2 . Getting paid to stay in bed all day sounds pretty good, but what if someone pays you $ 23, 000 to stay in bed for two months? That’s the deal that a medical research team in France is offering to 24 volunteers.

The researchers are looking for volunteers to help them study the effects of weightlessness (失重状态) on the human body and find ways to stop problems. Lying in bed isn’t exactly the same as being weightless, but the effects are alike.

When astronauts spend a long time in an environment with no gravity, their bodies change in many ways. After several months, their hearts don’t beat as hard. Their muscles become smaller and weaker. Their bones may be broken more easily. There may also be changes in the astronauts’ immune systems (免疫系统) and sleep habits.

The study will take 88 days. During the first two weeks, the volunteers will be tested to make sure of their levels of fitness. Then they will spend 60 days lying in bed with their heads lower than their bodies. They will have to do everything while lying down, including eating, brushing their teeth, and going to the bathroom. The rule is that they must have at least one shoulder touching the bed at all times. The last two weeks of the study will be spent trying to build up the volunteers’ fitness again.

Volunteers must be men between the ages of 20 and 45 who are in perfect health. The researchers completed one study in April. A second study will take place from September to December.

1. What’s the third paragraph mainly about?

A．How astronauts work in an environment without gravity.

B．Astronauts’ sleep habits in an environment without gravity.

C．Why astronauts’ bodies change in an environment without gravity.

D．The effects of an environment without gravity on astronauts’ bodies.

2. From the passage, we can learn that the volunteers must_____.

A．be women	B．come from France
C．be in excellent condition	D．be under twenty years old

3. What’s the passage mainly about?

A．How to build up astronauts’ fitness.

B．Researchers pay volunteers to stay in bed.

C．Effects of weightlessness on the human body.

D．Disadvantages of lying in bed for two months.

4. Where does the passage most probably come from?

A．A medical magazine.	B．A short novel.
C．A grammar book.	D．A travel guidebook.

4 . My family lives in Texas. I was born and brought up in Texas and I am a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. However, around my second year in the law school, I wanted to make a great change, which was almost unheard of for Texans: I wanted to leave!

I realized this after completing my first-year internship (实习期). I knew I wanted something different and my chance came during the 2011 Super Bowl in Dallas. A snowstorm blanketed the entire city in snow and thousands of people were gathered. I overheard that StubHub, a big company from a great city, San Francisco, was throwing a party next door to my hotel. I thought if I could get an internship, I could leave for the summer and at least see what it was like. Yes, it was a huge leap. I told myself I was ready.

There was just one problem: I wasn't invited to the StubHub party. But you know I’m the type of person who goes for something she wants. Needless to say, I crashed the party and found my way to the president. I kindly introduced myself and then asked if they had a legal internship program. Guess what? They accepted my request to be a legal intern, even though no such program existed.

Although the legal department didn't have a permanent position for me, the experience has shaped my life Working for a great company in San Francisco, I’m incredibly happy for making my decision to leave Texas.

By leaving Texas, I learned that it is so much more rewarding to try the unfamiliar than to stay in the comfortable. Exploring the unfamiliar is how you'll understand what fits your life. I say, dive in first.

1. What happened to the author in Dallas in 2011?

A．She was accepted as a legal intern.

B．She played in the Super Bowl.

C．She escaped from San Francisco.

D．She met up with her family.

2. The author was able to leave Texas because

A．she watched the 2011 Super Bowl in Dallas.

B．she introduced herself to the president of StubHuk.

C．she dropped out of the University of Texas at Austin.

D．a snowstorm blanketed the entire city in snow.

3. Which is the biggest lesson that the author learned from the experience?

A．You must choose a career that you like.

B．Jumping out of your comfort zone is rewarding.

C．Accepting who you are makes you realize your strengths.

D．You should listen to your family to learn about your potential.

4. Which of the following words can best describe the author?

A．Patient and modest.

B．Supportive and energetic.

C．Intelligent and humorous.

D．Determined and adventurous.

5 . Please take a few seconds and think of your personal biggest goal. Imagine telling someone you meet today what you’re going to do. Imagine their congratulations and their high image of you. Doesn't it feel good to say it out loud? Don’t you feel one step closer already? Well, bad news: you should have kept your mouth shut, because that good feeling will make you less likely to do it.

Any time you have a goal, there is some work that needs to be done to achieve it. Ideally, you would not be satisfied until you’d actually done the work. But when you tell someone your goal and he acknowledges it, psychologists have found it's called a "social reality". The mind is kind of tricked into a feeling that it's already done. And then. because you’ve felt that satisfaction. you’re less motivated to do the actual and necessary hard work. This goes against the traditional wisdom that we should tell our friends our goals, right?

In 1982, Peter Gollwitzer, a professor of psychology, wrote a whole book about this. And in 2009, he did some new tests, which were published. It goes like this: 163 people across four separate tests—everyone wrote down their personal goal. Then half of them announced their commitment to this goal to the room, and half didn't. Then everyone was given 45 minutes of work that would directly lead them towards their goal, but they were told that they could stop at any time. Finally, those who kept their mouths shut worked the entire 45 minutes on average, and when asked afterwards, said they felt they had a long way to go to achieve their goal. But those who had announced it quit after only 33 minutes on average, and when asked afterwards, said that they felt much closer to achieving their goal.

1. What do the words "social reality" in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．Necessary hard work.	B．Completion of a goal
C．A sense of satisfaction.	D．People’s judgement.

2. What does Peter Gollwitzer try to tell us?

A．Writing down the goal is very helpful.

B．Achieving the personal goal needs more time.

C．Keeping the goal secret makes people work harder.

D．Making the goal public makes people less satisfied.

3. How did Peter Gollwitzer prove his idea about people's goal?

A．By giving figures.	B．By giving examples.
C．By making a survey.	D．By making comparison tests

4. What will probably happen if you tell your friends your goal?

A．You'll be more confident

B．You will not gain satisfaction.

C．You'll be less likely to realize it.

D．You'll be much more motivated.

6 . Tourist Guide to the National Gallery

Opening hours: Daily 10: 00 am- -6: 00 pm; Friday 10: 00 am- 9: 00 pm

Closed: 2426 December

Reasons to visit:

With over 2, 300 paintings in the collection, there are hundreds of reasons to visit the Gallery. Here are some to get you started...

Get into great art. From Leonardo da Vinci to Vincent van Gogh: See priceless works of art for free.

Get creative. Brush up your skills, and create your own great works of art...

Learn about art. Discover more about paintings...

Regulations:

Talk in a low voice when you use your cellphone in the gallery

Please do not touch the paintings or other exhibits. Do not take pets in or cross the barriers.

Consume food and drink in designated areas only i.e. not in rooms that contain paintings.

Follow our no smoking policy in any part of the building.

Follow our no photograph policy in exhibitions where a sign is displayed.

Access:

The National Gallery aims to make access to the paintings enjoyable and welcoming to the widest possible public. There are a range of facilities to help you see the collection, visit exhibitions and come to events.

The Gallery offers British Sign Language-interpreted talks on paintings for visitors who are deaf, and special art sessions(展期) for visitors who can't see.

Address: The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square London WC2N 5DN

Click here to find more information.

1. What are visitors allowed to do in the National Gallery?

A．Make a phone call.	B．Take a dog in.
C．Smoke a cigarette.	D．Take photos.

2. Who are the special art sessions intended for?

A．Young visitors.	B．Deaf visitors.
C．Blind visitors.	D．Old visitors.

3. Where can we read the tourist guide?

A．In a newspaper.	B．On a poster.
C．In a magazine.	D．On the Internet.

7 . Ever since she received a little toy airliner as a birthday gift, Kate Koralevskaya has been attracted by flight. From flying remote-controlled airplanes to building her own model ones, Kate has always considered flying a plane one of her passions, but only until recently has she been able to take that to new heights.

When Kate heard about the Upwind Scholarship from her school counselor, she knew it was an extraordinary opportunity to realize her dream. The program's mission is to provide all the training necessary to obtain a private pilot's license (PPL) for students in between their junior and senior year of high school free of charge.

After completing a lengthy application and her subsequent acceptance into the program, Kate began her training last spring. Normally, recipients of the scholarship would attend ground school in person where they learn the fundamentals of flying. Due to the pandemic (大流行病), however, Kate spent hours each weekend studying online lessons in her room whenever she got a break from homework. Once summer came around, Kate and three peers put in two straight weeks of ground school, reviewing fight training from nine to five every day. "It was the toughest part of the program," Kate said.

After completing that portion of ground school, Kate was finally able to begin flying at the San Carlos Airport with the other scholarship recipients from around the Bay Area. Flying, especially for first-timers like Kate, is a hands-on process involving lots of checklists to make sure the important tasks are being taken care of.

Now, having finished the program and earned her PPL, Kate plans on training as a fight instructor and hopes to become an airline pilot in her future.

She credits the Upwind Scholarship for all she's been able to accomplish so far and hopes that anyone who shares her passion will look into it. “It is a very hard scholarship to get into, and you have to be truly interested in flight,” Kate said. “It can't be something like ‘Oh, why don't I try flying this summer?’ You have to be ready to do a lot of work and put in effort in order to succeed in the program. ”

1. What does the underlined word “that” in Paragraph 1 refer to?

A．Her skill of building model airplanes.

B．Her wish to take fights around the world.

C．Her childhood dream of becoming a pilot.

D．Her desire to fly remoter-controlled airplanes.

2. What is the goal of the Upwind Scholarship?

A．To help students in need to achieve their dreams.

B．To provide necessary training for private pilots for free.

C．To give students expert advice on earning a scholarship.

D．To prepare high school students to become a private pilot.

3. What did Kate do in ground school?

A．She took online lessons on flying.

B．She went over the fundamentals of flying.

C．She did some research into the pandemic.

D．She finished applying for the program.

4. Which of the following best describes Kate?

A．Confident and aggressive.

B．Strong willed and patient.

C．Demanding and courageous.

D．Ambitious and hard-working.

8 . People long ago thought bad spirits (神灵) caused disease. Sometimes they cut a hole in the sick person's head to let the bad spirit out. Others thought that illness was a punishment from the gods. The Greeks in old times were the first to understand that bad spirits and gods do not cause disease.

Hippocrates, called the father of medicine, and another Greek named Galen believed that disease was caused by our body fluids (液体) which are not balanced. Doctors used bleeding as a treatment for almost all illnesses. The doctor cut blood vessel (血管) and got out some blood. They thought this brought the fluids back into balance.

Doctors performed surgical operations (外科手术). About half of the surgical patients died from infection (感染) . Operating rooms were dirty, and surgeons did not even wash their hands. Things got better after Pasteur and Koch. British surgeon Joseph Lister showed how to make operating rooms clean.

Operations once had to be done quickly because there was so way to put patients to sleep. A doctor and a dentist first used ether (乙醚) in the 1s. Ether and other drugs let surgeons put patients to sleep during operations. These drugs, called anesthetics, reduce pain during surgery. With anesthetics, surgeons learned how to perform longer operations to save lives.

Medical researchers are now looking for ways to cure diseases caused by problems with genes. Genes are made of DNA. If something goes wrong with its DNA, the gene can make trouble. Some problems with genes appear at birth. Others happen later on. Doctors do not yet have good treatments for diseases caused by genetic problems.

Doctors and researchers are also working to prevent diseases by helping people lead healthy lives. They tell us to eat nutritious food, exercise, avoid smoking, and have regular physical checkups.

1. How did the Greeks in the past treat patients?

A．They used four fluids to clean the body.

B．They had some blood taken out of the body.

C．They balanced the patients with water.

D．They asked spirits and gods for help.

2. Why did about half of the surgical patients in the past die?

A．Ether was used properly

B．Patients were infected.

C．Surgeons performed longer operations.

D．Doctors didn't use operating rooms.

3. What can anesthetics be used to do?

A．Help a person sleep well.

B．Cut open part of body as a knife.

C．Make part of body free of sense or pain.

D．Save one's life if the operation fails.

4. What can we conclude from the text?

A．Good lifestyle helps one prevent diseases.

B．Any problem with genes happens before one is born.

C．Genetic treatment is the best way to remove diseases.

D．Regular physical checkups were popular in the past.

5. Which is the best title of the text?

A．How doctors cured diseases

B．Medicine around the world

C．Development of surgical operations

D．Treatment of diseases past and present

9 .

Wedding Customs from Around the World Each traditional wedding custom is very special, because it marks the importance of the wedding.

Brazil Important Details of the Wedding Ceremony A wedding ceremony in Brazil has many important details. For example, the bridegroom can't see the bride wearing her wedding dress before the ceremony. The bride has to use something old, something new, and something that is borrowed. One more detail is the bride's ring should be engraved the name of the bridegroom —María Celina Brandao

Eastern Europe Asking the Girl's Father for Permission In my country, the engagement is an event previous to the wedding. One month before the wedding, the bridegroom asks the girl's father for permission to take the girl out of her family house. He goes to her house early in the morning with a band, if he can afford the expense. All the neighbours come to see the new bride and to tell her something nice —Stoyan Grigorou

Japan A Wine Ceremony Symbolizes Dedication A Shinto wedding has a typical ceremony. A couple drinks Japanese rice wine in front of a priest. First, the bride drinks the wine from a small cup. Next, the bride passes the cup to the bridegroom and he also drinks the wine from the cup. They try to drink wine three times. This ceremony means that they promise to be dedicated to each other. —Maki Kubo

Venezuela Promises to Love and Take Care of Each Other The most important and unforgettable event of someone's life is marriage. In Venezuela, the bridegroom has to promise his bride to love her all his life and to take care of her forever. The bride also has to repeat the same commandments. It is popular for the couple to read the promises to each other. This moment is really beautiful. In addition, the couple receives a list of commandments. —Sonia Dale

For more, please click here.

1. What is a bridegroom in Brazil not expected to do?

A．Use something not new.

B．Use something someone else lends him.

C．Have his bride wear the ring engraved with his name.

D．See his bride in a wedding dress before the ceremony.

2. When does the engagement in Eastern Europe usually happen?

A．Before the wedding is celebrated.	B．After the girl is taken out
C．After a band is paid by the bridegroom.	D．When the neighbours arrive.

3. Why does the couple in Japan drink wine three times?

A．It is the priest's order in the ceremony.

B．The cup is not big enough to hold much wine.

C．It means they promise not to be against each other.

D．It is typical for all young Japanese to drink wine.

4. In which part of the world do the bride and bridegroom read the commandments?

A．Brazil.

B．Venezuela

C．Japan.

D．Eastern Europe.

5. Where does the text probably come from?

A．A book on worldwide wedding.	B．A story about foreign customs.
C．A webpage about various wedding	D．Speeches about youngsters' trouble.

10 . An early spring morning I woke up with a strange thought "Something's gonna happen." The weather was beautiful and the morning promised a perfect day. I was still in bed, enjoying the sun and fresh air. Suddenly, the phone rang. I got it and a strange voice said: "Good morning. Are you sleeping yet?"

I wondered who it was. It was a nice woman's voice with a special accent. She told me that she wanted to see me and hung up. That phone call made me think a lot. A few minutes later 1 forgot this. 1 had breakfast and went out for a walk. The smell of spring was hovering in the air. The weather was warm. I was walking through the park, enjoying the beautiful nature.

Just then. I saw a young boy picking up a wallet from the ground. It seemed to me that I had seen this wallet before. First, I thought that he had dropped it, but his next actions made me think the opposite. The boy took the wallet carefully. cleaned it, and put it into his pocket. After that, he ran as quickly as he could. I didn't know what to do, so I began to scream loudly. I hoped there would be somebody nearby to catch him. But there was nobody around. I ran after him, but he disappeared somehow.

Then I reached in my pocket and realized that this wallet was mine. I felt very hopeless—no money, no keys, nothing. Maybe I had dropped it. That was a very awful day.

Suddenly, while I was sitting on a bench, a fascinating young woman appeared. She asked: "What has happened to you? Where have you been?" It was the same voice which I had heard that morning on the phone. The special accent I had heard on the phone. The same special accent! I couldn't believe my eyes. She was standing in front of me, trying to tell me something.

At that moment I felt someone shaking me and saying: "Wake up, wake up. It's getting late. Wake up!"

I opened my eyes and saw my mother. What a pity! No fascinating young lady, no park, nothing. I jumped out of bed immediately and checked where my wallet was. Thank God! It was there. It had only been a bad dream.

1. Why did the author begin to scream loudly?

A．He met something scary.

B．He wanted to have the boy caught.

C．He wanted the boy to stop running

D．He wished the fascinating woman to appear.

2. How did the author make out the woman's voice?

A．It was gentle.	B．It was from his find.
C．It was special accent.	D．It often appeared on his phone.

3. What does the underlined word "hovering" in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Staying in one place	B．Waiting in an uncertain way.
C．Rising last in the sky	D．Flying away quickly.

4. What actually happened to the author's wallet?

A．He lost it in the park	B．It was still in his pocket.
C．The boy took it away.	D．His mother hid it

5. Who was the young woman on the phone?

A．The author's friend	B．The author's mother.
C．The young boy's sister	D．There's no such woman.