1 . You are given many opportunities in life to choose to be a victim or creator. When you choose to be a victim, the world is a cold and difficult place.“They” did things to you which caused all of your pain and suffering.“They” are wrong and bad, and life is terrible as long as “they” are around.Or you may blame yourself for all your problems, thus internalizing(内化)your victimization.The truth is, your life is likely to stay that way as long as you feel a need to blame yourself or others.
Those who choose to be creators look at life quite differently.They know there are individuals who might like to control their lives, but they don't let this get in the way.They know they have their weaknesses, yet they don't blame themselves when they fail.Whatever happens, they have choice in the matter.They believe their dance with each sacred(神圣的)moment of life is a gift and that storms are a natural part of life which can bring the rain needed for emotional and spiritual growth.
Victims and creators live in the same physical world and deal with many of the same physical realities, yet their experience of life is worlds apart.Victims relish(沉溺)in anger, guilt, and other emotions that cause others--and even themselves---to feel like victims, too.Creators consciously choose love, inspiration, and other qualities which inspire not only themselves, but al1around them.Both victims and creators always have choice to determine the direction of their lives.
In reality, all of us play the victim or the creator at various points in our lives.One person, on losing a job or a special relationship, may feel as if it is the end of the world and sink into terrible suffering for months, years, or even a lifetime.Another with the same experience may choose to first experience the grief, then accept the loss and soon move on to be a powerful creative force in his life.
In every moment and every circumstance, you can choose to have fuller, richer life by setting a clear intention to transform the victim within, and by inviting into your life the powerful creator that you are.
1. What does the word “they” in Paragraph 1 probably refer to?| A．People and things around you. | B．Opportunities and problems. |
| C．Creators and their choices. | D．Victims and their sufferings. |
| A．seem willing to experience failures in life | B．possess the ability to predict future life |
| C．handle ups and downs of life wisely | D．have potential to create something new |
| A．To define victims and creators. |
| B．To evaluate victims against creators. |
| C．To explain the relationship between victims and creators. |
| D．To suggest the transformation from victims to creators. |
| A．strong attachment to sufferings in life pulls people into victims. |
| B．people need family support to deal with challengers in life. |
| C．it takes creators quite a long time to get rid of their pains. |
| D．one's experiences determine his attitude toward life. |
2 . The twilight zone (朦胧地带) contains the largest and least explored fish stocks (储备) of the world’s oceans. Ranging from just below 200 metres to 1,000 metres deep, it is an interface between the well-studied sea life in the sunlit zone above and the ecosystems of the darkest territory below. It has a major role in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it for centuries or longer. The twilight zone is also known to the largest migration on Earth. Huge numbers of fishes and zooplankton (浮游动物) move hundreds of metres towards the surface each night to feed, before withdrawing back down at dawn.
Yet the zone is poorly understood — physically, biogeochemically and ecologically. Even the number of organisms that live there remains a mystery, let alone their diversity and function.
It is alarming, then, that this vast ocean domain is at risk in three ways-even before any of the potential consequences are understood. First, the world’s growing population has an increasing need for food. Second, sea-floor mining for minerals and metals could release waste into the region. And third, climate change is varying temperature, acidification and oxygen levels in ways that are likely to affect life there.
The twilight zone is hard Io study. Its organisms are difficult to sample and analyse, being thinly distributed, almost invisible and often fragile. They also live at pressures of up to 100 atmospheres, which poses problems for laboratory-based investigations.
Critics might argue that walers near coasts and above shelves are more deserving of study, given the huge environmental pressures there, as well as their importance to societies. And, of course, they need attention. Sadly, however, it is too late to avoid widespread environmental damage to these inshore regions. Instead, research efforts and local policies must aim at minimizing the worst effects.
By contrast, the twilight zone is almost left in its original condition. Moreover, the majority of it lies beyond national administration. This makes it of common interest and responsibility, and means that global agreement is necessary to manage it.
1. What can we learn about the twilight zone?| A．It has the least fish stocks. |
| B．It reduces atmosphere’s carbon dioxide. |
| C．It lies at the bottom of sea. |
| D．Il is located above the sunlit zone. |
| A．Where global warming leads us. |
| B．Why high food consumption arises. |
| C．How the twilight zone is threatened. |
| D．What impacts pollution has on ocean. |
| A．The twilight zone. | B．The inshore area. |
| C．Its original condition. | D．National administration. |
| A．International cooperation is essential. |
| B．Inshore regions deserve more attention. |
| C．Global agreement has been reached. |
| D．Study on the twilight zone is out of the question. |
3 . Now, cities large and small often have remains of earlier historic streets and sidewalk pavements(人行道）。Yet they often go unprotected even when they may be older than neighbouring historic buildings that have enjoyed protection for tens of years.
There are many reasons to protect historic pavements - culture value, economics, environmental benefits and public safety. Pavements represented an important step in the modernization of city environments in the 19th century.
Before the laying of pavement, streets of dirt caused many problems to citizens,especially in wet weather when they became muddy(泥泞的），which limited the movement of people and vehicles.
To solve the problem, cities experimented with a wide range of materials in an attempt to balance durability(耐用性），economics,sources of materials and noise considerations.
The earliest pavement in many cities were cobblestones-naturally rounded stones.They were cheap and durable, but rough and noisy. Loose stone pavements were cheap and smooth, but not very durable. Wood also appeared in the 1850s as a popular option-smooth,quiet and affordable,but not very durable.
In many cities and towns,brick(砖）streets are the only historic pavements that have survived.This fact covers up the truth of pavement experimentation between the 1850s and 1920s, when a city could use up to a dozen different paving materials at the same time! Indeed, each city developed a unique "pavement identity” in the materials chosen and the way they were laid.
It is easy to think of the past when seeing historic pavements, as recalling “old world” city qualities. However, they are more similar to the early high buildings and parks-important city features that showed the modernization of the city. At a time when cities are becoming increasingly similar, such pavements also help define an important sense of place.
1. What is the present situation of historic pavements?| A．Failing to represent modern environments. |
| B．Failing to receive protection they should get. |
| C．Being brought back to its former glory. |
| D．Being highly valued as cultural buildings. |
| A．To help develop the local economy. |
| B．To prevent earth from being washed away. |
| C．To limit the movement of people and vehicles. |
| D．To bring convenience to citizens' life. |
| A．Popularity of different paving materials. |
| B．Different experiments on city identity. |
| C．Advantages and disadvantages of stone pavements. |
| D．Development of pavements of different materials. |
| A．They are similar to tall buildings. |
| B．They make cities appear similar. |
| C．They are unique of a particular place. |
| D．They represent the modernization of today's city. |
4 . China is one of the first countries to breed a medical culture. In comparison with Western methods, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) adopts a vastly different approach. For thousands of years, Chinese people have accumulated rich experience in fighting all sorts of diseases, therefore forming a unique medical theory under the guidance of ancient Chinese philosophies (哲学).
The core behind TCM is that the human body's life is the consequence (结果) of the balance between Yin and Yang. Yang functions to safeguard us against outer harm, and Yin is the inner base to store and provide energy. When the balance between the two aspects is disturbed, people fall ill.
One of the traditional techniques of TCM, acupuncture (针刺疗法) means insertion of needles into superficial (表面的) structures of the body—usually at acupoints (穴位)—to restore the Yin Yang balance. It is often accompanied by moxibustion (艾灸疗法), which involves burning mugwort on or near the skin at an acupoint.
The first known text that clearly talks about something like acupuncture and moxibustion as it is practiced today is The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon. It is the earliest and most important written work of TCM and is considered the fundamental and most representative medical text in China.
Acupuncture and moxibustion have aroused the interest of international medical science circles. And TCM is gradually gaining worldwide recognition. The WHO issued a document in 2002 that appealed to more than 180 countries to adopt TCM as an alternative in their medical policies. In 2010, acupuncture and moxibustion of traditional Chinese medicine were added to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO. Presently, TCM has been back in the news for its effectiveness in improving the cure rate of the COVID-19 since its outbreak in January 2020.
1. What is the key feature of TCM?| A．It adopts different medical approaches. | B．It's based on ancient Chinese philosophies. |
| C．It helps to restore body's self-balance. | D．It's gained experience through rich practice. |
| A．It distinguishes acupuncture from moxibustion. |
| B．It's a foundation of world medical research. |
| C．it stresses the importance of using acupoints. |
| D．It greatly contributes to the development of TCM. |
| A．To review the development of TCM. | B．To introduce TCM to the world. |
| C．To tell TCM and Western medicine apart. | D．To argue for TCM in fighting COVID-19. |
| A．How TCM helps in the current situation. | B．Why TCM is gaining popularity. |
| C．Why TCM gets recognition from WHO. | D．How other countries adopt TCM. |
5 . Looking back is a wonderful thing. It allows you to see what has led you here and, hopefully, how society has changed and improved.
Take, for instance, my career goal. First, I wanted, in 1999, to be a “farmer”, soon archaeologist, then driving instructor and somewhere along the way, footballer.
I had grown up in a football-loving family. I remember the exact moment when I said “I’m sad I can’t be a footballer” while watching the game with Dad as a pre-teen. He asked why not. “Because I’m not a boy.” He immediately responded, “You can, if you want to.” “Yeah, I suppose so,” I sighed, “but no one watches women’s football.”
Looking back, I can see exactly why I felt like that. At school, there was an unwritten rule that sports like hockey and netball were “girl” sports and rugby and football were for the boys. I’d never seen a women’s football match on TV. You see, you can’t be what you can’t see, and lack of representation leads, at best, to misunderstanding, and at worst, fear and negative opinions.
Today, the Lionesses will take on Scotland in the World Cup, and people across the world will tune in — over 950,000 tickets have been sold so far. But, although women’s football is one of FIFA’s best investments — with a pound for pound return, the majority of female players are earning under a fair wage. Some argue that’s because viewing statistics are lower than those of men’s, but the rise in support shows the demand is there. Hopefully, more investment will push female football forward.
Today, I’ll be cheering on the Lionesses, because it’ll mean talented, skillful female footballers being broadcast into millions of homes and maybe, just maybe, a little girl believing that she can also be a Lioness one day.
1. Which of the following best describes the author’s career goals?| A．Realistic. | B．Changeable. |
| C．Consistent. | D．Long-sought. |
| A．She was not talented enough. |
| B．People lost faith in women’s football. |
| C．Girls were forbidden to play football. |
| D．She had no example to follow. |
| A．It’s better paid than men’s. | B．It is increasingly popular. |
| C．It has no market demand. | D．It is not profitable. |
| A．Society advances with time. | B．Women deserve equal rights. |
| C．Each goal is worth pursuing. | D．Hard work always pays off. |
6 . For many of us, good friends are the next closest thing to family. According to a new study, good friends are actually the next closest thing to family from the aspect of genes (基因).
U.S. researchers have found that we are more genetically similar to our friends than to any stranger. The study suggested that genes may affect how we choose our friends, reports the BBC.
The study looked at the gene information of nearly 2,000 people, who were chosen from a small U.S. town as part of a larger heart study. Nearly half a million single-letter markers from the genome (基因组) were studied, showing that friends share about 0.1 percent more DNA, on average, than strangers do. While that might not sound like much, it’s as if they shared a great-great-great-grandparent in common.
Except for providing DNA information, participants (参与者) in the study were also asked who their closest friends were. Because all of the participants were chosen from such a small community, it made this group particularly suitable for such studies.
However, the fact that all of the study was based on such a small community has also led to argument. Friendships in small communities might be more likely to be genetically related, because such communities have fewer types of genes in general.
“I wonder whether the methods used in the study can fully explain the causes known to drive friendships,” said Oxford’s Dr. Rory Bowden.
There was one interesting finding from the study. Some of the genes that friends are most likely to have in common are about smell. “You may really love the smell of coffee. And you’re drawn to a place where other people have been drawn because they love the smell of coffee too,” Fowler explained. “And so that might be the opportunity space for you to make friends. You’re all there together because you love coffee and you make friends because you all love coffee.”
1. What did the participants do in the study?| A．They named their closest friends. |
| B．They made friends from a small community. |
| C．They changed the methods of making friends. |
| D．They provided DNA information of their friends. |
| A．Coffee helps strangers come together. |
| B．Good friends will love the smell of coffee. |
| C．Genes about smell among friends are similar. |
| D．Smell may influence people in making friends. |
| A．A study on the relationship between making friends and genes. |
| B．The methods of carrying out different studies. |
| C．A way to choose participants in a study. |
| D．The similar genes between good friends. |
7 . If you live in certain parts of the world, you will see something magical happen each fall. It is the changing of the color of the leaves on many different trees. Each year deciduous (落叶的) trees go through a process in which their green leaves become bright yellow, gold, orange and red before turning brown and falling onto the ground.
Photosynthesis (光合作用) is the process for trees to make their food taking energy from the sun, water from the ground, and carbon dioxide from the air, they make sugar to “eat” so they can grow into strong, healthy trees. The leaves of a tree are where photosynthesis happens because the chlorophyll (叶绿素) in the leaves is what makes photosynthesis possible. Chlorophyll also has another job—it is what makes leaves green. When the seasons change in places where deciduous trees grow and the days get shorter and the weather gets colder, it is harder for the chlorophyll in the leaves to make the food needed to stay green. So instead of making more food, the leaves start using food they have stored away for this time of year.
As the leaves use the food that has been stored away, cells form at the bottom of each leaf. These cells act like a door between the leaf and the rest of the tree—a door that closes very slowly and doesn’t shut until all the leaf’s food is gone. While this is happening, the colors in the leaves of the trees are able to show through. In fact, the red, yellow, gold and orange colors are hiding in the leaves all summer long. The colors just can’t be seen in the summer because of all the chlorophyll in the leaves.
You might be wondering how the rest of the tree keeps growing when the weather turns cold and the leaves die and fall. Doesn’t the rest of the tree need the food made by the tree’s leaves?
Not really. The tree trunk and branches get food from the roots of the tree. The roots supply water, vitamins and minerals they get from the ground. Trees need sunshine and warm weather to grow, but they also need time to rest like bears that sleep during the winter.
1. Why do leaves change colors?| A．They save some energy to stay alive. |
| B．The chlorophyll stores some food away. |
| C．They have to get used to the cold weather. |
| D．They can’t get enough energy from the sun. |
| A．When there is no sunlight any longer . |
| B．When the food stored away in the leaves is use up. |
| C．When the chlorophyll in the leaves stops working. |
| D．When cells start to form at the bottom of each leaf . |
| A．By getting food from the ground. |
| B．By storing food in their branches. |
| C．By storing food in their roots. |
| D．By making the most use of the dead leaves. |
| A．To study how trees survive in winter. |
| B．To tell about the importance of photosynthesis. |
| C．To explain why leaves change colors. |
| D．To show the changes of trees in the whole year. |
8 . Whether it's Chinese social media like Sina Weibo, or Western media like Instagram an Facebook, videos can go viral in mere hours.
The wide range of viral videos suggests that popular concepts are largely random. After all, what links the recent broom challenge to funny internet cat videos?
According to scientists from Stanford University, US, the popularity of a video can be predicted by looking at how certain areas of a person's brain react within the first few seconds of a video. This method has been called neuroforecasting（神经预测）.
The team made the finding by recruiting（招募）36 volunteers to watch a range of videos while being scanned with an FMRI—a machine that can monitor the changes in blood oxygen and flow.
Participants were shown 32 different videos and were monitored according to their brain responses in four different areas. The results showed that specific brain activity during the first four seconds of a video could effectively predict a person's thoughts on a video and whether they would keep watching.
Using the FMRI results, the Stanford team consistently saw increased activity in the nucleus accumbens（伏核）and decreased activity in the anterior insula（前脑岛）parts of the brain while the participants were watching the most popular of the 32-vidco selection.
According to the study, these two brain regions are related to the feeling of expectation we get when we're not certain of something's outcome.
Stanford neuroscientist（神经学家）and the study's author Brian Knutson said: "If we examine our subjects' choices to watch the video or even their reported responses to the videos, they don't tell us about the general response online ... Only brain activity seems to forecast a video's popularity on the internet.”
He added, “Future research might also systematically analyze the video content, so content creators can use these findings to make their videos more popular.”
In the future, the team aims to use this type of FMRI experiment to understand "whether processes that generate individual choice can tell us something about choices made by large groups of people”. According to Knutson, this could apply to shopping trends, charity support and general money-spending.
1. What did scientists from Stanford University find?| A．There are differences between viral videos in different cultures. |
| B．People's reported response can predict the popularity of a video. |
| C．There are links between viral videos under different subjects. |
| D．Viewers' initial brain activity can forecast the popularity of a video. |
| A．All four areas monitored displayed increased activity. |
| B．One area got more active while another became less active. |
| C．Areas related to the feeling of uncertainty got more active. |
| D．The activity of areas related to the feeling of expectation increased. |
| A．The participants' choices to watch the videos help them make the finding. |
| B．How long the subjects watched the videos also mattered to their conclusion. |
| C．Our brain activity can show something we ourselves don't realize. |
| D．When the video was beyond the viewers‘ expectation, it is generally popular. |
| A．Exploring the link between individual and general choices. |
| B．Interviewing content creators how they make videos. |
| C．Discouraging more charity organizations. |
| D．Applying their findings to arresting criminals. |
9 . Bitcoin and other so-called cryptocurrencies （加密货币）have been all over the news lately. Apparently, the idea of money that's not tied to a specific bank—or a specific country—is appealing to many. But it's worth remembering that the banking system that we now all live with is just that： A modern invention. Not so long ago, money was almost always created and used locally, and bartering was common. （In fact, it still is common among many online local networks, like the Buy Nothing Project.）.
In the past, money's makeup varied from place to place, depending on what was considered valuable there. So while some of the world's first coins were made from a naturally occurring hybrid of gold and silver called electrum （银金矿），objects other than coins have served as currency, including beads, ivory, livestock, and cowrie shells. In West Africa, bracelets of bronze or copper were used as cash, especially if the transaction was associated with the slave trade there. Throughout the colonial period, tobacco was used to replace coins or paper bills in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, even though it was used elsewhere in the colonies and extensively throughout Europe and the U. K.
Today, on an island in the Pacific, a specific type of shell still serves as currency—and some people there are even hoarding（贮存）it, just like Bitcoin moguls, convinced that one day, it will make them wealthy beyond imagination. On Malaita, the most-populated island that's part of the Solomon Islands, shells are accepted at most places in exchange for goods.
"How much tuna（金枪鱼）you can get for your shells depends on their color and shape," Mary Bruno, a shop owner from the small town of Auki, on Malaita, told Vice. "One strip of darker shells might get you about two cans of smaller tuna, but the red ones are worth more. For the red ones, one strip might get enough tuna to feed a big family for a long time."
Just like a mint that creates coins, there's only one place on the island where the shells, which are polished and strung together to form 3-foot-long ropes, are made. The strips of red, white, and black shells all come from Langa Langa Lagoon, where artificial islands were long-ago built by locals to escape from the island-dwelling cannibals. Once marooned（困住）out on their islands, locals needed a currency to use among themselves, and so the shell currency was born.
Using shells for money was common throughout the Pacific islands as late as the early 1900s, but Malaita is unique in that they are still used today. And just like cryptocurrencies, there are those who think the islanders are smart to invest in this type of money, which is reported to have risen in value over the last three decades. It might seem strange to hoard a bunch of processed, strung-together shells, but what is a pile of dollars? Just a specially printed piece of paper and hemp that we've assigned value to—and probably less durable over time than those shells.
1. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?| A．Money was created and was widely used in the world. |
| B．Tobacco was used as coins or paper bills in American in the past. |
| C．The ingredients of world’s first coins may be the combination of gold and silver. |
| D．Using shells for money has been out of date in the world. |
| A．a kind of money that can exchange |
| B．the leaves of a mint plant used fresh or candied |
| C．a place to produce and polish shells |
| D．a factory that produces currency |
| A．Reasonable. | B．Imaginary. |
| C．Convenient. | D．Inventive. |
| A．The History of Bitcoin |
| B．Shells Still Money |
| C．The Currency Is of Great Use |
| D．Some Shells |
10 . Composite image of Europe and North Africa at night, 2016. Credit： NASA Earth NPP Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using Suomi VIIRS data from Miguel Roman, is oftenNASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Artificial light seen as a sign of progress: the march of civilization shines a light in the dark； it takes back the night； it illuminates. But a chorus of scientists and advocates argues that unnaturally bright nights are bad not just for astronomers but also for nocturnal (夜间活动的)animals and even for human health.
Now research shows the night is getting even brighter. From 2012 to 2016 the earth's artificially lit area expanded by an estimated 2. 2 percent a year (map), according to a study published last November in Science Advances. Even that increase may understate the problem, however. The measurement excludes light from most of the energy-efficient LED lamps that have been replacing sodium-vapor technology in cities all over the world, says lead study author Christopher Kyba, a postdoctoral researcher at the German Research Center for Geosciences in Potsdam.
The new data came from a NASA satellite instrument called the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). It can measure long-wavelengths of light, such as those produced by traditional yellow-and-orange sodium-vapor street lamps. But VIIRS cannot see the shortwavelength blue light produced by white LEDs. This light has been shown to disrupt human sleep cycles and nocturnal animals, behavior.
Credit: Mapping Specialists ； Source: Artificially Lit Surface of Earth at Night Increasing in Radiance and Extent," by Christopher C. M. Kyba et al. , in Science Advances, Vol. 3, No. 11, Article No. E1701528 ； November 22, 2017.
The team believes the ongoing switch to LEDs caused already bright countries such as Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the U. S. to register as having stable levels of illumination in the VIIRS data. In contrast, most nations in South America, Africa and Asia brightened, suggesting increases in the use of traditional lighting. Australia actually appeared to lose lit area一but the researchers say that is because wildfires skewed the data.
"The fact that VIIRS finds an increase (in many countries) , despite its blindness in the part of the spectrum that increased more, is very sad," says FabioFalchi, a researcher at Italy's Light Pollution Science and Technology Institute, who did not participate in the study. In 2016 Falchi, along with Kyba and several other members of his research team, published a global atlas of artificial lighting that showed one third of the world's population currently lives under skies too bright to see the Milky Way at night.
The data also cast doubt on the idea that the LED lighting revolution will lead to energy cost savings. Between 2012 and 2016 the median nation pumped out 15 percent more long- wavelength light as its GDP increased by 13 percent. And overall, countries, total light production correlated with their GDP. In other words, Kyba says, "we buy as much light as we are willing to spend money on."
1. Which is not true about the spread of lit areas?| A．Lit area expanded by an estimated 2. 2 percent a year. |
| B．Artificial light is often seen as a sign of progress. |
| C．The increase in GDP is due to the increase in light. |
| D．It is bad for noctumal animals and even for human health. |
| A．It is a kind of NASA satellite device. |
| B．It can record and analyzed long-wavelength light. |
| C．The blue light generated by white LEDs can disrupt human sleep cycles. |
| D．VIIRS has found an increase of traditional lighting in lots of nations. |
| A．Artificial LED lights at nights are harmful to people's health. |
| B．It is a sign of civilization in modern society. |
| C．The blue light disrupts human and animals" life cycles. |
| D．Artificially lit surface of Earth increasing because of LEDs. |
| A．show the VIIRS data from NASA |
| B．demonstrate the significance of VIIRS for its measurement of wavelengths |
| C．reveal the relationship between wavelength light and GDP |
| D．arouse peoples awareness of light pollution |
