1 . Very few people can say that they have achieved all that they are capable of. But what is it that is preventing you from fulfilling your potential (潜能)?
It is easy and natural to settle into a rut (墨守成规). Why try something new when you are already doing that you are good at?
Let’s face it — your friends and family are really nice people but they are not challenging you to achieve more. Spend more time with high flyers and positive thinkers who understand ambition and achievement. Share some of your thoughts, dreams and challenges with them.
| A．High achievers go further. |
| B．This means that they run the risk of failure. |
| C．All successful people have strong self-belief. |
| D．They can take comfort in modest achievements. |
| E．You waste a lot of time every day on low value activities. |
| F．They will encourage you and give you the direct advice you need. |
| G．It is really very hard to make progress if you have no ambition for your life. |
2 . Despite an ever-higher bar to grab the attention of students in large lecture hall, Tatiana Erukhimova, who teaches physics at Texas A&M University, has managed to get her students, as well as future generations, excited about the science.
Known as “Dr. Tatiana”, the professor performs physics tricks with boundless energy and enthusiasm in her videos. A range of everyday objects are used in her experiments, from pingpong balls and toilet paper to marshmallows, bicycle wheels and hair dryers. Videos of her dramatic demonstrations have received hundreds of millions of views across social media platforms.
However, things aren’t always easy. When she first started teaching college freshman classes two decades ago, she also struggled to grab the attention of her students. “I did not grab their attention on the first day-that was my mistake.” she says. “I missed this opportunity to bond with them from the very beginning, and then it took me a while to find my voice.”
By the second semester, she found her footing, adjusting her approach to get her students engaged. The key, she says, has been to make herself approachable and her instruction personal. And, of course, add showy demonstrations. “These demonstrations often help students to connect these abstract concepts with real life.” she says.
Physics department head Grigory Rogachev says Erukhimova’s work has helped bring visibility to the department, with about 2. 5 million subscribers on its department’s YouTube page, which has translated to a boost in research funds and physics major applicants.
As a leader in a STEM field in which women are underrepresented, she’s become a role model for some. Afiya Dhanani attended Texas A&M University after seeing Erukhimova’s videos online. “Watching Dr. Tatiana do the experiments online, especially since she was a female leader. Was more inspiring for me to even go into physics.” Dhanani said in an interview with CBS Mornings. That’s all Erakhimova says she can hope for -making physics less forbidding and more exciting.
1. What does Erukhimova’s online videos feature?| A．Rare materials. | B．Energetic presentation. |
| C．Plain demonstration. | D．Professional explanation. |
| A．All that glitters is not gold. |
| B．Sharp tools make good work. |
| C．First impressions are make or break. |
| D．A fall into the pit, a gain in your wit. |
| A．It leads more students to change their majors. |
| B．It makes more people to know about the department. |
| C．It helps the department translate more research papers. |
| D．It attracts more physics professors to join the department. |
| A．Inspirational. | B．Underestimated. | C．Cooperative. | D．Ambitious. |
3 . In January when wildfires came within a kilometer of her home, Jessica Miles found herself reflecting on the bravery of firefighters in the Port Macquarie area.
Jessica said the tires had been frightening. “There were helicopters (直升机) flying around our house and smoke everywhere,” she said. Over a family dinner, the 12-year-old girl raised the idea of building a sculpture to honor the men and women on the wildfire front line and was greeted with support.
With artwork from the Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail on their doorstep, Jessica’s mother suggested she contact the organizers of the trail with her idea. In a message to Hello Koalas through a Facebook post. Jessica wrote: “I’ve recently thought of an idea as Australia has been facing disaster lately... The firefighters have risked their life and time to protect us. In recognition of their bravery, I wanted so share an idea I had about making a koala (考拉) in honor of the firefighters and to spread hope to Australia.”
Hello Koalas director Margret Meagher said while she had thought about creating a sculpture to honor Australia’s selfless and heroic firefighters in the past, Jessica’s message made her more determined than ever to make it happen. Having been involved in the Rural Fire Service (RFS), Ms. Meacher was also personally touched by summer’s wildfires: “So I really wanted to celebrate the local men and women who fought bravely to protect our community and to recognize all firefighters in Australia.” Ms. Meagher said.
Jessica, who is passionate about the environment and animals said she had been excited to receive such a positive response to her idea including her suggestion “it could have the RFS badge (章) painted on the koala or it could have a fireman’s jacket.” The new sculpture, Frankie Firefighter, created by artist Kim Staples, was unveiled (揭幕) this week and features both Jessica’s ideas.
1. What did Jessica’s mother advise her to do?| A．Send greetings to firefighters. | B．Put her artwork on their doorstep. |
| C．Build a sculpture to honor firefighters. | D．Seek help from Hello Koalas to apply her idea. |
| A．Firefighters heroic stories. | B．Her involvement in RFS. |
| C．Jessica’s Facebook post. | D．Her own past thoughts. |
| A．It wears a badge donated by a fireman. | B．It draws inspiration from Kim Staples. |
| C．It is contrary to Jessica’s expectations. | D．It is a koala in a fireman’s jacket. |
4 . More than 30 year and S10 billion later, the James Webb Space Telescope finally left Earth. The observatory was lifted skyward by an Ariane rocket from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. Is flight to orbit lasted just under half an hour, with a signal confirming a successful outcome picked p by a ground antenna(天线)at Malindi in Kenya.
Webb, named after one of the architects of the Apollo Moon landings, is the successor to the Hubble telescope. Engineers working with the US, European and Canadian space agencies have built the new observatory to be 100 times more powerful.
Webb’s launch is only the start of what will be a complex series of initial activities over the next six months. The telescope is being put on a path to an observing station some 1.5 million km beyond the Earth. In the course of travelling to this location, webb will have to unpack itself from the folded shape it adopted at launch.
This won’t be easy, said NASA administrator Bill Nelson: “We have to realize there are still countless things that have to work and they have to work perfectly. But we know that in great reward, there is great risk. And that’s what this business is all about. And that’s why we dare to explore.”
At the core of the new facility’s capabilities is its 6.5 m-wide golden mirror. This is almost three times wider than the primary reflector on Hubble. The enlarged optics(光学器件), combined with four super-sensitive instruments, should enable astronomers to look deeper into space—and thus further back in time—than ever before.
A key target of Webb will be the pioneer stars that ended the darkness theorized to have dominated the whole universe shortly after the Big Bang more than 13.5 billion years ago. It was the nuclear reactions in these objects that would have created the first heavy atoms(原子)essential for life. Another goal for Webb will be to explore the atmospheres of distant planets. This will help researchers work out whether these worlds are in any way habitable.
1. What can we learn about the new space telescope?| A．An antenna helped it go into orbit. |
| B．It was named after a landscape architect. |
| C．It is a project of international cooperation. |
| D．It has reached its observing station. |
| A．Disapproving. | B．Supportive |
| C．Fearful. | D．Uncertain. |
| A．It is fitted with a more powerful engine. |
| B．It is capable of changing shapes. |
| C．It has a primary reflector. |
| D．It has a much bigger mirror |
| A．Suggestions for astronomers. | B．Origins of the universe. |
| C．Webb’s limitations | D．Webb’s functions. |
5 . Theatre shows for you
The Drifters Girl
Location: Garrick Theatre
Time: May 4, 2022-Jan. 26, 2023
Beverley Knight is back in the West End and she’s found an unlikely vehicle for her talents-anew musical about an all-male singing group The Drifters. The Drifters Girl centres on the woman behind the band, Faye Treadwell, who was the first African-American female music manager and helped push the group to be a hit over three decades.
Love’s Labour’s Lost
Location: Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Time: May 16 - Dec. 30, 2022
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has won applause for its production of Shakespeare’s lighthearted and funny play Love’s Labour’s Lost. With songs by Michael Friedman and directed by Kenneth Branagh, Love’s Labour’s Lost is about young love, with an unexpected ending.
Lost Origin
Location: Almeida Theatre
Time: May 21 - Dec. 4, 2022
This immersive (沉浸式) theatre show from Factory 42 and the Almeida Theatre is hard to entirely understand without actually seeing it. As an exploration of what the future of the performance might be, lost Origin sees audiences tasked with solving a mystery (奥秘) inside a dark web marketplace.
Samskara
Location: Fortune Theatre
Time: May 8-Nov. 26, 2022
Combining physical theatre, hip-hop dance with text, Samshara is a new play written and directed by Lanre Malaolu that describes the lives of four generations of African-Americans, trying to make their way in a world that tells them they must be strong.
1. Where can you enjoy a show on New Year’s Day?| A．Fortune Theatre. | B．Garrick Theatre. |
| C．Royal Shakespeare Theatre. | D．Almeida Theatre. |
| A．It’s about Shakespeare’s life. | B．It’s directed by Michael Friedman. |
| C．It’s likely to be a comedy. | D．It will be shown in the RSC. |
| A．Samskara. | B．Love’s Labour’s Lost. |
| C．The Drifters Girl. | D．Lost Origin. |
6 . When Chase Bailey was found to have autism (自闭症) at 2, his mother Mary Bailey feared he’d never enjoy a typical life. Indeed, he hasn’t. Occupied with appearances with famous people and hosting his own cooking show, Chase’s life is anything but typical. During the past years, the teenager has cooked noodles with food master Roy Choi and baked cookies for guests at a celebration in Los Angeles.
The days when Chase would eat nothing but pizza, chicken, French fries, and chocolate chip cookies almost seem like a distant memory. For him to go from that to cooking and eating all kinds of different things is pretty astonishing.
After the diagnosis (诊断) of Chase’s disease, friends prepared Mary for the worst: He’d never be able to have a job, never learn to socialize, and never be independent. Like many autistic patients, the sight, smell, feel and taste of almost everything on Chase’s plate tipped him over the edge.
However, when he watched cooking shows with his grandfather, he became addicted to seeing people enjoy what they were eating and started asking to try some of the food on the shows. Two years later, he recorded the first episode (集) of “Chase N Yur Face” with the help of his mother, which they posted on social media. The show quickly caught the attention of autism groups. Chase started reaching out to chefs he admired by email to invite them to tape episodes with him.
In the show which has more than 30 episodes, a confident Chase cooks everything from cupcakes to roasted meats. It has harvested tens of thousands of views. He dreams of one day seeing his show on television and wants to open his own restaurant. He hopes his experience can help others with autism. “Don’t be afraid to be yourself,” he said.
1. How is Chase’s life?| A．It is a typical one. | B．It is full of bitter experiences. |
| C．It is like other autistic kids’. | D．It is beyond his mom’s expectations. |
| A．Food was appealing to Chase. | B．Food on Chase’s plate tasted bad. |
| C．Chase had no appetite for most food. | D．Chase wanted to cook himself. |
| A．From autism groups. | B．From his grandfather. |
| C．From food masters. | D．From cooking programs. |
| A．Food Changed Chase’s Life |
| B．Cooking Is a Treatment for Autism |
| C．A Cooking Show Cures an Autistic Teenager |
| D．Chase Turns Food Fear into Love of Cooking |
7 . Bad judgments are meant to feed our own personal ego (自我意识) and put others down, which is not the healthiest thing to do. Here are five reasons why you should stop it now.
You start finding faults in everyone. Judging quickly moves on to more private areas of your life.
Judging becomes a habit. If you judge people, sooner or later, it becomes a habit, and you start judging everyone around you for the tiniest of things.
People begin to distrust you. If you pass judgments about other people in front of your audience, you will lose their trust. As they will begin to feel that if you can judge others in front of them, you can talk about them behind their back.
Judgment is a sign of unhappiness. If you are 100% happy with who you are, you are a lot less likely to feel the need to judge others. If you are self-assured, you will not feel the need to cast a downward glance at others.
| A．You are viewed positively by people. |
| B．You start taking yourself too seriously. |
| C．Hence, seeing others positively shows we are positive people. |
| D．You judge their clothing, actions, success, values, and everything. |
| E．Likewise, you also judge because you feel you are better than others. |
| F．You start judging your close ones; friends, family members, partner, etc. |
| G．And no one wants to make friends with someone often talking unkindly about others. |
8 . Nature can be unforgiving, especially when it comes to the animal world. As such, squirrels need every advantage they can get in order to protect themselves from a variety of predators that may want to make them their next meal. Squirrels pay incredibly close attention to their surroundings, and they pick up alarm calls from other nearby animals in reference to nearby predators. Now, a new study reveals that squirrels also listen to nearby birds’ conversations to make sure there is no threat close by.
Researchers from Oberlin University say that if the talk from birds is relaxing and normal, the squirrel knows it is not in immediate danger. The authors said that squirrels were listening to bird conversations and sounds to assess their safety, so in order to test their theory they observed the behavior of 54 wild Eastern gray squirrels scattered across various parks and areas in Ohio.
First, a threat was shown by playing a record of a red-tailed hawk(鹰), an animal known to hunt and eat both squirrels and other smaller birds. Then, researchers played one of two different recordings; one recording was of many songbirds chattering among one another happily, and the other was with no bird noises. After playing these recordings, each squirrel’s behavior was monitored for three minutes.
As expected, after hearing the initial record, all the squirrels displayed defensive attitudes, such as running away, looking around, or freezing their movements. Interestingly, the squirrels that heard the happy sounds of songbirds returned back to a normal, relaxed state much faster than the other group that heard the quiet sounds.
The study’s authors say that this indicates squirrels use the sounds of nearby animals to ensure their own safety. This allows the squirrel to either get back to what they were doing in a faster manner, or prepare for potential threats more efficiently.
“Perhaps in some circumstances, cues of safety could be as important as cues of danger,” the study reads. The study is published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.
1. What does the underlined word “predators” mean in the first paragraph?| A．Animals that hunt squirrels as food. |
| B．Animals that make friends with squirrels. |
| C．Animals that hunt squirrels and birds at night. |
| D．Animals that steal the food from the squirrels’ nests. |
| A．They will stay and freeze. |
| B．They will behave normally. |
| C．They will keep on their guard. |
| D．They will look around and run away. |
| A．By studying the different data. |
| B．By listing the different figures. |
| C．By comparing the different responses. |
| D．By playing different games with the squirrels. |
| A．Three interesting experiments. |
| B．Squirrels listen to birds to stay safe. |
| C．Judging danger from nearby sounds. |
| D．Squirrels can record the dangerous sound. |
9 . Ecofriendly replacement products for single-use plastics are appearing everywhere. But have you heard of edible (可食性的) straws? Now EQUO, a new eco-friendly company in Vietnam has come up with a natural edible solution to plastic or paper straws.
The edible straws are completely plastic free, nontoxic, chemical free, and 100 percent biodegradable according to a company press release.
“It’s well known that plastic straws are harmful to the environment. Most of the 500 million used every day in America end up in oceans where they pollute water and harm marine life. Currently over eight billion straws pollute the world’s beaches,” said Marina Tran-Vu in the press release. “Although there are some plastic and paper straw alternatives on the market, most are environmentally harmful, and we were also unsatisfied with the quality and lasting of paper straws.”
All of the materials are locally from regions that support sustainable farming according to the company’s website and they struggle to have zero-net influence by” using the power of mother nature”. The name of the company was created by combining “ECO” — meaning environmentally friendly — with “STATUS QUO” — meaning the existent state. EQU stands for creating products that have minimal influence on the environment. The company was first shown on Kickstarter on May 18 and hit their funding goal in only 30 days.
Many countries are banning single-use plastics. The EU banned 10 single-use plastic products including straws that will take effect in 2021. Other items that will no longer be made of plastic include cutlery (餐具), and balloon sticks. These 10 items make up a large percentage of ocean waste that harms marine life.
So do your part, use biodegradable cutlery — you can carry your own , edible straws, and reusable water or coffee cups. These small items can contribute to reducing plastic waste.
1. What is the third paragraph mainly about?| A．The popularity of plastic straws. |
| B．The harm of plastic straws. |
| C．The pollution of beaches. |
| D．The necessity of change. |
| A．It means the original aim. |
| B．It means the existent state. |
| C．It means how to create products. |
| D．It means being good for the environment. |
| A．Plastic straws will be forbidden. |
| B．Edible straws will be sold cheaply. |
| C．Ocean waste can be rid completely. |
| D．Single-use plastic products will disappear. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Objective. | C．Tolerant. | D．Approving. |
Science Sunday is for everyone interested in the world around them, whose lectures are designed to make science interesting and “user-friendly” for everyone. Lectures are one hour long. Doors open to the lecture hall at 1:00 pm. Lecture passes are available at the admissions counter at 12:30 pm. Seating is limited and first-come, first-served. No late seating. Lectures include time for a few questions at the end.
Life on the Ranch
Celebrate the warmth of the holiday season with crafts, games, music, and enjoyment from the early 20th century. We’ll busy your hands with holiday wreath-making (花冠), invite you to join in an old-fashioned sing-along around the player piano, and provide you with materials to make Victorian and Mexican holiday crafts. Come play games, take a draft-horse carriage ride, decorate the tree, and create decorations to bring home to your own tree.
Open Studios Tour
Explore the hidden world of art! Visit artists in their studios, learn about their processes, purchase original works of art. Free mobile app and printed guide have artist information and maps. Open Studios is a free self-guided tour, produced by Arts Council Santa Cruz County, which invites the public into more than 300 artist studios across Santa Cruz County.
Roaring Camp
Step into the incredible world of steam power at the Steam & Harvest Festival. Welcome Fall with traditional children’s activities like candle making, and gold panning. See a variety of steam and belt-powered equipment on display. Admission is free for the whole family.
1. What can visitors do if they attend Science Sunday lectures?| A．Show up at 2:30 pm. | B．Explore the hidden world of art. |
| C．Be able to ask questions. | D．Change attitudes to oceans. |
| A．Promote wreath-making. | B．Sing to the piano. |
| C．Make crafts alone. | D．Get close to Victoria. |
| A．Roaring Camp | B．Open Studios Tour |
| C．Life on the Ranch | D．Seymour Marine Discovery Center |
