A notice at IKEA Shanghai has been shared widely among netizens on Chinese social media. It states that the stores cafeteria now requires customers to order food before sitting down in cafeteria seats. The policy is in response to an elderly blind dating group that occupies seats for a long time, consuming only their own food brought from home. Do you support IKEA’s new regulation? China Daily readers share their opinions with us.
Lee Xin (China)
The elderly are harmless. They are lonely and are probably hoping to find some company again. If anything, the store should at least sympathize with these old people.
Mbursian (US)
This is more for socializing than for romance. I really don’t think a home furnishing store is a good dating place for seniors.
IKEA could also post a reasonable time limit per visit during peak hours. Or instead of tables and chairs, they could use those standing tables and get rid of the chairs altogether. At least IKEA’s cafeteria isn’t occupied by the dancing grannies and their portable PA systems (音响).
SEARU (Australia)
Romance is the most important thing while eating is not that important! So a noble man always leaves more space for seniors’ love affairs!
Mr. Qiu (Shanghai, China 65 years old)
We have been to fast food outlets like McDonalds, but there are barely any peers there. We feel like aliens surrounded by youngsters. If there is another place in Shanghai where elderly people can gather, we are more than ready to pay twice as much and travel further.
TedM (UK)
Romance can arise in many places, even IKEA. However, this debate arose as a result of many people taking advantage of IKEA’s generous drink offers and going there to meet and stay with friends without buying anything. IKEA is a shop; it exists to provide a service for a reasonable profit. It is not a public park.
Michel (New Zealand)
To everyone romanticizing this, please also consider that the store has an image to uphold while protecting the interests of other paying customers. It is ugly to take up seats for such long durations while you make others wait.
1.How many people are in support of this new regulation?
A. 2. B. 3.
C. 4. D. 5.
2.What is the major cause of this new regulation?
A. Senior blind dates influencing their business.
B. IKEA has zero tolerance for romantic behavior.
C. The strong reaction of netizens on social media.
D. Old people eating their own food to save money.
3.People who are against the new regulation will probably agree that .
A. seniors’ love affairs can contribute to the store’s image
B. IKEA is the only place where seniors can find their peers
C. the society is being too judgmental and lacks understanding
D. IKEA should not reserve a special area for the old people to date
假设你是红星中学学生李华。你和同学在寒假期间去医院参加了志愿者活动，请按照以下四幅图的先后顺序，给校刊英语角写一篇英文稿件，介绍此次经历。
注意：词数不少于60。
提示词：自助挂号机 self-service registration machine
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假设你是红星中学学生李华。你的英国笔友Jim在给你的邮件中提到他想了解北京近几年发生了怎样的变化。请给他回复邮件，内容包括：
1．变化；
2．原因；
3．感受。
注意：1．词数不少于50；
2．开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Jim,
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Yours,
Li Hua
Are You a Prisoner of Perfection?
Do you struggle for a goal that is beyond your reach? 1. Are you setting yourself up for failure and shame when you can’t achieve the unachievable? Understanding what drives perfectionism is the first step toward releasing this self-created anchor that keeps us stuck.
Shame and fear are often the hidden drivers of perfectionism. We believe that if we can fashion a perfectly polished personality, flash our intelligence, and perfect our humour, then no one can hurt us with criticism and we’ll win respect and approval.
2. Politicians who display a desperate need to be right and refuse to acknowledge mistakes or uncertainty are often driven by a secret shame. They fear that showing vulnerability(弱点) will expose them to the accusation that they’re weak. They stick to a desire to be right, perfect, and polished, even when it’s obvious that the emperor has no clothes.
Perfectionism keeps us leaning toward the future. We’re constantly evaluating ourselves in order to do better. 3. However, if we can’t relax and enjoy lighter moments, then we become prisoners of our perfectionism. We get painfully self-conscious and take ourselves too seriously. Sadly, we deprive(剥夺) ourselves of the simple pleasure of enjoying the moment and being ourselves.
4. We realize that failing at any enterprise doesn’t mean that we are a failure. Without failures, we’ll never learn from our mistakes; we’ll never move forward in our lives. Those who succeed have made countless mistakes. The important thing is to learn from our error, forgive ourselves and move on.
Being human, perfection is impossible. 5. Releasing ourselves from the desire to protect our image, we’re freed to sail gracefully through our successes and failures—and enjoy our precious life.
A. Do you hold an idealized vision that is impossible to realize?
B. A cure to perfectionism is to make room for our human shortcomings.
C. Do you fear that others will be horrified by what you judge about yourself?
D. The addiction to staying perfect protects us from any sign of being imperfect.
E. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do our best and self-correcting along the way.
F. People who are addicted to perfection are often isolated, even if they seem outgoing and popular.
G. By accepting ourselves as we are and doing our best, we begin to rid the shame that drives perfectionism.
Last fall, I happened to overhear a student telling the others he had decided not to sign up for an introductory philosophy course. The demands of his major, he said seriously, meant he needed to take “practical” courses, and “enlightenment” would simply have to wait. For now, employability was the most important.
The students’ conversation fits into a larger alarming narrative about the role of the humanities in higher education. In a time of dizzying technological achievement and of rapid scientific innovation, sceptics of the humanities may question the usefulness of studying Aristotle, the Italian Renaissance or Chinese fiction.
Actually, I regret not interrupting that student to argue for taking that introductory philosophy course. I would have started by reminding him that, for much of America’s history, college graduates were not considered truly educated unless they had mastered philosophy, literature, political theory and history. The key role of higher education was to invite students into the conversations about matters like what it means to be alive and the definition of justice. Fostering engagement with these subjects is still an essential part of the university’s function in society.
I would have also mentioned to the student that he was misinformed about the job market. It is true that many employers are looking for graduates with specialized technical skills, but they also look for other capabilities. As the world is transformed by artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation, the unique human qualities of creativity, imagination and moral reasoning will be the ultimate coin of the realm. All these skills are developed in humanities courses.
Further, I would have argued that while a degree anchored in the sciences is an important precondition for many jobs, it is not the only route. Look no further than the founders of companies such as LinkedIn, Slack and Flickr, who are among the many tech businesspersons with degrees in the humanities, and who credit that training for their success.
Contrary to the widely held belief that humanities majors have a hard time getting jobs, recent studies show that those with humanities degrees are successful in the workplace, experiencing low rates of unemployment and reporting high levels of job satisfaction. The ratio between average median(中位数) incomes for humanities degree holders and those with business, engineering, and health and medical sciences degrees has been shown to narrow over the course of a career.
The case for the humanities can also be understood in less transactional terms and more as a foundational preparation for a life well lived. A humanities education plays a vital role in encouraging citizens to lead an examined life. It fosters critical thinking, self-reflection, empathy and tolerance, the usefulness of which only becomes more apparent as one navigates life’s challenges.
By all means, students should take courses they think practical and follow their interests, but if they also make a point of studying the literature of the Renaissance, or researching into modern poetry, or even taking introductory philosophy, we will all benefit.
1.What do the students’ conversation show?
A. Students feel employment difficult.
B. Students think philosophy less important.
C. Students find scientific innovation amazing.
D. Students consider university courses unsatisfying.
2.What does the underlined part in Paragraph 4 probably mean?
A. Highly valued. B. Equally applied.
C. Strictly assessed. D. Greatly improved.
3.The author may agree that humanities _____.
A. discover students’ artistic ability
B. prepare students for graduation
C. raise awareness of social status
D. provide great insights into life
4.Which of the following shows the development of ideas in the passage?
I: Introduction P: Point Sp: Sub-point(次要点) C: Conclusion
A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
Most groups of plants and animals are richer in species and more plentiful near the equator. In the ocean, that holds true for cold-blooded predators(掠食者). But warm-blooded predators are more diverse toward the poles and noticeably missing from several warm hot spots. Why?
John Grady, an ecologist, and his team considered the possibility—warm-blooded animals need a lot to fuel their metabolism(新陈代谢). Perhaps colder waters are just richer in small fish? But they found that at higher, colder places, there isn’t actually much more food around. It’s more that warm-blooded animals are eating a much bigger share of it than their cold-blooded competitors.
The real explanation is simple. An animal’s speed, swiftness, and intelligence depend on its metabolism, which in turn depends on its temperature. Since birds and mammals can keep heating their bodies in icy conditions, they remain fast and attentive. By contrast, the fish they hunt become slower and duller. At some tipping point of temperature, seals, dolphins, and penguins start outswimming their prey(猎物). They become more likely to come upon targets and outpace the cold-blooded predators of their own.
In Grady’s words, “Warm-bodied predators are favoured where preys are slow, stupid and cold.” That’s why sharks and other predatory fish dominate near the equator, but colder waters are the kingdom of whales and seals. By keeping food to themselves in the poles, these creatures can then specialize on specific types of prey, which makes them more likely to split into separate species. The killer whales of the North Pacific, for example, include mammal-eating transients and fish-eating, year-round residents.
But the world is changing. It’s likely that the surface of the oceans will warm by 2 to 3℃ within this century. Grady’s team estimates that every time the ocean’s surface warms by 1℃, populations of sea mammals will fall by 12%, and populations of seals and sea lions will fall by 24%.
But “predictions are hard,” Donna Hauser from the University of Alaska Fairbanks notes. “Polar bears are losers of a warming world, but some populations are still doing well. Some groups of whales have changed the timing of their migrations; others are hunting in deeper, colder waters. These changes might make sea mammals more adaptable to changing climates. Maybe they just need to find the places where fish remain slow, stupid and cold.”
1.Why are there more types of warm-blooded predators near the poles?
A. Because there is more food.
B. Because there are fewer enemies.
C. Because they are faster and wiser.
D. Because they consume less energy.
2.The author mentions the killer whales to show ______.
A. the benefit of biological evolution
B. food preference of different sea mammals
C. the distinction of specific types of predators
D. the advantage of constant body temperature
3.What is Donna Hauser’s attitude towards the future of the sea mammals?
A. Positive. B. Negative.
C. Neutral. D. Sceptical.
4.Which is the best title for the passage?
A. Are the Poles Heaven for Sea Predators?
B. How Do Sea Mammals Track Their Prey?
C. Why Do the Warm-Blooded Like Food Cold?
D. Is the World Too Hot for the Warm-Blooded?
