1 . Returning to a book you’ve read many times can feel like drinks with an old friend. There’s a welcome familiarity - but also sometimes a slight suspicion that time has changed you both, and thus the relationship. But books don’t change, people do. And that’s what makes the act of rereading so rich and transformative.
The beauty of rereading lies in the idea that our bond with the work is based on our present mental register. It’s true, the older I get, the more I feel time has wings. But with reading, it’s all about the present. It’s about the now and what one contributes to the now, because reading is a give and take between author and reader. Each has to pull their own weight.
There are three books I reread annually .The first, which I take to reading every spring is Emest Hemningway’s A Moveable Feast. Published in 1964, it’s his classic memoir of 1920s Paris. The language is almost intoxicating (令人陶醉的)，an aging writer looking back on an ambitious yet simpler time. Another is Annie Dillard’s Holy the Firm, her poetic 1975 ramble (随笔) about everything and nothing. The third book is Julio Cortazar’s Save Twilight: Selected Poems, because poetry. And because Cortazar.
While I tend to buy a lot of books, these three were given to me as gifs, which might add to the meaning I attach to them. But I imagine that, while money is indeed wonderful and necessary, rereading an author’s work is the highest currency a reader can pay them. The best books are the ones that open further as time passes. But remember, it’s you that has to grow and read and reread in order to better understand your friends.
1. Why does the author like rereading?| A．It evaluates the writer-reader relationship. |
| B．It’s a window to a whole new world. |
| C．It’s a substitute for drinking with a friend. |
| D．It extends the understanding of oneself. |
| A．It’s a brief account of a trip. |
| B．It’s about Hemingway’s life as a young man. |
| C．It’s a record of a historic event. |
| D．It’s about Hemingway’s friends in Paris. |
| A．Debt |
| B．Reward. |
| C．Allowance. |
| D．Face value. |
| A．He loves poetry. |
| B．He’s an editor. |
| C．He’s very ambitious. |
| D．He teaches reading. |
2 . According to a recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research, both the size and consumption habits of our eating companions can influence our food intake. And contrary to existing research that says you should avoid eating with heavier people who order large portions(份), it's the beanpoles with big appetites you really need to avoid.
To test the effect of social influence on eating habits, the researchers conducted two experiments. In the first, 95 undergraduate women were individually invited into a lab to ostensibly(表面上)participate in a study about movie viewership. Before the film began, each woman was asked to help herself to a snack. An actor hired by the researchers grabbed her food first. In her natural state, the actor weighed 105 pounds. But in half the cases she wore a specially designed fat suit which increased her weight to 180 pounds.
Both the fat and thin versions of the actor took a large amount of food. The participants followed suit, taking more food than they normally would have. However, they took significantly more when the actor was thin.
For the second test, in one case the thin actor took two pieces of candy from the snack bowls. In the other case, she took 30 pieces. The results were similar to the first test: the participants followed suit but took significantly more candy when the thin actor took 30 pieces.
The tests show that the social environment is extremely influential when we're making decisions. If this fellow participant is going to eat more, so will I. Call it the “I’ll have what she's having” effect. However, we'll adjust the influence. If an overweight person is having a large portion, I'll hold back a bit because I see the results of his eating habits. But if a thin person eats a lot, I'll follow suit. If he can eat much and keep slim, why can't I?
1. What is the recent study mainly about?| A．Food safety. | B．Movie viewership. |
| C．Consumer demand. | D．Eating behavior. |
| A．Big eaters. | B．Overweight persons. |
| C．Picky eaters. | D．Tall thin persons. |
| A．To see how she would affect the participants. |
| B．To test if the participants could recognize her. |
| C．To find out what she would do in the two tests. |
| D．To study why she could keep her weight down. |
| A．How hungry we are. | B．How slim we want to be. |
| C．How we perceive others. | D．How we feel about the food. |
3 . Hollywood’s theory that machines with evil(邪恶) minds will drive armies of killer robots is just silly. The real problem relates to the possibility that artificial intelligence(AI) may become extremely good at achieving something other than what we really want. In 1960 a well-known mathematician Norbert Wiener, who founded the field of cybernetics（控制论）, put it this way: “If we use, to achieve our purposes, a mechanical agency with whose operation we cannot effectively interfere(干预), we had better be quite sure that the purpose put into the machine is the purpose which we really desire.”
A machine with a specific purpose has another quality, one that we usually associate with living things: a wish to preserve its own existence. For the machine, this quality is not in-born, nor is it something introduced by humans; it is a logical consequence of the simple fact that the machine cannot achieve its original purpose if it is dead. So if we send out a robot with the single instruction of fetching coffee, it will have a strong desire to secure success by disabling its own off switch or even killing anyone who might interfere with its task. If we are not careful, then, we could face a kind of global chess match against very determined, super intelligent machines whose objectives conflict with our own, with the real world as the chessboard.
The possibility of entering into and losing such a match should concentrate the minds of computer scientists. Some researchers argue that we can seal the machines inside a kind of firewall, using them to answer difficult questions but never allowing them to affect the real world. Unfortunately, that plan seems unlikely to work: we have yet to invent a firewall that is secure against ordinary humans, let alone super intelligent machines.
Solving the safety problem well enough to move forward in AI seems to be possible but not easy. There are probably decades in which to plan for the arrival of super intelligent machines. But the problem should not be dismissed out of hand, as it has been by some AI researchers. Some argue that humans and machines can coexist as long as they work in teams—yet that is not possible unless machines share the goals of humans. Others say we can just “switch them off” as if super intelligent machines are too stupid to think of that possibility. Still others think that super intelligent AI will never happen. On September 11, 1933, famous physicist Ernest Rutherford stated, with confidence, “Anyone who expects a source of power in the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine.” However, on September 12, 1933, physicist Leo Szilard invented the neutron-induced(中子诱导) nuclear chain reaction.
1. Paragraph 1 mainly tells us that artificial intelligence may .| A．run out of human control |
| B．satisfy human’s real desires |
| C．command armies of killer robots |
| D．work faster than a mathematician |
| A．prevent themselves from being destroyed |
| B．achieve their original goals independently |
| C．do anything successfully with given orders |
| D．beat humans in international chess matches |
| A．help super intelligent machines work better |
| B．be secure against evil human beings |
| C．keep machines from being harmed |
| D．avoid robots’ affecting the world |
| A．It will disappear with the development of AI. |
| B．It will get worse with human interference. |
| C．It will be solved but with difficulty. |
| D．It will stay for a decade. |
4 .
| For Children Museum: Children’s Museum, Sundays, 89 North Street, 67641235 Story time: Children’s Library, 106 Green Street, Wednesdays during 9:30 am-5:00 pm, 66599624 Sports: Soccer Club, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 16 Yangtze Road, 96725643 Basketball Club, Wednesdays and Fridays, 79071632 Cinema: New films for children, 99 Brick Road, 69001354 Useful Phone Numbers Fast Food Restaurant: 66387901 Hospital: 68787451 Visitor Information Center: 800-120-9847 Taxi: 79210583 Visitor Hotel Information: 800-739-7302 |
1. It’s Friday afternoon, you can go to ______.
| A．read children’s stories | B．play basketball |
| C．play soccer | D．visit the museum |
| A．order fast food in a restaurant | B．do some shopping |
| C．have a good story time | D．ask for some hotel information |
| A．looking for a hotel | B．taking a taxi |
| C．eating fast food | D．doing eye exercises |
5 . The argument that human-caused carbon emissions(排放) are merely a drop in the bucket compared to greenhouse gases generated by volcanoes has been making its way around the rumor mill for years. And while it seems to be reasonable, the science just doesn't back it up.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the world's volcanoes, both on land and undersea, generate about 200 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually, while our automotive and industrial activities cause some 24 billion tons of CO2 emissions every year worldwide. Despite the arguments to the contrary, the facts speak for themselves: Greenhouse gas emissions from volcanoes compose less than one percent of those generated by today's human activities.
Another indication that human emissions surpass those of volcanoes is the fact that atmospheric CO2 levels, as measured by sampling stations around the world, have gone up consistently year after year regardless of whether or not there have been major volcanic eruptions in specific years. “If it were true that individual volcanic eruptions dominated human emissions and were causing the rise in carbon dioxide concentrations, then these carbon dioxide records would be full of spikes —one for each eruption,” says Coby Beck, a journalist writing for online environmental news. “Instead, such records show a smooth and regular trend.”
Furthermore, some scientists believe that volcanic eruptions, like that of Mt.St. Helens in 1980 and Mt. Pinatubo in 1991, actually lead to short-term global cooling, not warming, as sulfur dioxide (SO2), ash and other particles in the air and stratosphere(平流层) reflect some solar energy instead of letting it into Earth's atmosphere. SO2, which converts to sulfuric acid aerosol, when it hits the stratosphere, can linger there for as long as seven years and can exercise a cooling effect long after a volcanic eruption has taken place.
Scientists tracking the effects of the major 1991 eruption of the Philippines’ Mt. Pinatubo found that the overall effect of the blast was to cool the surface of the Earth globally by some 0.5 degrees Celsius a year later, even though rising human greenhouse gas emissions and an El Nino event caused some surface warming during the 1991-1993 study period.
In an interesting twist on the issue, British researchers last year published an article in the peer reviewed scientific journal Nature showing how volcanic activity may be contributing to the melting of ice caps in Antarctica but not because of any emissions, natural or man-made. Instead, scientists Hugh Corr and David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey believe that volcanoes underneath Antarctica may be melting the continents ice sheets from below, just as warming air temperatures from human-induced emissions erode them from above.
1. According to Paragraph 1, some people argue that .| A．their opinion is supported by science. |
| B．volcanoes generate most of the greenhouse gases. |
| C．human activities are to blame for greenhouse gases. |
| D．carbon emissions produced by volcanoes are increasing. |
| A．Sudden increases. | B．Smooth trends. |
| C．Stable regularities. | D．Sharp declines. |
| A．They brought about global warming. |
| B．They actually partly cooled the surface of the Earth. |
| C．They melted the ice sheets in Antarctic from above. |
| D．They dominated human emissions in greenhouse effect. |
| A．compare the results of the studies. |
| B．contradict a view held by some people. |
| C．present new findings for greenhouse phenomenon. |
| D．report the effects of CO2, in greenhouse phenomenon. |
6 . It may seem as if Mother's Day was invented by a company named Hallmark, but people have been taking time on the calendar to give a shout-out to Mom for a long time. The Greeks and Romans had mother goddess festivals — although their celebrations didn't involve the menfolk taking their underappreciated mothers out to dinner. A more recent tradition was Mothering Sunday, which developed in the British Isles during the 16th century. On the fourth Sunday in April, young men and women who were living and working apart from their families were advised to return to their mothers’ houses.
Mother's Day as it is observed in the United States started in the 1850s with Ann Jarvis, a West Virginia woman who held “Mothers' Work Days” to promote health and hygiene(卫生 ) at home and in the workplace. During the Civil War, Jarvis organized women to improve sanitary conditions for soldiers on both sides, and after the war she became a peacemaker, furthering the cause by bringing together mothers of Union and Confederate soldiers and promoting a Mother's Day holiday.
Jarvis's work inspired another 19th-century woman, Julia Ward Howe. In 1870 Howe published her “Mother's Day Proclamation”, which envisioned(设想) the day not as appreciation of mothers by their children but as an opportunity for women to exercise their collective power for peace. Howe started holding annual Mother's Day celebrations in Boston, her hometown, but after about a decade she stopped footing the bill and the tradition faded away.
It was Jarvis's daughter Anna who succeeded in getting Mother’s Day recognized as a national holiday. After her mother died, in May 1905, Anna started holding yearly ceremony on the anniversary and conducting a tireless PR campaign to have the day made a holiday. In 1908 she succeeded in enlisting the support of John Wanamaker, the Philadelphia department store magnate and advertising pioneer, and by 1912 West Virginia and a few other states had adopted Mother's Day. Two years later, President Woodrow Wilson signed a resolution declaring the second Sunday in May a national holiday.
It wasn't long, though, before whatever ideals the day was supposed to celebrate were buried under an amount of greeting cards and candy. By the 1920s Anna Jarvis was campaigning against the holiday she had been instrumental in creating. “I wanted it to be a day of emotionalism, not profit,” she said.
1. It can be inferred from the first paragraph that .| A．mothers didn't get enough appreciation in the past |
| B．Mother's Day was invented by Hallmark |
| C．young people all returned to their mothers' houses |
| D．Greeks and Romans were the first to celebrate Mother's Day |
| A．Ann Jarvis. | B．Julia Ward Howe. |
| C．Woodrow Wilson. | D．Anna Jarvis. |
| A．Because it was extremely emotional. |
| B．Because the festival was not profitable. |
| C．Because the celebrations went against the original spirit. |
| D．Because the day was celebrated in the form of exchanging greeting cards and candy. |
| A．The Definition of Mother’s Day |
| B．The Argument on Celebrating Mother's Day |
| C．The Story Behind the Creation of Mother's Day |
| D．Different Forms of Celebration on Mother's Day |
7 . The old romantic saying is a cute one, but according to recent studies, opposites don't necessarily attract.
Research shows that people tend to seek out relationships with—and eventually marry — partners who have similar defining characteristics, such as age, political orientation, religion, education, and income.
“ Generally speaking, when we think about opposites attracting or not, we're thinking in terms of personality rather than these big key factors," says Vinita Mehta, a clinical psychologist and writer based in Washington, D. C.
One big factor as to why this may be is simply your stage of life: where you live, what lifestyle you have, and what kind of people you're exposed to.
“ If you’re on a college campus, by and large，you’re going to find people who are in your age group,'' Mehta says. "You're going to find people who at least eventually become part of the same general income strata. ”
Researchers from the University of Kansas made a courageous claim. A study released earlier this year analyzed real-world relationships and asked couples (romantic partners, friends, and acquaintances) about attitudes, behaviors, values, prejudices, and personality characteristics that were important to them. The pairs that had closer and more intimate relationships were not necessarily more similar than newly formed pairs, and people shared similarities on almost every personal issue that was measured.
The lead psychologists on this study believe this doesn't happen by chance ； it's so common and widespread that seeking out like-minded people may be our psychological default when we make new friends or romantic partners. We certainly get the most out of these relationships. They make us more comfortable and trusting of the other person, and that makes it easier to cooperate and achieve goals.
As far personalities go, connecting on major characteristics, like levels of neuroticism (神经质)and conscientiousness, generally lead to happier couples. But that doesn't mean you and your significant other need to agree on everything. Having different habits——fewer defining parts of your personality, like your favorite sport or foods---can introduce you to new activities and ways of thinking, which can make you a more well-rounded person.
1. What does the underlined word " strata" in Paragraph 5 probably mean?| A．Factors. | B．Levels. | C．Resources. | D．Taxes. |
| A．the phenomenon takes place accidentally |
| B．the subjects have almost everything in common |
| C．the participants were asked questions about their partners |
| D．the similarity between partners may not change with closer relationship |
| A．have some differences |
| B．have everything in common |
| C．share the same personalities |
| D．result from the conflict in thinking |
| A．To find out what stage of life we are in. |
| B．To prove we are attracted to what is familiar. |
| C．To show what kind of people we should make friends with. |
| D．To introduce the advantages like-minded people can bring to us. |
8 . The Impossible Burger is entirely free of meat. But it looks, smells, feels and-most importantly-tastes so much like real hamburger beef. In fact, plant-based burger alternatives have set off a strong resistance from the beef industry. The Center for Consumer Freedom, a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of the fast food and meat industries has launched an "informational" campaign targeting plant-based meats. The campaign has included TV and online ads, as well as print ads in newspapers. The ads seem to imply that not only is an artificial burger too processed, but that it might be even less healthy than the average beef burger.
While it's true that a plant-based meat alternative is processed and it's true that eating one is not as healthy as a pile of raw vegetables, it's best to take the ads with a generous pinch of salt.
For instance, the additives and preservatives in plant-based meat highlighted in one ad sure sound scary. Who wants something called titanium dioxide(二氧化钛)in their meal? But the truth is that additives such as those listed in the ads are regularly used in all sorts of packaged foods. And if methylcellulose, a food thickener, sounds unpleasant, it's really nothing compared with salmonella(沙门菌)poisoning you can get from regular meat.
Also, the ad campaign misses the bigger point. Choosing an Impossible or Beyond burger isn't just about healthy eating Burgers, whether they are made from processed pea protein or processed meat, will never be as healthy as organic raw vegetables.
What's appealing is the prospect or enjoying a juicy burger without the bitter aftertaste of guilt.
Let's face it, there are huge environmental costs to eating cows. Cattle raising is contributing to climate. change, and not just because methane(甲烷)from cows and cattle is responsible for about 14.5% of greenhouse gas. More broadly, our global food production system releases more than a third of the world's greenhouse gases. Yet we can't seem to control our meat appetite even knowing that large areas of the Amazon forest have been ruined, and continue to be cut down to make room for more cattle to feed the growing demand for beef. Humans also know full well that many animals live short, cruel lives in awful conditions for the purpose of becoming foods for humans to enjoy at dinner.
A plant-based meat that satisfies meat desires and delivers protein but with a smaller climate footprint is a potential environmental game changer and the reason Impossible Foods was one of those receiving the UN, Global Climate Action Award in 2019. No wonder the meat industry is on guard.
1. What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 most probably mean?| A．These ads deserve little consideration. |
| B．We should spread the message of these ads. |
| C．These ads tell people a lot about plant-based burgers. |
| D．We'd better be cautious when reading these ads |
| A．Their use is within the normal range. |
| B．They are likely to cause poisoning. |
| C．They are used to ensure burgers taste good |
| D．Some have not been used in hamburgers. |
| A．Doubtful | B．Supportive | C．Disapproving. | D．Neutral |
I: Introduction P: Point Sp: Sub-point(次要点) C: Conclusion
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
9 . Underwater Museums Many underwater museums are supported by companies that offer guided tours. A trained guide leads groups around a striking underwater display of statues in each museum. Depending on the depth of the museum, visitors may be able to view the sculptures from the glass bottomed boat or by swimming on the surface. Other underwater museums are deeper and are most accessible to scuba divers.
Underwater museums have many functions. One of their main purposes is to create an artificial reef environment where sea creatures can live. That’s why some of the museums are located in areas that were damaged by hurricanes or are considered underwater “deserts”. The statues in the museum are designed in a way that encourages the growth of coral and plant life. Over time, the statues and plants attract more and more fish to the area.
Florida, U.S.AFlorida is home to different types of underwater museums. The state’s newest underwater museum, the Underwater Museum of Art, can be found off the coast of Grayton Beach. This part of the Gulf of Mexico is an underwater desert, so creators hope that the exhibit will improve the marine ecosystem.
Cancun, MexicoFor years, Cancun has been a popular tourist destination. And one of the major draws is the water. The Museo Subacuatico de Arte is an ideal place for snorkelers and first time divers. There they can enjoy more than 500 statues that help to make up an artificial reef. This museum was created to give visitors an alternative attraction to the area’s natural reef, which has been damaged.
Canary Islands, SpainMuseo Atlantio, off the coast of Lanzarote, has an impressive display of more than 300 statues. They were created by Jason Decaires Taylor, a British sculptor, who has contributed to the creation of several underwater museums including the ones near Cancun and the Canary Islands. The Cancun statues focus on man’s interaction with the marine world.If you’re looking for a different museum experience, check out one that’s underwater.
1. In underwater museums, visitors can see the following things except.| A．statues | B．deserts |
| C．reefs | D．sculptures |
| A．Underwater museums can not be visited through guided tours. |
| B．Underwater museums are all located in areas damaged by hurricane. |
| C．Underwater museums can be viewed all over the world. |
| D．Underwater museums can help improve underwater environments. |
| A．over 300 statues can be seen in the Underwater Museum of Art |
| B．natural reef hasn’t been damaged in Cancun |
| C．the statues of Cancun and the Canary Islands are made by the same sculptor |
| D．plant life can’t grow in underwater museums |
| A．A personal diary. | B．A tourist guidebook. |
| C．An official report. | D．A hotel brochure. |
10 . Plastic-eating worms
Humans produces more than 30 million tons of plastic each year. Almost half of that winds up in landfills(填埋场) , and up to 12 million tons pollute the oceans. So far there is no effective way to get rid of it, but a new study suggests that an answer may lies in the stomachs of some hungry worms.
Researchers in Spain and England recently found that the worms of the greater wax moth can breakdown polyethylene, which accounts for 40% of plastics. The team left 100waxwormsona commercial polyethylene shopping bag for 12 hours, and the worms consumed and broke down about 92 milligrams, or almost 3%of it. To confirm that the worm's chewing alone was not responsible for the polyethylene breakdown, the researchers made some worms into paste(糊状物) and applied it to plastic films . 14 hours later the films had lost 13%of their mass—apparently broken down by enzymes( 酶 ) from the worms' stomachs. Their findings were published in Current Biology in 2017. Federica Bertocchini, co-author of the study, says the worms' ability to break down their everyday food—beeswax—also allows them to breakdown plastic. “Wax is a complex mixture, but the basic bond in polyethylene, the carbon-carbon bond, is there as well,”she explains, “The wax worm evolved a method or system to break this bond.”
Jennifer Debruyn, a microbiologist at the University di Tennessee, who was not involved in the study, says it is not surprising that such worms can breakdown polyethylene. But compared with previous studies, she finds the speed of breaking down in this one exciting. The next step, Debruyn says, will be to identify the cause of the breakdown. Is it an enzyme produced by the worm itself or by its gut microbes(肠道微生物) ?
Bertocchini agrees and hopes her team's findings might one day help employ the enzyme to breakdown plastics in landfills. But she expects using the chemical in some kind of industrial process—not simply “millions of worms thrown on top of the plastic”.
1. What can we learn about the worms in the study?| A．They take plastics as their everyday food. |
| B．They are newly evolved creatures. |
| C．They can consume plastics. |
| D．They wind up in landfills. |
| A．help to raise worms | B．help make plastic bags |
| C．be used to clean the oceans | D．be produced in factories in future |
| A．To explain a study method on worms. |
| B．To introduce the diet of a special worm. |
| C．To present a way to breakdown plastics. |
| D．To propose new means to keep eco-balance. |
