1 . Turkey is not my thing, but one dish I cannot live without on Thanksgiving is my mom’s Snowy Mashed Potatoes. I start
How and why is it that certain foods give us so much
Often, we love food because we have
The smell of food can
These
In addition to past memories, the
| A．cutting down on | B．looking forward to | C．making for | D．putting away |
| A．perspective | B．pleasure | C．space | D．transition |
| A．emotionally | B．financially | C．physically | D．visually |
| A．enjoy | B．memorize | C．order | D．recall |
| A．company | B．menus | C．outlook | D．recipes |
| A．cultural | B．fond | C．photographic | D．shared |
| A．collective | B．creative | C．lost | D．parental |
| A．awake | B．correct | C．preserve | D．record |
| A．bitter-sweet | B．fresh | C．long-lasting | D．selective |
| A．associations | B．experiences | C．foods | D．memories |
| A．alert | B．amazed | C．disappointed | D．sad |
| A．avoid | B．consume | C．store | D．swallow |
| A．area | B．background | C．context | D．emotion |
| A．enhanced | B．offered | C．reflected | D．weakened |
| A．adapted | B．appreciated | C．copied | D．digested |
2 . I used to think my little corner of urban England was somewhere I could get away from the stress and strain of modern-day life — until they moved in next door. There are two of them. They are white, woolly and probably have sharp teeth as well as loud bark. But every time their constant barking interrupts my sleep, I remind myself that, in many respects, I am lucky. The neighbors don’t hold all-night parties, nor do they shout or throw crockery at each other, and though their dogs may bark, they don’t bite.
According to a recent consumer magazine report on “nightmare neighbors”, dogs are the fifth most common source of bad relations between neighbors. Noise of any description heads the list of complaints, followed by DIY enthusiasts, parking quarrelling, and arguments over house extensions.
So what alternatives are there? One is to take legal action. But this can be time-consuming and expensive and does nothing to improve already difficult relationships. The other alternatives are to sell up and go, or to try to reach a solution with the help of someone neutral. Mediation UK— the United Nations equivalent of garden fence conflicts — was set in 1984 to help resolve community disagreements.
In most cases, the lack of communication is found the main cause of conflict. David Nation of Plymouth Mediation points to poor public housing and widespread unemployment as additional factors. He also reports more cases of complaints from people who live in flats. Large houses built in the nineteenth century and designed as single-occupation family homes have, he says, been changed into flats with little or no attention to sound insulation. Dividing walls are paper thin and hardly block out sound at all.
Buyers can also be put off by the external appearance of neighboring houses. Anything from wild, uncared for gardens to unusual external color schemes can put off buyers — even though the offending property is next door. But it could be worse. John Gladden, of Norbury in Surrey upset his neighbors in St Oswald’s Road by mounting a huge fish in fiberglass (玻璃纤维) and putting it on the roof of his house. The local council argued that he should have got planning permission; residents thought the fish did nothing to improve the appearance of the neighborhood, and war broke out. Sightseers poured in and homes near the suburban property can now be hard to sell.
1. Why doesn’t the writer like her next-door neighbor’s dogs?| A．They wake her up. | B．They sometimes bark. |
| C．They are aggressive. | D．They remind her of sheep. |
| A．the color scheme | B．the garden | C．the situation | D．the house |
| A．inform people what to do if they have problems with their neighbors |
| B．describe the writer’s own problems with her neighbors. |
| C．illustrate the types and causes of problems between neighbors |
| D．explain the activities of the organization Mediation UK |
3 . One night several years ago, after filling up my car at a gas station and pulling away, I noticed a strange sound behind me in traffic — sort of a metallic clanking noise. It sounded to me like someone was dragging a muffler or bumper, so I started looking for the car to alert the driver. But no matter how fast or slow I moved, or where I turned, I couldn’t locate the car. At this point I noticed people on the sidewalk pointing and laughing at me. I stopped and found the gas hoses ill attached to my car. I immediately pulled out the hose and drove back to the gas station, where I was educated on the economics of breaking a gas pump.
My memory of that night is odd because I was judging the behavior of another person, who then turned out to be me. Philosophers might say that in these rare minutes, my “I-self” (the seer of things around me) and “me-self” (the one seen) were mentally separated.
This kind of separation is unnatural. Making it your permanent state of mind would be difficult and perhaps even undesirable. Each of us can, however, purposely change the balance of time we spend as observers and as the objects of observation. And working to observe more than you think about being observed can be an excellent way to get happier.
When you look into a mirror, you see yourself almost as if you were two-different people — one who sees, and one who is seen. That may sound confusing, but bear with me here, because both versions of you are important. As the philosopher William James explored in depth, you must be an observer of things around you to survive and thrive, but you must also observe yourself and be observed by others to have any consistent sense of self-concept and self-image. Without observing, you would get hit by a car or starve. Without being observed, you would have no memory, history, or sense of why you do what you do.
The tick for wellbeing is balancing your I-self and me-self. But most of us spend too much time being observed and not enough time observing. We think constantly about ourselves and how others see us; we look in every mirror; we check our mentions on social media; we obsess over our identities.
This brings trouble. Research has shown, for example, that focusing on the world outside yourself is linked to happiness, while focusing on yourself and how others see you can lead to unstable moods. Your happiness goes up and down like a yo-yo, depending on whether you see yourself positively or negatively in a given moment. This instability is hard to bear; no wonder self-absorption is associated with anxiety and depression.
Seeing yourself as an object rather than a subject can also lower your performance in ordinary tasks. Researchers have found in learning experiments that people are less likely to try new things when they are focused on themselves. This makes sense: When you pay too much attention to yourself, you ignore a lot about the outside world.
1. The writer mentioned his own experience in Para 1 in order to .| A．express his guilt of having intended to alert and criticize other people |
| B．illustrate his annoyance of being pointed and laughed by other people |
| C．give a vivid example of separating “me-self” and “I-self” mentally |
| D．educate people about the disastrous consequence of breaking a gas pump |
| A．Observing more than being observed can enable people to be happier in life. |
| B．Observing and being observed is equally important to consistently learning about oneself. |
| C．Through being observed, we might get a clue to the features of our surroundings. |
| D．Balancing I-self and me-self allows us not only to survive but also to thrive. |
| A．Affirmative. | B．Neutral. | C．Negative. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．Achieving the balance between “I-self” and “me-self” is the key to well-being. |
| B．It’s undesirable for normal people to distinguish mentally between “I-self” and “me-self”. |
| C．Spending more time observing the things around us than being observed is not advocated. |
| D．The occurrence of anxiety and depression is attributed to focusing on the outside world. |
4 . While I was in hospital, a friend recommended a popular online series of daily meditations, a “can’t afford to miss” in his mind. Mostly, the morning ones were impossible to do as the hospital routine starts at half past five, so I mostly listened the evening ones, which were very helpful. Once, however, I managed the morning one, which talked about the importance of doing something or creating something which will survive us.
The works of great poets and writers come to mind, but how many of us will write the next David Copperfield, or Ode to Autumn? Sporting triumphs also occur: the breaking of the four minute mile for instance. But again, how many of us are great athletes? So what can we do?
Shakespeare writes, “The evil men do lives after them; the good is oft interred (often buried) with their bones.” For once, however, I think Shakespeare is wrong. I think the good we do can live after we have gone. Sir Terry Pratchett writes, “A man is not truly dead while his name is still spoken,” and I think that is more true. Perhaps we cannot expect our name to be remembered for hundreds or thousands of years, but to be remembered with kindness and even thankfulness after we’ve gone is surely something to strive for.
I had two grannies when I was growing up. One was my mother’s mother; the other was our cousin’s grandmother on their father’s side. Our own grandmother died young, so this lovely lady adopted us as her honorary grandchildren.
Granny was the most lovely and loving lady you could imagine. There were always cakes in the tin and a warm welcome whenever we visited, there were small presents at Christmas and on our birthdays, and we loved her dearly. It was only when I attended her funeral that I realized how far her love extended: the church was packed, and tale after tale was told of her kindness. Her name was — and possibly still is — spoken long after her death.
I wish I could say the same of my other grandmother, but I can’t. My mother talks about her, but I don’t; there is no point in talking about unkindness.
When I announced my retirement, a couple of months ago, I was stunned to receive so many emails and letters of thanks. My patients really appreciate all that I have done for them. That will last after I’m gone and spread down through generations.
1. Which of the following statements will the author probably agree with about the online meditation?| A．The evening meditation are more important than the morning ones. |
| B．The online meditation receive more attention in the evening. |
| C．The morning meditation are difficult to use in daily life. |
| D．The online meditation are worthy of the name. |
| A．support Shakespeare’s statement on the afterlife |
| B．argue that greatness is the only way to be remembered |
| C．emphasize the importance of kindness to ordinary people |
| D．criticize the idea that only evil deeds are remembered |
| A．The author’s granny on mother’s side was a kind person. |
| B．Shakespeare believed the goodness fades far sooner than the evil. |
| C．A man’s contribution is highly dependent on their achievements. |
| D．People were happy to know the retirement of the author. |
| A．magazine featuring famous athletes |
| B．blog post by a doctor who recently retired |
| C．book about the importance of creating a legend |
| D．medical journal discussing the benefits of meditation |
5 . During my first decade in prison, I busied myself with exercising and hanging out in the big yard. I hardly grew as a person. It wasn’t until I began college in prison in my 30s that I started to realize my full potential.
Through my journey in college, I became a keen reader and writer, striving to escape prison life by expanding my mind beyond the toxic (有毒的) environments I’d been confined to. I started studying feminism and restorative justice. One concept that really hit home for me was toxic masculinity (男子气概). I come from an abusive home and a neighborhood consumed by gangs, drugs and gun violence. I wanted to understand better why I had used violence to solve my problems.
I have found, however, that strangers stand between me and many of the books I want to read.
Books, like everything an imprisoned person receives— personal mail, emails, photos, news and education materials — are evaluated by prison officials and rejected or shared with us. Corrections departments typically claim they ban books that contain sexual content, racial hatred or depictions of violence, criminal activity, anti-authority attitudes or escape. In practice, PEN America wrote in a 2019 report on prison book restriction policies, the restrictions “have been wide-ranging, from perverse to absurd to constitutionally troubling, with bans being applied in ways that are against logic.”
In Texas, books by Alice Walker, Pablo Neruda and even the former senator Bob Dole have been banned. Throughout the country, prison officials have rejected or tried to ban books about biology (too much nakedness in the anatomical drawings), the Holocaust (some of the victims were pictured naked), sketching, dragons and even the moon (it could “present risks of escape,” according to one New York prison). At one point, Colorado prison officials blocked a prisoner from reading two of President Barack Obama’s memoirs because they were “potentially harmful to national security,” although they later reversed that decision.
Claiming such bans are necessary for the safety and security of prisons seems ridiculous. If anything, many banned books could contribute to a safer environment in prisons and in the societies imprisoned individuals are released into. Practically every author I have encountered while in prison, from Don Miguel Ruiz to Angela Y. Davis, has played a role in my efforts to grow and become a better person— someone who can live in society by adding to it, as opposed to taking from it.
Without college and without access to books and materials that expanded my mind beyond the razor wire (钢丝网) and towering concrete walls, I might still be wasting my time on the yard. My worldview would still be dictated by toxic masculinity and the violence and harm that surround it. That’s not who I want to be when I leave this prison. It’s not who I want to see sent back into society.
1. Why did the author turn to violence when he was young?| A．Because his parents and neighbours told him to do so. |
| B．Because he had read a lot of books about hatred and violence. |
| C．Because he had been bullied a lot by peers during his childhood. |
| D．Because the environment where he grew up was filled with violence. |
| A．Some books may post threats to national security. |
| B．Some books may lead to extreme religious behaviour. |
| C．Some pictures may contain sexually inappropriate content. |
| D．Some books may potentially encourage prisoners to escape. |
①to broaden the prisoners’ horizon ②to prevent prisoners from escaping
③to encourage prisoners to contribute to society ④to reduce violent behaviour
| A．①②③ | B．①③④ | C．①②④ | D．②③④ |
| A．Reading books is important for a teenager’s growth. |
| B．Toxic masculinity is harmful to a person’s growth. |
| C．It is unreasonable for authorities to restrict reading for prisoners. |
| D．It’s never too late to realize one’s academic potential even in prison. |
6 . I wanted the pleasure of being in Africa again. Feeling that the place was so large that it contained many untold tales and some hope and comedy and sweetness too, I aimed to reinsert myself in the bundy, as we used to call the bush, and to wander around. There I had lived and worked, happily, almost forty years ago, in the heart of the greenest continent.
In those old undramatic days of my school teaching in the bundu, folks lived their lives on bush paths at the end of unpaved roads of red clay, in villages of grass-roofed huts. They had a new national flag, they had just gotten the vote, some had bikes, many talked about buying their first pair of shoes. They were hopeful, and, so was I, a schoolteacher living near a settlement of mud-huts among trees and fields—children shouting at play; and women bent double—most with infants on their backs—hoeing(锄地) the corn beans; and the men sitting in the shade.
The Swahili word safari means “journey”, it has nothing to do with animals, someone “on safari” is just away and unobtainable and out of touch. Out of touch in Africa was where I wanted to be. The wish to disappear sends many travellers away. If you are thoroughly sick of being kept waiting at home or at work, travel is perfect: let other people wait for a change. Travel is a sort of revenge(报复) for having been put on hold, or having to leave messages on answering machines, not knowing your party’s extension, being kept waiting all your working life. But also being kept waiting is the human condition.
Travel in the African bush can also be a sort of revenge on mobile phones and email, on telephones and the daily paper, on the aspects of globalization that allow anyone who chooses to get their hands on you. I desired to be unobtainable. I was going to Africa for the best of reasons—in a spirit of discovery—simply to disappear, to light out, with a suggestion of I dare you to try to find me.
Home had become a routine, and routine made time pass quickly. I was a sitting duck in this predictable routine: people knew when to call me, they knew when I would be at my desk. I was in such regular touch that it was like having a job, a mode of life I hated. I was sick of being called up and asked for favors, hit up for money. You stick around too long and people begin to impose their own deadlines on you.
1. What did the writer expect from his journey?| A．To have a variety of enjoyable experiences. | B．To see how Africa had changed. |
| C．To see impressive scenery. | D．To meet some old friend. |
| A．Little was likely to change. | B．Things were likely to improve. |
| C．Women would do most of the work. | D．People’s expectations were too limited. |
| A．He wanted a change of activity. | B．He wanted people to be unable to contact him. |
| C．His health was suffering from staying at home. | D．He had been waiting to return to Africa for long. |
| A．he was boring | B．he was easy to find |
| C．he is fond of ducks | D．he was always lending money |
7 . It is hard for modern people to imagine the life one hundred years ago. No television, no plastic, no ATMs, no DVDs. Illnesses like tuberculosis, diphtheria, pneumonia meant only death. Of course, cloning appeared only in science fiction. Not to mention, computer and the Internet.
Today, our workplaces are equipped with assembly lines, fax machines, computers. Our daily life is cushioned by air conditioners, cell phones. Antibiotics helped created a long list of miracle drugs. The by-pass operation saved millions. The discovery of DNA has revolutionized the way scientists think about new therapies. Man finally stepped on the magical and mysterious Moon. With the rapid changes we have been experiencing, the anticipation for the future is higher than ever.
A revolutionary manufacturing process made it possible for anyone to own a car. Henry Ford is the man who put the world on wheels.
When it comes to singling out those who have made a difference in all our lives, you cannot overlook Henry Ford. A historian a century from now might well conclude that it was Henry Ford who most influenced all manufacturing everywhere, even to this day, by introducing a new way to make cars—one, strange to say, that originated in slaughter houses(屠宰场).
Back in the early 1900s, slaughter houses used what could have been called a “disassembly line.” That is, the carcass(尸体) of a pig was moved past various meat-cutters, each of whom cut off only a certain portion. Ford reversed this process to see if it would speed up production of a part of an automobile engine called a magneto. Rather than have each worker completely assemble a magneto, one of its elements was placed on a conveyer, and each worker, as it passed, added another component to it, the same one each time. Professor David Hounshell, of The University of Delaware, an expert on industrial development tells what happened: “The previous day, workers carrying out the entire process had averaged one magneto every 20 minutes. But on that day, on the line, the assembly team averaged one every 13 minutes and 10 seconds per person.”
Within a year, the time had been reduced to five minutes. In 1913, Ford went all the way. Hooked together by ropes, partially assembled vehicles were towed past workers who completed them one piece at a time. It wasn’t long before Ford was turning out several hundred thousand cars a year, a remarkable achievement then. And so efficient and economical was this new system that he cut the price of his cars in half, to $260, putting them within reach of all those who, up until that time, could not afford them. Soon, auto makers over the world copied him. In fact, he encouraged them to do so by writing a book about all of his innovations, entitled Today and Tomorrow. The Age of the Automobile had arrived. Today, aided by robots and other forms of automation, everything from toasters to perfumes is made on assembly lines.
Edsel Ford, Henry’s great-grandson, and a Ford vice president: “I think that my great-grandfather would just be amazed at how far technology has come.”
Many of today’s innovations come from Japan. Norman Bodek, who publishes books about manufacturing processes, finds this ironic. On a recent trip to Japan, he talked to two of the top officials of Toyota. “When I asked them where these secrets came from, where their ideas came from to manufacture in a totally different way, they laughed, and they said, ‘Well. We just read it in Henry Ford’s book from 1926: Today and Tomorrow.’”
1. By calling Henry Ford “the man who put the world on wheels”, the author means ________.| A．he made quality wheels famous to the whole world |
| B．he produced cars for free for people all over the world |
| C．his innovation made it possible for anyone to own a car |
| D．his innovation provided everyone in the world with a car |
| A．The revolutionary scientific changes lead people to be indifferent to what will happen. |
| B．By reversing the working process, Henry Ford increased the meat-cutters’ efficiency. |
| C．After the assembly line was introduced, a Ford’s car cost $260, unaffordable to common people. |
| D．Henry Ford wrote a book about his innovations, promoting the system of assembly lines. |
| A．Today and Tomorrow provides technological solutions for manufacturers |
| B．Today and Tomorrow has influenced and inspired many Japanese innovators |
| C．Today and Tomorrow is more popular among the Japanese than the Americans |
| D．Today and Tomorrow is the encyclopedia for Japanese manufacturing workers |
| A．The Power of Innovation | B．Henry Ford and Assembly Line |
| C．An Accidental Discovery | D．Analysis of the Origin of Innovation |
8 . False medical news can lead to patients’ experiencing greater side effects through the “nocebo effect (反安慰剂效果)”. Sometimes patients benefit from an intervention simply because they believe they will- -that’s the placebo effect. The nocebo effect is the opposite: Patients can experience negative effects just because they expect them. This is very true of statins. In blinded trials, patients who get statins are no more likely to report feeling muscle aches than patients who get a placebo. Yet, in clinical practice, according to one study, almost a fifth of patients taking statins report side effects, leading many to discontinue the drugs.
What else is on the fake news hit list? As always, vaccines. False concerns that the vaccine for the virus called human papilloma virus causes seizures (癫痫) and other side effects reduced coverage rates in Japan from 10 percent to less than 1 percent in recent years.
Cancer is another big target for pushers of medical misinformation — many of whom are making money off alternative therapies. “Though most people think cancer tumors are bad, they’re actually the way your body attempts to contain the harmful cells,” one fake news story reads. It suggests that surgery increases the risk of spreading harmful cells.
Silicon Valley needs to own this problem. When human health is at risk, perhaps search engines, social media platforms and websites should be held responsible for promoting or hosting fake information. The scientific community needs to do its part to educate the public about key concepts in research, such as the difference between observational studies and higher quality randomized trials.
Finally, journalists can do a better job of spreading accurate information. News sites are more likely to cover catchy observational studies than randomized controlled trials, perhaps because the latter are less likely to produce surprising results. Such coverage can overstate benefits, claiming for example, that statins could cure cancer; it can unduly emphasize potential risks, such as suggesting a misleading connection with dementia, a serious mental disorder.
1. What does the writer imply about the side effects of statins?| A．They are common in certain patients. |
| B．They aren’t like those of placebos. |
| C．They don’t really exist. |
| D．They disappear very soon. |
| A．The public should put more trust in news coverage. |
| B．Silicon Valley ought to take the blame for the fake medicine. |
| C．The scientific community ought to involve the public in research. |
| D．Journalists should be objective while reporting medical news. |
| A．on a small scale | B．overly | C．as likely as not | D．universally |
| A．To warn readers against fake medical news on the Internet. |
| B．To encourage journalists to report more positive news events. |
| C．To tell readers what role the “nocebo effect” plays in treating disease. |
| D．To teach readers how to distinguish truths from fake news. |
9 . To be honest. I’ve been missing the online shopping experience in China since I moved to the US four years ago. So when I noticed Shein becoming mainstream in the US over the past few years, I though, Great! I finally have a Taohao replacement! So I went on my first Shein journey in August 2022.
But somewhere along the way, I started questioning why I enjoy this particular kind of shopping, and also what it means for an e-commerce platform to offer endless deals.
To be fair, there are Shein purchases that I’ve really enjoyed, like a $2 nylon watchband that feels better than my original Apple Watch band. I also think people should be able to choose quantity and price over quality, because the idea of demanding that people only buy premium products feels unrealistic.
But as it turns out, I’ve finally started to see through the illusion (错觉) of Shein-like platforms. To get these occasional incredible deals, you are encouraged to shop much more than is necessary or even reasonable. This illusion has worked for a long time and for a lot of people, including me! But it’s become harder and harder to ignore the environmental consequences of my purchases, and the ways in which platforms trick people into buying more and more.
And I don’t think I’m the only one experiencing that awakening. Broadly speaking, I think society is slowly but surely shifting toward recognizing the climate impact of mass-produced cheap goods. While these conversations have yet to happen as widely and furiously in China, companies like Taobao and Shein will inevitably have to answer the question of whether their business model is sustainable for everyone—or only for themselves. So where are they beading from here? There’s certainly a lot of soul-searching for the industry to do.
And I’m doing some soul-searching of my own.
1. Why does the author mention a “$2 nylon watchband”?| A．To compare it with her original band. |
| B．To persuade readers to buy it. |
| C．To show her satisfaction with Shein. |
| D．To show its cheapness. |
| A．High-quantity. | B．Expensive. |
| C．High-quality. | D．Original. |
| A．They get incredible products on sale. |
| B．They often buy much more than what they need. |
| C．They ignore the environmental impacts. |
| D．They are tricked into buying more and more reasonable products. |
| A．Environmental harm. | B．Price reduction. |
| C．Energy shortage. | D．Worldwide starvation. |
10 . So many of us are terrible at being terrible. As our children venture off to school, sports, dances and music lessons, we urge them: Just try something, keep practicing, you’re only a beginner. And yet, faced with our own failure, we become less confident, and quit altogether.
Images of perfection fill our social-media feeds, along with advertisements assuring us we wouldn’t be so
What if we’re
“It’s such a
Ms. Rinaldi, whose experience led to a book about what you can learn from failure, recommends asking yourself: “What is it that you’ve always wanted to do or try but were too
Take myself as another example. I started yoga lessons this summer. When I
| A．distressing | B．imperfect | C．impressive | D．incredible |
| A．fearing | B．confirming | C．hoping | D．indicating |
| A．missing out | B．putting up | C．setting in | D．taking off |
| A．burden | B．nonsense | C．puzzle | D．relief |
| A．disappointment | B．nervousness | C．preference | D．satisfaction |
| A．acknowledge | B．offer | C．refuse | D．seek |
| A．angry at | B．delighted in | C．embarrassed with | D．patient with |
| A．awarding | B．forgiving | C．isolating | D．pushing |
| A．afraid | B．annoyed | C．depressed | D．exhausted |
| A．accept | B．conceal | C．deny | D．examine |
| A．excitement | B．modesty | C．potential | D．pride |
| A．apologized to | B．argued with | C．complained to | D．shouted at |
| A．abusive | B．amazing | C．annoying | D．attentive |
| A．careful | B．hesitant | C．involuntary | D．unsteady |
| A．alert | B．fulfilled | C．improved | D．worse |
