When you think of a map, is north on the top or the bottom? Usually, maps are designed with north on top, though when we think about it, there is no logical reason for this bias (偏见). After all, there is no up or down in space. So what is wrong with south, east or west being on the top of the map? The answer is: nothing at all. In fact, north-up maps only became the norm in the last few hundred years.
Ancient Egyptian maps had south at the top because the Nile River flows downhill from mountains in the south to the Mediterranean Sea in the north. Mecca was to the south of most early Muslim civilizations, and south-up maps were designed so that viewers would look up to see Mecca. Medieval Christian maps had east at the top, as they believed the Garden of Eden was in the east. The only early maps that had north at the top were those of early China because the emperor lived in the north.
North seems to have settled at the top of maps during the 16th century, largely thanks to a Flemish mapmaker, Mercator. Mercator was a great admirer of an early Greek mapmaker, who, for reasons now unknown, put north at the top of maps, so Mercator did, too. When Mercator’s world map became the standard map to navigate the oceans, north up became standard as well.
What is the implication of this north-view of the world? Psychologically, people tend to think of up as good and down as bad. Just think of words and phrases like “upmarket”, “upbeat” and “moving up in the world”, and how they contrast with their opposites. Because north is so consistently put at the top of maps, people now think of north as good, too.
Several attempts have been made in recent years by introducing south-up maps to the market. These maps not only give us a chance to see the world differently, but also give everyone the chance to see themselves on top.
1. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?| A．North-up maps were rare in ancient times. |
| B．Deciding up or down in space is ridiculous. |
| C．Mecca maps were based on a legend. |
| D．The south-up map first appeared in ancient Egypt. |
| A．An illogical reason. | B．The spread of Mercator’s maps. |
| C．People’s preference for up. | D．An age-old tradition in Greece. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Supportive. | C．Uncaring. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．To criticize a phenomenon. | B．To compare various facts. |
| C．To correct a cultural bias. | D．To argue for a viewpoint. |
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【推荐1】New research has found that even if you give up smoking, the damage it has done to your genes (基因) will stay there for a much longer time.
In the research,a team of US scientists studied the blood of 16,000 people. Among them, some were smokers, some used to smoke, and the rest were non-smokers. Scientists compared their genes and found that more than 7,000 genes of smokers had changed—a number that is one-third of known human genes.
According to NBC News, both heart disease and cancer are caused by genetic changes. Some people may have had the changes when they were born,but most people get them in their day-to-day lives while doing things like smoking.
When you stop smoking,a lot of these genes will return to normal within five years. This means your body is trying to heal (治愈) itself of the harmful effects of smoking. But the changes in some of the genes stay for longer. They can stay for as long as 30 years. It’s almost like leaving a footprint on wet cement (水泥)-it will always be there, even when you’ve walked away and when the cement becomes dry.
Although the study results may make people unhappy, there is a bright side: the findings could help scientists invent medicine to treat genetic damage caused by smoking or find ways to tell which people have heart disease or cancer risks.
1. The function of Paragraph 1 is to .| A．give an example | B．show the blackground of the passage |
| C．make an argument | D．introduce the topic of the passage |
| A．people’s condition at birth | B．environmental pollution |
| C．people’s bad living habits | D．heart disease and cancer |
| A．the cement | B．the footprint |
| C．the harmful effects | D．the genetic change |
| A．The findings can’t help scientists to find ways to tell which people have heart disease. |
| B．The findings have prevented more people from starting smoking. |
| C．The findings offer evidence that a damaged gene can heal itself. |
| D．The findings help scientists to find cures for genetic damage caused by smoking. |
【推荐2】A new UBC Okanagan study finds children not only gain the benefits of working with therapy (治疗) dogs – they enjoy it too.
“While we do frequently see children improve in therapy dog programs, we didn’t have data to support that they enjoyed the time as well,” says Nicole Harris, who conducted this research while a master’s student in the School of Education.
The research saw 22 children from the Okanagan Boys and Girls Club take part in a series of sessions to help them build their social skills. Over six weeks, the children were accompanied by therapy dogs as they completed lessons. Each week the children were taught a new skill, such as introducing themselves or giving directions to others. The children would first practice with their assigned therapy dog before running through the exercise with the rest of the group. In the final phase, the children, accompanied by their new furry friend, would practice their new skills with university students located in the building.
“Therapy dogs are often able to reach children and facilitate their growth in surprising ways. We saw evidence of this in the social skills of children when they were paired with a therapy dog,” says Dr. John-Tyler Binfet, associate professor in the School of Education and director of BARK. “The dogs helped create a non-threatening climate while the children were learning these new skills. By interacting with them, the children’s moods improved and their engagement in their lessons increased. ” While the children were learning and practising their new skills, the research team collected data.
At the end of the six weeks, Harris interviewed eight children, aged 5 to 11 years old, who regularly attended the sessions. Each child indicated the social skill-training program with therapy dogs was an enjoyable and positive experience and the dogs were a meaningful and essential part of the program.
As a full-time elementary school teacher, Harris notes that schools have become increasingly important in helping students develop social and emotional skills, and this research could contribute to the development of future school-based or after-school programs.
1. What was Harris’s research meant to explore?| A．When and how children could learn new social skills well. |
| B．Whether working with therapy dogs was pleasant to kids. |
| C．Why therapy dogs benefited kids’ learning of social skills. |
| D．What helped children learn and practice new social skills. |
| A．Promote. | B．Maintain. | C．Influence. | D．Determine. |
| A．The behavior of 22 children aged 5 to 11 was recorded. |
| B．The participants were taught a skill and tested 6 weeks later. |
| C．University students were also involved to help with the study. |
| D．Most participants were interviewed at the end of the research. |
| A．It’s an important part of elementary school education. |
| B．It should be carried out in elementary school separately. |
| C．It can help develop students’ social and emotional skills. |
| D．It serves as reference for developing school programs. |
【推荐3】Matt Kauffman is a wildlife researcher at the University of Wyoming. He leads the Wyoming Migration Initiative, which studies the migratory (迁徙的) paths of animals like deer and elk (驼鹿) in the American state of Wyoming.
In 2019, Kauffman and other scientists were talking at a conference in Italy. He began learning that wildlife around the world had the same difficulties faced by Wyoming’s migratory deer and elk. “We just naturally got together, and nine or ten of us are working on migrations around the world,” Kauffman told Jackson Hole News & Guide. “We realized that a lot of the same things we were trying to address by mapping migrations in Wyoming were applicable globally.”
Their talk in 2019 was the beginning of an international effort that now includes 92 scientists and environmentalists. Their effort is called the Global Initiative on Ungulate (有蹄类动物) Migration. The aim is to gather information on the seasonal movements of gazelles in Mongolia and Norwegian reindeer. The hundreds of paths would then be presented in an electronic migration map. The researchers wrote a report that recently appeared in the publication Science.
The report describes how animal movements over long distances to get food and other resources are not doing so well. The main reason for the struggles comes from land development by humans. Roads and fences create barriers for the animals, restricting their movement. And the warming of the planet has also unsettled environmental systems.
Joe Ogutu studies migratory east African wildebeest, zebra and Thomson's gazelle for the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany. Since 2015, he has watched the ungulate migration called Mara-Loita in southwestern Kenya stop working because of fence-building and sharing land space with hundreds of thousands of sheep and goats. Ogutu hopes that the Global Initiative on Ungulate Migration will bring attention to the Mara-Loita migration and other at-risk paths. “Publicity and attention,” he said, “will hopefully lead to its restoration and protection.”
1. What did Kauffman realize at the conference in Italy?| A．The migratory paths of animals in Wyoming were at risk. |
| B．The migratory animals’ difficulties were global issues. |
| C．Some scientists finished mapping animals’ migrations. |
| D．Many countries focused on wildlife migrations. |
| A．How to save ungulates in the world. | B．Where migratory animals like to move. |
| C．Why animals’ migrations run into trouble. | D．What people have done to protect wildlife. |
| A．It has great significance. | B．It has brought great benefits. |
| C．It should be extended to Africa first. | D．It should be based on Mara-Loita migration. |
| A．Animals Are Facing Survival Challenges |
| B．Humans Have Ruined Animals’ Migration |
| C．Researchers Are Mapping Animals’ Migratory Paths |
| D．Global Warming Brings Threat to Ungulate Migration |
When we haven’t taken the time to come up with another idea, all we know how to do is shut ourselves in a room with a book. It’s no surprise that we find revision boring and difficult. Just as children learn from playing, we can learn from doing, or at least from study techniques that interest us, rather than make us switch off.
Shutting yourself away can make you learn to hate studying. This leads to a situation where instead of being able to concentrate on your work, you are troubled by how unfair it is that you must study.
When you hate your work it’s very difficult to make yourself star, or approach it with any kind of structure or enthusiasm. This can be part of a vicious cycle(恶性循环) that traps you into ineffective revision, your poor progress fuelling further annoyance.
Just being around other people really helps fight against feelings of loneliness and, thankfully, it’s perfectly possible to work in the company of other people. We just need to learn how to deal with distractions(使人分心的事物).
It’s not necessary to avoid all company, just idle(懒散的) company. Studying in the same room as someone who is ironing or working out is perfectly possible. People who are bored and looking to be distracted, however, are terrible to work around. They constantly try to keep others in conversation.
It’s also a good idea to avoid the company of people involved in activities that you would rather be doing than studying.
If being around others means working in a noisy environment, a pair of headphones and some background music can block out even noisy children. They also act as a psychological barrier, so that people think twice before interrupting you.
When you’re studying for a big exam, it seems like your whole life is taken up with study. Friends and family can lessen feelings of isolation(孤立). And connecting with other people makes us happy, so it’s important not to give that up and to make sure that we take the time to socialize.
1. The author might believe that the phrase “no pains, no gains” ______.
| A．best describes how to study well |
| B．makes people treat study as a habit |
| C．encourages people to learn step by step |
| D．is not a good inspirational phrase for study |
| A．There is no royal road to learning. |
| B．It’s better to work behind closed door. |
| C．A positive motivation leads to good study results. |
| D．He who is ashamed of asking is ashamed of learning. |
| A．A correct goal. | B．A good teacher. |
| C．A favorable interest. | D．A hard task. |
| A．playing video games is helpful for an effective study |
| B．one shouldn’t let a video player to be his / her company |
| C．one should study from certain activities that he / she is interested in |
| D．the more time one spends in playing games, the higher marks he / she will get |
| A．give indication of not wanting to be interrupted |
| B．give up others’ company at one |
| C．think twice before taking any action |
| D．force yourself to be accustomed to the environment |
【推荐2】Scientists have made great discoveries. But how have they influenced our personal lives? Do kids in your classroom even know when Einstein lived? You may be wondering: why is it important to teach kids stories about modern-day scientists?
First, stories of scientists can encourage kids. Chris Hadfield is a Canadian who went to space, and he’s a real guitar-playing person. He makes singing videos on the website. His story can make kids think scientists are also common people. Hearing scientists’ stories makes kids think that they can do that too.
But not only that, the stories of famous scientists can encourage kids to explore and never give up. Bill Nye was always refused when trying to be an astronaut. But up to now, he has made a lot of successes in his role as a popular science educator and engineer. Besides, it’s no secret that scientific discoveries require trying, and trying again.
Another way some scientists can encourage kids is through their diversity. Neil deGrasse Tyson, for example, is an African-American, which is not common in his field. Such stories can make kids think anyone can be a scientist.
It’s important to know that scientists don’t need to be “gifted” or “good” at school. Often we consider a scientist as being an extremely smart kid at school, which doesn’t have to be true. They just need to have a great interest in science. Telling students stories of scientists can encourage them to show interest in science. As long as they are interested, they are likely to become a scientist in the future.
Modern scientists teach kids that knowledge builds upon the foundation others have laid. This is important—no one can do it alone. Scientists’ stories can encourage today’s young scientists to keep trying. They’ll be encouraged not to give up on the dream of exploring and making discoveries. Even if they haven’t made important discoveries, their research may help the following scientists.
1. What can Chris Hadfield’s story tell students?| A．Scientists are interested in different things. |
| B．Students should have a hobby of their own. |
| C．Scientists can be ordinary like people around us. |
| D．Students should consider scientists as their models. |
| A．Scientists are not necessarily very smart at school. |
| B．Not all scientists really show interest in science. |
| C．Scientists are usually good at their schooling. |
| D．African-Americans are more likely to become scientists. |
| A．Scientists should help each other. |
| B．A scientist should never give up trying. |
| C．Making discoveries is necessary for scientists. |
| D．New scientific discoveries may be based on others’ findings. |
| A．Why scientists are important to us. |
| B．Why students love stories of scientists. |
| C．Why scientists can make great discoveries. |
| D．Why students should be taught stories about scientists. |
【推荐3】Most of us are already aware of the direct effect we have on our friends and family. But we rarely consider that everything we think, feel, do, or say can spread far beyond the people we know. Conversely(相反地), our friends and family serve as conduits(渠道) for us to be influenced by hundreds or even thousands of other people. In a kind of social chain reaction, we can be deeply affected by events we do not witness that happen to people we do not know. As part of a social network, we go beyond ourselves, for good or ill, and become a part of something much larger.
Our connectedness carries with it fundamental implications(影响) for the way we understand the human condition. Social networks have value precisely because they can help us to achieve what we could not achieve on our own. Yet, socialnetwork effects are not always positive. Depression, obesity, financial panic, and violence also spread. Social networks, it turns out, tend to magnify(放大) whatever they are seeded with.
Partly for this reason, social networks are creative. And what these networks create does not belong to any one individual—it is shared by all those in the network. In this way, a social network is like a commonly owned forest: We all stand to benefit from it, but we also must work together to ensure it remains healthy and productive. While social networks are fundamentally and distinctively human, and can be seen everywhere, they should not be taken for granted.
If you are happier or richer or healthier than others, it may have a lot to do with where you happen to be in the network, even if you cannot recognise your own location. And it may have a lot to do with the overall structure of the network, even if you cannot control that structure at all. And in some cases, the process feeds back to the network itself. A person with many friends may become rich and then attract even more friends. This richgetricher dynamic means social networks can dramatically reinforce two different kinds of inequality in our society: situational inequality and positional inequality.
Lawmakers have not yet considered the consequences of positional inequality. Still, understanding the way we are connected is an essential step in creating a more just society and in carrying out public policies affecting everything from public health to the economy. We might be better off vaccinating(接种疫苗) centrally located individuals rather than weak individuals. We might be better off helping interconnected groups of people to avoid criminal behaviour rather than preventing or punishing crimes one at a time.
If we want to understand how society works, we need to fill in the missing links between individuals. We need to understand how interconnections and interactions between people give rise to wholly new aspects of human experience that are not present in the individuals themselves. If we do not understand social networks, we cannot hope to fully understand either ourselves or the world we inhabit.
1. What can be inferred from the first paragraph?| A．We can't be easily affected by strangers. |
| B．We are connected and form a social network. |
| C．We have negative effects on other social members. |
| D．We will not make a difference in a specific group. |
| A．It remains healthy and productive. |
| B．It tends to magnify negative things. |
| C．It is creative and shared by people in the whole society. |
| D．What it creates can be enjoyed by everyone in the network. |
| A．whether we are richer depends on the number of friends we make |
| B．the wealth we possess has nothing to do with individual continuous efforts |
| C．sometimes our success may be largely due to our position in social networks |
| D．we won't succeed unless we fully control the overall structure of the network |
| A．To introduce the characteristics of social networks. |
| B．To urge people to understand how our society works. |
| C．To show the significance of understanding social networks. |
| D．To explain the possible consequences of ignoring social networks. |
