1 . EVEN the best of communicators can sometimes hit a wrong note, whether with a joke, turn of phrase, or even an ill-timed chuckle（轻笑）.
For instance, a former finance minister Ken Gabriel usually tries to keep things casual when answering reporters’ questions. But in a television interview on the news program 60 Minutes, some people felt his register was a little too casual—even careless.
At one point, Gabriel spoke about the bankers who have been widely blamed for causing the collapse of the financial sector: “I mean there were a whole bunch of folks who, on paper, if you looked at quarterly reports, were wildly successful, selling derivatives that turned out to be …completely worthless,” Gabriel said, with a chuckle.
Shocked by Gabriel’s laughter during the interview, journalist David finally asked: “You’re sitting here. And you’ re—you are laughing. You are laughing about some of these problems.”
Gabriel quickly explained himself by replying, “No, no. There’s gotta be a little humor to get you through the day.” But that exchange ended up making news, as TV pundits, journalists and public relations experts debated Gabriel’s tone.
One unnamed strategist for Gabriel’ s party said that the finance minister’ s attempts at humor were distracting: “Gabriel is gifted in so many ways, but humor is not something that he seems to be comfortable with. He does not come across as a funny guy.”
The TV critic Daniel, meanwhile, came to Gabriel’s defense.
“Gabriel isn’t a rookie …All this laughter seems clearly to be calculated rather than accidental. His laughs last night were designed as laughs of reassurance. They were designed to tell the TV audience he understands the severity of the situation.”
There would have been little debate if Gabriel had not laughed during a speech. Answering questions in a public setting, however, should allow for a more conversational register. But as Gabriel discovered, not everyone agrees on just how casual the tone should be.
1. What’s the meaning of the phrase hit a wrong note?| A．Say something wrong. | B．Do something wrong. |
| C．Write down something wrongly. | D．Play the music wrongly. |
| A．Tried to account for it. | B．Found an excuse for it. |
| C．Refused to say anything about it. | D．Learned a lesson from it. |
| A．The banker. | B．David. |
| C．The unnamed strategist. | D．Daniel. |
| A．Debatable speeches of Gabriel. | B．Be cautious while you are speaking. |
| C．Gabriel’s rude behavior in speeches. | D．Honest or not, it’s hard to say. |
2 . 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. |
3 . We’ve all had cases where we’ve waited just a bit too long to pay an electric bill or speeding ticket. But one man, from California by reasonable assumption，who goes by “Dave”，recently took procrastination (拖延) one step further, by paying a parking ticket almost a half-century after it was given.
In December 2018, the Minersville Police Department in Pennsylvania received a letter in the mail. Whoever wrote the letter decided it was best to keep his name somewhat unknown，so he put the return address as “Wayward Road，Anytown California” under the name “Feeling guilty”.
When the officers opened the envelope，they found a brief letter, along with a $5 bill, and a parking ticket dating all the way back to 1974. The note read，“Dear PD，I've been carrying this ticket around for 40 plus years always intending to pay. Forgive me if I don't give you my info. With respect，Dave.”
Even though the initial parking ticket was only for $2, “Dave” must have felt awfully guilty because he left 150 percent，or $3, in interest.
Michael Combs, the Police Chief of the Minersville Police Department, stated in an interview that the same ticket would cost about $20 if it were given today. Combs went on to share that the original ticket from 1974 was given to a vehicle that had an Ohio license plate.
Because there was no system for tracking tickets given to out-of-state cars back then，“Dave” could have gotten away with never paying the $2 fine. But apparently，guilt got the best of him，and he decided to finally cough up the money more than 40 years past its due date.
1. How much do we know about “Dave”？| A．He lives in Wayward Road，Anytown California. |
| B．His car probably came from Ohio at that time. |
| C．The police are trying to find out more about him. |
| D．“Dave” is of course the man’s real name indeed. |
| A．He completely forgot about it in the past 44 years. |
| B．He didn’t find it until almost half a century later. |
| C．He didn’t pay for it just because of procrastination. |
| D．He failed to find out who he should pay the money to. |
| A．A strong sense of guilt. |
| B．Fear of being tracked by the police. |
| C．Worry about being fined more. |
| D．Sudden change of his financial situation. |
| A．Police Chief of the Minersville Police Department Shares a Story |
| B．Parking Ticket Carried Around for Almost Half a Century from Ohio |
| C．Unusual Letter Comes from Wayward Road, Anytown California |
| D．Mysterious Procrastinator Finally Pays 44-Year-Old Parking Ticket |
4 . Sometimes fishing ships disappear: Captains turn off the radios that broadcast their locations, leaving regulators wondering whether the ships are fishing illegally. Now, researchers have shown that albatrosses(信天翁)bearing small detectors can find these doubtful ships, even in the middle of the open ocean. After a 6-month study with the large seabirds, the researchers say that more than one-third of ships in the southern Indian Ocean are fishing illegally.
“These are animal police,” says Boris Worm of Dalhousie University. “You’re empowering animals to survey their own environment, ”Worm says. “That’s pretty cool.” The method could also help albatrosses themselves, which can be killed when they get caught or accidentally eat fishing hooks. The researchers will be there on time.
Illegal fishing is a major concern for environment biologists, especially in remote areas. Over the past decade, scientists have studied the problem with data from automatic identification systems (AISs) on ships, which send their identity, location, speed, and direction to satellites. But AlSs can be turned off. Researchers suspect that fishing ships turn off AISs when they are fishing illegally or want to prevent competitors from knowing where they are getting a good catch.
Albatrosses make good spies. The birds, which live on fish, can spot a fishing ship from as far away as 30 kilometers. Some species fly hundreds or thousands of kilometers while hunting. Between December 2018 and June 2019, the birds met 353 ships. Those locations were sent to the lab in less than 2 hours. If they did not match the locations of ships with an active AIS, the team knew the ships had switched it off. In international waters, 37% of detected ships had their AlS switched off and fished illegally.
Although the albatrosses can detect ships, they cannot track them over longer distances, one scientist says. He says, “What you need to do is to look for patterns to take pictures as evidence.” More albatrosses will be arranged in March and April around the Prince Edward Islands in the southern Indian Ocean to reveal the illegal fishing.
1. What is the main idea of the first paragraph?| A．Fishing ships disappear sometimes. |
| B．Illegal fishing is very serious in the open ocean. |
| C．Some seabirds are used to monitor the illegal fishing. |
| D．One-third of ships in the southern Indian Ocean are fishing illegally. |
| A．They can get enough food. |
| B．They can get saved when in danger. |
| C．They can protect their own rights of fishing. |
| D．They can avoid being killed or eating fishing hooks. |
| A．By sending locations of ships. |
| B．By turning off AISs of the ships. |
| C．By following the ships as far as possible. |
| D．By taking the pictures of ships fishing illegally. |
| A．Education. | B．Politics. | C．Science. | D．Health |
5 . Rapid progress in artificial intelligence, also called AI, and the wide use of robots across different industries are causing the worry about the growth in joblessness. People have different opinions on this development, and they mainly have focused on what to do to make sure that robots don't steal jobs.
Bill Cates, for example, have called for taxing(对…征税)robots that take away jobs. This has led to disagreement from other leading figures, such as Larry Summers, who thinks that robots are job creators and that it is totally wrong. Another idea is to use a basic income for all-the ides that everyone receives the lowest income-to pay for influence of technological unemployment. This idea also causes disagreement.
However, jobs are not created or lost because of a single technology, but because of the business system designed to make use of the power of the technology.
We have seen a similar example in history, with recorded music in the last century. It wasn't the 1930s recording technology itself that affected the jobs of the live musicians. It was its connection with radio broadcasting，jukeboxes(自动唱机)and the way businesses operated that led to the job losses. Hotels, restaurants and bars replaced live musicians with jukeboxes. A single recording could be placed over and over without requiring the appearance of the musicians.
The early recording of music destroyed the jobs of some live musicians and made them earn less money than before. The social dissatisfaction was largely about monopoly power(垄断势力)and less about the technology itself.
Job creation or loss has to be considered with everything considered. This is the best explained by looking at the difference between recorded music in the last century and robots now.
1. What's people's main attention according to the first paragraph?| A．Artificial intelligence. | B．The growing opportunities. |
| C．Not letting robots take away jobs. | D．Stopping the wide use of robots. |
| A．The idea of taxing robots. | B．The belief that robots steal jobs. |
| C．Rapid progress in artificial intelligence. | D．Disagreement between leading figures. |
| A．He agrees with Bill Gates' opinion. | B．He thinks robots can create jobs. |
| C．He supports the idea of taxing robots. | D．He praises using a basic income for all |
| A．There will be more social dissatisfaction in the future. |
| B．Monopoly power is a terrible social phenomenon. |
| C．We should tell job creation or loss with full consideration. |
| D．Recorded music is completely different from robots. |
6 . Off the Marianas Islands, in a remote stretch of the Pacific Ocean, lies a deep trench. A trench so deep that it could accommodate the tallest mountain range—the Himalayas, and still have a mile of water above!
The Mariana Trench stretches for 2, 550km along the Pacific Ocean floor and is 70km wide. The deepest part of the trench, Challenger Deep, lies 7 miles below the ocean surface. Mariana Trench is part of a network of trenches that cross the ocean floor.
How do these trenches form? Our Earth is made up of tectonic plates which connect with each other like giant jigsaw puzzles. The plates are constantly moving because of the molten lava inside our Earth. When one tectonic plate dives under another plate, trenches are formed.
The sheer depth of Mariana Trench makes it hard to explore. Sunlight does not reach that far down, covering it in permanent darkness. The water pressure at the deepest point is nearly 1,000 times more than at the surface. Despite these inhospitable conditions, some of the strangest creatures are found in the trench—creatures that produce their own light.
A team of researchers decided to study the zone, an area of water that is 3.7 miles to 6.8 miles below the surface.
The research team sent traps underwater to catch the tiny prawn-like amphipods (片脚动物) and tested them. They found extremely high levels of chemicals, known to cause health issues like cancer. These family of chemicals known as POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) were used extensively in pesticides until they were banned in the 1970s, and some are still in use today.
The POPs do not break down. They are ingested by the larger marine animals and when they die and sink to the bottom of the oceans, the smaller creatures feast on them. The chemicals then enter the bodies of these amphipods and other smaller marine creatures, and disrupt their hormone balances. And thus, the cycle continues.
While we may think that our oceans are pristine, this latest finding tells us that in a trench far……far away from any industrial city, we humans are leaving our footprint.
1. According to the text, the Mariana Trench ________.| A．covers the Pacific Ocean floor |
| B．remains dark all the time |
| C．is like a giant jigsaw puzzle |
| D．lies 7km below the ocean surface |
| A．the molten lava inside the earth |
| B．the cause of moving plates |
| C．the formation of the trench |
| D．the make-up of tectonic plates |
| A．By taking some soil from the ocean bottom. |
| B．By measuring the water pressure. |
| C．By getting some water from the trench. |
| D．By analyzing the creatures living in the trench. |
| A．The Mariana Trench is seriously polluted. |
| B．The Mariana Trench is totally dark. |
| C．The Mariana Trench is deadly poisonous. |
| D．The Mariana Trench is greatly wonderful. |
7 . The owner of the gas station near my house posts daily inspirational quotes (引说）on a board, such as: "When you forgive ,you heal. When you let go,you grow."
Most of the quotes are thoughtful ,but one quote was,for me, an entirely new thought: "Be who you needed when you were young."
Is the quote suggesting we should be that kind of person we needed when we were young-for ourselves? Or that we should do it for our children and grandchildren and other young people we meet?
Maybe we should do it for all of us, both young and old ?
Why would I choose to give so much thought to a quote from a gas station board? Sometimes when my train of thought leaves the station,I just have to jump on board and see where it takes me. I've been riding this train for days, thinking about a person I needed when I was young.
My mother worked at a factory.One day when I was 12, I came home from school and found her drinking iced tea with the prettiest lady I had ever seen . "Hello,child!” said the woman, cupping my face in her hands.
Her name was May, and she smiled a lot.
She was my mother's friend,but she became my role model, a friend whose advice I could always trust.
I soon began spending as much time as possibly could with May.I told her everything: my hopes and fears and especially all the things I didn't know.
I watched how she listened and encouraged and never spoke ill of anyone,even if they deserved it.How she was always kind to everyone ! She was a wise woman of faith and grace.
I wanted to be like her.
After I left home for college,May moved away and I never heard of her again.
Thanks to a quote from a gas station board I thought of my friend May, someone I needed when I was young and still hope to be like.
We don't always mirror people we admire.But remembering them reminds us to keep trying.
1. What does the underlined word "it" in Paragraph 4 refer to?| A．Offering entirely new thoughts on life. |
| B．Being a helpful and admirable person. |
| C．Posting daily inspirational quotes. |
| D．Thinking about the meanings of different quotes . |
| A．She took pride in giving advice to others. |
| B．She became a role model for many people. |
| C．She was patient and supportive of others. |
| D．She was perhaps more kind than wise. |
| A．By following their advice. |
| B．By putting themselves in their shoes. |
| C．By continuing to think about them. |
| D．By trying their best to be that kind of person. |
| A．A Good Friend Of The Author |
| B．A Wise Woman |
| C．A Much-needed Role Model |
| D．The Steps To Follow Your Model |
8 . Living in a foreign culture can be exciting, but it can also be confusing(令人迷惑的). A group of Americans who taught English in other countries recently discussed their experiences. They found that miscommunication was always possible, even over something as simple as “yes” and “no”.
On her first day in Micronesia, an island in the Pacific, Lisa thought people weren’t paying any attention to her. The day was hot. She went into a store and asked, “Do you have cold drinks？” The woman there didn’t say anything. Lisa repeated the question. Still the woman said nothing. She later learned that the woman had answered her: She had raised her eyebrows(眉毛), which in Micronesia means “yes”.
Jan remembered an experience she had in Bulgaria, a country in Europe. She went to a restaurant that was famous for its cabbage. She asked the waiter, “Do you have cabbage today？” He nodded his head. Jan waited, but the cabbage never came. In that country, a nod means “no”.
Tom had a similar problem when he arrived in India. After explaining something in class, he asked his students if they understood. They answered with many different nods and shakes of the head. He thought some people had not understood, so he explained again. When he asked again, they did the same thing. He soon found out that his students did understand. In India, people nod and shake their heads in different ways depending on where they come from. You have to know where a person is from to understand whether they mean “yes” or “no”．
1. The Americans teaching English in other countries found that they ________.| A．had problems with communication | B．needed to learn foreign languages |
| C．should often discuss their experiences | D．should go abroad for vacations |
| A．nodding heads | B．raising eyebrows |
| C．shaking heads | D．saying “no” |
| A．he didn’t know where the students came from |
| B．he didn’t explain everything clearly enough |
| C．some students didn’t understand his questions |
| D．he did not know much about Indian culture |
| A．In Bulgaria, nodding heads means “no” |
| B．Jan taught English on a Pacific island. |
| C．Lisa was trying to buy some cabbage. |
| D．In India，only shaking heads means “yes”. |
A few months later, much to my surprise, it was me that she passed him to. Lemon-Aide went with me to all of my treatments.
One day while waiting for my doctor I decided we could market the idea to fight cancer. Lesa thought it was a great idea so we founded the organization that came to be known as Lemon-Aide’s Friends, Inc. We designed our organization to remind people fighting cancer that there are people who love and care about them all the time. Today we have totally 5013 volunteers. The money raised is donated to cancer patients who do not have insurance. The physicians on our Board of Advisors determine how and where our money is donated.
Lemon-Aide is for men, women, and children of all ages and to date has been sent to 34 states and 33 countries to provide smiling support for people fighting cancer. When life gave us lemons we made Lemon-Aide, a soft smiling toy that represents love, support, and encouragement.
1. The author went to the hospital with her friend ________.
| A．to operate on Lesa |
| B．to treat her disease |
| C．to accompany Lesa |
| D．to look after Lemon-Aide |
| A．he represented her organization |
| B．he could help weaken her pain |
| C．she would think of her friends |
| D．her friends tried to comfort her |
| A．the author had suffered from cancer |
| B．Lemon-Aide had suffered from cancer |
| C．Lesa had recovered from cancer |
| D．Lemon-Aide learned to look after the author |
| A．cure cancer |
| B．raise money |
| C．help cancer patients |
| D．help their friend |
A good modern newspaper offers a variety to attract many different readers, but far more than any one reader is interested in. What brings this variety together in one place is its topicality, that is, its immediate relation to what is happening in your world and your locality now. But this immediacy and the speed of production that goes with it also mean that much of what appears in a newspaper has no more than temporary value. For all these reasons, no two people really read the same paper: what each person does is to put together, out of the pages of that day’s paper, his own selection and order, his own newspaper. For all these reasons, reading newspapers efficiently which means getting what you want from them without missing things you need but without wasting time, demands skill and self-awareness(意识) as you change and apply the techniques of reading.
1. What does the underlined word in the second paragraph mean ?
| A．wide coverage | B．speed in reporting news |
| C．various style | D．popularity among readers |
| A．people are interested in the same kind of news |
| B．different people prefer different newspapers |
| C．people scan for the news they are interested in |
| D．people have different views about what a good newspaper is |
| A．readers like to read different newspapers |
| B．it has to cover things that happen in a certain locality |
| C．readers are difficult to please |
| D．it tries to serve different readers |
| A．The Characteristics of a Good Newspaper |
| B．The Importance of a good Newspaper |
| C．Good Newspapers and Bad Newspapers |
| D．Some Advice on How to Read a Newspaper |
