备战2024年中考英语阅读话题训练—人与自我 主题03 劳动实践

Li Wenyong, 53, is a forest officer at the National Park in Hainan Province. His job is to find and observe Hainan gibbons (长臂猿), and record their latest situation with a camera and a pen.

Hainan gibbons live in rainforest trees over 10 meters high, seldom on the ground. In the 1950s, the Hainan gibbon population was over 2,000. However, local villagers began to open up land in the mountains. Gibbons lost their home. In the 1980s, the number of Hainan gibbons was just about seven.

In order to protect Hainan gibbons, Hainan government set out a series of measures. Local government planted more than 300,000 trees as food for the gibbons. Local people moved out of the mountains to give living space to the gibbons. Volunteers went into the rainforest to protect them. Thanks to these protection efforts, the number of the gibbons has risen.

Li loves his job. As Li sat down under a tree and adjusted his camera, several Hainan gibbons hung their bodies upside down and touched his head and equipment with their hands.

"Without protection, this species would be never seen again," Li said. "I will guard them forever, until my legs can no longer run."

Dopamine, known as the "source of pleasure", is a chemical released in the brain that makes you feel good. But do you know "dopamine dressing"? It is one of the hottest fashion trends ruling social media in 2023. Actually, dopamine dressing is one of the most popular fashion styles for 2023. Many people take this style to fight back bad feelings and show themselves.

First created by American fashion psychologist Dawnn Karen in her book Dress Your Best Life in 2020, dopamine dressing—to put it simply—is dressing for joy. It encourages people to choose colorful clothing so that they can get more dopamine and feel happier.

    ▲    According to Science Focus magazine, although there is no study about how colorful clothes can increase dopamine, there are studies showing a relationship between the clothes we wear and how we act and feel. One study showed that wearing red can lead to better physical performance. It found that in soccer matches over the last 55 years, teams with red clothes al-ways played better in home games than any other clothes color. Another study showed that wearing green can make people become more creative. Green has also been found to help people relax, likely because it reminds us of nature. Yellow, and its suggestions of summer and warmth, can bring people happiness, energy and excitement.

So why not try dopamine dressing? You can try one thing at a time. Here are some expert-backed tips and tricks:

●Bags: With black and white clothes, you can use a bright pink or green bag.

●Shoes: You can light up your dark clothes with a pair of red shoes.

●Socks: Colorful socks can make you look cute.

Spring Festival is China's biggest and most exciting festival. Its celebration starts from the 23^rdor 24^th of the 12^th lunar(农历) month. People always celebrate it in many traditional ways. Here're some little-known customs. Let's take a look at the following ones.

①The First Lesson of the New Term met people on CCTV 1 at 8 PM. on September 1. This show wants to tell us "Hard work leads to dreams." Looking back, this show is already 15 years old. The First Lesson of the New Term is popular with all the primary and middle school students because it shows something educational and meaningful through some real stories.

②There are some pictures showing some great events happening in our country. We all feel proud after watching them. We can't help thinking: the development of the motherland can't be achieved without everyone's efforts. Therefore, as students, we should keep working hard and grow healthily, so as to get ready for the future development of our country.

③When we watch The First Lesson of the New Term in 2022 and touch the story in the show, we will find that our world is really beautiful. Having the chance to become a person in this time is a very happy thing.

④In addition, the program is full ofpositiveenergy. It tells us the importance of having right ideas and dreams. So we should set up the right idea to bright our nice future. Therefore, this is the reason why "the first class" is so popular. We can also get the knowledge out of class, feeling the truth.

⑤As a teenager in the new time, we should think about the purpose of the story characters, regard them as our examples, learn their spirits, and in the future to be more serious about studying, and even to becoming a useful person!

Every baby likes sitting in the pram (婴儿车) which are pushed by their mothers along the road or in the park. They sit in the prams eating, drinking, laughing or sleeping.

But have you ever heard of the Pram Race before? It is held in Hull，England once a year. You might see some people running along the road and pushing the prams as fast as they can. However, there aren't any babies in the prams, but adults instead. They jump out of the prams and drinks lots of milk on the table along the road. Then they get into the prams and go on racing. The Pram Race is held to raise money for the people in need. For example, it helps to make it possible for disabled people to have wheelchairs for free.

It all started when Hull was a fishing town. Every Friday afternoon, fishermen's wives had to run, pushing the prams with their babies in. They took money to pay their bills and buy food rapidly before their husbands returned from the sea.

At the beginning, only a few people were interested in the race, but now quite a lot of people include children，teenagers and the old take part in it each year. It is watched by more than three thousand people. These days, the Pram Race has become more famous in the town. People can not only watch the exciting race, but also share their joy and friendship every year. If you want to watch the Pram Race, go to Hull.

On May 23, Shenzhen introduced tough new rules in order to discourage the "Chinese style of crossing the road". "Chinese people cross roads without thinking about traffic lights, so long as they are part of a crowd," said a post on Sina Weibo.

A CCTV news program showed that in only an hour, more than 600 people jumped red lights when crossing a road in Shijiazhuang, Hebei.

Many people say that they jaywalk (乱穿马路) because the red light lasts too long. Such an opinion is supported by a research team at Tongji University. The team did research on people's waiting times at different road crossings for three years. They found that Chinese people would wait for 70 to 90 seconds (秒) before they lost their patience. "People are likely to ignore (忽视) the light when the waiting time is longer than they can bear," said Ni Ying, a member of the research team.

However, a survey on Sina Weibo suggested that people jaywalk mainly because they ignore rules. "I always obey traffic rules. Time is important but safety should come first," someone wrote on his Weibo.

Many countries give out punishments to jaywalkers. In Singapore, the maximum can be three months in prison. Some Chinese cities have started taking some actions, too. For example, the first three people in a jaywalking group will be fined 50 yuan in Shijiazhuang.

But calling on people to respect rules is more important. To completely solve the problem, everyone should realize the importance of obeying the traffic rules.

①At 15, Gitanjali Rao is a scientist and an inventor. This week, Time magazine picked her as its first Kid of the Year.

②Gitanjali is a teenager from Colorado. When she was 10, she watched the news about Flint, Michigan. People had a hard time finding clean water. The water in their homes had lead in it. Lead is a chemical that can make people sick.

③She began working on a device to test water. It connects to an app on a phone. It tells people if water is safe to drink. Gitanjail won an award for the invention when she was 11.

④Gitanjail also created an app called Kindly. She made it to help stop bullying online. Kindly uses artificial intelligence (AI).This is an approach that uses code. It teaches a machine to spot patterns and make decisions. Kindly can spot words that are mean (刻薄的).

⑤Over time, Gitanjali's goal changed. _______________. She wants to connect with other "It's not easy when you don't see anyone else like you," she said.

⑥She partners with schools and museums around the world. Her workshops help students create their own inventions. She's guided more than 30,000 students so far.

⑦Along with Gitanjali, there are four other talented kids of the year. Tyler Gordon, 14, is an artist. Jordan Reeves, 14, is a designer and activist. Bellen Woodard 10, is the world's first crayon activist. And Ian McKenna, 16, is a youth hunger activist. Each of them will receive a prize. They will also be able to write for the magazine.

Andrea Delbanco is the Time for Kids editor. She says these everyday kids are helping their communities in an important way. "Small steps can lead to big change, "she said.