1 . Culture can affect not just language and customs, but also how people experience the world on surprisingly basic levels.
Researchers, with the help of brain scans, have uncovered shocking differences in perception(感知) between Westerners and Asians, what they see when they look at a city street, for example, or even how they perceive a simple line in a square, according to findings published in a leading science journal
In western countries, culture makes people think of themselves as highly independent entities(实体) .When looking at scenes, Westerners tend to focus more on central objects than on their surroundings. East Asian cultures, however emphasize inter-dependence. When Easterners look at a scene, they tend to focus on surroundings as well as the object.
Using an experiment involving two tasks, Dr Hedden asked subjects to look at a line simply to estimate its length, a task that is played to American strengths. In another, they estimated the line's length relative to the size of a square, an easier task for the Asians.
The level of brain activity, by tracking blood flow, was then measured by Brain Scanners. The experiment found that although there was no difference in performance, and the tasks were very easy, the levels of activity in the subjects’ brains were different. For the Americans, areas linked to attention lit up more, when they worked on the task they tended to find more difficult--estimating the line's size relative to the square. For the Asians, the attention areas lit up more during the harder task also--estimating the line's length without comparing it to the square. The findings are a reflection of more than ten years of previous experimental research into east-west differences
In one study, for instance, researchers offered people a choice among five pens, four red and one green. Easterners were more likely to choose a red pen while Westerners were more likely to choose the green one.
Culture is not affecting how you see the world, but how you choose to understand and internalize(使内化) it. But such habits can be changed. Some psychological studies suggest that when an Easterner goes to the West or vice versa, habits of thought and perception also begin to change. Such research gives us clues on how our brain works and is hopeful for us to develop programs to improve our memory, memory techniques and enhance and accelerate our learning skills.
1. According to the passage, Chinese people are most likely to_________.| A．emphasize independent thinking more |
| B．always focus more on their surroundings |
| C．focus on the context as well as object |
| D．think of Westerners as highly independent entities |
_________.| A．the task is much easier |
| B．the blood flow is tracked |
| C．people begin to choose colors |
| D．the task is more difficult |
| A．They indicate that culture has a great impact on the way people talk and behave. |
| B．They show that Easterners and Westerners have great differences in perceiving the world |
| C．They suggest that people's habits of thought and perception can be changed in different cultures. |
| D．They make it clear that Easterners and Westerners lay emphasis on different things |
| A．Easterners prefer collectivism to individualism |
| B．East Asian cultures lay more emphasis on independence |
| C．It took over ten years to find out how to improve our brainpower |
| D．Americans will change their habits of perception when they're in Britain |
2 . I'd done it before, and so I had no reason to believe that this time would be any different. I was sure that when I returned home from my mission trip, as always, I'd bring back nothing more than some mud on my boots, a hole or two in my jeans and, of course, a lot of great memories.
The summer before my high school graduation, I went to West Virginia with others as volunteers to repair the homes of those in need. Arriving at our destination, my group was assigned the task of rebuilding sections of a home that had been damaged by fire. No sooner had we parked on the home's dirt driveway than we saw an excited little girl, no more than six years old, standing in the doorway of the family's temporary home. Shoeless and wearing dirty clothes and the biggest smile I'd ever seen, she yelled, "Ma, Ma, they really came! " I didn't know it then, but her name was Dakota, and four more days would pass before she’d say another word near me.
Behind Dakota was a woman in a wheelchair—her grandmother, we'd soon learn. I also discovered that my job that week would be to help change a fire—damaged dining room into a bedroom for this little girl. Grabbing our tools, we went to work. Over the following days, I noticed Dakota peeking at us every now and then as we worked. A few times. I tried talking with her, but she remained shy and distant, always flying around us like a tiny butterfly but keeping to herself.
By our fifth and final day, however, this was about to change.
Before I went to work on her home on that last morning, I spoke for a moment or two with the grandmother. I was especially pleased when she told me how much Dakota loved her new room so much, in fact, that she'd begged to sleep in it the previous night, even though it wasn't quite ready. As we talked, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before—Dakota was hiding behind her grandmother. Cautiously, she stepped into view, and I could see that just like her clothes, her face was still dirty. But no amount of soil could hide those bright blue eyes and big smile. She was simply adorable. I wanted so much to hug her, but respecting her shyness, I kept my distance.
Slowly, she began walking toward me. It wasn't until she was just inches away that I noticed the folded piece of paper in her tiny hand. Silently, she reached up and handed it to me. Once unfolded, I looked at the drawing she'd made with her broken crayons on the back of an old coloring book cover. It was of two girls—one much taller than the other—and they were holding hands. She told me it was supposed to be me and her and on the bottom of the paper were three little words that instantly broke my heart. Now almost in tears, I couldn't control myself anymore—I bent down and hugged her. She hugged me, too. And for the longest time, neither one of us could let go.
By early afternoon, we finished Dakota's bedroom, and so I gladly used the rare free time to get to know my newest friend. Sitting under a tree away from the others, we shared a few apples while she told me about her life. As I listened to her stories about the struggles she and her family went through daily, I began to realize how boring various aspects of my own life were.
I left for home early the next morning. I was returning with muddy boots and holes in my jeans. But because of Dakota, I brought back something else, too—a greater appreciation for all of the blessing of my life. I’ll never forget that barefoot little butterfly with the big smile and dirty face. I pray that she’ll never forget me either.
1. From the appearance description of the little girl, we know _______.| A．she formed a bad living habit |
| B．she hoped for a better education |
| C．she was an innocent and lovely child |
| D．she was strong and calm in the inner world |
| A．Enjoy your help. |
| B．Please don’t leave. |
| C．Help me, please. |
| D．Hug me close. |
| A．She worried about the little girl’s future. |
| B．She decided to keep helping the little girl. |
| C．She felt a greater affection for the little girl. |
| D．She got surprised at the little girl’s worthless gift. |
| A．One must learn to share life experiences. |
| B．One often wants to lead a meaningful life. |
| C．One occasionally benefits from the poverty. |
| D．One should be more grateful for the gift of life. |
3 . Over 400 human footprints preserved in volcanic sediment （沉淀物）provide a sign at social life among ancient hunter-gatherers. The impressions, found in northern Tanzania, add up to Africa's largest collection of ancient human footprints, say evolutionary biologist Kevin Hatala of Chatham University in Pittsburgh and colleagues. People walked across a muddy layer of volcanic ashes dating to between 19,100 and 5,760 years ago, the researchers reported on May 14 in Scientific Reports. Dating of a thin rock layer that partly overlaps （重 叠）the sediment narrows the footprints' age to about 12,000 to 10,000 years ago.
Hatala's team analyzed footprint sizes, distances between prints and which way prints pointed. One collection of tracks was made by 17 people walking southwest. Comparisons with modern prints suggest that this group consisted of fourteen women, two men and one young boy. The women may have been searching for foods while a few males visited or accompanied them, the researchers infer. Some present-day hunter-gatherers form lately female food-gathering groups.
The study is "a nice piece of work”, although it's hard to specify what people were doing, says geologist Matthew Bennett of Bournemouth University in Poole, England.
Many more sets of footprint tracks would be needed to argue convincingly that hunter-gatherers at that time had female food-gathering groups, Bennett says. And it would still be unknown if the women were gathering plants or hunting prey. Other footprint sites present especially promising opportunities for studying ancient behavior, he says. He is involved in work in New Mexico that has uncovered tens of thousands of footprints of humans and other creatures from more than 10,000 years ago. Early results suggest that humans there hunted giant sloths （树 獭）.Bennett expects those prints will yield more insights into Stone Age hunting.
1. What does the underlined word "impressions” in the first paragraph mean?| A．Thoughts about people or things. | B．Collections of volcanic ashes. |
| C．Marks left by creatures or something. | D．Behaviors of imitating someone- |
| A．Ancient hunters were socially organized. |
| B．Ancient male hunters were admired by females. |
| C．Female food-gathering groups were obviously formed. |
| D．Males played a more important role in finding food than females. |
| A．The females gathered plants or hunted prey in the Stone Age. |
| B．The footprint tracks have proved female food-gathering groups existed. |
| C．The footprint sites provide a good chance to further study ancient behavior |
| D．The footprints will hardly influence our understanding of Stone Age hunting. |
| A．How Ancient Hunters Gathered Food |
| B．What Ancient Hunan Footprints Were Like |
| C．What Ancient Human Footprints Tell Us |
| D．How Ancient Food-Gathering Groups Cooperated |
4 . Recently, researchers at the University of Toronto figured out a way with a quick video selfie to accurately measure blood pressure with your smartphone’s camera by developing a technology known as transdermal optical imaging (TOI)(透皮光学成像).
Cameras on smartphones can catch red light reflected from hemoglobin (血红素）under our skin, which permits TOI to visualize and measure blood flow changes. Researchers measured the blood pressure of 1,328 Canadian and Chinese adults by getting two-minute videos of their faces on an iPhone. “From the video got by the technology, you can see how the blood flows in different parts of the face and through this flow, you can get a lot of information,” said Kang Lee, lead author of the study.
Lee also helped create an app called Anura, which allows people to try out the TOI software for themselves, giving them the ability to record a 30-second video of their face and receive measurements for stress levels and resting heart rate. Lee said more research was needed to make sure that the measurements were as accurate as possible, explaining that the study didn’t test people with very dark or very fair skin.
“In order to improve our app to make it usable, particularly for people with hypertension (高血压)，we need to collect a lot of data from them, which is very hard because a lot of them are already taking medicine,” Lee explained. “We cannot tell them not to take medicine, but from time to time, we get participants who don’t take medicine so we can get hypertensive people this way.”
The scientists said there were many potential applications of the technology, including providing health services for those who lived in remote areas.
1. What is mainly talked about in Paragraph 2？| A．Information offered by TOI. | B．New findings on hypertension. |
| C．How TOI is put into smart phones. | D．How the TOI technology works. |
| A．Living a life free from stress. | B．Improving the heart function gradually. |
| C．Accessing health services for free. | D．Knowing abnormal blood pressure earlier. |
| A．Equipping phones with better cameras. |
| B．Allowing phones to record longer videos. |
| C．Collecting data from more diverse samples. |
| D．Persuading participants not to take medicine. |
| A．To predict future applications of TOI. |
| B．To introduce TOI and an app related. |
| C．To describe functions of cameras on phones. |
| D．To evaluate the quality of an app called Anura. |
5 . China is determined to land its astronauts on the moon and set up a scientific station there,according to a project leader.
Zhou Yanfei,deputy chief designer of China's manned space program,said on Friday that China wishes to use the manned lunar missions to carry out scientific surveys and technology demonstrations,explore ways to develop lunar resources and strengthen the nation's space capabilities.
＂A new wave of lunar explorations has been emerging in the world,with participants aiming to make sustainable missions to deepen knowledge of the moon and exploit resources there,"he said in a report delivered at the 2020 China Space Conference in Fuzhou,Fujian province."Unlike other nations,China must depend on its own science and technology to realize our goals."
The country is independently able to land its astronauts on the moon because it has the technologies,a group of well-trained,innovative professionals and high-efficiency research and management systems,Zhou said."However,our existing carrier rockets can't perform landing missions to the moon because they are not powerful enough.The Shenzhou- series manned spaceships are not suitable for lunar expeditions.We don't have a lunar landing capsule,"he said."Our ground support system was designed for operations in low-Earth orbit rather than on the lunar surface.
To solve the problem, we set out to produce a powerful launch vehicle. Zhou said researchers thought about two approaches-making a new heavy-lift rocket,or adjusting the next-generation rocket designed to carry astronauts,which is under development.Researchers prefer the latter approach because it would be easier to design and make and would become operational earlier.
The new rocket is being designed at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.Its main body will be 87 meters tall,with a diameter of 5 meters,which would make it almost twice as tall as the Long March 5,currently the biggest of China's rockets.
1. Which is NOT the goal of the manned lunar mission?| A．To explore lunar resources. |
| B．To perform scientific experiments. |
| C．To set up a scientific station. |
| D．To strengthen the national space power. |
| A．China is not capable of pursuing the manned lunar program. |
| B．There are still difficulties in pursuing the manned lunar program. |
| C．There are a series of steps in the Manned Lunar program. |
| D．It is manageable to carry out the Manned Lunar program. |
| A．Nations must depend on themselves to explore the moon. |
| B．The Long March 5 is the biggest of China's rocket. |
| C．The newly-designed rocket will not carry astronauts. |
| D．Producing a powerful launch vehicle is the most difficult part in the program. |
| A．The new rocket is big enough to perform landing missions. |
| B．The new rocket is being made to launch lunar spaceship. |
| C．China's scientific power has improved. |
| D．The new rocket will be put into use soon. |
6 . With so many investments required of us to succeed - time, resources, talents, responsibilities, even finances for our retirement - it’s easy to lose sight of the most difficult investment of all to commit to : ourselves.
Getting to the point where you’re ready to start upgrading to you 2.0 isn’t easy. But it doesn’t mean dropping the ball everywhere else. It’s not about omissions, but admissions. Come clean with yourself to kick-start your personal growth.
Unstuck starts with “u”
No one purposely chooses to stop learning and growing again, it just kind of happens in a lot of daily responsibilities and life. And if it were easy to just kick it into gear（ 档 位 ）again, you would have already done it. But the truth is inescapable. If you want to get off that place to higher ground, it’s up to you and only you. No one will just hand you a steady stream of opportunities for growth.
You’ve been working in your life, not on it
Activity is often confused with acceleration（忙碌）. I was guilty of this for years in working place - staying always busy but not admitting I was bored. I was lost in activity and not steeping back to take time to question what I wanted my life to be. Once I began working on my life - quitting corporate, becoming an entrepreneur, restructuring to my life - I started growing once again. And I’ve never been happier.
Things aren’t happening to you, they’re happening for you
A victim mentality（心态）is the enemy of personal growth. Lamenting over everything that has gone wrong in your life only wastes energy from working to make more things go right. If you want to kick-start growth, you must view setbacks as having a purpose, and then put them in their place. The past shouldn’t run or define you - only fuel you.
The perfect time to start doesn’t exist
I had so many things that had to be just right before I could make my long-planned leap from corporate. I’d tell myself, “I’d love to go for it right now, but practically speaking.” Well, guess what? Practicality is poison. It’s the convenient excuse stopping you from what you’re meant to become.
It’s time to unplug others’ opinions
Grow where you want to grow. Learn what you want to learn. Wherever you are on the scale of hat you want to learn next - be it beginner or near - expert own it, be proud of it. Pretenses are for pretenders. You’re just trying to become a better version of your genuine self.
1. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?| A．If you want to succeed, you have to invest yourself first. |
| B．Upgrading yourself is hard, but you still need to continue. |
| C．Giving up upgrading yourself is just like dropping the ball. |
| D．It’s a kind of responsibility to go on learning though it’s hard. |
| A．to express sadness and feeling sorry about something |
| B．to repeat what happens to you in the past of your life |
| C．to show some regretful feeling or thought for our past |
| D．to recognize something that has gone wrong in the past |
| A．the busier you are, the happier and better you will be |
| B．what happened shouldn’t prevent you, but protect you |
| C．whoever you are, just grow where you want to grow |
| D．how well you grow is actually decided by yourself |
| A．3 | B．7 | C．5 | D．6 |
7 . In 2008, someone, or perhaps a group of people, using the name Satoshi Nakamoto published a paper to an online group that discussed cryptography（密码使用法）. That paper described a process that would use cryptography to create a secure electronic cash system, now known as a cryptocurrency（ 加密货币）. Person to person payment could be made online using a shared network of computers instead of a bank or other financial institution. Each deal could happen very quickly. The shared network of computers would also serve as the means to prove those deals safely. Getting rid of the need for a centralized banking system would open up the possibility for anyone to become part of the digital economy.
Today, there are well over a thousand different cryptocurrencies. Most are still trying to be feasible global payment system like Bitcoin. They are held back by problems affecting the entire cryptocurrency industry.
One issue is weak security on cryptocurrency websites where users either store their electronic cash in virtual “wallets” or exchange one kind of electronic cash for another. In recent years, clever thieves have broken into many of these websites and stolen electronic cash. The websites are struggling to protect their users from such thefts.
Another problem is the large number of fake cryptocurrencies that are advertised on the internet. The advertisements invite internet users to visit websites offering new cryptocurrencies. Many visitors are persuaded by the websites to buy their cryptocurrencies using actual money. Later, the webistes disappear along with the victims’ money. In response to this problem, companies like Facebook and Google are limiting cryptocurrency advertising on their websites.
1. What does the article explain about Satoshi Nakamoto?| A．Satoshi’s background in international baking and investment. |
| B．Satoshi’s grave doubts about the true value of cryptocurrencies. |
| C．Satoshi’s close partnership with suspicious financial institutions. |
| D．Satoshi’s contribution to the development of the digital economy. |
| A．They and their users have been robbed. |
| B．They’ve revealed the identities of their users. |
| C．They reward their users with coll prizes. |
| D．They arrange recreational events for users. |
| A．It’s had to lay off lots of workers. |
| B．It’s celebrating a profitable year. |
| C．It’s facing some serious challenges. |
| D．It’s set a very high moral standard. |
| A．Few cryptocurrencies need to be marketed. |
| B．They’ve created their own cryptocurrency. |
| C．They didn’t listen to cryptocurrency fans. |
| D．Too many cryptocurrecies aren’t real. |
8 . The world’s first fully electric plane has flown successfully for almost 15 minutes. The world’s first fully electric commercial aircraft took its first test flight on Tuesday, taking off from the Canadian city of Vancouver and offering hope that airlines may one day end their polluting emissions.
“This proves that commercial airmail in all-electric form can work,” said Roei Ganzarski, CEO of Seattle-based engineering firm MagniX. The company designed the plane’s motor and worked in partnership with Harbour Air, which carries half a million passengers a year between Vancouver, Whistler ski resort and nearby islands and coastal communities. Ganzarski said the technology would mean significant cost savings for airlines—not to mention zero emissions. “This signifies the start of the electric airmail age,” he told reporters.
Civil airmail is one of the fastest growing sources of carbon emissions as people increasingly take to the skies and new technologies have been slow to make remarkable progress. At 285 grammes of CO2 emitted per kilometre (mile) travelled by each passenger, airline industry emissions far exceed those from all other transport, according to the European Environment Agency.
The e-plane—a 62-year-old, six-passenger DHC –2 de Havilland Beaver seaplane improved on with an electric motor—was piloted by Greg McDougall, founder and CEO of Harbour Air. “For me that flight was just like flying a Beaver, but it was a Beaver on electric steroids (电动兴奋剂). I actually had to turn off the power button,” he said. McDougall took the plane in a short circle along the Fraser River near Vancouver International Airport in front of around 100 onlookers soon after sunrise.
1. What can we know from the first fully electric plane’s success?| A．The flying time of e-plane is 15 minutes at most. |
| B．The fully electric commercial airmail has functioned. |
| C．Airlines may realize the goal of zero emissions. |
| D．The fully electric plane never does damage to the environment. |
| A．Means. | B．Proves. | C．Changes. | D．Follows. |
| A．The pollution caused by passengers. | B．The backward airmail technology. |
| C．The current situation of civil airmail. | D．The growing sources of carbon emissions. |
| A．Shocked. | B．Positive. | C．Doubtful. | D．Objective. |
9 . P.S. 139, in Brooklyn, New York, has a school garden where students grow their favorite fruits and vegetables. It also has a school cookbook filled with recipes that use those foods, as well as a technology club, a soccer club, an artists' club, and a teachers’ lounge.
All of this is partially thanks to a process called PB. Through PB, students, parents, teachers, and P. S. 139 staff decide each year how to use some of the school’s money. Over the past three years, P. S. 139 has spent nearly $50,000 this way. Usually, only school leaders get to decide how to distribute a budget, but PB lets others weigh in. Shari Davis is one of the heads of the PB Project, a nonprofit group based in New York and California. '' PB opens the door and invites folks to participate in decisions. People who are closest to the problems in a community are often also closest to settling them. '' she told TIME for Kids.
To start the PB process, members of a school community think about changes they’d like to see. Then they submit their ideas to a committee. It organizes the ideas into complete proposals (议案), which include the cost of each project. Lastly, every member votes for the winning projects that will be supported financially.
PB Project co-founder Josh Lerner helped bring the approach to P. S. 139. He finds that leaders are pleasantly surprised by the winning projects, which help them '' better understand what their communities need'', he says.
PB isn't just for schools. It’s also used by city and state governments around the world. New York City has been using PB since 2011. New Yorkers have spent more than $210 million this way. They've provided money for playgrounds, dog parks, and trees for city sidewalks, among other projects.
1. What is special about PB?| A．It allows ordinary people to play a role in decisions. |
| B．It accepts money from local government. |
| C．It helps P S. 139 build a school garden. |
| D．It focuses mainly on public schools |
| A．Applying to the head master. | B．Putting forward project ideas. |
| C．Gathering members to vote. | D．Making a specific budge. |
| A．Proud. | B．Shocked. |
| C．Delighted. | D．Embarrassed. |
| A．To introduce the PB approach. | B．To bring up a social problem. |
| C．To offer proposals to communities. | D．To help leaders make better preparation. |
10 . Chinese researchers have developed a robot designed to help doctors treat the new coronavirus and other highly infectious diseases. The machine has a long robotic arm attached to a base with wheels. It can perform some of the same medical examination tasks as doctors. For example, the device can perform ultrasounds (超声波扫描检查), collect fluid samples from a person’s mouth and listen to sounds made by a patient’s organs. Cameras record the robot’s activities, which are controlled remotely so doctors can avoid coming in close contact with infected patients. Doctors and other medical workers can operate the machine in another place.
The robot’s main designer Zheng Gangtie, an engineer and professor at China’s Tsinghua University, told Reuters news agency that he got the idea for the device when his medical friend told him that one of the biggest problems in dealing with COVID-19 was that healthcare workers treating patients were getting infected themselves. Zheng said he wanted to do something to help this situation. So the engineer gathered a team and went to work on the robotic device.
Zheng said the devices use the same technology that is used for space equipment, including moon explorers. The new robot is almost completely automated. It can even disinfect itself after performing actions involving patient contact.
However, Zheng said he had heard from some doctors that it would be better not to build such robots to be fully automatic. This is because many patients still desire a personal presence to help calm them during treatment.
The team currently has two robots and both have been tested by doctors at hospitals in Beijing. One machine was taken to Wuhan’s Union Hospital, where doctors there got trained to use it. The plan is to use the robot to help treat coronavirus patients, along with assistance from nurses and other hospital workers.
Zheng would like to build more of the robots, but says money from the university has run out. Each robot costs about $72,000 to make. He says he does not plan to commercialize the design, but hopes that a company can begin that process.
1. What do we know about the newly-invented robot?| A．It is used for space exploration. |
| B．It completely operates on its own. |
| C．It carries out complicated surgical treatments. |
| D．It protects doctors from risky contact with patients. |
| A．Assistance of AI. | B．Financial support. |
| C．Community help. | D．Professional advice. |
| A．The device may not be welcomed by all patients. |
| B．The device has been widely used to treat patients. |
| C．Zheng has received further funds from companies. |
| D．Zheng continued the production for official support. |
| A．Promising Future for the Robot |
| B．Novel Device to Cure Coronavirus |
| C．New Assistant to Fight Coronavirus |
| D．Helpful Design to Save the Patients |
