In China, poetry is an important part of the curriculum and, with recent changes announced by the Ministry of Education, the number of poems students will have to memorize and recite is being increased from fourteen to seventy-two. Now, before you gasp in horror, let’s think about the reasons why studying so many poems, especially ancient poems, is important.
First of all, poetry is an essential part of traditional Chinese culture. 1.It is also the key to understanding the thoughts and emotions that are common to everyone but which we may be unable to express—the joy of Li Bai dancing with the moon, for example. Everyone has feelings of joy, love, loneliness, sadness and even anger. 2. .3.In a few short lines, even something commonplace can become beautiful. Here is a poem called “Fog” by Carl Sandberg: The fog comes / on silent haunches (弓腰蹲着) / and then moves on. Yes, fog does move smoothly, silently and mysteriously like a cat, and Sandberg captures that feeling and image, and makes it beautiful.
4. After all, a poem is really just a song without music. Most ancient poetry, especially Western poetry, was actually spoken before it was written. Take Homer’s Iliad, for example. The story was apparently told for hundreds of years in palaces and on street corners before Homer wrote it down.
The American poet Robert Frost said, “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” And poems are very concise—there is not a wasted word. 5.
A.Few people read it for pleasure.
B.Poems can also express beauty.
C.Poetry is difficult to recite.
D.Of course, to really appreciate poetry, it has to be read aloud.
E.You are lucky that you now have seventy-two poems to learn!
F.It is a pathway to understanding your history and your society.
G.A good poem can put those emotions into words and bring us self-understanding.
When there are some strangers in front of us, which of them will we trust?
According to a new study in the online PLOSOne, people make their decisions to trust others largely based on their faces. Your appearance can do a lot for you, especially if you are in the financial industry. The more trustworthy you look, the more likely people will buy what you’re selling.
Researchers from Britain’s University of Warwick Business School, University College London, and Dartmouth College, US, did a number of experiments.
The research team used computer software to make 40 faces, from the least to the most trustworthy-looking. The study said that the difference between a trustworthy face and one that isn’t as trustworthy comes from features that look slightly angry or slightly happy, even when the face is at rest. However, a slightly happy face is more likely to be trusted. Researchers gave participants some money and asked them which face they trusted to invest the money for them. Then researchers gave some good and bad information about the people with these faces, and asked the participants again whom they trusted. The results showed that even if they got different information, the participants didn’t change their choices. They were still more likely to invest their money with the more trustworthy-looking faces.
Chris Olivola, one of the study’s authors, said in the University of Warwick’s press release: “It seems we are still willing to go with our own instincts about whether we think someone looks like we can trust them.”
1.According to the study, which of the following faces is most likely to be trusted?
A.An embarrassed face. B.A disappointed face.
C.A smiling face. D.A nervous face.
2.What do we know about the experiments?
A.Most participants gave their money to the trustworthy-looking faces.
B.Researchers took photos of the 40 people’s faces in colleges.
C.The trustworthy faces were given good information.
D.Participants liked to choose the faces with good information.
3.Which of the following best explains “instincts” underlined in the last paragraph?
A.Feelings rather than opinions or ideas based on facts.
B.Judgements that are easily changed by others.
C.Good information that are given by people around.
D.Opinions that grow out of social practice.
4.What is the text mainly about?
A.Why people trust a stranger with good appearance.
B.People usually judge strangers according to their faces.
C.How different information affects people’s decisions.
D.Why the research team carried out the experiment.
If you don’t use it, you lose it. At least, that’s how the old saying goes. It refers to the idea that something which does not get used regularly quickly falls into a state of decline. Muscles, for example, will waste away without use. In order to resist this, people take regular exercise to keep their skills sharp.
Well, what about the brain? As we age, our brains can naturally begin to decline. In some cases, this can lead to certain mental conditions such as dementia (痴呆), which I’m sure you will agree, no one wants. However, all is not lost because these days it’s relatively easy to train your brain. Smart phones and apps have put programmes into our hands that can test, maintain and even improve our memories, mathematical skills and a lot of other mental abilities. With a little practice every day, we can keep our brains nice and sharp, right?
Well, no, actually. According to a report from the Global Council on Brain Health, even though many people thought it was important to play online games, such as puzzles and mind games, which are designed to improve brain health, the evidence of the benefits was “weak to non-existent”.
There are other ways to promote the old grey matter. It recommends seeking out new activities that challenge the way you think and are socially engaging, while leading to a healthy lifestyle. Among their suggestions are practising tai chi, taking photography classes, learning new technologies, gardening, art projects or volunteering.
There’s more good news, too. James Goodwin, chief scientist at Age UK has said that brain decline is not inevitable (不可避免的). As long as the activities are “new to you and require your concentrated attention”, they can provide benefits for brain health. So, hurry up, get out there and try something new. Maybe it’s time to try that hobby you’ve always wanted to do. And as for me? I’m off to learn the piano.
1.From which is the text probably taken?
A.A biology textbook. B.A research paper.
C.A travel brochure. D.A healthy magazine.
2.According to the passage, what can the brain training apps help you?
A.It will improve our brain health. B.It can make us smarter.
C.It does little to sharp our brain. D.It can prevent us from aging.
3.How to maintain brain health according to the author?
A.Using smart phone regularly. B.Trying something new.
C.Playing games online. D.Doing what you are good at.
4.What does the passage mainly tell us?
A.How to spend time meaningfully at an old age.
B.How to keep brain sharp.
C.Disadvantages of using smart phones.
D.Advantages of trying something new.
When it comes to the most famous 20th century painters of the United States, Grandma Moses should be mentioned, although she did not start painting until she was in her late seventies. As she once said to herself , “I would never sit back in a rocking chair, waiting for someone to help me”. No one could have had a more active old age．
She was born on a farm in New York State, one of five boys and five girls. At 12 she left home and was in domestic service until at 27 she married Thomas Moses, the hired hand of one of her employers. They farmed most of their lives, first in Virginia and then in New York State, at Eagle Bridge. She had ten children, of whom five survived; her husband died in 1927．
Grandma Moses painted a little as a child and made embroidery (刺绣) pictures as a hobby, but only changed to oils in old age because her hands became too stiff (僵硬的) to sew and she still wanted to keep busy and pass the time. Her pictures were first sold at the local drugstore and at a market and were soon noticed by a businessman who bought all that she painted. Three of the pictures were exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art, and in 1940 she had her first exhibition in New York. Between the 1930’s and her death, she produced some 2,000 pictures: careful and lively portrayals of the country life she had known for so long, with a wonderful sense of color and form. “I think really hard till I think of something really pretty, and then I paint it” she said．
1.What can we learn about Moses?
A.She stopped painting in her late seventies.
B.She still led an active life when she was old.
C.Her marriage life was not happy.
D.She painted oils as a child.
2.What did Grandma Moses spend most of her life doing?
A.Embroidering. B.Farming.
C.Nursing. D.Painting.
3.What does the underlined word “portrayals ” in the last paragraph mean?
A.Directions. B.Stages.
C.Surveys. D.Descriptions.
4.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage？
A.Grandma Moses: the Best Woman Painter
B.Grandma Moses and Her Farm Life
C.Grandma Moses and Her Exhibition
D.Grandma Moses : A Famous Woman Painter of 20th Century
Walter Peak High Country Farm, on the western shores of Lake Wakatipu is famous in history. Its sheltered bays were used as camping sites by Maori travelling to the Mararoa and Oreti Rivers on Moa hunting and gathering expeditions.
Things to do
Situated on picturesque Lake Wakatipu’s wester shores, the farm is the perfect place to spend a few relaxing hours. The Farm Tour itself is a wonderful experience for the whole family, with something to keep everyone entertained and happy. Our rural host will meet you after you leave the steamboat and take you for a walking tour of the farmyard. The first stop is the holding to help feed the sheep and deer, and even get up close to the Scottish highland cattle. Then walk slowly through the lakeside gardens to the charming Colonel’s Homestead for morning or afternoon tea. Afterwards the farmer will lead you over to the shearing shed (剪羊毛棚) where you can watch the farm dogs rounding up sheep on the hills, and see the farmer cut the wool off a sheep. You will then board the steamboat for your cruise back to Queenstown.
Ticket Information
Child Ticket $ 22. 00
Adult Ticket $ 77.00
Visitor Information
Opening Time: 10 a.m.
Closing Time: 4 p.m.
Additional Information
All tickets purchased at MyFun must make a booking at +64-3441—8166. Please mention your My Fun barcode (条形码) number when making your booking. Please print out your voucher (收据) and take along with you to the attraction. Tickets are valid for 12 months from the date of purchase.
1.What can you do during the Farm Tour?
A.Ride on the farm. B.Feed the chicken.
C.Have morning tea. D.Cut the wool off a sheep.
2.How much should parents with a child pay for the Farm Tour?
A.$99. B.$ 121.
C.$ 176. D.$198.
3.What should the visitor who has bought tickets at MyFun do?
A.Call +64-3441-8166 to print out your voucher.
B.Take the voucher to the Farm.
C.Tell the Farm your MyFun barcode number.
D.Use the tickets after a year.
阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。
One morning, Ann’s neighbour Tracy found a lost dog wandering around the local elementary school. It was a beautiful dog, which attracted Tracy a lot. So Tracy thought the owner of the dog must have been worried about it and looked for it around, she was a warm-hearted woman, so she decided to help the lost dog. In no time, she asked Ann if she could keep an eye on the dog. Ann said that she could watch it only for the day.
Tracy took photos of the dog and printed off 400 FOUND flyers (传单), and put them in mailboxes. Meanwhile, Ann went to the dollar store and bought some pet supplies, warning her two sons not to fall in love with the dog. At the time, Ann’s son Thomas was 10 years old, and Jack, who was recovering from a heart operation, was 21 years old.
Four days later Ann was still looking after the dog, which they had started to call Riley. They began to love the dog, which was so clever and cute that every member of the family loved it. One day, when Ann arrived home from work, the dog threw itself against the screen door and barked madly at her. As soon as she opened the door, Riley dashed into the boys’ room where Ann found Jack suffering from a heart attack. Riley ran over to Jack, but as soon as Ann bent over to help him the dog went silent.
“If it hadn’t come to get me, the doctor said Jack would have died,” Ann reported to a local newspaper. At this point, no one had called to claim the dog, so Ann decided to keep it.
Paragraph 1:
However, the next morning Tracy got a call.
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Paragraph 2:
Peter drove to Ann’s house to pick up his dog,
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