1 . If a president and a philosopher owed their success to the same secret, would you try to follow it too? What if the secret was something you already knew how to do? In fact, you probably do it every day. Here's what Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: “It is only ideas gained from walking that have any worth”. Thomas Jefferson: “Walking is the best possible exercise. Accustom yourself to walking very far.”
Are you still sitting there reading this? Get walking! It is not just the two great minds who made a case for it as a main creativity booster（推动）. Researchers have traced numerous connections between walking and novel ideas. A Standford University study found that participants were 81% more creative when walking as opposed to sitting. According to the study, walking outside—versus on a treadmill（跑步机）—produces the most novel and highest-quality ideas in participants who walked and then sat down to do creative work.
The movement aspect of walking is obviously key. You've probably heard the phrase “exercise your creativity”, which refers to the brain as muscle. Our creative thinking is triggered by physical movement, which is exactly why walking—with your dog, a friend or alone—feeds creative thinking.
But the scenery is almost as important as the sweat. A survey reveals that Americans spend 87% of their time indoors. Being inside, you're more likely to have less energy. Without energy, you can't wonder or create. Interrupting your routine with a walk can be a catalyst（催化剂）for gaining fresh insights into problems or projects. Just by going outside，you are stepping out of your comfort zone which is necessary if you want to open your mind to new possibilities. You can walk through a tree-filled neighborhood or a park and observe people wandering or birds singing.
So instead of setting a fitness goal, why not set a creative goal that starts with walking? Engage more closely with your surroundings. Walk just for exercise. Walk for wonder.
1. Why are the two great minds mentioned in Paragraph 1?| A．To suggest the way to exercise | B．To show the benefits of walking. |
| C．To give the definition of success | D．To stress the importance of creativity |
| A．Motivated. | B．Blocked. | C．Controlled. | D．Changed. |
| A．Americans spend most of their time enjoying it. |
| B．One can't wonder or create without it. |
| C．It can build a comfort zone for people. |
| D．It will expose people to new chances. |
| A．Scenery inspires new ideas. | B．Your creativity lies in sweat. |
| C．Exercise feeds creative thinking. | D．Your brain is made for walking. |
2 . It was just the three of us—my parents and me. My dad is a truck driver, and when I was a little kid, he was gone most of the time, delivering supplies around the Mid-west. Then we moved to a small house in Brighton. Colorado on my third birthday. There weren't any kids my age in the neighborhood, so I mostly played in the yard with the dogs. I had a lot of imaginary friends—a whole family, actually, with a husband, children, a best friend...no joke.
My first memory is our neighbor Arlene handing me strawberries from her garden. One day, my parents asked Arlene and her husband Bill whether they'd watch me when they went out. This worked well, so it became a weekly occurrence.
When I was about five, I had an idea: “What if I adopted Bill and Arlene as my grandparents?” I knocked on their door and said, “Will you guys be my grandparents?” They started crying and enthusiastically accepted it. Soon after, they printed out an adoption certificate and it hung on their living room wall from then on.
I remember being surprised that they took my offer so seriously. Thinking of that moment still brings tears to my eyes. There's something truly remarkable about a child offering her love and adults being so ecstatic to accept it. From the day I adopted them, I called Bill and Arlene grandpa and grandma. Pretty soon, my parents were calling them Dad and Mom. Even our animals would often sneak out of our yard to visit them. Over the years, Bill and Arlene supported me in all my dreams. And when I got accepted to a university, they presented me with a fund. They told me they'd been putting away money since the day I adopted them.
After Arlene passed away, Bill gave me the ring he'd gifted to Arlene. It's a simple gold band that I wear on my ring finger as a reminder of the kind of love I wish to put into this world.
1. Before meeting Bill and Arlene, the author probably felt ______.| A．worried | B．scared | C．lonely | D．desperate |
| A．They were unfriendly to her animals. |
| B．They influenced her to reward the world. |
| C．They ignored her offer to adopt them at first. |
| D．They gave all their savings to help her with study. |
| A．Parents should keep their kids company | B．Love goes beyond blood relationship |
| C．A friend in need is a friend indeed | D．There is no place like home |
| A．To recall her childhood. |
| B．To encourage herself to pursue dreams. |
| C．To treasure the memory of her “grandparents”. |
| D．To thank her “grandparents” for their instructions. |
3 . Thanks to Arizona's tax credit program, taxpayers can make a big difference with their dollars. Learn how these four organizations are making a difference and how you, too, can be part of the solution to help the underserved through donations.
Catholic Charities Community Services
Catholic Charities Community Services provides adoption for foster（领养）children as well as education and certification for foster families throughout central and northern Arizona. But they can't do it without your help. You can change the life of a child.
Visit Catholic Charities at www. catholiccharitiesaz. org to learn the impact your gift makes.
Catholic Community Foundation（CCF）
Established in 1983. CCF aims to build the future of faith by providing sustainable support for those who serve the community. Since 1995, CCF has given more than $ 27 million back into the community through donor-advised funds, savings and growth funds, etc.
You can learn more by visiting ccfphx. Org.
Catholic Education Arizona
Catholic Education Arizona has been creating future leaders for 23 years. And it has raised 268 million and awarded underserved youth 138,000 scholarships to change lives, strengthen families and transform culture. With more than $9 million remaining to claim, interested corporations are encouraged to contact our office for more information.
You can learn more by visiting catholiceducationarisona. Org.
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul
The staff and volunteers at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul packaged more than 4,000 meals for individuals and families to pick up on a daily basis. St. Vincent de Paul's family dining room, food boxes, medical and dental care, shelter and other services are nearly 100% funded by private donations. Donors can claim up to $800 in Arizona charitable tax credits.
Learn more at svdptaxcredit. info.
1. Taxpayers can learn more about their charitable gifts to foster children by visiting _________.| A．cefphx. org | B．www. catholiccharitiesaz. org |
| C．svdptaxcredit. info | D．catholiceducationarizona. org |
| A．Serving the community. | B．Supplying food to those in need. |
| C．Aiding foster children or families. | D．Financially supporting underserved youth. |
| A．They only offer service to families. | B．They provide help for patients. |
| C．They bring hope to the underserved. | D．They are profitable organizations. |
Shooting down an ice-covered track, a bobsled（大雪橇）can go faster than 80 miles an hour, and riders can feel force five times stronger than the pull of gravity. A race can be won or lost by one hundredth of a second. How do bobsleds go faster than cars on a highway? The answer is a combination of athletics and science.
At the start of a race, the crew push their sled, building up speed before they jump in for the ride. For months before the race, the crew have built up power in their legs. The push is the crew's only chance to add speed. All other work goes into keeping friction and drag（摩擦力和阻力）from slowing the sled down.
The design of the sled's runners（滑板）reduces their friction with the ice. The friction of a moving runner melts a little ice right under the runner, and the runner rides on that thin layer of water. The runners are rounded on the bottom. Runners that are too flat may not melt enough ice for fast ride. Runners that are too round may become too warm, softening the ice and slowing the sled down. No amount of rounding is perfect for all races because the hardness of the ice depends on the weather on race day.
Bobsleds used to be open. The riders did not sit inside a hull（外壳）. As the crew sped down the track，the air would create drag. Today, a sled's hull reduces drag by splitting the air in front of the sled and making it flow smoothly along the slides. As with the runners，strict rules apply to the hull. For example，no team may add any part that would create helpful air currents.
Reducing friction and drag creates another challenge: high speeds. “The faster the sleds car travel on the run, the more thrilling the race,” one research team wrote. “But the track must not be too fast: he crew still need to be able to reach the bottom safely.”
1. What's the text mainly about?| A．The shape of the sled. | B．The design of the runners. |
| C．The safety rules applying to the sled. | D．The elements relating to the sled's speed |
| A．Proper amount of melted ice is needed for a fast ride. |
| B．The rounder the runners are, the faster the sled goes. |
| C．Thin layer of water would drag the runners backward. |
| D．A sled's movement has nothing to do with weather. |
| A．It's comfortable to sit in. | B．It leads to beneficial air flow. |
| C．It helps to create a safe ride. | D．It's free from strict rules. |
| A．Safety is the most important. | B．Keeping high speed is difficult. |
| C．Riders' desire to win is understandable. | D．The crew's cooperation is necessary. |
5 . The conductor on the podium (指挥台) has no baton (指挥棒), no tailcoat and no musical score, but Android Alter 3 is kicking up a storm as it guides a symphony orchestra's players through their paces.
The robot has a humanoid face, hands and lower arms, which gesture with what could pass for passion as it bounces up and down and rotates during the live performance of Keiichiro Shibuya's opera Scary Beauty in the Emirate of Sharjah.
Video from the recent performance in the Emirate of Sharjah showed the machine turning to face orchestra members and waving its arms. Alter 3 even sang at times.
Shibuya said the involvement of robots in the everyday lives of humans is continually increasing. But, he said he thinks people will need to decide in the future how artificial intelligence can best improve the human experience.
Shibuya added that he believes humans and robots can learn to work together to create beautiful art. "This work is a metaphor of that relations between humans and technology," he said. Shibuya noted that sometimes the music-leading robot can "get crazy", making it difficult for the musicians to keep up. But other times, the humans and machines cooperate very well.
Shibuya said the robots and AI that exist today are "far from complete". He is interested in studying how such incomplete technology can be combined with art.
"I think this is a very exciting idea…We came to see what it looks like and how much is possible," said Anna Kovacevic. Another audience member, who gave his name only as Billum, said after the show, "You know, a human conductor is so much better." Although he said he is interested in AI and looks forward to big developments, he concluded on the project: "The human touch is lost."
1. What does Shibuya think of Alter 3?| A．It is not perfect at present. | B．It teams up with humans well. |
| C．It often makes humans crazy. | D．It is better than human conductors. |
| A．The performance drew mixed reactions. |
| B．Billum took no interest in the performance. |
| C．The audience were fascinated by the performance. |
| D．The audience thought Alter 3 would have a bright future. |
| A．Positive | B．Negative. | C．Objective. | D．Critical. |
| A．Robot Cooperates with Humans |
| B．Robot Conducts Human Orchestra |
| C．The Significance of Robots in Art |
| D．The Relations Between AI and Humans |
6 . Luxury symbols of China, all-inclusive cruise and Mount Fuji adventure
From the architectural riches of China to the awe-inspiring beauty of Mount Fuji, discover wonders of the world during this epic adventure, paired with hotel stays in interesting cities and an all-inclusive cruise on board Silver Muse.
Days 1-3 Beijing—Hotel Stay and Tour
Discover China’s greatest treasures during a fully accompanied tour, wonder at the weaving Great Wall of China, admire the Temple of Heaven and uncover history in the Forbidden City.
Days 4-5 Xi’an—Hotel Stay and Tour
Travel by fast train to Xi’an, one of the birthplaces of Chinese civilization. Here you’ll visit the Terracotta Army, one of the greatest archaeological sites in the world.
Day 6 Shanghai—Embark Silver Muse
Today you’ll embark Silver Muse for your cruise to Osaka. Settle into your surroundings and choose from a wealth of dining experiences, personalise your suite to the finest detail— including your choice of perfume, toiletries and pillow—and get to know your personal butler who will keep your fridge stocked with your favourite drinks. Cruising with Silversea is simply impressive.
Days 7-9 Osaka—Disembark Silver Muse, Tokyo Hotel Stay and Tour
You’ll disembark in Osaka and transfer to the airport for your flight to Tokyo. Japan’s capital boasts an incredible combination of both modern and tradition as soaring neon skyscrapers gather next to ancient temples. During your three-night stay you’ll embark on a fully accompanied tour of sacred Mount Fuji. Witness its splendid appearance during a ride on the Hakone Ropeway cable car, admire its quietness during a cruise trip across Lake Ashi and experience the speed of the bullet train as it whisks you back to Tokyo.
Days 10 Tokyo—Fly Home
1. Which of the following best describes the hotel service in Shanghai?| A．Expensive. | B．Personalized. | C．Amazing. | D．Comfortable. |
| A．Beijing | B．Xi’an | C．Shanghai | D．Osaka |
| A．2. | B．3. | C．4. | D．5. |
7 . It is the stock response to a parent struggling with a crying baby or a bad-tempered teenager: “Treasure every moment because they grow up so fast.” Now researchers have found there may be something in the old saying. Watching children grow up really does seem to make time fly. Scientists have found that parents feel time passing more quickly than non-parents.
The findings could be due to the fact that children change fast. “Over ten years, children go through dramatic changes not only in their physical appearance, but also in their understanding abilities and their status, ” the researchers said. The results could also be a consequence of parents spending a large amount of their time on their children, they said, even though they found no difference in the time pressures recorded by parents compared with non-parents in the study.
For the study, published in the journal Timing & Time Perception (感知), the researchers asked 431 people aged from 20 to 59 to fill in a subjective time questionnaire, a tool used by psychologists to measure time perception. They were asked: “How fast did the last ten years pass for you?” An answer of very slowly gave a score of-2; slowly was-I; neither fast nor slow was 0; fast was I and very fast scored 2. So the higher the score, the faster they felt time had passed. The parents had an average score of I. 22, compared with 0. 76 for the non-parents.
Participants were also asked how quickly the last year, month and week had passed, but there were no differences between the groups for these shorter intervals (间隔). Previous studies have suggested that time also seems to speed up when we get older. Research published in 2019 by Duke University in North Carolina suggests this could be due to physical changes in our bodies, with a slowdown in image processing speeding up our perception of time passing.
Days that seemed to last forever in our youth were “not due to experiences being much deeper or meaningful”, the researcher Adrian Bejan said, “but due to the fact that they were being processed rapidly.”
1. What probably makes parents feel time passing more quickly than non-parents?| A．The pressure of raising children. | B．Devoting much time to children. |
| C．The slowdown in image processing. | D．Noticing children’s daily physical growth. |
| A．Time seems to speed up for the young. |
| B．Parents responded differently to the old saying. |
| C．Non-parents have deeper experiences. |
| D．The older people are, the higher scores they may get. |
| A．Experiences. | B．Researchers. | C．Days. | D．Youths. |
| A．The perception of time passing. |
| B．Teenagers experience dramatic changes. |
| C．Time really flies when you are having children. |
| D．Comparison between parents and non-parents. |
8 . China’s Tianwen 1 Mars probe (探测器) conducted its fourth orbital correction on Friday evening, as the spacecraft makes ready for its arrival in orbit around Feb. 10, according to the China National Space Administration.
The name comes from the long poem Tianwen, meaning Heavenly Questions or Questions to Heaven, written by Qu Yuan, one of the greatest poets of ancient China. In Tianwen, this name conveys the Chinese nation’s steady effort in pursuing truth and culture of exploring nature and the universe. CNSA also unveiled ( 发 布 ) the logo of China’s planetary exploration missions, featuring the letter C, signifying China, international cooperation and capacity of entering space.
Tianwen I has flown for 197 days and more than 465 million kilometers on its journey to the planet. It is now around 184 million km from Earth and I. 1 million km from Mars. Depending on the two planets’ orbits, Mars is between 55 and 400 million km from Earth. Mars probe Tianwen I is seen in its first selfies in space on Oct. 1, 2020. The administration also published a black-and-white picture of Mars taken by Tianwen I, the first snapshot (抓拍的照片) from the Chinese craft.
Tianwen I, the country’s first independent Mars mission, was launched by a Long March 5 heavy-lift carrier rocket on July 23 from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province, kicking off the nation’s planetary exploration program.
A successful landing would make China only the second nation to place a spacecraft on the Martian planet. China would also be the first to successfully orbit, land and deploy ( 部署) a vehicle in the same mission. According to experts, searching for signs of life on Mars will be the first and foremost scientific goal. China is open and inclusive in the development of its space technology not least because it believes that the exploration of outer space should help build a community with a shared future for mankind.
1. Why is Qu Yuan’s poem mentioned in the text?| A．To tell the origin of space exploration. |
| B．To describe space exploration vividly. |
| C．To highlight the importance of space exploration. |
| D．To show Chinese continuous struggle in space exploration. |
| A．function | B．development | C．operation | D．structure |
| A．To build a common future for man. | B．To prove our achievement in space research. |
| C．To discover signs of life on this planet. | D．To expand the understanding of the space. |
| A．Letter C Logo symbolizes creation between countries. |
| B．China was the first nation to land a spacecraft on Mars. |
| C．Tianwen I made its fifth orbital correction around Feb. 10. |
| D．Tianwen I started a new chapter in Chinese planetary exploration. |
9 . In a study published in Nature Machine Intelligence, researchers at Ohio State University show how artificial intelligence（AI）can follow clinical trials to identify drugs for repurposing, a solution that can help advance innovative treatments.
Repurposing drugs is legal and not unusual. When doctors prescribe(开处方)drugs that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration(FDA)for purposes different from what is printed on the labels, the drugs are being used “off-label” Just because a drug is FDA-approved for a specific type of disease does not prevent it from having possible benefits for other purposes.
For example, Metformin, a drug that is FDA-approved for treating type 2 diabetes, is also used to treat PCOS(a disease of women), and other diseases. Trazodone, an anti-depressant with FDA-approval to treat depression, is also prescribed by doctors to help treat patients with sleep issues.
The Ohio State University research team created an AI deep learning model for predicting treatment probability with patient data including the treatment, outcomes, and potential confounders(干扰因素).
Confounders are related to the exposure and outcome. For example, a connection is identified between music festivals and increases in skin rashes(红疹). Music festivals do not directly cause skin rashes. In this case, one possible confounding factor between the two may be outdoor heat, as music festivals tend to run outdoors when the temperature is high, and heat is a known cause for rashes. When working with real-world data, confounders could number in the thousands. AI deep learning is well-suited to find patterns in the complexity of potentially thousands of confounders.
The researcher team used confounders including population data and co-prescribed drugs. With this proof-of-concept, now clinicians have a powerful AI tool to rapidly discover new treatments by repurposing existing medications.
1. What do we know about a drug used off-label?| A．It is sold without a label. |
| B．It is available at a low price. |
| C．Its uses extend beyond the original ones. |
| D．Its clinical trials are rejected by doctors. |
| A．are used off-label |
| B．treat rare diseases |
| C．result in sleep issues |
| D．are medical breakthroughs |
| A．They are possible treatments. |
| B．They are environmental factors. |
| C．They can be easily recognized in real-world data. |
| D．They should be taken into serious consideration. |
| A．AI examines benefits of existing drugs. |
| B．AI identifies off-label uses for drugs. |
| C．AI finds new drugs for common diseases. |
| D．AI proves the power of drug research. |
10 . A painting stamped with more than 4.8 million fingerprints and cost over 80, 000 yuan in paper has set the Guinness World Record for the largest fingerprint painting.
The fingerprint painting, named Descendants of the Dragon, was created by Kuang Xianpeng, a 35-year-old painter from Zhuzhou, Hunan Province. It describes a mix of nine Chinese dragons and six arts in ancient Chinese culture.
With a surface area of 1195. 14 square meters, 51. 526 meters long and 23. 195 meters wide, the whole painting used 685 pieces of xuan paper and took Kuang over two years to complete. It also took 40 volunteers two whole days to lay out the painting for Guinness certification officer to measure.
Kuang said it was a very arduous journey, and he had used up all his spare time to finish the work. “It was very hard to master the amount of strength you put in your fingers, ” he said. “You can’t press too hard or too light. Otherwise, your prints will blur. I have wasted over 300 pieces of paper due to blurred fingerprints. ”
The Guinness certification officer Luo Qiong said this world record wasn’t easy to earn. She said each fingerprint must be clear, the painting must have more than four different colors, and the distance between each fingerprint mustn’t be more than 1 centimeter.
The world record for this category had been broken 15 times since 2014, with the previous one set by an Indian with a work measuring 1, 188 square meters.
Before this painting, Kuang had spent 14 years in drawing a pen-and-ink painting of 247 meters long and 1. 6 meters wide, telling stories of historical myths. He also said he would never stop exploring more creative works.
1. What can we know about the painting created by Kuang Xianpeng?| A．It’s worth at least 80, 000 yuan. |
| B．It measures 1, 188 square meters. |
| C．It took him 14 years to complete it. |
| D．It consists of over 4.8 million fingerprints. |
| A．Difficult. | B．Satisfying. |
| C．Thrilling. | D．Frightening. |
| A．The colors of paints. |
| B．The amount of strength. |
| C．The quality of xuan paper. |
| D．The distance of fingerprints. |
| A．He is full of creativity. |
| B．He is full of imagination. |
| C．He is very courageous. |
| D．He is rich in experience. |
