1 . Rosie Dutton teaches a weekly class for 10- and 11-year-olds. During a recent class, Dutton used apples to brilliantly explain the effects of bullying.
Rosie Dutton started out by showing the class two perfect-looking apples. But unknown to the students, she had dropped one of the apples repeatedly on the floor. She picked up the dropped apple and began insulting (侮辱；损害) it.
“I started to tell the children how I disliked this apple, that I thought it was ugly and it was a horrible color,” Dutton wrote. “I told them that because I didn't like it, I didn't want them to like it either.”
They passed that apple around in a circle and the kids joined in on the insults. Then, Dutton took a completely different approach with the other apple.
“We then passed another apple around and started to say kind words to it,” the 31-year-old wrote.
She eventually cut both of them open to reveal that the apple that had been insulted was bruised (青肿的) inside. The apple that received praise wasn't.
“When people are bullied, especially children, they feel horrible inside and sometimes don't show or tell others how they are feeling,” Dutton wrote in her post. “If we hadn't cut that apple open, we would never have known how much pain we had caused it.”
“Unlike an apple, we have the ability to stop this from happening. We can teach children that it's not OK to say unkind things to each other,” the 31-year-old explained in her post. She later added, “More and more hurt and damage happens inside if nobody does anything to stop the bullying. Let's create a generation of kind, caring children.”
1. What didn't the students know in advance?| A．She had dropped one apple repeatedly on the floor. |
| B．She had dropped two apples repeatedly on the floor. |
| C．The two apples were perfect-looking in appearance. |
| D．She had picked the two apples from the same tree. |
| A．By reading famous sayings. | B．By listing the numbers. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By quoting some examples. |
| A．brave | B．considerate |
| C．active | D．honest |
| A．One woman found an incredible way to teach a history lesson. |
| B．People have the ability to stop bullying from happening again. |
| C．A teacher encourages students to put what they learned to use. |
| D．A teacher uses a bruised apple to show bad effects of bullying. |
2 . When I was a kid, my sister and I would fight all the time over nearly everything. But as we grew older, our bond strengthened by sharing secrets, offering advice and trading clothes. Having a sister by my side while growing up taught me many lessons about the unique bond.
And now, thanks to an 8-year long study that’s making the rounds on the Internet again, science is confirming what I know is true. In the study, researchers discovered that having an older or younger sister can help ease the anxiety for kids between the ages of 10 and 14 years. They also found that people with sisters can “learn how to make up and to have control over their emotions again, which are skills that undoubtedly serve children well.
The revival of this study actually comes on the heels of another newer study, which shows that it’s not just the older kids and parents who influence and shape children as they grow. It turns out that younger siblings(兄弟姐妹) do too, and what’s more, they may also give their older siblings a greater chance of developing empathy (同情).
The Canadian study followed 452 pairs of siblings, all between a year-and-a-half and 4 years old. The researchers found that having a younger sibling increased the older sibling's level of empathy.
This research confirms that sisters are pretty amazing in making the world a much lovely place. As the mom of two boys, I often wonder what kinds of lessons they will learn from their younger sister. Perhaps they will be the same lessons I learned from mine that cooler heads always win. This study gives me hope that all those endless arguments between my kids may actually be laying the groundwork for conflict-settlement skills.
1. What can we learn from the study?| A．Children under four develop empathy fastest. |
| B．It is normal for siblings to quarrel. |
| C．Having siblings is not always a headache. |
| D．Having sisters is helpful to mental health. |
| A．Result | B．Beginning. |
| C．Reappearance. | D．Significance. |
| A．They love their mom very much. |
| B．They have a higher level of empathy. |
| C．They often quarrel with one another. |
| D．They have learned the same lessons as the the author. |
| A．Siblings have a unique bond. |
| B．Siblings have something in common. |
| C．Having siblings is good to children. |
| D．Children having siblings are considerate. |
3 . Cindy Soule is a teacher in Portland, Maine, an area known to have extremely cold and snowy winters. But cold weather doesn't stop Soule and her students from continuing with outdoor learning during the COVID-19.
Earlier in the school year, students in Soule's fourth-grade class had outdoor lessons. Then, the snow came. Wearing warm clothes, the students took their school supplies outside in buckets. Then, they turned the buckets over, put them down in the snow, took a seat and went to work. The lesson that day centered on snow and the formation of snowflakes.
Schools across the U.S. have pushed for outdoor learning to keep students and teachers safe. Infectious disease experts worldwide have noted that the virus spreads less easily outdoors. Now, with temperatures dropping in much of the country, some schools have made plans to continue outdoor learning during the winter.
Anne Stires is an outdoor learning expert in Maine. She said "the outdoors is the healthiest, safest place for us to be right now. Anything that we can do to get kids outdoors for longer periods of time is vital," Stires added. "This is only where we need to be right now."
In the neighboring state of New Hampshire, fourth- and fifth-grade students are still learning outside at James Faulkner Elementary School in Stoddard. The school created an outdoor classroom by clearing some trees and building an area for warmth by fire. In the western state of Colorado, elementary school students in the Lake County school district study in usual classrooms for half the week. For the other half, they learn outdoors.
For educators, outdoor learning is yet another period of change. Last spring, it was distance learning. Then came mixed learning methods. Now, educators are trying to keep their students warm enough to learn outside.
1. What can we learn according to the second paragraph?| A．Cindy Soule prefers outdoor classes with her students. |
| B．The students had a good time when playing with snow. |
| C．Cindy Soule is creative and flexible in her teaching. |
| D．A bucket has more functions besides being a container. |
| A．It is likely that the virus disappears easily outdoors. |
| B．Dropping temperatures will bring the virus to an end. |
| C．Being outdoors is the perfect choice at present. |
| D．Getting kids in outdoor activities is very important. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Objective. | C．Negative. | D．Optimistic. |
| A．Outdoor education continues in the cold weather. |
| B．Maine has suffered much more due to the COVID-19. |
| C．Cold weather stops the COVID-19 attacking students. |
| D．Teachers are worried about the safety of their students. |
4 . Killer whales, or orcas, are known for their severe attacks on sea animals but they have never posed a threat to humans. However, since late July, the normally social animals have been intentionally attacking sailboats off the coasts of Spain and Portugal.
The strange behavior first surfaced on July 29, 2020, when a 46-foot boat was repeatedly attacked for almost an hour by nine orcas, causing the boat to rotate(旋转) 180 degrees and having its engine switched off. Since then, over 30 more similar incidents have been reported. On September 23, 2020, Spain's government banned boats of less than 50 feet in length from sailing in the 60-mile stretch of the Atlantic coastline between Ferrol and the Estaca de Bares Cape, where the attacks have been occurring.
Researchers across the world are trying to explain the orcas' behavior. Some believe it could be a result of the overfishing of the bluefish tuna - the orcas' primary food source -which has left the area's killer whales starving and unable to feed their babies. "I saw them look at boats carrying fish. I think they know humans are somehow related to food shortages, "says Ken Balcomb, senior scientist at the Center for Whale Research in Washington, USA. The environmentalists believe the sudden increase in boat traffic and fishing activities, after months of absence due to restrictions on human activity last spring, could also be contributing to the agitation.
However, Alfredo López, a biology professor in Galicia, Spain, thinks the attacks are defensive measures the orcas adopted to protect themselves against boat injuries. The researcher came to this conclusion after looking at the of the videos of a few incidents and noticing that two of the young killer whales involved had serious injuries. Hopefully, the experts will be able to find a way to restore the harmony between the animals and the humans soon.
1. What do we know about orcas in paragraph 1?| A．They are friendly to humans. | B．They have changed their behavior. |
| C．They are famous for hunting skills | D．They have met tough living conditions. |
| A．Ken Balcomb. | B．The environmentalists. |
| C．Alfredo López. | D．Spain's government. |
| A．The attacks. | B．Food shortages. | C．The overfishing. | D．Human activities. |
| A．How do killer whales attack humans? |
| B．Why Are Killer Whales attacking Boats? |
| C．How can we live in harmony with animals? |
| D．Why are boats banned from sailing on the sea? |
5 . My name is Eivind Trodden, I'm 42 years old and on Svalbard in the North Pole. My background was originally software engineering, and years later 1 decided to go ahead and get my pilot license. This year I wanted to try- my hands at technology and got a job at Svatsat, the northernmost Satellite（卫星）Ground Station in the world. Now I work as a pilot and an operations engineer.
Originally, I moved here for the job. This was the first pilot job I got. After a while, I was attracted by the place, and right now the most important thing for me is to live here.
It is wonderful full of differences. The polar night is balanced with the midnight sun. Here the year is much like a day. The winter is night. In the morning there is ice, snow and then spring. Then there is the endless day of summer, and finally, the town settles in with the sunset of autumn.
The summer is the most difficult. It is harder to create darkness than light. You have to have good blinds on your bedroom windows. A good trick is to create your own evening. I like to close the blinds and sit down in relative darkness with a good book or a movie before I go to bed.
The dark season is the favorite of many people living here. There are fewer tourists, and people have a chance to get together and be social after the busy summer. You have to be self-controlled though, and not start lighting candles in the middle of the day. Don't underestimate（低估）the cost of living here. You need a large number of tools to experience Svalbard to the fullest.
1. Eivind Trodden’s present work is probably connected with .| A．training the pilots | B．software engineering |
| C．researching the coldest place | D．satellite controlling technology |
| A．Simple lifestyle. | B．His love for the place. |
| C．Better living conditions. | D．Chances to get a job. |
| A．There are less rules to follow. |
| B．There are no tourists to disturb them. |
| C．They have spare time to relax. |
| D．They needn't light candles any longer. |
| A．Great and different. | B．Long but exciting. |
| C．Colorful and moving. | D．Busy but boring. |
6 . A group of second-year college students have discovered hidden writing on a page from a book from the 1500s, using a special camera system they built.
Surprisingly, finding hidden writing on very old documents isn’t all that unusual. In fact, there’s even a special name for documents like this: a palimpsest (再生羊皮纸卷).
Long ago, writing was done on parchment — thin, dried animal skins specially prepared for writing. But parchment wasn’t easy to make and wasn’t cheap. So it became common to erase the old writing off a parchment and then reuse it for another piece of writing. That’s what creates a palimpsest.
The writing erased off the parchment can’t be seen directly, but scientists have learned ways to use special lighting to reveal the original writing. But it’s unusual for young college students to discover palimpsests.
Last year, first-year students at the Rochester Institute of Technology took part in a class that brought together many students to take on a project as a group. The project was to build a special camera system that could take pictures using different kinds of light.
Over the summer, the students working on the imaging camera managed to finish it. When they were done, they borrowed several old parchments from the collection at the school’s Cary Graphic Arts Collection. When they put one of the pages under their camera system with UV light, the hidden writing suddenly appeared. Under the UV light, handwriting in French could easily be seen behind the fancy writing and decorations normally visible on the page.
Zoe, a student involved in the project, said, “This was amazing because this document has been in the Cary Collection for almost 10 years and no one noticed it.” The students are even more excited because even though the parchment is no longer part of a book, they know where 29 other pages from the same book are. The students, who are now working with others to locate the other parchments, hope these, too, will have hidden writing and that they can figure out what it means.
1. What was parchment designed for in ancient times?| A．Writing. | B．Decorating. |
C．Imaging.  | D．Collecting. |
| A．Heat up. | B．Bring out. |
| C．Adjust to. | D．Clear away. |
| A．Make a handwriting-recognizing camera. |
| B．Identify what the parchments are made of. |
| C．Track the origin of the palimpsests in the Cary Collection. |
| D．Discover hidden writing and its meaning on more parchments. |
| A．To tell about a new discovery. | B．To recommend a special book. |
| C．To explain a cultural phenomenon. | D．To introduce an old document. |
7 . In October, 2019, Beijing Daily warned the youth that they shouldn't let Internet slang （俚语） deepen the generation gap（代沟），after People Daily started a discussion on Chinese microblog Weibo on how to "explain" the youth's Internet slang terms to parents. The post got 40,000 likes. People were commenting that they couldn't keep up with the rapidly developing Internet lingo （术语）in China.
People also fear that Chinese Internet slang will negatively influence broader linguistic （语言的） trends of Mandarin Chinese, in particular, the gradual taking over of pinyin, the romanization of traditional Chinese characters using the Western alphabet. As pinyin gets widely used when people text or write on mobile phones or computers, while less and less people write characters by hand, people gradually forget how to write them, which is called "character amnesia" in China.
2019’s latest slang terms add a further simplification: the use of pinyin acronyms. "Awsl" in pinyin, for instance, means Ah, wo si le (Oh, I'm gonna die), and is used if something is too cute or adorable. "Nsdd" stands for ni shuo de dui (you're right).
Certainly, as an age-old written language, Chinese has been evolving and developing over the years. But the Chinese Internet lingo is unlikely to replace the existing use of Mandarin Chinese, but will rather be enriching it by adding another layer.
Acronyms aren't new. They have appeared with the limited space available in early-generation cell phone messaging. Some of them have become a part of the English language, such as BTW (by the way) and LOL (laugh out loud), while others had a rather short lifetime. That's likely to be what's going to happen with China's Internet slang terms. Some are going to be old in a few weeks, while others might make it into mainstream use, and as they do, young net users are coming up with new slang words to differentiate themselves.
In China, using Internet slang means belonging to a certain generation that likes to watch the same talk shows, play the same games, etc., and therefore, creates unity. Older generations don't have to feel left out, and certainly don't have to fear a degradation (没落)of the Chinese language. While language development is unavoidable, Internet slang is not going to let 6,000 years of Chinese written language completely change overnight.
1. The public are worried about Chinese Internet slang abuse because| A．It's used by children to keep secrets from parents. |
| B．It can cause confusion even among young people. |
| C．It was invented in response to the limited messaging space. |
| D．It will rarely have a positive effect on linguistic trends of Chinese. |
| A．They add variety to the language. |
| B．They are replacing its traditional vocabulary. |
| C．They make the language more global. |
| D．They only have temporary effects on Chinese. |
| A．a sense of purpose |
| B．a sense of group identity |
| C．a sense of cultural pride |
| D．a sense of safety |
| A．Is Media Helping Older Generation Understand Internet Slang? |
| B．Is Chinese Language Too Powerful to Be Largely Affected? |
| C．Is Mandarin Chinese Useful to Bridge the Generation Gap? |
| D．Is Internet Slang Deepening the Generation Gap, Ruining Chinese? |
8 . As the pandemic separates us from loved ones, many of us are trying to stay connected through texting, email, and social media, even taking the opportunity to reconnect with long-lost friends.
But if our goal is to feel closer to people and enjoy our conversations more, we’d better pick up the phone, according to a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.
In the study, participants (参与者)imagined having a conversation with a friend they hadn't been in touch with for at least two years and made predictions (预测) about how it would feel to connect by phone versus(对比)email. "We think it's going to be awkward to talk to somebody, but that just turns out not to be the case," says lead author Amit Kumar. "Instead... people form stronger connection when they're talking on the phone than when communicating over email. ”
The same result held true when the researchers had participants do a conversation exercise with strangers using either video chatting, audio(声音的),only chatting, or text-chatting. People who used media that included the voice had more satisfying exchanges and felt closer to their new friends than the text-chatters.
Why? Likely it's because our voices communicate a variety of emotions, helping others to read us better and to feel like they really know us. Hearing someone's voice helps understand each other better —in some cases, even better than video chatting.
So, while texting can be useful, it's not the best way to get the most out of socializing. If we're looking for greater happiness and connection, we should give someone a call.
1. What do the underlined words “the case” in Paragraph 3 refer to?| A．Stronger connection is possible. |
| B．Predictions agree with the results. |
| C．Talking on the phone is awkward. |
| D．Communication over e-mail is effective. |
| A．They can talk more quickly. |
| B．Voices show more emotions. |
| C．Voices are easier to understand. |
| D．They are more familiar with voice. |
| A．By quoting experts' words. | B．By telling stories. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By introducing theories. |
| A．Text chatting. | B．Sending emails. |
| C．Making calls. | D．Writing letters. |
9 . Salad seeds（生菜种子）that went on a round trip to outer space and back grew at a slightly slower rate than the ones on earth, scientists have found, thanks to thousands of young people who helped conduct an out-of-this-world experiment.
The project started in 2015, when British astronaut （宇航员）Tim Peake took a million rocket seeds with him on his journey to the International Space Station （ISS）. The seeds spent six months there before they were sent back to Earth in 2016. In a message sent from the ISS, Peake said the science experiment was to find out if the conditions in space affected the seeds' ability to grow.
Around 600,000 pupils at 8,600 schools in the UK were then asked to grow the rocket seeds that had been to space, along with regular seeds that had never left the planet. Peake described the experiment as "one of the largest and most inspirational experiments of its kind".
The results of the study, which have just been published, found that the space seeds grew more slowly than the ones that had stayed on Earth. Researchers on the experiment said this was due to the stresses of space travel, such as the zero-gravity （零重力）atmosphere and high levels of cosmic rays（宇宙射线）,which slowed the growth of the plants.
Now researchers are hopeful that if the seeds are properly protected, it might be possible to grow plants during future space tasks to other planets. Dr Jake Chandler, from University of London, who led the study, said,“ The possibility of eating home-grown salad on Mars may be one small step closer.
1. Why did Tim Peake take seeds to ISS?| A．To explore the secret to gravity. |
| B．To have astronauts grow salad in ISS. |
| C．To promote young kids，interest in salad. |
| D．To test the space's influence on seeds growth. |
| A．Encouraged. | B．Disappointed. | C．Confused. | D．Concerned. |
| A．Health. | B．Science. | C．Educatn. | D．Business. |
| A．Space study, a hot topic |
| B．Salad growing, a hit among students |
| C．Your salad, grown on Mars, may soon be a reality |
| D．Man's exploration to Mars, a big step forward |
10 . My Ph. D. adviser called me into his office, saying I needn't bring my notebook. After 15 minutes of listing my positive things, he looked me in the eye and said,“You are fired from the lab.”
I had moved to Israel from my native India the year before, excited to experience a new culture and study for a Ph. D. At first things went well in my new lab. Then, 3 months before I was fired, I ran into some problems. I made a few mistakes in the lab that slowed my research, but I wasn't aware that my adviser noticed them, and he never spoke to me about any concerns. I’m still not sure why he fired me, but I guess it was because of those mistakes. He wasn't confident that I could complete my research in time as we'd planned.
The first few days after I was fired were especially difficult. I spent hours staring at my computer screen, unable to get anything done. One day all I could do was sit on a beach, crying. I tried to change his mind with promising results, but he stuck to his decision. I could not break the news to my family in India, as the fear of disappointing them overwhelmed （压垮）me. I soon got into a state of sadness and anxiety. Meanwhile, the date for me to leave the country was drawing near, as my visa required me to be registered as a student. I was lonely and without hope.
Around that time, I watched Dasvidaniya, a Bollywood movie that's about a man who has 3 months to live. One line from the movie stuck out to me :“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade（柠檬水）” .What kind of lemonade could I make out of my present situation? My desire to complete a Ph. D. was never in doubt. After much reflection, I told myself that one failed attempt was not the end of the world, and that I needed to give it another try. With renewed confidence, I emailed expected advisers and applied to other programs. Within 2 months, I landed an offer from a Ph. D. program in Italy. I accepted it and relocated to Europe, happy that my goal of completing a Ph. D. was alive once again.
I’m thankful that I didn't give up on my dream and that I found another professor willing to take me on.
1. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The personality of the adviser. |
| B．The author's problems in study. |
| C．The possible reason for the author's being fired. |
| D．The author's difficulty in adapting to a new culture. |
| A．He applied for a new visa. |
| B．He got addicted to computer games. |
| C．He tried to change the adviser's mind. |
| D．He shared the news with his family in India. |
| A．Persuading the adviser to let him stay. |
| B．Being responsible for different programs. |
| C．Holding the belief to get a doctor's degree. |
| D．Getting accepted by another Ph. D. program. |
| A．Direction is more important than effort, |
| B．Turn to movies for comfort when in trouble. |
| C．A doctor’s degree is important for the future. |
| D．Difficulties in life can be turned into something positive. |
