1 . British anthropologists Russell Hill and Robert Barton of the University of Durham, after studying the results of one-on-one boxing, tae kwon do, Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling matches at the Olympic Games, conclude that when two competitors are equally matched in fitness and skill, the athlete wearing red is more likely to win.

Hill and Barton report that when one competitor is much better than the other, colour has no effect on the result. However, when there is only a small difference between them, the effect of colour is enough to tip the balance. The anthropologists say that the number of times red wins is not simply by chance, but that these results are statistically significant.

Joanna Setchell, a primate (灵长目动物) researcher at the University of Cambridge, has found similar results in nature. She studies the large African monkeys known as mandrills. Mandrills have bright red noses that stand out against their white faces. Setchell’s work shows that the powerful males—the ones who are more successful with females—have a brighter red nose than other males.

As well as the studies on primates by Setchell, another study shows the effect of red among birds. In an experiment, scientists put red plastic rings on the legs of male zebra finches and this increased the birds’ success with female zebra finches. Zebra finches already have bright red beaks (鸟喙), so this study suggests that, as with Olympic athletes, an extra flash of red is significant. In fact, researchers from the University of Glasgow say that the birds’ brightly coloured beaks are an indicator of health. Jonathan Blount, a biologist, and his colleagues think they have found proof that bright red or orange beaks attract females because they mean that the males are healthier. Nothing in nature is simple, however, because in species such as the blue footed booby, a completely different colour seems to give the male birds the same advantage with females.

Meanwhile, what about those athletes who win in their events while wearing red? Do their clothes give them an unintentional advantage? Robert Barton accepts that “that is the implication” of their findings. Is it time for sports authorities to consider new regulations on sports clothing?

1. According to their research, Hill and Barton conclude that _____.

A．the colour of clothing has an effect on most sport events

B．red should be the choice of colour for clothing in sports

C．red plays a role when competitors are equally capable

D．athletes perform better when surrounded by bright red

2. The underlined word “tip” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to _____.

A．achieve

B．seek

C．keep

D．change

3. The example of the blue footed booby proves that _____.

A．male birds use different body parts to draw attention

B．red is not the only colour to attract female birds

C．blue gives female birds the same advantage

D．blue can indicate how healthy a bird is

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A．What Colour Implies More Power?	B．A Tip on Clothing.
C．Need to Change the Rules in Sports?	D．Red Is for Winners.

2 . Picture this: You’re searching the Internet and come across a website with interesting articles. Some are news stories. Their goal is to share information. Others only look like news stories. They’re actually advertisements, or ads. The goal of an ad is to get you to buy something. How do you, the reader, tell the difference between a news story and an ad?

Back when I was growing up, it was easier. We got most of our information from newspapers. Big news stories appeared on the front page, and ads were boxed off and clearly labeled. But on the Internet, the two are often presented together. It can be hard to tell which is which.

That’s why the research group I direct conducted a study. My research team showed kids like you the home page of a popular digital magazine. We asked them to tell us what was a news story and what was an ad. Most were great at identifying certain types   of ads. “It has a coupon code, a big company logo, and the words limited time offer,” one student wrote about an ad on the site. So where did kids get stumped?

Some ads seem the same as real news stories. They have headlines and contain information. But they may also include the words sponsored content. Sponsored means “paid for,” and content refers to the information in the story. “Sponsored content” is a way of saying that something is an ad. Most kids in our study, even if they used the Internet often, didn’t know this.

Just because something is sponsored doesn’t necessarily mean it’s false. It means someone paid money for it to appear. Companies pay so that readers will see their stories, buy their products, and like what the company stands for.

As a reader, you have a right to know who’s behind the information you’re consuming. So look for the phrase sponsored content. (And look carefully. Sometimes, it will be written in tiny letters.) The Internet is a vast sea of information. To use it well, we not only have to know how to swim but also how to avoid the sharks. Learning to tell the difference between an ad and a news story is an important step to becoming Internet smart.

1. The purpose of the first paragraph is to ______.

A．tell the difference between a news story and an ad

B．criticize the websites for too many ads on them

C．show the writer’s preference for newspapers

D．make readers interested and involved in what is going to be talked about

2. Sponsored content means ______.

A．the website gets paid for allowing something to appear on it

B．something is false

C．something isn’t necessarily an ad

D．readers have to buy the products advertised on the website

3. What does “sharks” in the last paragraph refer to?

A．Fierce sea animals.

B．Very bad people on the Internet.

C．Unwanted information.

D．Websites which contain ads.

4. Which is the best title?

A．Watch Out for Traps on the Internet

B．Make the Most of the Internet

C．Be Internet Smart

D．Be Aware of Your Rights

3 . Alexa is Amazon’s cloud-based voice service available on hundreds of millions of devices from Amazon and third-party device manufacturers. With Alexa, you can build natural voice experiences that offer customers a way to interact with the technology they use every day.

Alexa is always eavesdropping (窃听). (So are Siri, Google Assistant, and any other virtual assistant you invite into your home.) This is and isn’t as horrible as it sounds. Although it’s true that the device can hear everything you say within range of its microphones, it is listening for its wake word before it starts recording.Once it hears that —“Alexa” is the default (默认), but there are other options — everything in the following few seconds is considered to be a command or a request and is sent to (and stored on) servers in the cloud, where the correct response is triggered. Think of a smart speaker like a dog: It’s always listening, but it understands only “cookie,” “walk,” or “Buddy.” Everything else goes right over its head.

Every time Alexa hears a command, Amazon — its parent company — has just learned something about you. Maybe the company learned only that you like to listen to the Police, or that you like funny jokes, or that you turn your lights off at 11 p.m. every night. If you were to say “Alexa, where should I bury the body?” you’re not going to have the police showing up at your door. (I know because I’ve tried it.)

Alexa does make mistakes.Sometimes this can be funny, such as when Alexa hears its wake word in a TV show.Other times it’s more serious, including an instance in 2018 when Alexa mistakenly sent an entire private conversation to a random person’s Echo device. Occasionally there are even humans listening to your request for weather reports or trying to figure out what you meant when you added “mangosteens” to your shopping list. Sound disturbing? You likely already agreed to it in the app’s terms of use when you installed the device.

What bits of privacy are you willing to sacrifice for the convenience provided by a smart speaker? If you trust that Amazon’s intentions are no more immoral than getting a better idea of what you want to buy on Prime Day, then you have your answer. If you worry about your private information falling into the hands of the wrong people, then you have another answer.

1. Why does the author compare smart speakers to dogs?

A．To show smart speakers are life companions like dogs.

B．To show smart speakers are sensitive to users’ commands.

C．To show smart speakers are woken by specific words.

D．To show wake words for smart speakers are different.

2. What is the third paragraph mainly about?

A．The tech company knows less than users imagine.

B．The tech company is spying on users’ everyday life..

C．The tech company turns a blind eye to some crimes.

D．The tech company is interested in users’ music taste.

3. Which of the following best describes Alexa?

A．All-round.

B．Imperfect.

C．Funny.

D．Immoral.

4. What does the author think of using smart speakers?

A．It is a matter of opinion.

B．Privacy is a high price to pay.

C．It is part and parcel of life.

D．Convenience always comes first.

4 . Do you shop for groceries online and have them delivered to your door? Well, this might be just the start of a digital revolution in food. How about tattooed (刺花的) fruit, ice cubes which send text messages, and wine from the bottom of the ocean? All these things are on the _______ according to global innovation research firm Stylus.

They say stickers and wasteful packaging on fruit could be _______ by eatable tattos. These would be _______ “directly to the skin of the fruit without _______ damaging skin cells”, according to Stylus’s senior vice-president of content, Tessa Mansfield.

Our _______ are changing rapidly too, and some companies are cooking up menu of technological advances. _______, there’s a smart knife which can _______ the freshness of food and any bacteria present as it is being used.

Innovative ways to _______ what we consume are always being _______. Mandy Saven, Stylus’s head of food, beverage and hospitality says new digital ice cubes will send a text message to a friend if you drink too much alcohol.

Indeed, some companies are helping consumers stay ________ and make environmentally-friendly choices. Dutch firm Bilder and De Clerca sells food organized by recipe, which helps customers avoiding ________ by buying too much.

This makes the retailer more than just a supplier of food — it becomes “kind of food ________ to a shopper.” says Tessa Mansfield.

For the discerning (有眼力的) drinker, the future holds another new experience. How would you like to try “ocean-aged wine”? This is the wine which has been sunk to the bottom of the ocean to help it ________ before you enjoy it.

I find all these ________ exciting. What about you? Are you happy to ________ the new frontier of food?

1.

A．rise

B．contrary

C．horizon

D．whole

2.

A．replaced

B．exchanged

C．covered

D．understood

3.

A．connected

B．contributed

C．imported

D．applied

4.

A．heavily

B．actually

C．purposefully

D．weakly

5.

A．situations

B．groceries

C．services

D．kitchens

6.

A．In short

B．At first

C．For instance

D．After all

7.

A．enhance

B．add

C．analyze

D．locate

8.

A．search

B．monitor

C．elect

D．limit

9.

A．developed

B．tracked

C．tempted

D．followed

10.

A．comfortable

B．smart

C．holy

D．healthy

11.

A．consumption

B．waste

C．cost

D．bargain

12.

A．consultant

B．customer

C．designer

D．guard

13.

A．delicate

B．dizzy

C．mature

D．delicious

14.

A．innovations

B．goals

C．behaviors

D．consumers

15.

A．move about

B．step across

C．join in

D．get on

5 . Processed foods like chips, soda and frozen pizzas are full of salt, sugar and fat. Now scientists are trying to understand if there is something else about such foods that may be bad for humans. Scientists have already linked low-cost,_______foods to rising obesity rates around the world. Three recent studies offer more_______on how our increasingly industrialized food supply may be affecting our health.

What does processed food_______?

The researchers created a system that places foods into four groups. The system says highly processed foods are made_______of industrialized materials and additives. Sodas, packaged cookies, instant noodles and chicken nuggets are some examples of highly processed foods. But also included are products that can_______healthy, such as morning cereals, energy bars and some kinds of yogurt.

What's wrong with processed foods?

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health conducted a four-week study involving 20 people. They found that people eat about 500 more calories a day when_______mostly processed foods. That is compared with when the_______people were given less processed foods. The researchers permitted the 20 participants to eat as much or as little as they wanted. They were taken to a medical center so their health and behavior could be _______.

In another study, researchers in France found people who ate more processed foods were more likely to have heart disease. A similar study in Spain linked eating more processed foods to a higher risk of death_______.

What is it about processed foods?

When given less processed foods, people in the study________more of a hormone that controls hunger, and less of a hormone that causes hunger. The reason for the________is not clear. The scientists also found that people ate processed foods more quickly.

Kevin Hall is one of the researchers who led the study. He told the AP that processed foods are________softer and easier to chew and swallow. Hall noted the source of nutrients might________.For example, fiber from whole fruits and vegetables may be better for making people feel full than fiber added to packaged foods such as energy bars and yogurt.

What should you eat?

Avoiding processed foods can be hard,________for people with limited time and money. Processed foods can also take many forms.________,companies continually re-engineer products to make them seem healthier. The newest studies may provide more reasons to avoid processed foods. But, they also call attention to the difficulty of coming up with ways to do that.

1.

A．organic

B．delicious

C．packaged

D．cheap

2.

A．examples

B．clues

C．hints

D．signals

3.

A．provide

B．suggest

C．mean

D．infer

4.

A．specially

B．mostly

C．naturally

D．technically

5.

A．remain

B．taste

C．become

D．seem

6.

A．consumed

B．forced

C．deprived

D．fed

7.

A．same

B．normal

C．different

D．alternative

8.

A．explained

B．observed

C．cured

D．remedied

9.

A．in general

B．in particular

C．in nature

D．in advance

10.

A．preferred

B．produced

C．compared

D．processed

11.

A．hunger

B．procedure

C．reaction

D．physiology

12.

A．supposedly

B．hardly

C．usually

D．constantly

13.

A．strike a balance

B．run a risk

C．pose a threat

D．make a difference

14.

A．especially

B．generally

C．specifically

D．reasonably

15.

A．By contrast

B．In summary

C．Above all

D．In addition

6 . You've been painting for a few years, and maybe you have even sold a painting or two. Are you ready to ______ the title of an amateur artist?

Distinguishing green hand from professional artists is ______ task. It is not just a matter of your ability to create nice paintings. It's not only about painting techniques. And for most cases, it doesn't happen ______. Very few artists become overnight success without years of struggle and suffering.

To turn professional, people find it critical to develop a personal style. What makes your paintings _______ among other paintings out there? Are your paintings standing out unmistakably directed to you as the creator? A personal style comes along with technique, painting medium, and subject and it tends to develop gradually over time. You _______ it through unconscious and constant exploring and self-shaping. Style does not mean that you are painting the same subject or using the same painting medium. Salvador Dali used to use many artistic media, but they all have a _______ Dali style. Style refers to the emotions and thoughts delivered by your paintings, which people can identify with. (认同/产生共鸣) Their _______ of the painter is then a sure thing.

Artists talk about their _______ all of the time. What gets you out of bed every morning to paint? How do you find the energy to have all your time devoted to painting?   ______, we all love to do what we do and we get a satisfaction out of creating. For the professional artist, it goes beyond that. Some artists wish to convey a deep message concerning life, society or even politics. Others simply seek   _______ returns to cover kids' tuition fees or pay family bills. Yet, all professional artists know that they have to keep working to achieve the goals.

Many amateur artists passively wait for   _______ to come. If they are not in the mood, they do not bother wasting the time. They sometimes allow themselves to be occupied by events like parties. Professionals are never easily _______ or torn away from their art work in progress. Focused on their work so much, some even regard spending time outside their _______ as crime. _______ is their secret to high productivity.

Besides, professional artists are constantly prepared to grab new ideas for the next painting, which they believe is sure to be better than the previous one. The belief that there is always room for _______ keeps driving them forward in the art world where many masters have come along.

1.

A．step beyond

B．turn off

C．see through

D．make up

2.

A．rewarding

B．tricky

C．formal

D．temporary

3.

A．individually

B．thoroughly

C．instantly

D．sincerely

4.

A．different

B．superior

C．practical

D．reliable

5.

A．get

B．transfer

C．imitate

D．analyze

6.

A．recent

B．clear

C．modest

D．logical

7.

A．preservation

B．employment

C．adaption

D．recognition

8.

A．background

B．significance

C．motivation

D．routine

9.

A．To sum up

B．In contrast

C．In addition

D．In general

10.

A．academic

B．global

C．financial

D．original

11.

A．inspiration

B．fame

C．guidance

D．solution

12.

A．offended

B．dominated

C．distracted

D．rewarded

13.

A．studio

B．bedroom

C．garage

D．garden

14.

A．Reflection

B．Devotion

C．Creativity

D．Illustration

15.

A．negotiation

B．profit

C．criticism

D．improvement

7 . Math, Taught like Football

Growing up, I thought math class was something to be endured, not enjoyed. I disliked memorizing formulas and taking tests, all for the dull goal of getting a good grade. But my problem wasn’t with math itself. In fact, I spent countless hours as a child doing logic and math puzzles on my own, and as a teenager, when a topic seemed particularly interesting, I would go to the library and read more about it.

By high school, none of my teachers questioned my mathematical talent, but none of them really encouraged it, either. No one told me that I could become a professional mathematician. What I wanted to do then was to play college football. My ambition was to get an athletic scholarship to attend a Big Ten school.

The chances of that happening were very low. In high school, I was just an above-average athlete and my high school was not a “feeder” school for college sports programs.

That didn’t stop me from dreaming, though. And it didn’t stop my coaches from encouraging me to believe I could reach my goal, and preparing and pushing me to work for it. They made video tapes of my performances and sent them to college coaches around the country. It didn’t matter that I didn’t initially attract much interest from the big schools. My coaches kept picking up the phone, and kept convincing me to try to prove myself. In the end, a Big Ten school, Pennstate, did offer me a scholarship.

A growing body of research shows that students are affected by more than just the quality of a lesson plan. They also respond to the passion of their teachers and the engagement of their peers, and they seek a sense of purpose. They benefit from specific instructions, constant feedback and a culture of earning that encourages resilience in the face of failure.

Until I got to college, I didn’t really know what mathematics was. I still thought of it as problem sets and laborious computations. Then one day, one of my professors handed me a book and suggested that I think about a particular problem. It wasn’t easy, but it was fascinating.

My professor kept giving me problems, and I kept pursuing them. Before long, he was introducing me to problems that had never been solved before and urging me to find new techniques to help crack them.

I am now a Ph. D. candidate in mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and I have published several papers in mathematical journals. I still feel that childlike excitement every time I complete a proof. I wish I’d known this was possible when I was a kid.

1. Why did the writer think math class in school was “something to be endured” before entering college?

A．Because he wasn’t interested in math.

B．Because his math teachers didn’t care to push him.

C．Because he was too smart and talented for math class.

D．Because he was training hard for an athletic scholarship.

2. According to the writer, students are affected by the following things from teachers or coaches EXCEPT __________.

A．passion	B．constant feedback
C．a sense of purpose	D．specific instructions

3. We can conclude that after entering college, the writer___________.

A．was busy looking for problem sets to crack

B．began to realize what mathematics really is

C．met with laborious computations in his studies

D．studied on his own just as he was in high school

4. What does “this” in the last sentence mean?

A．Feeling the children excitement.

B．Different mathematical research.

C．Generating curiosity and creativity.

D．Being a professional mathematician.

8 . Do Brain Training Games Work?

With an ageing population worried about cognitive (认知的) decline, brain training apps have soared in popularity. Search “brain training”, and you will find _________ apps and websites promising to make you mentally agile (敏捷的). In the same way that we might go to the gym to exercise, a daily mental _________ is said to produce physical changes in the brain. All you will have to do is to _________ a few minutes each day to complete puzzles, memory games and word quizzes.

At least that’s the idea. And there are a lot of people who are _________ into it. In 2018, consumers spent an estimated $1.9 billion on brain training apps—a fourfold increase from 2012. Of course, smartphones were not the original home for brain training games. _________, Nintendo recently released its fourth all-time best-selling game, Brain Age, and brought it to the Switch in Japan last month. The idea of improving mental fitness clearly has widespread appeal, but is it based on scientific evidence or _________ marketing promises?

In 2014, the Stanford Center on Longevity published an open letter _________ by 69 international neuroscientists (神经科学家) and cognitive psychologists. There is no convincing scientific evidence, the experts argued, that playing brain games improves cognitive abilities in everyday life.

Two years later, another team of psychologists reviewed every scientific study cited by major brain training companies _________ their products. They questioned not only how the evidence had been reported and interpreted, but the way many of the studies had been designed. The _________ included small sample sizes, inadequate control groups, and cherry-picking (挑选最有利的) research outcomes to __________.

If the science is so __________ flawed (错误的), why do people feel the need to train their brains with these apps and games?

That’s __________, according to Til Wykes, a professor at King’s College London. Nintendo’s Brain Age game, for instance, assigns players a score based on their gaming performance. They might start with a “brain age” score of 60 and after a few weeks of __________, will be told they have reduced it to 40. For some people, there is clearly some positive reward for seeing themselves improve over time. Wykes stresses, __________, that for people who are really worried about their cognition, learning a new language would be more beneficial, which has been shown to improve brain __________.

1.

A．endless

B．advanced

C．protective

D．imaginary

2.

A．outcome

B．tryout

C．workout

D．outlook

3.

A．set out

B．set back

C．set off

D．set aside

4.

A．buying

B．engaging

C．overlooking

D．inquiring

5.

A．By contrast

B．For instance

C．Of course

D．In conclusion

6.

A．reliable

B．precious

C．secret

D．empty

7.

A．signed

B．secured

C．received

D．sought

8.

A．in presence of

B．in support of

C．in case of

D．in memory of

9.

A．expectation

B．solution

C．criticism

D．standard

10.

A．report

B．design

C．produce

D．negotiate

11.

A．effortlessly

B．temporarily

C．seriously

D．unfairly

12.

A．dependable

B．understandable

C．comparable

D．achievable

13.

A．experiment

B．theory

C．practice

D．performance

14.

A．altogether

B．therefore

C．however

D．likewise

15.

A．movement

B．cooperation

C．evaluation

D．function

9 . Next week, as millions of families gather for their Thanksgiving feasts (大餐), many other Americans will go without. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, more than 12 million households _________ enough food for everyone in their family at some time during the year — including _________.

Hunger is surprisingly widespread in our country — one of the world’s wealthiest — yet the government estimates that we waste almost 100 billion pounds of food each year, more than one-quarter of our total supply.

Reducing this improper distribution of _________ is a goal of America’s Second Harvest, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. Last year, it _________ nearly 2 billion pounds of food to more than 23 million people in need.

America’s Second Harvest is a network of 214 inter-connected food banks and other organizations that _________ food from growers, processors, grocery stores and restaurants. _________, the network distributes food to some 50,000 soup kitchens (施食处), homeless _________ and old people’s centers in every county of every state.

A great deal of work is involved in distributing tons of food from thousands of _________ to thousands of small, non-profit organizations. Until a few years ago, America’s Second Harvest lacked any _________ way to manage their inventory (存货). Without accurate and timely information, soup kitchens were sometimes empty while food was left to __________ in loading places.

In 2000, America’s Second Harvest began to use a new inventory and financial-management system — Ceres. It is a __________ designed specifically for hunger-relief operations. It is used by more than 100 America’s Second Harvest organizations to __________ food from donation to distribution.

Ceres has helped __________ the spoiling of food and improve distribution. An evaluation found that the software streamlined (精简) food banks’ operations by 23 percent in the first year alone.

With more accurate and timely reports, Ceres saves time, frees staff members to focus on finding new donors, and __________ more efficient use of donations.

Hunger in America remains a(n) __________ social problem. Technology alone cannot solve it. But in the hands of organizations such as America’s Second Harvest, it is a powerful tool that is helping to make a difference — and helping more Americans to join in the feast.

1.

A．serve

B．lack

C．reserve

D．order

2.

A．workdays

B．birthdays

C．holidays

D．paydays

3.

A．resources

B．incomes

C．missions

D．services

4.

A．exposed

B．introduced

C．distributed

D．addicted

5.

A．harvest

B．prepare

C．recommend

D．gather

6.

A．For example

B．In contrast

C．Above all

D．In turn

7.

A．backyards

B．shelters

C．garages

D．cabins

8.

A．donors

B．survivors

C．farmers

D．victims

9.

A．innovative

B．impressive

C．effective

D．productive

10.

A．grow

B．recycle

C．spoil

D．stir

11.

A．theory

B．action

C．remedy

D．software

12.

A．advertise

B．relieve

C．track

D．migrate

13.

A．produce

B．reduce

C．shift

D．simplify

14.

A．promises

B．ceases

C．admits

D．locates

15.

A．troubling

B．demanding

C．touching

D．imposing

10 . As a CEO of a startup, you get used to hearing"no".You also face an endless continuation of what feels like shocking crises, like nearly running out of cash, losing a key customer,discovering a widespread product failure, or having to shut down operations because of a global pandemic. But it turns out that these disasters can actually be good for you. In fact,I'm not sure whether you can innovate without them. Here's what all our crises have taught me.

It's good to be uncomfortable. We once had a key customer request-a battery capability that we'd never developed before. The customer made it clear that if we couldn't develop this capability, they'd be less confident in our product. We wrestled with the risks, not least of which was the potential embarrassment if we couldn't meet the customer's needs. We knew we'd face many technical problems if we tried to go into operation. Yet we decided to try to satisfy the customer, even if it wasn't obvious at first how we could get it done. A few weeks later we delivered something beyond what the customer had asked for, and we've since grown this capability into a powerful sales tool and potential revenue stream-not to mention it strengthened our relationship with the customer.

Short-term failure is good. A few years ago, our company began to expand our manufacturing output in response to a customer's need. In the process we discovered something unusual we hadn't seen during smaller-scale production. Our team dived into failure analysis, and we finally put the problem down to a single material within the battery. We'd used this material for years, but now we needed a replacement. Once we made that change,the battery quality and reliability greatly improved.

It's okay to show weakness. One of my hardest days as CEO was the day when I found out I was pregnant.We were in the middle of raising a funding round, and I had been traveling nonstop for a year. Until that day, I had assumed that my role as CEO was to display strength and confidence. With the mounting pressure I was harder on myself than I needed to be, and now I had the added stress of being pregnant.I decided to acknowledge to my team that I was breaking down. They united together and found ways to operate more smoothly and communicate more effectively, supporting me to focus my time on most pressing goals. This gave me not only the space to plan for the company’s future,but also to prepare for my own new normal: leading while becoming a first-time mother.

1. What does the underlined word "them" in Paragraph 1 refer to?

A．Frequent rejections.

B．Financial crises.

C．Global pandemics.

D．Endless disasters.

2. What does the author want to convey in Paragraph 2？

A．Customers' requests should be carefully evaluated.

B．Meeting challenges can bring about extra benefits.

C．The company should keep launching new products.

D．Innovation is the only way to win fierce competition.

3. How does the author prove short-term failure is beneficial?

A．By drawing a comparison.

B．By giving an example.

C．By challenging assumptions.

D．By doing an experiment.

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

A．Learn to let go

B．Make it as a CEO

C．Think deep sometimes

D．Make friends with crises