1 . A New Hobby for a New Year

It’s the end of one year and the start of another. You’ve probably been considering New Year’s resolutions.     1    

Perhaps, like Debbie Gustig, you could start ballet classes. At the age of 53, Debbie stepped into the dance studio, where, for a while, it feels like “the outside world is on pause”.

Hobbies are away for us to keep busy and take our minds off the realities of work and life.     2     Humans have buried themselves into pastimes since the beginning of time, from drawing on cave walls to playing videogames.     3     That means acquiring, possibly cataloguing (列入目录), and then displaying or storing something precious, whether that be stamps, antiques or books.

Linda de Ruiter turned her hobby into a job. She is a yarn maker (纺纱工) and also the owner of a small business.     4     She said she always thought yarn making would just be “a glorified (美化的) hobby” for her, but she’s glad to have been proven wrong and says she is having fun.

    5     In Canada, axe (斧头) throwing is on the rise. In fact, there is even an axe-throwing league with branches across the country and more than 1, 500 members. So, ballet, collecting stamps, yarn making, axe throwing? What will you pursue in the new year?

A．Some hobbies involve collecting things.

B．Her hobbies include hiking and photography.

C．People often pursue hobbies as a way of de-stressing.

D．People long for time to pursue interests that are valuable and satisfying.

E．And you may have decided to take up something new for the year ahead.

F．Every time a new year rolls around, people set out to better themselves.

G．After helping out a friend with a stand at a craft market, she realized she wanted a stand for herself.

2 . How to Find the Right Hobby

A hobby is an activity that you do for pleasure. While it’s not uncommon for someone to turn their hobby into a career, most people’s hobbies are done outside of work.     1     If you don’t have a hobby, here are a few ways to discover what you’re likely to enjoy doing in your free time.

    2     It was a wonderful time when you were wild and free and rarely did anything naturally unless you really loved it. Chances are you still have those care interests. Did you cycle around the house all day? Try cycling as a hobby. Were you always walking around in a forest? Try hiking.

Think of what stores you’re naturally attracted to or what you buy as a guilty pleasure. Enjoy visiting bookstores? Find yourself browsing (浏览) guitars on Amazon? Love visiting a board game store?     3    

Think of who you admire and why you admire them. Do you know someone who takes the most beautiful wildlife pictures? Someone who’s in incredible shape? Someone who impresses with their deep knowledge about movies? Often, your admiration masks a desire to be like them.     4    

For any of these tips to work, you have to try. Finding a hobby requires experimentation and perseverance. As with anything, you’ll be terrible when you try something new for the first time. That’s okay. A large part of the joy from a hobby comes from getting better at it.     5     Finding a fulfilling hobby is like finding a treasure chest full of gold. Totally worth it.

A．Try doing new things.

B．Think of what you loved doing as a kid.

C．And they are just for learning and having fun.

D．As such, the hobbies of them are worth exploring.

E．A hobby is a way to help you relax after a day of work.

F．See what draws your attention and follow your curiosity.

G．So you must keep an open mind as you try to cultivate a new hobby.

3 . As a kid, Pamela Akuku spent her weekends exploring the National Museums of Kenya, following along with her mom who worked there. Akuku became fascinated with the researchers. She saw them using various equipment and researching the fossils carefully. “But I didn’t know what they were doing at the time,” she says. “I kept asking my mom about it.”

Akuku’s mom saw her daughter’s curiosity and signed her up for the museum’s Young Researchers Club. Akuku soon took part in mock excavations (模拟挖掘) and reconstructed bones. “I enjoyed reading and puzzles,” says Akuku. “And this was a mixture of the two.”

The museum experiences helped inspire her career as an archeologist. After her four years in university, she was sure that she wanted to study archaeology. She did her master’s in South Africa and majored in zooarchaeology (动物考古学). She is now at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution in Tarragona, Spain. There, she studies how ancient humans modified (改良) animal bones. Her research is helping to reveal more about where early humans lived. She’s currently studying the remains from Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge, where researchers previously discovered stone tools and evidence of early human ancestors going back as far as 2 million years.

Akuku gives some advice to people who want to do her job. “Be prepared to come across hard conditions. Working in this field is challenging. You have to work twice as hard just to be recognized,” Akuku said. But she has learned to deal with it. Now she always tells everyone the efforts are worthy.

1. Why did Akuku’s mother let her join in the Young Researchers Club?

A．Akuku showed interest in the club.	B．Akuku’s mom was curious about the club.
C．Akuku’s mom wanted Akuku to help with her job.	D．Akuku hoped to be an archaeologist.

2. What is Akuku’s present research about?

A．Why zooarchaeology is popular.	B．When the relics of Tarragona appeared.
C．What can be found from ancient fossils.	D．How ancient people modified animal bones.

3. What can we know about Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge?

A．Many stone tools remain to be found there.	B．Ancient human may live there 2 million years ago.
C．There are few relics left at present.	D．Few researchers show interest in it.

4. In Akuku’s opinion, if you wish to be an archaeologist, you should ______.

A．deal with challenges with colleagues	B．learn to be very smart
C．do the job harder than other people	D．believe what you do is important

4 . My husband, Dave, who teaches Botany (植物学), always plants things. He has planted trees anywhere we have lived and is proud to see they are flourishing and providing shade and beauty for whoever lives there.

I also love planting, especially the harvest. But I hate weeding (除草). I remember one of our first gardens in Kansas when I was attacked by the hugest grasshoppers (蚱蜢) I had ever seen while weeding our little garden.

Now, our growing efforts at our new home are vegetables. We are enjoying the garden we have created. It’s large but manageable with daily care. We use methods to minimize weeds. We have the time to keep up with the watering and weeding. I find I don’t hate that anymore.

There is something satisfying about pulling grass, and violets that are growing where we don’t want them, and unnamed weeds that are affecting the growth of what we want. I find that my relationship with gardening is turning into a true romance that has a rosy future.

It’s all about time, environment and attitude. Being in my eighties, I have the time to be patient for results, to enjoy the hope for future harvest, and I have the knowledge that comes from experience. I find a lot to love about growing things and about growing older.

1. What does the author’s husband take pride in?

A．Teaching.	B．Weeding.
C．Planting trees.	D．Growing vegetables.

2. How did the author feel when seeing grasshoppers from the weeds?

A．Calm.

B．Excited.

C．Bored.

D．Frightened.

3. What can we infer from paragraph 4?

A．Weeds are growing wildly.	B．The author begins to enjoy weeding.
C．The author finds new ways to weed.	D．Weeds balance the garden.

4. What does the author say about growing old?

A．It is a time to start work.

B．It is a stage of showing pity for the lost past.

C．It lets people become patient and wise.

D．It makes learning knowledge difficult.

5 . Everyone was shocked as I placed my son Ilias’s first birthday cake in front of him. He loved Sesame Street, so I made him an Elmo cake in rich red icing(糖霜). I’d worked for hours to perfect my design and make the most delicious and jaw-dropping cake. I enjoyed every minute of it.

I started baking(烘焙) when Ilias was born. At that time, I struggled with the pressure of being a new mum and was diagnosed with postnatal depression(产后抑郁症). So to help walk out of that dark hole, at night when Ilias slept I ran into the kitchen and decided to bake a cake.

Then, with my mum’s birthday coming up, I saw a handbag cake in a shop. I threw my all into copying it and finally I made it. Mum was so blown away by my creation that she didn’t cut the cake. Instead, she kept it in a glass cake stand on display at home for a month.

Over time I created many delicious delights. The best part was seeing Ilias’s face light up when he saw them. “You should do this for a living,” my husband, Michael, suggested. I laughed it off, but it wasn’t a bad idea.

After Ilias’s third birthday, I set up a shop for my cake baking, calling it Cake Queen Oz, and orders started to come in. As time passed, the bakeshop became my full-time job. Once, I made a Titanic cake that was the length of a table for a lady whose family loved ships. It’s been seven years since Cake Queen Oz was born.

Cake baking brought me joy when I was going through a tough time. Every day I feel lucky that I’ve been able to turn my hobby into my job.

1. How did the people feel when they saw Ilias’s first birthday cake?

A．Bored.

B．Surprised.

C．Frightened.

D．Annoyed.

2. Why did the author’s mother keep the cake for a month?

A．She wanted to sell it.	B．She disliked eating cake.
C．She couldn’t bear to eat it.	D．She showed it to the public.

3. Who advised the author to run a bakeshop?

A．Her mother.

B．Her friends.

C．Her child.

D．Her husband.

4. What may be the best title for the text?

A．My Love Affair with Cake

B．My Experience in Making Cake

C．Baking Cake Is Good for You

D．Children Always Like Eating Cake

6 . The other day I was going through the airport at Ibiza and getting my Spanish exit stamp—a Brexit benefit or drawback depending on how you feel—and the nice passport lady flicked through (浏览) my passport, seeking a rare empty page, and said: “Wow, you have a lot of stamps.” Like a five-year-old, I practically glowed with pride.

Because I do have a lot of stamps. And sometimes I simply like to look at them. Right now, my passport is so full of stamps it is in danger of filling up. However, there is a fair chance that this won’t happen—not because I have any intention of ceasing my travels, but because most countries are moving on from the era of physical stamps. In future our comings and goings will be monitored digitally—and speedily.

This will, of course, be great for shortening airport queues, but it also means we will kiss goodbye to the romance of the exotic (奇异的) stamp, that reminder of the time we crossed from, say, Chile to Bolivia via the Andes and the salt plains. Or that first time we landed in the USA and got one of the simplest stamps of all. The border officer smiled as he stamped my passport and said: “Welcome to America.”

In my decades of travel, I have acquired some seriously—to my mind—exotic and wonderful stamps: Armenia, Madagascar, Greenland. Some of the smallest countries demand entire pages of your passport—looking at you, Cambodia.

Then there are the special stamps to truly remote destinations. My personal favourite is probably the one I got going into the Republic of Mount Athos in northern Greece. It was magnificently beautiful: the double-headed eagle of Byzantium, returned to life and impressed on my passport pages.

It was certainly more cheerful than the stamp I once got from the British embassy in Bangkok, which arranged for my return to the UK from Thailand after I really misbehaved. That stamp said “Impound (扣留) Passport on Arrival in London”. And so they did.

Yet I miss that stamp too.

1. What does the author think of the shift from physical stamps to digital records?

A．Convenient but romance-reducing.	B．Eco-friendly but culture-erasing.
C．Modern but artistically inferior.	D．Cost-efficient but emotionally hurtful.

2. What does the underlined word “you” in paragraph 4 refer to?

A．Readers.

B．Pages.

C．Cambodia.

D．Stamps.

3. Why does the author mention the Bangkok stamp?

A．To exhibit the extent of his global travels.

B．To present a less positive travel experience.

C．To highlight his attachment to all his stamps.

D．To reflect on his misbehavior and its consequences.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．My Favorite Passport Stamps

B．The Beauty of Passport Stamps

C．Digital Progress: Passport Stamps at Risk

D．Passport Stamps: Bridging Borders and Cultures

7 . Brent Ferguson owns Guitar Riot, a custom guitar store in Cleveland, Ohio. “I remember having music records when I was four or five years old,” says Brent Ferguson. “I was addicted to sitting in front of the music equipment and listening to music.”

Ferguson started Guitar Riot 12 years ago, after noting a lack of custom guitar stores in the area. A custom guitar is made carefully by a luthier, a person who makes guitars, violins and other stringed instruments according to a player’s exact requirements.

Ferguson has spent his life on music. He has played in bands and worked at other local guitar stores. He also was operations manager for Dr. Z Amplification, a store in nearby Maple Heights that sells musical instruments. He eventually decided to pursue (追求) is own business focusing on custom guitar sales.

Although Guitar Riot now sells mostly high-end custom guitars, that was not always the case. They had to achieve certain standards to become a high-end quality retailer (零售商).

“The guitar companies have requirements,” Ferguson said. “One is that we bring in a certain dollar amount. Another is the number of years a retailer has been in business.” Guitar Riot is now a retailer for respected guitar makers such as Gibson, Fender, Nash and Martin. The majority of the store’s business comes from online orders.

Over the years, many well-known musicians have bought their instruments from Guitar Riot. Jack White of the White Stripes, jazz musician Julian Lage, Tommy Henriksen of Alice Cooper, and Noel Gallagher of Oasis have all purchased custom guitars from the store.

Guitar Riot started out serving well-known guitarists, but Ferguson would like to reach new musicians, too. “When kids come in here who are interested in playing guitars,” Ferguson said, “we try to make it a positive experience for them. There definitely needs to be a younger generation interested in rock music.”

Guitar Riot is currently moving. Ferguson hopes that the new location will bring even more foot traffic to the store.

1. Why did Brent Ferguson start his guitar store?

A．To realize his childhood dream.	B．To learn to make guitars of high quality
C．To make music popular.	D．To meet the needs of people around.

2. What do we know about Ferguson?

A．He loves all his jobs.	B．He is a man of strong will.
C．He has gone through various hardships.	D．He has developed a close relationship with music.

3. How does Guitar Riot do its business?

A．It sells guitars mainly online.	B．It is targeted at young customers.
C．It sells other instruments besides guitars.	D．It provides creative ideas for respected makers.

4. What does the underlined word “them” in paragraph 7 refer to?

A．Guitar teachers.	B．Kids.
C．Well-known guitarists.	D．Former musicians.

8 . Hobbies are considered leisure activities people engage in to relax and feel less stressed. There are various physical and non-physical leisure activities. Physical activities include walking, running, jogging, hiking, gymnastics, fishing, skating, swimming, basketball, boxing, volleyball, etc.     1     These not only are usually relaxing but also provide skill advancement.

Everyone needs a break from responsibilities, and chores!     2     They provide an amazing chance to have fun during selective leisure time. Not only are you able to enjoy recreational pastime, but hobbies allow you to develop skills and values that can last a lifetime. Hobbies might also help you feel more present in the moment.

    3     It’s actually best to engage in multiple hobbies throughout the week. Explore different types of hobbies to not only find what fits you best but also exceed all benefits hobbies can offer. However, try not to take on so many that you begin to find them taxing(伤脑筋的)or tiring. The entire purpose of hobbies is to relax and enjoy yourself.     4     Therefore, if you’re trying out a new hobby, remember to balance your time. Make a schedule of which activities you want to take part in throughout the week.     5     For example, if you like to work up a sweat, then activities such as yoga, dancing, walking, or running might be great hobbies for you to try. And if you enjoy staying in or already have a physically demanding job, you might join a book club, go to an art class, or learn how to cook a new recipe.

A．You can do team sports like soccer.

B．Never think you can only have one hobby.

C．Hobbies allow us to take some time away from life’ s duties.

D．So make sure you aren’t adding additional stress to your life.

E．Physical activities reduce stress, strengthen muscles, and help improve moods.

F．Moreover, consider your interests and passions when deciding which hobby to choose.

G．Non-physical recreational activities include art, problem-solving, reading literature, etc.

9 . A hobby is a great way to kill your free time.     1     However, many struggle to stick with them. Therefore, think practically when finding a hobby you can keep.

Consider your cost. Before choosing a hobby, think about what you can reasonably afford.     2     For example, for a sport like hockey (曲棍球), you will need protective equipment, a stick, ice skates and so on, which can be expensive. If you’re short of money, look for a hobby that doesn’t cost you much.

Think about the time. If you’re very busy, you may not want a hobby which takes much time. Things like reading, or crossword puzzles can be done in small spare moments.     3     However, if you are rich in time, choose a hobby like gardening. It required to be done for a set number of hours each day.

    4     Pick a hobby that makes you feel interested, or you will be likely to lose interest. For example, think about skills you are always eager to have. Have you at times imagined yourself as a talented singer? Teaching yourself to sing in your spare time may cheer you up.

Value your existing skill.     5     Choosing something you’re not already good at may result in you feeling stressed and giving up. You can think about what skills you already have. For example, maybe you already enjoy cooking though you’re not skilled, you could take a cooking class. It’ll be easier to get into this new hobby.

A．Many people find hobbies relaxing.

B．Force yourself to stick with that one.

C．Think about what makes you excited.

D．Some hobbies require a lot of equipment.

E．A hobby should be more relaxing than challenging.

F．You might get bored with developing your natural skills.

G．You can do them on your lunch break or after dinner at night.

10 . I’m A Nurse By Day But An Artist By Night

Hello everyone! My name is Joe Mari, I am a male nurse from the Philippines who is working overseas, and sometimes, being away from your family and friends, you’ll mostly feel lonely, bored, and homesick. So in my spare time I draw portraits of people using Faber Castell classic coloured pencils, ballpoint pen, and pencil for black and white ones.

I started drawing and won my first inter-school competition when I was 5. By that time I had no dreams of being an artist, as I thought it was all a ‘game’ and I was never serious about art. I became a part of my school paper as a cartoonist until high school and then time passed and I have forgotten about drawing. It went on to being just a hobby until I tried to get back at it again two years ago. I watched YouTube videos every night, trying to figure out how to improve my skills. Drawing people’s faces is a fascination for me, which is obviously displayed in my works.

You’re probably wondering why I never took any courses related to art, and why I am a nurse. You see, there is a fine line between your dreams and your passion. I took the medical field in hopes of giving service to as many people as I can. I have always been fascinated by the world of Science and by the world of Art at the same time.

My intention in sharing this story is not to compare, but rather to bring out whatever other interests you may have inside you. Sure you may be working in front of a desk at day, but who knows, maybe you also rock out with your band at night. With enough patience and perseverance, nothing can prevent passion.

I hope I inspired you all with my story, so go on, get that paper and whatever tool you can use to create art!

1. What’s the author’s way to get rid of negative feeling?

A．Picking up his fancy	B．Playing games
C．Achieving his dreams	D．Sharing his stories

2. What did he do to have his painting skills improved?

A．He took some courses	B．He watched online video
C．He worked every day	D．He attended competitions

3. Why did the author choose to be a male nurse?

A．He wanted to contribute to medicine.	B．He wanted to help more people.
C．He wanted to develop his interest in art.	D．He wanted to encourage others.

4. Which of the following best describes the author?

A．Ordinary and warm-hearted.	B．Appealing and open-minded.
C．Humorous and well-educated	D．Hard-working and strong-willed.