Learning from Leonardo
Yes, Leonardo Da Vinci was a genius. 1. However, we can learn from him and try to be more like him.
Be constantly curious.
Leonardo actually did have special talents, but his distinguishing and most inspiring quality was his strong curiosity. He wanted to know what causes people to yawn and how light is processed in the eye. 2.Being constantly and randomly curious about everything around us is something that each of us can push ourselves to do, every waking hour, just as he did.
Seek knowledge itself.
Not all knowledge needs to be useful. 3. By allowing himself to be driven by pure curiosity, he got to explore more horizons and see more connections than anyone else of his times.
4.
When Leonardo came up with an idea, he designed an experiment to test it. When his experiment showed that a theory was flawed (瑕疵的), he abandoned his theory and sought a new one. If we want to be more like Leonardo, we have to be fearless about changing our minds based on new and real information.
Take notes on paper.
Five hundred years later, Leonardo's notebooks are around to astonish and inspire us.5. This way, fifty years from now, our own notebooks, will also be around to astonish and inspire our grandchildren, unlike our tweets and Facebook posts.
A.Show respect to facts.
B.You'd better show interest in writing.
C.We may never be able to match his talents.
D.Work up the enthusiasm to start writing them.
E.Sometimes it should be learned for pure pleasure.
F.Merely a small part of knowledge can be applied to practice.
G.Also, he instructed himself to learn about the light of the moon.
Ma uka, ma uka ka ua,
Ma kai, ma kai ka ua
So sing the children at Hawaiis Punana Leo Hilo kindergarten on the Big Island of Hawaii. The chant is much like any other “Rain, rain, go away” nursery rhyme, but it has an unusual power: it is one of the tools that has brought about the revival(复兴)of a near-dead language.
The decline of Hawaiian was not, as is the case with most disappearing languages, a natural death caused by migration and mass media. In 1896, after the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy (君主政体) by American business interests, schools were banned from using the language, and children were beaten for speaking it. By the late 20th century, aside from a couple of hundred people on one tiny island, English had replaced Hawaiian and only the old spoke the language to each other.
Larry Kimura, a professor there, and his students wanted to bring it back to life. In 1985, when educating children in Hawaiian was still banned, Kauanoe Kamana and her husband Pila Wilson, both students of Kimura's created the first Punana Leo (which means language nest) at Hilo. They gathered together a small group of children and elderly native speakers. The movement grew: there are now 12 kindergartens and 23 schools. The number of children being educated in Hawaiian has risen from 1,877 in 2008 to 3,028 in 2018. Along with Japanese, Hawaiian is the non-English language most commonly spoken among children.
The success has been hard-won. Campaigners had to get the law changed. “People in the community, even in our families, were saying: ‘You'll ruin your children's future. They won't be able to go to college.’ ” Such fears turned out to be unfounded. All the pupils at Nawahi, the main Hawaiian-medium school, complete high school, compared with the state average of 83%; 87% go to college, compared with a state average of 55%.
But academic outcomes are not the primary focus, says Mr. Wilson. “We value our connection with our ancestors more than we value being millionaires,” he says. Mr. Kimura explains that the schools have allowed Hawaiians to pass on their culture.
1.What made the Hawaiian language nearly die out?
A.Migration. B.The ban on it.
C.Mass media. D.Population decline.
2.What effort was made to bring the Hawaiian language back to life?
A.Going on a strike. B.Supporting the law.
C.Setting up a community college. D.Educating more local children in it.
3.What is the main value of the Hawaiian language according to Mr. Wilson?
A.Making a fortune by learning it. B.Focusing on academic outcomes.
C.Passing on the Hawaiian culture. D.Reducing the influence of English.
4.What is the best title of the passage?
A.The value of Hawaiian. B.The revival of Hawaiian.
C.The popularity of Hawaiian. D.The near-death of Hawaiian.
China Science Daily announced Thursday that it has used software to automatically generate news stories about the latest discoveries from the world’s leading science journals. The robot science reporter, called “Xiaoke”, was co-created by the newspaper and researchers from Peking University in about half a year.
It is the latest case of Chinese news organizations using computer technology to create content. According to its inventors, Xiaoke has generated over 200 stories based on the English abstract of papers published in journals such as Science, Nature, Cell and the New England Journal of Medicine.
Before publication, the automatically generated articles will go through a review process. A group of scientists and the newspaper’s editors will check the content or give supplementary (补充的) information.
Zhang Mingwei, head of the program and vice editor-in-chief of the newspaper, said inventors would make Xiaoke a “cross-linguistic (跨语言的) academic secretary” to help Chinese scientists overcome language barriers and have easy and quick access to the latest scientific advances in English-language publication. Lead researcher Wan Xiaojun, of Peking University in charge of the system’s design and technology, stressed that the content generation tool could do far more than translation. According to Wan, Xiaoke is good at selecting complex words and sentences, which can help turn articles full of confusing technical terms into easy and readable news reports.
The readers of the robot reporter is not limited to professionals but also includes the general public. Science reporting is important in spreading information about discoveries and in popularizing knowledge to people.
1.What can we learn about “Xiaoke”?
A.It is a professional translator.
B.It has the most advanced AI.
C.It can make up fiction stories.
D.It generates science news reports.
2.What do people need to do to improve Xiaoke’s work?
A.Upgrade the artificial intelligence.
B.Select complex words and sentences.
C.Check the content and add information.
D.Help it get the latest scientific advances.
3.In which section of a newspaper may this text appear?
A.Science.
B.Education.
C.Entertainment.
D.Health.
4.What is the text mainly about?
A.The robot writer of science news.
B.The readers of the science reports.
C.The editor-in-chief of the newspaper.
D.The latest case of news organizations.
Would you leave a six-figure job to feed the homeless? This 27-year-old did. Robert Lee’s idea is seemingly simple: Get restaurants to make better use of their leftovers (剩饭菜).
When in primary school, Robert Lee would stare in disbelief at his classmates throwing away half-eaten sandwiches after lunch. His immigrant parents had taught him and his older brother not to waste food. “They said it was a bad habit,” says Robert, 27.
While studying finance and accounting at New York University, Robert remembered this lesson and joined Two Birds One Stone, a food-rescue club on campus that delivered, five days a week, uneaten pasta, vegetables, and other leftovers from the dining hall to nearby homeless shelters. In July 2013, with the $1,000 prize won in the a college entrepreneurship (创业) contest, Robert and fellow club member Louisa Chen founded Rescuing Leftover Cuisine (RLC). In just the first few weeks, Robert’s team delivered a donation of food to feed 20 people in line at a New York City homeless shelter that had run out of food.
As an analyst at J.P. Morgan, Robert devoted his spare time to creating a network of New York City restaurants that agreed to donate food, and he enlisted (招募) volunteers to make food deliveries to homeless shelters. Two years after being founded, RLC had already distributed more than 250,000 pounds of food.
Only a year into his finance job, Robert gave up his six-figure salary to focus on RLC. “I compared one hour of impact at J.P. Morgan to one hour at RLC, and the difference was just tremendous,” he says. The organization now reaches 16 cities around the country.
“One shelter told us that our donations allow them to provide entire dinners for more than 300 people, three nights a week,” Robert says. “Things like that make me glad I quit my job.”
1.What did Lee do to help the homeless?
A.He worked with with other countries.
B.He built up a network of supermarkets.
C.He employed volunteers to deliver goods.
D.He co-founded Rescuing Leftover Cuisine.
2.What does the underlined word “tremendous” in Paragraph 5 mean?
A.Slight. B.Huge.
C.Basic. D.Delicate.
3.What can we learn from Lee’s words in the last two paragraphs?
A.Being a volunteer is of great benefit.
B.People should follow in his footsteps.
C.Everyone can make their contributions,
D.It’s worthwhile sacrificing his well-paid job.
4.Which of the following can best describe Lee?
A.Devoted. B.Hardworking.
C.Patient. D.Optimistic.
We have introduced solo (单独的) holidays for anyone travelling on their own without children. Now solo travelers can enjoy fantastic group holidays in beautiful locations hosted by a member of our staff.
Beach Break in Istria, Croatia: 7 to l1 May 2019
A 4-night solo beach holiday on the pretty Croatian peninsula. Relax by the pool or on the beach of our superior 4-star adult only hotel, complete with a wonderful spa. This solo trip is offered with a varied programme, including boat trips to the ancient city of Rovinj and the pretty coastal town of Porec and a visit of the historic seafront city of Pula. Read more.
Short Break in Slovenia: 17 to 20 October 2019
A short solo holiday to show you the best of Slovenia in 3 days. It includes a wine tasting evening, a visit of Slovenia's elegant capital with its charming old town and a boat trip on Lake Bled and the ancient Predjama Castle. Our 4-star hotel is worth a visit in itself with its amazing inside and impressive views of Lake Bled. Read more.
City Break in Vienna, Austria: 28 November to 1 December 2019
Join us on a solo city break to Vienna where pretty squares turn into magical Christmas markets. Your local tour guide will take you around pretty cobblestone lanes and show you the historic highlights of Vienna, followed by evenings in Viennese restaurants, walks around the Christmas markets and a tasting of the best Austrian wines. Read more …
1.Who are the solo holidays intended for according to the passage?
A.Travelers of all ages. B.Adults traveling alone.
C.Families with children. D.Newly married couples.
2.What's the best choice for people who love lake scenery?
A.Short Break in Slovenia. B.Beach Break in Istria.
C.A coastal visit of Porec. D.City Break in Vienna, Austria.
3.Which of the following is mentioned in all the three locations?
A.Boat trips. B.4-star hotels.
C.Historic highlights. D.Wine-tasting.
假如你是李华，你的泰国朋友Saipan给你发来电子邮件说他最近学习状态不佳。请根据以下要点，给Saipan回复e-mail，给他介绍几个自我激励的方法。
提示：
1. 每天花十五分钟做自己喜欢的事；
2. 随身携带纸和笔，每天至少记下一件让你感到骄傲的事；
3. 停止负面思考，专注于解决学习问题。
注意：
1. 词数100左右；
2. 负面思考negative thinking；
3. 可适当加入细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Saipan,
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
