Simply said, Bora Bora is the most beautiful island in the world. Pora Pora ----the ancient name, meaning “first born”, came from legends describing this as the first island to rise. Although the first letter “B” does not exist in the Tahitian language, when Captain Cook first heard the name he mistook the softened sound of “P” for “B” and called the island Bora Bora.
Bora Bora often reminds people of images of a heaven on earth. For this reason, travelling to Bora Bora is popular with honeymooners and anyone who wishes to be surrounded by amazing beauty. Bora Bora is a destination that is small enough to explore in a few days. However, because of the island’s friendly people and fun activities, you might be willing to extend your plan of Bora Bora journey for weeks.
The landscape consists of a mountainous centre that is completely surrounded by a lagoon(环礁湖，濒海湖)，which is then surrounded by a coral reef. These natural features make Bora Bora perfect for diving. The central feature of Bora Bora is Mount Otemanu, a huge rock that stands 2,379 feet tall.
Your Bora Bora vacations won’t be complete if you don’t visit the beaches and lagoons. Perhaps one of the best known features of Bora Bora is its white sand beaches. The most popular beach is Point Matira, located at the southern end of the island. The beach stretches for over two miles and is lined with palm trees.
There is more to do on Bora Bora vacations than lie on the beach. Hiking is an activity that Bora Bora’s 7,000 residents as well as Bora Bora travel enthusiasts, enjoy. If you’re up for a challenge, take the route from Vaitape to the top of Mount Otemanu. If you’re an inexperienced hiker, you might need the help of a guide.
Bora Bora---- The Romantic Island
| ·Pora Pora: meaning “first born” in ----the first island to rise ·Bora Bora: Captain Cook’s |
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| ·images of a heaven on earth ·a · ·fun activities |
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| ·a mountainous centre---- Mount Otemanu ·a lagoon ·a coral reef · |
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| ·diving ·lying on the beaches ·visiting the lagoons · |
第四部分：任务型阅读（共 10 小题，每小题 1 分，满分 10 分）
What happens when you take about 50 sixth-graders and send them to a nature camp with no access to computers, tablets and mobile phones? A new study suggests that after just five days their ability to understand nonverbal social cues improves.
Nonverbal social cues are the emotional information we pick up from people around us that is not communicated through words. It includes facial expressions, eye contact, tone of voice and body posture.
As children spend more time corresponding with their friends via text rather than talking to them face to face, the researchers wondered whether they were losing the ability to read these important cues.
"The idea for this study came from looking at the way my older child and her friends' older siblings were communicating," said Yalda Uhls, "I've been at parties where the kids are all hanging out, but instead of looking at each other, they are staring at their phones."
Uhls, who is the lead author of the study, wanted to see what would happen if a group of children had to spend an extended period of time communicating completely device-free. She found a public school that sends its sixth-grade class to a wilderness camp near Big Bear for five days. At the camp, the students have no access to electronics.
When the class of about 50 children arrived at the camp, they were asked to take two tests to measure their ability to read nonverbal social cues. In the first, the kids were asked to assess the emotions portrayed in 48 photos of people making faces. In the second test, they watched a video with the sound turned off, and then made a judgment about the emotional state of the actor.
At the end of the five-day camp, the students were asked to take the tests again. The researchers report that over the five days the kids went from making an average of 14.02 errors on the face-recognition test at the beginning of their camp stay to 9.41 errors by the end. For the video component, they went from getting an average of 26% of the emotional states correct to getting 31% correct.
"Honestly, we were pretty surprised that just five days would have that effect," said Uhls. "But we think this is good news because if indeed lack of face-to-face time is changing people's ability to understand emotion, our results suggest you can disconnect for five days and get better."
Uhls said the results of their study suggest that it is important for kids to spend time away from screens, but it doesn't necessarily suggest that all screen time is bad." The main thing I hope people take away from this is that it is really important for children to have time for face-to-face socializing," said Uhls. "I love media, my kids are media-savvy, but it is really important to have a balance."
Flying out of an airport in the United States is not always easy. You will need to complete the ticketing process, baggage check, and security clearance procedures before boarding the plane.
If you are flying on an international flight, you'd better arrive two hours before your plane is scheduled to leave. You might need more time in a busy airport in a large city. If you are traveling on a domestic (国内的) flight, you may only need to arrive at the airport 90 minutes before your plane takes off.
Every airport in the States is now moving its ticketing procedure to electronic ticketing device. By using a ticketing machine, you have the chance to choose a seat you like on the plane. If you use it to check-in your bags, you will only have to talk to the ticketing agent when you turn in your luggage to be tagged (加标签). At the same time a real person will be nearby to help you if you need it.
After you have checked in, you will have to pass through airport security. Have your ID card or passport and boarding pass ready to show the security officer when entering the security checkpoint line. Airport security is getting tight in the States today. You're not allowed to travel with any prohibited things like knifes or fireworks.
After the security staff has checked your travel documents, you shall put all of your belongings through a scanning machine and then walk through a metal detector (探测器) or a full body scanner. You need to take off your coat, belt, and sometimes your shoes to go through one of these scanners. Be sure not to have any metal in your pockets. If you do not understand a question you are asked at a security checkpoint, ask the person to repeat their question until you are able to respond with an accurate answer.
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| Time of |
■ Arrive two hours before ■ Arrive 90 minutes before your plane |
| Check-in |
■ Choose your seat on a ticketing machine. ■ Get the ticketing agent ■ |
| Airport security |
■ ■ ■ Be sure not to take any metal with you when ■ Respond |
Chinese parents are very generous when it comes to educating their children. Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the US or Australia. They also want their children to take extra-course activities where they will either learn a musical instrument or ballet, or other classes that will give them a head start in life. The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is. So parents will spend unreasonable amount of money on education. Even poor couples will buy computers for their sons or daughters.
However, what most parents fail to see is that the best education they can give to their children is usually very cheap.
Parents can see that their children’s skills vary, skilled in some areas while poor in others. What most parents fail to realize though, is that today’s children lack self-respect and self-confidence.
The reasons are that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents are not teaching them the most important skills: they need to be confident, happy and clever.
Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing other housework.
Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life. Cooking demands patience and time. It is an enjoyable but difficult experience. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually finish his job successfully. His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and a lot of confidence. These activities are not only teaching a child to work, but rather to think, and to use his mind. And that is more important.
Romanticism (浪漫主义) was a literary, artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. And it reached its peak from 1800 to 1840.
Romanticism urged people to look at nature and surroundings from a scientific point of view. It was also a rebellion against scientific rationalization (合理化 ) of nature. It permitted a person's imagination and freedom in art. The concept of romanticism was present in all the major art forms, like literature, the visual arts and music.
Friedrich Schlegel, a German philosopher, writer and critic, used the term “Romantic” for the first time to name a new school of literature which arose in opposition to “Classicism”. Though the concept of Romanticism was identified much earlier, critics believe that Romanticism in English literature dates from the Lyrical Ballads. The romantics were very interested in mystery, ambition and adventure.
In the visual arts, the term Romanticism refers to a trend that appeared in the 19th century, which was characterized by opposition to the classical forms and its rules. Romanticism in the visual arts focused more on the spiritual and emotional representation of nostalgia（怀旧）. Romantics used objects, like wild trees, moonlight, and so on, to convey their ideas and concepts.
In music, Romanticism was characterized by the freedom of forms and an emphasis on the emotions. It was German composers who used romanticism widely and developed this concept. Many famous composers worked in smaller forms of music that had flexible structure; for instance, ballads, solo piano music, and so on.
Romanticism influenced the literature and arts of the 18th and 19th century. The popularity of this movement declined gradually with passing time, but it has a significant place in the history of literature and art development.
阅读下面短文，按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填入一个适当的词或用括号中词语的正确形式填空，并将答案填写在答题卡标号为1～10的位置上。
Scientists have discovered that ______(stay) in the cold could help us lose weight. Researchers at the University of California found that exposure to the cold increases levels of a protein that helps form brown fat -------- the type of fat that produces heat and keeps us warm. Brown fat burns energy, ___
____ helps us lose weight. White fat stores extra energy, which results __
____ weight gain. The researchers said that because air conditioning and heating give us constant, ___
____ (comfort) temperatures, our body's need for brown fat has decreased. They found that: "Outdoor workers in northern Finland who __
____ (expose) to cold temperature have __
____ significant amount of brown fat when ___
___ (compare) to same-aged indoor workers."
The research was conducted on two different control groups of mice. ______ group was injected with the protein that helps create brown fat. This group later gained 30% less weight after both groups were fed high-fat diets. The researchers say this could be good news in the fight against obesity. People who are obese have ___
____（low) levels of brown fat than thinner people. Head researcher Hei Sook Sul said: "This protein could become an important target for research into the treatment and prevention of obesity and obesity-related diseases." She added: "If you can somehow increase levels of this protein, you could __
____ (possible) lose more weight even if eating the same amount of food."
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