1 . Nearly half of all employees are close to “breaking point” at work due to increased stress levels. A survey of 2,000 professionals found the average working adult feels stressed for almost a third of their working day.
The mounting pressure faced in their job also contributes to five hours of lost sleep per employee every week. Checking work emails after hours, last-minute deadlines, having to do a speech or presentation and an overly demanding manager were named as some of the biggest causes of workplace stress.
It also revealed that in the average week, employees will complain about their boss for 31 minutes and their job in general for another two hours and 45 minutes. Richard Jenkins, psychologist and spokesman for well-being charity CABA, said: “Everyone will experience pressure day-to-day.”
“A level of pressure can actually make us work better, however too much pressure that rises to an unmanageable level leads to stress. The working public needs to know how to manage their pressure to avoid reaching boiling point. Some people cope by blowing off steam through physical activity like the gym or going for a run while for some, things like breathing exercises can help. Everyone will have a strategy that they find works better to help them release the pressure. Unfortunately, in many cases we don’t introduce these decompressing (减压) moments in our lives which can help release the pressure and reduce stress. Finding ways to manage your stress is essential, it is also worth addressing the root causes of your stress to try to manage the source rather than just treat the symptoms.”
The study also found seven in 10 adults have vented about their workplace to a colleague, partner, family member or friend. 46 percent of those who have felt stressed at work didn’t end up doing anything about it, hoping the problem would go away on its own. Of those who do take action, 38 percent have told their manager about it, while 51 percent have gone for a walk to cool down.
1. What is the possible result of pressure faced by workers?| A．Giving a public presentation. | B．His demanding department head. |
| C．Loss of about 5 hours’ sleep weekly. | D．Constantly checking email after work. |
| A．Pressure will not do you any good in your daily life. |
| B．It’s better to turn to medicine when one is faced with great stress. |
| C．Women tend to feel more pressure at work than their male colleagues. |
| D．Almost everybody will adopt his own way to deal with their stress in their lives. |
| A．complained. | B．argued. | C．wandered. | D．asked. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Objective. | C．Positive. | D．Negative. |
2 . A. Human feet will become just one big toe.
In a lecture at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1911, a surgeon named Richard Clement Lucas made a curious prediction that the “useless outer toes” will become used less and less, so that “man might become a one-toed race” in the next century. Look and check your toes.
B. Our houses will be cleaned by hoses.
In a 1950 article titled “Miracles You’ll See in the Next 50 Years,” the New York Times’ longtime science editor Waldemar Kaempffert predicted that by the 21st century, all you’ll have to do to get your house clean is “simply turn the hose on everything.”
That’s because he imagined furniture would be made of synthetic fabric or waterproof plastic. “After the water has run down a drain in the middle of the floor” all you’d have to do is “turn on a blast of hot air” to dry everything. A mercy for housewife, right?
C. We’ll live in flying houses.
Inventor, science writer, and futurist Arthur C. Clark—who co-wrote the screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey—believed that the boring houses of 1966 would be extremely different by the time we reached the 21st century. Evidently, the houses of the future would have nothing keeping them on the ground and they would be able to move to anywhere on the earth on a whim (异想天开). So easy to travel abroad!
D. We’ll eat candy made of underwear.
In Popular Mechanics, Waldemar Kaempffert predicted that all food would be delivered to our homes in the form of frozen bricks by the 21st century. “Cooking as an art is only a memory in the minds of old people,” he wrote. And, thanks to advances in cooking technology, Kaempffert predicted it would even be possible to take ordinary objects like old table cloth and “silk-like underwear” and bring them to “chemical factories to be made into candy.” No, thanks! Not at all!
1. How many toes would become useless and disappear in his left foot, according to the surgeon?| A．Five. | B．Four. | C．Three. | D．Two. |
| A．He likes it very much. | B．He thinks it acceptable. |
| C．He completely rejects it. | D．He would like to have a try. |
| A．They were all put forward by the greatest minds at their time. |
| B．Although they sounded unbelievable, they were well received. |
| C．They appeared in the same magazine almost around the same time. |
| D．They were interesting predictions about the century we are living now. |
3 . Lifestyle Changes to Make You Healthier and Happier
All people want to stay healthy and happy, but most of our focus is on sick-care, not healthcare.
Food for health
Everyone knows we should eat certain amount of fruit and vegetables a day,
Do exercise
Getting less than five hours’ sleep a night doubles the risk of death from heart disease, according to a study, and other studies have shown that it speeds up ageing. And it plays a big part in our mental health, too.
Friends for life
| A．Research shows 15 minutes’ exercise a day could add 3 years to your life. |
| B．Here’s how you can start to improve your health and happiness. |
| C．Friendships actually change our body chemistry. |
| D．yet only 28% of adults are hitting this target. |
| E．Sleep well |
4 . We use our middle names when filling out official papers, and when we write our initials (姓名的首字母) on something. But except that, we don’t use them every day. So why do we even have middle names in the first place?
Some people might answer, “It’s so my mom has three names to shout at me, so I know I’m in trouble.”
But there is history behind it, and it dates back to ancient Rome. At that time, people had three names, a personal name, a family name, and another name which showed what branch of family you were from. The more names you had, the more respected you were by others.
This tradition of names spread over to Western cultures in the 1700s.Aristocrats (贵族) would give their children long names to show their high place in society. Spanish and some other cultures would give their children names from their parents’ previous generations to be able to keep track of the child’s family tree.
But the way we use middle names today started in the Middle Ages when Europeans named their children with the given name first, baptismal (洗礼的) name second, and family name third. The tradition was spread to America as people started to go overseas.
Today, some people don’t even have middle names, some prefer to be called by their middle name, and some never even use theirs. But, just feel lucky that we don’t need to keep track of our family tree like some aristocrats used to and end up with 38 names.
1. When would we use middle names?| A．When calling our friends. |
| B．When writing to our parents. |
| C．When filling out official papers. |
| A．Proud. | B．Angry. | C．Happy. |
| A．To show their high place in society. |
| B．To show their respect for others. |
| C．To show their good memory. |
| A．It’s Cool to Have 38 Names |
| B．We Don’t Need Family Names |
| C．Why Do We Have Middle Names? |
5 . Can you imagine that there are a huge number of tiny waste pieces in the Arctic (北冰洋的) sea ice? Because of the waste pieces,30,000 kinds of animals are in danger. It’s true that one person’s acts alone can’t help the planet. But each one of us can find ways to make our contributions.
In the home, we could try not to waste foods. Use a digital meal planner to get a right amount of food so that everything we buy and cook gets eaten. Learn how to store foods to keep them fresh longer. Be sure to use proper ways to keep our home warm. For example, we can replace old windows with energy-saving ones.
At the store, we could green our habits. Buy reusable plates, but not single-use ones. Buy home tissue (纸巾) not made of materials which may lead to destruction (破坏) of forests. Buy glass cups instead of paper ones.
In the community, we could help keep its plants healthy. Take part in tree-planting projects or grass-cutting activities to help plants grow well.
Our actions alone can’t save the planet, but the above ways and habits can help.
1. What puts so many animals in danger?| A．Cold ice. | B．Waste pieces. | C．Bad weather. |
| A．To avoid wasting foods. |
| B．To cook delicious foods. |
| C．To keep foods fresh. |
| A．That can be kept long. |
| B．That can be used again. |
| C．That can be thrown away. |
| A．To describe the future of the planet. |
| B．To encourage an environment friendly life. |
| C．To introduce shopping places for green products. |
6 . We were on our way! In Wyoming we would have a new home. It was 1980 and my husband Gary and I were driving to Wyoming with our kids. After driving all day, we were hungry. So we stopped at a restaurant to have dinner.
After the dinner, we were on our way again. Suddenly our vehicle hit ice on a bridge. As soon as the car started to slide, Gary touched the brakes (刹车) but failed to control the car. We were thrown from side to side against the guardrails (护栏).It took some time before we slid to a stop, but unfortunately our car was totally destroyed.
Only minutes later, a car stopped by and the driver asked how he might help. With his help, my husband was able to have our car taken to Rapid City. Then he drove us to a hotel in the city. He made sure we were safe before he said goodnight and left. The next morning, the driver returned and drove us to find our car so that we could take back our valuables. He lost at least half a day of work, all for a family he had never met and would never see again.
With no car, our family finally arrived in Gillette, where we had no friends. Though we were a little lonely, we all felt lucky and thankful to the amazing stranger whose service made such a difference to our family.
1. Why did the family go to Wyoming?| A．They liked to go traveling. |
| B．They had a restaurant to run there. |
| C．They would have a new home there. |
| A．It hit ice on a bridge. |
| B．It was touched by a car. |
| C．It slid into the river. |
| A．To repair the family’s car. |
| B．To say goodbye to the family. |
| C．To help the family get their valuables. |
| A．Helpful. | B．Honest. | C．Humorous. |
7 . Most Popular Projects
1. Where will a volunteer teach English?
| A．In Costa Rica. | B．In Ghana. | C．In Nigeria. |
| A．Dig water wells. | B．Help build houses. | C．Talk with people. |
| A．2 weeks. | B．3 weeks. | C．5 weeks. |
8 . In this article, I’m going to show you certain aspects of the Chinese language and explain why they make learning the language a lot easier than you might think.
No verb conjugations (变化)
When you learn English, you need to remember how the verb changes with the subject and time. In Chinese, there are no verb inflections (词尾的屈折变化) at all.
No grammatical cases
In English, we make a difference between how pronouns are used depending on if they are the subject or the object of a sentence.
Flexible parts of speech
When learning English, you need to remember different forms of the words depending on what part of speech they belong to. For example, we say “ice” (noun), “icy” (adjective) and “to ice” (verb). These look different.
Word order in Chinese can be a little bit tricky, but it becomes much easier at more advanced levels. As a beginner, there are a few patterns you need to learn, and once you’ve done that, you can just fill in the words you’ve learnt and people will be able to understand. It also helps that the basic word order is the same as in English: subject—verb—object.
What all these boil down to is that learning Chinese needn’t be all that hard. Yes, reaching an advanced level takes a lot of time and effort.
| A．Relatively easy word order |
| B．The same subject—verb—object order |
| C．In short, it is very easy to learn Chinese well |
| D．We say “he talks to her”, while “him talks to she” is wrong |
| E．In Chinese, though, these could all be represented by one single word “ice” |
| F．For example, you can use “look” for any person and refer to any period of time |
| G．But getting to basic conversational fluency is easy for anyone who really wants it |
9 . A magic number is mentioned again and again during the climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, 1.5℃.
It is a big number now but it wasn’t a major part of negotiations just seven years ago. The figure was put in near the end of negotiations into the historic 2015 Paris agreement because some small island nations insisted that it was a matter of survival for them. It is mentioned only once in the agreement, in which the primary goal is to limit warming to 2℃ above pre industrial levels. 1.5℃ is just a political suggestion.
“The 2℃ was chosen because it is the warmest temperature that the planet has ever seen in the last million years. To reach the goal, scientists say the world needs to cut its current greenhouse gas emissions (排放) by about half as of 2030,” said climate scientist Corinne LeQuere, who helped write the Paris agreement, “And the number is not another 1.5℃ from now. Instead, it stands for the international goal of trying to limit future warming to 1.5℃ since pre-industrial times. It’s actually only 0.4℃from now because the world has warmed 1.1℃ since pre-industrial times.”
After the Paris agreement threw in the 1.5 figure, the United Nations tasked the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to study what difference there would be on Earth between 1.5℃ of warming and 2℃ of warming. The 2018 IPCC report found that compared to 2℃, stopping warming at 1.5℃ would mean: 1) Seas would rise nearly 0.1 meters less; 2) Half as many animals and plants would die out; 3) There would be far fewer heat waves, downpours and droughts; 4) Half as many people would suffer from diseases, heat and lack of water.
“And we have more scientific evidence than ever that it gets worse and worse as we exceed (超过) beyond 1.5.” said Corinne LeQuere.
“It’s technically possible to limit global warming to 1.5℃. but I think it is close to politically impossible in the real world.” said Columbia University climate scientist Adam Sobel.
“As hard as it is. negotiators can’t give up on 1.5,” said Elizabeth May, one of the climate activists who demand that the world leaders keep 1.5℃ alive. “If we don’t hang on to 1.5 while it is technically possible, we are almost criminals.”
1. What can be learned about the 1.5℃ target?| A．It was suggested by the United Nations before 2015. |
| B．It is one of the major goals in the Paris agreement. |
| C．It is just a political suggestion adopted by negotiators. |
| D．It can be achieved by cutting current emissions by half. |
| A．0.4℃. | B．0.9℃. | C．1.1℃. | D．1.6℃. |
| A．The consequences of the global warming. |
| B．The scientific evidence of the global warming. |
| C．The possible reduction of losses and damages. |
| D．The serious challenges for small island countries. |
| A．It is technically impossible. | B．World leaders should stop talking. |
| C．Scientists should do more. | D．We should aim to the stricter target. |
10 . The European Space Agency wants to build an international “moon village” around 2050. Russia has also described plans for sending astronauts to the moon in 2030, although many doubt whether it can afford the costs. China also plans to send its astronauts onto the moon in 2030. In the United States, NASA announced the goal of putting Americans on the moon again by 2024, four years ahead of the previous schedule.
NASA’s efforts to reach the moon by 2024 will depend on whether Congress will give it the necessary money. NASA has asked for an additional $1.6 billion for the year of 2020. But if NASA wants to complete its project ahead of the schedule, it might cost a total of $20 billion to $30 billion. Recently, NASA says the price may not be so high, because a lot of commercial partners are willing to put money in the moon landing and lunar station building projects.
So why go back?
Moon is an obvious stop along the way to Mars. The ice discovered within polar areas where the sun never shines is not only a precious source of drinking water for future astronauts visiting the moon, but also for water that can be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen, which could be used as energy for the spacecraft before it heads out into the solar system.
Special scientific researches could be carried out at the far side of the moon because they would not face earthly interference (干扰) there. For example, it is possible to observe the low-frequency radio light coming from Sun or beyond because there is little radio noise interfering with it.
1. How many countries or organizations have planned to land on the moon in 2030?| A．1. | B．2. | C．3. | D．4. |
| A．They can share the station building costs. |
| B．The US government cannot afford the costs. |
| C．NASA wants to introduce more competitors. |
| D．They have unique and more advanced technologies. |
| A．By serving as energy stations for the spaceships. |
| B．By providing healthy food for future astronauts. |
| C．By sending out better signals to the solar system. |
| D．By exploring a new living place for human beings. |
| A．Updates on the Moon Landing Schedules |
| B．Money Needed for Different Space Programs |
| C．Plans and Reasons for Future Moon Landing |
| D．Countries Competing to Land on the Moon Earlier |
