1 . This question has fascinated behavioural scientists for decades: why do we give money to charity?
The explanations for charitable giving fall into three broad categories, from the purely altruisic (利他的)— I donate because I value the social good done by the charity. The “impurely” altruistic— I donate because I extract value from knowing I contribute to the social good for the charity. And the not-at-all altruistic— I donate because I want to show off to potential mates how rich I am.
But are these motives strong enough to enable people to donate as much as they would want to? Most people support charities in one way or another, but often we struggle to make donations as often as we think we should. Although many people would like to leave a gift to charity in their will, they forget about it when the time comes.
Many people are also aware that they should donate to the causes that have the highest impact, but facts and figures are less attractive than narratives. In a series of experiments, it was found that people are much more responsive to charitable pleas that feature a single, identifiable beneficiary(受益者), than they are to statistical information about the scale of the problem being faced. When it comes to charitable giving, we are often ruled by our hearts and not our heads.
The good news is that charitable giving is contagious—seeing others give makes an individual more likely to give and gentle encouragement from an important person in your life can also make a big difference to your donation decisions— more than quadrupling them in our recent study. Habit also plays a part— in three recent experiments those who volunteered before were more likely to do donate their time than those who had not volunteered before.
In summary, behavioural science identifies a range of factors that influence our donations, and can help us to keep giving in the longer term. This is great news not just for charities, but also for donors.
1. What can we learn about people who do charitable giving?| A．Most people support charity as often as they think they should. |
| B．Some people don’t want to leave a gift to charity until the time comes. |
| C．Those who donate because they can gain an advantage are purely altruistic. |
| D．Some people send money to charity simply to tell others they are wealthy. |
| A．Not revealing the names of the donors. |
| B．Showing figures about the seriousness of the problem. |
| C．Telling stories that feature a single, recognizable beneficiary. |
| D．Reminding people to write down what to donate in the will in advance. |
| A．People will learn from others and follow the suit. |
| B．Many people are familiar with charitable giving. |
| C．Charitable giving helps the beneficiary in all aspects. |
| D．Charitable giving can bring a lot of benefits to donors. |
| A．To persuade more people to donate. |
| B．To explain the science behind why people donate. |
| C．To criticize some false charitable giving behaviours. |
| D．To explore approaches to making people donate more. |
2 . The photographs that Scilla took as a 16-year-old girl on the streets of London in 1955 stayed largely in her album (相册) over the years. Scilla is now 83, and her self-developed black-and-white photos have been brought back to life after they were discovered by a teenage photographer.
Over the past year, Philip Loveday, 16, has been revisiting his grandmother’s path across the capital to carefully rephotograph the pictures. His journey through time with a camera has been especially moving, because his grandmother, Scilla, has Alzheimer’s disease (阿尔茨海默症) and has lost many of her memories.
Philip took new photos that looked like the ones Scilla took long ago, and put them in a new album. Each page of Scilla’s old album was copied and put in the new one, with Philip’s new photos on the opposite pages. Philip’s mother, Catherine Loveday, said Scilla had been happy with the new album, which had “put her back in her shoes” as a teenager.
Philip said his mother showed him the album she had found at her mother’s house. Greatly absorbed in how modern London would compare to the city photographed by his grandmother, Philip and his mother began to make trips into central London. During the trips, they had the idea of retaking the photos.
Some of the places are similar, like Big Ben. Others show how the city has modernized. Unlike Scilla’s view of St. Paul’s Cathedral from the Thames, Philip’s retake has the Millenium Bridge. When Scilla photographed the John Lewis store on Oxford Street, it was a one-storey building — now it has seven floors. Philip had to use his imagination to recreate other sights. Scilla has repeatedly returned to her new album since receiving it. Philip said: “It’s nice for her to see someone taking an interest in those photos and going back over them, and also good for her to connect her past to where we are now.”
1. What did Philip do for Scilla during the past year?| A．He taught her how to use a camera. |
| B．He took her to visit London streets. |
| C．He found a new way to treat her disease. |
| D．He recreated photos of London she had taken. |
| A．It inspired her to take photos. | B．It made her think of her teenage days. |
| C．It encouraged her to travel across London. | D．It raised her confidence to fight off illness. |
| A．Troubled. | B．Interested. | C．Experienced. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．A teenager sensed the great changes of London. |
| B．An old lady suffered a lot from Alzheimer’s disease. |
| C．A teenager and his mother travelled to London for fun. |
| D．A teenager’s photos helped recover his grandmother’s memory. |
3 . Hang your tongue out of your mouth while your eyes look upwards. Breathe loudly and use your hands to pull your head in every way. This is yoga (瑜伽) for your face.
Fumiko Takatsu, creator of the Face Yoga Method, has written six books on face yoga and has been practicing facial exercises for about 15 years. Takatsu, 50, said she came up with the idea of facial exercises after a car accident when she was 35 years old, which left her face out of its proper position. Around the same time, Takatsu said she began to notice signs of aging, but gave up using creams and beauty treatments after they became too expensive.
Koko Hayashi, 39, a face yoga instructor in Los Angeles, said she first heard of face yoga by discovering Takatsu’s work. Hayashi said she had a chin implant (下巴植入体) when she was 27 years old, but took it out because it misshaped her face. “That’s why I’m so interested in more natural beauty instead of plastic surgery (整形手术),” Hayashi said. Like others who practice facial exercises, Hayashi believes it can fix signs of aging and help reduce wrinkles (皱纹).
The question that often pops up when someone mentions face yoga is, “Does it actually work?” A study out of Northwestern University found that the exercises may help middle-aged women.
“This is a pilot study that suggests that there might be some factors of face exercise that can be helpful to at least certain patients in improving certain signs of aging,” said Dr. Murad Alam from Northwestern University.” But we need more studies to better understand exactly how much exercise is necessary to have any benefit, whether it works for men and women of different ages, and then how much exercise is needed to keep that benefit.”
Medical reporter Dr. Jennifer Ashton said that she is not sure whether face yoga works and that any benefits are most likely going to be up to the person trying it. “If you feel better after trying face yoga, it may be something you should keep doing,” she said.
1. What made Takatsu decide to create the Face Yoga Method?| A．An unexpected car accident. | B．Great interest in doing yoga. |
| C．Unaffordable beauty treatments. | D．Unsatisfactory effects of creams. |
| A．She wrote a book about face yoga. | B．She followed in Takatsu’s footsteps. |
| C．She had a plastic surgery two years ago. | D．She had always admired natural beauty. |
| A．The study is helpful but more research is needed. |
| B．Face yoga is more suitable for women than men. |
| C．Face yoga needs much too exercise to bring benefits. |
| D．The study is well-designed but the findings are worthless. |
| A．Its key point is keeping exercising. |
| B．It can stop all kinds of signs of aging. |
| C．Its advantages outweigh its disadvantages. |
| D．Its effectiveness depends on personal feelings. |
4 . The pandemic has affected nearly all aspects of modern life, from the clothes we wear to the food we eat. There is one thing, however, that has remained almost unchanged: the emojis we send.
According to data from the Unicode Consortium (统一码联盟), nine of the 10 most-used emojis from 2019 also ranked among the top 10 this year. The tears of joy emoji ranked No.1, despite members of Gen Z deeming it uncool.
“It speaks to how many people use emojis. If emojis were a purely Gen Z thing, then you wouldn’t see it so highly ranked,” said Alexander Robertson, an emoji researcher at Google. “Because of the large number of people using emojis, even if one group thinks something is lame, they have to be a really big group to affect these statistics.”
And it makes sense that Gen Z would think that certain emojis aren’t fashionable. It’s part of the “teenager experience of creating a sense of subculture where there’s a right way and a wrong way of behaving.” Plus, there is a range of laughter that can be expressed: There’s light chuckling. There’s acknowledgement laughter, which is just a marker of empathy. Using emojis, such as the skull face (“I’m dead”) or crying face ( uncontrollable tears of laughter), can help to illustrate that range.
“It basically indicates that we have what we need to communicate a broad range of expression, or even very specific concepts,” Mr Robertson said. “You don’t necessarily need a Covid emoji.”
“We did see a rise in the use of the virus emoji. But it wasn’t made remotely into the most-commonly used ones because we still had plenty to laugh about and plenty to cry about, whether it was because of the pandemic or not,” said Lauren Gawne, a senior lecturer in linguistic at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia.
“Even in the midst of this massive global pandemic that preoccupied so much of our time,” She added. “We still spent a lot of time wishing each other happy birthday or checking or laughing about some new and unexpected elements of this slow-burning weirdness.”
1. Why does the tears of joy emoji ranked No.1 despite the dislike from the Z generation?| A．The emoji is a purely Z generation thing. |
| B．The Z generation are too young to influence the rank. |
| C．Though they dislike it, the Z generation vote for it ultimately. |
| D．The Z generation take up a very small portion in emoji users. |
| A．the virus emoji | B．a Covid emoji |
| C．the use of the virus emoji | D．the rise in the use of the virus emoji |
| A．The massive global pandemic has come to an end. |
| B．The pandemic has little influence on people’s daily life. |
| C．We have a broad range of expression for communication. |
| D．Some new and useful emojis are created to replace the virus emoji. |
| A．The Pandemic and the Emoji. |
| B．Gen Z, the Emoji Generation. |
| C．The Emoji of the Year. |
| D．The Rise of Virus Emoji |
5 . A project called “I Am A Scientist” is giving middle and high school students the opportunity to interact with modern-day researchers. Below are stories from some of the scientists who are involved in the program.
Noor Al-Alusi, Epidemiologist (流行病学家)“I have a black belt in Taekwondo (跆拳道). I am driven by a deep desire to help others. I believe that all people have a fundamental right to health care.”
Her work: During the Zika epidemic, Al-Alusi met with the communities that had been hardest hit by the virus, using data and mathematical models to keep them safe and healthy.
Background: Al-Alusi was born in California but her parents emigrated from Iraq. This experience provided her with an understanding of the health needs of the immigrant community.
Ryoji Amamoto, Neurobiologist (神经生物学家)“I’m a huge sports fan. I’ve traveled to more than 40 countries. I’m a licensed scuba diver but a terrible swimmer. I hated science in high school.”
His work: Amamoto studies the tiny but amazing brains of animals that have a superpower — the ability to regenerate. He learns what factors help these special brains regrow, so that we can try to treat diseases like Parkinson’s.
Background: Amamoto lived in Japan until the age of eight, when his family moved to Chicago. He had to overcome major language barriers which saw him shift between speaking English at school and Japanese at home.
Yamicia Connor, Physician Scientist“I once competed in a robot competition. I love Beyonce. I love cooking. I’m a doctor who studies ways to improve women’s health.”
Her work: Connor is a doctor at a hospital in Boston where she studies cancer cells in a lab using microscopes and computers, but she also works directly with patients who are undergoing tests for new cancer treatments.
Background: Growing up in Florida, Connor was a serious kid who stressed about the little things. She was into her schoolwork and loved to put on plays with her friends in which she would organize the whole thing and assign everyone a role.
1. What can the students know about the scientists through the program?| A．Their education experience. | B．Their gender and religion. |
| C．Their personal interests. | D．Their career planning. |
| A．Studying amazing brains which can regrow. |
| B．Using data and mathematical models to fight against viruses. |
| C．Understanding the health needs of the immigrant community. |
| D．Working with patients who are undergoing tests for new cancer treatments. |
| A．A magazine. | B．Award words. |
| C．A science paper. | D．A health website. |
6 . It is difficult to name a female architect more iconic than Zaha Hadid, whose name can be translated from Arabic as glorious. She passed away five years ago at the age of 65, but the impact she has left on the world of architecture is profound.
Hadid was born into an upper-class Iraqi family in 1950. At the very beginning, she wanted to become a mathematician and studied science at the American University of Beirut, But at some point she realized that she preferred shapes to numbers. And she turned her concentration to architecture and went to London where she met the famous Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas.
“There are 360 degrees, so why stick to one?” Hadid once said. Despite her abundance of amazing ideas, before the beginning of the 90s, not a single building based on her blueprints had been built. Her highly expressive style, while initially criticized and believed to be crazy, is now regarded as pioneering work. Her striking contemporary architecture, inspired by natural landforms, has graced the skylines of major metropolitan cities.
“Women are always being told, ‘you’re not going to make it; It’s too difficult. You can’t do that Don’t enter this competition; You’ll never win it’,” Hadid said. “They need confidence in themselves and people around them for support.”
Never one to be boxed in by conventions, Hadid proved society wrong. She received her first prize, the “Gold Medal Architectural Design” for her British Architecture in 1982. From then on, the awards kept rolling in. But the true triumph for Hadid came in 2004. Her project for the London Olympics Aquatic Center won her the Pritzker Architecture Prize. She became the first woman and first Muslim to earn the award, making a name for herself and paving the way for female architects.
Hadid’s genius lives on in the array of many other spectacular buildings she has left behind in the world. Among them are the Guangzhou Opera House, the Beijing Daxing International Airport, as well as the Al Wakrah Stadium in Qatar where the 2022 FIFA World Cup will be held.
Hadid may be gone, but her global influence on a new generation of female architects is here to stay.
1. What made Hadid quit science to learn architecture?| A．Her talent in architecture. |
| B．Her interest in architecture. |
| C．Her difficulty in learning science. |
| D．Her encounter with Rem Koolhaas. |
| A．Her architecture was inspired by mathematics |
| B．Her British Architecture won her the Pritzker Architecture Prize. |
| C．Her architecture style was too bold to be accepted at the very beginning. |
| D．Her works can only be found in European countries and the Middle East. |
| A．The talk between Hadid and her colleague. |
| B．The reason why women fail to be architects. |
| C．The prejudice from society against women. |
| D．The difficulty Hadid faced being an architect. |
| A．She formed a unique style. |
| B．She broke away from the convention. |
| C．She received various architecture awards |
| D．She encouraged other women architects. |
7 . A Neste fuel station in Finland is currently the only place in the world where you can have your car refueled by a robot. It’s the pilot site chosen by Autofuel, a Danish startup, to test its futuristic refueling system—a robotic arm that can locate a car’s fuel tank door, select the right type of fuel; and operate the pump (加油泵).
“Our technology intends to provide the customers with maximum comfort and safety at gas stations,” Jonas Thor Olsen, CEO of Autofuel, said. “The robotic arm doesn’t need human involvement. It allows them to go to the shop for a coffee or take a short break while the car is refueled.”
Autofuel’s solution consists of a robotic arm housed within the fuel pump, and a series of sensors and cameras designed to keep things running smoothly. Cameras detect the vehicle’s registration number, so the system is able to detect what kind of fuel it requires. Another camera directs the car to stop in a certain area so that the arm can easily reach the fuel tank door. The arm itself then starts to move, opening the door, selecting the right fuel and finally refueling the car.
The whole thing looks great in promotional videos, but after one of them recently became popular online, people brought up a few concerns. First of all, in order for the entire process to work, one needs to have their vehicle registered with Autofuel. That’s information many people have no inclination to share for something as small as refueling. Also, the speed at which the robotic arm operates worries a lot of people as it appears to move much slower than a human.
With robots and AI becoming such a big part of our lives lately, it’s easy to imagine solutions like Autofuel becoming mainstream in the near future. But any new innovation has to be tested and improved over and over again.
1. What is a robotic arm’s promotional advantage concerning car refueling?| A．It moves faster than a human. | B．It doesn’t need car registration. |
| C．It can park cars automatically. | D．It requires no human assistance. |
| A．Opportunity. | B．Permission. | C．Willingness. | D．Ability. |
| A．It is well accepted. | B．It is far from perfect. |
| C．Its structure is strange. | D．Its function is meaningless. |
| A．This Robotic Arm Will Refuel Your Car | B．An Innovation Has Been Improved Greatly |
| C．Some Negative Views on a Refueling Solution | D．A More Efficient Assistant at the Train Station |
8 . Ready to put in some class work overseas? Then these high school study abroad programs are just for you:
Nacel Educational Travel High School Exchange—9.81 rating
Kicking it with your host sister, beach days in Italy. Study Japanese language and pop culture or improve your German with Nacel’s language immersion programs. You’ll live with a friendly local family. Besides, all Nacel students get a free e-learning course before they arrive!
Where? Japan, Italy, France, Germany
GVIs’ Language Immersion Summer Camps—9.76 rating
If you’re looking to pick up some lesser spoken vocabulary, consider a Nepali language immersion program. Or, consider high school Spanish immersion programs to study Spanish in Costa Rica. With GVI, you’ll learn the language, help with local projects, and be immersed in local culture.
Where? Nepal, Costa Rica
CIP High School Language Exchange Program—9.59 rating
You’ll take Chinese lessons at a Chinese high school, along with subjects of your interest. How do cooking dumplings, practicing Kung Fu moves, and testing out your calligraphy skills sound? Most Chinese lessons will be taught at a local high school and you’ll be provided a room in the school.
Where? China
Carpe Diem’s Caribbean Isles Semester—8.59 rating
Dancing and the best Cuban sandwiches of your life! Head to Cuba and add the perfect touch to your Spanish studies. With over 20 years of experience, Carpe Diem’s Caribbean Isles Semester will go beyond all your expectations. Through social outings and adventure travel, you’ll quickly fall in love with this Caribbean cultural hotspot.
Where? Cuba
1. How high a score does a Nepali-related program get?| A．9.81. | B．9.76. | C．9.59. | D．8.59. |
| A．Nacel Educational Travel High School Exchange. |
| B．GVIs’ Language Immersion Summer Camps. |
| C．Carpe Diem’s Caribbean Isles Semester. |
| D．CIP High School Language Exchange Program. |
| A．Learn German and Spanish. | B．Do community service. |
| C．Experience adventure travel. | D．Attend an e-learning course. |
9 . My family always had some sort of animal around, but none of them were truly mine. My parents didn’t permit me to
Every Friday I would clean out his bowl. I found myself
One day, I came home from school and headed to my room to
My mom walked into my room. I turned around as tears started to well in my eyes. “Mommy, George d…d…died.” With that
Suddenly, I realized that George hadn’t just
| A．draw | B．imagine | C．have | D．share |
| A．doubtful | B．excited | C．surprised | D．afraid |
| A．toy | B．mind | C．time | D．pet |
| A．take care of | B．make use of | C．get hold of | D．look forward to |
| A．reading out | B．putting away | C．turning down | D．showing off |
| A．replaced | B．recognized | C．affected | D．needed |
| A．feed | B．save | C．impress | D．find |
| A．basic | B．terrible | C．funny | D．familiar |
| A．dropped | B．emptied | C．hid | D．checked |
| A．common | B．last | C．extra | D．new |
| A．left | B．reminded | C．defeated | D．chosen |
| A．preference | B．independence | C．difficulty | D．responsibility |
| A．safe | B．good | C．sorry | D．tired |
| A．agreement | B．treatment | C．disappointment | D．achievement |
| A．Otherwise | B．Besides | C．However | D．Therefore |
10 . A phrase “less screen time and more green time” is popular now. A study from the University of Adelaide found that more time outside and less time spent watching TV is connected with better psychological (心理的) results and school achievements among teenagers. Gardening is a great way to do so.
Jim Carter, a psychologist of America, is asking for teenagers’ return to traditional values of gardening, and thinks that they need to turn off the TV and go outside to do something healthier instead. Carter even considers it important to put gardening as a usual course because it is proven to be good for mental health.
“It’s physical exercise, and it teaches patience,” Carter explains. “The wait for a small sunflower seed (葵花籽) to become a six-foot plant is long.”
“I’m hearing that teenagers are struggling to deal with stress, and every time they open Gardeners’ World, they talk about how gardening helps them deal with stress. They learn so much about life, and so much about themselves through gardening,” said Lee Connelly, a teacher who is carrying out his own green school programme—Gardeners’ World. “The join of gardening into the class course for schools presents a remarkable chance to change education and the benefits are far beyond the classroom, influencing mental health, behavior and developing a lifelong love for horticulture (园艺).”
1. What does Carter suggest teenagers do?| A．Do exercise at home. | B．Go back to gardening. |
| C．Turn on the TV at night. | D．Pay attention to psychological courses. |
| A．To prove gardening is easy. | B．To say dealing with stress is difficult. |
| C．To show green time is hard to find. | D．To explain gardening develops patience. |
| A．It is meaningful. | B．It is useless. | C．It is costly. | D．It is challenging. |
| A．Time to Get Close to TV |
| B．Being Sporty, Being Healthy |
| C．Less Screen Time, Better School Achievements |
| D．Gardening: A Good Green Moment for Teenagers |
