相关试卷

As an old saying goes, "Friends are like wine, the older, the better." This has led many to attach (great) significance to long-standing friendships than to newly (form) ones. For example, when two pieces of advice (give) to solve a problem — one from a new friend and the other from an old friend — the majority will prefer latter, even if the new friend's advice is objectively better. Nevertheless, I disagree with the old saying, (believe) that new friends are not necessarily worse than old friends. It is not always right to determine your friendship by the (long) of time.

Once you call someone a friend, it is because they are a person who is reliable andinterests are in common with yours. It is mainly their character and interests make them your friends. While people's appearances may change, the essence of their character usually (stay) the same. Therefore, in this regard, there is no differenceold friends and new friends.

Waiting and praying were a daily1for Michelle as she's one of the hundreds of American children2a new liver. But recently the prayers were more3as she'd been showing danger signs that made the transplant critical, but the telephone was as silent as the snowy scene outside.

Then one morning, the phone rang, saying a hospital in Omaha had4 the right liver donor and it was a(n)5for Michelle. But they needed her there6 12 hours.

The family couldn't tell what to do first — overjoy or7. Because they were, snowbound, 600 miles away.8, the phone lines were still working, so they put out a call for help through the radio station, which immediately broadcast9messages for practical suggestions.

Teresa Arnshoff heard the story and suggested that the church parking lot would be the perfect helicopter landing spot. As precious minutes10, the Arnshoffs rushed out, pleading for help to clear the lot. Neighbors came without11. In half an hour, 50 volunteers were working in sub-zero winds to clear the snow.

With dusk12, the family finally made it to the church, where 150 people, leaning on shovels, were surrounded by mountainous piles of snow. As fire trucks arrived to provide lights for the helicopter, the crowd13to 300, applauding and waving as the helicopter flew off into the snowy night.

Michelle's14was successful. It was the success not only of a skilled medical team, a family with the fight to survive -but the success of a whole village that would never15.

As studies have found, the brain has "hedonic hotspots" — specialized regions that increase the rewarding feeling or "liking" of palatable (可口的) tastes. This can result in a dopamine (多巴胺) hit that strengthens a person's motivation to seek palatable food rewards. Therefore, people might be encouraged by their brains to consume particular foods.

But why are comfort foods generally somewhat unhealthy? They are often referred to as "hyper-palatable" foods, easy to digest, sweet, salty, or rich. These very ingredients that make the food taste so good are bad for our health when consumed too much. So, a person's brain tends not to want them in the same way it does a donut or a slice of pizza.

Comfort foods are an attempt to feel content or a means of reducing stress, but it seems they are not always effective. In a survey of 2,000 adults, one in four people admitted eating comfort foods at least five times a week, even though over half said those meals made them feel worse. So, why? People are aware that these foods are not nutritionally beneficial.

Some researches, however, have also found that comfort foods do have the ability to comfort us but just no more than any other food. Comfort foods can result in an immediate mood lift. Individuals may just be giving comfort food credit for mood effects that would have occurred even in the absence of that particular food.

A. Healthy foods tend not to contain these elements.

B. Over time, this causes them to feel regret and shame.

C. But making comfort foods itself can be more helpful.

D. Any other food is also able to achieve the same outcome.

E. Comfort foods are often associated with carefree memories.

F. The brain rewards people when they consume certain foods.

G. The key is the emotional connection and the sense of well-being.

So far so good. However, what might happen if I was to do the same, but get you to choose from a bigger basket of different varieties? Chances are that you might take longer to make a choice — struggling to weigh up the benefits of each. After thinking for a while, you might experience brain fog and frustration and decide you don't want an apple after all. Or, you might choose one and walk off with it, only to wonder if you made the correct choice. And, if by chance you actually chose the very same apple as you did in our first example, the chances are that it wouldn't taste quite as good.

You can understand the reason for this when you read about the theory of loss aversion. Put simply, studies have found that a loss has more than twice the psychological impact of an equivalent (同等的) gain. It's more preferable to avoid losing £5 than to gain £5. Such is the pain of regret in losing out through making a "poor choice".

The Paradox of Choice is common in modern society. We live in a world of endless choices. Never have human beings been surrounded by such plentiful supply and convenience. Thus, we've been suffering a great deal. However, one idea that I've found helpful is to get into a habit of setting a time limit on making choices and feeling happy with that. To adopt this idea requires us to become happy with finding something that's good enough, without necessarily being the best. We could recognise that our time is more important than the need to get an extra 10% on top of what is already good enough.

The biggest shock came the next morning. I stepped outside to find a communal tap (公共水龙头) where residents brushed teeth and washed vegetables side by side. An elderly man in pajamas nodded at me while spitting into the drain — a common practice here but shocking to Western eyes. Later, when I tried to throw trash into a bin, Mrs. Li from next door rushed over, sorting my waste into four colorful categories with a patient smile. "Recycling matters," she said, though I understood little Chinese.

Gradually, the hutong revealed its magic. Children played hopscotch (跳房子游戏) on stone paths, and shopkeepers knew everyone's name. One rainy day, my roof leaked. Before I could call for help, one of my neighbors climbed up with a ladder and fixed it himself. That evening, he invited me for jiaozi. As we dipped them in vinegar, I realized privacy in the West meant disconnection; here, "noisy closeness" meant belonging.

Now, when I bike past the morning crowds buying baozi or see neighbors playing chess under tree shades, I feel at home. The hutong taught me that culture shock is just the first step to discovering a new way of living - one where community wraps around you like a warm quilt.

Galleries

Coral Diver — Experience over 200 species of the Indo-Pacific Corals

Learn more about the different types of corals, why corals are vital to the ocean, and how we care for them through face-to-face sessions with our aquarium specialists.

Dolphin Coast — Dive into the World of Dolphins

THEATER SEATS: 1,800+

Dolphins are social animals that live in small groups. Through the underwater viewing tunnel watch playful dolphins and interact with dolphin keepers.

Presentation time: 3: 00 PM/6:00 PM

Sea Lion Studio — Encounter Sea Lions

THEATER SEATS: 500+

Trainers will interact with these incredible creatures while educating guests on the dangers the sea animals face in their natural environment, as well as key environmental factors that impact them. To attend the Dolphin or Sea Lion Presentation, please reserve online. First come, first served. Space is limited.

Presentation time: 9:00AM/10:30AM

One-Day Ticket

Book off-peak & save

Save on tickets when you book off-peak times like weekdays. An additional $10 discount applies to every ticket for entry after 3:30 P.M.

Sam was a junior high school student. He lived in a community in Charlotte and usually had little exposure to country life. So much of what he knew about plants came from text-books. Sam was a kind-hearted person. He longed for a chance to explore nature and he wanted to do his part to beautify the world.

Finally, the opportunity came. On Arbor Day (植树节), his class organized a trip to a local village to plant trees. Sam was excited about it and couldn't wait to tell his mom the good news. So the next day, Sam and his mom went to buy some tools for planting trees, including a shovel (铲), a bucket, gloves and so on.

On the day of the event, Sam and his classmates arrived early at the starting point. It was a beautiful day and everyone looked particularly happy. With the tools in hand, Sam got into the bus with everyone else and headed off to their destination.

As soon as they reached the village, all the students were divided into three teams by their teacher. One team was responsible for planting the trees, one team for shovelling the soil and one team for watering the trees. At the teacher's command, everyone started to do their job.

However, it was the first time that many of the students had taken part in planting trees, so they had no idea about how to start. Of course, Sam was one of them. Fortunately, their teacher was a middle-aged man from the countryside who had some knowledge of planting trees. In order to set an example to the students, the teacher started to plant trees himself. After watching the teacher plant the trees, everyone also became busy. Before long, they planted hundreds of trees. Sam watched very carefully, not wanting to miss any of the details. Finally, Sam learned how to plant trees by himself and felt happy.

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。

Paragraph 1: A few days later, a storm damaged some young trees in the community.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph 2: The neighbours saw Sam's hard work on those trees.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Questioning is a bridge to learning. When you begin to doubt something and search for an answer, you will learn.

内容包括：

1. 你对该名言的理解；

2. 生活中的例子；

3. 你的感悟。

注意：

1. 写作词数应为80个左右；

2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

My Understanding of Questioning

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the opening of the World Conference of Classics in Beijing, Martin Kern, a famous sinologist, advocated transformative role of cross-cultural study in understanding ancient civilizations.

Kern argued that studying ancient China or Greece(separate) limits the ability of scholars in classical studies to understand makes each culture distinct, as well as the universal characteristics shared across civilizations.

"If you only know about China, only know about Greece, you will never know what is particular and special about either one and what (share) with other ancient civilizations," Kern said, (emphasize) the importance of engaging in comparative scholarship.

Kern shared how comparative study had reshaped his own work, as investigating Greek (debate) on reading practices brought new insights to his research on early Chinese manuscripts. For him, cross-cultural dialogues are not simply supplemental to (specialize) research; they are essential for transforming scholars' understanding of their own fields. "To know something about other cultures is to better understand (one) own," he commented.

Kern said that without engaging with other civilizations, "we rob ourselves of fundamental insights into our own fields and civilization." The incredibly rich traditions of ancient China, he added, can contribute a wealth of new perspectives the study of other civilizations and global antiquity as a system.

Consequently, the question arises: Where, then, shall we get our information from if not from the media? Who can we trust? How about experts- people who devote their working lives to understanding their chosen slice of the world? However, even experts can fall prey to the allure of oversimplification, leading to the "single perspective instinct" that hampers (阻碍) our ability to grasp the intricacies (错综复杂) of the world.

Simple ideas can be appealing because they offer a sense of understanding and certainty. And it is easy to take off down a slippery slope, from one attention-grabbing simple idea to a feeling that this idea beautifully explains, or is the beautiful solution for, lots of other things. The world becomes simple that way.

Yet, when we embrace a singular cause or solution for all problems, we risk oversimplifying complex issues. For instance, championing the concept of equality may lead us to view all problems through the lens of inequality and see resource distribution as the sole panacea. However, such rigidity prevents us from seeing the multidimensional nature of challenges and hinders true comprehension of reality. This "single perspective instinct" ultimately clouds our judgment and restricts our capacity to tackle complex issues effectively. Being always in favor of or always against any particular idea makes you blind to information that doesn't fit your perspective. This is usually a bad approach if you would like to understand reality.

Instead, constantly test your favorite ideas for weaknesses. Be humble about the extent of your expertise. Be curious about new information that doesn't fit, and information from other fields. And rather than talking only to people who agree with you, or collecting examples that fit your ideas, consult people who contradict you, disagree with you, and put forward different ideas as a great resource for understanding the world. If this means you don't have time to form so may opinions, so what?

Wouldn't you rather have few opinions that are right than many that are wrong?