My 9-year-old daughter and I were flying from our home to spend a week with my husband working in Miami.
As usual, the________was totally full. I noticed a troop of Boy Scouts(童子军)at the gate. Because we did not get our boarding passes until we arrived at the gate, Kallie and I could not get seats together and were________by the aisle(过道). That wasn't such a big deal, ________that Kallie was nervous about the trip and had counted on my reading to her the whole way. Trying to________across the aisle would be a challenge.
When the two passengers who________my row boarded the plane, I asked if they would________places with us. They refused, ________they thought they should stay in their assigned seats. Meanwhile, a mother and her three children were in a________several rows ahead of us. There had been a mistake in their boarding passes, and the whole family had been ________up.
The passengers in her row________refused to move elsewhere. The mother could________her baby but her 6-year-old son and his older brother had been separated around the plane. She was very________about the younger boy sitting with strangers, yet________offered to help her.
________the Scout leader stood up, "Ma'am, I think we can help you." He then spent five minutes rearranging his group so that________space was available for the family. The mother's________was obvious.
Kallie, however, was beginning to panic at the________of not being next to her mother. Amazingly, the man sitting next to the Scoutmaster, turned around to me and asked, "Would you and your daughter like________seats?" referring to himself and the Scoutmaster. We traded seats and continued our trip, very much relieved to be________.
Would that man have offered us his seat if the Scouts hadn't done so for the mom and her children? I don't know. But I do know that kindness is________!
1.A.plane B.train C.bus D.car
2.A.stuck B.attracted C.separated D.hurt
3.A.besides B.with C.except D.until
4.A.read B.speak C.write D.look
5.A.bought B.shared C.reached D.reserved
6.A.like B.enjoy C.accept D.switch
7.A.complaining B.explaining C.finding D.realizing
8.A.hurry B.visit C.panic D.shame
9.A.split B.brought C.put D.taken
10.A.still B.therefore C.otherwise D.also
11.A.leave B.satisfy C.see D.hold
12.A.happy B.concerned C.mad D.discouraged
13.A.somebody B.anybody C.nobody D.everybody
14.A.Suddenly B.Secretly C.Usually D.Obviously
15.A.pleasant B.adequate C.limitless D.plentiful
16.A.anger B.shock C.worry D.relief
17.A.sight B.sound C.smell D.thought
18.A.our B.their C.your D.my
19.A.alive B.aboard C.together D.present
20.A.ambiguous B.infectious C.mysterious D.glorious
Calming Down before the Speech
Public speaking makes almost everybody anxious. Even seasoned speakers need to calm themselves down(or pump themselves up)before they give a presentation.1.
Practice in front of others. If you only practice speaking when you're alone, you're more likely to get anxious when you deliver the speech to an audience.2.Practice a little every day, but on the night before you deliver the speech, don't practice. Just relax. If you notice that there's a section of the speech that makes you the most nervous, practice it extra. For instance, if you always get nervous right at the beginning, devote extra Practice time to the beginning.
Visit the location of your speech. If you can, spend some time in the place where you will give your speech.3.If the location is in your workplace or school, visit it frequently to practice. Relax there as well. If the location won't be accessible until the day of the speech, try to come a little early so you can adapt yourself to the environment.
4.Write down what makes you nervous about a speech. Consider each of them individually. What's the worst that could happen in each case? If it happens, what will you do? For instance, if you're scared that you'll forget what to say next, think, "I'll just pause and look at my notes."
Exercise before a speech. Running and other forms of violent movement can use up your extra adrenaline(肾上腺素). Try taking a jog, going for a rapid bike ride, or even dancing out your nerves on the morning before you present.5.
A.Practice there if you can
B.List the things that you're afraid of.
C.Make notes of the key points of your speech
D.Get more chance to practice before small groups.
E.Here are some tips that might help reduce anxiety.
F.Below are four causes of anxiety before the speech.
G.If you can't do something violent,take a walk instead.
Children may not be putting coins in piggy banks for much longer. With the move towards a cashless society, pocket money is moving digital.
To reflect this trend, many mobile budgeting apps for children have sprung up worldwide:GoHenry, Osper, and Gimi, to name but a few. These apps offer a simple money management service for children, often for a monthly fee paid by the parents. Parents can add money to children's accounts, set limits and monitor transactions(交易). Children can choose to save their money or spend it using a prepaid card.
These apps aim to teach young childrenfinancial concepts, such as budgeting, interest rates and income. For instance, the Swedish app Gimi—with 1.2 million users globally—has virtual savings jars where children can deposit money. Parents can pay children interest as they save. There is also a chores feature, where parents can pay children for completing household tasks. The account is attached to a prepaid card that is currently available in Sweden only, but is expected to be launched elsewhere in Europe in 2020.
Haglund, CEO of Gimi, believes the app can teach children responsible spending habits. "You don't become better at money management just because you have a degree in economics. It's more about the attitude and the relationship you have with parents' money when you're 6 to 12 years old," he says.
But Catherine Winter, managing director of financial capability at The London Institute of Banking and Finance, warns that while digital tools can help there needs to be a more structured approach to financial education. The area should "have regular, dedicated, classroom time and ideally should be taught as a standalone subject," she said. “Children would then have the right context and foundation to get the most out of both the apps and their money.”
1.What does the underlined part "this trend" in paragraph 2 refer to?
A.Putting coins in piggy banks
B.Pocket money moving digital
C.Mobile budging apps springing up.
D.Money management service being offered
2.What do we know about the Swedish app Gimi?
A.It pays children interest as they save.
B.It has 1. 2 million users all over Sweden.
C.It can teach children concepts related to money
D.It is attached to a credit card available in Sweden only.
3.What can we learn from Winter's words?
A.Digital tools can help a lot with spending habits
B.Money management requires financial capability.
C.A regular classroom-based financial education is needed.
D.Children can get the most out of their money with the apps
4.What's the passage mainly about?
A.The rise of the digital piggy bank.
B.The trend towards a cashless society.
C.The importance of financial education.
D.The popularity of money management apps.
Recently, the phrase "hair loss" has been trending among young people in China. A recent report on overall health showed that hair loss ranked fifth among top health concerns, following bad skin conditions, depression and anxiety, poor sleep, and digestive tract(消化道)discomfort and illness.
But hair loss isn't just a concern for Chinese youth. It is an inconvenient reality for many people in China and the world over. According to a survey, 250 million Chinese people are troubled by hair loss, most of them between 20 and 40 years old. In the United States, about one in five people is suffering from hair loss.
There isn't really any single reason for hair loss. Humans naturally lose about 50 to 100 hairs each day, which usually regrow later. However, genetic and environmental factors can mean, for some people, these lost hairs won't regrow. In addition, certain factors can further worsen hair loss, including too much stress from work school, too little sleep, and a bad diet.
Is there anything you can do to protect your remaining hair? There are many products out there ready to help you keep a full head of hair. Shampoos, lotions, surgery, even laser-helmets say they can help. Hair loss treatments represent a $3. 6 billion industry in the United States alone. While many of these products make bold promises about their capabilities to restore your hair, the reality is that fixing your hair loss will ultimately depend on finding the specific causes.
If it is due to stress, lack of sleep, or poor nutrition, then a lifestyle change might not only stop hair loss, but also restart the growth of hair. For most young people who want to protect their receding(后移的)hairlines, it starts with their personal health. All they need to do is change unhealthy living habits and pay more attention to their psychological well-being.
1.What can we learn about "hair loss" from the passage?
A.It is common among most people in China.
B.It is the top health concern for Chinese youth.
C.Only Chinese youth are suffering from hair loss.
D.It bothers people of different ages and countries
2.What stops the regrowth of the lost hairs for some people?
A.Genetic and environmental factors.
B.Stress from work and school.
C.Too little sleep.
D.A bad diet.
3.What's the author's attitude towards many hair loss treatments?
A.Critical. B.Objective.
C.Optimistic. D.Supportive.
4.What's the author's suggestion to young people with hair loss?
A.To use hair-growth products.
B.To change unhealthy lifestyle.
C.To have a health check in hospital
D.To pay attention to physical well-being
My father died when I was nine, and I remember doing the household chores(杂务)to help my mother. I hated changing the vacuum cleaner(真空吸尘器)bag and picking up things the machine did not suck up.
Twenty years later, in 1978, I was doing chores at home alongside my wife. One day the vacuum cleaner was screaming away, and I had to empty the bag because I could not find a replacement for it. With this lifelong hatred of the way the machine worked. I decided to make a bagless vacuum cleaner.
Easier said than done, of course. I didn't realize that I would spend the next five years perfecting my design, a process that resulted in 5,127 different prototypes(设计原型). By the time I made my 15th prototype, my third child was born. By 2,627, my wife and I were really counting our pennies. By 3,727, my wife was giving art lessons for some extra cash, and we were getting further and further into debt. These were tough times, but each failure brought me closer to solving the problem.
I just had a passion for the vacuum cleaner as a product, but I never thought of going into a business with it. In the early 1980s, I started trying to get licensing agreements for my technology. The reality was very different, however. The major vacuum makers had built a business model based on the profits from bags and filters(滤网).
No one would license my idea, not because it was a bad one, but because it was bad for business.
That gave me the courage to keep going. Then, in 1993, when my bank manager personally persuaded Lloyds Bank to lend me $1 million, I was able to go into production. Within two years, the Dyson vacuum cleaner became a best-seller in Britain.
Today, I still embrace risk and the potential for failure as part of the process. Nothing beats the excitement of invention. Go out and brainstorm your ideas. You are not bound to any rules—in fact, the stranger and riskier your idea, the better.
1.Why did James Dyson decide to make a bagless vacuum cleaner?
A.Because he lost his father at an early age.
B.Because he didn't like to do household chores.
C.Because he could find a replacement for the old cleaner
D.Because he didn't like how the old vacuum cleaner worked.
2.What can we learn from paragraph 3?
A.Dyson found the design of the cleaner easier than expected.
B.Dyson was in financial difficulties while designing his cleaner.
C.Dyson's wife had to give art lessons to make money for five years.
D.Dyson was discouraged by the tough times in designing his cleaner.
3.What happened to Dyson's design of vacuum cleaner?
A.It went into production immediately.
B.It got a licensing agreement very quickly
C.It had the same business model like others.
D.It was not accepted by major vacuum makers.
4.What is the purpose of the text?
A.To compare two types of vacuum cleaners.
B.To persuade people to buy a Dyson vacuum cleaners.
C.To encourage people to face risks and failures bravely.
D.To introduce the reader to the life story of James Dyson.
Language Engineer Wanted
Are you a linguist(语言学家)with technical skills? Or are you an engineer with a passion for(human)languages? Come work on Alexa! We're building the speech and language solutions behind Amazon Echo and other Amazon products and services. Our goal is to delight our customers by adding new features to Alexa. We also improve our existing speech recognition and natural language processing systems.
Specifically, you will:
●design the natural language processing components of new Alexa experiences and features;
●discover and solve production issues that are impacting the Alexa customer experience;
●work with other language engineers in creating the best solutions to improve customer satisfaction.
Basic qualifications:
●Bachelor's degree in a relevant field
●Experience in computational linguistics(计算语言学), language data processing, etc.
●Experience working with speech and text language data in several languages
●Experience in Python, Perl, or other programming languages
Primary qualifications:
●Advanced degree in a relevant field
●Familiarity with database queries(数据库查询)and data analysis processes
●Experience with statistical language modeling
●Fluency in a language other than English
Application instructions:
Please click "Apply Now" and follow our online application process
Deadline: September 30, 11:59 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time(EDT). We highly recommend that candidates submit résumés up to two weeks in advance of the deadline. Submitting on the deadline day is NOT recommended, and applications received late will not be accepted.
You must submit the name of your résumé in this exact format: LastName_FirstName_CV_Language Engineer
1.What does a language engineer do?
A.Build speech and language solutions for Google
B.Work with linguists to improve customer satisfaction.
C.Add new features to Alexa to satisfy the customers' needs.
D.Invent speech recognition and natural language processing systems
2.What kind of person would probably apply for the position?
A.One with a bachelor's degree in literature
B.One familiar with data analysis processes
C.One fluent in spoken and written English.
D.One with years' of experience in customer service.
3.Where is the passage most likely to be found?
A.A webpage. B.A newspaper.
C.A textbook. D.A report.