If you have no special plans for your holidays, why not spend your time helping others?
More and more young people volunteer to spend their school holidays working for others. And they don’t do it for money. Here are some of their stories.
Young people in the USA volunteer to spend ____ helping others.
| A．school holidays | B．weekdays |
| C．every morning | D．school days |
What does Alice volunteer to do in summer?
| A．To sleep under the stars. |
| B．To spend the whole summer living in a tent. |
| C．To help build new hiking paths in the mountains. |
| D．To breath the fresh air in the mountain |
From the passage, we know that Jason Moore _____.
| A．likes reading | B．is 18 years old |
| C．isn’t very rich | D．has no houses |
________ wants to be a teacher.
| A．Alice Hamilton | B．Jason Moore |
| C．Trish Anderson | D．None |
Which is the most possible title for this passage?
| A．Reading for Life. | B．The Forest Center |
| C．Young Volunteers. | D．Special Houses |
What’s the best way to remember our happiest moments, like a birthday or festival? I bet you would answer , “Take lots of photos!” Well, here is a great surprise. People who always take photos may actually be harming(伤害) their memory, because they’re not concentrating on the event itself. That’s according to new research by Fairfield University, Connecticut, in the US. They call this the “photo-taking impairment(损害) affect”.
“People so often take out their cameras almost mindlessly to catch a moment, to the point that they are missing what is happening right in front of them,” Henkel and her team decided to perform an experiment. They wanted to find out whether taking photos in a museum weakened(减弱) a visitor’s memory of what they had seen. So they simply told a group to look around the museum, and either take photos of the items on display, or try to remember what they had seen. In addition(另外), the amount(数量) of detail(细节) they remembered was worse than those who didn’t take photos. “These results show how the mind’s eye and the camera’s eye are not the same,” said Henkel.
But don’t put your camera down just yet. Other studies have found that looking back at old photos helps us remember an event, compared to just taking a photo and forgetting about it. So next time you’re thinking of taking a photo, just think: is it better to look at the beauty around you with your own eyes, or behind the eye of the camera?
| A．fail to focus on the event itself |
| B．can’t record the details |
| C．remember what we have seen |
| D．are likely to have a poor memory |
| A．People who didn’t take photos did better in the experiment. |
| B．They asked a group to try to remember what they had seen. |
| C．The experiment aimed to learn what people were interested in at the museum. |
| D．People who took photos in the museum could remember less details. |
| A．never use our cameras |
| B．remember an event by heart |
| C．always remember an event with the help of a camera |
| D．see everything only with our own eyes |
| A．The mind’s eye and the camera’s eye are not the same. |
| B．People remember happiest moments by taking photos. |
| C．Looking back at old photos helps us remember an event. |
| D．People don’t like taking photos. |
| A．The entrance of a museum. |
| B．A guidebook on how to take good pictures. |
| C．An instruction of how to use a camera. |
| D．A scientific report. |
These days, a new kind of restaurant is becoming popular. People who go there can not only enjoy their meals, also can enjoy playing computer games and have fun with their family and friends on line．uWink is the restaurant’s name．It is in Los Angeles，and it’s about fun and food．
In uWink，there are no waiters or waitresses around you. The screens have replaced(取代) them. You can order the food you want by touching the screen in front of you and runners will bring it to the tables．You can also play video games with the people at the next table．The screens can show music videos，movies and so on．But mainly they are used to show video games．
It’s an interactive(互动的) restaurant where you will controlyour meal and your fun．The service is fast and the runners know clearly where to go．There will be no waiting for a waiter，and no misunderstandings(误解) in the kitchen．Different kinds of food are served at any time of day．uWink is a place which hosts “room games”，where every table in the restaurant can have a video game competition at the same time．
The owner of the restaurant hopes that uWink can make it easy for people to be interactive，have fun and enjoy a delicious meal．
| A．Enjoy their meals. |
| B．Play computer games. |
| C．Have fun with their family and friends. |
| D．Chat with the waiters and waitresses. |
| A．touching the screen in front of them | B．calling the restaurant |
| C．asking the waiters or waitresses | D．asking the runners |
| A．The waiters. | B．The waitresses. |
| C．The runners. | D．The customers themselves. |
| A．it’s a restaurant where there are no waiters or waitresses |
| B．different kinds of food are served at any time of day |
| C．it’s an interactive restaurant for people to have fun and enjoy a delicious meal |
| D．it’s in Los Angeles |
| A．A restaurant without waiters or waitresses. |
| B．A new kind of restaurant called uWink. |
| C．A new kind of kitchen. |
| D．How you order food in the restaurant. |
Millions of British people have ditched the traditional “thank you” and took the place of it with the less formal “cheers”, according to a survey.
Although the common person will say “thank you” nearly 5,000 times a year, one in three are more likely to add a “cheers” or “ta” where it’s needed to show they are fashionable.
One in twenty now say “nice one” instead, while the younger are more likely to offer a “cool” than a “thank you”.
“Merci”, “fab” and even “gracias” were also listed as common phrases to use, as “much appreciated(感激)”.
One in twenty who took part in the survey of 2,000 people by the Food Network UK for Thank You Day, which is marked on November 24, 2011, said a formal “thank you” was now not often needed in everyday conversation. More than one in ten adults said they regularly won’t say thank you if they are in a bad mood. Most people stated that saying thank you was something that their parents trained them. A huge 70 percent of those questioned will say thank you to a person’s face without even meaning it, while one fifth avoid(避免)saying it when they know they should.
It seems our friends and family get the stress of our bad manners. Half of them admit (承认) they’re not good at thanking those closest to them. Many of them explain that they don’t say thank you because their family “already know I’m grateful”.
When spoken words won’t do, it falls to a nice text to do the job for most people.
One third will still send a handwritten thank-you note---but 45 percent admit it’s been more than six months since they tried to send one.
A quarter of British people say “thank you” with food, with 23 percent cooking a meal to show their appreciation to someone. Another 15 percent bake a cake.
It follows that 85 percent of people will be angry because of not getting the gratitude (感激)
they feel they should receive.
| A．when they are in good mood |
| B．completely out of habit |
| C．when they feel truly grateful |
| D．purely out of politeness |
| A．gave up | B．used |
| C．shared | D．knew |
| A．different ways of expressing gratitude are all fashionable |
| B．people should avoid saying “thank you” nowadays |
| C．a thank-you note is still appreciated by most people |
| D．people in a bad mood never say “thank you” |
| A．Most people express their gratitude to others by buying food for them. |
| B．About fifty percent of people try not to say thank you when they should. |
| C．Most people may feel natural when they fail to receive others’ gratitude. |
| D．Many people think it unnecessary to say thanks to their family members. |
It seems that there’s a good reason why dogs are always seen as man’s best friend. Scientists have found that dogs are the only animals that can read emotion(情感)in faces much like humans. The finding suggests that like an understanding friend, dogs can see if we are happy, sad, pleased or angry.
When humans look at a new face, their eyes usually look across the left, falling on the right hand side of the person’s face first. A possible reason for this is that the right side of the human face is better at expressing emotions.
Scientists have now shown that pet dogs also have “left gaze bias(左视偏好)”, but only when looking at human faces. No other animal has been known to do like this before. Dr. Kun Guo showed 17 dogs pictures of human, dog and monkey faces as well as something else with his team. The dogs’ eyes and heads show a strong left gaze bias when the animals see human faces. But this did not happen when they were shown other pictures, including those of dogs.
Guo suggests that over thousands of years living with humans, dogs may have developed the left gaze bias as a way to guess our emotions.
“Recent studies show that the right side of our faces can express emotions better than the left. If true, then it makes sense for dogs and humans to see the right hand side of a face first.”
| A．Because dogs are the closest animals to humans. |
| B．Because dogs can read the emotions in humans’ faces easily. |
| C．Because dogs can understand us better when we feel sad. |
| D．Because dogs are good at expressing emotions. |
| A．get along well with humans |
| B．express emotions quickly |
| C．have more understanding friends |
| D．remember more new faces |
| A．dogs have been man’s best friends for thousands of years |
| B．humans have a “left gaze bias” |
| C．the “left gaze bias” works on all animals |
| D．dogs can read emotions the same as humans |
Do you want to know something about children in Africa? What do they do for fun every day? Find out here:
Education
School is expensive for many African children. Lots of families can’t afford school uniforms or exercise books even though they don’t have to pay for school.
For those lucky enough to go to school, they have a lot to learn. Some take two language classes: English or French, and their first languages. There is also math, science, history and geography. Chores take up much of children’s time after school. They have to get water and firewood for the family every day. Also there’s cleaning, washing and helping Mum with the meal.
Daily fun
It’s not all work and no play.Sports are very popular. Children can make goals with twigs（嫩枝）and their own footballs with plastic and bits of string(绳子).They play in the country and the streets of old towns.There’re many football teams for teenagers in Africa.
Internet
It’s really expensive to get on the Internet. To surf the net for 20 hours costs 600yuan.This is more than the average（平均的） monthly pay per person.
Egypt and South Africa are the top two users of the Internet in Africa. All of the capital cities there can get on the Internet.
Some schools offer computer lessons but few students can enjoy computer fun at home.
| A．网上冲浪 | B．家务杂活 |
| C．体育活动 | D．家庭作业 |
| A．do not need money to play |
| B．can play all kinds of ball games |
| C．don’t like to go to school |
| D．don’t like to do their homework |
| A．20 hours | B． more than 240 hours |
| C．about 240 hours | D．about 20 hours |
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