1 . Does the amount of cash in a lost wallet influence how likely a person is to return it?Traditional economic theories suggest that the greater the attraction, the less likely we are to be honest—but a new study finds altruism ( 利 他 主 义 ), and a powerful hate for viewing oneself as a“thief”are more important than the financial attraction.
A team of researchers carried out a huge experiment concerning 355 cities in 40 countries. More than 17,000 similar wallets were dropped off at public places, each containing a grocery list, a key, and three business cards in the local language using made-up names and an email address. Some had no money while others contained the equal amount of $13.45.
According to the research, people on average returned 40% of wallets with no money in them but 51% with money. It also shows extreme differences between countries. But although rates of people’s honesty varied ( 变 化 ) greatly from country to country, one thing remained greatly similar: wallets with money, compared to no money, raised reporting rates.
In the US, the UK and Poland, they repeated the experiment with even more money:$94.15, which increased reporting rates by an average of 11% compared to the smaller amount. They also found that having a key increased reporting rates by 9.2%.
The findings, which run counter to a basic principle of classical economics, suggest honesty, altruism and self-image can sometimes be more influential than economic self-interest.
A purely economic approach to behavior suggests people would keep the wallets with the larger amounts of money due to the increased financial reward, but economics often doesn’t explain a person’s sense of honesty or self-image, according to behavioral scientists. Altruism also influenced the findings, the researchers say. Since the key is valuable to the owner but not the finder, this pointed toward an altruism concern in addition to the cost of negatively updating one’s self image.
1. The author mentions traditional economic theories in Paragraph 1 in order to .| A．introduce a topic | B．attract readers’ interest |
| C．add some background information | D．describe some traditional theories |
| A．11%. | B．20.2%. | C．51%. | D．62%. |
| A．go against. | B．make a difference. | C．agree with. | D．focus on. |
| A．Traditional economic theories have already been old-fashioned. |
| B．People are more likely to return a lost wallet with more cash. |
| C．An experiment done worldwide proves people’s altruism. |
| D．Different countries have different rates of people’s honesty. |
2 . Scientists have discovered an underwater coral tower near the Great Barrier Reef(大堡礁) that’s taller than New York’s Empire State Building. It’s the tallest underwater structure discovered in over 120 years.
The researchers who discovered the reef were on a year-long trip aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research ship Falkor, where they were working to map the sea floor around Australia.
The scientists used a special underwater robot called SuBastian to help them explore and develop 3D maps. In late October, as part of their exploration, the team came across the tower. It’s known as a “detached reef”, since its structure isn’t attached to the Great Barrier Reef, but rises on its own from the sea floor.
At the bottom, the tower is nearly a mile wide. But from there, it becomes much more narrow, rising 1,640 feet and stopping just 130 feet below the surface of the ocean. The lower is one o£ eight similar towers near Northern Australia’s Cape York Peninsula. The other seven towers were discovered in the 1880’s.
“It’s a big reef not to have known about,” said Tom Bridge, “What it highlights is how little we know about the ocean, even the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is bigger than many European countries and that only a small part of it is made of the shallow water reefs it’s famous for.”
Overall, the Great Barrier Reef is struggling. Recent studies have shown that about half of its corals have died in the last 25 years, in part because of rising ocean temperatures due to the climate crisis. Over the last year, the Falkor’s scientific team has discovered 30 new kinds of sea creatures. In March, they discovered what they believe is the longest sea creature ever recorded. The animal is called a “siphonophore” and it’s 150 feet long.
1. What did researchers do by Falkor around Australia?| A．Seek for coral lowers. | B．Make a map of sea floor. |
| C．Research unknown species. | D．Film the Great Barrier Reef. |
| A．It’s the most advanced underwater robot. |
| B．It contributes to the discovery of the tower. |
| C．It is suitable to detect building structures. |
| D．It reports important discoveries under water. |
| A．The shape of the tower. | B．The history of the tower. |
| C．The position of the tower. | D．The information of the tower. |
| A．Europe used to ignore the Great Barrier Reef. |
| B．Climate crisis is ruining the Great Barrier Reef. |
| C．Tom Bridge has been researching the Great Barrier Reef. |
| D．More research should be done on the Great Barrier Reef. |
3 . Identifying the chemical makeup of pigment (色素) used in ancient documents, paintings, and watercolors is critical to restoring and conserving the precious artworks. However, despite numerous efforts, scientists had been unable to determine the source of folium, a popular blue dye used to color manuscripts (手稿) in Europe during the middle ages — from the 5th to the 15th century. Now, a team of researchers from Portugal has finally uncovered the mysterious ingredient responsible for the gorgeous blueish-purple color that helped bring ancient illustrations and texts to life.
The research team began by poring over instructions penned by European dye makers from the 12th, 14th, and 15th centuries. They found what they were seeking in a 15th-century text entitled The Book on How to Make All the Color Paints for Illuminating Books. However, translating the instructions was no easy task. It was written in the now extinct Judaeo-Portuguese language, and though the source of the dye was traced back to a plant, no name was mentioned.
However, by piecing together suggestions from the text, the scientists were able to determine that the dye was made from the bluish-green berries of the chrozophora tinctoria plant. After an extensive search, the team found a few varieties of the plant growing along the roadside near the town of Monsaraz in south Portugal.
The detailed instructions gave the researchers critical clues — including the best time to pick the berries. “You need to squeeze the fruits, being careful not to break the seeds, and then to put them on linen (亚麻).” The scientist says the detail was important since broken seeds polluted the pigment, producing an inferior quality ink. The dyed linen, which was left to dry, was an efficient way to store and transport the pigment during ancient times. When needed, the artist would simply cut off a piece of the cloth and dip it with water to squeeze out the blue color.
Once the key ingredient had been identified, the researchers began to determine the dye’s molecular structure. To their surprise, they found that folium was not like any other known permanent blue dyes — it was an entirely new class of color, one they named chrozophoridin. “Chrozophoridin was used in ancient times to make a beautiful blue dye for painting.” the team wrote in the study. “Thus, we believe that this will not be our final word on this amazing plant and its story and that further discoveries will follow soon.”
1. The primary purpose of the study is to ________.| A．restore and conserve ancient precious artworks |
| B．determine the substance making up the folium |
| C．prove the ancient dye-making technique was organic |
| D．identify which class of color folium belongs to |
| A．discussing publicly | B．testing repeatedly |
| C．passing directly | D．reading carefully |
| A．It was essentially an inferior type of ink. |
| B．It was the only kind made from wild berries. |
| C．It could be carried and used easily. |
| D．It was carefully squeezed from broken seeds. |
| A．how the mystery of a thousand-year-old blue dye was solved |
| B．why the researchers took the trouble to recreate the dye |
| C．what needs to be done to make an organic dye from a plant |
| D．when and where the discovery of the dye was made |
4 . Many people have their breakfast with a glass of milk. Right now, cows, buffalos, goats and sheep provide most of the world’s milk. But soon, people could get milk from roaches (蟑螂).
That isn’t as crazy as it might sound. New research shows this “milk” is super-nutritious. What’s more, some scientists have already found milk from a lot of insects.
In 2004, Subra Rama started studying milk crystals found inside the roach. At the time, he was teaching biochemistry at the University of Iowa City.
To learn more about the milk crystal from roaches, the scientists used X-rays to look at the atoms in it. The data revealed the chemical secret of the roach crystal. They showed that roach milk is a “complete food”. It contains sugar with a fatty acid stuck to it. Fatty acids are the building blocks of fats. The protein in the milk is also full of essential amino (氨基的) acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. Since our bodies can’t produce the “essential” ones, we need to get them from our food. And so do baby roaches.
Barbara Stay, a biologist at Iowa University, also worked on the new study. She says the new data show that the roach milk is “three times more nutritious than cow’s milk and four times more nutritious than buffalo’s milk”.
Rama would like to see roach milk turned into a protein supplement to feed hungry people. But not everyone is confident that it can be done.
Marcel Dicke studies insects as a potential source of human food at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Dicke says this is a “sound study”. However, in his opinion, “Extracting (提取) milk from roaches can only likely be done in a destructive way with only small quantities”. That means you’d have to raise and kill many bugs to get very little milk.
1. What is the opinion of the scientists about milk in Paragraph 2?| A．Many insects are sources of milk. |
| B．Milk is an important part of breakfast. |
| C．Milk from insects is the most nutritious. |
| D．Milk from insects is well accepted now. |
| A．Useless. | B．Disappointing. | C．Good. | D．Expensive. |
| A．simple | B．challenging | C．safe | D．necessary |
| A．Roach milk is in our plate |
| B．Roach milk could be produced industrially |
| C．A probable new super food — Roach milk |
| D．Roach milk will be widely used soon |
5 . Light and bright, cheap and cheerful: IKEA's 400-plus outlets （专营店）in 49 countries all run on the same central principle. Customers do as much of the work as possible, in the belief they are having fun and saving money. You drive to a distant warehouse built on cheap out-of-town land. Inside, you enter a maze （迷宫）---no shortcuts allowed—where every twist reveals new furniture.
Compared with the prices of other outlets, IKEA's are much lower. You load up your trolley （手 推车）with impulse buys—a clock, storage boxes, tools and more chairs than you will ever use. You drag cardboard boxes, cupboards and tables into your car and reward yourself for your economy and good taste. Then you drive home and put your prizes together. You are satisfied with the bargains. IKEA is satisfied with your money.
The company's name was a do-it-yourself job, too. IKEA stands for Ingvar Kamprad, from Elmtaryd―his family's farm—in Agunnaryd. That village is in the Smaland region of southern Sweden. Mr Kamprad founded IKEA aged 17. Well before that, he spotted a principle which would make him one of the richest men in the world that customers like buying goods at wholesale prices （批发价）.First he bought matches in large quantities and sold them by the box. Aged ten, he sold pens in the similar way.
Setbacks inspired him. Facing a price war against his low-cost mail-order furniture business, he defeated competitors by opening a showroom. Dealers tried to crush Mr Kamprad and banned him from their trade fairs. He slipped in, hiding in a friend's car. When they tried to threaten his suppliers, he relied on his own workers, and secretly sold his production to communist Poland. Decades later, east Europeans freed from the planned economy drove hundreds of miles to newly opened outlets in Moscow and Warsaw.
His self-discipline was world-famous. As a child, he removed the "off' button from his alarm clock to stop himself oversleeping. He rarely took a first-class seat. The wine didn't get you there any earlier, he sniffed; having lots of money was no reason to waste it. He bought his clothes in second-hand markets, and for years drove an elderly Volvo until he had to sell it on safety grounds. He had his hair cut in poor countries to save money. Visitors admired the views, but were surprised that his house was so shabby. He worked well into his eighties.
His diligence and simple way of life set a good example to his 194,000 "co-workers". But he was not mean. The point of cutting costs was to make goods affordable, not to compromise quality. He urged his staff to reflect constantly on ways of saving money, time and space. An improved design that allows easier piling means shipping less air—and more profit.
Culture was more important than strategy. He disliked ''exaggerated （夸张的）planning", along with financial markets and banks. Better to make mistakes and learn from them. And use time wisely: "You can do so much in ten minutes. But ten minutes once gone are gone for good." This did not apply to customers. The longer they stayed, the better.
Mr Kamprad's impact on modern life can be compared with that of Henry Ford and the mass-produced motor car. Furniture used to be expensive, dark and heavy. For many people, decorating a home could cost many months' salary. IKEA made furniture not just affordable and functional, but fun. The mission was civilizational, he felt, changing how people lived and thought.
His approach drew some fire. The company values struck some as unpleasant. At IKEA's Corporate Culture Centre, lots of pictures of Mr Kamprad with his mottos can be seen everywhere. What's worse, some parts of the supply chain seemed to have serious problems to overcome.
1. What can we learn about IKEA in Paragraph 1?| A．IKEA prefers rural areas for its location. |
| B．IKEA has 400 outlets throughout the world. |
| C．IKEA likes to store new furniture in a maze. |
| D．IKEA provides a lot of work for its customers. |
| A．IKEA tricks you into spending more money |
| B．you may buy bargains with impulse in IKEA |
| C．both you and IKEA are pleased with the deal |
| D．both you and IKEA are happy with the bargain |
| A．He never overslept due to his alarm clock being set. |
| B．He was against drinking but for sniffing at the wine. |
| C．He sold the old Volvo with the purpose of saving money. |
| D．He didn't give up the quality of furniture for more profit. |
| A．The pictures and mottos of Mr. Kamprad. |
| B．The setbacks Mr. Kamprad experienced. |
| C．Mr. Kamprad's principles of management. |
| D．Mr. Kamprad's self-discipline and diligence. |
6 . Dandelions
I remember as a young child bringing a bunch of brilliant yellow flowers to my mother. It didn’t matter that the stems felt sticky or that both my parents cursed the presence of these flowers in the lawn. I thought they were beautiful!
And there were so many of them! We spent hours picking the flowers and then popping the blossoms off with a snap of our fingers. But the supply of dandelions (蒲公英) never ran out. My father or brothers would chop off all the heads with the lawnmower (割草机) at least once a week, but that didn't stop these hardy wonders.
And for those flowers that escaped the honor of being hand-delivered to my mother or the sharp blades of the lawnmower, there was another level of existence. The soft roundness of a dandelion gone to seed caused endless laughter of delight as we unconsciously spread this flower across the yard.
As I worked in my garden last week, pulling unwanted weeds out of the space that would become a haven for tomatoes, corn, peas and sunflowers, I again marveled at the flower that some call a weed.
And I thought, if only I had the staying power of a dandelion. If only I could stretch my roots so deep and straight that something tugging on my stem couldn’t separate me completely from the source that feeds me life. If only I could come back to face the world with a bright, sunshiny face after someone has run me over with a lawnmower or worse, purposely attacked me in an attempt to destroy me. If only I could spread love and encouragement as freely and fully as this flower spreads seeds of itself.
The lawns at my parents' home are now beautiful green blankets. The only patches of color come from well-placed, well-controlled flowerbeds. Chemicals have managed to kill what human interference couldn’t. I hope you and I can be different. I hope that we can stretch our roots deep enough that the strongest poison can't reach our souls. I hope that we can overcome the poisons of anger, fear, hate, criticism and competitiveness.
1. The author’s parents probably viewed the dandelions in the lawn as ________.| A．supplies of seeds | B．beautiful wonders |
| C．unwanted weeds | D．patches of colors |
| A．The flowers were meant as a joyful gift to her mother. |
| B．The flowers evolved into a stronger species because of frequent mowing. |
| C．The flowers were tough enough to spread new lives themselves. |
| D．The flowers that some called a weed were difficult to pull out. |
| A．The author’s family enjoyed the dandelions as much as she did. |
| B．The author purposefully replaced some dandelions with crops. |
| C．The dandelions were never successfully removed from the lawn. |
| D．The author felt sorry but encouraged by the fate of the dandelions. |
| A．share the inspirations she gained from the dandelions |
| B．arouse public awareness to pay close attention to the beauty in life |
| C．show the importance of planting dandelions |
| D．express the shame that only she saw the beauty of the dandelion |
7 . At the 4th Street Photo Gallery on the comer of the Bowery, many photos are strung together like clothes on a laundry line. There are portraits of Muhammad Ali and Jean-Michel Basquiat, plus a series of cityscapes detailedly captured over 60 years by Alex Harsley, a neglected but talented New York photographer.
The city has been Mr Harsley’s home since 1948, when, aged ten, he moved there from South Carolina. He took his first photograph ten years later, and became the first black photographer to work for the city’s district attorney’s office. His vivid pictures freeze moments in New York’s evolution from the 1950s to the present. “It could start with the smell of something burning.” he says of his method. “And then you see a family sitting on the steps of a funeral home sadly looking at the firemen going through their routine.”
Some of the scenes in the collection were captured from the window of his old apartment in Harlem; they include images of black activists, streets submerged in snow and shots of the Crown Heights riots of 1991. A.D. Coleman, a photography critic, says Mr. Harsley has been able to capture the lives of minority groups by making himself “invisible”. His aim has been to assemble these fragments (片段) into an extended history of the city.
Mr. Harsley’s gallery is a time capsule. For decades, it is also a hub for the city’s artistic underworld. In the 1970s New York’s photography scene was flourishing, but exclusive. As Mr. Harsley puts it, “a number of great artists were swept aside” because they lacked connections. Helping talent became part of his mission. In 1971 he established The Minority Photographers, an organization that helps up-and-coming artists exhibit their work. He opened his gallery two years later; many photographers have had their first shows there.
1. How does the author describe Alex Harsley in the first paragraph?| A．Undervalued but expert. | B．Gifted but exclusive. |
| C．Unknown but devoted. | D．Gifted but awkward. |
| A．His pictures show freezing weather in New York from the 1950s to the present. |
| B．His pictures capture the cheerful moments in New York since the 1950s. |
| C．His pictures record some historic occasions of New York over the past decades. |
| D．His pictures illustrate the vivid lives of minority groups in New York over the past decades. |
| A．To assemble the minority groups of the city. |
| B．To highlight the lives of minority groups. |
| C．To help promising artists attract more public attention. |
| D．To build connections between the minority groups and himself. |
| A．He excluded those who looked down upon the unknown artists. |
| B．He set an organization displaying their works. |
| C．He established the connections between up-and-coming artists and famous ones. |
| D．He reduced the rents of the gallery where their photography works were shown. |
8 . Though not as mainstream as devices like smartphones and fitness trackers, more companies are now experimenting with the concept of connected garments. Among the pioneers is London-based CuteCircuit, which has been creating fashionable smart clothing since 2004. The company’s latest creation is the “Sound Shirt,” which allows deaf people to “feel” live music by transforming the tunes into touch feelings in real time.
The fashionable jacket achieves the incredible function using software that changes the music into data and wirelessly sends it to the 16-micro actuators(促动器)placed inside the cloth. The devices vibrate(振动)in sync(同步)to the intensity(强度)of the music being played, allowing the wearer to feel each instrument individually. For example, violin can be felt on the arms, while the deeper, heavier bass notes can be felt close to the stomach. The series of touch-like feelings across the wearer’s body enables them to feel the entire composition, resulting in a fully amazing musical experience.
To ensure the shirt is comfortable, the designers chose to leave out wires and instead wove conductive(可传导的)material into the garment’s cloth. Francesca Rosella, co-founder and chief creative officer of CuteCircuit, explains, “There are no wires inside, so we’re only using smart material—we have a combination of microelectronics and very thin, flexible and conductive material. All these little electronic motors are connected with these conductive material so that the garment is soft and stretchable.”
CuteCircuit, which has been testing the Sound Shirt for three years, expects to make it available to the general public shortly. Priced at $3,673, the smart jacket will not be cheap. However, twin sisters Hermon and Heroda Berhane, who lost their hearing at a young age, believe the hi-tech garment is a worthwhile investment, especially for deaf people with a passion for dancing. “It’s almost like feeling the depth of the music,” says Hermon. “It just feels as though we can move along with it.” Heroda agrees, adding, “I think it could definitely change our lives.”
1. What is the function of the actuators in the clothing?| A．Turning music into data. |
| B．Causing touch-like feelings. |
| C．Conducting electricity in the clothing. |
| D．Wirelessly sending data to the clothing. |
| A．To explain how the clothing functions. |
| B．To explain the principles of smart material. |
| C．To show the clothing is comfortable to wear. |
| D．To show the designers have worked very hard. |
| A．It actually isn’t that advanced. |
| B．It is affordable to most people. |
| C．It is really worth having for the deaf. |
| D．It can arouse deaf people’s passion for dancing. |
| A．Deaf people will be able to dance soon. |
| B．Deaf people are looking forward to a hi-tech garment. |
| C．CuteCircuit’s new garment draws deaf people’s attention. |
| D．CuteCircuit’s sound shirt allows deaf people to feel music. |
9 . Scientists say they have found out a chemical produced by locusts（蝗虫）that causes the insects to join together in huge swarms（群）.
On their own, locusts are mostly harmless. But in large swarms, they can be extremely destructive. The new finding could lead to new methods to prevent locusts from joining swarms to destroy huge areas of crops.
A recent study published in Nature identifies a pheromone believed to be responsible for the insect’s swarming behavior. A pheromone is a chemical item produced by an animal that influences the behavior of another animal of the same kind.
The pheromone, known as 4VA, was found in the world’s most widespread kind of locust, the migratory locust. It powerfully drew locusts of both sexes and all ages, the research found. And it was produced when as few as four to five locusts came together.
Lead researcher Le Kang is with the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Zoology. He told Reuters news agency that migratory locusts are so widespread and dangerous, they represent"a serious threat to agriculture worldwide. " Kang said further research will be needed to find out if 4VA exists in other species, such as the desert locust.
Kang said a chemical could be developed to block 4VA’s effects to prevent swarming. A man-made version of the pheromone might also be developed to attract locusts into traps to be killed. Locusts could also be developed with genetic changes that would not react to 4VA, Kang added. Such locusts could be sent to the wild to build wild non-swarming populations.
Leslie Vosshall, head of Rockefeller University’s Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior in New York, said one of the most exciting developments would be finding a chemical that could block the reception of 4VA. She noted that there are still several unknowns about the research. These include whether 4VA is the only cause of swarm formation, and whether other locust species respond similarly to the chemical.
1. What is the new finding of the study?| A．New methods could be used to stop locusts. |
| B．Locusts do not cause much damage on their own. |
| C．A large number of locusts can destroy the crops terribly. |
| D．Locusts swarm because of a chemical produced by themselves. |
| A．It only exists in the migratory locust. | B．It is made at least in groups of forty. |
| C．It is to blame for the locust’s swarming. | D．It affects the behavior of other animals. |
| A．Pessimistic. | B．Optimistic. | C．Subjective. | D．Objective. |
| A．Can we kill locusts? | B．How do locusts destroy crops? |
| C．How do locusts get swarmed? | D．Can we control the locust’s damaging? |
10 . The way people purchase clothes has fundamentally changed in response to the “fast fashion", the result of mass -market retailers (零售商) increasing the production of inexpensive fashion lines to meet the demands of quickly changing trends. It is not uncommon for retailers to introduce new products multiple times in a single week to stay on trend. This may seem like a good thing at first glance, but it is causing more problems than it is solving.
Workers in factories in underdeveloped areas face mistreatment, including poor working conditions, low wages and forced overtime. So before making a deal, ask retailers questions such as where products are made and how many people work there. Watch for warming signs and use your judgment if something doesn't feel right.
Another reason to rethink about the trend has something to do with the impact on our rivers, lakes and oceans. Chemical pollutants are released into waterways every time those clothes are washed. What can be done is as simple as buying from brands known for their preference for using organic materials, because they are trying not to add to the pollution.
Besides, people don't keep clothes as long as they used to, and the rate of production to keep up has resulted in tons of waste. It's easy to see at manufacturing (生产) sites the massive wastes. Even holding giant sales or rewarding customers for bringing in second-hand clothes is not enough.
Only with enough customers saying “No” to fast fashion can we work toward a better future.
1. Which is a feature of fast fashion?| A．Being eco-friendly. | B．Affordable prices. |
| C．Guaranteed quality. | D．Setting new trends. |
| A．All the workers can take days off in turn. |
| B．The manufacturing sites are too crowded. |
| C．The workers can support their entire families. |
| D．The factory is located in a developed area. |
| A．Bring their used clothes for donations. | B．Ask manufacturers certain questions. |
| C．Examine the quality of materials used. | D．Weigh possible environmental effects. |
| A．How to Spot the Perfect Clothes | B．Customers, Who Change Markets |
| C．Why Fast Fashion is Troublesome | D．Say “No" to the Fashion Industry |
