Where can you volunteer your time? Check out these 4 activities for excellent volunteer opportunities that require no previous experience.
Animal Rescue Shelters
Local animal shelters always need volunteers. Brush up your office skills by answering emails or phone calls, and providing general administrative assistance. Try making some connections among the staff or offering your dog walking services to the pet owners. It makes for a great part-time job, and plus, may turn into a full-time one.
Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity offers locally targeted volunteer opportunities. If you are interested in developing experience in home repair and building maintenance, check out its A Brush With Kindness campaign or the Women Build program, designed specifically to help women learn construction skills. Your experience can contribute directly to team-building and leadership ability.
Local Libraries
As a teenager, I volunteered at my local library for a few hours a week for a school project. I liked it so much that I ended up volunteering every week and developed a life-long love of books. Libraries badly need help to organize shelves and assist readers, and you may sometimes help set up and run public events, such as author signings and book fairs.
Art Museums
If you love art, working in a museum can be an invaluable experience. You can surround yourself with timeless works of art, soak up knowledge, and acquire administrative skills meanwhile. Get involved in the community by volunteering for family programs and children’s activities at your local museum.
1.What is an extra advantage when you volunteer in animal shelters?
A.Owning your favorite pet free. B.Becoming a full-time dog walker.
C.Helping to build up your knowledge base. D.Contribute to your own leadership ability.
2.Where can you learn skills of bettering your home?
A.At Habitat for Humanity. B.At a local animal shelter.
C.At a local library. D.At an art museum.
3.What is badly needed for local libraries?
A.Helping design posters. B.Helping with public events.
C.Organizing large book fairs. D.Organizing books on the shelves.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Japanese scientists and technology companies are coming up with new ways to deal with employee shortages in delivery service. How exactly? By introducing a robot that can deliver food to your home. A Japanese company ZMP has launched robot tests recently.
The ZMP's delivery robot in the process of testing is a red box that measures 109 cm and 133 cm in heights and lengths respectively. It is designed to carry up to 100 kilograms of anything with a approximate speed of 4 miles an hour. It has its own navigating system and a map, sensors(传感器)and cameras that allow it to self-drive. These, for now, are its main technical abilities. The next developments will be control of food temperature, and perhaps，voice control and speaking abilities.
The robot will be tested together with a local sushi(寿司)delivery company Ride on Express Co. Upon making a sushi order, customers will receive codes on their smart phones that will allow them to unlock the robot and get their orders out. Similar testing attempts have been undertaken by Domino's Pizza in Australia, where they tested a delivery robot a year ago.
In any case, before robots are able to deliver food or any other goods to real customers, massive testing on public roads or in the public air space will have to take place. While it is in the government's best interest to make up for the shortage of delivery in the Japanese labor market, it is clear that self-driving machines of any kind will not be permitted on the roads until they are fully tested and proven safe enough for public roads. According to the experts, this could take another 3 to 5 years.
In any case, robot delivery is not such a distant future after all, and recent developments show that there is significant market demand for such type of delivery.
1.How do Japanese handle the employee shortages in delivery service?
A.By raising employment and working hours.
B.By employing science and technology.
C.By increasing the salary.
D.By delivering more at a time.
2.What is the second paragraph mainly about?
A.The introduction of delivery robots.
B.The usage of delivery robots.
C.The basic data of delivery robots.
D.The appearance of delivery robots.
3.What's the reaction of Japanese government to delivery robots?
A.Being critical of the technology.
B.Ignoring the development.
C.Being a little bit hesitated.
D.Becoming great interested.
4.What can be the best title for the text?
A.Robot Delivery：New Tests in Japan B.Robot Delivery Coming to Use in Japan
C.Employee Shortage in Delivery in Japan D.Latest Automatic Service：Robots
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Stephen Hawking was regarded as one of the most brilliant physicists in history. His work on the origins and structure of the universe, from the Big Bang to black holes, changed the field greatly. His best-selling books also appealed to a number of readers.
Stephen Hawking had a challenging life. He was born in England on Jan. 8, 1942-300 years to the day after the death of the astronomer Galileo Galilei. He attended University College, Oxford, where he studied physics, despite his father’s urging to focus on medicine. Hawking went on to Cambridge to research cosmology.
In early 1963, just before his 2lst birthday, Hawking suffered from a serious disease, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was not expected to live more than two years. Completing his doctor’s degree did not appear likely. Yet, Hawking had overcome the great difficulties, not only attaining his Ph. D. but also building new roads into the understanding of the universe in the decades since.
Hawking continued at Cambridge after his graduation, serving as a research fellow and later as a professional fellow. In 1974，he was inducted（正式就职）into the Royal Society，a worldwide fellowship of scientists. In 1979, he was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, the most famous academic chair in the world.
As the disease spread, Hawking became less mobile and began using a wheelchair. Talking grew more challenging and, in 1985, an emergency tracheotomy（气管切开术）caused his total loss of speech. A speech-generating device was constructed at Cambridge, combined with a software program, serving as his electronic voice and allowing Hawking to select his words by moving the muscles in his cheek. Hawking died on March 14, 2018.
1.What greatly influenced the field Stephen Hawking studied?
A.Stephen Hawking’s best-selling books.
B.His research on the Big Bang and black holes.
C.Stephen Hawking’s talent.
D.The origins and structure of the universe.
2.What does the underlined word “cosmology” in paragraph 2 mean?
A.A study about universe.
B.A subject of medicine.
C.A research on time.
D.A project in Cambridge.
3.What happened to Stephen Hawking in early 1963?
A.He became world famous.
B.He achieved his doctor’s degree.
C.He was badly affected by a serious disease.
D.He built new roads into the understanding of the universe.
4.How did Stephen Hawking express himself finally?
A.By using body language.
B.With the help of an operation.
C.By using a speech-generating device.
D.With the help of some people.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Health officials in the United States reported last week on what they believe could be a medical first. Officials said doctors performed what could be the first double lung transplant（移植）on a person whose lungs were severely damaged from vaping（吸电子烟）. The operation reportedly saved the life of the teenager.
The young man was admitted in early September to a Detroit-area hospital with what appeared to be a common lung infection, but was later sent to Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit. On October 3, he was transported to Henry Ford Hospital, where the transplant was performed 12 days later.
Hassan Nemeh is a surgical director of thoracic（胸腔的）organ transplant at Henry Ford Hospital. He told The Associated Press（The AP）that the damage done to the teenager’s lungs from vaping was so bad that there was no possibility to totally recover. He warned parents to think about that and to tell their children as well.
More than 2,000 Americans who vape have gotten sick since March. Many of them are teenagers and young adults. At least 40 people have died.
Recently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a discovery into what might be causing people who vape to become sick. They identified the chemical compound vitamin E acetate（醋酸盐）as a “very strong criminal”.
Researchers found the chemical compound in fluid taken from the lungs of 29 patients. In other studies, Vitamin E acetate was found in liquid from electronic cigarettes and other vaping devices. Many who got sick said they had vaped liquids that contain THC, the part of marijuana that creates what is known as a “high”.
Dr. Lisa Allenspach is a lung specialist and medical director of Henry Ford’s Lung Transplant Program. She told The AP, “Vaping-related injuries are all too common these days. Our adolescents are faced with a crisis.” She added that vaping products should not be used in any way.
Dr. Nemeh said the 17-year-old patient’s case does not open any new moral considerations about transplants for people who severely damage their own lungs by vaping. He added, “We hope sharing this patient’s story prevents anyone else from experiencing a vaping injury that would require a transplant.”
1.What can be learned about the young man in the text?
A.He got caught in a moral dilemma.
B.He was the first to get sick by vaping.
C.He received the operation immediately.
D.He had a good chance to survive the lung damage.
2.How many hospitals are mentioned in the text?
A.1. B.2.
C.3. D.4.
3.What is Dr. Lisa Allenspach’s attitude towards vaping products?
A.Skeptical. B.Approving
C.Opposing. D.Objective.
4.What’s the purpose of sharing the teen’s story?
A.To discourage vaping.
B.To voice moral concerns for the lung transplant.
C.To express sympathy for his sufferings.
D.To disapprove of smoking.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
How to Live Well
At a certain point in life, thoughts may come up. How well have you lived?1.How well you’ve treated those you love and care about? Most of all, however, time seems to slip on without too much self-reflection. Maybe it’s time to slow down and think about what it means to live well.
To live means acting.2.You start action, come up with goals, make plans to help work on the desired outcome, and dive in. Not every action will immediately bring about a successful finish of the project, task or undertaking, but you learn from everything you do.
3.Being busy is an effective cure to loneliness, helps avoid depression and self-pity, and keeps us in a constant state of movement. Again, doing things often puts us in contact with others and that’s also a good thing for humans to make interaction with other humans.
But what happens when you don’t give a project or task your full effort? Are you still living well? Or are you shortchanging yourself, trying to cheat and still get the reward?4.Not only learn to face these, but also try to overcome them.
The truth is that everyone cuts corners now and then. Maybe it is because we lack time, energy, financial or other resources. Sometimes we have to make ends meet by shaving off an item or a step. That doesn’t mean we make a habit of it.5.
A.To live means you participate in life.
B.To have a good life doesn’t mean living well.
C.Keeping busy sometimes is important in life.
D.Sometimes you have to face these in your life.
E.How much you’ve achieved relative to your goals?
F.What can you do if you suffer from an illness?
G.That really means we should stop and think, in order to live better.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
As the train picked up its speed, the passengers slowly settled down on their seats. A（n）_________lady occupied the front seat of mine. She must be in her eighties, I guessed. She smiled at me. Out of curiosity, I gave her_________. But both of us were_________.
It was 4:50 pm. So, bed time was still in a long way. I couldn’t_________myself any longer and asked, “Aunty！Where are you going?”
She_________me for a while and replied, “Army camp, dear.”
Suddenly my_________doubled to know the reason. I politely said, “Aunty, you are_________someone?”
She smiled and I continued to say: “Aunty, you must be feeling so_________to see your child and your grandchildren.”
Perhaps, this question_________her a little but she answered, “Oh, dear! You are so sweet!__________, I had only one son who joined the__________and was killed in a battle just a few days before. I had__________so many new clothes for him. So, I thought why not__________my son’s clothes to some other soldiers, so that I would control my__________and would be happy thinking that my own son has worn it. He was__________, so I don’t have any grand child.”
I was astonished at her heart breaking story! But I admired the old lady from the core of my heart.
1.A.elderly B.famous C.stubborn D.smart
2.A.response B.exploration C.research D.amazement
3.A.dynamic B.calm C.silent D.positive
4.A.resist B.forgive C.deserve D.demand
5.A.cared about B.stared at C.attended to D.watched over
6.A.anxiety B.embarrassment C.appreciation D.curiosity
7.A.visiting B.charging C.sentencing D.reminding
8.A.puzzled B.frightened C.astonished D.excited
9.A.entertained B.attracted C.hurt D.impressed
10.A.Besides B.Therefore C.Still D.Anyway
11.A.club B.league C.party D.army
12.A.shared B.counted C.bought D.buried
13.A.sold B.donate C.connect D.expand
14.A.sorrow B.shock C.sickness D.energy
15.A.unbelievable B.unbearable C.unemployed D.unmarried
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
假定你是李华，你的英国笔友Jack来信告诉你，他学习效率很低。请你给Jack回信，提供一些你提高学习效率的方法。主要内容包括：
1.安静的学习地点；
2.上课集中注意力（记笔记，回答老师问题……）；
3.适当的运动和休息。
注意：1.词数80左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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难度: 中等查看答案及解析
阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。续写的词数应为150左右。
After my son, Scott, graduated from high school he took a job near his father. Two thousand miles suddenly separated me from the person who’d been the focus of my life for 18 years. As the days went by, I missed Scott more and more. I’d always been able to take care of myself, but now I seemed to need Scott’s help constantly, like getting a tool from the top shelf, or moving something heavy, or changing a tire on the car. Most of all, I just missed having him to talk to. I was lonely. I knew this day would come. But why does it have to be so hard?
However, a mother spider taught me a lesson.
On my way out from my storeroom, I noticed a spider building her web across the top corner of the doorway. I reached for a hoe（锄头）m, tore down the web, and watched the giant spider run away in the grass. She was back the very next morning, in the exact same spot, busily rebuilding. I stared for a moment, and then reached for the hoe again. Then I twisted the hoe round and round, catching the spider in her own web. I carried her far into my backyard, shook the hoe and watched her fall to the ground, disappearing in the bush. The third morning, I stopped short as I entered the storeroom. The spider was back in the same corner of the door frame, her web almost completed again. I reached for the hoe, but stopped. She wants her web where she wants it, I thought, and that kind of perseverance（毅力）should pay off. I stepped back and watched her long legs busily knitting the web.
For the next few weeks, the spider and I were close neighbors. One particularly boring day, I was feeling so down that I didn’t even glance up at my spider as I entered. As I stared in wonder, I found a hundred tiny angels on the floor. I realized that these were baby spiders that the eggs had hatched, and already, as the mother watched from the corner of the home that she had built, her young were making their way to the ground.
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难度: 中等查看答案及解析