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The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides a year into 24 solar terms. In the ancient days, they were important instructions for the farming production as well as people's daily lives. Here are four solar terms and some details about them.
Spring Equinox
It starts around March 21st. During this time, swallows fly back to the north. It is also a good time for people to fly kites and eat spring vegetables.
Summer Solstice
It begins around June 21st. To celebrate Summer Solstice, people often give colored fans to each other because fans can help them cool down.
Autumn Equinox
It starts around September 23rd. From Autumn Equinox, most of the areas in China will enter the cool autumn. It is a season for people to eat crabs and enjoy chrysanthemums(菊花)
Winter Solstice
It begins around December 22nd. It marks the arrival of the coldest season in the year.
People usually make and eat dumplings with their family members.
1.Spring Equinox begins around________.
A.March 21st B.June 21st C.September 23rd D.December 22nd
2.To celebrate Summer Solstice, people________.
A.eat spring vegetables B.give each other colored fans
C.enjoy chrysanthemums D.make and eat dumplings
3.________marks the arrival of the coldest season in the year.
A.Spring Equinox B.Summer Solstice
C.Autumn Equinox D.Winter Solstice
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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Katy's Book Report
It was Monday afternoon. Pointing to the blackboard, Mr. Hayes reminded, his students, "You should hand in your book report next Monday."
Katy said in a low voice, "I haven't started yet."
Tom looked surprised, "I've already finished reading mine."
"We still have a whole week," Katy said，"There's plenty of time. I will start reading it tonight right after the soccer practice.”
But Katy was too tired to read after the soccer practice. "I'll start the book tomorrow," she told herself.
Tuesday came. Katy watched TV for a few hours, and then worked on her coin collection until bedtime. "It's too late to read now," Katy decided. "Tomorrow, I'll start it for sure."
On Wednesday, Tom warned her not to leave things until the last minute. "It's not the last minute," Katy told him. "I still have four whole days left.”
Unfortunately, she had to clean up her messy room first. Then, she was too tired to read. So Katy put off starting her book until Thursday.
Katy finally began reading her book on Thursday. It was so hard that she had read only a few pages by bedtime.
On Friday night, Katy gave up watching her favorite video, for she had to read her book. Then on Saturday morning, she went on reading it.
"At least I have the whole weekend," she thought. However, she forgot her soccer game! So she lost several hours to read, which made her even more worried.
Katy read for the rest of Saturday, and she thought to herself, "I wish I'd started it earlier, like Tom!"
Katy finally finished reading her book on Sunday morning and stayed up writing her book report until, midnight.
She looked tired and nervous, thinking to herself, "I think this project has taught me an important lesson."
1.What did Mr. Hayes remind his students to work on?
A.A video game. B.A soccer practice.
C.A book report. D.A coin collection.
2.How did Katy feel after the soccer game on Saturday?
A.Bored. B.Worried. C.Shocked. D.Disappointed.
3.What lesson has Katy got from the project?
A.She should read more books. B.She should learn more writing skills.
C.She shouldn't compare herself with others. D.She shouldn't leave her work to the last minute.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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Different from common belief, blue light may not have a strong negative effect as people thought-according to the scientists from the University of Manchester.
It's known that our body clock measures brightness through melanopsin(黑素蛋白)，a specialized light sensitive protein in the eye. So there has been lots of interest in studying the influence of light on the body clock. Researchers changed the make-up of short and long wavelength light, which provided a small difference in brightness, as well as changes in color. Findings suggested blue light might be troublesome to our sleep patterns.
The new research, however, used a different method, since the changes in color may oppose the benefits from reducing the brightness signals detected(探测)by melanopsin. The team used specially designed lighting to change color without changing brightness.
Findings of the new research showed that blue colors produced weaker effects on the subjects' body clock than equally bright yellow colors. "Our recognition of color comes from the retinal cone cells(视网膜锥形细胞)，and the blue color signals they supply reduce the influence of light on the body clock," explained the lead researcher. "The research shows the common view that blue light has the strongest effect on the body clock is misguided.”
According to the team, using dim(昏暗的)，cooler lights in the evening and bright warmer lights during the day may be more beneficial to ensure healthy patterns of sleep. Twilight(暮光)is both dimmer and bluer than daylight and the body clock uses both of those features to decide on the proper times to be asleep and awake.
The findings have important suggestions for the design of lighting and visual displays which aim to promote people's sleep patterns. Present technologies are mostly designed to limit our evening exposure to blue light by changing the screen color of mobile devices. The technology, however, may send the body clock mixed messages. This is because the small changes in brightness they produce come along with colors that are commonly seen during the day. So there's more for the designers to take into consideration.
Setting our body clocks in line with our social and work schedules can be good for our health, and using color correctly could be a way to help us better achieve that.
1.The writer mentions different research methods in Paragraph 2 and 3 to________.
A.suggest how the data of the research should be collected
B.explain why the findings of the old research are reasonable
C.discuss possible ways of studying the influence of blue light
D.show the progress in the methods used in the studies of blue light
2.According to the new findings, what should the designers take into consideration?
A.The changes in both colors and brightness.
B.The influence of the daylight on sleep patterns.
C.The suggestions on the proper use of mobile devices.
D.The balance between technologies and the body clock.
3.What can we learn from the new research?
A.Blue light cannot he easily detected by the body clock.
B.Blue light has the weakest effect on people's body clock.
C.Blue light is not as harmful to their sleep patterns as people thought.
D.Blue light benefits people more in their sleep patterns than yellow light.
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
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Sophia is smart, talented and incredibly nice. As a team leader, she wishes Nathan, a member of her history project, did his part as required. But rather than criticize him, Sophia offered polite encouragement trying to push him instead, only to find that Nathan kept falling behind. It ended up that other team members, who had to take on more work, complained about both Sophia and Nathan, while Nathan himself complained that he was not treated fairly.
How did poor Sophia get into this mess? The primary reason was that Sophia failed in a key aspect of leadership- the duty to provide clear feedback(反馈)for team members. This isn't simply a duty but a correctness.
Failing to question or criticize Nathan's work, Sophia was in fact unkind. Many people are not a failure, like Nathan in this case; they're just in the wrong place, and still left in the dark. What they really need is feedback from their leaders. However, Sophia, in this case, withheld a gift from Nathan.
"You'd better use open, honest, continuous and clear feedback," says Harry Kraemer, a professor of management and strategy at Northwestern University, "to help figure out someone's best fit- in their particular job or in the organization."
This approach also prevents surprises. It's not uncommon to see someone suddenly removed from a team. They may have deserved it, but with a kind leader, they wouldn't have been caught off-guard because they would have been receiving open, honest, continuous and clear judgment of their performance.
Then why is it so hard for leaders to give good feedback? "We like to be liked," Kraemer says. So we avoid anything that may cause unpleasantness, but that kind of feedback usually helps members find the right place for them. "If you like to be liked, the chance of being respected is extremely low. However, if you start off focusing on being respected, you have a chance of being liked." Kraemer adds. The most difficult part for the leader, of course, involves criticizing someone. That is what a nice leader finds hard.
Back to Sophia's case. Not telling Nathan how he was on the team only made a hard situation worse. But with a different mindset, she could have set herself and Nathan up for success.
1.The expression "caught off-guard" in Paragraph 5 probably means"________"
A.kicked out carelessly B.treated unexpectedly
C.sent out unfairly D.guided effortlessly
2.The writer probably agrees that________.
A.being nice to team members is likely to win leaders great respect
B.criticizing team members results in serious complaints to the leader
C.open and honest communication is a must for leaders and team members
D.praise and encouragement from leaders bring out better team performance
3.According to the writer, what Sophia should do is________.
A.patiently encouraging Nathan to try his best
B.gradually having Nathan dropped out of the project
C.politely showing Nathan the improvement he made
D.clearly telling Nathan her judgment of his performance
4.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A.To be nice or to be kind? B.To be liked or to be criticized?
C.Is it necessary for leaders to be pleasing? D.Is it helpful for leaders to be demanding?
难度: 困难查看答案及解析