Running a household with a pack full of kids can result in some bad days, even on my day off from work.
I told my two-year-old son Andrew to ______ to the family room and turn off the TV and he was now upstairs ______ that he help fix supper.
I knew Andrew could follow simple ______. So I said very clearly and slowly, “Honey, go downstairs and ____ the button on the TV and turn off the TV,” I repeated three times, ______ the words, push, off and TV. I knew he’d ______ it out. He knew where the off button was. ______, he took pleasure in pushing it in every night during the climax(高潮) of every movie we watched.
So downstairs he went, to do a _____ deed for Mommy. I went back to the sink to wash the carrots. Then it happened. The ______ crash ever heard in our house. I was so _____ that I couldn’t move. I kept waiting for Andrew to scream. But the ____ was more frightening than the crash.
I ______ down the steps, half expecting to find Andrew lying _____. I stopped cold.
He was standing there behind the TV stand, smiling, “Aren’t you _____ of me, Mom? Andrew pushed off the TV!”
There was the TV, face down on the ____. Two of the round handles were broken off. The screen was destroyed. The plants I’d ____ that morning that used to sit on top of the set were falling onto the carpet. Broken plants and pots were ____ all over the room.
I pulled him into my ____ and sat on the sofa rocking him ______. I thanked God that he wasn’t _____.
1.A. stay away B. cheer up C. go down D. come out
2.A. suggesting B. insisting C. ordering D. imagining
3.A. directions B. rules C. introduction D. advice
4.A. find B. press C. touch D. push
5.A. learning B. remembering C. emphasizing D. ignoring
6.A. get B. figure C. put D. keep
7.A. After all B. At last C. In total D. Of course
8.A. hard B. secret C. nice D. bad
9.A. longest B. worst C. latest D. loudest
10.A. annoyed B. worried C. confused D. excited
11.A. silence B. scream C. surprise D. safety
12.A. pulled B. climbed C. raced D. jumped
13.A. lifeless B. careless C. speechless D. aimless
14.A. aware B. afraid C. tired D. proud
15.A. wall B. floor C. roof D. stand
16.A. delivered B. bought C. grown D. watered
17.A. spoiled B. laid C. spread D. taken
18.A. legs B. eyes C. hands D. arms
19.A. here and there B. back and forth C. black and blue D. in and out
20.A. hurt B. lost C. hidden D. beaten
Lemon water is pretty popular. It’s offered as a free upgrade to regular water at pretty many restaurants.1., others are devotees of the possible health benefits. Here’s what may happen if you take up the lemon water habit.
Easier weight loss
Studies in mice indicate that the antioxidants(抗氧化剂) in lemons can reduce weight gain despite a high-fat diet. More studies are needed to determine if the results can be applied to humans, but anecdotal evidence is favorable. People who drink lemon water regularly report easier weight loss, though it is unclear if the combination of lemon and water is the fundamental driver.2..
Get enough vitamin C
Vitamin C is an important antioxidant that has a ton of health benefits. It can only be gotten from food as our bodies don’t produce it alone. Getting your RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) of vitamin C can lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure. Vitamin C is good for your skin and bonds with free radicals (自由电子) that accelerate aging.3., but they’re a great source nevertheless.
Stabilized moods
Studies have found that smelling lemon scent reduces stress hormones that regulate mood. Drinking lemon water offers this benefit as well as the vitamins and potassium(钾) in the fruit. 4., and high blood pressure is related to stress, so not getting enough potassium can certainly affect your mood. All in all, lemon water can be a calming drink.
In the end, drinking water is never a bad call, and there is absolutely no reason not to add lemon to it. Drinking lemon water provides some helpful nutrients and antioxidants. Give it a try!5..
A. Lemon is a common smell in all manner of cleaning products
B. Potassium plays a huge part in regulating blood pressure
C. There is nothing to lose
D. Lemons aren’t the highest in vitamin C
E. While some people drink it simply because of its taste
F. If adding lemon to water can encourage people to drink more
G. It could be that drinking more water helps dieters to feel full and avoid overeating
It is estimated that more than half the world’s population is bilingual (双语的), and in an increasingly globalised world, there are obvious benefits of speaking more than one language. However, for many years, parents were advised not to teach their children to speak more than one language from birth. Learning two or more languages simultaneously (同时) was believed to cause confusion and slow down academic development. While it is certainly true that children who are learning to speak more than one language as their mother tongue will often mix the languages up or speak a little later, these are temporary problems, and there is no reason to avoid teaching a child more than one language.
In fact, there are plenty of reasons to encourage your child to become bilingual from birth. As well as the obvious benefits of being able to communicate with more people, and the possibility of earning more money, children who speak more than one language have been shown to score more highly in achievement tests at school. This is true for mathematics as well as tests of verbal (言语的) skills.
And in later life it has been found that bilinguals, on average, will tend to develop Alzheimer’s disease five years later than monolingual speakers. Speaking three or more languages offers even more protection. It seems that the increased number of connections within the brain allows bilinguals to cope better with brain damage.
But is it too late if you haven’t already learned a second language in childhood? It used to be thought that the adult brain was very fixed, but recent research has shown that we continue to develop new connections in the brain throughout our lives, meaning that it’s perfectly possible to learn another language to a high standard. Older learners are less likely to have native-like pronunciation, but they are better at learning vocabulary as they are able to use far more skills and strategies than children. And learning a language is like using a muscle – the more you use it, the stronger it gets, meaning that you will find your third language easier than your second, and so on.
1.Why shouldn’t parents be discouraged from teaching their children to be a bilingual?
A. Children’s confusion over two languages will not last long.
B. Children will not mistake one language for the other.
C. Parents should begin to teach a second language early.
D. Parents’ guidance will help children tell two languages apart.
2.Which of the following is NOT a possible benefit of being a bilingual?
A. A bilingual is less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
B. A bilingual child may do well in mathematics at school.
C. A bilingual will probably make more money.
D. A bilingual child owns relatively good language ability.
3.Compared with children, adult language learners ___________.
A. are slower at learning a second language.
B. are more skilled at building vocabulary.
C. are more likely to acquire a native accent.
D. are slower at making logic connections.
4.What can be learned from the passage?
A. A bilingual child will speak both the languages badly later in his life.
B. Learning a second language certainly contributes to your body fitness.
C. Connections within adults’ brain will permanently stop developing.
D. With each language learned, the learning process will become easier.
Hot spots of drones (无人机) in Australia are getting sensors to automatically identify the aircraft and their pilots. Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) said it would fix the equipment at the nation’s airports starting next month. The monitors have been planned for some time, but come in the wake of 72 hours of drone-related disorder at the UK’s Gatwick airport last week.
In 2019, Australia will also start a scheme to register drone owners. The UK is also due to introduce a scheme in November that will require recreational drones weighing 250g (0.55lb) or more to be registered.
Almost 140,000 air travellers were delayed last week after reports of drone sightings caused huge delays at Gatwick Airport. UK police are still searching for the criminals, although they have also raised the possibility that witness reports of the aircraft were mistaken. The incident “highlights” the need for a drone-spotting capability (能力), CASA spokesman Peter Gibson told the news agency Agence France-Presse. The supervision system would be able to spot the types of drone being flown, read their serial numbers and work out where the pilot was located, he said. Efforts to identify pilots would be aided by the introduction of the registration scheme for commercial and casual drone owners, he added. “2019 will witness severe action towards drone safety,” said Mr. Gibson. As well as airports and other sensitive locations, the drone-spotting systems will be fixed in other places known to be popular with drone owners such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Authorities in Australia have expressed worries about the number of drones being flown in controlled areas in recent months. Anyone breaking rules could face fines of up to 10,000 Australian dollars ($7,058; £5,600) as well as checks on the safety of their craft. “In 2019 it could be very expensive doing the wrong thing with your drone,” said Mr. Gibson. Events at Gatwick were discussed by ministers in a Christmas Eve phone conference. It is understood that the Cabinet Office “pushed” the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office to update their relevant regulations. They also discussed defence systems across the UK’s airports.
1.What does the underlined phrase “in the wake of” probably mean?
A. indicating. B. causing.
C. preventing. D. following.
2.What helps the system work out the identity of the pilot?
A. Registration scheme. B. The airport.
C. Witness report. D. The government.
3.What do we know from the passage?
A. The recreational drones will be required to register next year.
B. The system will be fixed in all the hot tourist spots.
C. Anyone flying the drones will be fined up to $7,058.
D. There was no solid evidence of drone sights at Gatwick Airport.
4.What’s the best title of the passage?
A. Heavy fines to be given to the pilots
B. Functions of the drone-identifying system
C. Australia to set up drone-spotting system
D. Problems facing drone owners
British chemist David Evans has become an overnight celebrity on Chinese social media. His chemistry experiments have attracted over 2 million followers in just a few months. Evans is a chemistry professor at the Beijing University of Chemical Technology. The 60-year-old always wears a white lab coat, a pair of safety goggles (护目镜), and smiles often. Some web users say he looks just like the “grandpa of KFC”.
Evans has posted videos of various experiments. His most popular experiments have attracted millions of hits on video-sharing apps. Excited children’s cheers and shouts can be heard in his videos. “I hope my experiments can arouse people’s interest in science,” he says.
Evans has been interested in China since childhood. In the early 1970s, before the reform and opening-up, he viewed it as a “country full of mysteries”. He first visited the Chinese mainland in 1987 to attend a chemistry conference in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. He quit his job in the United Kingdom and moved to Beijing in 1996. Many of his friends thought he was crazy. But Evans says they just saw China’s challenges but not its potential.
Since 2011, Evans has turned to the Internet to popularize science. He learned short-video apps are also popular in small cities and rural areas. And he realized this enables him to reach more students, who lack opportunities to perform fun experiments. But even a one-minute video requires a considerable amount of work. Still, he thinks it’s worth it to fulfill his responsibility to popularize science.
His experiments always fill schools’ lecture halls with laughter. Some viewers call him “a Harry Potter-like magician”, but he disagrees. “A magician never tells the secrets behind his tricks, but a scientist always gives an explanation.” He sees himself as a teacher. He performs experiments to spread knowledge, inspire thinking, remove misunderstandings and show that science can create change. Evans says he looks forward to more “chemical reactions” with China.
1.Who is David Evans according to the passage?
A. A manager of KFC. B. A film celebrity.
C. A chemistry teacher. D. A British magician.
2.What can we learn from the third paragraph?
A. Evans considered UK to be a country full of mysteries.
B. Evans first visited Chinese mainland in the 1970s.
C. Evans was in no mood to move to Beijing.
D. Evans attended a chemistry conference in China in 1987.
3.Why did Evans begin to post videos of experiments on the Internet?
A. To popularize science.
B. To rise to fame.
C. To apply short-video apps.
D. To make a fortune.
4.What can we infer from the passage?
A. Evans knows exactly how a magic works.
B. Evans will continue to post videos of experiments in China.
C. Evans’ students like to interrupt his experiments with laughter.
D. Evans’ friends admired his decision to move to China.
Whether it’s music, art, stage, screen, restaurant and bar deals, or the great outdoors – there’s always something interesting going on in Hong Kong
Tim Yip: Blue – Art, Costumes and Memory
What: A well-known visual artist, costume designer, and art director for stage and film (particularly on his work for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, for which he won an Oscar), Tim Yip has been a proud promoter of Eastern aestheticism(唯美主义)for 30 years. For his first large-scale solo exhibition in Hong Kong, Yip explores the nature of human imagination and the depths of the subconscious mind. Organized by Mark Holborn, the exhibition is expected to be praised due to Yip’s vision of “New Orientalism”.
Where: HKDI Gallery, Hong Kong Design Institute, 3 King Ling Road, Tiu Keng Leng, Tseung Kwan O
When: Until March 31, 2019
Alice’s Adventure at Starlight Garden
What: Introduced last year, this exhibition became a huge hit, with more than 6,000 photos and videos posted online every day. Created by 27 multimedia digital artists from Korea, the exhibition features a 30-foot rabbit hole for visitors to explore the fantasy world made famous in the book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. This Christmas, New Town Plaza delivers a brand-new interactive digital version of the literary work. In particular, check out the seventh floor, with its bright lighting, glittering mirrors and rose-shaped decorations.
Where: New Town Plaza, 18 Sha Tin Centre Street, Sha Tin
When: Until January 13, 2019
We Travel in Our Minds
What: This exhibition of sculpture aims to present ideas of theatricality, the fantastical, travel and exchange, with figures that take the forms of humans and animals. Made by artist Ethan Murrow, a professor at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in Boston, these dream-like objects are inspired by puppetry (木偶戏), music, trade, navigation and beyond, with mixed effects of materiality, sound and imagination.
Where: Duddell’s, Level 3, Shanghai Tang Mansion, 1 Duddell Street, Central
When: Until March 10, 2019
1.Which person mentioned in the passage has ever won a famous film award?
A. Ethan Murrow. B. Tim Yip. C. Mark Holborn. D. Alice Green.
2.What can be learned from the passage?
A. Tim Yip, a well-known visual artist, is devoted to promoting western arts.
B. Alice’s Adventure at Starlight Garden was not greeted with viewers’ approval.
C. Humans and animals sculptures are displayed in We Travel in Our Minds.
D. The exhibition in New Town Plaza explores the depths of the subconscious mind.
3.What is the purpose of the passage?
A. To introduce interesting exhibitions in Hong Kong.
B. To encourage people to go outdoors.
C. To advertise some nice bars in Hong Kong.
D. To attract visitors to go shopping.
