When my family moved to America in 2010 from a small village in Guangdong, China, we brought not only our luggage, but also our village rules, customs and culture. One of the rules is that young people should always respect elders. Unluckily, this rule led to my very first embarrassment in the United States.
I had a part-time job as a waiter in a Chinese restaurant. One time, when I was serving food to a middle-aged couple, the wife asked me how the food could be served so quickly. I told her that I had made sure they got their food quickly because I always respect the elderly. As soon as I said that, her face showed great displeasure. My manager, who happened to hear what I said, took me aside and gave me a long lecture about how sensitive Americans are and how they dislike the description “old”. I then walked back to the table and apologized to the wife. After the couple heard my reason, they understood that the problem was caused by cultural differences, so they laughed and were no longer angry.
In my village in China, people are proud of being old. Not so many people live to be seventy or eighty, and people who reach such an age have the most knowledge and experience. Young people always respect older people because they know they can learn from their rich experience.
However, in the United States, people think “growing old” is a problem since “old” shows that a person is going to retire or that the body is not working well. Here many people try to keep themselves away from growing old by doing exercises or jogging, and women put on makeup, hoping to look young. When I told the couple in the restaurant that I respect the elderly, they got angry because this caused them to feel they had failed to stay young. I had told them something they didn’t want to hear.
After that, I changed the way I had been with older people. It is not that I don’t respect them any more; I still respect them, but now I don’t show my feelings through words.
1.The author brought the couple their food very fast because _______.
A.the manager asked him to do so B.the couple wanted him to do so
C.he respected the elderly D.he wanted more pay
2.When the author called the couple “elderly”, they became _______.
A.nervous B.unhappy
C.satisfied D.excited
3.After this experience, the author _______.
A.changed his way with older people B.made friends with the couple
C.no longer respected the elderly D.lost his job in the restaurant
4.Which of the following is TRUE?
A.The more the author explained, the angrier the couple got.
B. The author wanted to show his feelings through words after his experience.
C.From this experience, the author learned more about American culture.
D.The manager went back to the table and apologized to the couple.
You probably know who Marie Curie was, but you may not have heard of Rachel Carson. Of the outstanding ladies listed below, who do you think was the most important woman of the past 100 years?
Jane Addams (1860-1935)
Anyone who has ever been helped by a social worker has Jane Addams to thank. Addams helped the poor and worked for peace. She encouraged a sense of community by creating shelters and promoting education and services for people in need. In 1931, Addams became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Rachel Carson (1907-1964)
If it weren’t for Rachel Carson, the environmental movement might not exist today. Her popular 1962 book Silent Spring raised awareness of the dangers of pollution and the harmful effects of chemicals on humans and on the world’s lakes and oceans.
Sandra Day O’Connor (1930-present)
When Sandra Day O’Connor finished third in her class at Stanford Law School, in 1952, she could not find work at a law firm because she was a woman. She became an Arizona state senator (参议员) and, in 1981, the first woman to join the U.S. Supreme Court. O’Connor gave the deciding vote in many important cases during her 24 years on the top court.
Rosa Parks (1913-2005)
On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks would not give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger. Her simple act landed Parks in prison. But it also set off the Montgomery bus boycott. It lasted for more than a year, and kicked off the civil-rights movement. “The only tired I was, was tired of giving in,” said Parks.
1.What is Jane Addams noted for in history?
A.Her social work.
B.Her teaching skills.
C.Her efforts to win a prize.
D.Her community background.
2.What was the reason for O’Connor’s being rejected by the law firm?
A.Her lack of proper training in law.
B.Her little work experience in court.
C.The discrimination against women.
D.The poor financial conditions.
3.Who made a great contribution to the civil-rights movement in the U.S.?
A.Jane Addams. B.Rachel Carson.
C.Sandra Day O’Connor. D.Rosa Parks.
请你用英语给 21 世纪英文报写一份香港著名记者闾丘露薇的简介。
（写作内容）
1.闾丘露薇，(Lvqiu Luwei)英文名 Rose，身高 165cm,1965 年出生在上海
2.1992 年获得复旦大学哲学系(Philosophy)学士(Bachelor)学位,1995 年移居香港。
3.1997 年 6 月加入凤凰卫视(Phoenix Television)，成为凤凰卫视第一批有经验的新闻记者。
4.对工作充满热情，全情投入到新闻工作中，曾采访报道过许多重大国际事件
5.2001 年 11 月，她是第一位成功进入伊拉克(Iraq)进行战地采访的华人女记者，获得胡锦涛主席的赞扬。
（写作要求）1.词数 100 左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
On June 23, 1970, I had just left the Army after completing my one-year duty in Vietnam. I was on ________ returning home in Texas. I had been warned about the ________ of our fellow countrymen. There was no ______ welcome for us when we came home from that unpopular war.
I sat, in uniform, in a window seat, _______ eye contact with my fellow passengers. No one was sitting next to me, which added to my ________. A little girl suddenly appeared in the passage. She ________ and, without saying a word, ________ handed me a magazine. I accepted her ________, her quiet “welcome home”. All I could say was, “Thank you.” Her small gesture of ___________ was the first I had experienced in a long time.
I always believe in the connection between _________ when they reach out to come another.
That girl __________ has no memory of what happened years ago. She might have been told to do that by her mother. It doesn’t matter ________ she gave me the magazine. The ________ thing is that she did.
Since then, I have followed her ________ and tried in different ways for different people, to _________ for them. Like me on that plane ride long ago, they will _________ know why a stranger gave a hand. But I absolutely know that my _________ since then are all because of that little girl. Her kindness of offering a magazine to a ________, scared and lonely soldier has been __________ all through my life. I have to believe that my small ________ have the same effect on others. And to that girl , now a woman, I would like to say again: thank you.
1.A.bus B.train C.plane D.boat
2.A.stories B.difficulties C.unfriendliness D.enthusiasm
3.A.hometown B.school C.cold D.immediate
4.A.seeking B.noticing C.keeping D.avoiding
5.A.pride B.loneliness C.anger D.excitement
6.A.smiled B.listened C.turned around D.bent down
7.A.naturally B.proudly C.shyly D.worriedly
8.A.offer B.donation C.accompany D.contact
9.A.invitation B.sympathy C.agreement D.inspiration
10.A.soldiers B.strangers C.families D.girls
11.A.similarly B.finally C.immediately D.undoubtedly
12.A.when B.how C.why D.where
13.A.memorable B.satisfactory C.important D.valuable
14.A.instruction B.guidance C.advice D.example
15.A.do the same B.find a seat C.get things ready D.pass a magazine
16.A.always B.never C.happily D.obviously
17.A.feelings B.ideas C.models D.attempts
18.A.busy B.young C.excited D.tired
19.A.accepted B.spread C.honored D.ignored
20.A.actions B.benefits C.contributions D.sacrifices
Last summer over 12,000 fans were at Wembley Arena in London, shouting and cheering. Thousands more were watching online. 1. It was e-sports, or competitive computer gaming.
Millions of people in the UK play computer games for fun. Some of them have become professional gamers, playing games as their full-time job. 2. They practice for ten or more hours a day, five or six days a week. They do exercises like typing something and trying to type it faster and faster. They also study videos of other players and plan ways to beat them.
3. Are players athletes? Some say no. E-sports players don’t need to run, jump, throw or do big physical actions. At the moment, the UK government classifies e-sports as kinds of games, not as sports.
But others say yes: e-sports are sports. Players do need some physical skills, especially hand-eye coordination, reflexes, accuracy and timing. If darts, snooker and shooting are classified as sports, then perhaps e-sports should be too.
4. And they will be an official medal sport in the Asian Games starting from 2022. Next step: the Olympics?
For many e-sports fans and players, though, the most important thing is that e-sports are growing in popularity and importance. 5.
A.But are e-sports really sports?
B.All like playing computer games.
C.It’s not easy being a professional gamer, though.
D.But this wasn’t a football, basketball or tennis match.
E.It is certain that e-sports will come into the 2024 Olympics.
F.In fact, China and South Korea do classify e-sports as sports.
G.If e-sports are not as important as sports now, they definitely will be in the near future.
Last summer, two nineteenth-century cottages were rescued from remote farm fields in Montana, to be moved to an Art Deco building in San Francisco. The houses were made of wood. These cottages once housed early settlers as they worked the dry Montana soil; now they hold Twitter engineers.
The cottages could be an example of the industry’s unusual love for “low technology”, a concept associated with the natural world, and with old-school craftsmanship（手艺）that exists long before the Internet era. Low technology is not virtual (虚拟的) —so, to take advantage of it, Internet companies have had to get creative. The rescued wood cottages, fitted by band in the late eighteen-hundreds, are an obvious example. Other companies are using a broader interpretation（阐释）of low technology that focuses on nature.
Amazon is building three glass spheres filled with trees, so that employees can “work and socialize in a more natural, park-like setting.” At Google’s office, an entire is carpeted in glass. Facebook’s second Menlo Park campus will have a rooftop park with a walking path.
Olle Lundberg, the founder of Lundberg Design, has worked with many tech companies over the years. “Our tech engineers are the ones who feel impoverished, because they’re surrounded by the digital world,” he says. “We’ve found that introducing real crafts is one way to regain their individual identity.”
This craft-based theory is rooted in history. William Morris, the English artist and writer, turned back to pre-industrial arts in the eighteen-sixties, just after Industrial Revolution. The Arts and Crafts movement defined itself against machines. “Without creative human occupation, people became disconnected from life.” Morris said.
Research has shown that natural environments can restore our mental abilities. In Japan, patients are encouraged to “forest-bathe”, taking walks through woods to lower their blood pressure.
These health benefits apply to the workplace as well. Rachel Kaplvin, a professor of environmental psychology, has spent years researching the restorative effects of natural environment. Her research found that workers with access to nature at the office - even simple views of trees and flowers - felt their jobs were less stressful and more satisfying. If low-tech offices can potentially benefit the brains and improve the mental health of employees then, fine, bring on the cottages.
1.The writer mentions the two nineteenth-century cottages to show that _________
A.Twitter is having a hard time
B.Old cottages are in need of protection
C.Early settlers once suffered from a dry climate in Montana
D.Internet companies have rediscovered the benefits of low technology
2.Low technology is regarded as something that __________
A.is related to nature B.is out of date today
C.cosumes too much energy D.exists in the virtual world
3.The writer’s attitude to “low technology” can best be described as __________
A.Critical B.positive
C.worried D.doubtful
4.What can be the best title for the passage?
A.Past Glories, Future Dreams
B.The Virtual World, the Real Challenge
C.High-tech Companies, Low-tech Offices
D.The More Craftsmanship, the Less Creativity
