1 . In 1997, a group of twenty British women made history. Working in five teams with four women in each team, they walked to the North Pole. Apart from one experienced female guide, the other women were all ordinary people who had never done anything like this in their lives before. They managed to survive in an environment which had defeated several very experienced men during the same period.
Once on the ice, each woman had to ski along while dragging a sledge (雪橇) weighing over 50 kilos. This would not have been too bad on a smooth surface, but for long stretches (一片地域), the Arctic ice is pushed up into huge piles two or three meters high and the sledges had to be pulled up on side and carefully let down the other so that they didn’t crash. The temperature was always below freezing point and sometimes strong winds made walking while pulling so much weight almost impossible. It was also very difficult to put up their tents when they stopped each night.
In such conditions the women were making good progress if they covered fourteen or fifteen kilometers a day. But there was another problem. Part of the journey was across a frozen sea with moving water underneath the ice and at some points the team would drift (漂流) back more than five kilometers during the night. That meant that after walking in these very terrible conditions for ten hours on one day, they had to spend part of the next day covering the same ground again. Furthermore, each day it would take three hours from waking up to setting off and another three hours every evening to set up the camp and prepare the evening meal.
So, how did they manage to succeed? They realized that they were part of a team. If any one of them didn’t pull her sledge or get her job done, she would endanger the success of the whole expedition (远征探险). Any form of selfishness could result in the efforts of everyone else being completely wasted, so personal feelings had to be put to one side. At the end of their journey, the women agreed that it was mental effort far more than physical fitness that got them to the North Pole.
1. What was so extraordinary about the expedition?| A．It was a new experience for most of the women. |
| B．The women did not have any men with them. |
| C．The women had not met one another before. |
| D．There was no one leading it. |
| A．being left behind | B．damaging the sledges |
| C．falling over on the ice | D．breaking the ice |
| A．they got too tired | B．they kept getting lost |
| C．the ice was moving backwards | D．the temperatures were very low |
| A．Strict but caring. | B．Proud but patient. |
| C．Honest and devoted. | D．Determined and strong-willed. |
| A．Experience must be bought. |
| B．Facts speak louder than words. |
| C．He who risks nothing gains nothing. |
| D．Motivation and teamwork achieve goals. |
2 . There is a lot of losing in sports. Only one team can win at a time, and only one champion escapes the season without tears. But that doesn’t stop Americans from spending nearly $56 billion a year on sporting events. Is fandom(运动迷) worth it?
At first glance, the evidence isn’t encouraging. Following a loss, fans are more likely than usual to eat unhealthy food, be unproductive at work, and –in the case of the Super Bowl-die from heart disease. What about fans of the winning team? Well, they are more likely than other fans to suffer a postgame traffic fatality(死亡) if the score is close.
Rival(竞争的) fans’treatment of one another is hardly more encouraging. A recent study found that fans experienced greater pleasure when watching a rival team fail. Fans in another study reported schadenfreude, a feeling of satisfaction, when reading about the injury of a rival team’s player, and gluckschmerz or unhappiness when later reading about the player’s unexpectedly speedy recovery.
Yet a great deal of research shows that being a fan can also have positive effects. It can prevent depression and build a sense of belonging and self-worth---in case that the object of one’s devotion is a local team. Much of this is due to social bonds among fans, but not all--- sports worship also provides fans with a number of skills at dealing with life’s emotional challenges. A landmark 1976 study found that after a win,fans were more likely than usual to wear clothes connected with the winning teams, and to claim credit for the team’s success by describing the team as “we” instead of “they” in conversation.
Along with schadenfreude and gluckschmerz, being a fan seems more than anything else to be a matter of managing responses to things that cannot control. Sports fans tend to respond to reminders of death with optimism, and to remember victories much more clearly than defeats.
1. Which of the following statement is especially true as for the winning side’s fans?| A．They might die from heart disease. |
| B．They tend to live an unhealthy life. |
| C．They can have good work efficiency. |
| D．They might have a traffic accident. |
| A．Rival fans usually hold bad or even extreme attitude to each other. |
| B．Rival fans often fight with each other. |
| C．Fans can face their rival team bravely. |
| D．Fans never lose heart when facing their rival team. |
| A．Being a fan could show great devotion to study. |
| B．Being a fan could create a sense of belonging. |
| C．Being a fan could develop a spirit of optimism. |
| D．Being a fan could test social bonds. |
| A．How to be a fan |
| B．What it’s like to be fan |
| C．Being a fan can be good for you |
| D．A fan’s emotional challenges |
3 . This month, Germany’s transport minister, Alexander Dobrindt , proposed the first set of rules for autonomous vehicles(自主驾驶车辆）.They would define the driver’s role in such cars and govern how such cars perform in crashes where lives might be lost.
The proposal attempts to deal with what some call the “death valley” of autonomous vehicles: the grey area between semi-autonomous and fully driverless cars that could delay the driverless future.
Dobrindt wants three things: that a car always chooses property(财产）damage over personal injury; that it never distinguishes between humans based on age or race; and that if a human removes his or her hands from the driving wheel — to check email, say — the car’s maker is responsible if there is a crash.
“The change to the road traffic law will permit fully automatic driving,” says Dobrindt. It will put fully driverless cars on an equal legal footing to human drivers, he says.
Who is responsible for the operation of such vehicles is not clear among car makers, consumers and lawyers. “The liability(法律责任）issue is the biggest one of them all,” says Natasha Merat at the University of Leeds, UK.
An assumption behind UK insurance for driverless cars, introduced earlier this year, insists that a human “ be watchful and monitoring the road” at every moment.
But that is not what many people have in mind when thinking of driverless cars. “When you say ‘driverless cars”, people expect driverless cars.” Merat says “You know — no driver.”
Because of the confusion, Merat thinks some car makers will wait until vehicles can be fully automated without operation.
Driverless cars may end up being a form of public transport rather than vehicles you own, says Ryan Calo at Stanford University, California. That is happening in the UK and Singapore, where government-provided driverless vehicles are being launched.
That would go down poorly in the US, however. “The idea that the government would take over driverless cars and treat them as a public good would get absolutely nowhere here,” says Calo.
1. What does the phrase “death valley” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．A place where cars often break down. | B．A case where passing a law is impossible. |
| C．An area where no driving is permitted. | D．A situation where drivers’ role is not clear. |
| A．stop people from breaking traffic rules. | B．help promote fully automatic driving. |
| C．protect drivers of all ages and races. | D．prevent serious property damage. |
| A．It should get the attention of insurance companies. |
| B．It should be the main concern of law makers. |
| C．It should not cause deadly traffic accidents. |
| D．It should involve no human responsibility. |
| A．Singapore | B．the UK | C．the US | D．Germany |
4 . School uniforms are becoming more and more popular across the U.S.A. That's no surprise, because they offer many benefits. They immediately remove the powerful social labels from clothing. If all students are dressed in the same way, they will not pay too much attention to their clothing, and some of them will not be laughed at for wearing the "wrong" clothes.
Some people are against the strict rule of school uniforms, but they do not realize that students already accept a kind of rule — wanting to look just like their friends.
As in other places, uniforms remind the wearers of their purposes and duties. For example, when a man or woman puts on a police uniform, he or she becomes the symbol of law and order. The uniform means his or her special duties to the wearer and sends the same message to everyone the wearer meets. People with different jobs wear different uniforms. For students, the school uniform reminds them that their task for the six or seven hours in school is to get education.
Some parents are unhappy about uniforms, saying that school uniforms will affect their children's "creativity." First, as noted above, the clothes students choose to wear do not necessarily express their individuality (个性). They just copy their classmates. Second,while students are in school, their job is to master reading, writing and maths. Mastery of those skills will be good for the students to build up their creativity in every way.
1. In Paragraph 1, the word "benefits" probably means______________.| A．tasks | B．messages | C．differences | D．advantages |
| A．prevent the wearers from being laughed at |
| B．help the wearers keep their duties in mind |
| C．are seen as a symbol of power |
| D．help to develop students’ creativity |
| A．they fail to realize that students have accepted the uniforms |
| B．they believe that uniforms will make students less creative |
| C．they don't agree that uniforms can remove social labels |
| D．they think that school uniforms are too popular |
| A．it makes no difference whether to wear school uniforms or not |
| B．students’ individuality may not come from school education |
| C．students’ creativity is related to the clothes they choose |
| D．school uniforms help to create equality among students |
5 . In 1845, a deadly disease struck the farms of Ireland, killing all the Lumper potato plants. In another place or time, the death of a single crop species might not have been so important. But in Ireland, in 1845, people depended almost on the potato for food. The death of one species caused a terrible famine. Now, some scientists are worried that such a famine could happen again.
Over the centuries, farmers have discovered thousands of different species of food crops. Some can be grown in very hot or cold climates. Others are not affected by certain diseases. However, you won’t find many of these species in your local supermarket. To feed the seven billion people on Earth, most farmers today are growing only species of plants that are easy to produce in large numbers. Meanwhile, thousands of other species are becoming extinct.
For example, in the Philippines, there were once thousands of varieties of rice; now fewer than 100 are grown there. Experts believe that over the past century, we have allowed more than half of the world’s food varieties to disappear.
One solution to this problem is to collect and store the seeds (种子) of as many different plant varieties as we can before they disappear. The idea was first suggested by Russian scientist Nikolay Vavilov. In the 1920s and 30s, he collected around 400,000 seeds. More recently, others are continuing the work he began.
In the U.S. state of Iowa, Diane Ott Whealy wanted to protect historic plant varieties. She started a place called Heritage Farm, where people can store and trade seeds.
More importantly, the people at Heritage Farm don’t just store the seeds; they plant them. By doing this, they are reintroducing foods into the marketplace that haven’t been grown for years. These food species are not just special in flavor. They also offer farmers food solutions for the future, from the past.
1. What caused many people to die in Ireland in 1845?| A．Food pollution. |
| B．Poisonous potatoes. |
| C．An incurable disease. |
| D．Lack of enough food. |
| A．Species of food crops. | B．Potato plants. | C．Farmers. | D．Seeds. |
| A．To show many food species have disappeared. |
| B．To explain how to increase food production. |
| C．To stress the importance of food diversity. |
| D．To prove the necessity of growing rice. |
| A．It’s dangerous to grow new food species. |
| B．The work started by Nikolay Vavilov was useless. |
| C．Storing seeds and planting them are both important. |
| D．Foods grown from older seeds are cheaper but taste bad. |
6 . Time and how we experience it have always puzzled us. Physicists have created fascinating theories, but their time is measured by a pendulum (钟摆) and is not psychological time, which leaps with little regard to the clock or calendar. As someone who understood the distinction observed, ''When you sit with a nice girl for two hours it seems like a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove, a minute seems like two hours. ''
Psychologists have long noticed that larger units of time, such as months and years, fly on swifter wings as we age. They also note that the more time is structured with schedules and appointments, the more rapidly it seems to pass. For example, a day at the office flies compared with a day at the beach.
Expectation and familiarity also make time seem to flow more rapidly. Almost all of us have had the experience of driving somewhere we've never been before. Surrounded by unfamiliar scenery, with no real idea of when we’ll arrive, we experience the trip as lasing a long time. But the return trip, although exactly as long, seems to take far less time. The novelty of the outward journey has become routine.
When days become as identical as beads (小珠子)on a string, they mix together, and even months become a single day. To counter this, try to find ways to interrupt the structure of your day-- to stop time, so to speak.
Learning something new is one of the ways to slow the passage of time. One of the reasons the days of our youth seems to be full and long is that these are the days of learning and discovery. For many of us, learning ends when we leave school, but this doesn't have to be.
1. What is the underlined sentence in paragraph 1 used to show?| A．Psychological time is quite puzzling. |
| B．Time should not be measured by a pendulum. |
| C．Physical time is different from psychological time |
| D．Physical theory has nothing to do with the true sense of time |
| A．Our sense of time changes. |
| B．We spend less time at the beach |
| C．More time is structured and scheduled |
| D．Time is structured with too many appointments. |
| A．excitement | B．unfamiliarity | C．imagination | D．amusement |
| A．To give various explanations about time |
| B．To describe how we experience time physically |
| C．To show the differences of two kinds of time |
| D．To explain why time flies and how to slow it down |
7 . As a basic food in the Asian diet， soybeans（大豆） have been used to make tofu and soy milk for hundreds of years． But now， they are also being turned into an alternative to plastic wrap．
William Chen， a professor of food science and technology at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University， invented the environmentally﹣friendly food wrap． It's made of cellulose（纤维素），a form of fiber， obtained from the waste generated by soy bean product producers． The beans are pressed to squeeze out juice that's used to make tofu and soy milk． And what's left is usually thrown away， but Chen takes the waste and puts it through a fermentation（发酵） process， during which cellulose is produced．
Cellulose﹣based plastic wraps have been on the market for a few years， but Chen says that most are made from wood or corn， grown for that purpose． By contrast， his wrap is made from a waste product， which doesn't compete with other crops for land and is more sustainable． Chen's technology could help to solve two problems at once： cutting plastic production and reducing the amount of food waste．"In Singapore， the amount of food waste generated every year could fill up 15，000 Olympic﹣sized swimming pools，" Chen says．
F&N， a soy﹣based drinks producer， has partnered with Chen's lab and provides the product， straight from the factory． The company is conducting a study to assess whether the food wrap could complete commercially with conventional products． Chen adds，"The soy﹣based wrap costs almost nothing to make in the lab because the raw materials are free． Commercial production would involve additional expenses， such as storage and quality control， however， we have not calculated those costs yet．"
Chen hopes neighboring soy﹣loving countries will be inspired by Singapore to adopt his innovation． "My dream is that our technology， which is cheap and simple， will cut plastic and food waste and create a cleaner environment，" Chen says．
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about？| A．The introduction to William Chen． |
| B．The process of producing soy milk． |
| C．The way to make soy﹣based wrap． |
| D．The benefit of eating soy products． |
| A．It saves land for industry． |
| B．It's more easily broken down． |
| C．It is made from the food waste． |
| D．It has been put into practice for many years． |
| A．A lack of competitiveness． |
| B．Poor quality of the wraps． |
| C．A shortage of raw material． |
| D．An increase in production costs． |
| A．A personal diary． |
| B．A travel guide． |
| C．A book review． |
| D．A scientific magazine． |
8 . A walk through the galleries of Quebec's Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) places individuals face-to-face with some 43,000 artworks ranging from Chinese ceramics (陶瓷制品) to Inuit sculpture.
While the visiting is an incredible cultural experience, a group of local physicians will soon be able to prescribe(开处方) museum visits as treatment for some illnesses.
Hélène Boyer, vice president of a Montreal-based medical association, explains that museum visits have been shown to increase levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter (神经传导物质) known as the "happy chemical" which helps to lift mood.
According to Boyer, the small increase in hormones(荷尔蒙)associated with enjoying an afternoon of art is similar to that offered by exercise, making museum prescriptions ideal for the elderly experiencing pain that prevents them from regularly joining in physical activity.
The museum visits are designed to improve traditional methods. As Bondil notes, spending time in a peaceful environment can provide a welcome distraction. "What is most important is this experience can help them escape from their own pain," she says. "When you enter the museum, you escape from the speed of our daily life."
"I am convinced that in the 21st century, culture will be what physical activity was for health in the 20th century," said Bondil. " Some people would do well to recall that just in the 19th century, sports were believed to do harm to the body. Just as doctors now prescribe exercise, they will be able to prescribe a visit to the MMFA."
1. What does Hélène Boyer think of museum visits?| A．They can cheer people up. | B．They can reduce physical activity. |
| C．They can slow down our life pace. | D．They can increase levels of art appreciation. |
| A．Stop them concentrating on pain. |
| B．Stop them focusing on traditional methods. |
| C．Encourage them not to be absent-minded. |
| D．Encourage them to slow their steps while walking. |
| A．Physical activities were popular in the 19th century. |
| B．Sports are considered to be harmful to the body. |
| C．Ideas of treating illnesses are changing over time. |
| D．Doctors prescribe museum visits regularly now. |
| A．Museum visits are ideal for the elderly. | B．Happy chemical helps to lift mood. |
| C．Peaceful environment helps escape pain. | D．Cultural activities will promote health |
9 . For many parents, raising a teenager is like fighting a long war, but years go by without any clear winner. Like a border conflict between neighboring countries, the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?
Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict. In part, this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents’ point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents’ complete unreasonableness. And of course, the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely. Both feel trapped.
In this article, I’ll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap. The first no-win situation is quarrels over unimportant things. Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanliness of the bedroom, the preferred style of clothing, the child’s failure to eat a good breakfast before school, or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends. Second, blaming. The goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong. Third, needing to be right. It doesn’t matter what the topic is—politics, the laws of physics, or the proper way to break an egg—the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong, for both wish to be considered an authority—someone who actually knows something—and therefore to command respect. Unfortunately, as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other, they’ll continue to fight these battles forever and never make any real progress.
1. Why does the author compare the parent-teen war to a border conflict?| A．Both are about where to draw the line. |
| B．Both can continue for generations. |
| C．Neither has any clear winner. |
| D．Neither can be put to an end. |
| A．The teens tend to have a full understanding of their parents. |
| B．The teens agree with their parents on the cause of the conflict. |
| C．The teens cause their parents of misleading them. |
| D．The teens blame their parents for starting the conflict. |
| A．give orders to the other |
| B．know more than the other |
| C．gain respect from the other |
| D．get the other to behave properly |
| A．Solutions for the parent-teen problems. |
| B．Examples of the parent-teen war. |
| C．Causes for the parent-teen conflicts. |
| D．Future of the parent-teen relationship. |
10 . According to a recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research, both the size and consumption habits of our eating companions can influence our food intake. And contrary to existing research that says you should avoid eating with heavier people who order large portions(份), it's the beanpoles with big appetites you really need to avoid.
To test the effect of social influence on eating habits, the researchers conducted two experiments. In the first, 95 undergraduate women were individually invited into a lab to ostensibly(表面上)participate in a study about movie viewership. Before the film began, each woman was asked to help herself to a snack. An actor hired by the researchers grabbed her food first. In her natural state, the actor weighed 105 pounds. But in half the cases she wore a specially designed fat suit which increased her weight to 180 pounds.
Both the fat and thin versions of the actor took a large amount of food. The participants followed suit, taking more food than they normally would have. However, they took significantly more when the actor was thin.
For the second test, in one case the thin actor took two pieces of candy from the snack bowls. In the other case, she took 30 pieces. The results were similar to the first test: the participants followed suit but took significantly more candy when the thin actor took 30 pieces.
The tests show that the social environment is extremely influential when we're making decisions. If this fellow participant is going to eat more, so will I. Call it the “I’ll have what she's having” effect. However, we'll adjust the influence. If an overweight person is having a large portion, I'll hold back a bit because I see the results of his eating habits. But if a thin person eats a lot, I'll follow suit. If he can eat much and keep slim, why can't I?
1. What is the recent study mainly about?| A．Food safety. | B．Movie viewership. |
| C．Consumer demand. | D．Eating behavior. |
| A．Big eaters. | B．Overweight persons. |
| C．Picky eaters. | D．Tall thin persons. |
| A．To see how she would affect the participants. |
| B．To test if the participants could recognize her. |
| C．To find out what she would do in the two tests. |
| D．To study why she could keep her weight down. |
| A．How hungry we are. | B．How slim we want to be. |
| C．How we perceive others. | D．How we feel about the food. |
