“We started as a group of friends with the same problem: difficulty in our personal life to manage our time, being always in a hurry.” This thought was recently offered by Bruno to explain the origin of The Art of Living Slowly, an organization that he founded two years ago, with his wife, Ella.
Bruno and Ella said they decided to draw more people’s attention to the overlooked idea that “time is wealth.” On February 19th last year, they created a new holiday, the first Global Day of Slow Living. Despite its ambitious name, the event was limited almost entirely to Italy, where the couple arranged a number of events: a reverse bicycle race in which the last rider was declared the winner; an afternoon of grandfathers reading poetry to children etc.
One Monday in late February, 2008, the couple staged a New York version (版本) of the Day of Slow Living. “It has to be a Monday, the worst day to try to slow down.” Bruno explained. Bruno was wearing a police cap, mirrored sunglasses, and a sandwich board stating, “Watch out! Speed-walking camera is in action!” He flagged down passers-by and handed them postcards printed with fourteen “slowmandments.” For example, No. 4: Write your text message on your cell phone with no symbols and get in the habit of starting with “Dear …” No 7: Avoid being so busy that you don’t have time for yourself. Bruno told the passers-by to read them once a day and keep the doctor away.
Many said, “I can’t do this. New York is too fast.” Bruno admitted. But many stopped, they read and said. “This one is good for me, because trying to slow down is like trying to stop smoking.”
When asked about their plans for the future. Bruno and Ella looked at each other and chanted the name of the city they have chosen for next year’s Global Day of Slow Living, “Tokyo!”
68. The Art of Living Slowly was founded to help people .
A．understand the truth of life. B．know the difficulty in managing time
C．avoid being in a hurry all the time D．make friends with the same problem
69. What did Bruno do in New York?
A．He advertised his idea on a sandwich board.
B．He stopped passers-by and delivered postcards.
C．He served as a policeman to prevent accidents.
D．He took photos for the people who walked fast.
70. Which statement may be included in the fourteen “slowmandments” in paragraph 3?
A．Wake up five minutes earlier. B．Do two things at the same time.
C．Make a habit of writing letters. D．Don’t work on weekends and relax.
71. What can be inferred from the passage?
A．The new holiday is usually celebrated on a fixed day.
B．Italian grandfathers enjoy reading poetry to children.
C．The couple tend to choose busy cities to promote the idea.
D．New Yorkers have a negative attitude towards slow living.
The practice of students endlessly copying letters and sentences from a blackboard is a thing of the past. With the coming of new technologies like computers and smartphone, writing by hand has become something of nostalgic (怀旧的)skill. However, while today’s educators are using more and more technology in their teaching, many believe basic handwriting skills are still necessary for students to be successful---both in school and in life.
Virginia Berninger, professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, says it’s important to continue teaching handwriting and help children acquire the skill of writing by hand.
Berninger and her colleagues conducted a study that looked at the ability of students to complete various writing tasks---both on a computer and by hand. The study, published in 2009, found that when writing with a pen and paper, participants wrote longer essays and more complete sentences and had a faster word production rate.
In a more recent study, Berninger looked at what role spelling plays in a student’s writing skills and found that how well children spell is tied to know well they can write. “Spelling makes some of the thinking parts of the brain active which helps us access our vocabulary, word meaning and concepts. It is allowing our written language to connect with ideas.” Berninger said.
Spelling helps students translate ideas into words in their mind first and then to transcribe “those words in the mind written symbols on paper or keyboard and screen,” the study said. Seeing the words in the “mind’s eye” helps children not only to turn their ideas into words, says Berninger, but also to spot spelling mistakes when they write the words down and to correct then over time.
“In our computer age, some people believe that we don’t have to teach spelling because we have spell checks,” she said. “But until a child has a functional spelling ability of about a fifth grade level, they won’t have the knowledge to choose the correct spelling among the options given by the computer.”What makes writing by hand a thing of the past?
| A．The absence of blackboard in classroom |
| B．The use of new technologies in teaching. |
| C．The lack of practice in handwriting. |
| D．The popular use of smartphones. |
Berninger’s study published in 2009 ___________.
| A．focused on the difference between writing by hand and on a computer. |
| B．indicated that students prefer to write with a pen and paper. |
| C．found that good essays are made up of long sentences. |
| D．discussed the importance of writing speed. |
Which of the following best shows the role of spelling?
| A．Spelling improves one’s memory of words. |
| B．Spelling ability is closely related to writing ability. |
| C．Spelling benefits the translation from words into ideas. |
| D．Spelling slows down finding exact words to express ideas. |
What does “mind’s eye” in paragraph 5 mean?
| A．Window. | B．Soul |
| C．Picture. | D．Imagination. |
What conclusion could be drawn from the passage?
| A．Computers can help people with their choice of words. |
| B．Spell checks can take the place of spelling teaching. |
| C．Handwriting still has a place in today’s classrooms. |
| D．Functional spelling ability develops fast in the fifth grade. |
With about 10 million new iPhone 6s ordered in the initial days on the market, a lot of old iPhones are bound to be thrown into the dustbins. Sure, you could sell, donate or recycle your old iPhone, but you probably will not. And there are better things to do with it.
One creative example: At the Missouri University of Science and Technology, a biology class is making old iPhones into microscopes. Using less than $10 worth of supplies, the old phones are mounted onto a lens and can magnify an object to 175 times its size.
Here are 5 smart-and-cheap uses for old iPhones.
Music for your car
Take your music library on the road. Some cars are equipped with docking ports for iPhones and have dashboard screens so you can choose your favourite music hands-free. Or you can just use the cigarette lighter for power.
Remote Control
Televisions, speakers and other devices now have apps that allow users to make their iPhones into fashionable remotes. Carm Lyman, 42, of Napa, California, transformed his iPhone 4 into a remote for his household sound system after his iPhone 5 arrived. Lyman can control the audio levels and activate speakers in various parts of his home as well as access different music services.
Cookbook
No need to go through recipe books or hunt around for other devices when you have a kitchen iPhone. Download a cookbook app, such as My Recipe Book (99 cents) or Big Oven (free), and just leave the device on the kitchen counter. It takes up almost no space and will hold far more recipes than any book.
Baby Monitor
Sure, you can spend $100 or more on a baby monitor, or you can just set your old iPhone up to watch video of your baby in real time as well as hear and even talk to him or her. Cloud Baby Monitor ($3.99) also allows parents to receive the signal on a wireless network or on WiFi so they do not have to be within a certain number of feet of the monitor.
Vehicle Tracker
Whether you need to find your car if it is stolen, record where you have traveled, or spy on your teenage driver, the built-in GPS in your phone can be used as a tracking device. An app like InstaMapper ($2.99) lets you watch the vehicle in real-time and have a record of it. Keep in mind that the phone can still dial 911, even if it does not have cellphone service, Smith said.
You can also use your old phone as a back-up in case your new model suffers irreparable harm. That said, the battery of a phone that sits in a drawer unused could be exhausted to the point where it is no longer workable.We can learn from the passage that an old iphone___________.
| A．can be used as a microscope |
| B．is necessary to be charged regularly |
| C．can light a cigarette in a car |
| D．is able to communicate with a baby |
Who will probably benefit the most from an old iphone?
| A．A housewife | B．A musician |
| C．A traveller | D．A phone user |
If you expect the uses to work properly, ___________.
| A．the wifi is a must |
| B．you are required to download apps |
| C．cellphone service is needed |
| D．some extra work must be done to your phone |
Which of the following statement is true?
| A．The uses mentioned above can’t funtion in an iphone6. |
| B．The uses can be available in a certain small area. |
| C．An old iphone may give you clues about a stolen car. |
| D．A cookbook app takes up no space of your old iphone. |
Amy Chua may well be very nuts. What kind of a mother will drag her then 7-year-old daughter’s dollhouse out to the car and tell her that it is going to be donated if the poor kid doesn’t master a difficult piano composition by the next day? What kind of a mother will inform her daughter that she is nothing but “garbage”? And what kind of mother will believe, as Chua tells readers, that “an A- is not always a good grade”? The only activities her children should be permitted to do are those in which they can eventually win a medal, which must be gold.
What kind of a mother she is? Why, a mother who is raising her kids in the typical Chinese way, rather than the Western way. In her new book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Chua tells her adventures in Chinese parenting, and — so nuts as she may be — she is also mesmerizing (迷惑的). Chua’s voice is that of a happy, knowledgeable serial killer — think Hannibal Lecter — who’s explaining how he’s going to cut his next victim, as though it’s the most self-evidently normal behavior.
There is another attractive aspect of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. There are methods to Chua’s madness, enough method to stir up self-doubt in those readers who support the more educating parenting styles. It is trusted that Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is going to be a book club and parenting blog phenomenon; there will be fevered debate over Chua’s tough love strategies, which include unchangeable bans on such Western indulgences (纵容) as sleepovers, play dates, and any after class activities except practicing musical instruments, which must be limited between the violin or the piano.
The back story to Chua’s book is this — she is the daughter of a couple of Chinese immigrants and is now a professor at Yale Law School and the author of two best-selling “big-think” books on “free-market democracy” and “the fall of empires”. When Chua married her husband, her fellow Yale law professor and a novelist Jed Rubenfeld, they agreed that their children would be brought up in “the Chinese way,” in which punishingly hard work, enforced by parents produces excellence; excellence, in turn, produces satisfaction. The success of this strategy is hard to debate. Their older daughter is a piano talent who played at Carnegie Hall when she was 14 or so. The second, a more rebellious (叛逆的) daughter, Lulu, is a gifted violinist. Chua rode the girls hard, making sure they practiced at least three hours a day even on vacations, when she would call ahead to arrange access to practice in hotel lobby bars and basement storage rooms.
Chua also rarely refrained (抑制) from criticizing her daughters. She explains: Chinese parents can do things that would seem unimaginable to Westerners. Chinese mothers can say to their daughters, “Hey so fatty, lose some weight.” By contrast, Western parents have to tiptoe around the issue, talking in terms of "health" and never ever mentioning the f-word, and their kids still end up in treatment for eating disorders and negative self-image. ... Western parents are concerned about their children’s minds. Chinese parents aren’t. They assume strength, not weakness, and as a result they behave very differently.The underlined word “nuts” in the first and second paragraphs most probably means _____.
| A．intelligent | B．crazy |
| C．difficult | D．eager |
Which of the following practices are tough love strategies EXCEPT _______.
| A．Children must get a medal if they attend a competition |
| B．Children should practice piano even on holidays. |
| C．Children are indulged to sleepover, play dates, etc. |
| D．Children are called “garbage” or “fatty” |
What’s the writer’s purpose of using the example of “weight problem”？
| A．To show Chinese parents can do unimaginable things. |
| B．To make a comparison between Western and Chinese mothers. |
| C．To make us believe the western way of parenting is much better. |
| D．To show that Chinese mothers care more about their children. |
From the passage we can learn that Chua’s way of parenting is _______.
| A．widely acceptable | B．very traditional |
| C．quite controversial | D．out of date |
Which is the main idea of the passage?
| A．The Chinese way of parenting has its advantages. |
| B．Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is a best seller. |
| C．The westerners are not good at raising children. |
| D．Tiger mothers raise their children in the Chinese way. |
Who cares if money can’t buy you love? But it can still be your best friend forever. That’s one of the surprising findings in a new research paper, “The Power of Money”, published in me journal Psychological Science.
Like any best friend forever, money demonstrated to researchers its ability to soothe us, reduce our sense of social exclusion and even reduce life’s painful moments.
“I was surprised” says Katherine Vohs, one of the researchers and professor at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. “The findings were surprising because no one had connected the meaning of money to pain. The money wasn’t buying the subjects more friends; it was only psychologically helpful.”
In the research ,students were told they would be participating in a test of finger dexterity(敏捷度). One group was given some paper money to count, while the other group was given blank pieces of paper. Once the counting was complete, all the test subjects were asked to dip their fingers into bowls of water heated to 122 degrees--roughly the temperature of a very hot bath.
Result? Those who had been counting money reported less pain than those who had not. Subjects also were asked about their feelings. Those who handled actual money reported feeling stronger even 10 minutes after they put down the cash.
Combined with previous experiments, the findings confirmed what researchers have long doubted, that money acts as a general panacea(万能药) in the brain, giving us social self-confidence and reducing physical pain without having to spend a dime on aspirin.
But can we get the same effect by using credit cards? “No, credit cards do not have the same effect, ” Vohs says. “They are scary for most people, and they in fact represent debt m many ways.” The findings could have an interesting effect in the business world, where recent trends have been to issue non-monetary rewards and bonuses instead of what was thought of as “cold, hard cash”.The underlined word “soothe” in Paragraph 2 is the closest in meaning to“_________” .
| A．encourage | B．remind |
| C．calm | D．trust |
What’s Katherine Vohs’s attitude towards the result of the study?
| A．He found it totally unexpected. |
| B．He had no doubt about it. |
| C．He thought it needed further experiments. |
| D．He thought it was not convincing. |
What do we know about the students involved in the study?
| A．They were divided into two groups according to their ages. |
| B．One group was given paper money while the other was given coins. |
| C．They were holding the money while dipping fingers into hot water. |
| D．Both groups were asked to dip fingers into hot water. |
We can 1earn from the passage that_________.
| A．the effect of money can only last until we put it down |
| B．money is both psychologically and socially helpful to us |
| C．the result of the research hasn’t been confirmed（证实）by experts |
| D．credit cards have the same effect on us as money |
The last paragraph suggests that___________.
| A．the recent trend in the business world is to give cash as rewards |
| B．employers should give non-monetary rewards to employees |
| C．cash is a better way to reward employees than credit cards |
| D．more and more employees prefer non-monetary rewards to cash |
Brighton is in the county of East Sussex, on the South coast of England. Situated between the English Channel and the South Downs, Brighton is 90 km from London. Brighton's nearby neighbor, Hove, is seen by some as a more desirable location than Brighton and it is often referred to by locals as "Hove, actually".
Brighton is a small city but there's probably as much going on here as anywhere in the country except London. Brighton has numerous entertainment facilities, which additionally serve a considerable business conference industry. There's a huge range of entertainment venues, including comedy at the Brighton Komedia, world music, opera and ballet at the Brighton Dome, jazz at the Joogleberry, top stars at the Brighton Centre and pre-West End shows at the Theatre Royal. The live music scene is also alive and well with several bands originating from the Brighton area going on to have commercial success in recent years.
Every year in May, Brighton hosts the "Brighton Festival" ------the largest arts festival in England. Brighton's theatres, concert halls, streets and some of the city's most extraordinary venues host an array of art, entertainment and extravaganza (盛大表演). The earliest feature of the festival, "Open Houses" -----homes of artists and crafts people, opened up to the public as galleries and usually sell the works of the inhabitants and their friends.
Students at the two universities in the area give the city a youthful vitality (活力), and in the summer, thousands of young students from all over Europe gather in the city to attend language courses. In addition to the usual coastal attractions, vacationers are drawn to the city's Georgian architecture, trendy shops, and fine restaurants. Points of interest also include the Edwardian Preston Man or, the ornate Royal Pavilion, the engaging Sea Life Center, and a variety of museums and art galleries.What's the author’s purpose of writing the passage?
| A．To introduce Brighton to the readers. |
| B．To attract foreign students to study in Brighton. |
| C．To show his admiration for the city of Brighton. |
| D．To list entertainments in Brighton. |
What does the first paragraph mainly tell us?
| A．The term of "Hove" |
| B．The situation of Brighton. |
| C．The county of East Sussex. |
| D．The distance between Brighton and London. |
According to the passage, where can you go if you enjoy watching opera?
| A．Brighton Komedia. | B．Joogleberry. |
| C．Theatre Royal. | D．Brighton Dome. |
Why do people in Brighton have a good time in May every year?
| A．Because they can enjoy all kinds of music played by top artists. |
| B．Because top stars from the world will go to Perform there. |
| C．Because the largest arts festival in England is held there. |
| D．Because the local people can appreciate works in the Open Houses. |
How many of the followings that attract people to Brighton are mentioned?
a. two universities
b. the summer language courses
c. the coastal attractions
d. the city's Georgian architecture
e. the fine restaurants
| A．2 | B．3 | C．4 | D．5 |
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