1 . Mandy and Joe have been married for five years and they both love travelling to new countries. But while this shared hobby brings them together, it is also a source of contention. “I do all the planning and book,” says Mandy. “Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy it, but if Joe paid a bit more attention, he wouldn’t have turned up for a flight to Grenada packed for a winter city break. ‘Jumpers and boots?!’ I cried. ‘You’re supposed to have packed shorts and T-shirts—it’s 30℃ in the Caribbean!’ Then I realized he thought we were going to Granada, in Spain.”
How Joe and Mandy each approach their travel plans is just one example of the many ways in which men and women differ. Yet, is what goes on inside our minds and bodies really so different? Furthermore, are we born that way?
On this issue, scientists are divided. The majority of scientists believed that patterns of behaviour thought to be more male or female are learnt firstly from our parents, then from our peers(同龄人)and, ultimately, from the societies in which we live. As Simone de Beauvoir famously said, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”
On the other side of the fence sat those who believed that male and female brains are actually wired differently. In one study in which 34 monkeys were required to interact with different types of toys, the males showed a strong preference for toys with wheels rather than soft toys, whereas the females were noticeably drawn to soft toys. These preferences were clearly not the result of parental influence.
Whatever the truth behind the differences between men and women, we can safely conclude that although the social impact on how we think and behave is undeniable, there exists a biological contribution. The question that now needs answering is to what extent biology affects the choices we make and the way other people treat us.
1. What does the underlined word in Paragraph 1 probably mean?A.Disagreement. | B.Satisfaction. | C.Inspiration. | D.Information. |
A.Whether men and women are different. | B.Why minds and bodies are so different. |
C.What causes the sex difference. | D.How different males and females are. |
A.Monkeys have their own preferences. | B.Parents indeed have strong impacts. |
C.Men and women are born different. | D.Females and males behave differently. |
A.Biology contributes to the difference. | B.Biology mostly affects our choices. |
C.Social influence can be ignored. | D.Peers have more impact than parents. |
2 . Conflict (冲突) between teenagers and parents happens for a lot of reasons. Sometimes conflict happens between teenagers and parents just because conflict happens between human beings anyway. Humans have different needs, different feelings, different opinions about what they want, and the relationship with people can be really difficult. However, teenagers can cause further conflict because of the hormonal (生理的) changes that are happening and the stage of life that they're in.
Teenagers and parents have different understanding about rules and at times they find it difficult to look into the future. So parents and teenagers will often experience conflict about many things, do chores, homework, whether teenagers speak respectfully or not and about what they're allowed to do.
Before we think about rule boundaries (界线) for teenagers, we need to make sure that we have a really good relationship base. There's no point saying “From now on, you have to listen to me”: if you don't have a positive relationship with your teenager. We need to go back and make sure there is some degree of shared respect, and some degree of positive communication and enjoyment being together. you do that first, it means that rule boundaries are a lot easier to set up.
Often we're dealing with conflict on the fly. This is not the right time to be dealing with it. We really want parents and teenagers to sit down and think about the kinds of things that may happen in the house before the problems come. The more detailed your rule boundaries are for teenagers, the more likely it is that they are going to follow them. So this means we don't have rule boundaries like “Have the bathroom cleaned”. It needs to be “The floors mopped, nothing on the countertop and the mirrors cleaned by ten o'clock every Saturday”: Rule boundaries need to be written down, and set out ahead of time so the teenager knows exactly what's expected.
1. What's important to set up a rule boundary easily for teenagers?A.Being strict from the start. | B.Developing a good relationship with them first. |
C.Saying"No" to their requirements. | D.Avoiding close talks with them. |
A.Doing some housework. | B.Having a good reading habit. |
C.Cleaning the bathroom. | D.Finishing your homework by five. |
A.In a hurry. | B.On the plane. | C.By oneself. | D.Another day. |
A.Growing Pains | B.Teenage Problems |
C.Parent-Child Conflict and Solutions | D.Knowing the Conflict |
3 . Choose Your One-Day-Tours!
Tour A - Bath &Stonehenge including entrance fees to the ancient Roman bathrooms and Stonehenge -£37 until 26 March and £39 thereafter. Visit the city with over 2,000 years of history and Bath Abbey, the Royal Crescent and the Costume Museum, Stonehenge is one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments dating back over 5,000 years.
Tour B - Oxford & Stratford including entrance fees to the University St Mary’s Church Tower and Anne Hathaway’s -£32 until 12 March and £36 thereafter. Oxford: Includes a guided tour of England’s oldest university city and colleges. Look over the “city of dreaming spires(尖顶)” from St Mary‘s Church Tower. Stratford: Includes a guided tour exploring much of the Shakespeare wonder.
Tour C - Windsor Castle &Hampton Court: including entrance fees to Hampton Court Palace -£34 until 11 March and £37 thereafter. Includes a guided tour of Windsor and Hampton Court, Henry VILL’s favorite palace. Free time to visit Windsor Castle(entrance fees not included).With 500 years of history, Hampton Court was once the home of four Kings and one Queen. Now this former royal palace is open to the public as a major tourist attraction. Visit the palace and its various historic gardens, which include the famous maze(迷宫) where it is easy to get lost!
Tour D –Cambridge including entrance fees to the Tower of Saint Mary the Great -£33 until 18 March and £37 thereafter. Includes a guided tour of Cambridge, the famous university town, and the gardens of the 18th century.
1. Which tour will you choose if you want to see England’s oldest university city?A.Tour A | B.Tour B |
C.Tour C | D.Tour D |
A.Windsor Castle & Hampton Court | B.Oxford & Stratford |
C.Bath & Stonehenge | D.Cambridge |
A.It used to be the home of royal families | B.It used to be a well-known maze |
C.It is the oldest palace in Britain | D.It is a world-famous castle |
4 . Do you want to see majestic lions roaring, rare rhinos running and colorful birds flying? You’ll find this incredible display of nature in the Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley.
First stop
Fly into Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. This great city is known for its fashion markets and beautiful art. And be sure to pick up some rich Kenyan coffee while you’re there! Then head for the countryside.
Plan your trip
The largest of the three lakes in the system, Lake Nakuru, is less than 175 kilometers from Nairobi. But Lakes Bogoria and Elementaita are equally worth a visit. You can stay at one of several choices of luxurious cabins in the valley. And if you sign up for a trip, be sure to put flamingos, the white and pink birds, at the top of your list.
Paradise
The Kenya Lake System is shallow and alkaline (碱性的). That means it supports vegetation such as green algae, a food source for many waterfowl. Hundreds of species of birds flourish here, using this area as a major breeding and nesting ground. Water buffalo, leopards, monkeys and the endangered Rothschild giraffe also make this area their home.
Other sights
Wildlife isn’t the only natural wonder in the Great Rift Valley. The valley marks a place where the earth is divided far below the surface. This rock separation below ground leads to noticeable features above ground. Walking around Lake Bogoria especially, you will see steam rising from hot springs.
Other activities include golfing, horseback riding and hiking. The fun doesn’t stop when the sun goes down, either. The river valley is far from city lights, so many visitors gaze at the stars shining above.
If you are ready for a wildlife experience, don’t hesitate!
1. Where can you buy fashionable gifts in Kenya?A.Nairobi. | B.Lake Nakuru. | C.Lake Bogoria. | D.Lake Elementaita. |
A.Living in a cabin. | B.Seeing flamingos. |
C.Visiting hot springs. | D.Gazing at shining stars. |
A.It has countless lakes worth visiting. | B.It’s an ideal place for wildlife to live. |
C.Its water is unsuitable for plant growth. | D.It’s famous for rich culture and history. |
5 . You may never know why. The email will arrive and reasons offered for your rejection might be the real ones—or not. Bosses have always spied on their employees, then judged them. Now the rise of the online self means the employer’s eye can travel still farther.
Even before the pandemic, research found that 28% of large companies had turned down applicants after carrying out such checks. And it is becoming more popular: Reed Screening, a large agency, was asked to run over a third more social-media checks in December 2021 than a year earlier. This month the government gave the practice approval when the Department for Education said schools and colleges “should consider carrying out an online search as part of their due diligence (尽职调查)”.
The way screening works is simple: Any “problematic” behaviours will be marked with a red flag. There are laws governing such online screening. David Erdos, head of the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law, says that companies are supposed to warn candidates before screening their social media and tell them that they have the right to hold back permission. Some companies follow these rules, but others may not. As for the right to refuse, it is hardly practicable. “Who on earth is…going to be that person who says: ‘Hang on a minute, I’m not happy about that?’” asks Mr Erdos. “That itself is likely to be a red flag.”
All agree that the spread of online screening is alarming, as it is so unforgiving. People may be unable ever to be free of their online past, says Mr Erdos. As indeed some footballers, recently punished for comments made almost a decade ago when they were but teenagers, have found to their cost.
Those within the industry think laws should be tightened, with punishment for illegal act. In the meantime, being very careful is advisable. In talks to university students, Mr Erdos warns them what companies will do to their social media when they apply for jobs. They are “universally terrified”, he says. And rightly.
1. What can we infer about online screening from paragraph 2?A.It is turned down by large companies. | B.It boosts the development of education. |
C.It is becoming increasingly acceptable. | D.It highlights the wisdom of employers. |
A.They reject the red flags. | B.They have to submit to it. |
C.They will charge the company. | D.They postpone carrying it out. |
A.Companies are tolerant of it. | B.Its influence is hard to erase. |
C.It should be under strict laws. | D.University students are free to do it. |
A.Big Employer Is Watching You |
B.Fix Your Eyes on Online Screening |
C.Social-media Checks Are Around the Corner |
D.Checks Online Are to Blame for Unemployment |
6 . When instant cake mixes first appeared in the 1950s, American housewives were doubtful. These mixes, promising easy cake-baking, felt too easy. The manufacturers discovered that requiring the addition of an egg in the baking process was just enough to make the housewives happy with their work. The greater sense of effort gained from a little extra labor is believed to have been essential to the later success of the cake mix.
This reflects the IKEA effect (宜家效应), which is identified by psychologist Michael I. Norton and his colleagues, suggesting we place greater value on things we have worked to create. They conducted four studies in which they asked participants to fold paper cranes and frogs, assemble IKEA boxes, and build sets of Legos. They then asked the builders to bid (出价) for their creations, and compared the prices with bids from people who hadn’t built them. The builders consistently outbid the non-builders.
Interestingly, the IKEA effect works even when people have no opportunity to fully personalize their creations. While most participants’ folding skills left much to be desired, they loved their imperfectly personalized products all the more. Builders valued their wrinkled crane-like creations nearly five times as much as non-builders. Beauty, it seems, is in the eye of the builder.
Today, as cities are suffering from severe housing crises, the IKEA effect can give us insight into the well-being benefits of a self-building approach to housing development. Projects like WikiHouse and the “half-a-house” approach pioneered by Alejandro Aravena’s architecture company Elemental are working to make housing more affordable and sustainable by making it easier for people to build and personalize their own homes.
“The moment people are involved with their built environment, they have a totally different relationship to it,” WikiHouse co-founder Alastair Parvin explained. “When the roof starts leaking or a door starts creaking, they have the power to fix it themselves.”
1. What brought customers the joy of cake-baking according to paragraph 1?A.A better taste. | B.An easy approach. |
C.A detailed recipe. | D.An additional effort. |
A.Creations are based on skills. | B.Extra labor increases perceived value. |
C.Beauty is found through contrast. | D.Strict management brings good quality. |
A.Critical. | B.Objective. | C.Doubtful. | D.Supportive. |
A.To promote a brand. | B.To make a proposal. |
C.To explain a concept. | D.To introduce a study. |
7 . US Army veteran (退伍老兵) Mazyck remembers when doctors told her she would never walk again. She’d been paralyzed from the waist down after a serious accident while parachuting in 2003.The doctors never said anything about floating, though. In 2021,she got to do just that.
Mazyck was one of 12 participants in a Zero G flight, organized by the group AstroAccess. This type of flight recreates the weightlessness that astronauts experience without going all the way to space. Flying over the Pacific Ocean off Southern California, the modified 747 jet airplane made 15 steep dives and climbs, allowing the flyers multiple periods of weightlessness.
The experience left Mazyck feeling joyful. “The flight was something that I would have never in my wildest dreams thought I would’ve experienced,” she says, “especially the floating, the weightlessness.”
Traditionally, strict physical requirements have prevented disabled people from becoming astronauts. AstroAccess is working to make space accessible to all. “Space removes the barriers between people; now is the time to remove the barriers to space itself,” says Mazyck, “It is sending a message to people who have historically been excluded from STEM that not only is there room for you in space, there is a need for you.”
During the flight, she says, the participants did experiments and made observations. They took note of things that people without certain disabilities might not realize are issues. For example, people who couldn’t grip with their legs needed another way to hold themselves still while weightless. The group also experimented with signaling lights for the deaf and with ways of using braille (盲文) for the blind.
These types of issues are easy enough to address. Now is the time to make space accessible — before space tourism or space settlements become commonplace. “I am so proud and elated about what’s happening here,” Mazyck adds. “We are paving the way for the future.”
1. What do we know about AstroAccess?A.It redesigns jet airplanes. | B.It offers weightlessness experience. |
C.It provides physical treatment. | D.It trains the disabled to be astronauts. |
A.Astronaut experience. | B.Steep dives and climbs. |
C.Weightlessness periods. | D.Trials and observations. |
A.Generous and determined. | B.Caring and persistent. |
C.Courageous and optimistic. | D.Ambitious and innovative. |
A.Paving the Way for the Future | B.Disabled Americans Make It to Space |
C.Making Space a Place for Everyone | D.US Veterans Experience Zero G Flight |
8 . About 400 pounds of food is wasted per day from 5 pm to 8 pm in Douglass Dining Hall. “We scrape(刮掉) the food from the conveyor belt into the buckets by hand. Working for Dining Team Green, I don’t expect to basically become a garbage girl,” Roll said. “We do the work because we care much about it. We all have a responsibility to take care of the environment.”
To have more approachable composting(把……制成堆肥) machines on campus, Roll now has a new sustainable project investing in Lomi, an automated compost machine. “I learned about Lomi through an ad,” Roll said. “Funny enough, I just saw it and thought it perfect. It really interested me how the mechanism worked. ”
Lomi is a new technology that can break down food waste into natural compost. According to Roll, it breaks down waste in the way: grinding(碾碎) the food into plant fertilizer. Unlike most composting machines, Omi can compost animal products, such as small bones. Another huge benefit is that it doesn’t have smell and can convert waste to compost in a shorter time.
Roll plans on using the compost in the Gilbert community garden so that Dining Team Green can give back to the community. “It’s very exciting to see our food waste that would otherwise have gone in the trash and pollute the environment go to our community,” she said.
Roll is excited to introduce a new form of composting to the residents. She hopes that this machine will inspire other composting machines in all residential buildings. “I want Lomi not only to be a way to reduce food waste on the floor, but an educational tool to make people compost in a real way and not just talk about it in a theoretical sense,” Roll said.
1. Which of the following can best describe Lomi?A.Elegant. | B.Widespread. |
C.Low-powered. | D.Environmentally friendly. |
A.The reasons for designing Lomi. | B.The impact of wasting food. |
C.The solution to food waste. | D.The advantages of Lomi. |
A.More people will get involved in composting initiatives. |
B.Dining Team Green will become an educational tool. |
C.More developed composting machines will be invented. |
D.Dining Team Green will build community gardens. |
A.She lives in the Gilbert community. |
B.She is a member of Dining Team Green. |
C.She knows a lot about residential buildings. |
D.She plans to design more composting machines. |
9 . Mawson was an Australian explorer and scientist who explored the Antarctic with a team of fellow adventurers in 1912. His travels in the frozen continent brought him worldwide
One of the men, a young British soldier named Belgrave Ninnis,
A.praise | B.trust | C.worry | D.criticism |
A.celebrities | B.explorers | C.athletes | D.astronomers |
A.putting off | B.showing off | C.kicking off | D.letting off |
A.Wonders | B.Bonuses | C.Fortunes | D.Disasters |
A.took | B.fell | C.looked | D.wandered |
A.adjusted | B.circulated | C.infected | D.confused |
A.cures | B.disabilities | C.errors | D.illnesses |
A.remaining | B.wild | C.fierce | D.hunting |
A.Ultimately | B.Nevertheless | C.Temporarily | D.Meanwhile |
A.Discouraged | B.Relieved | C.Determined | D.Frightened |
A.combined | B.battled | C.contained | D.introduced |
A.center | B.normal | C.base | D.campus |
A.predict | B.discover | C.complain | D.explain |
A.passengers | B.witnesses | C.rescuers | D.crew |
A.achievements | B.references | C.services | D.subjects |
10 . Dressed in a pretty long robe (袍服), stylist Xiao Hang walks across the busy Beijing metro, attracting curious glances.
China has been
There is no
“Two-thirds of my wardrobe is hanfu,” said Yang Jiaming, a high school student dressed in a Tang-style robe and black boots at a hanfu gathering. He wears hanfu under his uniform at school and his classmates and teachers have been
The support of the government for Chinese culture has given the hanfu community a(n)
Clothes are the “
A.praised | B.welcomed | C.influenced | D.greeted |
A.future | B.present | C.past | D.moment |
A.suffering | B.experiencing | C.refusing | D.stopping |
A.approval | B.acknowledgement | C.confirmation | D.identity |
A.revolution | B.decline | C.increase | D.stability |
A.inspired | B.attracted | C.encouraged | D.accepted |
A.uniform | B.identical | C.casual | D.simple |
A.specialized | B.characterized | C.impressed | D.decorated |
A.show | B.prove | C.pretend | D.declare |
A.afraid | B.scared | C.ashamed | D.supportive |
A.start | B.end | C.boost | D.lift |
A.promoted | B.addressed | C.attended | D.held |
A.protection | B.signal | C.reproduction | D.symbol |
A.criticism | B.funding | C.gifts | D.invitations |
A.dislike | B.realize | C.understand | D.ignore |