1 . Speaking, writing and reading are necessary to everyday life, where language is the major tool for expression and communication. Studying how people use language — what words they unconsciously choose and combine — can help us better understand ourselves and why we behave the way we do.
Linguists (语言学家) try to determine what is unique and universal about the language we use, how it is learned and the ways it changes over time. They consider language as a cultural, social and psychological phenomenon.
“Understanding why and how languages differ tells us about the range of what is human,”said Dan Jurafsky, chair of the Department of Linguistics at Stanford.
Stanford linguists and psychologists study how language is interpreted (理解) by people. Even the slightest differences in language use may show the biased (有偏见的) beliefs of the speakers, according to research.
For example, a relatively harmless sentence, such as“girls are as good as boys at math,” because of the statement’s grammatical structure (结构), suggests that being good at math is more common or natural for boys than girls, the researchers said. Language can play a big role in how we and others see the world, and linguists work to discover how words and phrases can influence us, unknowingly.
People speak about 7,000 languages worldwide. Although there is a lot in common among languages, each one is unique. Jurafsky said it’s important to study languages other than our own and how they develop over time because it can help linguists understand what lies at the foundation of humans' unique way of communicating with one another.
Linguists analyze how certain speech patterns influence particular behaviors, including how language can influence people’s buying decisions. Jurafsky said. “Understanding what different groups of people say and why is the first step in determining how we can help bring people together.”
1. What does the example mentioned in Paragraph 5 show?| A．Misunderstanding is common in daily life. |
| B．People should avoid using harmful sentences. |
| C．Speech patterns can show people’s biased beliefs. |
| D．Some grammatical structures are difficult to understand. |
| A．Researching languages. |
| B．Learning from linguists. |
| C．Developing good learning habits. |
| D．Communicating with others frequently. |
| A．To show the power of language. |
| B．To give an introduction to Jurafsky. |
| C．To teach readers how to learn a language. |
| D．To call on readers to learn more languages. |
2 . When fashion designer Mindy Scheier’s middle child, Oliver, came home one day and told her he wanted to wear jeans to school rather than sweatpants (宽松运动裤), she was faced with difficulty. Oliver has a rare disease, which causes him to struggle with everyday tasks, such as dressing himself. Would she tell her 8-year-old son that he couldn’t wear what everyone else got to wear, or could she figure out a way in which he could? She chose the latter, altering (更改) a pair of jeans for him. And with that, the Runway of Dreams Foundation was born.
Scheier started the foundation in 2014 to make adaptive clothing more accessible and fashionable for people with disabilities. As part of its aims, Runway of Dreams Foundation partners with brands to make stylish adaptive clothing lines available to the disabled, creates scholarships for students focusing on adaptive clothing and helps with employment opportunities for people in the disability community.
“It is truly unbelievable how one pair of jeans has changed the world,” Scheier said. “Creating adaptive clothing for people with disabilities and trying to make change happen in the fashion industry felt so much bigger than just Oliver or just me. It felt like something that had to happen. The future of fashion is inclusion. We’ve been dressing different body shapes, and now it’s time to dress different abilities. I am so thrilled that Runway of Dreams Foundation really started a movement to make change happen.”
“They told my mother that I wasn’t going be able to do anything for myself, but I proved them wrong. What people like me can do with a disability is the same as someone who doesn’t have one. It might look a little bit different, or a little bit strange, but it can be done. I never opened up a magazine and saw someone that looked like me. So it’s good now for disabled young kids to see a model in an ad with a disability,” said Oliver.
1. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The goals of Runway of Dreams Foundation. |
| B．The popularity of Runway of Dreams Foundation. |
| C．How Runway of Dreams Foundation was founded. |
| D．How Runway of Dreams Foundation raises money. |
| A．It should focus on normal people. |
| B．It will lead to changes in the fashion industry. |
| C．It has little influence on disabled people's life. |
| D．It fails to take fashion designing into consideration. |
| A．He never reads magazines. |
| B．He feels ashamed of himself. |
| C．He dreams to become a model. |
| D．He appreciates adaptive clothing. |
3 . My 12-year-old son Jack hit a milestone last summer. “Mom, I’m quitting the piano,” he said firmly.
Immediately, I said, “You can’t.” “Why?” he asked. “Because I said so.” And the battle followed. Many of you know the battle I am talking about. It’s the one where all of a sudden instrument that once filled the home with wonderful music are abandoned in favor of sports, games and all cool things. When Jack started piano lessons in the second grade, he took to music eagerly, displaying interest and talent. Over the next few years, he willingly entered competitions recommended by his teacher.
Much to our son’s sadness, my husband and I decided to stand firm. While parents allowed their children to win battles now and then, this was one that my husband and I were not willing to concede. We decided, however, to give him a choice of taking up another instrument. We suggested the guitar.
He was open to meeting a couple of instructors. “My hands are too small,” he complained. But the student who came after us was a 5-year-old girl.
I suggested changing teachers. He said he wanted a teacher who was “nice”. I understood that meant “no stress”. Finally, we found a male teacher with a gentle voice and a great sense of humor. He said that competitions were not his thing; playing music was.
After my son’s first lesson with his new teacher, I took a deep breath and braced myself for the usual negative complaints. “Mom, he makes me like the piano again,” my son announced as we headed to the car.
And then, cheerful piano music filled the house during the long winter evenings. The playing wasn’t as long as I would have liked or as frequent as it used to be. But it’s sweet, still the same.
1. What made Jack want to give up the piano?| A．Having no talent in music. |
| B．Having other cool things to do. |
| C．Failing in music competitions. |
| D．Being very busy with his lessons. |
| A．To remind his mom of his weakness. |
| B．To show his embarrassment in learning. |
| C．To find an excuse to quit learning the guitar. |
| D．To prove the difficulty of playing the guitar. |
| A．Play the guitar very well. |
| B．Not push him too much. |
| C．Help him win a competition. |
| D．Not report him to his parents. |
4 . A few weeks ago, I bought a locally-grown salad from a vending machine(自动售货机). But then I immediately realized that it was packaged in a plastic jar. ''I guess I live with this jar now and forever. '' I thought sadly as I stared down at my new child.
The salad jar was only the latest in a long line of examples of how I am addicted to the responsibility of reusing everything, trying to never throw anything away. Water bottles have been given second lives, and berry containers are transformed into Tupperware. I recently even looked at a plastic straw in my fruit juice: Could I reuse it too…?
Yet trying to squeeze my salad jar under my kitchen counter this weekend, I finally had to admit: Being an environmentalist has turned me into a hoarder(囤积者). While keeping a certain number of jars and vegetable bags will allow me not to buy new containers, at a certain point those 30 berry containers begin to get a bit unnecessary. Who am I kidding? Then one day I came across a blog post that asks accusingly. ''Are you turning your own home into a landfill(垃圾填埋场)? ''
In my defense, there is absolutely no excuse not to be a conscious consumer. The solution is painfully obvious, but hard to admit: Delaying waste is not, in fact, rejecting waste. In an over-packaged, over-consuming culture, this can feel like a burden. While I refuse to throw away packaging, the fact remains: I already have it. The damage is done. I've been ignoring one of the most essential and difficult parts—reduce, reuse, recycle. Even if I go out of my way to reuse the waste I do have, I need to reduce what I am bringing home in the first place.
While I might not be ready to go full zero-waste, it's a goal that is admirable to work toward. Until then, my salad jar child is going to make a great overnight oats jar.
1. What does the author try to indicate by the last sentence in paragraph 2 ?| A．How important reusing is. |
| B．How enthusiastic she is about reusing. |
| C．How she makes use of the plastic straw. |
| D．Why she is responsible for reusing plastic straws. |
| A．She enjoys collecting a variety of small jars. |
| B．She has saved far more containers than she needs. |
| C．She likes the idea of saving fine packages in daily life. |
| D．She stores more berry containers than other containers. |
| A．Over-packaging. | B．Delaying waste. |
| C．Over-consuming. | D．Rejecting waste. |
| A．buy fewer over-packaged goods |
| B．throw away unnecessary packaging |
| C．reuse materials as much as possible |
| D．appreciate the value of recycling materials |
5 . It was late, about 10:15 p.m, when Janice Esposito arrived at the New York train station and began the 20-minute drive home. She had traveled the route so many times that she almost drove on autopilot (自动驾驶):a left onto Station Road, then a left on Montauk Highway, and then-bang! Out of nowhere, a car T-boned Janice’s car, pushing her backward onto the railroad tracks.
As it happened, Pole DiPinto was gelling ready for bed. He'd just closed his book when he heard the loud crash not far outside his bedroom window. A volunteer firefighter and retired teacher, 64, never stopped to think, He grabbed a flashlight and still in his pajamas (睡衣), ran out the door. “Any firefighter would have? done what I did,” he said, “We're always on duly.”
The first car he came upon was the one that had hit Janice. Once DiPinto concluded the driver was OK, he looked around and spotted Janice's car lay across the railroad tracks. And then he heard a terrible sound: the bells signaling an on-coming train.
DiPinto rushed to Janice's cur and banged on the driver's side window. She just looked at him, her eyes unfocused. “I don't know where I am,” she said. She seemed unhurt. “Honey, you're on the railroad tracks,” DiPinto shouted, “We have to get you off right now!” He pulled hard on the door handle, but it didn't work. The heavy train, traveling at 65 miles per hour, was heading toward them. DiPinto ran to the passenger side and threw open the door. “Please, God, don't let her be trapped”, he thought. He pushed aside the airbags, grabbed Janice's arms, and pulled her toward him across the passenger seat until he could help her out and walk her to safety. Within six seconds, he estimated, the train crashed into the car.
“It was like a Hollywood movie,” DiPinto told reporters the next day. But this one had a difference. That night, the hero arrived in pajamas, not in a fire truck.
1. Which of the following words can best replace the underlined word "T-boned" in Paragraph 1?| A．Crashed into. | B．Came across. |
| C．Pushed forward. | D．Scratched the side of. |
| A．He was the volunteer firefighter who was on duty that night. |
| B．He wasn't aware of the coming train when he was rescuing Janice. |
| C．He was in sound sleep in his bedroom when the accident happened. |
| D．He first confirmed the other driver before he came to Janice's rescue. |
| A．Janice didn't know where she was. |
| B．The airbags protected her in some way. |
| C．DiPinto rescued Janice without difficulty. |
| D．All the doors of Janice's car were in good condition. |
| A．A Hero in Pajamas. | B．A Hollywood Movie. |
| C．A Dangerous Heavy Train. | D．A Horrible Car Accident. |
6 . The year I turned fifty, I resolved to do something new every day. However, balancing 365 new things with work and family, while still managing to do the laundry and get dinner on the table every night, was not always easy. In the early weeks of the project, I found it difficult to find so many new things.
It wasn’t long before my friends learned that I was open to almost anything I could consider a new thing, and the invitations began pouring in not just from friends, but friends of friends. As a result, my life was new. I went dog sledding. I attended a fashion show. I went to numerous lectures on all kinds of topics that I never would have previously considered useful or interesting and found something to appreciate in every single one. I even signed up immediately when learning about a local group trying to get into the Guinness Book of World Records by doing something unusual.
As time went by, whenever I learned about something that seemed remarkable, I did what I could to pursue it. Instead of “Why”, I began to ask “Why not”. Now I find it is easier to just keep my eyes open to the possibilities that surrounded me. It turned out that there were new things everywhere, and all I had to do was make a little effort to enjoy them.
I looked back on the year. It doesn’t matter to me that many of my “new things” weren’t exactly meaningful. What matters is how to make full use of them when discovering there is an endless number of new things for me. It seemed to me an obvious sign that at fifty, my life was full of promise. I could continue to grow, stretch my wings, and learn more every day for the rest of my life. I enjoyed the idea of something new, and it gave me a reason to welcome each day as an opportunity to experience the world a little differently.
1. Which of the following can best describe the author’s feeling according to Paragraph 1?| A．Better late than never. | B．Action speaks louder than words. |
| C．Saying is one thing but doing is another. | D．Experience is the best teacher. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Appreciative. | C．Cautious. | D．Tolerant. |
| A．Make the most of new things. | B．Wait for your life to start over. |
| C．Try to find more new things. | D．Never say never when in trouble. |
| A．Dream for a New Life | B．The Value of Friendship |
| C．Remarkable New Things | D．A Year of New Things |
7 . To me, life without music would not be exciting. I realize that this is not true for everybody. Many people get along quite well without going to the concert, and listening to the record. But music plays an important part in everyone's life, whether he realizes it or not. Try to imagine, for example, what films or TV plays would be like without music. Would the feelings, the moving plot, and the greatest interests, be so exciting or dramatic? I'm not sure about it.
Now, we have been speaking of music in its more common meaning----the kind of music we hear in the concert hall. But if we look at some parts of music more closely, we discover them in our everyday life too----in the rhythm of the sea, the melody of a bird in the woods and so on. So music surely has meaning for everyone, in some way or other. And, of course, it has special meaning for those who have spent all their lives working on playing or writing music.
It is well said, “Through music a child enters into a world of beauty, expresses himself from his heart, feels the joy of doing things alone, learns to take care of others, develops his mind and makes his body strong.”
1. What does the writer say more about in the text?| A．Life full of music. | B．The importance of music. |
| C．Life without music. | D．The development of music. |
| A．go to the concert instead of enjoying music |
| B．get along quite well without music |
| C．don't realize the importance of music |
| D．think music would be less exciting than films |
| A．flying | B．living |
| C．looking | D．singing |
| A．is very necessary for our everyday life |
| B．is very important, especially for children |
| C．can make our life exciting and dramatic |
| D．can enter another beautiful world |
8 . Working or learning in a foreign country can be a difficult experience. The hardest part of working abroad isn't finding a place to stay or learning the language. It's learning to overcome the culture shock.
These things are part of everyday life, and include many signs, gestures, facial expressions ,and customs. When we enter a new culture, these cues (提示)are usually not present or so different that they’re no longer understandable to us.
“When a person enters a foreign culture, ” wrote Oberg, “all or most of these familiar cues are eliminated. He or she is like a fish out of water. No matter how broad-minded he or she may be, lots of props(支柱) have been knocked out from the environment.”
This is what happened to Lara, a young IT consultant (顾问) from America moved last year to their company in southern Europe. Three weeks after she arrived in Europe. Lara sent a desperate e-mail begging to return home. “The people are so unfriendly, ”Lara wrote ,"They eat at strange hours and I'm starting to get allergic (过敏的)to the local food. I can't get anything done because their way of doing business is so disorganized and so inefficient and I have a terrible skin itch because of the water. I want to come home! ”
What Lara and other IT consultants meet on their first assignment abroad is a culture shock. While you can’t prevent the culture shock from happening, you can take some measures to cut down its effects.
1. What is the most difficult part for a foreign student?| A．Entering a famous school. |
| B．Finding a right place to live. |
| C．Adapting to the local culture. |
| D．Learning the foreign language. |
| A．solved | B．measured |
| C．observed | D．removed. |
| A．Her life got into a mess. |
| B．She worked more efficient than at home. |
| C．She couldn’t get on well with her colleagues. |
| D．She was out of condition because of the weather |
| A．To tell us how she manages to work well. |
| B．To explain to us what the culture shock is. |
| C．To show us how to adapt to the culture shock. |
| D．To show us where we'll meet with the culture shock. |
9 . It’s summer, and school-aged kids are finding all kinds of ways to have fun, from a trip to the pool or playground to playing games with smart phones. As a result, they are also forgetting some of what they learned in school, a phenomenon (现象) called “summer slide”. Fortunately, summer slide can be prevented with just a little regular practice of fun.
Encourage reading every day. Make a special event out of a trip to the public library, and let your kids pick out whatever interests them. Give your kids a special treat for every book they finish. Help them set up a reading corner in their room that’s quiet, comfortable and free of various electronic distractions. Best of all, give them the gift of your own example as an enthusiastic reader.
Another way to make reading fun is to share a poem together. Poems by writers like Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein and Maurice Sendak are fun to read aloud, and often have a strong sense of humor that attracts children. Take turns reading them aloud to each other, talk about what they mean, and see if you can memorize your favorites. Then have a contest to see who can write the best poem.
Summer is a great time to visit a learning place together. Children’s museums are specially designed to make learning fun and enjoyable for kids and let them practice essential skills. Or just take a walk together on one of our many nature paths, where your children can use their reading skills to learn about the plants, animals and geology around them. And of course, don’t forget the special programs offered by many local public libraries, along with many other learning materials for kids of all ages.
1. Which of the following can be named “summer slide”?| A．Having no idea how to play computer games. |
| B．Forgetting how to organize a camping activity. |
| C．Failing to know how to go swimming in a pool. |
| D．Not remembering how to do a chemistry experiment in the lab. |
| A．Taking them to libraries often. |
| B．Being an enthusiastic reader yourself. |
| C．Setting a reading corner in their room. |
| D．Giving them a treat to encourage reading. |
| A．They are easy to read aloud. |
| B．They can be memorized by children. |
| C．They are suitable for both adults and children. |
| D．They attract children with their sense of humor. |
| A．The cause of summer slide. |
| B．Fun ways to prevent summer slide. |
| C．Ways to keep children active in summer. |
| D．The effects of summer slide on children. |
10 . Recently，as I watched my son Nathan play basketball for his high school team，I was starting to feel sorry for myself and for him．His team was facing adversity（逆境）on the court and he was playing in a hostile environment-it was the opponent's home gym filled with their supporters，and Nathan's team was trailing（落后）for three quarters of the game．As for me，I had been dismissed from my job earlier in the day．
During my drive home，I kept telling myself that I will find work again in a short time-I am confident in my experience and abilities．This is the same belief that I tried to instill in my son．
The basketball game entered the fourth quarter with Nathan's team still trailing．I saw the determination on his，as well as his teammates'faces as they fought back to not only tie the game（平局），but then go ahead by three points．Then，a player from the other team made an unbelievable shot to tie the game up again．With a tie game and seconds on the clock，Nathan found himself with the ball and with skill and confidence，he proceeded to make the basket with a defender hanging all over him．The other player was called for a foul（犯规）．
As Nathan stood at the foul line preparing for a shot that would put his team up by three points，I saw the focus and determination on his face，there was no room for self doubt．Nathan was able to tune out all the distractions and nail the free throw with such skill，it was as if he had done it a thousand times．
As I sat there，my heart bursting with pride，it dawned on me．I had taught him perseverance in the face of adversity，and he had just taught me the same lesson．That brief moment of self-doubt and feeling sorry for myself was blown away by the actions of my son on the basketball court．He will play in the finals，but it doesn't matter if he wins or loses，at this moment，we both won．
1. What did the author estimate his son's team would be like at first？ ______| A．The team would lose at home court． |
| B．The team would finally win． |
| C．The team would win the championship． |
| D．The team would lose at visiting court． |
| A．Self-doubting and pessimistic． |
| B．Self-confident and optimistic． |
| C．Hardworking and intelligent． |
| D．Easy-going and warmhearted． |
| A．Avoid | B．Focus． |
| C．Create | D．Receive． |
| A．Life Goes Just Like Playing Basketball． |
| B．It Matters Whether to Win or Lose． |
| C．A Lesson in Life and Basketball． |
| D．Father And Son in Life． |
