There is a wonderful old story about the best-known artist, Leonardo da Vinci. When Leonardo was
Though this story is certainly not true, it does
The good news,
I only hope that my own face, no matter how old or wrinkled it becomes, is always the face of love. I hope it is a face of
| A．designing | B．creating | C．painting | D．improving |
| A．decided | B．imagined | C．ordered | D．refused |
| A．model | B．shape | C．person | D．character |
| A．appeared | B．enjoyed | C．showed | D．expressed |
| A．ended up | B．went on | C．came up | D．turned on |
| A．started | B．stopped | C．repeated | D．enjoyed |
| A．how | B．why | C．if | D．when |
| A．sang | B．cried | C．shouted | D．laughed |
| A．discover | B．learn | C．report | D．tell |
| A．power | B．faith | C．appearance | D．attitude |
| A．beauty | B．hope | C．nature | D．enjoyment |
| A．however | B．instead | C．therefore | D．besides |
| A．early | B．late | C．hard | D．fast |
| A．fill | B．equip | C．cover | D．mix |
| A．sadness | B．carefulness | C．rudeness | D．kindness |
We need art in our homes. Here are four reasons you should know about art.
Your home is “your place,” and that’s why decorating it to your liking is so important.
Plus, from a functional design standpoint, art acts as a focal point, makes a room appear finished, and immediately shows off your interests and ideals to visitors.
Without needing words, art can be the perfect way to express who you are to both yourself and others. Why?
Whether it’s your personality or what you value in life, art can be the perfect translator. This lets you form deeper connections with those who come into your home.
A piece of art can produce powerful emotions when we look at it. Art can cheer us up after a bad day, make us remember, or inspire us to do more in life. It can provide comfort that we are not the only ones feeling a certain way. It also provides a reflection back to us that enables us to chew on our own reactions, emotions, and thoughts.
| A．Art tells a story. |
| B．Art also opens us up to criticism. |
| C．Art helps us recognize our emotions. |
| D．You need to feel comfortable in your space. |
| E．Seeing other people do what they love is inspiring. |
| F．An artwork serves as a reminder that we should question our habits. |
| G．By choosing to live with art, you are choosing to bring more life into your home. |
China is one of the first countries to breed a medical culture. In comparison with Western methods, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) adopts a vastly different approach. For thousands of years, Chinese people have accumulated rich experience in fighting all sorts of diseases, therefore forming a unique medical theory under the guidance of ancient Chinese philosophies (哲学).
The core behind TCM is that the human body's life is the consequence (结果) of the balance between Yin and Yang. Yang functions to safeguard us against outer harm, and Yin is the inner base to store and provide energy. When the balance between the two aspects is disturbed, people fall ill.
One of the traditional techniques of TCM, acupuncture (针刺疗法) means insertion of needles into superficial (表面的) structures of the body—usually at acupoints (穴位)—to restore the Yin Yang balance. It is often accompanied by moxibustion (艾灸疗法), which involves burning mugwort on or near the skin at an acupoint.
The first known text that clearly talks about something like acupuncture and moxibustion as it is practiced today is The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon. It is the earliest and most important written work of TCM and is considered the fundamental and most representative medical text in China.
Acupuncture and moxibustion have aroused the interest of international medical science circles. And TCM is gradually gaining worldwide recognition. The WHO issued a document in 2002 that appealed to more than 180 countries to adopt TCM as an alternative in their medical policies. In 2010, acupuncture and moxibustion of traditional Chinese medicine were added to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO. Presently, TCM has been back in the news for its effectiveness in improving the cure rate of the COVID-19 since its outbreak in January 2020.
1．What is the key feature of TCM?| A．It adopts different medical approaches. | B．It's based on ancient Chinese philosophies. |
| C．It helps to restore body's self-balance. | D．It's gained experience through rich practice. |
| A．It distinguishes acupuncture from moxibustion. |
| B．It's a foundation of world medical research. |
| C．it stresses the importance of using acupoints. |
| D．It greatly contributes to the development of TCM. |
| A．To review the development of TCM. | B．To introduce TCM to the world. |
| C．To tell TCM and Western medicine apart. | D．To argue for TCM in fighting COVID-19. |
| A．How TCM helps in the current situation. | B．Why TCM is gaining popularity. |
| C．Why TCM gets recognition from WHO. | D．How other countries adopt TCM. |
Ready to take a gap year？ A "Gap Year" is a period of time when a student takes a break before going to university. It is often spent travelling or working．
Gap years are popular with European and Australian students, but remain less popular in America. However, in recent years, more and more American students are preparing for college by taking a gap year. The advantages of taking a gap year are as follows：
Although you don't have to go abroad to experience gap years, most gap year students catch the chance to travel abroad. You are able to work out who you are and what you are for. The experiences of different cultures offer you interesting lessons. You can learn more about the world and get to know yourself better．
A gap year is not only a time to take a vacation, but also a time to face challenges. Gap year students usually work, volunteer or take service projects. You have to learn how to get along in the real world. This process isn't always easy, but it is an important part of growing up．
Save money and improve your college admission chances
There's a common thought that gap years are only for rich students, but it's not true. Actually, taking a gap year can save your money. Gap year students often take a part-time job. Besides, at the end of a gap year, students are much more likely to know what to study in college.
| A．Learn about the world and yourself |
| B．Only in this way can you enjoy life and have fun． |
| C．Check out your gap year choices before making the right decision． |
| D．It can give young people useful learning experiences and new skills． |
| E．Imagine an admission officer trying to admit only one between two students． |
| F．More students than ever before are taking a gap year before going to university． |
| G．Clear learning goals can keep the students working hard instead of wasting time and money playing． |
One sunny day in summer, two girls named Gracy and Emma were walking to their homes after school. They were talking about the special celebration activities that were going to take place the next day at their school. They both needed something new to wear for the activity, but they had failed to save enough money to buy anything for that purpose. Both their parents had given them only little money to buy something nice for the celebration the next day. But it surely wasn’t enough for them.
Once again they came by that store near their school and looked at the dress they wanted to buy, and Gracy suddenly saw a wallet near her feet just outside the clothing store. She picked it up and found a bit of money inside it. She turned to Emma and shouted exitedly, “Look, I found a little money in this wallet and I will use it to buy the dress I want! What a lucky day!” Emma took the wallet, opened it and found a name and an address in it.
“It is not a good habit to keep whatever we find, Gracy. Put the money back. There is a name and an address in the wallet. I think it won’t be difficult for us to find its owner. We are going to return it,” said Emma.
Gracy was disappointed and said angrily, “No way! I am not putting it back. I just can’t find the owner anyway. I can buy the dress in the store with the money.”
Emma then forced Gracy to come with her to the address and they arrived at a house. Together, the two of them came up to the door and rang the doorbell.
An elderly man came to answer the door.
Then Emma and Gracy went back to the store.
Farmers and hunters are calling for an extension (延期) to the Victorian duck hunting season, saying certain species are doing great harm to crops and waterways and need to be controlled. This season runs from 8:00 am today and will end in 20 days, down from the usual 12 weeks, with a bag limit of five listed game ducks per day.
Wayne Shields grows leafy greens on the Mornington Peninsula and he said the decision to reduce the duck hunting season would take its toll on farmers. “The wood ducks are the ones causing all of the damage; the black ducks are no problem around here. The wood ducks come in at night and they just clean me out completely and they’ve done it a number of times over a number of years,” he said.
Mr. Shields and his wife, Natasha, run Peninsula Fresh Organics and he said there was nothing he could do to stop the invasion (入侵). “I nearly went broke a few years ago. Back then I was planting 10,000 lettuce (生菜) a week and they would quite happily eat 10,000 lettuce a week.” Due to the damage caused by the wood ducks, Mr. Shields said there should be a year-round open season on the wood ducks and farmers should be allowed to shoot birds.
Professor Richard Kingsford, Director of the Centre for Ecosystem Science at UNSW, said although the wood ducks ate crops, extending the duck season may not achieve what farmers wanted. He is calling on the government to invest more in research to address the threat certain species of waterbirds caused for some farmers, so other nonlethal (非致命的) ways to destroy the birds can be found.
1．How is this year’s duck hunting season different?| A．It is put off. | B．It is cut short. |
| C．It is about five species. | D．It takes place mainly on farms. |
| A．Make way for. | B．Keep an eye on. |
| C．Cause damage to. | D．Take control of. |
| A．The invasion of the black ducks. |
| B．The difficulty of keeping business. |
| C．The negative influence of the hunting season. |
| D．The daytime trouble caused by the wood ducks. |
| A．Scientifically managing them. |
| B．Encouraging hunters to catch them. |
| C．Extending the duck hunting season. |
| D．Using deadly ways to drive them away. |
Why are some people more motivated (积极的) to handle difficult things? And is there a way to make doing difficult things easy? To answer this question, we need to look at this: dopamine (多巴胺). Dopamine is often considered a pleasure molecule (分子). But that’s not quite what it does. Dopamine is what makes us desire things. And it’s that desire that gives us the motivation to get up and do things.
In fact, your brain considers something more important than others mainly depending on how much dopamine it’s expecting to get. If an activity releases too little dopamine, you won’t have much motivation to do it. But if an activity releases a lot of dopamine, you’ll be motivated to repeat it, over and over. So which behavior releases dopamine? Any activity where you expect there’s a possible reward releases it.
And in today’s digital society, we are flooding our brains with unnaturally high amounts of dopamine on a daily basis, even if we don’t know it. Some examples of high dopamine behavior include: visiting social media websites, playing video games, etc.
And you might think, “Oh so what? It’s not like it’s harming me in any way.” But you’d be wrong. Our bodies have a biological system called homeostasis (体内动态平衡). Whenever an imbalance occurs, our body adapts to it. Basically your brain gets used to having high levels of dopamine and those levels become your new normal. Thus you develop a dopamine tolerance. This can be a huge problem because the things that don’t give you as much dopamine don’t interest you any longer. That’s why people tend to prefer playing video games or surfing the Internet, compared to studying or working on their business.
But it is possible to make doing difficult things feel easier. Separate yourself from the unnaturally high amounts of dopamine, or at least expose yourself to it far less frequently. Only then will normal, everyday, low dopamine activities become exciting again and you’ll be able to do them for longer. That’s why you might want to limit your phone and computer usage, along with other high dopamine-releasing behavior.
We are all dopamine addicts (入迷的人) to a certain extent. And that’s a good thing because dopamine motivates us to achieve our goals and improve ourselves. But it’s up to you to decide where you’re going to get your dopamine. Are you going to get it from things that don’t benefit you? Or are you going to get it from working on your long-term goals? The choice is yours.
1．When is dopamine released?| A．When difficult things come into being. |
| B．When we take pleasure in the behavior. |
| C．When possible rewards can be obtained. |
| D．When we have the motivation to do things. |
| A．Dopamine does great harm to our body. |
| B．It’s hard for our body to keep the balance. |
| C．Dopamine tolerance keeps us away from games. |
| D．Video games produce more dopamine than study. |
| A．To explain why dopamine is harmful. | B．To introduce the effects of dopamine. |
| C．To offer solutions to dopamine tolerance. | D．To stress the importance of dopamine. |
| A．Objective. | B．Doubtful. | C．Concerned. | D．Negative. |
In a fast-paced world driven by noise, excitement, and continuous connections due to technology, I think we’ve lost a(n)
This past weekend, I found myself
We got into our truck and drove ten minutes to a local state park, a place that has
Gone were the rings of notifications, the honking horns (喇叭声) of cars flying by, and the
In these peaceful moments, I found a(n)
Our world
So take a moment, take a break and take some time to find the quiet in your life. Let the quiet moments in life remind you that your inner voice
| A．cooperation | B．appreciation | C．confidence | D．opportunity |
| A．related | B．devoted | C．glued | D．allowed |
| A．regular | B．simple | C．busy | D．interesting |
| A．drowning in | B．fond of | C．curious about | D．sensitive to |
| A．showed | B．sucked | C．forced | D．led |
| A．acquired | B．occupied | C．ignored | D．stressed |
| A．witnessed | B．experienced | C．presented | D．undertaken |
| A．hung on | B．turned on | C．worn out | D．shut off |
| A．trapped | B．involved | C．bathed | D．stuck |
| A．existence | B．attraction | C．impression | D．separation |
| A．removed | B．reflected | C．restricted | D．reminded |
| A．track | B．sight | C．control | D．hope |
| A．connection | B．imagination | C．exploration | D．prediction |
| A．against | B．with | C．beyond | D．about |
| A．chaos | B．values | C．meaning | D．quality |
| A．In addition | B．In short | C．After all | D．Above all |
| A．avoids | B．desires | C．transfers | D．spells |
| A．opposed | B．limited | C．entitled | D．addicted |
| A．glorious | B．unique | C．essential | D．superior |
| A．remains | B．tends | C．appears | D．deserves |
For some people, the warmest memories from childhood come from being read a great story.
A new report by the American Academy of Pediatrics says reading aloud is so important that parents should start as soon as their children are born and continue to read aloud even after their children can read by themselves. They say parents should also point to and talk about pictures in books for infants (婴幼儿).
The company Scholastic is a major U. S. publisher of children’s books. Every two years, Scholastic publishes a report on American reading attitudes and habits. The 2015 report says only 31percent of children in the U. S. read a book for fun almost every day.
There are other methods that might help you with your studying.
| A．Do children still read for fun? |
| B．A book does not have to be serious to be good for kids. |
| C．But reading to children does more than create warm memories. |
| D．For young children, parents should ask questions about the book. |
| E．Another way to develop a reading habit in children is to read to them. |
| F．Scholastic also identifies some ways to develop a love of reading in a child. |
| G．The Scholastic report also suggests permitting children to choose their own books. |
搜索
