Bill McDonnell was going crazy. Deer season had begun, but it was colder than usual. Up until his late 80s, Bill didn’t mind hunting in sub-zero temperature, but he had become slow in the past few years. The snow-covered mountains of the Shenandoah Valley were no place for a 92-year-old. He knew it, but still wanted to get outside.
It was about 7:30 a.m., still far below zero when the sun shone through trees. Bill had strict instructions from his wife Joanna to be out of woods by 2 p.m. and home by 3 p.m. — plenty of time before sunset, in case he missed the deadline, which he often did.
Not long into the hike, he came upon a path he didn’t remember. Maybe this was a secret route to the king of all deer. He took it.
It seemed that this path up the mountain had meandered (蜿蜒) quite a bit. After climbing to the top of a ridge (山脊), he figured that he could continue down into another valley for more hunt. But the farther he snaked down, the thinner and deeper it became. Before long, he was looking straight up from down the ravine (沟壑), which was higher than expected.
He decided to climb back up, careful with each step. He kept pushing upward until finally he could rest at the top for a while. By the time he got going again, it was nearly 2:45 p.m. This time he saw a trail (小路) with white marks. He remembered his daughter had mentioned it before, which he thought might take him back home more quickly.
He called his daughter, but she didn’t remember the trail, begging him not to try that. Still he wanted to go on the trail. “I’ve got it figured out,” he said. Then suddenly he realized he was talking to the air. His phone had died. He dug into his pants for the GPS device and pushed the “ON” button. Nothing. He had forgotten to charge it. But nothing could discourage him from going on this trail.
Initially the trail seemed to be heading downward in the correct direction home.
The following morning, Bill had woken before dawn, continued down his trail and still imagined his wife’s anxiety.
When I was four, my seven-year-old brother received a baseball mitt (手套) for his birthday. Every night, as we went to sleep, I’d listen to him throwing a ball into the mitt over and over to soften the leather. I wanted a mitt so much that I almost cried. But, back then, girls didn’t play sports; they played with dolls.
Fast-forward twenty-six years. Now a thirty-year-old mother of three happened to see a notice in my local paper: “Women’s Slow-Pitch Softball League opens soon. Anyone interested, sign up at the recreation center.” I cut it out and set it on the kitchen counter. Could I ? After all these years? Was it even possible to think about playing baseball, a game I’d never actually played but had dreamed of playing my entire life? And I’d certainly watched enough Chicago Cubs games to know how the game was played.
I looked at that notice on my counter every day. I thought of a thousand reasons why I couldn’t play. But the idea of playing baseball stuck in my head and wouldn’t go away. Finally, I got up my courage and signed up at the recreation center. On the way home, I bought myself a mitt.
On Monday, heart pounding, I walked through the park filled with women of all ages practicing. It took me a while to find my team. They were all high-school girls, seventeen and eighteen years old!
The coach was not at all happy to see me. He had put together top athletes for his team, and he didn’t want some old lady messing things up.
That first day, he had me run bases. What that meant was I’d stand near home plate(本垒板)while one of the girls batted, and then I’d run as hard as I could to first base, trying to get there before they threw me out. I did this over and over and over. I never got a chance to bat or play the field. I just ran bases all night. The next morning, I could barely stand.
I was still feeling pain when I showed up to play the next week.
Having seen my determination, the coach changed his attitude toward me.
| A．Cook a lunch. | B．Do the washing-up. | C．Work as a driver. |
| A．Next Tuesday. | B．Next Wednesday. | C．Next Friday. |
| A．15. | B．45. | C．50. |
| A．In spring. | B．In summer. | C．In winter. |
| A．A lack of interest in foods. |
| B．Tiredness at work |
| C．Difficulty falling asleep. |
| A．Hiking. | B．Skating. | C．Running. |
| A．Eating habits. | B．Favorite sports | C．A kind of illness. |
Commercial airlines alone contribute around 3 percent of total global carbon emissions. But the industry is actively looking for green solutions in the form of sustainable (可持续发展的) airline fuel, and in one case, that fuel may have had a previous life as your household food waste. In a study released this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers detail a method of transforming food waste into sustainable airline fuel.
Biomass (生物质), such as animal and food waste, can be transformed into biofuels, which are renewable liquid fuels made from organic matter. Derek Vardon, a senior research engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), says that their fuel worked as a mixture of 90 percent conventional petrol airline fuel and 10 percent alternative airline fuel required by the industry currently. They also show they could push it to a 70/30 mixture with more time and testing available.
Major companies are eager to participate in sustainable airline fuel because some sustainable solutions, such as battery-operated commercial planes, just aren’t possible yet with current battery technology. A battery-powered plane would be too heavy to fly long distances, so fuel that works in the same way as the fuel we have is a simpler way to trade out emission-heavy fossil fuels.
Vardon says that because the wet waste used in the process would normally go to a landfill (垃圾填埋场) and break down to release greenhouse gases, the process of making and using sustainable airline fuel could actually have a negative carbon footprint when scaled up.
Commercial airlines are also on board to find an affordable and sustainable solution to the carbon-intensive process of air travel. Airlines are looking to hit aggressive sustainability goals by 2050, including decreasing net carbon dioxide emissions by 50 percent.
1．Which of the following is used for sustainable airline power?| A．Biomass. | B．Liquid fuel |
| C．Battery power. | D．Fossil fuel. |
| A．Biofuel proves less costly and easier to produce. |
| B．It’s convenient to create the proper fuel mixture. |
| C．Biofuel is environmentally friendly and sustainable. |
| D．Fuel-powered planes are likely to travel lighter and farther. |
| A．Taking off. | B．Participating in. |
| C．Holding a meeting. | D．Appearing on stage. |
| A．Alternative Energy to Fossil Fuel. |
| B．How to Get Fossil Fuel Sustainable. |
| C．Changing Food Waste into Airplane Fuel. |
| D．How to Decrease Carbon Dioxide Emissions. |
I’m writing on behalf of the Students’ Union of Zhenhua High School.
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
You can learn a lot from the design and color of food packaging.
The colored circles on food packages can come in a variety of colors. Apparently, those colored circles are called “printers’ color blocks” or “process control patches”.
We consulted an expert printing engineer, Meg Schiraldi, to find out exactly what the colored circles mean. “When the packaging is printed, technicians need to check the colored circles.
So there you have it! Colored circles on food packages help printers to match colors when they’re printing food packaging and ensure global brand consistency.
| A．Most printers only use the four colors. |
| B．This helps them match challenging colors. |
| C．Without them, food packages would be a mess. |
| D．There’re other things printed on the back of most food packaging. |
| E．The color of a packet of M&M’s, for example, can tell you the flavor. |
| F．They do that to ensure the printing ink is the correct color and quality. |
| G．And they’re there to help the printing team who print the food packaging. |
2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
I first started playing soccer on a Wednesday three years ago. My cousin played soccer every Wednesday at the park and he dragged me into playing with him that day. My cousin played soccer really well, which made me want to learn how to play soccer so that I could fit in with him.
Growing up without my father, I wasn’t so interested in sports. But that day as soon as I started playing soccer, I realized I had a new interest. So for almost a year I was playing soccer at the park every Wednesday with adults. However, I didn’t make much progress. I started thinking, “If I keep playing with adults, I might not get better because I could never get the ball.”
However, one day when I felt depressed for what had happened to me, I came across a special soccer payer, a lame man(跛脚的人)who was about 45 years old. Unexpectedly, his disability didn’t affect his skills, desire and courage to play although many people frequently laughed at him. No matter when it was windy or rainy, he always played soccer alone on the court next to our building, without a smile on his face forever. Maybe he and I couldn’t be accepted by a team.
Having no choice but to practice more, I played soccer on his court for ten days. And we almost had no communication. Day after day, my skills were still bad, so I was absent for playing for a long time. Then, I returned to the court without any aim and thought. Amazingly, it was he who asked me actively why I had been absent. We talked a lot. And I realized that a large number of factors affected my playing, such as skills, mood, teamwork, will and courage, etc. At the moment, I knew I was sick in mind and my unfitness seriously impeded(阻碍) the development of my sports.
To be honest, sometimes I had an idea to give up soccer, but I couldn’t when I met the special person.
No pains, no gains. At last, my skills on playing soccer allowed me to join a professional soccer team and I attended a soccer competition.
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