room around you, I still look to other apps and games for variety. It also doesn’t have a “cool down” after the workouts—so I’ll typically switch to another app after my workout to relax. $30/ one time purchase
②FitXR: FitXR is a subscription-based app with a diverse line of workouts. A recent update added Zumba and a mixed reality mode called Slam to a list that includes boxing, combat, high-intensity interval training, sculpt and dance. I enjoy FitXR quite a bit, but it’s not my top recommendation due to the cost, the poor pictures, and some missing mixed-reality options. $9.99/month
③Supernatural: Supernatural is one of the most popular VR fitness apps. Unsurprisingly, it’s a polished experience with beautiful locations from around the world, popular music you’ll recognize, and energetic trainers with two main workout types—Boxing and Flow.$3.00/one time purchase
④Xponential + : Xponential +, the newest offering for Quest platforms, has partnered with other workout studios to bring their workouts to reality. I love how the app brings the work out into your living room by displaying a small version of the trainer on your floor or ceiling when it detects that you’re in a plank, pushup, or lying on your back. $9.99/month-also includes access to workouts via app or web.
1. What do Les Mills BodyCombat and FitXR have in common?| A．Both provide mixed reality mode. | B．Both are at a high price. |
| C．Both are suitable for beginners. | D．Both provide various workouts. |
| A．①② | B．①③ | C．③④ | D．②③ |
| A．A course plan. | B．A sports website. |
| C．A science magazine. | D．A tourist brochure. |
