1 . How to Make Your Writing Flow?
Writing flow refers to how smoothly text flows from one sentence to the next and one paragraph to another.
1. Vary your sentence structure.
Using only short, choppy sentences creates a disconnected rhythm that disrupts the flow, while a series of long, complex sentences overwhelm readers.
2. Use transition words and phrases.
Transition words and phrases act like bridges between sentences and paragraphs. They create logical connections between ideas. Use transitions like “however,” “therefore,” “similarly,” and “in contrast” to glue sentences and paragraphs together smoothly.
3. Structure paragraphs around a central idea.
4.
Revisiting writing with fresh eyes makes flaws in flow and transitions more noticeable. Let your drafts rest for a day or two to prevent getting stuck reworking the same passage repeatedly. Approaching writing anew allows you to evaluate flow and smooth out imperfections with distance and objectivity.
| A．Don’t leave out the revising process. |
| B．Let completed drafts rest before editing. |
| C．The key is to mix sentence lengths to create fluid variety. |
| D．Place them at the beginning of a sentence or between independent clauses. |
| E．Flowing writing maintains the continuity of ideas and transitions logically. |
| F．Each paragraph should have a controlling idea relating to your overall theme. |
| G．As a writer, it is your responsibility to present your readers with a central idea. |
2 . Classical Music
Voice of Vienna Symphony Orchestra (维也纳之声交响乐团), Austria has excellent musicians from all over the world. They have accompanied many world famous musicians and singers. They are coming to Dongying again. Come and enjoy their wonderful performances!
Place: Snow Lotus (莲花) Theatre Time: 19:30 — 21:00 (or so)
Price: Six levels, from ¥480 to ¥50 Dates: 1 — 2 May
Tel: 6090555
A Mini Marathon (5km)
On May 8, 2018, “China Wanda 2018 Yellow River Estuary (Dongying) International Marathon will be held. At the same time, a mini Marathon (5km) will be held, too. All the citizens who were born before May 8, 2008 are encouraged to register.
Registration place: Registration time:
Dongying National Fitness Center 8:30 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.
Entry fee: ¥30 (students free) 1:30 p.m. — 5:30 p.m.
Tel: 8097628 Registration Dates: 2 — 27 Mar.
Tango Dancing
Tango is fun and easy to learn. Yang Yi, a famous Chinese Tango dancer will come and show you how to do it. Are you ready? Take your partners, go and dance till you drop.
Place: Dongying Art Troupe (团) Time: 8: 00 p.m. — 12: 00 p.m.
Price: ¥150 (including some drinks) Dates: Every Saturday in May
Tel: 8331644
Dining-Sushi (寿司) Chef in Town
Sushi is getting really big in Dongying. In Japan, it’s become an art form. The most famous sushi’ artist is Yuki Kamura. She’s also one of the few women chefs in Japan. She will be here with you at Sushi Scene.
Place: Sushi Scene in Dongying Hotel Time: Lunch time
Price: ¥200 (taste sushi without pay) Dates: 1 — 31 May
Tel: 8062999
1. If you want to book a ticket for the activity at 7:30 p.m. on 1 May, you may call ______.| A．8062999 | B．8097628 | C．8331644 | D．6090555 |
| A．exercise at Dongying National Fitness Center | B．be over ten years old |
| C．pay ¥200 | D．register before March |
| A．Snow Lotus Theatre | B．Dongying National Fitness Center |
| C．Dongying Art Troupe | D．Sushi Scene in Dongying Hotel |
3 . Robins (知更鸟) are considered as a symbol of the festive season and are known for their lively, curious nature around humans. But even robins get road rage because they can become aggressive when there’s noise, a new study shows.
Researchers from the UK found that the sound of traffic made rural robins — not urban robins — “more aggressive”. The study was conducted by experts at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. Human activity has a colossal effect on wildlife, including on their social behavior,” the team said in their paper.
For their study, the team investigated the behavior of male European robins living in urban parks and rural forests in Istanbul. They measured aggression towards another robin intruder, which wasn’t a real robin but instead a model in the shape of an adult bird. The fake robin was equipped with a speaker, through which the team could play audio, and then attached to trees at the parks and forests. The audio consisted of recordings of robin songs, while additional traffic noise was added through another separate speaker nearby.
After recording the birds’ behavior during interactions with the fake intruder, they found the urban robins typically displayed more physical aggression than rural robins. However, rural robins became more aggressive with the addition of traffic noise — possibly because they’re less used to traffic noise than urban birds, which are already living in noisier habitats. What’s more, physical displays of territoriality could increase because the traffic noise interferes with their birdsong. “In normally quiet surroundings, we found that additional traffic noise leads to rural robins becoming more aggressive,” said Dr Caglar Akcay at ARU. “We believe this is because the noise is interfering with their communication.”
Overall, by comparing urban and rural robin reactions, the study provides a valuable glimpse into how urban-living species adapt to “life in a noisy world”. “Our results show that human-produced noise can have a range of effects on robins, depending on the habitat they live in,” said Dr Akcay.
1. What can we learn about the robins according to the text?| A．They like larger habitats. |
| B．They cannot stand other intruders. |
| C．They prefer villages to urban areas. |
| D．They can remind people of joyous seasons. |
| A．Positive. | B．Mutual. | C．Weak. | D．Dramatic. |
| A．It affected their communication. |
| B．It severely damaged their hearing. |
| C．It prevented them from finding food. |
| D．It made it hard for them to return to their habitats. |
| A．To persuade people to protect the robins. |
| B．To compare the differences between robins. |
| C．To show man-made noise’s effect on robins. |
| D．To prove that human and birds are connected. |
4 . World famous physicist Stephen Hawking died peacefully at his home in Cambridge on March 14th, 2018.
Hawking was born in Oxford, England on January 8th, 1942. He went to school in a small city near London. As he himself admitted, he wasn’t very serious about studying. He did very little work, he was never top of his class. However, he still achieved good marks. After leaving school, Hawking first went to Oxford University to study physics. Then he went to Cambridge University to study cosmology (宇宙学).
At the age of 21, Hawking noticed something wrong with him. He had a bad illness that stopped him from moving and talking. He couldn’t communicate except by blinking (眨眼). He sat on a wheelchair with a computer by his side. To communicate with others, he moved two fingers to control the computer’s mouse. He chose his words from the screen, which were then spoken by a voice synthesizer (音响合成器). “I’ve had the disease for most of my life,” Hawking once said, “Yet it has not stopped me from being successful at my work.”
Although Hawking was a disabled man, he made great achievements. He received many awards and prizes for his work, including the Albert Einstein Award—the highest achievement in physics.
Hawking worked at Cambridge University as a professor. His story shows that nobody, however bad their situation is, should lose hope. “Life is not fair,” he once said, “You just have to do the best you can in your own situation.”
1. How old was Stephen Hawking when he passed away?| A．86. | B．76. | C．58. | D．90. |
| A．Stephen Hawking was the best student of his class |
| B．Stephen Hawking didn’t work hard at his lessons |
| C．Stephen Hawking began to study cosmology |
| D．Stephen Hawking didn’t get high marks |
| A．There was something wrong with his head. |
| B．He couldn’t even blink to communicate except by moving fingers. |
| C．He could neither talk nor move. |
| D．He had a car accident. |
| A．By mouth. | B．By body languages. |
| C．By writing letters with his hands. | D．By a voice synthesizer. |
5 . I was ten years old when I started watching lawn tennis. Having developed interest in tennis, I started following and gaining knowledge about the game. The play of the 100th seed was the best according to me until I asked my father who is the number 1 ranked player in the world, to which he replied — Roger Federer.
That was it! I watched his play at Wimbledon and really couldn’t stop admiring this personality. His silky smooth movement, flawless serve, unreachable powerful forehand, amazing footwork—all of it was pretty amazing. I started playing tennis because of him; he was undoubtedly my role model. I followed his career off the tennis court and learned things about him that really made me a better person in life.
There is a feeling of joy in each stroke that Federer plays and a feeling of excitement in each thing he does whether it is giving an interview, doing a press conference, practicing on court or mere signing the tennis balls for fans. There is never a dull moment when he is around, which inspires everyone to be happy and joyous in life in whatever they do. One of the most important things about him which inspires me is his sense of humor.
Federer first congratulates his opponents and never shies from telling them they played wonderfully well, and that luck was on his side today or that he had a good day, instead of attributing the victory to his hours of hard work and training. He always looks for opportunities to praise others.
Another admirable thing about Federer is his love for the game. It teaches me that it’s great to do what you love. You can excel in any profession if you love it from your heart; it then becomes no more a profession but a thing of joy from which you can get satisfaction and fulfilment each day you practice it. It is no more a duty but a sense of fulfilment（成就）.
He is the most respected player in the game and everyone feels privileged to play against him, and some don’t even mind losing to him! This kind of respect is not gained in a few days but in many years by achieving perfectionism both on and off the court, by inspiring and motivating generations to come and becoming a part of history, by not just getting awards on the court but also by being a good man. Federer’s energy motivates me to keep moving on and on in my life, fighting difficulties with a smile and cherishing good moments as well as not so good.
1. How did the author initially know Federer?| A．By watching the play of the 100th seed player. |
| B．By following a Wimbledon tournament. |
| C．By participating in a tennis camp. |
| D．By requiring his father. |
| A．Federer’s optimistic and humorous features. |
| B．How Federer reacted when being interviewed. |
| C．The influence Federer has on his fans. |
| D．How Federer achieved victories through hard exercise. |
| A．We should never cares about losing a game. |
| B．We’d better keep a good relationship with anyone. |
| C．We should treasure both good and not-so-good moments in life. |
| D．We can learn to handle challenges brought by our opponents. |
| A．The Significance of Following a Model | B．An Inspiring Legend: Roger Federer |
| C．The Way to Gain the Sense of Fulfilment | D．The Privilege of Being a Tennis Star |
6 . In the scenic coastal city of Cornwall, Lizzi Larbalestier has become a beacon of hope for marine (海洋的) wildlife. As a committed volunteer for British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), her journey began with transforming her Airbnb, an online platform that allows people to rent out their homes or accommodations to travelers, into a temporary haven for injured seals. This effort came as the result of the increasing incidents of marine animals suffering from human-related injuries and the lack of specialized care facilities in the region.
Recognizing the urgent need for a more permanent solution, Lizzi, alongside her husband and a team of committed volunteers, established a fully equipped seal hospital. This facility, now in its third year of operation, has expanded its capacity to ten pens and is prepared to recover around 100 seals annually. The hospital caters to a variety of cases: seals injured by boats or caught in fishing gear (用具), young pups separated from their mothers, and young seals weakened by poor nutrition. Each animal receives personalized care, ranging from basic first aid to extensive recovery programs. After initial treatment, seals are often moved to larger recovery centers for further care before their release back into the wild.
Lizzi’s commitment to marine conservation extends beyond seal rescue. She is an active participant in environmental campaigns like Surfers Against Sewage and Ghostnetbuster. Her tireless efforts were recognized when she received the Animal Action Award from the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Lizzi owes the success of BDMLR’s operations to the collective effort of all volunteers, emphasizing the importance of teamwork in achieving their conservation goals.
The BDMLR team also responds to emergencies involving other marine wildlife, like whales and dolphins. Lizzi recalls several successful operations, including the rescue of stranded (搁浅的) dolphins and a turtle that required specialized care.
Lizzi’s story is not just about rescuing marine animals; it’s a proof of the power of community involvement and the impact of individuals on environmental conservation.
1. What inspired Lizzi to protect the marine wildlife?| A．One of her trips to the seaside. | B．Increasing profits from her Airbnb. |
| C．Her love for the marine creatures. | D．More and more injured marine animals. |
| A．It has been in operation for five years. |
| B．It provides a separate space for each seal. |
| C．It is the largest recovery center in the area. |
| D．It offers temporary help to injured animals. |
| A．All roads lead to Rome. | B．Many hands make light work. |
| C．Every cloud has a silver lining. | D．Actions speak louder than words. |
| A．A professional guide to seal rescue. |
| B．Challenges of marine wildlife recovery. |
| C．The journey of a marine life rescuer in Cornwall. |
| D．The impact of human activities on marine ecosystems. |
7 . Mixing concrete and carbon powder (粉末) could enable houses to store an entire day’s worth of energy in their concrete foundations. This innovative method of creating a super capacitor (电容器) — an alternative to batteries — can be used to construct the foundations of buildings. When combined with renewable energy sources, it even could wirelessly recharge electric vehicles as they drive along.
“The materials are available to everyone all over the place, all over the world,” says Franz-Josef Ulm at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He and his colleagues showed how the super capacitor can be mixed with water to form a solid block with carbon-filled wire-like structures. When the concrete is placed in an electrolyte solution (电解液), it will serve as a capacitor, enabling energy storage.
The researchers say that the next step might be to create 12-volt super capacitors that can be connected to provide more charging power for large devices. They calculated that a concrete block similar to a cube 3.5 metres on each side could store 10 kilowatt-hours of energy. That is about a third of the average daily household electricity use in the US and about 1.25 times the average in the UK. The material could maintain its charging and discharging capabilities beyond 10,000 cycles, which means, in theory, that it could provide energy storage for a solar-powered home for more than 27 years.
Viable as it sounds, Yury Gogotsi at Drexel University in Pennsylvania notes that one engineering challenge is to replace conventional concrete with materials built with the super capacitors, and that keeping the super capacitor wetted with the conductive salt solution for the lifetime of the building or road would be challenging.
Still, the MIT team expressed optimism about how many people worldwide could start experimenting with this relatively simple blueprint for a low-cost super capacitor. “The fundamental aspect of this technology is that it’s two historical, ancient materials that come together, that we have known for thousands of years,” says Admir Masic at MIT.
1. What is the innovative method intended for?| A．Serving as a battery to store energy. |
| B．Enhancing the strength of the concrete. |
| C．Reducing the cost of constructing buildings. |
| D．Improving the material for electric vehicles. |
| A．By explaining principles. | B．By giving a definition. |
| C．By making a comparison | D．By listing numbers. |
| A．Important. | B．Practicable. | C．Unusual. | D．Difficult. |
| A．The new technology is promising. |
| B．He draws a blueprint for the new method. |
| C．Super capacitors still have a long way to go. |
| D．Natural materials are vital to the technology. |
8 . People who have a diet rich in flavanols (黄烷醇), which are found in tea, apples and berries, may be less likely to develop age-related memory loss, research suggests. A three-year study of 3,562 people aged about 71 found those with high regular flavanol consumption had better hippocampal (海马的) memory function, which includes short-term memory-making, than those who didn’t.
Lead scientist Scott Small said the findings formed part of a growing body of research that is “starting to reveal that different nutrients are needed to strengthen our ageing minds”.
The scientists randomly assigned healthy adults to receive either a daily 500mg flavanol supplement or an artificial pill for three years. The participants took several memory tests during the study period and filled in surveys that assessed their diet. The researchers said memory scores improved only slightly for the group taking the flavanol pill, but that within that group some people who had poor diet and low flavanol consumption at the beginning of the study, saw their memory scores increase by 16% compared with the start of the study.
Prof Aedin Cassidy, an expert from Queen’s University Belfast, said it was a “really important study”, especially since the amount required for brain health improvement was “readily achievable”. “For example, one cup of tea, six squares of dark chocolate, a couple of servings of berries and apples would together provide about 500mg of flavanols,” he said.
However, David Curtis, an honorary professor at the UCL Genetics Institute, said, “The study fails to provide evidence that increasing flavanol intake is beneficial and there is no need for anybody to consider changing their diet in the light of its findings.”
Carl Hodgetts from University of London, said research into the relationship between nutrition and the brain could help with the fight against dementia (痴呆). He said it was “an interesting study that starts to address such questions” but disagreed with the conclusion that flavanol supplements affect hippocampal function, as MRI scans would be needed to establish this.
1. What can we learn about the flavanol?| A．It can lead to our ageing mind. |
| B．It can be acquired easily in our daily life. |
| C．It hardly affects long-term memory-making. |
| D．It can limit hippocampal memory function. |
| A．People taking artificial pills. |
| B．People controlling their diet. |
| C．People taking more flavanols than others. |
| D．People lacking flavanols before the study. |
| A．Divided. | B．Carefree. | C．Doubtful. | D．Opposed. |
| A．Balanced Diet: Necessary for Old People |
| B．Different Nutrients Affect People’s Memories |
| C．Flavanols: A Way to Reduce Memory Loss of the Elder |
| D．Flavanol Supplements Can Help Prevent Certain Diseases |
9 . We are delighted to confirm that your application for Master of Materials Research at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) has been successful. Details of your offer are listed below.
English Language Requirements
Pass IELTS (Academic) with a score of 6.5 including 6.0 in writing and 5.5 or above in all other components. Or pass an acceptable English language test found on our web pages: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/international-students/englishlanguagerequirements/.
Expected Academic Standard
We normally calculate the final overall mark of degrees using the weighted average method. This means that we will take into account the credit value of all modules (单元) (from all years) that have been credited. For module marks that use a range, we will use the mid-point of the range for our final average calculation.
Please note this offer is also conditional on your academic degree being awarded with all final year modules at 70% or above.
Offer Holder DayLog in now to your applicant portal (门户网站) to book your place on one of our offer holder events. Here you will be able to find out more about the school you have applied to, speak directly to students and staff and experience the quality of teaching in one of our taster lectures.
Deposit (订金)
In order to secure your place at Queen Mary University of London, in addition to meeting your conditions of offer, you will be required to pay a deposit of £2,000 (2,000 GBP) towards your tuition fee.
1. What score should you get at least in IELTS writing if you want to be accepted?| A．5.5. | B．6.0. | C．6.5. | D．7.0. |
| A．By applying the weighted average method. |
| B．By measuring credits of all modules. |
| C．By referring to the mid-point of the range. |
| D．By calculating 70% of the final marks. |
| A．Give a lecture. | B．Pay a deposit. |
| C．Talk with fellow students. | D．Sign up for a sport. |
10 . The moon has no air, no water and an extreme 250-degree celsius temperature range, but among the most tricky challenges for space agencies hoping to set up camp is the dust. It damages space suits, blocks machinery, affects scientific instruments and makes moving around difficult.
Now scientists have come up with a potential solution, demonstrating that moon dust could be melted using a giant lens (透镜) to create solid roads and landing areas. “You might think: Streets on the moon, who needs that?” said Prof. Jens Gunster, of the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in Berlin and co-author. “But in fact it’s a kind of depressing demand early on.”
Dust has destroyed previous missions, such as the Lunar Surveyor 3 spacecraft — damaged by dust kicked up by the Apollo 12 landing — and overcoming this challenge is a priority for NASA, which aims to establish a permanent lunar base.
Taking building materials to the moon would be too expensive, so new solutions are needed. “You need to use what’s there and that’s simply loose dust,” said Gunster.
He and colleagues experimented with a fine-grained material called EAC-1A, developed by the European Space Agency as a substitute for lunar soil. They used a laser beam (激光) to heat the dust to about 1, 600℃ to melt it. They then traced out bendy triangle shapes, each about 25 cm across, which could be interlocked to create solid surfaces across large areas for roads and landing areas.
The process is slow. Each small geometric unit took about an hour, meaning it would take about 100 days to create a landing spot measuring 10 meters by 10 meters. “It sounds like forever, but think about constructions on Earth,” said Gunster.
The authors calculate that a lens of about 2. 37 sq meters would need to be transported from Earth to act as a sunlight concentrator in place of the laser. But dust would still be an issue for the lens itself. “When you accumulate dust on the lens, it will sooner or later not function any more,” said Gunster, adding that a shaking lens may help ease off this problem.
1. Why is the demand for streets on the moon “kind of depressing”?| A．Streets are not necessary on the moon. |
| B．Streets would get damaged by moon dust. |
| C．Building materials are too expensive to transport. |
| D．There are better solutions available for lunar base. |
| A．Finding a substitute for lunar soil. |
| B．Setting up a permanent lunar base. |
| C．Solving the problem caused by moon dust. |
| D．Repairing the damaged Lunar Surveyor 3 spacecraft. |
| A．Slow but workable. | B．Expensive and fast. |
| C．Important but impractical. | D．Difficult and unnecessary. |
| A．In a personal diary. | B．In a newspaper. |
| C．In an official report. | D．In a textbook. |
