2 . There were two fishermen named Tom and Jack. They were close friends. One day they went out to catch fish together and have a fish meal in the field. They sat at a distance and started hunting for fish. Tom got a big and beautiful fish in a few minutes. He was so happy and placed the fish in the ice box. He decided to cook the fish at noon. He spent some more time and caught a few more fish. He decided to make a grand meal with the fish. Also, he froze a few fish to take them back home.

After an hour or so, Tom went to Jack to see if he needed any help. Jack said no. In a few minutes, Jack caught a large fish. However, he put it back into the lake. Tom was surprised at his act, but he remained silent. Jack caught more big fish, and put them all back into the lake. Very frustrated, Tom angrily asked him, “Are you mad? Why do you put your fish back into the water? They are beautiful and big!” Jack replied, “I know they are big, but I don’t have the big pan to cook the big fish! So I’m looking for a smaller fish that fits my cooking pan! God is troubling me today.”

1. What did Tom and Jack go out for?

A．To catch fish.	B．To have a joy ride.
C．To eat out together.	D．To feed the fish in the lake.

2. What did Tom want to do when he went to his friend?

A．To give him some fish.	B．To see if he needed some help.
C．To ask him to cook his fish.	D．To take some of Jack’s fish for himself.

3. Why was Tom angry with his friend?

A．He couldn’t understand his act.	B．He was fond of eating big fish.
C．He thought it was unfair for small fish.	D．He didn’t catch any big fish himself.

4. What would be Tom’s advice for his friend at the end of the story?

A．Asking God to send him only small fish.	B．Taking a bigger pan with him next time.
C．Changing his fishing pole to catch small fish.	D．Cutting the big fish into small pieces to fit his pan.

3 . In May 1869, John Wesley Powell, a former Union Army major who had lost most of his right _________ in the Battle of Shiloh, led 10 _________ in launching four heavy wooden boats loaded to the gunwales with 10 months of supplies.

Three of the boats were made of oak, more suitable for cruising lakes than busting through rapids (急流). None of the men were _________ boatmen. The one-armed captain of the crew had maps with gaps in them. _________, it was the grandest expedition (探险) since Lewis and Clark. Over 500 rapids and 1,000 miles of _________ currents awaited them.

Though Powell had boats custom-made for the _________, they were heavy. He recruited men who knew how to _________ in the wilderness but had never navigated (横越) a river. He packed so much food that it _________ sank the boats from the start.

Much of the journey was spent _________ boats damaged while portaging around rapids and carving new oars out of driftwood. Food was lost or spoiled, game was scarce, and Powell went inland to __________with the Indians for food. The expedition spent days in __________ water and 115-degree heat. Three men deserted the cause along the way. The crew slept on boulders and __________ wet clothing the next morning. And most of the time, they had no idea what lay ahead. But at the end of the arduous journey, they had successfully __________ the challenges and mapped a wilderness previously labeled as “territory unknown.” As the West expanded, Powell’s maps would be __________.

Beauty is in the living of life, in looking beyond the challenges to the __________ of the small moments we achieve — sometimes against all odds.

1.

A．leg

B．arm

C．ear

D．finger

2.

A．explorers

B．soldiers

C．heroes

D．boatmen

3.

A．rude

B．greedy

C．experienced

D．honest

4.

A．Still

B．Otherwise

C．Thus

D．And

5.

A．remote

B．quiet

C．unknown

D．vast

6.

A．trip

B．journey

C．travel

D．tour

7.

A．live

B．hunt

C．hide

D．survive

8.

A．nearly

B．already

C．mostly

D．never

9.

A．making

B．handling

C．rowing

D．repairing

10.

A．talk

B．discuss

C．fight

D．negotiate

11.

A．shallow

B．freezing

C．violent

D．polluted

12.

A．pulled in

B．pulled up

C．pulled on

D．pulled at

13.

A．adapted to

B．stuck to

C．saw to

D．got to

14.

A．reliable

B．priceless

C．measurable

D．considerable

15.

A．strength

B．attempt

C．position

D．wonder

4 . Most people as they get older start to take life a little slower and enjoy a leisurely pace. But it is not for Kerry, who ________ pole dancing in her 50s, has no ________ of slowing down any time soon. She’s even ________ her life “began at 50”.

The super fit gran ________ an eating disorder from a young age. Now in the best ________ of her life, she looked back on her youth and claimed she was once told she was “too fat to be a dancer”, sparking an eating disorder and being ________ conscious of her weight. After taking up dancing she felt ________ in her new lease of life.

“At the age of 47 I made a list of things I wanted to ________ and I’ve always wanted to do dancing, but I was worried I was too ________. It was so late in life,” said Kerry. ________ planning on doing one class to ________ it off her list, she found a passion and love for the sport and made a living from it, even participating in ________ too. “I feel like fate really put this in my ________, not only to recover my body but to get rid of the ________ that comes with it,” she explained. Now, she’s on a mission to ________ women that their age doesn’t have to hold them back.

1.

A．kept on

B．took up

C．hoped for

D．subscribed to

2.

A．intentions

B．doubts

C．tasks

D．feelings

3.

A．promised

B．predicted

C．checked

D．claimed

4.

A．remembered

B．indicated

C．battled

D．regretted

5.

A．shape

B．hobby

C．emotion

D．aspect

6.

A．occasionally

B．permanently

C．constantly

D．purposely

7.

A．curious

B．competitive

C．confident

D．awkward

8.

A．make

B．try

C．quit

D．win

9.

A．old

B．fat

C．weak

D．sensitive

10.

A．Still

B．Hardly

C．Never

D．Only

11.

A．cross

B．cut

C．see

D．drop

12.

A．races

B．parades

C．parties

D．shows

13.

A．opinion

B．strategy

C．path

D．dream

14.

A．memory

B．danger

C．power

D．negativity

15.

A．contact

B．protect

C．inspire

D．warn

5 . Increased involvement from grandparents can be crucial in a child’s development. From helping children navigate stressful situations to giving kids that little extra bit of love and care, grandparents play an important role in the well-being of a child. Now, there’s scientific data to back this up.

According to a study of over 1,500 children, conducted by Professor Ann Buchanan from the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, children who have tight-knit relationships with their grandparents tend to have fewer problems, both emotionally and when it comes to their behavior. Besides, children also have less difficulty when interacting and maintaining relationships with others.

Kimberly Agresta, the co-founder of Englewood’s Agresta Psychotherapy Group, has also noticed in a study the significant benefits of allowing grandparents to be more involved in children’s lives. “If parents regularly involve grandparents in their child’s life early on, a child can develop real emotional closeness to their grandparents and begin to see them as a source of strong social support,” she stated in an interview. “So a child will feel they have other adults, aside from their parents, who care about them in the same way, and this adds to their sense of stability and security.”

She continued, “Stressful situations are less impactful to such children because they have other people in their lives who they have these attachments to and support from.” This is because grandparents are generally not responsible for disciplining or raising the child, and they’re able to love the child a little more freely and unconditionally than a parent, Agresta explained.

“Grandparents are a wealth of knowledge and information, and not only can they pass on valuable skills from real-life experience, but they can also share the past with their grandchildren,” added Agresta. “They can serve as historians, sharing various traditions and stories about when their own children were growing up, which create s a sense of continuity for a child.” So it looks like it may be time to set up a play date for your kids with their grandparents!

1. What is the impact of children spending time with grandparents according to Buchanan’s study?

A．Improved social skills.	B．Lower intelligence level.
C．Better academic performance.	D．Increased behavioral problems.

2. How does Agresta probably describe grandparents’ treating their children?

A．More critical.	B．More positive.
C．Less supportive.	D．Less judgmental.

3. What does Agresta talk about in the last paragraph?

A．The features of grandparents’ love.

B．Various roles grandparents take on.

C．The typical qualities of grandparents.

D．Grandparents’ advantages over parents.

4. How does the author mainly organize the text?

A．By quoting a few people’ opinions.

B．By analyzing two scientific surveys.

C．By giving the findings of two studies.

D．By making comparisons between studies.

6 . A new study shows that female academics are significantly underrepresented in winning academic prizes and having awards named after them. Analysis of nearly 9,000 awardees and 346 scientific prizes and medals published in Nature Human Behaviour has found that men win eight prizes for every one won by a woman if the award is named after a man. These awards represent almost two-thirds of all scientific prizes. Female academics are, however, more likely to win awards that have been named after other notable female scientists, with 47% of those awards going to women and 53% to men.

Dr Katja Gehmlich, Associate Professor in the Institute of Cardiovascular Science at the University of Birmingham and joint lead author of the study, said, “The gender gap between awardees in scientific prizes is sadly a product of a long, systematic issue of poor representation of women in sciences. Despite decades of efforts to rebalance this issue, our study shows that women are still poorly recognized for their scientific contributions, and men are far more likely to win prizes and awards, in particular, if those awards are named after other men.

“It seems particularly shocking to me that awards named after women still see more than half of prizes going to men. We further propose a list of actions to address and overcome these issues but are aware this will be a long process. The Nominate Her movement is one way that the scientific community can begin to address this,” said Dr Gehmlich.

Prof Stefan Krause from the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham and joint lead author of the study said, “Our data is indicative of much wider issues of gender inequality within sciences. Our current publication is an initial attempt to understand the causes of such striking gender inequality and to promote discussion on the subject within our scientific communities.”

“Research culture has a lot to do to improve the gender prize gap, as well as efforts to address the inequality that sees almost two-thirds of prizes currently named after men. More pathways may also be needed, such as renaming or getting rid of gender names associated with some awards,” added Prof Krause.

1. How are awards named after female scientists distributed between genders?

A．Males are in the majority.

B．Females take up a bit more than half.

C．They are almost entirely awarded to females.

D．They are evenly distributed between males and females.

2. What’s Dr Gehmlich’s attitude toward gender inequality in scientific prizes?

A．Doubtful.	B．Tolerant.
C．Uncaring.	D．Disappointed.

3. What suggestion does Prof Krause offer to narrow the gender gap?

A．Establishing gender rates for awards.

B．Increasing the number of female judges.

C．Encouraging more women to enter scientific fields.

D．Renaming or removing gender names from awards.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Achievements of women in science

B．The role of men in the scientific world

C．Gender inequality in scientific awards

D．Future of gender equality in academia

7 . “You like pottery (陶艺) more than you like science,” a family member said. I knew the comment was made lightly, but I felt frustrated and disappointed. I had worked so hard to achieve a balance between my scientific and artistic pursuits. Why was my creative side still seen as a weakness and a disturbance, in opposition to my science?

As a little girl, I created art by breaking up eggshells, dying them, and gluing them to a cloth. I also conducted science experiments with my mom, a high school science teacher, on the back porch. In college, I loved my chemistry courses and research work, and I regarded cooking as my creative outlet, hosting weekly dinner parties for friends.

Yet I heard time and again that creative expression and science were not possible together. When my college roommate concluded with a personality test that I was the “creative” type, the rest of my friends said that couldn’t be right, because “I was a scientist and therefore was not creative.” As I was preparing for graduate school and studying for the chemistry GRE test, I realized I talked about science the same way I would paint a picture, explaining concepts in broad strokes (粗线条地) — in part because I struggled to remember technical scientific terminology. I worried my way of thinking wouldn’t fit in with “proper” scientists. In the end, though, my desire to pursue a scientific career won out. I figured I would continue to find a way to balance my research with my creative pursuits, regardless of what others thought.

When in graduate school I found pottery, which I could pursue on evenings and weekends. After my first class, I was attracted. It has inspired me to more intentionally mix my art with my science. I keep a notebook at my lab table filled with words of mug (马克杯) designs inspired by my experiments. Through the challenge of getting my paper into its core concepts in such a way that it could be displayed on a mug, I gained a better understanding of my project. Pottery has now turned into a way for me to train my brain to be creative and think outside the box.

1. What did the family member think of the author’s pottery?

A．It still had room for improvement.

B．It would relax the author in her work.

C．It made up for the author’s weakness.

D．It did no good to the author’s career.

2. How did the author show her creativity as a college student?

A．By dying eggshells.

B．By performing science experiments.

C．By doing some cooking.

D．By attending social parties.

3. What can be inferred about the author from paragraph 3?

A．She didn’t get along well with her classmates in college.

B．She nearly gave up her pursuit of art.

C．She once doubted her way of understanding science.

D．She was angry about being misunderstood by friends.

4. What does the underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refer to?

A．The notebook.	B．The design of the mug.
C．The challenge of the paper.	D．The author’s science research.

8 . Are you troubled by housework, such as cleaning tables or tidying your room? Do you need a helping hand? Recently, the robot Mobile Aloha made by scientists at Stanford University in the US became popular online. In the videos posted, we can see the robot preparing dishes on its own. It’s also good at watering plants, petting cats, cleaning the floor and washing clothes.

Sounds good? Well, another video posted by researchers may disappoint some people. Mobile Aloha isn’t good at doing housework on its own. Instead, it learns from human actions before doing each kind of housework. When the situation changes, it can’t work well without a human “teaching” it. So it may break dishes, bump into (撞上) things and even burn a pot.

The robot can successfully move chairs 80 percent of the time, said the team after they did more research on it. For cooking dishes, it’s only 40 percent. In short, it’s far from perfect.

In fact, AI robots are good at tasks such as math and playing chess, but they face challenges when it comes to simpler actions like cleaning. And it’s the same for Mobile Aloha. For example, if its body doesn’t move correctly — even just with a small mistake, its arm may move too far to pick up a glass.

“Robots are not ready to take over the world,” the team posted online.
1. How does the writer begin the passage?

A．By making a comparison.	B．By asking questions.
C．By showing a finding.	D．By imagining a scene.

2. What is the function of the numbers in Paragraph 3?

A．To show the latest findings of the team.

B．To prove that robots can do nothing right.

C．To support an opinion that robots are far from perfect.

D．To explain the main function of Mobile Aloha is moving chairs.

3. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．The importance of robots to the world.	B．The latest research on robots.
C．Some disadvantages of robots.	D．Some ways to produce perfect robots.

4. In which part of the newspaper can we read the passage?

A．EDUCATION.

B．CULTURE.

C．PEOPLE.

D．TECHNOLOGY.

9 . I believe that we can have an important influence on anyone we meet. The right words at just the right time could _______ someone’s life.

When I was three years old, my parents discovered I was deaf. After asking many doctors and parents of other deaf children, they decided to put me in a normal _______.

On my first day, the other kids made fun of me _______ my hearing aid (助听器) and the way I talked. _______ I seemed outgoing and happy, my self-esteem (自尊) was quite low. I _______ myself as an ugly kid.

Mrs. Jordan, my teacher changed all of that with a _______ three-word phrase.

One morning she asked the class a question. I read her lips and raised my hand right away. She called on me. I took a deep breath and _______ answered Mrs. Jordan’s question.

I will never forget what _______ next. Mrs. Jordan pointed directly at me. With shining eyes and a big smile, she cried, “That’s right, Stephen!”

For the first time in my young life, my confidence soared (自信增强) like _______ before.

At that moment, I decided that no matter how many ________ I may face, I can overcome them. Just from those three simple words, my whole life was changed.

1.

A．finish

B．stop

C．change

D．create

2.

A．yard

B．house

C．community

D．school

3.

A．because of

B．with the help of

C．instead of

D．except for

4.

A．Unless

B．Although

C．When

D．Whether

5.

A．turned down

B．thought of

C．took after

D．brought up

6.

A．long

B．useless

C．simple

D．last

7.

A．nervously

B．angrily

C．recently

D．sadly

8.

A．caused

B．happened

C．discussed

D．explained

9.

A．ever

B．always

C．often

D．never

10.

A．successes

B．messages

C．difficulties

D．situations