1 . Good news for all Wes Anderson fans — the US director is back with the film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar which hit Netflix, an online film provider, on Sept 27. It is a film adaptation of UK novelist Roald Dahl’s novel under the same name.
The film stars UK actor Benedict Cumberbatch as a wealthy man named Henry Sugar, who develops the ability to see through objects. At the very beginning he uses this power to cheat at cards and win big while gambling (赌博), and later turns his fortune into a global network of orphanages (孤儿院).
Dialogue style
Running for just 40 minutes, the film features Anderson’s quick-paced dialogue style. He also asked the actors to recite lines directly to the audience by looking at the camera, creating “the effect of listening to a podcast (播客) while turning the pages of a lovely picture book quickly”, commented CNN.
Visual style
Anderson’s work is immediately recognizable for his visual style as well. The “Anderson aesthetic (美学)” often uses bright color palettes (调色板) to both add visual appeal and make various ideas known to the audience, reported Yahoo News. In The Grand Budapest Hotel for example, Anderson uses a color palette of deep blues, rich greens and warm pinks to recreate an old-world European feel. In The Royal Tenenhaums the red tracksuits worn by Chaz, one of the main characters, show deep-seated anger resulting from parental trauma (创伤).
Symmetrical style
Another style is his use of symmetry (对称). Many of the shots involve (涉及) a person facing the camera, with the elements around the character set up in a sense of order and balance. Anderson explained to the media that it is out of his nature to “arrange things in a frame”, which he compares to how people can’t change the individuality of their handwriting. “You might try to write very well, but really, you have something your brain tends to do”, he said.
However, his obsessive repetition of these stylistic choices in his films has led some to question his ability to innovate (创新). In response to this, Anderson stated, “It’s not something I make any effort to do. I just want to make films that are personal but interesting to an audience.”
1. What do we know about the film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar?| A．Watching this film is actually listening to a podcast. |
| B．It reflects the unique style of the director Wes Anderson. |
| C．It is based on a real story of a wealthy man named Henry Sugar. |
| D．Its main character gains nothing in gambling in the end. |
| A．They both use colors to get various ideas across to the audience. |
| B．They both reflect deep-seated anger. |
| C．They both present an old-world European feel. |
| D．They both have colorful costumes to add to their appeal. |
| A．Out of curiosity. | B．Out of innovation. |
| C．Out of habit. | D．Out of kindness. |
| A．A film script. | B．A film lecture. |
| C．A film survey. | D．A film review. |
2 . Cultural heritage sites are a nonrenewable resource. Today architectural heritage sites are being destroyed at an alarming rate. They’re threatened by rising seas, pollution, overtourism, conflicts and so on. Recently, Notre Dame Cathedral has attracted international attention.
Since its main construction from 1163 to 1350, Notre Dame Cathedral repeatedly has been damaged and repaired. On April 15, 2019, the landmark’s roof caught fire, causing the collapse of its spire (尖顶) and upper walls severely damaged. Work on the site began quickly. Through the work of photographer Tomas van Houtryve, writer Robert Kunzig, and artist Fernando Baptista, people will see restoring scenes where ruins are cleared and statues saved. Even the COVID-19 pandemic caused only a two-month delay. Architects have said the expensive project is on track to be completed in 2024.
And thorny questions arise. What duty do we owe the creations of our ancestors? What lesson can we draw from their presence?
Humankind has answered that differently. In Dresden, Germany, the Frauenkirche, an 18th-century baroque church, was famous for its bell-shaped dome (穹顶). In February 1945, one of the most destructive bombing attacks of World War II reduced the city to ruins. After German reunion, the church was reconstructed using many of its original stones, as a symbol of peace and harmony. Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church also fell to bombing but had a different story. Its spire has been left a ruin on purpose to be a “warning monument” against war and destruction.
Like the Frauenkirche, Notre Dame is being rebuilt as close as possible to how it was before, including using the original, toxic metal — lead (铅) — for the roof, causing the debate about how to restore and maintain historic buildings. Actually, no one claims to have the “right” answers on preservation; there may not even be right answers. What people could do is to continuously monitor the global care of cultural heritage sites, as a matter of significance to humanity’s past, present, and future.
1. What do we know about Notre Dame Cathedral?| A．It was once threatened by conflicts. |
| B．It collapsed totally during a fire decade ago. |
| C．It has undergone repeated repairs since 1163. |
| D．It was not influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| A．Simple. | B．Tough. | C．Accurate. | D．Attractive. |
| A．To remind people the value of peace and harmony. |
| B．To warn people the influence of war and destruction. |
| C．To demonstrate different solutions to heritage site preservation. |
| D．To introduce reconstruction methods such as using original materials. |
| A．Cultural heritage sites are nonrenewable so that they are worth protecting. |
| B．Notre Dame Cathedral has been the most attractive heritage site globally. |
| C．The reconstruction of cultural heritage sites seldom causes disagreements. |
| D．The reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral after fire has been completed. |
3 . Diving in the ocean, marine biologist Erika Woolsey has seen how coral reefs (珊瑚礁) are being damaged by climate change. It has made her decide to find a way to share her experience —including those who can’t easily explore the ocean.
Through her non-profit, The Hydrous, Woolsey is using virtual reality to bring the ocean to everyone. Scientists, filmmakers and divers are taking people on immersive (沉浸式的) virtual dives, attracting attention to reef damage and expecting action to protect our sea. About 25% of marine species depend on coral reefs. However, climate change, pollution and overfishing have done harm to around half the world’s shallow water coral reefs.
Twenty years of underwater exploration has given Woolsey a detailed understanding of the dangerous situations facing reefs. “I’ve seen this first-hand shift. Healthy colourful coral reefs become what look like the moonscape step by step,” Woolsey says.
It is through this experience that The Hydrous team set out to recreate with their award-winning film Immerse. Intended to watch with a VR headset, viewers join Woolsey for a nine-minute guided virtual div e on the coral reefs, immersed in a 360-degree underwater view.
They swim alongside sea turtles and sharks before witnessing the worsening of the reefs. The experience often brings out strong feelings. “As soon as people take off that headset and look me in the eye, they want to tell me a story about their ocean experience,” Woolsey says. “It’s that human connection to our ocean that will solve our ocean problems.”
Woolsey hopes advances in camera technology will allow her team to take more and more people to places in the ocean that are underexplored and places further away from human civilization. They are developing a virtual experience that will put the people in the role of a marine biologist, carrying out biodiversity surveys underwater, and even transporting the viewers to space to monitor global sea surface temperatures.
1. Why did Erika Woolsey set up The Hydrous?| A．To collect money for ocean protection. |
| B．To let the public know about coral reefs better. |
| C．To help people enjoy the ocean’s beauty. |
| D．To encourage people to protect the ocean. |
| A．change. | B．experience. |
| C．material. | D．scene. |
| A．The story about the ocean. | B．The situation of coral reefs. |
| C．The connection with sea life. | D．The way to protect the ocean. |
| A．To bring more fun during the lockdown. |
| B．To train talents for environment protection. |
| C．To help people learn more about the ocean. |
| D．To discover more places that need protection. |
4 . On April 20, SpaceX’s Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever, exploded during its first test flight only minutes after it took off from Texas, US.
Even though the two-stage rocket ship made it less than halfway to the edge of space, climbing to just under 25 miles, the flight achieved its primary objective of getting the new vehicle off the ground despite some of its engines failing at liftoff. The plan was for Starship to soar into space at least 90 miles above Earth.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk congratulated team members on “an exciting test launch” in a post-launch tweet and said they “learned a lot for the next test launch in a few months.”
Back in September 2017, Musk came up with the idea of developing a rocket that would be able to send astronauts to Mars, build a base on the moon, and allow commercial travel to anywhere on Earth in under an hour, according to The Guardian (卫报).
The most important aspect in Musk’s view, however, would be the rocket’s ability to be reused for multiple flights. This would allow for massive savings as it would reduce the number of spacecraft that would otherwise simply crash. Also, the rocket relies on low-cost fuel, methane (甲烷), making the cost of spaceflight drop dramatically.
The results of Starship’s first launch are not too far off from what Musk and SpaceX’s engineers had predicted. Musk himself gave 50-50 odds that Starship would reach orbit, but also stressed that “clearing the launch tower and not blowing up the pad (发射台) would be a win”.
In all, “it fell somewhere between a small step and their hoped-for giant leap, but it still represents significant progress toward a reusable super-heavy lift rocket,” said Jordan Bimm, a space historian at the university of Chicago, US.
Prepared for the likely outcome, SpaceX already has more boosters and spacecraft ready for more test flights, with the next full set “almost ready to go”. The plan is to fire off similar rockets in quick succession (连续) to gather data and start using Starships to launch satellites into low Earth orbit then put people on board. Each launch will take SpaceX a step closer to its ultimate goal of making commercial space flight a reality.
1. What happened minutes after Starship took off?| A．It crashed into the sea. | B．It flew off the course. |
| C．It blew up in the sky. | D．Its engines all failed. |
| A．The problems with the launch. | B．The risks of test flights. |
| C．The advantages of the rocket. | D．Musk’s idea of Starship. |
| A．Disastrous. | B．Record-breaking. | C．Acceptable. | D．Unexpected. |
| A．A Big Successful Failure | B．A Giant Leap in Space Exploration |
| C．Good Prospects for travel | D．Incredible Progress in Space Flight |
5 . People these days are posting about their lives on social media. But what if you’re a private and introverted person like me? What if you want to live in the moment instead of sharing every bit of your life? To be honest, it’s nobody’s business but your own.
Escaping stalkers (跟踪者).
I’ve been a public person as a jazz vocalist for years. It exposed me to stalkers who felt they knew me, just because I was present everywhere. Needless to say, it brought me much anxiety and stress. At some point I asked myself-is being visible more important than my peace of mind?
Protecting privacy
Another reason I keep my life private is that I prefer to be in the present moment and appreciate it fully. To be on your phone constantly, or to film everything you do, can be quite disrespectful to the people you spend your time with. You lose out on those spontaneous(自发的) moments and a deeper connection. I choose what I share and when I share it, and the rest is for experiencing life without expectations.
Live your life fully, regardless of whether the world knows it or not!
| A．Experiencing life |
| B．Living in the moment |
| C．Don’t I really care about privacy? |
| D．Are my followers more important than my friends and family? |
| E．If you feel like sharing your life openly without hesitation, go for it. |
| F．Here are my reasons for not sharing my personal life on social media. |
| G．It can be quite challenging to go through tough moments with everyone watching. |
6 . Taking a picture of Mars is not easy. Once light bounces off the planet, it can take between 3 to 22 minutes to travel to Earth - so there aren’t truly “live” images of Mars.
But on Friday afternoon, the European Space Agency will offer the closest thing: the first “livestream” of Mars a rare, almost real-time look into space on YouTube, which posts pictures of the planet every 50 seconds as they beam down directly from the camera mounted (安装) on the agency’s Mars Express orbiter (轨道飞行器). We can get a firsthand look at Mars on Friday.
“During Friday’s one-hour livestream, the time between the images being taken from orbit around Mars and appearing on your screen will be about 18 minutes,” James Godfrey, the spacecraft operations manager at the ESA’s mission control center, said in a statement. “That’s 17 minutes for light to travel from Mars to Earth in their current configuration, and about one minute to pass through the wires and servers on the ground. ”
“Normally, we see images from Mars and know that they were taken days before. I’m excited to see Mars as it is now - as close to a Martian(火星人) ‘now’ as we can possibly get!’
In 50-second intervals, the camera shoots across Mars, showing a side of the planet entering night, as well as some clouds billowing out on the comer. The livestream celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Mars Express mission which was launched in 2003 to better understand the planet, as well as search for traces of water.
It’s with this camera, originally meant for engineering purposes, that we’ll get ”live“ images on Friday evening from 18:00 CEST in the first MarsLIVE. What makes this unique, is that it’s a one-hour livestream from Mars but don’t expect a detailed view of the Red Planet!
1. What can we learn from this text?| A．Watching the MarsLIVE, people will have a completely real-time view of the Mars. |
| B．The audience can watch the MarsLIVE thanks to the camera on the Mars |
| C．About 20 years ago, the ESA launched an orbiter to search for Martians. |
| D．The MarsLIVE is to celebrate the launch of the Mars Express mission in 2003. |
| A．Equipment. | B．Orbit. | C．Planet. | D．Spacecraft. |
| A．The live images taken from orbit around Mars. |
| B．The 20th anniversary of the Mars Express mission. |
| C．The first ”livestream“ of Mars to be shown on YouTube. |
| D．A rare and almost real-time look into space on YouTube. |
| A．The camera was originally used to shoot the Mars. |
| B．We can get truly live Mars images in the first MarsLIVE. |
| C．Detailed images about the Mars can’t be ensured. |
| D．The unique MarsLIVE will live up to viewers’ expectation. |
7 . World Literacy Conference
WHAT IS WORLD LITERACY CONFERENCE?
It’s the world’s largest gathering of international literacy experts, which focuses on the vital importance of improving reading and writing levels across the globe. It brings together leaders from 85 countries. Over 600 delegates (代表) in the scene and a further 40,000 people via webinars will watch it.
WHO CAN PARTICIPATE IN THE CONFERENCE?
Anyone who is passionate about education is welcome to take part in the conference. Call for papers and content is open. You can hand in no more than two papers through the Oxford system per person before September 16, 2023. Please click Here for more information
TICKET PURCHASE:
Registration Fees l＄100 per person; 20 percent discount for per group member.
Consumption Tax l Extra 10 percent for each registration fee. Overseas delegates will be charged before attending but can be RETURNED BACK after conference closing.
Pay Channels PayPal or a credit card. (Please email us for other methods)
Refund Policy The Conference ONLY offers refunds when the British Government does not approve you visa, or you need to apply for registration transfers.
Others Accommodation expenses are not covered in the registration fees.
1. Which of the following statements is correct according to the text?| A．The live broadcasting is the only way for participation. |
| B．Delegates are allowed to submit more than two essays. |
| C．Accommodation expenses are included in the registration fees. |
| D．Purchasers can apply to gain other access to official tickets. |
| A．800. | B．880. | C．990. | D．1000. |
| A．An online website. |
| B．An educational journal. |
| C．An activity poster. |
| D．An economic newspaper. |
8 . If you’re a perfectionist, that might mean you can be pretty hard on yourself. A mistake at work, for example, could result in some pretty negative self-talk or actions, like depriving yourself of a snack later that day.
But self-punishment doesn’t encourage growth, says Katherine, a psychotherapist and author of “The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control.”
Instead of punishing yourself for making a mistake, it is more effective to practice self-compassion(自我同情). Katherine suggests the broaden-and-build theory, a positive psychology theory that was developed by social psychologist Barbara in 1998.
Broaden-and-build theory suggests that when you’re in a positive headspace you feel more able to face different challenges and make choices based on the possibility of positive outcomes. When you’re in a negative headspace your view narrows and you aren’t inspired or encouraged to think differently.
Research demonstrates self compassion’s positive association with a greater sense of self-worth, more realistic self-evaluations of strengths and weaknesses, lower levels of depression and anxiety.
| A．In other words, you’re punishing yourself. |
| B．“Punishment doesn’t work.” she writes in her book. |
| C．To put yourself in a positive headspace, you need to practice self-compassion. |
| D．If you are the source of your own punishment then you learn to avoid yourself. |
| E．Punishment can be mistaken for a handful of things like discipline, personal responsibility. |
| F．It is also related with increased motivation to learn from past mistakes, and the list goes on. |
| G．Instead of being scared to act natural consequence might encourage you to act in a way leading to a positive result. |
9 . From art galleries to historic sites these small towns in Arizona will serve you with all they have to offer.
Jerome
Visitors come to explore its art galleries and special gift shops, like Nellie Bly Kaleidoscopes. They can also taste local drinks at Jerome’s tasting rooms. Don’t miss Jerome State Historic Park, where you can learn about the community’s mining history. Jerome has several excellent hotels and restaurants, so you can spend your weekend here.
Bisbee
This mining community is just 25 miles south of Tombstone. It was once the largest city between St Louis and San Francisco. It is popular for its art galleries, and great bars and restaurants. Several museums explore Bisbee’s mining history, including Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum. Follow this with a tour of the Queen Mine. Drive to the Lavender Pit Mining Overlook for a more modern look at mining, a few miles south of Bisbee.
Tombstone
Wooden walkways line the dirt streets in the historic district. You can drop by the Bird Cage Theater, which is now a museum. You can also listen to live music in Big Nose Kate’s Saloon while enjoying a burger.
Seligman
The last town on Route 66 is served as the inspiration for Radiator Springs in the animated movie Cars. Stop by Delgadillo’s Snow Cap Drive-In to see cars in the parking lot painted as the characters from the movie, or drop in at the Route 66 Gift Shop Visitor Center for nice gifts. If you’re lucky, you’ll meet Angel Delgadillo in the gift shop. He made Route 66 famous as a historic highway.
1. Who may choose to go to Jerome?| A．People who love to go to bars. | B．People who are interested in music. |
| C．People who study the history of walkways. | D．People who want to buy some souvenirs. |
| A．They are very close to Seligman. |
| B．They have fascinating historic parks. |
| C．They are famous for their historical sites. |
| D．They give people a chance to explore museums. |
| A．It displayed many famous gifts. |
| B．It was built by Angel Delgadillo. |
| C．It is important for the creation of Cars. |
| D．It has cars painted as characters in social medias. |
10 . Aren’t mobile phones, QQ, e-mails and WeChat supposed to help us communicate more easily? Sadly, that’s not always. One day, for example, when I was walking through the park with my friend, suddenly his mobile phone rang and he answered it—leaving me alone and cutting our conversation dead! In fact, the park was filled with such people talking on their mobile phones. They talked with other people without even looking at them, or stopping to walk their dogs. Clearly, people preferred talking on the phone to face-to-face contacting.
Why is it that the more connected we get, the more disconnected I feel? New communication technology seems to keep people away from each other. With e-mail over the Internet, we can communicate without seeing or talking to one another. With WeChat or QQ, you can have conversations without even meeting that person. Even some food stores are using self-scanner (自助扫描仪) so that you can check yourself out. As the contact between human beings becomes automated (自动化的), my feeling of being disconnected gets stronger. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against machines. I also own a mobile phone, a QQ, a WeChat and an e-mail account. Giving them up isn’t a good idea, because they are useful to have around. It’s just that when they keep us away from human contact, I begin to feel sad. More and more, I find myself answering e-mail instead of talking to people. The technology that helps keep us contact with each other is, in fact, making me feel more lonely.
What is to be done? Well, try to use less technology: no e-mailing people who live nearby, and no letting QQ and WeChat catch you all the time.
1. The purpose of the example in paragraph 1 is to show that people_________.| A．communicate more easily | B．dislike talking face to face |
| C．prefer talking on phones | D．are good at using phones |
| A．lonely | B．satisfied | C．stupid | D．interested |
| A．technology keeps people busier than before | B．technology is always useful to have around |
| C．the writer is going to give up phones | D．the writer would like to contact face to face |
| A．Technology and Human Life | B．The Importance of Technology |
| C．Technology and Human Contact | D．The Development of Technology |
