1 . A teenager of 17 walks into a corner store and grabs a Coca-Cola, but the cashier refuses to sell it to him because he is underage. That rule is expected to soon become reality in parts of Mexico, as lawmakers in several states push legislation (立法)to keep junk food away from children. know it can sound a bit difficult but we have to take action now," says Lopez, a lawmaker in Oaxaca's Congress.
More than 70,000 Mexicans have died from COVID-19, the world's fourth-highest recorded death toll, tracked by Johns Hopkins University. 89% of those who died in Mexico had an underlying medical condition such as obesity, diabetes (糖尿病)，high blood pressure and heart problems. That has led to a new urgency to change diets so that the younger generation doesn't suffer those illnesses.
The critics, however, say the leaders are using preexisting health conditions in COVID-19 patients to distract from a weak government response to the virus outbreak. Yet few people would deny that the country consumes large amounts of sugar-sweetened drinks and processed snacks with little nutrition --- or that Mexico has a major weight problem.
Oaxaca's governor approved the state's junk food prohibition last week. Legislators still have to complete the legal systems, and punishment could include fines and even jail. Lopez says legislators from all over the country have called her for advice. Many other states are debating a junk food ban. However, a nationwide law would not be easy. "There are powerful commercial interests that least want it to happen, but we must prioritize the well-being of our children," Lopez says.
1. What is Lopez 's attitude towards the junk food?| A．Negative. | B．Neutral. |
| C．Positive. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．Keep distance. | B．Avoid illnesses. |
| C．Break away. | D．Shift attention. |
| A．Selling children junk food has been banned nationwide in Mexico. |
| B．Most Mexicans who died of COVID-19 had other health problems. |
| C．The younger generation doesn't suffer any weight problems. |
| D．People who break the prohibition in Oaxaca will only be warned. |
| A．Teenagers. | B．Legislators. |
| C．Soft drink companies. | D．State governors. |
2 . There are two types of people in the world. Although they have equal degree of health, wealth and other comforts of life, one becomes happy and the other becomes unhappy. This arises from the different ways in which they consider things, persons, events and the resulting effects upon their minds.
People who are to be happy fix their attention on the convenience of things: the pleasant parts of conversation, the well prepared dishes, the goodness of the wine and the fine weather. They enjoy all the cheerful things. Those who are to be unhappy think and speak only of the opposite things. Therefore, they are continually dissatisfied. By their remarks, they sour the pleasure of society, offend many people, and make themselves disagreeable everywhere. If this turn of mind was founded in nature, such unhappy persons would be the more to be pitied. The intention of criticizing and being disliked is perhaps taken up by imitation. It grows into n habit, unknown to its possessors. The habit may be strong, but it may be cured when those who have it realize it had effects on their interests and tastes. I hope this little warning may be of service to them, and help them change this habit.
Although in fact it is chiefly an act of the imagination, it has serious results in life since it brings on deep sorrow and bad luck. Those people offend many others; nobody loves them, and no one treats them with more than the most common politeness and respect. This frequently puts them in bad temper and draws them into arguments. If they aim at getting some advantages in social position, or fortune, nobody wishes them success. Nor will anyone start, step or speak a word to favor their hopes. If they bring on themselves public objections, no one will defend or excuse them, and many will join to criticize their wrong doings. These should change this bad habit and be pleased with what is pleasing, without worrying needlessly about themselves and others. If they do not, it will be good for others to avoid any contact with them. Otherwise, it can be disagreeable and sometimes very inconvenient, especially when one becomes mixed up in their quarrels.
1. People who are unhappy .| A．always consider things differently from others |
| B．usually are affected by the results of certain things |
| C．usually misunderstand what others think or say |
| D．always discover the unpleasant side of certain things |
| A．have a good taste with social life |
| B．make others unhappy |
| C．tend to scold others openly |
| D．enjoy the pleasure of life |
| A．we should pity all such unhappy people |
| B．such unhappy people are dangerous to social life |
| C．people can get rid of the habit of unhappiness |
| D．unhappy people cannot understand happy persons |
| A．prevent any communication with them |
| B．show no respect and politeness to them |
| C．persuade them to recognize the bad effects |
| D．quarrel with them until they realize the mistakes |
| A．describes two types of people in our 1ife who have negative effect on others |
| B．give some examples to laugh at the unhappy people in our society |
| C．suggests the unhappy people should get rid of the habits of unhappiness |
| D．tells people get away from unhappy people and how to be happy in life |
3 . How would it feel to be the last person on Earth who speaks your language? For those of us whose native languages have millions of speakers, it’s almost impossible to imagine. And yet languages have come and gone throughout human history, and they continue to do so. Linguists estimate that of the world’s approximately 6,900 languages, more than half are at risk of dying out by the end of the 21st century.
Sometimes languages die out quickly. This can happen when small communities of speakers are wiped out by disasters or war. In El Salvador, for example, speakers of the indigenous （土生土长的）Lenca and Cacaopera abandoned their languages to avoid being identified as Indians after Salvadoran troops killed tens of thousands of mostly indigenous peasants in 1932 in order to put down an uprising （起义）.
Most languages, though, die out gradually as many generations of speakers become very good at two languages and then begin to lose their advantages in their traditional languages. This often happens when speakers seek to learn a more-respected language in order to gain social and economic advantages or to avoid discrimination. The gradual disappearance of Coptic as a spoken language in Egypt following the rise of Arabic in the 7th century is one example of this type of change. Modernization and globalization have strengthened these forces, and peoples around the world now face great pressure to adopt the common languages used in government, commerce, technology, entertainment, and diplomacy.
Do languages have an afterlife? In many cases, yes. Dedicated preservationists often bring languages back into use again as a matter of regional or ethnic （民族的）identity. The most-famous example is Hebrew, which died out as a spoken language in the 2nd century CE （although it continued to be used as a language of religion and scholarship）. The spoken language returned to its regular usage in a modernized form in the 19th-20th century and is now the first language of millions of people in Israel.
1. What does the passage mainly tell us?| A．Why languages die. |
| B．Where languages go. |
| C．How languages survive. |
| D．When languages change. |
| A．By creating a much better language. |
| B．By ordering people to use another one. |
| C．By forbidding people to use it in public. |
| D．By decreasing the number of its speakers. |
| A．Its speakers had higher earnings than others. |
| B．It was considered less-respected than Arabic. |
| C．It speeded up modernization and globalization. |
| D．Its disappearance resulted in the popularity of Arabic. |
| A．some languages have advantages over others |
| B．measures should be taken to protect languages |
| C．dead languages have a chance to be used again |
| D．languages are important to religion and scholarship |
4 . One dilemma that the super famous face is balancing the needs of privacy and recognition.
For some stars privacy is an overvalued thing. In 1919, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford went on their European honeymoon. The two international idols had divorced their previous spouses （配偶）and were concerned about how they would be greeted. They needn’t have worried. In London their car was surrounded by admiring women who pulled Mary out of the car to shake her hand, still grateful after two years for her efforts selling war bonds. In Paris they couldn’t get any sleep with crowds gathering below their hotel room to sing and play for them. In Amsterdam they attended a party and were mobbed （包围）by other guests who wanted to get close to them. The athletic Fairbanks placed his wife on his shoulder and escaped through the window. Finally, they found privacy in Hamburg, where their movies were not shown because of World War I. For an hour the famous newly-married couple walked the streets unnoticed until the bored Mary turned to her husband and said, “Doug, I’m sick of this. Let’s go back to one of those countries where they mob us.”
Joan Crawford had similar feelings. Once in the 1930s she was staying in New York getting over her breakup with Clark Gable. Tired of staying around her hotel feeling so down she told her entourage （随从） they should go out and get some fresh air. The entourage, who had trouble keeping up with the star’s quick pace, were shocked when she walked away from their planned road. "Oh my God. She’s going into Grand Central Station!" Someone shouted, “Look, it’s Joan Crawford! And she was mobbed. It took them thirty minutes to escape the crowd and get back to their hotel suite. Her hair disheveled （凌乱），her dress tom and her face scratched, Crawford leaned against the door out of breath. "Oh.,. oh my. That was wonderful. Let’s do it again!”
1. What did Douglas and Mary worry about before going to Europe?| A．Nobody would greet them. |
| B．They wouldn’t be welcomed. |
| C．Their war bonds wouldn’t sell well. |
| D．Their schedule would be made public. |
| A．Hamburg was too quiet a place for her. |
| B．Her movies weren’t shown in Hamburg. |
| C．She fell ill after arriving in a new place. |
| D．She didn’t really enjoy privacy so much. |
| A．Amusing. | B．Enjoyable. | C．Dangerous. | D．Embarrassing. |
| A．they may feel down from time to time |
| B．they deserve people’s love and respect |
| C．they need both privacy and public attention |
| D．they are not always popular around the world |
5 . The next time your brain refuses to recall a simple fact or name, be thankful. That could be a sign that your brain is getting rid of unnecessary information so that it can operate more efficiently, and help you make better decisions.
Researchers who study how the brain stores information find that when neurons （神经元）are connected to the hippocampus — a region of the brain that plays a significant role in learning and remembering - they overwrite （覆盖）old memories, making them harder to access.
Why does the brain spend so much energy erasing memories? Researchers believe that forgetting old information makes the brain more efficient. In a 2016 study, a team of scientists taught a group of mice to locate a maze （迷宫）.The researchers erased the memories of some mice with drugs and moved the maze. The mice who still had memories of its original location had a harder time finding the new site than those that had no memory.
Additionally, the team believes that keeping too much detail could prevent people from making good decisions. In fact, evolution has shaped our memory not to win a game of unimportant matters, but to make intelligent decisions. And when we look at what’s needed to make intelligent decisions, we would argue that that it’s healthy to forget some things.
The scientists say what the brain decides to forget is determined by our daily life. The memories the brain decides to lose are exactly those details from your life that don’t actually matter and that may be keeping you from making good decisions.
So the next time you are unable to recall a seemingly important fact, don’t be hard on yourself. Your brain is making room for information that can contribute to making you smarter! Remember, even Albert Einstein was absent-minded!
1. What does the underlined word “them” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Old memories. | B．New memories. |
| C．Neurons. | D．Researchers. |
| A．Old memories affects decision-making. |
| B．Old memories can’t be erased by drugs. |
| C．Mice can’t locate a maze without memories. |
| D．Drugs make mice smarter in locating a maze. |
| A．It isn’t easy to make intelligent decisions. |
| B．Einstein was as ordinary as normal people. |
| C．It’s normal for people to forget small things. |
| D．Einstein is a good example of absent-mindedness. |
| A．How Does Your Brain Work? |
| B．How Can We Become Smarter? |
| C．Forgetting Makes You Smarter |
| D．Brain Chooses What To Memorize |
6 . Slowly but surely, we’re moving closer and closer to 5G world. From smart-home security to self-driving cars, all the internet-connected devices in our life will be able to talk to each other at lightning-fast speeds with reduced delay. Objectively speaking, the fastest 4G download speeds in the US top out at an average of 19.42Mbps. But by comparison 5G promises gigabit (千兆) speeds.
“5G is one of those heralds (使者),along with artificial intelligence, of this coming data age.” said Steve Koenig, senior director of market research for the Consumer Technology Association. The self-driving vehicle is a great emblem of this data age, and that is to say, it is a sign of time, because with one single task, driving, you have massive amounts of data coming from the vehicle itself, and a variety of sensors are collecting a lot of information to model its environment as it moves. It’s pulling in data from other vehicles about road conditions down the lane. It could be weather information, and also connected infrastructure (基础设施) construction. There’s lots of data behind that task, which is why we need the high speed.
And virtual reality glasses and headsets haven’t yet broken the mainstream, but tech companies are joyfully betting that these devices will eventually replace our smartphones. With 5G, that could actually happen. This is notable because companies such as Apple are reportedly developing AR glasses to assist — or even replace — smartphones.
Ericsson stated at February's Mobile World Congress how smart glasses could become faster and lighter with a 5G connection, because instead of being weighed down with components, the glasses could rely on hardware for processing power.
But don’t get too excited. There’s still a lot of work to be done in the meantime, including various trials to make sure the radios play nicely with hardware and infrastructure construction so 5G isn’t concentrated only in big cities.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．The security of 5G. | B．The present world of 5G. |
| C．The future of 5G. | D．The super speed of 5G. |
| A．exhibition | B．symbol | C．sponsor | D．explanation |
| A．They will be heavier than present ones. | B．They will process power on their own. |
| C．They will bring a big fortune to tech companies. | D．They will take the place of smartphones. |
| A．How to fully expand 5G coverage. | B．How to effectively reduce 5G trials. |
| C．How to nicely operate 5G hardware. | D．How to widely construct 5G big cities. |
7 . As a greenhouse gas,carbon dioxide-or CO2-helps warm the atmosphere. But too much of that gas has been driving an atmospheric fever. Recently, a team of researchers found a way to turn CO2 into a useful product. The researchers are turning CO2 into ethanol(乙醇) which is often added to gasoline. Although adding ethanol reduces the energy in gasoline, it offers a nice tradeoff: it helps gasoline burn more cleanly. So making ethanol from CO2 would be better for the environment.
To do that, the researchers developed a brand-new catalyst(催化剂)which could accelerate the chemical reaction. With it, the voltage(电压)needed to start the new CO2-to-ethanol reaction is far less than what's needed to start similar reactions. And although chemical reactions often make many unwanted byproducts, this new one does not. More than 90 percent of the final product is ethanol.
The new catalyst uses a bed of carbon to support copper atoms(铜原子).Those copper atoms are spread out. When electricity runs through the catalyst,copper atoms join up, forming groups of 3 or 4 atoms. By firing powerful X-rays at them, the research team could “monitor the chemical reaction as it happens”. Those atom groups activate the catalyst, helping the CO2 react with water. The CO2 now divides into carbon and oxygen atoms. And the water divides into hydrogen and oxygen atoms. All of these freed atoms now rearrange themselves to form ethanol.
Although many scientists describe the new process as “very cool”, they are still a bit skeptical. “A closer look at the reaction is needed,” chemist Anna Klinkova says. “It could be more complex than what is presented.” The researchers are continuing to experiment with the new process. They also hope to make other useful materials from carbon dioxide. “That's why the new study isn't a final step,” a researcher says. “This is just the beginning of this long research journey. ”
1. Why is ethanol added to gasoline?| A．To make driving less costly. |
| B．To turn CO2 into clean energy. |
| C．To reduce the gasoline consumption. |
| D．To lessen the harm of gasoline burning. |
| A．It gives off little CO2. |
| B．It is environment-friendly. |
| C．It increases the output rate. |
| D．It lowers the voltage in the reaction. |
| A．By using X-rays. |
| B．By dividing CO2. |
| C．By joining up copper atoms. |
| D．By rearranging the atoms in CO2. |
| A．Supportive. |
| B．Doubtful. |
| C．Negative. |
| D．Particular. |
8 . A shark that walks in water instead of swimming might sound strange. However, that is precisely how the four new species of the fish-found in the waters of the Indo - Australian islands-move across the seafloor. The unique ocean animals were discovered by a team of scientists,led by Dr.Christine Dudgeon from Australia's University of Queensland.
The newly-found species belong to the genus Hemiscyllium, the same family as the previously known five species. At less than a meter long on average, much shorter than most known species,walking sharks are incredibly cute little animals and present no threat to people. They have all evolved(进化） to survive in low oxygen environments, enabling them to hunt during low tides. The researchers believe their ability to live in low oxygen environments gives them a remarkable advantage over the unsuspecting smaller animals they mainly feed on.
A DNA analysis of skin piece from the live fish suggests that walking sharks broke away from their swimming brothers and sisters about nine million years ago and became a distinct species. Though that may appear to be a long time ago, it is relatively recent given that sharks have been around for more than 400 million years. In fact, Dudgeon and her team believe walking sharks are the youngest kind of sharks on Earth!
The scientists say that the sharks' small number and shallow habitat make them extremely vulnerable to natural disasters and overfishing.Three of the nine walking shark species, all of which live in the waters off Northern Australia,eastern Indonesia, and near the island of New Guinea, are currently on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List,which lists species at risk. Dudgeon and her team believe sensible conservation management plans are urgently needed to protect the walking sharks and other endangered animals from further threats.
1. What's a characteristic of the newly-found shark species?| A．They're dangerous to human. |
| B．They swim across the seafloor. |
| C．They can survive without oxygen. |
| D．They're smaller than many other species. |
| A．People have long known walking sharks. |
| B．Walking sharks are the oldest of their kind. |
| C．Researchers learn a lot from the sharks' habitats. |
| D．Walking sharks are closely linked to swimming sharks. |
| A．Easy to be hurt. |
| B．Hard to get along with. |
| C．Fond of attacking. |
| D．Picky about the environment. |
| A．To educate. |
| B．To inform. |
| C．To advertise. |
| D．To argue. |
9 . Find volunteer opportunities on Australia's largest volunteer website：
Community Visitors Plan
Volunteer to visit and talk with a selected resident in an aged care facility in Sydney on a one- to-one basis, at least once a fortnight or a minimum of 20 visits per year. Your visit will help brighten the day of an elder member of your community and improve their quality of life through friendship and companionship.
Volunteer Non-Executive Director
Greater Whitsunday Alliance （GW3） is looking for a willing and experienced industry or community leader from the Whitsunday region who is passionate about the economic development of the greater Whitsunday region to join the GW3 board as volunteer, non-executive director.
Gallery Attendant
Your commitment to volunteering at the Museum is highly valued by Army Museum North Queensland, the Australian Army History Unit and the Australian Defence Force. The role of volunteers is important in enhancing Museum activities and providing programs and services that would not otherwise be available.
Red Cross Shop Summer Season Volunteer
Multiple volunteer positions available at Red Cross Shops across Metro Melbourne. Monday to Sunday （minimum of two four-hour shifts per week） from the start of December to February 29th. By joining the team you'll get the opportunity to provide customer service, create window and visual merchandising displays, sort donations, and help raise money for those in need.
1. Who will most probably get the job as non-executive director?| A．An agricultural expert in his fifties. |
| B．A retired economist from Whitsunday. |
| C．A senior college student majoring in finance. |
| D．An accountant expecting a handsome income. |
| A．48. | B．52. | C．104. | D．144. |
| A．Gallery Attendant. |
| B．Community Visitors Plan. |
| C．Volunteer Non — Executive Director. |
| D．Red Cross Shop Summer Season Volunteer. |
10 . Staying positive through cold season could be the best defence against getting sick, a new American study suggests.
In an experiment that exposed healthy volunteers to a cold or flu virus, researchers found that people with a generally sunny character were less likely to fall ill. The findings, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, build on evidence that a “positive emotional style” can help keep away from the common cold and other illnesses.
“People with a positive emotional style may have different immune responses to the virus,” explained lead study author Dr. Sheldon Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. “And when they do get a cold, they may experience their illness as less severe.”
Cohen and his colleagues had found in a previous study that happier people seemed less susceptible to catching a cold, but some questions remained as to whether the emotional quality itself had the effect.
For the new study, the researchers had 193 healthy adults complete standard measures of personality qualities, physical health and “emotional style”. Those who tended to be happy, energetic and easy-going were judged as having a positive emotional style, while those who were often unhappy, tense and hostile had a negative style.
Afterwards, the researchers gave them nose drops containing either a cold virus or a particular flu virus that causes flu-like symptoms. Over the next six days the volunteers reported on any aches, pains, sneezing they had. Cohen and his colleagues found that happy people were less likely to develop a cold. What’s more, when happy folks did develop a cold, their symptoms were less severe than they would be expected based on objective measures.
In contrast, people with negative characters were not at increased risk of developing a cold based on objective measures, though they did tend to get down about their symptoms.
“We find that it’s really positive emotions that have the big effect”, Cohen said, “not the negative ones.”
So can a bad-tempered person fight a cold by deciding to be happy?
1. The purpose of Cohen’s new study was to _______________.| A．find effective ways to fight illnesses |
| B．test people’s different immune responses to cold virus |
| C．tell differences between happy people and unhappy people |
| D．examine whether health was related to emotional styles |
| A．By comparing the experimental results of different groups. |
| B．By asking the volunteers to complete a form. |
| C．By collecting data among people with a cold. |
| D．By observing the volunteers’ symptoms. |
| A．success is the twin of positive spirits |
| B．we get more by being more positive |
| C．the happier we are, the fewer colds we will suffer |
| D．physical health is more important than mental health |
