“Hurry, Mommy! Let’s go trick-or-treating!” My daughter waited by the door in her pink princess skirt while I prayed in the living room. Usually I liked taking her out on Halloween, but this year I was sad. I was worried about my mother, who was in China on vacation. I got a call that afternoon that she had slipped and fallen on the hard floor of her hotel and broken her leg. She was taken to a hospital in Beijing. Mom was nervous because she couldn’t understand any of the doctors. If only I could do something to help her!
I knew I couldn’t let my worries spoil my daughter’s fun. There was nothing I could do for Mom except pray, I thought. We left the house and went down the block. I was so upset that I hardly took notice of the kids around me. There came the man to whose son I’d once given piano lessons. “Hello there,” I said, greeting him and the boy at his side.
“Hello,” the father answered. “Having fun?”“I’m trying,” I said. “Why, what’s wrong?” he asked. I told him the whole story. “My mother, in China, broke her leg and didn’t understand any of the doctors. And I’m too far away to do anything!” I said.
He raised his eyebrows. “Beijing, you said?” he asked. I nodded. He smiled. “Believe it or not, my sister is a doctor at an English-speaking hospital there. If you want, I’ll make a call right away and we’ll try and get your mom transferred (转移).”
A few days later I sat in the living room with my daughter as she finished the last of the candy. “Mommy, how far away is China?” she asked. “Not as far as I thought,” I said.What did the author’s daughter want to do?
| A．Pray with the author. | B．Enjoy herself outside. |
| C．Play a trick on her mom. | D．Go to the theatre to see a play. |
What was the author’s mother worried about most?
| A．She couldn’t get used to the life in Beijing. |
| B．She was hurt in the leg badly while travelling. |
| C．She was too old and weak to pray for her daughter. |
| D．She couldn’t make herself understood by the doctor. |
The author hardly took notice of the kids around because _____ .
| A．she was calling her mother | B．she felt very sad at that time |
| C．she was about to give a lesson | D．she couldn’t find her daughter |
We can infer from the text that _____ .
| A．the man’s sister would help the author’s mother |
| B．the author would come to China to see her mother |
| C．the author was a famous music teacher in the town |
| D．the author’s daughter wanted to travel in China |
So far,this year’s global music market has definitely been dominated (支配)by women：Beyonce Knowles，Taylor Swirl，and Iggy Azalea are all making waves．And one hot name that adds more conviction to the list is US singer Ariana Grande．
Almost exactly a year ago，Grande released her first album，Yours Truly． And over the past 12 months，the 21-year-old former Nickelodeon(an American TV channel for kids and adolescents)star has transformed from a pop artist you might recognize to an outstanding superstar．She now possesses three top 10 singles in the current Billboard Hot 100 chart，an impressive opening performance at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards，and millions of followers on social networking sites．
Her second album，My Everything, which was released on Aug 25，is the latest sign of her coming dominance．It hit No．1 on the Billboard 200 album chart this week，making her the only other female singer after Scotland’s Susan Boyle to have two continuous No．1 albums in a single year.
Grande’s strength lies in her powerful voice and wide voiced range．Unlike her companions Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato，Grande’s star power is rooted in the fact that she can really sing．More importantly，Grande knows how to control her voice，which is at once strong and sensitive，and use it to expand her musical territory．
My Everything is the best example．In this album，Grande literally tries her hand at everything：dance music，R&B jams，hip-hop tunes，power ballads and even’60s-inflected pop．
While you can clearly sense her ambition as a singer，you will be impressed by how effortlessly she handles these different styles of music，especially if you have listened to Yours Truly，a more refreshing．’90s R&B—influenced project．
Of course，one suggestion for Grande’s future music would be for her to display more personality instead of simply showing her voiced talent．But not to worry, based on what we’ve heard thus far, it's safe to say Grande is well on her way to growing into her own．
Which of the following contributes to Grande’s great success?
A．The impressive opening performance．
B．Her followers on social networking sites．
C．The influence of’60s pop and’90s R&B．
D．Her powerful voice and wide voiced range．We can conclude from the last paragraph that Grande_________．
| A．1ikes to show off her voice |
| B．is a promising superstar |
| C．1acks her own personality |
| D．has difficulty going further |
What can we learn about Ariana Grande?
| A．She prefers hip-hop tunes in particular． |
| B．She used to be a pop star in a TV channel． |
| C．She has two top 10 singles of Billboard’s Hot 100． |
| D．She is the only singer to have two No．1 albums in a year． |
Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
| A．A Rising Music Genius |
| B．The Music Market of Women |
| C．Susan Boyle and Her Companions |
| D．Different Styles of Grande’s Music |
An electric signal can trick a monkey’s brain into believing the animal’s finger has been touched.
Touch something, and your brain knows. The hand sends signals to the brain to announce contact was made. But that feeling of touch may not require making actual contact, tests on monkeys now show. Zapping brain cells can fool the animal into thinking its finger has touched something.
A person who has lost a limb or become paralyzed may need an artificial limb to complete everyday tasks. But such patients may not truly feel any objects they hold. The new findings point toward one day creating a sense of touch in those who use such artificial limbs. Psychologist Sliman Bensmaia of University of Chicago worked on the new tests. His team’s findings appeared on October 14 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
The sense of touch is crucial to everyday tasks: People without it may have difficulty cracking an egg, lifting a cup or even turning a doorknob. That’s why restoring it is a major goal for designers of artificial limbs.
In their new study, Bensmaia and his co-workers worked with rhesus monkeys (恒河猴). The scientists implanted electrodes (电极)--- small devices that can detect and relay an electrical signal—into the animals’ brains. The scientists used the electrode data to identify which neurons had become active. Then the scientists used the implanted electrodes to zap those same neurons. And the monkeys reacted as though their fingers had been touched. In fact, they hadn’t.
The monkeys couldn’t use words to tell the scientists what they had felt. Instead, they communicated by looking in a particular direction—just as when they had really been touched.
The new findings show how touch-sensitive devices could be built. The new study also offers “ a nice clear pathway” for figuring out how to restore a sense of touch to an amputee(被截肢者) or someone with a injury of spinal cord.
The study shows how artificial limbs might be connected to the brain so that a person can “feel” with such a prosthesis (假肢). But such a supersensory device doesn’t exist yet and scientists have a lot of work to do before people will benefit from it. Researchers must first figure out whether the electrodes would work in people in the same way they do in monkeys.
“ I think the foundation is laid for human trials,” Bensmaia said.What does the underlined word “it” refer to ?
| A．The sense of touch. |
| B．An artificial limb. |
| C．The turning of a doorknob. |
| D．The lifting of a cup |
Bensmania tested monkeys to prove that the feeling of touch_________.
| A．is important to everyday tasks |
| B．may not require making actual contact |
| C．is a problem of life and death |
| D．may be a challenge for designers of artificial limbs. |
Monkeys tell researchers their sense of touch by _______.
| A．putting up one of their fingers |
| B．making their brain cells active |
| C．looking in a particular direction |
| D．mimicking natural signals in the brain |
The last sentence of the text suggests humans _________.
| A．will use touch-sensitive devices |
| B．will test monkeys soon |
| C．lay foundations for monkey trials |
| D．will be tested on the electrodes |
The passage is mainly about ________.
| A．restoring a sense of touch |
| B．fooling a clever monkey |
| C．making new artificial limbs |
| D．sending a signal with a touch |
SUMMER OUTDOOR MOVIES
| Pre-movie activities |
|
| July 2: |
The Great SBCC Challenge ----SBCC |
| July 9: |
Magician ---- Jeff Evans |
| July 16: |
Pizza Toss ---- Pagliacci |
| July 23: |
Name the Right Price ---- Whole Foods Market |
| July 30: |
Banana Races ---- Edible Arrangements |
| Aug 6: |
60 Second Challenge ---- Inome |
| Aug 13: |
Zumba Fitness ---- SBCC |
| Aug 20: |
Movie Trivia Night ---- Bellevue. com |
Family, Friends, and Neighbors, get cool !
Bring your picnics, blankets and low-back chairs!
The Parks & Community Services Department presents free outdoor movies with popcorn at Bellevue Downtown Park this summer. Grab a blanket, a low-back chair, family, friends, neighbors or co-workers, and head to the park. Sponsored by Inome, films will be shown under the stars on a huge, 40-foot inflatable(可充气的) screen with a state-of-the-art projection(放映) and sound system.
The movie series begins on Tuesday, July 2, 2014. Activities, which last about one hour, begin at 8 pm before each movie, so come early, stake your ground and have some fun. Movies are family-friendly and carry a PG (parental guidance) rating.
Support a great cause; each movie night is accompanied by a different charity. Please bring suggested donated items to support the organization of the night. Your donations will make a difference to the poor, disabled and disadvantaged.
● Location- Bellevue Downtown Park, 10201 NE Fourth St. Bellevue at Downtown Park’s parking lots.
● In case of inclement weather, such as heavy rains, or violent storms, movies will be held indoors at the South Bellevue Community Center, 14509 SE Newport Way.
● Movies and activities are subject to change without notice.The movie series lasts about __________.
| A．eight weeks | B．five weeks |
| C．seven weeks | D．ten weeks |
Movies begin at about __________.
| A．6 pm | B．7 pm | C．8 pm | D．9 pm |
We can infer that the Summer Outdoor Movies is mainly intended to _________.
| A．provide amusements and entertainments for the kids |
| B．collect money for the poor, disabled and disadvantaged |
| C．promote new products made by Whole Foods Market |
| D．offer chances to young people to display their talents |
The underlined word “ inclement” means “______”.
| A．fine | B．bad | C．cool | D．Hot |
I was 18 when Tim and I began to date. Shy and quiet, I’d met his parents once before but hadn’t ventured to say more than “ Hello”. This particular evening, however, we were taking them out to dinner for their anniversary and I wanted to make a good impression.
Tim and his parents arrived and I was out the door in a flash. My good impression began with “ punctual”. I sat in the backseat beside Tim nervously watching his father’s eyes glance into the rearview mirror to examine me.
Tim and his parents had already decided on their favorite Mexican restaurant and that was fine with me; the dim lighting would hide the rising flush of my cheeks, and if anyone noticed, I could blame it on the peppers. With proper table manners I managed to survive halfway through dinner without making any unforgivable mistakes. However, in the midst of conversation I reached for my iced tea, raised the glass to my lips and very quickly discovered I had picked up the wrong glass.
I quickly lowered the glass and set it back but it was too late; I had burnt my eyebrows, the hair in my nose, and curl over my forehead! I looked up slowly, praying no one had seen me, but all eyes at the table had seen and each face stared at me in shocked silence. Excusing myself, I ran to the restroom.
I would have hidden there forever but I’d barely gotten in the door when Tim’s mother arrived. “ Ah, honey,” she said, holding out her arms to me. “ Everything will be just fine.”
Tim and I eventually married. We had a small ceremony and a family reception afterwards held at the very restaurant where this incident occurred. This time, however, I didn’t drink any candles… only a Margarita（一种鸡尾酒名）; they were served in different glasses.It can be inferred from the passage that___________.
| A．the author had never met her parents-in-law before dinning together |
| B．Tim and the author took the bus to get to the restaurant |
| C．Tim’s father was curious to know about the author |
| D．Tim’s mother was not satisfied with the author’s behavior |
According to the passage, the author______________.
| A．felt very sorry for being late meeting Tim’s parents |
| B．mistook wine for drinks and got drunk |
| C．had her eyebrows burnt because of her nervousness |
| D．left a bad impression on Tim’s parents |
What would be the best title of the passage?
| A．Please Don’t Drink the Candles |
| B．Please Don’t Light the Candles |
| C．Please Behave Yourself |
| D．You Can Never Make a First Impression for a Second Time |
If you bought some candy months ago but never ate it, how can you tell whether it’s still safe to eat? The easiest way is to check the “expiration date (保质期)” printed on the wrapper. If that date has already passed, you’re likely to throw the candy away. But is that really necessary?
According to a new report from the US Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), tons of food is wasted each year, largely because people don’t fully understand what expiration dates, or “use-by dates”, actually mean.
Food dating was introduced in 1970s because customers wanted more information about the things that they were eating. When they first showed up, use-by dates were only supposed to indicate freshness because producers wanted their products to be tasted in their best conditions.
But the truth is that these dates aren’t related to the risk of food poisoning or food-born illness, according to Time News. However, most customers misinterpreted use-by dates and related them to the safety of the food, and they still largely do now.
Eggs, for example, can still be eaten three to five weeks after purchase even though the use-by date is much earlier. When their use-by dates pass, strawberry juice may lose its red color and biscuits may lose their crunch（松脆的口感）, but they are not harmful.
“It’s a confusing subject, the difference between food quality and food safety,” said Jena Roberts, vice president of National Food Lab, a US food testing company. “Even in the food industry I have colleagues who get confused.”
This is why scientists are calling for a standard explanation to be printed following the use-by dates. “We want this to be clearly communicated so customers are not misinterpreting the date and contributing to a lot of waste,” said Dana Gunders, a staff scientist with the NRDC.
But this won’t be a mistake that is easy to correct since people have believed it for so long. Another problem is that the quality levels of different foods change differently-some are still eatable long after their use-by date while others are not.
As a result, food industry officials are now thinking of changing the use-by date to a date indicating when food is most likely to throw away.According to the text, use-by date was first intended to ________.
| A．reduce the waste of food |
| B．show whether the food was fresh |
| C．show the safety of food |
| D．give a warming of food poisoning |
Which of following is TRUE?
| A．Most customers understand what use-by date mean. |
| B．Biscuits can’t be eaten when not as crunchy as they were bought. |
| C．“ Use-by dates” have existed for more than 50 years. |
| D．Even after their use-by dates pass, some food are still safe to eat. |
Scientists are calling for a standard explanation to be printed together with the use-by dates because________.
| A．Most consumers often misunderstand use-by dates |
| B．use-by dates are not helpful or reliable |
| C．more consumers get worried about food safety |
| D．the quality level of different foods changes differently |