1 . North Americans value independence, and Europeans value togetherness. I never fully understood that stereotype until two months ago, when I left Canada for a 4-month period in a lab in France. On my first day, Pierre, a Ph. D. student, tapped me on my shoulder and asked: “Coffee?” I nodded and followed him to the common room, where other grad students were filling in. I sat there, cautiously sipping the bitter liquid and trying hard not to reveal my uncultured tastes, while lab chatter filled the air.

Coffee breaks are a ceremonial part of lab culture here. The chatter sometimes turns to serious scientific topics. But mostly, the meet-ups offer a chance to wind down, to share stories about life inside and outside the lab and to sympathize with people who understand what you’re going through.

The lighthearted atmosphere and sense of community is a welcome contrast to my life in Canada, where I spent most of my workdays in isolation. I went into the lab each morning with set goals for my day. At lunch, I’d keep my eyes glued to my computer while I fed forkfuls of salad into my mouth, trying to power through my to-do list. For 9 months, I struggled to figure out why I couldn’t exactly copy the results of another study. I didn’t want to trouble my advisor too much. I was also hesitant to ask my labmates for help.

How much we were missing! Researchers need community because good ideas don’t just come from reading literature and thinking deep thoughts. It’s helpful to bounce ideas off others, and, to have a venue to share the day-to-day ups and downs of life.

Would coffee breaks have solved all my problems? Probably not. But I think sharing ideas with my peers would have helped solve my research dilemma. My time in France has taught me that it’s important to create space for organic conversations about lab life. A scientist’s life can feel isolating, but it’s not necessarily so when you’re connected to a supportive community.

1. How did the author feel when he drank coffee for the first time in France?

A．A little nervous.	B．Very happy.
C．Somewhat excited.	D．Quite curious.

2. What does Paragraph 2 mainly talk about?

A．Cultural ceremonies in France.	B．Various topics of the chatter.
C．Coffee breaks in French lab culture.	D．Lab culture in French style.

3. What was the author’s life like back in Canada?

A．Comfortable and fulfilled.	B．Busy and lonely.
C．Tense but satisfactory.	D．Boring but healthy.

4. Why does the author write this passage?

A．To introduce the coffee break in Europe.

B．To explain the difference between cultures.

C．To recall his personal experience in France.

D．To convey the importance of a supportive circle.

2 . Some of the greatest problems we face today are concerned with the gradual destruction (破坏) of our environment through overuse of our _________. So my family do what we can. We take cloth bags to stores instead of using plastic bags. We walk where we don’t have to _________.

But when I’m the only one with a cloth bag in line at the grocery store, I ask myself: Does it do any good?

I recently found the answer from flamingos (火烈鸟). These beautiful birds gather in _________ groups of a thousand or more. Every year, when the time comes for migration (迁徙), a few flamingos start the process by _________ from the lake. But _________ of the others seem to notice, so the tiny group returns.

However, the next day they _________ again. This time a few more struggle along with them, but the vast majority _________ no attention, so these pioneers come back.

The trend continues for several more days. Every time a few more birds join in but, _________ the thousands of others still take no notice, the great migration plan is once again _________.

Then one day, things __________. The same small group of birds takes wing and a tiny number more join in, just as before. This time their total number is enough to tip the balance (扭转局势). As one, the whole group takes flight and the migration __________.

A few can make a __________. It’s true that all of the great problems of the world have been solved because of the __________ efforts of a few.

If you believe in a cause (事业), don’t __________. Others will someday notice and __________ we will solve even our greatest problems.

1.

A．money

B．resources

C．time

D．strength

2.

A．drive

B．run

C．cycle

D．stand

3.

A．tiny

B．different

C．huge

D．similar

4.

A．cutting off

B．getting up

C．carrying out

D．taking off

5.

A．all

B．any

C．none

D．most

6.

A．gather

B．try

C．sing

D．appear

7.

A．attract

B．require

C．escape

D．pay

8.

A．since

B．if

C．while

D．unless

9.

A．prepared

B．handled

C．cancelled

D．delayed

10.

A．approach

B．work

C．change

D．disappear

11.

A．continues

B．fails

C．finishes

D．begins

12.

A．point

B．decision

C．difference

D．mistake

13.

A．useless

B．tireless

C．total

D．special

14.

A．give up

B．give away

C．get over

D．get off

15.

A．finally

B．independently

C．peacefully

D．wildly

5 . Ten years ago, I set out to examine luck. I wanted to know why some people are ________ in the right place at the right time, while others consistently experienced ill fortune. I ________ notices in national newspapers asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me.

Hundreds of extraordinary men and women volunteered for my ________. Over the years I interviewed them, watched their lives and had them ________ various experiments.

I carried out a simple ________ to discover whether their differences in luck was due to differences in their ability to ________ opportunities. I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside. I had ________ placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying “Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win $50.”

This ________ took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than two inches high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to ________ it and the lucky people tended to spot it.

Unlucky people are generally more ________ than lucky people, and this anxiety affects their ability to notice the ________. As a result, they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to gatherings focused on finding their perfect partner and miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers ________ to find certain types of job advertisements and miss other types of jobs.

Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there ________ just what they are looking for. My research eventually showed that lucky people create good fortune via four ________. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition (直觉), create self-fulfilling prophesies (预官) via positive expectations, and adopt a “never say die” attitude that ________ bad luck into good.

1.

A．never

B．always

C．sometimes

D．seldom

2.

A．placed

B．edited

C．created

D．read

3.

A．game

B．adventure

C．research

D．contest

4.

A．participate in

B．call off

C．look into

D．give up

5.

A．observation

B．experiment

C．competition

D．discussion

6.

A．share

B．predict

C．decline

D．identify

7.

A．hesitantly

B．publicly

C．secretly

D．excitedly

8.

A．copy

B．message

C．diagram

D．introduction

9.

A．miss

B．pass

C．revise

D．misunderstand

10.

A．nervous

B．careless

C．awkward

D．pitiful

11.

A．unaffected

B．unexplained

C．unchanged

D．unexpected

12.

A．confident

B．disappointed

C．determined

D．surprised

13.

A．owing to

B．but for

C．regardless of

D．rather than

14.

A．goals

B．preferences

C．principles

D．beliefs

15.

A．throws

B．transforms

C．takes

D．forces

6 . From the age of eight, I had to contribute my share of labor along with my father. Our family was too _______to afford paid laborers. Working in the rice fields was no easy job, especially in summer. The _______sun would beat down on my arched back. With only a hat, a shirt and a pair of shorts as my _______, I would be sweating like a pig within seconds.

One day, while resting beside the field, I _______my present life: My family was tied to land, doing _______jobs every day. How could we and farmers like us have _______to a better life? Thinking of this, I was suddenly _______with great pity and great respect for them, and the focus of my _______began to extend beyond myself and my family. A voice inside me _______that I should do something to help that. It was right then that I ________to pursue useful knowledge and technology to ________their burden of labour. This strong ________pushed me hard to go to a university on a scholarship and________ earn a degree on agriculture.

Although now I went into academic research, I would always ________what working in the rice fields had taught me: Your hard work will be ________if you plant your feet firmly on the ground, for being down-to-earth is an unbroken truth.

1.

A．desperate

B．wise

C．poor

D．proud

2.

A．blinding

B．amazing

C．rising

D．burning

3.

A．preference

B．protection

C．purchase

D．priority

4.

A．reflected on

B．worried about

C．believed in

D．complained about

5.

A．high-paying

B．heart-breaking

C．back-breaking

D．risk-taking

6.

A．reactions

B．contributions

C．access

D．addiction

7.

A．consumed

B．provided

C．confused

D．troubled

8.

A．career

B．schedule

C．interest

D．concern

9.

A．protested

B．insisted

C．warned

D．predicted

10.

A．attempted

B．promised

C．determined

D．agreed

11.

A．lighten

B．quicken

C．distribute

D．shoulder

12.

A．curiosity

B．outcome

C．fact

D．desire

13.

A．immediately

B．ultimately

C．definitely

D．rarely

14.

A．treasure

B．doubt

C．adopt

D．acquire

15.

A．facilitated

B．relieved

C．challenged

D．rewarded

8 . I’m rather good at using maps. But I forgot the maps and here we were, late afternoon, last day of vacation, my daughter, my cousin and I, driving along a two-lane highway in Oregon. No other car in sight, and the sun had just gone down. Where was that sweet little village?

It was supposed to be right along this river. We drove on, farther into the unknown, river always at left as our guide. We kept passing farms and fields and now a few lights were coming out. In my head, I was doing a lot of self-criticisms: Why didn’t we start earlier, bring the map and on and on? My cousin and I were both impatient and stressed. My daughter, at least, was happy in the back seat, text messaging a friend. I pulled up on the shoulder of the road to think.

Just then－WOW! Amazing! A new scene had appeared. Where did it come from?

Right there, out of nowhere: a magical misty landscape. Fields stretched in silent purples, with rows of tall trees, darkening in the dusk (黄昏). I turned the car engine off. All was silent in the hot summer air. Beside us, a plum-colored river hardly moved between a border of trees, its dark lazy water reflecting the last light of day.

How breathtaking! Where had it been? If I had seen even a bit of this beauty while driving along, I could have stopped and taken a look. I had missed it all.

We miss a lot, almost everything, in fact, in our world. Our task-focused filters (过滤器) take care of that, selecting only what we need. We need to get to work. Have some lunch. We see what we need to see, often for purposes of survival. Gregory Bateson, speaking of beauty, said the judgment is selection of a fact. In our daily lives, who or what is doing the selecting? Can we make a change? Can we see further?

1. Which of the following might be the destination of the author’s driving?

A．A vacation spot.	B．Her own home.
C．A tourist centre.	D．Her cousin’s farm.

2. What made the author keep blaming herself in the beginning?

A．That the vacation was below her expectations.

B．That she wasn’t as good at using maps as before.

C．That lack of full preparations got her to lose her way.

D．That her cousin and daughter couldn’t get along.

3. The author felt really amazed because _________.

A．she discovered a tourist spot unknown to the public

B．her carelessness brought an unexpected pleasure

C．she unintentionally reached what she had planned to

D．the right route (路线) to her destination came out of nowhere

4. What does the story intend to tell us?

A．Stay cool when you are trapped in trouble.

B．Make a change for the purpose of survival.

C．Be positive because there's always an alternative (choice).

D．Slow down your paces to enjoy beauty in life.

9 . Friday night, I was struggling to choose a good movie to watch. I spent 20 minutes looking through hundreds of choices at Amazon Video and still couldn’t decide. In the back of my mind, I was thinking that I had to choose a great movie to watch, because if didn’t I would be wasting my time. I thought that instead of watching a bad movie, I would be better off using my time in a more meaningful way (I see this as an opportunity cost). After seeing the reviews and asking around for suggestions, ended up watching LaLa Land, a popular movie that most of my friends have seen recently.

The next day, I went to Duane Reade to buy toothpaste and was overwhelmed again by the large quantity of the choice. I started wondering if more choices empower consumers or just make them think they are empowered, when in reality they are just at a loss.

From finding a good restaurant to searching for your life partner, everything is all about choices; big or small, they are all related. Take dating life in New York for example. There are an endless range of choices which can lead to many New Yorkers finding it hard to make a decision. It is a big city with a lot of lonely “I could do better” people that are constantly searching for the next best one.

It doesn’t contradict with providing people choices and information to empower them, as there is difference between having a reasonable number of choices and an overwhelming amount. When we are overwhelmed with the number of choices we have, we end up less satisfied with the choice we make. You might calculate the opportunity cost and think about “what if”.

I’ve started to realize that living a life with simplicity can sometimes be a challenge, but it is certainly worth it.

1. Why did the writer find it hard to choose a movie to watch?

A．He thought watching a bad movie wasn’t meaningful.

B．He didn’t know which movies were popular among his friends.

C．He found it challenging to choose from so many choices

D．He believed it a waste of time to look through hundreds of choices.

2. What can be inferred from the text?

A．Living a simple life is always challenging.

B．More choices may lead to dissatisfaction with our decision.

C．New Yorkers tend to be discontented their dating partner.

D．Opportunity cost is what we should consider when making a decision.

3. What’s the author’s attitude towards the endless choices presented to him?

A．Positive.

B．Neutral.

C．Unconcerned.

D．Negative

4. Which of the following is the best title of the passage?

A．Less is Better

B．Make Your Choice Goad

C．More Choices, More Opportunities

D．Simple is Better, Less is More

10 . As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, _________ by the fact that these large creatures were being held by only a small rope_________ to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was_________ that the elephants could, at anytime _________ their ropes. For some reason, they did not, _________.

He saw a trainer nearby, and asked why these animals just stood there and made no_________ to get away. “Well,” the trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller, we use the same_________ rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to_________ them. As they grow up, they are_________ to believing they cannot break away. They believe the rope and still hold them, so they never try to break free.

The man was__________. These animals could at any time break free from their__________ but because they believe they couldn't, they were__________ right where they are.

Like the elephants, how many of us__________ hanging onto a(n) __________ that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the__________ in life.

1.

A．disappointed

B．annoyed

C．depressed

D．confused

2.

A．related

B．referred

C．tied

D．limited

3.

A．necessary

B．obvious

C．important

D．urgent

4.

A．break away from

B．apply for

C．search for

D．get away with

5.

A．otherwise

B．therefore

C．instead

D．moreover

6.

A．difference

B．effort

C．sense

D．response

7.

A．quality

B．length

C．quantity

D．size

8.

A．hold

B．grasp

C．seize

D．pull

9.

A．addicted

B．exposed

C．used

D．devoted

10.

A．frightened

B．excited

C．delighted

D．amazed

11.

A．rules

B．bonds

C．habits

D．responsibilities

12.

A．stuck

B．buried

C．hidden

D．involved

13.

A．work out

B．go through

C．look through

D．care about

14.

A．proposal

B．attitude

C．virtue

D．belief

15.

A．choice

B．opportunity

C．struggle

D．dream