1 . Here’s an idyllic scene: a small village where the sun always shines crops always grow and your friends drop by to sweep your yard to the sound of guitar music. Animals do what they are told there is no disease and lending folks a helping hand makes you richer and wiser. Welcome to Farm Ville --- current population 69m and rising fast.
“It reminds me of my childhood,” says one player, Lia Curran, 37, a chemist from London. “Right now I’m growing wheat and poinsettia, I’ve got a small orchard and I’m keeping some chickens and some cows. I like having the animals. It’s comfortable.”
Curran’s young animals, however, are nothing more than a collection of computer-controlled cartoons. Farm Ville is an online computer game built into the social networking site Facebook and is described by its players as “addictive”. Launched last June by Zynga Game Network, Farm Ville now has more players than Twiter’s entire user base --- or more than the population of the UK. The players are largely women over the age of 35.
Jenny Glyn, 33, a London housewife, started playing in September. “I had a look at a friend’s farm and was hooked” she says. “My first motivation was to overtake her, but I did that pretty quickly. Now there’s something satisfying about growing crops.”
Farm Ville intellectually unites the worlds of social networking and gaming. Players are given a patch of ground with six fields, “cash”, a few seeds and a plough and have to build up wealth, skills and neighbors to create bigger, better, richer farms.
Inviting your online friends to play means you earn more and get free gifts; you rise rapidly through the first levels but once hooked have to work harder and harder with no final level or goal in sight. “It’s very moreish,” says Curran. She hasn’t yet paid real-world money to advance in the game, but her friends do. One buys extra virtual currency at the exchange rate of $240 (￡145) in Farm Ville for $40 (￡24) in the real world.
“I’d expanded on Farm Ville as much as I could, but I just wanted a pond and some bushes and trees around it,” says the woman, who is too embarrassed to be named. “I didn’t tell my husband I’d paid real money because he’d think I’m mad. But then he did keep me waiting in the car outside our house while he harvested his raspberries.”
Brian Dudley, chief executive at Broadway Lodge, an addiction treatment centre, warns that this sort of obsessive play can lead to an addiction as severe as gambling.
1. What does Curran do in the passage?| A．She is a player. | B．She is a farmer who grows wheat and poinsettia. |
| C．She is a chemist. | D．She is a housewife who raises chickens and cows. |
| A．an addictive farm on which live 69 million farmers |
| B．a London housewife’s farm |
| C．an online computer game built into the social networking site |
| D．a farm on which people grow real crops and play as well |
| A．because he was angry at his wife’s being mad about the farm |
| B．because he himself was busy with his farm |
| C．in order to punish his wife for her having paid real money |
| D．so that his wife would wake up from her addiction to the farm |
| A．The population of the UK is less than 69 million. |
| B．This sort of obsessive play can cause very severe addiction. |
| C．Once hooked one has to make greater efforts to reach a higher level. |
| D．Up till now nobody has yet paid real-world money to advance in the play. |
2 . Mary Shelley bends over her latest creation. Although the carving is only half complete, the image of a waitress holding a plate of eggs comes out from the board. Of Shelley’s nearly seven hundred carvings, many show scenes with cows on farms and people in restaurants.
From memories to carvings
“My work is a visual diary, ” Shelley says. “The carvings describe things I have experienced and felt at different times in my life.”
Every one of her carvings tells a story. Many of the stories in Shelley’s woodcarvings come from memories of her childhood in a rural (乡村的) area outside of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Shelley’s family managed a small farm. Mary was a serious girl who spent a lot of time raising animals, exploring outdoors, and reading. Although Shelley never felt especially artistic as a child, there was always an art project in the works in the Shelley household. Her grandmother painted. Her father was a commercial artist, who drew and wrote to make a living.
______
Shelley attended Cornell University and hoped to become a writer, but an unusual present took her in another direction. At age 23, she received a gift her father had made-a woodcarving of her as a girl on the farm. The gift caught her interest. After gathering boards from a building site where she worked as a carpenter, Shelley bought some tools and taught herself to carve.
Shelley soon realized that she loved the slow, thoughtful process of working with wood and painting. “A carving is like a jigsaw puzzle (拼图游戏),” she explains. “I didn’t know how it would all fit together, but the process of solving the puzzle kept me going.”
The Shelley style
Early in her career, people hired Shelley to carve special pieces that took four or five weeks to complete. The money she received motivated her to try more complicated scenes created by carving deeper in the wood. Over time, Shelley’s art began to have its own style. In a typical Shelley woodcarving, some objects seem to reach out of the frame while others drop back, creating a feeling of depth.
1. What can we infer from the “From memories to carvings” part?| A．Art is from but beyond life. | B．Life is short and art is long. |
| C．It is great art to laugh at your own misfortune. | D．Knowledge without practice makes but half an artist |
| A．Life in School | B．A Dream Come True |
| C．A Life-Changing Gift | D．Jigsaw Puzzles and Carving |
| A．The dream to be an artist in her childhood. | B．Her father’s low-relief carving for her. |
| C．The rugs hooked by her grandmother. | D．Her school life in Cornell University. |
| A．is very popular | B．is very expensive |
| C．has simple scenes | D．creates a feeling of depth |
3 . 24 Solar Terms: 8 things you may not know about Frost’s Descent
The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. Frost’s Descent (霜降), the 18th solar term of the year, begins this year on Oct 23 and ends on Nov 6.
Frosty autumn
Eating fruit
Eating persimmons during Frost’s Descent can help people resist the cold and protect their bones. In the countryside, people believe that their lips will crack if they don’t eat persimmons during this period. The apple is one kind of recommended fruit during Frost’s Descent. Apples can moisten the lungs, quench one’s thirst and help one’s digestion.
Eating duck
It’s a custom to eat duck on the first day of Frost’s Descent in south Fujian province. There is a saying in Fujian which goes, “Even nourishing all year is not as good as nourishing the human body on the first day of Frost’s Descent.”
People in areas such as Daxin county in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region celebrate the first day of Frost’s Descent. In the Frost’s Descent Festival, the Zhuang people offer sacrifices, dance and sing folk songs. With a history of more than 360 years, the festival is to commemorate Cen Yuyin, a heroine in battles against foreign aggression.
| A．Eating chestnuts |
| B．Frost’s Descent Festival |
| C．But eating too many could be harmful |
| D．Frost’s Descent is the last solar term of autumn |
| E．Eating duck is a way for people there to gain weight |
| F．The pear is another recommended fruit during Frost’s Descent |
| G．Frost consists of white ice crystals of frozen water vapor near the ground |
4 . The life of a teenager is full of tough issues and life-changing decisions. As some of the teenagers may be led astray during this age, this article will focus on showing you how to avoid this.
Do best in school.
Choose your friends wisely.
Never hang out with anyone who doesn’t make you feel comfortable. Create a group of supportive, loving friends that can help you succeed in life and achieve your dreams.
Keep in mind that drugs lead to death. If you can avoid these things during your teen years, they’re a lot easier to avoid once you’re out of high school and away from peer (同年人) pressure.
Draw your future.
Life is full of amazing things to do and learn about. Start with one single step to reach your goal. Start thinking about careers you would like to be in, but make a good choice based on your interests and strengths.
| A．Never take drugs. |
| B．Do what you love. |
| C．School sets you up on the right track. |
| D．This could be your job for the rest of your life. |
| E．It will help you develop your personality. |
| F．Follow the steps below, and you will achieve a successful teenage life. |
| G．Be with people who make you happy, and stay away from the ones who don’t. |
5 . Jenny married Steven in 1950. They loved each other but Steven had bad tempers. As a new bride(新娘), Jenny moved into Steven’s house on his farm. She took a shoe box with her and put it in her closet (壁橱). She asked Steven not to open the box. Thinking that everyone has his/her secret that he/she never wanted others to know, Steven accepted it.
For 50 years, Steven left the box alone, even without touching it. Finally, Jenny was ill and dying. Steven thought the box must hold something very important and it was time to open it, so he asked Jenny whether he could open the box. Jenny said yes.
Opening the box, Steven found two doilies(装饰小垫) and $82,500. He took the things to Jenny and asked where this came from.
“Well, my mother gave me the box the day we got married,” she explained, “She said that love needed understanding, so did life. She knew you had bad tempers, so she told me to make a doily whenever I felt hurt and frustrated(沮丧), so that I wouldn’t get mad at you.” Steven was glad that in the past 50 years Jenny had made only two doilies. Then he asked about the money.
“In fact, after having made too many doilies, I began to sell them. Each brought us $50. That’s the money I’ve made by selling the doilies.”
Hearing this, Steven couldn’t help crying…
Everyone gets three presents in life. Life is the first one; love is the second and understanding is the third. It is love that gives us lives and understanding, while understanding keeps love.
1. After reading the passage, we know that .| A．the wife made a living by making and selling doilies |
| B．the wife often hid her own money into the shoe box |
| C．the husband thought there were just shoes in the box |
| D．the husband had often made the wife sad in the past |
| A．1652. | B．1650. | C．50. | D．2. |
| A．Jenny had even worse tempers |
| B．Making doilies is the best way to make money |
| C．Steven didn’t break his promise |
| D．Shoe boxes were always used to hold money |
| A．beautiful and funny | B．kind and wise |
| C．brave and smart | D．Honest and loyal |
6 . Child care workers help care for children when their parents are working or are busy with other tasks.
As for the personality, child care workers need to be very patient when talking to children and guiding them.
Child care providers are helpful; they can give reports to the parents on how their child is doing. Since some workers help with homework, they know well how a child is dealing with the work. They know how the child communicates with other children. And they know how they deal with certain key situations.
In many cases, child care workers play the part of a teacher, playmate, etc. They should have a high level of responsibility. Their job plays an important role in the lives of many families.
| A．And they should study with kids. |
| B．They must take their job seriously. |
| C．Child care workers need to be healthy. |
| D．Child care workers have several key tasks. |
| E．Besides, child care workers should be friendly. |
| F．They watch the children before or after school. |
| G．These are very useful information to the parents. |
7 . When you get older your parents let you stay up later. But that doesn’t make it a good idea. Tired people intend (倾向) to be unhappy ones, and their schoolwork suffers, says a recent study by the US National Sleep Foundation.
“If you don’t get enough sleep at night, you tend to sleep in school. If you’re asleep, you don’t learn anything,” says Mary Carskadon, an American sleep researcher.
Sleep is important because it gives our bodies time to recover from the stress of living. Studies show that adults who sleep less than six hours a night tend to have more heart problems. They die sooner than adults who sleep seven to eight hours a night.
How much sleep do you need? That depends on how old you are. Babies spend most of the day asleep. By the time they’re 10 years old, they need an average (平均 ) of 10 hours a night. As they get older, they tend to sleep less. And the Sleep Foundation says that teenagers need 8. 5 to nine hours. But in experiments where young teens are allowed to sleep as long as they want, they tend to choose to sleep an average of 10 hours.
However, it does seem difficult for kids to get the sleep they need, given the demands (要求) made on them by education. Some schools start as early as 7 am. Some schools have late classes or self-study sessions (时段) that end as late as 10 pm.
You have to study, but here are some tips that should help you feel less tired.
Watch less television. Go to bed just 30 minutes earlier each school night, and you’ll gain two hours and a half of sleep a week.
Cutting out caffeine (咖啡因) also helps. Soda, tea and coffee help you stay wake, but they can make it harder to fall asleep.
Before you go to bed, turn off any electrical devices (电子设备) as these can make it more difficult to get to sleep.
So, switch off the TV, computer and the lights. Oh, yes, and sweet dreams!
1. What may not happen to a child if he doesn’t get enough sleep?| A．He feels unhappy. | B．He does badly in his homework. |
| C．He falls asleep in the classroom. | D．He suffers a heart attack. |
| A．Ten hours. | B．Nine hours. | C．Eight hours. | D．Seven hours. |
| A．Drinking some tea. |
| B．Watching a 2-hour film. |
| C．Turning off the lights. |
| D．Playing with smartphones. |
| A．Parents. | B．Teachers. | C．Kids. | D．Adults. |
8 . Upgrade your problems
In 2017, I spent all my money buying my first flat — which meant I had no money to fix my first homeowner’s problem. I was sleeping on an air mattress because I couldn’t afford furniture. Then I noticed a leaky pipe under the bath, which created a wet puddle (水坑). I couldn’t afford a plumber (水管工) but I didn’t want to introduce myself to the neighbour by crashing through their wet ceiling.
The only option left for me was that I had to solve the problem on my own. I took the bus to a nearby store and talked with the nice guy behind the counter. He explained how to fix it and sold me a pipe cutter and a bit of pipework. I went back home, pushed my head under the bath, and got the job done.
It taught me a lesson that has since become a bit of motto for me: Upgrade your problems.
Having a wet bathroom floor is a problem — and the day before I bought the place, I would have had a landlord to call. But once the place was mine, this became my problem. I saw this as progress: You must own your own property to take care of this sort of situation.
Years later, when I founded my professional services company with my business partner, Adam, this motto became core to how we approach the business. There have been many problems, and there will continue to be new ones. However, we remember the reason we have these problems — it’s because we run our own business! A late-paying customer is a problem, but it’s one we encounter only if we have paying customers.
That is why I still keep the pipe cutter on my desk today. It reminds me that, no matter my level of frustration (挫败), I am fortunate to face the problems I do. The more I solve them, the more I upgrade to even better ones.
1. What did the author notice in his first flat?2. How did the author solve his problem with the bath?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
The author still keeps the pipe cutter on his desk today because it reminds him of his success in business.
4. What else would you do when you encounter problems in life? (In about 40 words)
9 . Sometimes, the pace of modern life barely gives you time to stop and rest. It can make getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis seem like a dream.
People often think that sleep is just downtime when a tired brain gets to rest, but that’s wrong.
Some people have conditions that prevent them from getting enough good quality sleep, no matter how hard they try. These problems are called sleep disorders. The most common sleep disorder is insomnia (失眠症). Insomnia happens when you have repeated difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep, although you have the time to sleep and a proper sleep environment.
| A．How much sleep you need changes with age. |
| B．While you’re sleeping, your brain is working. |
| C．There are many misunderstandings about sleep. |
| D．It can make you feel tired or unrested during the day. |
| E．Treatments are available for many common sleep disorders. |
| F．However, sleep is as important for good health as diet and exercise. |
| G．This reduces or stops airflow, which wakes people up during the night. |
10 . During my university years in the early 2000s, I worked part-time with kids at a neighborhood YMCA, which mainly focused on child care. Each year, we hosted a Christmas party for the community.
Most of the people working there were women, so we had to search for a male volunteer to play Santa Claus. We didn’t have many choices. John was a tall, twentyish man who was much too thin to be Santa Claus. No amount of stuffing (填充物) could possibly make him look like a common Santa Claus. He was, however, available.
On the day of the party, John put on his costume (戏装) and waited for the children. Many of the children who knew John said, “It’s just you, John.” If they didn’t know him, they said, “You’re too thin to be Santa.” We thought it might be a bad decision, but then everyone seemed to enjoy their time there, so it didn’t really matter.
Then, a lovely little girl entered the room. She was dressed beautifully to see Santa and seemed a little shy. Her mother brought her up to our Santa. “She’s deaf,” the mother explained. “If she could just sit on your lap (大腿) and have her picture taken, she would be happy.” John, the skinny Santa, smiled at the little girl, and she sat on his lap.
Then, the skinny Santa began using hand gestures to communicate with the girl fluently, and the little girl smiled happily and answered him quickly with her hands. Their conversation lasted quite a while. When I looked at the mother, I saw that she was crying. In fact, I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room. Santa Claus really was there.
There was so much we didn’t know about what was happening. This girl had never met John before, and few of us were aware that he knew how to sign — it all added up to a magical surprise.
1. Why was John chosen to play Santa Claus?| A．He was tall. | B．He was male. | C．He was young. | D．He was popular. |
| A．Disappointing. | B．Interesting. | C．Surprising. | D．Inspiring. |
| A．She was talkative and lively. | B．She often came to the child care. |
| C．She was friendly to other children. | D．She expected to take pictures with Santa. |
| A．The little girl has a nice character. | B．John’s knowledge of sign language. |
| C．The warm and friendly environment. | D．The participation of the little girl’s mother. |
