We’ve been covering standing desks for a long time now because experts agree that sitting all day is killing us. We want to be productive while also keeping our bodies healthy. Over the years, there have been several solutions to this from fixed standing desks to adjustable ones, portable desks to ones that change into shelves.
However, the most high tech and elegant solution has to be this new smart desk called The Stir Kinetic Desk. The desk learns your daily behaviors and moves between a sitting and standing height regularly throughout the day to keep you moving without interrupting your work flow.
You can program specific sitting and standing intervals or let the desk set the schedule. If you tend to sit while returning emails in the morning, but always want to stand during that afternoon conference call, the desk will learn those regular habits and adjust the schedule to fit them. Of course, the desk can always be manually lowered or raised by using the touch screen on the lower left comer of the desk.
When switching positions, the desk gently dips and rises to let you know that a change is coming up. If you’re not ready to switch positions at that time, you can tap the touchscreen to stay sitting or standing for a while longer.
The built-in touchscreen also keeps track of your daily sitting and standing times and tells you how many calories you’ve burned. You can even set goals for how long or often you want to stand. The desk also works with fitness devices like the FitBit to track your movements.
All of that smart tech doesn’t come cheap though. The M1 desk, which is the everyday model, runs a steep $2,990, while the more executive model with added features, the F1, goes for$4,190.
While expensive, it’s worth thinking of how much time we spend at our desks. Much like a good mattress(床垫), a good desk that works with you is worth the investment. Hopefully in a few years these smart, integrated desks will be more common and less expensive.
1.The Stir Kinetic Desk has been designed to_______.
A. help users with their work
B. keep users moving all the time
C. get users to exercise while working
D. remind users of their working schedule
2.Which is the feature of the touchscreen of the desk?
A. It can tell users when to change positions.
B. It can track users’ changes of positions.
C. It can keep users in a fixed position.
D. It can detect users’ health condition.
3.Which of the following can best describe the desk?
A. Productive but challenging.
B. Convenient but unaffordable.
C. Complex and impractical.
D. Multi-functional and intelligent.
4.What does the author intend to tell us in the last paragraph?
A. To spend money on such a desk is rewarding.
B. We should get such a desk as soon as possible.
C. It won’t be long before the desk is widely used.
D. Desks play a very important role in our daily life.
The world’s richest man might seem to have it all, but Bill Gates has one regret. The self-made billionaire said he felt stupid for not knowing any foreign languages.
Speaking in his third Ask Me Anything question-and-answer session for online forum Reddit(红迪网), the Microsoft founder said that he wished he spoke French, Arabic or Chinese.
He said: “I took Latin and Greek in high school and got A’s and I guess it helps my vocabulary. I keep hoping to get time to study one of these—probably French because it is the easiest. I did Duolingo for a while but didn’t keep it up.”
Gates, who is worth $79.3 billion, praised Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for surprising an audience in Beijing when he spoke fluent Chinese. “Mark Zuckerberg amazingly leamed Chinese and did a Q&A with Chinese students—unbelievable, isn’t it?” he said.
This isn’t the first time for Gates to admit his regret over language. He also showed his habits at home and personal insights.
Last February, Gates said he likes to do the dishes himself—to his own special standards every night and also told the interviewer that his wife, Melinda, would likely want Samuel L. Jackson to play her husband in a biopic(传记片).
He also admitted that he would pick up a $100 bill if he found it on the street.
As he took the top spot on Forbes(福布斯)28th Annual Billionaires list last year for the fourth time, he said he is pretty basic when it comes to so ending on clothes and food, but that he enjoys investing in shoes and racquets(球拍)when he plays tennis.
When asked a life lesson he had to learn the hard way, the billionaire said staying up too late is a habit he is still trying to break. “Don’t stay up too late even if the book is really exciting. You will regret it in the morning. Pam still working on this problem,” he said.
1. Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
A. An Interview with Bill Gates
B. How Bill Gates Succeeded
C. Bill Gates’ Regret
D. The Richest Billionaire
2. The underlined part in Paragraph 8 may actually mean that_____.
A. it is important to lay a good foundation of life
B. food and clothing are basic needs for people’s life
C. he doesn’t spend much money on food and clothes
D. he never cares about buying food and clothing
3.What advice did Bill Gates give?
A. Avoid staying up too late.
B. Be a good language learner.
C. Do the dishes yourself at home.
D. Pick up the $100 bills in the streets.
4.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. Bill Gates is also the founder of Facebook
B. Bill Gates topped the list of Forbes 28 times.
C. Bill Gates was good at learning languages in high schoo1.
D. Bill Gates’ wife wants Samuel to play a game with Gates.
The International Painting Contest on Google’s homepage in 2015 may look pretty strange, but it spotlightings a very serious issue: clean water, which is unusual for an 11-year-old from Long Island.
Audrey Zhang, a fifth-grader from Levittown, N.Y, is the winner of this year’s Doodle 4 Google contest, rising to the top of some 100, 000 entries on the theme of “draw one thing to make the world a better place.”
Her piece, titled “Back to Mother Nature,” describes a detailed water-cleaning machine. Zhang worked with a team of artists at Google to animate(使……生动)her drawing.
“To make the world a better place, I came up with a transformative water purifier, a machine used to remove dirty or harmful substances,” Google quoted Zhang as saying. “It takes in dirty and polluted water from rivers, lakes and even oceans, then massively transforms the water into clean, safe and pure water. When humans and animals drink this water, they will live a healthier life.”
She created a whole world around the device—one populated by humans, a whale in a top hat and dragons.
Zhang, s piece is “so vivid and so rich and so full and so complete,’’ Google Doodle team leader Ryan Germick told the Washington Post. “Every leaf seemed to have life in it.”
Along with having her artwork featured on Google’s homepage, Zhang wins a $30,000 college scholarship. In addition, her school will receive a $50,000 Google for Education technology grant, and the company is donating $20,000 in her name to a charity devoted to bringing clean water to schools in Bangladesh.
On Sunday, the night before her work was revealed on net, Zhang told Newsday she was excited by the big win, but said she wouldn’t be awake when her art first went online at midnight.
“I have school-tomorrow, so I can’t stay up late,” she told the paper. 
1. What’s the passage mainly about?
A. The winner and her work in the painting contest.
B. The team of artists at Google to animate drawings.
C. The painting contest of Google’s homepage in 2015.
D. The water-cleaning machine in the painting contest.
2.According to the passage, we know that______.
A. Audrey Zhang is creative and self-disciplined
B. a water-cleaning device was made in the contest
C. $50, 000 will be donated in Audrey Zhang’s name
D. Zhang’s piece was printed in all major newspapers
3.The underlined word in Paragraph l probably means “_____”.
A. put up with B. 1ook for ward to
C. breakaway from D. focus attention on
October 21 was a very dark day in Texas. Not only did Hurricane Hanna destroy homes, it caused the largest business damage in Texas’s history. The worst thing is Hanna’s destructive force nearly wiped out most power poles and power lines. According to Center Point Energy, Hurricane Hanna affected 2.15 million customers. Currently, more than 4,000 of them are still in the dark. Crews have worked 16-hour shifts to restore power to residents.
Most of Houston seems to be returning to normal. Schools, restaurants, retail stores and gas stations are open. Smiles are back. But harder-hit places, including Galveston, will take much longer to recover. Hundreds of people are still missing, and coastal towns are a mess. Some ruins from storm have drifted south to other beaches in Texas. Several public schools in Galveston are closed due to water damage. Parents are registering kids in other area schools which are scheduled to begin class on November 13. Many school supplies were destroyed.
Clara Barton Village is an emergency shelter located at Alamo Elementary School in Galveston, Texas. This is where Paula Reed and her family are staying. Believe it or not, Paula Reed and her family consider this hurricane a blessing. When Paula was a girl, she was an orphan, but was taken in by her stepmom, Antonia Flores. Reed lost contact with Flores and had been trying desperately to locate her for the past few years. Before the hurricane, Reed and her family moved away from Galveston to a San Antonio shelter. There, she reunited with Flores after 30 long years! The moment they saw each other, their lives were changed.
1.What’s the most serious damage caused by Hurricane Hanna?
A. Hundreds of people are still missing.
B. A large number of people are homeless.
C. Power facilities are severely destroyed.
D. Factories are closed and many people jobless.
2. It can be inferred that the residents in Houston________.
A. have fully recovered from the disaster
B. were the most unlucky people in the disaster
C. need a long time to bring their life back to normal
D. suffered less from Hanna than people in Galveston
3.Kids in public schools in other areas of Houston will have to stay at home for_______
A. at least one month
B. at least three weeks
C. two weeks at most
D. nearly half a month
4. Paula Reed and her family consider the hurricane a blessing because_______
A. they had nothing lost after Hurricane Hanna
B. they lived a happier life in San Antonio shelter
C. Paula was taken good care of in the shelter
D. Paula reunited with her stepmother after three decades
阅读下面的短文，按照要求写一篇英语短文。
James Bender, in his book How to Talk Well tells the story of a farmer who grew award-winning corn. Each year he won a blue ribbon. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it.
The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors. “How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” The reporter asked. “Why,” said the farmer, “didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen(花粉) from the ripening corn and carries it from field to field. If my neighbors grow bad corn, cross-pollination(异花受粉) will slowly reduce the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn. ”
He is very much aware of the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbors’ corn also improves. The lesson for each of us is this: If we are to grow good corn, we must help our neighbors grow good corn.
要求：
1. 写作内容：人与人之间本应和睦相处、互帮互助、共同进步；
2. 以约30个词概括短文的要点；
3. 发表你的看法，谈谈你的认识。
4. 字数：150词左右。
What is ecofashion？Eco-fashion is about making clothes that take into account the environment, the health of consumers and the working conditions of people in the fashion industry. It is a complex phenomenon and the common use of the term covers two aspects of fashion —‘ecological’ and ‘ethical’．Ecological fashion usually refers to textile (织物) and clothing production processes and the environmental issues surrounding them；ethical fashion generally relates to the working conditions involved in the producing processes.
What are the problems with fashion？A closer look at the fashion industry points out many problems that are common practices in the creation of our fashions from the field to the factory. Firstly，the production of textiles pollutes the environment heavily. Cottonplanting uses pesticides；sheepfarming and woolcleaning contribute to global warming；syntheticsmaking (人造纤维生产) brings about waste which does harm to our environment. Secondly，every stage of clothing production has a significant effect on the environment. They all use a great deal of energy，and some also involve harmful chemicals. In addition to this，there is a lot of waste produced in the process，especially in the form of polluted water. Thirdly，growing consumption levels and our shopping habits further worsen the bad effects. We are now buying clothes in increasing quantities without realizing the scale on which it affects natural environment，and we are also quick to throw away clothes that have been worn only a couple of times.
Then，how to solve the problems? Other industries that design products are ahead of the fashion industry when it comes to choosing sustainable materials, designing for minimum waste, choosing energy efficient manufacturing and creating products for longevity. The fashion industry has been slow to adopt these changes and part of the problem is the very nature of fashion. To a large degree，it is the fashion producers that really have the power and the responsibility to shape our future. There are numerous ways in which these producers can reduce their ecological footprint，from switching to green energy and reducing energy use，through selecting sustainable materials and choosing local suppliers，to recycle and minimize waste. On the other hand，as consumers we can all make contributions by selecting environmentally friendly clothing and reducing clothing consumption.
There is some concern that eco friendly fashions are just a trend that we will eventually grow tired of but we can make sure that doesn't happen. Now many people are beginning to shop for organic food products because the benefits of eating food free of chemicals are straightforward and immediate. They relate directly to our personal health. In fact, choosing ecofashion can also contribute to our personal health, though it is mostly done by way of keeping the health of the planet.
Why choose eco-fashion?
| ||
1. of fashion
|
Ecological
| Textile & clothing production processes; Issues related to 2. |
Ethical
| Working 3. involved | |
Problems with fashion
|
Textile 4.
| Cotton-planting: use of pesticides; Sheepfarming & woolcleaning: global warming; Synthetics-making: 5. waste
|
Clothing production
| Producing a lot of waste; Using harmful chemicals; 6. a great deal of energy
| |
Consumption levels & shopping habits
| New clothes: bought in increasing quantities
Old clothes: 7. away quickly | |
8. to problems
|
Fashion producers
| Ways to recycle and 9. waste: Switching to green energy; Reducing energy use; Selecting sustainable materials; Choosing local suppliers |
__10.__
| Selecting environmentally friendly clothing Reducing clothing consumption | |
Choosing ecofashion can contribute to our personal health. | ||
