1 . People living in the country enjoy several advantages that people living in the city can not enjoy. They are in close contact with nature. They make friends with trees and stones, cows and dogs. They listen to the songs of birds.
This contact with nature is good for people’s health. There are many diseases that are common in the city, but may not be found in the country. For example, nearsightedness(近视) is almost unknown to country people.
Because of the absence of cars, one can walk more freely in the country than in the city. There are no rules of the road nor traffic signs to obey.
People living in the country can easily get fresh vegetables, fresh fruit and fresh milk. And they get them at lower prices than in the city.
Country people are mostly honest. They say what they mean, and make and keep promises with sincerity. They do not put on air. They do not pretend to have those ridiculous manners which are necessary in what we call polite society.
1. What can’t country people often enjoy ________| A．Musical concerts. | B．Fresh air. | C．Songs of birds. | D．Close contact with nature. |
| A．Vegetables. | B．Beer. |
| C．Milk. | D．Fruit. |
| A．The traffic accident rate is very high. |
| B．Living in the country saves one a lot of money. |
| C．Country people enjoy better heath than city people. |
| D．Country people are usually honest to one another. |
| A．The Disadvantages of Living in the Country. |
| B．Expenses of Living in the Country. |
| C．Healthy Country People. |
| D．Country Life. |
2 . The Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League（联盟） in America every year. The champion of the National Football Conference（NFC）competes against the champion of the American Football Conference（AFC）（体系）to decide which is the best team in the country. Super Bowl is far more than a sporting event. The mix of America’s biggest institutions (体系):sports, TV, advertising and entertainment makes the Super Bowl an American cultural phenomenon.
The Super Bowl is usually held on the last Sunday of January or the first Sunday of February. That day is called Super Bowl Sunday. For years, it has been the most watched one-day sporting event in the US and it gradually has become an unofficial national holiday. The average viewing rate of Super Bowl reached to 44. 9 percent in 2019.
Super Bowl Sunday sees more parties than any other day during the year. Young people are no exception to the party spirit. They gather to watch the game on TV. The Super Bowl is the third biggest eating day in America—behind Christmas and Thanksgiving. Fans host Super Bowl parties by filling their living rooms with junk food and drinks. Guests may arrive dressed in their team’s T-shirt and carrying beer to share.
Knowing that the Super Bowl has the attention of millions of Americans, companies pay big money for game-time advertising. In 2019, the advertising cost set a record-＄5. 3 million for 30 seconds. The Super Bowl has developed to a TV selling season sandwiched between after﹣Christmas sales and Valentine’s Day.
Another tradition of the Super Bowl is the Halftime Show, which presents at the half time break between the second and third quarters. The Super Bowl Halftime Show is the most-watched musical event of the year. So it is also called the Americans’ Spring Festival Gala. Non﹣football fans tune （调台） in to the Super Bowl for the most famous musicians’ performances during halftime. As the top performers, Travis Scott and Big Boy gave impressive live show for the audience in the Super Bowl Halftime Show 2019. The show represents a link between American football and pop culture and helps broaden the television audience and nationwide interest.
Americans view the Super Bowl as a National Day of revelry （狂欢）. Although people may watch it for different reasons, there is one thing for sure—they can find their own pleasure in it.
1. What is the Super Bowl?2. When is the Super Bowl usually held?
3. How do fans usually host Super Bowl parties?
4. Why is the Halftime Show called as the Americans’ Spring Festival Gala?
5. What makes the Super Bowl more than just sport?
3 . Are You Right Handed or Left Handed?
Which hand do you use when you write? About 8 to 15 percent of people are left-handed. They often have to use tools that are designed for right-handed people. So it is difficult for left handers to use most tools. If you are right-handed, try this experiment: Take a knife with your left hand and try cutting a potato into pieces. Don’t be surprised if you feel awkward（别扭的）.
In the past, people thought it was strange to use the left hand. Young students looked down upon their left-handed classmates. Some children were even punished for using their left hands to write. But these days parents and teachers have accepted that. In almost every school in the world, left-handed students can use their left hands to write.
What causes people to be left-handed or right- handed? Experts have searched long and hard on this. They conclude that left-handed people are left handed for the same reason that right-handed people are right handed. One out of every ten people just is a lef-hander. It’s simply like the color of our eyes—some people have brown eyes, while some others have black eyes.
However, many researchers think that left-handers and right-handers are different in some aspects. Right-handers are more talkative and outgoing than left-handers. Many right-handed people understand spoken words better. For example, after they listen to directions to a supermarket, they can find it easily. Right-handers are good at organizing people, too. They are also better basketball guards. Just ask Yao Ming.
Research shows that left-handers are creative and artistic. Many famous performers, like Jim Carrey and Paul McCartney, are left handed, Many left-handers learn better visually（在视觉方面）. In art, both Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were left-handed. In music, Ludwig van Beethoven was left handed. In science, you find Newton and Einstein. The left-handed people are also really good at tennis and other single sports.
If you prefer one hand, but you are still good at writing with the other, you are mixed. Research shows mixed-handers can remember everyday things better than other people. What did you eat for lunch two weeks ago? If you’re mixed-handed, you can probably remember.
1. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．Causes of being left handed. |
| B．Encouragement to left-handers. |
| C．Punishment for using the left hand. |
| D．Changes in opinions on left-handers. |
| A．learn better visually | B．are good organizers |
| C．are better at single sports | D．give clear directions to others |
| A．may be more talkative and outgoing |
| B．are ordinary people like right-handers |
| C．might remember everyday things better |
| D．no longer need to use right-handed tools |
4 . 3D printing is becoming more and more popular. We are now able to print things such as clothing, prosthetic limbs（假肢）, musical instruments and so on. People and businesses are able to create the things they need very quickly and easily using 3D printers.
But can you imagine printing food？Some scientists are trying to revolutionize （改革） our eating experience by doing this. They hope that having a 3D printer in the kitchen will become as usual as the microwave or blender. Scientists say that they are easy to use：you simply have to choose a recipe and put the food “inks” into the printer. You can also change the instructions to make the food exactly how you want it. This means that it would be very quick and easy to create delicious meals.
Using 3D printers to create your meals would also be saving the environment. There would be less need for traditional growing, transporting and packaging as food production would be quicker and easier. Printing food could also help people who suffer from dysphasia （吞咽障碍症）.They could program the printer to print softer versions of their favorite foods so that they would not have trouble swallowing them.
However, some people think that the future of 3D-printed food would be a disaster. It could take away many jobs, including those for growing, transporting and packaging food. Imagine a world where there was no need for farming or growing crops and the same tastes could be printed from a raw “food ink”. Similarly, traditional cafes and restaurants might lose business. Also, there are worries about the nutritional value of printed food：is it really possible to get the nutrients （营养物） we need from food—based inks and gels?
What's more, cooking and eating together with family and friends has long been a traditional and enjoyable activity. It is hard to imagine a world where the fun of cooking is dead and meals can be done at the touch of a button.
1. What should we do first if we want to print food?| A．Change the instructions. | B．Program the printer. |
| C．Choose a recipe. | D．Put food "inks" into the printer. |
| A．Saving the environment. | B．Giving people nutrients. |
| C．Helping with traditional farming | D．Offering more job chances. |
| A．Why is 3D printing so popular? |
| B．Will 3D printing be the future of food? |
| C．3D food printers in the kitchens. |
| D．Different opinions on 3D printing. |
5 . You may think that only children go to school but there are special schools for guide dogs! At school, of course, guide dogs do not learn mathematics and science like you. They learn how to help blind people. The dogs live at the school for six months and they learn about twenty words- words like “sit” and “no”. These dogs wear a special coat with a big handle on it for the blind person to hold.
Dogs can also go to school to learn how to help people who cannot hear. If a person cannot hear, we say he or she is deaf.
Dogs who help deaf people must learn many different sounds. Then they must be able to show the deaf person what is making the sound. When they hear a visitor at the door, the dog learns to walk to the deaf person and then walk to the door. And if a telephone rings, they walk to the deaf man or woman and then walk to the telephone.
These dogs can also help deaf mothers. If a baby is crying in another room, the dog walks to the mother and then to the baby. These dogs wear a yellow coat to show that they are special dogs that are helping a deaf person.
There have been many times when these dogs have saved a life. You may see in a newspaper that a dog heard a fire alarm and lay down near the deaf person’s feet. That is the sign for danger. The person knows that something is wrong and can go away from the fire.
Special dogs can also help people who are disabled in various ways. For example, dogs can pull off their gloves or socks! Think how difficult your life would be if you were blind, deaf or disabled! But if you had a special dog like this to help you, your life would be much easier.
1. Can dogs learn science in special schools?2. What do guide dogs wear when they help the blind, a special coat or special shoes?
3. What should dogs learn if we want them to help the deaf?
4. How do dogs help a deaf man if there is a fire?
5. What is the passage mainly about ?
6 . There is a famous English saying “You are what you eat”, and it means what you put in your mouth will become part of you. Many experts (专家) use it to tell people it’s important to have a good eating habit. For example, too much sweet food makes a person overweight. To avoid being fat, kids are told to keep off sweet food. However, a team of American scientists have discovered something new about eating sweet food.
“When we say some people ‘sweet’, we mean they are kind and friendly to us. Perhaps this word can help us learn more about people’s feelings and acts,” said Brian Meier, a scientist from the study team. “Taste is something we experience every day. What we have done is to find whether we can know someone’s character and behavior depending on their taste.”
In one of their experiments, college students were asked questions about their character — whether, for example, they were soft-hearted or not. Then they were asked to make a list of their favorite food. According to their answers, the scientists found that the students who liked sweet food were nicer.
In their another experiment, the scientists found that people who preferred sweet food such as cookies and chocolate were more willing to help other people in need, and those who ate non-sweet food such as chips weren’t. For example, people with a sweet tooth were more likely to volunteer to clean up their city, visit sick children in the hospital and so on.
The result of the experiments is that people’s helpfulness or being nice has something to do with their taste for sweet food. So eating sweet food is a useful way to make people nice and helpful. Next time, try some ice-cream.
1. According to the result of the experiments, sweet food can make people ________.| A．overweight | B．excited | C．relaxed | D．friendly |
| A．character and behavior has something to do with people’s taste |
| B．why some people like sweet food better than other kinds |
| C．people who like cookies and chocolate like helping others |
| D．non-sweet food eaters are not willing to volunteer to help those in need |
| A．people’s taste decides their characters and acts |
| B．sweet food makes people overweight |
| C．people with a sweet tooth are more willing to help others |
| D．people’s character has nothing to do with their taste |
7 . Have you ever heard about the “candy test?” Put a candy in front of a child and give him two choices: eat it now or wait 15 minutes and get two. According to a classic study, children able to wait for the second candy have better academic, social and health outcomes years later. Since these early experiments(特点) can predict better life outcomes. These children go on to have more educational and career success and live longer, healthier lives.
However, our new study has found another link (联系) between behavior (what people do), my teammates and I report that children who were considered as “inattentive(注意力不集中的)” by kindergarten teachers had lower earnings (money got from working), and those considered as prosocial—such as being kind, helpful and considerate—earned more.
Focusing on specific observable behavior might lead to more reliable and useful predictors of future life outcomes. My and my teammates, new study was based on analysis of nearly 3, 000 children living in Canada. For boys and girls, for boys only, ratings of quarrelling and fighting were linked with lower earnings.
Besides, our study shows that inattention may be among the most powerful early behavioral predictors of future earnings. It also shows that it is possible to find children at risk of lower future earnings based on a single teacher assessment made in kindergarten. If these children can be found out, then it may be possible to help them to change in time—for example, or by providing support or prevention programs—and thus improve their life chances.
The classic candy study failed to explain IQ and family background, which are known to influence future life success. But an important strength of our study is that it examined a range of specific childhood behavior and controlled the children’s IQ and family background (such as their parents’ education level and job), something not all studies in the past have done. In other words, but IQ and family background are much more important.
However, there is still one problem which is not solved in our study, why the behavior linked with future earnings appear to differ for men and women. The answer may, suggest different ways to help.
While the ability to wait for a couple of candies may not predict life success, other traits do seem to matter. Where earnings are concerned, kindergarteners’ ability to pay attention and the ability to be kind appear particularly important.
1. Which is true about the “candy test”?| A．Children’s love for candies is linked with their scores at school. |
| B．Children would decide to improve their skills after taking the candy test. |
| C．Most children could wait for over 15 minutes to have the second candy. |
| D．It shows that some childhood traits can predict the children’s future life outcomes. |
| A．the importance of examining children’s bad behavior |
| B．the findings of the writer and his colleagues’ study |
| C．the purpose of the writer and his colleagues’ study |
| D．the advantages of studying the children’s IQ and family background |
| A．The writer and his colleagues did research on about 3000 children from different countries. |
| B．There are few ways to change childhood behavior and improve children’s life chances. |
| C．IQ and family background are much more important for future success than the ability to wait. |
| D．The classic candy test explained how family background helps make future earnings higher. |
| A．inattentive and prosocial children have higher future earnings |
| B．most childhood behavior is associated with future life success |
| C．it is really important to develop children’s ability to pay attention and be kind |
| D．prosocial behavior was linked with higher earnings for both boys and girls |
8 . That Susan is so funny...I need to bring the car to the wash tomorrow...why is this person so loud...here comes the sun, doo-doo-doo.
We often find ourselves in an endless thought loop (圈). And every so often, we try to stop this endless flow of thoughts by telling ourselves to just stop thinking. But do we or can we ever really stop thinking?
It depends on your definition (定义) of “thinking”, according to Michael Halassa, the US. We basically go through each day in one of the two states—we either realize that we’re thinking or we don’t. Our brains won’t stop thinking completely until we die.
“The brain never stops thinking in a sense. Most thoughts are actually in the background without us noticing them and there’s not really a way to turn these things.” Halassa said.
You can compare this to how a computer works. When you aren’t using your computer while it is turned on, it is still running operations “in the background”. Your computer, much like your brain, even if you’re not actively using it.
“If you see a familiar face in a crowd and think you know them, you might not be able to come up with how you know them right away,” Halassa said. “But maybe hours later, you’ll suddenly remember. That’s a result of your brain thinking in the background.”
We even make decisions mostly unconsciously or without realizing them. For example, some of this background “thinking” results in what we call a “gut feeling (直觉)”. During our brain’s decision-making process (精确的), sometimes it’s not.
Even sitting here reading this, thinking about “thinking” is sending messages across chain of neurons (神经元) in the brain. So if we somehow manage to stop ourselves from “thinking”, the brain won’t sign off. It will continue to have thoughts—we just won’t realize them.
1. When you are in an endless thought loop, you ________.| A．can think about a problem very clearly |
| B．keep thinking about one thing after another |
| C．cannot stop thinking about things in the past |
| D．keep thinking about one thing again and again |
| A．Human brains are thinking all the time. |
| B．A computer can think like a human brain. |
| C．Human brains work faster than computers. |
| D．A computer can deal with plenty of information. |
| A．carelessly | B．unknowingly | C．fearlessly | D．undoubtfully |
| A．Will We Continue to Have Thoughts after We Die? |
| B．How Do the Neurons in the Brain Work? |
| C．What Is the Definition of “Thinking”? |
| D．Can We Ever Really Stop Thinking? |
Many of us enjoy watching animals in the world. But do you know they can teach us?
Geese（雁）, for example, teach a very good lesson about
This V shape allows geese to
During the long flying journey, geese communicate with one another. They honk（鸣叫）to
What have we learned from the lovely geese's experience and skills?
| A．experience | B．success | C．friendship | D．teamwork |
| A．look for | B．get away from | C．wait for | D．walk away from |
| A．busily | B．quickly | C．bravely | D．suddenly |
| A．save | B．waste | C．create | D．lose |
| A．in front | B．at the back | C．in the middle | D．on the left |
| A．bored | B．tired | C．hungry | D．thirsty |
| A．rest | B．sleep | C．excuse | D．result |
| A．lead | B．lift | C．teach | D．encourage |
| A．until | B．after | C．while | D．before |
| A．Play | B．Travel | C．Live | D．Work |
Feelings are difficult to deal with, especially for a 4-year-old who doesn't know why his mum won't let him eat another cookie and an 8-year-old who is unhappy that his dad got called into work and has to leave the playground early.
For parents, it's very important to begin teaching kids about their feelings as early as possible because their feelings affect every choice they make. Kids who understand their feelings are less likely to act out by getting angry or fighting with others. They can use clear sentences to express their feelings. A child who can say," I’m a little angry with you about what you did," is less likely to get into fights.
A good way to help kids deal with feelings is to set an example for them. Parents should take opportunities to share their feelings with kids in their daily life. A parent could say to the kid, "I feel sad that you don't want to share your toys with your sister. Can we talk about this a little bit?" Kids can learn to deal with unpleasant feelings from conversations like this.
Another great way to help kids learn about feelings is to discuss how different roles in TV series may feel. When watching TV a parent could stop and ask the kid, "How do you think he feels right now?" Then, discuss the feelings that person may be experiencing and the reasons.
Doing so also teaches empathy. Young children think the world centers around them, so it can be an eye-opening experience for them to learn other people have feelings too. When young children can understand other people's feelings, they are less likely to do bad tings to them. For example, if a child knows that pushing his friend to the ground may make his friend mad and sad, he will be less likely to do so.
Teaching a kid about feelings will help him become mentally（精神上）strong. Kids who have the skills to deal with their feelings will be so confident that they can handle whatever life throws their way.
1. Kids who understand their feelings are more likely to ___________.| A．get angry at others | B．fight with others |
| C．talk with clear sentences | D．argue with their parents |
| A．the ability to understand other people's feelings |
| B．the idea of the world centering around young kids |
| C．the willingness to share toys with one's best friend |
| D．the importance of fighting against difficulties in life |
| A．To explain why people have different feelings. |
| B．To advise parents to teach children about feelings. |
| C．To guide young kids to get along well with parents. |
| D．To help kids understand different roles in TV series. |
