相关试卷

The world's best-loved general-interest publication contains something for everyone. Reader's Digest magazine is bursting with stories, articles, advice, recipes, reviews, tips, jokes and anecdotes. Each issue is small enough to fit in your handbag or pocket, but big enough to keep you entertained for weeks on end.

From regular columns packed with information to gripping (扣人心弦的) human-interest stories and helpful how-tos, our magazine offers knowledge, positivity and humour. In this month's issue you'll find...

An interview with Hugh Dancy:

The newest addition to the cast of Downton Abbey on New York, Law & Order, and the nostalgia (怀旧) of playing an English gentleman.

Saving the sound of the Stradivaius:

Meet the experts fighting to save the unbeatable sound of history's greatest violins, meeting the love of her life.

Community Power:

Across the UK, communities are coming together to save their pubs, shops, and more.

If Grace Dent ruled the world:

The restaurant critic shares her manifesto (宣言) for world domination.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY FROM AS LITTLE AS £ 22. 99

Our best price yet — It's only £22. 99 for a full one-year subscription — A Saving of over 50% OFF the usual £47.88 retail price — and what's more, we will deliver it direct to your door for free!

If you don't want to commit to a full year, we have the perfect taster package.

TRIAL NOW with 3 Issues for ONLY £3!

Plus, make sure you always keep up to date with all of the top stories, news and promotions from Reader's Digest by subscribing to our weekly newsletter.

One afternoon, Tom's father brought home five healthy Rhode Island Red chickens and presented them to Tom. "If you take good care of them," his father explained, "I'll buy all the eggs they lay at market price. But remember, you're responsible for buying their feed." Thrilled at the opportunity to earn his own money, Tom immediately agreed, his mind already racing with plans for his new "business".

For the first few weeks, Tom was the picture of dedication. Every morning before school, he would carefully measure out the chickens' feed — a nutritious blend of grains and seeds recommended by the local feed store. He made sure their water was always fresh and their cage clean. The chickens, well cared for, rewarded his efforts with a steady supply of eggs—four or five each day. Tom would collect them in a small basket, and his father would pay him a fair price. Proud of his earnings, Tom started dreaming bigger. He made plans for a larger cage and even researched how to raise more chickens to increase his profits.

But as the weeks passed, Tom noticed something unsettling. The number of eggs began to drop — first to three a day, then two, and sometimes even just one. Maybe the chickens were just having an off week, he thought. But when the trend continued, worry set in. He examined each chicken carefully, checking for signs of illness or stress, but they seemed perfectly healthy. Confused and frustrated, he finally approached his father one evening after dinner.

His father listened quietly, then asked, "Think about it — have you changed anything in how you care for them?" Tom hesitated. Then it hit him. A few weeks earlier, he had decided to cut costs by switching to cheaper feed and reducing the portions slightly. He'd figured the chickens wouldn't notice, and the savings would add up. But now, his attempt to save a few dollars had backfired.

注意：

1．续写词数应为150左右；

2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

A wave of guilt washing over him, Tom determined to make things right.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Within a week, Tom noticed a change.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1．活动内容；

2．活动意义。

注意：

1．词数：80左右；

2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Dear Tom,

I hope this email finds you well!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

Shan Xinghua is a remarkable figure in the development of China's railway ticketing system. She is known as the "Super Brain" behind 12306, world's largest real-time ticketing platform.

Shan began her career in 1996, she joined a newly formed research team tasked with creating a unified national ticketing system. Back then, the task was extremely (challenge). They had limited resources and the technology was not as advanced as it is today., Shan Xinghua and her team were determined to overcome these difficulties. They spent countless hours analyzing the problems and looking for (solution).

During the early years of 12306, the system faced a lot of issues, especially during the peak travel seasons like the Spring Festival travel rush. The system often crashed owing to a large number of people (try) to access it at the same time. But Shan Xinghua didn't give up. She (lead) her team in exploring advanced technologies and finally they made a breakthrough.

Thanks to their efforts, the 12306 platform (become) far more efficient and user-friendly in the past decade. People can now easily book tickets, choose seats, and even take advantage new functions, such as combined air and rail tickets. Shan Xinghua's journey serves as a powerful reminder of creativity and determination can contribute to great achievements.

Laura was5 her fortieth birthday when she decided on the reinvention of her life. The amazing pictures of the countryside encouraged her to6 the dream. So she bought the Strichen property (房产), which had just7 the market, and made the 450-mile move north in 2022．

As word got round about her8 to take in animals, the small farm became home to goats, chickens and a pig. But Christopher's9 was the real-life changer. "Christopher was an orphan lamb, and I thought he needed10," Laura explained. "As soon as I11 locked eyes with this tiny little thing in the barn, I fell in love with him."

Laura started noting down the12 moments with Christopher, and her husband13 she turn those ideas into a book. "I never for a moment imagined I could write a book and find a publisher who14 me," Laura said. "So, to actually be able to have a book that has gone down so well is beyond my wildest15."

The most likely choice is Mars, which is relatively close to Earth and has an environment more friendly than that of other planets. Mars has fascinated people since ancient times, and today our interest in Martian exploration is greater than ever before. Since the 1960s, we have been sending unmanned spacecraft to Mars. Our robots have explored the Martian surface, testing the soil and searching for resources, water and signs of life.

However, sending people there will require all the skill, courage and intelligence of the human race. While the Moon can be reached within days, it would take months to reach Mars, travelling through dangerous solar radiation. And even if the first settlers do reach Mars safely, they may not be able to return to Earth — ever. As early as the 1980s, scientists were building Biosphere 2 in the Arizona desert, consisting of a closed space in which people, animals and plants could live together. Although the two-year experiment was a failure, it did provide us with a better understanding of how humans might be able to live on another planet.

Anyway, human settlement of Mars is still decades away. In the meantime, scientific research shows that the planet Earth is getting warmer. This change is being caused by human activity and is having a terrible effect on the globe.

A. That definitely is a big step forward.

B. Right now, it's the only one we have.

C. One option is to explore other planets to see if we could live on them.

D. Staying alive will be a daily challenge, but isn't impossible, as proved by scientists.

E. Our probes have orbited the planet, sending back valuable data and stunning images.

F. Today, however, environmental problems have taken over as the greatest risk to life on Earth.

G. Until we are finally able to live on another planet, we need to take far better care of our own.

In studies of 80 marine species that died after swallowing a variety of plastic rubbish, flexible plastic proved to be the deadliest. Now Amazon announced that by October 2024, it had removed all plastic air pillows from its delivery packaging. "We want to make sure the final package is easy to recycle at home," says Pat Lindner, Amazon's vice president of sustainable packaging.

To make the change, the company had to make sure that a replacement would work as well as the plastic version. Amazon worked with supplies to find a lightweight, 100% recycled paper that's easier to wrap around an object to protect it. It turned out to perform better. The number of packages that get damaged in shipment was reduced. The paper also takes up less space, so now more items fit in a smaller box. That translates to using less gas or electricity, in the case of the company's electric vans to make a delivery.

Plastic is cheap, but the new system saves the company money since there's less risk that something will break during shipping and need replacement, Lindner says. "And so the fact that we can deliver packages more safely and with less damage is a cost saving to us."

It's a welcome change following years of pressure from environmental groups to stop plastic pollution flooding into oceans. "The fact that the world's largest e-commerce company has made plastic air pillows a thing of history is fantastic news for the world's oceans," the nonprofit Oceana said in a statement in response to Amazon's announcement.

Today, every huge global city, together with many a second or third level one, wants to put itself on the map with an iconic (标志性的) tower, or several. This creates plenty of strange shapes on the skyline. A firm of architects in Melbourne has just released plans for a 68-storey apartment and hotel block inspired by the fabric-covered dancers in a Beyonce video.

Such expressions of architectural individuality have the unexpected effect. Cities look more and more like each other. Once upon a time, Chicago and New York were modern skyscraper cities, while European capitals such as Paris and London had antique streetscapes. Now, many are turning to cities sharing one face.

This worries designers. Moshe Safdie, the architect who has designed towers in various cities, says some skyscrapers are more like giant sculptures than buildings forming parts of a public space. Many cities are filled with these boring towers intended to attract attention rather than to respond to the local setting. The best architecture is often the quietest, taking the High Line park in New York and King's Cross station in London. You would not notice either from a distance, but they matter.

Fortunately, impressive new designs appear as a result of meeting the need of today's clients with high taste. Take the cities' rising forces — media and technology companies as an example. They do not appreciate those shiny tall buildings but expect something smarter. For better or worse, this is the era of tailored command, with clients controlling the design of their own towers.

Using skills learned from repairing phones in war-torn Aleppo, Hadi began resurrecting broken devices. He turned a storage closet into a "tech clinic", replacing cracked screens with plastic cut from water bottles and teaching himself Linux to revive motherboards. Within months, 40 repaired phones were circulating among students.

But his real innovation came when he discovered the shelter's unused satellite dish. "It looked like a giant metal flower," Hadi recalled. From YouTube, he learned to redirect the signal. Using cable from abandoned TVs and a router (路由器) made from three damaged units, he built "NetHope"   — a network that boosted WiFi coverage to 95% of the community.

The system wasn't pretty, but it worked. Refugee children could finally attend virtual classes uninterrupted. German teachers noticed improved grades, particularly among girls who previously had to choose between studying and waiting in food lines.

Hadi's breakthrough went viral when a visiting journalist posted photos of his setup. Tech companies sent equipment, but Hadi insisted on teaching others first. His "Build Your Own Internet" workshops now train both refugees and elderly Germans in digital literacy (素养) . "The cables connect more than devices," he said. "They connect people who think they're different."

Now studying computer engineering at TU Berlin, Hadi still volunteers at the shelter every weekend. His latest project? A solar-powered charging station built into an old supermarket trolley. When praised, he shrugs, "In Syria, we say necessity sharpens the mind. I just had good teachers — YouTube and desperation."

Dark rain clouds were gathering in the sky. I was cycling as fast as I could to get home before the downpour. When I felt a few big drops on my head, I decided to dash for a bus stop, about a hundred meters away. As I was nearing the bus stop, I saw a lady rushing towards it from the opposite direction, a little boy following her. The little boy was finding it hard to keep up with her, so, finally, she just picked him up and carried him.

Suddenly, a motorcycle roared past me, almost knocking me down. He turned to look at me, and for a split second, I saw his face - cruel, glaring eyes. A flood of fear crept over me. However, courage from nowhere got me to shout "Hey! Are you mad!" My voice trembled a bit. He just sped on. Then, I realized that he was rushing right toward the woman and the little boy!

"Watch out! Watch out!" I shouted. I saw the lady turn to look at the motorcyclist, with worry on her face. In an instant, the motorcyclist reached the lady. He stretched out an arm and grabbed hold of her handbag, hitting her on the back at the same time. The impact sent the lady hurtling (猛冲) forward. The mother and child fell on the road, landing right in the path of a van.

"Stop! Stop!" I screamed at the van driver, waving my arms wildly in the air. Thankfully, the van stopped a few meters from the spot where the mother and child lay. I saw the lady crawling on the road towards the crying child. Throwing my bicycle to the side of the road, I ran to help them.

注意：

1. 续写词数应为150左右；

2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

By the time I got there, the van driver had reached them.                                                                             

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I realized that, by this time, the motorcyclist must have gone far from that spot, with the lady's handbag.             

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________