1 . Feeling overwhelmed by your to-do list can certainly make you unhappy, but a new study released last week suggests that more free time will not actually make people as happy as they commonly believe it will.
The researchers collected data from two large scale surveys, which included more than 35,000 replies. They found that people with up to two hours of free time a day generally had higher levels of well-being than those with less time. But people who had five or more hours of free time a day generally said they felt worse.
So the free-time “sweet spot” might be two to three hours per day, the findings suggest. “While being too busy can cause stress, having more time is not always better,” said Marissa Sharif, an assistant professor at The Wharton School，in a press release.
Experts note, for example, that some adults struggle with the “retirement blues,” which can be due to a lack of stimulation (刺激) and structure, among other things. The “sweet spot” seems to have something to do with how people spend the extra time they have, the researchers behind the new study argue.
They conducted several smaller online experiments. In one they asked participants to imagine having 3½ to seven free hours per day, and to imagine spending that time doing “productive" things (like exercising) or to imagine doing “unproductive” activities (like watching TV). The participants believed their well-being would suffer if they had a lot of free time during the day—but only if they used it unproductively.
Though that experiment was hypothetical, which is one limitation of the new research, it's certainly in line With other researches showing that being in a state of “flow” can be good for people's mental health. In other words, how people use their free time matters.
“In cases when people do find themselves with excessive amounts of spare time, such as retirement or having left a job,” Sharif said, “our results suggest these individuals would benefit from spending their newfound time with purpose.”
1. What's the common belief about “free time”?| A．More free time will bring people much happiness. |
| B．Too much free time will make one feel worse. |
| C．Less free time will make life full. |
| D．One is happy in his free time whatever he does. |
| A．Because they find it struggling to deal with daily life. |
| B．Because they find life is dull with too much free time. |
| C．Because they are not used to retirement life. |
| D．Because their life lacks care and warmth. |
| A．The study lacks data from participants. |
| B．The study doesn't agree with the others. |
| C．The number of participants is small. |
| D．The experiment is imagined. |
| A．Mrs. Wang, retired, spends over six hours watching TV. |
| B．Alex, a salesman, does one hour's reading and another hour's jogging. |
| C．Mr. Yang, a 996 programmer, struggles to find an hour to tutor his son. |
| D．Catherine, a stay-at-home mom, kills her free time purposelessly. |
2 . British researchers say they have created an artificial intelligence (AI) model that is highly effective at predicting rainfall within the next 90 minutes.
The model was built by scientists at Google-owned research company DeepMind in London. The company partnered with researchers at the University of Exeter in Britain and the Met Office, the British government’s national weather service. The team says tests of the system showed it produced more accurate predictions, or forecasts, for short-term rainfall than other existing systems.
Accurate nowcasting can be a very important tool for preparing for possible weather emergencies. It can be used by officials in the areas of water management, agriculture, air and ground traffic control and outdoor event planning. “We were especially interested in the ability of these models to make predictions on medium to heavy-rain events, which are the events that most impact people and the economy,” the team said. The scientists said their model aims to create predictive “movies” of immediate weather patterns. They said that, unlike other systems, theirs can accurately capture large-scale events, as well as several different rain possibilities. This combination permits “rainfall uncertainties” to be deeply explored.
During the testing process, the team said the model showed “statistically significant” improvements in these areas compared to competing methods. In addition, the researchers reported that a group of more than 50 weather experts from the Met Office rated the AI model to be more accurate and useful in 89 percent of cases than existing forecasting systems.
Despite the study results, researchers admitted that the model still has limitations. They said “more work is needed to improve the accuracy of long-term predictions and the accuracy on rare and intense events.” The team said it will now center on developing new methods to test and measure the model's performance. It will also work to create more specialized systems to work in real-world conditions.
1. What do we know about the new AI model?| A．The model is created by researchers of Met Office. |
| B．The model can predict any rainfall within 90 minutes. |
| C．The model needs improving in long-term forecasting. |
| D．The model has been used in real-world conditions. |
| A．The difficulty of accurate nowcasting. |
| B．The relationship between weather forecasting and economy. |
| C．The necessity of building the new AI model. |
| D．The principles of the new model. |
| A．To prove the advantage of the new model. |
| B．To compare the new model with the old systems. |
| C．To explain the rule of weather forecasting. |
| D．To show how the existing system works. |
| A．Existing Forecasting system Needs Improving |
| B．AI Predicts Immediate Rainfall Better than Existing Systems |
| C．New Explorations in Weather Predictions |
| D．New Methods on Testing the AI Model's Performance |
3 . Aria Ricardo was a beautiful, slim young woman with dark hair, dark eyes, and dark skin. She used to work as a model and earn as much as $2,000 in one day in front of the camera. She modeled for top magazines in Paris, Rome, Tokyo, and throughout the United States.
Arias father, now retired because of a disability, was a police officer who really loved his work. Aria would rather follow her father’s footsteps than pursue her modeling career. She remembered listening to her father tell stories when he came home after a day on the beat. The excitement, tensions and risks of police work appealed to her.
Aria got started in the modeling business quite by accident. She accompanied a friend to an interview at a modeling agency. Her friend wanted the job, while Aria didn’t. The people at the agency were impressed with Aria’s appearance and poise. They knew she’d be brilliant in front of the camera. So they sent her on her first modeling jobs—for Seventeen Magazine—right away.
Despite her success as a model, Aria never gave up her dream of being a police officer. She passed the written exam for the New York Police Department. She planned to enter the Police Academy as quickly as possible. Her family and friends thought she was out of her mind even to consider such a thing. Police work was dangerous and the pay couldn’t compare to a top model’s income. But Aria knew what she wanted, and she went for it. She had never really intended to be a model anyway. Finally she hooked her fish.
1. Aria’s success as a model resulted from ________.| A．her desire to succeed in it | B．the help of her father |
| C．her looks and shape | D．the competition with her friend |
| A．follow her father’s footsteps | B．do whatever she liked |
| C．find something challenging | D．remain a model |
| A．photographer working for a magazine | B．woman police officer |
| C．top model of a world company | D．student of the Police Academy |
4 . Leonardo Da Vinci is most famous for his paintings, especially the Mona Lisa. The woman in the painting is best-known for her mysterious smile. But who was she?
Experts say she was Lisa di Antonio Maria di Noldo Gherardini, the third wife of a nobleman (贵族) from Florence. He invited Leonardo to paint the portrait (肖像画). Leonardo started to work on this painting in 1503. At this time "Mona Lisa" was 24 years old. He worked on the portrait for the next four years. However, Leonardo didn’t sell the painting; and when he left Florence in 1507, he kept it for himself. Why? Several believe it was because he had never managed to finish it on time, while others say he had fallen in love with the painting.
The Mona Lisa spent the next few hundred years traveling around the world. Leonardo finally sold the painting to King Francis I of France, who put it in his castle at Amboise. After the French revolution, the painting ended up in the Louvre. Napoleon took it away from there and hung it up in his bedroom. When Napoleon was driven away, the Mona Lisa returned once again to the Louvre. On 21 st August, 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen by an Italian thief, who took the painting to Italy. It appeared two years later in Florence and was taken back to the Louvre. An acid (酸) attack in 1956 damaged the lower half of the painting, and the repair work took several years. In the 60s and 70s, the Mona Lisa was on show in New York, Tokyo and Moscow.
Today the painting is behind bullet-proof glass in the Louvre once again, and is no longer allowed to travel. Her journeys are over.
1. What can we learn about the Mona Lisa from paragraph two?| A．Leonardo Da Vinci finished the painting when he was 24 years old. |
| B．Leonardo Da Vinci kept the painting for himself due to his love for it. |
| C．It was probably a portrait of the young wife of a nobleman from Florence. |
| D．A young woman from Florence asked Leonardo Da Vinci to draw the painting. |
| A．It was sent to the Louvre immediately after that. |
| B．An acid attack took people two years to repair it. |
| C．Napoleon once took it from the Louvre for himself. |
| D．It has been on show around the world since the 1960s. |
| A．a magazine | B．a news report | C．a travel brochure | D．a science book |
5 . We’ve noticed our kids out on some extra weight during this pandemic（疫情）. Here are what doctors and specialists say about what to do to get the family back on track.
In the mess of the pandemic, sleep and wakeup times slid later and later for lots of kids, says Dr. Nazrat Mirza, medical director of the pediatric（小儿科） weight management clinic in Washington, D.C. Research has linked regular, adequate sleep to improved mental and physical health in kids. If sleep routines have become a problem in your family, try to move kids’ bedtimes back by 15 minutes every two or three nights.
Create more structure around meal times.
Have sympathy for yourself, and model it for your kids.
We’ve all been through an incredibly stressful and tiring year and a half, and it’s not over. And some families have been especially hard hit by this pandemic. “We have to show ourselves a little pity and it’s not going to happen with a snap of the fingers,” says Hassink.
| A．Get bedtimes back on track. |
| B．Do the same thing with wake-up times, she says. |
| C．Have sympathy for your kids and your life will be easy. |
| D．As things calmed down, she decided it was time for a reset. |
| E．Bedtimes play a vital role in improving the quality of sleep. |
| F．That sympathy is something we should also foster in our children. |
| G．All-day-long, unmonitored eating became a habit in many families of the pandemic. |
6 . "I'm going home to Demark, son, and I just want to tell you I love you."
In my dad's last telephone call to me, he repeated that seven times in half an hour. I wasn't listening at the right level. I heard the words, but not the message and certainly not their deeper meaning. I believed my dad would live to be over 100 years old, as my great-uncle lived to be 106. I had not felt his regret over Mom's death, understood his loneliness as an "empty nester", or realized most of his friends had long passed away. I was too busy to really listen.
"Dad's dead," sighed my brother Brian on June 5.
My little brother is a lawyer and has a humorous, quick mind. I thought he was setting me up for a joke.
"Dad died in the bed he was born. His coffin and his belongings will be shipped to us by tomorrow. We need to prepare for the funeral（葬礼）." continued Brain.
I was speechless. This isn't the way it's supposed to happen. If I knew there were to be Dad's final days, I would have asked to go with him to Demark.
I believe the hospice（临终安养院） movement which says, "No one should die alone." A loved one should hold your hand and comfort you when you go from one place of reality to another. I would have offered comfort during his final hour, if I had been really listening, thinking. Dad announced his departure（离开） as best as he could and I had missed it. My heart was in pain, because he was always there for me but I wasn't there for him.
1. What message did the father probably try to announce on the phone?| A．His leaving the author forever. | B．The loneliness he had suffered from. |
| C．His eagerness for a peaceful life. | D．The regret over the loss of his wife. |
| A．He felt life was simply hopeless. | B．He didn't give any thought to it. |
| C．He was unable to accept the fact. | D．He put the blame all on himself. |
| A．Grateful | B．Disappointed | C．Shocked | D．Regretful |
7 . Hannah Raines plans to move back in with her parents after she completes her study program at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
The 21-year-old would like to get a job and save money for graduate school.
Raines’ parents, Jim and Juli, already have experience with an adult child returning home. Hannah’s twin brother, Dakota, returned home last year after the building where he lived was put up for sale.
“It was very natural,” Juli Raines said. She said having their adult children back at home is good for her and her husband.
“It wasn’t anything I had to think about,” Raines said. The only problem is figuring out where all four family members should park their cars, she noted.
Experts say younger Americans are experiencing different economic problems than earlier generations. Pay is not keeping up with housing costs or the bigger loans many graduating students must pay off after leaving school.
Pavel Marceux is an economic expert with Euromonitor International, a market research company. He said moving home for young adults may be a good decision. They can live at home with no or low rental payments, he said.
This will enable them to save money or pay down loans. It can also help aging parents deal with changing technology, Marceux said.
Not everyone who has returned home to live with one or both parents is struggling with their careers.
Damon Casarez is a photographer. He took pictures of his peers for The New York Times Magazine in 2014. But even with selling his photos to the New York Times and other successes, he needed to return home to save money.
Saving is necessary so he can repay $120,000 in loans that went toward his studies at the Art Center College of Design in California.
He said, “If I didn’t have that loan, I’d easily be able to live on my own somewhere comfortably.”
1. The passage is meant to tell us a / an _____.| A．opinion | B．belief | C．phenomenon | D．accident |
| A．Abnormal. | B．Acceptable. | C．Profitable | D．Hateful |
| A．They have to take care of their aging parents. |
| B．They can solve financial problems in a way. |
| C．The changing technology forces them to do so. |
| D．They think it a perfect way to build a relationship. |
| A．He moves home owing to his loan. | B．He returns home to ask for money. |
| C．He has no secure job or income. | D．He does enjoy living with his parents. |
| A．Economic problems disturbing students a lot. |
| B．Measures to be taken to relieve students’ burden. |
| C．More college graduates returning home for comfort. |
| D．More Adult Children in the US Living with Parents. |
8 . New research published late last month suggests that the ice loss in Antarctica is accelerating , particularly in East Antarctica, the largest ice sheet.
The results indicate that “as a whole, Antarctic may soon be contributing significantly more to global sea level rise”, write the US-based research team in the paper, which was published in the science journal Nature Geoscience.
By using satellite data, the researchers at University of Texas estimated a total ice sheet loss of 190 gigatons（十亿吨）(1 gigaton equals to 1 cubic kilometers of water) a year in Antarctica from April 2002 to January 2009, with an error of 77 gigatons.
And during the same period in East Antarctica , the report says, the rate of ice loss was 57 gigatons a year, with an error of 52 gigatons, mostly in coastal regions.
“If you examine the data between January and September this year, which we haven’t published yet, it’s more evident that East Antarctica is increasingly losing ice along the coastal regions,” said the lead author Dr Jianli Chen, a Chinese-American scientist with the Center for Space Research at the University of Texas.
The number itself is not that critical, as 57 cubic kilometers’ ice loss might only result in about 0.1 millimeters of sea level rise. However, what matters is that “we started seeing changes in East Antarctica,” Chen said. “In the future, the trend of ice loss may become more significant.”
Visually, the undergoing change in this largest ice sheet in the world is still subtle, according to co-author Don Blankenship, a glaciologist（冰河学家）at the University’s Institute for Geophysics（地球物理学）, who is currently conducting a field study in East Antarctica.
“We now know that there are actually rocks beneath the ice, and the bottom of the ice is below the sea level. So the ocean can actually penetrate（渗入）the center of the ice, warm it up and then more ice is going to the ocean,” Blankenship said.
1. According to the passage, we know the ice loss in Antarctica will contribute to ______.| A．global warming | B．sea level rise |
| C．coastal regions being swallowed | D．climate changes |
| A．Subtle changes in East Antarctica. | B．Critical situations in Antarctica. |
| C．Great contributions in Antarctica. | D．Pleasant trends in Antarctica. |
| A．Optimistic | B．Concerned | C．Doubtful | D．indifferent |
| A．inform | B．persuade | C．criticize | D．advise |
9 . Todd Endris was surfing when a 15-foot shark hit him three times, but thanks to a couple of dolphins and a friend he survived.
The attack occurred on Tuesday, Aug. 28, just before 11 a.m. at Marina State Park off Monterey, Calif, where 24-year-old Todd Endris had gone with friends for a day of the sport they love.
“It came out of nowhere. There’s no warning at all. It was just a giant shark,” Endris said. The shark hit him fast as Endris was sitting on his surfboard. “The second time, he came down and clamped on my body --- sandwiched my board and my body in his mouth,” Endris said.
That attack wounded his back seriously. The third time, the shark tried to swallow Endris’ right leg.
The dolphins, which had been swimming freely in the surf all along, showed up then. They circled him, keeping the shark at bay, and enabled Endris to get back on his board and catch a wave to the shore.
His friend, Brian Simpson, is an X-ray technician in a hospital. He had seen Endris coming in and knew he was hurt. Blood was pumping out of the leg, which had been bitten to the bone, and Endris, who lost half his blood, became very pale. To stop the blood loss, Simpson used his surf leash（挽绳）as a tourniquet（绷带）which probably saved his life.
“Thanks to this guy,” Endris said, referring to Simpson, “once I got to the beach, he was calming me down and keeping me from losing more blood by telling me to slow my breathing and really just be calm. They wouldn’t let me look at my wounds at all, which really helped.”
Seven weeks later, he was well enough to go surfing again, and the place he went to was in the same spot where he almost lost his life. It wasn’t easy to go back in the water.
“You really have to face your fears,” he told a reporter from New York Times. “I’m a surfer at heart, and that’s not something I can give up easily. It was hard. But it was something you have to do.”
1. What is the passage intended to tell us?| A．The importance of first aid. | B．The danger of surfing. |
| C．Endris’s survival in a shark attack | D．The value of friendship. |
| A．press hard. | B．hold tightly. |
| C．drop sharply. | D．dance happily. |
| A．He is very chicken-hearted. | B．He is extremely determined. |
| C．He is rather cautious. | D．He is quite ridiculous. |
10 . Modern medicine and the latest technology can save many lives. If you live in a country where healthcare is readily available and accessible, then your chances of recovering from illnesses or accidents are very good. But for many people in the US who are uninsured (无保险的), they can't afford these new medical treatments. That's why Doctor Demetrio Aguila in Norfolk lets poor patients pay for surgery (外科手术) through volunteer work.
“For years I had been doing surgery for patients and taking care of their health problems. Then I would find out months later, sometimes years later, that I had caused their financial ruin，” Aguila said. Serious illnesses can completely deplete a family's savings, leaving them no choice but to go bankrupt (破产).
Then he formed Healing Hands M25 as a way to give poor patients the medical fees they need by donating their time to community service. The process is pretty simple. They practice partners with local charitable organizations. The patient picks the charity and donates his time and sweat; Aguila determines the amount of volunteer hours the patient has to complete. “We've lowered the cost of healthcare. We've made it fair for everybody involved，” Aguila said.
The first patient to participate in the program was Jeffrey Jenson who worked for 560 hours to pay for surgery on his leg. Jenson asked his friends and family to help him complete the hours. Jenson said that his volunteer work greatly affected his life as much as the surgery. “The M25 program is not about money — it's about if people come together to help other people, then the community becomes better，” said Jenson.
This program is a big win for the patients, the local community, and Dr Aguila who knows he has done everything he could to help his patients.
1. How does Aguila make poor patients pay for surgery?| A．In cash. |
| B．Through an insurance company. |
| C．By doing volunteer work. |
| D．By serving the doctor. |
| A．Set aside. | B．Use up. |
| C．Cut down. | D．Add to. |
| A．What Healing Hands M25 does. |
| B．How Healing Hands M25 works. |
| C．Why Aguila runs Healing Hands M25. |
| D．Why patients choose Healing Hands M25. |
