Curiosity is rooted in our DNA. We are fascinated by the future; we are impressed with the unknown that surrounds us; we are amazed at all that we have to explore. The mysteries of the world have always been a push for us to watch.
Children are known for sticking their fingers in places where young fingers should never be. They are famous for putting all kinds of objects and substances in their mouths, everything from plastic blocks to any object in the room.
Curiosity is the catalyst(催化剂) for questioning, and questioning is what urges us to seek out the unfamiliar and the unknown.
| A．Curiosity has its own reason for existing. |
| B．Without questioning, knowledge becomes inactive. |
| C．Nowhere is this truer than when we watch our children. |
| D．But curiosity is much more than a simple search for answers. |
| E．Curiosity becomes a boost for new opportunities and new options. |
| F．So ask questions to which there may be a wide variety of responses. |
| G．In adults, curiosity guides us toward a lifetime occupation and to new destinations. |
| A. deliberately B. justifiable C. accumulating D. consume E. spills F. spent G. potential H. charging I. boost J. subscription K. collected |
Is rental fashion the future?
With a cost-of-living crisis and climate awareness sitting heavily at the forefront of our minds, many of us are having to make choices about what we
Even the fastest of fashion retailers are taking note; this summer, BooHoo announced that they will be
However, there will still be times where a new item feels like a
So here comes rental fashion. The set-up is simple. Rent three, five or ten items and swap (替换) every month, with prices starting from £39 a month for a three-item. In the case of any accidents, do not fear
At the end of each cycle, you’ll receive an email reminding you to choose your next box. With a three-item return, items can be returned at a local drop-off point, whilst bigger parcels will be
It could have been anywhere, my first intentionally photo-free journey, but it just happened to be Ethiopia. Photographic equipment can be a great physical burden. It may weigh anything from a few hundred grams to several kilos, depending on how seriously one approaches the business of picture-taking. Yet the real burden of photography is mental, not physical; it is the feeling of needing to take photographs, that because you have a camera you must use it.
In the first few days of camera-less travel, there are certainly moments of frustration at letting one great photograph after another go past, but having no camera, and thus being unable to take photographs, surprisingly soon stops the urge to do so. Very quickly, scenes become appreciated for what they are, rather than for the photographs they would have made.
Climbing up the western wall of the Great Rift Valley, on the way to the capital, Addis Ababa, the road emerges from a tunnel onto open, grassy plains — a small piece of uncharacteristically undomesticated countryside, with an even more uncharacteristic population of wild animals. They looked magnificent in the tearing wind, and through binoculars (双筒望远镜) they could be absorbed at leisure — theirs and mine. And thus unseen, I watched them play, free from concerns as to how close I could risk going with my camera without losing the very moment I sought to capture.
Exciting though stalking (跟踪) wild creatures can be, the photographer must obviously stalk as much out of sight as possible, thus being denied any chance of actually watching them. The photographer’s mind is effectively stopped from experiencing any more than the photographic possibilities of the scene. At eye level, the camera not only creates a physical barrier but also isolates the photographer from the joyful reality of the subject, and from everywhere else around them too. Then comes the climax, the press of the button, the pull of the trigger (快门), before more stalking, more photographs and, inevitably, the stalking too far which frightens the animals to flight. The difference between looking in order to photograph and actually seeing what is there is never more distinct than when taking pictures of animals, to the extent that the two become almost mutually exclusive. There is time only for deciding the best way to take the photograph, before addressing more practical technicalities — how to keep the minibus’s wheel out of the shot of lions, or get enough depth of field so all the flamingos (火烈鸟) on the lake are in focus at once.
1．According to the first paragraph, what is the main problem that photographers face while travelling?| A．Moving their heavy equipment about |
| B．Locating places to purchase batteries. |
| C．Trying to get the best possible shots. |
| D．Being under pressure to take photographs. |
| A．conclude that the decision was unrealistic |
| B．rapidly lose the desire to take any photographs |
| C．come to consider previous trips as unsatisfactory |
| D．appreciate the excellence of other people’s photos |
| A．They were too far away to be usefully observed. |
| B．They were surprisingly unaffected by the closeness of humans. |
| C．They might have been enjoying the situation for more than he was. |
| D．They might have become alarmed by the presence of a photographer. |
| A．can cause the animals to behave aggressively towards people |
| B．may become too uncomfortable to take reasonable shots |
| C．may not be able to appreciate the situation fully |
| D．can easily become distracted from his task |
The documentary genre is a more varied one than many people give it credit for As a type of film, documentaries do usually aim to inform or educate about some kind of non-fiction story or topic, but that’s not their sole purpose. Exploring the world of documentary film-making can be a truly eye-opening thing to do. What follows are some of the finest documentary films of all time.
Coming out years before crime documentaries became Netflix’s bread and butter, Bowling for Columbine uses a horrific crime spree (狂欢) as a jumping-off point to explore Americans culture’s seemingly unending love of firearms. The event it’s all framed (勾勒) around is the Columbine High School massacre of 1999, which claimed more than 20 victims. Its editing and presentation make the arguments put forward quite persuasive, clearly it wants to start a conversation about a serious topic.
Sans Soleil is a documentary that’s hard to summarize, and has a rather experimental approach to the genre. It has little by way of narrative or a direct argument that it wants to present, instead being an artistically presented odyssey (奇幻旅程) through a woman’s abstract thoughts. It’s the kind of thing where someone could watch it and gain an entirely different understanding than other viewers.
Viewers with acrophobia should stay well away from Free Solo, because it can be genuinely hard to watch for anyone who has even a slight fear of heights. It follows Alex Honnold as he attempts to climb a 30-o-high rock face by himself without the safeguards of ropes or safety gear. As far as “man versus nature” documentary movies go, this is easily one of the greatest of all time.
While Harlon County, USA may be almost 50 years old, it remains relevant, and will continue to feel vital for as long as workers don’t feel fairly compensated for their work. It focuses on a specific 1973 strike in Harlon County, but the ideas and struggles explored here are relevant to various industries and groups of workers.
It’s no secret that Martin Scorsese loves The Rolling Stones, having directed his own documentary about them and using their songs throughout his films. The stark presentation of a tragic event, focusing on one particularly infamous concert they performed in 1968, makes Gimme Shelter an intense watch that’s probably not for everyone, but it certainly stands as one of the most distinct music documentaries of all time.
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1．We can infer from paragraph 1 that ________.| A．Documentaries only serve to inform or educate about a given topic. |
| B．People fully appreciate the value of documentaries because it’s a varied genre. |
| C．Documentaries convey far more information than people assume it does. |
| D．In contrast to what many people assume, documentaries are not informative nor educative. |
| A．Bowling for Columbine and Sans Soleil are similar in that they both present an argument that is worth discussing. |
| B．Feel free to recommend Free Solo to anyone because it is one of the greatest documentary movies of all time. |
| C．Harlon County, USA can be widely enjoyed by the audience nowadays because it discusses a meaningful topic. |
| D．A fan of the Rolling Stones will most certainly enjoy Gimme Shelter. |
| A．the film section of a magazine |
| B．a website about movies |
| C．“Facts and Truth” column in the newspaper |
| D．a booklet about various social hot topics |
| A．what | B．that | C．it | D．which |
In zones like the Atacama, where winds bring fog but no rain, the invention of trap in the 1960s which can absorb that damp from the air has helped sustain settlements otherwise suffering from drought.
Fog traps are polymer-mesh (聚合物网) screens in metal frames. As misty air blows through them, drops of water get stuck to the mesh. Those absorb others until the result breaks free and runs down the screen, as a raindrop runs down a window glass, into a collector. A typical trap, with a 40-square-metre collecting area, produces about 200 liters a day. That is enough to supply around 60 people with drinking water. Such a collector costs $1,000 or so, and will last a decade.
A simple idea, then. But even simple technology can be upgraded. And that is exactly what Urszula Stachewicz of the AGH University of Science and Technology, in Krakow, Poland, proposes to do.
Her upgrade relies on giving the mesh a slight electrical charge. The outside of each thread in a mesh might be given one electrical polarity (极性) while the other polarity might be buried inside the thread. Just as static electricity (静电) will attract a balloon to a wall, a surface charge created in this way will attract small water drops from the air.
Previous attempts to do this have coated the threads with metal. But that is expensive. As they describe in ACS Namo, Dr. Stachewicz and her student Daniel Ura have done it by changing the way the threads work, which is cheap.
Dr. Stachewicz and Mr. Ura proposed to use a technique called electrospinning and they kept experimenting, which resulted in meshes able to collect 50% more water than commercial versions, at no extra cost of production. They expect soon to have a practical version which can be made available for sale. And that will certainly improve the lives of people who rely for their survival on drawing water not from a well, but from thin air.
1．Why does the author discuss the fog traps invented in the 1960s?| A．To show the difficulty of their upgrade. |
| B．To explain that they are helpful. |
| C．To voice that they are costly. |
| D．To urge a replacement of them. |
| A．Charge the mesh slightly. |
| B．Put the collectors in place. |
| C．Bury the two electrical polarities inside. |
| D．Coat the threads with metal. |
| A．They are more effective in collecting water. |
| B．They are less dependent on surroundings. |
| C．They are less expensive to produce. |
| D．They are more practical for sales. |
| A．Public Interest in Fog Traps |
| B．Technology Demanded of Fog Traps |
| C．Old Fog Traps Upgraded for More Water |
| D．Technology Simplified for Water |
It was 1:00 a.m. Thursday in the town art gallery. A window suddenly opened and a figure flashed out. It was Harry Black, a thief. He drew out his knife and took the painting worth $1 million out of the frame skillfully and carefully. Then he went back across the hall to the window where he had just climbed in. In the darkness, he bumped into a table with a beautiful blue glass vase on it, falling on the floor and breaking into pieces. Harry murmured to himself, “Is this $1 million vase? But I didn’t mean to.” Running across the pieces of glass, he disappeared.
Harry had a room in Mrs. Allen’s rooming house. He went up to his room as quietly as a mouse. Mrs. Allen and her daughter Janay were sleeping soundly. Harry took the painting, put it in a newspaper, hid them under his bed and left.
The next morning, Janay was in the kitchen, old bottles put into a box. Every Friday morning, a recycling truck would come and she was used to taking botties and old newspaper for recycling from every room in the house.
On the TV, an anxious reporter was making a live report at the very art gallery. “It’s $1 million painting,” he was saying. “Here’s a photo of it.” Then he was introducing a blue glass vase, “It’s in 100 pieces now.” Janay looked at the photo of the vase carelessly, asking her mother if she had some old bottles.
Janay opened Harry’s door and looked into his room. “There’s a newspaper under Harry’s bed.” She felt as if she’d found a priceless treasure.
Meanwhile, Harry was whispering with a man on the phone. Finally, a smile came out of Harry’s face. It was obvious that they had finally settled the price of the painting. But when Harry came back to the house, he saw the recycling truck going away and Janay smiling. It suddenly occurred to him that today was Friday. “NEWSPAPER! Oh no!” he exclaimed in despair and chased after the truck, “Wait! Wait!”
Janay watched him puzzled.
Janay hurried home and dialed the police.
“Hey! Ms. Woodall!”
It was Saturday. My daughter and I were touring a model home in a new development where she and her husband had just purchased a small plot of land. She was showing me something in the backyard-the kind of landscaping she was imaging, I think—when I heard that familiar twang (鼻音) call out my name.
I turned around. Standing in the yard was a little boy, stocky, brown-haired and dusted with a fine layer of dirt. “William!” I cried in surprise. “What are you doing here?
“I’m helping my daddy lay sod (草皮),” he answered proudly, sticking his chest out. William’s father owned a lawn sodding company.
“This is William,” I told my daughter. “One of my students. He a joy to have in class.” The seven-year-old beamed, the blazing Florida sun bouncing off his round cheeks.
It was true. Little William was a delight. He adored plants and animals and playing outside during break time. And even though he struggled with his reading, he never once complained. There was a brightness he brought with him wherever he went.
I’d never forget the day in class when another student was having trouble understanding the lesson. “Don’t worry,” William told her, eyes wide and sincere. “Sometimes, second grade is really hard.” He was a gentle soul, wise beyond his years.
Still, I couldn’t help but worry. Despite his steadfast determination, William’s grades were poor. Some days, I wondered if he’d be able to pass.
“See you Monday, Ms. Woodall!” he said, running to his father’s side. My daughter and I waved, but William stayed on my mind for the rest of the weekend.
Back at school, William’s grades showed no sign of improvement. Until the last few weeks of the year, when we studied the lifecycle of plants, William excelled. As a class project, each child planted a sunflower seed in a container. Planting the seeds was exciting for many of the students, but most kids had little patience for the growing part and forgot to care for their sunflowers-to-be.
But unlike them, William had great enthusiasm all along.
About a month into the summer vacation, I happened to drive by the school.
Students with dyscalculia experience difficulty in mathematics and number-based learning. These students can have trouble grasping meanings of numerical symbols or understanding spatial processing such as the rotation(旋转) of an object in their mind.
Nationwide, about 15 percent of students have been screened for the disability, yet many more seem to be struggling. According to a nationally representative survey in April 2023, about 40 percent of math teachers nationwide say that their students are performing below grade level in math.
While the term “dyscalculia” was coined in the 1940s, it did not become more widely known until the 1970s. Research on the disorder picked up in the 1990s with the widespread use of MRI technology, but it’s still not widely understood, according to advocates.
Some adults with dyscalculia spoke about what it was like to struggle in K-12 schools with a disability that was largely unrecognized and how they had to learn to accept their disability and get the help they need.
Navigating growing up alongside academic demands is a difficult phase of life for anyone. “The hardest part of having dyscalculia in my K-12 experience was dealing with a disability on top of the normal aspects of growing up,” Cladek said. “Growing up with dyscalculia greatly affected myself-worth and not feeling like I am enough,” said Cladek, who is now a college student. “If l could only be able to fit in with the rest of the kids and not have this anxiety and frustration every time I look at a math problem on my worksheet, then I’ll be enough, which was a common thought I had.”
While receiving the diagnosis can be scary, it is actually helpful. Some said the diagnosis can bring a sense of relief after struggling for so long. “I literally broke down in tears, because my entire life I was telling myself, ‘I’m stupid,’”Hadbah said. Pikula, who was diagnosed dyscalculia in her K-12 career and now is a social media manager, offered words of encouragement to students who may be going through similar experiences. “People with dyscalculia can become engineers, and they can become scientists.”
1．What can we learn about “dyscalculia”?| A．About 40% students are experiencing dyscalculia nationwide. |
| B．Its general recognition is 40 years later than its first appearance. |
| C．Students with dyscalculia refuse to memorize numerical symbols. |
| D．Students with dyscalculia struggle more with abstract math problems. |
| A．Application of technology. | B．Most patients’ strong appeal. |
| C．National math teachers’ demand. | D．Public awareness of learning disabilities. |
| A．Cladek has fantastic memories of schooling. |
| B．It’s better to have dyscalculia diagnosed earlier. |
| C．Growing up with dyscalculia is a big challenge. |
| D．Academic demands outweigh struggling with dyscalculia. |
| A．Culture. | B．Education. | C．Fashion. | D．Psychology. |
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