Bookstores are a traveller's best friend: they provide convenient shelter in bad weather, and they often host readings and other cultural events. Here is a look at world’s six greatest bookstores.
Adrian Harrington—since 1971. Rare books; rare first editions; leather bound sets and general antiquarian (古玩). Address: 64A Kensington Church Street, Kensington, London, England, U.K.
Another Country—Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany. Another Country is an English Language second hand bookshop which is mostly used as a library. They have about 20,000 books that you can buy or borrow. Some regular events are held at the shop, such as readings, cultural events, social evenings and film nights.
Atlantis Books—Oía, Santorini, Greece. Atlantis Books is an independent bookshop on the island of Santorini, Greece, founded in 2004 by a group of friends from Cyprus, England, and the United States. Throughout the year it has hosted literary festivals, film screenings, book readings, and good old fashioned dance parties.
Bart’s Books—Ojai, California, U.S.A. “The World’s Greatest Outdoor Bookstore”, a bookstore founded by Richard Bartinsdale in 1964. Shelves of books face the street, and regular customers are asked to drop coins into the door’s coin box to pay for any books they take whenever the store is closed.
10 Corso Como—Milan, Italy. Extensive selection of publication on art, architecture, design, graphics and fashion, along with a strong emphasis on photography. It was founded in 1990 in Milan, Italy, by Carla Sozzani.
The Bookworm—A bookshop, library, bar, restaurant and event space, now with four divisions in three cities—Beijing, Suzhou and Chengdu. The interconnecting rooms with floor-to-ceiling books on every wall are light and airy in summer, yet warm and comfortable in winter.
1.Which of the following bookstores has the longest history?
A. Adrian Harrington. B. Atlantis Books.
C. Bart’s Books. D. 10 Como Bookshop.
2.What can you do in Atlantis Books?
A. Attend a festival. B. Learn photography.
C. Enjoy rare books. D. Buy books anytime.
3.How is The Bookworm different from the other bookstores?
A. It is used as a library. B. It hosts all sorts of activities.
C. It focuses on photography. D. It has branches in different cities.
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
When 6-year-old Jack Foley crossed the finish line last month at the Long Beach Kids Triathlon, it was more than an athletic achievement. His completion marked a remarkable recovery from a rare heart condition.
The journey began before Jack was born.
At a routine 20-week examination, doctors told parents-to-be Rob Foley and Lauren Kiefer-Foley of Long Island, New York, that the fetus’ (胎儿的) heart wasn’t properly developing. “The doctor told us, ‘we can’t see the left side of the baby’s heart,’ Kiefer-Foley recalled.” He told us, “you need to get to a cardiologist (心脏病专家) first thing in the morning.”
Further tests would confirm a diagnosis of hypo plastic left heart syndrome, a rare birth fault affecting the heart’s ability to pump blood through the body. Doctors informed the couple about the risks and challenges their child could face. “We were advised by many doctors to terminate our pregnancy because the condition is so severe. They told us that most babies don’t even survive birth, let alone the first surgery,” Kiefer-Foley said.
Nonetheless, the couple decided to give their baby a chance.
After Jack was born at full-term via a scheduled C-section (剖腹产), doctors took him straight to a care unit to administer the level of care he would need before his first open-heart surgery days later. “When the doctor said ‘it’s a boy!’ I didn’t get to see him for hours after that.” Kiefer-Foley said. They would also have to wait until after Jack’s first surgery to hold him for the first time.
With a successful delivery behind them, it was now up to Dr. Emile Bacha, chief of Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital to guide Jack through a series of surgeries to repair the newborn’s heart.
1.Why did the author say “it was more than an athletic achievement” in Paragraph 1?
A.Jack was only six years old.
B.The event was too difficult.
C.Jack once suffered from severe heart disease.
D.Jack didn’t recover from severe heart disease.
2.What was the bad effect of Jack’s disease?
A.It led to inadequate blood supply. B.The beat of heart was not heard.
C.His intelligence will not develop properly. D.The right side of the baby’s heart can’t be seen.
3.What does the underlined word “terminate” in Paragraph 4 refer to?
A.continue B.stop
C.change D.adjust
4.What will most probably be talked about in the next part of the text?
A.Jack’s journey all over the world.
B.The sorrow and despair of Jack’s parents.
C.Jack’s major academic achievement.
D.Jack’s remarkable recovery from heart disease.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Air travel can be annoying. But research now suggests global warming could make it much worse. To get off the ground in really hot weather, planes may be forced to carry fewer passengers. That might mean a little more space, which would be good. However, it also would make the passengers pay more.
Average air temperatures around the world are rising because people are polluting the air with increasing amounts of greenhouse gases, which, such as carbon dioxide, are a byproduct of burning fuels. Those warmer temperatures can influence an airplane’s ability to fly because air molecules (分子) spread out more as the air warms. This produces less lift under a plane’s wings, so a plane must be lighter to take off in hot weather than on cooler days.
It can even prove too dangerous for some planes to attempt a take-off. A record of June heat wave in the American Southwest, for instance, caused flight cancellations in Phoenix, Ariz. One airline ‘s planes were cleared to operate only up to 47.8℃. On June 20, Phoenix reached 48.3℃!
Radley Horton is a climate scientist at Columbia University. Two years ago, he and his graduate student Ethan David Coffel studied the effect of warming at four US airports and found that warming of track could triple (使成三倍) the number of days when planes face weight restrictions. Later, they explored the effect of rising temperatures on five types of commercial planes flying out of 19 of the world’s busiest airports. In the coming decades, as many as one to three out of every 10 flights that take off during the hottest time of day could face weight restrictions, they found. In some cases, a typical 160-seat plane would have to remove 4％of its weight. That would be equal to taking a dozen people off the plane, the researchers calculated.
1.How would global warming affect air travel according to the first paragraph?
A.It’ll add to the danger of flying.
B.It’ll increase passengers’ travel cost.
C.It’ll make flying much more comfortable.
D.It’ll encourage more people to travel by plane.
2.What is the second paragraph actually intended to explain?
A.How global warming is happening. B.What decides a plane’s ability to fly.
C.Why global warming affects flying. D.Where greenhouse gases are created.
3.What is the last paragraph mainly about?
A.Reasons for flight cancellation. B.Financial condition related to hot air.
C.The tendency of temperature change. D.Findings of effects of warming on flying.
4.What should be the best title for the text?
A.Air Travel isn’t Recommended during Hot Weather
B.Rising Temperatures May Reduce the Number of Flights
C.Weight Restrictions Are More Common in More Airports
D.Hotter Air May Lead to Planes Carrying Fewer Passengers
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
According to new research from the University of Cambridge in England, sheep are able to recognize human faces from photographs. The farm animals, who are social and have large brains, were previously known to be able to recognize one another, as well as familiar humans. However, their ability to recognize human faces from photos alone is novel.
The recent study shows the woolly creatures could be trained to recognize still images of human faces, including those of former President Barack Obama and actress Emma Watson.
Initially, the sheep were trained to approach certain images by being given food rewards. Later, they were able to recognize the images for which they had been rewarded. The sheep could even recognize images of faces shown at an angle, though their ability to do so declined by about 15 percent—the same rate at which a humans ability to perform the same task declines.
“Anyone who has spent time working with sheep will know that they are intelligent, individual animals who are able to recognize their handlers,” said Professor Jenny Morton, who led the Cambridge study. “We’ve shown with our study that sheep have advanced face-recognition abilities, comparable with those of humans and monkeys.”
Recognizing faces is one of the most important social skills for human beings, and some disorders of the brain, including Huntington’s disease, affect this ability. “Sheep are long-lived and have brains that are similar in size and complexity to those of some monkeys. That means they can be useful models to help us understand disorders of the brain, such as Huntington’s disease, which develop over a long time and affect cognitive abilities. Our study gives us another way to monitor how these abilities change,” Morton said.
1.According to the new research, what’s unusual about sheep?
A.They have large brains.
B.They can recognize their owners.
C.They can tell animals from humans.
D.They can recognize human faces from photographs.
2.How did the researchers train the sheep?
A.By giving food rewards.
B.By showing photos of famous people.
C.By guiding them to follow their handlers.
D.By showing photos of humans and monkeys by turns.
3.What can be inferred from the passage?
A.Sheep have a higher face-recognition ability than monkeys.
B.Sheep recognize faces same well when shown photos at any angle.
C.The new discovery is beneficial to the study of cognitive ability changes.
D.The sheep’s face-recognition ability may prevent some disorders of the brain.
4.What’s the best title of the passage?
A.A Wonderful Scientist
B.The Life of Sheep
C.The Sheep’s Recognition of Each Other
D.A New Discovery about Sheep
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Tips to Increase Your Productivity
Want to get more done in your day? Of course you do. 1.The good news is that everyone can increase the amount of tasks they accomplish in a day. Here are some tips to help you have a more productive day.
Make a plan for your day. Make sure you know how you want your day to go in advance, even before you start. 2. To work best, create the next day’s plan the night before so that every morning you spend time performing, not planning.
Break large tasks down into bits accomplished easily. Do you have a large project that’s just so big that you keep putting it off? Or maybe you’re just unsure of where to begin, so you put it off. 3.Therefore, you will feel a sense of accomplishment as you check the items of your list.
Always set your priorities (优先事项). 4. Figure out what must be done, do that first and rank the rest of your work according to importance. If you don’t get to the items at the end of your list, it won’t be a big problem, and you can do them another time.
5. If you are the most productive in the morning, that’s when you should hit it hard and do as much as you can. If you work better in the afternoon, take care of some things like emails in the morning and then accomplish the important projects in the afternoon. Keep on top of your work habits, and you’ll be more productive.
A. Reward yourself if you are productive.
B. This can provide you a roadmap for the day.
C. Be aware of when you are the most productive.
D. It’s tough to meet depressed people who are productive.
E. It’s important to accomplish the most important tasks first.
F. A good way is to break the project down into more manageable ones.
G. To stay competitive in any industry, you need to improve your productivity.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
A woman professor was giving a lesson to her students on _________ management. As she raised a glass of water, everyone in the class _________ they would be asked the “half-empty or half-full” question._________, that was not the case. With a smile on her face, she asked the students, “How much do you think this glass of water weighs?”
Answers called out _________ from eight to twenty ounces (盎司).
She quieted the students down and then replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t _________. But it counts how long you hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it is OK. If I hold it for an hour, I will have an ache in my _________. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb. In each case, the _________ of the glass of water doesn’t change, but the _________ I hold it, the heavier it becomes. Why?”
Lost in _________, all the students kept silent and listened to the professor carefully.
“Our stresses and ____________ in life are like that glass of water. If we ____________ our burdens all the time, sooner or later, we will feel exhausted, even unable to ____________.”
____________ you have to do is put all your burdens down, as ____________ in the evening as possible. Don’t carry them through the evening into the night; by doing this, we can get ____________ next morning and are ____________ to move forward.
More often than not, life gets terrible when we ____________ too much. And the moment you ____________ your burdens, you’ll find yourself feeling so much more relaxed.
So rather than being upset and feeling ____________ for yourself, start doing something about it. After all, life is too short to ____________ yourself to anything that is not making you happy.
1.A.class B.emotion C.time D.stress
2.A.wondered B.expected C.agreed D.argued
3.A.However B.Meanwhile C.Anyhow D.Therefore
4.A.ranged B.replied C.read D.exchanged
5.A.exist B.change C.mater D.increase
6.A.head B.arm C.leg D.stomach
7.A.shape B.position C.weight D.size
8.A.better B.deeper C.longer D.further
9.A.fantasy B.thought C.dreams D.discussion
10.A.doubts B.joys C.surprises D.worries
11.A.cover B.carry C.hide D.show
12.A.pick up B.work out C.carry on D.catch on
13.A.Something B.All C.Nothing D.Anything
14.A.eagerly B.naturally C.quickly D.early
15.A.refreshed B.entertained C.depressed D.amazed
16.A.able B.anxious C.passive D.ambitious
17.A.fear B.think C.rest D.get
18.A.catch up with B.look down on C.1et go of D.put up with
19.A.happy B.sorry C.disappointed D.greedy
20.A.help B.treat C.drive D.abandon
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Around three in five people in the UK will find 1. necessary to care for all elderly or a disabled loved one at some point. This can be made much 2. (easy) by bearing in mind a few simple principles and pieces of advice.
3. (care) for an elderly loved one most likely a parent, is never easy. It can cause great pain emotionally and 4. (physical) and the financial challenges can sometimes seem difficult to deal with, too.
Often one of the hardest things is striking a balance between your parent’s desire 5. (feel) independent and the need to ensure that they are safe and their health needs are being attended to. Sometimes this can create tensions and 6. (argue), only adding to the stress of an already difficult situation. It is important here to make them feel that they are being listened to and 7. you only have their best interests at heart.
The same applies 8. financial issues. In order to cover the costs of their parent’s care — including bills and medicine — many people will investigate options such as selling the family home. The most important thing here is communication — it is vital to make sure that everyone involved, including other brothers and sisters, 9.(be) aware of what’s being proposed and cooperates to find a solution 10.satisfies everybody.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：
1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Dear Sir/Madam,
I have received the sneakers that I buy from your online shop. With the excitement, I unwrapped the package but found something wrong with them.So I’m writing to inform you the problems.
First, the color of the sneakers that I want are red instead of black. Second, size 41 is too large for them. That annoys me most is that there are several little stain on one of the sneakers. They really look awfully. If putting in my situation, how would you feel?
I’d like to change this pair for a new one and give me the money back.
Looking forward to your early reply.
Sincerely yours,
Lin Ming
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
假如你是李华，最近你收到英国笔友Jones给你的来信，在信中他询问你对未来生活的看法。请根据以下要点，给Jones写一封回信。内容要点：
1. 人类健康与寿命;
2. 环境保护与新能源;
3. 日常生活的变化；
4. 感慨未来生活的精彩。
注意：
1. 词数 100 左右;
2. 可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
3. 文章开头，结尾已给出，不计入总数。
Dear Jones,
I’m glad to receive your letter. I’d like to tell you my opinion about the life in the future.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
难度: 中等查看答案及解析