The Summer Holiday Activities for Families in the UK
While the Astronaut spacewalk, Manchester last year remains in the memory of some families, our week-by-week guide to the school summer break this year features a host of special events and outdoor fun for kids, from open-air cinema and live music to coming face to face with dinosaurs.
Polar fun, Edinburgh
Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh is keeping cool this summer with lots of polar-themed activities, including family science shows on the Arctic and Antarctic, icy experiments, and craft designs where kids can make their own penguin, walrus or polar bear.
Until 28 August, ￡15 adults, ￡9.50 children, dynamicearth. Co. uk.
Dinosaur events, various locations
Dinosaurs in the Wild is a vivid, walk-through experience taking visitors back 67 million years to the late Cretaceous period. Dinosaur Babies is an exhibition of dinosaur embryos and eggs, plus a model nest. Dinosaurs of China displays fossils and skeletons never before seen in Europe.
Until 23 August, NEC in Birmingham, then 7 October to 7 January, Event City Manchester, ￡29.50 adults, ￡26 children, dinosaursinthewild. Com.
Proud Country House kids fest, Brighton
Just 15 minutes from the centre of Brighton, this 18th century Georgian manor house in Stammer Park has a packed program of events and activities on throughout the summer, including storytelling in the forest, guided bike rides, tree climbing and family yoga.
1 July~10 September, prices vary, usually from￡5~10，booking for events required but house and gardens can be visited without booking, stammer house. co. UK / kids fest.
1.Which activity is not included this year?
A.Astronaut spacewalk. B.Open-air cinema.
C.Live music. D.Face to face with dinosaurs.
2.If you want to take the activity in December, where should you go?
A.Edinburgh. B.Birmingham.
C.Manchester. D.Brighton.
3.Which activity should be booked?
A.Polar fun. B.Dinosaur events.
C.Family yoga. D.Visiting gardens.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Would you eat a six-month-old yogurt? This is a question you may have asked if you read the recent story about a US grocer and his year-long experiment eating expired food.
It started in October 2016, when Scott Nash, founder of the Mom's Organic Market chain of grocery stores, wanted to make a smoothie (果昔). He likes his smoothie with yogurt. As he was at his holiday cabin in Virginia, though, the only pot he had to hand was one he had left behind on his last trip there by accident, six months earlier. He opened it. No bad smell. He decided to take the risk and dumped the yogurt in the smoothie. ''I drank and waited, '' he wrote on his blog. And nothing happened.
The first thing to point out is that Nash is based in the US, where regulations on food dating differ significantly from those in the UK. While British foods carry just one date-either ''use by'' or ''best before''– Nash was faced with ''quality guarantee period, use by, best by, sell by, best if used by …'' He sells food for a living, and even he doesn't understand the system.
Clearly, this lack of clarity has influence on both the health of the environment and the health of the nation. What you don't eat, you'll end up throwing it away, even if you could have safely eaten it; and what you don't know not to eat could make you sick. A report from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Harvard Law School in 2013 said that 40% of American food goes uneaten each year, and the confusing effect of the US date labeling system is in large part to blame.
1.The underlined phrase ''expired food'' probably means the food ______.
A.which is fresh
B.which is sour
C.which is not within the quality guarantee period
D.which is not cooked
2.What can we learn from para.2?
A.Nash hadn't eaten expired food before October 2016.
B.Nash left the yogurt in the cabin for his experiment.
C.Nash was sure the yogurt would do no harm to him.
D.Nash liked drinking six-month-old yogurt.
3.What does Nash think of the US's date labels on food?
A.They are clearer than the UK's.
B.They are more advanced than the UK's.
C.They are confusing to people.
D.They are concrete and helpful to the Americans.
4.What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A.The date labeled on the bag of food plays an important role in people's health.
B.The food you throw away can do harm to your health if eaten.
C.People often get sick for eating the expired food.
D.The lack of clarity of date labeling system leads to a large amount of waste of food.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
''It can't be done. '' Boyan Slat heard this over and over when he first proposed a way to clean up millions of tons of plastic polluting our oceans.
Slat, who grew up in the city of Delft in the Netherlands, was on a diving trip in Greece three years ago when he was deeply impressed by plastic. ''There were more plastic bags than fish, '' he says. ''That moment I realized it was a huge issue and that environmental issues are really the biggest problems my generation will face. ''
That fall, Slat, then 17, decided to study plastic pollution as part of a high school project. Soon, Slat learned that no one had yet come up with practical way to clean up this massive garbage patches. Most proposed solutions involved ''fishing'' up the plastic using ships equipped with nets—which, as Slat discovered, would likely take more than 1,000 years, cost too much, let off too much sea life along with the trash.
Slat proposed an alternative that mostly avoided these problems: a solar-powered system using a floating plastic tube which will go around the garbage and trap it is 600 meters long. Wind, waves and ocean currents will push the trash toward the tube. A ship will pick up the trash and take it back to the shore. Best of all, Slat predicted his system could clean up the North Pacific Garbage Patch within five to 10 years.
The following, Slat entered the aerospace engineering program at the Delft University of Technology and officially announced his ocean cleanup concept at TEDxDelft. But nothing much moved forward.
Slat organized a team of volunteers and employees for The Ocean Cleanup, which now numbers about 100. In answer to opposition, Slat and his team raised $100,000 from a crowd funding campaign and began testing a 40-meter collecting barrier near the Azores Islands last March.
Over the next three to four years, Slat will push toward a fully operational large-scale project by testing a series of longer and longer barriers.
1.What inspired the boy to study plastic pollution?
A.One of his high school projects.
B.Others' opposition to his proposal.
C.Humans’ failure in cleaning up the ocean.
D.The shockingly heavy plastic pollution in ocean.
2.What can we say about Slat's design?
A.It is powerful but only used in California and Hawaii.
B.It is huge but causes great damage to sea lives.
C.It makes full use of natural forces and is friendly to nature.
D.It was welcomed by all the public and worked very well.
3.What hasn't Slat done to make his idea into reality?
A.Presenting his idea at TEDxDelft.
B.Raising funds with his team.
C.Doing test.
D.Stopping plastic from washing into the ocean.
4.What does the author mainly do in this article?
A.Explain a strange idea. B.Introduce a fascinating person.
C.Describe a social phenomenon. D.Praise a point of view.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
''Our most beautiful part is our bridge because we can make wind energy by this bridge and our main transportation is used by this bridge. '' The future city competition puts young teens in charge of building a city that can respond to a challenge. This year's challenge is resilience (重建能力) after a natural disaster like an earthquake. The models must be built with recycled materials for less than 100 dollars.
But behind this is some serious engineering. Each group has to present its city's resilience features to the audience and judges. ''The sea walls are made with concrete and steel to reduce the tidal waves impact on the shoreline. '' And it's about more than just infrastructure(基础设施). Judges want to know that you've thought about your citizens, too. ''If someone wants to design a building that's 50 floors, we make an agreement like maybe 20 of them have to be low-income housing. '' Engineering Outreach Group Discover (EOGD) has run the competition for nearly three decades. Director of programs Thea Sahr says it is an effective teaching tool. She tells of one boy who asked his teacher when they would get back to the real learning. ''You know the kind we were just sitting there reading the books and telling you the answers, '' and she said ''well what do you know about storm water that you didn't know last week. What do you know about scale? And you're having a really good time while you're doing it. '' He says this is learning. '' I want to do more of this. ''
The winners take home 7,500 dollars for their school’s science program, and get a trip to a science focused summer camp. This year's winners from Warwick Middle School in Pennsylvania say they also learned real-world skills like dealing with failure. ''The hardest part was trying not to get frustrated when something didn't work. And I think our team members really contributed to that. Communication is key. '' Listen, when you're building a city, engineering is just part of it.
1.What does ''we'' refer to in the first paragraph?
A.Teen competitors. B.School boys.
C.College students. D.Engineers
2.What's the purpose of the competition according to Thea Sahr?
A.To increase students' communication skills.
B.To allow students to experience the work of engineers.
C.To strength the friendship between students.
D.To offer students a different way of learning.
3.What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A.The winners can share the 7,500.
B.The winners can take part in all kinds of summer camps.
C.The biggest challenge for the team is using the knowledge of engineering.
D.The participants can learn a lot besides engineering.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A.Building City of the Future: A Way of Out School Learning
B.Nature: An Outdoor Classroom
C.EOGD: A Middle School Reform
D.The City of Future: the Place Full of Imagination
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
When you are sitting in class, have you ever drawn pictures in the margins (页边的空白处) of your notebooks? If so, you are doodling. Many people think of doodling as a distraction (分心) from more important things. 1..2..In 2009 researchers asked two groups of people to listen to a phone message. One group was encouraged to doodle, but the other was not. Neither group knew that it would be asked to remember information from the message. But the group that doodled remembered 29% more.
Other people have suggested other uses for doodling. Jesse Prinz, a professor who studies doodling, says it can help you think creatively. 3. When you come back, you'll have a fresh perspective (观点) and figure out an answer more quickly.
An author named Sunni Brown wrote a book on doodling. She argues that doodling is a tool that can help people think. 4. In fact, she runs a business that helps companies improve organization and planning through doodling.
Brown believes doodling is helpful because it includes many ways of learning. You learn in four ways: seeing, hearing, reading or writing, and through movement. The more ways you use, the better you learn. And when you doodle while listening to a lecture, you use all four.
You might think that being good at drawing is important for doodling. But if the point of doodling is to help you think, then it doesn’t matter what the picture looks like. 5. So next time you need help focusing, pick up a pen and doodle away!
A.And many experts agree with this.
B.Even if you're not an artist, doodling can help you.
C.Walking away from a problem to draw might actually help you solve it.
D.But it might be just the opposite.
E.One study shows that doodling may help you remember things you hear.
F.She admits that people see doodling as doing nothing, but she wants to change that.
G.Doodling can help you achieve more than you imagine.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
At my daughter's recent graduation, a speaker kept repeating, ''You can do anything with a degree in philosophy. '' To that, I thought you can do anything with the right _______.
I didn't have a _______ job until I was 27. When I was hired, I was basically _______. My car had broken down. I was living with two other people and sleeping on a couch. My family and friends thought I was going _______．
I didn't feel that way though. I wasn't doing well _______. Sure, friends of mine got married and bought houses. But neither of those choices _______ me. Taking the road _______ traveled is part of being an entrepreneur (创业者). I wanted to _______ my dream, which was to work with my hands and be creative. I wanted to be my own boss.
At the time, I was _______ toy animals and selling them at street fairs. It wasn't easy, but I stayed true to myself. I was ________ and hardworking. I know those were the qualities that led me to get ________ at my first job. So don't give up hope.
One Sunday, I read an article about a toy company called Worlds of Wonder. I knew I could make a better teddy bear than the one they were ________, although I had designed just a few cuddly toys for another company. The next day, I visited the company's offices in person and told them they needed me. To my surprise, they ________ to interview me. Because they could tell I was enthusiastic.
Many of us don't ________ new things because we're sure we don't have the skills. But from my experience, it's far more ________ to have the right attitude. Almost everything can be taught. Are you a ready and willing student?
1.A.direction B.attitude C.way D.knowledge
2.A.full-time B.special C.creative D.surprising
3.A.blessing B.annoying C.starving D.satisfying
4.A.forward B.nowhere C.anywhere D.somewhere
5.A.physically B.spiritually C.mentally D.financially
6.A.upset B.disappointed C.envied D.excited
7.A.often B.nearly C.less D.easily
8.A.follow B.change C.get D.earn
9.A.copying B.making C.buying D.learning
10.A.enthusiastic B.healthy C.friendly D.intelligent
11.A.hired B.lost C.warned D.supported
12.A.improving B.researching C.designing D.marketing
13.A.denied B.agreed C.refused D.invited
14.A.give away B.take on C.put up D.let down
15.A.funny B.ready C.important D.successful
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
The 19th-century American writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau knew the 1.(important) of nature. Thoreau filled his books with observations about human life and 2.(it) basic need for nature.
On average, Americans spend about 10 hours a day in front of a computer or other electronic device 3. less than 30 minutes a day outdoors. That is a claim 4.(make) by David Strayer, a professor of psychology at the University of Utah. In his 2017 TEDTalk, Strayer 5.(explain) that all this time spent with technology is making our brains tired.
Using an electronic device-answering emails, listening to the news, looking at Facebook -6.(put) a lot of pressure on the prefrontal cortex, the front of the brain. This area, Strayer explains, is important for critical 7.(think), problem-solving and decision-making. So, it is important to give the brain 8. rest. And being in nature, Strayer claims, helps refresh a brain that is tired from too much technology. Friends and family take time off and escape to nature for several days. Camping may be just 9. a tech-tired brain needs. Strayer's research team found that spending three days in nature without any technology is enough time for the brain to 10.(full) relax and reset itself.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
假定你是李华，你校暑假期间将举办中国传统文化周活动，活动内容包括：京剧表演、画展、剪纸体验等。你的英国朋友Tom在青岛大学学习，你想邀请他一起参加。请你给他写封邮件，内容包括：
1. 活动时间、地点；
2. 活动内容。
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
阅读下面短文，根据其内容写一篇60词左右的内容概要。
In December 2018, The Guardian changed its wording-using ''global heating'' instead of ''global warming'' -after scientists found that Earth's temperature is set to rise from between 2.5C and 4.5C. There had been a goal to keep the rise within 2C. And on May 1, the UK parliament (议会) declared a ''climate emergency'', becoming the first parliament to do so.
It's true that ''global heating'' and ''climate emergency'' are – in terms of language – two simple phrases. But they send out plenty of messages.
If with ''global warming'' we're still inside our comfort zone of handling the situation, entering the state of ''global heating'' is like heading to a point where the delicate (微妙的) balance of nature is disturbed so much that there is no turning back. Everything will be changing: Coral will die, polar bears will lose their habitats completely, and extreme weathers like droughts and heavy storms will happen at a higher frequency. There is no denying that we're entering a ''climate emergency''.
''Decades ago when the science on the climate issue was first increasing, the impacts could be seen as an issue for future generations, '' but, as Katharine Mach, a Stanford University climate scientist, told The New York Times, now it's definitely our issue, ''a shift (变化) we all are living together''.
However, getting these messages through is far from enough. It depends on each and every one of us to find a solution – if there are any solutions left to find.
''We have no time to waste, '' said the UK's Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, according to the BBC. Corbyn urged that ''we take rapid and dramatic action now''.
Indeed, language matters. But action matters even more.
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难度: 中等查看答案及解析