1 . 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 |
2 . 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. |
3 . In the late afternoon, fifteen-year-old Saanya Hasan Ali can often be found in the comfortable family room of her home. But she isn’t doing homework and she isn’t in front of a computer screen. She is cutting, drawing, measuring, gluing and folding. “I just love arts and crafts,” says Saanya. whose talent for designing and making greeting cards is matched by her dedication (奉献) to helping children and families in need. During the past six years, she has raised an astonishing $26,000 through the sale of her cards.
Saanya’s unexpected success began, when her family moved from Houston to Washington, DC. “My mother received an e-mail from friends who bad just founded the Pennies for Education and Health (PEH) organization. They were raising money for children in Gujarat, India to be able to go to school.” explains Saanya, who was nine at the time. Her mother, Salma, offered to donate $75 in Saanya’s name, a sum that would pay for one child’s schooling for a year. But Saanya decided she wanted to raise the money herself. “I was in the third grade then and I couldn’t even wrap my mind around the fact that kids couldn’t go to school over there” she says. Saanya and her mum unpacked one of the moving boxes filled with Saanya’s crafts supplies, and she made cards to sell at a family wedding that summer. To her surprise, she earned $600 — enough to send eight children to school for the year. “I kept on making cards and the following summer I was able to help support the kids for another year,” explains Saanya, who by then had established her own non-profit organization called Children Helping Children. One of her goals now, she says, is to support the schooling of these first eight children until they graduate from college.
“I would love to continue making cards,” says Saanya. “Now that I am in high school, I would also like to start giving talks in inner-city schools to try to inspire other kids to do their own projects. No matter who you are, there is always an opportunity to make a difference.”
1. What was Saanya’s reaction when she knew some kids couldn’t go to school?| A．She felt very surprised. | B．She emailed her mother’s friend. |
| C．She became worried about them. | D．She decided to go to India to help them. |
| A．By selling her cards at a wedding. | B．By founding the PEH organization. |
| C．By collecting money from her mother. | D．By donating money through a friend. |
| A．She set up her own shop. | B．She donated $600 to PEH. |
| C．She created a non-profit organization. | D．She provided card-making supplies to others. |
| A．Give talks on card-making. | B．Set up more projects. |
| C．Support more poor students in college. | D．Encourage more students to help kids in need. |
4 . Five years ago, I wrote about the connection between expectations and happiness—lower your expectations and you will be happier: control expectations and despair won’t be so obvious when life does not go according to plan. And perhaps there is some truth in that idea.
However, with reduced expectations, we chip away at hope. And how can we not hope for a better tomorrow? I consider myself to be someone with spirit. I look forward to experiences and anticipate memorable ones. And while it’s important to cope when such experiences fall through. I think it’s even more important to hold onto what was originally present -that sense of hope.
The Times article, Optimism Bias: Human Brain May Be Hardwired for Hope, offers a perspective with roots in evolutionary (进化的) psychology. Hope can be wired in the human brain to enhance survival. If present during trying times, hope can be a factor that allows some to overcome difficulties and gather positivity for the days ahead.
“Hope keeps our minds at ease, lowers stress and improves physical health,” the article states. “Researchers studying patients with heart disease found that optimists were more likely than nonoptimistic patients to take vitamins, cat low-fat diets and exercise, thereby reducing their overall risk. A study of cancer patients revealed that pessimistic patients under the age of 60 were more likely to die within eight months than nonpessimistic patients of the same initial health and age.”
Life is always going to bring us challenges. Life is always going to be comprised of problems that might pull us down. Is it still foolish to have hope? I say it’s not. Because without hope, what are we left with? I say hope is significant. I say it’s a beautiful part of what it means to be human.
1. What would the author do to deal with disappointments five years ago.| A．Raise expectations. | B．Anticipate less. |
| C．Stay away from stress. | D．Make fewer plans. |
| A．Forget. | B．Weaken. | C．Change. | D．Doubt. |
| A．Pessimists tend to live a shorter life. | B．Optimists usually have a better appetite. |
| C．Being hopeful helps humans survive. | D．Human brains are designed for hardship. |
| A．The methods of achieving happiness. | B．How to cope with difficulties. |
| C．The importance of holding on lo hope. | D．How to balance hope and reality. |
5 . How to Find Yourself
Do you often feel lost? Do you think you are living somebody else’s life? If yes, discover ways to find yourself by going through the following article.
Give yourself a breakIf you are thinking. “how to find yourself when you are lost?”, then the first thing to do is to have a rest from everything — work, personal life and all worldly things.
For once, instead of being the way others want you to be, be yourself. Look within and find yourself in you Think about the things that you would want to do if you didn’t have any family obligations or any money issues. If you really want to know bow to find inner peace, then think, what you would want others to describe you as - an honest person? Or adventurous? Or loving. or realistic?
Thinking deeply about the past, the time or situations when you were the happiest, is another way to find yourself.
Knowing yourself and determining what you want to do with your life will not come to you in a day or two. Discovering oneself is an ongoing process and it can take months or sometimes even years to truly find yourself. So, it’s important that you keep a written record of all your feelings and thought.
| A．Accept yourself. |
| B．Focus on yourself. |
| C．Give time to yourself to think why you seem lost |
| D．Pour all your emotions and feelings about life in it. |
| E．Think what you were doing or when you were the happiest. |
| F．It is very important for you to truly find yourself before it is too late |
| G．Once you look within, you will know the answer and then try to be exactly that. |
6 . If you’re searching for the best tool to help you achieve your fitness goals. look no further than your smartphone. Here is a list of four fitness Apps that are worth the download.
Map My Run
Map My Run is one of the original fitness Apps for runners. The App’s bank of more than 70 million running routes ensures you always have a new course to try, and it accurately records your distance, pace, calories burned and more as you move. You can review every detail about your run within the map itself after you’ve logged your workout.
Cost: Basic for free, Pro for $5.99 a month or $29.99 a year.
JEFIT
Successful strength training requires smart program planning, and that’s where JEFIT shines. This App has a database of more than 1,300 exercises to help you plan the specifics of your weightlifting sessions. It also comes equipped with set training programs appropriate for all training levels for those who want to follow an expert.
Cost: Basic for free, Pro for $6.99 a month or $39.99 a year.
8fit
When dropping pounds is your primary goal, it’s important to pursue it with effective exercise and smart nutrition. 8fit clearly delivers in both areas. It offers custom workout and food plans, encouraging lifestyle change over unsustainable diets.
Cost: Basic for free, Pro for $25 a month, $60 for six months or $80 a year.
Alo Moves
Alo Moves is loaded with more than 1,500 different video classes from world-class yoga (瑜伽) instructors. Once you share a few details about your fitness goals, the App delivers personalized class recommendations. You can also filter (筛选) classes by style, difficulty, time, and instructor to best suit your mood and schedule.
Cost: $20 a month after a 14-day free trial.
1. What separates the four Apps from one another?| A．Popularity among users. | B．Target users. |
| C．User friendliness. | D．User feedback. |
| A．Real-time data recording. | B．Program planning |
| C．Fitness meal designing. | D．Expert instructions. |
| A．Map My Run. | B．JEFIT. | C．8fit. | D．Alo Moves. |
7 . Historical accounts often described the now-extinct California grizzly bears as huge beasts ready to attack humans and livestock at any time. But according to a new paper, scientists say the truth might have been less dramatic: The bears ate a mostly vegetarian diet and were smaller than previously described. California grizzly bears once roamed in the Golden State. But European settlers often hunted, poisoned and trapped the creatures. Over time, because of these human activities, the California grizzly population declined. The last reliable sighting of a California grizzly bear occurred 100 years ago in 1924, and the animals disappeared completely sometime after that.
Researchers wanted to get a better understanding of the factors that accelerated the bears’ extinction. They also hoped to gain more insight into the creatures’ behavior, size and diet. To do so, they turned to documents and California grizzly specimens in natural history collections. They measured the animals’ skulls and teeth and analyzed their bones and pelts. The researchers found that California grizzly bears were much smaller than the 2,000 pounds often reported at the time. Historical accounts might not necessarily have been wrong, but they might have only included the largest bears. In addition, analyses of the animals’ bones and skins suggest the bears were primarily eating plants, which stands in contrast to their fear some hyper carnivorous (超级食肉的) reputation. “The bears likely increased meat consumption due to landscape changes coupled with the arrival of livestock,” says study co-author Alexis Mychajliw. However, researchers found the animals still ate a majority vegetarian diet and killed far less livestock than historical accounts suggested.
By digging beyond the bears’ reputation, the researchers gained a more accurate understanding of the California grizzly’s biology and natural history. And since scientists and land managers often rely on historical accounts when reintroducing animals to their former habitats, the study serves as a reminder that those old newspapers and journals do not tell the whole story.
1. What does the underlined word “roamed” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Disappeared. | B．Declined. | C．Fought. | D．Wandered. |
| A．They mainly fed on livestock. |
| B．Their diet consisted mostly of plants. |
| C．They ate a balanced diet of plants and meat. |
| D．The absence of livestock changed their dietary habit. |
| A．They are unique. | B．They are one-sided. |
| C．They are accurate. | D．They are comprehensive. |
| A．The natural habitats of California grizzly bears. |
| B．The extinction process of California grizzly bears. |
| C．The reveal of the truth of California grizzly bears. |
| D．The significance of the arrival of California grizzly bears. |
8 . From lettuces (生菜) farmed on New York’s skyline to thick corridors of trees occupying Colombian roadsides, green initiatives are running wild in cities around the world.
Replanting initiatives have sprung up since the start of the 21st century as urban development goals have shifted and alarm about global warming has grown.
In nine cities around the world, thanks to planting schemes on walls and roofs, the temperature can be reduced by 3.6 to 11.3 degrees Celsius (摄氏的) at the hottest time of day, according to a report by the French Agency for Ecological Transition. Green spaces have also been shown to improve health and well-being, including by reducing stress, anxiety and depression, improving attention and focus, bettering physical health, said Stephanie Merchant of Bath University’s department for health. “However, it’s about where they are created in relation to the needs of the local communities,” she added.
So, are all urban replanting projects worthwhile?
“For a scheme to be seen as effective, it must fulfill as many functions as possible,” said the economist and urban planner Jean Haentjens. In addition to lowering the temperature, he said it should also preserve biodiversity, improve well-being, raise awareness, be appealing to residents and suitable for its social context.
The Brooklyn Grange rooftop farm in New York grows more than 45 tonnes of organic produce a year. Covering three rooftops, totalling more than 22,000 square metres, the farm cultivates a wide variety of vegetables. But it has to limit the soil depth to about 30 centimeters and irrigate (灌溉) the soil a little more frequently, because it dries out very quickly. Another question is whether pesticides (杀虫剂), which scare off birds and insects, are used when the aim is to boost biodiversity. For Jean Haentjen, it represents “an interesting route”, depending on the context. “But we can’t make it the model of tomorrow,” he said.
1. What contributes to the popularity of green initiatives?| A．Global warming. | B．Improving attention. |
| C．Reducing stress. | D．Preserving biodiversity. |
| A．The characteristics of planting schemes. | B．The evaluation of urban replanting projects. |
| C．The classification of green initiatives. | D．The benefits of replanting initiatives. |
| A．Dissatisfied. | B．Cautious. | C．Indifferent. | D．Approving. |
| A．To tell readers the approach to global warming. |
| B．To inform people of the green initiatives worldwide. |
| C．To appeal to people to take part in the replanting initiatives. |
| D．To show the advantages and disadvantage of the planting schemes. |
9 . Do you want to ensure your child hits their expected developmental milestones? New UBC research suggests living in areas with high exposure to green space can help set them up for success.
For the study, the researchers at UBC analyzed the developmental scores of 27,372 children in Metro Vancouver who attended kindergarten between 2005 and 2011.They estimated the amount of green space around each child’s residence from birth to age five. They also assessed levels of traffic-related air pollution and community noise.
The results highlight the fundamental importance of natural green spaces like street trees, parks and community gardens. “Most of the children were doing well in their development, in terms of language skills, cognitive (认知的) capacity, socialization and other outcomes,” says Ingrid Jarvis, a PhD candidate in the department of forest and conservation sciences at UBC. “But what’s interesting is that those children living in a residential location with more vegetation and richer natural environments showed better overall development than their peers with less green space.”
According to the researchers, the reason for this is partly green spaces’ ability to reduce the harmful effects of air pollution and noise - environmental challenges that have been shown to adversely (不利地) affect children’s health and development through increased stress, sleep disturbances and central nervous system damage. “Few studies have investigated this pathway linking green space and developmental outcomes among children,” adds Jarvis.
The researchers assessed early childhood development using the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a survey completed by kindergarten teachers for each child. The tool measures a child’s ability to meet age-appropriate developmental expectations.
“More research is needed, but our findings suggest that urban planning efforts to increase green space in residential neighbourhoods and around schools are beneficial for early childhood development, with potential health benefits throughout life,” says the study’s senior author Matilda Bosch. “Time in nature can benefit everyone, but if we want our children to have a good head start, it’s important to provide an enriching environment through nature contact.”
1. Which is a key factor in the researchers’ study?| A．The kids’ scores from school exams. |
| B．The average IQ score of the subjects. |
| C．The green space where the kids lived. |
| D．The air pollution level of the whole city. |
| A．Air pollution is largely to blame for kids’ failures. |
| B．Kids living in a noisy area tend to feel more stressed. |
| C．Pollution harms kids’ nervous system more than noise. |
| D．Greenspace is directly linked to kids’ mental development. |
| A．The importance of nature in kids’ growth. |
| B．The role of research in scientific work. |
| C．The proper way of giving a good start to kids. |
| D．The urgency of expanding greenspace in cities. |
| A．What Are the Health Effects of Noise Pollution? |
| B．Green Spaces: A guarantee for Kids’ Future Success |
| C．Urban Green Space and Its Impact on Human Health |
| D．Time in Nature Aids Early Childhood Development |
10 . Pat Patterson, a pilot for 25 years, had never met anyone like the handsome young man in the wheelchair who faced him at the Medford, Oregon, airport on July 28, 1976. Mike Henderson, a quadriplegic (四肢瘫痪者), wanted flying lessons.
As a 22-year-old Coast Guardsman eight years before, Henderson had fallen off a dock and landed on a floating log, breaking two of his bones. Doctors said that he would probably never walk again, let alone fly. “Here was this doctor telling me how it was going to be,” he says, “but no one was going to limit my freedom to try.”
Henderson parked his wheelchair next to the airplane and began to climb up onto the wing. He injured his elbow on the way, and after a great struggle, finally managed to pull himself into the airplane’s pilot’s seat. In the flight office, Pat Patterson watched in disbelief. “He crawled his way up that wing!” he says. “It took him 45 minutes. When I went out, he was sitting in the pilot’s seat, bleeding from his injured elbow all over the place. When I saw him go through that much pain, I knew nothing could stop him.”
Now everything was up to the instructor and the student, and together they set about solving each problem as it arose. A small piece of carpet gave Henderson traction (摩擦力) to climb the slippery wing. A headset freed his hands from the radio microphone, and the two men developed a moving bar that enabled Henderson to operate the airplane more easily.
Three weeks and eight flying hours after the first lesson, Henderson and Patterson happily phoned Dr. Stoddard — Henderson’s physician. At the airport, as the physician looked on, Henderson quickly wheeled himself around the airplane, doing a thorough, professional ground check. With Patterson and Dr. Stoddard on board, he went through his preflight instrument check. Minutes later, engine starting, the plane rolled down the runway and took off into the gray sky.
1. When did Mike Henderson become disabled?| A．At the age of 25. | B．In 1968. |
| C．At the age of 30. | D．In 1976. |
| A．Depressed. | B．Experienced. |
| C．Determined. | D．Delighted. |
| A．How Patterson and Henderson overcame the difficulties together. |
| B．How Patterson helped Henderson overcome the difficulties. |
| C．How Patterson taught Henderson to fly with difficulty. |
| D．The difficulties Henderson faced before flying. |
| A．Patterson didn’t want to teach Henderson at first. |
| B．Henderson finally succeeded in flying alone. |
| C．Patterson was very strict with Henderson. |
| D．Henderson went through a lot of difficulties. |
