Vacation Packages in Los Angeles A Disne...

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You return from work on a hot August evening. Your unwashed son is on the sofa playing Honor of Kings, as he has been doing for the past eight hours. Not for the first time, you ask yourself: why are school summer holidays so insufferably long?

This is a more serious question than it sounds. Many children will return from the long break having forgotten much of what they were taught the previous year. One study from the American South found that this “summer learning loss” could be as high as a quarter of the year’s education.

Students will hate the idea of a longer school year. But plenty of children could usefully spend a bit longer at their books. More time in school need not mean repeating the same old lessons. Some extra drilling would be beneficial, particularly for those falling behind. But the summer could also be a time for different kinds of learning. Schools should be free to experiment.

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The 17th-century French tragedian Pierre Corneille wrote: The manner of giving is worth more than the gift”. He had a point, according to Charles Spence, head of Crossmodal Research Laboratory at the University of Oxford.

The professor’s work focuses on how our brains sense the world around us. His research has shown that high-frequency sounds and curved shapes seem to increase the sweetness wine tastes better if it is accompanied by the popping sound of a cork and drunk from all these created multisensory experiences.

So, what’s his advice if you want to impress this holiday season?

Bulk it up hide

“We’ve just published research on eating a box of chocolates，” Mr Spence said. “If you are 30-gram weight in a box of chocolates, that weight translates to a significant increase perceived(感知)quality of the chocolate.”

There are exceptions, but the association between weight and the perception of luxury(奢侈)applies to many items including tableware，perfume(香水)and wine，Mr. Spence said. “That's why in a restaurant，a waiter might artfully give you the bottle to weigh in your hand,” he added.

Black is basic

Black is the color most associated with luxury because, Mr. Spence said，“it seems to be the color that we perceive to be the heaviest.”

Such luxury indications are learned, rather than inborn, so they can change over time. I’m doing a lot of work on transparency(透明) at the moment; high-quality packaged goods should have a transparent window because it suggests freshness or quality,” he said.

But the trend is recent， the professor added, because “traditionally luxury goods used to have nontransparent packaging. I think it has to do with the current desire for originality.”

Layer it on

Unnecessary wrapping(包裹)can be an ecological concern but, when it comes to luxury goods like wine in a presentation case, it does make an impression.

“Tissue layers are really good,” Mr. Spence said，“because the crinkle adds an extra sense to the experience.”

Consider a little perfume in the box or wrapping, and, if you want to involve other senses, work out some way for classical music to be playing when the gift is opened because we associate it with quality.

Engaging several senses at once is beneficial.“The brain combines the inputs from each sense, both to determine what something is, but also to determine a reward value,”Mr. Spence said. Also,the more stimuli(刺激)to the senses，the more activity is produced in the orbitofrontal cortex, a small part of brain situated just beside the eyes. And the more activity there, the more rewarding something is perceived to be.

You can go too far

“Engaging an extra sense is more effective, but you can potentially have a disagreement if that extra sense doesn’t match the others.” the professor said.

Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood had a son called Michael and a daughter called Matilda ,who was so quick to learn that her ability should have been obvious even to the most stupid parents. But she was their daughter. To tell the truth, I doubt they had noticed she crawled into the house with a broken leg.

By the age of one and a half her speech was perfect and she knew as many words as most grown-ups. The parents, instead of praising her, called her a noisy chatterbox and told her sharply that small girls should be seen and not heard.

By the time she was three, Matilda had taught herself to read by studying newspapers and magazines that lay around the house. At the age of four, she could read fast and well and she naturally began seeking for books. The only book in the whole of this enlightened household was something called Easy Cooking belonging to her mother, and when she had read this from cover to cover, and had learnt all the recipes by heart, she decided she wanted something more interesting.

“Daddy,” she said, “do you think you could buy me a book?

“A book?” he said. “What do you want a book for?”

“To read, Daddy.”

“What's wrong with the telly? We've got a lovely telly with a twelve-inch screen and now you come asking for a book!”

Nearly every weekday afternoon Matilda was left alone in the house. Her brother went to school. Her father went to work and her mother went out playing bingo. On the afternoon of the day when her father had refused to buy her a book, Matilda set out all by herself to walk to the public library in the village. She asked Mrs. Phelps, the librarian, if she might sit a while and read a book. Mrs. Phelps, slightly surprised at the arrival of such a tiny girl unaccompanied by a parent, nevertheless told her she was very welcome.

“Where are the children's  books please!” Matilda asked.

“They’re over there on those lower shelves,” Mrs. Phelps told her. “Would you like me to help you find a nice one with lots of pictures in it?

“No, thank.you,” Matilda said. “I’m sure I can manage.”

From then on, every afternoon, as soon as her mother had left for bingo, Matilda would walk down to the library, where she spent two glorious hours sitting quietly by herself in a cosy comer devouring one book after another. When she had read every single children's book in the place, she started wandering around in search of something else.

Mrs. Phelps, who had been watching her with interest for the past few weeks, now got up from her desk and went over to her. “Can I help you, Matilda?” she asked.

“I’m wondering what to read next,” Matilda said. “I’ve finished all the children's books.”

“You mean you’ve looked at the pictures?”

“yes, but I’ve read the books as well. I thought some were very poor, but others were lovely. I like The Secret Garden best of all. It was full of mystery. The mystery of the room behind the closed door and the mystery of the garden behind the big wall”.

Mrs. Phelps was stunned.“Exactly how old are you, Matilda?”she asked.

“ Four years and three months,” Matilda said.“I would like a really good book that grown-ups read .A famous one.”

Mrs. Phelps looked along the shelves, taking her time.“Try this”, she said at last,“It’s very famous and very good If it’s too long for you, just let me know”.

“Great Expectations, ” Matilda read, “by Charles Dickens. I’d love to try it”

1.What does the writer think of Matilda’s parents?

A. They were too busy to pay attention to her.

B. They were too traditional to educate a girl.

C. They were too caring to put pressure on her.

D. They were too ignorant to raise children properly.

2.What does the writer want to say by mentioning the name of the book that the family had?

A. It is a good book for a little girl.

B. The family doesn't have a real book.

C. The mother likes cooking very much.

D. The family needs something interesting.

3.Which of the following words can best describe Matilda?

A. Original.    B. Hardworking.

C. Independent.    D. Delightful.

4.Why did Mrs. Phelps ask Matilda how old she was?

A. She wanted to have a light conversation with her.

B. She thought she might need guidance while reading.

C. She wanted to find the best book for children of her age.

D. She was surprised at her mature understanding of books.

5.What do you think Mrs. Phelps would do after Matilda got Great Expectations?

A. She would read together with the little girl.

B. She would show her how to read the book.

C. She would watch her from behind her desk.

D. She would tell her how great the book was.

①About 43.5 million Americans are taking care of aging relatives and friends, sacrificing(牺牲) time, money and sometimes their careers and personal health. They are doing the work of professional caregivers, who spend years training for the job. As baby boomers age, the demand for unpaid caregivers is rising. Meanwhile ,the number of them is dropping rapidly thanks to smaller family sizes, higher divorce rates and increasingly demanding jobs. This November, actor Rob Lowe offered to tell his story and send some encouragement to the millions struggling to care for a loved one.

②I had my first experience with unpaid care giving fairly early. My father, Charles, was diagnosed(诊断)with lymphoma at age 50.I was 26.Luckily,he was financially successful and had a loving wife, my stepmother. It was challenging, but she was there from taking care of my father.

③In my late 30s, my mother, Barbara Hepler, was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. That was when I was introduced to the front lines of what so many millions are experiencing. She did not have a husband or a significant other, so it fell to me and my two brothers to handle everything from her initial diagnosis to doctor shopping, treatment options, driving her to appointments and, finally, the end of life-which was profoundly difficult, obviously.

④At the time, I was starring in and producing a network television show, The Lyon’s Den. It was fighting for its ratings life. If I took time off, the show would be canceled, I was responsible for 150 crew members ,so I had to find a way to do both.

⑤Besides. there is the negotiation of medical coverage, which requires phone calls, weeding through paperwork and talking to insurance companies and doctors. I remember thinking, Jesus Christ, if I were sick and had to do this on my own? I don’t think I could get out of bed in the morning.

⑥The people we are talking about-the friends and family members who are out there doing important work-are unpaid. Watching a loved one go through an illness, possibly ending in death, is stressful and depressing. Add economic and scheduling burdens, and the load for caregivers is heavy. To them I say, Don't forget about yourself. When you get on an airplane, the crew says, Secure your own mask first before helping others.”Why? Because without you taking care of yourself, you can’t take care of anybody else. That’s why I’ve partnered with EMD Serono andEmbracingCarers.com, where you’ll find invaluable information regarding everything you’ll be, or are, going through.

1.What’s the main idea of the first paragraph?

A. large number of Americans are taking care of their loved ones.

B. Unpaid caregivers are in great demand due to a variety of reasons.

C. Taking care of aging relatives and friends is increasingly demanding.

D. Many Americans have received training to become professional caregivers.

2.Why does Rob Lowe mention his father’s case?

A. To indicate the possible stress of a carer.

B. To introduce his family’s medical history.

C. To emphasize the importance of being healthy.

D. To prove Charles’ luck of having a loving wife.

3.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A. The TV show was then struggling to win a larger audience.

B. The TV show was quite popular among local unpaid caregivers.

C. The TV show was fighting to be allowed to shoot more seasons.

D. The TV show was about patients who were fighting against diseases,

4.Which of the following could probably be the best title?

A. What makes a good carer?    B. Where are the caregivers?

C. Why are carers necessary?    D. Who cares for the carer?

What is the single most effective way to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions? Go vegetarian (素食)？ Replant the Amazon? Cycle to work? None of the above. The answer is: make air-conditioners better. On one calculation， replacing refrigerants (制冷剂) damaging the atmosphere would reduce total greenhouse gases equaling 90bn tonnes of CO2 by 2050. Making the units more energy-efficient could double that. By contrast, if half the world’s population gave up meat, it would save 66bn tonnes. Replanting two-thirds of tropical forests would save 61 bn tonnes. A one-third increase in global bicycle journeys, just 2.3bn tonnes.

Air-conditioning is one of the world's great overlooked industries. Automobiles and air-conditioners were invented at roughly the same time, and both have had a huge impact on where people live and Work. Unlike cars, though， air-conditioners have drawn little criticism for their social impact, emissions or energy efficiency. Most hot countries do not have rules to govern their energy use. There is not even a common English word for “coolth” (the opposite of warmth).

Yet air-conditioning has done more than most things to benefit humankind. Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of Singapore, called it “perhaps one of the signal inventions of history”. It has transformed productivity in the tropics(热带地区)and helped turn southern China into the workshop of the World. In Europe, its spread has pushed down heat-related deaths to 10% since 2003, Men 70,000 people than usual, most of them elderly, died in a heatwave. For children, air-conditioned classrooms are associated with better grades at school.

Environmentalists who call air-conditioning“a luxury we cannot afford” have half a point, however. In the next ten years, as many air-conditioners will be installed(安装)around the world as were put in between 1902(invention time)and 2005.Unless energy can be produced without carbon emissions, these extra machines will warm the world. At the moment, therefore, air-conditioners create a vicious cycle. The more the Earth warms, the more people need them. But the more there are, the warmer the world will be.

Cutting the impact of cooling requires three things. First, air-conditioners must become much more efficient. The most energy-efficient models on the market today consume only about one-third as much electricity as average ones, Minimum energy-performance standards need to be raised raised, orintroduced in countries that lack them altogether, to push the average unit's performance closer to the standard of the best.

Next, manufacturers should stop using damaging refrigerants. One type called hydrofluoro-carbons, is over 1,000 times worse than carbon dioxide when it comes to trapping heat in the atmosphere. An international agreement to knock out these pollutants will come into force in 2019.

Last, more could. be done to design offices, malls and even cities so they do not need as many air-conditioners in the first place. More buildings should be built with overhanging roofs orbalconies for shade, or with natural ventilation (自然通风).Simply painting roofs white can help keep temperatures down. Providing indoor air-conditioned comfort need not come at the expense of an overheating world.

1.What’s the most effective way to reduce carbon gases?

A. Planting more trees.    B. Leading green lifestyles.

C. Improving cooling systems.    D. Buying new air-conditioners.

2.What can we learn from Paragraphs 2 and 3?

A. Air-conditioning enables factories to produce more in hot areas.

B. The heat-related deaths have dropped by 10% since 2003 in Europe.

C. There are many factories producing air-conditioners in southern China.

D. Air-conditioners have received little criticism for they have no negative impact.

3.Why do environmentalists call air-conditioning “a luxury we cannot afford” in Paragraph 4?

A. Because the price of air-conditioning is too high.

B. Because you can’t afford the time for installation.

C. Because the cost of energy consumption is too high.

D. Because the earth will suffer from its carbon emissions.

4.Which of the following measures can reduce the impact of cooling?

a.design natural cooling buildings

b.raise standards for energy-performance

c.make laws for international cooperation

d.stop applying harmful refrigerants to production

A. abc    B. abd    C. acd    D. bed