Babies are born yogis. Once we were all able to pull our toes up by our ears and laugh about it. Then we aged, got injured, and began carrying stress in our shoulders and back. In short, we lost our balance.
Yoga(瑜伽) is an ancient practice that helps create a sense of union in body, mind, and spirit. It brings us balance. I was seriously out of balance when I started practicing yoga in 1999. I had plantar fascitis in both feet, and my doctor had warned me against all the things I loved to do: walking, hiking, and playing tennis. I was desperate for exercise. Yoga became my salvation and even enhanced my other fitness activities. I practice yoga at least twice a week, but I consider yoga to be part of my daily life because after a while you no longer just practice yoga—you love it.
Yoga becomes part of your physical life. Your body grows stronger, more toned, and more flexible as you move from one pose to the other. I spent a week in Mexico at a yoga retreat, and it was the first vacation on which I lost weight. “Rather than building muscle, yoga builds muscle tone,” says Shakta Kaur Khalsa, author of the K.I.S.S. Guide to Yoga. “Because yoga helps maintain a balanced metabolism (新陈代谢), it also helps to regulate weight. Additionally, yoga stretches muscles lengthwise, causing fat to be removed around the cells.” I do yoga poses throughout the day. After hours at my computer, I stretch my stiff shoulders and arms. When I need a boost of energy, I do energizing poses. When I am feeling exhausted at the end of the day, I do restorative poses.
Yoga becomes part of your mental life. Yoga teaches you to focus on breathing while you hold the poses. This attention to breath is calming; it dissolves stress and anxiety. I use yogic breathing on the tennis courts, in the dentist’s chair, and in traffic jams. You should always leave a yoga practice feeling energized, not tired. If you feel tired after yoga, it means you spent the time “fighting” yourself, trying to force yourself into poses. In yoga, you “surrender” to the pose by letting go of the tension.
Yoga becomes part of your spiritual life. Yoga is practiced by people from all religions; it is not restricted to any religious group. Yoga teaches “right” living in how we deal with ourselves and others. As I work on a difficult pose, I learn patience, forgiveness, and the value of gentleness. Yoga advocates proper eating, but you don’t have to be a vegetarian to practice yoga.
1.What would be the best title for this passage?
A.What’s Yoga? B.How I Do Yoga Poses
C.The Benefits of Yoga D.The Varieties of Yoga
2.According to the third paragraph, yoga can help people __________.
A.grow taller B.lose weight
C.become flexible in thinking D.make more friends
3.People feel tired after yoga because __________.
A.they consume energy in practicing yoga
B.they respond well to yoga poses
C.they spend too much time on yoga
D.they force themselves into yoga poses
4.If s passage continues, what will the writer most probably write about in the next paragraph?
A.Yoga as a means to keep fit. B.Different yoga poses.
C.Popularity of yoga all over the world. D.Encouraging people to do yoga.
ARIZONA
THUNDERBIRD
Lodge in Canyon de Chelly
A one-night stay at the historic lodge starts at $59 for a single room and the lodge offers half-day tours of Canyon de Chelly ($41 for adults and $32 for children aged 12 and under)
Time: May. 31, 2009—Nov. 1, 2009
Details: Hotel taxes are an additional 17.1 percent
Contact: 800/679-2473, tbirdlodge.com
CALIFORNIA
Zephyr Cove Resort at Lake Tahoe
A three-night stay in a lakeside cabin (小木屋) for two people, an Emerald Bay sightseeing for two, free breakfast and lunch. Rates are $299 per couple—saving of up to $400.
Details: Hotel taxes are included
Time: Through Dec. 15, 2009
Contact: 800/234-8946, zephyrcove.com
NEVADA
Montelago Village at Lake Las Vegas
A one-night stay at the Mediterranean-style Montelago Village, 17 miles from Las Vegas. Rates start at $65 per person including ice-skating fees and skate rentals.
Details: Hotel taxes are an additional 12 percent
Time: Nov. 17, 2009—Jan. 15, 2010
Contact: 866/399-2753, montelagovillage.com
YELLOWSTONE
Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel
A two-night stay, breakfast daily, full-day ski rental, unlimited ice-skating and skates and a book of Yellowstone photos. Rates start at $119 per person. A one-night stay at the hotel starts at $65.
Time: Jan. 1, 2010—May. 2, 2010
Details: Hotel taxes are an additional 8 percent
Contact: 866/439-2473, travelyellowstone.com
1.If a couple and their 14-year-old son want to have a half-day tour of Canyon de Chelly on Oct. 13, 2009, they should pay .
A.$114 B.$123 C.$177 D.$189
2.If you are interested in ice-skating, you may find more information in .
A.tbirdlodge.com and zephyrcove.com B.montelagovillage.com and tbirdlodge.com
C.zephyrcove.com and travelyellowstone.com D.travelyellowstone.com and montelagovillage.com
3.If you have a holiday in December, and intend to stay in a European-style hotel, you may go to .
A.Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel B.Zephyr Cove Resort at Lake Tahoe
C.Montelago Village at Lake Las Vegas D.Thunderbird Lodge in Canyon de Chelly
4.You needn’t pay extra fees as hotel taxes if you stay in .
A.Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel B.Zephyr Cove Resort at Lake Tahoe
C.Montelago Village at Lake Las Vegas D.Thunderbird Lodge in Canyon de Chelly
“BEIJING, Sep. 10 (Xinhuanet)—The extra-large model baby in the Spain Pavilion (馆) was ‘conceived (构思)’ by a Spanish filmmaker,” Shi Yingying reports.
Visitors admiring the 6.5-meter-high giant baby, Miguelin, in the Spain Pavilion may be surprised to realize that it was not the concept of a famous designer or a group of groundbreaking engineers. It came from one filmmaker’s interpretation of the meaning of “Better City, Better Life”.
Spanish director Isabel Coixet developed the idea after being asked to contribute to Expo 2010 Shanghai.
“They asked me to do something to tell the Chinese audience about Spain in the future and the first thing jumping to my mind was a baby,” said Coixet. “If we really fight to have better cars, better cities and better lives, it’s for them—for our children.”
Despite her Spanish heritage, Coixet doesn’t focus on making Spanish films or using Spain as the setting. Fans of her various award-winning films, including My Life Without Me, The Secret Life of Words and Elegy, may not even be aware of Coixet’s Spanish background.
“The borders between countries are just illusion (假象),” said Coixet. “Some directors feel really comfortable telling stories that belong to their territory.”
But Coixet feels the opposite: “I’m more comfortable outside my country. It gives me a strange freedom.”
One of her favorite things about being a director is the freedom. “The thing is that the world is wide and this freedom lets you make films everywhere,” she said.
Coixet’s curiosity took her latest exploration and movie work to Japan. In the movie Map of the Sound of Tokyo, the Catalan actor Sergi Lopez is the owner of a wine shop in Tokyo, and Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi is a young woman who works both as a fishmonger and as a hired killer.
The clash (冲突) of the two people’s very different worlds and the tango-like relationship they develop is just one representation of what Coixet is able to produce by mixing cultures.
While she doesn’t know if she will shoot a film in Shanghai, two things have caught her attention: Shanghainese women and crickets (蟋蟀).
After just arriving in the city, she was surprised by the mix of old Chinese culture in a booming metropolis. “Behind the skyscrapers, there is a flower and bird market with heaps of crickets and birdcages in,” she said. “I’m totally amazed with the city.”
1.The huge baby represents the idea that .
A.our children are the new generation full of imagination
B.our children will develop the friendship between China and Spain
C.our children are our future
D.our children will understand the meaning of “Better City, Better Life”
2.We learn from the passage that Coixet’s award-winning films were set .
A.only in Spain
B.only in Japan
C.mainly in the countries outside Spain
D.mainly in the countries within Europe
3.According to Isabel Coixet, a flower and bird market behind the high rises .
A.shows people in Shanghai are living a rich life spiritually and materially
B.reflects prosperity of the market
C.indicates the Chinese people are leading a peaceful life
D.represents the traditional culture of China
4.From the passage we can learn that .
A.Isabel Coixet is dissatisfied with the design of the extra-large model baby
B.a mix of different cultures is reflected in Isabel Coixet’s films
C.Isabel Coixet feels less comfortable while making films all over the world
D.Isabel Coixet designed the huge baby according to the requirement of a group of engineers
Even though Danish students have equal access to education, their choice of studies is still influenced by social class. Young people from working class backgrounds are ______by studies with a clear job profile and high income, ______prestige and studies with a strong identity interest young people of parents with university degrees when choosing which studies to ______. This is what researchers from the University of Copenhagen ______in a new study. Students who have chosen to study medicine, architecture, economy and sociology often come from homes where the parents have ________higher education, whereas business studies and pharmacy often ______young people with a working class background. This is ______by a research team from the University of Copenhagen and Aalborg University in a new study.
“There is a ______between the studies chosen by young Danes and their ______background. Even for the young people who have very good grades in their A-level exams, and who could successfully ______admission to a large variety of studies, the parents’ ______of education and social class play an important role in their choice,” says Education Sociologist Jens Peter Thomsen, who is one of the researchers behind the study.
The study “The Educational Strategies of Danish University Students from Professional and Working-Class Backgrounds” is ______60 interviews with Danish students from six different university level study programmes: Medicine, architecture, sociology, economy, pharmacy and business studies.
The young people bring with them the ______they get from their families. If you grow up in a home with parents who are doctors or architects with a strong professional ______, it is an obvious choice to follow the ______path as your parents when you grow up.
“For young people whose parents are university educated, ______such as fame and mastery of expert knowledge are important. They are ______by an educational culture in which you are a diligent student, and where leisure activities are ______to the identity that lies within your studies. These young people have also grown up with ______discussions around the dinner table which also prepare them for their lives as students,” says Jens Peter Thomsen.
He also added, “Young people who come from a working class background, and have good grades have to ______the full range of opportunities they have. But the effort to reach this goal must start early”.
1.A.monitored B.motivated C.motioned D.multiplied
2.A.while B.although C.when D.if
3.A.pursue B.engage C.involve D.conduct
4.A.calculate B.suspect C.conclude D.achieve
5.A.required B.confirmed C.refused D.completed
6.A.subscribes to B.caters to C.sticks to D.appeals to
7.A.inquired B.proved C.extended D.acquired
8.A.connection B.comparison C.difference D.contradiction
9.A.educational B.political C.social D.professional
10.A.balance B.develop C.identify D.seek
11.A.situation B.judgment C.level D.preference
12.A.connected with B.based on C.committed to D.combined with
13.A.resources B.experiences C.finance D.memory
14.A.degree B.identity C.success D.responsibility
15.A.perfect B.usual C.common D.same
16.A.changes B.problems C.factors D.characters
17.A.disturbed B.moved C.puzzled D.attracted
18.A.tied B.accustomed C.transferred D.copied
19.A.practical B.topical C.physical D.medical
20.A.take charge of B.take control of C.take advantage of D.take care of
It’s terrible. My car break down just as we were going on our holiday.
A.might B.would C.could D.must
In my opinion, the idea of a family is much narrower than for many of us.
A.that used to be B.it is used to
C.it was used to D.it used to be