1 . Rome can be pricey for travelers, which is why many choose to stay in a hostel (旅社). The hostels in Rome offer a bed in a dorm room for around $25 a night, and for that, you’ll often get to stay in a central location (位置) with security and comfort.
Yellow HostelIf I had to make just one recommendation for where to stay in Rome, it would be Yellow Hostel. It’s one of the best-rated hostels in the city, and for good reason. It’s affordable, and it’s got a fun atmosphere without being too noisy. As an added bonus, it’s close to the main train station.
Hostel Alessandro PalaceIf you love social hostels, this is the best hostel for you in Rome. Hostel Alessandro Palace is fun. Staff members hold plenty of bar events for guests like free shots, bar crawls and karaoke. There’s also an area on the rooftop for hanging out with other travelers during the summer.
Youth Station HostelIf you’re looking for cleanliness and a modern hostel, look no further than Youth Station. It offers beautiful furnishings and beds. There are plenty of other benefits, too; it doesn’t charge city tax; it has both air conditioning and a heater for the rooms; it also has free Wi-Fi in every room.
Hotel and Hostel Des ArtistesHotel and Hostel Des Artistes is located just a 10-minute walk from the central city station and it’s close to all of the city’s main attractions. The staff is friendly and helpful, providing you with a map of the city when you arrive, and offering advice if you require some. However, you need to pay 2 euros a day for Wi-Fi.
1. What is probably the major concern of travelers who choose to stay in a hostel?A.Comfort. | B.Security. |
C.Price. | D.Location. |
A.Yellow Hostel. | B.Hostel Alessandro Palace. |
C.Youth Station Hostel. | D.Hotel and Hostel Des Artistes. |
A.It gets noisy at night. | B.Its staff is too talkative. |
C.It charges for Wi-Fi. | D.It’s inconveniently located. |
2 . My life as a tax-paying employed person began in middle school, when, for three whole days, I worked in a baking factory.
My best friend Betsy’s father was a manager at Hough Bakeries, which, at Easter time,
Our
Dad
A.sold | B.ordered | C.made | D.reserved |
A.stores | B.families | C.schools | D.citizens |
A.generous | B.financial | C.technical | D.temporary |
A.plans | B.problems | C.excuses | D.hobbies |
A.offer | B.earn | C.set | D.suggest |
A.worked | B.closed | C.developed | D.survived |
A.ambition | B.permission | C.experience | D.invitation |
A.joys | B.ideas | C.roles | D.choices |
A.Save | B.Keep | C.Stop | D.Remove |
A.harder | B.better | C.longer | D.cheaper |
A.Calm down | B.Slow down | C.Stay on | D.Move on |
A.indicated | B.witnessed | C.expected | D.remembered |
A.cried | B.smiled | C.hesitated | D.refused |
A.tasting | B.finding | C.sharing | D.delivering |
A.withdraw | B.donate | C.receive | D.appreciate |
3 . We live in a town with three beaches. There are two parts less than 10 minutes’ walk from home where neighborhood children gather to play. However, what my children want to do after school is pick up a screen — any screen — and stare at it for hours. They are not alone. Today’s children spend an average of four and a half hours a day looking at screens, split between watching television and using the Internet.
In the past few years, an increasing number of people and organisations have begun coming up with plans to counter this trend. A couple of years ago film-maker David Bond realised that his children, then aged five and three, were attached to screens to the point where he was able to say “chocolate” into his three-year-old son’s ear without getting a response. He realised that something needed to change, and, being a London media type, appointed himself “marketing director from Nature”. He documented his journey as he set about treating nature as a brand to be marketed to young people. The result was Project Wild Thing, a film which charts the birth of the World Network, a group of organisations with the common goal of getting children out into nature.
“Just five more minutes outdoors can make a difference,” David Bond says. “There is a lot of really interesting evidence which seems to be suggesting that if children are inspired up to the age of seven, then being outdoors will be on habit for life.” His own children have got into the habit of playing outside now: “We just send them out into the garden and tell them not to come back in for a while.”
Summer is upon us. There is an amazing world out there, and it needs our children as much as they need it. Let us get them out and let them play.
1. What is the problem with the author’s children?A.They often annoy their neighbours. | B.They are tired of doing their homework. |
C.They have no friends to play with | D.They stay in front of screens for too long. |
A.By making a documentary film. | B.By organizing outdoor activities. |
C.By advertising in London media. | D.By creating a network of friends. |
A.records | B.predicts | C.delays | D.confirms |
A.Let Children Have Fun | B.Young Children Need More Free Time |
C.Market Nature to Children | D.David Bond: A Role Model for Children |
4 . Early fifth-century philosopher St.Augustine famously wrote that he knew what time was unless someone asked him.Albert Einstein added another wrinkle when he theorized that time varies depending on where you measure it.Today's state-of-the-art atomic(原子的) clocks have proven Einstein right.Even advanced physics can't decisively tell us what time is, because the answer depends on the question you're asking.
Forget about time as an absolute.What if,instead of considering time in terms of astronomy,we related time to ecology?What if we allowed environmental conditions to set the tempo(节奏) of human life?We're increasingly aware of the fact that we can't control Earth systems with engineering alone,and realizing that we need to moderate(调节)our actions if we hope to live in balance.What if our definition of time reflected that?
Recently,I conceptualized a new approach to timekeeping that's connected to circumstances on our planet,conditions that might change as a result of global warming.We're now building a clock at the Anchorage Museum that reflects the total flow of several major Alaskan rivers,which are sensitive to local and global environmental changes.We've programmed it to match an atomic clock if the waterways continue to flow at their present rate.If the rivers run faster in the future on average,the clock will get ahead of standard time.If they run slower,you'll see the opposite effect.
The clock registers both short-term irregularities and long-term trends in river dynamics.It's a sort of observatory that reveals how the rivers are behaving from their own temporal frame(时间框架),and allows us to witness those changes on our smartwatches or phones.Anyone who opts to go on Alaska Mean River Time will live in harmony with the planet.Anyone who considers river time in relation to atomic time will encounter a major imbalance and may be motivated to counteract it by consuming less fuel or supporting greener policies.
Even if this method of timekeeping is novel in its particulars,early agricultural societies also connected time to natural phenomena.In pre-Classical Greece,for instance,people“corrected”official calendars by shifting dates forward or backward to reflect the change of season.Temporal connection to the environment was vital to their survival.Likewise,river time and other timekeeping systems we're developing may encourage environmental awareness.
When St.Augustine admitted his inability to define time, he highlighted one of time 's most noticeable qualities:Time becomes meaningful only in a defined context.Any timekeeping system is valid,and each is as praiseworthy as its purpose.
1. What is the main idea of Paragraph 1?A.Timekeeping is increasingly related to nature. |
B.Everyone can define time on their own terms. |
C.The qualities of time vary with how you measure it. |
D.Time is a major concern of philosophers and scientists. |
A.present an assumption | B.evaluate an argument |
C.highlight an experiment | D.introduce an approach |
A.Those who do not go on river time will live an imbalanced life. |
B.New ways of measuring time can help to control Earth systems. |
C.Atomic time will get ahead of river time if the rivers run slower. |
D.Modern technology may help to shape the rivers’ temporal frame. |
A.It is crucial to improve the definition of time. |
B.A fixed frame will make time meaningless. |
C.We should live in harmony with nature. |
D.History is a mirror reflecting reality. |
The fairest woman in the world was Helen.
So matters stood when Paris gave the golden apple to Aphrodite. The Goddess of Love and Beauty knew very well where the most beautiful woman on earth was
Menelaus returned to find Helen gone, and he called upon all of Greece to help recover her. The chieftains responded
Army had arrived, the King was plowing a field and sowing it with salt
Achilles was kept back by his mother. She sent him to the court of Lycomedes and made him wear women’s clothing, hiding him among the maidens. Odysseus was dispatched by the chieftains to bring him out. Disguised as a peddler he went to the court
So the great fleet made ready.
Human memory is notoriously (众所周知地) unreliable. Even people with the sharpest facial recognition skills can only remember so much.
It’s tough to quantify how good a person is
Machines aren’t limited this way. Give the right computer a massive database of faces, and it can process what it sees – then recognize a face it
The thing is, machines still have limitations when it comes to facial recognition. And scientists are only just beginning to understand what those constraints are.
As the databases grew, machine accuracy dipped across the board. Algorithms
Machines also had difficulty adjusting for people who look a lot alike –either doppelgangers (长相极相似的人), whom the machine would have trouble
A.struck, were trapped | B.being struck, trapped |
C.struck, having been trapped | D.having been struck ; were trapped |
Billionaires Race to Space
In late July 2021, Jeff Bezos achieved an out-of-this-world ambition. The billionaire founder of Amazon
“Best day ever,” Bezos said over the radio to mission control after landing safely back on Earth,
Bezos wasn’t the first billionaire to set his sights on space. Nor was he the first
Critics say that the money
But supporters of commercial space travel argue that it does benefit humanity. Personal funds
9 . I’ve been in an 18-year love-hate relationship with a black walnut tree.
It’s a unique tree. In late September or early October, falling fruits as hard as baseballs threaten the skulls (头骨) of you, your children, your neighbors and those that reside next door to them. Umbrellas in the yard are a must while dining in early August, and as for me, I wear my bike helmet while working in the garden.
The black walnut also releases a chemical substance through its roots as a competitive strategy. It’s poisonous to several common plants. There have been many new plant varieties that I brought home with hopes that maybe the black walnut would accept them, but they failed to flourish.
What does work are native plants that naturally grow in the area. Native plants are important to have around since they provide beneficial pollinators (传粉者) like birds, bees and butterflies with seeds and contribute to a healthy and biodiverse environment. Native plants for this area are generally easy to grow, so they experience less stress.
Have I thought of getting rid of this giant pain in my tiny backyard? Yes, however, getting rid of this tree standing at 50 feet with an 87-inch trunk is next to impossible. It’s also protected under the law. Rightfully so. Trees are important to the urban forest and for all of those that inhabit it.
Sometimes I think about my life without the black walnut. I can’t imagine a spring without the birds who arrive every year and loudly sing their songs before dawn. I’d miss falling asleep on lazy weekend afternoons as I look up into its leaves.
Every spring, I wonder what the season holds: What are the chances of being knocked unconscious while barbecuing? Like any good relationship, I’ll never be pleased. I’m stuck with this tree, so I’ll listen to its needs and give it the space it requires. In return, my walnut offers a habitat for wildlife and a reminder.
1. Why does the author wear a bike helmet while working in the garden?A.To protect the injured skull. | B.To prevent herself from sunburn. |
C.To avoid being hit by the nuts. | D.To reduce the chance of getting bitten by bees. |
A.It attracts beneficial pollinators. |
B.It lets out poison to drive away pests. |
C.It produces a chemical fatal to some plants. |
D.It competes for nutrition with similar species. |
A.The volume of its fruits may bring inconvenience. |
B.The tree outcompetes the native plants in the garden. |
C.The tree is home to numerous birds and other creatures. |
D.The presence of the tree takes up much space of the garden. |
A.it’s better to give than to take |
B.trees and plants have their own ways to flourish |
C.even a good relationship is not always trouble-free |
D.acceptance, instead of resistance, is the better way to be |
10 . Gone are the days when a mother’s place was in the home: in Britain women with children are now as likely to be in paid work as their unburdened sisters. Many put their little darlings in day care long before they start school. Mindful that a poor start can spoil a person’s chances of success later in life, the state has intervened ever more closely in how babies and toddlers are looked after. Inspectors call not only at nurseries but also at homes where youngsters are minded; three-year-olds follow the national curriculum. Child care has increasingly become a profession.
For years after the government first began in 2001 to twist the arms of anyone who looked after an unrelated child to register with the schools, the numbers so doing fell. Kind but clueless neighbours stopped looking after little ones, who were instead herded into formal nurseries or handed over to one of the ever-fewer registered child-minders. The decline in the number of people taking in children now appears to have halted. According to data released by the Office for Standards in Education on October 27th, the number of registered child-minders reached its lowest point in September 2010 and has since recovered slightly.
The new lot are certainly better qualified. In 2010 fully 82% of nursery workers held diplomas notionally equivalent to A-levels, the university-entrance exams taken mostly by 18-year-olds, up from 56% seven years earlier, says Anand Shukla of the Daycare Trust, a charity. Nurseries staffed by university graduates tend to be rated highest by inspectors, increasing their appeal to the pickiest parents. As a result, more graduates are being recruited.
But professionalization has also pushed up the price of child care, defying even the economic depression. A survey by the Daycare Trust finds that a full-time nursery place in England for a child aged under two, who must be intensively supervised, costs £194 ($310) per week, on average. Prices in London and the south-east are far higher. Parents in Britain spend more on child care than anywhere else in the world, according to the OECD, a think-tank. Some 68% of a typical second earner's net income is spent on freeing her to work, compared with an OECD average of 52%.
The price of child care is not only eye-watering, but has also become a barrier to work. Soon after it took power the coalition government pledged to ensure that people are better off in work than on benefits, but a recent survey by Save the Children, a charity, found that the high cost of day care prevented a quarter of low-paid workers from returning to their jobs once they had started a family. The government pays for free part-time nursery places for three-and four-year-olds, and contributes towards day-care costs for younger children from poor areas. Alas, extending such an aid during stressful economic times would appear to be anything but child’s play.
1. Which of the following is true according to the first paragraph?A.Nursery education plays a leading role in one’s personal growth. |
B.Pregnant women have to work to lighten families’ economic burden. |
C.Children in nursery have to take uniform nation courses. |
D.The supervision of the state makes child care professional. |
A.the registered child-minders are required to take the university-entrance exams |
B.the number of registered child-minders has been declining since 2001 |
C.anyone who looks after children at home must register with the schools |
D.the growing recognition encourages more graduates to work as child-minders |
A.prevents mothers from getting employed |
B.may further depress the national economy |
C.makes many families live on benefits |
D.is far more than parents can afford |
A.Objective. | B.Skeptical. | C.Supportive. | D.Biased. |
A.The professionalization of child care has pushed up its price. |
B.The high cost of child nursing makes many mothers give up their jobs. |
C.The employment of more graduates makes nurseries more popular. |
D.Parents in Britain pay most for child nursing throughout the world. |