1 . J. K. Rowling frequently shows there is magic every day. Her Harry Potter series has helped people through times of stress and depression and she is always there to deliver wise words of encouragement.
She is one celebrity who is very active on Twitter. So when a single dad named Matt Burke sent her a message thanking her for the series, she noticed. Her series had helped strengthen his relationship with his 9yearold daughter Bailey.
He included a link to his article titled Being a Broke Parent. He explained how he hadn’t found a level of financial stability that allowed him to pay bills on time and take his daughter on more activities and events. The family also doesn’t have the Internet or TV, which means there’s no “digital babysitter” and he has to rely on his own creative ways to bond with his daughter. Since he received the series, the main thing that has occupied them these days is reading books together.
Burke admits that he thought he was “too cool” for the books when they first came out and he was in his twenties, but he’s loving reading them now. “We switch off chapter by chapter reading them out loud，“Burke explains.” This not only allows her to get more used to reading aloud in front of someone, but it gets me directly involved in something she loves, and it gives me the chance to be very dramatic when I read my chapters and bring myself into the characters in the book, which has proven to be a ton of fun.”
After hearing Burke’s story, Rowling said how honored she was when Harry Potter was a part of his family’s life and offered Burke more books. Besides, people are also offering to send Burke more books as gifts. For Burke, this experience, far more than gifts, will be what he treasures.
1. Why did Burke thank J. K. Rowling according to the text?| A．She guided him how to write a good story. |
| B．She encouraged him when he was in trouble. |
| C．Her books helped him through times of confusion. |
| D．Her books helped him improve his bond with his daughter. |
| A．He has found it interesting to read the series. | B．He was too old to understand the series better. |
| C．He has chosen a better way of reading the series. | D．He hopes to play a role in the drama in the future. |
| A．Useless. | B．Normal. | C．Valuable. | D．Boring. |
| A．J. K. Rowling chooses to help improve kids’ health. |
| B．J. K. Rowling gives a magical gift to a single father. |
| C．J. K. Rowling has a deep influence on others’ growth. |
| D．Burke comes to know J. K. Rowling through her series. |
2 . Losing your ability to think and remember is pretty frightening. We know the risk of dementia (痴呆症) increases with age. But if you have memory slips, you probably needn’t worry. There are pretty clear differences between signs of dementia and age-related memory loss.
After age 50, it’s quite common to have trouble remembering the names of people, places and things quickly, says Dr. Kirk Daffner of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
The brain ages just like the rest of the body. Certain parts become smaller, especially areas in the brain that are important to learning, memory and planning. Changes in brain cells can affect communication between different regions of the brain. And blood flow can be reduced as blood vessels narrow.
Forgetting the name of an actor in a favorite movie, for example, is nothing to worry about. But if you forget the plot of the movie or don’t remember even seeing it, that’s far more concerning, Daffner says.
When you forget entire experiences, he says, that’s “a red flag that something more serious may be involved”. Forgetting how to operate a familiar object like a microwave oven, or forgetting how to drive to the house of a friend you’ve visited many times before can also be signs of something going wrong.
But even then, Daffner says, people shouldn’t panic. There are many things that can cause confusion and memory loss, including health problems like temporary stoppage of breathing during sleep, high blood pressure, or depression, as well as medications (药物) like antidepressants.
You don’t have to figure this out on your own. Daffner suggests going to your doctor to check on medications, health problems and other issues that could be affecting memory. And the best defense against memory loss is to try to prevent it by building up your brain’s cognitive (认知的) reserve, Daffner says.
“Read books, go to movies, take on new hobbies or activities that force one to think in novel ways.” he says. In other words, keep your brain busy and working. And also get physically active, because exercise is a widely known to boost the brain.
1. Which memory-related symptom should people take seriously?| A．Totally forgetting how to do one’s daily routines. |
| B．Inability to recall details of one’s life experiences. |
| C．Failure to remember the names of movies or actors. |
| D．Occasionally confusing the addresses of one’s friends. |
| A．Check the brain’s cognitive reserve. |
| B．Stop medications affecting memory. |
| C．Turn to a professional for assistance. |
| D．Exercise to improve their wellbeing. |
| A．Having regular physical and mental checkups. |
| B．Taking medicine that helps boost one’s brain. |
| C．Engaging in known memory repair activities. |
| D．Staying active both physically and mentally. |
| A．Reduce. | B．Benefit. | C．Increase. | D．Depress. |
3 . Conservation scientist Kim Williams-Guillen was trying her best to come up with a way to save endangered sea turtles (海龟) from egg thieves when she had an “aha” moment: If she placed a fake (假的) egg containing a GPS tracker in the reptiles’ nests, she might be able to track the thieves.
Williams-Guillen found a flexible plastic material to mimic (仿造) the shell of real eggs. She and colleagues then used a 3D printer to produce the fakes of the same size, weight, and texture and put the smallest GPS tracking devices inside each. The researchers then went to four Costa Rican beaches, where green sea turtle come ashore to make their nests. As mothers laid their eggs under cover of night, the researchers slipped a fake egg into each nest. Once the fakes are covered in sand and mix with the real eggs, it’s very difficult to tell the difference between the two.
Of the 101 fake eggs, 25 were taken by thieves. The farthest moving egg traveled 137 kilometers inland. The fake egg sent its final signal the next day from a residential property, suggesting that the research team had tracked the eggs through “all of the players in the entire chain.”
By understanding that chain, Williams-Guillen says researchers can identify trading hot spots. She emphasizes that the tracker is not a way to catch local thieves, many of them living in poverty, but a tool to better understand their routes, which could help them and eventually law enforcement (执法部门) identify larger players in the chain.
In the meantime, Williams-Guillen and her colleagues are working to get their fake eggs to other sea turtle conservation organizations. Ultimately, though, scientists and nonprofits are going to engage communities with local outreach and education programs to save sea turtles. She says, “The real meat and potatoes of conservation isn’t going to come from deploying (布署) eggs.”
1. What can be learnt from paragraph 2?| A．Fake eggs are made and employed. | B．Sea turtles have become endangered. |
| C．Sea turtles lay eggs during the daytime. | D．The idea of fake eggs came into being. |
| A．To confirm whether the fake eggs really work. |
| B．To provide data for doing research on turtle eggs. |
| C．To arrest the locals stealing the turtle eggs from the beach. |
| D．To identify the trading routes and get the big players punished. |
| A．Deploying eggs needs advocating further. |
| B．Turtle conservation mainly relies on joint efforts. |
| C．She feels disappointed with the local communities. |
| D．Deploying eggs makes no difference in preserving turtles. |
| A．Saving endangered sea turtles is urgent |
| B．Endangered turtles can be traced with GPS |
| C．GPS eggs helps to save endangered sea turtles |
| D．A conservation scientist is devoted to protecting sea turtles |
4 . Lee Hee -ah was born in 1985 in Seoul, Korea. She has no bones in her left thumb(大拇指). However, as a pianist, she is bringing
Hee- ah began learning to
When she plays to sold out concert halls, she includes
The
| A．hope | B．habit | C．honor | D．help |
| A．weak | B．strong | C．strange | D．rich |
| A．sell | B．make | C．fix | D．play |
| A．ever | B．even | C．just | D．yet |
| A．recover | B．touch | C．strengthen | D．protect |
| A．singer | B．pianist | C．visitor | D．lover |
| A．works | B．paintings | C．songs | D．words |
| A．demanded | B．forgot | C．admitted | D．planned |
| A．defeated | B．carried | C．attached | D．followed |
| A．worried | B．cared | C．liked | D．bought |
| A．tall | B．beautiful | C．ugly | D．great |
| A．love | B．diary | C．challenge | D．dream |
| A．plain | B．complete | C．concerned | D．nervous |
| A．failure | B．adventure | C．example | D．pride |
| A．look inside | B．look into | C．search for | D．overcome |
5 . Words are powerful: they have the ability to lift up the lowest of the low or tear down the highest of the high. But a strong argument could be made that our body language is even more influential. The most effective communication occurs when the importance of body language in teaching is acknowledged. When these nonverbal signals are working together with our words, it creates communication synergy.
It has been suggested that two-thirds of our communication is nonverbal. Positive body language in a classroom setting has the ability to motivate, inspire and engage. It can not only give you the confidence you need to teach but can also inform your students that you actually know what you’re talking about. It can even make your students feel safe and confident enough to participate in the lessons more frequently.
Most leadership positions encourage body language that shows power and confidence. Signals include standing tall, gesturing only from the waist up, head straight and forward, and talking while pointing to others, which are obvious ways to exercise control. But when teaching, the nonverbal signals need to show a different type of leader. These signals convey warmth and understanding, reminding your students that you are approachable and there to help them grow. For example, fix your eyes on one student for about 15-30 seconds before changing to another student, which is one of the best ways to keep students’ focus. Nod your head. Give a thumbs up—maybe two! Show them they are on the right path and they will be more confident in continuing down it.
The importance of body language can never be ignored. It’s desirable that you should advocate using body language in teaching and pay attention to the use rule and using skills. You should use right, natural and clear body language. It’s crucial that you create good classroom atmosphere, inspire students’ imagination and grasp students’ mood.
1. Which has a similar meaning as the underlined word “synergy” in Paragraph 1?| A．Energy loss. | B．Confusing result. |
| C．Individual effect. | D．Combined power. |
| A．Warmth. | B．Control. |
| C．Understanding. | D．Encouragement. |
| A．To explain a theory. | B．To make a description. |
| C．To give suggestions. | D．To summarize a debate. |
| A．The importance of teacher’s body language. |
| B．The effective ways of good communication. |
| C．The value of teacher-student communication. |
| D．The prospect of students’ nonverbal learning. |
6 . Notpla, a London-based firm, makes a seaweed-based substitute (代替物) for single use plastic packaging. Although some of Notpla’s products are suitable to be eaten, they are designed to be dissolved (溶解) after usage. Made of seaweed instead of a conventional plastic coating, the company’s packaging is fully biodegradable and ideal for use as packaging for kitchen and bathroom supplies like coffee and toilet paper.
According to the United Nations, 331 million kilograms of plastic garbage is produced annually around the world. About 60% of the estimated 9.15 billion tons of plastic produced since the early 1950s has been taken to landfills.
Plastics harm the water, the air, and our bodies. Many experts agree that single-use plastics are unnecessary and dangerous. Some governments and towns in the United States have taken action. New York has banned most plastic shopping bags, while plastic straws have been banned in Miami Beach. Overseas, India stated in August that it plans to place a wide ban on single-use plastics this upcoming summer, with the European Union already implementing this ban.
Seaweed comes in a variety of species and can be harvested or farmed. Notpla uses plants that have been farmed. Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez and Pierre Paslie, the inventors of Notpla, initially considered seaweed as a solution to the world’s plastic problem for several reasons. Seaweed is plentiful and grows quickly. Additionally it doesn’t compete with land crops and is highly favored for its ability to remove some waste products like carbon from the atmosphere.
In cooperation with the online food ordering service Just Eat, the startup recently tested its product. Last year, the two companies handed out 30, 000 takeaway boxes at various UK restaurants. Plans are in the works to offer the boxes across Europe in 2022. Notpla’s team intends to replace single use plastic in the supply chain more generally as they scale. The company recognizes the difficulty of such a job, considering the volume of plastics consumed around the world.
1. How does the author mainly develop paragraph 2?| A．By presenting figures. | B．By comparing facts. |
| C．By raising questions. | D．By quoting a saying. |
| A．Lifting. | B．Performing. | C．Protesting. | D．Removing. |
| A．The advantages of choosing seaweed. | B．The next goal of the new study. |
| C．The wide use of seaweed. | D．The shortcomings of the plastic bags. |
| A．It will be totally unpractical. | B．It will be richly rewarded. |
| C．It will be a little tough. | D．It will be rather successful. |
7 . A robot space mission has successfully brought samples of rocks and soil from the Moon back to Earth for the first time since the 1970s. The capsule from China’s Chang’e mission landed in Inner Mongolia in December 2020, carrying with it around two kilograms of Moon material.
The unmanned Chang’e-5 spacecraft was launched in November 2020. After a 250,000-mile journey to the Moon, it entered orbit and released a small landing vehicle that fell towards the surface. Using rockets to slow its speed, the lander made a soft landing on a 1,300-metre volcanic hill called Mons Rumker, in an area called the Ocean of Storms.
The lander used a scoop (铲) and a drill fitted to a robot arm to tunnel two meters into the ground, collecting samples of rock and soil. It then blasted off from the surface, returned to the main spacecraft and automatically transferred its samples, ready for the journey back to Earth.
This is the first time in nearly 45 years that a spacecraft has got Moon rocks back. Most of the Moon material we have on Earth was brought back by astronauts during the US Apollo missions of the late 1960s and early 1970s. A little more came with robot landers from the Soviet Union (a country composed of Russia and its nearby neighbors) around the same time. The new samples are thought to be around 1.3 billion years old and have been taken to China’s capital, Beijing, for study. It’s hoped that they will allow scientists to work out more accurately the age of the Moon and other solar system objects. Xiao Long, an expert in space rocks at China’s University of Geosciences, said that the samples could “rewrite the history of the Moon”.
1. What landed on the moon and brought the moon rocks back?| A．A lander. | B．A rocket. | C．A spacecraft | D．A capsule |
| A．Break off. | B．Take off. | C．Turn off. | D．Get off. |
| A．Once. | B．Twice. | C．Three times. | D．Four times. |
| A．To change the history of the Moon. | B．To find more solar system objects. |
| C．To work out the age of the Moon more accurately. | D．To make comparison with the previous samples. |
8 . Mikah Frye, a 9-year-old boy, was walking down the streets with his grandmother discussing Christmas gifts when he saw some homeless people struggling to stay warm in the cold night. Then he was thinking about a way to help the homeless to spend a warm Christmas.
That thought stayed in Mikah Frye’s mind and when he reached home, Mikah informed his parents not to buy the Microsoft XBox gaming device he had asked for earlier. Mikah realized that by not buying the $300 device, he could instead donate over 30 blankets to the homeless. He knew how much it meant to be warm in the cold holiday season.
Three years ago, Mikah and his parents were the ones living in a homeless shelter. Having suffered a financial crisis, they too had lost their house, not knowing where their next meal would come from and sharing a blanket every night. Mikah was six years old then but he remembered what it was like to have to give back that precious blanket every morning.
Reaching out to the emergency shelter programme that looked after them 3 years ago, the family donated 60 blankets in the end, each with a personalized message of hope in Mikah’s handwriting stating: “They gave me a blanket, but I had to leave it. That’s why I want you to have your own blanket. Today, I live in my own house, and someday you will too. Your friend, Mikah.”
The homeless people at the shelter may not have been able to give Mikah a Christmas gift in return but his gesture was noted by the billion dollar company Microsoft who made sure that Mikah was fooled into visiting their store so that Santa Claus could personally deliver an XBox from the company to him as a reward for making the top of “Santa’s list of nice boys” that year.
1. Why did Mikah give up his Christmas gift?| A．The device was out of date. | B．His parents had a tight budget. |
| C．He wanted to spend a warm Christmas. | D．He decided to do something charitable. |
| A．His own experience. | B．His parents’ education. |
| C．His visiting to the emergency shelter. | D．The cold weather during the holiday season. |
| A．The homeless gave Mikah a gift in return. |
| B．He finally got the gift he wanted on Christmas. |
| C．The company Microsoft fooled Mikah into buying an Xbox. |
| D．Mikah wrote a thank-you note to the emergency shelter he lived in. |
| A．Mikah’s Precious Christmas Gift |
| B．Mikah’s Giving Warmth on Christmas |
| C．Microsoft Rewarded Nice Boys on Santa’s List |
| D．The Homeless Needed Blankets on a Cold Christmas |
9 . This could be the perfect gift for the partner, who embarrasses you on the dance floor. Smart socks, which can teach to dance, may be the answer for anyone with two left feet.
The socks have been developed as a running tool to help runners improve their skills. Thanks to the socks, users can accurately record not only how far and fast they run but also how well. It means the user maximizes their performance, and reduces damage to body and prevents hurt. The hi-tech socks are made of special fibers that watch the movements of your feet. They look, feel and can be washed like normal clothes.
Sensors (传感器) record each movement and send it by an ankle transmitter (脚踝发射器) to a smart phone. Then a “virtual coach” application shows the information and can tell the user what they are doing wrong, and help to improve skill in any task with feet.
The socks should be useful to athletes and weekend joggers. “People think running is so easy and of course everybody can do it but not necessarily safely and well,” Dr. Davide Vigano said. A recent study showed that between 60 and 80 percent of runners got hurt per year. This is pretty much more than any other human activity. Researchers say the technology can also be developed to teach people how to dance, play sports such as golf, or even to help to teach women to walk better in high heels.
Mr. Vigano said, “People could all benefit from the idea. We have had interest from all sorts of sports, like skiing, football, cycling and golf. Anything where you have to use your feet can use it. It could even be put in high heels to help women walk in them safely.”
Socks are just the start, and the technology could be used in gloves, hats and boots. The socks, anklet and software package, are expected to be sold for around￡120, which will go on sale in March.
1. What does the underlined part “anyone with two left feet” refer to?| A．People who are disabled. |
| B．People who are interested in dancing. |
| C．People who are not good at dancing. |
| D．People who invented the socks. |
| A．They feel much softer than normal clothes. |
| B．They can monitor the movement of feet. |
| C．They are expensive to produce. |
| D．They act as a smart phone for users. |
| A．They can improve the skill of running. |
| B．They can help women walk better in high heels. |
| C．They can teach people to dance well. |
| D．They can be worn for days without washing. |
| A．everyone can make good use of the smart socks |
| B．users can run as fast as they like with the socks |
| C．60 to 80 percent of runners would like to buy the smart socks |
| D．no runners will get hurt, thanks to the socks |
10 . The new social robots, including Jibo, Cozmo, Kuri and Meccano M.A.X., bear some resemblance to assistants like Apple’s Siri, but these robots come with something more. They are designed to win us over not with their smarts but with their personality. They are sold as companions that do more than talk to us. Time magazine hailed (称赞) the robots that “could fundamentally reshape how we interact with machines.” But is reshaping how we interact with machines a good thing, especially for children?
Some researchers in favor of the robots don’t see a problem with this. People have relationships with many kinds of things. Some say robots are just another thing with which we can have relationships. To support their argument, roboticists sometimes point to how children deal with toy dolls. Children animate (赋予…生命) dolls and turn them into imaginary friends. Jibo, in a sense, will be one more imaginary friend, and arguably a more intelligent and fun one.
Getting attached to dolls and sociable machines is different, though. Today’s robots tell children that they have emotions, friendships, even dreams to share. In reality, the whole goal of the robots is emotional trickery. For instance, Cozmo the robot needs to be fed, repaired and played with. Boris Sofman, the chief executive of Anki, the company behind Cozmo, says that the idea is to create “a deeper and deeper emotional connection ... And if you neglect him, you feel the pain of that.” What is the point of this, exactly? What does it mean to feel the pain of neglecting something that feels no pain at being neglected, or to feel anger at being neglected by something that doesn’t even know it is neglecting you?
This should not be our only concern. It is troubling that these robots try to empathize with children. Empathy allows us to put ourselves in the place of others, to know what they are feeling. Robots, however, have no emotions to share, and they cannot put themselves in our place. No matter what robotic creatures “say” or squeak, they don’t understand our emotional lives. They present themselves as empathy machines, but they are missing the essential equipment. They have not been born, they don’t know pain, or death, or fear. Robot thinking may be thinking, but robot feeling is never feeling, and robot love is never love.
What is also troubling is that children take robots’ behavior to indicate feelings. When the robots interact with them, children take this as evidence that the robots like them, and when robots don’t work when needed, children also take it personally. Their relationships with the robots affect their self-esteem (自尊). In one study, an 8-year-old boy concluded that the robot stopped talking to him because the robot liked his brothers better.
For so long, we dreamed of artificial intelligence offering us not only simple help but conversation and care. Now that our dream is becoming real, it is time to deal with the emotional downside of living with robots that “feel.”
1. How are the new social robots different from Siri?| A．They are intended to teach children how to talk. |
| B．They are designed to attract people with their smarts. |
| C．Their main function is to evaluate children’s personality. |
| D．They have a new way to communicate with human beings. |
| A．are deeply connected with human beings |
| B．are unable to build a real relationship with children |
| C．are so advanced that they can feel the pain of human beings |
| D．are not good enough to carry out the instructions of children |
| A．emotion | B．pain |
| C．fear | D．thinking |
I: Introduction P: Point Sp: Sub-point (次要点) C: Conclusion
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
