1 . Simple steps to inner peace
If you wake up feeling tired and lazy, these moves can give you a lift. Our yoga warm-ups will help to loosen and stretch your muscles and joints, and deep breathing also helps you to focus your thoughts, so you feel refreshed.
Upper-body lift
Slowly lower your body to the floor, look up forward the ceiling and breathe in. Hold for a minute. Release (放松).
Toe touch
Bringing your hands to the floor, breathe out while putting your head between your knees (if you’re a beginner, keep knees slightly bent). Holding the position, breathe in as you stretch your head and chest upward. Hold for one minute. Release.
Spine stretch
Standing straight, feet together, breathe in and raise your arms straight overhead, hands touching. Look up, stretching your body for one minute. Release. Repeat moves as often as needed.
1. The purpose of the above exercises is to ________.| A．help you bring back your strength |
| B．get rid of pain from your back |
| C．get you warm enough to do further exercise |
| D．loosen and stretch your muscles to help you feel refreshed |
| A．raising your body higher | B．making you release |
| C．helping you get energetic | D．getting your body straight |
| A．upperbody lift; toe touch | B．toe touch; upperbody lift |
| C．spine stretch; toe touch | D．toe touch; spine stretch |
2 . Inventor James West was born in 1931 in Virginia. As a child, he spent lots of time studying how things worked and enjoyed taking apart small machines. “If I had some tools, any small machines that could be opened were in danger,” West said. “I had a strong desire to know what was inside.”
After an accident with a radio, West paid special attention to electricity. But his parents were concerned about the future job for an African-American scientist. They preferred him to become a doctor. However, West headed to Temple University in 1953 to study physics. Because of his school performance in physics, he managed to get training during the summer at Nokia Bell Labs, a world-known American industrial research and scientific development company. He received a college degree in physics in 1957, and upon graduation, he became a worker at Nokia Bell Labs.
In 1960, while at Bell, West teamed up with scientist Sessler to develop a less expensive, more powerful and smaller microphone (麦克风), In 1962, they finished the development on the product. Their invention became the industry standard. And even today, 90 percent of microphones -- for example, found in telephones, tape recorders, baby monitors and hearing aids -- are based on their technology.
West was chosen as Inventor of the Year by the state of New Jersey and president of the Acoustical Society of America. And both West and Sessler were chosen into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
West left Bell in 2001. After some interviews with several universities, he chose the Johns Hopkins University and became a research professor at its Whiting School of Engineering. “I discovered that Johns Hopkins was a lot like Bell Labs, where the doors were always open and we were free to work with researchers in other areas,” he said. “I like the fact that I won’t be locked into one small closed room here.”
1. Being a child, James West often liked ___________.| A．collecting various tools |
| B．working hard at schoolwork |
| C．helping repair household machines |
| D．studying the operation and structures of machines |
| A．His university was famous for its physics teaching. |
| B．His good performance made him get a promising job. |
| C．He gave up the chance to turn his interest into his major. |
| D．He hardly got his parents’ support for his further education. |
| A．went through plenty of difficulties |
| B．was unpopular in the market at first |
| C．was inspired by some electronic products |
| D．prepared useful technology for many modern machines |
| A．It held lots of outdoor activities. |
| B．It had a close connection with Bell Labs. |
| C．It had good working atmosphere for teamwork. |
| D．It was rich in teaching resources and advanced technology. |
3 . After years of teachers asking for the right answers, students aren’t used to someone asking for the wrong ones. Students’ failure tends to create mental burden that negatively affects learning. Lifting the burden requires us to face failure bravely and encourage students to accept it as a natural part of getting educated. While educators have to make sure that students have the right content and support to avoid long-term failure, it is just as important to accept mistakes as a normal part of education.
Sadly, our culture is so focused on success or perfection that students generally aren’t taught about failure. To fill the gap, I share with students a Samuel Beckett quote “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better”. It suggests one becomes better after each failure. I also play a video on game designed by Extra Credits, which shows people can quickly declare their ways as a failure if they don’t work out and then learn from them to move on. Both the quote and the video can help students get a more positive attitude towards failure.
Teachers can help students accept failure better. In her piece “5-Minute Film Festival: Freedom to Fail Forward”, Edutopia author Amy Erin Borovoy had a set of videos and articles on the subject of failure. Borovoy reminds readers that “a true thinker learns as much from failure as from success.” Taking these short videos as monthly or weekly reminders can be a great way to start “how have we failed and what have we learned” discussions with students.
Teachers can actually use a technique called “Effective Failure” to teach about failure at any time. In my writing class, I often have students volunteer to pick out the worst writing of their own. This lets writers deepen their understanding of why a sentence, word choice, or paragraph construction has failed, and it inspires a sincere interest in better writing. This makes failure work well in class.
Also, remember that students are not the only ones who can learn from their mistakes. As those who teach students, we should do that too.
1. What matters in education according to Paragraph 1?| A．Helping students face failure calmly. |
| B．Making sure every student gets educated. |
| C．Allowing students to show their true selves. |
| D．Training students to get used to long-term failure. |
| A．show the benefits of failure |
| B．help students develop more interests |
| C．provide some ways to reduce failure |
| D．teach students to get relaxed properly |
| A．He tried to advertise for those videos. |
| B．He considered Borovoy a role model to students. |
| C．He thought the videos useful in teaching about failure. |
| D．He found video teaching an easy way to attract students. |
| A．They enjoy communicating with others. |
| B．They are brave to admit their disadvantages. |
| C．They can find more interesting writing topics. |
| D．They improve by learning from their weak points. |
4 . Teen Read Week is a week-long celebration for teens and reading. Teen Read Week is held during the third week of October each year. It aims at encouraging teens to read for pleasure. Reading for fun has many benefits.
Some libraries host an open house for teens during Teen Read Week. During an open house, the young adult librarian may talk about his or her library’s services for teens, upcoming teen programs, and collections of books suitable for teens.
If the budget (预算) permits, some libraries may invite popular authors to their places. Authors who write books for teens can make a public appearance there.
If you’re reluctant (勉强的) teenage readers, there are tips for you on how to follow Teen Read Week’s spirit — reading for fun.
| A．Teen gaming nights are another option for libraries. |
| B．Thus, the teens can better learn about the library. |
| C．You might think they are characters out of reach. |
| D．They can tell about their works and writing methods. |
| E．You can search for some interesting reading materials. |
| F．For example, teens can become more interested in reading. |
| G．Public libraries will organize events in honor of Teen Read Week. |
5 . Scientists have discovered a bit of hand-made string (线绳) that’s around 50,000 years old in Neanderthal remains. The first Neanderthal remains were found in the Neander Valley in Germany, which is where the name comes from. Neanderthals may have lived mainly in caves and made stone tools, but recent discoveries have given hints that Neanderthals developed some advanced skills that people used to think impossible. For example, Neanderthals knew how to make glue from the bark (树皮) of a tree.
Now, scientists report they’ve found a piece of string on a stone tool made by Neanderthals. Before this, the oldest known piece of string was one made by humans about 19,000 years ago. The string is about a quarter of an inch long. Almost all things made from plants during that time have broken down and disappeared, so it’s very special to find this bit of string.
The scientists don’t know whether the string was attached to the tool. But that doesn’t interest them as much as the fact that Neanderthals knew how to make string. Bruce Hardy, the lead scientist on the project, says that knowing how to make string was meaningful for humans. “We wouldn’t really be here today without that technology,” he says.
Making string is a very arduous process. This string was made from the inside bark of an evergreen tree. To make string that is strong enough, the string must be made of several smaller fibers twisted (缠绕) together in a special way. For the Neanderthal string, several fibers needed to be twisted together into something like yarn. Then three pieces of yam needed to be twisted together in the opposite direction to make the final string.
The scientists Aren’t sure what the string was used for, but they say that string like. the bit that was found could be used to make bags, baskets, traps, or other things. The researchers also suggest that because Neanderthals needed to make pairs and count fibers to make the string, the bit of string may also tell us something about the kinds of math that Neanderthals could do.
1. What can we know about Neanderthals?| A．They were named after a nation. |
| B．They didn’t know how to make tools. |
| C．They were not as smart as scientists thought. |
| D．They may master more skills than people realized. |
| A．It is surprisingly long. |
| B．It was made from wood. |
| C．It survives a long history. |
| D．It was attached to a stone tool. |
| A．Neanderthals strengthened stone tools with the string. |
| B．The scientists think the string is part of the stone tool. |
| C．The string-making skill is of great importance to humans. |
| D．Neanderthals had great difficulty in inventing the string. |
| A．Difficult. | B．Normal. |
| C．Creative. | D．Boring. |
6 . A donation letter is what you write to a person you expect, who will give away some of his money to support your good cause. Good as the cause may be, it is hard to make a person part with his hard-earned money. It takes some really great writing skills to write such a letter.
The donation letter for charity isn’t exactly a formal letter for business communication. You need to take a casual tone. Make sure that you know the name of the recipient (收信人) to sound more like a friendly gesture. The language too should not be extremely serious and should be slightly informal, which can make your recipient willing to believe you.
Make sure that you include all the details regarding your program, your funds required, and your plan in the letter. The most important thing is to mention how someone stands to benefit because of the recipient’s contribution. Talk about how many lives your charity fund has been able to change and how many more you wish to change further. This may touch the reader and talk him into making a donation towards your cause. Include the amount which you expect the recipient to donate, within your letter.
A typical donation letter is often divided into four paragraphs. The first paragraph will be an introduction to your organization, like what you do, how long you have been running, and your achievements. The second paragraph will give more details regarding your current goals that you’re trying to reach. In the third paragraph you use a more direct method here, asking politely for any help. Keep it short and clear. The final paragraph is your conclusion, where you tell exactly how the help received would be put into good use. Add a “thank you” for any and all help received.
1. How should the language used in a donation letter be?| A．Relaxing and persuasive. |
| B．Happy and friendly. |
| C．Official and honest. |
| D．Short and clear. |
| A．Asking about the recipient’s plan. |
| B．Including all the details of people in need. |
| C．Telling directly the amount of money you expect. |
| D．Showing the value and importance of one’s donation. |
| A．The skills used for writing business letters. |
| B．The general content of a donation letter. |
| C．The common problems in a donation. |
| D．The tips on making a donation. |
7 . What are pillows really stuffed with? Not physically, but symbolically? The question occurred to me with the photos in the news and social media from the 50 cities around the world that staged public celebrations for International Pillow Fight Day. Armed with nothing more than bring-our-own sacrificial cushions, strangers struck heavily each other in playful feather from Amsterdam to Atlanta, Warsaw to Washington DC. But why? Is there anything more to this delightful celebration?
As a cultural sign, the pillow is deceptively soft. Since at least the 16th Century, the humble pillow has been given unexpected meanings. The Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu tells a famous story about a wise man who meets a depressed young scholar at an inn and offers him a magic pillow filled with the most vivid dreams of a seemingly more fulfilling life. When the young man awakens to discover that his happy 50-year dream has in fact come and gone in the short space of an afternoon’s nap, our impression of the pillow’s power shifts from wonder to terror.
Subsequent writers have likewise seized upon the pillow. When the 19th-Century English novelist Charlotte Bronte poetically observed “a ruffled (不平的) mind makes a restless pillow”, she didn’t just change the expected order of the adjectives and nouns, but instead she made unclear the boundaries between mind and matter — the thing resting and the thing rested upon.
It’s a trick perhaps Bronte learned from the Renaissance philosopher Montaigne, who once insisted that “ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head”. On Montaigne’s thinking, intelligence and happiness confront each other forever in a pillow fight that only one can win.
With the words of Tang. Bronte, and Montaigne, we can perhaps more easily measure the attraction of the global pillow fight. Like a ritual of release, the annual international pillow fight amounts to a kind of cleansing, a brushing off of daily worries: an emptying of the world’s collective mind. Rather than a launch-pad for weightless rest, the pillow is a symbol of heavy thought: an anchor that drags the world’s soul down — one that must be lightened.
1. The example of Tang Xianzu is used to illustrate that ________.| A．pillows give people satisfactory dreams |
| B．dreams are always wonderful while the real world is cruel |
| C．people’s impression of pillows changes from wonder to terror |
| D．pillows symbolically convey the meaning in contrast to their soft appearance |
| A．wrote poems about pillows |
| B．regarded pillows as reflections of our minds |
| C．shared the same viewpoint as Tang Xianzu on pillows |
| D．was likely to have been influenced by the thoughts of the Renaissance |
| A．pillows give us comfort |
| B．pillows make people more intelligent |
| C．people with too many thoughts have less inner peace |
| D．people can easily fall asleep when they know nothing |
| A．Because it is a ritual release. |
| B．Because it makes life delightful. |
| C．Because it comforts restless minds. |
| D．Because it contains a profound meaning of life. |
8 . As the effects of climate change set in, coastal cites such as the Italian city of Venice and the American city of New Orlean are slowly sinking. So is Bangkok. Officials in the city and scientists say they do not know how long people will be able to continue living in the Thai capital.
Thailand’s military rulers are considering action. The National Reform Council wants the government to form a committee to deal with the warnings that Bangkok could be permanently underwater many years from now.
The Saen canal was built in Bangkok in the late 1830s. In a neighborhood near the waterway, walkways are breaking up. Walls on homes, small businesses and an Islamic center appear to be bending. The area is sinking about two centimeters a year, which is two times the average rate for the rest of Bangkok.
“I don’t know what to do.” says Vijitri Puangsiri who has lived in the neighborhood for 44 years. Her home needs to be repaired every year because of the sinking ground. The walkway in front of her century-old house where she operates a small restaurant must also be repeatedly repaired.
“If you travel on the canal boats, you can see how this is all hollow,” Somsak Kongeeng says, “The buildings to see him are sinking because they were not built on solid foundations,” He joked that if we come back to see him again in 20 years, the water level will be almost as high as his head. But he is also partly serious. That might be only a small overstatement in a city that is, on average, just two meters above sea level.
Observers say two reasons for the sinking are a rising sea level and too much pumping of groundwater. Another reason, they say, is the decision by developers to build so many high-rises because they earn quantities of money by doing so. This kind of development worries those who are concerned with the rising water level.
1. What do we know from the passage?| A．Vijitri Puangsiri’s home needs repairing owing to the broken walkway. |
| B．The Saen canal was a supporting evidence of the sinking ground. |
| C．Somsak Kongeeng simply treats the sinking as a joke. |
| D．Bangkok is not suitable for people to live in any more. |
| A．replacing the loose soil with concrete | B．controlling pumping groundwater |
| C．forbidding the construction of high-rises | D．stopping the rising of sea level |
| A．To appeal to protect the city of Bangkok. | B．To explain the reasons for the sinking |
| C．To stress the significance of Bangkok. | D．To inform us of the situation of Bangkok. |
| A．The Saen Canal — Cause of the Sinking | B．A Warning from Bangkok |
| C．Bangkok — a Coastal City at Risk | D．Reasons for Sinking Building |
9 .
| A．As Children’s Day and Youth Day are approaching |
| B．As a part of the project “We Always Together in Weal and Woe(祸福)” |
| C．More videos will be produced by Chinese young people |
| D．As the COVID 19 epidemic continues to spread globally |
| E．These paintings have a long history and high value |
| F．The project “We Always Together in Weal and Woe” is hosted |
| G．These letters are displayed in the form of sand paintings |
10 . Surprising Ways to Beat Exam Stress
To get over exam stress, firstly you need to understand the reasons behind this anxiety. Then you can establish methods to reduce the pressure you feel. Researchers have uncovered some common solutions for this:
Take a quick walk.
Plan your study routine.
Try to get enough sleep.
The benefits of a proper night’s sleep can never be underestimated. Most importantly, sleep helps your brain to absorb new knowledge into your long-term memory.
Let it all out.
Sometimes you just need to talk to someone, and other times you need to shout it from the rooftop or scream from the top of your lungs.
Meditation(沉思，冥想) is one of the most effective ways to take a break and see your stress from a different perspective. Practicing meditation is another way to stay focused while improving both mental and physical health to reduce pre-exam stress.
| A．Give your mind space. |
| B．Listen to classical music. |
| C．This may not be a big surprise . |
| D．Figure out what you are feeling. |
| E．So you can recall it when it comes to test day. |
| F．Many students feel as if they should make full use of their entire time before exams. |
| G．It clearly demonstrates the effect exercise can have on your brain’s activity. |
