Inaccessible Island is well named. It is an uninhabited rock in the South Atlantic ocean. Go there, though, and you will find its coast is covered with litter.
That has been the experience of Peter Ryan of the University of Cape Town, in South Africa. Since 1984 Dr. Ryan has been visiting Inaccessible, recording the litter stranded on the island's beaches. This week, he has published the results.
Though Inaccessible is indeed remote, the nature of oceanic circulation means that this is exactly the sort of place where floating rubbish tends to accumulate.
Dr. Ryan and his colleagues focused on one particular class of litter: bottles. Their definition of a bottle included jars and containers, and things made of metal, glass or polymer. Most, though, were of polyethylene terephthalate , a light plastic.
A particular advantage of picking bottles to investigate is that they are often stamped with their country of manufacture. That enabled Dr. Ryan to analyze the history of oceanic littering. He analyzed the proportions of bottles from various geographical sources. In 1989 the preponderance (优势) of them (67%) was South American. Twenty years later, in 2009, bottles made in Asia contributed more or less equally (44%) with South American ones (41%). By 2018 the overwhelming (压倒性的) majority (74%) were Asian.
This geographical shift speaks volumes. The first sample suggests most litter arriving on Inaccessible had been washed off the land or dropped from coastal shipping — South America being a relatively nearby continent. The other two, with their rising proportions of rubbish from Asia, which is too far from the island for it to have floated there, strongly suggest it was crews’ empties being flung from ships. Such littering is banned — which, ironically, came into force in 1989. But evidently a lot of ships’ captains do not care. They permit the dumping of rubbish over the side, regardless.
1.What leads to litter gathering on Inaccessible Island?
A.The natural phenomenon of ocean currents. B.Too many people’s activities on the island.
C.The litter’s floating around the island. D.The island’s remote location.
2.Why does Dr. Ryan choose bottles as subjects?
A.It is easy to analyze them. B.It is possible to figure out their sources.
C.There are stamps attached to them. D.They contribute most to oceanic littering.
3.What does the underlined word “flung” in the last paragraph mean?
A.Cast away. B.Given away.
C.Carried out. D.Put out.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A.Plastic Bottles Washed up on Inaccessible Island
B.Geographical Factors Accounting for More Rubbish
C.Plastic Pollution Worsening on Remote Atlantic
D.A Bottled up Rubbish Problem on Inaccessible Island
The London Interdisciplinary School (LIS), scheduled to open in 2021 with a target of admitting 100 students, will abandon traditional academic subjects and offer a three year bachelor of arts and sciences degree designed to deal with real-world issues. The curriculum is built around interdisciplinary problems—knife crime, childhood obesity, plastic pollution, among others—as well as quantitative and qualitative research skills. Employers like the Met Police and Virgin will provide project ideas and offer five -week work experience for students.
“We’re going to try and create a really transformational educational experience where all the people in the institution are waking up every morning and saying, ‘How can we take these brilliant young people and give them an amazing learning experience?” says Ed Fidoe, a co-founder of the LIS. The idea is similar to a U.S. liberal arts (通识教育) degree but also more specifically focused on multiple subjects— economics, psychology, sociology, statistic, etc. — to solve complex problems like childhood obesity. In other words, the problem, not the subject, sits at the center of the curriculum. The skills students develop, the founders hope, will more closely come into agreement with what an Al-infused, automated world demands: collaboration(协作) between people and machines, critical thinking, speaking and writing skill, and data management, to name just a few things.
The challenges of building a new university from scratch are daunting(令人生畏的): students have to sign up for, and pay for, something untested; all the teachers will have to teach in a totally new and different way; and there’s a risk that an interdisciplinary curriculum will be interesting but thin. Fidoe says it’s a tall order. “Are any 17-year-olds going to be crazy enough to come to something that doesn’t exist yet against something that’s been around for 150 years?” he says.
In the U.K, students apply through an admissions service center, and exam results are more important than anything else. On the contrary, at the LIS, students will instead apply directly during a pre-determined “selection day” where everyone is invited to participate. This day will include a face-to-face interview so that the college can better understand a student’s background, motivations, and passions.
1.What is the aim of the LIS?
A.To provide more and more project ideas for students.
B.To take a real-world approach to higher education.
C.To help employers to develop the students’ skills.
D.To conduct qualitative and quantitative research.
2.What’s special about the curriculum the LIS sets up?
A.It is subject-centered. B.It is based on AI technology.
C.It centers around social concerns. D.It covers every aspect of society.
3.What does the sentence “it’s a tall order” underlined in Para.3 mean?
A.It’s interesting to teach in a new approach.
B.It’s bound to put the curriculum in order.
C.It’s exciting to take on new challenges.
D.It’s hard to build the new university.
4.What can we learn about the LIS from the last paragraph?
A.It pays more attention to exam results.
B.It focuses more on the face-to-face interview.
C.It emphasizes students’ personal experiences and qualities .
D.It stresses the importance of is pre-determined “selection day”.
When Millet was a boy he worked on his needy father's farm. At the rest hour in the fields the other workers would all take naps, but young Millet would spend time drawing. Finally, the village where he lived gave him a little money to Paris to study art.
When Millet reached Paris, he had a tough time. Fortunately, when he was almost starving, someone bought one of his peasant paintings, which enabled his family to leave for Barbizon.
Millet's pictures of peasants at work were painted in a unique way. The painter would go out on the farms and watch them carefully—digging, hoeing, spreading manure, sawing wood, or sowing grain. Then he would come home and paint what he had seen. So astonishingly accurate was his memory that he could paint at home without models and get all the movements of his figures right. When he did need a figure to go by, he would ask his wife to pose for him.
One of his noted artworks is called “The Sower”, which shows a man seeding. He reaches into his bag for seed and then swings backward to scatter the seed, and with each swing of his hand the sower strides forward. In Millet's picture the sower has been working hard, but his swinging step and arm still move smoothly, like a machine. Only the man's head reveals his great tiredness.
Another masterpiece is called “The Gleaners”. A gleaner is someone picking up the leftover in the field after the wheat harvest. When farmers near Barbizon are extremely badly-off, even the little the gleaners can find is a help. You can see from Millet's picture what back-breaking work gleaning must be.
1.What do we know about Millet?
A.His wife supported him to be a painter. B.He was keen on painting as a kid.
C.He spent his whole life in Barbizon. D.He was brought up in Paris.
2.How did he paint the laboring farmers?
A.Asking models for help. B.Imagining figures in the field.
C.Remembering what he had observed. D.Recalling the days on his father's farm.
3.What do Millet's works convey?
A.The farmers' hardships. B.The scene of farming.
C.His love for the village. D.His anxiety about the farmers.
4.What painting style of Millet can be inferred from the text?
A.Impressionistic. B.Abstract.
C.Romantic. D.Realistic.
Want to be more successful? If so, then you need to read a few self-help books. Here are four popular ones to get you going.
59 Seconds ( 2009) by Richard Wiseman
This is a self-help book with a difference. Wiseman, a scientist, uses science to prove many self-help myths(神话) are false. For example, self-help books say that if you want to achieve a goal, you should visualize it. But Wiseman says that's the worst thing to do. Studies show that you need to visualize the steps required to achieve the goal.
How to Win Friends& Influence People ( 1936) —by Dale Carnegie
This is the book that launched the self-help type. Carnegie says financial success is 15% professional knowledge and 85% the ability to express ideas, assume leadership, and motivate people. The book is full of practical advice on how to influence people by making them like you.
The Millionaire Next Door (1996) by Thomas Stanley & Wlliam Danko
The authors of this book spent years interviewing American millionaires to figure out the secrets of their success. And they discovered that a majority of millionaires don't live luxury lifestyles. They're rich because they live below their means and reinvest what they earn.
Who Moved My Cheese? (1998)-by Spencer Johnson
Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life, published on September 8, 1998, is a motivational business fable. The text describes change in one's work and life, and four typical reactions to those changes by two mice and two “little people”，during their hunt for cheese.
1.What is the key to achieving success in 59 Seconds?
A.To employ science. B.To follow examples.
C.To picture procedures. D.To visualize the goal.
2.What is Dale Carnegie's book mainly about?
A.How to master occupational knowledge. B.How to apply practical techniques.
C.How to gain strong management. D.How to become popular persons.
3.Which book can help you adapt to change in your life?
A.59 Seconds B.Who Moved My Cheese?
C.The Millionaire Next Door D.How to Win Friends& Influence People
假如你是某中学的学生李华，请你给校委员会写一封信，就开办艺术画廊给出自己的建议及理由，内容包括：
1．建议开办一个校园艺术画廊，展示在校学生自己的作品；
2．画廊可以给学生提供一个展示自我的平台，开阔学生的视野、传播校园文化。
注意：1．词数100左右；
2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
平台：platform
Dear Committee members，
I wish to make a suggestion that we should start a school art gallery,
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours faithfully,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下短文。短文中共有10处错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧), 并在此符号下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。
修改： 在错的词下划一横线, 并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1、每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2、只允许修改10处, 多者(从第11处起) 不计分。
As is known to all , China is the home to tea, from that tea has been spread all over the world . With a history of four or five thousand year, tea culture has been a important part of Chinese culture . Whenever guests visit , it is a custom to make and serve tea with them.
Drinking tea had a lot of advantages , one of that helps refresh yourself and improve your thinking ability . Besides , drinking tea every day is said to help you keep health and live longer .What’s more , some kinds of tea can even help people lose weight and became more beautiful , appeals to a lot of ladies.
