1 . At 88, I remain a competitive runner. The finish line of my life is drawing close, and I hope to reach it having given the best of myself along the way. I’ve been training my body to meet the demands of this final stretch. But, I wonder, should I have asked more of my mind?
If I didn’t exercise, I would release the hungry beasts that seek their elderly prey on couches, but not in the gym. The more I sweated, the more likely it was my doctor would continue to say, “Keep doing what you’re doing, and I’ll see you next year.” My mind, on the other hand, seems less willing to give in to discipline. I have tried Internet “brain games”, solving algebraic problems flashing past and changing the route of virtual trains to avoid crashes. But these never approach my determination to remain physically fit as I move deeper into old age.
Though I have many friends in their 70s, 80s and 90s, I’ve been far too slow to realize that how we respond to aging is a choice made in the mind, not in the gym. Some of my healthiest friends carry themselves as victims abused by time. Other friends, many, whose aching knees and hips are the least of their physical problems, find comfort in their ability to accept old age as just another stage of life to deal with. I would use the world “heroic” to describe the way they cope with aging.
One such friend recently called from a hospital to tell me a sudden brain disease had made him legally blind. He interrupted me as I began telling him how terribly sorry I was: “Bob, it could have been worse. I could have become dead instead of blind.”
In spite of all the time I spend lifting weights and exercising, I realized I lack the strength to have said those words. It suddenly struck me that I’ve paid a price for being a “gym rat”. If there is one characteristic common to friends who are aging with a graceful acceptance of life’s attacks, it is contentment. Aging had to be more than what I saw in a mirror.
But rather than undertaking a fundamental change in the way I face aging. I felt the place to begin would be to start small. A recent lunch provided a perfect example.
I’ve always found it extremely difficult to concentrate when I’m in a noisy setting. At this lunch with a friend in an outdoor restaurant, a landscaper began blowing leaves from underneath the bushes surrounding our table. Typically, after such a noisy interruption, I would have snapped, “let’s wait until he’s finished!. ”, then fallen silent. When the roar(吼叫)eventually faded, my roar would have drained(消耗)the conversation of any warmth. It troubled me that even a passing distraction(分心)could so easily take me from enjoying lunch with a good friend to a place that gave me no pleasure at all. I wanted this meal to be different.
My years in gyms had taught me to shake off pains and other distractions, never permitting them to stop my workout or run. I decided to treat the noise this way. I continued talking with my friend, challenging myself to hear the noise, but to hold it at a distance. The discipline was so familiar to me in the gym—this time applied to my mind— proved equally effective in the restaurant. It was as though I had taken my brain to a mental fitness center.
Learning to ignore a leaf blower’s roar hardly equips me to find contentment during my passage into ever-deeper old age. But I left the lunch feeling I had at least taken a small first step in changing behavior that stood in the way of that contentment.
Could I employ that same discipline to accept with dignity the unavoidable decline awaiting me like the finish line? Hoping that contentment will guide me as I make my way along the path yet to be travelled.
1. The author’s question in Paragraph 1 implies that ________.| A．he feels unsatisfied with the result of the brain games. |
| B．he has never believed the necessity of mind training. |
| C．He has realized he should mentally prepare for aging. |
| D．he feels regret for not sharpening his thinking skills |
| A．He takes physical illnesses as they come. |
| B．He fears that his illness will become worse. |
| C．He needs to find a way through those hardships. |
| D．He sees life as a series of disappointments. |
| A．he had made small changes to adapt to aging. |
| B．the restaurant was not an ideal place for eating |
| C．distractions were not uncommon in everything life. |
| D．his roar had spoiled the friendly conversation. |
| A．Benefits of Regular Exercise |
| B．Old Age Hate and Blessing |
| C．Never Too Old to Learn |
| D．The Secret to Aging Well |
2 . Your best friend that follows you around when the sun comes out - your shadow - doesn’t serve an important function like your heart or brain, but what if you could use shadows to create electricity? When using solar panels (电池板) that are powered by light, shadows can be boring because it means electricity can’t be created. However, researchers from the National University of Singapore have engineered a way to create power from the shadows present everywhere.
A team of the university created a machine that can collect energy from shadows. It is created by placing a thin coating of gold onto silicon (硅). Like in a normal solar panel, when put in light, the silicon electrons (电子) become energized and the energized electrons then jump from the silicon to the gold. The voltage (电压) of the part of the machine that is placed in the light increases relative to the dark part and the electrons in the machine flow from high to low voltage. They are sent through an external circuit (外电路) creating a current that can be used to power another machine. The greater the contrast between light and dark, more energy is provided by the machine.
The team is working on improving the performance of the machine, borrowing approaches from solar panels to gather light. Increasing the amount of light the machines can receive allows them to better make use of shadows, as well as developing shadow energy collecting panels that can successfully gather from indoor lighting. The team is also researching the use of other materials other than gold to drop the price of the machine, meaning they would be more cost effective and easier to apply in society.
Shadows are present everywhere and perhaps one day in the future we will be able to collect energy from them by placing the shadow-effect energy machine around the world in places that have been considered unfit for solar panels to work, or indoors. “A lot of people think that shadows are useless,” Tan says, but “anything can be useful, even shadows.”
1. What is Paragraph 1 mainly about?| A．Your best friend always stays with you after the sunrise. |
| B．The shadow has the same function as the heart and brain. |
| C．Shadows can stop solar panels from creating electricity. |
| D．Researchers have found a way to create power from shadows. |
| A．The silicon produces electricity when it is in the light. |
| B．The gold produces power with the help of the silicon. |
| C．The energized electrons flow from high to low voltage. |
| D．An external circuit creates current using another machine. |
| A．Using solar panels in the machine. |
| B．Increasing the amount of light received. |
| C．Developing light energy collecting panels. |
| D．Bringing down the price of gold. |
| A．A gym. | B．A park. | C．A farm. | D．A playground. |
3 . Would it surprise you to learn that, like animals, trees communicate with each other and pass on their wealth to the next generation?
Professor Simard form University of British Columbia explains how trees are much more complex than most of us ever imagined. Although Charles Darwin thought that trees are competing for survival of the fittest, Simard shows just how wrong he was. As far as Simard is concerned, actually the opposite is true: trees survive through their co-operation, passing around necessary nutrition “depending on who needs it”.
Nitrogen (氮) and carbon are shared through miles of underground fungi (真菌) networks, making sure that all trees in the forest ecological system give and receive just the right amount to keep them all healthy. This hidden system works in a very similar way to the networks of neurons (神经元) in our brains, and when one tree is destroyed, it affects all.
Simard talks about “mother trees”, usually the largest and oldest plants on which all other trees depend. She explains how moribund trees pass on the wealth to the next generation, transporting important minerals to young trees so they may continue to grow. When humans cut down “mother trees” with no awareness of these highly complex “tree societies” or the networks on which they feed, we are reducing the chances of survival for the entire forest.
“We didn’t take any notice of it” Simard says sadly. “Trees move nutrition into the young trees before they die, but we never give them chance.” If we could put across the message to the forestry industry, we could make a huge difference towards our environmental protection efforts for the future.
1. Which statement would Simard agree with?| A．Trees support each other. |
| B．Trees compete for nutrition. |
| C．Trees depend on their needs. |
| D．Trees co-operate with the fittest. |
| A．To explain the importance of fungi networks. |
| B．To introduce the function of neurons networks. |
| C．To illustrate how Nitrogen and carbon are shared. |
| D．To show how the forest ecological system works. |
| A．Energetic. | B．Ancient. | C．Previous | D．Dying |
| A．Protect tree societies. |
| B．Cut down oldest trees. |
| C．Get nutrition from nature. |
| D．Improve our environment. |
4 . The Rise of Voice Technology
Voice technology has come a long way. Just a few years ago, it would have been unusable. But now, those who follow the technology know that it has got considerably better.
Writing with your voice raises several interesting questions. How difficult is it actually? Human speech involves a lot more starting and stopping with errors and the need for repairing broken sentences than you may think. Even gifted speakers make mistakes. To turn the spoken word into reasonable writing requires lots of planning. You’ll need some kinds of notes or other organisers to make it work.
Another question turning speech into writing raises is the style. How would writing make the change that people speak their writing rather than type? Chances are that it would come up with many more short sentences and more concrete language, which is good. It would probably also rely on prepared phrases a lot more often, which is not available when you are speaking quickly.
To confirm this, a column was not written, but dictated (听写). It was composed from brief notes written down for structure only, and it was edited for length, with all of the original errors kept in. Here were the results. The first was that the literal accuracy was extremely high. There weren’t many cases where the software had heard one word incorrectly and written down another. But the other result was that the readability of this column was rather bad. Obviously, the blame is not with the technology at all, which turns out to be rather good. Speaking into writing relies on a better human brain than the one we currently possess. Writing is hard. There’s a reason it can’t be done at the speed of speech, in real time.
To clarify the matter, this time paragraph breaks were added after the whole writing. Punctuations (标点) had to be spoken aloud, and after a full stop, the first word in the new sentence was capitalized automatically. Some minor punctuation marks were added to make it clearer. To improve accuracy, people “trained” the software beforehand, reading a prewritten passage aloud. Actually it turns out to be more effective. All of these ensure the satisfactory completion of turning speech into writing.
Language is the most important tool for human interaction, and voice is one beautiful part of language. With the maturity of modern technology, it has given birth to a great change in the human-computer voice interaction.
1. According to the passage, which helps to turn speech into writing in terms of style?| A．There is careful planning in advance. |
| B．Errors and broken sentences are avoided. |
| C．People type words as fast as they say them. |
| D．The writing contains more prepared phrases. |
| A．processing errors in a column. |
| B．adding minor punctuation marks. |
| C．increasing the number of brief notes. |
| D．integrating short paragraphs in writing. |
| A．human brains are responsible for poor dictated writing. |
| B．writing with voice promises to improve the quality of writing. |
| C．writing is an unnatural act that can hardly be learned and improved. |
| D．technology has a long way to go in the human-computer voice interaction. |
| A．Why people fully intend to turn speech into writing. |
| B．What role voice technology plays in improving readability. |
| C．Where the human-computer voice interaction is at an advantage. |
| D．How voice technology enables the change from speech into writing. |
5 . Recently I attended several meetings where we talked about ways to attract students and keep younger faculty members from going elsewhere. It seems higher education has become an industry of meeting-holders whose task is to “solve” problems — real or imagined. And in my position as a professor at three different colleges, the actual problems in educating our young people and older students have deepened, while the number of people hired — not to teach but to hold meetings — has increased significantly. Every new problem creates a new job for an administrative fixer. Take our Center for Teaching Excellence. Contrary to its title, the center is a clearing house (信息交流中心) for using technology in classrooms and in online courses. It's an administrative sham (欺诈) of the kind that has multiplied over the last 30 years.
I offer a simple proposal in response: Many of our problems — class attendance, educational success, student happiness and well-being — might be improved by cutting down the bureaucratic (官僚的) mechanisms and meetings and hiring an army of good teachers instead.
If we replaced half of our administrative staff with classroom teachers, we might actually get a majority of our classes back to 20 or fewer students per teacher. This would be an environment in which teachers and students actually knew each other. The teachers must be free to teach in their own way — the curriculum should be flexible enough so that they can use their individual talents to achieve the goals of the course.
Additionally, they should be allowed to teach, and be rewarded for doing it well. Teachers are not people who are great at and consumed by research and happen to appear in a classroom. Good teaching and research are not exclusive, but they are also not automatic companions. Teaching is an art and a craft, talent and practice; it is not something that just anyone can be good at. It is utterly confusing to me that people do not recognize this, despite the fact that pretty much anyone who has been a student can tell the difference between their best and worst teachers.
1. What does the author say about present-day universities?| A．They are effectively addressing real or imagined problems. |
| B．They often fail to combine teaching with research. |
| C．They are over-burdened with administrative staff |
| D．They lack talent to fix their deepening problems. |
| A．Good classroom teachers. |
| B．Efficient administrators. |
| C．Talented researchers. |
| D．Motivated students. |
| A．They facilitate students' independent learning. |
| B．They help students form closer relationships. |
| C．They have more older students than before. |
| D．They are much bigger than is desirable. |
| A．Creating an environment for teachers to share their teaching experiences. |
| B．Hiring more classroom teachers and allowing them to teach in their own way. |
| C．Using high technology in classrooms and promoting exchange of in formation. |
| D．Cutting down meetings and encouraging administrative staff to go to classrooms. |
6 . Procrastinators (拖延症患者)，take note: If you’ve tried building self-control and you’re still putting things off, maybe you need to try something different. One new approach: Check your mood.
Often, procrastinators attempt to avoid the anxiety or worry aroused by a tough task with activities aimed at repairing their mood, such as checking Facebook or taking a nap. But the pattern, which researchers call “giving in to feel good,” makes procrastinators feel worse later, when they face the consequences of missing a deadline or making a last-minute effort, says Timothy Pychyl, an associate professor of psychology at Carleton University.
Increasingly, psychologists and time-management consultants are focusing on a new strategy: helping procrastinators see how attempts at mood repair are destroying their efforts and learn to control their emotions in more productive ways.
The new approach is based on several studies in the past two years showing that negative emotions can damage attempts at self-control. It fills a gap among established time-management methods, which stress behavioral changes such as adopting a new organizing system or doing exercises to build willpower.
Researchers have come up with a playbook of strategies to help procrastinators turn mood repair to their advantage. Some are tried-and-true classics: Dr. Pychyl advises procrastinators to just get started, and make the doorstep for getting started quite low. “Procrastinators are more likely to put the technique to use when they understand how mood repair works,” says Dr. Pychyl, author of a 2013 book, “Solving the Procrastination Puzzle.” He adds,“A real motive power comes from doing what we intend to do—the things that are important to us.”
He also advises procrastinators to practice “time travel”—projecting themselves into the future to imagine the good feelings they will have after finishing a task, or the bad ones they will have if they don’t. This cures procrastinators’ tendency to get so stuck in present anxieties and worries that they fail to think about the future.
Another mood-repair strategy, self-forgiveness, is aimed at dismissing the self-blame. University freshmen who forgave themselves for procrastinating on studying for the first exam in a course procrastinated less on the next exam, according to a recent study led by Michael Wohl, an associate professor of psychology at Carleton.
Thomas Flint learned about the technique by reading research on self-control, including studies by Dr. Sirois and Dr. Pychyl. He put it to use after his family moved recently to a new house. Instead of beating himself up for failing to unpack all the boxes gathered in his garage right away, Mr. Flint decided to forgive himself and start with a single step. I’d say, "OK, I’m going to take an hour, with a goal of getting the TV set up, and that's it, he says; then he watched a TV show as a reward. Allowing himself to do the task in stages, he says, is “a victory.”
1. What does Timothy Pychyl mean by mentioning the “giving in to feel good” practice in Paragraph 2?| A．It probably does more harm than good. |
| B．It prevents procrastinators from giving up. |
| C．It helps procrastinators meet the deadline. |
| D．It effectively drives away anxiety and worry. |
| A．Sticking to one’s intention. |
| B．Doing things that really matter. |
| C．Getting started from a low doorstep. |
| D．Learning important techniques of mood repair. |
| A．To make their future plan more practical. |
| B．To accelerate the speed of finishing the task. |
| C．To stop people from worrying about their travel. |
| D．To free people from the present negative emotions. |
| A．Self-blame prevents students from putting things off. |
| B．Procrastinators are still able to get good scores in exams. |
| C．University freshmen can get rid of procrastination easily. |
| D．Self-forgiveness is an effective way to cure procrastination. |
7 . Japanese officials say they are pleased with the quality of the asteroid (小行星) material collected by a spacecraft and returned to Earth.
Last week, officials from Japan described the samples (样品), which were collected from the Ryugu asteroid in July 2019. Ryugu sits more than 300 million kilometers from Earth. Japan’s unpiloted Hayabusa2 spacecraft removed the material after making a hole into the asteroid.
The space agency said the July 2019 mission (任务) aimed to collect samples from below the surface of Ryugu. During an earlier operation in February 2019, Hayabusa2 collected material from a different part of the asteroid. The second collection effort resulted in sample pieces as big as 1 centimeter. The black material looked similar to charcoal and was very hard. It did not break apart when picked up or poured into another container.
Earlier this month, space officials described the samples Hayabusa2 removed on its first mission as smaller, sandy pieces. They were collected from the surface of Ryugu. Hayabusa2 was launched in December 2014 and arived near Ryugu in June 2018. The Japanese space mission aims to use the samples to learn more about how our solar system formed.
To get the second set of samples in July, Hayabusa2 used an impactor to knock the asteroid’s surface. The aim was to collect material unaffected by space radiation or other environmental conditions. The size differences suggest different hardness of the bedrock of the asteroid. One possibility is that the place of the second touchdown was a hard bedrock and larger particles broke and entered the container.
Hayabusa2 is now on another mission to a smaller asteroid, called 1998KY26. The Japanese government expects the aircraft to take 11 years to reach that asteroid. Hayabusa2’s new mission aims to study possible ways to prevent large meteorites (陨石) from hitting Earth.
1. What are these asteroid materials used to do?| A．Study how the solar system was born. | B．Determine the movement of asteroids. |
| C．Study the environment on the asteroid. | D．Uncover when the asteroid was formed. |
| A．To discover new planets. | B．To fetch more materials in space. |
| C．To travel around the solar system. | D．To explore ways to protect the earth. |
| A．They were collected in the same place. | B．They both were black and hard. |
| C．They came in different shapes. | D．They were of equal weight. |
| A．Japan Makes Progress in Studying Solar System |
| B．Japan Is Pleased with Latest Asteroid Samples |
| C．The Secret of an Asteroid Comes to Light |
| D．The Earth Faces Threats from Space |
8 . Every kid has their own favorites. Dolls, dinosaurs, remote controls and cellphones — they might have a toy box with a wide range of play things to keep them entertained, but there's firm favorite they always reach for first-cars. Although the sex difference in the toy world remains, it's not only little boys who are drawn to all things with wheels. That my 20-month-old daughter dotes on the red bus toy is the proof of this.
From age 0 to 2, children are in the sensorimotor (感觉运动的) stage of development, explains Alyssa Wilkins. “They are learning by absorbing everything through their senses — sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing,” Wilkins says. “Toys and real-life objects like cars are very sensorily engaging. Kids can interact with toy cars, trucks, etc. through spinning (旋转) their wheels, watching them move in a variety of directions, or hearing the sounds they make.”
Plus, kids are just naturally drawn to loud and moving objects. “They see the lights on the cars and the rolling wheels, and hear the sound of the running engine. It's very engaging,” Wilkins says. “Kids will always be drawn to attractive and loud things because that is what engages their brain and sensory systems.”
Another appeal of toy vehicles is that they're typically small enough to fit in a child's hand Cars become the favorite of both boys and girls because they can put their cars in their pockets r carry them around. A car is also a cause-and-effect toy — it teaches children that their actions can make something happen. “It's super interesting and exciting for kids to learn that they can change something in their environment, and they may feel proud of what they have done,” Capanna-Hodge says.
Every child is unique in how they engage with toys, and the reasons for their play style may be diverse and complex. Ultimately, how your kids play with their toy vehicles could be a little window into what controls or excites them.
1. What does the underlined phrase “dotes on” in Paragraph I mean?| A．Turns down. | B．Goes in for. | C．Runs into. | D．Has control of. |
| A．The influence form parents. | B．The shape of toys vehicles. |
| C．The exciting sensory input. | D．The peaceful learning environment. |
| A．The smaller the toy vehicles are, the more the kids like them. |
| B．Boys perform better than girls while playing with toy vehicles. |
| C．The more toy vehicles the kids have, the more benefits the kids get. |
| D．Kids can gain a sense of achievement from playing with toy vehicles. |
| A．Why toy vehicles are kids' favorites |
| B．How toy vehicles can boost kids' five sense |
| C．Why parents choose toy vehicles for their kids |
| D．How parents can encourage kids to play with toy vehicles |
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
9 . For more than a century, student journalists at the Daily Tar Heel (DTH) have written about life at UNC-Chapel Hill, US and raised questions on the issues of free expression, education, and big-time athletics.
The independent student newspaper recently celebrated its 125th anniversary(周年). To mark the special day, student reporters asked the question: What’s the future of the DTH? The proud newspaper has been searching for the answer, and so have college newspapers across the US.
Student newspapers are facing a dark reality. As they are free to read, they are making less money than ever, meaning that such newspapers are finding it hard to survive.
Most college papers have reduced their print editions (版本). Last year, the DTH printed a paper four days a week. This year, it prints a paper every three days. And while it used to produce around 22,000 newspapers each time, it only makes around 10,000 now, said Erica Perel, general manager.
Increasingly, student journalists have turned their focus to digital versions of their newspapers, and the new ways that social media allows them to tell stories. They’ve adapted (使适应) their skills to mirror what’s going on in the professional journalism world.
“I think we’re adapting very well … in moving away from that print mentality (心态). But it’s challenging,” said Jonathan Carter, a student at North Carolina State University.
So what should student newspapers do? LoMonte said the best solution would be for universities to financially(经济上) support student journalism.
University leaders like to talk about producing civically (公民地) responsible students, he said, and journalism is a part of that. “Colleges and universities have to recognize independent media coverage as a civic good and step up to the plate,” he said.
In the meantime, campus newspapers are figuring out their financial models as they go along.
Bruce dePyssler, adviser to North Carolina Central Universit’s Campus Echo newspaper, said his students post one story a day online. The best stories are put together for a once-a-semester(学期) print edition.
And even if student journalists don’t go into media jobs, Perel said, they’ve still had a great education.
“The number one thing that we teach is critical(批判性) thinking and how to be a lifelong learner,” she said. “ The ones who are living through this transition (过渡) are the ones that are going to be a lot stronger for it in the end.”
1. What can be read about at the Daily Tar Heel (DTH)?| A．Some famous sports facilities. | B．Articleon the reporters of the paper |
| C．Columns about the free subjects. | D．Students’ college life. |
| A．Poor printing quality. | B．The impact of digital media. |
| C．Expensive advertising fees. | D．A lack of student reporters. |
| A．Reduce print editions. | B．Ask colleges for money. |
| C．Publish more digital editions. | D．Create their own financial models. |
| A．They become good at storytelling. | B．They gain problem-solving skills. |
| C．They become a logical thinker. | D．They learn how to be a lifelong learner. |
| A．The proud history of the Daily Tar Heel. |
| B．Student reporters adapting to changing situations. |
| C．School newspapers under threat in the digital age in the US |
| D．An example of how to combine traditional newspapers with new media. |
10 . Do you know what “zero” means? Have you ever even stopped to think much about this concept (概念)? It’s an easy one to take for granted. Of course, everyone can understand the concept of nothing, or having nothing.
But did you know that some animals can understand zero as well? Experiments with monkeys and birds have proven that they can master this concept. But now, the understanding of zero has been found in a most unlikely candidate (候选人): bees.
According to a recently published study in the journal Science, Australian and French researchers worked together to conduct experiments to prove that bees are the first insects to “understand that zero belongs at the lower end of a sequence (序列) of numbers”, according to a report by Science Daily.
Scarlett Howard, a researcher at RMIT University in Melbourne, trained bees to choose from several cards with different numbers of shapes printed on them. Correctly choosing the card with the fewest shapes earned them a reward of sugar water. For example, the bees learned to choose three elements when presented with three VS four; or two elements when presented with two VS three. And then these bees were presented a challenge – a card that was entirely blank and that they had never seen before. But 64 percent of the time, they chose to fly toward the blank card instead of the card that had shapes on it. This suggests that the insects understand that zero stands for something less than two or three, according to Science magazine.
Associate Professor Adrian Dyer, also from RMIT University, said the number zero was the basis of modern mathematical and technological progress.
He told Science Daily that the findings have opened a door to new understandings of how different brains understand zero. “If bees can understand zero with a brain of less than a million neurons (神经元) [compared with the 86,000 million neurons of a human brain], it suggests there are simple and efficient (有效的) ways to teach artificial (人工的) intelligence new tricks .”
1. Why did the writer ask two questions in Para.1?| A．To expect an exact answer. | B．To introduce the topic. |
| C．To show the concept of “zero”. | D．To inspire scientists to study. |
| A．Most insects can recognize different shapes. |
| B．Bees can understand the meaning of zero. |
| C．Bees are better at numbers than monkeys and birds. |
| D．Most insects can be trained to understand numbers. |
| A．The bees were presented with one card each time. |
| B．The bees were trained to choose the card with more shapes. |
| C．The bees were rewarded when they chose an intended card . |
| D．Different groups of bees were trained at the same time. |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By designing cards. |
| C．By showing numbers. | D．By doing experimments. |
| A．It shows there might be easier ways to train AI. |
| B．It proves that animals can understand what zero is. |
| C．It suggests bees can complete more challenging tasks |
| D．It explains the importance of zero in modern mathematics. |
