1 . Castle Rock, Colorado, is in the Front Range between Denver and Colorado Springs. The town was first settled in the 1870s and named for the rock formation on its western edge. More than 5,400 acres of open space, 250 acres of parks and 57 miles of trails surround the town. Castle Rock offers many activities throughout the year.

Douglas County Fairgrounds

The Douglas County holds a rodeo every August. Many activities are held in the city during the rodeo, including 4-H exhibits, animal shows and the farm yard, a hands-on educational area providing information about animals and agriculture. Local singing and dancing acts perform on the Community Stage. Carnival rides and games ensure that children have fun.

Town Recreation

Activities Castle Rock Recreation Center features 84,000 square feet of fun, including a leisure pool complete with water slides, spa and lazy river. Rent one of the meeting rooms and host your child’s birthday party. Introduce your child to cooking basics through classes such as Little Chefs, Holiday Cooking Arts, Just Desserts and Iron Chefs. Discounts with membership cards.

Metzler Ranch Park

Metzler Ranch Park features many outdoor activities for children. Kids can join a youth baseball or softball league, ride a bike along the paved path or swing and climb on the playground equipment. Bring your child’s in-line skates and glide along one of two in-line hockey rinks or try out skills at the lighted skate park. Discounts book online.

Theatre of Dreams

Theatre of Dreams is a 72-scat theater that presents magic and illusion entertainment. Two professional magicians founded the theater. Children especially enjoy the family-oriented shows. The facility can be rented for special events such as birthday parties and bar mitzvahs. Reserve in advance.

1. Which of the following offers ice sport?

A．Town Recreation.	B．Metzler Ranch Park.
C．Theatre of Dreams.	D．Douglas County Fairgrounds.

2. What do Town Recreation and Theatre of Dreams have in common?

A．They have various classes for kids.	B．They offer discounts for the members.
C．They provide service for special events.	D．They are not open to kids unaccompanied.

3. Who would most probably be interested in Castle Rock?

A．College graduates.	B．Retired citizens.
C．Newly-married couples.	D．Parents with kids.

2 . When other nine-year-old kids were playing games, she was working at a petrol station. When other teens were studying or going out, she struggled to find a place to sleep on the street. But she overcame these terrible setbacks (挫折) to win a highly competitive scholarship and gain entry to Harvard University. And her amazing story has inspired a movie, “Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story”, shown in late April.

Liz Murray, a 22-year-old American girl, has been writing a real-life story of willpower and determination. Liz grew up in the shadow of two drug-addicted parents. There was never enough food or warm clothes in the house. Liz was the only member of the family who had a job. Her mother had AIDS and died when Liz was just 15 years old. The effect of that loss became a turning point in her life. Connecting the environment in which she had grown up with how her mother had died, she decided to do something about it.

Liz went back to school. She threw herself into her studies, never telling her teachers that she was homeless. At night, she lived on the streets. “What drove me to live on had something to do with understanding, by understanding that there was a whole other way of being. I had only experienced a small part of the society,” she wrote in her book Breaking Night.

She admitted that she used envy to drive herself on. She used the benefits that come easily to others, such as a safe living environment, to encourage herself that “next to nothing could hold me down”. She finished high school in just two years and won a full scholarship to study at Harvard University. But Liz decided to leave her top university a couple of months earlier this year in order to take care of her father, who has also developed AIDS. “I love my parents so much. They are drug addicts. But I never forget that they love me all the time.”

Liz wants moviegoers to come away with the idea that changing your life is “as simple as making a decision”.

1. The main idea of the passage is ________.

A．how Liz managed to enter Harvard University

B．how Liz struggled to change her life

C．why Liz loved her parents so much

D．the hard time Liz had in her childhood

2. In which order did the following things happen to Liz?
a. Her mother died of AIDS.
b. She worked at a petrol station.
c. She got admitted into Harvard.
d. The movie about her life was put on.
e. She had trouble finding a place to sleep.

A．b, e, a, d, c

B．a, b, c, e, d

C．e, d, b, a, c

D．b, a, e, c, d

3. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Both Liz’s father and mother are AIDS-infected patients.

B．Liz lived a hard time in her childhood.

C．Liz’s story is an inspiration to many people.

D．Liz hated her father because he got addicted to drugs.

4. What actually made her go towards her goal?

A．Envy and encouragement.	B．Willpower and determination.
C．Decisions and understanding.	D．Love and respect for her parents.

3 . Taking paternity leave (陪产假) shortly after the birth of a new son or daughter may be the key to developing strong father-child bonds that last for years, says new research from Ball State University.

“We find that 9-year-olds report greater satisfaction with father involvement,” said Richard Petts, a Ball State sociology professor who carried out the research with Chris Knoester at the Ohio State University and Jane Waldfogel at Columbia University. “They feel closer to their fathers and report better communication with their dads if their fathers take paternity leave, and especially if their fathers take two or more weeks of leave.”

“We found evidence that part of the reason why two or more weeks of paternity leave may lead to 9-year-olds expressing greater satisfaction seems to be that longer periods of paternity leave-taking link to parental relationship satisfaction,” said Petts.

The study is the latest in a series examining the effects of parental leave in the development of children and its influence on the family. It is also the first research known to assess the associations between paternity leave and children’s opinions of father-child relationship quality in the United States, Petts said.

Petts said the findings of the study will help families and policymakers (政策制定者) who aim to strengthen families and improve higher quality father-child relationships.

The present structure (结构) of paternity leave in the United States provides limited opportunities for fathers to take leave and, in fact, often discourages fathers from taking leave, he said.

“The possibility to take leave is often limited to higher-income families,” Petts said. “A lack of a national paid family leave policy limits access to important benefits for American families. The present structure may be increasing inequalities.” Petts said that providing equal access to paternity leave may help to change these patterns and strengthen family relationships.

1. How was the research probably carried out?

A．By tracking families.	B．By talking with mothers.
C．By interviewing the kids.	D．By recording children’s behavior.

2. What is found about paternity leave?

A．It makes young kids become dependent.

B．It is determined by parental relationships.

C．It encourages men to become better fathers.

D．It improves father-child relationship quality.

3. What do we know about the research?

A．It is welcomed by young fathers.	B．It is the first to study parental leave.
C．It is probably helpful to policymakers.	D．It is more important than similar studies.

4. What is the problem with the present structure of paternity leave in the US?

A．Paid paternity leave is only two weeks long.

B．There is no policy to encourage paternity leave.

C．Low-income families think little of paternity leave.

D．High-income fathers are too busy to take paternity leave.

4 . From talking robots and video phones, technology has become so advanced that the previously impossible seems to occur on a daily basis. And yet—we still have no cure for the common cold.

Why can’t we stop the common cold? According to Peter Barlow, a scientist at Edinburgh Napier University, the main challenge lies in the many different types of cold viruses that are produced by the rhinoviruses (鼻病毒). There are at least 160 types. They change so easily that they quickly become resistant to drugs. In other words, a single cure isn’t likely to work on every type of cold.

However, researchers from Stanford University have found a possible answer. They discovered a protein that the viruses need. Without it, they can't spread inside your body.

To identify the gene which produces the specific protein needed by the viruses, researchers used a gene-editing technique to test all genes one by one for thousands of cells. These modified (改变的) cells were then exposed to a range of rhinoviruses which cause the common cold.

All the viruses were unable to copy inside cells without a gene that produces a specific protein, called methyltransferase (甲基转移酶) SETD3.

Then, they tested genetically modified mice, which were completely unable to produce the protein. The mice were able to live healthy, normal lives without the protein.

“Lacking that gene protected the mice completely from the common cold,”   associate professor Jan Carette, from Stanford, told the BBC.

“These mice would always die, but they survived and we saw a very strong protection.”

Carette said the plan is to find a drug which can keep back the protein for a limited time, rather than produce genetically modified humans.

“We have identified a fantastic target that all rhinoviruses require and depend on. Take that away and the virus really has no chance,” said Carette.

1. Why does the author mention talking robots and video phones in the first paragraph?

A．To stress the importance of technology.

B．To encourage readers to share their ideas.

C．To introduce the topic of the text.

D．To recognize the progress of science.

2. What can we learn about the protein needed by the viruses?

A．It helps the viruses copy inside our bodies.

B．It stops the viruses from changing easily.

C．It protects the viruses against drugs.

D．It forces the viruses to spread fast.

3. What does Jan Carette intend to do?

A．To identify a fantastic target.

B．To slow copying speed of some genes.

C．To produce genetically modified humans.

D．To find a drug to temporarily block the protein.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．A New Experiment on Viruses.

B．New Defense Found for Viruses.

C．A Chemical Curing Modified Viruses.

D．Gene-editing Technology to Control Viruses.

5 . Scientists have developed a new type of smart bandage (绷带) that can signal the type of bacterial (细菌的) infection it’s protecting, just like a traffic light, as well as release the right type of drugs on demand. The traffic light system works just like this: Green means no bacteria or a low concentration of bacteria, yellow means drug-sensitive (DS) bacteria responsive to standard antibiotics (抗生素) and causes antibiotic release, and red means drug-resistant (DR) bacteria that need extra help to be wiped out.

In testing the bandage on mice, the research team was able to successfully treat both DS and DR infections using the new method. However, the common methods of sensing resistance are limited by time, the requirement for professional personnel, and expensive instruments. Moreover, the abuse of antibiotics causes the accelerated process of bacterial resistance.

It’s easy to see how a simple bandage and light could overcome some of these limitations. Treatment doesn’t have to wait for a doctor to make a diagnosis, and the bandage can get the right sort of drugs applied at the earliest opportunity. What’s more, the person wearing the bandage gets real-time feedback on what’s happening with the infection, if there’s an infection at all. The researchers say it offers numerous benefits over existing treatments that make use of light, including photodynamic therapy or PDT.

We’ve been seeing quite a few upgrades to the traditional bandage in recent years, thanks to advances in science — like the nanofiber mesh that attracts bacteria and draws some of it out, speeding up the healing process. Then there’s the novel bandage for treating burns, which stops bacteria from multiplying and lowers the risk of infection.

The more work that a bandage can do while it’s protecting a wound, the better. Efforts to improve bandages continue and now we've got a bandage that not only releases antibiotics, but also tells the patient exactly what’s going on too.

1. What is the smart bandage mainly designed to do?

A．Avoid the use of antibiotics.	B．Clear out harmful bacteria.
C．Detect bacterial infections.	D．Increase treatment options.

2. What is the advantage of the smart bandage?

A．It saves much time and cost.	B．It removes the risk of infection.
C．It prevents the bacterial resistance.	D．It improves doctor-patient relationship.

3. What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?

A．Traditional bandages are out of use now.

B．More smart bandages will be developed.

C．Progress in science calls for more research.

D．People are urged to study medical science.

4. What does the text focus on?

A．A successful test on mice.	B．A colour-changing bandage.
C．Sensing drug-resistant bacteria.	D．Preventing abuse of antibiotics.

6 . Deciding to get her money's worth out of the wedding dress on which she spent over $1,000, an Australian woman has been wearing her wedding dress, a year after her wedding.

43-year-old Tammy Hall adopted a new lifestyle-anti-consumerism (反消费主义) lifestyle in 2016, after a trip to India opened her eyes to how much we as a society consumed. She decided not to buy any new clothes or footwear for a whole year after she returned home to Adelaide, in Southern Australia, and she managed to make it.

But last year, as her wedding day approached, she faced a dilemma. She wanted to look good on the most important day of her life, but how could she spend a small fortune on the wedding dress she would only wear on that day?

"In the end I decided that if I was going to get a wedding dress, I'd make sure I could get my money's worth," Hall tells PA Real Life.

"The first time I wore it after the wedding was to vote in the Australian election in early 2019," the 43-year-old adds. "Since then, it's been to all sorts of places. Wearing it on a crowded train was especially funny, but I've worn it to do housework, to football games and to the gym."

Hall says that she has gotten some strange looks from people, but no irritating comments. It may have something to do with the fact that the dress is not the fanciest, but she believes people are just too reserved to say anything. Anyway, she doesn't really care, because she knows she has to hit the goal she has set and wearing the dress multiple times is the most reasonable way she could think of to make the most of her wedding dress.

Hall now plans to wear her wedding dress on a trip to Iceland that she and her partner will take next summer.

1. Why did Tammy Hall adopt a new lifestyle?

A．To adapt herself to Indian life.	B．To cut down her consumption.
C．To save money for her next trip.	D．To get prepared for her wedding.

2. What did Tammy Hall do to get her money's worth out of her wedding dress?

A．She brought fun to people with it.	B．She tried to wear it to earn money.
C．She wore it repeatedly in daily life.	D．She got it exchanged again and again.

3. Which of the following best explains the word "irritating" underlined in paragraph 6?

A．Thrilling.	B．Annoying.
C．Amusing.	D．Confusing.

4. What can we infer about Tammy Hall?

A．She is determined to turn her ideas into practice.

B．She values her wedding dress less than her trips.

C．She has been struggling to make the ends meet.

D．She has influenced people's lifestyle widely.

7 . Pinocchio may be just a children's fairy tale, but Spanish scientists at the University of Granada recently investigated the so-called ''Pinocchio effect'' and found that our noses don't grow when we tell a lie, but actually shrink a bit.

Dr. Emilio Gómez Milán and his team developed a lie detector test that used thermography to tell if people were lying, and found that whenever participants in their research were being untruthful, the temperature of the tips of their noses dropped up to 1.2℃, while the temperature of their forehead increased up to 1.5℃. Scientists also found that drop in temperature at nose level actually caused it to slightly shrink, although the difference is undetected by the human eye.

''One has to think in order to lie, which rises the temperature of the forehead, '' Dr. Gomez Milan explained the findings. ''At the same time we feel anxious, which lowers the temperature of the nose. ''

For this study, researchers asked a number of 60 students to perform various tasks while being scanned by thermal imaging technology. One of these tasks involved calling a 3 to 4 minutes call to their parents, partner or a friend and telling a significant lie. Participants had to devise the lie by themselves during the call, and the thermal cameras picked up this ''reverse Pinocchio effect'' caused by the fluctuation (起伏) in temperature in the nose and forehead.

Interestingly, the thermal lie doctor picked up the temperature difference in 80 percent of test subjects, which is a better rate of success than that of any modern lie doctor.

''With this method we have achieved to increase accuracy and reduce the occurrence of 'false positives', something that is frequently with other methods such as the polygraph (测谎仪) , '' said Dr. Emilio Gómez Milán, who added that law enforcement interviewers could one day combine other lie detection technology with thermal imaging to achieve better results.

The thermal lie doctor has been the most reliable in the world, 10% more than the popular polygraph.

1. Why does the author mention ''Pinocchio'' at the beginning?

A．To tell a fairy story	B．To warn us not to lie.
C．To introduce a research.	D．To inspire us to doubt old beliefs.

2. According to the research, what might happen if you tell a lie?

A．Your nose gets longer.

B．Your nose becomes smaller.

C．Your temperature gets higher.

D．Your temperature remains stable.

3. What can we learn about the research?

A．Researchers conduct the study by interviewing.

B．Researchers design difference lies for participants.

C．The thermal lie detector will prove a popular one.

D．The thermal lie doctor may assist law enforcement.

4. Which might be the best title for the passage?

A．Will lie detectors tell the truth?

B．Will lying make your nose longer?

C．Will lying make your temperature rise?

D．Will thermal imaging technology be reliable?

8 . Researchers continue to show the power behind our sense of smell. Recent studies have found, among other things, that the smell of foods like pizza can cause uncontrollable anger in drivers on roads.

The review explains that smell is unique in its effects on the brain. According to Conrad King, the researcher who carried out the review, "more than any other senses, the sense of smell goes through the logical part of the brain and acts on the systems concerned with feelings. This is why the smell of baking bread can destroy the best intentions of a dieter."

Smell, which dictates the unbelievable complexity of food tastes, has always been the least understood of our senses. Our noses are able to detect up to 10,000 distinct smells. Our ability to smell and taste this extremely large range of smells is controlled by something like 1,000 genes (基因), which make up an amazing 3% of the human genome. Researchers Richard Axel and Linda Buck were together awarded a Nobel Prize in 2004 for their ground-breaking research on the nature of this extraordinary sense. These two scientists were the first to describe the family of 1,000 olfactory (嗅觉) genes and to explain how our olfactory system works.

According to one study in the research review, smelling fresh pizza or even the packaging of fast foods can be enough to make drivers feel impatient with other road users. They are then more likely to speed and experience uncontrollable anger on roads. The most reasonable explanation is that these can all make drivers feel hungry, and therefore desperate to satisfy their appetites.

In contrast, the smells of peppermint and cinnamon were shown to improve concentration levels as well as reduce drivers’ impatience. Similarly, the smells of lemon and coffee appeared to promote clear thinking and mental focus.

However, the way genes regulate smell differs from person to person. A study by researchers in Israel has identified at least 50 olfactory genes which are switched on in some people and not in others. They believe this may explain why some of us love some smells and tastes while others hate them. The Israel researchers say their study shows that nearly every human being shows a different pattern of active and inactive smell-detecting receptors.

1. What did Richard Axel and Linda Buck find out?

A．The category of food smells.

B．The logical part of human brain.

C．The nature of human olfactory system.

D．The relationship between food and feelings.

2. Which of the following can help people concentrate?

A．Bread.	B．Fruits.
C．Coffee.	D．Fast food.

3. What do we know from the last paragraph?

A．Some people can recognize up to 50 smells.

B．Every person has a different pattern of genes.

C．Different people are sensitive to different smells.

D．There are still some olfactory genes to be found out.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Logic and behaviour.

B．Smell and its influence.

C．Sense ability and food tastes.

D．Olfactory genes and its system.

9 . We've certainly seen a dog nursing a wound, or a deer calling out in pain. But many animals suffer in silence. The most silent sufferers in the animal world may be fish.

Do fish feel pain? A new study from the University of Liverpool has found that fish feel pain in a way that's "strikingly similar" to humans. For the study, Lynne Sneddon, from the university's Institute of Integrative Biology, reviewed the existing body of research 98 studies in all and concluded that they feel pain just as sharply as we do."

When subject to a potentially painful event, fish show changes in behavior such as stopping feeding and reduced activity, which are prevented when a pain-relieving drug is provided. In fact, like us, they breathe heavily and stop eating when they're hurting. They will even rub the part of their body that aches." Sneddon notes in a university release.

To understand pain in other species, scientists look at nociceptors (疼痛感受器), which send signals to the brain when the body is being damaged. Humans have them throughout their skin, bones and muscles. Nociceptors have also been found in many other species, including even those tiny fruit flies.

Fish have the same means to detect pain signals and the equipment to receive them. Besides, the fishermen's opinion that fish feel no pain just doesn't add up from an evolutionary view. Pain is an efficient messenger that tells, us that we've got a problem. An animal that can't feel it won't get that memo (ER), even if it hurts itself.

"If we accept fish experience pain, then this has great significance for how we treat them," Sneddon says. "Care should be taken when handling fish to avoid damaging theirs sensitive skin and they should be humanely caught and killed."

1. What can we learn about fish?

A．They are insensitive to pain.	B．They are able to sense pain.
C．They won't react to painkillers.	D．Their brain is the first to send pain signals.

2. What will a fish do when its lips get hurt?

A．It might rub its lips.	B．It will keep its mouth open.
C．It will swim around like crazy.	D．It will keep eating to forget pain.

3. What is the significance of the study according to Sneddon?

A．People will treat fish in a kinder way.

B．People can understand evolution better.

C．People can develop more drugs to save fish.

D．People will think of more ways to catch fish.

4. What does the underlined part "add up" probably mean?

A．Disappear.	B．Put forward.
C．Make sense.	D．Happen.

10 . When I watched the film “The Farewell” recently, I found it not only reminded me of my own family’s great lie, but it also reopened old wounds.

Its main characters tell lies that flow from their mouths smoothly. Billi, a Chinese-American artist in New York, and her grandmother in China, tell lies to each other on the phone. Billi, in cold wind, tells her grandma that she’s wearing a hat. She’s not. Her grandma says she’s visiting her sister, while she’s actually ill in hospital. They’re lying to avoid worrying each other, but in fact the grandma has lung cancer. The family know it but won’t tell her for fear that anxiety over the diagnosis (诊断) could kill her before the cancer.

When I was a teenager girl, my parents, both immigrants, got divorced. We never had a discussion about how things would change. We didn’t tell anyone. Instead, we pretended as   if nothing had happened. My father did not run away; he slept in a separate room. In the presence of relatives, we acted as a close family. I was puzzled why we insisted on creating the illusion(假象) that everything was O.K..

I asked a professor of multicultural psychology. “Asians tend to have indirect communication,” he said, “In indirect communication, what’s not said is more important than what is said. Eastern philosophy emphasizes balance and harmony, and indirect communication minimizes conflict. So some Asian cultures value the ability to understand indirect messages.”

In the film, the family members show their love for grandma by keeping secret about   her condition. Similarly, perhaps my parents intended to save face and preserve harmony. As an Asian-American, maybe all I’ll ever have is a secondhand understanding, and that’s the best I can do.

1. Why does Billi’s grandma tell lies to her according to Paragraph 2?

A．Because she’s afraid of the diagnosis.

B．Because she knows she has lung cancer.

C．Because she doesn’t want Billi to worry.

D．Because she has been used to telling lies.

2. What did the author’s parents do after they got divorced?

A．They left their home.	B．They kept secret in public.
C．They had a discussion.	D．They asked relatives for help.

3. How did the author feel about her parents’ behavior when she was a teenager?

A．Confused.	B．Skeptical.
C．Unconcerned.	D．Annoyed.

4. According to the psychology professor, what do Asian cultures attach importance to?

A．Severe conflicts.	B．Ability of showing love.
C．Balance and harmony.	D．Direct communication.