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Vote for the 2019 TIME for Kids Person of the Year!
Time flies! Before we know it, we’ll be ringing in 2020. The TFK team is taking a look back at 2019. Who was the most important person of the year? Read on to learn about all the nominees （被提名的人）, and then cast your vote. We’ll announce the winner in mid⁃December. Now get to it! Every vote counts.
Since 2016, Chef JOSE ANDRES and the team at his nonprofit group, World Central Kitchen, have provided meals to survivors of hurricanes, wildfires, and other emergencies. In 2019, Hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas. Andrés and his team sprang into action. At press time, they had served more than 1.75 million meals there.
Swedish climate activist GRETA THUNBERG, 16, is the face of the youth movement for climate awareness. In August, Greta set out on a zero⁃emissions sail across the Atlantic Ocean to speak to world leaders at the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit. She was nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize and continues to inspire people of all ages to fight for the health of Planet Earth.
Dutch inventor BOYAN SLAT founded The Ocean Cleanup in 2013. His goal: To get rid of plastics polluting the world’s oceans. This fall, Slat announced that the system was finally working. The device is being used in an area of the Pacific Ocean. Nearly 2 trillion pieces of trash have collected there. Slat hopes to get half of the trash removed by 2025.
Author JASON REYNOLDS has written more than a dozen books for kids. He’s a 2019 National Book Awards finalist for Young People’s Literature. In his books and in real life, Reynolds is concerned with the voices of black children and teenagers. In 2019, he made some 50 visits to classrooms and conferences. His mission: to show readers that he values their stories as much as they value his.
1.Why is Greta nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize?
A.She is a Swedish climate activist.
B.She fights for the health of the Earth.
C.She sailed across the Atlantic Ocean alone.
D.She tries to get rid of plastics in the oceans.
2.Who is concerned with black children and teenagers?
A.Jose Andes. B.Boyan Slat.
C.Jason Reynolds. D.Greta Thunberg.
3.What is the purpose of this text?
A.To issue an official report. B.To call on readers to vote.
C.To introduce some great works. D.To carry out a regular review.
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
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Frederick Phiri is the junk⁃art king of Zambia: at just 22, he started to earn an international reputation for being able to make complex and elegant sculptures from scrap metal（金属废料） found in his community.
Phiri’s father died when he was starting primary school. Then his mother abandoned him and he had to stay with his grandfather. His grandfather paid for his schooling through primary school but when he entered secondary school, he had to get various jobs to pay for his fees. Yet even in school, he was always drawing and making things in class.
After graduating, he did what he could to support himself by making animal sculptures from wires and sold them to tourists. His work was so popular that it caught the eye of Karen Beattie, director of Project Luangwa, a nonprofit dedicated to education and economic development in central Africa.
“I introduced him to a local welder（焊工）,”Beattie told Newsweek.
In 2017, Phiri worked with welder Moses Mbewe during the rainy season, helping to make a complex set of doors for Project Luangwa. The piece sparked an idea in Beattie’s mind:“I handed him a bunch of scrap metal and said,‘Make something with this.’And he did. It was wonderful.”
Today, Phiri continues his art, using pieces of junk people bring him — keys, broken bike chains, old metal plugs and whatever scrap metal is lying around. He then turns the junk into abstract animals — elephants, cranes, giraffes, chameleons — and sells them at Project Luangwa headquarters. The community has recognized his talents.
“My dream is to earn enough to study art at the Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka and be able to make a living from it,”Phiri said“. And then to make very large sculptures.”
1.What is Phiri known for?
A.Serving his community.
B.Collecting works of art.
C.Being the king of Zambia.
D.Turning trash into treasure.
2.What can we learn about Phiri from paragraph 2?
A.He had an unhappy childhood.
B.He paid for his primary school.
C.He had to support his grandfather.
D.He missed school to do part⁃time jobs.
3.How does Phiri feel about his future?
A.Uncertain. B.Confident.
C.Depressed. D.Satisfied.
4.What can be a suitable title for the passage?
A.A Rough Road to Success
B.The Junk Art King of Zambia
C.A Young Man’s Wildest Dream
D.The Modern Junk Works of Art
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
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An electric flying vehicle called Skai was shown yesterday near Los Angeles, California. Skai is made by Alaka’i Technologies. The vehicle has six rotors（旋翼）on the roof and seats inside for five people.
Like a drone（无人机）, the vehicle from Alaka’i Technologies takes off and lands vertically（垂直地）. It’s one of many similar electric flying vehicles in production, including ones from Boeing and Airbus. But most of them are powered by batteries, which can add a lot of weight. The Skai instead uses very light hydrogen fuel cells to run its rotors, giving it a range of 400 miles（644 kilometers）and the capacity to carry 1,000 pounds（454 kilograms）in people or goods, the company says.
Alaka’i says it’s planning a test flight near its Massachusetts headquarters. It will be flown by an on ⁃ board pilot（飞行员）, but the technology exists to eventually fly it remotely and even autonomously. However, it will be years before the Federal Aviation Administration（FAA）allows the autonomous flight of passenger vehicles, said Thaddeus Lightfoot, who helps companies navigate FAA rules.
“Drone⁃ like vehicles such as the Skai must first simply prove their airworthiness, like any common plane. After that, getting commercial certification is another complex process. The technology is interesting, but the regulatory road will be very long,”said Lightfoot, adding that the idea of allowing people to fly in a large aircraft without a pilot is“well outside the current regulatory system.”
Hanvey, CEO of Alaka’i Technologies, said that it could take at least a decade before the company realizes his goal of electric flying vehicles ferrying passengers over major cities at nearly 120 mph. Before that, he hopes to see Skai aircraft used by first responders to send in food or water following disasters like hurricanes or wildfires. It could also serve as a mobile cell tower, staying in the sky for up to 10 hours over a neighborhood to provide communication services, he said.
1.What is the advantage of the Skai?
A.It is quite light. B.It uses batteries.
C.It carries more people. D.It lands autonomously.
2.What can we infer about the pilotless flight of passenger vehicles?
A.It costs a lot.
B.It saves energy.
C.It is not readily available now.
D.It will soon get approved by FAA.
3.According to Thaddeus Lightfoot, what should the Skai do first?
A.Prove its safety to fly. B.Conduct a test flight.
C.Get a commercial license. D.Obey the International Air Law.
4.Where is the Skai probably first used according to Hanvey?
A.In the countryside. B.In some major cities.
C.In mountainous areas. D.In disaster⁃stricken areas.
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
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Driving while talking on the phone increases the likelihood of an accident and is actually more dangerous than driving drunk, U.S. researchers report. This holds true whether the driver is holding a cell phone or using a hands⁃free device.
“As a society, we have agreed on not tolerating the risk associated with drunk driving,”said researcher Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Utah.“This study shows us that somebody who is conversing on a cell phone is exposing him or herself and others to a similar risk — cell phones actually are a higher risk,”he said.
In the study, 40 people followed a pace car along a prescribed course, using a driving simulator （模拟仪）. Some people drove while talking on a cell phone, others drove while drunk（meaning their blood-alcohol limit matched the legal limit of 0.08 percent）, and others drove with no such distractions. The researchers found an increased accident rate when people were conversing on the cell phone. Drivers on cell phones were 5.36 times more likely to get in an accident.
The bottom line: Cell⁃phone use was linked to“a significant increase in the accident rate,” Drews said.
The phone users did even worse than the inebriated, the Utah team found. There were three accidents among those talking on cell phones — all of them involving a rear⁃ending（追尾） of the pace car. In contrast, there were no accidents recorded among participants who were drunk.
In response to safety concerns, some states have declared it illegal to use hand ⁃ held cell phones while driving. But that type of law may not be effective, because the Utah researchers found no difference in driver performance whether the driver was holding the phone or talking on a hands⁃free model.
“We have seen again and again that there is no difference between hands⁃free and hand⁃held devices,”Drews said.“The problem is the conversation. The best solution to the problem is obvious: Don’t talk on the phone while you are driving. ”
1.Which group of drivers performed worst in the study?
A.Those phone users.
B.Those who are drunk.
C.Those following a pace car.
D.Those with hearing problems.
2.What does the underlined phrase“the inebriated”in paragraph 5 refer to?
A.The drunk drivers.
B.The researchers.
C.The cell⁃phone⁃free drivers.
D.The Utah team.
3.What can be concluded from the last two paragraphs?
A.Driver performance has nothing to do with the use of mobile phones.
B.It is timely to ban the use of hand⁃held phones while driving.
C.The Utah researchers find the traffic safety law works as well as before.
D.Talking on the phone while driving should be avoided.
4.In which section of a newspaper is this text from?
A.Sports.
B.Economy.
C.Society.
D.Entertainment.
难度: 简单查看答案及解析