1 . One rainy afternoon, I was on a cross-town bus when a young woman jumped on. She had a child with her who must have been about 3 or 4 years old.
The bus was full, bumpy, and it soon got noisy as her kid began crying because he couldn't sit next to his mother. There were a couple of open seats, but they weren't together. She was flustered and looked embarrassed.
Then another woman, a little older, stood up and moved so that the mother and child could sit together. The mom smiled as a thank-you. And then three words came out of the older woman's mouth that elevated the entire energy of that bus ride:“I've been there”.
Simple, undramatic and honest. In that moment, it seemed to unite people. Why? Because almost all experiences are shared human experiences. We forget that, as we forge (前进) through life, focused on our own troubles and needs—which are actually less unique than we think. How can these three words create more connection in your life? Ask yourself: “Where am I holding back?”
One thing I know for sure is this: Healing others helps heal yourself. I noticed this recently with my friend, Tracy, who took a new friend who had suffered miscarriage under her wing. Tracy had three of them before having her daughter two years ago. Our intellect needs a doctor to explain the medical side of things, yes. But our souls need human connection to help us along. No one can do that better than someone who has been exactly where you are.
Can the essence of these three words help you make a small difference right now? It can be as simple as volunteering your seat, sharing some helpful advice or even lightening the mood with a joke when you notice that someone's uncomfortable -because we're all in this together.
1. The underlined word “flustered” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to ________.| A．upset | B．shocked |
| C．scared | D．relieved |
| A．The woman was on the bus and saw what had happened to the boy. |
| B．The woman once had the similar experience with that mother. |
| C．The woman got to her destination and was ready to get off the bus. |
| D．The woman took the exact seat that the boy was on just now. |
| A．Everyone has his or her own unique problem that is difficult to solve. |
| B．Doctors can help us get through when we have mental or physical problems. |
| C．One can indeed make a difference to those in need of help by doing simple things. |
| D．The author's friend Tracy felt better after she was comforted by her new friend |
| A．illustrate some ways of helping others in detail |
| B．appeal to readers to give timely help to those in need |
| C．show a harmonious world by telling some touching stories |
| D．praise those who are willing to help others in emergencies |
2 . What should I eat for breakfast? Who should I go out with on weekends? What should I do if I miss the bus to school? What colleges should I apply for? Again and again Chinese kids ask these questions to their teachers and parents. They can't make their own choices.
Kids in America would be very surprised to hear how much Chinese children depend on adults.When they are ten years old, kids decide what clothes they want to wear and buy.By twelve they know what classes to take for middle school.Thirteen years old is the beginning of being what Americans call a “teenager”.Now the child makes almost all his/her decisions — what to do after school;who are his/her friends, sometimes even when to come home at night. Finally at sixteen the kid usually gets a car from his/her parents. Now he or she can come and go when he/she likes.The only rule is when they come home at night.
Why should kids be independent? Think about it. After high school most of us will be by ourselves. Will our parents be able to tell us what to eat for breakfast in college? Can our teachers decide what we should do at work?
Making our own choices can be quite hard and scary. But we can start with making small choices,and then slowly make bigger and more important choices. Before we know it we will become independent, confident and able to make our own decisions! And we will have a lot more fun!
1. The first paragraph tries to tell the readers ________.| A．Chinese kids don't know what to do |
| B．Chinese kids always have many questions |
| C．Chinese kids believe in their teachers and parents |
| D．Chinese kids depend on adults very much |
| A．Ten. | B．Eleven. |
| C．Twelve. | D．Thirteen. |
| A．Generally, American kids are more independent than their Chinese fellows. |
| B．Chinese kids will more easily adapt (适应) themselves to society. |
| C．American parents don't care for their children. |
| D．A seventeen American young can do what he likes. |
| A．dependence on adults is shameful in China |
| B．independence from adults is worth encouraging |
| C．kids have no ability to make a real choice |
| D．making decisions is rather easy |
3 . There are two basic ways to see growth: one as a product, the other as a process. People have generally viewed personal growth as an external(外在的) result or a product that can easily be identified and measured. The worker who gets a rise, the student whose grades improve, the foreigner who learns a new language—all these examples of people who have measurable results to show for their efforts.
By contrast(对照), the process of personal growth is much more difficult to determine， since it is a journey and not the specific signposts or landmarks along the way. The process is not the road itself, but the attitudes, feelings people have, and their caution or courage, as they meet with new experiences and unexpected difficulties. In this process, the journey never really ends; there are always new ways to experience the world, new ideas to try, new challenges to accept. In order to grow, to travel new roads, people need to have a willingness to take risks, to face the unknown, and to accept the possibility that they may “fail” at first. How we see ourselves as we try a new way of being is necessary for our ability to grow. Do we see ourselves as quick and curious? If so, we tend to take more chances and be more open to unfamiliar experiences. Do we think we're shy and indecisive? Then our sense of fear can cause us to hesitate, to move slowly, and we think we are slow to adapt (适应) change or that we’re not smart enough to deal with a new challenge. Then we are likely to take a more passive role or not try at all.
These feelings of insecurity(不安全) and self-doubt are both unavoidable and necessary if we are to change and grow. If we protect ourselves too much, then we stop growing. We become trapped inside a shell of our own making.
1. In the author's eye, one who views personal growth as a process would ________.| A．succeed in climbing up the social ladder | B．grow up from his own achievements |
| C．face difficulties and take up challenges | D．aim high and reach his goal each time |
| A．Our manager was always willing to accept new challenges. |
| B．Jane won the first prize in the speech competition. |
| C．Jerry picked up French during his stay in Paris. |
| D．Father's salary rose from 5,000 to 7,000. |
| A．being curious about more changes | B．being quick in self-adaptation |
| C．having an open mind to new experiences | D．staying away from failures and challenges |
| A．It is not so easy to measure personal growth. |
| B．To try and fail on the new road facing the unknown is unavoidable. |
| C．There are only two ways to see a person's growth. |
| D．If you are too shy to take any risks in life, you cannot grow up. |
| A．Facing New Challenges | B．Growth—Product or Process |
| C．Two Basic Ways of Growth | D．Overcoming Internal Fears |
4 . Large oceangoing vessels like oil tankers and cruise ships produce noise that travels long distances underwater. That audio pollution can disturb the sounds that marine mammals, fish and other animals use to communicate.
Emily Carter, a sensory ecologist from University of Exeter wondered whether ship noise might also be harmful to animals that don’t rely on sound for communication. For example, young shore crabs that use camouflage (伪装) to hide from predators. “So they can actually change their color to match whatever it is that they’re sitting on, basically to make it harder for predators to find them.” Carter explained.
She suspected that stress from ship noise might affect the change process. To find out, she and her colleagues collected shore crabs with dark shells and brought them back to the lab. They placed the crabs in tanks full of white small stones. An underwater speaker in each tank played quiet natural sounds at all times. One group of crabs also heard loud natural sounds every hour. But another group was subjected to hourly recordings of large ships.
Carter says shorebirds, which eat the crabs, can see UV light, so she used ultraviolet (紫外线) photography to determine how well the crabs blended into their new habitat over time.
“Through the eyes of a shorebird — so through bird’s perspective — were they camouflaged? Weren’t they camouflaged? How obvious would they be?”
After eight weeks, the crabs that heard only natural sounds had become much lighter and were well camouflaged. But the ones that were exposed to the ship noise didn’t change color as much. And then, as a result, they weren’t as camouflaged at the end of the experiment. So they’d be much more manifest to predator.
Carter says the stress caused by ship noise may affect hormones that regulate color change in crabs or destroy the energy needed to make the change efficiently. The research not only puts a spotlight on the unintended consequences of noise pollution, but is a reminder that too much stress isn’t just bad for people — it can also be deadly to wildlife that needs some peace and quiet.
1. Why is ultraviolet photography used in the experiment?| A．To scare away shorebirds. |
| B．To kill the bacteria in crabs’ new habitat. |
| C．To test the effectiveness of crab’s camouflage. |
| D．To monitor the shorebird population in nighttime. |
| A．Avoidable. | B．Noticeable. |
| C．Changeable. | D．Adjustable. |
| A．Carter conducted the experiment on her own. |
| B．The crab that heard natural sound lost some weight. |
| C．Carter created three kinds of living environment for crabs. |
| D．The crab that heard ship noise slightly changed their color. |
| A．Noises do harm to us people. |
| B．Wildlife needs a quiet environment. |
| C．Crabs aren’t camouflaged in new habitats. |
| D．Stress can change the hormones in humans. |
5 . Even as a child, the best-known North American woman painter, Frida Kahlo exhibited an independent, rebellious spirit and lack of restraint that often got her into trouble.
At the age of six, however, Frida's life changed dramatically. She got polio and confined to her bed for nine months. The disease left Frida's right leg shorter and thinner than her left, and when she had recovered enough to return to school, she walked with a limp. She was often teased by her playmates, and although that was emotionally painful for her, she compensated by being outgoing and gained a reputation as a "character".
A turning point occurred in Frida's life in September, when she was involved in a near-fatal accident. The bus in which she was riding home after school crashed into a trolley car. The impact caused a metal rail to break loose, piercing Frida's entire body with the steel rod. The red Cross doctors who arrived and examined the victims separated the injured from the dying, giving the injured first priority. They took one look at Frida and put her with the hopeless cases.
The doctor eventually treated Frida, and miraculously she survived. She suffered a broken spine and two broken ribs. Her right leg was broken in 11 places, and her right foot was smashed. Her left shoulder was dislocated. From that point on, Frida Kahlo would never live a day without pain.
Although Frida recovered enough to lead a fairly normal life, the accident had severe psychological and physical consequences. she had to abandon her plan to become a doctor. Her slowly healing body kept her in bed for months, and it was during this time that Frida began to paint. Some artists look to nature or society for their inspiration, but Frida Kahlo looked inward. After her accident, Frida described her pain in haunting, dreamlike self-portraits. Most of her 200 paintings explore her vision of herself. The Broken Column（1944）, a small deer with Frida's head and a body pierced with arrows runs through the woods.
When she was in her forties, her health seriously declined, but Frida always kept her lively spirit. By then she was internationally known. When a Mexican gallery wanted to have a major exhibition of her work, she arranged to have her elaborately decorated, four-poster bed carried into the gallery so that she could receive people.
1. Polio left Kahlo with a limp, and as a result she became________.| A．shy and withdrawn | B．polite and graceful |
| C．friendly and unconventional | D．weak and silent |
| A．when she was still a child |
| B．after she suffered from polio |
| C．after a serious traffic accident happened |
| D．while she was already in her forties. |
| A．She painted many beautiful landscapes. |
| B．She painted pictures showing pain and suffering |
| C．She often used herself as a subject for her work |
| D．Her painting only reflected her inner world. |
| A．still an unknown artist | B．sorry she had taken up art |
| C．not accepted as an accomplished artist | D．a famous North American woman artist |
6 . Unique and Weird New Year's Eve Traditions
German
In some parts of Germany, they do lead （铅）pouring. Pour a dollop （团）of lead into cold water and the shape it dorms may be telling you about the year to come. A heart shape, naturally, means love will come your way. A crown predicts wealth and fortune. A star indicates happiness. But if you see a cross, you're almost dead!
Latin America
If you are in Latin America, make sure you have some colourful underpants to ring in the New Year. End — of — the — year partiers put on colourful underwear to ensure certain types of outcomes of the following year, red for love and yellow for success.
Naples, Italy
Neapolitans like throwing things out of the windows, at least on New Year's Eve. Furniture, kitchen machines, grandma.. Well, maybe not the last one. Let's hope not, anyway. This tradition is meant to symbolize an out — with — the — old gesture and get a new beginning of the new year. These days people are a bit more mindful of what they throw into the street below.
Spain
In 1909, winegrowers in the Alicante region of Spain had a brilliant idea: Start and promote an annual tradition that would involve people in having to buy and eat more grapes. Everyone must eat 12 grapes on New Year's Eve to pray for wealth of the coming year. Now, it's a popular custom in Spain. But the problem is that people have to eat a grape for each bell striking at midnight.
1. Germans would like to see the following shapes of lead Except ________.| A．a heart | B．a cross |
| C．a star | D．a crown |
| A．They hate cooking at home. |
| B．They are more careful about what to throw now. |
| C．They throw their grandma out of the window. |
| D．They like making gestures in front of the windows. |
| A．They buy lots of wine. |
| B．They pray with 12 grapes. |
| C．They eat as many grapes as possible. |
| D．They eat a grape for each bell striking, |
7 . When Dean Arnold got his first job, he was miserable , Each time he went to work, he coughed and he couldn’t breathe. Working in a bakery when you are allergic to flour can be painful.
But Arnold stayed with the National Biscuit Company for ten years. He was a businessman and he helped them improve production. At last his health problems became too serious. He left and formed his own company.
With his wife and mother, he founded Arnold Bakery. They tried new recipes . changing the kind and amount of flour used. This enabled Arnold to work there without too much pain. The bread, made with unbleached flour (标准粉), was baked in a brick oven .
They began by baking two dozen loaves. The bread was sold door to door for fifteen cents a loaf. Winning customers to his unusual, old-fashioned bread took time. But Arnold, struggling against his allergy, built his bakery into one of the largest in the United States.
1. During his stay in the National Biscuit Company, what did Arnold do?| A．He founded Arnold Bakery. |
| B．He tried a new method of baking. |
| C．He helped the company improve their production. |
| D．He became successful in his business. |
| A．He suffered from allergy to flour | B．He didn’t like the job |
| C．He wanted to make more money | D．He wanted to form his own company |
| A．determined | B．brave | C．unusual | D．unhealthy |
| A．Arnold’s bread was baked in a brick oven. |
| B．Arnold’s bread was made with unbleached flour. |
| C．Arnold’s bread was sold at a low price. |
| D．Arnold’s bread was of poor quality. |
| A．A Sick Baker | B．A Brick-oven Bread Baker |
| C．An Old-fashioned Baker | D．How to Overcome Allergy |
8 . The native Americans, the people we call the “Indians”, had been in America for many thousands of years before Columbus arrived in 1492. Columbus thought he had arrived in India, so he called the native people “Indians”.
The Indians were kind to the early settlers. They were not afraid of them and they wanted to help them. They showed the settlers the new world around them. They taught them about the local crops like sweet potatoes, corn and peanuts. They introduced the Europeans to chocolate and to the turkey and the Europeans did business with the Indians.
But soon the settlers wanted bigger farms and more land for themselves and their families. More and more immigrants were coming from Europe and all these people needed land. So the Europeans started to take the land from the Indians. Naturally, when the whites started taking all the Indians’ land, the Indians started fighting back.
But the whites were stronger and cleverer. Slowly they pushed the Indians into those parts of the continent that the whites didn’t want- the parts where it was too cold or too dry or too mountainous to live comfortably. By 1875 the Indians were living in special places called “reservations”. But even here the whites took land from them- perhaps the whites wanted the wood, or perhaps the land had important minerals in it, or they even wanted to make national parks there. So even on their reservations the Indians were not safe from the whites.
There are many Hollywood films about the fight between the Indians and the whites. Usually in these films the Indians are bad and the whites are good and brave. But was it really like that? What do you think? Do you think the Indians were right or wrong to fight against the whites?
1. Why did Columbus call the native people “Indians”?| A．Because he thought he had arrived in India. |
| B．Because he liked Indian culture very much. |
| C．Because he knew they were from India. |
| D．Because he was an Indian himself. |
| A．The Indians gave up their land willingly. |
| B．The settlers wanted to buy land from the Indians. |
| C．The whites even wanted more land on Indians’ reservations. |
| D．The Indians were stronger and cleverer than the white settlers. |
| A．the Indians are usually beautified in the films |
| B．the author is doubtful about what the films show to us |
| C．films about fights are the most popular ones in the market |
| D．films about the fight between the Indians and the whites are very limited |
| A．entertainment | B．history | C．economy | D．industry |
9 . "If you want to see thing well, reach out and touch it!" That may seem a strange thing to say it. But touching things can help you to see them better. Your eyes can tell you that a glass ball is round. But by holding it in your hands, you can feel how smooth and cool the ball is. You can feel how heavy the glass is. When you feel all these about the ball, you really see it. With your skin, you can feel better. For example, your fingers can tell the difference between two coins in your pocket. You can feel a little drop of water on the back of your hand, too. You can even feel sounds against your skin. Have you ever wanted to know why some people like very loud music? They must like to feel the sounds of music. All children soon learn what "Don't touch!" means. They hear it often. Yet most of us keep on touching things as we grow up. In shops, we touch things we might buy: food, clothes. To see something well, we have to touch it. The bottoms of our feet can feel things, too. You know this when you walk on warm sand cool grass or a hard floor. All feel different under your feet. There are ways of learning to see well by feeling. One way is to close your eyes and try to feel everything that is touching your skin. Feel the shoes on your feet, the clothes on your body, the air on your skin. At first, it is not easy to feel these things. You are too used to feel them! Most museums are just for looking. But today some museums have some things to touch. Their signs say, "Do touch!" There you can feel everything on show. If you want to see better, reach out and touch. Then you will really see!
1. By touching things ________.| A．you will have a strange feeling | B．you will learn how to reach out your hand |
| C．you can learn more about them | D．you can tell what colors they really are |
| A．Touching by Feeling. | B．To See or to Feel. |
| C．To See Better-Feel. | D．Ways of Feeling. |
| A．Your finger. | B．Your eyes. | C．Your skin. | D．Your back. |
| A．Sounds. | B．Darkness. | C．Water. | D．Coins. |
| A．Touching is helping us to see better. |
| B．Our skins may help us enjoy music. |
| C．People don't have to learn to feel. |
| D．Visitors can't feel the things on show in any museums. |
10 . Hi, Mom is a hit in China. Since its release in early February the movie has earned more than 5 billion yuan at the box office. It is currently the second-highest-grossing film ever released in the country, and may yet overtake Wolf Worrior 2, an action film from 2017.
Written and directed by Jia Ling, the film is adapted from her comedy routine from 2016 which explored her relationship with her mother, who died in an accident when Ms. Jia was 19. At a time when many people have been separated from their families, the themes of grief and filial piety (孝道) in Hi, Mom bring agreement.
The film’s impressive box office income is also a reminder of the health of the industry in China compared with Hollywood. In the West cinemas remain closed due to lockdown or operate at limited capacity; in China, where many restrictions have been lifted, between 50% and 75% of seats are available to book. During the Spring Festival, Chinese cinemas made an estimated $1.5 billion in ticket sales – 71% of takings at the American box office in all of 2020.
With cinemas shut, film-sales agent stopped bringing Hollywood movies to market. That has given locally made films a chance to excel. Since 2013, domestic films have taken around 60% of total box office earnings. In 2021, that number may get closer to 100%.
1. What can be inferred from the first paragraph about Hi, Mom?| A．It will be a success. |
| B．Wolf Worrior 2 will be released after it. |
| C．It is better than Wolf Worrior 2. |
| D．It may be the first-highest-grossing film in China. |
| A．The film industry in China is developing better than that in Hollywood. |
| B．The film is based on a real story. |
| C．You can’t go to cinema because there are many restrictions. |
| D．Many people can’t see their families often nowadays. |
| A．Negative | B．Positive | C．Indifferent | D．Skeptical |
| A．Local Movies Arise. |
| B．China Film Industry. |
| C．Comedy Time. |
| D．Hi, Mom-China’s Latest Hit. |
