1 . When we experience earthquakes, medical emergencies — whatever the situation, the first thing you probably do is panic. Everybody does. While many of us think that we’re cool in a crisis, science tells us that we seldom are. At the moment we need to be keenly aware of our surroundings, but our attention goes to the scariest thing on the scene, leaving us unaware of the other sights, sounds, and even smells around us. At the moment, we’re anything but at our best.
These normal human reactions can be reversed. For example, firefighters are taught how to bring down their blood pressure and heart rates quickly, box breathing, belly breathing, hum breathing — you can learn these techniques in minutes. Once you calm down, you’ll identify accurately what the problem is really about. Lack of practice always causes us to judge problems in wrong ways. Doing the thinking ahead of time also helps you fire off the solution when it’s show time. This is why you are advised to find the closest exit before the flight. And sometimes we aren’t prepared with all the knowledge we need. Let’s say we’re on a hike and a bear shows up. What shall we do? Better to read suggestions on how to respond before heading into the wild.
Performing in a crisis is becoming more important for all of us for two reasons. Back in the good old days, the reliability of most anything we used or did was far less than it is today. Now think about what happens to our preparedness as the probability of something had happening reduces. Unless we practice what hardly ever happens, our ability to respond when it does happen tends to slip away. Reliability can kill you. Also, the systems we use today are more complex. There are seldom moving parts in plain view that allow us to see when things are about to go wrong. Consequently, terrible situations can “come out of nowhere”. Ironically, the systems that were designed to lessen our workload might require us to remain in a state of increased vigilance (警觉) in order to survive these increasingly infrequent events when they do happen.
As technology becomes part of most everything, and as once-large risks break into countless small ones, crisis situations may become standard affairs. We should all learn to breathe, recognize the situation, and carry out the plan that we are smart enough to prepare well in advance.
1. According to the passage, when an armed robbery (抢劫) happens, most witnesses will first___________.| A．observe the surroundings |
| B．pretend to be calm |
| C．decide what to do |
| D．focus on the gun |
| A．Tested. | B．Changed. | C．Predicted. | D．Understood |
| A．things are less dependable than they used to be |
| B．cautiousness helps prevent the occurrence of crisis |
| C．convenience reduces our problem-solving capability |
| D．the complexity of present systems ensures our safety |
| A．To introduce ways of avoiding crisis situations. |
| B．To point out the connection between stress and risks. |
| C．To raise awareness of the preparation for emergencies. |
| D．To analyse the influence of technology on crisis management. |
2 . Today’s students have a problem. They were born into a world where technology, smartphones, and immediate access to the Internet are hurting their ability to focus and changing the way they think.
Now teachers have a problem too. They find it particularly exhausting to ask students to read complex or long texts without taking regular breaks. Smartphones have clearly affected the younger generation, but how education should evolve for digital-native students?
A common idea among teachers is that short is good. When students can’t seem to pay attention to long lectures, many teachers simply break lessons into smaller patterns. In fact, students need time to engage with a topic once the teacher introduces it before moving on. Switching between small lessons too quickly could rob them of valuable comprehension.
There are also teachers who begin classes with meditation (深思) exercises to help their students focus. However, it turns out that any sort of “tech breaks” could counteract strong desires to multi task.
A 2018 study found that students aged between 10 and 24 tend to stay away from physical books. They prefer video as a source of information second only to teachers. Therefore, some tech-forward teachers choose platforms such as YouTube and Instagram. Asha Choksi, vice-president of global research at Pearson, gives the example of a teacher who films himself performing a science experiment and posts it to YouTube. When it is time for class, he uses the video to illustrate material in the textbook, which can seem boring to students.
Still, while those educators are embracing technology in the classroom to meet student’s needs, they also find value in traditional methods, and so suggest a “blended (混合的) learning” approach. Direct instruction from them will never be replaced in their classes. Technology will be favored only when it improves a lesson in ways that are impossible offline.
Digital natives will continue to eagerly adopt new media. Teachers have no choice but to evolve. They are making an effort not only to ensure that students can take advantage of new technologies, but to teach students valuable skills that can help them think in a world constantly trying to distract them. Think of the Zuckerbergs, the Gates, the Jobs and all those pioneers in the tech world. They became successful not because they could code (编程); it was because they could think.
1. What does the underlined word “counteract” in paragraph 4 probably mean?| A．Motivate. | B．Reduce. | C．Compensate. | D．Influence. |
| A．Teachers adopt short lectures, small lessons, which could be hard to understand sometimes. |
| B．Teachers employ meditation exercises to help students concentrate on class, which is of little effect. |
| C．Students aged between 10 and 24 don’t prefer physical books, so YouTube and Instagram may be a good choice. |
| D．Students aged between 10 and 24 prefer videos to teachers, so using videos to explain textbooks is a popular way. |
(1). the conventional way of teaching remains unchallenged
(2). technology is a useful supplement to textbooks
(3). material in the textbook is too boring to most students
(4). teachers want to change their traditional teaching methods
| A．(1)(2) | B．(2)(3) | C．(3)(4) | D．(1)(4) |
| A．to share as much knowledge with students as possible |
| B．to encourage students to make full use of new technologies |
| C．to help students develop their ability to think critically and creatively |
| D．to instruct students to limit their use of smart phones and social media |
3 . Light pollution is a significant but overlooked driver of the rapid decline of insect populations, according to the most comprehensive review of the scientific evidence to date.
Artificial light at night can affect every aspect of insects' lives, the researchers said. "We strongly believe artificial light at night — in combination with habitat loss, chemical pollution.invasive (入侵的) species, and climate change — is driving insect declines, " the scientists concluded after assessing more than 150 studies.
Insect population collapses have been reported around the world, and the first global scientific review published in February, said widespread declines threatened to cause a "catastrophic collapse of nature's ecosystems".
There are thought to be millions of insect species, most still unknown to science, and about half are active at night. Those active in the day may also be disturbed by light at night when they are at rest.
The most familiar impact of light pollution is moths (飞蛾) flapping around a bulb, mistaking it for the moon. Some insects use the polarisation of light to find the water they need to breed, as light waves line up after reflecting from a smooth surface. But artificial light can scupper (使泡汤) this. Insects are important prey (猎物) for many species, but light pollution can tip the balance in favour of the predator if it traps insects around lights. Such increases in predation risk were likely to cause the rapid extinction of affected species, the researchers said.
The researchers said most human-caused threats to insects have analogues in nature, such as climate change and invasive species. But light pollution is particularly hard for insects to deal with.
However, unlike other drivers of decline, light pollution is relatively easy to prevent. Simply turning off lights that are not needed is the most obvious action, he said, while making lights motion-activated also cuts light pollution. Shading lights so only the area needed is lit up is important. It is the same with avoiding blue-white lights, which interfere with daily rhythms. LED lights also offer hope as they can be easily tuned to avoid harmful colours and flicker rates.
1. What is discussed in the passage?| A．Causes of declining insect populations. |
| B．Consequences of insect population collapses. |
| C．Light pollution: the key bringer of insect declines. |
| D．Insect declines: the driver of the collapsed ecosystem. |
| A．How light travels in space. |
| B．How light helps insects find food. |
| C．How the food chain is interrelated. |
| D．How light pollution affects insects. |
| A．Selective things. | B．Similar things. | C．Variations. | D．Limitations. |
| A．To offer solutions. |
| B．To give examples. |
| C．To make comparisons. |
| D．To present arguments. |
4 . You are given many opportunities in life to choose to be a victim (受害者) or a creator. When you choose to be a victim, the world is a cold and difficult place. “They” did things to you which caused all of your pain and suffering. “They” are wrong and bad, and life is terrible as long as “they” are around. Or you may blame yourself for all your problems, thus internalizing (内化) your victimization. The truth is, your life is likely to stay that way as long as you feel a need to blame yourself or others.
Those who choose to be creators look at life quite differently. They know there are individuals who might like to control their lives, but they don't let this get in the way. They know they have their weaknesses, yet they don’t blame themselves when they fail. Whatever happens, they have choices in the matter. They believe their dance with each sacred moment of life is a gift and that storms are a natural part of life which can bring the rain needed for emotional and spiritual growth.
Victims and creators live in the same physical world and deal with many of the same physical realities, yet their experience of life is worlds apart. Victims relish (沉溺) in anger, guilt, and other emotions that cause others---and even themselves---to feel like victims, too. Creators consciously choose love, inspiration, and other qualities which inspire not only themselves, but all around them. Both victims and creators always have the choice to determine the direction of their lives.
In reality, all of us play the victim or the creator at various points in our lives. One person, on losing a job or a special relationship, may feel as if it is the end of the world and sink into terrible suffering for months, years, or even a lifetime. Another with the same experience may choose to first experience the grief, then accept the loss and soon move on to be a powerful creative force in his life.
In every moment and every situation, you can choose to have a fuller, richer life by setting a clear intention to transform the victim within, and by inviting into your life the powerful creator that you are.
1. According to Paragraph 2, creators ________.| A．handle ups and downs of life wisely |
| B．possess the ability to predict future life |
| C．seem willing to experience failure in life |
| D．have the potential to create something new |
| A．people may become victims if they care too much about sufferings |
| B．people need family support to deal with challenges in life |
| C．it takes creators quite a long time to get rid of their pains |
| D．one’s experiences determine his attitude towards life |
| A．To define victims and creators. |
| B．To evaluate victims against creators. |
| C．To explain the relationship between victims and creators. |
| D．To suggest the transformation from victims to creators. |
5 . Scientists have been trying to figure out how to alter the genes of humans for many years, and it looks like they’ve finally cracked (破解) the code. But while this may seem like a great step forward in science, some also believe that it’s one step back when it comes to ethics (道德准则). In August, a group of scientists from the USA and South Korea worked together to successfully edit a human embryo (胚胎) and remove a genetic mutation (突变) that would have led to heart disease, reported The Guardian. This was done with the help of CRISPR, a gene-editing tool that allows scientists to “cut and paste” human DNA.
Although this was the first example of an embryo’s genes being changed successfully, the advantages of gene editing have already been tested in living patients. In 2015, a five-month-old girl from the UK was saved after doctors used edited cells to fight off her cancer. As of today, she’s alive and well. And in the USA last year, scientists managed to remove HIV cells from several patients by editing the genes inside their bodies.
Some people hope that in the future, diseases or birth defects could simply be "edited out”. However, others believe this could lead to so-called designer babies, giving parents the option to choose everything from eye color to intelligence. “You could find wealthy parents buying the latest “upgrades” for their children, leading to even greater inequality than we already live with,” Marcy Camovsky, director of the San Francisco Center for Genetics, told BBC News.
In spite of these ethical concerns, experts say it’s not possible to create the “perfect” human being. Despite the progress scientists have made, we don’t understand human genes enough to give all unborn children great brainpower or amazing singing abilities. “Right now, we know nothing about genetic enhancement,” Hank Greely, a director at Stanford University, USA, told The New York Times. “We’re never going to be able to say, honestly, this embryo looks like it would score high on the two-part SAT.”
So it looks like if we want good exam results, or to impress people with our piano skills, we’ll have to stick with the old fashioned method of plain hard work---at least for now.
1. The underlined word “alter” in Paragraph 1 probably means ________.| A．record | B．change | C．remove | D．increase |
| A．A genetic mutation related to heart disease was removed by scientists. |
| B．A newborn baby with cancer was saved by edited cells. |
| C．HIV cells were removed from patients9 bodies. |
| D．Some birth defects were simply edited out. |
| A．They don’t think it is an effective way to fight diseases. |
| B．They are concerned that it could lead to genetic mutations. |
| C．They think it could lead to designer babies and increased inequality. |
| D．They worry that it could make parents abandon children with birth defects. |
| A．Gene editing is regarded as the perfect way to treat birth defects. |
| B．There is still a long way to go to fully understand human genes. |
| C．Gene editing could help enhance human intelligence in the near future. |
| D．Scientists are pessimistic (悲观的) about the future of gene editing. |
6 . The door of a small cage opens up and a bird flies into a large enclosure (围场). The bird lands on a tree and moves its red head to the side, as if it is surprised. “That’s what it feels like to be free,” said Juan Camilo Panqueba, who works at a wildlife center in the Colombian city of Bogota, far from the Caribbean coast, where the bird usually lives.
Birdsong contests have taken place all over the Caribbean for hundreds of years. Although catching any wildlife is not permitted by the law, wildlife trafficking (非法交易) still happens a lot in Colombia, as the officials were too busy fighting with the drug trade, nongovernment fighters and other dangerous groups. Until recently, they did not enforce (强制实施) the law. Now, as dangerous groups have fallen and with the drug trade mostly destroyed, officials are taking another look.
Three weeks ago, Colombian officials saved birds from a group. The group was mostly people who had recently moved to Bogota from the Caribbean and Venezuela. Officials accuse (控告) the group of setting up a songbird competition on social media. In a closed Facebook group, crowds cheered and recorded the loudness and the number of calls from each bird. The owner of the winning bird received＄100, and people who correctly predicted the winner could also win money. Environmental officials say the birds were badly hurt, because they were kept in the small cages and forced to listen to loud music all day long to make sure they can sing. In the wild, the birds sing to protect themselves or find a mate. “For them, it was like cruel harm,” noted Juan Camilo Panqueba, who works at Bogota’s wildlife center. There, he and others care for birds and more than 1, 000 animals.
Colombians have grown to understand the importance of wildlife, and officials are working to end animal trafficking.
1. Colombia has lots of wildlife trafficking because ________.| A．there was no law to protect wildlife |
| B．people from other countries kept coming |
| C．Colombians are people that like birds very much |
| D．the government didn’t have enough time to carry out the law strictly |
| A．It’s a new form of entertainment. |
| B．The birds were badly treated during the contest. |
| C．Finding their mates was what birds sang for. |
| D．All the owners of the birds can win a prize. |
| A．There will be less and less harm to wildlife. |
| B．Government officials will keep the wild animals. |
| C．Birdsong contests will be more and more popular. |
| D．Many wild animals will die out because of the trafficking. |
| A．The bird training methods are important. |
| B．There are many kinds of wildlife in Colombia. |
| C．Colombia has introduced laws to stop the harm to wildlife. |
| D．Birdsong contests did a lot of harm to birds and Colombia is trying to stop it. |
7 . The Internet plays a big part in human life. We use it for work and pleasure. We use it to learn a new language. We find advice on it. We use it to connect with family and friends. We use it to stay in touch with events we care about. The list goes on and on.
Well, that train has left the station. This expression means there is no going back to an Internet-free life. But can using the Internet too much be bad for our health? It might be, researchers say. A new study finds that heavy Internet use may be connected to high blood pressure in an unlikely group: teenagers.
High blood pressure makes your heart and blood vessels work too hard. Over time, this extra pressure increases your risk of a heart attack. High blood pressure can also cause heart and kidney disease. It is also closely linked to a brain disease.
The Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan did the study. 335 young people, from 14 to 17 years old , took part in it. 134 of the teens were described as “heavy Internet users.” And researchers found that out of these 134 teens,26 had high blood pressure. The researchers say the study is the first to connect heavy web use with high blood pressure. Other research has connected heavy Internet use with anxiety, depression and obesity.
The lead researcher is Andrea Cassidy Bushrow. She said, “Using the Internet is part of our daily life, but it shouldn’t ruin us.” Ms. Cassidy Bushrow adds that it is important for teens to take regular breaks from their computers or smartphones and do some kind of physical activity. She also suggests that parents limit their children’s use of the Internet to two hours a day, five days a week.
1. The expression “that train has left the station” in Para. 2 is used to show________.| A．the Internet develops rapidly | B．no one can escape from the Internet |
| C．the Internet can provide whatever we want | D．there is no going back to an Internet free life |
| A．Causes of high blood pressure. | B．The harm of high blood pressure. |
| C．The disadvantages of Internet use. | D．Ways to prevent high blood pressure. |
| A．teenagers shouldn’t use the Internet |
| B．the Internet will ruin human life in the future |
| C．smartphones are more harmful than computers |
| D．regular breaks are necessary when using the Internet |
| A．Heavy Internet users are mostly teenagers | B．How to prevent teenagers from the Internet |
| C．Too much Internet use may be bad for teenagers | D．Every coin has two sides—so does the Internet |
8 . A http:/www.literacynet.org/cnnsf/
Fantastic site from CNN. Over 50 news stories categorized under headings such as crime, environment and adventure. Each story has a range of activities focusing on comprehension and vocabulary, mostly of the multiple-choice variety.
B http:/www.npr.org/
NPR is an American radio network with an extensive audio archive—an excellent source of authentic English.
C http:/www.humorlinks.com/
Hilarious site bringing together over 7,000 links to humor of every kind, from American comedy to Australian cartoons. Here you will see the funniest jokes and pictures from around the world.
D http:/www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/
Hundreds of fascinating interviews with famous people from every walk of life: actors, cartoonists, musicians, painters, philosophers, political activists, scientists and writers.
E http:/www.bbc.co.uk/music/listen
Lots of online music from classical to jazz, from blues to rap. You can listen to radio programs or select a range of special features.
F http: /www.onestopenglish.com
Here you will find listening activities—updated each month--from the online magazine from Macmillan.
1. http:/www.literacynet.org/cnnsf is a website intended for those who________.| A．are learning English |
| B．are writing news stories |
| C．are interested in environment protection |
| D．are designing activities for newspapers |
| A．http:/www.onestopenglish.com |
| B．http:/www.humorlinks.com/ |
| C．http:/www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/ |
| D．http:/www.bbc.co.uk/music/isten |
| A．How to Choose a Suitable Website |
| B．This Week's Web Guide |
| C．Web Radio: New Access to Information |
| D．Special Features from Famous Websites |
9 . When you hear the beginning of your favorite song from the radio, suddenly your neck is covered in goose bumps.
It's such a thing that a group of scientists call “skin excitement”—a feeling of cold caused not by a drop in temperature or sudden scare, but by the sense of beauty. “Skin excitement” can come from a song, a painting, a moving movie scene, or even a beloved memory-pretty much anything that causes the giving out of pleasure-soaked dopamine in your brain. But it does not come for all of us.
Your favorite music uncovers a lot about your personality，and so does how you respond to that music. Studies suppose that as few as 55 percent of people experience “skin excitement” when listening to music. And if you count yourself among this group, the goose bumps on your skin aren't the only giveaway—scientists can read it in your brain, too. In a new study published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, Harvard researchers performed brain scans on 10 students who said they reliably got cold when listening to music, and 10 students who didn't. They found that the cold-prone brains may really be excited by stronger emotions.
Cold-prone brains are generally more likely to show stronger emotional intelligence than no-cold brains. Cold-prone minds tend to have unusual active imagination, reflect more deeply on their emotions, and appreciate nature and the beauty of music and art to a stronger degree than no-cold brains.
So, what type of music causes the chills? It seems that the type is not so important; participants in the new study reported getting cold from songs of every kind. And any song connected with a strong emotional memory of the listener can produce the most reliable results. For me, that's the song Sailing to Philadelphia by Mark Knopfler, which I listened to as a kid in the car with my dad, on the way to the summer camp.
1. What can we learn about “skin excitement” in the text?| A．It helps to produce doparmine. | B．It is caused by the pain in the skin. |
| C．It can be experienced by every music listener. | D．It is the human body's reaction to something nice. |
| A．The percentage of music lovers in students. |
| B．The solutions to the goose bumps on one's skin. |
| C．The differences between cold-prone and no-cold brains. |
| D．The relationship between one's music preference and personality. |
| A．Beautiful and intelligent. | B．Emotional and dishonest. |
| C．Imaginative and sensitive. | D．Brave and strong-minded. |
| A．Responses to Music Vary among People | B．A Feeling of Cold Is Caused by Horrible Music |
| C．Your Favorite Music Reveals Your Personality | D．Favorite Music May Bring Forth Goose Bumps |
10 . A shocking news report has revealed that more than one in five species of maple trees faces extinction, warning that 75% of the threatened species are “geographically restricted” in their native regions.
The trees are experiencing a vast decline in habitat, due to urban development, wood harvesting and agricultural expansion. Time is running out for the world's biodiversity. Every recent survey of plants and animals in the wild points to this. This is happening nearly everywhere rarer maples exist. And because of climate change, the narrow habitats that support species at the edges of dry places and at the tops of mountains are quickly disappearing.
The trees can be found in subtropical and tropical regions, as far south as Indonesia. The only species found in the UK, the field maple is not under threat. Not only are the trees a popular attractive feature in parks and public spaces, but they are a key part of the natural ecosystem in woodlands, as well as being an important wood crop in several countries. Although the sugar maple in North America, which produces maple juice, is not endangered, two of the closest relatives to the species are endangered.
The report notes that conserving at-risk species in their natural habitat is the best conservation tactic. But collections in botanical gardens and seed banks-called "ex situ collections" can act as insurance policies against extinction. There are currently 14 species of maple, including four that are critically endangered, which are absent from these types of collections.
One species in Mexico, the Acer binzayedii, is in “desperate need of conservation"”despite only being discovered in 2017. “It is at risk from climate change in its cloud forest habitat and threatened by logging and forest fires while it is also absent from 'ex situ collections',” the report adds. The report recommends developing conservation plans, monitoring species currently not at risk to ensure populations are maintained, and adding those missing maple species to seed banks.
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．Action to protect maple trees. | B．The dangerous situation of maple trees. |
| C．Various maple trees' habitats in the world. | D．The conditions for diversity in maple trees. |
| A．They cannot produce juice. | B．They are found in America. |
| C．They are not at risk of extinction. | D．They have two endangered relatives. |
| A．Topic. | B．Approach. | C．Result. | D．Conclusion. |
| A．To offer a proposal. | B．To recommend a product. |
| C．To introduce maple species. | D．To warn people of disasters. |
