I always listen to my local public radio station while I’m driving. My focus often changes as I stare out at the road ahead. But I became fully attentive on a recent morning once I realized the entire newscast was dedicated to local wildlife.
There was something about the pack of some 30 to 50 javelinas (野猪) that ruined a golf course near Sedona, Arizona, followed by talk of the recent sighting of a jaguar (美洲虎), a species that ranged across Arizona and Sonora, Mexico, until construction of the border wall blocked the way. Finally, there was an update on Mexican wolf reintroduction efforts in New Mexico and Arizona. The results were mixed: Nine of the wolves had died or been killed recently.
As I sat in my car, listening to the news, I felt helpless, even mournful. What would it take for most of us to understand that the javelinas’ behavior on that heavily irrigated golf course in the desert was a sign that maybe the course shouldn’t be in the desert to begin with? The way I saw it, the javelinas weren’t invading (入侵) the site; they were reclaiming it. After all, the javelinas’ needs—for food and space—are more basic than a few privileged humans’ desire to play golf.
As for the Arizona Mexican wolf pup reintroduction effort that I heard about in the news, for the past 25 years, scientists have been working hard to restore the native wolf population, and yet are unable to remove its greatest threat. Today, almost 250 Mexican wolves are believed to be in the wild, and every year, humans illegally kill one out of ten. The wolf recovery effort is necessary, but it’s extremely difficult because we humans keep getting in the way.
I need to tackle my helplessness, because helplessness leads to no longer wanting to take care of what matters most. Therefore, I think that it must be a good sign that my local news now regularly covers the challenges of coexistence and possible solutions to our problems. That’s progress and fuels my hope.
1．What is the morning news about?| A．Dangers of local wildlife. |
| B．Efforts to reintroduce wildlife. |
| C．Issues of human-wildlife coexistence. |
| D．Distribution of wildlife around the world. |
| A．To meet basic needs. |
| B．To protect the desert. |
| C．To oppose golf playing. |
| D．To attack human beings. |
| A．They are bound to go extinct. |
| B．Humans threaten their survival. |
| C．Their number has greatly increased. |
| D．10% of them have been reintroduced. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Negative. |
| C．Optimistic. | D．Indifferent. |
Participants said they liked Alibaba's Tmall unmanned (无人的) supermarket after
People can not only enter the supermarket by just swiping a QR code (扫二维码) with their cell phone but also get different discounts
“Unmanned retail (零售) needs
The unmanned supermarket should not be cold but humane. On
An online charity sale was held in our school last week.
When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr. Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy, I couldn’t take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.
Of course, he delivered more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would pen a note — “Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery” — and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then, the buttermilk would magically (魔术般) appear.
All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basille even had a key to our house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors, so that the milk wouldn’t freeze. And I remember Mr. Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.
There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk, thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete. Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practical to have a delivery service.
Recently, an old milk box in the countryside I saw brought back my childhood memories. I took it home and planted it on the back porch (门廊) . Every so often my son’s friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk.
1．Mr. Basille gave the boy a quarter out of his coin changer to __________.| A．show his magical power | B．pay for the delivery |
| C．satisfy his curiosity | D．please his mother |
| A．He wanted to have tea there. | B．He was a respectable person. |
| C．He was treated as a family member. | D．He was fully trusted by the family. |
| A．Nobody wants to be a milkman now. | B．It has been driven out of the market. |
| C．Its service is getting poor. | D．It is not allowed by law. |
| A．He missed the good old days. | B．He wanted to tell interesting stories. |
| C．He needed it for his milk bottles. | D．He planted flowers in it. |
I started a Facebook page in July, and it’s steadily growing! The best part isn’t the number of its “followers” but its comments — I love reading about what people do, their ideas and views and get some feedback (反馈) on what I’m doing too.
In April of this year, I was invited by a friend to join her Social Change group. We were eight women from all walks of life, but we had one thing in common — we live in a fantastic country and yet we can see homeless people on the streets asking for money. We have a generous welfare system and a social housing scheme — but it’s a problem that is getting worse. We asked ourselves: What happens to homeless women?
Therefore, we volunteered at shelters. We met with social housing providers, shelter managers and social workers, and began to think what else we could do. We researched on which programs were having success. We had guest speakers at our meetings and began to get a clear picture about what we needed to do.
As luck would have it, we have been gifted a building in the city center. It’s old and needs a lot of work to bring it up to the standard. We want to provide more than just shelter to women in need. We aim to have six self-contained apartments providing full social services for women to stay in for up to two years. Thanks to the building provider, we have got our project off the ground.
I’m an ordinary person. If I can do this, anyone can. You can change the world. Look for the opportunity and just do it.
1．What can we learn about the Facebook page?| A．Its followers increase steadily. | B．It helps the author get feedback. |
| C．It was set up to advertise their service. | D．Its main content is people’s comments. |
| A．Its people are suffering. | B．Its system is getting worse. |
| C．It still has a long way to go. | D．It is a place full of inequality. |
| A．acquired a few communication skills |
| B．discovered their ability to change the world |
| C．had a better understanding of social problems |
| D．were inspired to start a project to help the homeless women |
| A．To share her story. | B．To introduce her job. |
| C．To thank housing providers for their help. | D．To encourage people to improve the world. |
It has long been believed that the smart phones in our pockets are actually making us dumb (迟钝的). Now there is evidence for it.
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin discovered that people are worse at completing tasks and remembering information if a smart phone is within sight. In two experiments they found phones sitting on a desk or even in a pocket or a handbag would distract (使分心) users and lead to worse test scores even when they were set up not to disturb test subjects.
The researchers tested 520 university students on their memory and intelligence when they were in the presence of a smart phone to see how it affected them. They were told to complete tests in mathematics, memory and reasoning with their smart phones either on their desks, in their bags or pockets, or in another room. Those who had their phones on the desk recorded a 10 percent lower score than those who left them in a different room. Those who kept their phones further out of sight in their pockets or their bags scored only slightly better than those whose phones were placed on desks.
The researchers found that the negative effect of having a phone within sight was greater among those who said they were dependent on their smart phones. It was also found that phones could distract users even when they were turned off or when they were placed face down.
The researchers said the effect arises because part of the smart phone users’ mind is trying not to think about distractions such as whether they have any messages when the smart phone is in their line of sight.
Similar research has previously shown that smart phones can lead a “butterfly brain effect” on users that can cause mental blunders (错误).
1．The researchers at the University of Texas carries out the study to test .| A．where smart phones should be placed |
| B．who were dependent on smart phones |
| C．university students’ daily use of smart phones |
| D．smart phones’ effect on students’ intelligence and memory |
| A．Smart phones don’t affect students if put out of sight. |
| B．Smart phones don’t distract students when turned off. |
| C．Students got lower scores in the presence of smart phones. |
| D．Students were distracted no matter where their phones were placed. |
| A．The cause of the problem. | B．The butterfly brain effect. |
| C．The mental blunders. | D．The future research. |
| A．The harm of smart phones | B．Smart phones make us dumb |
| C．Limit our use of smart phones | D．The problem of smart phone addiction |
You may be suffering from decision fatigue (疲劳). We humans have a limited amount of mental energy for self-control. It’s why we make better decisions in the morning and are less able to resist the things we love later in the day.
The more choices you have, the more fatigue you’ll face. So simplify your life and keep only the things that encourage you.
How many times have you considered decisions for long periods of time, only to come back to your original decision?
Working on the same tasks in the same manner again and again leads to higher degrees of mental fatigue.
| A．We’ve all done it. |
| B．What can you do about it? |
| C．The rest just gets in the way. |
| D．Put your most important task first! |
| E．Humans need creativity and change to grow. |
| F．If you make a decision for the right reasons, trust and let it go. |
| G．The best decision makers aren’t somehow smarter or better prepared. |
At the end of my freshman year, my lab group and I were given a task of dissecting (解剖) a pig. We had to follow the
This project taught me about
During the same time my mother fell ill, and after being sick for two years a doctor
These two
To me, being able to
| A．orders | B．instructions | C．traditions | D．rules |
| A．collected | B．designed | C．produced | D．done |
| A．inspection | B．guidance | C．pressure | D．control |
| A．bring them in | B．turn them in | C．carry them out | D．make them out |
| A．myself | B．itself | C．that | D．them |
| A．still | B．never | C．already | D．even |
| A．until | B．because | C．so | D．but |
| A．realize | B．promise | C．suggest | D．complain |
| A．experiments | B．emergencies | C．difficulties | D．disagreements |
| A．For example | B．Above all | C．At last | D．In fact |
| A．generally | B．suddenly | C．finally | D．immediately |
| A．take notice of | B．take care of | C．put up with | D．get along with |
| A．better | B．weaker | C．stronger | D．braver |
| A．impression | B．comment | C．operation | D．influence |
| A．inspired | B．permitted | C．requested | D．allowed |
| A．control | B．experience | C．ease | D．bear |
| A．ideas | B．events | C．results | D．tasks |
| A．perform | B．respond | C．compete | D．recover |
| A．praise | B．improve | C．save | D．enjoy |
| A．energy | B．respect | C．courage | D．determination |
Once upon a time, there lived a poor but cheerful shoemaker. He was so happy that he sang all day long. The children loved to stand around his window to listen to him.
Next door to the shoemaker lived a rich man. He used to sit up all night to count his gold. In the morning, he went to bed, but he could not sleep because of the sound of the shoemaker’s singing. One day, he thought of a way to stop the singing. He wrote a letter to the shoemaker inviting him over for a cup of tea.
The shoemaker came at once, and to his great surprise, the rich man gave him a bag of gold as a gift. The shoemaker took the bag and thanked the rich man. When he returned home, the shoemaker couldn’t wait to open the bag. He had never seen so much gold in his life! He sat down at his bench and began, carefully, to count it. The children watched through the window.
There was so much there that the shoemaker was afraid to let it out of his sight. So he took it to bed with him. But he could not sleep for worrying about it. So he got out of bed and went to hide it in the attic (阁楼), but he was not sure if that was a good place.
Very early in the morning, he got up and brought his gold down from the attic. He had decided to hide it up the chimney (烟囱) instead. But after breakfast, he thought it would be safer in the chicken house. So he hid it there. But he was still uneasy, and in a little while he dug a hole in the garden and buried his bag of gold in it.
He was in no mood for singing and found it difficult to focus on his work.
At last the shoemaker felt so unhappy that he took his bag of gold and ran next door to the rich man.
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