Tonnie, a 12-year-old boy, was walking a...

    Learning should never stop. The same way applies for self-improvement, 1.. Here are four reasons why self-improvement is important regardless of your age.

Increase self-awareness

Self-awareness is an ongoing journey. 2., which make you more aware of your personality, thoughts and feelings. So, in order to be on the path of self-improvement, it is important to never lose touch with yourself.

Enhance strengths

Self-improvement lets you identify your personal strengths, from relationships to careers—knowing your strengths is important for every aspect of your life. It gives you a better understanding of what you are seeking and where you are likely to be more excellent. 3.. After all, you can only achieve what you want when you know what you want.

Overcome weaknesses

4., you should come to terms with your weaknesses. Don’t be ashamed of them, look at them as areas of improvement. We all have strengths and weaknesses that shape our personality. It is these imperfections that make us humans.

5.

Choosing to work on improving yourself requires you to take your trip out of comfortable areas. It lets you face your fears, try new things, take risks and challenge yourself. There will be times when you will discover a new side of your personality but there will also be times when you will fail.

A.Improve mental health

B.Step out of comfort zone

C.It also helps you set life goals and make them happen

D.When you refuse to improve yourself in your daily life

E.Though identifying strengths is an important aspect of self-improvement

F.As life progresses, you are met with different experiences and challenges

G.That’s to say, self improvement is of great importance no matter how old you are

    A new study focuses on K2-18b, an exoplanet (系外行星) like the earth discovered in 2015, orbiting a red dwarf star (矮星) close enough to receive about the same amount of radiation from its star as the earth does from the sun.

Recently, scientists have discovered gas giants that have water in their atmospheres, but this is the least massive planet ever to have water detected in its atmosphere. ''The water detection was quite clear to us relatively early on, lead author Bjorn Benneke, a professor at the Institute for Research on Exoplanets at the Universite de Montreal, '' told Space.com in an interview.

Studies have suggested that planets with hydrogen-rich atmospheres could host certain forms of life, Benneke said. However, a news release reads: ''K2-18b's large atmosphere is extremely thick and creates high-pressure conditions, which likely prevents life as we know it from existing on the planet’s surface. '' While these researchers found evidence for liquid water clouds on K2-18b because of its lack of surface, rain wouldn't pour on the planet. Without a real surface, so to speak, landing on the planet would also be nearly impossible, especially because the gas is so thick and has such an incredibly high pressure that any earthr-created space-craft sent there would be devastated.

Benneke suggests that, possibly, this planet is formed by rock absorbing large amounts of gas, like a vacuum (真空) cleaner. This absorbed gas would have more than doubled the planet and increased its volume eightfold.

To come to these conclusions, the research team analyzed the data from Hubble Space Telescope observations that they made between 2016 and 2017 of the K2-18b planet passing in front of its star eight times. It allows scientists to detect distinct characters of water in a planet's atmosphere. This team plans to expand this research even further by studying K2-18b with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, which is set to launch in 2021. This type of research, Benneke said, is leading toward a final goal of ''being able to study the earth-like planets. '' ''We are not quite there yet. '' he said, ''but this is really exciting. ''

1.What can we learn about K2-18b?

A.It is a planet closest to the sun.

B.It hosts certain forms of life because of thick gas.

C.It is covered with thin atmosphere and liquid water.

D.It's the smallest planet with water in its atmosphere ever found.

2.What does the underlined word ''devastated'' in paragraph 3 mean?

A.Declared. B.Detected.

C.Destroyed. D.Delivered.

3.What allows scientists to detect clear characters of water in a planet's atmosphere?

A.The expansion in the research.

B.The data by the Hubble Space Telescope.

C.The goal of recognizing the real exoplanet.

D.The conclusion of increasing the planet's volume.

4.What can be the best title for the text?

A.A New Finding About K2-18b

B.NASA Helps Explore An Exoplanet

C.Humans Have Ever Landed On K2-18b

D.Scientists Determination Of Researching Space

    The type of soap with the name African black soap or simply black soap is the one that has its origin in Africa or West Africa to be precise.

The soap is often made by women and is fair-traded, though not always, Black soap is traditionally made in West Africa, typically Ghana, from secret recipes. Different tribes have adopted their own secret making techniques, which can be seen in different colors among black soap. Varieties of black soaps actually made in Africa tend to be pure.

The first step of making traditional African black soap is selecting the plant—usually cocoa pods or palm tree leaves, sometimes shea tree bark (酪脂树皮), which then are sun-dried and burned to ashes which are often used to heal cuts. To guarantee the natural color and light smell, it's important to keep a constant temperature of burning. Then the water is added into the ashes along with the shea butter, palm oil, and coconut oil. That mixture is cooked until it becomes stable. It needs to be hand stirred for at least 24 hours. After that, they scooped it out and let it ''cure'' for two weeks. Those soaps that are made in Africa contain no artificial ingredients (材料).

African black soap is being used for many generations and many causes. African black soap has many benefits over commercially produced soaps. One of the most common usage is to cure skin conditions and problems. After using this soap, the skin looks healthy. Another usage of the black soap is for removing the makeup and dead skin. It also gives an excellent UV (紫外线) protection because of the high level of shea butter in it.

However, the black soap also has some unpleasant side effects. For example, your skin may become over-dried. If so, you should stop using it and wash your skin with water.

1.What leads to color differences of African black soap?

A.Different market demands. B.The makers' personal preferences.

C.Some artificial ingredients. D.Various secret making techniques.

2.What should people do first when making African black soap?

A.Choose the proper plant. B.Change the temperature of burning.

C.Mix coconut oil up for a whole day. D.Dry palm tree leaves for two weeks.

3.What is paragraph 4 mainly about?

A.The benefits of African black soap.

B.The problems caused by black soap.

C.The harm of using African black soap.

D.The process of making African black soap.

4.What do we know about African black soap?

A.It has a strong smell.

B.It's effects are two-edged.

C.It's quite difficult to purchase.

D.It's specially made for women.

    It was hot and yet, such a beautiful day. My parents and I picked up my grandmother from the nursing home. We used to go there regularly but the last time I visited my grandmother, she seemed to forget where she was and how to breathe on the massage (按摩) table—it scared me so I thought perhaps it was better to transfer her to a clinic that day.

She had been getting weaker and having aches from sitting in a wheel chair all day, so I called Wang Tao who runs a Chinese massage clinic with his wife and daughter out of their home and told him my concerns wasn't even sure whether my grandmother would be strong enough to get up the stairs or get onto the table.

''We can help her make it'', Wang Tao said. And, we did. Sure there were struggles and funny moments. For example, my grandmother wondered who was the man working on her back, Wang Tao had massaged her over the years at least 20 times. They used to laugh and talk together in Chinese but my grandmother didn't remember. Wang Tao was shocked that my grandmother seemed to have forgotten he is a Chinese man, but he still patiently tried to refresh her memory.

My grandmother was born in California, but her parents who were born in China only spoke Chinese, so Chinese was her first language but English is spoken all around her. Still, our family all felt grateful and happy to hear my grandmother start talking to Wang Tao in Chinese again. It was like the dust just needed clearing. We all laughed a happy laugh. When the session was over, my grandmother took Wang Tao's hand and thanked him for helping her. We ended our day with a Chinese dinner of course-one that ended with my grandmother saying to the massager: please come here and I have to shake your hand. ''Thank you for what you have done. '' she said joyfully as she held this stranger's hand. And then she turned to me, ''Thank you, my grandson. ''

1.What did the author do shortly after visiting his grandmother last time?

A.He had a French dinner with his grandmother.

B.He massaged his grandmother at home by himself.

C.He took his grandmother out of the nursing home.

D.He helped his grandmother transfer to another nursing home.

2.What made Wang Tao surprised at the author's grandmother?

A.Her fluent Chinese.

B.Her failure to recognize him.

C.Her losing the ability of language.

D.Her aches from sitting in a wheel chair.

3.Why did the author feel thankful?

A.His grandmother finally recognized the massager.

B.Wang Tao agreed to have dinner with his family.

C.His grandmother her remembered saying thanks to the massager.

D.Wang Tao made his grandmother begin speaking Chinese again.

4.What does the text mainly show?

A.Grandma's love for children and friend.

B.Friendship and sympathy from strangers.

C.The forgetfulness and helplessness of the old.

D.Family ties and the kindness between people.

    There is nothing like a cup of tea to refresh one’s spirit and India is definitely a nation of tea drinkers. We look at four women merchants who have made their names in the tea space, creating unique flavors to our daily tea.

Mayura Rao

While she was in London in 2016. Mayura was longing to run a business when working at a global advisory firm. She came upon the idea of tea and story-telling. She realized most people knew about some tea such as English Breakfast and Earl Grey but were unaware of good tea and its story. To make tea drinking cool again, she decided to start up in this space. She quit her job, packed her bags and moved to Bengaluru from London and started Ausurm Tea.

Snigdha manchanda

Snigdha Manchanda founded the Goa-based Tea Trunk in 2013. As a tea sommelier (品茶师), she attended professional schools of tea in Sri Lanka and also was trained under a Japanese tea master. Her aim was to provide people with good quality tea and she is doing that with tea trunk, She sources a variety of tea from farmers to create unique and natural tea without any artificial flavors.

Prerna Kumar

Prerna Kumar, was for the first time, out of her job and in bed with a broken foot when everyone kept cheering her up about how they were waiting for her to bounce back so she could enjoy her tea. In her networks and circles, she has always been known for her tea making skills. She started Chaiveda in 2017?

Anamika Singh

Anamika Singh grew up in a tea manufacturing family and learnt about tea from her father. With a desire to introduce tasty tea to people at an affordable price, Anamika started Anandini Himalaya Tea Room in 2013 in Delhi for people to sarnple, learn and talk about tea under one roof.

1.What do we know about Mayura Rao?

A.She cornbined tea with its story.

B.She started Ausum Tea in London.

C.She grew up in a family of tea merchants.

D.She was unaware of the flavor of Earl Grey.

2.Who was educated by a tea expert?

A.Mayura Rao. B.Snigdha Manchanda.

C.Prerna Kumar. D.Anamika Singh.

3.What’s the purpose of the text?

A.To advertise some Indian tea.

B.To attract more women to do tea business.

C.To introduce several businesswomen in Indian tea industry.

D.To show four unique stories of tea development in England.