Tips to Increase Your Productivity
Want to get more done in your day? Of course you do. 1.The good news is that everyone can increase the amount of tasks they accomplish in a day. Here are some tips to help you have a more productive day.
Make a plan for your day. Make sure you know how you want your day to go in advance, even before you start. 2. To work best, create the next day’s plan the night before so that every morning you spend time performing, not planning.
Break large tasks down into bits accomplished easily. Do you have a large project that’s just so big that you keep putting it off? Or maybe you’re just unsure of where to begin, so you put it off. 3.Therefore, you will feel a sense of accomplishment as you check the items of your list.
Always set your priorities (优先事项). 4. Figure out what must be done, do that first and rank the rest of your work according to importance. If you don’t get to the items at the end of your list, it won’t be a big problem, and you can do them another time.
5. If you are the most productive in the morning, that’s when you should hit it hard and do as much as you can. If you work better in the afternoon, take care of some things like emails in the morning and then accomplish the important projects in the afternoon. Keep on top of your work habits, and you’ll be more productive.
A. Reward yourself if you are productive.
B. This can provide you a roadmap for the day.
C. Be aware of when you are the most productive.
D. It’s tough to meet depressed people who are productive.
E. It’s important to accomplish the most important tasks first.
F. A good way is to break the project down into more manageable ones.
G. To stay competitive in any industry, you need to improve your productivity.
According to new research from the University of Cambridge in England, sheep are able to recognize human faces from photographs. The farm animals, who are social and have large brains, were previously known to be able to recognize one another, as well as familiar humans. However, their ability to recognize human faces from photos alone is novel.
The recent study shows the woolly creatures could be trained to recognize still images of human faces, including those of former President Barack Obama and actress Emma Watson.
Initially, the sheep were trained to approach certain images by being given food rewards. Later, they were able to recognize the images for which they had been rewarded. The sheep could even recognize images of faces shown at an angle, though their ability to do so declined by about 15 percent—the same rate at which a humans ability to perform the same task declines.
“Anyone who has spent time working with sheep will know that they are intelligent, individual animals who are able to recognize their handlers,” said Professor Jenny Morton, who led the Cambridge study. “We’ve shown with our study that sheep have advanced face-recognition abilities, comparable with those of humans and monkeys.”
Recognizing faces is one of the most important social skills for human beings, and some disorders of the brain, including Huntington’s disease, affect this ability. “Sheep are long-lived and have brains that are similar in size and complexity to those of some monkeys. That means they can be useful models to help us understand disorders of the brain, such as Huntington’s disease, which develop over a long time and affect cognitive abilities. Our study gives us another way to monitor how these abilities change,” Morton said.
1.According to the new research, what’s unusual about sheep?
A.They have large brains.
B.They can recognize their owners.
C.They can tell animals from humans.
D.They can recognize human faces from photographs.
2.How did the researchers train the sheep?
A.By giving food rewards.
B.By showing photos of famous people.
C.By guiding them to follow their handlers.
D.By showing photos of humans and monkeys by turns.
3.What can be inferred from the passage?
A.Sheep have a higher face-recognition ability than monkeys.
B.Sheep recognize faces same well when shown photos at any angle.
C.The new discovery is beneficial to the study of cognitive ability changes.
D.The sheep’s face-recognition ability may prevent some disorders of the brain.
4.What’s the best title of the passage?
A.A Wonderful Scientist
B.The Life of Sheep
C.The Sheep’s Recognition of Each Other
D.A New Discovery about Sheep
Air travel can be annoying. But research now suggests global warming could make it much worse. To get off the ground in really hot weather, planes may be forced to carry fewer passengers. That might mean a little more space, which would be good. However, it also would make the passengers pay more.
Average air temperatures around the world are rising because people are polluting the air with increasing amounts of greenhouse gases, which, such as carbon dioxide, are a byproduct of burning fuels. Those warmer temperatures can influence an airplane’s ability to fly because air molecules (分子) spread out more as the air warms. This produces less lift under a plane’s wings, so a plane must be lighter to take off in hot weather than on cooler days.
It can even prove too dangerous for some planes to attempt a take-off. A record of June heat wave in the American Southwest, for instance, caused flight cancellations in Phoenix, Ariz. One airline ‘s planes were cleared to operate only up to 47.8℃. On June 20, Phoenix reached 48.3℃!
Radley Horton is a climate scientist at Columbia University. Two years ago, he and his graduate student Ethan David Coffel studied the effect of warming at four US airports and found that warming of track could triple (使成三倍) the number of days when planes face weight restrictions. Later, they explored the effect of rising temperatures on five types of commercial planes flying out of 19 of the world’s busiest airports. In the coming decades, as many as one to three out of every 10 flights that take off during the hottest time of day could face weight restrictions, they found. In some cases, a typical 160-seat plane would have to remove 4％of its weight. That would be equal to taking a dozen people off the plane, the researchers calculated.
1.How would global warming affect air travel according to the first paragraph?
A.It’ll add to the danger of flying.
B.It’ll increase passengers’ travel cost.
C.It’ll make flying much more comfortable.
D.It’ll encourage more people to travel by plane.
2.What is the second paragraph actually intended to explain?
A.How global warming is happening. B.What decides a plane’s ability to fly.
C.Why global warming affects flying. D.Where greenhouse gases are created.
3.What is the last paragraph mainly about?
A.Reasons for flight cancellation. B.Financial condition related to hot air.
C.The tendency of temperature change. D.Findings of effects of warming on flying.
4.What should be the best title for the text?
A.Air Travel isn’t Recommended during Hot Weather
B.Rising Temperatures May Reduce the Number of Flights
C.Weight Restrictions Are More Common in More Airports
D.Hotter Air May Lead to Planes Carrying Fewer Passengers
When 6-year-old Jack Foley crossed the finish line last month at the Long Beach Kids Triathlon, it was more than an athletic achievement. His completion marked a remarkable recovery from a rare heart condition.
The journey began before Jack was born.
At a routine 20-week examination, doctors told parents-to-be Rob Foley and Lauren Kiefer-Foley of Long Island, New York, that the fetus’ (胎儿的) heart wasn’t properly developing. “The doctor told us, ‘we can’t see the left side of the baby’s heart,’ Kiefer-Foley recalled.” He told us, “you need to get to a cardiologist (心脏病专家) first thing in the morning.”
Further tests would confirm a diagnosis of hypo plastic left heart syndrome, a rare birth fault affecting the heart’s ability to pump blood through the body. Doctors informed the couple about the risks and challenges their child could face. “We were advised by many doctors to terminate our pregnancy because the condition is so severe. They told us that most babies don’t even survive birth, let alone the first surgery,” Kiefer-Foley said.
Nonetheless, the couple decided to give their baby a chance.
After Jack was born at full-term via a scheduled C-section (剖腹产), doctors took him straight to a care unit to administer the level of care he would need before his first open-heart surgery days later. “When the doctor said ‘it’s a boy!’ I didn’t get to see him for hours after that.” Kiefer-Foley said. They would also have to wait until after Jack’s first surgery to hold him for the first time.
With a successful delivery behind them, it was now up to Dr. Emile Bacha, chief of Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital to guide Jack through a series of surgeries to repair the newborn’s heart.
1.Why did the author say “it was more than an athletic achievement” in Paragraph 1?
A.Jack was only six years old.
B.The event was too difficult.
C.Jack once suffered from severe heart disease.
D.Jack didn’t recover from severe heart disease.
2.What was the bad effect of Jack’s disease?
A.It led to inadequate blood supply. B.The beat of heart was not heard.
C.His intelligence will not develop properly. D.The right side of the baby’s heart can’t be seen.
3.What does the underlined word “terminate” in Paragraph 4 refer to?
A.continue B.stop
C.change D.adjust
4.What will most probably be talked about in the next part of the text?
A.Jack’s journey all over the world.
B.The sorrow and despair of Jack’s parents.
C.Jack’s major academic achievement.
D.Jack’s remarkable recovery from heart disease.
Bookstores are a traveller's best friend: they provide convenient shelter in bad weather, and they often host readings and other cultural events. Here is a look at world’s six greatest bookstores.
Adrian Harrington—since 1971. Rare books; rare first editions; leather bound sets and general antiquarian (古玩). Address: 64A Kensington Church Street, Kensington, London, England, U.K.
Another Country—Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany. Another Country is an English Language second hand bookshop which is mostly used as a library. They have about 20,000 books that you can buy or borrow. Some regular events are held at the shop, such as readings, cultural events, social evenings and film nights.
Atlantis Books—Oía, Santorini, Greece. Atlantis Books is an independent bookshop on the island of Santorini, Greece, founded in 2004 by a group of friends from Cyprus, England, and the United States. Throughout the year it has hosted literary festivals, film screenings, book readings, and good old fashioned dance parties.
Bart’s Books—Ojai, California, U.S.A. “The World’s Greatest Outdoor Bookstore”, a bookstore founded by Richard Bartinsdale in 1964. Shelves of books face the street, and regular customers are asked to drop coins into the door’s coin box to pay for any books they take whenever the store is closed.
10 Corso Como—Milan, Italy. Extensive selection of publication on art, architecture, design, graphics and fashion, along with a strong emphasis on photography. It was founded in 1990 in Milan, Italy, by Carla Sozzani.
The Bookworm—A bookshop, library, bar, restaurant and event space, now with four divisions in three cities—Beijing, Suzhou and Chengdu. The interconnecting rooms with floor-to-ceiling books on every wall are light and airy in summer, yet warm and comfortable in winter.
1.Which of the following bookstores has the longest history?
A. Adrian Harrington. B. Atlantis Books.
C. Bart’s Books. D. 10 Como Bookshop.
2.What can you do in Atlantis Books?
A. Attend a festival. B. Learn photography.
C. Enjoy rare books. D. Buy books anytime.
3.How is The Bookworm different from the other bookstores?
A. It is used as a library. B. It hosts all sorts of activities.
C. It focuses on photography. D. It has branches in different cities.
假定你是李华，你的美国朋友Linda打算向你学习制作风筝。请你写封邮件告知你的教学计划。内容包括：
1. 时间和地点；
2. 内容：学习制作风筝；
3. 课前准备：读有关风筝的书并挑选自己最喜欢的风筝图片。
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Linda,
I am writing to tell you about our kite-making class next week.
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Yours,
Li Hua
