2 . If you are looking to improve your relationship with your parents, you are not alone.
Be grateful. Consider all that your parents have done for you. You may find yourself feeling thankful to your parents. You will be more willing to improve the relationship. Let your parents know that you are appreciative for all they have done for you.
Avoid unnecessary arguments. Sometimes arguments are unavoidable, but do your best to avoid unnecessary quarrels. This may mean that you have to bite your tongue when one of your parents says something controversial.
Don't ask for their advice unless you really want it. Sometimes problems arise in relationships between parents and children, particularly at the teenage years and beyond, because parents can try to give advice that might hurt your sense of independence.
| A．Put yourself in their shoes. |
| B．Be happy with them for this. |
| C．Show your appreciation with your actions. |
| D．It can hurt to feel taken for granted, even for parents. |
| E．Problems between parents and children are common. |
| F．So try only asking for their advice when you really want it. |
| G．Determine whether the need to respond is really necessary. |
4 . Across North America, hundreds of bird species are victims of the cowbird, which adds its own egg to other birds' nests, tricking another species into raising its offspring. One tar get, the yellow warbler（林莺）, has a special call to warn egg-warming females when cowbirds are approaching the area. Now, researchers have found the females act on that warning one day later—suggesting their long-term memories might be much better than thought.
“Animals are smart in the context in which they need to be smart,” says Mark Hauber, an animal behavior researcher at the University of Illinois. who co-authored the new study. He wanted to see whether yellow warblers had the capacity to remember their own important warning call known as a seet. The birds make the call only when a cowbird is near. When yellow warbler females hear it, they go back to their nests and sit tight. But it's been unclear whether they still remember the warning in the morning.
So the study team found 27 yellow warbler nests and exposed females to either silence, or one of two sounds: a recording of a seet call or a recording of a common warning—used for predators or competition-called a chip for 10 minutes. The next morning, the researchers observed the birds for 80 minutes: 20 minutes before sunrise and 60 minutes after, when the cowbirds are at their most active.
They found the warblers left their nests less often after hearing a seet call than if they had heard no warning. The chip call didn't seem to have any impact on how often they left the nest. Sixteen hours after the experiment, the birds were still behaving as if there's a cowbird threat. It allowed us to think that these kinds of signals carried long-term meaning. Of more than 200 species targeted by cowbirds, yellow warblers are the only so far known to have developed a warning call tailored to cowbirds.
1. When hearing a seet sound, female yellow warblers usually ________.| A．get ready to fight against the cowbirds | B．return to their nests to be on the lookout |
| C．make a similar seet sound to warn partners | D．remember their own important warning call |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By listing numbers. | D．By using an expert's words. |
| A．Yellow warblers don't like silent surroundings. |
| B．Yellow warblers are sensitive to the chip sounds. |
| C．Yellow warblers prefer the seet sounds to the chip sounds. |
| D．Yellow warblers have the ability to remember certain meaningful calls. |
6 . Although Friends came to an end in 2004, it’s still considered one of the best sitcoms to ever make its way onto our screens. This show thrust the likes of Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and Courteney Cox into the limelight (聚光灯), and everyone had their favorites. Women wanted to have their hair cut just like Rachel, many people wanted to be as confident as Joey, and others wanted to be able to sing just like Phoebe! However, it seems as though Lisa Kudrow’s experience on the set of Friends wasn’t as perfect as it seemed.
Recently, Lisa Kudrow was asked to speak on Marc Maron’s podcast (播客), and she opened up about her experiences with her own body image. She noted that, while working on Friends, she would often compare herself to her co-stars. She would look at Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox, and she would then see her flaws compared to their perfections. She would see them as extremely thin and beautiful women, but then she looked at herself on her screen and saw someone who was much larger.
Because she often felt as though she was less of a woman because she felt larger than her co-stars, Lisa would lose weight on purpose to feel better about herself. The more she lost weight, the more she received compliments from those who knew her, and complete strangers. This heightened the idea that she needed to be thin to be beautiful.
Now, Lisa has put weight back on and feels more beautiful than ever.
1. Who were most probably Matthew Perry and Jennifer Aniston?| A．Stars from Friends. | B．Characters from Friends. |
| C．Fans of Friends. | D．Coauthors of Friends. |
| A．Because she didn’t work well with other stars. |
| B．Because she thought she was too fat. |
| C．Because she wasn’t her audience’s favorite. |
| D．Because she was poor at playing her role. |
| A．Don’t think much of your appearance. |
| B．Don’t express your true feelings to your fans. |
| C．Don’t focus much on the comments of co-stars. |
| D．Don’t make too much comparison with others. |
| A．Dislike. | B．Comment. | C．Praise. | D．Requirement. |
7 . My name is Michelle Rogers. For most of my life I had been fighting with my body weight. I was either gaining weight or trying to lose it. I wasn’t happy with myself, and I certainly wasn’t able to fully enjoy life. Not only did I feel bad physically? But I felt terrible emotionally. I also knew I wasn’t able to be the best I could be, and with failure after failure in losing weight, I just felt so hopeless to overcome it.
One day in 2008, I was looking through ads online and saw a treadmill (跑步机) for $ 100. This time I decided to start small and keep it doable. The first week I started walking 15 minutes on the treadmill at a fixed time every day. The next week I did 16 minutes. Each week I added a minute. Gradually, I increased speed as well as time. Once I got to 30 minutes, the weight started dropping off.
I didn’t lose weight at first, but I didn’t give up like I did in the past. I realized I started feeling better. My legs were getting stronger. I didn’t feel painful like I used to when I got up from my desk. All the efforts I’d been putting into fitness made me want to start eating healthier, too. I began with small changes as well. After these years I started listening to my body. It was refusing food and habits that were bad for me.
Today, the extra weight is gone. I still exercise every morning. I look and feel the best I have never done. Every area of my life has improved and benefited from this change in me. Not only do I have my youthful energy, looks and health back, but also I have more confidence than I have ever had.
1. How did Michelle feel about losing weight before 2008?| A．Confident. | B．Satisfied. | C．Hopeless. | D．Uncaring. |
| A．15 weeks. | B．17 weeks. | C．20 weeks. | D．30 weeks. |
| A．Life. | B．Health. | C．The treadmill. | D．The body. |
| A．Time is money. |
| B．Start with small things. |
| C．It’s never too late to start. |
| D．Nothing is more important than confidence. |
8 . Gold Coast Suns VS. North Melbourne
Venue: Metricon Stadium
Date and time: Sunday, 30 August, 2021, 6:10 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Gates open: 5 p.m.
Important information
Nerang Station shuttles will operate for this game. Make sure you don’t miss the opening bounce at 6:10 p.m. Plan your journey and arrive well before the match starts.
Scheduled services
Use the journey planner to find out which scheduled bus and train services travel to and from Metricon Stadium. Check for current and upcoming service changes.
Metricon Stadium is close to Nerang station, and bus stops on Nerang-Broadbeach Road and Birmingham Road (approximately 470 metres away).
Major track closure — Northern lines Saturday 29 & Sunday 30 August
Timetabled rail buses will operate, but please allow extra time when heading to the game.
Additional services
Trains
No additional trains will operate for this event.
Buses
No additional buses will operate for this event.
Boowaggan Road and Broadbeach South station shuttles will not operate for this event.
Ticket and fare information
Free travel with Surfside Buslines and Queensland Rail.
If you have a pre-purchased game ticket or Suns membership card, you can travel free to and from the game on all regular Queensland Rail City Network trains and Surfside Buslines services.
Free travel begins 4 hours before and concludes 4 hours after the event ends.
Event information
Visit the Metricon Stadium website or call 5510 6000 for more information.
1. When will the stadium open?| A．At 6:10 p.m. | B．At 8:30 p.m. | C．At 5:00 p.m. | D．At 8:10 a.m. |
| A．Rail buses. | B．Trains. | C．Shuttles. | D．Queensland Rail. |
| A．Businessmen. | B．Audiences. | C．Passengers. | D．Tourists. |
9 . To Their Own Beat
When Los Lobos perform in concert today, audiences in the thousands cheer them on. It’s hard to believe that the group started out as just another garage band playing popular rock-and-roll tunes from the radio, In 1974 four high school friends from East Los Angeles formed Los Lobos ( Spanish for “The Wolves” ) .
Like many garage bands, these friends might have simply gone their separate ways after high school. But the members of Los Lobos wanted to keep making music together. They decided to change their musical style and began focusing on traditional Mexican music that showed their tradition.
“We pulled out all those records we used to beg our parents not to play around our friends and found an incredible wealth of music,” says Perez. “These guys (on the records) were doing amazing things with their instruments, and we started trying to pick up on it. ”
The group put aside its electric guitars for the acoustic ones used in traditional Mexican music. For several years Los Lobos played at weddings or parties—any event that needed live music. They also landed a regular engagement (合同) at a Mexican restaurant.
By 1978 Los Lobos had made enough money to record their first album (唱片) , and they sold copies of it wherever they performed. They also returned to their electric guitars to get closer to a Tex-Mex sound, which is a mixture of traditional Mexican music, rock and roll, country music, and the blues. This new, louder sound produced one unexpected result: the group was fired from the restaurant.
But it didn’t matter that Los Lobos had lost their one steady job, because they had found a position that no other group took up. They had combined electric and acoustic instruments and blended (混合) musical styles in their own way. Steve Berlin joined the band in 1983 as the saxophone and keyboard player, adding to the band’s unusual sound.
“We didn’t so much want to recycle the music we’d grown up with as much as find the common links between it and all the other styles and sounds that were all around us,” Perez explains. “It became a mission ... bringing music together to bring people together. ”
In the 1980s Los Lobos gained the attention of several record companies. They were hired to perform on the soundtrack to the film La Bamba, which earned them a Golden Eagle Award. They have since earned many awards, including two Grammys and an MTV Video Music Award. Their many records have been very successful, and they have toured the world.
Even after 30 years of making music together, Los Lobos continues to experiment with their sound. They never moved far away from their Mexican roots, however. They still include traditional music in their live performances, sharing their history—and their culture—with their fans.
1. Los Lobos recorded their first album after they_______.| A．lost their job at a restaurant |
| B．began playing acoustic guitars |
| C．won an award for a film soundtrack |
| D．added saxophone and keyboards to their sound |
| A．Paragraph 1. | B．Paragraph 4. | C．Paragraph 6. | D．Paragraph 8. |
| A．The way they recorded their first album. |
| B．Their blending of different types of music. |
| C．Their decision to play traditional Mexican music. |
| D．The fact that they performed and toured the world. |
| A．Music is best when played with traditional instruments. |
| B．Music must be recorded to be passed down. |
| C．Music should remain the same over time. |
| D．Music can show many cultures. |
| Tom的烦恼 | 物理比较难，学习压力大；父母不理解，除了学习，父母什么都不让他做；他现在对学习不感兴趣 |
| 你的建议 | 1.向老师寻求帮助；2.与父母进行沟通；3.调整心态，端正态度 |
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Tom,
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Yours,
Li Hua
