One of Asia’s best-known tourist attractions is taking a major stand for animals.
Following the____from animal activist groups, Apsara, the management authority for the Angkor Archaeological Park in Siem Reap, Cambodia announced in June 2019 it would____ elephant rides in early 2020. Now, the process has already_____.
Local outlet the Khmer Times reports that on November 15, two of the 14 elephants______ at the park, site of the______Angkor Wat temple, have been _____to the nearby Bos Thom community____ . Long Kosal, an Apsara press representative, told the Khmer Times that the remaining dozen_____would be relocated to the same forest by “early next year.” “The elephant is a big animal, but it is also_____and can be hurt easily. We don’t want to see the animals being used for tourism ____anymore,” Kosal said. “We want them to live in their natural surroundings.”
In 2016, an elephant named Sambo died at Angkor, drawing worldwide_____. Her death was_____a combination of heat stroke and_____from ferrying so many human beings around. Two years later, the World Wildlife Fund_____an in-depth report on the present situation of the Asian elephant, noting that the species ___had declined by 50% in just three generations.
According to Angkor Enterprise, which manages park admissions, the UNESCO-listed site is ____a decline in tourist numbers. Its ____report says 1.8 million foreign tourists____ passes to the temple complex from January to September—a 13.7% decline over the same 10-month period in 2018. While there‟s no predicting whether Cambodia‟s ban on Angkor elephant rides will ___visitor numbers, it comes at a time when more and more_____ and tourism organizations around the world have moved to eliminate animal-related attractions.
1.A.steps B.pressure C.example D.trend
2.A.continue B.improve C.ban D.reform
3.A.stopped B.undertaken C.established D.begun
4.A.currently B.permanently C.steadily D.compulsorily
5.A.famous B.shabby C.typical D.remote
6.A.lent B.contributed C.sent D.submitted
7.A.clinic B.forest C.circus D.zoo
8.A.participants B.pets C.performers D.animals
9.A.gentle B.dangerous C.strong D.interesting
10.A.routine B.facility C.activities D.accommodation
11.A.attention B.donation C.respect D.sympathy
12.A.come from B.accused of C.led to D.blamed on
13.A.consumption B.exhaustion C.annoyance D.absorption
14.A.leaked B.claimed C.published D.investigated
15.A.popularity B.existence C.presentation D.population
16.A.solving B.facing C.emphasizing D.revealing
17.A.longest B.widest C.latest D.biggest
18.A.refused B.bought C.entered D.paid
19.A.compensate B.switch C.corrupt D.impact
20.A.volunteers B.employees C.travelers D.enthusiasts
Finding a new job isn’t always easy. You search for a suitable vacancy, send in an application form and if that goes well, you might be invited for an interview. 1. —you‟re going to be faced by a panel of strangers who‟ll fire difficult questions at you, and you‟ll have to actually prove yourself. But how would you feel if, instead of being asked why you want the job, you‟re asked to stand up and dance?!
From the perspective of a company, it wants to hire the right person because they can make a big difference to the success of the organization. 2.. A good interview process should involve rigorous screening (筛选) of job applicants and effective questions that every applicant gets asked. But that‟s not always the case.
3. . She told the BBC that some companies “give their interviewers little or no training and often leave them completely on their own when it comes to figuring out what to ask job candidates.” She mentions that some interviewers are too casual and some focus on building a good rapport (融洽的关系)and end up hiring the candidate they just “clicked with” (与……引起共鸣), regardless of their skills and abilities.
An inexperienced interviewer may think it‟s clever to ask “if you were an animal, what kind would you be?” That has been asked, Alison Green says, but in reality this has no connection with the job.
4.. Talking of inappropriate, the BBC heard from a number of people who were surprised by the questions they were asked in an interview. Mature student Kevin Helton said that “the interviewer asked, “you used to be in the Army, how many people have you killed?”
But Alison Green points out: 5. , and while the interviewer might be making judgments, the candidate can also make their own judgement and decide if this is really the career move (职业发展) they want to make!
A.While a candidate might feel at the mercy of an interviewer, they are able to question why they‟re being asked something
B.Alison Green is an author and creator of the workplace advice column “Ask a Manager”
C.For some, this is when the panic sets in
D.It is a tough time for most of us
E.It therefore needs to test a candidate in the most appropriate way to discover how suitable he or she may be
F.We may be in such a case when in an interview
G.And there have been inappropriate requests, such as one job seeker being asked to show the interviewer the inside of her handbag to demonstrate how organized she was
Many mental health professionals viewed the pursuit of happiness as a foolish mistake until quite recently. Most of them used to concentrate their energy and attention on individuals suffering from diseases like depression and anxiety, or on relieving despair rather than promoting well-being. But that’s all beginning to change. Supporters of “positive psychology” think that happiness is a goal that people can—and should—work toward. They believe that it’s not only possible but crucially important. Health means not just the absence of disease but a positive sense of involvement and engagement in life. Unless you know how to enjoy life, your life is not really happy. This doesn’t mean that finding happiness is easy—a variety of obstacles stands in the way. The first, perhaps the biggest, is genetics.
Happiness, it seems, is decided—at least in part—by personality features that are largely passed on from their parents. In a study published in 2018, researchers at the University of Edinburgh examined personality and happiness data on more than 900 pairs of twins. They found a close genetic relationship between happiness and positive personalities such as openness and agreeableness. Identical twins (同卵双胞胎) were more likely to share these positive features than non-identical twins; they were also more likely to report similar levels of well-being.
Major life events as well as social and economic factors can also stand in the way of happiness. More often than not, however, people get in their own way by looking for happiness in all the wrong places. They aren’t particularly good at recognizing what will bring them lasting joy: Although money tops many people’s wish lists, study after study has found that once basic needs are met, additional wealth doesn’t add much to people’s sense of well-being and contentment.
Experts in the field of positive psychology still believe it’s possible for people to push their happiness upward—not just temporarily but over the long term.
1.What’s the shift in mental health study?
A.Health means the absence of disease.
B.Emphasis is placed on the pursuit of happiness.
C.Well-being is found to be something one was born with.
D.More attention is paid to anxiety and depression.
2.Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A.Different obstacles are in the way of finding happiness.
B.Happiness is largely dictated by one’s personality.
C.Identical twins are more likely to be on the same level of well-being than non-identical twins.
D.Wealth always plays an important role in people’s sense of happiness and contentment.
3.The obstacles standing in the way of happiness include all of the following elements EXCEPT .
A.emotive factors B.genetics
C.social factors D.economic factors
4.According to the experts of positive psychology, what’s the essential point of the pursuit of happiness?
A.Material prosperity. B.Freedom.
C.Long-term efforts. D.The avoidance of stress.
The Cosmic Crisp—a new super-sweet variety of apple that can reportedly last longer than a year in the refrigerator—is expected to hit grocery stores in the US this week.
The Cosmic Crisp’s release comes after two decades of development and some three years of planting apple trees. Washington state farmers have exclusive growing rights for one decade, according to local media KIMA. The apple, developed by Washington State University‟s fruit tree breeding program and first cultivated in 1997, is said to have a “remarkably firm and crisp texture” and be surprisingly sweet, making it an excellent eating apple, according to its website.
The fruit, a cross between the Enterprise and Honeycrisp apple varieties, was bred to feature “naturally higher levels of acidity and sugar”, so much so that one can use less sugar while baking, researchers claim. They also say that it‟s “naturally slow to brown when cut and maintains its texture and flavor in storage for more than a year.”
Its name stems from the tiny bright dots on the apple‟s otherwise darker red skin. Tasters said the flecks reminded them of “outer space and the cosmos,” Cosmic Crisp‟s website noted. Just over 450,000 40lb boxes of the cosmic Crisp crop were expected to be shipped to retailers across the US on Sunday, according to the Spokane-based Spokesman-Review.
The producers hope the shipments will grow to 2.1m boxes in 2020. For those who can‟t wait for their local grocery store to stock them, four apples were retailing for $39 online over the weekend.
The initial 600,000 Cosmic Crisp trees were sold to farmers in 2017, researchers reportedly said. Since then, more than 10m Cosmic Crisp trees were planted, Kate Evans, who heads the university‟s Pome Fruit Breeding Program, told the Spokesman-Review.
1.How long can the new apples last?
A.They can last shorter than three years. B.They can last longer than a year.
C.They can last a year. D.They can last one decade.
2.What is the third paragraph mainly about?
A.The features of the Cosmic Crisp. B.The way of planting the Cosmic Crisp.
C.The cost of planting the Cosmic Crisp. D.The shape of the Cosmic Crisp.
3.What does the underlined word “flecks” mean?
A.Flavour. B.Red skin.
C.The tiny bright dots. D.Stars.
4.What is the author’s attitude towards this Cosmic Crisp?
A.Pessimistic. B.Disapproving.
C.Subjective. D.Objective.
Li Ziqi, a vlogger who enjoys a fan base of more than 21 million people on Sina Weibo and 7 million strong followers on YouTube, has made a name for herself in her videos that highlight a traditional Chinese way of life in the rural areas of Sichuan Province. Her videos cover a wide variety of crafts related to traditional Chinese culture. From making paper and ink to weaving cloth, from making a silk quilt comforter for her grandmother to building her own bread kiln with blocks, nothing seems impossible with Li’s crafty hands as they work their magic to bring these things into existence. But Li’s most eye-catching, and mouth-watering craft is cooking.
Li scarcely speaks in her videos. When she does open her mouth, the most common phrase that comes out is her calling her grandmother to come and eat. Instead of dialogue, Li focuses on how she works with her hands. Watching her videos, it is difficult not to appreciate their beauty and hold back that sense of nostalgia (怀旧) and longing for home. But it is even harder not to want to take a bite of her succulent dishes, which really remind viewers of taste of our childhood and home.
Glamorous as her present life may seem, life was difficult for her during her youth as she and her grandparents had little to live on. Li herself revealed that she was “economically supported” to continue schooling. She started to work in the city at 14 and would not have returned to her childhood home if not for her grandmother falling ill in 2012. After returning home, Li opened an online shop, Li Ziqi, to sell mostly edible products. To boost sales, she began making short films in 2016 about how these products were created, while covering her life in the rural area, all against the backdrop of traditional Chinese aesthetics (审美). “I started it because I wanted to create something for people to watch and relax. We are all under a lot of stress. I hoped that after a long and busy day, they could click on my videos and relieve some of their anxiety and pressure,” Li said.
However, Li is not without criticism, such as remarks about her “beautifying” life in the country and her use of a professional production crew to help her film. Others have expressed skepticism about how “real” her videos are, and how “amazing it is that she looks so picture perfect after a long day of work in the fields.”
1.According to the passage, we can know the following EXCEPT .
A.it was her grandmother‟ falling ill that made her return to her hometown
B.masses of viewers from both home and abroad are hooked by her videos
C.she never opens her mouth in her videos because she has difficulty in speaking
D.many viewers speak highly of her videos while some of them throw doubt on her
2.What words can be best used to describe Li Ziqi?
A.Aggressive and strong-willed. B.Crafty and considerate.
C.Humorous and stubborn. D.Ambitious and severe.
3.From Li Ziqi’s story, we can know that .
A.Many hands make light work B.An idle youth, a needy age
C.Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful D.God helps those who help themselves
4.What is the best title for the passage?
A.Young vlogger tells story of China in picturesque videos
B.An Internet celebrity makes delicious dishes
C.Relaxing videos are made with passion
D.The more traditional, the more popular
From the most talked about politicians to the most popular TV shows, the social media platform—Twitter has unveiled what its users have been most fixated (最关注的) with over the past year.
Most tweeted-about TV shows 2019
HBO’s “Game of Thrones” claimed the title of the most tweeted-about TV show of the year, despite many criticizing the series for an anti-climatic finale.
It was followed by streaming giant Netflix‟s “Stranger Things” and long-standing animated sitcom
“The Simpsons”.
Most tweeted-about films 2019
2019 American superhero film “Avengers: Endgame” became the highest-grossing film of all time when it was released earlier this year, grossing nearly $2.8 billion worldwide and its success was reflected on Twitter, making it the platform‟s most-talked about movie of the year. It was followed by “Toy Story 4” and American psychological thriller “Joker”.
Most tweeted-about hashtags 2019
The top news-related hashtags worldwide included NotreDame after France‟s landmark cathedral caught fire, causing irreversible damage to the building which dates back to 856 and is considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture.
Other popular news hashtags included Brexit, Christ Church and Climate Strike, in line with the biggest stories that have been dominating the global news agenda.
Most tweeted-about politicians 2019
US politicians topped the list for the most tweeted-about politicians worldwide, with President Donald Trump weighing in first. Former US President Obama was next on the list, followed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Also in the top 10 is US Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, popularly known as AOC, who made waves on the US political stage this year and is a strong supporter of the Green New Deal. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and French President Emmanuel Macron were also in the top 10.
Most tweeted-about emoji 2019
The social media platform kept track emoji usage as well, finding that the laughing face with tears of joy was the most used, followed by the crying face and heart eyes emoji.
1.Which of the following can be WRONG from Most tweeted-about TV shows 2019 and Most tweeted-about films 2019?
A.No film has earned more money than “Avengers: Endgame” so far.
B.When you see “Joker”, there is possibility that you will feel thrilled.
C.“Toy Story 4” is second only to “Avengers: Endgame” in popularity.
D.“Game of Thrones” enjoys a great success without any criticism.
2.It can be inferred that “hashtags” mainly refers to .
A.topics that people show little interest in
B.particular subjects that arouse people‟s attention worldwide
C.events that have controversial endings
D.subjects that are prohibited from being talked about
3.According to Twitter, we can know that from the last two parts.
A.there is no Asian politician on the list of Most tweeted-about politicians 2019
B.crying face is used more frequently than the laughing face with tears
C.US politicians are relatively more influential than politicians from other countries in 2019
D.US Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is strongly against the Green New Deal
