People in South Korea who feel they can no longer bear the stress of everyday life now can choose to stay in a prison to relax and think deeply.
In a society where pressure to do well in school and find highly-paid jobs is intense, a former lawyer came up with an extreme relaxation idea. Kwon Yong-seok created the “Prison Inside Me”—a stress-reduction center with a punishment theme. People come here to cut themselves off from the outside world and pay to be kept in 60-square-foot (5.6-square-meter) cells (囚室).
Located on the outskirts of Hongcheon, about 58 miles (93 km) northeast of Seoul, “Prison Inside Me” came to life after Mr. Kwon voluntarily asked to spend time behind bars for “healing reasons,” but his request was turned down. “I didn’t know how to stop working back then,” he said. “I felt like I was being swept away against my will, and it seemed I couldn’t control my own life.” So, Kwon and his wife Roh Ji-hyang decided to take matters into their own hands, and designed and built a prison-like spiritual center. The construction was completed in June last year and cost about 2 billion won ($19 million).
The facility includes 28 cells, furnished with only a toilet, a sink and a small table, where guests can spend time alone, thinking about life and enjoying private thinking periods. Moreover, guests can also join group thinking periods in the hall, where they are given instructions on how to free themselves from what Mr. Kwon calls the “inner prison” to find inner peace.
According to the Wall Street Journal, hundreds of stressed South Koreans are checking in at the stress-reduction facility to think about their lives and regain control of it. A two-night stay at “Prison Inside Me” costs 150,000 won ($146).
Mr. Kwon and his wife explained that at the beginning they had a different plan for the “relaxation center,” and imagined a longer stay for their guests, but, given that people weren’t able to take more time off, they had to reduce the length of stays to just two days.
Park Woo-sub, a guest at “Prison Inside Me,” said the experience helped him a lot. “This is my third time in prison. Being kept in a prison makes me hard to breathe, but it also offers time to focus only on me and spend some quiet time with myself.”
Others said the experience would have been more helpful if the conditions had been poorer, like in a real prison.Paragraph 3 mainly tells us ______.
| A．where “Prison Inside Me” is located |
| B．what people can do in “Prison Inside Me” |
| C．how “Prison Inside Me” came into being |
| D．when “Prison Inside Me” was completed |
Which of the statements is true?
| A．people in South Korea prefer living under great pressure |
| B．Mr. Kwon had intended to let guests stay at “Prison Inside Me” for over two days |
| C．most people in South Korea can not afford to stay at “Prison Inside Me” |
| D．the 28 cells are well furnished, but with no toilets in them |
We can know from the passage that ______.
| A．many people have been kept in such a prison at least three times |
| B．it is not a good idea for people to focus only on themselves |
| C．people find it not difficult to breathe though the prison is small |
| D．some still felt a bit unsatisfied as the conditions weren’t poor enough |
Who should go to the “Prison Inside Me”?
| A．A successful businessman |
| B．A criminal at large |
| C．A primary student |
| D．A depressed man |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Many South Koreans voluntarily go to “prison” to reduce stress. |
| B．Many South Koreans can hardly bear the stress of daily life. |
| C．South Koreans should spend more time alone thinking about life. |
| D．South Koreans have found the best way to deal with everyday pressure. |
An eight-year-old Arthur Gonzaga from Minas Gerais, Brazil has taken the Internet by a storm, as first reported by TheHuffingtonPost, with his online YouTube series videos “Arthur Gourmand”. And while it would not be a far stretch of the imagination to assume an 8-year-old’s cooking show would be filled with dishes like pizza and burgers, Arthur’s show actually features recipes like fruit salad a la créme de passion fruit and filet mignon (菲力牛排).
The idea to record Arthur’s cooking adventures on YouTube was rooted in the young chef’s leukemia diagnosis (白血病诊断) in August 2013.Treatment and recovery for the cancer left the young boy in the hospital for the second half of the year and Aruthur was even forced to spend Christmas Eve in the emergency room of So Paulo’s A.C. Camargo Cancer Center. That’s when his family—father Renato Gonzaga and stepmother Priscila Inserra—decided that Arthur should create something positive that would distract him from his health.
The videos, which are filmed in the kitchen of a friend of the family, are in Portuguese. They show Arthur walking the viewers through a step-by-step process of the entire recipe—from preparation to cooking. Occasionally, viewers can see Arthur’s father serving as his son’s sous chef, passing ingredients and following his lead.
Fluent in Portuguese or not, viewers can immediately notice Arthur’s optimistic and friendly personality. It is perhaps these qualities that have given the young rising Internet star almost 5,000 likes on his Facebook Fan Page. There are currently three videos on YouTube and according to his most recent Facebook post, the young boy will be taking suggestions for his next video.
Fortunately, according to what Inserra told TheHuffingtonPost, Arthur is responding well to his treatments and is on his path to recovery. “The secret of life is to let it take you, to have fun and to know how to turn lemons into lemonade (柠檬水),” wrote her family, fittingly, on their most recent Facebook post. Hats off to Arthur, who truly serves as a shining example of how to turn lemons into lemonade.
Arthur Gourmand is a name of .
| A．the boy | B．the boy’s illness |
| C．a newspaper | D．the boy’s cooking show |
Arthur performs his cooking show .
| A．on the stage | B．in his friend’s kitchen |
| C．in his own kitchen | D．in the emergency room |
The underlined phrase “sous chef” probably means .
| A．a assistant of a chef | B．a adviser of a chef |
| C．a companion of a chef | D．a friend of a chef |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．Arthur has finished all his videos. |
| B．Arthur doesn’t speak Portuguese fluently. |
| C．Arthur had to spend the New Year’s Eve in the hospital. |
| D．Arthur sets a good example to those with serious illness. |
China has been drinking tea since the time of Shennong, 5,000 years ago. Britain’s relationship with tea is much shorter, but tea enjoys the pride as the UK’s national drink. According to the UK Tea Council, British people drink an average of three cups a day or a national total of 165 million cups every day.
With figures like these, it is no surprise that time spent taking tea affects the working day in Britain. A recent survey found that 24 minutes a day are lost to making, buying and drinking tea and coffee. That is, £400 a year is lost in working hours per employee, or 190 days over a lifetime. So, should employers be worried about this lost working time, or does the tea break make up in other ways?
One argument is that caffeine improves mental state: a drink of tea or coffee can make you active and focus on work.
Professor Rogers of the University of Bristol disagrees. After years of studying caffeine he sees nothing can prove that. “Workers would perform equally well if not drinking it at all,” he says. “But if they’re often drinking it and then go without, they’ll feel tired and won’t work well.”
Psychologist Cooper instead emphasizes the role tea breaks play in office life, and in building social relationships. “We need to make people more active and see other people. The tea break is one way of doing this,” says Cooper.
And Professor Rogers also points out the comfort effect of a hot drink: “We warm our hands on them on a cold day; they’re comforting and play a big role in our everyday life. Whatever the caffeine’s doing, I’d say these 24 minutes aren’t wasted.”
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Tea Breaks cannot make people more active at work. |
| B．British people drink more tea than people in other countries. |
| C．Tea break plays an important role in people’s life in Britain. |
| D．A lot of time has been wasted drinking tea in the working day. |
We learn from a recent survey that in Britain _______.
| A．£400 is lost in working hours for each person |
| B．tea breaks take up 24 minutes in a working day |
| C．people spends 190 days drinking tea and coffee each year |
| D．people drink 165 million cups in working hours every day |
What’s Psychologist Coopers’ attitude towards tea break?
| A．Doubtful. | B．Uncertain. |
| C．Negative. | D．Positive. |
You may not pay much attention to your daily elevator ride. Many of us use a lift several times during the day without really thinking about it. But Lee Gray, PhD, of the University of North Carolina, US, has made it his business to examine this overlooked form of public transport. He is known as the “Elevator Guy”.
“The lift becomes this interesting social space where etiquette (礼仪) is sort of odd (奇怪的),” Gray told the BBC. “They (elevators) are socially very interesting but often very awkward places.”
We walk in and usually turn around to face the door. If someone else comes in, we may have to move. And here, according to Gray, lift users unthinkingly go through a set pattern of movements. He told the BBC what he had observed.
He explained that when you are the only one inside a lift, you can do whatever you want – it’s your own little box.If there are two of you, you go into different corners, standing diagonally (对角线地) across from each other to create distance.When a third person enters, you will unconsciously form a triangle. And when there is a fourth person it becomes a square, with someone in every corner. A fifth person is probably going to have to stand in the middle.
New entrants to the lift will need to size up the situation when the doors slide open and then act decisively. Once in, for most people the rule is simple – look down, or look at your phone.
Why are we so awkward in lifts?
“You don’t have enough space,” Professor Babette Renneberg, a clinical psychologist at the Free University of Berlin, told the BBC. “Usually when we meet other people we have about an arm’s length of distance between us. And that’s not possible in most elevators.”
In such a small, enclosed space it becomes very important to act in a way that cannot be construed (理解) as threatening or odd. “The easiest way to do this is to avoid eye contact,” she said.The main purpose of the article is to _____.
| A．remind us to enjoy ourselves in the elevator |
| B．tell us some unwritten rules of elevator etiquette |
| C．share an interesting but awkward elevator ride |
| D．analyze what makes people feel awkward in an elevator |
According to Gray, when people enter an elevator, they usually _____.
| A．turn around and greet one another |
| B．look around or examine their phone |
| C．make eye contact with those in the elevator |
| D．try to keep a distance from other people |
Which of the following describes how people usually stand when there are at least two people in an elevator?
The writer wrote the passage in a tone of ___________.
| A．disapproved | B．objective |
| C．negative | D．supportive |
The Future Stars
General introduction
The Future Stars was set up in 1988 as a non-profit service center for child development devoted to providing quality childcare in a loving and educational environment for children 6 weeks to 6 years of age. Our funds mainly come from public donations.
A healthy curiosity about learning is the most important quality for early childhood development. We aim at offering high quality developmentally age-appropriate activities for early childhood, the most Important time of child development, so that they can do better after they start formal schooling.
Hours of operation
Childcare will be provided for the child from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday through Friday except for holidays. Children may not arrive before 7:00 am or remain after 6:00 pm. Should an emergency arise, the parent should immediately make us know in consideration of our work arrangements. A late charge of $ 1.00 per minute will be assessed if the child is not picked up by 6:05 pm. Charges for these services are to be paid directly to the staff person that has been looking after your child until your arrival, not to the center. Failure to pay late charges may affect continued services with the center.
Tuition (学费)
When it has been confirmed that a position is available for your child, you must pay a registration (注册) fee of $200 per child.
The weekly tuition fee is $ 98.00. You can make payments either by credit card or in cash on Monday every week. If your payment is not made by Tuesday at 9:00 am, you will be charged a $ 25.00 late fee.
For more information, please call 434-293-6110 or visit
www.childdevelopmentcenter.com.The Future Stars is intended for______.
| A．would-be parents | B．teenagers |
| C．child experts | D．pre-school children |
What can we know about late pickups from the passage?
| A．They may affect continued services with the center. |
| B．Parents have to pay late charges for them to the center. |
| C．Parents have to inform the center of them right away. |
| D．They greatly disturb the work arrangements of the center. |
If you want your child to receive childcare services from the Future Stars you must ___.
| A．pay extra for delayed payment | B．pay every Tuesday |
| C．pay $ 98 for registration | D．pay in cash |
What is the purpose of the passage?
| A．To attract public donations. |
| B．To promote early education. |
| C．To tell the benefits of childcare. |
| D．To introduce a child development center. |
June came and the hay was almost ready for cutting．On Midsummer's Eve, which was aSaturday, Mr．Jones went to Willington and got so drunk at the Red Lion that he did not comeback till midday on Sunday．The men had milked the cows in the early morning and then hadgone out rabbiting, without bothering to feed the animals．When Mr．Jones got back, heimmediately went to sleep on the living-room sofa with the "News of the world" over his face,so that when evening came, the animals were still not fed．At last, they could stand no longer．
One of the cows broke into the door of the store-house with her horns（角） and all the animalsbegan to help themselves to the grains．It was just then that Mr．Jones woke up．The nextmoment he and his four men were in the store-house with whips （鞭子） in their hands,whipping in all directions．This was more than the hungry animals would bear．Together,though nothing of the kind had been planned beforehand, they jumped upon their masters．
Jones and his men suddenly found themselves being struck with horns and kicked from allsides．The situation was quite out of their control．They had never seen animals act like thisbefore, and this sudden uprising （起义） of creatures whom they were used to beating andwhipping just as they chose frightened them．After only a moment or two, they gave up tryingto defend themselves．A minute later all five of them were in full fright down the road, with theanimals running after them joyfully．
Which of the following is TRUE according to the story?
| A．Willington was the name of a relative． |
| B．Red Lion was the name of a bar． |
| C．News of the World was a TV program． |
| D．Store-house is a place to feed the cows． |
The cows broke into the store-house to feed themselves because .
| A．They were so angry at their masters |
| B．They wanted to fight with the men |
| C．They wanted to go on strike |
| D．They-were too hungry |
The cows jumped upon their masters because _________．
| A．they were not fed |
| B．they were so hungry |
| C．they were whipped so hard |
| D．they were so happy |
What would be the best tile for the story?
| A．Midsummer's Eve | B．A Bad Sunday |
| C．Cows and Their Masters | D．Rebellion of Cows |
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