The MOOCs (massive open online courses) reached its peak of popularity in 2012. Now while people who drop out outnumber those who sign up for online courses and MOOCs are still the early days, there’s no denying there’s still value in their existence. Courses does not give our figures on its paying learners. Udacity says it has 13,000 people doing its degrees. Whatever the number are, the reinvented MOOCs matter because they are solving two problems they share with every provider of later-life education.
The first of these is the cost of learning, not just in money but also in time. Formal education rests on the idea of qualifications that take a set period to complete. Students in their early 20s can more easily afford a lengthy time commitment because they are less likely to have other responsibilities. However, people in later life, when they manage part-time of distance learning, find balancing learning, working and family life can cause great pressures.
Moreover, the world of work increasingly demands a quick response from the education system to provide people with the desired qualifications. To take one example from Burning Class, in 2014 alone 65,000 American job-vacancy（职位空缺）ads asked for a cyber-security certificate. Since only 50,000 people in America hole such a certificate and it takes five years of experience to earns one, that requirement will be hard to meet. Lets demanding professions also put up huge harriers to entry. If you want to become a licensed cosmetologist（美容师）in New Hampshire, you will need to have gained 1,500 hours of training.
In response, the MOOCs have tried to make their content as digestible and flexible as possible. Degrees are broken onto modules; modules into courses; courses into short periods. The MOOCs test for the most suitable length to ensure people complete the course; six minutes is thought to be the sweet spot for online video and four weeks for a course.
1.What can we infer about the MOOCs?
A.They came into being in 2012.
B.They offer more course to choose from.
C.They are still immature but promising.
D.They help solve problems cause by jobs markets.
2.What may cause pressure to people who take up learning in late life?
A.Time management. B.Education cost.
C.Job hunting. D.Distance learning.
3.What can we learn from the text?
A.Getting certificates can be quicker by learning online.
B.Young students can't afford formal education.
C.Online learning will guarantee one a good job.
D.Entering less demanding jobs is easier.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A.Education and Work B.Qualifications and Requirements
C.The Return of the MOOCs D.The Development of the MOOCs
The latest data form Nature’s Calendar shows that the butterflies, newts and neat-building blackbirds have been spotted months before they would normally appear. An analysis of the conditions in 2019 found that all but one of the 50 spring events the scheme（计划）tracks were early last year, as a result of warmer winter temperatures. The Woodland Trust, which runs the Nature’s Calendar scheme, warns that many species are losing their seasonal cues（提示）as winters warm and seasons shift.
Increasingly unstable weather could tempt some animals out of hibernation（冬眠）too soon, only to be hit by sharply dropping temperatures. And some birds appeared to be breeding too late as they make the most of vital food sources that appear earlier than normal, the Trust said.
Lorienne Whittle, at the Woodland Trust, said, “ It seems that last year we almost lost winter as a season--it was much milder and our data shows wildlife is responding, potentially putting many at risk.”
And she said, “It appears that some species are able to adapt to the advancing spring better than others. Oak trees respond by producing their first leaves earlier and caterpillars seem to be keeping pace. But blue tits, great tits and pied flycatchers are struggling to react in time for their chicks to take advantage of the peak amount of caterpillars--the food source on which they depend.”
Active newts were recorded in late December in Cheshire and a blackbird was spotted building a nest at the beginning of January. Accordingly, a report for The Wildlife Trusts suggested that hedgerows（树篱）be protected from being cut during the nesting season.
1.What does the underlined word“temp" in paragraph 2 probably mean?
A.Help. B.Attract.
C.Guide. D.Cheat.
2.Why are oak trees mentioned in the text?
A.To explain why plants respond to the climate change.
B.To prove some species fit in with the climate change better.
C.To show how caterpillars react to the changing environment.
D.To suggest plants adapt to warmer winters better than animals.
3.How is the text mainly developed?
A.By listing environmental damages. B.By offering practical suggestions.
C.By making striking comparisons. D.By presenting tracking results.
4.What is the text mainly about?
A.Some birds are in danger of dying out.
B.Warmer winters increase the threat to wildlife.
C.A scheme will be carried out to protect wildlife.
D.Plants are struggling to survive warmer winters.
Designing a winter coat that transforms into a sleeping bag for people living on the streets would have been enough for most folks to sit back and revel（陶醉）in a kind deed done well. Others would call it good if they managed to take the attempt a step further by creating jobs for homeless people to sew the garments.
But Veronika Scott, the founder of the Empowerment Plan, wants those achievements to be just two of many stepping stones on the path to dreams fulfilled for single parents struggling to provide homes for their kids. Her vision has grown far beyond the design-school project thought up five years ago, when she was a 21-year-old student and people on the streets started calling her”the crazy coat lady”. Now The Empowerment Plan, is a fully developed business that has provided convertible（可变的）coats to more than 20,000 globally, given jobs and education to more than 40 parents, and helped move more than 80 children out of shelters.
Scott said she’s proud of the sleeping-bag coat she designed, but her main goal is getting people to the point where they and their families would never need one. That means locking past merely giving homeless parents jobs, but also helping them gain the education and skills needed to leave. The Empowerment Plan after a couple years and pursue their dreams.
Scott’s drive comes from her own upbringing as the scared child of parents who both struggled with unemployment and addiction. “The Empowerment Plan was a way of creating something I wish my own family had had growing up: an employment opportunity that would allow them to stabilize and get the financial stability they never had.”
Scott wanted to show parents and their kids “that living in a homeless shelter isn’t a defining （定义性的）characteristic, nor a life sentence.” Her employees all have been able to move into permanent housing with their children within the first four to six weeks of working for The Empowerment Plan, she said.
1.What is The Empowerment Plan's final aim?
A.More sleeping-bag cut can be produced.
B.The homeless can own a permanent house.
C.The project can cover all the homeless people.
D.Homeless families can stand on their own feet.
2.What motivates Scott to start the project?
A.Homeless people's suffering. B.Her enthusiasm for design.
C.Her background of growth. D.Upsetting social problems.
3.Which of the following can best describe Scott?
A.Ambitious and earning. B.Cooperative and generous.
C.Proud and patient. D.Creative and demanding.
4.Which section of a website is this text most likely from?
A.Fun lifestyles. B.Latest News.
C.Diverse Cultures. D.True Stories.
The 2020 Advertisement Design Competition
The Advertisement Design Competition is international design contest organized by the A’ Design Award and Competition, which is the word's largest design competition awarding best designs, design concepts and products & services. This Competition primarily targets to highlight the best advertisement design ideas in Graphics Design. Award Winners usually get recognition opportunities, appear on various publications and get press attendance.
How to join
Joining the Advertisement Deign Competition is easy: Crete an account at the A’ Design Award and Competition, login to your account and send your work. When you submit your work,it will be checked by the preliminary judges for necessary qualities. Then, your design will be either Approved or Rejected to take part in the competition. If your design is approved you can continue recommending your design by paying the necessary processing fees.
Benefits for Award Winners
A unique public relations campaign will be made for the Advertisement Design Award winners. Your work and your details will be communicated to thousands of press contacts, and also we will prepare a media kit for you. You can use this professionally prepared media kit to contact local press contacts. The winning design and the designer or the design studio will also be featured in the design annual and yearbook which distributed by Design PR Wire to key figures in the design industry such as famous editors, press members and multi-national companies. All Winner Designs will be included in the winners’ book free of charge. The winners will be listed as co-editors of the work.
Submit your design by 25 November 2020. You will be informed of the outcome by 25 December 2020.
1.What's the main purpose of the Advertisement Design Competition?
A.To collect ad designs for a book.
B.To draw special attention to ad design concepts
C.To make ad design international.
D.To promote ad design in popular media
2.What should you do first if you want to join the competition?
A.Submit your wort B.Pay necessary fee.
C.Register an account. D.Recommend your design.
3.What can Award Winners get?
A.Chances to get noted. B.Access to Design PR Wire.
C.Positions as editors. D.Contact with other competitions.
阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。续写的词数应为150左右。
An old wooden seat that Susan extremely valued often reminded her of mother’s Golden Rule.
Back in the 1930s, the country life was really tough. One day after dinner, Susan’s mother sat on the seat, announcing to the children the Golden Rule: “Treat others the way you want to be treated.” Susan reflected carefully and seriously on what her mother had said. She resolved that she would keep in mind and follow the rule.
One Saturday afternoon, she went to farmer Jason’s inn (小旅馆) to get the pay for her mother’s washing for the guests there, which amounted to five dollars. She found Jason in the yard, who, as all the villagers knew, was selfish and mean.
His eyes clouded with anger, as he had just finished a quarrel with one of his guests. He held in his hand an open wallet, full of bills. He barely noticed Susan until she made her request for the money. Instead of shouting at her, as usual, for troubling him when he was busy, he handed her a bank note.
Feeling relieved for escaping from Jason so easily, Susan hurried out of the inn. When carefully putting the money into her pocket, she discovered that Jason had given her two bills instead of one, and her first reaction was joy at the unexpected prize. She looked around and there was nobody nearby to share her discovery. “It is mine. All mine.” she said to herself. “I will buy mum a new coat with it, and she can give her old one to sister Mary, and then Mary can go to the Sunday school with me next winter. I wonder if I can buy a pair of shoes for brother Tom too.”
Just at that moment, she realized that Jason must have given the extra money to her by mistake, and therefore she had no right to own it. But a voice of temptation (诱惑) whispered, “He gave it, and you can keep it. He will never know, even if it is a mistake. ”
As Susan hurried home, this conflict went on in her mind.
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Susan’s face became red with embarrassment and annoyance.
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假定你是李华，你校将举办“中国印象”摄影展。请给你的新西兰朋友Henry写封邮件，邀请他参展。内容包括：
1. 展览的目的；
2. 展览的时间和地点；
3. 作品的要求和截止日期。
注意：1. 词数80左右；
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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