1 . The journey of self is often nothing more than an exercise in patience and in the management of expectations. Many years ago, I was getting ready to leave home for college. I had the hope that I could finally answer the questions that had been bothering me since the beginning days of my high school years: what did I want to do; who did I want to be; what would make my life truly meaningful? I felt certain that I would be picking up the answers along the way. And there was this belief that the me who had spent many a day thinking over such things would one day suddenly pop out from his chrysalis (蝶蛹)like a caterpillar (毛毛虫) does when it becomes a butterfly. But alas, my change from caterpillar to butterfly was like being stuck in an endless queue for a ride at a Disney park. It took me a long time to realize that there is no such thing as a fast-pass in life.
——Daisy
The journey of self is often nothing more than a tug-of-war (拔河)match between who we see ourselves to be, and how others view us. I had been considerably shy growing up, and often had trouble talking with new people. This made my high school years even more difficult as I had moved from my hometown and had registered in three different high schools over that period of time. It was at this time that I started to follow my own interests and to better understand and develop my own sense of self. However, the self is in fact partly formed by how others see us. There is a natural tension (矛盾)between our inner sense of self, and how other people see us. The general rule is that the truer you remain to your internal sense of self, the more likely it is that people will like and admire you.
---Emily
1. What does the underlined sentence mean?| A．It’s not easy to understand oneself truly. |
| B．The writer doesn’t like being kept waiting. |
| C．The years the writer spent in the high school were long and hard. |
| D．The experience of waiting in the park is an exercise in patience. |
| A．Staying true to oneself. | B．Having one’s own interest. |
| C．Understanding what others think of you. | D．Enjoying experiences in different schools. |
| A．Neither of them cares much about others. |
| B．Neither of them had a happy high school life. |
| C．Both of them took a negative attitude to high school life. |
| D．Both of them reflect on their own life deeply. |
2 . The great 18th-century author Montesquieu once put it, “I have never known any stress that an hour’s reading does not reduce." And now many argue for a return to this view of literature as therapy, even using the word “bibliotherapy"（阅读疗法）to describe it.
So what does literature provide, beyond entertainment? It can act as a guide.Those who show great respect for Shakespeare, Milton or Proust should keep in mind that even the most famous author was still a human being.In other words, great writers have been through the same things as you.Like you, they found themselves in this strange world and they tried to make sense of it.And this is what most literature consists of: people trying to make sense of the world.
No matter what your fears or concerns may be, chances are some great writer has written about them.Before seeking （寻求）suggestions, cither from a professional or a well-read friend, be clear about what is troubling you.For example, let's say you were raised in a religious （信仰宗教的）family but now, in later life, have lost your faith （信仰）.This is painful to you and you feel empty and alone.Countless writers have gone down this path before you and have found a way out — the German poet and novelist Hermann Hesse, for example, wrote the wonderful little novel Siddartha about this search for spiritual peace.
It would also help to consider your particular life stage.Someone from a poor background about to set off for a great college will want a different set of reading from a retired woman whose husband has died.To take another example, let's imagine you had a childhood of abuse （虐待）.For years you have suffered from depression.In that case, you could try Edward St Aubyn's The Patrick Melrose Novels.St Aubyn's father abused him, while his mother escaped into drink, but Aubyn wrote a series of splendid novels based on his life, charting a man's journey through the hard situation of abuse and out the other end.
1. Why does the author quote Montesquieu?| A．To stress the effect of bibliotherapy. | B．To explain what bibliotherapy means. |
| C．To tell us when bibliotherapy came into being. | D．To argue for the use of literature as therapy. |
| A．Find out which writer has written about your problem. |
| B．Know what authors have gone through. |
| C．Find out how to seek spiritual peace. |
| D．Know what your trouble is. |
| A．Aubyn's novels suit people who have retired. |
| B．Aubyn's novels are mainly read by young readers. |
| C．People should choose novels according to their interest. |
| D．People of different ages need different works of literature. |
| A．What novels best suit you. | B．A form of therapy: literature. |
| C．The great influence of literature. | D．The experiences of great writers. |
3 . British anthropologists Russell Hill and Robert Barton of the University of Durham, after studying the results of one-on-one boxing, tae kwon do, Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling matches at the Olympic Games, conclude that when two competitors are equally matched in fitness and skill, the athlete wearing red is more likely to win.
Hill and Barton report that when one competitor is much better than the other, colour has no effect on the result. However, when there is only a small difference between them, the effect of colour is enough to tip the balance. The anthropologists say that the number of times red wins is not simply by chance, but that these results are statistically significant.
Joanna Setchell, a primate (灵长目动物) researcher at the University of Cambridge, has found similar results in nature. She studies the large African monkeys known as mandrills. Mandrills have bright red noses that stand out against their white faces. Setchell’s work shows that the powerful males—the ones who are more successful with females—have a brighter red nose than other males.
As well as the studies on primates by Setchell, another study shows the effect of red among birds. In an experiment, scientists put red plastic rings on the legs of male zebra finches and this increased the birds’ success with female zebra finches. Zebra finches already have bright red beaks (鸟喙), so this study suggests that, as with Olympic athletes, an extra flash of red is significant. In fact, researchers from the University of Glasgow say that the birds’ brightly coloured beaks are an indicator of health. Jonathan Blount, a biologist, and his colleagues think they have found proof that bright red or orange beaks attract females because they mean that the males are healthier. Nothing in nature is simple, however, because in species such as the blue footed booby, a completely different colour seems to give the male birds the same advantage with females.
Meanwhile, what about those athletes who win in their events while wearing red? Do their clothes give them an unintentional advantage? Robert Barton accepts that “that is the implication” of their findings. Is it time for sports authorities to consider new regulations on sports clothing?
1. According to their research, Hill and Barton conclude that _____.| A．the colour of clothing has an effect on most sport events |
| B．red should be the choice of colour for clothing in sports |
| C．red plays a role when competitors are equally capable |
| D．athletes perform better when surrounded by bright red |
| A．achieve | B．seek | C．keep | D．change |
| A．male birds use different body parts to draw attention |
| B．red is not the only colour to attract female birds |
| C．blue gives female birds the same advantage |
| D．blue can indicate how healthy a bird is |
| A．What Colour Implies More Power? | B．A Tip on Clothing. |
| C．Need to Change the Rules in Sports? | D．Red Is for Winners. |
4 . Teachers say that the digital age has had a good influence and a not-so-good influence on American teenagers. More than 2,000 middle school teachers took an online survey. Researchers also spoke with teachers in some groups. Most teachers think the Internet and digital search tools have had a mostly positive (积极的) influence on their students’ research habits and skills. But at the same time, some teachers also point out some problems in teenagers’ using digital search tools.
The Pew Internet Project did the survey with the College Board and the National Writing Project. Judy Buchanan is the director of the National Writing Project and a co-writer of the report. She says digital search tools are helping students learn more, and learn faster. “Both teachers and students really welcome these tools because they make learning exciting. And the goal（目的）is to really help students become creators of something meaningful, and not just users of the online information.”
But one problem the survey found is that these technologies make teenagers have short attention spans (持续时间). As there is lots of information about different subjects on the Internet, teenagers’ attention is easily drawn away from their research.
Another problem the survey found is that many students trust the information they find on the Internet too much. Judy Buchanan says these students have not developed the skills to judge (判断) the online information. They need to learn a lot to tell if the information is believable. It’s something that really has to be paid attention to.
One more problem the survey found is something that might not seem like a problem at all: being able to quickly find information online. Many students think “doing research” now means just doing a quick search on Google. Teachers say the result is a drop in the wish and ability of their students to work hard to find answers. That is, they are depending too much on search engines and do not make enough use of printed books or research librarians.
Many teachers also say that the Internet makes it easy for students to copy work done by others instead of using their own abilities.
1. The result of the survey shows ________.| A．digital search tools need to be greatly improved |
| B．digital search tools are generally good for teenagers |
| C．teenagers have difficulty in using digital search tools |
| D．American teachers enjoy using digital search tools |
| A．less trusting of online information |
| B．more independent in doing research |
| C．more willing to work hard to find answers |
| D．less able to pay full attention while searching |
| A．spend more time searching online |
| B．ask their teachers for more advice |
| C．make better use of printed materials |
| D．learn more knowledge of search tools |
| A．all the students like using digital tools |
| B．the Internet is playing an important role |
| C．teachers encourage their students to use digital tools |
| D．digital tools bring about something helpful and problems |
5 . Setting goals is common in our life. We look ahead, predict what may make us happy in the future, and then narrow down the things to something specific. For the most part, having goals is better than not having any, but there are also problems that come with spending an entire life living from goal to goal.
For one thing, we try to predict an unpredictable future. Who is to say that what you want next year is the same thing you want right now? What if what you want right now isn't in the right direction over the long term?
Secondly, and just as importantly, you only confine your expectations of happiness and satisfaction to the goal you have set so that you often forget that other things in your life can also add just as much joy to your experience. This creates a strange problem.
To solve this problem, we have to move towards something more unclear. Going after interestingness. I think, is what we should do.
Interestingness doesn't mean looking for pleasure only. It’s deeper than that. It's doing that random (随机的) project you had no plan to do because you have a feeling that you might just learn something you didn't know about yourself. It's seeing a person you just met not as a possible partner or someone who can do something for you but simply as someone who may open a new, unknown and unique world for you.
Goals incorrectly assume (假设) that we already know what we want. Interestingness is more modest. It makes up its mind as it moves, slowly blowing from one thing to another, until it catches something that lies beyond prediction at last.
1. Setting goals is to predict an unpredictable future because __________.| A．it ignores possible changes in our life |
| B．it proves meaningless in the long run |
| C．it may lead us to the opposite direction |
| D．it fails to reach our true possibilities |
| A．Devote. | B．Limit. | C．Deliver. | D．Compare. |
| A．Bringing us self satisfaction at once. |
| B．Improving our relationship with others. |
| C．Making us gain something unexpected. |
| D．Helping us successfully predict the future. |
| A．To ease our worry about the future. |
| B．To express a new thought on setting goals. |
| C．To point out disadvantages of an aimless life. |
| D．To recommend a new way of achieving success. |
6 . Back in Brisbane, Australia, for the Christmas break, I found myself in a public transport dead zone. Bikeless, 7 kilometers from where I was meeting friends and unwilling to get a taxi, I decided to borrow an electric scooter. The trip took far longer than it would have by bike, mainly because of a major spill halfway there. A rock, hit at speed, is a terrible thing: weeks later, I still had the red knees of a primary schooler.
E-scooters have appeared in Brisbane like a rash. In the UK, they are legal only on private land, but the Department for Transport is discussing how to regulate them on public roads and pathways, with the potential for legalisation later this year.
Other cities that have e-scooter rental programs have had teething problems. In Paris, mayor Anne Hidalgo described the situation last year as messy. She has announced that the city is reducing its number of e-scooters to 15,000 and plans to create laws banning them from pavements (人行道). France has put into force laws limiting e-scooter speeds to 25 kilometres per hour.
Similar to dockless (无桩的) hire bicycles, e-scooters are parked on pavements and people leave them up trees or throw them into rivers. Rough handling shortens their lifetime, which is bad for both profitability and the environment. Analysis suggests that the average e-scooter’s lifetime is just three months.
I think e-scooters are an essential part of the effort to make city transport greener. They are seen as a solution to the “last mile” problem — a potential way to reduce transport jam by rapidly getting someone to their final destination. Cars can take up 28 times the space of a person riding a bicycle.
As far as the environmental effect goes, recent research suggests that e-scooters are not as green as walking or cycling, but they are still better than cars. And despite numerous reports of serious accidents, scooting is about as safe as cycling.
Stephen Gossling at Lund University in Sweden has suggested we build car-free “micromobility” streets, where cyclists, pedestrians (行人) and e-scooters could share the road. He thinks this will reduce accident risks and invite more vulnerable (易受伤害的) traffic participants, such as children, to become active transport users.
If more e-scooters mean fewer cars on roads, an improvement in local air quality is also a likely outcome. When 20 kilometers of roads in central London closed for World Car-Free Day last September, a temporary air quality monitor in Regent Street reportedly registered a 60% drop in nitrogen dioxide.
1. What does the underlined part “a major spill” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．A serious fall. | B．A sudden illness. |
| C．A legal defense. | D．A terrible breakdown. |
| A．They are illegal on pavements. | B．They are already out of fashion. |
| C．They are facing more restrictions. | D．They are more common on private land. |
| A．They are not as safe as cycling. |
| B．They stand up to rough handling. |
| C．They are as green as cycling or walking. |
| D．They play a big role in the “last mile” problem. |
| A．To set up more care-free days. |
| B．To invite more cyclists to use e-scooters. |
| C．To get vulnerable pedestrians off the road. |
| D．To separate cars from e-scooters on the road. |
7 . Everyone can be angry. But if you take the time to actually examine your anger instead of just “feeling angry” you’ll have a better understanding of yourself. Knowing why you feel so angry can provide you with some surprising answers. These answers can enable you to grow spiritually and mentally.
I can give you a personal example. I went to a meeting once and I was verbally attacked(言语攻击) over an application I supported at my workplace. Various people went on and on about how terrible this system was and that it never worked. That didn’t bother me that much. But I was absolutely furious at the comment, “Your job is pointless.”
I was upset that they would treat me that way. But once I took the time to think about what was really making me so mad, I learned a lot. I realized that the comment was more true than I wanted to admit. In the big scheme of things, my job was pointless. It wasn’t what I really wanted to be doing with my life and this is what frustrated me the most. Here I was pouring part of my heart and soul into a job I didn't even want to do. I was using it as crutch(依靠) because I didn’t have the confidence in myself to take the scary(令人害怕的) road toward what I really wanted to do. As soon as I realized that, a lot of my anger just melted away. I also realized that I needed to start focusing on what I really wanted to do.
I now consider this incident as a great gift. It got me back on track to move in the direction I want to go with my life. I probably wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn’t taken the time to figure out why I was really so angry.
1. What does the underlined word “furious” probably mean?| A．Surprised. | B．Relaxed. |
| C．Amazed. | D．Angry. |
| A．Because he didn’t do his job wholeheartedly. |
| B．Because he didn’t make enough money. |
| C．Because he couldn’t get on well with his colleagues. |
| D．Because he didn’t have the chance to realize his potential. |
| A．The author isn’t easy to become angry any longer. |
| B．The author has achieved success in his present career. |
| C．The author received a lot of gifts after the incident. |
| D．The author was forced to quit his job. |
| A．A diary. | B．A guidebook. | C．A magazine. | D．A novel. |
8 . Teenagers need to know their changes in body, mind and emotions that young adults experience. And they also need to give careful thought to how they can best get used to such changes. Growing bodies need movement and exercise, but not just in ways that focus on competition. Because they are adjusting to their new bodies and whole new mental and emotional challenges, teenagers are especially self-conscious (自我意识) and need the confidence that comes from achieving success.
However, the typical teenage lifestyle is already filled with so much competition that it would be unwise to plan activities in which there are winners chosen, for example, publishing newsletters written by students, displaying (展示) student artwork. Small clubs can provide many chances for leadership, as well as for practice in successful group work. Anyway, making friends is important to teenagers. Shy students also need to enter some kind of organization with a supportive adult hardly seen in the background.
In these activities, it is important to remember that young teenagers have long attention time. A variety of activities should be organized so that participants (参与者) can remain active as long as they want and then go on to do something else without letting the other participants alone. This does not mean that adults can allow the students to quit in the middle of the activities. Instead, they can help students win a sense of commitment by playing roles that are within their ability and their attention and by having clear rules.
1. From the first paragraph, we can know that____________.| A．teenagers are weak in body, mind and emotions |
| B．teenagers have to enter a number of competitions |
| C．teenagers are different from either young kids or adults |
| D．teenagers are not able to get used to their changes |
| A．Publishing the newsletters written by students. |
| B．Displaying the winners of student artwork. |
| C．Choosing the best storytellers of a story telling activity. |
| D．Playing games and sharing learning ways at an English corner. |
| A．Responsibility. | B．Achievement. | C．Organization. | D．Credit. |
| A．Teenagers in middle schools. | B．Middle school club organizers. |
| C．Primary school teachers. | D．Parents with small kids. |
9 . The driver who cuts you off in traffic.The neighbors who don't pick up after their dog.Situations such as these get our hearts racing and send our stress levels skyrocketing.Anger isn't a pleasant feeling.Some of us bottle up the emotion, while others explode in a wild rage (狂怒).Both habits do considerable harm to our bodies, our minds, and our relationships.
“Anger may fee1 uncomfortable and a lot of people think they have to get rid of their anger," says Patrick Keelan, a registered psychologist in Calgary, Alberta.“But anger is an emotion built into us to signal that something needs to be addressed.When we take notice of that signal and actually wrestle with the problem instead of turning a blind eye to it, we' re usually much better for it.”
Unfortunately, many of us have been conditioned to keep our emotions hidden.Increasingly,research is suggesting that this can have long-term effects on our health.Investigators at the University of Rochester noticed that people who contain their emotions tend to live shorter lives.When we're angry, stress hormones are released, which can make us more likely to develop a wide range of diseases, including diabetes, depression, immune related conditions.
Is it better, then, to scream and howl whenever something makes you mad? That's probably the reason why“rage rooms" have popped up in many American cities, where folks are invited to let steam off by violently smashing (打碎) stuff in a“safe" environment.However, the research indicates that when people display anger aggressively, it can actually increase the intensity of the anger -- and increase the likelihood of aggressive actions in the future.It doesn't take much imagination to predict how such behavior can affect your relationship with your spouse, your kids, or your colleagues.It also hurts your health.A large 2016 study at McMaster University found that people are more than twice as likely to have a heart attack after an angry explosion.
If we shouldn't bottle up our angry feelings but aggressive behavior isn't healthy either, how should we handle things that tick us of? It's the extreme highs and lows that cause the damage.If you're able to apply techniques that smooth out some of those peaks and valleys, you can have a gentler ride.
1. What does the underlined phrase“bottle up" in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Build up. |
| B．Hold back. |
| C．Let off. |
| D．Bring out. |
| A．Uncomfortable and avoidable. |
| B．Terrible and threatening. |
| C．Confusing and complex. |
| D．Normal and natural. |
| A．It leads to people's depression. |
| B．It warns people against violence. |
| C．It adds to people's anger. |
| D．It helps people to calm down. |
| A．Possible causes of anger. |
| B．Tips on handling anger. |
| C．Possible harm of anger. |
| D．Tips on avoiding anger. |
10 . Are we getting more stupid? According to Gerald Crabtree, a scientist at Stanford University in the US, we are.
You may not want to hear this, but Crabtree believes that human intelligence reached its peak more than 2,000 years ago and ever since then has been going downhill. “If an average Greek from 1,000 BC were transported to modern times, he or she would be one of the brightest among us,” Crabtree told The Guardian.
At the heart of Crabtree’s thinking is a simple idea. In the past, intelligence was critical for survival when our ancestors had to avoid dangerous animals and hunt for food. The difference of being smart or stupid is often life or death. However, after the spread of agriculture when our ancestors began to live in dense farming communities, the need to keep their intelligence in peak-condition gradually reduced.
This is not hard to understand. Most of the time, pressure is what keeps us going—you need the pressure from your teachers to finish your homework the pressure of looking pretty encourages you to lose weight when summer comes. And the same is also true of our intelligence-if we think less, we become less smart.
These mutations (变异) are harmful to our intelligence and they were all developed in the past 3,000 years. The other evidence that Crabtree holds is in our genes. He found that among the 2,000 to 5,000 genes that we have that determine human intelligence, there are two or more mutations in each of us.
However, Crabtree’s theory has been criticized by some who say that early humans may have better hunting and surviving abilities, but people today have developed more diverse intelligence. For example, spearing (用矛刺) a tiger doesn’t necessarily require more brainpower than playing chess or writing a poem. Moreover, the power of modern education means lot more people have the opportunity to learn nowadays.
“You wouldn’t get Stephen Hawking 2,000 years ago. He just wouldn’t exist,” Thomas Hills of the University of Warwick, UK, told Live Science. “But now we have people of his intellectual capacity doing things and making insights (洞察力) that we would never have achieved in our environment of evolutionary adaptation (进化适应).”
1. What is Crabtree’s recent finding according to the article?| A．The Greeks from 1,000 BC could have been the smartest in human history. |
| B．Our ancient ancestors had no better surviving abilities than we do nowadays. |
| C．Mutations in genes that decide human intelligence have affected the development of intelligence. |
| D．Humans have been getting steadily more intelligent since the invention of farming. |
| A．had much more genes that determine human Intelligence |
| B．were forced to be smart due to natural selection pressures |
| C．relied more on group intelligence than individual intelligence |
| D．developed a diverse intelligence to adapt to the hard realities |
| A．people today are under much more pressure than early humans |
| B．it’s unreasonable to compare hunter’s and a poet’s intelligence |
| C．modern education is far more advanced than ancient education |
| D．human intelligence nowadays is different from that of the distant past |
| A．He is for Crabtree’s theory. |
| B．He is against Crabtree’s theory. |
| C．He is worried about Crabtree’s theory. |
| D．He is confused about Crabtree’s theory. |
