1 . A voice reaches us, crying out from the depths of a profound silence: “I am alive, I can think, and no one has the right to deny me these two realities. . . ”
The words were conveyed by a flicker (跳动) of the left eyelid. It came from a book, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, by a former journalist, Jean-Dominique Bauby. He worked for journals like the Quotidien de Paris and Paris Match. For four years until December 1995 he was the very successful chief editor of Elle.
Then the unthinkable happened. A cardiovascular ( 心血管的) accident sent him into a deep coma (昏迷). His brain remained undamaged, but its connection to his body left him with only the ability to blink his left eyelid. The poor man was diagnosed as suffering from the rare disease “Locked-in Syndrome”, unable to breathe or eat without assistance.
In this inert body, however, his brain was working furiously, trying to make people understand what he was thinking. With the help of a specialized nurse, Claude Mendibil, he was able to write his book, using only his ability to blink at the most frequently used letters of the alphabet.
He would spend most of the night editing his thoughts and composing sentences. It took him about 200, 000 blinks to write his book of more than 100 pages. In it, Bauby describes his paralyzed existence as being trapped in an old-fashioned deep-sea diving bell while the “butterflies” of his mind flutter about freely.
One would expect from this process formal factual report, but that is not the case. The book reads in flowing images that light up his predicament. The style is clear and fresh, and not without elegance, imagination and shafts of humor.
He is also in search of past time, of memory itself, of the books he had read, the poems he had learnt by heart. Even sadder, he thinks of all the books he wanted to read and hadn’t gotten to. He has to listen to someone else reading them to him. He recalls meals, a horse race, his life and work as an editor, and his struggle in his hospital bed to twitch (抽搐) his nose when a fly lands on it.
“From this hell comes a great message of life and hope,” said Antoine Audouard, a friend of Bauby’s and the book’s publisher.
1. We can learn from the article that Jean Dominique Bauby ________.A.die of a rare cardiovascular condition |
B.used to be a successful journalist and editor |
C.suffered brain damage due to Locked-in Syndrome |
D.continued to run magazines from his hospital bed with the help of a nurse |
A.How Bauby was able to write his book. |
B.What Bauby’s life was like after he had been paralyzed. |
C.What The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is mainly about. |
D.Why Bauby named his book The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. |
A.It is written in a formal and serious style. |
B.It focuses on Bauby’s memories from his time as an editor. |
C.It describes Bauby’s paralyzed existence with elegant and creative language. |
D.It gives readers an easy-to-understand introduction to Locked-in Syndrome. |
A.Odd-tempered. | B.Open-minded. | C.Strong-willed. | D.Warm-hearted. |
2 . Everyone carries a shield(屏障). Our shields protect what we don’t want others to see, from our embarrassing secrets to our unpredictable feelings.
Since shields encourage us to hide negative parts of ourselves, we can start to believe that we aren’t worth showing. We might fear how our friends will judge our struggles or how our families will view our ambitions.
However, we have to remember that we aren’t perfect, nor should we expect to be. We need to find and cure the wounds underneath our shields, but that means we have to let down our guard. We may even have problems we haven’t admitted to ourselves.
Knowing this takes bravery and patience, so it’ll be hard.
A.This is not a bad thing. |
B.We need to be understood. |
C.We shouldn’t expect to do any of it without help. |
D.In short, we have the power to change this phenomenon. |
E.Hence we decide to hide ourselves underneath our masks. |
F.If you can’t trust your partner, it won’t be easy to let them in. |
G.Maybe we’re hiding something from a friend or scared to admit an error. |
According to a 2006 Danish study published in the Psychonomic Bulletin &Review, people over age 40 perceive themselves to be, on average, 20 percent younger than
4 . As most of you know, the first year of university is always the hardest to adapt to. The addition of taking care of yourself, making new friends, learning how to get around campus, and school can sometimes be too much to bear.
I would like to attend medical school after my four-year undergraduate. It is well-known that medical schools are very competitive and require extremely high marks. I had always known that I was meant for medical school and worked hard all throughout high school. I engaged in life sciences and knew that I wanted to do a double major in neuroscience (神经科学) and psychology, but of course, I wasn’t so fond of the preconditions to get to that stage. I had to take math and physics in my first year.
So after the choke I call the first term, I looked back on my grades and found that I had never seen numbers like this before. I really didn’t even think they were possible. I had heard that medical schools liked to see an upward trend, so I was discouraged and hurt, but tried not to think about it. Having your grades taken away from you when that was all you had was a huge thing I had to overcome — I defined my worth by how “smart” I was and getting past that mindset was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
After I saw my grades, I realized the mistake I made taking a bunch of unnecessarily challenging courses. At the end of my second term, my grades weren’t as high as I wanted them to be, but I accepted it. I knew that there were reasons for the differences between individuals, but I still saw a huge improvement in my marks from the first term. I had enjoyed my time in my second term and even though I wasn’t where I wanted to be, it had nothing to do with my place in the university. It was very eye-opening and taught me what I needed to do in order to achieve MY best — not what everyone else considered to be the best.
I’m now taking a summer school course and my marks are incredibly better than what I was getting during my first year of school. Though I had a rough start, I’m sure my lessons and new attitude will carry me much farther than just to medical school.
1. The author wanted to take a double major because she ______.A.liked the two majors better |
B.was preparing herself for her goal |
C.tried to prove her academic ability |
D.decided to challenge herself in university |
A.Satisfied. | B.Surprised. | C.Calm. | D.Angry. |
A.accepted the grades and did nothing |
B.tried to learn more necessary courses |
C.viewed learning from a different angle |
D.focused on learning medical knowledge |
A.A fresh start leads to more challenges. |
B.Hard work will pay off sooner or later. |
C.Stick to your plan and you will succeed. |
D.Proper adjustment will take you farther. |
5 . It was my first day of high school, and it was my first day of school in a new city. There was only one thing on my mind: what to wear. A good image is everything, so it was important for me to
For the first time in my life, I thought about how convenient it would be to wear the school uniform. After carefully selecting, I emerged proudly in a patterned dress. An hour later, I felt
Sitting at her desk was Mrs. Hutfilz, my English teacher,
While my first period of high school may not have gone exactly the way I thought it would, it certainly made the day
A.impress | B.surprise | C.please | D.encourage |
A.shy | B.lucky | C.free | D.powerful |
A.preparing | B.wearing | C.hiding | D.designing |
A.turn | B.chance | C.reward | D.solution |
A.writing | B.style | C.speech | D.voice |
A.happiness | B.confidence | C.boredom | D.anxiety |
A.nodded | B.buried | C.raised | D.touched |
A.neighbor | B.peer | C.teacher | D.friend |
A.relieved | B.nervous | C.patient | D.embarrassed |
A.unpredictable | B.unforgettable | C.unbearable | D.unchangeable |
I had an experience that I will forever bear in my mind. Once upon a time, as I was swimming in a lake, I suddenly felt a sharp sting in my leg. When
By analyzing large amounts of data, Al learns and
8 . For the past five years, Paula Smith, a historian of science, has devoted herself to re-creating long-forgotten techniques. While doing research for her new book, she came across a 16th-century French manuscript (手稿) consisting of nearly 1,000 sets of instructions, covering subjects from tool making to finding the best sand.
The author’s intention remains as mysterious (神秘) as his name; he may have been simply taking notes for his own records. But Smith was struck mainly by the fact that she didn’t truly grasp any of the skills the author described. “You simply can’t get an understanding of that handwork by reading about it,” she says.
Though Smith did get her hands on the best sand, doing things the old-fashioned way isn’t just about playing around with French mud. Reconstructing the work of the craftsmen (工匠) who lived centuries ago can reveal how they viewed the world, what objects filled their homes, and what went on in the workshops that produced them. It can even help solve present-day problems: In 2015, scientists discovered that a 10th-century English medicine for eye problems could kill a drug-resistant virus.
The work has also brought insights for museums, Smith says. One must know how an object was made in order to preserve it. What’s more, reconstructions might be the only way to know what treasures looked like before time wore them down. Scholars have seen this idea in practice with ancient Greek and Roman statues. These sculptures were painted a rainbow of striking colours. We can’t appreciate these kinds of details without seeing works of art as they originally appeared—something Smith believes you can do only when you have a road map.
Smith has put the manuscript’s ideas into practice. Her final goal is to link the worlds of art and science back together. She believes that bringing the old recipes to life can help develop a kind of learning that highlights experimentation, teamwork, and problem solving.
Back when science—then called “the new philosophy”—took shape, academics looked to craftsmen for help in understanding the natural world. Microscopes and telescopes were invented by way of artistic tinkering (修补), as craftsmen experimented with glass to better bend light.
If we can rediscover the values of hands-on experience and craftwork, Smith says, we can marry the best of our modern insights with the handiness of our ancestors.
1. How did Smith feel after reading the French manuscript?A.Confused about the technical terms. |
B.Impressed with its detailed instructions. |
C.Discouraged by its complex structure. |
D.Shocked for her own lack of hand skills. |
A.To reveal the beauty of ancient objects. |
B.To present the findings of old science. |
C.To highlight the importance of antiques. |
D.To emphasise the values of hand skills. |
A.Craftsmen Set the Trends for Artists |
B.Craftsmanship Leads to New Theories |
C.Craftsmanship Makes Better Scientists |
D.Craftsmen Reshape the Future of Science |
9 . The only words you need to say after receiving a compliment (赞美) are “thank you”. But you know that's easier said than done.
There are many reasons why you have a hard time accepting compliments.
You have to listen carefully to compliments. It's not always obvious if you're being complimented for something only others can observe. If you are five foot six inches tall, and weigh seventy pounds, I would say you are slim. But if you are comparing yourself to someone who is shorter, and weighs five pounds less than you, you might call yourself plump. In this extreme example, the outside perspective is more accurate than the internal one.
If you're still struggling to accept a compliment, you don't just have to take someone at their word. It can be hard to accept an opinion when it's the opposite of yours, so call in reinforcements. Ask someone else what they think.
A.They will be the tie breaker. |
B.You can check with someone else instead. |
C.The causes are complicated but the path to accepting compliments is simpler. |
D.How honest are you with your friends and family when they ask for your opinion? |
E.When someone is trying to pay you a compliment, they are speaking subjectively. |
F.When someone pays you a compliment, they are speaking about something that is observable. |
G.Similarly, when I call you smart or funny, I'm commenting based on my definition of smart or funny, that's how I see you. |
Shadow puppetry, also called “yingzixi”,
As for the origin, shadow puppetry can date back to the Han Dynasty. Once Emperor Liu Che lost his beloved wife Li due to a deadly disease. Much
But unfortunately, the ancient art gradually fell due to the impact of modern audio-visual media like television and movies.