1 . The genetics of human eye color is much more complex than previously thought. according to a new study published recently.
An international team of researchers led by King’s College London and Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam have identified 50 new genes for eye color in the largest genetic study of its kind to date. The study, published in Science Advances, involved the genetic analysis of almost 195,000 people across Europe and Asia.
These findings will help to improve the understanding of eye diseases such as pigmentary glaucoma and ocular albinism, where eye pigment (色素) levels play a role. In addition, the team found that eye color in Asians with different shades of brown is genetically similar to eye color in Europeans ranging from dark brown to light blue.
This study builds on previous research in which scientists had identified a dozen genes linked to eye color, believing there to be many more. Previously, scientists thought that variation in eye color was controlled by one or two genes only, with brown eyes dominant (显性的) over blue eyes.
Co-senior author Dr Pirro Hysi, King’s College London, said: “The findings are exciting because they bring us to a step closer to understanding the genes that cause one of the most striking features of the human faces, which has mystified (使困惑) generations throughout our history. This will improve our understanding of many diseases that we know are associated with specific pigmentation levels.”
Co-senior author Dr Manfred Kayser, Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam, said: “This study delivers the genetic knowledge needed to improve eye colour prediction from DNA as already applied in anthropological (人类学的) and forensic (法医的) studies, but with limited accuracy for the non-brown and non-blue eye colours.”
1. What does Paragraph 3 talk about?| A．The result and significance of the new study. |
| B．The key role eye pigment plays in eye discases. |
| C．The detailed progress of the newly-published study. |
| D．The difference in eye colors of Asians and Europeans. |
| A．Critical. | B．Disappointed. |
| C．Skeptical. | D．Supportive. |
| A．Scientists used to believe that eye color depended on a variety of genes. |
| B．Dr. Manfred Kayser identifies that the study can be applied to all eye colors. |
| C．Published in Science Advances, the study analyzed about 195,000 people globally. |
| D．The research which identified 50 new genes for eye color is the biggest of its kind so far. |
| A．Eye pigment levels are inked most eye diseases. |
| B．A new study found eye colors may be inked with many genes. |
| C．International scientists conduced a genetic analysis of eye colors and diseases. |
| D．Studies showed eye colors of Asians were different from those of Europeans. |
2 . With severe mental challenges and amblyopia (弱视), Xu Haofang’s idea of the world was limited to her home. Apart from her parents, interacting with others often proved to be a painful experience.
But Xu’s reality was changed when she started receiving help from the Zhang Xinya Rehabilitation (康复) Center in Shanghai. “She used to be totally dependent on us and barely spoke. Now, she has learned how to write in Chinese, how to wash the dishes and how to do the laundry herself,” says Yan Ping, Xu’s mother.
Founded in 2012 by Zhang Xinya, the center since its establishment has helped dozens of individuals like Xu with 21 of them eventually securing a job. Besides those having challenges, the center also provides assistance to those who are visually or hearing impaired (受损的). “We can unearth their potential and teach them the ability to take care of themselves,” says the 73-year-old, “By doing this, I also hope that their parents can be hopeful of their children’s future.”
Zhang Xinya herself is also a mother to a girl with mental challenges. To help her daughter build meaningful connections with society, Zhang took her to a government-funded center to learn physical exercises that would improve her motor sills Zhang later decided to volunteer at the center, which eventually inspired her to open her own rehabilitation facility (场所).
The center provides various classes conducted by professional teachers and psychological counselors and everyday skills are included in the syllabus (教学大纲). More than 400 lawyers, public health professionals and doctors have been invited to the station to give lectures. These individuals with special needs also receive heath checks at Zhang’s center.
“Many of the individuals could not take care of themselves when they first came, but now they can hold chopstick or spoon and eat by themselves. Some used to remain silent all the time but they can now sing and dance,” says Zhang. “Seeing them make progress is what makes this all worthwhile. This is what drives me to keep going.”
1. What’s the challenge in her life before Xu Haofang went to the center?| A．Her unemployment. | B．The pressure from the society. |
| C．Her disability and dependence. | D．Lack of trust in others. |
| A．discover | B．remove |
| C．change | D．admire |
| A．Her desire to see the disabled make progress in daily work. |
| B．Her experience as a volunteer in a government-funded center. |
| C．The encouragement she got from parents of those with special needs. |
| D．Her intention to help her daughter build meaningful connections with society. |
| A．the center mainly helps those who have mental challenges |
| B．all of the classes in the center are given by professional teachers |
| C．the center will secure jobs for the individuals with special needs |
| D．many individuals in the center have made progress in many aspects |
3 . The philosopher, Martin Buber, is most known for his work on “I-Thou/You” relationships in which people are open, direct, mutually interested in each other. In contrast, “I-It” relationships are those in which we use the other, like an object, to solve our problems and fulfill our needs and purposes.
It is not our fault that many of our relationships are or become “It” relationships because most of what we feel, think and do is motivated by unconscious memories of how to survive the environment into which we were born. Thus, one of the reasons we use other people to help us feel better about ourselves and cope in the world is that using people was once necessary and it worked. When we were small and helpless, “It” came and fed us, and held us, and set us on our way. We didn’t have to reciprocate and care for “It”. Even when the care and attention of “It” was minimal or unpredictable, if we got out of childhood alive, somewhere along the way “It” was involved.
Freud called this stage of early life “primary narcissism”, which is our instinct (本能) for self-preservation and is a normal part of our development. While most of us grow out of it，we still hold a survival fear, which motivates us to escape danger and to stay alive, and we all need this fear in healthy measure.
The problem is that too many of us, too much of the time, are in a constant state of threat—and we often don’t know it. We imagine people are talking about us behind our backs, that we have cancer, that we are inadequate, and vulnerable to more than our share of bad luck. As our brains have grown in size and complexity, so has our ability to scare ourselves.
This causes many problems. For example, our stress levels increase, our digestion is impaired and our thinking becomes restricted. Our threat response stops any bodily function, feeling, thought and behavior that might “waste” energy and detract from fighting or escaping danger. Thus, when in threat, our emotional, cognitive and behavioral range is significantly reduced.
And in this reduced state, one of our solutions is to find someone who can save and comfort us. Instead of enabling us to be open, direct and mutual, fear and anxiety lead us towards conversations and choices in our relations with others that are orientated towards surviving—not thriving (茁壮成长). Threat-motivated relationships are characterized by need, dependency, control, demand, dishonesty, and self-interest.
We cannot form the “I-Thou” relationships that Buber speaks of until we have learned to notice, comfort, and understand the emotions and patterns of our threat brain. When in threat, we tend to use other people as objects who can save and protect us, or who we can blame for our problems.
1. What does the underlined word “reciprocate” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Return the favour. | B．Ask for some advice. |
| C．Convey an apology. | D．Make some comments. |
| A．It leads to our survival fear. | B．It is normal and usually temporary. |
| C．It impacts our growth negatively. | D．It lays the foundation for Freud’s theory. |
| A．Comforting an upset friend. | B．Feeling sorry for your mistakes. |
| C．Trying hard to be independent. | D．Asking others to take on your task. |
| A．How We Can Form the “I-Thou” Relationships |
| B．How We Can Get Out of the “I-It” Relationships |
| C．Why We Treat Others as Objects Rather Than Individuals |
| D．What Helps Us Survive and Thrive in Early Stages of Life |
4 . Perhaps thousands of people have searched for a bronze chest full of gold and jewels hidden in the Rocky Mountains between Santa Fe and the Canadian border hidden by a millionaire adventurer. At least four people died in their search for the treasure.
But it's all over now. Fenn's Treasure has been found. The 89-year-old adventurer named Forrest Fenn, who created the treasure hunt, announced the news via his website. “I don't know the person who found it, but the poem in my book led him to the precise spot,” Fenn wrote. “The treasure was confirmed by a photograph the lucky finder sent me.”
Forrest Fenn, the man who started the hunt, lives in Santa Fe. He was a pilot in the Vietnam War and later accumulated his wealth as a dealer in art and antiques. Fenn was diagnosed(诊断) with cancer in 1988 and had planned to die peacefully in the woods with his treasure. But when his cancer became less serious, he changed his plan, eventually writing the poem that described his dream resting place, which is where he hid the treasure. The poem appeared in a memoir called The Thrill of the Chase. Fenn said that the chest wouldn't be found by accident; only a treasure hunter who correctly interpreted the clues(线索) would find it.
Several treasure hunters went missing while attempting to find the chest, including hunter Jeff Murphy and Mike Petersen, both of whom went missing in Yellowstone National Park in 2017. Fenn said that he had never been to the Yellowstone National Park, and that the treasure was not in a dangerous place. "It was in the thick forest of the Rocky Mountains and had not been moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago," Fenn wrote on his website. It is illegal to remove anything from a national park, which would cause trouble in legally claiming the treasure if it was found there.
1. What contributed to the finding of the treasure?| A．Fenn's announcement. | B．A poem in Fenn's book. |
| C．Fenn’s vivid description. | D．A photo on Fenn's website. |
| A．Who Forrest Fenn was. | B．Where Fenn hid the treasure. |
| C．How the treasure hunt began. | D．What Fenn did to find the treasure. |
| A．It was in Yellowstone National Park. |
| B．It was found by someone by chance. |
| C．It was moved from one place to another. |
| D．It was in Fenn's chosen resting place. |
| A．Taking. | B．Burying. | C．Protecting. | D．Acknowledging. |
5 . Beethoven is a giant of classical music. And the most influential, too—at least, when it comes to piano compositions. That's according to a study in the journal EP J Data Science.
If you're wondering how data analysis could determine something as abstract as cultural influence, it's worth remembering this: Music is the most mathematical of the art form, a lot of which is symbolic. The music is written in symbols that are connected in time.
Juyong Park is a theoretical physicist in South Korea. Park and his colleagues collected 900 piano compositions by 19 composers from 1700 to 1910. Then they used that mathematical quality to their advantage by dividing each composition into what they called “code words”, in other words, a chord. They then compared each chord to the chord or note that came after it, which allowed them to determine how creative composers were at coming up with novel transitions.
The composer with top marks for novelty was Rachmaninoff. But when the researchers looked at those chord transitions across all 19 composers, it was Beethoven who was most heavily borrowed from—meaning at least among the composers in this analysis, his influence was the largest.
Their study comes with some drawbacks. For example, the researchers only considered piano compositions in this work, and by only studying chord transitions, so their conclusions wouldn't relate to artists who were influential in other ways like Bach or Mozart. Park explained, “It's well understood that Mozart's contribution to music comes from the musical forms that he designed. That was not very well reflected by our mathematical modeling.”
As for Park, the results convinced him he has some listening to do. “Of course I listen to music. I like Rachmaninoff’s music, but I have to say I have listened to Beethoven way more than Rachmaninoff. So after this work came out, I ended up buying his whole complete collection.
1. What makes it possible to determine musical influence?| A．The symbolic nature of music. | B．The analytical function of piano music. |
| C．The abstract feature of culture. | D．The rapid development of technology. |
| A．Rachmaninoff. | B．Beethoven. | C．Bach. | D．Mozart. |
| A．To express his admiration for Mozart. | B．To compare Mozart with other musicians. |
| C．To introduce a way to design musical forms. | D．To show certain limitations of the study. |
| A．Beethoven: a Genius in Classical Music | B．Beethoven's Influence: Proved by Science |
| C．Chords: a New Way to Determine Music | D．The Art Form of Music : Written in Symbols |
6 . Being social and emotional from an early age is likely to help children win acceptance by their peers, build better relationships with teachers, and further academic learning. According to research, pretend play is a teaching tool that can be used to stimulate a child’s all-round development.
A curriculum based on this approach has been introduced in classes of pupils aged five and six by a research team from the University of Geneva. The study shows that pupils who followed the curriculum increased their emotional recognition capacities and emotional level compared to a control group. The use of pretend play as a teaching tool enables children to acquire emotional skills. with a potential positive effect on their prosocial(亲社会的) behavior and, in the longer term, on their academic success.
“Potential leads for learning do exist,” says Sylvie Richard. “We know already that pretend play promotes the understanding and regulation of emotions together with prosocial behavior in the early stages of schooling.”
Pretend play gives children the opportunity to use their imagination, in particular by means of scenarios(剧本)that they invent and the roles they play. For instance, they can pretend to be wizard or witch who’s making a kind of magic water that will send a dangerous dragon to sleep. The child creates the rules, adjusts them to suit their situation, and calls on their imagination”, explains Sylvie Richard.
A total of 79 children took part in the research, with the results showing an improvement in the recognition of emotions, particularly anger. The children also built up their emotional vocabulary. “The results suggest, on the one hand, that it’s essential to design a teaching system that takes pretend play into account as areas of knowledge that should be taught. On the other hand, the study shows that using this kind of play helps children experiment,” concludes Sylvie Richard. Given its success, the study is continuing with a more extensive curriculum, which is being carried out now in Geneva.
1. What is the purpose of Paragraph 1?| A．To introduce the topic of the text. |
| B．To explain the beginning of the research. |
| C．To encourage children to help their peers. |
| D．To stress the importance of academic learning. |
| A．Becoming a wizard or a witch |
| B．Controlling the mood of anger. |
| C．Mastering more emotional words. |
| D．Inventing scenarios with imagination. |
| A．Experiments of making a magic water. |
| B．Courses related to pretend play in Geneva. |
| C．Long-lasting influence of the research in Geneva. |
| D．Children involving in the recognition of emotions |
| A．Pretend play to “school” children’s emotions |
| B．Pretend play to increase children’s knowledge. |
| C．A learning rule to call on children’s imagination. |
| D．A curriculum to achieve children’s academic success. |
7 . In the latest attempt to deal with what academics and news call a “masculinity crisis”, the Education Ministry has proposed emphasizing the “spirit of yang”, or male qualities, by hiring more sports instructors and redesigning P.E. classes in schools.
Some social media users expressed support for the proposal, with one writing, “It’s hard to imagine such womanly boys can defend their country when an outside attack happens.” But others saw evidence of sexual discrimination and gender stereotypes (刻板印象).
Even state news media CCTV wrote on its Weibo account: “Education is not simply about cultivating ‘men’ and ‘women’. Strong inner qualities come first.”
CCTV also offered a general understanding of yang, writing, “Men show ‘the spirit of yang’ in manners, spirit and body shape, which is a kind of beauty, but ‘the spirit of yang’ does not simply mean ‘masculine’ (男性的) behavior.’ It should focus on a willingness of taking responsibility”.
The proposal was first made by Si Zefu, a deputy minister. He proposed that “many, many more” men should be hired as P.E. teachers to power a “masculine influence” in schools.
Mr. Si said the commonness of female teachers in schools and the popularity of “pretty boys” or “little fresh meat” had made boys “weak, fearful and shy,” adding that boys no longer wanted to become war heroes, warning that such a trend could endanger the Chinese people.
While the proposal did not include different treatment for boys and girls, educators like Liu Wenli, a professor at Beijing Normal University, see some risks. She said that even the reference “feminization of male youths” in the proposal could lead to more bullying of students because of their gender expression.
“Educators cannot call for the prevention of bullying in schools while developing the soil for bullying in schools,” she wrote on Weibo.
1. What does “masculinity crisis” refer to in the text?| A．The more bullying of boy students. |
| B．The lack of professional physical instructors. |
| C．The trend of womanly features shown in boys. |
| D．The sexual discrimination and gender stereotypes. |
| A．The beauty of manners. |
| B．The typical male image. |
| C．The quality of being responsible. |
| D．The expectations to be a P.E teacher. |
| A．treat boys and girls differently |
| B．prevent the school bullying |
| C．try to understand womanly boys |
| D．employ more male P.E. teachers |
| A．Concerned. | B．Approving. | C．Neutral. | D．Ambiguous. |
8 . In 1849, travelers going from the East Coast to the West Coast of the U.S. had three choices. They could go by wagon(马车) across the dangerous land. They could travel by sea to Panama, cross Panama by foot, and then sail to the West Coast. The third choice was to board a sailing ship in New York bound for California. The journey took long. Severe weather could add as much as five extra months to the trip.
Could there be any other way to travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific? The answer was a canal. A canal is a human-made waterway.
In the1850s,the U.S. and Britain negotiated treaty(条约) for the rights to build canal. However, this canal was never built.
Panama was another logical option for a canal. With a canal in Panama, travel time could be three months instead of eight months.
In 1879, France began to build a canal across Panama. This project was led by Ferdinand, the experienced builder of the Suez Canal in Egypt. The French government felt that he could get the job done.
Unfortunately, problems began as soon as construction started. It rained every day and temperatures climbed as high as 130 degrees. Tropical diseases caused illness or death to the majority of workers. These factors put a great deal of stress on the project. The money assigned to build the canal quickly ran out. In 1899, France abandoned the project.
The U.S. Congress decided to finish the canal. The U.S . government paid $40 million to France for the completed work and abandoned equipment. In 1903, a treaty between the U.S. and Panama was signed paying Panama $10 million for the land for the canal. This treaty also guaranteed $250,000 to Panama each year for the use of its land and ensured its independence. This deal was viewed as a major foreign policy achievement at the time.
By early1913, the canal was nearly complete. On September 26,1931, an old tugboat was the first ship through the canal. Thousands of people watched and cheered.
Time, money, and possibly even lives have been saved as ships use the shorter route from ocean to ocean provided by the canal. The Panama Canal, a highway of water, is a phenomenon.
1. What does the underlined word “phenomenon” in the last paragraph probably mean?| A．Disaster | B．Wonder. | C．Case. | D．Supply. |
| A．France incorrectly believed in Ferdinand. |
| B．Ferdinand managed another canal project in Egypt. |
| C．Tropical diseases infected most workers on the project |
| D．The U.S. government paid France and took over the project. |
| A．It caused feelings of hate between France and the U.S. |
| B．It strengthened the relationship between Panama and the U.S. |
| C．It united the people living on the east and west coasts of the U.S. |
| D．It created pressure on the relationship between Britain and the U.S. |
| A．To persuade readers to visit the Canal. |
| B．To inform readers about the Canal and its history. |
| C．To tell interesting facts about who built the Canal. |
| D．To state building the Canal was a good political decision. |
9 . Daphne Soares, a biologist, makes an amazing discovery about alligators. The first time she got really close to an alligator (短吻鳄) was when she was helping to bold down an eight-foot American alligator. It was then that she noticed is face was covered with little black spots. This led to the discovery of the little black dots.
She started her study of the black dots. When she read the books and scientific journals, she learned that people had noticed the dots, but no one really knew what the dots were for.
To find out the secret she placed electrodes (电极) on nerves coming from some of the dots. When the nerves fired, they sent a message to the brain and created a tiny electric current. Just then she heard a small sound over a loudspeaker. She tired to see if the dots acted like eyes and temperature sensors, but nothing worked.
One day she was careless with dropping a tool into an alligator’s tank. When she put her hand in the tank to get the tool out, she made small waves in the water. When they reached the alligator’s face, she heard a noise over the speaker. She then realized that the dots must be sensitive to the changes in pressure when hit by waves of water.
After that, she is now studying blind cavefish. She is trying to learn whether they are blind from birth or lose their sight as they grow up. She is also doing more research on crocodilians (鳄目). She wants to find out how the genes of alligators with pressure sensors only on their faces differ from the genes of crocodilians that have pressure sensors all over their body.
1. Why did Daphne Soares first get close to the alligator?| A．To observe its black dots. | B．To find the secret of its dots. |
| C．To help others to hold it up. | D．To prevent it from moving. |
| A．A little noise was sent out. | B．An electric current created a message. |
| C．The nerves were on fire suddenly. | D．The nerves sensed temperature changes. |
| A．By experiment. | B．By reference. |
| C．By accident. | D．By comparison. |
| A．Cavefish lose sight as they grow up. |
| B．Daphne Soares devotes her energy to research work. |
| C．Alligator’s genes are the same as crocodilian’s. |
| D．Daphne Soares discovered a new species of alligator. |
10 . What it's like to live on Italy's Covid-free islands
There are very few places across the globe that have managed to escape the Covid-19 pandemic; even Antarctica has reported cases. But a lucky few remote locations in Italy remain coronavirus-free currently. So what it's like to live on Italy's most isolated (孤立的) and beautiful islands? Here several islanders share how the situation has impacted their lives.
Linosa
Positioned halfway between Sicily and Tunisia in the Mediterranean, this tiny atoll has no confirmed cases.
Fabio Tuccio, one of the 200 residents living here, says things have remained pretty much the same since the pandemic outbreak.
"A lockdown situation is regular here now," Tuccio says. "There's not much to do. Everything is shut except for a supermarket, a pharmacy, and a post office."
Although the island has been safe from Covid so far, all visitors are required to take a Covid test at the ferry port before they set foot here, for residents remain fearful that the virus may find its way to this safe shelter.
Filicudi
Filicudi island, one of the wildest and farthest out among the Aeolian islands, has also done well at keeping Covid at bay.
Ferries often find it difficult to dock here due to the rough sea conditions. While this was a frustration for locals in the past, the missing connection is now mostly viewed as a good thing. Islanders feel lucky to live in such seclusion, far from the chaos brought about by coronavirus. "It's an ugly moment for humanity but I am happy and privileged to live here, it's like being in another world. Social distancing is guaranteed." says Peppino Taranto, a resident of Filicudi.
Alicudi
Alicudi, Filicudi's sister isle, is the most secluded of the Aeolian isles. Here Covid is perceived as a very distant threat.
Aldo Di Nora, who moved to Alicudi years ago from northern Italy, is aware of how fortunate he is to live in such a secluded and protected place.
"Social distancing is not an issue. The only moment when little crowds can form is when people meet at Alicudi's harbor to jump on the ferry boats," Di Nora says.
"Following the tragic news happening in Italy and across the world, I am grateful to live in such a wonderful place, surrounded by peace and zero risk of contagion."
1. What do the three islands have in common?| A．Islanders are all happy and satisfied. | B．They are all wild and isolated islands. |
| C．No confirmed cases have been reported. | D．Visitors to these islands have to do strict tests. |
| A．There is no safety during the uncertain times. |
| B．They fear that outsiders may spread virus there. |
| C．Italy has one of the highest death rates in Europe. |
| D．Coronavirus-related diseases have reached many of them. |
| A．These islands are filled with amazing sights. |
| B．Linosa has reasonably warm temperatures all year. |
| C．People are adopting correct anti-covid rules in Alicudi. |
| D．Rough sea situations in Filicudi often discourages ferries to dock there. |
