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A busy public square in the Chinese city of Nanjing is home to an unusual experiment.
For almost two months, the country’s first “honesty bookshop” has occupied（占据） a sidewalk on HanZhong Road in the city’s Gulou District.
With no cashier or other staff, the store relies on trust for payment.
Making money isn’t the company’s main goal and they don’t punish those who take books without paying.
“If they can really finish the books, it doesn’t matter if they took the books for free,” Zhu Yu, the marketing director of the company says.
“In fact, we are really happy to witness so many people taking books from the honesty bookshop.”
After browsing the four wooden bookshelves, customers must drop their money in a locked box.
Prices are set at 30% of the usual cover price.
Zhu hopes that his sidewalk store, which sells, on average, 60 books a day, will make more people interested in reading.
Like elsewhere, e-books are affecting sales of traditional books, and traditional books and many independent booksellers are struggling.
Zhu got permission from the city government to use the sidewalk and says he’s determined to make it a long-term project.
He says the store is open every day, except when it rains, and it’s locked up each night.
In September last year, the company laid out 1,000 books and reading lamps on the ground and encouraged people “to go on a date” with a book.
“Independent bookshops represent the well-being of the city.” Zhu told CNN in 2013, “when a city is losing its bookshops, it’s actually losing something in its soul.”
If the success of the Honesty Bookstore is any guide, Nanjing’s soul is in pretty good shape.
1.How is the bookstore different from other bookstores?
A. There is no cashier in it.
B. There are no paper books in it.
C. None of the customers need to pay for the books.
D. Only honest customers can visit the shop.
2.What does Zhu Yu say about customers who take away books without paying?
A. They will be forbidden from visiting the bookstore again.
B. They will have to pay a lot of money next time they visit the shop.
C. They are not doing wrong if they finish reading the books.
D. They will not be allowed to take books away next time.
3.What is one of the purposes of opening the bookstore?
A. To encourage people to read.
B. To make customers honest.
C. To check whether customers are honest.
D. To help people learn about Nanjing.
4.What can we learn from the text?
A. The shop is only open on weekends.
B. The books in the shop are more expensive than shoes in other shops.
C. 30% of the normal cover price is charged for each book.
D. The shop is not locked at night.
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Guinness World Records has long been recording some of the most amazing and astonishing travel and tourism facts. Here we are sharing some of the most unbelievable record-breaking accounts, all fully fact-checked and Guinness-approved.
Largest Ice Structure—The Ice Hotel in Sweden
Each year, the ice hotel in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden, is rebuilt from blocks of frozen ice from the nearby River Torne. Covering an area of 5,500 square metres, the hotel is unsurprisingly open seasonally, from December to March, when it melts away. In 2015, the hotel celebrated its 25th anniversary, complete with an ice bar, an ice church and ice bedrooms—one even featured a London Tube carriage made entirely of ice.
Tallest Waterfall—Angel Falls, Venezuela
The largest waterfall by vertical(垂直的) area may be Victoria Falls, which sit on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, but it’s South America that’s home to the world’s tallest.
Angel Falls, located in Bolivar, Venezuela, has an impressive, uninterrupted drop of 807 metres.
It was actually named after the American pilot, Jimmie Angel, who first recorded it in his logbook on November 16, 1933.
Largest Area of Glowing Sea—Indian Ocean, near Somalia
Bioluminescence(生物体发光) is the production and emission of light by a living thing and can be used to explain the surprising phenomenon(现象)of “glowing oceans.”
It was in 1995 that scientists detected glowing sea in the Indian Ocean—just off the coast of Somalia-via satellite, The water was more than 250 kilometres long, and it was all thanks to the bacteria called phytoplankton.
Most Expensive Hotel Room—The Royal Penthouse Suite at Geneva’s Hotel President Wilsom
This particular suite is just the ticket, costing as much as US$83,000(£53,760)per night.
But the high price will gain you access to 12 bedrooms and 12 marble bathrooms across 18,000 square feet.
1.Where is the tallest waterfall situated?
A. Between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
B. In South America.
C. In northern Europe.
D. In South Africa.
2.What can we learn about the largest area of glowing sea?
A. It was first recorded in 1933.
B. It was named after an American pilot.
C. It was first detected by satellite.
D. It is the only sea that is glowing.
3.What can you experience if you go to the Royal Penthouse Suite at Geneva’s Hotel President Wilson?
A. The most beautiful natural scenery.
B. The most expensive and luxurious suite.
C. The largest and most powerful waterfall.
D. The largest rooms.
4.Where might we find this text?
A. In a cultural book.
B. In a travel magazine
C. In a fashion magazine.
D. In an instruction book
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While sweet treats can be hard to resist, the World Health Organization(WHO) has set new guidelines for people around the world. The guidelines, released on Wednesday, advise that both adults and children cut back on their sugar intake(摄取量) to stay healthy.
In a statement, Francesco Branca, director of the WHO’s nutrition department, said there is evidence that reducing daily sugar intake reduces the risk of being overweight and tooth decay(腐烂).
The guidelines do not apply to the sugars in fresh fruit and vegetables or those that are naturally present in milk. According to the WHO, there is no reported evidence of negative effects of consuming those sugars. Instead, the new guidelines focus on “added” or “free” sugars. These include sugars that are added to processed foods and drinks such as candy and soft drinks.
Added sugars are sometimes described as “ hidden” sugars because they exist in foods we might not think of as sweets, such as honey and ketchup(番茄酱). Health experts advise that consumers look at ingredients on food packages to help make better-informed decisions.
The WHO recommends that people in the United States, Europe and other Western societies should cut their average sugar intake by about two-thirds, or down to just 10% of their overall calories. For developing countries, where dental care is less advanced, the WHO recommends that sugar intake be reduced to 5%.
Scientist Kieran Clarke, of the University of Oxford, notes that for those people who can’t shake their love for sweets, getting more exercise is a good solution. “If you get enough exercise, you can eat almost anything,” she said “But it’s very hard to avoid large amounts of sugar unless all you’re eating is fruit and vegetables.”
1.What can we learn from the guidelines released by the World Health Organization?
A. The production of candies should be forbidden.
B. There is a connection between sugar intake and bad teeth.
C. Fruit and vegetables contain a lot of sugar.
D. People should cut down on sugar intake for the sake of their health.
2.To what level should people in developing countries cut down their sugar intake, according to the WHO?
A. 10%. B. 15%. C. 5%. D. 30%.
3.We can learn from the text that ________.
A. added sugar isn’t marked on food packages
B. we should drink as little milk as possible as it contains sugar
C. soft drinks don’t contain added sugar
D. the less exercise you do, the fewer sweet things you should eat
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A handsome man can earn a fifth more than an average-looking colleague but a beautiful woman is not paid a penny more than her average-looking colleague, new research has shown.
The study by senior economists（经济学家）found that being good-looking meant male workers could earn 22 percent more than average-looking colleagues. Researchers said good looks did not give women a similar advantage.
Andrew Leigh, a former economics professor at the Australian National University who co-authored the report, said: “Beauty can be a double-edged sword for women.”
“Some people still believe good looks and intelligence are incompatible(矛盾的) in women, so a good-looking women can’t be that productive, but it doesn’t affect men’s pay.”
He said that although he believed good-looking women may also earn more, the research did not support his theory.
The research found that handsome men in all jobs, from manual labour（手工劳动）to highly-paid professional careers, can earn 22 percent more than their colleagues doing the same work.
Men with below-average looks face a battle in the office, with ugliness reducing a man’s earnings by 26 percent compared to an average-looking worker.
Former male model, Caitlan Mitchell, 28, who has a first class degree in history from Edinburgh University and now works for a cosmetics company, told the Sunday Times:’ It gives you confidence, and I suspect people tend to warm to you more quickly.”
The study, named Unpacking the Beauty Premium, was the largest exercise of its kind and repeated a survey from 1984 to see if the beauty premium（美貌溢价) had changed.
Leigh said the research showed people in the workplace were “lookist(以貌取人的)”and he hoped the findings would encourage employers to remove their prejudice.
1.What has the research found?
A. Male workers pay more attention to their appearance.
B. Handsome men have an advantage in their jobs.
C. Appearance plays an important role at work.
D. The more beautiful a female is, the lower their intelligence is.
2.What is Andrew Leigh’s opinion?
A. Beauty is a double-edged sword for workers.
B. Gook-looking females are likely to earn more.
C. Employers have prejudice in employing workers.
D. More attention is paid to appearance now than before.
3.We can learn from the text that men who are below average in appearance ________.
A. earn 26%less than handsome men
B. earn 22% less than average-looking men
C. earn as much as average-looking men
D. earn 26% less than average-looking men
4.What is the main idea of the text?
A. Employees should pay more attention to their appearance.
B. Males and females should be treated equally in interviews.
C. Good-looking men tend to earn more.
D. Beautiful female interviewees aren’t popular in interviews.
）,并在其下面写出该加的词。
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