1 . Chimps use loud calls and gestures to make their feelings known but until now, the exact meaning for individual movements has remained a mystery. Now researchers believe they have translated the key gestures used in the chimp community and identified their intentions for the first time.
From 4,351 gestures, experts were able to identify 66 that are used for 19 specific message meanings, including showing a foot to tell a child they can climb on their back. The researchers were able to narrow down these 66 gestures to 36 that are used intentionally to achieve 15 purposes. The translations were made by Dr Catherine Hobaiter and her colleagues at St Andrews University in Scotland.
Dr Hobaiter used behavior sampling and filmed all recorded cases of gestural communication. Other gestures include stomping their feet to ask another chimp to stop what they are doing, and slapping objects together to ask another to follow them. Of the 19 meanings,17 encouraged interactions to start, or to develop, such as “move closer,” and “change play”. Some of the gestures were found to have more than one meaning. and only 10 of the 66 gestures were used for only a single meaning.
Researchers collected a total of 471 video clips from two social groups of chimps at a shelter near Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. As well as identifying what the gesture means, they also discovered the technique needed to increase the chances of success.
“Human children use gestures to communicate before they produce their first words, and their earliest gestures typically appear around 10 months of age,” explained the researchers. “In great apes, there is good evidence that language-trained individuals are capable of acquiring and understanding signals, but this is far less clear in their natural communication. ”
1. Chimps slap the objects to____________.| A．tell others to stop what they are doing | B．ask others chimps to join them |
| C．gather other chimps to move closer | D．encourage interactions to start |
| A．Chimps trained in language are good at understanding signals. |
| B．Two social groups of chimps live at a shelter near Kinshasa. |
| C．Language-trained individuals do well in natural communication. |
| D．Chimps’earliest gestures appear around 10 months of age. |
| A．By analyzing causes. | B．By examining differences. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By following time order. |
| A．A New Research on Chimps | B．Human Children and Chimps |
| C．Getting the Chimps Trained for Language | D．Translating the Sign Language of Chimps |
2 . A well-dressed man came to a famous jewelry shop. He explained that he wished to buy a pearl for his wife’s birthday. The price didn’t matter. Since business had been very good for him that year. After examining a nice black one that cost $5000, he paid for the pearl in cash, shook hands with the jeweler, and left.
A few days later the man returned and said that his wife liked the pearl so much that she wanted another one just like it. It had to be exactly the same size and quality, because she wanted a pair of earrings made, “Can you give me any advice on how to get such a pearl? ” said the man. The jeweler regretfully replied, “I would say it’s exactly impossible to find one exactly like that pearl.”
The rich man insisted that the jeweler advertise in the newspapers, offering $ 25,000 for the matching pearl. Many people answered the advertisement but nobody had a pearl that was just right.
Just when the jeweler had given up hope, a little old lady came into his store. To his great surprise, she pulled the perfect pearl from her purse. “I don’t like to part with it,” she said sadly, “I got it from my mother, and my mother from hers. But I really need the money. ”
The jeweler was quick to pay her before she changed her mind. Then he called the rich man’s hotel to tell him the good news. The man, however, was nowhere to be found.
1. He paid $ 5,000 for the black pearl without bargaining because ______.
| A．he loved his wife deeply |
| B．his business had been successful |
| C．he was anxious to get it |
| D．he wanted to make the jeweler believe him |
| A．exactly the same size as the black one |
| B．exactly as big and nice as the black one |
| C．exactly as expensive as the black one |
| D．exactly the same quality as the black one |
| A．to see the perfect pearl |
| B．to sell their own pearl at a high price |
| C．to get in touch with the rich man |
| D．to help the rich man’s wife |
| A．the man’s partner |
| B．short of money |
| C．unwilling to sell the pearl |
| D．the man’s wife |
3 . In the world of Chinese archaeology (考古学), a sign of a dig's importance is the sight of Zhou Mingsheng at work. A field technician who has worked at archaeological sites all around China. Master Zhou is credited with the gentlest touch in his profession. Born into a farming family, he is a “national-level craftsman” with a talent for using simple tools to get relics (遗物) that would crumble in other hands, says his current boss, Wang Xu, director of an archaeological site at Shuanghuaishu, a Neolithic (新石器时代的) settlement near the Yellow River in the central province of Henan.
It is not beauty that attracts visitors to Shuanghuaishu. At 5, 300 years old, the settlement is the work of a culture too simple to have left behind many buried treasures. The single most precious find, to date, is a finger-length sculpture of a silkworm. Nor is the setting lovely: an area surrounded by deafening insects, between a highway and two power stations. Rather, the site's importance is historical. For since the birth of Chinese archaeology in the 1920s, it has been inseparable from claims that China has the oldest unbroken civilisation on Earth.
Leading archaeologists say that the site has the right combination of location, age and distinctive cultural elements to be the capital of an early Chinese kingdom. That would make it a bridge between China's written history and the era of the Yellow Emperor, who is said to rule over these central plains almost 5,000 years ago, though many foreign scholars doubt his existence. Chinese media call the site proof of China's 5,000 years of history.
Foreigners complain about a lack of written records, Mr Wang notes. Perhaps they are missing symbols that will one day be understood, for instance in patterned pottery. Outsiders "can't keep using Western standards to apply to Chinese ruins," he argues.
1. What does the underlined word “crumble” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Result. | B．Break. | C．Wait. | D．Shine. |
| A．It is of great historical significance. | B．It has various precious treasures. |
| C．It has appealing scenery. | D．It is easily accessible. |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Tolerant. |
| C．Disapproving. | D．Sympathetic. |
| A．Chinese history amazes the world | B．Chinese archaeology catches on |
| C．China follows its tradition | D．China digs its past |
4 . Men hunted.Women gathered. But the discovery of a woman buried 9,000 years ago in the Andes Mountains with weapons and hunting tools challenges this widely accepted view. The woman, thought to be between 17 and 19 years old when she died, was buried with items that suggested she hunted big-game animals by spear (矛) throwing.
The objects accompanying people in death tend to be those that accompanied them in life. Although some scholars have suggested a role for women in ancient hunting, others have dismissed this idea even when hunting tools were uncovered in female burials.
To examine whether this woman found at this site was an exception, the researchers examined 429 skeletons at 107 burial sites from around 8,000 to 14,000 years ago. Of those, 27 individuals were buried with hunting tools—11 were female and 15 were male. The sample was sufficient to “justify the conclusion that female participation in early big-game hunting was likely nontrivial,” said lead study author Haas.
The findings add to doubts about “man-the-hunter” assumption about early humans since the mid-20th century. That theory assumes that it was men who went out and hunted, bringing home meat to feed women and children, who were responsible for gathering berries, plants and nuts to enrich the dict.
But recent research suggests hunting was very much a community-based activity, needing the participation of all able-bodied individuals to drive large animals, the study said. Meanwhile, the spears used at that time had low accuracy, encouraging participation, and using it was a skill learned from childhood. Women may also have been freed from child care demands by “allo-parenting”—raising children was a job shared by many.
“Our findings have made me rethink the most basic organizational structure of ancient hunter-gatherer groups, and human groups more generally,” Haas said.
1. The discovery of the buried woman shows ________.| A．she was killed by a big-game animal | B．she might use hunting tools when alive |
| C．women were good at throwing spears | D．women were buried alone after death |
| A．limited | B．direct | C．significant | D．passive |
①allo-parenting ②big-game hunting ③tasks of gathering ④less accurate tools
| A．①②③ | B．②③④ | C．①③④ | D．①②④ |
| A．most of our ancestors were buried with hunting tools |
| B．we should reconsider previous views on human groups |
| C．division of labor in hunter-gatherer society remains unchanged |
| D．the tomb found in the Andes justifies “man-the-hunter” assumption |
5 . What should you think about when trying to find your career? You are probably better at some school subjects than others. These may show strengths that you can use in your work. A boy who is good at mathematics can use that in an engineering career. A girl who spells well and likes English may be good at office work. So it is important to know the subjects you do well in at school. On the other hand, you may not have any specially strong subjects but your records show a general satisfactory standard. Although not all subjects can be used directly in a job, they may have indirect value. A knowledge of history is not required for most jobs but if history is one of your good subjects you will have learned to remember facts and details. This is an ability that can be useful in many jobs.
Your school may have taught you skills, such as typing or technical drawing, which you can use in your work. You may be good at metalwork or cookery and look for a job where you can improve these skills. If you have had a part-time job on Saturdays or in the summer, think what you gained from it. If nothing else, you may have learned how to get to work on time, to follow instructions and to get on with older workers. You may have learned to give correct change in a shop, for example. Just as important, you may become interested in a particular industry or career you see from the inside in a part-time job.
Facing your weak points is also part of knowing yourself. You may be all thumbs when you handle tools; perhaps you are a poor speller or cannot add up a column of figures. It is better to face any weakness than to pretend they do not exist. Your school record, for instance, may not be too good, yet it is an important part of your background. You should not be apologetic about it but instead recognize that you will have a chance of a fresh start at work.
1. We can infer from the first paragraph that ________.| A．we should think about how to find our career |
| B．learning ability at school shows power in your job |
| C．a knowledge of each subject may be of value in your career |
| D．learning each subject well is an ability in many jobs |
| A．have no hope in his future work |
| B．be hopeful to find a suitable job |
| C．regret not having worked harder at school |
| D．have an opportunity of a new beginning in his future work |
| A．be the best | B．be clumsy | C．be important | D．be skilled |
| A．how to show strengths in your work |
| B．working experience and knowledge at school |
| C．the relationship between school performance and career |
| D．how to get a job |
6 . Remote work, especially in a world affected by COVID-19, naturally leads to "flex time". Employees with small children might be getting the majority of their work done at night after the kids are in bed. Working early, you quit early. Starting late, work late.
With your teammates working during different hours, you may be getting messages at all hours of the day, night, or weekend, making you always available. That might be necessary in some industries during these challenging times, but certainly not in every industry and not for everyone in any industry. Once this takes root in your company culture, it becomes difficult to "reset" later. Besides, “always-on” isn't sustainable (可持续的), which increases pressure and quickly turns your company into an unpleasant place to work.
If your company adapts "flex time", how can you accommodate your employees’ needs while still protecting your culture and your team's work-life balance? The key is to encourage flex time while also setting clear "communication hours" (for example, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.）. Outside of those hours, employees should be encouraged to change their settings to "Do Not Disturb" and to use the “schedule send” feature of their email client so that messages only get delivered during communication hours.
If messages must happen outside of the set communication hours, such as for urgent or time-sensitive issues, make employees phone or text only. This way people can comfortably close down all other communication channels like email, WeChat, WeCom, etc. The act of having to call or text someone is usually enough to give the sender a pause to think, "Do I really need this person now, or can the communication wait?" This allows everyone on your team to work whenever is appropriate for them, but not feel like they have to work all the time to accommodate everyone else's schedule. A word of “Thanks for being so responsive” to someone answering an email outside of the defined communication hours definitely brings empathy (同理心) which smooths the urgency while also cultivating the trust and culture.
1. What may result in the phenomenon of "always-on"?| A．COVID-19. | B．Some industries. |
| C．Increasing pressure. | D．Flexible working time. |
| A．The phenomenon of "flex time". | B．The disadvantages of “flex time”. |
| C．The necessity of “flex time”. | D．The company culture of “flex time”, |
| A．It helps to make up for the shortcomings of “flex time". |
| B．It should be set from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
| C．Employees mustn't be disturbed within the hours. |
| D．Employees are still responsive outside of the hours. |
| A．Neutral. | B．Supportive. |
| C．Opposed. | D．Indifferent. |
7 . It appears to fit with most people's experience: how Christmas seems to come around quicker every year? Questionnaires by psychologists have shown almost everyone feels time is passing faster now compared to when they were half or a quarter as old. Most strikingly, lots of experiment have shown that, when older people are asked to guess how long the time is, or to ‘reproduce’ the length of periods of time, they guess a shorter amount than younger people.
In 1877, Paul Janet suggested the proportional theory, where a child of 10 feels a year as I 10 of his whole life while a man of 50 as 1/50, so the subjective sense of the 50-year-old man is that: these are insignificant periods of time which gallop.
There are also biological theories. The speeding up of time is linked to how our metabolism (新陈代谢)gradually slows down as we grow olden Children's hearts beat faster than They breathe more quickly. With their blood flowing more quickly, their body clocks “cover” more time within the space of 24 hours than ours do as adults. On the other hand, older people are like clocks that run slower than normal, so that they lag behind, and cover less than 24 hours.
In the 1930s, the psychologist Hudson Hoagland found body temperature causes different perceptions of time. Once, when he looked after his ill wife, he noticed she complained he'd been away for a long time even if only away for a few moments. Therefore, Hoagland tested her perception of time at different temperatures, finding the higher her temperature, the more time seemed to slow down for her, and that raising a person's body temperature can slow down his sense of time passing by up to 20%.
Time doesn't necessarily have to speed up as we get older though. It depends on how live our lives, and how we relate to our experiences.
1. What do the questionnaires and experiments find?| A．Time now is shorter than before. |
| B．Aging makes people think slowly. |
| C．The old feel time flies faster than the young. |
| D．The old value time more than before. |
| A．Fly swiftly. | B．Pause briefly. |
| C．Move slowly. | D．Pass stably. |
| A．A kid with slower metabolism. | B．A child with low body temperature. |
| C．A grown-up feeling freezing. | D．An adult with a high fevel. |
| A．How time flies! | B．To live a full life! |
| C．Why time passes at different speeds? | D．How to save more time? |
8 . A boat floated peacefully on the crystal-blue water. “How fascinating! ” Antonio told to his friends, who shared a passion for diving. In the following diving, unfortunately, he was trapped with his friend, who shared the oxygen with Antonio but died afterwards. Antonio breathed hard on his mouthpiece, but there was nothing left.He started to scream and kept screaming until he had no voice. As hours passed and Antonio failed to surface, his other friends rushed for help.
Shortly the local divers came to rescue, but in vain. Years of experience told them, lost in the cave, one must be dead. They considered going back in but decided against it because of the incoming dark, the muddy water and the lack of help. Too risky.
Asked for help, Peter, a chief frogman, began to plan the next morning’s operations, knowing hurried preparation was deadly. He had narrow escapes from death. Each time, though, training and a cool head saved him. Suddenly, a thought struck him. "Who said he died? That guy may be alive!” The next morning, Peter was suited up. Before a dive, he prayed.
Antonio "dreamed” he was drowning. He forced himself awake but couldn't feel his body. He was too tired to feel scared. Entering the cave, Peter found Antonio. On touching him, a hand closed around his left wrist Peter knew the young man must be kept from panicking. Gently he passed his mouthpiece to Antonio. He heard Antonio take a couple of breaths before handing the mouthpiece back. Antonio was trying to share oxygen with him, Peter realized. How unbelievable was that, after 17 hours in this hole, his mind still stayed cool!
Antonio was treated in the nearest hospital. Doctors said he wouldn’t have survived more than another hour in the cave. When Peter finally climbed back into his car, he doubled up, sobbing. He felt he took part in a miracle. Somehow an unseen hand that had guided Antonio to a tiny air pocket in the cave guided him there too. Where he should have found death, he had met life.
1. How did Antonio feel in the cave?| A．Delighted. | B．Cautious. | C．Thrilled. | D．Scared. |
| A．Because Antonio was believed to be dead. |
| B．Because the conditions were risky. |
| C．Because the hurried help couldn't help. |
| D．Because the local divers achieved nothing. |
| A．Antonio didn't give in to the desperate situation. | B．Antonio had a dream of drowning. |
| C．Antonio longed to sleep tight. | D．Antonio pulled Peter down with him. |
| A．Antonio’s injury. | B．Humans' desire to survive. |
| C．Peter's own kindness. | D．Antonio's friend's death. |
9 . The quiz tries to test non-native English speaker's vocabulary size. New results show the largest proportion of participants know 4,500 words （in the range from 4,250 to 4,749）, with the median vocabulary size of 7,826* under the influence of the following factors.
Factors
Academic performance: In class, how about your homework, study, exam, logic, etc.?
Classroom participation: In class, how much did you participate, talking and asking questions? Natural ability: In class, how much do you feel about learning English? Is it easy or difficult? Outside of class: How much do you use English in real life, learning things outside of class? Being abroad: Did you travel to English-speaking countries? How much time did you spend?
Findings
Academic performance helps, up to doubling your vocabulary size. Classroom participation matters too, giving you up to a 50% increase in vocabulary. Outside of class is the biggest difference. Students who do lots of things in English outside of class have more than twice the vocabulary of those who don't. Being abroad brings the average student from around 7,000 to 10,000 words.
Be aware that the results above are suggestive only. More research will tell.
1. What is the vocabulary size of most participants in the quiz?
| A．4,500. | B．4,250. | C．4,749 | D．7,826 |
| A．Academic performance. | B．Being abroad. |
| C．Outside class activities. | D．Classroom participation. |
| A．An English poster. | B．An English dictionary. |
| C．A notice about a quiz. | D．A survey of English learning. |
10 . Tourists to the North Antrim Coast come for its breathtaking beauty On this stretch of coast, myth and history live side by side, and running out of things to do is near impossible. Giant’s Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede, the Iron Isles’ filming locations ...
However, when I make my way to the north of the-country in October, none of them are on my mind. What brings me to the coastal town of Portrush are the waves.
Located, on a peninsula, Portrush is home to three brilliant beaches and all the usual points of interest of a coastal town. But what makes the North Antrim Coast so special is the promise of the consistent waves hitting its shores. Although still relatively unknown, it’s a surfer’s dream destination. This is the home of six-time Irish national surfing champion, Andrew Hill, after all.
I meet Andrew at his surf shop, the most popular in Portrush. After hiring a surf board and jumping in the water at West Strand, I quickly realise that my trusted wetsuit is not enough. Within just 30 minutes, I’ve lost all feeling in my feet and hands, and my ears are burning. I retreat to a nearby café and gulp down steaming tea before popping by Andrew’s shop again. Surf boots are what I need, we decide. I leave with a new determination to master the icy Atlantic waves. I’m invited to surf a different spot with Andrew and his friend that afternoon. but I decline his generous offer. My head is set on one thing only: taking revenge on the same waves that almost turned me into an ice block that very morning.
Even with boots, surfing the cold waters of Portrush leaves my feet purple. I become covered in bruises that don’t register until I thaw out each night, and it takes a couple of days to fully regain feeling in my hands. But it’s worth it, and I would gladly do it all over again.
1. What does the underlined word “them” in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．The popular attractions. | B．Coastal towns. |
| C．The filming locations. | D．Passionate tourists. |
| A．It has internationally famous beaches. |
| B．It’s home to the usual seaside interests. |
| C．It produces excellent waves for surfing. |
| D．It’s the hometown of a surfing champion. |
| A．better equip himself for the challenge |
| B．consult with some experienced surfers |
| C．accompany the owner on a later surf trip |
| D．quickly warm himself up with some hot tea |
| A．Narrative and serious. | B．Persuasive and critical. |
| C．Descriptive and positive. | D．Informative and objective. |
