In many cultures, small talk is a big deal. Although it may seem like a pointless conversation to pass the time or avoid awkward silence, 1.
According to US inspirational speaker Melissa Wadsworth, “Small talk is about tapping into possibilities.” Having good small talk skills is the best way to meet new people, which can lead to friendships, jobs, or other goals. 2. It makes you consider what another person feels or thinks. These advantages can do us good.
If small talk is so important, how do you do it? What's the best way to break the ice and start talking to people? Well, some of the most common topics include the weather, hobbies, work, family and travel. 3.
4. For example, you can talk to your schoolmates about your classes or that teacher who drives everyone crazy. If you're at a party, you might comment on the snacks, music, or the number of people there. If you're lucky, you might have a friend introducing you to others fist to help you start a conversation.
5. But that's OK! Everyone has this problem when he/ she meets new people. Wadsworth has the best advice for this: approach the conversation excited about the friendship, the good laugh, the fascinating story, the job opportunity, the date, the joy.
A. Sometimes, it seems a bit difficult to start a conversation with a stranger.
B. More importantly, small talk is the first step for bonding with other people.
C. it is very important for communicating and bonding with others.
D. Another way to start small talk is to comment on your surroundings.
E. Besides, small talk can improve brainpower by encouraging empathy (共鸣).
F. it is a waste of time and energy to talk with others.
G. They are great for small talk because it is easy for people to talk about them.
Every time you use a tea bag, you could be absorbing billions of microplastic and nanoplastic particles (纳米塑料颗粒). That's the conclusion of researchers at McGill University in Montreal.
The research centred on four different types of tea bags, of the kind recently preferred by some premium (优质的) brands. Having been emptied of the tea itself, the bags were placed in water heated to 95℃.
Researchers were surprised to find each bag released around 11.6 billion microplastics and a further 3.1 billion even smaller nanoplastics. These levels were, says the report, “thousands of times higher than plastic amounts previously reported in other foods.”
The researchers believe that the tea bags send so many microplastics because they are heated close to boiling point. And the researchers exposed water fleas (水蚤) to water containing varying concentrations of microplatics. While the animals did not die, they did display some abnormalities (畸形) that could suggest the microplastics were having a toxic (毒的) effect on them.
“To date, the health effects of consuming microplastics to humans are still unknown, while the effects observed in the present study and in other animals gave an early warning,” the researchers conclude in their study. “One of the main potential human exposure pathways of microplastics is likely via ingestion, and particle uptake may occur in the digestive tract. Once inside the digestive tract, cellular uptake (细胞吞噬) and subcellular translocation (亚细胞移位) or localization of the ingested particles may occur.”
1.What can we learn from paragraph 1?
A.Drinking tea is unhealthy for you.
B.Using tea bags probably takes in plastic grains.
C.People should often change the tea bags.
D.A tea bag is made up of microplastics and nanoplastic particles.
2.What do we know about the report in the passage?
A.The hot water can reduce more plastic particles.
B.The tea bags contain higher amount of plastics than everything.
C.The plastic particles exist in many other foods too.
D.The food industry has been greatly polluted now.
3.Why did the water fleas display some abnormalities?
A.They were poisoned by plastics.
B.They were not used to being exposed to hot water.
C.The water was heated close to boiling point.
D.They were put into different teas.
4.What's the purpose of the passage?
A.To introduce the study of microplastic and nanoplastic.
B.To tell us the contents of tea bags.
C.To explain the latest findings in plastic.
D.To inform us of the potential danger of using tea bags.
There is no shortage of studies that prove that parents- meaning mom and dad - make a difference. In fact, the more parents are involved (参与), the better the kids do. Unfortunately, far too many schools use the word “parents” as a synonym for “moms”.
Ignoring dads this way does more damage than simply short-changing (亏待) our children. Need proof?
When dads get involved, they are sending a clear message that they care about their kids and value education. Their children, in turn...
●Have better problem - solving skills, are more persistent and more confident, and are more interested in exploring the world around them.
●Tend to do better on standardized tests, have better math and verbal scores, and score higher on IQ - and other intelligence tests.
●Perform better in school and have more fun in studies. About half of kids with involved dads get mostly A's, compared to only about a third when dads are not involved. In fact, dad's level of involvement is a better predictor than mom's that a child will get top grades.
●Are half as likely to have ever repeated a grade (7 percent vs 15 percent for children of less-involved dads).
●Are nearly half as likely to have ever been suspended (10 percent vs 18 percent for kids of less-involved dads) and are obliged to stay at home.
●Are more likely to become responsible adults, have fulfilling careers, and have solid marriages.
Being involved in their children's school helps dads understand that they're just as important in their children's lives as moms are.
Last but not least, schools benefit from father involvement too. Involved parents tend to have a higher opinion of teachers and give them more support. Not surprisingly, teacher enthusiasm is higher and the schools have a better reputation.
1.According to the underlined sentence, if a student gets suspended, he probably will ________.
A.do better in tests B.repeat the same grade
C.continue study D.drop out of school
2.From the passage, which one of the following is the benefit for children if they have more involved dads?
A.They can solve problems better and be more curious.
B.They are more active in many activities.
C.They perform better and most get A's.
D.They have more chance to repeat a grade.
3.What's the best title of this passage?
A.We shouldn't ignore dads. B.Parents help children do better.
C.Dads matter a lot in education. D.Everyone benefits from dads.
We smile because we are happy, and we frown because we are sad. Recent studies suggest that our emotions are driven by their related facial expressions.
This February psychologists at the University of Cardiff in W ales found that people whose ability to frown is lessened by botox injections (肉毒杆菌注射) are happier, on average, than people who can frown. The researchers administered an anxiety and depression questionnaire to 25 females, half of whom had received botox injections to stop frowning. The botox injected people reported feeling happier and less anxious in general.
In a related study from March, scientists at the Technical University of Munich in Germany scanned botox injected people with FMRI machines while asking them to copy angry faces. They found that the botox subjects had much lower activity in the brain circuits (回路) involved in emotional processing and responses - in the amygdala, hypothalamus and other parts of the brain - as compared with controls who had not received treatment.
The concept works the opposite way, too. People who frown during an unpleasant procedure report feeling more pain than those who do not, according to a study published in May 2008 in the Journal of Pain. Researchers applied heat to the forearms of 29 participants, who were asked to either make unhappy, neutral or relaxed faces during the procedure. Those who exhibited negative expressions reported being in more pain than the other two groups.
No one yet knows why our facial expressions influence our emotions as they seem to. The associations in our mind between how we feel and how we react may be so strong that our expressions simply end up strengthen our emotions - there may be no evolutionary reason for the connection. Even so, our faces do seem to communicate our states of mind not only to others but also to ourselves. “I smile, so I must be happy,” Grob says.
1.What can we know about the result of the study from paragraph 2?
A.The ability to frown should be stopped by injection.
B.Less frowns make people happier.
C.Women love to frown and feel sad.
D.Half women have no ability to feel happy.
2.What did scientists do in the related studies?
A.They asked the participants to frown or smile.
B.They copied the expressions of the participants.
C.They asked the participants to stay negative.
D.They exposed the participants to heat.
3.What does the passage talk about?
A.Facial expressions influence our emotions. B.Facial expressions are driven by emotions.
C.Why people feel happy and frown. D.Botox injection is useful and meaningful.
假定你是李华，三周前你从亚马逊（Amazon）网站上订购的一套哈利波特系列（Harry Potter Series）昨天才到货，且包装破损，数量不足。请就此向亚马逊负责人写邮件投诉。内容包括：
1. 介绍购物情况;
2. 反映存在问题。
3. 提出解决方案。
注意：1. 词数100左右;
2. 可以适当增加细节，已使行文连贯。
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文中共有10处语言错误,每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅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。
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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。
Last year, our school offered optional courses for the students in Senior 2. At the beginning of a term, our teacher introduced several courses to us, included Music Appreciation, Advanced Math, Western Art, and etc. We selected the courses we were liked, filled in the forms, and handing them in. Several days late, the optional courses started. We went into different classroom to begin our study delightful. During the lessons, some of them enjoyed beautiful music, while others learned amazing knowledge in math. Everyone gained which they couldn’t get in the regular lessons. Thanks to the optional courses, we had the opportunities to learn what we were really interested.
