Don’t put your elbows(肘) on the table. The soup spoon should never be put into the mouth. These are some of the examples of table manners. They show the way people behave while eating a meal. Actually, every family follows table manners in its own way. Even in families where no one mentions elbows, there are always behaviours taking effect when sharing meals.
Interestingly, different cultures have different thoughts on table manners-elbows on the table, for example, is very British. Some countries think burping(打嗝) after a meal is a sign that it was delicious. While it is important to keep silent while eating, in some areas it is actually as important to keep up the tradition of eating at the table as a family, with conversations and no mobile phones.
Table manners matter much. They are a reflection of your character. It’s about respect for others. When you are with others in a social setting, you want to be considerate to those around you. Table manners also mean your “ticket” to social success. Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot. Few will want an ill-mannered person in their workplace, or social circle, and this is as relevant today as it was hundreds of years ago.
While globalization has led to the intermixing of cultures, the essence of table manners remains. “I was brought up to have table manners,” says celebrated chef Tony Tan, who grew up in Malaysia, eating Indian, Chinese and Malay cuisines with chopsticks, hands, spoon and fork. Tan, who went on to train as a chef in Paris and London, is an expert in Asian cuisines from Cantonese to Malaysian, which he teaches at his school in country Victoria-but the etiquette(礼节), particularly of his Chinese tradition, has remained. He says, “You’ve got to invite your elders to start eating, or say, ‘We are now eating’, so the elders can say, ‘Go ahead’. It’s a sign of respect to the elderly. When people don’t do that anymore, they lack manners and they lack good upbringing. ”
1. What are table manners?2. Why are table manners important?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
>Tony Tan says that it is impolite for younger generations to start eating before the elders do even after they get permission from the elders.
4. Apart from the rules mentioned in the passage, what other table manners do you have in your home? （In about 40 words）
2 . One of the great things about pictures is that they make no demands on you. You can look as long as you like and walk away at any time. There's a freedom in the arrangement that's different from going to the movies, concerts or the theater. Occasionally, people always say they feel intimidated by art. On the one hand, I get it. Some in the art world, wanting to establish their authority, fall back on abstractions to create a zone of exclusion. It can be insufferable. But on the other hand, what field doesn't see a version of this phenomenon? Have you tried understanding cellular biology? Contract law? In my experience, there is less of this complex talk around art than around most other fields.
Art is a wide field. It's deep. It's diverse. You can come at the subject from countless angles. People seem to have been making art since the beginning, so the subject is an inseparable part of the whole history of humanity. So yes, things can get complicated. But, in the end, we're talking about pictures and sculptures. How hard is it to look at a painting? How difficult is it to walk around a sculpture? Children get it immediately. They know there's no right or wrong when it comes to looking at art. There are just things to notice, to test against our imperfect sense of the truth, and to fold into our various conceptions of beauty. Things we notice may cause feelings. They may lead to ideas. They might equally provide a release from ideas-a release into wonder, and into new kinds of awareness connected to your body, your senses, and your general state of existential confusion. What I notice will be different from what you notice. That's how it goes with art.
More than the political or economic conditions of any given era, it is art that later generations most want to remember. We remember Picasso and Matisse with more love than General Francisco Franco or Marshall Petain. And we remember the Beatles and Francis Bacon over the chief ministers of Britain in the 1960s. That's because the arts-and I define the term as broadly as possible-reveal the best of us. It's because they combine the most intelligent and the most feeling of us. They testify, most fundamentally, to the fact that we're alive, that people lived before us, that as a species we're capable of making the most extraordinary things, and that human consciousness and the world beyond it are nothing short of astonishing.
Again and again, art expresses that astonishment — that mixture of wonder and disappointment, knowing and unknowing, pleasure and pain, joy and fear.
1. What does the underlined word “intimidated” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Misled. | B．Inspired. | C．Frightened. | D．Attracted. |
| A．Art is complicated but easy. |
| B．Art is as complex as other fields. |
| C．Art is insufferable due to its abstraction. |
| D．Art is an inseparable part of human history. |
| A．To emphasize artists are more adorable. |
| B．To illustrate the superior position of art. |
| C．To show art can spread in a broader area. |
| D．To compare political and artistic figures. |
| A．abstract concepts can block humans' insights |
| B．art is a combination of unsettled contradictions |
| C．humans should try to perfect their thoughts of beauty |
| D．the appeal of art lies in its reflection of the best of man |
3 . Millions of migratory(迁徙的)birds occupy seasonally favorable breeding(繁殖)grounds in the Arctic, but scientists know little about the formation, maintenance and future of the migration routes of Arctic birds and the genetic determinants of migratory distance. In a new study, a multinational team of researchers under the leadership of Dr. ZHAN Xiangjiang from the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences integrated two state-of-the-art techniques-satellite tracking and whole genome sequencing(基因排序)-and established a continental-scale migration system of peregrine falcons in Eurasian Arctic.
The researchers tracked 56 peregrine falcons from six Eurasian Arctic breeding populations and sequenced 35 genomes from four of these populations to study the migration of this species. They found that the birds used five migration routes across Eurasia, probably established between the last Ice Age 22, 000 years ago and the middle-Holocene 6, 000 years ago. “Peregrine falcons initiated their autumn migration mainly in September, and arrived at their wintering areas mainly in October, " said Professor Mike Bruford, an ecologist at Cardiff University. “Peregrine falcons that depart from different breeding grounds use different routes, and winter at widely distributed sites across four distinct regions. Individual birds that were tracked for more than one year exhibited strong path repeatability during migration, complete loyalty to wintering locations and limited breeding dispersal(扩散). ”
The researchers quantified the migration strategies and found that migration distance is the most significant differentiation. They used whole genome sequencing and found a gene-ADCY8, which is known to be involved in long-term memory in other animals in previous research- associated with differences in migratory distance. They found ADCY8 had a variant at high frequency in long-distance migrant populations of peregrine falcons, indicating this variant is being favorably selected because it may increase powers of long-term memory thought to be essential for long-distance migration.
“Previous studies have identified several candidate genomic regions that may regulate migration-but our work is the strongest demonstration of a specific gene associated with migratory behavior yet identified, ”Professor Bruford said. The researchers further looked at models of likely future migration behavior to predict the impact of global warming. If the climate warms at the same rate as it has in recent decades, they predict peregrine populations in western Eurasia have the highest probability of population decline and may stop migrating altogether.
“Our work is the first to begin to understand the way ecological factors may interact in migratory birds, ” said Dr. ZHAN Xiangjiang. “We hope it will serve as a cornerstone to help conserve migratory species in the world. ”
1. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?| A．Five birds’ historical migration routes were rebuilt. |
| B．Peregrine falcons stick to the areas where they winter. |
| C．Two novel research methods of migration were invented. |
| D．Peregrine falcons leave for Arctic regions in September. |
| A．It is a newly-discovered gene in the new study. |
| B．It serves as a fundamental part of long-distance migration. |
| C．It could be strengthened by the power of long-term memory. |
| D．It turned out to be more favored by birds than the other animals. |
| A．It has discovered a new genomic region of birds. |
| B．It has predicted the rate at which the climate warms. |
| C．It analyses the reasons for the decrease of peregrine falcons. |
| D．It encourages attention to environmental effects on migratory birds. |
| A．Researchers Help Conserve Migratory Species |
| B．Biologists Find Evidence of Migration Gene in Birds |
| C．How Long-term Memory Helps Long-distance Migration |
| D．How Ecological Factors Affect Birds’ Migratory Distances |
4 . Harvest
Tabby walked on her way to school. She felt a sense of anticipation because this year she would be one of the graduates being honored at the town festival.
These days, she was waiting to hear back about an admission application she sent to her top- choice college. It had the program that she was most excited about. Today she stayed late at school to get feedback on another college essay from Ms. Mueller, her high school teacher. Ms. Mueller told Tabby that her essay was very moving and that she knew Tabby would miss her hometown, but her degree would be worth it. Tabby responded gratefully.
On the way home, the sight of the festival decorations made her feel guilty. She knew that most of her classmates could happily enjoy the festival knowing that they would be going on to do exactly what was expected of them-carrying on the town’s traditions by staying close to family and farm. Spending many years at a large university in a city somewhere far from home wasn’t supposed to be part of their plan.
When Tabby got home, her family was preparing packages with homemade cookies to sell at the festival.
“Let’s make an assembly line (流水线),”said Tabby.
“Always trying to improve the process, aren’t you?” her brother laughed. Tabby knew what he was referring to. Last summer, Tabby discovered a technique for improving grain storage without costly equipment, which was adopted by local farmers.
After completing packing, Tabby went to her room. On her bed, she saw a large envelope from the college she was waiting to hear from. She had been accepted into the famous college-the one with the world-renowned agricultural science program!
The first person Tabby shared the news with was her grandfather. He gave her a big hug. “I guess my scientist girl still has farming in the blood, ” he said. “Yes! And I will come back and do some research right here in a few years,” she said. “Well, this old farm could certainly use some improvements! I’m proud of you, Tabby!” he said.
1. Why did Tabby stay late at school?| A．To get advice on her college essay. |
| B．To say goodbye to her teacher. |
| C．To express her thanks to her high school. |
| D．To wait for her admission letter. |
| A．failed to live up to her teacher’s expectations |
| B．skipped out on helping set up the decorations |
| C．planned on leaving to pursue a higher education |
| D．could not assist her classmates to get into college |
| A．contribute to the farming in her hometown |
| B．choose a famous college close to her home |
| C．adopt her grandfather’s advice to be a scientist |
| D．apply her knowledge to college agriculture projects |
5 . Summer of KidsPost 2022 continues with our readers sharing their summer vacation adventures. This week’s edition features national parks and an old railroad tunnel (隧道).
Moubon Kurukumbi, 13, and Masoom Kurukumbi, 10, of Fairfax visited Washington state. They hiked in three national parks: North Cascades, Mount Rainier and Olympic National Park. While on Hurricane Ridge Mountain in Olympic National Park, Moubon and Masoom were approached by several black-tailed deer. Nathan Howard, 8, of Ashburn visited the Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee. Nathan hiked, played in streams and saw two bears. He is a junior ranger and wants to be a ranger to look after the Smoky Mountains National Park when he grows up. Bella Lamb, 13, Ari Lamb, 8, of Virginia Beach, and Violet Lamb, 9, of Centreville visited the Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel in Rockfish Gap, Virginia. The historic railroad tunnel was built in the 1850s. They walked through the tunnel with flashlights while enjoying the cooler temperatures. |
We expect more of our readers to include us in their summer vacations, so take a page of KidsPost and share the fun. We’ll feature a selection of readers’ photos in the print KidsPost and on kidspost.com this summer. In September, three randomly selected participants will receive books and KidsPost presents. Here are the rules:
·Get a recent copy of the printed KidsPost or print out a page online (wapo.st/kidspost2022PDF). Take it on your vacation.
·Get someone to take a photo of you-and brothers, sisters or other family members- holding KidsPost. Make sure at least one person in the photo is between the ages of 5 and 13.
·Have a parent fill out the entry form at wapo.st/summerofkidspost2022 and attach your photo. List the full name, age and hometown of everyone in the photo and explain where you are and what’s going on.
·Families can submit only one photo, and it must have been taken after May 23, 2022. Entries are due by September 1.
For more information, please visit kidspost@washpost.com.
1. From the passage we know that ________.| A．Bella and Ari hiked in three national parks |
| B．Violet saw black-tailed deer in Olympic National Park |
| C．Moubon and Masoom walked through an old railroad tunnel |
| D．Nathan spotted bears at the Smoky Mountains National Park |
| A．fill out the paper entry form |
| B．take e-KidsPost on their vacation |
| C．submit the entries before May 23, 2022 |
| D．send a photo of themselves holding KidsPost |
| A．To fuel kids’ passion for photography. |
| B．To inspire a sense of adventure in kids. |
| C．To attract more kids’ attention to the newspaper. |
| D．To recommend tourist destinations for kids’ vacation. |
A new study,
We know that
Years ago, I was in Manhattan to visit my brother. Stopping at a pay phone to call him, I reached into my wallet for a piece of paper with his number on it. Later, when I got to my brother’s place, he told me a woman just called him, saying she
1. 选修原因；
2. 课程相关信息（时间、方式……）；
3. 表达期待。
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
提示词：选修课 optional course
国家植物园 China National Botanical Garden
Dear Jim,
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
Is it possible to improve your brain function? The answer is “yes”.
Information in your brain is collected, stored and recalled by neural pathways. These pathways are responsible for your abilities to solve problems, remember familiar faces and tasks, without paying a ton of efforts. Millions of these neural pathways begin developing from the time when you are growing into a baby. To keep our memory healthy, we need to create new pathways continually.
As we age, our lifestyles often change, stopping those pathways from being developed. Two frequent changes are a decrease in exercise and less attention to our diet, which have a negative effect on our brain and memory. Our brain requires consistent stimulation, regardless of our age, and looking for ways to excite the production of new pathways is critical. Just like your physical muscles need to be used in different ways to make them stronger, our brain needs change to help challenge its abilities.
One simple way to stimulate the production of new pathways is trying something new.
Challenge your brain with puzzles, a new language or learning how to play an instrument. Anything different and new can stimulate your brain and memory. The best activities are the ones outside of your comfort zone. They push you as you develop new neural pathways. The effort involved in learning and committing to memory a new skill, with new terms and language, is a great way to exercise your brain.
Another way to stimulate the production of new pathways is doing exercise. When you exercise your body, you are also working out your mind, because regular activity helps to improve the chemicals in your brain and to protect brain cells.
1. According to the passage, what can negatively affect our brain and memory?2. Why are the best activities the ones outside of your comfort zone?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
The two ways mentioned in the passage to help create new pathways are trying something new and exercising your brain by challenging your brain with different tasks.
4. What else can you do to improve your brain function? (In about 40 words)
