1 . What is talent? Are you born with it? Or does it seem to develop over time? Before I start, I’d like to say that one thing everyone agrees on is that the most skilled musicians have worked hard to get there.
While it’s true that a few of us had enough “talent” to avoid extra practice to do just as well as those who did, those who worked hard easily beat us. It is, in fact, very likely that if some of us “talented ones” had actually been practicing and improving our skill, we would have achieved a whole different level.
Another aspect of talent seems to be heart and passion (酷爱). The people I see who are the most talented musicians are crazy about music. They eat, breathe, and live music and they make an extraordinary effort to make it part of their lives. As Remus Badea said, desire for the musician-to-be is significant for them to be successful. This desire is easily found in those considered to be talented. When you want and love something so bad, it drives you and your entire character can be shaped around it. Such determined passion seems to produce incredible skill and talent.
The third aspect (方面) of talent is having talent around you. When surrounded by talented musicians, it only seems natural that you start to catch up to their level Take a look at almost any group of musicians in history. The more talented people in the group the more talented the group is as a whole. A great example of this is the relationship between audio producer and artist. The artist turns up to the studio with their song, and as they work through recording it, the audio producer will often suggest various changes to the song to make it better.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 2?| A．Pride goes before a fall. |
| B．It’s never too old to learn. |
| C．Practice contributes to talent. |
| D．Talent determines achievements. |
| A．Passion. | B．Character . | C．Skill. | D．Talent. |
| A．To introduce what real talents are. |
| B．To explain how a song is composed. |
| C．To prove talents need team spirit. |
| D．To show the benefits of being with talents. |
| A．Music has no limits. |
| B．Musicians are born with talent. |
| C．Music favors the talented. |
| D．Musicians are created, not born. |
2 . I was with my mom one day as we took a walk while window shopping. We both knew we wouldn't be buying much. I remember I was looking up at the people we passed as we walked. Ladies wore 5-inch heels and bright clothes. Men wore expensive perfumes and creams that wiped away the wrinkles on their faces. An uneasy feeling started to settle in my chest. I could deny it no longer and I was ashamed of my mom.
We were in a high-class neighborhood. We lived in a small, expensive apartment building at the edge of our county. Mom chose to move there because she knew the schools were good. I realized for the first time that we didn't belong there.
I could see the heavy lines around my mom's eyes and mouth. She wore cheap clothes and worm-out shoes. Her eyes were tired from working long hours to make ends meet, and her hair was too gray for her age. She was nothing extraordinary, yet at that moment, she stood out because she was just so plain. I didn't want to be seen with her although there was no one important around to see me anyway. I felt embarrassed about being at her side. We were standing in the middle of a high-end store, and she was holding a sweater.
Mom said, “Anna, this will look good on you. Do you want it?” It Was much too expensive, but I almost thoughtlessly answered “Yes”. Then I took a closer look at the small, tired woman with a big smile and a sweater in her hands, happy to be giving me something so nice. My words died in my throat. Her clothes were worn and old because she spent her money buying me new ones. She looked so tired because she was busy working to provide for me. She didn't wear jewelry or perfumes because she was content with spending what little money she had on me. Suddenly, my mom was beautiful and extraordinarily wonderful in my eyes. I was no longer ashamed of her, but of myself.
“Do you want it?” Mom repeated.
“No, thanks,” I replied.
1. Why did the author describe the passers-by while window-shopping?| A．To stress her mother was plain. |
| B．To show she envied rich people. |
| C．To suggest she was curious about others. |
| D．To indicate she was in an expensive neighborhood. |
| A．Studying at a top school. | B．Going window-shopping. |
| C．Being seen with her mom. | D．Living in a small apartment. |
| A．She was afraid of being blamed by her mom. |
| B．She was too excited to say anything about the sweater. |
| C．She felt her mom was so ordinary that she stopped speaking. |
| D．She failed to speak after realizing her mom's great sacrifices. |
| A．Misunderstanding Mom | B．Refusing Mom's Kindness |
| C．Feeling Ashamed of Mom | D．Going Shopping with Mom |
3 . Happiness is not a warm phone, according to a new study exploring the link between young life satisfaction and screen time. The study was led by professor of psychology Jean M. Twenge at San Diego State University (SDSU).
To research this link, Twenge, along with colleagues Gabrielle Martin at SDSU and W. Keith Campbell at the University of Georgia, dealt with data from the Monitoring the Future (MtF) study, a nationally representative survey of more than a million U. S. 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-graders. The survey asked students questions about how often they spent time on their Phones, tablets and computers, as well as questions about their face-to-face social interactions and their overall happiness.
On average found that teens who spent more time in front of screen devices — playing computer games, using social media, texting and video chatting — were less happy than those who invested more time in non-screen activities like sports, reading newspapers and magazines, and face-to-face social interactions.
"The key to digital media use and happiness is limited use," Twenge said. "Aim to spend no more than two hours a day on digital media, and try to increase the amount of time you spend seeing friends face-to-face and exercising — two activities reliably linked to greater happiness."
Looking at historical trends from the same age groups since the 1990s, it's easy to find that the increase of screen devices over time happened at the same time as a general drop-off in reported happiness in U. S. teens. Specifically, young peopled life satisfaction and happiness declined sharply after 2012. That's the year when the percentage of Americans who owned a smartphone rose above 50 percent. By far the largest change in teens' lives between 2012 and 2016 was the increase in the amount of time they spent on digital media, and the following decline in in-person social activities and sleep.
1. Which method did Twenge's team use for the study?| A．Calculating students' happiness. |
| B．Asking students certain questions. |
| C．Analyzing data from a survey. |
| D．Doing experiments on screen time. |
| A．By making a comparison. |
| B．By giving an example. |
| C．By making an argument. |
| D．By introducing a concept. |
| A．To draw a conclusion from the study. |
| B．To offer some advice to the readers. |
| C．To prove social activities' importance. |
| D．To support the researchers' finding. |
| A．Quitting Phones Equals Happiness |
| B．Screen Time Should Be Banned |
| C．Teens' Lives Have Changed Sharply |
| D．Screen-addicted Teens Are Unhappier |
4 . The secret to happiness is keeping busy, research has found.
Keeping the mind occupied with tasks — no matter how meaningless — keeps off negative emotions, the study found.
However, the bad news is that humans are seemingly born to be lazy in order to save energy, according to Professor Christoper Hsee, a behavioral scientist at Chicago University.
In a study, 98 students were asked to complete two surveys. After they had completed the first, they were made to wait 15 minutes to receive the next one. They were given a choice of either handing in the first survey nearby or at a more distant location they had to walk to. Whichever option they chose, they received a chocolate bar. It turned out that approximately two-thirds (68 students) chose the lazy option. Those who had taken the walk reported feeling happier than those who had stayed put.
Prof. Hsee concluded that keeping busy helped keep people happy. He said the findings, reported in the journal Psychological Science, had policy implications.
“Governments may increase the happiness of idle citizens by having them build bridges that are actually useless,” he proposed.
At the individual level, he advised, “Get up and do something. Anything. Even if there really is no point to what you are doing, you will feel better for it.” He added, “Incidentally, thinking deeply or engaging in self-reflection counts as keeping busy, too.”
“You do not need to be running around. You just need to be engaged, either physically or mentally.”
1. Keeping busy can make people happy because________.| A．it can help people get rid of laziness | B．it can make people sleep better |
| C．it can help get rid of negative emotions | D．it can give people a sense of achievement |
| A．The finding may contribute to politics. |
| B．The officials have taken Prof. Hsee’s advice. |
| C．In the study half students handed in the first survey nearby. |
| D．Governments can increase citizens’ happiness by building bridges. |
| A．Everybody is born to be happy. |
| B．Only by keeping working all the time can you gain happiness. |
| C．Prof. Hsee’s finding was published in Psychological Science. |
| D．Keeping busy goes against human nature. |
| A．To explain what happiness is. |
| B．To advise people not to sit around. |
| C．To advise people to do what they like to. |
| D．To show people how to take life correctly. |
5 . A 15-year-old scientist and inventor has been named as Time's first ever Kid of the Year.
Rao is a high school student from Colorado. She was chosen from 5,000 U.S.-based nominees ( 提 名 ). Time said in a statement that Rao stood out for her ability to apply scientific ideas to real-world problems and her efforts to motivate other kids to take up their own causes. Rao told the Associated Press that the prize is “nothing that I could have ever imagined. And I'm so grateful and just so excited that we're really taking a look at the upcoming generation and our generation, since the future is in our hands.” She insists that starting out small doesn't matter, as long as you're enthusiastic about it.
It's just the latest recognition for the teenager, who was named last year to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Rao won praise in 2017 after she developed a portable device（设备） to detect lead (铅) in water. She went on to cooperate with scientists in the water industry to try to get the device on the market.
The young scientist has also developed an app called Kindly that uses artificial intelligence to help prevent cyberbullying (网络欺凌). It allows teens to type in a word or phrase to find out if the words they're using are hurtful and amount to（等于）bullying, and thus should be avoided.
In an interview with Time, Rao said that her pursuits（追求） in science started early as a way to improve conditions in society. In a world where science is increasingly questioned or challenged, Rao insists that its pursuit is an important act of kindness. It is the best way that a younger generation can better the world. Science and technology are being employed as never before to handle various issues, such as global warming, the outbreak of disease and so on, she noted.
“We have science in everything we're involved in, and I think that's the biggest thing to put out there, that science is cool, invention is cool, and anybody can be an inventor," Rao said.“ Anybody can do science.
1. What is one of the reasons for Rao being honored by Time?| A．The up-to-date ideas she had come up with. |
| B．The large amounts of time she had devoted. |
| C．The influence she has on young generations. |
| D．The optimistic attitude she holds to the future. |
| A．functional | B．environment-friendly |
| C．efficient | D．money-saving |
| A．Her tolerance for problems. | B．Her amazing brain power. |
| C．Her exposure to challenges. | D．Her concern about society. |
| A．High School Student Struggling for Big Dream |
| B．Young Scientist Named TIME's Kid of the Year |
| C．Scientific Achievements Applied to Our Real Life |
| D．Advanced Inventions Used in Bettering the World |
6 . Non-Credit Courses
The Pre-College Program offers non-credit courses. Students will experience college-level courses given by some of our college’s leading experts and will receive written feedback (反馈) on their work at the end of the course. Pre-College students will also receive a grade of Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory and a certificate of completion at the conclusion of the program.
All non-credit courses meet from 9:00 a. m.-11:30 a. m. daily and may have additional requirements in the afternoons or evenings.
COURSE: Case Studies in Neuroscience
·June 11— July 2
·Leah Roesch
Using student-centered, active-learning methods and real-world examples, this course is designed to provide a fuller understanding of how the human brain works.
COURSE: Psychology of Creativity
·June 15—June 28
·Marshall Duke
Why are certain people so creative? Is it genetic (遗传的), or a result of childhood experience? Are they different from everyone else? This popular psychology course highlights the different theories of creativity.
COURSE: Creative Storytelling
·June 21 — July 3
·Edith Freni
This college-level course in creative storytelling functions as an introduction to a variety of storytelling techniques that appear in different forms of creative writing, such as short fiction and playwriting.
COURSE: Sports Economics
·July 19 — August 1
·Christina DePasquale
In this course we will analyze many interesting aspects of the sports industry: sports leagues, ticket pricing, salary negotiations, discrimination, and NCAA policies to name a few.
1. Who is the text intended for?| A．The general public. | B．College freshmen. |
| C．Educational experts. | D．High school students. |
| A．Sports Economics. | B．Creative Storytelling. |
| C．Psychology of Creativity. | D．Case Studies in Neuroscience. |
| A．Leah Roesch’s. | B．Edith Freni’s. |
| C．Marshall Duke’s. | D．Christina DePasquale’s. |
7 . Nowadays technologies benefit us a lot in our daily life, but if not properly used, they can affect our health．The bed is supposed to be reserved as a place for sleep, but people tend to read an iPad a lot in bed before they go to sleep．
Charles Czeisler, a professor at Harvard Medical School, and his colleagues got a small group of people for an experiment．For five days in a row, the people read either a paper book or an iPad for four hours before sleep．Their sleep patterns were monitored all night．Before and after each trial period, the people took hourly blood tests to paint a day-long picture of just how much melatonin（褪黑激素） was in their blood at any given time．
When subjects read on the iPad as compared to the paper books, they reported feeling less sleepy at night and less active the following morning．People also took longer to fall asleep on the iPad nights, and the blood tests showed that their melatonin secretion（分泌） was delayed by an hour and a half．
The researchers conclude in today's journal article that given the rise of e-readers and the increasingly widespread use of e-things among children and adolescents, more research into the long-term consequences of these devices on health and safety is urgently needed．Czeisler and colleagues go on, in the research paper, to note "Reading an iPad in bed may increase cancer risk"．
However, software has been developed that can reduce some of the blue light from the screens of phones and computers according to time of day, and there are also glasses that are made to filter（过滤） short wavelengths．While they seem like a logical solution for the nighttime tech users, it needs more research．
1. In Charles Czeisler's experiment, what were all the subjects asked to do?| A．Sit in a row and receive the strict tests． |
| B．Have their sleep patterns observed all night． |
| C．Read a paper book and an iPad at the same time． |
| D．Have their blood tested per hour during the trial． |
| A．They felt less sleepy and tired in the day． |
| B．They fell asleep more easily after reading． |
| C．They became less energetic the next morning． |
| D．They had a lot more melatonin secretions． |
| A．It can remove the blue light from your devices completely． |
| B．It can help prevent eyes being harmed by short wavelengths． |
| C．It can weaken the harm done by doing nighttime e-reading． |
| D．It can be used in all the e-things widely and safely． |
| A．Wrong behaviors before bedtime． | B．New software for night e-readers． |
| C．No games on the iPad in bed． | D．No e-reading in bed before sleep． |
8 . When I was first married to my wife, I lived and worked in Ontario, moving from small town to big city as I pursued my career as a radio broadcaster. We have two sons, both of whom were born in Toronto, but they moved, with us, to Ottawa when they were quite young. They grew up there, and then, chasing their own careers, they also moved. One went to Canada’s east coast near a city called Halifax and the other headed to the west coast to Vancouver. We had a dilemma; we were left in the middle.
At the time I was still working and my job was in Ottawa. However, as we began to consider retirement we wondered where we should spend our final years. We couldn’t be close to both of our children and there was no telling when they might again relocate. For several reasons we settled on a small town on Vancouver Island. At least we were close to one of them. However, he had his sights set on Hollywood and, when an opportunity presented itself, he left Canada and headed south. I helped him move.
So, there we were, and still are, in our little west coast town. We love our little corner of paradise but we have paid a price. We have not been there for some important events such as the births of two of our grandchildren. We have missed watching each of them grow up; we have missed the normal, noisy households that have young people in them. Our home, while very comfortable, is also very quiet.
Every fall we travel to see the children. We usually fly, first to California to see our son Scott and spend a week or more with him trying to catch up on everything we’ve missed. Then, usually in November, we make the even longer trip east across Canada to see Travis and our grandchildren, who are now teenagers, actually into their twenties. They seldom come to visit us. The distances are just too great and it is costly.
Fortunately, both our boys are doing well and our grandchildren are growing up straight and tall. We love all of them and we are secure in the knowledge that they love us but the reality is that they don’t need us. We have done our jobs and, at least in theory, we can sit back, relax and enjoy the time remaining to us. They have also missed having a set of parents and grandparents around.
Life has been good for our family but we have all paid a price.
1. What does the author mean by saying “We had a dilemma.”?| A．They were not happy about their sons’ absence. |
| B．They were unwilling to separate from their sons. |
| C．They were not yet prepared for retirement at that time. |
| D．They couldn’t decide which son to live close to. |
| A．They have lost lots of money because of his retirement. |
| B．They have to give a large sum of money to their sons. |
| C．They have been absent from their children’s life. |
| D．They have to afford very expensive fare to visit their sons. |
| A．They are quite occupied with their homework. |
| B．It’s not easy for the kids to visit their grandparents. |
| C．They don’t need their grandparents any more. |
| D．The weather of winter in Canada is very awful. |
| A．Grandparents’ Love | B．Suffering Separation |
| C．A Price to Pay | D．Hidden Emotions |
9 . As the commercialization of 5G accelerates in China, more companies are exploring what smart cities will look like in the 5G times.
US chip giant Intel Corp, for instance, is teaming up with partners such as China Unicom to build a 5G smart park in Nanjing, to offer a peek into the future of such smart cities.
The future smart city must be data-centric (以数据为中心) and intelligently interconnected. So how to better capture, transmit, store and analyze data will be the center of the future. Intel’s advantages can be found in its hardware and software solutions which can meet demands of multiple scenarios (多情景分析). The company will be devoted to opening cooperation, creating an innovative ecology and working with partners to create an intelligent future.
The company’s project, the Future Technological Smart Center in Nanjing, aims to gather a wide range of domestic and foreign partners around artificial intelligence, internet of things, 5G, cloud computing and other technological innovations to explore what future cities will look like. Intel said the Nanjing project is designed to build industry benchmarks, implement excellent solutions, and offer experience for the construction of smart cities and parks in the Yangtze River Delta region and even the entire country.
A Deloitte report said that China has already included the smart city initiative in its national strategy and made significant investments in these projects.
Both first-tier cities and small and medium-sized cities are home to smart city projects. The nation has formed many smart city groups across the eastern and southern coastal areas of China, Deloitte said.
Deloitte senior partner Ma Jionglin said in an earlier interview that China is one of the most active countries in the world in building smart cities. With advances in urban management and the increasing emphasis on the work and lifestyle of people, smart cities will be entering a new stage of development.
1. Why is the US Intel company mentioned?| A．To show Intel is a high technical company. |
| B．To accelerate 5G commercialization in China. |
| C．To offer a peek into the future of such smart cities. |
| D．To prove many companies are exploring 5G smart cities. |
| A．Through intelligent interconnection. |
| B．Through the help of foreign partners. |
| C．Through teamwork and innovative ecology. |
| D．Through advanced hardware and software technology. |
| A．Negative. | B．Positive. | C．Critical. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．The construction process of smart cities. |
| B．Intel’s exploration to build smart cities in China. |
| C．Chinese national strategy and investments on smart cities. |
| D．China’s leading role in building 5G technology in the world. |
Whatsonstage.com is the UK’s biggest and best online guide to the performing arts including theatre, opera, classical music, dance and so on.
◆ The Lion King
Musical: The stage adaptation of the Disney film taken from an original African story. A young lion grows up and learns that taking over the pride requires wisdom and maturity(成熟).
Place: Lyceum Theatre, Wellington Street, London
Telephone: 0870 243 9000
Date: Friday, 18 Nov. 2015
Ticket price: ￡37.5
◆ Oliver
Musical: Dickens’ story of a boy in a London workhouse and his adventures on the way to his family. The songs include “Food glorious food”, “You’ve got to pick a pocket or two”, “Who will buy this wonderful morning”, “I am reviewing the situation” and “Consider yourself at home.”
Place: Theatre Royal, Catherine Street, London
Telephone: 020 7494 5061
Date: Thursday, 17 Nov. 2015
Ticket price: ￡25, but now save 20%
◆ Jersey Boys
Musical: It tells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four seasons: the blue-collar kids from New Jersey formed a singing group and became famous. The musical features many of the group’s popular songs such as “Big girls don’t cry”, “Oh, what a night” and “Can’t take my eyes off you”.
Place: Prince Edward Theatre, Old Compton Street, London
Telephone: 0870 850 9191
Date: Saturday, 19 Nov. 2015
Ticket price: ￡22.5
◆ Alls Well That Ends Well
Play: A romantic story. Helena, daughter of a poor physician, loves Bertram, son of a Countess(女伯爵).
Place: Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Park Street, London
Telephone: 020 7401 9919
Date: Sunday, 20 Nov, 2015
Ticket price: ￡40.5
1. If Mary is available on Friday, which of the following should she call to buy a ticket?
| A．0870 850 9191 | B．020 7494 5061 |
| C．0870 243 9000 | D．020 7401 9919 |
| A．Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre |
| B．Lyceum Theatre |
| C．Prince Edward Theatre |
| D．Theatre Royal |
| A．To show the importance of Whatsonstage.com |
| B．To give some information about the performing arts. |
| C．To introduce some famous English theatres. |
| D．To teach readers how to use the online guide. |
