The Chinese government recently finalized a plan to set up a Giant Panda National Park(GPNP).
After a three-year pilot period, the GPNP will be officially set up next year. The GPNP
Giant pandas also serve
2 . Fitness Magazine recently ran an article titled “Five Reasons to Thank Your Workout Partner.” One reason was: “You’ll actually show up if you know someone is waiting for you at the gym, ” while another read: “
So, how do you find a workout partner?
First of all, decide what you want from that person.
You might think about posting what you are looking for on social media, but it probably won’t result in a useful response.
My partner posted her request on the notice board of a local park. Her notice included what kind of training she wanted to do, how many days a week and how many hours she wanted to spend on each session, and her age. It also listed her favorite sports and activities, and provided her phone number.
You and your partner will probably have different skills.
| A．Your first meeting may be a little awkward. |
| B．A workout partner usually needs to live close by. |
| C．You’ll work harder if you train with someone else. |
| D．Do you want to be a better athlete in your favorite sport? |
| E．How can you write a good “seeking training partner” notice? |
| F．Just accept your differences and learn to work with each other. |
| G．Any notice for a training partner should include such information. |
3 . Like many young people, Jessica wants to travel the globe. Unlike most of them, this 25-year-old is doing it
They’re part of a new form of the
It’s not all sightseeing. The two travelers carefully
The couple has a high
| A．indoors | B．online | C．single-handed | D．full-time |
| A．game | B．service | C．vacation | D．procedure |
| A．safe | B．busy | C．helpful | D．affordable |
| A．local | B．private | C．sharing | D．agricultural |
| A．strangers’ | B．parents’ | C．co-workers’ | D．neighbors’ |
| A．favor | B．defense | C．honor | D．absence |
| A．plan | B．explain | C．compare | D．complete |
| A．buy | B．transport | C．choose | D．please |
| A．support | B．comfort | C．control | D．attention |
| A．cooking | B．staying | C．waiting | D．studying |
| A．success | B．survival | C．growth | D．unemployment |
| A．budget | B．abilities | C．expectations | D．understanding |
| A．admiring | B．donating | C．sending | D．borrowing |
| A．clean | B．open | C．simple | D．empty |
| A．guess | B．decision | C．response | D．impression |
4 . In 1916, two girls of wealthy families, best friends from Auburn, N. Y. — Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood — traveled to a settlement in the Rocky Mountains to teach in a one-room schoolhouse. The girls had gone to Smith College. They wore expensive clothes. So for them to move to Elkhead, Colo. to instruct the children whose shoes were held together with string was a surprise. Their stay in Elkhead is the subject of Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden, who is a magazine editor and Dorothy Woodruff’s granddaughter.
Why did they go then? Well, they wanted to do something useful. Soon, however, they realized what they had undertaken.
They moved in with a local family, the Harrisons, and, like them, had little privacy, rare baths, and a blanket of snow on their quilt when they woke up in the morning. Some mornings, Rosamond and Dorothy would arrive at the schoolhouse to find the children weeping from the cold. In spring, the snow was replaced by mud over ice.
In Wickenden’s book, she expanded on the history of the West and also on feminism, which of course influenced the girls’ decision to go to Elkhead. A hair-raising section concerns the building of the railroads, which entailed (牵涉) drilling through the Rockies, often in blinding snowstorms. The book ends with Rosamond and Dorothy’s return to Auburn.
Wickenden is a very good storyteller. The sweep of the land and the stoicism (坚忍) of the people move her to some beautiful writing. Here is a picture of Dorothy Woodruff, on her horse, looking down from a hill top: “When the sun slipped behind the mountains, it shed a rosy glow all around them. Then a full moon rose. The snow was marked only by small animals: foxes, coyotes, mice, and varying hares, which turned white in the winter.”
1. Why did Dorothy and Rosamond go to the Rocky Mountains?| A．To teach in a school. | B．To study American history. |
| C．To write a book. | D．To do sightseeing. |
| A．They enjoyed much respect. | B．They had a room with a bathtub. |
| C．They lived with the local kids. | D．They suffered severe hardships. |
| A．The extreme climate of Auburn. | B．The living conditions in Elkhead. |
| C．The railroad building in the Rockies. | D．The natural beauty of the West. |
| A．A news report. | B．A book review. | C．A children’s story. | D．A diary entry. |
5 . When almost everyone has a mobile phone, why are more than half of Australian homes still paying for a landline (座机)?
These days you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in Australia over the age of 15 who doesn’t own a mobile phone. In fact plenty of younger kids have one in their pocket. Practically everyone can make and receive calls anywhere, anytime.
Still, 55 percent of Australians have a landline phone at home and only just over a quarter (29%) rely only on their smartphones according to a survey (调查). Of those Australians who still have a landline, a third concede that it’s not really necessary and they’re keeping it as a security blanket — 19 percent say they never use it while a further 13 percent keep it in case of emergencies. I think my home falls into that category.
More than half of Australian homes are still choosing to stick with their home phone. Age is naturally a factor (因素)— only 58 percent of Generation Ys still use landlines now and then, compared to 84 percent of Baby Boomers who’ve perhaps had the same home number for 50 years. Age isn’t the only factor; I’d say it’s also to do with the makeup of your household.
Generation Xers with young families, like my wife and I, can still find it convenient to have a home phone rather than providing a mobile phone for every family member. That said, to be honest the only people who ever ring our home phone are our Baby Boomers parents, to the point where we play a game and guess who is calling before we pick up the phone (using Caller ID would take the fun out of it).
How attached are you to your landline? How long until they go the way of gas street lamps and morning milk deliveries?
1. What does paragraph 2 mainly tell us about mobile phones?| A．Their target users. | B．Their wide popularity. |
| C．Their major functions. | D．Their complex design. |
| A．Admit. | B．Argue. |
| C．Remember. | D．Remark. |
| A．They like smartphone games. | B．They enjoy guessing callers’ identity. |
| C．They keep using landline phones. | D．They are attached to their family. |
| A．It remains a family necessity. |
| B．It will fall out of use some day. |
| C．It may increase daily expenses. |
| D．It is as important as the gas light. |
6 . The Biggest Stadiums in the World
People have been pouring into stadiums since the days of ancient Greece. In around 80 A.D., the Romans built the Colosseum, which remains the world’s best known stadium and continues to inform contemporary design. Rome’s Colosseum was 157 feet tall and had 80 entrances, seating 50,000 people. However, that was small fry compared with the city’s Circus Maximus, which accommodated around 250,000 people.
These days, safety regulations-not to mention the modern sports fan’s desire for a good view and comfortable seat — tend to keep stadium capacities (容量) slightly lower. Even soccer fans tend to have a seat each; gone are the days of thousands standing to watch the match.
For the biggest stadiums in the world, we have used data supplied by the World Atlas list so far, which ranks them by their stated permanent capacity, as well as updated information from official stadium websites.
All these stadiums are still functional, still open and still hosting the biggest events in world sport.
·Rungrado 1st of May Stadium, Pyongyang D.P.R. Korea. Capacity: 150,000. Opened: May 1,1989.
·Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor, Michigan, U. S. Capacity: 107,601. Opened: October 1, 1927.
·Beaver Stadium, State College, Pennsylvania, U. S. Capacity: 106,572. Opened: September 17, 1960.
·Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio, U. S. Capacity: 104,944. Opened: October 7,1922.
·Kyle Field, College Station, Texas, U. S. Capacity: 102,512. Opened: September 24, 1927.
1. How many people could the Circus Maximus hold?| A．104,944. | B．107,601. | C．About 150,000. | D．About 250,000. |
| A．Michigan Stadium. | B．Beaver Stadium. | C．Ohio Stadium. | D．Kyle Field. |
| A．They host big games. | B．They have become tourist attractions. |
| C．They were built by Americans. | D．They are favored by architects. |
Kim Cobb, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, is one of a small but growing minority of academics
Cobb, for her part, started to ask conference organizers who invited her to speak
8 . Who is a genius? This question has greatly interested humankind for centuries.
Let’s state clearly: Einstein was a genius. His face is almost the international symbol for genius. But we want to go beyond one man and explore the nature of genius itself. Why is it that some people are so much more intelligent or creative than the rest of us? And who are they?
In the sciences and arts, those praised as geniuses were most often white men, of European origin. Perhaps this is not a surprise. It’s said that history is written by the victors, and those victors set the standards for admission to the genius club. When contributions were made by geniuses outside the club—women, or people of a different color or belief—they were unacknowledged and rejected by others.
A study recently published by Science found that as young as age six, girls are less likely than boys to say that members of their gender(性别)are “really, really smart.” Even worse, the study found that girls act on that belief: Around age six they start to avoid activities said to be for children who are “really, really smart.” Can our planet afford to have any great thinkers become discouraged and give up? It doesn’t take a genius to know the answer: absolutely not.
Here’s the good news. In a wired world with constant global communication, we’re all positioned to see flashes of genius wherever they appear. And the more we look, the more we will see that social factors(因素)like gender, race, and class do not determine the appearance of genius. As a writer says, future geniuses come from those with “intelligence, creativity, perseverance(毅力), and simple good fortune, who are able to change the world.”
1. What does the author think of victors’ standards for joining the genius club?| A．They’re unfair. | B．They’re conservative. |
| C．They’re objective. | D．They’re strict. |
| A．They think themselves smart. |
| B．They look up to great thinkers. |
| C．They see gender differences earlier than boys. |
| D．They are likely to be influenced by social beliefs |
| A．Improved global communication. |
| B．Less discrimination against women. |
| C．Acceptance of victors’ concepts. |
| D．Changes in people’s social positions. |
| A．Geniuses Think Alike | B．Genius Takes Many Forms |
| C．Genius and Intelligence | D．Genius and Luck |
9 . I have the same 24 hours in a day as you do, but I have made specific choice that allow me to make the most of every day and still feel happy and relaxed.
Pick the most important.
Combine your activities.
Many people go crazy trying to figure out how to spend time with friends, family, work, play, etc.
You would think learning takes more time from you, but actually there are always new ways of doing things that can save you time on daily tasks, freeing you up for the most important. Always be looking for a new way to gain back an hour here or there.
Lighten up.
The world won't come to an end in most cases just because you left a few things undone. Celebrate progress and keep refining (改进) toward a happy productive existence.
| A．Speed up. |
| B．Be an active learner. |
| C．Stop trying to balance time between them all. |
| D．Make choices about what is meaningful in your life. |
| E．The things you do well usually give you greater joy. |
| F．Perhaps these tips will help you make the most of your time. |
| G．This is why making lists is important in any productivity handbook. |
10 . When Beverley Burdeyney turned seventy four last year, she started having problems with her
"I was simply
Ms. Burdeyney talked to some friends who had
Eventually, Ms. Burdeyney learned about plans for an eye research,
"I'm trying to get more and more people to
Ms. Burdeyney
| A．throat | B．skin | C．lungs | D．eyes |
| A．getting over | B．going through | C．holding on | D．passing down |
| A．story | B．treatment | C．life | D．relationship |
| A．similar | B．various | C．personal | D．special |
| A．turn | B．peace | C．vain | D．silence |
| A．unbearable | B．abnormal | C．insignificant | D．disturbing |
| A．compromised | B．forgotten | C．substituted | D．separated |
| A．course | B．program | C．paper | D．conference |
| A．informed | B．doubted | C．included | D．dismissed |
| A．part-time | B．controversial | C．voluntary | D．ground-breaking |
| A．money | B．standards | C．awareness | D．questions |
| A．As ever | B．So far | C．In return | D．Once again |
| A．wasted | B．donated | C．expected | D．earned |
| A．imagine | B．confirm | C．remember | D．understand |
| A．retirement | B．childbirth | C．graduation | D．marriage |
| A．time | B．rule | C．age | D．tale |
| A．straight | B．still | C．firm | D．alone |
| A．commented | B．learned | C．reminded | D．added |
| A．light | B．joy | C．color | D．beauty |
| A．future | B．beginning | C．truth | D．meaning |
