1 . I have the same 24 hours in a day as you do, but I have made specific choice that allow me to make the most of every day and still feel happy and relaxed.
Pick the most important.
Combine your activities.
Many people go crazy trying to figure out how to spend time with friends, family, work, play, etc.
You would think learning takes more time from you, but actually there are always new ways of doing things that can save you time on daily tasks, freeing you up for the most important. Always be looking for a new way to gain back an hour here or there.
Lighten up.
The world won't come to an end in most cases just because you left a few things undone. Celebrate progress and keep refining (改进) toward a happy productive existence.
| A．Speed up. |
| B．Be an active learner. |
| C．Stop trying to balance time between them all. |
| D．Make choices about what is meaningful in your life. |
| E．The things you do well usually give you greater joy. |
| F．Perhaps these tips will help you make the most of your time. |
| G．This is why making lists is important in any productivity handbook. |
2 . The benefits of regular exercise are well documented but there’s a new bonus to add to the ever-growing list. New researchers found that middle-aged women who were physically fit could be nearly 90 percent less likely to develop dementia in later life, and as they did, it came on a decade later than less sporty women.
Lead researcher Dr. Helena Horder, of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, said : "These findings are exciting because it’s possible that improving people's cardiovascular （心血管的）fitness in middle age could delay or even prevent them from developing dementia. "
For the study, 191 women with an average age of 50 took a bicycle exercise test until they were exhausted to measure their peak （最大值的） cardiovascular capacity. The average peak workload was measured at 103 watts.
A total of 40 women met the criteria for a high fitness level, or 120 watts or higher. A total of 92 women were in the medium fitness category; and 59 women were in the low fitness category, defined as a peak workload of 80 watts or less, or having their exercise tests stopped because of high blood pressure, chest pain or other cardiovascular problems.
These women were then tested for dementia six times over the following four decades. During that time, 44 of the women developed dementia. Five percent of the highly fit women developed dementia, compared to 25 percent of the women with medium fitness and 32 percent of the women with low fitness.
"However, this study does not show cause and effect between cardiovascular fitness and dementia, it only shows an association. More research is needed to see if improved fitness could have a positive effect on the risk of dementia and also to look at when during a lifetime a high fitness level is most important. " She also admitted that a relatively small number of women were studied, all of whom were form Sweden, so the results might not be applicable to other groups.
1. What is on the ever-growing list mentioned in the first paragraph?| A．Positive effects of doing exercises. |
| B．Exercises suitable for the middle-aged. |
| C．Experimental studies on diseases. |
| D．Advantages of sporty woman over man |
| A．To predict their maximum heart rate. |
| B．To assess their cardiovascular capacity |
| C．To change their habits of working out |
| D．To detect their potential health problems |
| A．It aimed to find a cure for dementia. |
| B．Data collection was a lengthy process. |
| C．Some participants withdrew from it. |
| D．The results were far from satisfactory. |
| A．More Women Are Exercising to Prevent Dementia |
| B．Middle-Aged Women Need to Do More Exercise |
| C．Fit Women Are Less Likely to Develop Dementia |
| D．Biking Improves Women's Cardiovascular Fitness |
3 . The United States rose to global power on the strength of its technology, and the lifeblood that technology has long been electricity. By providing long-distance communication and energy, electricity created the modern world. Yet properly understood, the age of electricity is merely the second stage in the age of steam, which began a century earlier.
"It is curious that no one has put together a history of both the steam and electric revolutions." writes Maury Klein in his book The Power Makers, Steam, Electricity, and the Men Invented Modern America. Klein, a noted historian of technology, spins a narrative so lively that at times it reads like a novel.
The story begins in the last years of the 18th century in Scotland, where Watt perfected "the machine that changed the world". Klein writes, "America did not invent the steam engine, but once they grasped its passwords they put it to more uses than anyone else. "
Meanwhile, over the course of 19th century, electricity went from mere curiosity to a basic necessity. Morse invented a code for sending messages over an electromagnetic circuit. Bell then gave the telegraph a voice. Edison perfected an incandescent bulls that brought electric light into the American home.
Most importantly, Edison realized that success depended on mass electrification, which he showed in New York City. With help from Tesla, Westinghouse's firm developed a system using alternating current, which soon became the major forms of power delivery.
To frame his story, Klein creates the character of Ned, a fictional witness to the progress brought about by the steams and electric revolutions in America during one man's lifetime. It's a technique that helps turn a long narrative into an interesting one.
1. What is Klein's understanding of the age of electricity?| A．It is closely linked to the steam age. |
| B．It began earlier than proper thought. |
| C．It is a little-studied period of history. |
| D．It will come to an end sooner or later. |
| A．He was born in New York City. | B．He wrote many increasing stories, |
| C．He created an electricity company. | D．He lived mainly in the 19th century. |
| A．A biography. | B．A book review. | C．A short story. | D．A science report. |
4 . For nearly a decade now, Merebeth has been a self-employed pet transport specialist. Her pet transport job was born of the financial crisis(危机)in the late 2000s. The downturn hit the real estate (房地产)firm where she had worked for ten years as an office manager. The firm went broke and left her looking for a new job. One day, while driving near her home, she saw a dog wandering on the road, clearly lost. She took it home, and her sister in Denver agreed to take it. This was a loving home for sure, but 1, 600 miles away. It didn’t take long for Merebeth to decide to drive the dog there herself. It was her first road trip to her new job.
Merebeth’s pet delivery service also satisfies her wanderlust. It has taken her to every state in the US except Montana, Washington and Oregon, she says proudly. If she wants to visit a new place, she will simply find a pet with transport needs there. She travels in all weathers. She has driven through 55 mph winds in Wyoming, heavy flooding and storms in Alabama and total whiteout conditions in Kansas.
This wanderlust is inherited from her father, she says. She moved their family from Canada to California when she was one year old, because he wanted them to explore a new place together. As soon as she graduated from high school she left home to live on Catalina Island off the Californian coast, away from her parents, where she enjoyed a life of sailing and off-road biking.
It turns out that pet transporting pays quite well at about $30, 000 per year before tax. She doesn’t work in summer, as it would be unpleasantly hot for the animals in the car, even with air conditioning. As autumn comes, she gets restless—the same old wanderlust returning. It’s a call she must heed alone, though. Merebeth says, “When I am on the road, I’m just in my own world. I’ve always been independent-spirited and I just feel strongly that I must help animals.”
1. Why did Merebeth changed her job?| A．She wanted to work near her home. |
| B．She was tired of working in the office. |
| C．Her sister asked her to move to Denver. |
| D．Her former employer was out of business. |
| A．make money. | B．try various jobs. |
| C．be close to nature. | D．travel to different places. |
| A．She has chances to see rare animals. |
| B．She works hard throughout the year. |
| C．She relies on herself the whole time. |
| D．She earns a basic and tax-free salary. |
5 . Last year I decided to do some volunteer work. I began to
I was sent to the Coronado National Forest for my first 8-day
My job was to
Three days later, a beautiful stairway came into being. The
But on the last night we were
| A．calculate | B．negotiate | C．advertise | D．research |
| A．imagined | B．introduced | C．enjoyed | D．found |
| A．annoyed | B．surprised | C．scared | D．excited |
| A．arriving | B．sleeping | C．thinking | D．walking |
| A．confident | B．friendly | C．energetic | D．curious |
| A．funny | B．good | C．lucky | D．easy |
| A．tour | B．project | C．campaign | D．course |
| A．drop | B．make | C．carry | D．buy |
| A．nice | B．safe | C．long | D．quick |
| A．build | B．test | C．clean | D．guard |
| A．helped | B．ended | C．allowed | D．meant |
| A．hunted | B．trained | C．seen | D．fed |
| A．satisfaction | B．ambition | C．expectation | D．intention |
| A．work | B．memory | C．record | D．story |
| A．left | B．caught | C．attacked | D．separated |
| A．boiling | B．average | C．normal | D．freezing |
| A．tidy | B．dry | C．new | D．soft |
| A．By the way | B．Regardless of that | C．Needless to say | D．In either case |
| A．survived | B．resisted | C．escaped | D．recovered |
| A．smarter | B．stronger | C．happier | D．busier |
6 . At the start of the 20th century, an American engineer named John Elfreth Watkins made predictions about life today. His predictions about slowing population growth, mobile phones and increasing height were close to the mark. But he was wrong in one prediction: that everybody would walk 10 miles a day.
Today, in Australia, most children on average fall 2, 000 steps short of the physical activity they need to avoid being overweight. In the early 1970s, 40 per cent of children walked to school, while in 2010, it was as low as 15 percent.
The decline is not because we have all become lazy. Families are pressed for time, many with both parents working to pay for their house, often working hours not of their choosing, living in car-dependent neighborhoods with limited public transport.
The other side of the coin is equally a deprivation: for health and well-being, as well as lost opportunities (机会) for children to get to know their local surroundings. And for parents there are lost opportunities to walk and talk with their young scholar about their day.
Most parents will have eagerly asked their child about their day, only to meet with a “good”, quickly followed by “I’m hungry”. This is also my experience as a mother. But somewhere over the daily walk more about my son’s day comes out. I hear him making sense of friendship and its limits. This is the unexpected and rare parental opportunity to hear more.
Many primary schools support walking school-bus routes (路线), with days of regular, parent-accompanied walks. Doing just one of these a few times a week is better than nothing. It can be tough to begin and takes a little planning-running shoes by the front door, lunches made the night before, umbrellas on rainy days and hats on hot ones-but it's certainly worth trying.
1. Why does the author mention Watkins' predictions in the first paragraph?| A．To make comparisons. | B．To introduce the topic. |
| C．To support her argument. | D．To provide examples. |
| A．Plain laziness. | B．Health problems. |
| C．Lack of time. | D．Security concerns. |
| A．She can get relaxed after work. | B．She can keep physically fit. |
| C．She can help with her son's study. | D．She can know her son better. |
7 . Researchers say they have translated the meaning of gestures that wild chimpanzees (黑猩猩) use to communicate. They say wild chimps communicate 19 specific messages to one another with a “vocabulary” of 66 gestures. The scientists discovered this by following and filming groups of chimps in Uganda, and examining more than 5,000 incidents of these meaningful exchanges.
Dr Catherine Hobaiter, who led the research, said that this was the only form of intentional communication to be recorded in the animal kingdom. Only humans and chimps, she said, had a system of communication where they deliberately sent a message to another group member.
“That’s what’s so amazing about chimp gestures,” she said. “They’re the only thing that looks like human language in that respect.”
Although previous research has shown that apes and monkeys can understand complex information from another animal’s call, the animals do not appear to use their voices intentionally to communicate messages. This was a significant difference between calls and gestures, Dr Hobaiter said.
Chimps will check to see if they have the attention of the animal with which they wish to communicate. In one case, a mother presents her foot to her crying baby, signaling: “Climb on me.” The youngster immediately jumps on to its mothers back and they travel off together. “The big message from this study is that there is another species (物种) out there. that is meaningful in its communication, so that’s not unique to humans,” said Dr Hobaiter.
Dr Susanne Shultz, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Manchester, said the study was praiseworthy in seeking to enrich our knowledge of the evolution of human language. But, she added, the results were “a little disappointing”.
“The vagueness of the gesture meanings suggests either that the chimps have little to communicate, or we are still missing a lot of the information contained in their gestures and actions,” she said. “Moreover, the meanings seem to not go beyond what other animal convey with non-verbal communication. So, it seems the gulf remains. ”
1. What do chimps and humans have in common according to Dr Hobaiter?| A．Memorizing specific words. | B．Understanding complex information. |
| C．Using voices to communicate. | D．Communicating messages on purpose. |
| A．It was well designed but poorly conducted. |
| B．It was a good try but the findings were limited. |
| C．It was inspiring but the evidence was unreliable. |
| D．It was a failure but the methods deserved praise. |
| A．Difference. | B．Conflict. | C．Balance. | D．Connection. |
| A．Chimpanzee behaviour study achieved a breakthrough |
| B．Chimpanzees developed specific communication skills |
| C．Chimpanzees: the smartest species in the animal kingdom |
| D．Chimpanzee language: communication gestures translated |
8 . More than 25 years ago, Saroo Brierley lived in rural（农村）India. One day, he played with his brother along the rail line and fell asleep. When he woke up and found himself alone, the 4-year-old decided his brother might be on the train he saw in front of him-so he got on.
That train took him a thousand miles across the country to a totally strange city. He lived on the streets, and then in an orphanage（孤儿院）. There, he was adopted by an Australian family and flown to Tasmania.
As he writes in his new book, A Long Way Home, Brierley couldn't help but wonder about his hometown back in India. He remembered landmarks, but since he didn't know his town's name, finding a small neighborhood in a vast country proved to be impossible.
Then he found a digital mapping program. He spent years searching for his hometown in the program's satellite pictures. In 2011, he came across something familiar. He studied it and realized he was looking at a town's central business district from a bird's-eye view. He thought, “On the right-hand side you should see the three-platform train station”—and there it was. "And on the left-hand side you should see a big fountain"-and there it was. Everything just started to match.
When he stood in front of the house where he grew up as a child, he saw a lady standing in the entrance. "There's something about me, " he thought—and it took him a few seconds but he finally remembered what she used to look like.
In an interview Brierley says, "My mother looked so much shorter than I remembered. But she came forth and walked forward, and I walked forward, and my feelings and tears and the chemical in my brain, you know, it was like a nuclear fusion（核聚变）. I just didn't know what to say, because I never thought seeing my mother would ever come true. And here I am, standing in front of her. ”
1. Why was Brierley separated from his family about 25 years ago?| A．He got on a train by mistake. |
| B．He got lost while playing in the street. |
| C．He was taken away by a foreigner. |
| D．He was adopted by an Australian family. |
| A．By analyzing old pictures. |
| B．By travelling all around India. |
| C．By studying digital maps. |
| D．By spreading his story via his book. |
| A．His love for his mother. |
| B．His reunion with his mother. |
| C．His long way back home. |
| D．His memory of his hometown. |
9 . ＂Did you hear what happened to Adam last Friday?＂ Lindsey whispers to Tori.
With her eyes shining, Tori brags, ＂You bet I did. Sean told me two days ago.＂
Who are Lindsey and Tori talking about? It just happens to be yours truly, Adam Freedman. I can tell you that what they are saying is (a) not nice and (b) not even true. Still, Lindsey and Tori aren’t very different from most students here at Linton High School, including me. Many of our conversations are gossip(闲话). I have noticed three effects of gossip: it can hurt people, it can give gossipers a strange kind of satisfaction, and it can cause social pressures in a group.
An important negative effect of gossip is that it can hurt the person being talked about. Usually, gossip spreads information about a topic — breakups, trouble at home, even dropping out — that a person would rather keep secret. The more embarrassing or shameful the secret is, the juicier the gossip it makes. Probably the worst type of gossip is the absolute lie. People often think of gossipers as harmless, but cruel lies can cause pain.
If we know that gossip can be harmful, then why do so many of us do it? The answer lies in another effect of gossip: the satisfaction it gives us. Sharing the latest rumor(传言) can make a person feel important because he or she knows something that others don’t. Similarly, hearing the latest rumor can make a person feel like part of the ＂in group.＂ In other words, gossip is satisfying because it gives people a sense of belonging or even superiority(优越感).
Gossip also can have a third effect: it strengthens unwritten, unspoken rules about how people should act. Professor David Wilson explains that gossip is important in policing behaviors in a group. Translated into high school terms, this means that if everybody you hang around with is laughing at what John wore or what Jane said, then you can bet that wearing or saying something similar will get you the same kind of negative attention. The do’s and don’ts conveyed through gossip will never show up in any student handbook.
The effects of gossip vary depending on the situation. The next time you feel the urge to spread the latest news, think about why you want to gossip and what effects your ＂juicy story＂ might have.
1. The author uses a conversation at the beginning of the passage to __________.| A．introduce a topic | B．present an argument |
| C．describe the characters | D．clarify his writing purpose |
| A．breaks up relationships | B．embarrasses the listener |
| C．spreads information around | D．causes unpleasant experiences |
| A．gives them a feeling of pleasure |
| B．helps them to make more friends |
| C．makes them better at telling stories |
| D．enables them to meet important people |
| A．provide students with written rules |
| B．help people watch their own behaviors |
| C．force schools to improve student handbooks |
| D．attract the police’s attention to group behaviors |
| A．Never become a gossiper. | B．Stay away from gossipers. |
| C．Don’t let gossip turn into lies. | D．Think twice before you gossip. |
10 . Challenging work that requires lots of analytical thinking, planning and other managerial skills might help your brain stay sharp as you age, a study published Wednesday in the journal Neurology suggests.
Researchers from the University of Leipzig in Germany gathered more than 1, 000 retired workers who were over age 75 and assessed the volunteers’ memory and thinking skills through a battery of tests. Then, for eight years, the scientists asked the same group to come back to the lab every 18 months to take the same sorts of tests.
Those who had held mentally stimulating(刺激), demanding jobs before retirement tended to do the best on the tests. And they tended to lose cognitive(认知) function at a much slower rate than those with the least mentally challenging jobs. The results held true even after the scientists accounted for the participants’ overall health status.
“This works just like physical exercise, ” says Francisca Then, who led the study. “After a long run, you may feel like you’re in pain, you may feel tired. But it makes you fit. After a long day at work-sure, you will feel tired, but it can help your brain stay healthy. ”
It's not just corporate jobs, or even paid work that can help keep your brain fit, Then points out. A waiter’s job, for example, that requires multitasking, teamwork and decision-making could be just as stimulating as any high-level office work. And “running a family household requires high-level planning and coordinating(协调), ” she says. “You have to organize the activities of the children and take care of the bills and groceries. ”
Of course, our brains can decline as we grow older for lots of reasons-including other environmental influences or genetic factors. Still, continuing to challenge yourself mentally and keeping your mind busy can only help.
1. Why did the scientists ask the volunteers to take the tests?| A．To assess their health status. | B．To evaluate their work habits. |
| C．To analyze their personality. | D．To measure their mental ability. |
| A．By using an expert’s words. | B．By making a comparison. |
| C．By referring to another study. | D．By introducing a concept. |
| A．Retired Workers Can Pick Up New Skills |
| B．Old People Should Take Challenging Jobs |
| C．Your Tough Job Might Help Keep You Sharp |
| D．Cognitive Function May Decline As You Age |
