1 . A decade ago, at the end of my first semester teaching at Wharton, a student stopped by for office hours. He sat down and burst into tears. My mind started cycling through a list of events that could make a college junior cry: his girlfriend had left him; he had been accused of cheating in exams; he forgot to turn in papers by the deadline. “I just got my first A-minus," he said, his voice shaking.
Year after year, I watch in sadness as students go all for straight A's. Some sacrifice their health; a few have even tried to charge their school after falling short. All hold the belief that top marks are a ticket to best graduate schools and high-paying job offers. I was one of them. I started college with the goal of graduating with a GPA of 4.0. It would be a reflection of my brainpower and willpower, revealing that I had the right stuff to succeed. But I was wrong.
The evidence is clear: academic excellence is not a strong predictor of career excellence. Across industries, research shows that the connection between grades and job performance is modest in the first year after college and unimportant within a handful of years. For example, a Google, once employees are two or three years out of college, their grades have no bearing on their performance. (Of course, it must be said that if you got D's, you probably didn't end up at Google.)
In a classic 1962 study, a team of psychologists tracked down America's most creative architects and compared them with their technically skilled but less original matches. One of the factors that distinguished the creative architects was a record of grades. “In college our creative architects earned about a B average," Donald MacKinnon wrote. “In work and courses which caught their interest they could turn in an A performance, but in courses that failed to strike their imagination, they were quite willing to do no work at all."
Academic grades rarely assess qualities like creativity, leadership and teamwork skills, or social, emotional and political intelligence. Yes, straight-A students master large amounts of information and reproduce it in exams. But career success is rarely about finding the right solution to a problem—it is more about finding the right problem to solve. This might explain why Steve Jobs finished high school with a 2.65 GPA, J. K. Rowling graduated from the University of Exeter with roughly a C average, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. got only one A in his four years at Morehouse.
1. Why did the author list the events that crossed his mind in the first paragraph?| A．To make sure he didn't misunderstand the student. |
| B．To make the real trouble of the student more striking. |
| C．To show sympathy for the student. |
| D．To describe an unusual meeting with a student. |
| A．Academic achievements don't always mean success in career. |
| B．Top marks meant well-paid job offers. |
| C．Nobody was to blame for falling short in school. |
| D．Marks didn't reflect willpower and brainpower |
| A．Straight A's don't necessarily lead to professional success. |
| B．Straight A's are a ticket to a number of opportunities. |
| C．Straight A's are of little value in future careers. |
| D．Straight A's can't help people find right solutions. |
| A．How to be a creative leader. | B．How to solve a challenging problem. |
| C．What is the right problem to solve. | D．What really interests them. |
2 . For some people, walking or running outdoors is a great way to work out. What may not be so pleasant is seeing trash all over the ground. Well, some people are doing something about it. They are plogging!
“Plogging” began in Sweden. The name combines the Swedish word “plocka,” which means to pick up, and the word Jogging, which means to run slowly. A Swedish man named Erik, started the movement in 2016. On the World Environment
Day website, Erik says that he moved to Stockholm from a small community in northern Sweden each day he would ride his bike to work. Concerned about the amount of trash and litter he saw each day on his way to work, he took matters into his own hands.
Plogging, by that term, may have officially begun in Sweden. But many people who exercise outdoors have been doing this for years. Take Jeff Horowitz for example. He is a personal trainer in Washington, D.C. He often picks up trash while running outside. He even has turned it into a game; he will try to pick up the trash without stopping. “I didn’t know it was a thing really. This is just my personal ethics (道德标准), where I go for a run and if I happen to see a piece of garbage lying around and it’s within reach — it is a kind of a little test for me to see if I can grab it and throw it in a near trash can without stopping. And that way, I think, it gives me a little exercise and a little focus for my run. And it helps clean up the neighborhood,” he announced.
Today, plogging is an official activity, one that is becoming increasingly popular. Cities around the world now hold logging events, “I would just hope people would think twice before dropping a garbage on the ground. We have containers seems on every block. So, it’s easy to put your garbage in the trash cans. I just think people should think about it a little bit more. I do hope one day there will not be a need for plogging.” said an interviewee.
1. Which of the following can replace the underlined phrase “took matters into his own hands”?| A．called on people to join him. | B．appealed to people to go green. |
| C．began to pick up the trash. | D．had the collected trash recycled. |
| A．Plogging comes naturally to joggers who care about the environment. |
| B．Plogging is an easy way to clean the environment. |
| C．It doesn’t make any sense to joy without picking up trash. |
| D．It is better to clean up the neighborhood by plogging. |
| A．Jogging is truly beneficial. | B．Trash cans should be within reach. |
| C．Littering is not acceptable. | D．Communities should be kept clean. |
| A．New Exercise Enjoys unbelievable popularity |
| B．New Exercise Trend Also Helps Environment |
| C．Plogging — a Fashionable Way to clear waste |
| D．Plogging — an Exercise Originating in Sweden |
3 . Along the hallway (走廊), I saw mixed expressions on the faces of my students: excited, nervous, and worried.No doubt about it: they were this term’s freshmen. My own first day at high school flashed into my mind.
Since our family had just moved to the place, I didn’t know anyone at the school. On arriving, I picked up a map and my schedule (日程表). Oh, my goodness, what a large school it was! Nervously, I looked about for where my first class was to be held.
When I finally found my class, everyone was talking and laughing together, and I felt so lonely. Throughout the day, each period brought some new faces I had not seen before. But when my English class came around, I had a surprise: an old classmate! It was Ben, who had left my middle school right after sixth grade. We talked and joked about middle school and the clubs we were in together. My nerves eased (放松) a little.
Next was the P E. class. This was the first class that I found without difficulty. Sitting through the boring introduction to the class by the teacher, I started talking to a girl sitting near me. I found out that her family had just moved here too, and she didn’t know anyone either. As we talked, we discovered that we had a lot in common, and had a lot of classes together. This girl ended up becoming my best friend. I am so glad that I met her.
By the end of that day, I was full of optimism (乐观). I knew that high school would be an amazing experience.
1. The writer of this passage is a __________.| A．parent | B．college student | C．high school student | D．high school teacher |
| A．the school was very large | B．the map did not show the way |
| C．the teacher would be serious | D．the first class would be difficult |
| A．met her old classmate Ben | B．made friends with a girl |
| C．had P.E. class together with Ben | D．finally found her first class |
| A．Nervous. | B．Bored. | C．Hopeful. | D．Satisfied. |
4 . There are a lot of names for people who travel the world — backpackers, tourists, explorers, travelers. Labels (标签) are everywhere but seem especially popular among travelers trying to differentiate (区别) their style of travel. For many travelers, these labels make them feel better over another.
Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods once said, “Please be a traveler, not a tourist. Try new things, meet new people, and look beyond what’s right in front of you. Those are the keys to understanding this amazing world we live in.” The idea here is that travelers are better at exploring the world than tourists. They dig deep into the culture, drink it up, and get to know a place while a tourist takes pictures and declares to have “done Paris.”
But that’s wrong. We are all tourists.
Out on the road, backpackers love to talk about how real their travels are and how unreal tourists are. “Look at those tourists over there,” they say. They scoff at others who travel too quickly or to places that they think are not well worth visiting. However, they do so while eating hamburgers and drinking beers with other travelers.
The only way to really get to know a place deeply is to live there. If you want to live like a local, find an apartment, get a job, go to work, and do the same things as you did back home.
We are all only passing through a culture, getting a small taste before moving on to the next place. Even if we stay weeks or months, we’re just getting in touch with the surface. As a matter of fact, we are all really just tourists, or explorers, or travelers. Call yourself whatever you want — it’s all the same as we’re all trying to do the same thing — see the world.
So don’t label anyone and don’t let anyone label you. We’re all tourists. We’re all travelers. What we are all doing is more important than what we call ourselves. Let’s just enjoy the fact that we are simply people on the road.
1. The mention of Andrew Zimmern’s words is to .| A．present amazing experiences | B．differentiate travelers from tourists |
| C．give an example of misunderstanding | D．get to know different kinds of people |
| A．Laugh at. | B．Get along with. | C．Take notice of. | D．Wait for. |
| A．They live like locals while traveling. | B．They enjoy tasty food on the way. |
| C．They have a brief experience of places. | D．They like calling themselves explorers. |
| A．Dig deep into the culture. | B．Just enjoy the trip. |
| C．Make a careful trip plan. | D．Do important things. |
5 . We' re accustomed to thinking of environmental change, and its effects on our health, as Being measured in years. But researchers are now discovering how quickly and dramatically air quality can improve - and how big an impact those improvements can make.
For instance, when Atlanta hosted the 1996 Olympic Games, parts of the city were closed to cars for 17 days. In the following four weeks, kids' medical visits for lung diseases decreased by more than 40 percent. In 1990, when Hong Kong passed stricter regulations for the content of fuel oil used by power plants and cars, SO2 levels immediately fell by 45 percent on average and as much as 80 percent in the most polluted areas. Within six months, there was a significant decrease in the number of deaths from air related diseases.
In March 2020, when businesses shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic, NO2 levels were about 30 percent lower on average in the northeaster United States than they were in the same month for the years 2015 to 2019. Also, during the month that China was under quarantine(隔离) from February to April because of the pandemic, one study estimated that improved air quality helped to impede more than 12,000 pollution-related deaths. With a recent study showing that the higher PM2.5 is, the more people will die from the COVID-19, measures to improve air quality may be more important than ever before.
1. The examples in Paragraph 2 are given in order to prove that_________,| A．kids often see doctors |
| B．people love the Olympics |
| C．air quality can improve |
| D．cars should be prohibited |
| A．Increase. | B．Recover. | C．Witness. | D．Prevent. |
| A．The surprisingly fast-acting benefits of cleaner air |
| B．The influence of COVID- 19 on the environment |
| C．The cause and effect of the widespread disease |
| D．The significance of fighting against COVID-19 |
| A．The causes of COVID-19. |
| B．The solutions to air problems. |
| C．The examples of air pollution. |
| D．The results of the air research. |
6 . Our ability to collect data gets far ahead of our ability to fully use it, yet data may hold the key to solving some of the biggest global challenges facing us today.
Take, for instance, the frequent outbreaks of waterborne diseases as a consequence of war or natural disasters. The most recent example can be found in the country, where roughly 10,000 new suspected cases of cholera(霍乱) are reported each week — and history is filled with similar stories. What if we could better understand the environmental factors that contributed to the disease, predict which communities are at higher risk, and put in place protective measures to stop the spread? Answers to this question and others like it could potentially help us prevent a catastrophe.
As a big data scientist, I studied data from wide-ranging, public sources to identify patterns, hoping to predict trends that could be a threat to global security. Various data streams are important because the ground truth data (such as surveys) is often delayed, limited, incorrect or, sometimes, nonexistent.
For example, knowing the incidence(发生率) of mosquito-borne disease in communities would help us predict the risk of mosquito-spread disease such as dengue, the leading cause of illness and death in the tropics. However, mosquito data at a global (and even national) level is not accessible.
To address this gap, we’re using other sources such as satellite pictures, climate data and population information to forecast the risk of dengue. Specifically, we had success in predicting the spread of dengue in Brazil at the regional, state and city level using these data streams as well as clinical observation data and online searchers that used terms related to the disease. While our predictions aren’t perfect, they show promise.
Similarly, to forecast the flu season, we have found that online searches can complement(补充) clinical data. Because the rate of people searching the internet for flu symptoms often increases during their beginning, we can predict a sharp increase in cases where clinical data delays. All of this shows the potential of big data. The information is there; now it’s time to use it.
1. What do the examples in paragraphs 2 and 4 show?| A．Big data is still hard to get and use. |
| B．People aren’t skilled at dealing with big data. |
| C．Big data is not always an imagined method. |
| D．Catastrophes might be prevented with big data. |
| A．is a main form of multiple data streams |
| B．is an effective way to collect information |
| C．is sometimes unreliable and unavailable |
| D．is a timely alternative to multiple data streams |
| A．The lack of big data on mosquitoes. |
| B．The lack of different data streams. |
| C．The risk of an outbreak of a disease. |
| D．The ignorance of how a disease spreads. |
| A．How do we collect and use data? |
| B．What are the challenges facing us now? |
| C．How can big data help save the world? |
| D．What is the answer to preventing catastrophes? |
7 . As reported in JAMA Surgery, the researchers discovered that e-scooter(电动摩托车) injury rates had increased dramatically in just four years, rising from 6 per 100,000 in the population to 19 per 100,000. Of the estimated 14,651 e-scooter-related injuries in 2018, 4,658, or 32%, involved the head. “While most people recover from head injuries, there is going to be a subset with long-term disability and life changes,” said Dr. Benjamin Breyer.
Dr. Benjamin Breyer of the University of California, Los Angeles, pointed to a 2019 analysis of the data from two hospitals in Southern California, which found just 4.8% of injured e-scooter riders were wearing helmets.
Dr. Joann Elmore, a professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, believed that most e-scooter users are probably unaware of the risks. To make the point, she described a photo taken by a colleague. “There were two riders on an e-scooter,” she said. “No one had shoes on. There were no helmets. And the woman in front had a baby in a baby carrier.”
The new report highlights the need for more research on new technologies, said Dr. Guohua Li, a professor of epidemiology(流行病学).
“Just as there is a global network of experts working on infectious diseases, there needs to be a similar program devoted to the surveillance(监视，监察) and prevention of injuries caused by merging technologies products and lifestyles, such as e-scooters, e-sports, etc.,” Li said in an email.
“The challenge for researchers and policymakers is to keep up with the ever-changing society and protect the public from unnecessary harm caused by new technologies and products without hindering innovation,” he added.
1. What can we know from the passage?| A．E-scooter injury rates had increased due to speeding. |
| B．32% of injured e-scooter riders weren’t wearing helmets. |
| C．There is a program devoted to the prevention of injuries caused by advanced technologies. |
| D．Protection and innovation are of equal importance. |
| A．She is an anti-scooter. |
| B．The woman in front was pregnant. |
| C．She is concerned about the e-scooter users. |
| D．Most e-scooter riders often drive at high speed. |
| A．Preventing. | B．Limiting. |
| C．Developing. | D．Making progress. |
| A．To arouse people’s awareness of the risks and self-protection. |
| B．To introduce a new way of transport — e-scooters. |
| C．To ask people not to ride e-scooters any more. |
| D．To urge policymakers to make laws as soon as possible. |
8 . Rainforests are home to a rich variety of medicinal plants, food, birds and animals. Can you believe that a single bush（灌木丛）in the Amazon may have more species of ants than the whole of Britain! About 480 varieties of trees may be found in just one hectare of rainforest.
Rainforests are the lungs of the planet-storing vast quantities of carbon dioxide and producing a significant amount of the world's oxygen. Rainforests have their own perfect system for ensuring their own survival; the tall trees make a canopy（树冠层）of branches and leaves which protect themselves, smaller plants, and the forest animals from heavy rain, intense dry heat from the sun and strong winds.
Amazingly, the trees grow in such a way that their leaves and branches, although close together, never actually touch those of another tree. Scientists think this is the plants' way to prevent the spread of any tree diseases and make life more difficult for leaf-eating insects like caterpillars. To survive in the forest, animals must climb, jump or fly across the gaps. The ground floor of the forest is not all tangled leaves and bushes, like in films, but is actually fairly clear. It is where dead leaves turn into food for the trees and other forest life.
They are not called rainforests for nothing! Rainforests can generate 75%of their own rain. At least 80 inches of rain a year is normal-and in some areas there may be as much as 430 inches of rain annually. This is real rain-your umbrella may protect you in a shower, but it won't keep you dry if there is a full rainstorm. In just two hours, streams can rise ten to twenty feet. The humidity（湿气）of large rainforests contributes to the formation of rainclouds that may travel to other countries in need of rain.
1. What can we learn about rainforests from the first paragraph?| A．They produce oxygen. | B．They cover a vast area. |
| C．They are well managed. | D．They are rich in wildlife. |
| A．Heavy rains | B．Big trees. |
| C．Small plants. | D．Forest animals. |
| A．For more sunlight. | B．For more growing space. |
| C．For self-protection. | D．For the detection of insects. |
| A．Life-Giving Rainforests | B．The Law of the Jungle |
| C．Animals in the Amazon | D．Weather in Rainforests |
9 . The bed should be reserved as a place for sleep，but people tend to read an iPad a lot in bed before they go to sleep．
Charles Czeisler，a professor at Harvard Medical School，and his colleagues got a small group of people for an experiment．For five days in a row，the people read either a paper book or an iPad for four hours before sleep．Their sleep patterns were monitored all night．Before and after each trial period，the people took hourly blood tests to paint a day-long picture of just how much melatonin（褪黑激素）was in their blood at any given time．
When subjects read on the iPad as compared to the paper books，they reported feeling less sleepy at night and less active the following morning．People also took longer to fall asleep on the iPad nights，and the blood tests showed that their melatonin secretion（分泌）was delayed by an hour and a half．
The researchers conclude in today's journal article that gives the rise of e-readers and the increasingly widespread use of e-things among children and adolescents，more research into the"long-term consequences of these devices on health and safety is urgently needed．"Czeisler and colleagues go on，in the research paper，to note"Reading an iPad in bed may increase cancer risk．"
However，software has been developed that can reduce some of the blue light from the screens of phones and computers according to time of day，and there are also glasses that are made to filter（过滤）short wavelengths．While they seem like a logical solution for the nighttime tech users，it needs more research．
1. In Charles Czeisler's experiment，all the subjects were asked to ______ ．| A．sit in a row and receive the strict tests |
| B．have their sleep patterns observed all night |
| C．read a paper book and an iPad at the same time |
| D．have their blood tested per hour during the trial |
| A．feel less sleepy and tired in the day |
| B．fall asleep more easily after reading |
| C．have a lot more melatonin secretion |
| D．become less energetic the next morning |
| A．remove the blue light from your devices completely |
| B．help prevent eyes being harmed by short wavelength |
| C．weaken the harm done by doing nighttime e-reading |
| D．be used in all the e-things widely and safely |
| A．No e-reading in bed before sleep |
| B．New software for night e-readers |
| C．Wrong behaviors before bedtime |
| D．No games on iPad in bed． |
10 . I decided to ski to the North pole. It was after I saw an advertisement in newspaper looking for people to join a team to ski 350 miles to the North Pole. Back in 1996, there had never been woman from the UK who had accomplished this challenge, I wondered what it would be like to survive in temperatures cold enough to freeze your flesh in seconds, so I sent off for the application form.
The application form full of pictures of male explorers arrived. The words “Are you man enough for the ultimate challenge?” made me angry and even more deter-mined to get on the team.
Over 500 individuals applied for a place in the team, and the selection process included physical and psychological tests designed to pick the best group. In one test, there was a huge rope ladder we had to climb, and I froze at the top because I have a fear of heights. I thought my hopes were fading as most other applicants sailed past, leaving me behind. But two others helped me over, and later I found out that the organizers were not looking for amazing individuals, but great team players, and this moment had shown them who would take care of others in the team.
I had revealed (显示) my weakness, and in a place like the Arctic, you have to be yourself, as there is nowhere to hide. These personalities of asking for help and showing weakness are necessary for women to master.
I realized that by being myself, I could succeed. I was selected for the team. I realized that I could achieve more than I ever imagined. More importantly, by sharing my story with others, I could inspire them to take a step into the new world and reveal more of their abilities.
1. How did the author react on seeing the advertisement?| A．She got cross. | B．She was uninterested. |
| C．She got frightened. | D．She was determined. |
| A．Spirit of teamwork. | B．Personal quality. |
| C．Individual ability. | D．Courage to challenge. |
| A．Shameful. | B．Beneficial. | C．Merciful. | D．Disturbing. |
| A．To inspire us to prepare for our future goal. | B．To advise women how to turn to others. |
| C．To encourage people to explore the unknown. | D．To make suggestions to her team members. |
