How far would you go to make a good impression at a new job? A college student in Alabama walked 22 kilometers in the____to get to his new job.
Walter Carr’s____broke down the night before starting a new job at Bellhops, a furniture moving company. Several attempts as he made, Carr___ to find a ride. Knowing he couldn't afford to____it, he decided to walk and____how long it would take to walk to the job in Pelhain — 32 kilometers away. He left at midnight so that he could____it to the customer's house on time.
Carr had reportedly walked about 22 kilometers before the local police____in to help the young man. After hearing his___, they took him to breakfast. Then, they gave him a____to the home of customer Jenny Lamey, whom he was ___to help move that morning, before the rest of the____arrived.
“I asked Walter if he wanted to go___ and rest until everyone else arrived," said Lamey in a Facebook post, “He___ and said he could go ahead and get started." So, the family and Carr began __ up the home, chatting along the way.
He told Lamey that he and his mother___ from New Orleans to Birmingham after losing their __ in Hurricane Katrina, an extremely destructive and deadly one that___ the Gulf Coast of the U.S. in 2005.
“I just can’t tell you how___ I was by Walter and his journey. He is modest, kind, cheerful, hardworking and___ ." Lamey shared her story of Walter on Facebook. It spread __ , moving many others all over the world.
1.A. forest B. dark C. distance D. hurricane
2.A. vehicle B. health C. phone D. house
3.A. failed B. tried C. decided D. promised
4.A. believe B. deserve C. miss D. bear
5.A. write down B. look at C. think about D. figure out
6.A. reach B. make C. operate D. walk
7.A. stole B. cut C. stepped D. called
8.A. request B. opinion C. excuse D. story
9.A. ride B. signal C. map D. chance
10.A. allowed B. scheduled C. forced D. persuaded
11.A. customers B. policemen C. movers D. students
12.A. ahead B. outside C. upstairs D. home
13.A. hesitated B. laughed C. cried D. declined
14.A. taking B. packing C. checking D. breaking
15.A. moved B. escaped C. begged D. quarreled
16.A. way B. home C. mind D. furniture
17.A. approached B. exposed C. punished D. hit
18.A. amazed B. puzzled C. touched D. delighted
19.A. humorous B. patient C. generous D. tough
20.A. rapidly B. hardly C. normally D. suddenly
How to Raise Money for Your Favorite Charity
At the end of the year, we are often inspired to do more for people in need. 1.Don't worry. Here's a quick and easy tip-list to make such a worthy act successful.
2.You need to make sure that both you and your participants enjoy the event. So keep it simple and make sure that you add some fun, whether it's special decoration, a bag for each participant or guest, or a special theme.
Get team support.3.Teamwork may give you some new ideas and help give a unique feature to your event. Make sure that you break down the work among your team.
Plan for the “what-ifs?” If you are planning to hold an event outdoors, or if you are relying on a famous person as a guest of honor, make sure you think of a few possible alternatives.4.This is the key to successful event planning.
Timing is everything. Check your community calendar to make sure there are no important community events on the day that you are planning your event. You might want to check with other communities or non-profit organizations nearby.5.
Check out your favorite charity's website for ideas. Many websites offer advice on how to raise money. For example, the human rights charity Amnesty International lists events and ideas on its website.
A. Keep it fun and simple.
B. Tell the charity about the event.
C. Have no idea of where to begin?
D. Turn to friends for some creative ideas.
E. Remember to thank anyone who has donated.
F. Try to pick the date that will bring in the best attendance.
G. What if it starts raining or if your honored guest doesn't show up?
A study showed that the experiences children have in their first few years are important . These experiences affect the development of the brain. When children receive more attention, they often have higher IQs. Babies receive information when they see, hear and feel things, which makes connections between different parts of the brain. There are a hundred trillion(万亿)connections in the brain of a three-year-old child.
Researcher Judit Gervain tested how good newborns are at distinguishing different sound patterns. Her researchers produced images of the brains of babies as they heard different sound patterns. For example, one order was mu-ba-ba. This is the pattern"A-B-B". Another order was mu-ba-ge. This is the pattern “A-B-C”. The images showed that the part of the brain responsible for speech was more active during the" A-B-B"pattern. This shows that babies can tell the difference between different patterns. They also were sensitive to where it occurred in the order.
Gervain is excited by these findings because the order of sounds is the building block of words and grammar."Position is key to language," she says. "If something is at the beginning or at the end, it makes a big difference:'John caught the bear.' is very different from 'The bear caught John.'”
Researchers led by scientist Patricia Kuhl have found that language delivered by televisions, audio books,the Internet, or smartphones－no matter how educational－doesn’t appear to be enough for children’s brain development. They carried out a study of nine-month-old American babies. They expected the first group who’d watched videos in Chinese to show the same kind of learning as the second group who were brought face-to-face with the same sounds. Instead they found a huge difference. The babies in the second group were able to distinguish between similar Chinese sounds as well as native listeners. But the other babies －regardless of whether they had watched the video or listened to the audio－learned nothing.
1.What makes connections in a baby’s brain?
A. Having a higher IQ. B. Experiencing new information
C. The baby’ early age D. The connection with other babies
2.What did Judit Gervain and her team find in the experiment?
A. Babies identify different sound patterns.
B. Word order is relevant to meaning.
C. Babies can well understand different words.
D. A certain brain region processes language.
3.What does the underlined sentence mean in Paragraph 3?
A. Grammar is important in learning languages.
B. Different orders have different meanings.
C. Different languages have different grammar.
D. Words have different sounds.
4.What is the main conclusion from the study led by Patricia Kuhl?
A. Babies shouldn’t watch a lot of television.
B. Listening to different languages develops babies’ brain
C. Foreign languages help babies’ brain develop
D. Social communication improves babies’ brain development.
A young woman sits alone in café sipping tea and reading a book. She pauses briefly to write in a nearby notepad before showing her words to a passing café waiter: “Where are the toilets please?” This is a familiar scene in Tokyo’s so-called “silent cafes”, where customers are not allowed to speak, and only communicate by writing in notepads.
The concept rises by a desire to be alone among young Japanese, a situation brought by economic uncertainly, a shift in traditional family support structures and the growing social isolation. The phenomenon is not limited to coffee shops but covers everything from silent discos, where participants dance alone wearing wireless headphones connected to the DJ, to products such as small desk tents designed for conversation-free privacy in the office. One Kyoto company even offers single women the opportunity to have a “one woman wedding” – a full bridal affair, complete with white dress and ceremony, and the only thing missing is the groom. The trend has its own media expression – “botchi-zoku”, referring to individuals who consciously choose to do things completely on their own.
One recent weekday afternoon, Chihiro Higashikokubaru, a 23-year-old nurse, travelled 90 minutes from her home, to Tokyo on her day off in order to enjoy some solo time. Speaking quietly at the entrance of the café, Miss Higashikokubaru said: “I heard about this place via Twitter and I like the idea of coming here. I work as a nurse and it’s always very busy. There are very few quiet places in Tokyo, and it’s a big busy city. I just want to come and sit somewhere quietly on my own. I’m going to drink a cup of tea and maybe do some drawings. I like the idea of a quiet, calm atmosphere.”
The desire to be isolated is not a new concept in Japan, home to an estimated 3.6 million “hikikomori” – a more extreme example of social recluses（隐士）who withdraw completely from society.
1.What is special about the “silent café”?
A. It provides various tea and books.
B. People are not allowed to communicate.
C. It has attracted many popular young people.
D. It offers service by writing not by speaking.
2.Which of the following accounts for the idea of being alone in Japan?
A. The increasing social isolation.
B. The stable economic situation.
C. The rising demand for privacy.
D. The rapid development of internet.
3.What do we know about Higashikokubaru?
A. She doesn’t like to be a nurse.
B. She doesn’t like the life in big cities.
C. She enjoys her solo time in a quiet place.
D. She travelled to Tokyo on her work days.
4.What is the best title of the passage?
A. Silent cafes B. Lonely Japanese
C. One woman wedding D. Social recluses in Japan
I never planned to be a teacher. I was headed for a law school, for a real career. Teaching was something to “get out of my system”. I would teach a couple of years and then go to get a real job. After the first couple of years, I promised myself I would leave if I didn’t love my job any more. Twenty-nine years later, that day still has not come.
So, why do I stay? I stay because I laugh and learn every day. The children are funny, insightful, and honest. If my shoes don’t match my outfit, they tell me. If my argument that Invisible Man is an important twentieth century classics doesn’t convince them, they tell me.
I stay because every single day is different. Some days, my lessons are great, and I have classes of students who are engaged in reading, writing and thinking. Some days, my lessons fall flat, and I realize that I need to start from scratch — even after 29 years.
I stay because I love to see the children realize that they have learned something — whether it’s how to craft an argumentative thesis sentence or how to understand the effect of repetition in The Declaration of Independence. I love to see the children write well; I love the feeling of reading a well-argued essay, and I love smiling as I write a final “Awesome job!” on a paper on which a student has worked hard.
I stay because what I’ve learned in 29 years is that I do have a “real” job — the most real job there is. It’s the one that leads to other jobs, that helps to create good thinkers who go on to be productive in our society, and that supports our community as it grows and times change. My job is among the ones that matter most.
1.The author became a teacher because he ____________.
A. needed money to go to a law school B. loved dealing with children
C. loved teaching very much D. failed to get a “real” job
2.We can infer from Paragraph 2 that the author _________.
A. often pays no attention to his outfit B. is good at convincing his students
C. enjoys his time with his students D. doesn’t read many classics
3.According to Paragraph 4, the author continues to teach most probably because ________.
A. teaching makes him feel he can make a difference to children
B. teaching makes him realize every day is different
C. he can learn a lot of things from teaching
D. he likes to be praised by his students
4.What is the passage mainly about?
A. What the author has learned as a teacher.
B. What the author thinks of being a teacher.
C. Why the author didn’t choose to become a lawyer.
D. Why the author chooses to stay as a teacher.
Aruba is one of the most well-known Caribbean destinations for tourists around the world.
You’re probably wondering what to include as well as what to wear while you’re in Aruba.
Clothes
The main reason why you’re heading there is to relax on the country’s fresh beaches and joy in warm waters of the Caribbean Sea. During most of the day, you’ll likely be wearing your swimsuit. When you’re finished at the beach or pool area, it is advisable to bring along a shirt or cover as well as shorts to wear.
It is not recommended to wear beach clothes when you go out for dinner – regardless of the time of day. Shorts and T-shirts are enough in many restaurants, although more formal clothes are advised for the fanciest eating establishments.
What else to bring?
The Caribbean sun is very strong and if you’re planning on spending lots of time in the sun, there are several precautions you must take. Include suncream, sunglasses, a wide hat, a couple of bathing suits, as well as a beach bag and a cooler in your luggage.
What NOT to bring?
While drinking water is questionable or not safe in many Caribbean nations, Aruba is an exception. Aruba is known for having the cleanest water in the world. There is no need to bring water, simply bring along an empty bottle.
Several items are prohibited in Aruba for carrying. These include firearms, e-cigarettes, as well as sharp objects and tools.
1.Tourists choose Aruba for a destination mainly because__________.
A. they can wear casual clothes freely
B. they can enjoy the beautiful scenery
C. they can relax on the beach and in waters
D. they can have a wonderful dinner party there
2.Which of the following is not advised to do in Aruba?
A. Wearing a T-shirt in a restaurant.
B. Preparing suncream in advance.
C. Wearing beach clothes for dinner.
D. Taking along sun glasses before going out.
3.The purpose of the text is to__________.
A. provide information for tourists
B. offer advice on travelling in Aruba
C. attract more tourists to travel in Aruba
D. warn tourists against doing wrong things
