4 . Both Roberto and Keith have a 45-minute commute (通勤) time from their homes to their workplace. When Roberto drives, he has realistic expectations of how others drive and how long the trip should take. Overall, he is able to adapt to any unexpected challenges he may face on the road. He rarely becomes angry. By contrast, Keith drives with a tendency for becoming angry easily, partly due to unrealistic expectations of other drivers, his quickness to personalize and feel threatened by the actions of others, and his inability to calm his anger.

The difference between how Roberto and Keith experience their drive to work, especially with regard to getting angry, is influenced very much by their emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is crucial for helping individuals choose constructive over destructive anger. A key aspect of healthy anger is being able to pause and reflect on, rather than react to, our thoughts, feelings, and senses associated with getting angry.

Self-regulation and empathy (同理心) are two important components of emotional intelligence, which can be a buffer (缓冲) against destructive anger. Self-regulation helps us to control our moods. Empathy helps us to recognize the humanity in others and ourselves.

Studies suggest that training in emotional intelligence can powerfully impact how anger is managed. This was supported by a three-year study of 476 young adults who showed reduced tendency of becoming angry after training. Children and adults can learn skills to boost their emotional intelligence and, by doing so, develop adaptability for dealing with various negative affect, including anger. Many workbooks offer skills in emotional intelligence to promote empathy and self-awareness regarding emotions and how they impact our beliefs and behavior.

Clearly, through training, Keith would experience greater emotional flexibility that could support a more peaceful commute to work. I firmly believe that learning skills in emotional intelligence should be the focus in helping individuals more constructively manage this highly challenging and complex emotion.

1. What is the function of the first paragraph?

A．To tell a true story.	B．To make a comparison.
C．To introduce the main topic.	D．To present an important finding.

2. Which of the following is the main point of healthy anger?

A．Thinking over the annoying situation.

B．Taking action to deal with the awful situation.

C．Turning a blind eye to the unwelcome situation.

D．Expressing feelings about the disturbing situation.

3. What is the author’s attitude towards training in emotional intelligence?

A．Indifferent.

B．Doubtful.

C．Negative.

D．Supportive.

4. What is the suitable title of the text?

A．Friends Should Enjoy Peaceful Commute

B．Drivers Need to Boost Their Emotional Intelligence

C．Emotional Intelligence Is a Buffer Against Destructive Anger

D．Emotional Intelligence Has a Powerful Impact on People’s Life

5 . Earth is far more alive than we previously thought, according to “deep life” studies that reveal a rich underground ecosystem beneath our feet that is almost twice the size of all the world’s oceans. Despite extreme heat, no light and intense pressure, scientists estimate it has between 15 billion and 23 billion tonnes of microorganisms. “It’s like finding a whole new reservoir (储藏) of life on Earth,” said Karen Lloyd an associate professor at the University of Tennessee.

Results suggest 70 percent of Earth’s bacteria and archaea exist in the subsurface. One organism found 2.5 kilometers below the surface has been buried for millions of years and may not rely at all on energy from the sun. Also, the methanogen (产甲烷菌) has found a way to create methane in this environment, which the methanogen may not use to reproduce or divide, but use to replace or repair broken parts. Lengths of their lives were completely different. Some microorganisms have been alive for thousands of years, barely moving except with shifts in earthquakes or eruptions. They’re just active inside, with less energy than people thought possible to support life.

The team consists of 1,200 scientists from 52 countries in disciplines ranging from geology and microbiology to chemistry and physics. A year before the conclusion of their study, they will present the findings before the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting opens this week, which they say are made possible by technical advances on drills and microscopes.

The scientists have been wondering about the point beyond which life cannot exist, but the deeper they dig, the more life they find. There is a temperature maximum—currently 122℃—but they believe this record will be broken if they keep exploring and developing more advanced instruments.

Questions remain, including how the microbes interact with chemical processes, and what this might reveal about how life and Earth coevolved.

1. What do the scientists find about the underground organisms?

A．They can’t reproduce and divide.	B．They’re the oldest living things.
C．Some of them consume no energy.	D．Some of them almost always keep still.

2. What can we learn about the research from paragraph 3?

A．It last for around one year.	B．It involves efforts from many fields.
C．It promotes technical development.	D．It is conducted in 52 countries.

3. Why does the scientists dig deep?

A．To break their previous record.

B．To find the depth limit of life.

C．To discover more ancient microorganisms.

D．To measure the highest subsurface temperature.

4. Which of the following can be the best title?

A．Earth Depths Are Full of Life.

B．Organisms Live Better Underground.

C．Earth Is Fat Beyond Human Exploration.

D．Subsurface Life Differs from That on Land.

6 . When Tal Golesworthy was told he needed _________ heart surgery in 1993, he said no. Golesworthy has Marfan syndrome (马凡氏综合症), a genetic condition _________ the strength and elasticity of connective body tissues, including blood vessels. Back in 1993, when he was living in Cheltenham, in the west of England, his doctor told him that the aorta (主动脉) in his heart was so enlarged that it would unavoidably _________ unless he underwent major surgery.

“They _________ the surgical options,” says Golesworthy, “and I was not interested. The operation really didn’t look attractive.” _________ he particularly didn’t like was having to be on blood thinners after the operation, something that would prevent blood clots(血栓) but _________ its own risks: “I was riding motorbikes then; and skiing, so my whole lifestyle _________.” By 2000, however, his condition _________. Realizing something had to be done, Golesworthy put his years of _________ as research-and-development engineer with the United Kingdom’s National Coal Board to good use. He decided he would __________ himself. “Learning new stuff and developing new ideas, that was my job,” Golesworthy says.

A bulging aorta, he thought, was much like bulging hydraulic hose (凸起的液压软管)—it needed __________ support. And wrapping something around the outside of the aorta would require a less invasive __________. So Golesworthy subjected himself to 30 hours of an MRI scanner; used 3D printing to create a physical copy of the faulty part of his heart (the aortic root); and then used soft, porous textile mesh (网眼织物) to make a sleeve to fit around it. “Luckily, I’d done a lot of work with technical textiles, looking at filters (过滤器) for flue gases (烟气) in coal-fire processes,” he says.

Sheer determination combined with a(n) __________ yet practical solution won him the support of two leading cardiothoratic (心胸的) surgeons and helped him raise the money to __________ his idea. In May 2004, at the age of 47, he became the guinea pig for his own invention, the Exo Vasc Personalised External Aortic Root Support. The operation was __________.

1.

A．game-changing

B．life-saving

C．ground-breakıng

D．problem-solving

2.

A．affecting

B．contracting

C．influencing

D．causing

3.

A．burn

B．bend

C．burst

D．block

4.

A．talked about

B．discussed about

C．debated on

D．mentioned about

5.

A．How

B．Why

C．It

D．What

6.

A．display

B．avoid

C．present

D．face

7.

A．would have been affected

B．would be affected

C．could have been affected

D．could be affected

8.

A．had changed

B．had recovered

C．had improved

D．had worsened

9.

A．hard work

B．experiments

C．experience

D．fruits

10.

A．manage

B．handle

C．solve

D．repair

11.

A．internal

B．surgical

C．external

D．spiritual

12.

A．check-up

B．inspection

C．test

D．operation

13.

A．imaginative

B．original

C．specialized

D．flexible

14.

A．change

B．develop

C．create

D．reshape

15.

A．a hit

B．a mess

C．a pain

D．a success

7 . I live in Xizhou in Yunnan Province, on the historic Tea Horse Road. I have to admit that when I first heard that Paul Salopek was going to walk the entire globe on his own two feet, I was blown away. I couldn’t imagine that there could be such an unusual person in the world.

Last May, I met Paul. He told me that it was his first time in China. He talked to me with great excitement about the history, migrations, and discoveries in my region of China. He spoke of the Shu-Yandu Dao (the Southern Silk Road), the travels of the 17th-century Chinese explorer Xu Xiake, the Tea Horse Road and the early 20th-century American botanist Joseph Rock. He also talked of Xuanzang. Paul considered many of them heroes and in a sense Chinese pioneers of slow journalism.

I decided to accompany Paul on his walk toward Yunnan. On September 28, 2021, we set out. Our days were simple: walk, eat, sleep, and repeat. We woke up at sunrise, set off in high spirits, and rested at sunset, dragging ourselves into exhausted sleep.

We met many people on the road. Some were curious, surrounding us and watching us; some gave us directions; some invited us into their home to take a rest; some spoke of the charm of their hometown. We met many beautiful souls, simple souls and warm souls. We were walking with our minds.

Together, we were impressed by the biodiversity of the Gaoligong Mountains. As I walked on ancient paths through mountains, I seemed to hear the antique voices of past travelers urging me to be careful on the road.

Looking back on the more than 200 miles I walked with Paul, I came to a realization. Walking for its own sake, while healthy and admirable, is only a small part of the benefit of moving with our feet. A deeper reward is rediscovering the world around us, shortening the distance between each other, and sharing each other’s cultures.

1. How did the writer first respond to Paul’s travel plan?

A．Scared.	B．Puzzled.
C．Disappointed.	D．Surprised.

2. What can we learn about Paul Salopek from paragraph 2?

A．He was a western journalist.	B．He had a knowledge of China.
C．He came to China several times.	D．He was Joseph Rock’s acquaintance.

3. What does paragraph 4 tell us about the writer and Paul?

A．They honored the ancestors.	B．They set off in high spirits.
C．They satisfied the locals’ curiosity.	D．They built bonds with people.

4. What is the main purpose of the writer’s writing the text?

A．To share and reflect on a journey.	B．To suggest a new way of travel.
C．To advocate protection of biodiversity.	D．To introduce and promote Chinese culture.

8 . Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) recently announced that they have figured out how to engineer a biofilm (生物膜) that harvests the energy in evaporation (蒸发) and changes it to electricity. This biofilm, which was announced in Nature Communications, has the potential to revolutionize the world of wearable electronics, powering everything from personal medical sensors to personal electronics.

“This is a very exciting technology, says Liu Xiaomeng, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering in UMass Amherst’s College of Engineering and the paper’s lead author. “It generates real green energy, and unlike other so-called ‘green-energy’ sources, its production is totally green.”

That is because this biofilm — which is a sheet of bacterial cells and as thin as a sheet of paper — is produced naturally by an engineered version of the bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens. G sulfurreducens is known to produce electricity and has been used previously in “microbial batteries” to power electrical equipment. But such batteries require that G sulfurreducens be properly cared for and fed a constant diet. By contrast, this new biofilm, which can supply as much energy as a comparably sized battery, works continuously, because it is dead. And because it is dead, it doesn’t need to be fed.

The secret behind this new biofilm is that it makes energy from the moisture (水分) on your skin. While we daily read stories about solar power, at least 50% of the solar energy reaching the earth goes toward evaporating water. “This is a huge, undiscovered source of energy,” says Yao Jun, professor of electrical and computer engineering at UMass Amherst, and the paper’s one senior author. Since the surface of our skin is constantly moist with sweat, the biofilm can “plug into” it and change the energy locked in evaporation into sufficient energy to power small equipment. “Our next step is to increase the size of our film to power more intelligent wearable electronics,” says Yao, and Liu points out that one of the goals is to power entire electronic systems, rather than single equipment.

1. Which of the following can biofilm do according to the first paragraph?

A．Update wearable electronics.

B．Get power from evaporation.

C．Supply energy to microbial batteries.

D．Transform the way of generating electricity.

2. What is the advantage of the biofilm compared with “microbial batteries”?

A．It is comparatively thinner.

B．It is environmentally friendly.

C．It adopts a rare energy source.

D．It decreases the cost in usage.

3. How does the biofilm power small devices?

A．By interacting with solar power.

B．By making electricity out of sweat.

C．By gaining energy from electronic system.

D．By employing water to generate electricity.

4. Which of the following best describes the biofilm?

A．Intelligent.

B．Flexible.

C．Impractical.

D．Promising.

9 . I was 6 years old when my father told me we were leaving the Big Apple Circus (马戏团). Until that point, I had spent most of my life on the circus lot, playing with the other circus kids. The circus, by its nature, is one that has a loose structure. So the early years after my leaving the circus to sit in a classroom all day felt more like a prison.

But years later, I found areas that interested me. I took the skills I had learned from being onstage and applied them to broadcasting. And so when Boston’s news station WBUR offered me a job out of college, I jumped at the chance. Along the way, I found I really enjoyed the work. I became WBUR’s news reporter. The flexibility and adaptability I’d learned in the circus as a child helped me do my job naturally and easily in a stressful situation — whether it was a destructive tornado outside Boston, or the Boston Marathon bombings of 2013.

But then a serious infectious disease appeared. Suddenly, for the first time in my adult life, I went for a year without doing any shows. But it became clear to me that performing was what I truly wanted. For me, the circus symbolizes who I am. And stages have always been where I’ve felt the most free. Some people get nervous before they go onstage, but by assuming (扮演) the character of Jacques ze Whipper and drawing a stupid moustache on my face, all my social anxiety disappears.

Circus performances go beyond age, socioeconomic status (地位), and even language. It’s the type of performance where you can go anywhere in the world to entertain anyone — help anyone forget their troubles for 5, 10, and even 30 minutes. And most importantly, for me, it means coming home.

1. How did the author feel in the early years of school?

A．Curious.

B．Unfree.

C．Loose.

D．Impatient.

2. What do we know about the author’s job at WBUR?

A．He did it for his father.	B．He did it against his will.
C．He risked his neck doing it.	D．He took to it like a duck to water.

3. What does the circus probably mean to the author?

A．A means of living.	B．A chance to go anywhere.
C．A part of his identity.	D．A way to forget his troubles.

4. Why does the author write the text?

A．To express his love for circus performances.

B．To stress the value of performing.

C．To share his personal experiences in a circus.

D．To discuss the problem of choosing a job.

10 . At a family picnic for employees of the company where my father worked, they held a contest for children. I was 13, full of enthusiasm, so I _______ myself into it.

The host gave each child a cloth handkerchief and told us the winner would be the one who cast it the _______. The first throwers took mighty wind-ups, but when the cloth left their hands, it _______ and landed on the ground a few inches in front of them. The crowd roared with _______. Not until then did I realize it was not meant to _______ any real skill, but simply for laughs. However, it stimulated (激发) my _______ for thinking outside the box.

It _______ me to see the kids throwing harder when the handkerchief always caught the air and died. It was obvious that using the same _______ would not work. Suppose I tied a(an) _______ inside the handkerchief? When they inspected it, I’d be ________. So I began tying the handkerchief around itself to make it small and ________ packed together to keep it from unfolding. When I approached the line, people were already laughing, ________ a big strong-looking boy like me casting it just a few inches.

I took a long wind-up, and the balled handkerchief ________ off maybe 60 feet away. The laughing ________ in collective shock. I had not broken the rules. What I learned from this contest was that, in order to live creatively, you have to ________   the less-used parts of your brain, and not accept stereotypes (刻板印象), slogans and unquestioned ideas.

1.

A．admitted

B．threw

C．trapped

D．talked

2.

A．farthest

B．strongest

C．highest

D．biggest

3.

A．escaped

B．wrinkled

C．opened

D．appeared

4.

A．pain

B．applause

C．laughter

D．anger

5.

A．demonstrate

B．engage

C．improve

D．involve

6.

A．responsibility

B．imagination

C．demand

D．passion

7.

A．delighted

B．frightened

C．amused

D．annoyed

8.

A．cloth

B．technique

C．rule

D．line

9.

A．ant

B．rock

C．leaf

D．shoe

10.

A．fined

B．disqualified

C．distracted

D．banned

11.

A．loosely

B．randomly

C．firmly

D．vividly

12.

A．anticipating

B．enjoying

C．stopping

D．confirming

13.

A．dashed

B．jumped

C．threw

D．rocketed

14.

A．died

B．roared

C．continued

D．weakened

15.

A．run into

B．tap into

C．break into

D．dive into