Heroes come in different shapes and sites. Some are born to give others a_____. Then there are the people who_____ happen to be in the right place at the right time. That was the ____for John Underwood.
On a cold evening, a storm ______near his home. Underwood was heading over to help his sister when the roads were______. He saw some other drivers get stuck, so he got out of his truck to help. “My_____ is that if I have the ability to do good, then I should do it. There should be no______.” he said.
Underwood wasn't out of his______long before he heard a cry, “ Someone was ____,' My parents, my parents !'” Moments later, a 12-year-old boy ran up to Underwood, saying his parents were _____and asked for help.
The Hammonds went to get things from the basement when the walls_____to bear the weight of rain and fell down, and they couldn' t______. Worse still, the water was rising fast. ____ was of extreme significance, so Underwood took action at once. Any inappropriate action could add more dangers. Luckily, Underwood had _____ as a contractor (承包商). “Digging a hole in the living room floor, I knew it's a _____way.”he said.
With physical strength, patience, and a lot of ______, Underwood saved their lives. He said he did what anyone would do, but that’s not necessarily true. It's _____to put yourself in a dangerous way to rescue another. That’s why the American Red Cross ______him. Ann Otto, who was in charge of the 23rd Annual Acts of Courage Awards, said the Awards should_______heroes like Underwood who have acted _____and selflessly in a time of emergency.
1.A. lesson B. direction C. hope D. hand
2.A. also B. just C. often D. even
3.A. role B. concern C. case D. behavior
4.A. broke B. disappeared C. returned D. changed
5.A. cleared B. completed C. repaired D. flooded
6.A. duty B. fact C. belief D. advice
7.A. arrangement B. wonder C. excuse D. problem
8.A. power B. sense C. house D. vehicle
9.A. screaming B. working C. helping D. talking
10.A. ignored B. trapped C. injured D. missed
11.A. managed B. failed C. tried D. struggled
12.A. speak B. reunite C. escape D. survive
13.A. Time B. Relief C. Success D. Action
14.A. attitude B. potential C. confidence D. experience
15.A. difficult B. safe C. creative D. quick
16.A. bravery B. encouragement C. anxiety D. responsibility
17.A. impossible B. reasonable C. hard D. special
18.A. invited B. honored C. interviewed D. helped
19.A. go to B. come to C. turn to D. pass to
20.A. fortunately B. immediately C. actively D. courageously
After a long day at work, coming home is a breath of fresh air. Home is a comfortable place to sit back and relax. 1.Below are a number of things we can do to create a healthy home environment that will help to ease the workday stress and promote our physical and mental health.
2.It may seem like a tiring thing to clean but there is a reason for doing so. We can remove dust by cleaning the house. Leaving layers of dust everywhere means that there is a build-up of dust. And where do these layers of dust go? Into our lungs.
Making sure the rooms are full of sunlight is also important. We may not realize it but sunlight is an important part of our growth. We all know that sunlight promotes better working conditions. 3.Think about using a Parans system where sunlight does not reach. This technology gathers the sunlight by using solar panels(板). It can send out sunlight wherever we are.
It is also a good idea to add more plants in our house. 4.They also give off oxygen, which can lower stress and improve our moods.
Along the lines of being green, it can also be vital to think about what things we are bringing into the house. Try to avoid specific plastics that are harmful to health. 5.They may contain poisonous chemicals that can be breathed in, or simply absorbed through the skin.
A. However, is it as healthy as it can be?
B. Is our home as comfortable as it used to be?
C. The same thing applies to certain carpets and paint.
D. Going green will help to remove toxins(毒素) in the air.
E. Besides, it can reduce both stress and high blood pressure.
F. Cleaning the house regularly is the first thing we should do.
G. It is acknowledged that a greener lifestyle is linked to better health.
Google's new camera, called Clips, is a small, smart device. It comes with a case that has a clip (夹子)，but it’s not designed to be worn on your clothing. Most interestingly, it uses artificial intelligence to take photography out of your hands so it can capture moments on its own.
This roughly 2-inch by 2-inch camera, with a three-hour battery life and Gorilla Glass for toughness, is intended for candid moments, like when a child does something cute that may happen too quickly for you to pull out your smartphone.
On board the Clips device, it uses machine learning algorithms (计算程序) to help capture scenes. Those algorithms include face recognition. “Once it learns that there's a face you see frequently, it’ll try to get nice photos of those faces,” said Juston Payne, the device’s product manager. And they also want it to recognize facial expressions, which involved “training it to know what happiness looks like”. The Google team also trained it to recognize what not to shoot — like when a child’s hand is over the lens, or if it is tossed in a dark purse.
The only way to see the images is by connecting the camera with your phone, as it has no screen for viewing or editing.
Were people concerned it could seem strange? Yes, Payne admitted. But they said they addressed that by making it obvious what it is. A green light on the front signals that it is on. Besides, unlike a camera meant to monitor your home, it is not connected to the Internet.
“This product is only possible because of the way that silicon has advanced” Payne said, noting that it was only in the past year or so that they could squeeze the technology down into a device this size. Going forward, we’re likely to get more assistance from the artificial intelligence packed into our apps and gadgets.
1.What is the most outstanding feature of Clips?
A. It allows of hands-free photography. B. It enables easy internet access.
C. It is equipped with tough glass. D. It can be worn on your clothing.
2.What does the underlined word “candid”, in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. touching. B. brief C. unforgettable. D. embarrassing.
3.What makes Clips a reality according to Juston Payne?
A. The advance in technology. B. The popularity of the Internet.
C. The rise of the smartphone industry. D. The reduction in the price of lens.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A. Artificial Intelligence in Everyday Life. B. New Gadgets in the Age of Apps.
C. A New Digital Camera from Google. D. An Alternative Way to Photograph.
Someone sent me an email urging me to acquire a lot more resources, suggesting that I could do so much more good if I had an 8 or 9figure net income (净收入) instead of 6 like I’ve been doing for years. He claimed to have acquired a great deal of wealth himself and found it highly beneficial to fueling his path with a heart.
As I consider his suggestion, I find myself not having much clarity (清晰的思维) as to what I’d do with 1 million or 10 million more money flowing through my life. I put so much attention on creativity, fulfillment, exploration, relationships, etc. that I find it difficult to intelligently imagine how more financial resources could provide extra fuel for that, except in small ways or in ways that aren’t particularly meaningful to me.
Lately I’ve been considering what it would be like to deliberately reduce my income for a while and see if I could live on much less, just for the experience. What if I capped my net personal income at $10,000 per year, for instance? That isn’t such a big deal to me, though, since I already went through a period of low income like that during the 1990s, and I learned that I could still do what I love regardless of income.
I’ve never worked in a business environment — the only job I’ve ever had was working for $ 6/hour in a video game store while I was in college. So I’ve never seen how larger operations allocate resources. That’s probably why I haven’t pushed myself to acquire more. As I mentioned in my book Money and Your Path With a Heart, my main financial goal in life was to make money irrelevant in my life.
I’m not interested in building an empire. What interests me is exploring personal growth and sharing what I learn along the way. In some ways I feel that acquiring and allocating more resources could become a big distraction. I’m already doing what I want to be doing, so why risk distracting myself to acquire more resources, especially when I lack the idea about how I should treat such resources? I like having freedom and flexibility, and I don’t really see how more resources would meaningfully improve that.
1.Why did the man email the author?
A. To urge the author to earn more money. B. To lend some money to the author.
C. To share his opinion about wealth. D. To ask the author to fuel his path.
2.Which of the following can describe the author’s personality?
A. Wealthy but hardhearted. B. Independent and cooperative.
C. Unfortunate but positive. D. Optimistic and devoted.
3.What does the underlined word “capped” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?
A. Increased B. Limited C. Spent D. Distributed
4.The following are true EXCEPT ________.
A. the author might be a professional writer
B. the author is interested in exploring his personal growth
C. the author is good at designing video games
D. the author might be a person who likes sharing his knowledge
When I was three years old, I couldn't speak. It was a strange reality that none of the doctors I visited could understand.
One day, I was shadowing my mother. She found herself looking in a mirror, and through it our eyes met. She began to speak to me through the reflection, and I slowly began to mimic(模仿)her mouth's movements until I formed a word.
It turned out I'm deaf in my left ear, and have a slight problem in my right. Being hard of hearing has been difficult, but I've never lived in a state of self-hating sorrow. Imagine being able to shut out all sound as you lay your head down to sleep by simply rolling over onto one side. That's my reality when I sleep on my "good ear", and it makes me feel like a superhero sometimes.
People call my deaf side my "bad ear", but when I wear my hearing aid, I have access to a range of features that some other deaf people don't. In cinemas, for example, with one click of a button I can enjoy a whole film as though it were whispered to me from the mouths of the actors.
Owning a hearing aid hasn't always felt good, however. On the first day I got my aid, when I was eight, I took it to school for show-and-tell. As I explained how it worked to my classmates, a boy yelled out, "Aren't those for old men?" At that moment, I felt different. It took a long time for me to get over that sense of being so unlike my peers.
But it's not just school kids who can make us deaf and hard-of-hearing people feel like burdens. Every video on social media that lacks subtitles(字幕), for example, means an entire community of deaf people is unable to enjoy it. Completely deaf people are excluded from enjoying many movies too, as subtitles in cinemas are almost impossible to find.
And with hearing aids costing around $2,500 each, it can be hard for many people to afford to be able to listen to the things that others take for granted. As for me, I can listen to music, enjoy films, and catch conversations - I'm lucky. I'm deaf, but I can still hear everything. I've been blessed with wonderful life experiences, and I am human. And when it comes to sleeping, I'm even superhuman.
1.How does the author view his hearing difficulty?
A. It's a disaster and causes him a lot of trouble.
B. It helped him to live in his own world without being interrupted.
C. It made him feel embarrassed in front of his classmates.
D. It gave him a chance to experience something special.
2.What can be inferred from the passage about the author?
A. He was born deaf.
B. The hearing aid brings much convenience to his daily life.
C. His family and classmates have supported him a lot.
D. He is optimistic and helpful.
3.What is the author's attitude toward his life？
A. excited. B. anxious. C. grateful. D. disappointed.
4.What is the author's main purpose in writing the article?
A. To share his experience of treating a disadvantage with gratitude.
B. To show how difficult life is for disabled people.
C. To give advice on life to disabled people.
D. To show the convenience a hearing aid could bring.
See our editors’ top 5 picks in print books and Kindle books, and discover our editors’ picks for the best books of the year.
# 1 Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
by David Grann
In Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grami revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood. Based on years of research and new evidence, the book is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction.
Kindle: $14.99 Hardcover: $ 17.37 Paperback: $15.36
# 2 Little Fires Everywhere
by Celeste Ng
Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the fierce pull of motherhood and the danger of believing that following the rules can avoid disaster,
Little Fires Everywhere is the perfect gift for the holidays!
Kindle: $13.99 Hardcover: $ 20.96 Paperback: $ 12.95
# 3 Bear Town
by Fredrik Backman
It is a novel about a forgotten town bothered by scandal and the amateur hockey team that might just change everything into a better place. Winning a junior ice hockey championship might mean everything to the residents of Beartown.
Kindle: $10.99 Hardcover: $ 12.95
# 4 Exit West
by Mohsin Hamid
Profoundly intimate and powerfully inventive, Exit West tells an unforgettable story of love, loyalty, and courage that is both completely of our time and for all time.
Kindle: $12.99 Hardcover: $ 15.73 Paperback: $11
# 5 Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
by Yuval Harari
Yuval Noah Harari, author of the international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original and attractive book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods.
Kindle: $17.99 Hardcover: $ 28.95 Paperback: $22.99
Please SIGN IN here to see more picks from our editors.
1.Which author’s book would make a good Christmas gift?
A. Yuval Harari. B. Mohsin Hamid. C. Celeste Ng. D. David Grann.
2.Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. Killers of the Flower Moon is a sci-fi for staff in FBI
B. Bear Town tells the story of a hockey team’s growth.
C. Homo Deus is as famous as Sapiens internationally.
D. Exit West is a love story that will not be out of date.
3.Where would you most probably find this text?
A. On a website. B. In a magazine. C. In a brochure. D. In a book ad.
