【推荐2】Grown-ups are often surprised by how well they remember something they learned as children but have never practiced ever since. A man who has not had a chance to go swimming for years can still swim as well as ever when he gets back in the water. He can get on a bicycle after many years and still ride away. A mother who has not thought about the words for years can teach her daughter the poem that begins "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" or remember the story of Cinderella or Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

One explanation is the law of overlearning, which can be stated as follows: Once we have learned something, extra learning attempts or tries to increase the length of time we will remember it.

In childhood we usually continue to practice such skills as swimming, and bicycle riding long after we have learned them. We continue to listen to and remind ourselves of words such as "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" and childhood tales such as Cinderella and Goldilocks. We not only learn but overlearn.

The multiplication tables(乘法口诀表) are an exception（例外） to the general rule that we forget rather quickly the things that we learn in school, because they are another of the things we overlearn in childhood.

The law of overlearning explains why cramming(突击学习)for an examination, though it may result in a passing grade, is not a satisfactory way to learn a college course. By cramming, a student may learn the subject well enough to pass the examination, but he is likely soon to forget almost everything he learned. A little overlearning, on the other hand, is really necessary for one's future development.

1. What is the main idea of paragraph 1?

A．People remember well what they learned in childhood.

B．Children have a better memory than grown-ups.

C．Poem reading is a good way to learn words.

D．Stories for children are easy to remember.

2. The author tells the experience in childhood in order to __________.

A．remember the good old days

B．let readers follow the example

C．explain the law of overlearning

D．help readers understand the importance of knowledge

3. According to the author, being able to use multiplication tables is__________.

A．a step towards studies	B．a result of overlearning
C．a special case of cramming	D．a skill to deal with math problems

4. What is the author's opinion on cramming?

A．It's helpful only in a limited way.	B．It causes failure in college exams.
C．It's possible to result in poor memory.	D．It increases students' learning interest.

【推荐3】You are a new manager at the American branch of your German firm in Chicago. With a few minutes to spare between meetings, you go to get a quick cup of coffee.

“Hey, David, how are you?” one of the senior partners at the firm asks you.

“Good, thank you, Dr. Greer,” you reply. You’ve really been wanting to make a connection with the senior leadership at the firm, and this seems like a great opportunity. But as you start to think of something to say, your American colleague breaks in to steal your spotlight.

“So Arnold”, your colleague says to your boss, in such a casual manner that it makes your German soul cringe(畏缩), “So what’s your Super bowl prediction? I mean, you’re a Niners fan, right?”

The conversation moves on, and you walk silently back to your desk with your coffee. You know how important small talk is in the U.S., and you feel jealous of people who can do it well.

There’s nothing small about the role that small talk plays in American professional culture. People from other countries are often surprised at how important small talk is in the U.S. and how naturally and comfortably people seem to do it ------ with peers, men, women, and even with superiors. You can be the most technically skilled worker in the world, but your ability to progress in your job in the United States is highly dependent on your ability to build and maintain positive relationships with people at work. And guess what skill is critical for building and maintaining these relationships? Small talk.

What can you do if you are from another culture and want to learn to use small talk in the U.S. to build relationships and establish trust? Work hard to hone(磨练) your own version of American-style small talk. Watch how others do it. You don’t have to imitate what they do; in fact, that would likely backfire because people would see you as inauthentic(假的,不可信的). But if you can develop your own personal version, that can go a long way toward making you feel comfortable and competent．

1. The author introduces the topic of the passage by________________.

A．offering a plot

B．describing an interesting scene

C．making comparisons

D．telling a small joke

2. What do we know about German people?

A．They don’t make so much small talk．

B．They hate making small talk．

C．They usually make small talk in work breaks．

D．They are good at making small talk too．

3. What makes people from other countries surprised in American professional culture?

A．American workers’ ability to make progress．

B．American workers’ attitude towards superiors．

C．The special meaning of small talk

D．The role small talk plays in work settings．

4. What does “backfire” underlined in the last paragraph mean?

A．have a warm atmosphere

B．have the opposite effect

C．have a good result

D．have a hard time

【推荐1】Janus, the Roman god, has two faces looking in opposite directions. So does artificial intelligence (AI). On one side are the positive changes, enabling people to achieve more, far more quickly, by using technology to improve their existing skills. Look the other way, though, and there are plenty of potential pitfalls.

Like Janus, technological change may also cause disruption(混乱), but AI is likely to have a bigger impact than anything since the appearance of computers, and its consequences could be far more disruptive.

In the years ahead, AI will raise three big questions for bosses and governments. One is the effect on jobs. Although CEOs publicly praise the broad benefits AI will bring, their main interest lies in cutting costs. One European bank asked Infosys to find a way of reducing the staff in its operations department from 50,000 to 500. The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that by 2030 up to 375m people, or 14% of the global workforce, could have their jobs replaced by AI.

A second important question is how to protect privacy as AI spreads. The internet has already made it possible to track people’s digital behavior in minute detail. AI will offer even better tools for businesses to monitor consumers and employees, both online and in the physical world. Consumers are sometimes happy to go along with this if it results in personalised service or promotions. But AI is bound to bring invasion of privacy that is seen as unacceptable. For example, law-enforcement officials around the world will use AI to spot criminals, but may also monitor ordinary citizens.

The third question is about the effect of AI on competition in business. A technology company that achieves a major breakthrough in artificial intelligence could race ahead of rivals, put others out of business and lessen competition. This is unlikely to happen in the near future, but if it did it would be of great concern.

It is too early to tell whether the positive changes brought by AI will outweigh the risk. But it will put an end to traditional ways of doing things and start a new era for business and for the world at large.

1. Janus is mentioned to .

A．introduce the topic	B．praise the Roman god
C．tell its difference	D．support AI

2. The underlined word “pitfalls” in paragraph 1 is probably means .

A．consequences

B．risks

C．effects

D．benefits

3. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．AI is a double-edged sword.

B．People show great concern about AI.

C．privacy is threatened by AI.

D．AI will enjoy a bright future.

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards AI?

A．Objective.

B．Positive.

C．Worried.

D．Subjective.

【推荐2】The Google Brain team has been working on computing systems called “neural networks”—systems that were designed based on how neurons work in the human brain.

This time, they gave a mission to three of the neural networks, which they named Alice, Bob and Eve. Each of the networks had its own job—Alice sent messages to Bob, Eve tried to “eavesdrop”(偷听) and find out the messages, and Alice and Bob had to figure out a way to hide the messages from Eve. All the help that Alice and Bob got from the researchers before the mission began was made up of a set of numbers, which Eve didn’t have access                    to.

At first, Alice was not very good at sending secret messages. But slowly it worked on a way to encrypt(加密) them—putting information into a special code so that others could not understand it if they got the information—using he numbers given by researchers. And after practice, Bob also came to be able to decrypt(解密) Alice’s messages. Without the numbers or keys, Eve failed to understand Alice’s “speech” most of the time.

This test is considered a big step in the development of computers’ learning skills. “Computing with neural networks on this scale has only become possible in the last few years, so we truly are at the beginning of what’s possible, ” Joe Sturonas of US encryption company PKWARE told New Scientist magazine.

Unfortunately, the test happened only one week after UK physicist Stephen Hawking, While speaking at Cambridge University, warned how AI(artificial intelligence)could develop a will of its own. This could be “either the best or the worst thing ever to happen to human being”, he said.

But just as Sturonas pointed out, no matter what the possibilities of computers are in the future, they are just starting out. We still have plenty of time to work out a solution before they get anywhere near becoming a threat to humanity.

1. For what purpose was the test conducted?

A．To study how neurons work in the human brain.

B．To study how computing systems work and learn.

C．To find out a more effective way to keep secrets.

D．To find out a more powerful way to break the codes.

2. How does the computing system work in the test?

A．encrypting—messages—code—messages—decrypting

B．messages—encrypting—code—decrypting—messages

C．code—messages—encrypt—decrypting—messages

D．messages—code—decrypting—encrypting—messages

3. What can we learn from Hawking’s warning?

A．AI must be a blessing.	B．AI should be forbidden.
C．AI is sure to be a failure.	D．AI is a double-edged sword.

4. What’s Sturonas attitude towards the development of AI?

A．Hopeful.	B．Doubtful.
C．Puzzled.	D．Panicked.

【推荐3】The term “Metaverse” is the latest buzzword (流行语) to capture the tech industry’s imagination — so much so that one of the best-known internet platforms is rebranding to signal is embrace of the futuristic idea.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that he’s changing his company’s name to Meta Platforms Inc. might be the biggest thing to happen to the metaverse since science fiction writer Neal Stephenson coined the term for his 1992 novel “Snow Crash”. But Zuckerberg and his team are hardly the only tech visionaries with ideas on how the metaverse, which will employ a mix of virtual reality and other technologies, should take shape.

What is the metaverse? Zuckerberg has described it as a “virtual environment” you can go inside of — instead of just looking at on a screen. Essentially, it’s a world of endless, interconnected virtual communities where people can meet, work and play, using virtual reality headsets and glasses, smartphone or other devices. The metaverse also could be a game -changer for the work-from-home shift amid the coronavirus pandemic. Instead of seeing co-workers on a video call, employees could join them in a virtual office.

Zuckerberg’s embrace of the metaverse in some ways goes against a central tenet (信条) of its biggest enthusiasts(狂热粉丝). They consider the metaverse as online culture’s liberation from tech platforms like Facebook that assumed ownership of people’s accounts, photos, posts and traded off what they collected from that data. “We want to be able to move around the Internet with ease, but we also want to be able to move around the Internet in a way we’re not tracked and monitored," said Steve Jang, who focuses on cryptocurrency (数字货币) technology. There is a growing concern about Facebook trying to lead the way into a virtual world that could require even more personal data and offer greater potential for abuse and misinformation when it hasn’t fixed those problems in its current platforms.

1. Why is Zuckerberg changing the name of his company?

A．Because he plans to quit his present business.

B．Because he has founded the metaverse.

C．Because he will participate in the metaverse.

D．Because he wants to draw public attention.

2. What can people do in the Metaverse?

A．Do everything in the real world.

B．Have meetings in the virtual office.

C．Defeat the pandemic.

D．See co-workers on a video-call.

3. What can be inferred about the central belief of Metaverse fans?

A．Users should be responsible for their personal data.

B．Cryptocurrency technology should be monitored.

C．Tech platforms should possess users’ data.

D．The Metaverse should be tracked.

4. What do some people think of Zuckerberg’ s decision?

A．Facebook will gain people’s trust.

B．Facebook may not abuse information.

C．Facebook may not play a good leading role.

D．Facebook will make the Internet a better world.

【推荐1】When prehistoric man arrived in new parts of the world, something strange happened to the large animals. They suddenly became extinct. Smaller species survived. The large, slow-growing animals were easy game, and were quickly hunted to extinction. Now something similar could be happening in the oceans.

That the seas are being overfished has been known for years. What researchers such as Ransom Myers and Boris Worm have shown is just how fast things are changing. They have looked at half a century of data from fisheries around the world. Their methods do not attempt to estimate the actual biomass (the amount of living biological matter) of fish species in particular parts of the ocean, but rather changes in that biomass over time. According to their latest paper published in Nature, the biomass of large predators (animals that kill and eat other animals) in a new fishery is reduced on average by 80% within 15 years of the start of exploitation. In some long-fished areas, it has halved again since then.

Dr. Worm acknowledges that the figures are conservative. One reason for this is that fishing technology has improved. Today's vessels (船)can find their prey using satellites and sonar, which were not available 50 years ago. That means a higher proportion of what is in the sea is being caught, so the real difference between present and past is likely to be worse than the one recorded by changes in catch sizes. In the early days, too, longlines (多钩长线) would have been more filled with fish. Some individuals would therefore not have been caught, since no baited hooks (带饵钩)would have been available to trap them, leading to an underestimate of fish stocks in the past. Furthermore, in the early days of longline fishing, a lot of fish were lost to sharks after they had been hooked. That is no longer a problem, because there are fewer sharks around now。

Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm argue that their work gives a correct baseline, which future management efforts must take into account. They believe the data support an idea current among marine biologists, that of the “shifting baseline". The idea is that people have failed to detect the massive changes which have happened in the ocean because they have been looking back only a relatively short time into the past. That matters because theory suggests that the maximum sustainable yield （产量）that can be cropped from a fishery comes when the biomass of a target species is about 50% of its original levels。. Most fisheries are well below that, which is a bad way to do business.

1. The extinction of large prehistoric animals is noted to suggest that____.

A．large animals were easily hurt in the changing environment

B．small species survived as large animals disappeared

C．large sea animals may face the same threat today

D．slow-growing fish outlive fast-growing ones

2. By saying these figures are conservative , Dr. Worm means that____ .

A．fishing technology has improved rapidly

B．the catch-sizes are actually smaller than recorded

C．the marine biomass has suffered a greater loss

D．the data collected so far are out of date

3. Dr. Myers and other researchers hold that____ .

A．people should look for a baseline that can't work for a longer time

B．fisheries should keep the yield below 50% of the biomass

C．the ocean biomass should restore its original level

D．people should adjust the fishing baseline to changing situation

4. The writer seems to be mainly concerned with most fisheries’____ .

A．biomass level	B．management efficiency
C．catch-size limits	D．technological application

【推荐2】Slang(俚语) is very informal language which is often used by young people. It’s hard to keep up to date with it as new words and phrases appear and evolve (发展). Living in a multicultural society has an effect on language, especially on the young, whose friends are often from a mix of backgrounds. TV and music also have a big impact. A complete list of slang is difficult to make; by the time it was finished, the list would be out of date. However, here are a few examples:

Safe, sorted, sound, cool or wicked all mean “That’s good” or “I understand”.

Instead of using different tag questions (附加疑问句) like “… isn’t it?”, “… can’t you?” or “… don’t they?”, people use “innit”.

For example, “He can dance really well, innit!” (= He can dance really well, can’t he?) or “They always say that, innit.” (= They always say that, don’t they?)

Instead of saying “very”, “really” or “completely” use “well”, for example, “I’m well tired” or “You got it well wrong!”

“Whatever” means “I don’t care”, for example, A: “But the teacher says we can’t leave until we’ve finished.” B: “Whatever. I’m going.”

“He’s fine” or “he’s fit” both mean “He’s good-looking”. Fine and fit can describe a boy or a girl.

Not everybody uses slang and not everybody likes it. A school in the north of England recently told its pupils to stop using slang words such as “hiya” (hello), “cheers” and “ta” (both mean “thank you”) if they wanted to get a place at university or a good job.

When British people use language like this, it’s no surprise that some say they can’t understand native speakers. But perhaps learners don’t need to worry so much. Research shows that most of the English spoken around the world today is between non-native speakers of the language.

So, how important is it to understand these slang words and expressions? If you watch films or TV in English, read magazines in English, chat online in English or are interested in English song lyrics, then understanding slang can be very useful. You probably won’t see much slang in your English examination, though.

1. Why is it hard to make a complete list of slang, according to the article?

A．Because many slang words are outdated.

B．Because it is mostly used by young people.

C．Because modern slang changes very quickly.

D．Because it comes from different cultural backgrounds.

2. What can we learn about slang from the text?

A．It prevents language from evolving.

B．It is also spread through TV and music.

C．It is more popular in the UK than in the US.

D．It has found its way into formal written English.

3. What can we conclude from the text?

A．Knowing little slang doesn’t greatly affect how one communicates.

B．Many UK schools are encouraging students to use slang.

C．It is essential for English learners to study some British slang.

D．More English is spoken by native speakers than by non-native speakers.

【推荐3】A 2018 report found that food waste would increase by a third to 2. 1billion tons by 2030. Beyond the cost of the waste itself，thrown-away food generates a gas that contributes to climate change.

Home delivery meal kits(盒)can reduce food waste by more than two-thirds，but suppliers need to switch to reusable packaging to make them environmentally friendly.

Tailor-made meal kits cut waste by providing people with precise amounts of fresh ingredients(烹饪原料)for chosen recipes，meaning leftovers are minimized. But while the   delivery services score well on reducing food waste，buying the same food ingredients from the supermarket almost always saves energy overall simply because meal kits use so much single-use packaging. The good news is that if people have meals that are tailored for consumption，they won’t overbuy and have less food waste. They fine-tune the amount of food to what they will actually eat.

Meal kits can reduce transport emissions(排放)if people go to the supermarket less   frequently. If people only go and buy such goods as soap and toilet paper，they may only have to visit once every couple of months. A delivery truck can carry meals for a lot of people in the neighborhood. So dozens of car trips might be replaced with one truck trip.

However，study found that even if delivery meal kits reduced food waste to zero，they would still use up more energy overall than buying the same food from the supermarket unless the energy used for the meal kit packaging was cut by a fifth. The packaging is a killer if it’s single-use and thrown away，which can make all the environmental benefits lost. But if the packaging can be reused，if it’s glass bottles，like in the old days，we can get some benefits.

1. What can we learn about home delivery meal kits?

A．They can cut down on daily expenses.

B．They will totally solve the problem of food waste.

C．They can keep energy consumption to a minimum.

D．They will benefit the environment with reusable packaging.

2. What does the underlined word“fine-tune”in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Attach.	B．Adjust.
C．Raise.	D．Compare.

3. The author suggests carrying meals with a delivery truck to__________.

A．reduce transport emissions	B．save more food
C．shop only in the supermarket	D．shorten car trip distances

4. What’s the author’s attitude to meal kits?

A．Supportive.	B．Unfavorable.
C．Objective.	D．Indifferent.

【推荐1】Alibaba co-founder and chairman Jack Ma on Monday announced in an open letter that he would step down, with the company CEO Daniel Zhang taking over as the chairman of the board. Zhang, is known as a key architect of Alibaba’s “Singles Day”, the Nov. 11 event that has become the world’s largest online shopping event. In the letter entitled “Happy Teachers’ Day,” Ma said he would retire as the chairman of the board on Sept. 10, 2019. Ma said he would work closely with Zhang to ensure a smooth transition and stay on the Alibaba board of directors until the annual shareholders meeting in two years. After he steps down, he will continue to be part of the “Alibaba Partnership”, which has the ability to nominate the majority of directors on the company’s board. He also wants to return to education and charity, which gives him excitement and blessings.

“There’s only Bill Gates who has done the same. No other tech founder in the world has just resigned like that at the top,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, which publishes an annual influential list of China’s richest people. Hoogewerf added that in China, Ma was a figure like no other, with friends ranging from movie stars to billionaires, though he often outshone them all. “He’s the big one, he’s the one that brings them together.”

The company was founded at a time when the industry was still dominated by state-owned firms and entrepreneurship was seen as a risky career path. Alibaba, previously recognized as an on-line shopping company, also has investments in sports content, microchips and facial recognition technology and has been positioning itself as a serious player in cloud computing. Mr. Ma said in the letter, “The one thing I can promise everyone is this: Alibaba was never about Jack Ma, but Jack Ma will forever belong to Alibaba.”

1. What do we learn about Abibaba from this passage?

A．It was founded by Jack Ma alone.

B．It is nothing more than an on-line shopping company.

C．It was founded at the time when private-owned firms was in a minority.

D．Its shareholders meeting holds twice a year.

2. What can we infer from paragraph 2?

A．Hoogewerf speaks highly of Jack Ma’s firm.

B．Bill Gates and Jack Ma have a lot in common.

C．Other than stars and billionaires, Jack Ma makes few friends.

D．Jack Ma is an influential person to unite his friends.

3. Jack Ma will do the following things after stepping down except________.

A．Helping people in need.

B．Ensuring the company’s transition.

C．Education career.

D．Suggesting candidates for the board.

4. What’s the best title for this passage?

A．The Brief Introduction of Jack Ma

B．Daniel Zhang to Take Over Alibaba

C．Alibaba’s Development

D．Jack Ma to Step Down as Alibaba’s Head

【推荐2】A friend of mine, in response to a conversation we were having about the injustices of life, asked me the question, “Who said life was going to be fair, or that it was even meant to be fair?” Her question was a good one. It reminded me of something I was taught as a youngster: life isn’t fair. It’s a disappointment, but it’s absolutely true. One of the mistakes many of us make is that we feel sorry for ourselves, or for others, thinking that life should be fair, or that someday it will be. It’s not and it won’t be.

One of the nice things about surrendering (屈从) to the fact that life isn’t fair is that it keeps us from feeling sorry for ourselves by encouraging us to do the very best we can with what we have. We know it’s not “life’s job” to make everything perfect, it’s our own challenge. Surrendering to this fact also keeps us from feeling sorry for others because we are reminded that everyone is dealt in different hand; everyone has unique strengths and problems in the process of growing up, facing the reality and making decisions; and everyone has those times that they feel unfairly treated.

The fact that life isn’t fair doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do everything in our power to improve our own lives or the world as a whole. To the contrary, it suggests that we should. When we don’t recognize or admit that life isn’t fair, we tend to feel pity for others and for ourselves. Pity, of course, is a self-defeating emotion that does nothing for anyone, except to make everyone feel worse than they already do. When we do recognize that life isn’t fair, however, we feel sympathy for others and for ourselves. And sympathy is a heartfelt emotion that delivers loving-kindness to everyone it touches. The next time you find yourself thinking about the injustices of the world, try reminding yourself of this very basic fact. You may be surprised that it can make you out of self-pity and into helpful action.

1. The writer may agree with the fact that ________.

A．life is meant to be fair	B．people feel sorry only for ourselves
C．life isn’t fair	D．someday life will be fair

2. What makes everything perfect?

A．Our own challenge.	B．Unique strengths.
C．Unfair treatment.	D．Our duty.

3. Facing the fact, people are advised to ________.

A．feel pity for others and for themselves

B．make brave decisions

C．do everything in their power to improve their lives

D．give up their unique strengths

4. In the last paragraph, the underlined word “it” refers to ________.

A．justices of the world	B．this very basic fact
C．loving-kindness	D．self-defeating emotion

【推荐3】“Whatever”，totally tops most annoying word in the poll(民意测验).So, you know, it is what it is, but Americans are totally annoyed by the use of “whatever，，in conversations. The popular term of indifference(不感兴趣)was found most annoying in conversations by 47 percent of the Americans surveyed in a Marist College poll on Wednesday.
"Whatever" easily beat out “you know," which especially annoyed a quarter of interviewers. The other annoying expressions were "anyway"(at 7 percent), “it is what it is’，(11percent) and “at the end of the day”(2 percent).
"Whatever" is an expression with staying power. It left everyone a deep impression in the song by Nirvana (“oh well, whatever, never mind”）in 1991 and was popularized by the Valley Girls in the film “Clueless”，later that decade. It is still commonly used, often by younger people.
It can be a common argument-ender or a signal of indifference. And it can really be annoying. The poll found '"whatever" to be consistently(始终地)disliked by Americans regardless of their race, sex, age, income or where they live.
“It doesn't surprise me because ‘whatever，is in a special class, probably，，，said Michael Adams, author of “Slang(俚语)~The People's Poetry" and an associate professor of English at Indiana University. "It's a word that 一 and it depends on how a speaker uses it 一 can suggest being not worthy of attention or respect.’，Adams, who didn't take part in the poll and is not annoyed by "whatever," points out that its use is not always negative. “It can also be used in place of other neutral(中性的）phrases that have fallen out of favor, like ‘six of one, half dozen of the other，.” he said. However, he also noted that the negative meaning of the word might explain why “whatever，was judged more annoying than the ever-popular "you know”.
1. Which tops second among the annoying expression according to the passage?'

A．Whatever.

B．You know.

C．Anyway.

D．It is what it is.

2. What can we know about the word "whatever"?

A．It became popular because of Nirvana.

B．It can be commonly used at the beginning of an agreement.

C．Old people like it while young people don't.

D．Almost half of the Americans surveyed disliked it.

3. In Adams' opinion, the reason why “whatever”，was judged more annoying may be that     . _______

A．most of the people don't like it

B．it can be used in place of other neutral phrases

C．it carries certain negative meaning sometimes

D．the poor don't like it

4. Which of the following statements is true?

A．Adams is not only a writer but also a professor.

B．“Whatever” is a signal of concern.

C．Adams is angry at the word “whatever”

D．"Whatever" will be replaced by "You know”.