1 . At the foot of the Tianmu Mountain in Zhejiang, a homestay (民宿) is attracting travelers from far and wide, which has won architectural medal at the 2021 German iF Design Awards.
The owners of the homestay are a couple in their late 30s who decided to return to their hometown three years ago. Li Xiumei used to be in charge of a division at a company in Hangzhou, and her husband was a sales director. It was an ordinary situation where Li’s husband was on business trips a lot and Li still worked on weekends. City life sometimes is not easy.
In 2018, they quit jobs and went back to Dongtianmu village, which lies in a forest of bamboo. The first time they drove into the village was one late afternoon. The cooking smoke was rising from the foot of the mountain, which gave them a very different feeling from the city.
The homestay was built beside her husband’s old countryside house. The old house is preserved (保留), while a brand-new building was built on its side and the whole site is made up of four courtyards. It has been updated to have a hall, a tea room, a kitchen, a dining room. Japanese cherry trees are planted in the east courtyard. A swimming pool is placed in the west courtyard, with a bar located on one side.
Li and her husband love gardening and music, and their new home gives them enough space to continue their interests and relax in the heart of nature. Li wants to share the quiet country life, so she makes her new home a homestay. In 2019, the homestay became an online hit after guests shared their experiences on social media. “The longer I stay here, the more I feel it was the right choice to come back, and this is more meaningful than making money,” Li says.
1. How did Li feel about city life?| A．Satisfied. | B．Noisy. | C．Attractive. | D．Tired |
| A．The forest of bamboo. | B．The smoke of cooking. |
| C．The fresh air in the village. | D．The feeling of loneliness. |
| A．It is ancient and broken. | B．It can hold many guests. |
| C．It must have been carefully designed. | D．It has been rebuilt by the couple. |
| A．Continuing their music dream. | B．Living in the countryside. |
| C．Staying at the old house. | D．Developing a city. |
2 . For many of us, summertime means road trips to the beach or mountains, or at the very least some additional dust on the outside of our vehicle. The extra dirt leads us to do one of two things: wash our car in the driveway or head to the car wash. But which choice is better for the environment?
The main concerns with either choice are the amount of fresh water used and the types of chemicals used to get rid of the dirt. Both of these concerns can be closely monitored when washing the car at home, says Katy Gresh, spokeswoman for the Southwest Region of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. She advises car owners to keep a set amount of water in a container for the entire wash. “You don’t want to leave the water running or use more than you need for the job,” she says. But even following this piece of advice comes with an environmental risk: Washing your car in the driveway gets the dirty water into drains (下水道).
“Drains are not made for treating waste.” says John Schombert, executive director of 3 Rivers Wet Weather. Even when car owners use natural soaps to wash their car, Schombert says they are probably ineffective in breaking down grease(油脂)anyway.
The commercial car wash knows full well the rules regarding wastewater in drains. According to the International Carwash Association (ICA), professional car washes must use special water treatment systems. These processes not only keep the dirty water out of drains and regular water treatment systems, but also work to reduce water usage at commercial facilities.
As experts point out, cleaning our car at home can use 100 gallons of water. Compare that to self-service car washes, which allow you to use only about 17 or 18 gallons of water. And most full-service car washes average about 30 to 45 gallons of water per vehicle.
1. What does Katy suggest people do about washing cars?| A．Use soft toothbrushes. | B．Save treated water. |
| C．Put aside some water. | D．Avoid using chemicals. |
| A．Disapproving. | B．Favorable. | C．Indifferent. | D．Objective. |
| A．Rules of handling wastewater. | B．Advantages of professional car washes. |
| C．Processes of getting rid of dirty water. | D．Drawbacks of water treatment systems. |
| A．The full-service car washes. | B．Car washing in the driveway. |
| C．The self-service car washes. | D．Car washing using natural soaps. |
3 . 4 Best Basketball Camps in the USA
PGC Basketball Camps
For the last few decades, PGC (point guard college) basketball camps have helped thousands of players improve a variety of skills. While the name may have you believe it's for point guards only, that's not the case.PGC basketball camps operate in a number of different states and they have over 100 camps all over the country.While many of the PGC basketball camps are aimed at youth in high school and college athletes,there are also the Skills Academy camps for those as young as the 4th grade.
Nike Basketball Camps
Nike offers introductory camps, shooting camps, overnight camps, day camps and many more. There are even camps that let you work with former or current NBA and WNBA players. One of the best things about Nike camps are the quality of coaching and instruction you will get. They also operate in nearly every state,so no matter where you are, there is likely a Nike basketball camp close. These Nike camps are also great for all ages.
NBC Basketball Camps
Since the early 1970s, NBC(Northwest Basketball Camp) has been among the world leaders in the space.Whether you are in elementary school, junior high or high school, there is an NBC basketball camp for you. These camps are offered across the USA,as well as in Canada and even the UK. The camps they offer include clinics.team camps, overnight camps, and college prep camps, just to name a few. They aim to provide you all of the tools you need to succeed in basketball and in life.
The National Basketball Academy
The National Basketball Academy (also known as TNBA) partners with NBA teams like the Bucks and Pacers to provide camps, clinics, and training for basketball players of all ages. TNBA operates in Milwaukee,Orlando. Houston. Indiana, and Cleveland. It also operates in many other nations around the world such as Brazil, France, Argentina, and Spain. These camps and clinics range from a single day to multiple weeks. They also host various tournaments(锦标赛) so you can show off the skills you have learned.
1. What do we know about PGC basketball camps?| A．They have the most camps | B．They are mainly aimed at little kids. |
| C．They hire some former NBA coaches. | D．Not only students of PGC can join them. |
| A．They focus on teamwork. | B．They hold various tournaments. |
| C．They only offer long-term camps. | D．They operate both at home and abroad. |
| A．A PGC basketball camp. | B．A Nike basketball camp. |
| C．A NBC basketball camp. | D．A TNBA basketball camp. |
4 . Meeting at a church on a Friday night is not usual for most college students, but it is for the members of an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) women’s group in my hometown, which is an organization for alcoholics who want to stop drinking alcohol.
AA is based upon a number of principles，including twelve steps and twelve traditions. The traditions state that the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. Members read aloud these steps and traditions, as well as a promise.
The AA meeting we attended was a speaker week, which meant that the majority of the time was spent listening to a particular member talk about her journey with alcohol. The speaker recounted her story with addiction. The group processed the story in a positive way. I noticed several times when members laughed, smiled, and made brief supporting comments while she spoke. Later, a member shared with me that “this is the kind of place where you can talk about things, and everyone just laughs...no judgment but support.” Being able to talk about her emotions and experiences, receiving support, and the lack of judgment was a large part of her decision to keep coming to meetings.
Years later, I look back on the meeting with fond memories. It changed the way I looked at addiction. It was no longer an evil faceless monster. I think it’s essential to have support when you’re struggling with addiction, as with any lifestyle change. AA is a prime example of how groups follow a program and commit (致力于) to changing their habits.
And it doesn’t hurt that sometimes after the meeting, everyone has a piece of cake.
1. The main purpose of AA women’s group is to _____.| A．gather on Friday nights | B．stay away from alcohol |
| C．start an autonomous group | D．promote twelve traditions |
| A．make comments | B．exchange ideas |
| C．meet new friends | D．have emotional connection |
| A．Meaningful. | B．Doubtful. | C．Rootless. | D．Worthless. |
| A．drink some coffee | B．play a game |
| C．make a meal | D．share some food |
5 . For many parents, raising a teenager is like fighting a long war, but years go by without any clear winner. Like a border conflict between neighboring countries, the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?
Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict. In part, this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents’ point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents’ complete unreasonableness. And of course, the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely. Both feel trapped.
In this article, I’ll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap. The first no-win situation is quarrels over unimportant things. Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanliness of the bedroom, the preferred style of clothing, the child’s failure to eat a good breakfast before school, or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends. Second, blaming. The goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong. Third, needing to be right. It doesn’t matter what the topic is—politics, the laws of physics, or the proper way to break an egg—the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong, for both wish to be considered an authority—someone who actually knows something—and therefore to command respect. Unfortunately, as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other, they’ll continue to fight these battles forever and never make any real progress.
1. Why does the author compare the parent-teen war to a border conflict?| A．Both are about where to draw the line. |
| B．Both can continue for generations. |
| C．Neither has any clear winner. |
| D．Neither can be put to an end. |
| A．The teens tend to have a full understanding of their parents. |
| B．The teens agree with their parents on the cause of the conflict. |
| C．The teens cause their parents of misleading them. |
| D．The teens blame their parents for starting the conflict. |
| A．give orders to the other |
| B．know more than the other |
| C．gain respect from the other |
| D．get the other to behave properly |
| A．Solutions for the parent-teen problems. |
| B．Examples of the parent-teen war. |
| C．Causes for the parent-teen conflicts. |
| D．Future of the parent-teen relationship. |
6 . A Great Way to Teach Children to Take Responsibility
As parents, one of the most important things to teach children to take responsibility is to include chores as a part of their daily routine. In order to make a family function smoothly, every member must contribute. Teaching your children to take responsibility at an early age makes it easier for them to shoulder greater responsibilities as they grow older.
Make rewards and punishments a part of the lesson. Together decide whether they will be rewarded or not.
Children need to be taught that there are punishments for their actions in case of not doing their assigned chores. Decide and agree from the start what the punishment will be.
Teaching your children the importance of contributing to the family is of great importance.
| A．A chore is a specific task a child has been assigned which helps improve the life of the entire family. |
| B．And what punishment they will receive if a chore isn’t done. |
| C．Actually you are taking a critical step in empowering them for their future. |
| D．Start by teaching children the difference between a chore and cleaning up after themselves. |
| E．Teach children the importance of each assignment, and why it matters. |
| F．Children will not be rewarded at all for merely cleaning up. |
| G．And if so, what the reward will be for a job well done. |
7 . “A lie can travel half way around the world before the truth can put its boots on,” said Mark Twain.
To make matters worse, most young people get news from social media sites where facts are mixed with rumors, half-truths and complete lies.
Traditional media, such as newspapers and television, are still the more credible source of information.
| A．Secondly, you can ignore traditional media. |
| B．This has led to young people becoming confused. |
| C．Reporters are professionally trained to look for facts. |
| D．Fake news is spread by people who have a prejudice. |
| E．This may be because fake news can easily catch their attention. |
| F．In today’s Internet world of “fake news”, lies spread even faster than the truth. |
| G．Next, look for other sources from mainstream media to confirm the information. |
8 . In China, square dancing is an exercise routine performed to music in squares or parks. Recent years have
As for
Therefore, concessions (让步) should be made by both
People taking part in square dancing are expected to dance in areas far away from residential communities (居民区), while the young are called on to show more
They will also become old and one day may be one of the dancers they dislike now.
In addition, the government should spare more suitable areas where the elderly can do their favorite activities.
1.| A．proved | B．witnessed | C．developed | D．advanced |
| A．since | B．once | C．until | D．though |
| A．relax | B．retire | C．react | D．recover |
| A．unique | B．general | C．different | D．wrong |
| A．local | B．honest | C．responsible | D．senior |
| A．customs | B．dances | C．approaches | D．entertainments |
| A．pleasure | B．celebration | C．encouragement | D．love |
| A．As a result | B．For example | C．In other words | D．In particular |
| A．Though | B．Therefore | C．However | D．Otherwise |
| A．takes off | B．takes up | C．makes up | D．keeps up |
| A．with | B．into | C．against | D．by |
| A．doubt | B．search | C．regret | D．dislike |
| A．positions | B．parties | C．situations | D．hands |
| A．connection | B．hope | C．harmony | D．independence |
| A．tolerance | B．expectation | C．spirit | D．service |
9 . A recent study shows that more than 90% of adults report hearing earworm songs on a weekly basis. They can't walk into their office without Rihanna's voice singing “work, work, work” in their mind. That was commonly known as earworm songs — those sticky tunes that continue to play in their heads.
Luckily, most people report earworm songs as pleasant. But others find them annoying or even maddening. “Some people are troubled by them to the point that it disturbs life,” says Elizabeth Margulis, a professor who has studied earworm songs.
Margulis says earworm songs tend to have some predictable characteristics. For one thing, they tend to be small parts of a song — not the whole track. And “the songs you've heard recently also have the most possibility to get stuck in your memory,” she says.
But sometimes something strange and unpredictable can also start a track playing in your head. “Once I was at the doctor's office and saw a poster of a man who I thought looked like Gaston — a character from Beauty and the Beast,” Margulis recalls. A couple minutes passed, and she realized she couldn't get “Be our Guest”, the song in the movie, out of her head, even though she hadn't thought of the tune in years. In that instance, she was able to identify what touched of her earworm: the Gaston-looking man in the poster. “But the connections can be really unclear,” she says.
Margulis points out that, in all of human history, recorded music is a very new phenomenon. She says some have inferred that earworm songs are also new — the unintended consequence of being able to hear the same song played everywhere in the same way over and over again. So far, the convincing explanation for why human beings experience earworm songs remains a mystery. But there are some well-established ways to cast off the earworm songs.
“Finding a mentally demanding task and putting your mind on it usually shifts attention away from internal music. People tend to get earworms when performing tasks that don't require their full attention — stuff like doing the dishes,” Margulis says.
Chewing gum can also help. When a song is stuck in our heads, it's almost like we're singing along with it. If you make your mouth do something else — chewing gum, eating a meal or talking with a friend — that can kick out the earworm.
You could also face your enemy. By listening to the full track that includes the passage stuck in your head, you may find “closure” and relief.
1. You probably experience an earworm song in _______| A．a song worth memorable | B．a song sung by a recently famous singer. |
| C．a song heard very often recently | D．a song in a famous movie |
| A．left off | B．set off |
| C．took | D．put off |
| A．stem from modern technology |
| B．hurt one's feeling |
| C．be experienced whenever someone sees a poster |
| D．help regain lost memories |
| A．Why we hear earworm songs | B．Where to find earworm songs |
| C．How to get over earworm songs | D．When we hear earworm songs |
10 . There’s no doubt that one of the greatest human achievements is the exploration of the space. Ever since astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to be sent into the orbit around the moon in 1961, scientists have been pushing the boundaries further and further. But until now the exploration into the unknown has been dominated (主导) by men.
Of course, in the past, women were also included in the space projects and played an active role on the ground and behind the scenes. For example, they worked as seamstresses (女裁缝师), sewing vital spaceflight components. In fact, many of NASA’s key works would never have been possible without them. Recently Hollywood produced a movie called Hidden Figures to focus on a group of American female mathematicians, especially the black women, who helped NASA send the first American into space. But this was not women’s only contribution. Back in 1963, Soviet astronaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to be sent into space. However, after that, space flight programs were slow to employ women. In the USA. NASA didn’t accept applications from women to become astronauts until 1978.
But attitudes have changed and leading officials at NASA say that the first person to set foot on Mars should be a woman. The space agency aims to have a sex-balanced workforce but can only achieve that if equal numbers of men and women are trained for science and technology jobs. As Allison McIntryre told the BBC, “My director is a woman. We have female astronauts. We haven’t put a woman on the moon yet. And I think that perhaps the first person to step on Mars should be a woman.”
1. What did Yuri Gagarin do in 1961?| A．He landed on the moon in success. |
| B．He discovered many new boundaries. |
| C．He led scientists to explore the moon. |
| D．He made the first journey into the space. |
| A．To show women are the true heroes of NASA’s first launch. |
| B．To stress that black people have won equal rights in NASA. |
| C．To prove women can do as well as men in NASA’ projects. |
| D．To present women’s contributions to NASA’s space programs. |
| A．Uncaring. | B．Disapproving. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．Will the First Person to Step on Mars Be a Woman? |
| B．Great Achievements Have Been Made in Space Exploration? |
| C．Why Men Played an Important Role in Exploring the Unknown? |
| D．Men and Women Have Made Equal Contributions to NASA’s Projects? |
