1 . The connection between people and plants has long been the subject of scientific research. Recent studies have found positive effects. A study conducted in Youngstown，Ohio，for example, discovered that greener areas of the city experienced less crime. In another，employees were shown to be 15% more productive when their workplaces were decorated with houseplants.

The engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT)have taken it a step further changing the actual composition of plants in order to get them to perform diverse，even unusual functions. These include plants that have sensors printed onto their leaves to show when they’re short of water and a plant that can detect harmful chemicals in groundwater. ＂We’re thinking about how we can engineer plants to replace functions of the things that we use every day,＂explained Michael Strano, a professor of chemical engineering at MIT.

One of his latest projects has been to make plants glow(发光)in experiments using some common vegetables. Strano’s team found that they could create a faint light for three-and-a-half hours. The light，about one-thousandth of the amount needed to read by，is just a start. The technology, Strano said, could one day be used to light the rooms or even to turn trees into self-powered street lamps.

In the future，the team hopes to develop a version of the technology that can be sprayed onto plant leaves in a one-off treatment that would last the plant’s lifetime. The engineers are also trying to develop an on and off＂switch＂where the glow would fade when exposed to daylight.

Lighting accounts for about 7% of the total electricity consumed in the US. Since lighting is often far removed from the power source(电源)-such as the distance from a power plant to street lamps on a remote highway-a lot of energy is lost during transmission(传输).Glowing plants could reduce this distance and therefore help save energy.

1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?

A．A new study of different plants.

B．A big fall in crime rates.

C．Employees from various workplaces.

D．Benefits from green plants.

2. What is the function of the sensors printed on plant leaves by MIT engineer?

A．To detect plants’ lack of water

B．To change compositions of plants

C．To make the life of plants longer.

D．To test chemicals in plants.

3. What can we expect of the glowing plants in the future?

A．They will speed up energy production.

B．They may transmit electricity to the home.

C．They might help reduce energy consumption.

D．They could take the place of power plants.

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

A．Can we grow more glowing plants?

B．How do we live with glowing plants?

C．Could glowing plants replace lamps?

D．How are glowing plants made pollution-free?

2 . When you were trying to figure out what to buy for the environmentalist on your holiday list, fur probably didn’t cross your mind. But some ecologists and fashion (时装)enthusiasts are trying to bring back the market for fur made from nutria(海狸鼠).

Unusual fashion shows in New Orleans and Brooklyn have showcased nutria fur made into clothes in different styles. “It sounds crazy to talk about guilt-free fur-unless you understand that the nutria are destroying vast wetlands every year”, says Cree McCree, project director of Righteous Fur.

Scientists in Louisiana were so concerned that they decided to pay hunters $5 a tail. Some of the fur ends up in the fashion shows like the one in Brooklyn last month.

Nutria were brought there from Argentina by fur farmers and let go into the wild. “The ecosystem down there can’t handle this non-native species(物种).It’s destroying the environment. It’s them or us.” says Michael Massimi, an expert in this field.

The fur trade kept nutria in check for decades，but when the market for nutria collapsed in the late 1980s，the cat-sized animals multiplied like crazy.

Biologist Edmond Mouton runs the nutria control program for Louisiana. He says it’s not easy to convince people that nutria fur is green, but he has no doubt about it. Hunters bring in more than 300,000 nutria tails a year, so part of Mouton’s job these days is trying to promote fur.

Then there’s Righteous Fur and its unusual fashion. Model Paige Morgan says，”To give people a guilt-free option that they can wear without someone throwing paint on them-I think that’s going to be a massive thing, at least here in New York.” Designer Jennifer Anderson admits it took her a while to come around to the opinion that using nutria fur for her creations is morally acceptable. She is trying to come up with a label to attach to nutria fashions to show it is eco-friendly.

1. What is the purpose of the fashion shows in New Orleans and Brooklyn?

A．To promote guilt-free fur.

B．To expand the fashion market.

C．To introduce a new brand.

D．To celebrate a winter holiday.

2. Why are scientists concerned about nutria?

A．Nutria damage the ecosystem seriously.

B．Nutria are an endangered species.

C．Nutria hurt local cat-sized animals.

D．Nutria are illegally hunted.

3. What does the underlined word “collapsed” in paragraph 5 probably mean?

A．Boomed.

B．Became mature.

C．Remained stable.

D．Crashed.

4. What can we infer about wearing fur in New York according to Morgan?

A．It’s formal.

B．It’s risky.

C．It’s harmful.

D．It’s traditional.

3 . A man asked why an old lady was all alone on a cruise   ship. He _______ that although she was alone, all the staff, ship’s officers, waiters and busboys, were very _______ with her. So he asked the waiters who the lady was, _______ to be told that she owned the shipping line, but all the waiters knew was that she had been on the last _______ cruises. One after the other.

As he left the dining room one evening the man _______ her eye and stopped to say hello. They chatted for a while and he asked _______ , “I heard that you’ve been on this ship for the last four cruises.” She replied, “Yes, that’s _______.”

He said, ”I don’t understand.” And she replied, without a pause, “It’s _______ than living in a nursing home. So there will be no nursing home in my future, I’m _______ on this cruise; the average ________ for a nursing home is $200 per day. Here, I can get a ________ discount and senior discount price of $135 per day. That ________ $65 a day for tips and extra cash. It works very well for me here.

I can have as many as ten meals a day of fantastic food or room ________ which means I can have breakfast in bed every day of the week. I get a free swimming pool, a workout room. Free washers and dryers, and showers every night. I get free toothpaste and free soap and shampoo. They will even ________ you like a customer, not a ________. An extra $5 worth of tips will have the entire staff hurrying to help you,

I get to ________ new people every seven or 14 days! TV broken? Light bulb needs changing? Need to have the flowers ________? No problem! They will fix everything and ________ for the inconvenience. Clean sheets and towels every day, and you don’t ever have to ________ them to do so. There is always a doctor on board. This is ________ I want to live the end of my life.

1.

A．wondered

B．noticed

C．searched

D．guessed

2.

A．familiar

B．serious

C．isolated

D．cautious

3.

A．whispering

B．continuing

C．pretending

D．expecting

4.

A．two

B．three

C．four

D．five

5.

A．caught

B．avoided

C．missed

D．scared

6.

A．excitedly

B．anxiously

C．seriously

D．curiously

7.

A．wrong

B．strange

C．true

D．funny

8.

A．easier

B．nearer

C．fresher

D．cheaper

9.

A．staying

B．hanging

C．playing

D．working

10.

A．discount

B．salary

C．bargain

D．cost

11.

A．full-time

B．long-term

C．large-scale

D．first-rate

12.

A．leaves

B．remains

C．spends

D．loses

13.

A．service

B．cleaning

C．inspection

D．charge

14.

A．cure

B．treat

C．please

D．admire

15.

A．passenger

B．visitor

C．guest

D．patient

16.

A．serve

B．save

C．meet

D．help

17.

A．completed

B．located

C．replaced

D．cut

18.

A．trouble

B．answer

C．prepare

D．apologize

19.

A．ask

B．recommend

C．encourage

D．forbid

20.

A．what

B．why

C．how

D．when

4 . Over the centuries Shakespeare’s plays have gained a reputation for being difficult to understand. But if his work is experienced on stage as Shakespeare intended, then it can become much clearer. In fact 95% of the words used in Shakespeare’s plays are the same words we use today.

The meanings of some words have altered significantly, _________, because Shakespeare was writing at a time of great linguistic change. This gave him a certain amount of _________ license in his language.

So what can Shakespeare’s plays tell us about how people really spoke at this time? And did anyone really speak like his characters? The lines spoken by Corin to Rosalind and Celia in As You Like It probably weren’t _________ of an Elizabethan shepherd.

The first thing to remember about Shakespeare’s work is that he wrote plays to entertain. They are _________ works, and the dialogue was exploited to suit the stage. Therefore his characters’ language did not always _________ how real people would have spoken.

For instance, in As You Like It when Corin, the shepherd, talks of love, his lines are beautiful and poetic – but _________ unrealistic. The lines Shakespeare gave Corin probably wouldn’t have been used by an Elizabethan shepherd – instead they _________ to highlight the drama.

Another example of how the theatrical style enriched Shakespeare’s text can be seen in the structure of his lines. According to the practice of the time, Shakespeare wrote his poems in iambic pentameter(抑扬格五音步) so it was _________ for his actors to learn. When Shakespeare was writing, new plays were performed every day so this 10-beat structure was a great help for anyone having to learn a lot of lines for the next day’s play.

_________ this structure meant that, on occasion, Shakespeare made up or adapted words to fit. __________, on several occasions Shakespeare changed the word “vast” to “vasty” when “vast” did not fit the __________ of the line. But if we look beyond the dialogue to the words themselves we can find out a little of how people really spoke.

We can come close to this thanks to “original pronunciation” which is a system of __________ that reproduce how the Elizabethans are believed to have spoken. Today it sounds like a West Country accent, with echoes of other parts of the country. When we __________ this to Shakespeare’s dialogue, rhymes and puns(押韵与双关) that are not heard in modern English are suddenly revealed.

So through Shakespeare’s plays we can __________ a great deal about how people really spoke. His dialogue was on the whole representative of the language of the time and area and now provides us with invaluable insight into a(n) __________ language.

1.

A．otherwise

B．furthermore

C．however

D．hence

2.

A．creative

B．significant

C．limited

D．practical

3.

A．critical

B．typical

C．proud

D．afraid

4.

A．valuable

B．outstanding

C．efficient

D．dramatic

5.

A．reflect

B．mean

C．sign

D．signal

6.

A．luckily

B．essentially

C．generally

D．naturally

7.

A．construct

B．produce

C．function

D．illustrate

8.

A．easier

B．worse

C．wiser

D．slower

9.

A．Falling into

B．Varying from

C．Agreeing to

D．Sticking to

10.

A．By contrast

B．For example

C．What’s more

D．In consequence

11.

A．structure

B．style

C．rhythm

D．form

12.

A．speech

B．writing

C．communication

D．symbol

13.

A．fit

B．devote

C．apply

D．input

14.

A．keep up

B．find out

C．take on

D．bring about

15.

A．lost

B．difficult

C．ongoing

D．global

5 . Pennsylvania is full of mysterious places! One of those is an old turnpike （收费高速公路） _______ for decades. My dad loves history, and he learned it was open to the public. _______, when I was 14, we took a bike trip to _______ this road!

My dad chose a 16-mile _______ of the road for us to ride. Part of it included an old tunnel called Sideling Hill which is over a mile long! To _______, we checked our tires and made sure our lights had batteries. In the morning, we loaded our bikes into the car and set off. As we approached the tunnel, I felt _______ as it was absolutely black inside! But Dad encouraged me. He said he would be beside me. He reminded me to stay _______ and keep my light on!

When we _______ the tunnel, the sound of our bikes was heard through the darkness. I shined my flash light around and saw walls _______in graffiti （涂鸦）.And I felt like I was being __________! I was pretty scared, but __________ on following Dad helped me relax. After riding half-way through, I could see light coming from the other end, motivating me to keep going. And I was so delighted to ride out into the bright afternoon!

Whenever going through __________ in life, I remember this trip. It reminds me that my father is always beside me. He turns on the light of hope in my __________, as well as gives me __________ to keep riding through life's   __________ tunnels.

1.

A．designed

B．destroyed

C．abandoned

D．locked

2.

A．However

B．Otherwise

C．Therefore

D．Meanwhile

3.

A．explore

B．construct

C．protect

D．repair

4.

A．tunnel

B．section

C．block

D．course

5.

A．participate

B．register

C．cooperate

D．prepare

6.

A．excited

B．nervous

C．annoyed

D．exhausted

7.

A．silent

B．curious

C．cautious

D．positive

8.

A．approached

B．observed

C．constructed

D．entered

9.

A．covered

B．buried

C．absorbed

D．dressed

10.

A．forced

B．watched

C．abused

D．judged

11.

A．depending

B．surviving

C．calling

D．focusing

12.

A．accidents

B．hardships

C．regulations

D．incidents

13.

A．chest

B．trip

C．work

D．heart

14.

A．courage

B．pride

C．excitement

D．enthusiasm

15.

A．difficult

B．distant

C．dark

D．long

6 . A Great Way to Teach Children to Take Responsibility

As parents, one of the most important things to teach children to take responsibility is to include chores as a part of their daily routine. In order to make a family function smoothly, every member must contribute. Teaching your children to take responsibility at an early age makes it easier for them to shoulder greater responsibilities as they grow older.

    1     If your children leave their crayons lying on the table after drawing, picking up those crayons is not a chore. It is cleaning up a mess they have created.     2    

    3    . For example, if it is to feed the dog every day, make   sure   the   children understand that if they fail in their responsibility, the dog will go hungry.

Make rewards and punishments a part of the lesson. Together decide whether they will be rewarded or not.     4     Some parents make their reward a monetary payment, while others choose to reward with certain privileges, such as extra television viewing time.

Children need to be taught that there are punishments for their actions in case of not doing their assigned chores. Decide and agree from the start what the punishment will be.

Teaching your children the importance of contributing to the family is of great importance.     5     By taking this step, you have done a wonderful thing for your children by providing them with life skills they can take with them into society.

A．A chore is a specific task a child has been assigned which helps improve the life of the entire family.

B．And what punishment they will receive if a chore isn’t done.

C．Actually you are taking a critical step in empowering them for their future.

D．Start by teaching children the difference between a chore and cleaning up after themselves.

E．Teach children the importance of each assignment, and why it matters.

F．Children will not be rewarded at all for merely cleaning up.

G．And if so, what the reward will be for a job well done.

7 . What do you do when you have a problem? Would you ask a crowd of strangers for a solution? It may sound strange, but it has encouraged this successful innovation (创新). That's the thinking behind a challenge prize.

Challenge prizes come in many shapes and sizes but the basic concept (观念) remains the same. Rather than paying an expert to work out a solution, you offer the prize to anyone who believes they can solve it and presented the first to do so with a prize. Many would argue, “who is better qualified (有资格的) than an expert”. But actually, not using an expert will result in a great deal of thinking outside of the box.

Some argue that formal education can kill creativity, because it sometimes only teaches a single method to achieve the task. Similarly, some suggests that experts can have the same problem. “If we set up a challenge prize, the ‘experts’ that come to compete in it may tell us it can't be done,” says Marcus Shingles, the former CEO of the XPRIZE Foundation.

There are other advantages too. “You are not asking people to use a particular solution set on how to solve that problems. So you get the large amount of diversity,” adds Shingles. And because the crowd acts like a think tank (智囊团). Various thinking can throw up issues that may have been overlooked (忽视).

However, there are dangerous connected to challenge prizes. “You don't want to be creating a challenge prize which inspires people to solve a problem where there is no demand,” says Tris Dyson, the Executive Director of Nesta’s Center for Challenge prizes. This happened in 1979 when a prize of £100,000 was claimed by the first person to fly under human power across the English Channel. Despite its success, it has not led to the adoption of human powered flight as a form of travel. And of course, there are those who invest their personal time and money only to see no return at all.

The pros and cons of challenge prizes affect both problems-setters and problem-solvers. But they don't seem to be going out of style anytime soon. To many, the challenge to innovate and the attraction of the prize are too much to resist (抵制). And there is no solution for that.

1. What is the basic concept behind a challenging prize?

A．Rewarding the first one to solve a challenging problem.

B．Competing with the experts to get a particular solution.

C．Challenging the formal education that kills creativity.

D．Picking out someone more qualified than experts.

2. According to Marcus Shingles, what can be the problem with experts?

A．Overlooking possible details about a problem.

B．The lack of connection on practical innovations.

C．Failure to find a solution due to habitual thinking.

D．Overconfidence in finding a best solution.

3. What is the potential danger of challenge prizes?

A．Prizes received no return in terms of practical use.

B．The money shortage prevents the adoption of innovations.

C．Innovations are likely to go out of date in a short time.

D．The attraction of prize money is hard to resist.

4. Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?

A．Arguments for formal education.

B．The problem-solving prizes.

C．Dangers connected with challenge prizes.

D．The attraction of innovation.

8 . At first，a Belgian man thought the noise coming from his outdoor planter was annoying pigeons. It ____ to be Europe’s largest owl—four of them.

One of the world’s largest owls，the Eurasian eagle owl，set up ____ in Jos Baart’s third-storey apartment planter. ____ the mother owl’s three chicks hatched，they’ve taken to watching ____ through the window with their new landlord(房东).

In video footage，the huge，fluffy chicks can be seen standing at attention in ____，eyeing the television screen ____ Baart’s shoulder.

Their ____ mom typically watches over her hatchlings from behind a bush for six to eight hours at a stretch each day，seemingly a little more ____ of Baart and her babies’TV-watching habits.

They seem to have grown ____ to each other now，but not so long ago，Baart，thought they were ____. “I thought，damn，those pigeons again，”he says. He was proven ____ one day when he arrived home and the large mother owl took ____ right in front of him. “You can see how ____ they are，”Baart says in the footage. “They’re not scared at a11. ”

Eagle owls typically nest on cliffs and ledges，but are sometimes known to ____abandoned golden eagle nests. They have no natural predators and a long lifespan of 20 years in the ____，but can live up to 60 years in captivity(圈养).

1.

A．holds on

B．turns out

C．1ives up

D．gives away

2.

A．camp

B．time

C．business

D．shop

3.

A．Before

B．Until

C．Once

D．Since

4.

A．video

B．footage

C．games

D．TV

5.

A．sense

B．way

C．row

D．hurry

6.

A．over

B．on

C．off

D．by

7.

A．less-diligent

B．less-friendly

C．gentle

D．ambitious

8.

A．careless

B．patient

C．cautious

D．sensitive

9.

A．addicted

B．accustomed

C．attached

D．opposed

10.

A．annoyances

B．guests

C．friends

D．enemies

11.

A．fake

B．true

C．right

D．wrong

12.

A．fright

B．flight

C．care

D．place

13.

A．cute

B．tense

C．relaxed

D．alert

14.

A．leave behind

B．stand up

C．put up

D．take over

15.

A．region

B．nest

C．wild

D．field

9 . Last weekend I took a bus to New York City. As I took the window seat and wore headphones over ears, I almost didn't _______ an elderly man sitting beside me. The elderly man asked me a simple question _______ the bus' s WiFi connection, which turned into a two-hour _______.

We talked a lot about my dreams, my fears and my life. I _______ more with this stranger on the bus than I have with any friend or family member in months. Maybe it is because I am _______ to let anyone I know close to me. I was _______ that the stranger was not only deeply interested in getting to know me, but also just willing to     _______ me to my greatest abilities. Instead of politely _______ his head when I mentioned my major, he told me that my strong liking seemed to be psychology, but not the one I was studying and that he fully understood my _______ for the failure.

This elderly man made me ________ the plans that I had made for my life. He helped me realize that my carefully ________ plan for the next five years of my life wasn't all that good, but actually complex and filled with     ________ . Most of all, he helped me ________ the complex rather than stay away from it because of my fear for the unknown.

A few days later, he emailed me, saying, “I think you' re ________ for great things whatever you decide to do.” The email, filled with words of encouragement made me realize that life is sometimes ________ but it is going to be okay.

1.

A．check

B．notice

C．excuse

D．believe

2.

A．through

B．with

C．during

D．about

3.

A．introduction

B．explanation

C．conversation

D．competition

4.

A．searched

B．shared

C．demanded

D．reviewed

5.

A．sorry

B．curious

C．anxious

D．afraid

6.

A．puzzled

B．worried

C．amazed

D．disappointed

7.

A．push

B．invite

C．treat

D．admit

8.

A．raising

B．dropping

C．turning

D．nodding

9.

A．regret

B．change

C．fear

D．desire

10.

A．prepare

B．develop

C．consult

D．question

11.

A．replaced

B．organized

C．discussed

D．predicted

12.

A．uncertainty

B．danger

C．responsibility

D．conflict

13.

A．spot

B．ignore

C．seize

D．accept

14.

A．leaving

B．heading

C．watching

D．caring

15.

A．genuine

B．normal

C．painful

D．serious

10 . Choosing to forget something might take more mental effort than trying to remember it, researchers at The University of Texas discovered. Their findings suggest that in order to forget an unwanted experience, more attention should be focused on it.

“Decades of research has shown that we have the ability to forget something out of our own free will, but how our brains do that is still being questioned. Once we can figure out how memories are weakened and come up with ways to control this, we can design treatment to help people rid themselves of unwanted memories.” said Jarrod Lewis-Peacock, the study's senior author.

Memories are energetic constructions of the brain that regularly get updated, adjusted and reorganized through experience. The brain is constantly remembering and forgetting information—and much of this happens automatically during sleep.

Their findings not only confirmed that humans have the ability to control what they forget, but that successful intentional forgetting requires more activity than what is required to remember.

“A proper level of brain activity is important to this forgetting mechanism (机制). Too strong, it will strengthen the memory; too weak, you won^’t change it,” said Tracy Wang, lead author of the study. “Importantly, it's the intention to forget that increases the activation of the memory, and when this activation (激活) hits the “proper level” sweet spot, that's when it leads to later forgetting of that experience”.

The researchers also found that participants were more likely to forget scenes than faces. “We're learning how these mechanisms in our brain respond to different types of information, and it will take a lot of further research before we understand how to use our ability to forget,” said Lewis-Peacock. “Hopefully we can find out how we process and get rid of those really strong memories, which can have a powerful effect on our health and well-being.”

1. What remains a puzzle to researchers?

A．How our memories can be strengthened.

B．How our brains voluntarily forget something.

C．What effect unwanted memories have on our brains.

D．Whether our brains can voluntarily forget something.

2. Which of the following words can best describe memories?

A．Casual.	B．Unpredictable.
C．Active.	D．Permanent.

3. It can be learned from the text that ______.

A．it requires less attention to forget than to remember

B．the more active the brain is, the faster it forgets

C．humans can't keep memories under control

D．humans forget faces less easily than scenes

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．What It Takes to Forget an Unwanted Experience

B．Strong Memories Have a Great Influence on Health

C．Forgetting Uses More Brain Power than Remembering.

D．How to Train Our Brains to Voluntarily Forget Something