You’ve heard of the fat suit and the pregnancy suit; now meet AGNES—the old person suit.
AGNES stands for “Age Gain Now Empathy（换位体验）System” and was designed by researchers at MIT’s AgeLab to let you know what it feels like—physically—to be 75 years old. “The business of old age demands new tools, ” said Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab. “While focus groups and observations and surveys can help you understand what the older consumer needs and wants, young marketers never get that ‘Ah ha!’ moment of having difficulty opening a jar, or getting in and out of a car. That’s what AGNES provides. ”
Coughlin and his team carefully adjusted the suit to make the wearer just as uncomfortable as an old person who has spent a lifetime eating poorly and not doing much exercise. Special shoes provide a feeling of imbalance, while braces on the knees and elbows limit joint mobility. Gloves give the feeling of decreased strength and mobility in the hands and wrists, and earplugs make it difficult to hear high-pitched sounds and soft tones. A helmet with straps（带）attached to it presses the spine（脊柱）.
AGNES has been used most recently by a group of students working on a design of an updated walker. By wearing the suit they could see for themselves what design and materials would make the most sense for a physically limited older person. Coughlin said the suit has also been used by clothing companies, car companies and retail goods companies to help them understand the limitations of an older consumer. An unexpected benefit they’ve found with AGNES is that it has become a powerful tool to get younger people to invest in their long-term health.
1.AGNES has been developed mainly to _______.
A.make the users more comfortable B.help old people move more quickly
C.let people understand the old better D.remind the young to take care of their health
2.According to the article, young marketers never _______.
A.ask what old people need and want
B.see the efforts old people make to put on clothes
C.feel the same way as old people do
D.say “Ah ha!” when they meet with difficulty
3.The third paragraph mainly talks about _______.
A.how researchers feel wearing AGNES B.how AGNES has been developed
C.how people act when they are old D.how AGNES works
4.The underlined phrase “an updated walker” in the last paragraph most likely refers to _______.
A.someone who travels a lot
B.a physically limited old person
C.some equipment that helps old people walk
D.a company providing service to the old
Joseph Francis Charles Rock (1884–1962) was an Austrian-American explorer, botanist, and anthropologist(人类学家). For more than 25 years, he travelled extensively through Tibet and Yunnan, Gansu, and Sichuan provinces in China before finally leaving in 1949.
In 1924, Harvard sent Joseph Francis Rock on a treasure hunt through China’s southwestern provinces—the Wild West of their day. But gold and silver weren’t his task : Rock, a distinguished botanist, sought only to fill his bags with all the seeds, saplings, and shrubs he could find. During his three-year expedition, he collected 20,000 specimens for the Arnold Arboretum(阿诺德植物园).
Botany, though, was just one of Rock’s strengths. As an ethnologist(民族学者), he took hundreds of photographs of the Naxi, a tribe in Yunnan province, recording their now-lost way of life for both Harvard and National Geographic, and took notes for an eventual 500-page dictionary of their language. His hand-drawn map of his travels through China’s “Cho-Ni” territory, in the Harvard Map Collection, includes more than a thousand rivers, towns, and mountains indicated in both English and Chinese, and was so well made that the U.S. government used it to plan aerial missions in World War II.
Scientist, linguist, cartographer, photographer, writer—Rock was not a wallflower in any sense. Arrogant and self-possessed, he would walk into a village or warlord’s place “as if he owned the place,” said Lisa Pearson, the Arboretum’s head librarian.
In declaring his successful return under the headline “Seeking Strange Flowers, in the Far Reaches of the World” , the Boston Evening Transcript ran a large photo of the daring explorer wearing in a woolly coat and fox-skin hat. “In discussing his heroism including hair-raising escapes from death either from mountain slides, snow slides and robber armies, he waves the idea away as if it is of no importance.”
The Arboretum and Rock parted ways after 1927, mainly because his trip cost Harvard a fortune—about $900,000 in today’s dollars. Fortunately, many of his specimens, many of his amazing photos, and his great stories remain.
1.What is the passage mainly about?
A.Rock’s service for the U.S government.
B.Rock’s cooperation with Harvard.
C.Rock’s work as a botanist.
D.Rock’s exploration in Southwest China.
2.What contribution did Rock make to the USA besides collecting new plants and specimens?
A.He traveled through some uncivilized places in China.
B.His hand-drawn map was used in WWII.
C.He showed heroism by escaping difficulties.
D.He made headlines in Boston Evening News.
3.How did Rock respond when people mentioned his heroic deeds?
A.Excitedly. B.Proudly.
C.Calmly D.Nervously.
4.What caused Rock to stop work for The Arboretum?
A.The vast expense. B.The dangerous journey.
C.The challenging tasks. D.The unknown world.
假如你是李津，你的加拿大的朋友 Tim 在邮件中谈到他们那里也出现了很多新型冠 状病毒肺炎的病例，他有些紧张，并感觉网络信息的传播加剧了人们的恐慌。请你给他写封回信，主要内容如下：
（1）对他的恐慌表示理解，谈谈你的境况；
（2）简单阐述如何对待网络信息，说明理由；
（3）给 Tim 提一些建议(如：勤洗手，少出门，戴口罩)。参考词汇：新型冠状病毒肺炎 coronavirus； 口罩 mask
注意：词数不少于 100；
内容充实、行文连贯；
开头已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Tim,
I’ve got your email and know that…
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
阅读短文，并按照题目要求用英语回答问题。
On a foggy Monday morning in May 2016, 14 Amsterdam officials, engineers and civil servants gathered nervously at Alexanderplein --- a busy crossroads near the city centre with three streetcar lines --- where many people were walking, driving, and, as in any Dutch city, riding bicycles. All of a sudden, the traffic controls were shut off for all transport modes, in all directions.
This live pilot project is part of a larger mobility strategy across the city to make more room for cyclists and pedestrians. That means limiting access and space for private vehicles. “Amsterdam's public space is limited,” says the vice mayor for traffic, Pieter Litjens, who finally approved the pilot. “We need to be thoughtful and strategic about who and what uses that space.”
In the weeks before the lights were shut off, 200 cyclists were interviewed in the morning and evening. A majority of them disliked the crossroads and made complaints. When asked whether the traffic lights were necessary, about a third said "absolutely yes," only 5% said absolutely not, and the majority was uncertain. It was clearly a question they had never thought about.
When the lights were turned off, about 150 cyclists were interviewed. We found that not only did fewer people dislike this crossroads, but about 60% said the traffic situation had improved.
All interviewees spoke more about human interaction. “People pay more attention,” said one man. “It’s amazing that it regulates itself,” said a young woman. "It's a bit scary, but you never have to stop and nobody is grumpy," said a teenager. But no one could really further explain why or how.
Behaviour was noticeably different. Most cyclists slowed down as they approached the crossroads, and communicated to other cyclists and motorists using eyes, gestures, expressions and voices. In one incident, a mother carrying her child on a front seat slowly entered the crossroads. When she was halfway across, a car approached from the right. Traffic signs indicate priority for the car driver, but instead, the mother made eye contact with the driver, both smiled, and the car driver yielded.
1.Why was the pilot project carried out in Amsterdam? (no more than 10 words)
2.What did most cyclists who were interviewed think of the pilot project? (no more than 12 words)
3.What does the underlined word "yielded" (the last paragraph) probably mean?(no more than 2 words)
4.Why does the writer mention the mother and the driver in the last paragraph? (no more than 8 words)
5.Do you think the traffic lights can be turned off in Tianjin? Please give your reason. (no more than 20 words)
By now you’ve probably heard about the “you’re not special” speech, when English teacher David McCullough told graduating seniors at Wellesley High School: "Do not get the idea you're anything special, because you're not." Mothers and fathers present at the ceremony — and a whole lot of other parents across the internet — took issue with McCullough's ego-puncturing words. But lost in the anger and protest was something we really should be taking to heart: our young people actually have no idea whether they're particularly talented or accomplished or not. In our eagerness to elevate their self-esteem, we forgot to teach them how to realistically assess their own abilities, a crucial requirement for getting better at anything from math to music to sports. In fact, it's not just privileged high-school students: we all tend to view ourselves as above average.
Such inflated (膨胀的) self-judgments have been found in study after study, and it's often exactly when we're least competent at a given task that we rate our performance most generously. In a 2006 study published in the journal Medical Education, for example, medical students who scored the lowest on an essay test were the most charitable in their self-evaluations, while high-scoring students judged themselves much more strictly. Poor students, the authors note, "lack insight" into their own inadequacy. Why should this be? Another study, led by Cornell University psychologist David Dunning, offers an enlightening explanation. People who are incompetent, he writes with co-author Justin Kruger, suffer from a "dual burden": they're not good at what they do, and their wry ineptness (笨拙) prevents them from recognizing how bad they are.
In Dunning and Kruger's study, subjects scoring at the bottom of the heap on tests of logic, grammar and humor "extremely overestimated" their talents. Although their test scores put them in the 12th percentile, they guessed they were in the 62nd. What these individuals lacked (in addition to clear logic, proper grammar and a sense of humor) was "metacognitive skill" (元认知技巧): the capacity to monitor how well they're performing. In the absence of that capacity, the subjects arrived at an overly hopeful view of their own abilities. There's a paradox (悖论) here, the authors note: “The skills that develop competence in a particular domain are often the very same skills necessary to evaluate competence in that domain. "In other words, to get better at judging how well we’re doing at an activity, we have to get better at the activity itself.
There are a couple of ways out of this double bind (两难). First, we can learn to make honest comparisons with others. Train yourself to recognize excellence, even when you yourself don't possess it, and compare what you can do against what truly excellent individuals are able to accomplish. Second, seek out feedback that is frequent, accurate and specific. Find a critic who will tell you not only how poorly you're doing, but just what it is that you're doing wrong. As Dunning and Kruger note, success indicates to us that everything went right, but failure is more ambiguous: any number of things could have gone wrong. Use this external feedback to figure out exactly where and when you screwed up.
If we adopt these strategies — and most importantly, teach them to our children — they won't need parents, or a commencement(毕业典礼) speaker, to tell them that they're special. They'll already know that they are, or have a plan to get that way.
1.The underlined phrase "took issue with" in paragraph 1 most probably means .
A.totally approved of B.disagreed with
C.fully understood D.held discussion about
2.The author thinks the problem that shouldn't be overlooked is that .
A.we don’t know whether our young people are talented or not
B.young people can't reasonably define themselves
C.no requirement is set up for young people to get better
D.we always tend to consider ourselves to be privileged
3.Which is NOT mentioned about poor students according to the passage?
A.They lack the capacity to monitor how well they are performing.
B.They usually give themselves high scores in self-evaluations.
C.They tend to be unable to know exactly how bad they are.
D.They are intelligently inadequate in tests and exams.
4.We can infer from the passage that those high-scoring students .
A.are not confident about their logic and grammar
B.tend to be very competent in their high-scoring fields
C.don't know how well they perform due to their stringent self-judgment
D.is very careful about their self-evaluations because they have their own limits
5.The strategies of becoming special suggest that .
A.the best way to recognize excellence is to study past success and failure
B.through comparison with others, one will know where and when he fails
C.we need internal honesty with ourselves and external honesty from others
D.neither parents nor a commencement speaker can tell whether one is special
6.Which can be the best title of this passage?
A.Special or Not? Teach Kids To Figure It Out
B.Let's Admit That We Are Not That Special
C.Tips On Making Ourselves More Special
D.Tell The Truth: Kids Overestimate their Talents
Each country has its own secret to happiness, If "pyt", which closely means “don't worry about it and stuff happens", explains a relaxed attitude of Danish people, "niksen" will reveal how Dutch people combat （对抗）stress and burnout in a fast-paced lifestyle.
The term "niksen" origins from the Dutch word "niks", which refers to "nothing'', Mindfulness, another welcome subject to help people have a peaceful mind. But unlike mindfulness, niksen is not about concentrating on the present moment. It's about letting yourself do nothing, and allowing your mind to run free without expectation.
In practice, this means "hanging around, looking at your surroundings, or listening to music as long as it's without purpose” according to Time Magazine.
Niksen sounds contrary to the advice we were all given as kids. Nowadays, we're constantly told to stay busy and work harder than everyone else. But niksen opposes that mentality( 心态). It offers the chance to "deliciously do nothing", as Carolien Hamming, a coach at CSR Centrum, an organization devoted to fighting stress and burnout in the Netherlands, told Time.
She thinks that niksen is essential to staying healthy, since it’s a form of mental relaxation and healing. Just as a wild animal lies in wait for their prey, niksen seems to be a natural state of being.
For some people, niksen can mean more than just stress reduction. It's also a means to imagine new ideas or plans. As an early adopter（尝试者）of niksen, Jenny Holden, a communications expert in the UK, adds it to her daily lunch breaks. “Within 10 minutes of doing nothing - just staring and listening to myself - my head began to clear and sort out my work and home to-do lists,” she told the MetroUK.
Above all, niksen is a suggestion for balancing work and rest. As Dutch-bom writer Ogla Mecking wrote in US-based Whoolly Magazine, niksen is the "thorough enjoyment of life’s pauses".
Everyone is encouraged to embrace your niksen moments. They revitalize （使恢复元气） you and give you the strength needed to face everyday challenges.
1.What does niksen means?
A.Living in the moment.
B.Leading a healthy lifestyle.
C.Being free and doing nothing.
D.Using your wildest imagination.
2.Holden’s example is to show ____.
A.how niksen improves one's mental health
B.niksen is closely related to stress reduction
C.niksen can shorten the distance between people
D.niksen helps people come up with new thoughts
3.The underlined word "thorough" is closest in meaning to _______.
A.long B.full
C.unexpected D.quiet
4.What is the text mainly about?
A.The introduction to a special Dutch lifestyle.
B.Suggestions on how to balance work and rest.
C.The importance of allowing time to pause life.
D.An explanation of some Danish words about life attitudes.
5.From the passage, we can know that _______.
A.people can restrengthen themselves to face challenges by niksen
B.a wild animal usually lies in wait for their prey just as niksen advices
C.Danish people are stressful and tired because of their special lifestyle
D.Carolien Hamming thinks niksen is the most important way to keep fit
