1 . During my teens, I was the champion of the sports day every single year, and my mother won the moms’ trophy (奖杯) every single year. Why? Because she was always chasing me to
We had a very Tom and Jerry relationship. She was the strict disciplinarian; I was the
When I was little, she always caught me, but as I got older and faster, and when speed
Reflecting on those exciting days two decades later, I’ve come to understand that amid the
| A．discipline | B．defend | C．abuse | D．battle |
| A．occasionally | B．slowly | C．constantly | D．awkwardly |
| A．smartest | B．cutest | C．naughtiest | D．youngest |
| A．games | B．groceries | C．belts | D．books |
| A．change | B．protein | C．bonus | D．benefit |
| A．fade | B．slip | C．turn | D．back |
| A．magical | B．annual | C．unusual | D．typical |
| A．dominated | B．disturbed | C．failed | D．seized |
| A．out of place | B．out of breath | C．out of sight | D．out of balance |
| A．ultimate | B．casual | C．military | D．offensive |
| A．motivated | B．stuck | C．buried | D．involved |
| A．holds on | B．stands by | C．turns back | D．steps in |
| A．purchase | B．pursuit | C．crime | D．commitment |
| A．chaos | B．ruins | C．emergencies | D．comedies |
| A．touched | B．bound | C．hurt | D．enhanced |
2 . Handwritten notes in class might seem outdated as digital technology involves nearly every aspect of learning. But a steady stream of research suggests that compared with typing, taking notes with pen and paper is still a better way to learn. And scientists are zeroing in on why.
In a recently published study, scientists found that those writing by hand had higher levels of electrical activity across many interconnected brain regions. They added 256 sensors into a hairnet, which helped monitor 36 students’ brains as they wrote or typed words displayed on a screen. When students wrote by hand, the sensors picked up widespread brain connectivity including visual regions, regions that receive and process sensory information, and the motor cortex (运动皮层) . Typing, however, resulted in minimal activity in these brain regions.
Across many contexts, studies have shown that students appear to learn better when they’re asked to produce letters or other visual items using their fingers and hands. The educational neuroscientist Sophia Vinci-Booher says the recent study highlights the clear tie between motor action and conceptual recognition: “As you’re drawing a letter or writing a word, you’re taking this perceptual (感知的) understanding of something and using your motor system to create it. That creation is then fed back into the visual system, where it’s processed again — strengthening the connection between an action and the images or words associated with it.”
The new findings don’t mean technology is always a disadvantage in the classroom. Laptops, smartphones, and other such devices can be more efficient for writing essays and can offer fairer access to educational resources. But people now increasingly tend to “offload” mental tasks to digital devices, such as by taking a photograph instead of committing information to memory, says Yadurshana Sivashankar at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. “If we’re not actively using these areas, then they are going to worsen over time, whether it’s memory or motor skills.”
1. What is the function of the sensors in the recent study according to Paragraph 2?| A．To record brain activity. | B．To activate brain waves. |
| C．To connect visual regions. | D．To process sensory information. |
| A．One’s motor system boosts his creativity. | B．One’s writing action enhances his perception. |
| C．Learning performance relies on visual memory. | D．Concrete images contributes to comprehension. |
| A．Owe. | B．Link. | C．Shift. | D．Bring. |
| A．Note-taking: the key to a good grade | B．Digital learning: beneficial or harmful |
| C．Typing vs handwriting: efficiency counts | D．Handwritten notes: conventional but effective |
3 . Animal-like robots, such as quadrupedal (四足的) robot dogs, continue to be popular. However, Italian roboticist Barbara Mazzolai argues that the robotics field has proved less keen to investigate another category of living things — plants. She owes this to a misconception that plants are capable of neither motion nor perception. “It’s not true at all,” she says.
Mazzolai and her team at the Bioinspired Soft Robotics Laboratory recently introduced “FiloBot”, a robot based on climbing plants, which is capable of growing, attaching to supports, and journeying through environments in response to external stimuli (刺激) .
To survive in forests, a climbing plant must grow out of the soil and travel along the ground searching a support to attach to. This requires a structure capable of bearing its own weight. Once a support is located, though, the plant must switch strategy-securing itself around the object and then growing towards light as quickly as possible to outcompete other plants. To choose the best growing angle, it uses information from light and gravity receptors distributed along each shoot.
FiloBot imitates these behaviours using sensors on its main shoot, which is also equipped with a spool (卷轴) of plastic and a heating element. By melting and forcing out the plastic, it can 3D-print itself. Depending on brightness and direction, it changes the heat the plastic is exposed to — lower temperatures result in a more breakable body that increases in size more rapidly, while higher temperatures make a stronger body that grow more slowly.
The researchers found that these functionalities enable FiloBot to move through complex environments flexibly, making it suitable for potential applications including environmental monitoring in hard-to-reach locations or unstable disaster sites.
FiloBot is not the only plant-like robot the team is developing. Mazzolai hopes that our robots will motivate other roboticists to take clues from plants. The plant kingdom is another world, she says, with a completely different approach to the animal one. “We can develop completely new technologies and artificial solutions, because it is so different.”
1. Why are roboticists less interested in plant-like robots according to Barbara Mazzolai?| A．They are misled by some new concepts. |
| B．They underestimate the competence of plants. |
| C．They see little economic value in plant-like robots. |
| D．They misunderstand the motion of plant-like robots. |
| A．To explain a model. | B．To give an example. |
| C．To develop a formula. | D．To introduce a rule. |
| A．By setting the direction. | B．By producing the plastic. |
| C．By adjusting the brightness. | D．By varying the temperature. |
| A．They will encourage research on plants. | B．They will outperform animal-like robots. |
| C．They will provide universal artificial solutions. | D．They will inspire innovative robotic technologies. |
4 . Abraham Lincoln was a typical self-made man. He obtained his license to practice law without ever having stepped foot inside a college or academy building. Books became his academy. Everywhere he went, Lincoln carried a book with him. He thumbed through page after page while his horse rested at the end of a long row of planting. Whenever he could escape work, he would lie with his head against a tree and read.
Though the young Lincoln never left America, he traveled with Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage to Spain and Portugal; accompanied Robert Burns to Edinburgh; and followed the English kings into battle with Shakespeare. As he explored the wonders of literature and the history of the country, the young Lincoln developed ambitions far beyond the expectations of his family and neighbors. It was through literature that he was able to
go beyond his surroundings and reach his destination.The volumes to feed Lincoln’s intellectual hunger did not come cheaply. The story is often recounted of the time he borrowed Parson Weems’s The Life of George Washington from Josiah Crawford, a well-to-do farmer. Thrilled by this account of the first president’s life, he took the book to his loft at night, where he read as long as he could stay awake, placing the book on a makeshift shelf between the cabin logs so he could fetch it at daybreak. During a severe rainstorm one night, the book was badly soiled. Lincoln went to Crawford’s house, explained what had happened, and offered to work off the value of the book. Crawford calculated the value of two full days’ work pulling corn, which Lincoln considered an unfair repayment. Nevertheless, he straightway set to work and kept on until all work was done. Then, having paid his debt, Lincoln wrote poems and songs teasing Josiah’s large nose. Thus Crawford, in return for loaning Lincoln a book and then overly punishing him, won a permanent place in American history.
1. What can we learn about Lincoln from the first paragraph?| A．He wasn’t academically competent. | B．He read on horseback to escape work. |
| C．He failed to obtain a valid law license. | D．He is an excellent autonomous learner. |
| A．By reading extensively. | B．With his family’s support. |
| C．Through self-employment. | D．By traveling around the world. |
| A．Stolen by a farmer. | B．Burned by a candle fire. |
| C．Damaged in a rainstorm. | D．Lost and never recovered. |
| A．Tough and helpful. | B．Diligent and generous. |
| C．Intelligent and humble. | D．Determined and sharp-tongued. |
5 . Bill Gates isn’t doing much light reading this summer. For his annual list of reading recommendations for the season, he’s picked four books that you can really sink into on vacation.
Upheaval, Jared Diamond
Diamond examines how people react to the different crises in their lives. Specifically, he looks at how six countries responded to big challenges, and learned how to adapt in the face of adversity. Gates writes. “I finished the book even more optimistic about our ability to solve problems than I started.”
Nine Pints, Rose George
Gates glowingly recommends this deep dive into what you ever wanted to know about the stuff in your veins (静脉). He thinks everyone should know more about this topic. “There is nothing that more people have in common than blood,” he writes.
A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles
It’s 1922 and Alexander Rostov has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life under house arrest in a Moscow hotel. Even though this book is sure to please anyone who is interested in learning more about Russia, Towles goes beyond just politics in his best-seller. “The book is technically fiction,” Gates writes.
Presidents of War, Michael Beschloss
Beschloss studies how presidents dealt with nine different US conflicts from the War of 1812 to the Vietnam War, and makes critical connections about their decisions and power as leaders. “It is hard to read about today’s conflicts without thinking about how they might connect to the past,” Gates writes.
1. Which book would most appeal to those interested in serious politics?| A．Upheaval. | B．Nine Pints. |
| C．Presidents of War. | D．A Gentleman in Moscow. |
| A．Tricks of diving. | B．Illustrations of blood cells. |
| C．A thorough study of blood. | D．A glimpse of blood function. |
| A．It’s impossible to solve all the problems. | B．It’s critical to make far-sighted decisions. |
| C．It’s difficult to understand today’s conflicts. | D．It’s necessary to connect the present to the past. |
6 . The Maryland Center for History and Culture(MCHC) is currently hosting “The Jim Henson Exhibition: Imagination Unlimited”. The exhibition spotlights Henson’s unique contributions to children’s education, including his creation of the Muppets (布偶).
Born in 1936 in Mississippi, Henson grew up in Maryland. His creative talents were evident when he was a student at high school. He loved cartooning and creating sets for school theater productions. While a freshman at university, Henson made puppets for a local TV station. The station’s producers were so impressed that they asked him to produce his own puppet show. Called Sam and Friends, the program started in 1955. Viewers loved Henson’s playful characters, including an early version of Kermit the Frog.
While at university, Henson majored in home economics. At the time, it was the only major that offered classes in sewing and textiles (纺织品).Henson not only honed his creative skills at university, but he was also good at marketing and business. “He was an entrepreneur who happened to get into puppetry, ” said Deborah Wood, MCHC’s learning manager.
In 1959, Henson married Jane Nebel, whom be had met at university. The couple established Muppets Inc. which later became the Jim Henson Company. It was there that Focus Bert, Ernie, Miss Piggy, and other Muppets were created for Sesame Street, a popular children’s television program.Generations of children around the world have grown up watching and laming from the Muppets.
Henson, who died in 1990, created not just the Muppets, but also films, TV commercials, variety shows, and more. The exhibition shows every aspect of his career. This includes some lesser-known works, including The Cube, a short experimental film that was nominated (提名) for an Academy Award.
Visitors also get a chance to appreciate Henson’s creative process and inventiveness through hands-on displays. They can even make their own Muppets. “For me, I think the really powerful message of this exhibition is the fact that it covers Henson’s whole life and his whole career, ” said Chloe Green, public programs manager at the MCHC.
1. What’s paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．An interesting exhibition about Henson. | B．Viewers’attitude to Henson’s works. |
| C．Henson’s exceptional talents in creation. | D．Characters in Henson’s famous works. |
| A．Changed. | B．Improved. | C．Found. | D．Shared. |
| A．It was first played in 1955. | B．It was a popular radio program. |
| C．It was targeted at children. | D．It was an early version of Kermit the Frog. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Opposed. | C．Doubtful. | D．Indifferent. |
7 . The first settlers to come over to America needed to become good farmers in order to survive. The agricultural industry was grown greatly and now the agricultural job market can be very rewarding(值得的). Many of the new agricultural jobs these days deal with the new types of technology that are needed to produce the crops that America needs.
The days of a family working their land by hand and producing a small amount of crops are over. Now many large plantations(种植场)are to harvest a larger amount of crops in a shorter period of time. If you would like to get one of these new types of jobs in the agricultural industry, then you will need to make sure that you stay on top of the new technologies.
Many of these new jobs in the agricultural field have included these new technologies. Two of the new technologies that have brought many new jobs in the agricultural industry are Global Positioning System(GPS) and biotechnology(生物科技). The GPS really has the ability for farmers to seed(播种) and get in their crops in the best possible way.
The biotechnology field has really allowed better and safer fertilizers to be used on crops. Biotechnology has also helped farmers to better understand what helps to make their crops better. Both of these new technologies are very interesting and offer many new opportunities. The agricultural industry still needs quite a bit of hard work to bring in a good crop, but now many people can take advantage of these improvements to make the industry a much better experience.
1. From Paragraph 1, we know that ______.| A．people came to live in America a long time ago |
| B．people have to be farmers in order to survive |
| C．technology is important for the agricultural industry |
| D．American people are in great need of crops |
| A．learn about the newest technologies | B．go to the agricultural job market |
| C．stay in the industry all the time | D．have a lot of experience |
| A．have encouraged farmers to make more money |
| B．have created a number of new jobs |
| C．have forced farmers to spend a lot |
| D．have developed quickly in the past years |
| A．New technologies have brought many new jobs to Americans. |
| B．Farmers should try to stay on top of the new technologies. |
| C．The agricultural industry in America could support more people. |
| D．New technologies are widely used in new agricultural jobs. |
8 . Sometimes people add to what they say even when they don’t talk. Gestures are the “silent language” of every culture. We point a finger or move another part of the body to show what we want to say. It is important to know the body language of every country or we may be misunderstood.
In the United States, people greet each other with a handshake in a formal introduction. The handshake must be firm. If the handshake is weak, it is a sign of weakness or un-friendliness. Friends may place a hand on the others’ arm or shoulder. Some people, usually women, greet a friend with a hug.
Space is important to Americans. When two people talk to each other, they usually stand about two and a half feet away and at an angle, so they are not facing each other directly. Americans get uncomfortable when a person stands too close. They will move back to have their space. If Americans touch another person by accident, they say, “Pardon me.” Or “Excuse me.” Americans like to look at the other person in the eyes when they are talking. If you don’t do so, it means you are bored, hiding something, or are not interested. But when you stare at someone, it is not polite.
For Americans, thumbs-up means yes, very good, or well done, thumbs-down means the opposite. To call a waiter, raise one hand to head level or above. To show you want the check, make a movement with your hands as if you are signing a piece of paper. It is all right to point at things but not at people with the hand and index finger (食指). Americans shake their index finger at children when they scold them and pat them on the head when they admire them.
Learning a culture’s body language is sometimes confusing. If you don’t know what to do, perhaps the safest thing to do is to smile.
1. From the first paragraph we can learn that ______.| A．gestures don’t mean anything while talking |
| B．gestures can help us to express ourselves |
| C．we can learn a language well without body language |
| D．only Americans use gestures |
| A．greet him with a hug | B．place a hand on his shoulder |
| C．shake his hand firmly | D．shake his hand weakly |
| A．Facing each other directly. | B．Touching each other. |
| C．Not looking at the other person in the eyes. | D．Not standing too close. |
| A．we can understand all the body language |
| B．a smile can help us to solve some body language’s problems |
| C．body language is very helpful to us |
| D．we should always talk with others with a smile |
9 . At 20 years old, I was a confident and handsome student at the University of California at Berkey.
But that year, I
But six months later, a new bump appeared. Numerous
I awoke from the surgery with a scarred, disfigured face. As I re-entered the real world, I noticed adults
Five years and 20 reconstructive surgeries later, I
I began examining myself from the inside out. Later, I volunteered at a cancer support organization to offer inspiration and hope to those
Now, I am
| A．took charge of | B．took care of | C．took control of | D．took notice of |
| A．appointment | B．arrangement | C．commitment | D．placement |
| A．severe | B．minor | C．apparent | D．complicated |
| A．novelists | B．specialists | C．impressionists | D．journalists |
| A．advocated | B．predicted | C．warned | D．witnessed |
| A．desperate | B．enthusiastic | C．delicate | D．optimistic |
| A．smiling | B．glaring | C．glancing | D．staring |
| A．unusually | B．unintentionally. | C．unconventionally | D．unselfishly |
| A．bother | B．impress | C．annoy | D．restrict |
| A．greeted | B．persuaded | C．encountered | D．grasped |
| A．abused | B．defended | C．informed | D．motivated |
| A．relief | B．security | C．defence | D．honesty |
| A．going about | B．relating to | C．wrestling with | D．breaking with |
| A．greedy | B．grateful | C．suitable | D．tolerant |
| A．mental vitality | B．physical fitness | C．social acceptance | D．face value |
10 . Shortly after I graduated from junior high school, my mom frequently repeated, “Learn to
“Soon” arrived just one week later, when we went to the Crown Business Institute which offered
As the lessons progressed, my mom made me
Mom was right. Many doors did open for me. I’ve become as
| A．rest | B．dance | C．type | D．sing |
| A．strange | B．useless | C．important | D．unnecessary |
| A．but | B．though | C．because | D．so |
| A．programs | B．exams | C．services | D．classes |
| A．carried | B．allowed | C．pushed | D．saw |
| A．skillful | B．beautiful | C．new | D．lazy |
| A．proud | B．glad | C．skeptical | D．afraid |
| A．share | B．perform | C．quit | D．practice |
| A．systems | B．lessons | C．questions | D．techniques |
| A．arrived | B．struggled | C．agreed | D．refused |
| A．famous | B．confident | C．cautious | D．excellent |
| A．unwillingly | B．excitedly | C．unexpectedly | D．safely |
| A．praised | B．stopped | C．supported | D．commented |
| A．right away | B．at last | C．of course | D．as usual |
| A．relative | B．mother | C．coach | D．friend |
