It was dark as Ibrahim Al Hussein came to. He couldn’t move and thick dust filled the air, blocking out all but a few small flames dancing close by. It was hard to breathe. Something wasn’t right and he could not feel his foot. As the smoke of the bombing cleared Al Hussein was saved but lost his lower right leg forever.
After several twists and turns, Al Hussein managed to escape from war-torn Syria to Athens, Greece. With no money left on him, he had to sleep on the streets and look for fruit in trees or eat grass from the park. Luckily, he later found work cleaning toilets at a local cafe. He worked every day of the week with no breaks and was proud to be supporting himself. But he was missing something — sport.
Al Hussein used to be a sportsman. As war broke out in Syria in 2011, all sports stadiums were forced to close, but now settled and safe in Athens, he was desperate to return to physical activity. In May, 2015, his prayers were answered. A swimming club gave him permission to train there.
“When I looked at the address I realised it was the Athens Aquatics Centre,” says Al Hussein, who, at the age of 16, had watched the 2004 Olympics unfold on a small TV in his cosy Syrian home. “Seeing those Olympics gave me motivation to do sport and although it was a flashback to the past, it was also a look to a better future because I had made it to the pool I’d watched and dreamt of swimming in.”
For much of 2015 he swam in the morning and then worked at the cafe until late in the evening. It was tough, but it worked for him and, in early 2016, he secured two medals at the Greek Para Swimming National Championships. People began to take note.
1．What caused Al Hussein to lose his lower right leg?| A．A war. | B．A fire. | C．An illness. | D．An accident. |
| A．Why Al Hussein worked hard. | B．How Al Hussein survived in Greece. |
| C．Why Al Hussein missed sport. | D．How Al Hussein escaped from Syria. |
| A．It was forced to close in 2011. | B．Al Hussein went there at age 16. |
| C．It used to be a swimming club. | D．The 2004 Olympics were held there. |
| A．Independent but proud. | B．Motivated but stubborn. |
| C．Ambitious and religious. | D．Hardworking and optimistic |
The Chinese invented block printing more than 1,400 years ago. The original characters were carved on wood and ink was then applied. Block printing is time consuming and
Bi Sheng of the Northern Song Dynasty invented the movable type printing. He carved the Chinese characters on small
Although what Bi Sheng invented was simple when
Explore the science behind these amazing landscapes
Retracing Charles Darwin’s travels across North Wales
13 May 2024|6 days
Uncover the best of Wales as you explore the dramatic Welsh landscapes of Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park and examine the region geology and how it has been transformed by volcanic and glacial activity over the years.Discover the story of Charles Darwin’s 1831 and 1842 tours of Wales,and retrace his travels on this small group journey to Shrewsbury and Snowdonia.
The Rockies and the Badlands:Geology and dinosaurs in Canada
17 June 2024|7 days
Explore the majestic Rocky Mountains west of Calgary and the otherworldly Badlands to the cast,witness the stunning scenery and geology of southerm Alberta.This tour includes two visits to UNESCO World Heritage sites,where you will see first-hand the rugged peaks and glacial features of the Banff portion of Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks and the bone-riddled badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park.
Short break:Dinosaurs and Hoodoos:Alberta
23 July 2024|3 days
Visit one of the world’s premier dinosaur museums,sail all the way around a World Heritage site with outstanding dinosaur fossils and explore the multi-hued canyons and wind-sculpted hoodoos (石林)of the Alberta Badlands.Throughout this tour you will be accompanied by palaeontologist (古生物学家)Jon Noad,who will share the stories of the rocks,including tales about past oceans,swamps,rivers and deserts,the rise and fall of the dinosaurs and,more recently,ice sheets that covered Alberta and carved out spectacular landscapes.
1．Which of the following might appeal to dinosaur enthusiast most?| A．The Eryri National Park. | B．The Welsh Glaciers. |
| C．The Rocky Mountains. | D．The Alberta Badlands. |
| A．Scientific facts. | B．Tales about the past. |
| C．Special companions. | D．Visits to World Heritage sites. |
| A．A research paper. | B．A science fiction. |
| C．A tourism report. | D．A travel brochure. |
They thought it was going to be easy. A piece of cake. The band, Suenalo, were excited that they would present their skills to a group of troubled youth at a detention center (少管所).
They arrived at the invitation of a friend, who was an adviser at the center. He had mentioned a career day where members of the community came to speak to the teens about their jobs. Usually the speakers were bankers or lawyers, so he thought it would be interesting for the kids to meet some musicians and maybe even hear some music. “They need something cool to get their attention” was the pitch from the friend.
The kids, about 40, were brought in, looking distant, some even angry. Chad Bernstein, the trombone player, started telling the career of a musician from touring to copyright to the business aspects, trying to draw their interest. However, it didn’t. Sensing that they couldn’t win, the band, a little thrown, decided to play one song. With music going, the kids seemed to respond, their heads nodding to the beat. One of them sang a lyric (歌词). The band sang it back. Then, one by one, the musicians began picking up the beat. Chad started free styling a rap, going back and forth with the kid, and in no time, other kids jumped in. Suddenly the band and the kids were creating a song from scratch and all of them were in musical heaven.
For Chad, that moment inspired him to found Guitars Over Guns, an organization that pairs at-risk middle-schoolers with professional musicians. As both music teachers and life coaches, the musicians give the kids a way to find their creative voices and get through dark times. Over time, the kids have dropped their tough fronts and shared personal stories, from family tragedies to ordinary struggles at school with friends.
“So far we’ve helped over 2,700 students. Our work is highly satisfying because it shows us that a music career is more than a job, it can have more impact,” says Chad Bernstein.
1．Why did the band come to the detention center?| A．To get attention. | B．To display skills. | C．To plan their careers. | D．To chat about music. |
| A．Its lyrics were from the kids. | B．Chad owned its copyright. |
| C．It was composed cooperatively. | D．The kids picked up its beat. |
| A．Offer guidance on life. | B．Give full school instruction. |
| C．Relate personal stories. | D．Promote awareness of risks. |
| A．Disciplined. | B．Purposeful. | C．Humorous. | D．Traditional. |
The Last Generation is an activist group in Germany, the name implying that our unsustainability will push us to extinction. To force their government into action, some of the group went on a month-long hunger strike in August 2021. It wasn’t a half-hearted effort: several ended up in hospital.
But I’d like to take the opposite framing. I think we have the opportunity to be the first generation that leaves the environment in a better state.
There are two kinds of optimism: complacent optimism and conditional optimism. Complacent optimism is the feeling of a child waiting for presents. Conditional optimism is the feeling of a child who is thinking about building a tree house, “If I get some wood and nails and persuade some other kids to help do the work, we can end up with something really cool.” The group actually did take bold action, yet I want to address the climate crisis from a different angle.
Yes, my framing seems hard to believe. I’ll explain why. Here I’m using the term “generation” loosely. I am from a generation that will be defined by our environmental problems. I was a child when climate change really began. I will see countries move from being almost entirely dependent on fossil fuels to being free of them. I will be 57 when governments hit the “2050 deadline” of reaching net-zero carbon emissions that so many have promised.
But, of course, there will be several generations involved in this project. There are a couple above me and a couple below me. And we all need to work together to achieve that.
For a conditional optimist, criticism is essential. We need to work through ideas to find the most promising ones. Most innovators have been optimists. But they were also strongly critical: no one would pick apart the ideas of Thomas Edison or Marie Curie more than they did themselves.
Don’t look away from the climate crisis that faces us. Let’s face up to it, not from a place of “damage control” but with a clear vision of the future we can build: one that not only stops warming in its tracks but builds a better world for us, all of us, and the species hat we share the planet with.
1．Why is The Last Generation introduced?| A．To blame them for their action. | B．To remind Germany of its duties. |
| C．To discuss the author’s perspective. | D．To demand urgent action from everyone. |
| A．Belief in kindness. | B．Passive expectation. |
| C．Brief satisfaction. | D．Love of presents. |
| A．Turn to. | B．Identify with. | C．Find fault with. | D．Make an assessment of. |
| A．Envision and engage. | B．Adapt and advance. |
| C．Inspire and Innovate. | D．Explore and expand. |
A group of small, wiggling (扭动) robots that communicate by flashing lights can make collective decisions. This is similar to the process bees use to reach a consensus on where to build their nest.
“We believe that in the near future there are going to be simple robots that will do jobs that we don’t want to do, and it will be very important that they make decisions in an autonomous manner,” says Carmen Miguel at the University of Barcelona in Spain. She and her team tested how imitating bees might help with that.
When bees go house-hunting, they communicate their preferred locations through a “wiggle dance”. The more a bee recommends one location, the longer and harder it wiggles. Eventually other bees join them, and they reach a consensus when a majority are wiggling together. Researchers previously translated this behavior into a mathematical model, and Miguel and her colleagues used it to program decision-making rules into small robots called kilobots.
Each kilobot with three thin legs had an infrared-light emitter (红外线发射器) and receiver, and a colored LED light. Within a group, kilobots could move around, turn clockwise or anticlockwise and use infrared signals to exchange information.
Ezequiel Ferrero at the University of Barcelona says that across all the experiments, kilobots reached a consensus within about half an hour, even when they didn’t have many immediate neighbors to communicate with. He says that getting the right combination of how long they spend transmitting their message and how much they walk around allowed them to make a collective decision in the end.
1．How do bees agree with each other about where to construct a new home?| A．By doing a group dance. | B．By imitating simple robots. |
| C．By giving out flashing lights. | D．By advising a favoured place. |
| A．They exposed kilobots to real bees. | B．They equipped kilobots with thin legs. |
| C．They put a programme into kilobots. | D．They built a special mathematical model. |
| A．Doing more practical experiments. | B．Having enough companions around. |
| C．Combining different figures accurately. | D．Sending brief messages automatically. |
| A．Bees are natural wiggle dancers. |
| B．Robots learn to dance by imitating bees. |
| C．Wiggle dances mean a lot in communication. |
| D．Robots reach a consensus by imitating bees wiggling. |
For the sake of surviving in the world with challenges, we need to be wise.
Sometimes we ourselves need to be open to diverse perspectives.
You obviously want to grow and do better in life, right? The best way is to have wise people as your mentors (导师), like teachers, colleagues and even special friends. Prior to making them a mentor, find out what makes them wiser, then engage in useful dialogue with them.
If you have accumulated a lot of knowledge, then why not share it with others too? Communicating with others and helping them out will also increase your wisdom.
| A．This will open up new pathways for us. |
| B．And wisdom is crucial in this modern world. |
| C．Change your routine and see where life takes you. |
| D．What’s more, we need communicate with wise people. |
| E．You must be the kind of person who learns something new every day. |
| F．In today’s world, it is very easy to become wise but it isn’t easy to help others. |
| G．The more time is spent with them, the more transfer of knowledge there will be. |
Glen Edwards became a hero when he rescued a construction worker trapped on top of a 160-meter-high building.
As a crane (吊车)
However, his attempt to
Eventually, Edwards watched the cage
A GoFundMe page has now been set up to raise money for him —— with organizers
| A．engineer | B．operator | C．cleaner | D．salesman |
| A．regularly | B．unfortunately | C．intentionally | D．unexpectedly |
| A．helped | B．spotted | C．realized | D．guided |
| A．escape | B．hide | C．walk | D．slide |
| A．clean | B．cover | C．position | D．open |
| A．Despite | B．Without | C．For | D．From |
| A．switch | B．maintain | C．lose | D．give |
| A．instructions | B．problems | C．explanations | D．courses |
| A．quickened | B．described | C．adjusted | D．repeated |
| A．door | B．garden | C．crane | D．roof |
| A．persuading | B．lifting | C．warning | D．dragging |
| A．went through | B．put on | C．asked for | D．broke into |
| A．displayed | B．admitted | C．exchanged | D．required |
| A．preference | B．response | C．emotion | D．determination |
| A．choosing | B．encouraging | C．ordering | D．teaching |
China has nearly 5, 000 years of
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, most of the furniture was hand-made using high-quality hardwood
Classical furniture is mostly made by hand. Modern machines cannot
Ancient Chinese
When English Meets The Arts
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