Born in Shanghai in 1981, Yang Ji studied accounting in college before becoming a civil servant in 2005, fulfilling his parents’ wishes of him securing a stable job. But he only lasted a year in that role. “I’ve loved animals since I was a child. I raised many animals, such as goldfish, turtles and pigeons during my school years,” he says. “Raising animals was my hobby and my dream.”
Yang made a career switch in 2006, and started working at a chicken farm to learn about breeding (培育) birds.
“The first five years were very difficult for me. I made many mistakes along the way, but I also learned a lot,” he says. “For example, there are huge differences between raising a chicken and a swan.”
He shared that the first swans he bought eventually became crippled (瘸的), and some even died, even though he went to great lengths to feed them good food and ensure that their pens were warm. But after consulting with experienced experts, he learned that the animals just needed to eat grass. In addition, the swans should not have been cooped up in their pens but let out to exercise in the cold water.
He then went to learn more about the trade with experienced bird keepers and experts from zoos, working alongside them for days and observing how they raised the animals.
In 2011, Yang bought a small, deserted zoo and renovated (改造) it for his rare-bird breeding center. In 2014, he received his license to breed first-tier protected animals from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration. He has since introduced several endangered birds to his center.
“They’re all native species in China and I’ve succeeded in breeding and raising their babies,” he says. His breeding center, which supplies birds to zoos around China, isn’t all about profit. Yang says that he is planning to release some endangered birds to help grow the population in the wild. “I am passionate with my work and never feel exhausted,” he says. “Living with the birds and seeing them every day makes me a happy man.”
1.Yang Ji started working at a chicken farm because ___________.
A.he loved raising chickens
B.he wanted to learn bird raising
C.chickens were much easier to raise
D.he had a preference for small animals
2.What mistake did Yang Ji make when he first started breeding swans?
A.He fed wrong food to the swans.
B.He didn’t keep the swans warm.
C.He bought some crippled swans.
D.He let the swans swim in cold water.
3.What do we know about Yang Ji’s breeding center?
A.It was rebuilt on an open grassland.
B.It has kept all kinds of endangered animals since 2014.
C.It intends to increase the number of some endangered birds by setting them free.
D.It aims at making money out of supplying endangered birds to zoos all over China.
4.Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?
A.Yang Ji and His Birds
B.From Chickens to Swans
C.A Successful Career Switch
D.Flying High with His Dreams
New to Hindi language cinema? We’ve got you covered! Dhaliwal has created a list of the best Bollywood movies for beginners.
Mughal-e-Azam (1960)
Mughal-e-Azam tells the tale of a Mughal prince’s romance with a court dancer. The film’s dialogue, music, and the breathtaking chemistry of the leading couple have been buried in the minds of generations.
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)
Nothing could possibly go wrong given Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’s winning blend: an all-star cast, super-hit music, and to top it all, an excellent script. If you were to watch only one Indian film to get an idea of what most of us go to the movies for, let it be this one.
Lagaan (2001)
Bringing together the top three things that Indians absolutely love – the sport of cricket, superstar Aamir Khan and patriotism (爱国主义) – Lagaan is nothing short of great. The story focuses on an Indian village standing up by challenging the British to a cricket match. It’s no wonder that it’s one of the only three Bollywood movies to have ever been nominated (提名) for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars.
Wake Up Sid (2009)
The reason why Wake Up Sid is well-received is the simplicity with which it explores the modern relationships of urban youth. At the core of the story is a sweet, heartfelt romance between a girl struggling to find her place in a new city and a boy trying to find himself. There’s also a gentle underlying romance with the remarkable city – Mumbai.
1.Which film can best present the charm of films to the audience?
A.Lagaan B.Wake Up Sid
C.Mughal-e-Azam D.Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
2.Dhaliwal speaks highly of the movie Lagaan because it ___________.
A.has an all-star cast
B.possesses an excellent script
C.reflects what Indians value most
D.has won an award at the Oscars
3.What do the film Mughal-e-Azam and Wake Up Sid have in common?
A.Superstars performed in them.
B.They are stories with romance.
C.Music is one of their highlights.
D.Both of them deals with urban youth
Directions: Write a summary of the following article with about 60 words.
Teaching Is “One of the Least Popular Jobs in the UK”
The UK government has just published a report on the future of secondary school teaching, and the conclusion of the report is that many secondary schools now face great difficulties in finding people who want to be teachers. Since the 1980s, the number of graduates who would “seriously consider” teaching as a career has fallen sharply, from 64% in 1982 to just 17% today. The report suggests that urgent action needs to be taken in order to encourage more intelligent young graduates into teaching.
The main drawback (缺点) of secondary teaching, according to the report, is the low salary.
Earnings in teaching are much lower than in many other jobs. Joanne Manners, 24, is a good example: “I graduated in maths last year, and I was thinking of doing a teacher-training course to become a maths teacher---but I saw I could earn twice as much if I worked in marketing or advertising, so I decided not to become a teacher.”
It’s not just about the money, however. The survey concluded that another reason why people don’t want to be teachers is that some teenagers behave very badly in school. A lot of schools have problems with discipline, and it seems clear that children do not have the same respect for teachers as in the past. Here’s the view of Dave Hallam, an accountant from London: “I think parents are to blame. They should have stricter rules with their children at home and also teach their children to have more respect for teachers.”
The report is clear that the problem of teacher shortage is a very serious one. It says that the government should raise teachers’ pay significantly, to catch up with workers in other professions. It also indicates that the government could launch a nationwide publicity campaign, with some advertisements on TV and in the newspapers, to show the positive sides of teaching to young people.
Directions: Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets. (3+3+3+4)
1.多数的大学坚持在录取新生之前进行面试。(insist)
2.与他们组相比较，我们组更多涉及到环境相关的问题。 (involve)
3.他们的一切言行旨在采取主动，弥补差距。(intend)
4.他关于如何避免感染各种疾病的演讲给我们留下来深刻的印象。(impression)
Directions: Read the following passages. Fill in each blank with a proper sentence given in the box. Each sentence can be used only once. Note that there are two more sentences than you need. (8%)
This Way to Dreamland
Daydreaming means people think about something pleasant, especially when this makes them forget what they should be doing. 1. They can seem forgetful and clumsy. They stare off into space and wander by themselves. They annoy us because they seem to be ignoring us and missing the important things.
But daydreamers are also responsible for some of the greatest ideas and achievements in human history. 2. Can you imagine what kind of world we would have without such ideas and inventions?
So how can you come up with brilliant daydreams and avoid falling over tree roots or otherwise looking like a fool?
First, understand that some opportunities for daydreaming are better than others. Feeling safe and relaxed will help you to slip into daydreams. 3. And if you want to improve your chances of having a creative idea while you’re daydreaming, try to do it while you are involved in another task—preferably something simple, like taking a shower or walking, or even making meaningless drawings.
It’s also important to know how to avoid daydreams for those times when you really need to concentrate. “Mindfulness”, being focused, is a tool that some people use to avoid falling asleep. 4.
Finally, you never know what wonderful idea might strike while your mind has moved slowly away. Therefore, it’s a good idea to keep a notebook or voice recorder nearby when you are in the daydream zone.
Always remember that your best ideas might come when your head is actually in the clouds.
A.Having interesting things to think about also helps.
B.Without wandering minds, we wouldn’t have relativity or Post-it notes.
C.At one time, daydreaming was thought to be a cause of some mental illnesses.
D.Daydreamers have a bad reputation for being unaware of what’s happening around them.
E.It involves slow, steady breathing for self-control that helps people stay calm.
F.Daydreams are often very simple and direct, quite unlike sleep dreams, which may be hard to understand
Charles Dickens’ novel A Tale of Two Cities is set in the years before and during the French Revolution (1789 - 1799). During its course, French revolutionaries brought down the empire and established a republic of free and equal citizens.
In reading the work, one sees that Dickens distorted some details of the French Revolution. At the beginning, Dickens notes that, in 1775, France was busy spending money. This mention of France’s spending touches briefly on what is perhaps the major cause of the French Revolution. Before the revolution, the government often borrowed money because it spent more than it raised in taxes. The increased spending and borrowing made many people’s blood boil, yet Dickens focused instead on the nobility’s oppression and exploitation of the working class, including peasants, as the causes of the revolution.
The Marquis, one of the book’s characters, ill-treats and kills many people. Thus, he represents the nobles who mistreat the lower classes. One reviewer criticized this picture as an unfair representation of French society in the mid-1700s. The reviewer pointed out that the government would have punished nobles who mistreated or murdered. Nobles may have been guilty of other evils, however, such as not feeding the starving masses after bad weather ruined crops in 1789.
Dickens’ account of the storming of the Bastille fails to mention that the gang that stormed the prison was looking for bullets and bombs to use in defense against a possible attack by the king’s troops. Dickens does include some accurate details, however, such as the crowd’s finding only seven prisoners and freeing them and the pack’s executing (处决) the prison administrator and sticking his head on a post. The scene that the women knit (编织) as they watch the executions may seem to be an odd detail, but actually many women did knit stockings for the war effort as they watched the killing machine at work.
Dickens’ descriptions of the steady stream of sentenced people into prison and the carts taking them to their deaths give readers some idea of the frequency with which officials jailed and executed people during the Rule of Terror, which lasted about a year. During the Terror, the government jailed about 250 thousand people, tried (审判) and killed about 17 thousand, and executed about 12 thousand without a trial. Those executed included people who opposed the revolution, people who offended the revolutionaries, and even some revolutionaries. About 15 percent were members of the ministry or nobility.
1.What does the word “distorted” in Paragraph 2 most probably mean?
A.Discussed. B.Revealed.
C.Provided. D.Twisted.
2.Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A.A wild crowd rushed into the Bastille to fight with the royal soldiers.
B.The nobles’ mistreating and killing people is the main cause of the revolution.
C.About thirty thousand people lost their lives in the course of the Rule of Terror.
D.Women were forced to work for the war supplies while watching people killed.
3.What can be inferred from the passage?
A.Dickens was once among the revolutionaries storming the Bastille.
B.There was an extreme disorder and horror during the revolution.
C.Nobles of those days in France were loaded with heavy social responsibilities.
D.Classic literary works may serve as history textbooks to a great degree.
4.Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
A.The Collapse of the French Empire
B.Unknown Facts during the Rule of Terror
C.Dickens’ Description of the French Revolution
D.A Critical View on A Tale of Two Cities
