While astronauts in space get to do many exciting things, they miss out on ordinary things that we all take for granted-being able to walk on firm ground, hanging out with family and digging into a slice of hot steaming pizza. Though not much can be done about the first two things, there may soon be a solution to the third one, thanks to this cool 3-D pizza printer!
About a year ago, NASA offered $125,000 to Anjan Contractor, a 3-D technology expert, to build a device（设备）that would allow astronauts to make pizza on demand. The mechanical engineer promised that his invention would produce pies in large quantities that looked, tasted and even smelled like pizza made in common ovens.
Late last year, the engineer presented a video of his first prototype（原型）that begins by creating a single slice of dough（面团）that is cooked and printed at the same time. Then comes the tomato “sauce” —a mix of tomato powder, oil and water and finally, a protein slice that resembles cheese. While the video doesn’t show the baking process, the inventor says that once the pizza is printed, it can be ready to be consumed in 7 seconds.
While the pie in the video looks delicious enough to attract any pizza lover, Anjan Contractor is far from ready for astronauts. That’s because he still has to find a solution to make the food container in the printer last for 30 years. Though that may sound unrealistic, actually it is not.
Anjan Contractor believes that the only way that is possible is that the water is removed from all the ingredients（配料）and then they are reduced to the powder form. This, as you can imagine, will not be so easy. But, while the printer may not be ready for space, it certainly looks ready enough for people on earth. Hopefully, NASA and Contractor will consider selling it to those not fortunate enough to go to Mars!
1.Why does the author mention the things that astronauts in space cannot do?
A．To ask us not to take common things for granted.
B．To show they live a difficult life there.
C．To show their life is boring in space.
D．To introduce the topic of the text.
2.NASA offered $125,000 to Anjan Contractor mainly to __________.
A．create some new type of 3-D printer
B．attract more companies to work for NASA
C．help astronauts in space enjoy fresh pizza one day
D．produce pizza in large quantities to earn great profits
3.The biggest challenge that Anjan Contractor is faced with now is probably that __________.
A．he has no money left to go on with his research
B．the pizza doesn’t seem appetizing to pizza lovers
C．he has no way to make pizza that can last for thirty years
D．he cannot make the food container last for decades
4.What’s the best title of the passage?
A．NASA is trying its best to help astronauts eat better
B．Astronauts may soon be able to enjoy steaming hot pizza
C．NASA is working on making pizza for common people
D．A 3-D pizza printer has been used to make pizza
A very close friend phoned me this weekend and asked a specific question about earning a few extra dollars each month online. For the benefit of keeping her name and details secret, I will call her Annie in this article. You see Annie suffers from a severe form of inaction syndrome; she is full of great ideas that never materialize into cash and she is having a problem finding the link that will achieve this.
Somebody once said that knowledge is power, yet we constantly find from readers of our website that they have knowledge to burn and still do not have power. Just look at the academics in universities all around the world; they have so much knowledge that they should control the wealth of the world. In truth they work for peanuts and very few of them ever achieve the power of independence. So knowledge certainly isn’t power. Therefore, we should change that “wise” statement to:“Power is the ability to use knowledge to your own benefit.”
That paragraph was inserted because Annie is a typical academic—strong on talk and plans but a little weaker on actions. In the period of a twenty-minute conversation, she expounded（阐述）a whole list of plans and ideas to make the extra few hundred dollars each month she was seeking. Any one of her many ideas was a potential money maker, but she had taken action on none of them. At one time she said, “I’m lost as to what to do next.”
That was my cue（提示）to get involved. “Take action,” I advised.
All that is wrong is that Annie was inactive without knowing it. In five minutes we drew up a plan of action and agreed to talk again in a month to review progress. When we finished the conversation, she sounded much happier and more motivated than when we started. Annie just needs a little nudge into beneficial action.
1.What’s the problem with Annie?
A. She has too many great ideas.
B. She never puts her ideas into practice.
C. She suffers from a strange illness.
D. She knows little about making money online.
2.What is the most important according to the author?
A. The ability to use one’s knowledge.
B. The ability to acquire knowledge.
C. A great deal of knowledge.
D. A good understanding of oneself.
3.What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A. Annie will succeed in later life.
B. Annie is going towards success.
C. Annie doesn’t realize her problems.
D. Annie talks too much in daily life.
4.The underlined word “nudge” in the last paragraph probably means________.
A. push B. advice C. training D. Power
Every Wednesday, I go to Cantata Adult Life Services, a local retirement community in Brookfield, Illinois, US, with my classmates to do community service.
After my very first visit to Cantata, my life changed forever. That may sound a bit dramatic, but volunteering with the elderly has changed my views on life.
Our visits last about an hour, and we bring 25-30 students every time. We play board games and cards with the residents while we’re there.
You can watch all the movies and TV shows you want about “life back then”, but nothing compares to talking to the people who were actually there. Just hearing their stories has touched me in a way I never thought possible.
Whether it was talking to 98-year-old “Hurricane Hilda” about her glory days as a roller skater or chatting with Lou about the times she danced with a famous actor, I was completely attracted by every single memory the residents wanted to share with me.
Even the residents who don’t have amazing memories make the experience satisfying . I remember visiting Mrs Robinson. She couldn’t recall much about her past, but she told me she’d never forget how kind I was just to listen to her “rambling (漫谈)”. It made me realize that it’s the little things that make life worth living. That’s something I won’t forget anytime soon.
If there’s one thing I’ve realized in my three years of visiting Cantata, it’s that presence – just being there – means more than anything to many of the residents. And despite how busy our lives are, there’s always time to make someone’s day.
For me, it feels great to be a source of happiness, a smile on a bad day or a listening ear for old memories. And at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.
It’s easy to feel like you don’t have anything in common with the elderly – especially when you’re a teenager. But that’s not true at all.
I hate to be overly clichéd (陈词滥调的) here, but age really is just a number. As young adults, it’s important for us to realize this sooner rather than later. We can learn a lot from the elderly, and they can often benefit from teenagers too.
1.What do the volunteers do according to the passage?
A. They share everything with the residents.
B. They play board games and cards with the residents.
C. They watch the residents play games.
D. They buy gifts for the residents.
2.According to the writer, what is the most important thing that volunteers can do for the elderly?
A. Playing with them. B. Benefiting from them.
C. Helping them. D. Being there with them.
3. What does the writer want to tell us by writing this passage ?
A. We don’t have anything in common with the elderly.
B. Age is just a number.
C. It is important to help the elderly.
D. Young adults and the elderly can benefit from each other.
读写任务
How many times have you heard the expression that most people spend more time planning their vacation than they do planning their lives. I would expand that expression by adding that most people spend more time "thinking" about their vacation than they do thinking about what's important in their life.
While rest and relaxation are a must in living a balanced life, it's now what we were created to do. After all, the Master Creator took his R&R (Rest and Recreation) on the seventh day, only after six days of "definitely directed thought."
Wallace D. Wattles, wrote "There is no labor from which most people shrink as they do from that of sustained and continuous thought; it is the hardest work in the world." And yet it is the first and primary labor of achievement.
What is your life's purpose or your personal mission statement? Is it written down? Do you review it and think about it often? Is your life organized around your purpose and a set of goals that support that purpose?
Without purpose and goals --- definitely directed thought --- you are like the proverbial "shop without a rudder(舵)." There is power in your purpose and in your goals. It is the power that takes you over obstacles, the fuel that pushes you toward the life you expect.
【写作内容】
1. 用约30个单词写出上文概要；
2. 用约120词发表你的观点，内容包括：
（1） 你如何规划中学以后的人生？为什么？
（2） 为了实现你的目标，你将如何行动？
【写作要求】
1. 写作过程中不能直接引用原文句子；
2. 作文中不能狐仙真是姓名和学校名称；
3. 不必写标题
【评分标准】
内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。
任务型阅读,请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入最恰当的单词。
注意：每空格只填1个单词。请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。
Everybody loves self-improvement. That’s why we’re such enthusiastic consumers of “top 10” lists of things to do to be a more productive, promotable, mindful— you name it—leader. But these lists seldom work. What if we didn’t think of self-improvement as work? What if we thought of it as play—specifically, as playing with our sense of self?
Traditionally, people work on themselves, committed to doing everything in their power to change their leadership style. You set your goals and objectives, you are mindful of your time, and seek efficient solutions. You’re not going to deviate(偏离) from the straight and narrow. You focus on what you should do, especially as others see it, as opposed to what you want to do. It’s all very serious and not whole of fun. There is one right answer. Success or failure is the outcome. We judge ourselves.
In contrast, no matter what you’re up to, when you’re in “play” mode, your primary drivers are enjoyment and discovery instead of goals and objectives. You’re curious. You lose track of time. Like in all forms if play, the journey becomes more important than a pre-set destination.
Much research shows how play develops creativity and innovation. Play with your own idea of yourself is similar to playing with future possibilities. So, we stop evaluating today’s self against unachievable ideal of leadership that doesn’t really exist. We also stop trying to will ourselves to “commit” to becoming something we are not even sure we want to be—what we call the “feared self”, which is composed of images negative role models. And, we shift direction from submitting to what other people want us to be to becoming more self-authoring. As a result, when you play, you’re more creative and more open to what you might learn about yourself.
Unfortunately, we don’t often get —or give ourselves—permission to play with our sense of self. In life, we equate playfulness with the person who dips into a great variety of possibilities, never committing to any. We find inconsistency distasteful, so we exclude options that seem too far off from today’s “authentic self”, without ever giving them a try. This kills the discontinuous growth that only comes when we surprise ourselves.
Psychoanalyst Adam Phillips once said, “people tend to play only with serious things—madness, disaster, other people.” Playing with your self is a serious effort because who we might become is not knowable or predictable at the start. That’s why it’s as dangerous as it is necessary for growth.
Lead-in |
●People want to improve their 1. . ●People can apply work mode or play mode. |
2.between the two mode | In work mode ●one is 3. and sticks to his route ●one cares about others’ 4. of his performance. ●one judges himself with one standard— success or failure |
In play method ●the 5. outweighs the outcome; ●playfulness allows people to6. with various approaches; ●playfulness helps people obtain 7. results. | |
The 8. with application of play mode | We usually regard playfulness as equal to non-professional. |
9. | 10. danger, playfulness is a must for our self-growth. |
The Toltec---as they were now called ---began to know great abundance and enjoy the
generous gifts of the land, as had been foretold by Quetzalcoatl.
“He has great powers.He has made us rich.We have not known hunger since he arrived.Where he places his eyes and hands,everything is abundance and beauty.”
They were happy, they were proud. At that time they all still worked at the jobs Quetzalcoatl assigned to them.
Tula grew. People came from far away to admire its growth. Many asked permission to settle down and enjoy its abundance,which was distributed according to the needs of the people.
Topiltzin was in charge of distributing the riches,under the orders of Quetzalcoatl, so that no one would want. They were all content because they all had more than they had ever had. Many worked.They were busy all day.
Quetzalcoatl had spent six years among the Toltecs. The house for the heart of the people was almost finished and the granaries full when he decided.
“There is prosperity(繁荣)and abundance in all the land.Let us extend it beyond the mountains.We shall go to the land of the Chichimecs.It is time to take my mission to them. I shall make them better,I shall make them live together,I shall gather them in towns,I shall teach them to till the land and to build their homes."
"Let us leave them in their land as they are now ,"Topiltzin argued,"They are savages(野蛮人);their life is violent and disorderly.They move freely,like the wind in the mountains and the plains,with nothing to keep them.Leave them where they are.There is much that we must do in our own land.
"I do not belong to this land alone.They are all my brothers,I am to give all of them, I shall look for them. I shall take the gods of Tula to them,"Quetzalcoatl said.
"Think carefully about what we shall do.You do not know them.They do not understand words. They are like savage animals,like jaguars," Topiltzin insisted.
"I shall go,"said Quetzalcoatl."My life must be accomplished.This time you will not accompany me because you do not have the will to go.I shall leave soon with some of my followers."
"Do not go with so few people! I shall accompany you with skillful warriors who are used
to killing Chichimecs and avoiding their traps." Topiltzin insisted.
"I am not going there with violence. I shall go to them as I came here,to take them the gifts of life and the doctrine of sin and redemption(原罪与救赎)."
"You have not spoken of sin and redemption for a long time," Tattle remarked. He had been listening attentively to the dialogue,and was then close to seventeen years of age."You have not come near the Tree you planted in the square in a long time.The Tree has no shoots,it has not grown,it looks sad and lonely."
"During this time,Tattle,I have often thought of it.There was confusion in my spirit.Now the Tree orders me to spread good in other lands,to make other brothers happy. It will soon have shoots."
1.This reading passages is most probably an account of _________________.
A. history B.politics
C. a contemporary life D. a myth or legend
2..From the passage, which of the following statements in Not true?
A. The city of Tula owed its growth to Quetzalcoatl
B. Quetzalcoatl believed he had been entrusted with a sacred mission
C. the followers will persuade him not to go to the land of the Chichimecs
D. Quetzalcoatl's Tree was a symbol for him and the Toltecs
3.Accroding to the passage, the prosperity of Tula________________.
A. was due to Toltecs's godlike behavior
B. occurred prior to Quetzalcoatl's appearance
C. was a relatively recent development
D. was yet to be established
4.When Tattle refers to Quetzalcoatl's Tree, saying that the Tre is ”sad and lonely“，he means that __________________.
A. the Tree is near its death
B. Quetzalcoatl has forgotten the Tree's significance
C. the Toltecs have ignored the Tree
D. there should have been celebrations around the Tree
5.The "shoots" mentioned in the last paragraph refer to ____.
A. the spread of Quetzalcoatl's beliefs to other areas
B. the Tree's growing roots and branches yet to develop
C. the Toltecs outlying settlements
D. the "savage animals, like jaguars"
