The Day People Started Talking

My journey home from school is nothing special. I usually find a seat and start reading or texting my friends, making sure, like everyone else, not to look at other people. Then, twenty minutes later, I get off.

But last Tuesday was different. I was happily looking out of the window when the train suddenly stopped. This wasn’t usual. Then after about five minutes, I noticed people were starting to get a bit upset. Fifteen minutes later, people started getting more and more upset. Then the announcement (广播) came: “We are sorry to announce that this train is delayed. A train has broken down in front of us.”

There was a loud groan (叹息) throughout the carriage but soon something unexpected happened: all the complete strangers started talking to each other. At first, everyone just complained about the trains, but then people started talking about real things. I started chatting to a couple of young tourists sitting opposite me. Next, I really surprised myself by talking to a businesswoman. Business people are a lot cooler than I thought. Then I decided to get up and go for a walk down the train. I met a woman who had been a student at my school seven years before.

People offered each other food and drink. A young woman took her guitar and soon we were singing along. While we were singing, we heard there was a sick boy in another part of the train who needed help, and the woman from my school jumped into action. It turned out she was a nurse, and when she came back she was welcomed as a hero.

Then, after two and a half hours, we started moving again. Everyone cheered and some people, complete strangers three hours before, even hugged.

I took the train again on Wednesday but none of my new “friends” were there. Although people were polite, they weren’t nearly as friendly as the people the day before had been. I’ll never forget the day the train stopped and people started talking.

1.What happened after the announcement? ( )

A.People got upset and started texting their friends.

B.The children started playing with their phones.

C.The workers started offering food and drink.

D.People started talking to each other.

2.The woman from the writer’s school jumped into action to ______. ( )

A.play the guitar and sing

B.help a sick boy on the train

C.go for a walk down the train

D.get off and take another train

3.The writer will never forget last Tuesday because ______. ( )

A.strangers on the train were friendly to each other

B.a nurse saved a boy’s life on the train just in time

C.he learned something new about business people

D.it was a good opportunity to make new friends

Building her own app

While other teenagers hang out with friends or play sports after school, Brooke Yoakam goes to business meetings.

Yoakam first began developing a mobile app called Gift Pocket at the age of 12. Now 17, this girl from Ohio, US has finally launched the app.

It allows users to upload gift cards from various businesses and store them all in one place. User can also exchange gift cards. The app is free to download and use.

Yoakam says about 1,000 users have downloaded the app, with 87 percent of them signing up(注册)and 45 percent adding at least one gift card to the service.

Yoakam came up with the idea for the app after attending a leadership academy(领导学院)in sixth grade. She was asked to solve a problem. She realized that she always forgot her gift cards when she went shopping with friends. But since most people have mobile phones, it would be easy to store and use the gift cards from there.

After leaving the academy, Yoakam decided to develop an app that would solve this problem. She won a local business competition and received $2,000(13, 800 yuan) from a company to invest(投资)in her idea. She traveled around after school two or three times a week to work on the app. She even gave up some of her hobbies and activities.

The app has helped her realize her interests. So she hopes to major(主修)in business and technology in college.

1.Yoakam first started _____________ called Gift Pocket when she was 12 years old.

2.Users can_____________ from various businesses and store them all in one place.

3.A company invested $2,000(13, 800 yuan) to her as her reward in _____________.

4.Yoakam had the idea for the app_____________ in sixth grade.

5."I hope to major in business and technology in college in order to_____________," Yoakam said.

A grand international horticultural(园艺)exhibition kicked off on April 29, 2019 Monday in Beijing. Chinese President Xi expressed his hope that the green development concept(理念)embodied(体现)by the Expo park would be spread to “every corner of the world”.

The International Horticultural Exhibition 2019 Beijing is the highest-level and largest international fair held in China after the International Horticultural Exhibition held in the southwest city of Kunming in 1999, the 2010 Shanghai World Expo and the first China International Import Expo in 2018.

“The development model of ‘killing the hens for eggs' and ‘draining(排空)the lake for fish' is at a dead end, "Xi said in his speech at the opening ceremony of the Expo. "The future will be illuminated(发光的)by eco-friendly development that is in accordance with the rules of nature.”

“China's ecological civilization(生态文明)development is on fast track. People will live in a better environment with blue sky, green mountains and clear water, "Xi said." We should protect the ecological environment like protecting our eyes and value it in the same way we value our lives.”

“Only with concerted efforts can we effectively(有效)deal with global environment issues such as climate change, marine(海洋)pollution and biological protection and achieve the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable(可持续的)Development goals," he said.

He put forward a five-point suggestion: pursuing(追求)harmony between human and nature, prosperity(繁荣)based on green development, a passion for mature-caring lifestyles, a scientific spirit in ecological governance and joint efforts to deal with environmental challenges.

"The Beijing Horticultural Expo, themed ‘Live Green, Live Better', is one of the major international events hosted by China in 2019, which marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. It indicates(标识)that China has changed from a participant(参与者)in global green development to a contributor and leader, "said Wu Shunze, an expert with the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. A total of 110 countries and international organizations will attend the 162-day event.

1.The underlined phrase "kicked off" in the Paragraph 1 means “____________”.

A.started B.ended C.celebrated D.joined

2.From the passage we can know that the International Horticultural Exhibition 2019 Beijing __________.

A.is first hosted by China

B.is covered with green park

C.is held in Kunming, Yunnan

D.lasts 162 days in total

3.From the passage, we can learn that President Xi___________.

A.thinks eco-friendly development is less important

B.gives 5 suggestions on ecological environment

C.thinks China's ecological civilization development is slow

D.advises us to kill the hens for eggs to protect environment

4.“Live green, Live Better” means that ___________.

A.if we live in a green environment, we will live better

B.if we want to live better, we should live in a green room

C.green can change global environmental problems effectively

D.the world in the future must be coloured in green everywhere

5.The writer of the passage wants to show us________.

A.the wonderful opening ceremony of the Expo

B.Chinese leadership in global green development

C.the importance of green development concept

D.the future green environment in the expo park

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