Are you a morning person? You might not like the findings in this new research.
From a lack of air and drinking water to solar radiation, theoretical Mars pioneers face any number of potential obstacles to settling on the red planet. Now, scientists have found something else to add to the list: seriously messed-up biological clocks.
One day on Mars - which scientists refer to as the solar day, or“sol”- is 37 minutes longer than a day on Earth. A team of European scientists recently demonstrated why that could be a problem.
Circadian rhythms are the body’s natural cycles of rest and waking, which tend to follow roughly 24-hour light-dark cycles. These natural rhythms - which play a role in biological functions including brain wave activity and hormone production - can be interrupted by things like jet lag（时差）and night shift work.
For the study, the researchers compared mice with healthy, 24-hour circadian clocks to mice with a genetic change that caused them to have shorter, 20-hour circadian clocks. The mice with healthy biological clocks were more likely to survive and reproduce, while the mice with shorter biological clocks were more likely to die off.
What does this all have to do with space travel? Since the Martian sol is longer than a day on Earth, people with shorter circadian clocks could suffer from health problems as they try to adapt to the rotational speed of the red planet.
Unfortunately, the body is unlikely to adapt to the new conditions or“learn”to develop a longer clock. As Loudon explained,“Learning is not a likely option.”
In other words: Sorry, super-early risers - NASA might not want you for the next Mars mission.
1.From the passage, people can face the following troubles living on Mars EXCEPT ______.
A. absence of air B. a lot of fierce creatures
C. lack of drinking water D. messed-up biological clocks
2.According to scientists, how long does one day on Mars last?
A. 24 hours. B. 23 hours and 23 minutes.
C. 24 hours and 37 minutes. D. 12 hours and 37 minutes.
3.How did the researchers study what effect living on Mars has on sleep?
A. By comparing different mice. B. By analyzing computer data.
C. By experiments in spaceships. D. By observing and judging.
4.Life on Mars would seriously mess with your sleep because ________.
A. the brain wave activity will be interrupted
B. the body’s natural cycles can be shortened
C. hormone production will hurt biological functions
D. the Martian sol is longer than a day on Earth
These days, it seems like everything is going digital. You can find almost everything on the Internet.
Many people find this way of life more convenient, because they can complete their daily chores（琐事） from the comfort of their own home.
Firstly, online shopping can be far less stressful than hitting the high street shops. There are no huge crowds of people or boring long queues. With online shopping, it’s just you and your computer. It’s like you have the whole shop to yourself! Secondly, online stores don’t have opening and closing times. This is perfect for anyone with a busy schedule. If you want to, you can even place an online shopping order at three o’clock in the morning!
In the busy modern world, there are clearly many advantages to online shopping. However, in my experience, there are also several cons… With online shopping, you can’t try before you buy, and that’s a definite disadvantage for me. Often, when my new clothes arrive, I find they don’t fit very well. It’s always annoying when a dress is a little too big, or when sleeves are too short… Sometimes, the clothes are not what I was expecting. A piece of clothing might look great in photos online, but quite different in real life.
In these cases, you want to return the item, but here lies the biggest problem with online shopping. You have to pay for your order’s delivery, and for an item to be returned to the warehouse! These charges are often very expensive, which suddenly make online shopping seem a little less convenient… That’s why I don’t choose to shop online very frequently. For now, I will continue to find the time for a trip to a real shop, where I know exactly what I’m buying!
1.What’s the main idea of the third paragraph?
A. The differences among online stores.
B. The methods of online shopping.
C. The opening time of online stores.
D. The advantages of online shopping.
2.Which word can replace the underlined word“cons”in the fourth paragraph?
A. Comparisons. B. Concentration.
C. Disadvantages. D. Disagreements.
3.According to the author, what is the biggest problem with online shopping?
A. The waste of time and electricity.
B. The expensive charges for the returned item.
C. The disadvantages of not trying before you buy.
D. The lost experience of walking in a real shop.
4.What’s the author’s attitude towards online shopping?
A. Disapproval. B. Doubtful.
C. Curious. D. Favorable.
At the end of August this year I moved from London, UK, to a small town in Quebec, Canada, called Matane to work as an English language assistant. Patience is a word that has appeared in many forms over the past two months.
I don’t see myself as being the most patient person in the world but there was something that struck me on my first week of work. I had just finished a session with two students and just as they were leaving the classroom, one of the students turned back and said, “Thank you for your patience.” That was an early reminder of the importance of being patient as a teacher. It also made me reflect on the language teachers that I have had over the years, ones that demonstrated a high level of patience and understanding that has shaped my language learning path. Moreover, it helped me to realize the importance of demonstrating patience in the classroom as it can be the difference between building someone’s confidence in a language or breaking down their confidence entirely.
Living my life constantly in French is not easy but the people of Quebec are very patient. They repeat things several times and they are more than happy to wait while I find the correct words to express myself and find the correct word order. It’s a learning process but with the patience of others, the process is slightly less nervous. At the end of the day, making mistakes shows you are trying and I think that is greatly appreciated by Quebecers.
When I first arrived in Matane I kept getting headaches from having to concentrate all the time due to the language and even overhearing other people’s conversations was hard work! I had to keep reminding myself that it would take time, and two months later the headaches are a distant memory and my ears have become more tuned to their accent. The key is to be patient with yourself.
1.According to Paragraph 2, what does the writer think is important as a teacher?
A. Understanding. B. Patience.
C. Confidence. D. Help.
2.In a small town called Matane, which language do the local people speak?
A. English. B. Spanish.
C. French. D. Italian.
3.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. The writer went to Matane to learn the importance of patience.
B. Doctors in Quebec are good at treating headaches.
C. Practice makes perfect for learning a foreign language.
D. The writer first noticed the importance of patience on hearing a student’s appreciation.
4.What is the best title for the passage?
A. Patience Brings a Surprise
B. Attractions of Quebec
C. My Work Experience in Quebec
D. Learn a Foreign Language with Patience
Good news! Job offered.
Receptionist Administration
Full time
A receptionist is required from 1st February 2019 at Dartford Science & Technology College. The position is only from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm Monday to Thursday and 8:30 am to 4:00 pm Friday, with an hour’s break for lunch every day. The successful applicant must have a good telephone manner, good interpersonal skills and IT skills.
Science Technician
Term time plus 10 days, 37 hours per week
We are looking for a technician to provide a technical support service for science teaching staff. Applications are to be received no later than midnight on 10th February 2019.
Health & Social Care Teacher
Our client, an 11—18 mixed comprehensive school in Ealing, West London, is currently seeking a teacher for Health & Social Care. The position will be a full-time post until July 2020. We require an energetic teacher to develop the learning potential of students. We are seeking someone with excellent subject knowledge who can combine academic strictness and achievement with enjoyment of teaching Health & Social Care,
If you are keen to work, click the button below.
1.The receptionist to be employed will work ________.
A. 20 hours a week B. 37 hours a week
C. 38.5 hours a week D. 34.5 hours a week
2.________ is needed in a school in Ealing, West London.
A. A full-time science teacher
B. A teacher with the ability to get along with people
C. A teacher with excellent knowledge about Health &Social Care
D. A technician who can provide a technical support service
3.The text is likely to appear _________.
A. on the Internet B. in a novel
C. in a magazine D. in a newspaper
请阅读下面短文，并按照要求用英语写一篇150词左右的文章。
Many people spend more than four hours per day on WeChat, and it is redefining the word “friend”. Does friending someone on social media make him or her your friend in real life?
Those with whom you attended a course together, went to a party and intended to cooperate but failed take up most of your WeChat “friends”. In chat records, the only message may be a system notification (通知)，“Somebody has accepted your friend request” or “ You have accepted somebody’s friend request”.
Sometimes when seeing some photos shared on “Moments”，you even need several minutes to think about who this person is and when you became “friends”.
Also, you may be disturbed by mass messages sent from your unacquainted “friends”, including requests for voting for their children or friends. You would have thought about removing this type of “friends” and sort out your connections. But actually you did not do that as you were taught that social networking is valuable to one’s success. Then, with fantasies, you keep amplifying (增加）your “friends” in social media and click “like” on some pictures that you are not really interested.
（写作内容）
1.用约30个单词概括上述利用微信交友的现象；
2.用约120个单词谈谈你如何看待微信交友，然后用2-3个理由或论据支撑你的观点。
（写作要求）
1.写作过程中不能直接引用原文语句；
2.作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；
3.不必写标题。
（评分标准）
内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。
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请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。
注意：每个空格只填1个单词。请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。
Life can be overwhelming (令人不知所措的).We want to do as much as we can, see the world, learn new things — and it can all get a bit too much. Sometimes we reach a point when we feel that we can no longer be interested in everything. We have to shut some of life out, and we don’t like that. We are living under the false assumption that to know anything worthwhile takes years of study, so we might as well forget it.
But sometimes inside us rebels. We still want to learn new things and make new things. They don’t have to be big things. Coping with too big a challenge can be daunting (令人怯步的）.The secret is to be a “micromaster” by perfecting lots and lots of small things — for a big payoff.
A micromastery is a self-contained unit of doing, complete in itself, but connected to a greater field. You can perfect that single thing and move on to bigger things. A micromastery is the way we learn as kids. You never absorb all the fundamentals straight away 一 you learn one cool thing, then another. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has written about “flow” 一 a state in which time seems to be suspended because our involvement in what we’re doing is so great. A micromastery，because it is repeatable without being repetitious, has all the elements that allow us to enter a flow state, which produces great contentment.
As we get older our default setting (默认设置）becomes “off” not “on”. We stop getting interested in new things because we haven’t got enough time or energy. This is an excuse but who can blame us when we hear we need 10,000 hours to “master” something. Micromastery slices through all the excuses. You start with something so small and easy that it doesn’t impact on your life except positively.
We envy the person who has a perfect French accent, who can roll kayak, or compose a poem that isn’t laughable， who can lay a brick wall that doesn’t fall down. These are regarded as hard things to learn which mean a greater mastery of the filed concerned. But with micromastery you can start with the test piece and then — and only then — do you go back upstream to learn anything more about the new world.
Seeing the world in terms of micromasteries makes anything seem possible. Fancy bookbinding? Yoga? Tap dancing or tank driving? All have their micromasteries. It’s very liberating — you no longer have to feel trapped in your day job. You will start, in a small way, to get your life back from the idea that the world seems to push on us that we should do just one thing all our lives.
An annoying situation | • We are too 1. to accomplish everything we are interested in and sometimes we have to make a trade-off. ♦We take it for granted that anything worthwhile doesn’t have an 2. payoff, so we might as well forget it. |
A practical approach | ♦ Instead of accomplishing big things, the secret is to be a micromaster by starting 3. |
Facts about a micromastery | ♦It is connected to a greater field. We can 4.upon small successes to achieve greatness. ♦It enables us to have a good command of important things in a 5. way. ♦It can help enter a flow state when we are 6. in what we are doing. |
♦For the adults who lack time and energy to try new things， it can have a 7.impact on their lives. ♦Instead of envying the achievers, we can 8. the unknown world by | |
| starting with the test piece. |
Conclusion | ♦A micromastery can help us to liberate our minds and 9. our boundaries. ♦For a satisfied life, be a 10.of small things. |
