Things only people who have worked overseas can understand
If you have ever worked or lived overseas, I’m pretty sure you can understand the following things!
We do not automatically become fluent (流利的) in another language. A lot of people believe that changing your geographic location can improve your language learning skills quickly.1. Language application takes time and has a number of factors that play into a person’s level of fluency.
We feel extremely lonely at times. Yes, living abroad can be wonderful.2. Sometimes, we think that no one back at home understands our true feelings and life challenges, but a lot of other people travel long term and work abroad. Maybe they are not facing the same problems as you, but they know exactly how you feel.
We don’t really like our birthdays. Usually, your special day ends with the last phone call you get from home and then you can look through all your greetings on social media.3. You may throw a small party with some of your new friends, but it’s going to be nothing compared with the goodold feasts you used to have with your loved ones back at home.
4. Too often we simply can’t tell you if we will be coming home for holidays this season. Sometimes, our working/living permits require us to stay in the country for at least a year. Adding up the flight costs and additional travel expenses, traveling home becomes quite a challenge for us.
We will change.5. You become more mature, independent and openminded. Usually, you return home as a better person than the one you left as.
A.The truth is: it isn’t like that.
B.We may not plan to move back home.
C.We don’t know when we’ll come home next.
D.However, it can get extremely lonely on some days too.
E.Living abroad makes us value the little things a lot.
F.Living and working abroad shape your personality a lot.
G.After that, you just act as if it’s another ordinary day in your life yet.
It was Saturday. As always, it was a busy one, for "Six days shall you labor and do all your work" was taken seriously back then. Outside, Father and Mr. Patrick next door were busy chopping firewood. Inside their own houses, Mother and Mrs. Patrick were engaged in spring cleaning. Somehow the boys had slipped away to the back lot with their kites. Now, even at the risk of having Brother caught to beat carpets, they had sent him to the kitchen for more string(线). It seemed there was no limit to the heights to which kites would fly today.
My mother looked at the sitting room, its furniture disordered for a thorough sweeping. Again she cast a look toward the window. "Come on, girls! Let's take string to the boys and watch them fly the kites a minute."
On the way we met Mrs. Patrick, laughing guiltily as if she were doing something wrong, together with her girls.
There never was such a day for flying kites! We played all our fresh string into the boys' kites and they went up higher and higher. We could hardly distinguish the orange-colored spots of the kites. Now and then we slowly pulled one kite back, watching it dancing up and down in the wind, and finally bringing it down to earth, just for the joy of sending it up again.
Even our fathers dropped their tools and joined us. Our mothers took their turn, laughing like schoolgirls. I think we were all beside ourselves. Parents forgot their duty and their dignity; children forgot their everyday fights and little jealousies. "Perhaps it's like this in the kingdom of heaven," I thought confusedly.
It was growing dark before we all walked sleepily back to the house. I suppose we had some sort of supper. I suppose there must have been surface tidying-up, for the house on Sunday looked clean and orderly enough. The strange thing was, we didn't mention that day afterward. I felt a little embarrassed. Surely none of the others had been as excited as I. I locked the memory up in that deepest part of me where we keep "the things that cannot be and yet they are."
The years went on, then one day I was hurrying about my kitchen in a city apartment, trying to get some work out of the way while my three-year-old insistently cried her desire to "go park, see duck."
"I can't go!" I said. "I have this and this to do, and when I'm through I'll be too tired to walk that far."
My mother, who was visiting us, looked up from the peas she was shelling（去皮）. "It's a wonderful day," she offered, "really warm, yet there's a fine breeze. Do you remember that day we flew kites?"
I stopped in my dash between stove and sink. The locked door flew open and with it a rush of memories. "Come on," I told my little girl. "You're right, it's too good a day to miss."
Another decade passed. We were in the aftermath (余波) of a great war. All evening we had been asking our returned soldier, the youngest Patrick Boy, about his experiences as a prisoner of war. He had talked freely, but now for a long time he had been silent. What was he thinking of — what dark and horrible things?
"Say!" A smile sipped out from his lips. "Do you remember — no, of course you wouldn't. It probably didn't make the impression on you as it did on me."
I hardly dared speak. "Remember what?"
"I used to think of that day a lot in POW camp (战俘营), when things weren't too good. Do you remember the day we flew the kites?"
1.Mrs. Patrick was laughing guiltily because she thought_________.
A.she was too old to fly kites
B.she should have been doing her housework then
C.her husband would make fun of her
D.her girls weren’t supposed to play the boy’s game
2.By "we were all beside ourselves," the writer means that they all _________.
A.felt confused B.looked on
C.went wild with joy D.forgot their fights
3.What did the writer think after the kite-flying?
A.The boys must have had more fun than the girls.
B.All the others must have forgotten that day.
C.Her parents should spend more time with them.
D.They should have finished their work before playing.
4.Why did the writer finally agree to take her little girl for an outing?
A.She suddenly remembered her duty as a mother.
B.She thought it was a great day to play outside.
C.She had finished her work in the kitchen.
D.She was reminded of the day they flew kites.
5.The youngest Patrick boy is mentioned to show that _________.
A.the writer was not alone in treasuring her fond memories
B.his experience in POW camp threw a shadow over his life
C.childhood friendship means so much to the writer
D.people like him really changed a lot after the war
Light and bright, cheap and cheerful: IKEA’s 400-plus outlets (专营店) in 49 countries all run on the same central principle. Customers do as much of the work as possible, in the belief they are having fun and saving money. You drive to a distant warehouse built on cheap out-of-town land. Inside, you enter a maze (迷宫) — no shortcuts allowed — where every twist reveals new furniture.
Compared with the prices of other outlets, IKEA’s are much lower. You load up your trolley (手推车) with impulse buys-a clock, storage boxes, tools and more chairs than you will ever use. You drag cardboard boxes, cupboards and tables into your car and reward yourself for your economy and good taste. Then you drive home and put your prizes together. You are satisfied with the bargains. IKEA is satisfied with your money.
The company’s name was a do-it-yourself job, too. IKEA stands for Ingvar Kamprad, from Elmtaryd ― his family’s farm — in Agunnaryd. That village is in the Smaland region of southern Sweden. Mr Kamprad founded IKEA aged 17. Well before that, he spotted a principle which would make him one of the richest men in the world that customers like buying goods at wholesale prices (批发价). First he bought matches in large quantities and sold them by the box. Aged ten, he sold pens in the similar way.
Setbacks inspired him. Facing a price war against his low-cost mail-order furniture business, he defeated competitors by opening a showroom. Dealers tried to crush Mr Kamprad and banned him from their trade fairs. He slipped in, hiding in a friend’s car. When they tried to threaten his suppliers, he relied on his own workers, and secretly sold his production to communist Poland. Decades later, east Europeans freed from the planned economy drove hundreds of miles to newly opened outlets in Moscow and Warsaw.
His self-discipline was world-famous. As a child, he removed the “off” button from his alarm clock to stop himself oversleeping. He rarely took a first-class seat. The wine didn’t get you there any earlier, he sniffed; having lots of money was no reason to waste it. He bought his clothes in second-hand markets, and for years drove an elderly Volvo until he had to sell it on safety grounds. He had his hair cut in poor countries to save money. Visitors admired the views, but were surprised that his house was so shabby. He worked well into his eighties.
His diligence and simple way of life set a good example to his 194,000 “co-workers”. But he was not mean. The point of cutting costs was to make goods affordable, not to compromise quality. He urged his staff to reflect constantly on ways of saving money, time and space. An improved design that allows easier piling means shipping less air and more profit.
Culture was more important than strategy. He disliked “exaggerated (夸张的) planning”, along with financial markets and banks. Better to make mistakes and learn from them. And use time wisely: “You can do so much in ten minutes. But ten minutes once gone are gone for good.” This did not apply to customers. The longer they stayed, the better.
Mr Kamprad’s impact on modern life can be compared with that of Henry Ford and the mass-produced motor car. Furniture used to be expensive, dark and heavy. For many people, decorating a home could cost many months’ salary. IKEA made furniture not just affordable and functional, but fun. The mission was civilizational, he felt, changing how people lived and thought.
His approach drew some fire. The company values struck some as unpleasant. At IKEA’s Corporate Culture Centre, lots of pictures of Mr Kamprad with his mottos can be seen everywhere. What’s worse, some parts of the supply chain seemed to have serious problems to overcome.
1.What can we learn about IKEA in Paragraph 1?
A.IKEA prefers rural areas for its location.
B.IKEA has 400 outlets throughout the world.
C.IKEA likes to store new furniture in a maze.
D.IKEA provides a lot of work for its customers.
2.The underlined two sentences in Paragraph 2 imply that ________.
A.IKEA tricks you into spending more money
B.you may buy bargains with impulse in IKEA
C.both you and IKEA are pleased with the deal
D.both you and IKEA are happy with the bargain
3.By mentioning Mr. Kamprad’s experiences before he founded IKEA, the author intends to tell us that Mr Kamprad ________.
A.was likely to become a successful businessman
B.preferred selling matches and pens by low prices
C.had been a well-off merchant due to his principle
D.enjoyed doing something promising with discipline
4.What can be inferred from paragraph 5 and 6 about Mr. Kamprad?
A.He never overslept due to his alarm clock being set.
B.He was against drinking but for sniffing at the wine.
C.He sold the old Volvo with the purpose of saving money. -
D.He didn’t give up the quality of furniture for more profit.
5.Which of the following has nothing to do with Mr. Kamprad’s success in business?
A.The pictures and mottos of Mr. Kamprad.
B.The setbacks Mr. Kamprad experienced.
C.Mr. Kamprad’s principles of management.
D.Mr. Kamprad’s self-discipline and diligence.
During the outbreak of novel coronavirus, cities are locked down and borders are closed. Science, on the contrary, is becoming more open. And this “open science” is already making a difference.
Soon after the epidemic started in China, a research team from Fudan University in Shanghai successfully sequenced (测定序列)the DNA of the virus. But they didn’t keep the information to themselves. Instead, they placed the sequences on GenBank, an open-access data platform, so researchers around the world could download them for free and start studying the virus.
Due to this openness, pharmaceutical (制药的) companies across the globe are now able to work simultaneously (同时地)to develop a vaccine. “There may be room for multiple different vaccines for different purposes and different age groups,” Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security in the US, told Al Jazeera. “The bigger menu we have of vaccines, the more resilient (有适应力的) we’ll be against coronavirus outbreaks in the future.”
Major drug companies around the world are also sharing their study results. Remdesivir, a drug originally developed by US company Gilead Sciences to treat Ebola, is found to be promising in fighting against the novel coronavirus. Currently, two trials of the drug are already underway in China, and the results might be available as soon as April, according to The Verge.
This openness in science is going to be even more critical in the future. “With climate change, increasing globalization, and population shifts, epidemics will not go away, and might even become more frequent,” Dan Barouch, a Harvard Medical School professor, told Harvard Magazine.
He said, “No one group can do everything. It has to be a coordinated (合作的) approach. But I do think that the world has a greater sense of readiness this time to develop knowledge, drugs, and therapeutics (疗法) very rapidly.”
Every epidemic is indeed a crisis, but it can also be a learning opportunity. One redeeming (补偿的) factor of the COVID-19 outbreak is that it is helping science adapt for the better.
1.What does the article mainly talk about?
A.Coordinated efforts to fight the epidemic.
B.Something positive we’ve learned from the epidemic.
C.The significance of openness and sharing of scientific knowledge.
D.What needs to be done to prevent future epidemics.
2.What is the positive effect of the research team from Fudan University placing the genetic sequence of the virus onto GenBank?
A.They alerted the world to the danger of the virus.
B.They helped remove people’s fear of the virus.
C.They showed the world how to produce a vaccine.
D.They invited collective efforts worldwide to develop a vaccine.
3.What is the author’s purpose of mentioning remdesivir in the text?
A.To introduce a possible cure for the epidemic.
B.To compare the treatment of Ebola and the novel coronavirus.
C.To prove that many drug companies readily share their discoveries.
D.To show that the novel coronavirus will soon be contained.
4.What does the underlined word “critical” in paragraph 5 probably mean?
A.expressing disapproval.
B.extremely important.
C.serious, uncertain and possibly dangerous.
D.making fair, careful judgments.
5.Which of the following would Dan Barouch probably disagree with?
A.Epidemics will be less frequent thanks to scientific development.
B.The world is becoming better prepared to deal with epidemics.
C.No single group can fight against the epidemics independently.
D.The increase in globalization may worsen future epidemics.
假定你是李华，你的美国朋友Jamie来信说他对中国传统文学非常感兴趣，但在阅读时遇到了困难，比如很多汉字不认识，读不懂文章的意思等，希望得到你的帮助。请给他回信，内容包括：
1. 表示理解并给予安慰；
2. 提出建议。
注意：1. 词数80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：中国传统文学traditional Chinese literature；汉字Chinese characters
Dear Jamie,
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Best wishes!
Yours,
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作文。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(Λ)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
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。
Last summer, to my delighted, I got a chance to go to the United Kingdom. I was eager to see what England was like. Although my parents objected to my decision at first, but finally they were persuaded. It was the first time that I have travelled abroad alone. Felt excited, I boarded the plane. Suddenly, however, I found my luggages gone and felt helplessly. It was on that moment that an airhostess came to my assistance. After helping me find it back, she suggested that I attached a label to my suitcase on my next journey. I was thankful to the kind lady for his help! What unforgettable trip!
