1 . Live with roommates? Have friends and family around you? Chances are that if you’re looking to live a more sustainable lifestyle, not everyone around you will be ready to jump on that bandwagon.

I experienced this when I started switching to a zero waste lifestyle five years ago, as I was living with my parents, and I continue to experience this with my husband, as he is not completely zero waste like me. I’ve learned a few things along the way though, which I hope you’ll find encouraging if you’re doing your best to figure out how you can make the change in a not-always-supportive household.

Zero waste was a radical lifestyle movement a few years back. I remember showing my parents a video of Bea Johnson, sharing how cool I thought it would be to buy groceries with jars, and have so little trash! A few days later, I came back with my first jars of zero waste groceries, and my dad commented on how silly it was for me to carry jars everywhere. It came off as a bit discouraging.

Yet as the months of reducing waste continued, I did what I could that was within my own reach. I had my own bedroom, so I worked on removing things I didn’t need. Since I had my own toiletries (洗漱用品), I was able to start personalising my routine to be more sustainable. I also offered to cook every so often, so I portioned out a bit of the cupboard for my own zero waste groceries. Perhaps your household won’t entirely make the switch, but you may have some control over your own personal spaces to make the changes you desire.

As you make your lifestyle changes, you may find yourself wanting to speak up for yourself if others comment on what you’re doing, which can turn itself into a whole household debate. If you have individuals who are not on board, your words probably won’t do much and can often leave you feeling more discouraged.

So here is my advice: Lead by action.

1. What do the underlined words “jump on that bandwagon” mean in the first paragraph?

A．Share an apartment with you.	B．Join you in what you’re doing.
C．Transform your way of living.	D．Help you to make the decision.

2. What was the attitude of the author’s father toward buying groceries with jars?

A．He disapproved of it.	B．He was favorable to it.
C．He was tolerant of it.	D．He didn’t care about it.

3. What can we infer about the author?

A．She is quite good at cooking.	B．She respects others’ privacy.
C．She enjoys being a housewife.	D．She is a determined person.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．How to get on well with other family members.

B．How to have one’s own personal space at home.

C．How to live a zero waste lifestyle in a household.

D．How to control the budget when buying groceries.

3 . When I was in sixth grade, I joined the band program to learn to play the clarinet (单簧管). The beginning of the year had gone _________. But as most students progressed, I seemed to fall behind. One day, when my teacher told us to play in front of the other students, I was filled with fear. I knew I would _________. When I began to play, my rhythms (节奏) were good, but my tone was another _________. “Did you practice your lesson?” the teacher barked at me. I felt so _________ and my world came _________ down in an instant.

From then on, I hated playing the clarinet and I kept getting _________. With the day of the new performance approaching, I grew increasingly upset. In a moment of _________, I asked for sick leave. It was so relieving and such a(n) _________ way out.

The avoidance of my lessons continued until my mum asked me about it. “I want to quit.” My tears started _________. “If you really want to quit, why are you crying?” asked mum. She __________ and I realized I wanted to stay in band and, by not facing my fears, I had created a black hole that would be difficult to __________ out of. I made a __________ not to hide from my fears and to stand up to even the worst of them, so a __________ could be achieved.

The next day I met with my band teacher and told her I was having a problem and couldn’t __________ why. She asked me gently to play for her. I tried, but only an unpleasant sound came out. She didn’t __________ at me and handed me a new reed (簧片). I put it in place and tried again. To my great __________ I could play well. My problem was solved and my fear was __________ a lot that year.

__________ I’m glad that I overcame my fear. Fear can __________ everything in a person’s life. Hiding from those very fears only creates a hole, which makes a person stay __________ inside. After facing up to a fear, one may find life easier and much more enjoyable.

1.

A．badly

B．endlessly

C．randomly

D．smoothly

2.

A．mess up

B．move on

C．set out

D．take off

3.

A．impression

B．essay

C．story

D．factor

4.

A．ashamed

B．starved

C．excited

D．relaxed

5.

A．crashing

B．moving

C．selling

D．bending

6.

A．stricter

B．worse

C．happier

D．smarter

7.

A．joy

B．panic

C．doubt

D．sympathy

8.

A．funny

B．important

C．easy

D．traditional

9.

A．drying

B．disappearing

C．flowing

D．separating

10.

A．had a point

B．made a change

C．reached a level

D．took a break

11.

A．send

B．bring

C．pick

D．climb

12.

A．request

B．resolution

C．presentation

D．proposal

13.

A．balance

B．degree

C．position

D．solution

14.

A．figure out

B．give away

C．think over

D．make up

15.

A．aim

B．smile

C．wave

D．shout

16.

A．anger

B．sorrow

C．disappointment

D．surprise

17.

A．felt

B．shown

C．removed

D．voiced

18.

A．Carrying on

B．Looking back

C．Stepping aside

D．Turning around

19.

A．consume

B．examine

C．reflect

D．rescue

20.

A．unknown

B．unpunished

C．interested

D．trapped

5 . The benefits of regular exercise are well documented but there’s a new bonus to add to the ever-growing list. New researchers found that middle-aged women who were physically fit could be nearly 90 percent less likely to develop dementia in later life, and as they did, it came on a decade later than less sporty women.

Lead researcher Dr. Helena Horder, of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, said : "These findings are exciting because it’s possible that improving people's cardiovascular （心血管的）fitness in middle age could delay or even prevent them from developing dementia. "

For the study, 191 women with an average age of 50 took a bicycle exercise test until they were exhausted to measure their peak （最大值的） cardiovascular capacity. The average peak workload was measured at 103 watts.

A total of 40 women met the criteria for a high fitness level, or 120 watts or higher. A total of 92 women were in the medium fitness category; and 59 women were in the low fitness category, defined as a peak workload of 80 watts or less, or having their exercise tests stopped because of high blood pressure, chest pain or other cardiovascular problems.

These women were then tested for dementia six times over the following four decades. During that time, 44 of the women developed dementia. Five percent of the highly fit women developed dementia, compared to 25 percent of the women with medium fitness and 32 percent of the women with low fitness.

"However, this study does not show cause and effect between cardiovascular fitness and dementia, it only shows an association. More research is needed to see if improved fitness could have a positive effect on the risk of dementia and also to look at when during a lifetime a high fitness level is most important. " She also admitted that a relatively small number of women were studied, all of whom were form Sweden, so the results might not be applicable to other groups.

1. What is on the ever-growing list mentioned in the first paragraph?

A．Positive effects of doing exercises.

B．Exercises suitable for the middle-aged.

C．Experimental studies on diseases.

D．Advantages of sporty woman over man

2. Why did the researchers ask the women to do bicycle exercise?

A．To predict their maximum heart rate.

B．To assess their cardiovascular capacity

C．To change their habits of working out

D．To detect their potential health problems

3. What do we know about Dr Horder's study?

A．It aimed to find a cure for dementia.

B．Data collection was a lengthy process.

C．Some participants withdrew from it.

D．The results were far from satisfactory.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A．More Women Are Exercising to Prevent Dementia

B．Middle-Aged Women Need to Do More Exercise

C．Fit Women Are Less Likely to Develop Dementia

D．Biking Improves Women's Cardiovascular Fitness

6 . I’m an 18-year-old pre-medical student, tall and good-looking, with two short story books and quite a number of essays to my credit. Why am I singing such praises of myself? Just to explain that the attainment of self-pride comes from a great deal of self-love, and to attain it, one must first learn to accept oneself as one is. That was where my struggle began.

Born and raised in Africa，I had always taken my African origin as burden. My self-dislike was further fueled when my family had to relocate to Norway, where I attended a high school. Compared to all the white girls around me, with their golden hair and delicate lips, I ,a black girl, had curly hair and full, red lips. My nose often had a thin sheet of sweat on it, whatever the weather was. I just wanted to bury myself in my shell crying “I’m so different!”

What also contributed to my self-dislike was my occasional stuttering (口吃), which had weakened my self-confidence. It always stood between me and any fine opportunity. I’d taken it as an excuse to avoid any public speaking sessions, and unknowingly let it rule over me.

Fortunately, as I grew older, there came a turning point. One day a white girl caught my eye on the school bus when she suddenly turned back. To my astonishment, she had a thin sheet of sweat on her nose too, and it was in November! “Wow,” I whispered to myself, “this isn’t a genetic(遗传的) disorder after all. It’s perfectly normal.” Days later, my life took an-other twist(转折). Searching the internet for stuttering cures, I accidentally learned that such famous people as Isaac Newton and Winston Churchill also stuttered. I was greatly relieved and then an idea suddenly hit me—if I’m smart, I shouldn’t allow my stuttering to stand between me and my success.

Another boost to my self-confidence came days later as I was watching the news about Oprah Winfrey, the famous talk show host and writer—she’s black too! Whenever I think of her story and my former dislike of my color, I’m practically filled with shame.

Today, I’ve grown to accept what I am with pride; it simply gives me feeling of uniqueness. The idea of self-love has taken on a whole new meaning for me: there’s always something fantastic about us, and what we need to do is learn to appreciate it.

1. What affected the author’s adjustment to her school life in Norway？

A．Her appearance

B．Social discrimination.

C．Her changing emotions.

D．The climate in Norway.

2. What did the author’s occasional stuttering bring about according on Paragraph 3?

A．Her lack of self-confidence.

B．Her loss of interest in school.

C．Her unwillingness to greet her classmates.

D．Her desire for chances to improve herself.

3. How did the author feel on noticing the similarity between her and the girl on the bus?

A．Blessed and proud.

B．Confused and afraid.

C．Amazed and relieved.

D．Shocked and ashamed.

4. What lesson did the author learn from the cases of Newton and Churchill?

A．Great minds speak alike.

B．Stuttering is no barrier to success.

C．Wisdom counts more than hard work.

D．Famous people can’t live with their weaknesses.

5. What can best summarize the message contained in the passage?

A．Pride comes before a fall.

B．Where there is a will, there is a way.

C．Self-acceptance is based on the love for oneself.

D．Self-love is key to the attainment of self-pride.

7 . For nearly a decade now, Merebeth has been a self-employed pet transport specialist. Her pet transport job was born of the financial crisis(危机)in the late 2000s. The downturn hit the real estate (房地产)firm where she had worked for ten years as an office manager. The firm went broke and left her looking for a new job. One day, while driving near her home, she saw a dog wandering on the road, clearly lost. She took it home, and her sister in Denver agreed to take it. This was a loving home for sure, but 1, 600 miles away. It didn’t take long for Merebeth to decide to drive the dog there herself. It was her first road trip to her new job.

Merebeth’s pet delivery service also satisfies her wanderlust. It has taken her to every state in the US except Montana, Washington and Oregon, she says proudly. If she wants to visit a new place, she will simply find a pet with transport needs there. She travels in all weathers. She has driven through 55 mph winds in Wyoming, heavy flooding and storms in Alabama and total whiteout conditions in Kansas.

This wanderlust is inherited from her father, she says. She moved their family from Canada to California when she was one year old, because he wanted them to explore a new place together. As soon as she graduated from high school she left home to live on Catalina Island off the Californian coast, away from her parents, where she enjoyed a life of sailing and off-road biking.

It turns out that pet transporting pays quite well at about $30, 000 per year before tax. She doesn’t work in summer, as it would be unpleasantly hot for the animals in the car, even with air conditioning. As autumn comes, she gets restless—the same old wanderlust returning. It’s a call she must heed alone, though. Merebeth says, “When I am on the road, I’m just in my own world. I’ve always been independent-spirited and I just feel strongly that I must help animals.”

1. Why did Merebeth changed her job?

A．She wanted to work near her home.

B．She was tired of working in the office.

C．Her sister asked her to move to Denver.

D．Her former employer was out of business.

2. The word “wanderlust” in paragraph 2 means a desire to _________?

A．make money.	B．try various jobs.
C．be close to nature.	D．travel to different places.

3. What can we learn about Merebeth in her new job?

A．She has chances to see rare animals.

B．She works hard throughout the year.

C．She relies on herself the whole time.

D．She earns a basic and tax-free salary.

8 . Ralph Emerson once said that the purpose of life is not to be happy, but to be useful, to be loving, to make some difference in he world. While we appreciate such words of wisdom, we rarely try to follow them in our lives.

Most people prefer to live a good life themselves, ignoring their responsibilities for the world. This narrow perception of a good life may provide short-term benefits, but is sure to lead to long-term harm and suffering. A good life based on comfort and luxury may eventually lead to more pain be-cause we spoil our health and even our character, principles, ideals, and relationships.

What then, is the secret of a good life? A good life is a process, not a state of being : a direction, not a destination. We have to earn a good life by first serving others without any expectation in return because their happiness is the very source of our own happiness. More importantly, we must know ourselves inside out. Only when we examine ourselves deeply can we discover our abilities and recognize our limitations, and then work accordingly to create a better world.

The first requirement for a good life is having a loving heart. When we do certain right things merely as a duty, we find our job so tiresome that we’ll soon burn out. However, when we do that same job out of love, we not only enjoy what we do, but also do it with an effortless feeling.

However, love alone is insufficient to lead a good life. Love sometimes blinds us to the reality. Consequently, our good intentions may not lead to good results. To achieve desired outcome, those who want to do good to others also need to equip themselves with accurate world knowledge. False knowledge is more dangerous than ignorance. If love is the engine of a car knowledge is the steering wheel(方向盘). If the engine lacks power, the car can’t move; if the driver loses control of the steering, a road accident probably occurs. Only with love in heart and the right knowledge in mind can we lead a good life.

With love and knowledge, we go all out to create a better world by doing good to others. When we see the impact of our good work on the world we give meaning to our life and earn lasting joy and happiness.

1. What effect does the narrow perception of a good life have on us?

A．Making us simple-minded	B．Making us short-sighted.
C．Leading us onto a busy road.	D．Keeping us from comfort and luxury.

2. According to the author, how can one gain true happiness?

A．Through maintaining good health.

B．By going through pain and suffering.

C．By recognizing one’s abilities and limitations.

D．Through offering help much needed by others.

3. According to Paragraph 4, doing certain right things with a loving heart makes one________.

A．less selfish	B．less annoying
C．more motivated	D．more responsible

4. In what case may good intentions fail to lead to desired results?

A．When we have wrong knowledge of the world.

B．When our love for the world is insufficient.

C．When we are insensitive to dangers in life.

D．When we stay blind to the reality.

5. According to Paragraph 5, life can be made truly good when ________.

A．inspired by love and guided by knowledge

B．directed by love and pushed by knowledge

C．purified by love and enriched by knowledge

D．promoted by love and defined by knowledge

9 . Is it true that our brain alone is responsible for human cognition(认知)? What about our body? Is it possible for thought and behavior to originate from somewhere other than our brain? Psychologists who study Embodied Cognition(EC) ask similar questions. The EC theory suggests our body is also responsible for thinking or problem-solving. More precisely, the mind shapes the body and the body shapes the mind in equal measure.

If you think about it for a moment, it makes total sense. When you smell something good or hear amusing sounds, certain emotions are awakened. Think about how newborns use their senses to understand the world around them. They don’t have emotions so much as needs—they don’t feel sad, they’re just hungry and need food. Even unborn babies can feel their mothers’ heartbeats and this has a calming effect. In the real world，they cry when they’re cold and then get hugged. That way, they start to as-sociate being warm with being loved.

Understandably, theorists have been arguing for years and still disagree on whether the brain is the nerve centre that operates the rest of the body. Older Western philosophers and mainstream language researchers believe this is fact, while EC theorises that the brain and body are working together as an organic supercomputer, processing everything and forming your reactions.

Further studies have backed up the mind-body interaction. In one experiment, test subjects(实验对象) were asked to judge people after being handed a hot or a cold drink. They all made warm evaluations when their fingertips perceived warmth rather than coolness. And it works the other way too; in another study, subjects’ fingertip temperatures were measured after being“included” in or “rejected” from a group task. Those who were included felt physically warmer.

For further proof, we can look at the metaphors(比喻说法) that we use without even thinking. A kind and sympathetic person is frequently referred to as one with a soft heart and someone who is very strong and calm in difficult situations is often described as solid as a rock. And this kind of metaphorical use is common across languages.

Now that you have the knowledge of mind-body interaction, why not use it? If you’re having a bad day,a warm cup of tea will give you a flash of pleasure. If you know you’re physically cold, warm up before making any interpersonal decisions.

1. According to the author, the significance of the EC theory lies in ________.

A．facilitating our understanding of the origin of psychology

B．revealing the major role of the mind in human cognition

C．offering a clearer picture of the shape of human brain

D．bringing us closer to the truth in human cognition

2. Where does the new borns’ understanding of their surroundings start from?

A．Their personal looks.

B．Their mental needs.

C．Their inner emotions.

D．Their physical feelings.

3. The experiments mentioned in Paragraph 4 further prove________.

A．environment impacts how we judge others

B．how body temperature is related to health

C．the mind and the body influence each other

D．how humans interact with their surroundings

4. What does the author intend to prove by citing the metaphors in Paragraph 5?

A．Human speech is alive with metaphors.

B．Human senses have effects on thinking.

C．Human language is shaped by visual images.

D．Human emotions are often compared to natural materials.

5. What is the author’s purpose in writing the last paragraph?

A．To share with the reader ways to release their emotions.

B．To guide the reader onto the path to career success.

C．To encourage the reader to put EC into practice.

D．To deepen the reader’s understanding of EC.

10 . The United States rose to global power on the strength of its technology, and the lifeblood that technology has long been electricity. By providing long-distance communication and energy, electricity created the modern world. Yet properly understood, the age of electricity is merely the second stage in the age of steam, which began a century earlier.

"It is curious that no one has put together a history of both the steam and electric revolutions." writes Maury Klein in his book The Power Makers, Steam, Electricity, and the Men Invented Modern America. Klein, a noted historian of technology, spins a narrative so lively that at times it reads like a novel.

The story begins in the last years of the 18th century in Scotland, where Watt perfected "the machine that changed the world". Klein writes, "America did not invent the steam engine, but once they grasped its passwords they put it to more uses than anyone else. "

Meanwhile, over the course of 19th century, electricity went from mere curiosity to a basic necessity. Morse invented a code for sending messages over an electromagnetic circuit. Bell then gave the telegraph a voice. Edison perfected an incandescent bulls that brought electric light into the American home.

Most importantly, Edison realized that success depended on mass electrification, which he showed in New York City. With help from Tesla, Westinghouse's firm developed a system using alternating current, which soon became the major forms of power delivery.

To frame his story, Klein creates the character of Ned, a fictional witness to the progress brought about by the steams and electric revolutions in America during one man's lifetime. It's a technique that helps turn a long narrative into an interesting one.

1. What is Klein's understanding of the age of electricity?

A．It is closely linked to the steam age.

B．It began earlier than proper thought.

C．It is a little-studied period of history.

D．It will come to an end sooner or later.

2. What can be inferred about Ned?

A．He was born in New York City.	B．He wrote many increasing stories,
C．He created an electricity company.	D．He lived mainly in the 19th century.

3. What is the text?

A．A biography.

B．A book review.

C．A short story.

D．A science report.