I was 16 years old the day I skipped school for the first time. It was easily done: Both my parents left for work before my school bus arrived on weekdays, so when it showed up at my house on that cold winter morning, I simply did not get on. The perfect crime!
And what did I do with myself on that glorious stolen day, with no adult in charge and no limits on my activities? Did I get high? Hit the mall for a shoplifting extravaganza (狂欢)?
Nope. I built a warm fire in the wood stove, prepared a bowl of popcorn, grabbed a blanket, and read. I was thrilled and transported by a book—it was Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises—and I just needed to be alone with it for a little while. I ached to know what would happen to Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley and Robert Cohn. I couldn’t bear the thought of sitting in a classroom taking another biology exam when I could be traveling through Spain in the 1920s with a bunch of expatriates (异乡客).
I spent that day lost in words. Time fell away, as the room around me turned to mist, and my role—as a daughter, sister, teenager, and student—in the world no longer had any meaning. I had accidentally come across the key to perfect happiness: I had become completely absorbed by something I loved.
Looking back on it now, I can see that some subtle things were happening to my mind and to my life while I was in that state of absorption. Hemingway’s language was quietly braiding itself into my imagination. I was downloading information about how to create simple and elegant sentences, a good and solid plot. In other words, I was learning how to write. Without realizing it, I was hot on the trail of my own fate. Writing now absorbs me the way reading once did and happiness is their generous side effect.
1.Why did the author skip school on that day?
A.Because her parents left home early. B.Because it was a cold winter morning.
C.Because she was fascinated by a novel. D.Because she hated to take the biology exam.
2.What did the author think is the source of true joy?
A.Reading by the fire. B.Travelling in Spain.
C.Breaking the regulations. D.Being occupied by one’s passion.
3.Which can best replace the underlined phrase “braiding itself into” in the last paragraph?
A.Entering. B.Destroying.
C.Mending. D.Blocking.
4.What can we infer from the passage?
A.I was tired of my real-life roles.
B.I learnt how to write on the internet.
C.Hemingway skipped school when he was young.
D.Becoming a writer was my childhood dream.
Has the volume in a restaurant ever made you finish your meal early? If so, you're not alone. Restaurants handle diners in various ways to influence food choices and consumption, from lighting to menu to server presentation. Unfortunately for those headache-prone restaurant goers, some places also choose to turn up the tunes and the background noise.
Chef Mario Batali is often blamed for the phenomenon of very loud or noisy restaurants in the 1990s, when he decided to flood the dining room with the same loud tunes he was playing in his kitchen. And other chefs followed suit. Some restaurateurs felt a "livelier" atmosphere encouraged more customers to dine there, and a side "benefit" was quicker table turnover, thus increasing the number of people who could dine in a specific evening.
A 1985 study out of Fairfield University looked at how chewing speed varied according to the type of music being played. Although the volume level was kept the same for both musical situations, it's important to note that fast-tempo (节奏) music often gives the impression of being louder than slower music.
"A significant increase in the number of bites per minute was found, and the effect was largest for fast music," the researchers wrote in the study. So, the faster, louder music gets people to down their food more quickly, relieving the table for future customers.
There are opinions about whether or not this is a sound practice. "A restaurant that places profit above dining experience often plays loud music with a fast tempo that puts diners under pressure to eat more quickly, even if that means they're less able to enjoy their meal," writes Dr. Neel Burton in Psychology Today, adding that loud, fast music reduces appetite.
What's more, some would-be repeat diners will shy away for fear of another very loud meal. The non-profit group Action on Hearing Loss found in a 2016 survey of nearly 1,500 people that 91% of those who view a restaurant as too noisy would choose not to return.
1.Why did some bosses of the restaurants favour loud music?
A.It might help attract more customers.
B.It was the favorite kind of music of them.
C.It made the restaurants softer and sweeter.
D.It could increase the popularity of their chefs.
2.What plays the most important role in the effect of music on diners according to the passage?
A.Its content. B.Its length.
C.Its speed. D.Its quality.
3.What is Dr. Neel Burton's attitude towards flooding restaurants with noisy music?
A.Doubtful. B.Disapproving.
C.Positive. D.Objective.
4.What could be a suitable tile for the text?
A.What People Think of Loud Restaurants?
B.Are Customers to Blame?
C.How Restaurants Improve Themselves?
D.Does Loud Music Really Benefit Restaurants?
The Walkmeter Walking & Hiking GPS has characteristics that are excellent for fitness walkers who want to improve their speed and distance. It uses your phone's GPS to measure the distance of your walks and hikes. It includes audio and voice integration（集成）so you can not only be informed of your workout statistics, but you can also listen to replies your friends send about your workout posts from Facebook and Twitter while you walk. Upgrading is less than $10 per year, far less than with some other apps, such as Endomondo.
Argus packs a lot into one lifestyle app. It functions as an all-day pedometer app. Your daily step count updates from your phone and includes active time, distance, calories, steps. and an hourly graph, It can also measure your heart rate at any time. You can easily take your heart rate during exercise and at rest. Besides, you can use the app’s food diary and sleep timer. A wide range of fitness and diet plans are also provided on it.
Charity Miles gives your walking a purpose, because it turns your exercise into donations to a certain cause, which offers a fresh donating means. Open up this free app（iOS or Google Play）and choose a charity. Start a workout, choosing walking, running, or cycling. For each completed mile, you’ll have earned a donation for your chosen charity. The basic rate is 25 cents for walking and running miles and 10 cents for cycling miles, subject to a periodic cap(最高限额). When you finish your walking, you must post to Facebook or Twitter to earn money for your charity.
1.What can users do with the Walkmeter Walking & Hiking GPS while exercising?
A.Upgrade the app for $10. B.Check comments of friends.
C.Reply to friends’ posts online. D.Make personalized fitness plans.
2.What is special about Charity Miles?
A.It measures your heart rate. B.It can earn you money.
C.It offers a new way of donating. D.It is connected to social software,
3.Where is the text probably taken from?
A.A website on app ratings. B.An online fitness course.
C.A medical report. D.An advertisement for phones.
阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文，续写的词数应为150左右。
Last year, I spent my holiday in an unfamiliar neighborhood in Lakewood, New Jersey. We rented a house so that some of our children and grandchildren could join us. Everyone in the area was super friendly, offering to come to introduce themselves to us and to ensure that we would make full use of their hospitality, whether to borrow something or to send the kids to play in their yards. We were excited and impressed and immediately began to see if there were any houses for sale in the neighborhood!
The next door to us was particularly fascinating (to visit not to buy). In the yard, there was a tennis court, a swing set and various toys and games that were particularly popular with young children. The owner was also very friendly and invited the kids to come over and play.
They didn't have to be asked twice. They played for hours on end. While we relaxed in our yard, perhaps a little too comfortable, perhaps enjoying each other's company a little too much, perhaps forgetting that young children can't be left too long without adults looking after them.
Apparently, a small fight broke out between the boy of the next door and one of my five-year-old grandsons. My 10-year-old grandson immediately jumped to his cousin's defense and pushed the other boy. At this point, the mother next door was forced to intervene (调停).
And the neighbor came over to speak to us. Now when I try to imagine myself: in that position, I imagine all sorts of negative and aggressive ways to deal with it --- I would have been very angry and complained about the bad behavior of these visiting children, and definitely sent them home.
Paragraph 1: What she did was quite opposite. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Paragraph 2: Honestly, I owed my thanks to the neighbor. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
假定你是李华，在新冠(COVID-19)疫情期间，你校将录制歌曲One World Together的 网上合唱(online chorus)视频。请给你的英国朋友Peter写一封电子邮件，邀请他参加，内容 包括：
1.录制目的；
2.提交时间和方式；
3.格式和大小(MP4； 20M内)。
注意：1.词数80左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3.开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
Tang Tianyuan from Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region was viewed as a lucky dog, for he succeeded 1. building a business based on a passion.
Tang, 2. majored in ceramics (制陶艺术)and decorative sculpture design at college, set up a workshop after his studies to make Ningxi pottery, which is considered one of the top four 3. (variety) of pottery in China.
4. (initial), the pottery business was hard, as he had to make pottery himself while also 5. (take) care of management and sales. But the past five years of efforts have earned him many more orders, 6. (compare) to none at the very beginning.
Up to now,7.28-year-old has been engaged in making Ningxi pottery for five years, and the most impressive thing for Tang is the happiness he 8. (achieve).
He said that 9.was worthwhile starting a business based on his own interest that could support himself as well as gain public 10. (recognize).
