Sichuan has long been known as the "Province of Abundance". 1.(history) speaking, Sichuan was the home of the ancient 2.(state) of Ba and Shu. Their conquest by Qin 3.(strength) it and paved the way for the First Emperor's unification(统一) of China under the Qin Dynasty. During the Three Kingdoms era, Liu Bei's Shu 4.(base) in Sichuan. The area became one of China's 5.(productive) areas by the 19th century. The people of Sichuan speak6. unique form of Mandarin, which took shape during the area's repopulation 7. the rule of the Ming Dynasty. The family of dialects is now spoken by about 120 million people, which would make 8. the 10th most spoken language in the world if counted separately. The area's warm damp climate long caused local people 9. (advocate) spicy dishes. The native Sichuan pepper was supplemented by Mexican chilis during the Columbian Exchange to form modern Sichuan cuisine, 10.dishes—including Kung Pao Chicken and Mapo Tofu—have become famous around the world.
Learning a second language fuels children’s intelligence and makes their job prospects brighter. _______ the fact is, in U.S.A, as in many other English speaking countries, speakers of two or more languages are in the ______. Eighty-four per cent of US people are monolingual (speakers of only one language). This leaves a small number who ______ to speak two or more languages.
No matter how proud people are of their cultural roots, to speak anything ______ English is a marker of difference here. That’s why fourteen-year-old Umar is ______ when people comment on the fact that he is able to speak Arabic. Umar’s mother points out: “In U.S.A, it’s not ______ for kids to be bilingual. But, if you speak another language to your children in U.S.A, it is thought that you are not helping them to ______ society.”
But in fact, the general ______ among experts is that learning a second language is good for children. Experts believe that bilinguals – people who speak ______ languages – have a clear learning advantage ____ their monolingual schoolmates. This ______ on how much of each language they can speak, not on which language is used, ______ they are learning Arabic, French, Chinese or any other language.
Vinss Millon, a professor of Foreign Language Training, says: “A lot of studies have ______ that children who speak more than one language sometimes learn one language more ______, but in the end they do as well as their monolingual schoolmates, and often better, in other subjects.”
The view is that there is a(n) ______ from the effort of learning another language. A few other _______ agree that “Bilinguals tend to use language better as a whole. They also ______ greater creativity and problem-solving ability, and they learn further languages more easily”.
With all of the benefits, why do we not show more ______ for learning other languages? Parents and teachers ______ in bilingual education say it is pressure from friends at school, general ______ to other languages in English-speaking countries, and problems in the school system that are to blame.
1.A. And B. So C. But D. Thus
2.A. minimum B. maximum C. minority D. majority
3.A. claim B. pretend C. decide D. plan
4.A. more than B. less than C. rather than D. other than
5.A. excited B. embarrassed C. disappointed D. appreciated
6.A. common B. unusual C. unique D. general
7.A. fit in B. build up C. contribute to D. figure out
8.A. distinction B. commission C. announcement D. agreement
9.A. one B. two C. three D. more
10.A. beneath B. beyond C. over D. of
11.A. determines B. focuses C. comments D. depends
12.A. if B. whether C. when D. because
13.A. rejected B. released C. revealed D. reminded
14.A. slowly B. rapidly C. easily D. efficiently
15.A. outcome B. improvement C. advantage D. tendency
16.A. parents B. learners C. schoolmates D. professors
17.A. display B. produce C. inspire D. discover
18.A. concern B. respect C. enthusiasm D. intelligence
19.A. involved B. impressed C. competing D. replacing
20.A. opinions B. obstacles C. senses D. attitudes
Snowblind--it’s a frightening word. Thankfully, it’s a condition that is totally preventable.
Snow blindness is a painful, temporary loss of vision due to overexposure to the sun's UV rays. Essentially, snow blindness is caused by a sunburned eye.
1.Though it is commonly called snow blindness, the condition can (and often does)occur in the absence of snow.
The terms "snowblind" and "snow blindness" have become popular because snow is highly reflective of ultraviolet radiation.2.Also, skiing, mountain climbing and snowboarding usually take place at relatively high altitudes, where the sun's UV rays are stronger. Combined, these factors can double your risk of getting sunburned eyes, compared with being outdoors at lower altitudes in the summertime.
3.Television journalist Anderson Cooper experienced snow-free snow blindness first-hand a few years ago when he spent a couple hours on a boat in Portugal without sunglasses and ended up "blind for 36 hours," according to his report of the incident.
Not only can you become snowblind without snow-- it can happen without sunlight, too!4.For example, sun lamps can cause temporary "snow" blindness if proper eye protection is not used.
5.To relieve pain or discomfort from snow blindness, stay indoors and wear sunglasses. Keep your eyes well-moistened with artificial tears. For additional relief, use over-the-counter pain relievers. Be sure to use only pain relievers you know you can take without worry of an allergic reaction. You also may find that placing a cool, dampened washcloth over your closed eyelids is comforting.
A. You don't need snow to become snowblind
B. It will likely affect those traveling in snowy conditions
C. To prevent snow blindness on the slopes, wear sunglasses
D. Sometimes it occurs from man-made sources of ultraviolet radiation
E. .In fact, snow can reflect over 80 percent of the UV rays that fall upon it
F. Snow blindness is scary, but usually it's temporary, and there are ways to relieve the discomfort
G. But water and white sand also are highly reflective of the sun's UV rays, thus increasing the risk
THIS is an adapted excerpt(摘录)from Eman Mohammed’s speech at TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design), a non-profit conference, in 2014. She is one of the few female photo journalists in the Gaza Strip(加沙地带).
When I was 19, I started my career as the first female photojournalist in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. My work as a woman photographer was considered a serious insult(侮辱)to local traditions. The male-dominated profession made me feel unwelcome by all possible means. They made it clear that a woman must not do a man’s job. Photo agencies in Gaza refused to train me.
Three of my colleagues went as far as to drive me to an open air strike area where explosions were the only thing I could hear. Dust was flying in the air, and the ground was shaking beneath me. I only realized we weren’t there to document the event when the three of them got back into the armored(装甲的)Jeep and drove away, waving and laughing. Leaving me behind in the open air strike zone.
For a moment, I felt terrified, humiliated, and sorry for myself.
I started paying closer attention to women’s lives in Gaza. Because I am a woman, I could go where my colleagues were forbidden to go. Beyond the obvious pain and struggle, there were healthy amounts of laughter and accomplishments.
In front of a police compound in Gaza City during the first war in Gaza, an Israeli air raid(袭击)destroyed the compound and broke my nose. For a moment, all I saw was bright white. I thought I had either gone blind or I was in heaven. By the time I managed to open my eyes, I had documented this moment.
Mohammed Khader is a Palestinian worker who spent two decades in Israel. As his retirement plan, he decided to build a four-floor house. By just the first field operation(军事行动)in his neighborhood, the house had been flattened. Nothing was left but the pigeons he raised and a bathtub. Mohammed put the bathtub on the top of the rubble(瓦砾)and started giving his kids a bobble bath every morning.
My work is not meant to hide the scars of war, but to show the full unseen stories of Gazans. As a Palestinian female photographer, the journey of struggle, survival and everyday life has inspired me to overcome the community taboo(禁忌)and see a different side of war and its aftermath(灾祸). I became a witness with a choice: to run away or stand still.
1.The author couldn’t work with her colleagues in the Gaza Strip because _______.
A. she hadn’t received the training offered by the photo agency there
B. the local traditions didn’t allow a woman to do a man’s job
C. her colleagues were going to take part in the battle
D. she was terrified of explosions in the air strike area
2.The author used Mohammed Khader as an example to ______.
A. prove there was pain as well as laughter during the war
B. show how dangerous the surroundings were in Gaza
C. show that she could document common people’s lives at the war
D. let the reader know how the war influenced her life
3.From the story, it can be inferred that ________.
A. the author wouldn’t like to reveal the cruel side of war
B. the author eventually had to leave Gaza because of the community taboo
C. the author decided to document more unseen scenes from the war
D. the author was determined to run away from the explosions in the end
4.The best title of the passage is _____.
A. An Insult To Local Traditions B. Run away or Stand Still
C. Laughter During the War D. Do Women’s Work
If you’re ever reading a book or watching a movie and get the distinct feeling you’ve come across the story before — or even better, can predict exactly what's going to happen next — there could be a good reason for that.
Researchers from the Computational Story Laboratory at the University of Vermont studied the complete text of some 1,737 fiction works available on Project Gutenberg, an online collection of more than 50,000 digital books in the public area. They discovered that English literature consists of just six kinds of emotional arcs (情感弧线) that make up nearly all of the most well-known stories. By analysing the sentiment (情感) of language used in these texts, the researchers were able to show the emotional ups and downs for the stories as a whole. They discovered that negative words like “poverty”, “dead”, and “punishment” dragged the emotion down, while positive terms like “love”, “peace”, and “friend” brought it up.
According to the researchers, those six core (核心的) emotional arcs are:
“Rags to riches” (An ongoing emotional rise)
“Tragedy, or riches to rags” (An ongoing emotional fall)
“Man in a hole” (A fall followed by a rise)
“Icarus” (A rise followed by a fall)
“Cinderella” (Rise–fall–rise)
“Oedipus” (Fall–rise–fall)
Interestingly, based on download statistics from Project Gutenberg, the researchers say the most popular stories are ones that use more complex emotional arcs, with the “Cinderella” and “Oedipus” arcs registering the most downloads. Also popular are works that combine these core arcs together in new ways within one story, such as two “Man in a hole” arcs stuck together, or the “Cinderella” arc coupled with a tragic ending.
1.Readers often feel familiar when reading a new story because stories have similar ______.
A. beginnings B. endings
C. characters D. emotional arcs
2.How did researchers carry out their study?
A. By conducting surveys among readers.
B. By reading books borrowed from libraries.
C. By analysing works from an online collection.
D. By interviewing authors of the well-known stories.
3.Which set of works may drag emotion down?
A. Hope, fortune and riches.
B. Disease, murder and war.
C. Smile, health and beauty.
D. Cold, earthquake and spring.
4.According to the last paragraph, which kind of works are most popular among readers?
A. Works with an ongoing emotional rise.
B. Works with an ongoing emotional fall.
C. Works with a rise followed by a fall.
D. Works with more than one rise and fall.
If you have ever had a cat, or have watched one of the many funny cat videos online, you’ll know that cats have a mind of their own. A lot of the things they do are hard to understand---they like to climb up tall furniture, fit themselves in small spaces and attack small objects for no reason at all.
Now scientists have managed to figure out what exactly is going on in the brains of our little friends. According to Tony Buffington, a professor at Ohio State University in the US, cats’ strange behavior largely comes from their way of life back in the wild. “Cats today still have many of the same instincts(本能)that allowed them to live in the wild for millions of years.” he said in a TED Talk. “To them, our homes are their jungles.”
In the wild, cats are hunters. Their bodies and great balancing abilities allow them to climb to high spots to better look at the environment. Even though they don’t have to hunt any more in human houses, they still keep the old habit of viewing the living room from, for example, the top of the refrigerator.
Cats’ hunting instinct is also what makes them attack small things like keys and USB drives. In the wild, they hunt whatever they can get, and most of the animals they kill are small.
However, cats can also be prey. This explains why they like to stay in small spaces like drawers or washing machines---they are hiding, or they think they are hiding, from more dangerous animals. This is also why cats prefer a clean box: a smelly one could easily show enemies where they are.
Knowing how cats’ minds work is not only useful for better understanding them. It may also help cats’ owners to better meet cats’ needs. For example, owners could try to make climbing easier for cats by moving their furniture around. They could also use “food puzzles” to make eating feel more like hunting instead of just giving food to the cats.
1.According to Tony Buffington, ________.
A. cats’ strange behavior is hard for people to understand
B. cats are more used to living in the wild than in humans’ homes
C. cats behave strangely mainly because of some instincts in the wild
D. cats’ instincts are as helpful to them today as they were millions of year ago
2.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the text?
A. Cats like to climb up high because they want to hide from dangerous animals
B. Cats attack keys and USB drives because they have a habit of hunting small animals
C. Cats enjoy staying in small spaces because they usually live in small caves in the wild
D. Cats’ preference for a clean box probably has something to do with their hunting instincts
3.The underlined word “prey” in Paragraph 5 probably means _________.
A. an animal that is too lazy
B. an animal that likes hiding games
C. an animal that keeps itself clean
D. an animal that is hunted
4.This article is mainly written to _________.
A. explore the reasons behind cats’ strange behavior
B. describe cats’ past wild experience to readers
C. tell cat owners how to make life easier for cats
D. compare cats’ behavior in human homes with that in the wild
