Unit 3 Family matters 知识点题库

    The doctor made it sound easy. Just walk. It was easy for him to say. I couldn't walk to the end of the road to pick up my mail. I tried to stand up, but soon got breathless and just stopped. My mailbox seemed to be so far away. It was hard for me, though I am only 39 years old!

    A month ago, my wife Stephanie and I were in Colorado Springs with our friends when I woke up at 12 o'clock at night and didn't feel very well. Stephanie and I drove to the hospital, and my 10­day vacation turned into a 10­day hospital stay. I got a scar (伤疤) on my body. It was really tough to walk around then and I needed practice.

    Stephanie had to go to work so she encouraged me to try to take a few walks. Minutes later, she came back with a puppy. "Where did you get that?" I asked. "In our mailbox," she replied. What a wonder! The puppy was dirty, with big pleading (恳求的) eyes. Stephanie was late for work. I was not very happy. I couldn't take care of myself. How could I look after this puppy? "He's going to the pound (动物收容所)," I thought. However, wherever I went, the puppy would closely follow me. I tried walking. The puppy ran ahead, looked back and repeated it again and again. He seemed to say "come on". I took a deep breath, and then tried stepping; the puppy was right at my side. I succeeded at last. I didn't take the puppy to the pound. Instead, we walked toward the mailbox.

    We named him Cheyenne. Before long, I was walking with Cheyenne every day. Pretty soon, I was strong enough to work on the farm again. Now I wonder who put a puppy in a mailbox. Nobody is so crazy after all, Cheyenne was maybe what the doctor ordered.

My mother, a nurse at Stony Brook University Hospital, worked at night so that she could come home in time to send me to school. She'd sleep during the day and be ready when we returned home before heading out again in the evening. This went on for 23 years. She never complained (抱怨). No matter how tired she was, she always had enough energy to be my mom.

She often had to work on holidays, even on New Year's Eve, which made me unhappy. However, before holidays she always decorated the inside and outside of our house. She'd also have cookies baking in the oven, a holiday­themed movie in the VCR, and music playing throughout our house for us. But when it was time to go to work, there was no room for debate. "Why do you have to work on this day of all days?" I'd ask sadly. "They need me, too, dear son," she'd say.

For a long time I didn't understand why she should care so much about those sick strangers. Recently, as my grandmother became ill, I found myself spending more time in the hospital. The scenes I saw in the hospital made me see the different side of my mother. The nurses checked the heart, blood and oxygen levels to make sure patients were comfortable. They lifted patients in and out of bed and helped them to the bathroom. Beyond their duties, the nurses showed consideration(体贴) for each patient.

What I saw helped me understand why my mother was devoted to her occupation (职业). I was filled with more admiration for my mother.

Parents can cut the chances of their children getting fat simply by keeping them longer at table. Just three minutes extra at a family mealtime could help prevent child obesity. Research found that among poor families, the extra minutes at mealtimes made great improvement of a normal weight for the youth. The factors are likely to be communication and the importance of a scheduled mealtime.

Dr Barbara Fiese said," Children, whose families have a 20­minute meal over four times a week. weigh less than kids who leave the table after 15 to 17 minutes. Over time, those extra minutes per meal add up and become really powerful."

The researchers studied 200 family mealtimes, testing the effects of factors and mealtime behavior of families with children in primary school. They found that families, who said that shared mealtimes were an important part of family life and had special meaning for them, were less likely to have an obese child. Similarly, families, who talked more together and interacted more positively during the meal，were more likely to have healthy­weight children.

Teaching low­income families how to make the most of family mealtimes was a wise idea. Dr Fiese said, "This is something we can target and teach." She added, "It's also important to recognize the increasing differences of families and their sometimes complex living arrangements that may challenge their abilities to plan ahead and arrange a single time to communicate with each other."

Families in poorer US neighborhoods faced a lot of problems，including poor access to healthy food. But even so, regular high quality family mealtimes made a difference to the children's weight. Dr Fiese said," Three to four extra minutes per meal will make a healthy weight more possible."

— I think I _______ some bread and milk.

Animals are humans' best friends. Here we will know about some of those interesting friends.
       Gouldian Finch

Native to Australia, the Gouldian finch has special green, yellow, red and black markings. For the males (雄性), the part between the neck and the stomach is bright purple, while for females, this part is pale purple. We all Have to agree that nature has created some really great animals with the smallest of details.

Keel-Billed Toucan

It is the very same crazy bird from the movie Rio, also known to be the "rainbow billed toucan". The bird has a black body and a yellow face. The color of its bill (喙) is a combination of green, yellow, orange and red, and that's how the name rainbow billed toucan came from. It is rarely seen alone. It travels in small groups of about six to twelve individuals.

The Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher

It is a great tiny bird commonly found in South Asia. This bird is the most brightly colored and the smallest kingfisher species. Its special feature is the orange with bluish-purple head, which can be easily recognized. The throat is white with bright orange colored lines at the bottom. It is a pretty and small bird.

Poison (毒) Dart Frog

It is a kind of very beautiful creature. The bright colors of the poison dart frog send a warning to its natural enemies about its poison. Found in South America, with some of the brightest shades of yellow, copper, red, green and blue, this frog is among those very animals that you have to watch out in the Amazon Rainforest.

A kind of blue dye (颜料) called folium had been widely used to paint pictures on the pages of manuscripts (手稿) created in the Middle Ages. But long ago, this watercolor fell out of use.

"Manuscripts are an important part of the cultural works of art in the Middle Ages," said scientist Maria in an email to CNN. "Color is a basic feature of these manuscripts. To let ancient manuscripts. keep a good condition for future generations, we sometimes need to repaint their inside pictures through the ancient dye — like folium — that was once used in these manuscripts. But everyone who knew how to prepare folium had died long ago. So 'I led a team to study this dye."

Her team turned to books from the 1400s and found one that described the plant that was its source. It is a tiny plant with silvery-green leaves. Days later, the scientists reached a village in south Portugal, where nobody knew this little plant. However, after carefully going through a plenty of different plants growing there, the scientists finally raked out the plant they wanted and brought some back to their laboratory.

Back in the lab, the scientists produced the dye with the help of an ancient text on colors. The text has clearly described the ways to make it. "It's cool to have done that work of looking in the historical records and traveling back in time," says Casadio, who was not part of this study. It recreates an ancient process. By making the dye, the scientists could study its chemistry without experimenting on priceless delicate (易损的)  works of art, she points out.

Now, the researchers don't know the dye's stability(稳定性)and its ability against the environment that may wear and break it down over time. "To know such information is necessary if we desire to make these colors last long enough," Maria said. "So our study will continue."

Princeton University's TigerTransit Shuttle System

Princeton University's TigerTransit shuttle system operates on a fixed route schedule, providing transportation throughout the Princeton campus and surrounding community. The system is free and open to the public, except for late-night on-demand service and service from Princeton Junction, when passengers must present a valid University ID to board. Check the TPS homepage or Tweeter feed for any possible changes.

Real-time Bus App

Download TripShot to your Android or iOS device for real-time bus arrival info on the go. You can also plan your trip by tracking the real-time arrival of your bus with TripShot right from your desktop or tablet. While a mobile login is required for night-time on-demand services, no password is required to track bus locations using our public instance. To get started, simply open TripShot > select public system > "TigerTransit".

On-demand Bus Service

On-demand Bus Service is available seven days per week during the academic year, excluding holidays. Provide service for all campus academic and residential buildings. Riders can now request on-demand service right from the TripShot app (Android or iOS). Please note for on-demand service requests, users must create a free account.

Many researchers use the term artificial intelligence (AI) to describe the thinking and intelligent behavior by machines. While AI can be helpful to human beings, scientists warn it can also be a threat.

Stuart Russell, who teaches computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, says humans should make AI products that we like.

"In the future," Russell says, "many of today's jobs that require a lot of physical labor will be replaced by machines with artificial intelligence. These include agricultural jobs, and ones with repetitive duties like telephone call centers. Al machines can also replace jobs like ones in the financial industry-jobs that require studying a lot of data."

The health industry is one area that artificial intelligence is already changing. AI can process huge amounts of data, so doctors can use the most up-to-date information to diagnose and treat patients.

IBM's Watson technology is already in use at hospitals in North and South America, Europe and Asia. Watson helps doctors keep up with information.

There is also a dangerous side of artificial intelligence. One example is combining drone technology and AI to create autonomous weapons.

Stuart Russell is working to create international treaties to ban such weapons. He says the risk is that people will use the technology to develop a kind of "poor men's nuclear weapon".

IBM's Banavar points out the value of artificial intelligence, including search engines and the autopilot function on planes.

The debate about whether artificial intelligence is good or bad for humans continues. Researchers agree there is no question that the technology is here, and that will continue to change the life on our planet.

Twelve­year­old Allen decided to leave home city and make a living by himself because his family was too poor. Before he left, his father asked him what he was going to do. Allen answered, "I want to learn circus performance."

His father was1with his answer, "What? No, you can't do that. Circus is the place for clowns in many people's eyes. Our family will be 2 of you." But Allen 3,"Our family is so poor right now. Which is more important to you, 4 or clothing and food? I will give you some money every month from the circus. It probably will be a huge 5." His father was very 6, "If you go there, somebody will know about it very soon and I'll be very 7."

After going through a lot of difficulties, Allen finally found a circus and convinced the 8 to let him stay. He worked very hard studying magic and lived with animals. Every month, his parents would get a check from him. But they never knew his address. They knew the money was from Allen but when people asked them about Allen's 9, they never told them the truth. Later, his parents received more and more money from him.

Then, a 10 named Albert became very famous in the whole world. Everyone thought 11 of his performance. Lots of people hurried to see his performance from far away.

One day, Allen's father went to visit a relative in another city. The relative paid a lot of money for tickets of Albert the magician's show. Allen's father went to the show with the relative. During the show, Allen's father got totally 12 by the magician's tricks. When the magician took off his 13, the father found Albert was his son, Allen. Allen recognized his father. His father 14 him, "Why did you change your name?"

"Because you said you would be embarrassed for me."

"But nobody will know the famous magician is my son Allen."

We want all the best things in life and avoid the bad past. However, every good thing comes at a 15. You can't have them all without giving up something.

Recently, many e­commerce platforms, including Didi Taxi, Ctrip, Fliggy, JD and Taobao, have been uncovered that they are cheating their frequent customers. Their ways are pretty clever. When there are new users or conservative old users, they will give a quite appealing price to attract them into registering and buying goods. However, their big data is not that friendly to the stable users and frequent visitors. The system always offers them higher prices for the same products or services. How does this happen? According to the data analysis, the system knows clearly that although they feel the price is high, they will finally pay the bill. By collecting and analyzing users' profiles, buying habits and other information, big data recommends the same products to different users with different prices.

Companies also try other ways to make money, making online consumption far more worrying. For example, video websites always offer 120 seconds' advertisements, which drives people crazy. And even if you pay for the membership to get rid of the ads, you have to "enjoy" 15­second "private" ads. By broadcasting them, companies make huge profits — second to the membership fees. Also, owning 100Mbps network, you still put up with the slow speed when you are downloading a song. You have no choice but to become a VIP when you seek high quality services. Users seem to be lambs(羊羔) among wolves. Even though they say, "Since you have money, I'll charge you more", we can't do anything about it.

It pains us that we haven't figured out a way to deal with the problem. The only thing we can do is replacing our iPhones with Android phones if we want to buy a membership card, and applying for new accounts if we want cheaper hotels. Not finding a way to fight back, we can't do anything but accept them passively.

Internet enables us to communicate with others at any time, .

Maybe you are an average student.  This is not necessarily so, however. Anyone can become a better student if he or she wants to. Here's how.

Plan your time carefully. When planning your work, you should make a list of things that you have to do. After making this list, you should make a schedule of your time. First your time for eating, sleeping, dressing, etc. Then decide a good, regular time for studying.  A weekly schedule may not solve all your problems, but it will force you to realize what is happening to your time.   Find a good place to study. Look around the house for a good study area. Keep this space，which may be a desk or simply a corner of your room, free of everything but study materials. No games, radios, or televisions. When you sit down to study, concentrate on the subject.

Make good use of your time in class.  Listening carefully in class means less work later. Taking notes will help you remember what the teacher says.

Study regularly. When you get home from school, go over your notes, review the important points that your teacher is going to discuss the next day and read that material.  If you do these things regularly, the material will become more meaningful, and you'll remember it longer.

Develop a good attitude towards tests. The purpose of a test is to show what you have learned about a subject. They help you remember your new knowledge. The world won't end if you don't pass a test, so don't be over worried.

 You will probably discover them after you have tried these.

A. There are other methods that might help you with your studying.

B. Don't forget to arrange enough time for entertainment.

C. Make full use of class time to listen to everything the teacher says.

D. No one can become a top student unless he or she works hard.

E. You probably think you will never be a top student.

F. Make full use of class time to take notes of what the teacher says in class.

G. This will help you understand the next class.