The Wall Street Journal recently published an excellent article penned by Wendy Bounds on a hot topic here at MNN: the air-purifying qualities of the common house plant. Given that the air inside your home can be 2 to 5 times more polluted than the air outside of it, making it clean with plants like peace lily (百合花) and asparagus fern (芦笋蕨) is an economical. artistically pleasing alternative to air purifiers. So it’s been acknowledged that a bunch of pretty putted houseplants can help you maintain a healthier home, but a smarter home?
That' s the question in light of a recent study published by the Journal of Environmental Psychology showing that the presence of plants in a room, particularly in an office environment, can shrink attention span (范围). Struggling directive attention (the kind of attention that takes effort) can be refreshed through exposure ho to naturalistic environments. Basically, taking a walk through the park can clear one’s head. But can a head be refreshed simply by being surrounded by houseplants?
To test their theory, the study’s authors rounded up a bunch of participants, put some of them in a mom with no plants and put others in a room with our plants placed around a desk, and put them all to the same series of tests. First was a Rearing Span Teat which involves reading a series of sentences aloud and remembering the Last word in each sentence. This task requires that you fluently switch between attention demanding tasks: from rending and memorizing at one moment. to writing and recalling at the next. Next came a proofreading task fallowed by another Reading Span Test.
The results? Participants working in the room with the plants improved their performance from the first Reading Span Test to the second while those working in the room lacking in greenery did not. Consequently, the benefits of working among plants is indeed evident.
1.What do we know from the first paragraph?
A.Staying indoors can help avoid the poorer air outdoors.
B.Houseplants can Function as beautiful cheap air purifiers.
C.Planting polled flowers as decorations is very interesting.
D.Air purifiers are the most effective to create a healthy home.
2.What does the underlined part in paragraph 2 probably refer to?
A.Focus one’s attention. B.Disturb one’s attention.
C.weaken one’s attention. D.Turn one’s attention away.
3.What does the test prove?
A.Working in nature helps increase productivity.
B.Houseplants will be in great demand in our life.
C.Greenery creates healthier naturalistic atmosphere indoors.
D.Working among houseplants improves mental functioning.
4.What can be a suitable title for the text?
A.Flowers: Grand Feast to Eyes B.Greenery: Effective Air-purifier
C.Houseplants: Visual Brain Food D.Potted Plants: Great! House-beautifier
As a volunteer teacher, I moved into an apartment with eagerness. Sorting all the necessary paperwork out, I got ready to start my work. Great, or so I thought. At 4 a.m. and at several intervals after that, I was rudely awaken by the cock that lives opposite me. Fantastic! I now have 5 extra alarms every morning.
In the following weeks, I also started to notice a trend. Things in my flat started to break at the rate of one object per day, like the hot water line, bowls, cups, shower, doors or glass shelves. Yes, I am clumsy but things just fell apart. If it wasn’t broken, it would either be dirty or missing. Using my washing basket for the first time was pretty disgusting. When I took out my clothes, they were swiftly followed by a hundred or so bugs that were living in the bottom.
As for the general Lack of equipment in the hose, there was no oven. tin opener, or sharp knives. It turns out making a vegetarian burger from scratch wasn’t the best idea. I had a small microwave and a grill. I thought the general understanding was never to put metal in a microwave but I went on. Smoke soon started to appear. I'm not quite sure if it was the burger or the grill but as soon as I opened the door, the electricity cut out, I spent the fallowing 10 minutes in a dark, smoky room hunting for the power switch using the light from my mobile phone, which broke the week after and left me without a connection to the outer world.
Luckily, I’m now borrowing a phone and my luck has returned. No more things have broken (probably because there is nothing left to break). I am learning how to adapt to life with limited, broken utensils (用具).
1.How did the author feel about her new life upon her arrival?
A.She was nervous to kick off the new job.
B.She was annoyed with the rude students.
C.She was full of enthusiasm about her new life.
D.She was satisfied with five alarm clocks in her room.
2.What was the trend in the following weeks?
A.Her flat became dirtier. B.she developed disability.
C.Things began to go wrong. D.More clothes needed mending.
3.What happened when the author was making a burger?
A.She suffered a big fire. B.She made a terrible mistake.
C.She was seriously injured. D.She broke her phone accidentally.
4.What can be inferred about the author from the end of the passage?
A.She will go on living here. B.She will resign from her job.
C.she will more into a new flat. D.She will buy new daily necessities.
Good education is expensive. Some countries today have proven that belief to be wrong, though. If you’re dreaming of having your university education in a country outside your motherland, do not be afraid to apply to study in the below-listed countries, as every thing about your education can be achieved with little or nothing.
Germany
Kenznow.com
All the public universities in German do not ask for any education fees except administration fees which are quite affordable, no matter what your status. The English language is common in Germany and most of these universities teach with English so it will be easier to get along as an international student.
Norway
Wikipedia. org
Want to achieve your post-graduate degrees Even if you aim to achieve an undergraduate, Norway in a good option because you will not have to send a penny to anyone. This is possible because of the government’s financing of the education from tax income. The only problem is that most of the top universities in the country
teach with their mother tongue and as a foreigner, you have to familiarize with the language enough to pass a requited test.
Turkey
Turkey discoverthepotential. com
Public universities, called ‘Devlet Universiteleri’ in Turkish are totally free of tuition costs, After payment of an affordable basic fee, the rest is free absolutely. Some of these institutions each in English while some in French and German.
Italy
Cooverseas.com
Italy offers almost free education to international students. When you have to pay as little as￡850 per year for quality education, then it is quite cheap. Besides, Italy has so much cultural heritage and history that students can learn about.
1.Which website can you visit if you tend to apply for a country free of charge?
A.Kenznow.cm B.Wikipedia. org
C.Cooverseas.com D.Turkey discoverthepotential. com
2.Which country could be suitable for a Chine student skilled in French?
A.Germany B.Norway,
C.Turkey. D.Italy.
3.whom is the passage intended for?
A.International students on tight budget.
B.Teachers encouraged to study abroad.
C.Panels with adequate education funds.
D.Native students with good performance.
假设你是李华，作为交流学生去了美国新奥尔良市(New Orleans)学习生活了一年。在此期间，你住在Brown夫妇家中，他们为你提供吃、住、行及旅游方面的帮助。请你给他们写一封感谢信，主要内容如下：
1.表示感谢；2.表达感受；3.欢迎来访；4.保持联系。
注意：1.词数100字左右； 2.信的开头与结尾已为你写好；
可适当增加细节，以使行文连
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Brown,
Faithfully yours,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Every high school student wants to get into famous universities and they spend most of their time review lessons. Nowadays, many graduates find hard to be admitted to famous universities. To be honest, only the small number of students can get so golden chances. Therefore, I have a strong desire to enter into Peking University to study. To make my dream come true, I have to know my advantage and disadvantages. Besides, I must work hard or put all my efforts into study. Most important, I must arrange my time properly. I was approaching my dream university now.
语法填空(在空白出填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。)
Cultural TV programs experienced a come-back at 1. start of the Chinese New year in 2017. Since its broadcast, the program, Readers,2. (become) a hit. Broadcast on China Central Television (CCTV) over the weekend, it is bringing fresh 3. (enthusiastic) for literature in China. Readers set out to interpret the power and values behind 4. (tradition) Chinese culture. The weekly talk show, produced and hosted by the famous TV personality Dong Qing, invites people from all walks of life to read poems, essays and books they like or wrote. Readers has brought the almost-lost habit 5. reading aloud back into the public spotlight, 6. allows the audience 7. (appreciate) the beauty of language. The participants also 8. (active) share stories from their own life, 9. (explain) reasons why particular pieces touched their hearts or shaped their lives. In the show, poems can 10. (adapt) into songs. So far this program has been considered one of the most popular shows in China.
