2 . According to a new US study, couples who expect their children to look after them in old age should hope they have daughters because daughters are twice as loving as sons generally.

The research by Angelina Grigoryeva, from Princeton University, found that, while women provide as much care for their elderly parents as they can manage, men do as little as they can get away with and often leave it to female family members.

Her analysis of the family networks of 26, 000 old Americans concluded that gender （性别）is one of the most important things that decide whether or not people will actively care for their elderly parents.

In a paper presented at the annual conference of the American Sociological Association in San Francisco, she concludes that simply having a sister makes men likely provide less care. Using data from the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study, a study which has been recording those people over 50s for the last decade, she analyzed that women provide an average of 12. 3 hours a month of care for elderly parents while men offer only 5. 6 hours.

“Sons reduce their relative caregiving efforts when they have a sister, while daughters increase theirs when they have a brother.”

“This suggests that sons pass on parent caregiving responsibilities to their sisters.”

In the UK, the 2011 Census showed that there are now around 6.5 million people with caring responsibilities, a figure which has risen by a tenth in a decade.

But many are doing so at the risk of their health. The census showed that those who provide 50 hours or more of care a week while trying to hold down a fulltime job are three times more likely to be struggling with ill health than their working counterparts who are not carers.

1. According to the passage, what’s the key factor to decide if people will actively care for the old?

A．Education.

B．Gender.

C．Career.

D．Income.

2. The US study finds that ________.

A．having a sister makes men less likely to look after their parents

B．sons are twice as likely as daughters to care for parents in old age

C．sons are unwilling to leave caregiving responsibilities to their sisters

D．sons and daughters seem to give equal care to their parents

3. What does the author stress in the last paragraph?

A．People should give up their jobs to care for the elderly.

B．Many care providers work longer hours than others.

C．Many care providers have potential health problems.

D．People shouldn’t pass on caring responsibilities to others.

4. The author develops the text by ________.

A．explaining social networks of careers

B．describing people’s experiences

C．analyzing various researches and data

D．comparing different gender

3 . Almost everyone gossips. And a new study finds that people spend about 52 minutes per day, on average, talking to someone about others who are not present

But here’s the surprise: Despite the assumption that most gossip is trash talk, the study finds the majority of gossip is nonjudgmental chat.

“People love to talk about others,” says Jeremy Cone, a psychologist at Williams College. “Think about your own conversations with a family member or friend: You talk about everyday things that keep you connected. You share your daughter got her driver’s license or your uncle has a kidney stone. Much of it is just documenting facts.”

Of course, the study also finds that some gossip is negative or mean-spirited. About 15% of the gossip included some type of negative judgement.

But even negative gossip can serve a purpose, as more research has found.

“I think gossiping can be a smart thing to do,” says Elena Martinescu who has studied gossip in the workplace. “It allows people to keep track of what’s going on and form social connection with other people.”

Research has shown that gossip can help build group cohesion (凝聚力) and cooperation. “When you gossip, you can keep track of who is contributing to the group and who's being selfish,” Martinescu explains. “And by sharing this information, you can exclude those group members who are social loafers (游手好闲的人).”

“We also found negative gossip makes people likely to repair the aspects of their behavior that they were criticized for,” Martinescu says.

So, say, for instance, you were criticized for always arriving at work late. Hearing that gossip about yourself may motivate you to want to be on time.

Of course, this isn’t a license to be loose lips or to repeat baseless claims that can damage someone’s reputation unfairly. But confiding (吐露个人隐私) in your friends and colleagues and sharing impressions about another person — even when they’re negative — may be helpful.

1. Why do people often gossip according to Jeremy Cone?

A．Because gossip can satisfy their curiosity.	B．Because they can share social information.
C．Because they want to correct others’ mistakes.	D．Because spreading negative facts is unavoidable.

2. In Elena Martinescu’s opinion, what can people benefit from gossip?

A．People can be improved in an all-round way.	B．People can get rid of immoral behavior rapidly.
C．People can be kept informed of others' privacy.	D．People can change their behavior for the better..

3. Which of the following statements is right according to the text?

A．It is plain to see that people gossip all the time.

B．Based on the study, the majority of gossip is trash talk.

C．It’s advisable that we turn a deaf ear to negative gossip.

D．It’s likely that gossip helps us know more about one's quality.

4. What conclusion can we draw about gossip?

A．Gossip is the last thing people could do.	B．Gossip should be advocated by the society.
C．Gossip may not be as harmful as it sounds.	D．Gossip is the best way to build social bonds.

5 . Love your parents

Even if you think that your parents are mean-spirited at times, loving your parents is a normal and fulfilling （满意的）part of life. You love them for the fact that they created you, raised you, and are in part a source of who you are. Here are some ways to love your parents.

    1     A gentle "good morning" and "I love you" will warm a coldest heart. Remember that they brought you into this world. Without your parents, you might sill wander at an unknown corner in an unknown world.

Respect them more and cherish（珍惜）these moments. You can use these moments to learn from them when you're off on your own. It's OK to get angry but angry actions don't help you or your parents. Act calmly, cool off, journal about your feelings, or talk to a friend.     2    

Obey their requests. It will make your attitude better and earn you more respect from them. It may seem like you are going through hell when you don't get what you want or you have to clean. However, you had better remember they keep a roof over your head when it's cold, raining, snowing, or too hot. Understand that parents are human beings and make mistakes.     3     Since you can forgive your friends, why not forgive your parents?

Keep company with them. Do things with your parents like watching TV, or go somewhere with them.       4     Listen to their old stories and learn from them. You will find they are your teachers in this way or another.

Some people simply may not be able to love their parents. .    5     Look for help if you are being abused violently. Parents do not have a right to harm you.

A．There can be realistic reasons for this, family violence for example.

B．Anyway, spend as much time with them as you can.

C．Tell them you love them every morning.

D．Forgiveness is the key.

E．Parents will turn express their love to you.

F．After this, share your feelings with your parents.

G．Please remember parents are as important as friends.

6 . The world’s clocks mark every passing second, minute and hour. But to humans, seconds of pain can feel like minutes, and hours spent at a party can end in a blink (眨眼).

The brain can stretch or squeeze the feeling of time for many reasons, including pleasure, pain, fear and age. Although the science behind this “subjective time” is not fully understood, some research suggests that an additional factor might influence the subjective length of your life: your income.

Research already suggests that, on average, wealthy people live longer, biologically. Now, emerging work indicates that varied and novel (新奇的) experiences could create more “time codes (编码)” in the human brain as it processes memory formation. This, in tun, could mean that people who can afford to enjoy more vacations and hobbies, and who have more stimulating jobs, will recall having lived for a longer time on Earth.

“Even though time flies when you’re having fun, when you look back on it, you can remember much more of this extended experience compared to a boring experience,” says Jorgen Sugar, a postdoctoral student at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience. He’s part of a team of scientists investigating these mental time codes.

The idea that novelty can affect the experience of time also seems to fit cultures that don’t measure time using clocks—many cultures depend instead on celestial, cultural and seasonal events to mark the flow of time. Our experience of time does vary according to circumstances, and also according to the kind of rhythm of activity we engage in,” says Chris Sinha, a cognitive (认知) scientist working with Hunan University who has studied so called “event-based time” in Amazonian tribes and linguistic minority groups in China.

But other experts aren’t convinced. According to Monica Capri, an economist with a background in neuro-economies at Claremont Graduate University, subjective time isn’t well understood scientifically. Even if higher-paid jobs can lead to more new experiences, wealthy people aren’t necessarily spending money that way. A millionaire, for instance, may spend money on a fancy watch, but this isn’t likely to change their feeling of time the way a vacation or even a low-cost hike would, she says.

What’s more, she says, there are many factors to consider in how the brain processes time. For instance, according to Adrian Bejan, a professor at Duke University, the novelty of fun experiences an simply war off.

Still, researchers from many fields are eager to uncover the mysteries of memory and subjective time. According to Sugar, understanding how humans form and recall memories can affect many aspects of society, such as law, education and healthcare—and perhaps can even aid our understanding of ourselves. “The human brain is the most complex biological system we know.” he says.

1. What do we know about “subjective time” from the passage?

A．It has nothing to do with one's income.

B．Its pace is influenced by a person’s mood.

C．It is a thing that is completely understood.

D．It marks every passing second for a person.

2. How can income influence a person according to some researchers?

A．Wealthy people tend to engage more in remembering things.

B．Wealthy people may feel life is relatively shorter psychologically.

C．Wealthy people tend to have a better memory than poor people.

D．Wealthy people usually need more time to process memory formation.

3. What is Monica Capri’s opinion?

A．She is not convinced that money can extend subjective time.

B．She doesn’t believe that wealthy people can buy good memories.

C．She thinks that the excitement of fun experiences can hardly wear off.

D．She doubts whether higher-paid jobs can lead to more new experiences.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．The brain can change your feeling of time.

B．Many factors can influence how you feel time.

C．Your subjective time may depend on your income.

D．Researchers are exploring memory and subjective time.

7 . At the foot of the Tianmu Mountain in Zhejiang, a homestay (民宿) is attracting travelers from far and wide, which has won architectural medal at the 2021 German iF Design Awards.

The owners of the homestay are a couple in their late 30s who decided to return to their hometown three years ago. Li Xiumei used to be in charge of a division at a company in Hangzhou, and her husband was a sales director. It was an ordinary situation where Li’s husband was on business trips a lot and Li still worked on weekends. City life sometimes is not easy.

In 2018, they quit jobs and went back to Dongtianmu village, which lies in a forest of bamboo. The first time they drove into the village was one late afternoon. The cooking smoke was rising from the foot of the mountain, which gave them a very different feeling from the city.

The homestay was built beside her husband’s old countryside house. The old house is preserved (保留), while a brand-new building was built on its side and the whole site is made up of four courtyards. It has been updated to have a hall, a tea room, a kitchen, a dining room. Japanese cherry trees are planted in the east courtyard. A swimming pool is placed in the west courtyard, with a bar located on one side.

Li and her husband love gardening and music, and their new home gives them enough space to continue their interests and relax in the heart of nature. Li wants to share the quiet country life, so she makes her new home a homestay. In 2019, the homestay became an online hit after guests shared their experiences on social media. “The longer I stay here, the more I feel it was the right choice to come back, and this is more meaningful than making money,” Li says.

1. How did Li feel about city life?

A．Satisfied.

B．Noisy.

C．Attractive.

D．Tired

2. What impressed the couple when first driving to the village?

A．The forest of bamboo.	B．The smoke of cooking.
C．The fresh air in the village.	D．The feeling of loneliness.

3. What can we infer about the homestay from paragraph 4?

A．It is ancient and broken.	B．It can hold many guests.
C．It must have been carefully designed.	D．It has been rebuilt by the couple.

4. What’s more meaningful than earning money according to Li?

A．Continuing their music dream.	B．Living in the countryside.
C．Staying at the old house.	D．Developing a city.

8 . According to some researchers, you should not praise children for everything that they do. It does not help them build self-confidence.

Most parents and teachers agree that praise can help increase children’s self-confidence—the more, the better. However, according to some researchers, only proper praise is good for children. If adults praise everything children do, it makes children look for praise all the time, not trying to do their best. "Teachers should not say things like ‘good job’ or ‘nice work’ whenever a child does anything. They should encourage them to continue to improve," some researchers advise.

Another idea is that children with high self-confidence are happier, and do better at school. About this, Marshall Duke, a researcher in children, says, "High self-confidence brought in by too much praise does not make children happier, get more, or become able to do more. Finding a child’s advantages and developing them can help build confidence more than too much praise can." Praise also loses its effect if it is given equally to all students.

"It’s important to tell children the truth about what they’ve done. Honest feedback (反馈) is far better than empty praise," Duke adds. "People have got into the habit of not telling children when they’re wrong. That makes it hard for them to deal with difficulties when they grow up. That’s just how the world is."

1. According to some researchers, if parents praise their children too much, their children will ________.

A．always look for praise	B．increase self-confidence
C．become strong	D．do better in their studies

2. In order to help children build self-confidence, some researchers advise teachers to ________.

A．make them live more happily	B．let them do more difficult work
C．help them do better in school	D．encourage them to improve

3. Which of the following is TRUE, according to the passage?

A．Praise makes children become successful.

B．Children don't know what they're really good at.

C．The same praise for all children has no meaning.

D．Duke thinks praise is more important than finding children’s strengths.

4. What is the last paragraph about?

A．It’s important to have the habit of praising children.

B．Children should know their mistakes as soon as possible.

C．We should praise children honestly and tell them their mistakes.

D．What children with high self-confidence are like.

9 . A young Dutch inventor is widening his effort to cleanup floating (浮动的) plastic from the Pacific Ocean. He has developed a floating device (设备) to trap plastic waste moving into rivers before it reaches the oceans.

Boyan Slat was just 18 years old when he invented a system for catching waste in the ocean. He also founded an environmental group called “The Ocean Cleanup”. Its purpose is to develop the system. Last year, Slat showed the next step: a floating device which is called Interceptor. It removes plastic out of rivers. The device is powered by energy from the sun. “The 1,000 rivers are responsible for about 80% of plastic going into the world’s oceans,” said Slat. Three of the machines have already been used. Each machine costs about $775, 660, but the cost might drop as production increases.

Since they were used, the machines have been doing very well, collecting the plastic bottles and all the rubbish in the rivers. According to Slat, it is necessary to close “the tap”, which means preventing more plastic from reaching the ocean in the first place. He wanted to clean them all in the next five years. “This is not going to be easy, but if we do get this done, we could truly make our oceans again, ”said Slat.

The device is designed to be safe in rivers. Its nose is shaped to change directions to keep it away from larger floating things. It works by guiding plastic waste into an opening in the front of the device. The waste is then carried inside the machine where it is dropped into containers. The devices ends a text message to local operators that can come and empty it when it is full.

1. What do we know about Interceptor?

A．It needs solar power to work.	B．It is mainly used in the oceans.
C．It is being under test.	D．It can help sort waste.

2. What does “the tap” refer to in Paragraph 3?

A．The waste.	B．The oceans.
C．The machines.	D．The rivers.

3. What’s the function of the device’s nose?

A．To ensure the device’s safety.	B．To send operators text messages.
C．To empty the waste.	D．To serve as containers.

4. Where is the text most likely from?

A．A novel.	B．A magazine.
C．A diary.	D．A guidebook.