1 . The practice of encouraging laughter with the sound of laughter itself dates back to the 16th century. During performances of Shakespearean plays, there were people who laughed at just the right moments. This would cause other members of the audience to laugh in a similar way, thus making the show seem funnier.
Centuries later, when comedy programs were popular on radio, the sound of a laughing audience was a natural part of performances that were aired live. To make sure his performances were aired at the same time in each time zone, actor Bing Crosby had his show prerecorded. Eventually, one of the show's writers realized that big laughs from old recordings could be added in to follow new jokes. So the world was introduced to canned laughter.
When TV came along, laugh tracks were recorded from the live studio audience that was present at a show. But sometimes, the audience didn't laugh at the expected time, making these moments seem dull to those watching at home. To fix this problem, TV audio engineer Charley Douglass invented a machine called the Laff Box.
Douglass' Laff Box was a collection of tapes connected to different keys. Each tape contained canned laughter that-was-carefully selected by Douglass for its particular quality. For example, one tape might have produced very soft laughs, while another produced loud cackles(咯咯笑). The machine could be played almost like a musical instrument: if the live audience didn't laugh enough, Douglass would “sweeten” the audio by adding the right amount and type of canned laughter. This technique could even be used when no audience was present, as with cartoons. Critics have long claimed that canned laughter is merely a trick to make people laugh at bad jokes. Live laugh tracks, however, can still be heard on popular modern shows like The Big Bang theory. Sometimes it's just more fun to share in the laughter - canned or otherwise.
1. What is mentioned about Shakespearean plays?| A．They were sometimes broadcast on radio. |
| B．Most of these plays weren't funny enough. |
| C．Some viewers were purposefully arranged to laugh. |
| D．Canned laughter was used during the performances. |
| A．Bing Crosby's older jokes got more laughs. |
| B．Bing Crosby' show was aired live worldwide. |
| C．Bing Crosby's team made comedy programs popular. |
| D．Bino Crosby's team brought canned laughter into existence. |
| A．It can offer many types of laughter. |
| B．It is inconvenient for people to use. |
| C．It isn't allowed by law today. |
| D．It can make bad jokes funny. |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By analyzing reasons. |
| C．By following time order. | D．By making comparisons. |
2 . Chimps use loud calls and gestures to make their feelings known but until now, the exact meaning for individual movements has remained a mystery. Now researchers believe they have translated the key gestures used in the chimp community and identified their intentions for the first time.
From 4,351 gestures, experts were able to identify 66 that are used for 19 specific message meanings, including showing a foot to tell a child they can climb on their back. The researchers were able to narrow down these 66 gestures to 36 that are used intentionally to achieve 15 purposes. The translations were made by Dr Catherine Hobaiter and her colleagues at St Andrews University in Scotland.
Dr Hobaiter used behavior sampling and filmed all recorded cases of gestural communication. Other gestures include stomping their feet to ask another chimp to stop what they are doing, and slapping objects together to ask another to follow them. Of the 19 meanings,17 encouraged interactions to start, or to develop, such as “move closer,” and “change play”. Some of the gestures were found to have more than one meaning. and only 10 of the 66 gestures were used for only a single meaning.
Researchers collected a total of 471 video clips from two social groups of chimps at a shelter near Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. As well as identifying what the gesture means, they also discovered the technique needed to increase the chances of success.
“Human children use gestures to communicate before they produce their first words, and their earliest gestures typically appear around 10 months of age,” explained the researchers. “In great apes, there is good evidence that language-trained individuals are capable of acquiring and understanding signals, but this is far less clear in their natural communication. ”
1. Chimps slap the objects to____________.| A．tell others to stop what they are doing | B．ask others chimps to join them |
| C．gather other chimps to move closer | D．encourage interactions to start |
| A．Chimps trained in language are good at understanding signals. |
| B．Two social groups of chimps live at a shelter near Kinshasa. |
| C．Language-trained individuals do well in natural communication. |
| D．Chimps’earliest gestures appear around 10 months of age. |
| A．By analyzing causes. | B．By examining differences. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By following time order. |
| A．A New Research on Chimps | B．Human Children and Chimps |
| C．Getting the Chimps Trained for Language | D．Translating the Sign Language of Chimps |
3 . School districts across the United States have reported that the number of students failing classes has risen many times higher than usual numbers.
Educators see a number of factors. Students learning from home often miss assignment —- or school completely. Internet availability is limited or not effectively established, making it difficult to complete and upload assignments. And teachers not seeing their students in person have fewer ways to note who is falling behind. That is especially true with many students keeping their cameras off during online classes.
The increase in failing grades has been seen in districts of all sizes around the country. In the Salem-Keizer Public School district, hundreds of students at first had grade scores of 0.0% .This showed that students simply were not taking part in school at all. In New Mexico, more than 40% middle and high school students were failing at least one class as of late October. In Houston, Texas, 42% students received at least one F in the first grading period of the year, double the amount in a usual year.
For it, schools have taken measures. Some schools are giving students more time to complete assignments. Advisory teams have increased contact with students. Teachers have been asked to temporarily stop assigning graded homework. And parents of Hispanic students were invited to learn how they can see their children’s grades online. I n Charleston, administrators are considering bringing in a grading system which permits instructors to give 50s instead of 0s to make it less harmful to students’ grades. “I' m an English teacher, not a math teacher, but I' ve learned zeros are very, very damaging to an average, ”Jody Stallings said.
1. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．Teachers’ helplessness in online classes. |
| B．Students’ ineffective access to the Internet. |
| C．The causes of assignments being missed by students. |
| D．The reasons for the increase in students’ failing grades. |
| A．By comparing facts. | B．By presenting statistics. |
| C．By answering questions. | D．By showing public opinions. |
| A．Introducing a new grading system. |
| B．Parents increasing their contact with students. |
| C．Teachers canceling the deadline for assignments. |
| D．Instructing parents to monitor students learning online. |
| A．Approving. | B．Critical. | C．Anxious. | D．Ambiguous. |
4 . As the world’s climate changes, ocean warming is getting faster and sea levels are rising more quickly, warns a new report. The report also discusses a relatively new problem appearing in the oceans: heat waves.
The unusually hot water affected animals that live off the coast of Maine, which are important to the local fishing economy (经济). What’s more, it quickly became clear that the state wasn’t alone. “Heat wave events have popped up all over the ocean.” says Andrew Pershing, scientific officer at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. “We’ve actually had three huge heat waves in the Gulf of Maine—2012, 2016 and 2018—and now we’re looking at repeat heat waves in the northern Pacific; Australia’s also had some repeat heat waves.”
That’s a big deal for coastal communities whose economies depend on fish and other seafood. Heat waves in recent years drove a lot of changes in life off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, which in turn led to disastrous seasons for fishermen. Unusually hot water supported the growth of algae that polluted the Dungeness crab (螃蟹) fishery on the West Coast, shutting it down for months. At the same time, the hot water off the coast led to continuous dry weather on land, which killed large numbers of salmon (鲑鱼) and raised the risk of wildfires.
The report suggests actions to slow ocean warming and rising and to adapt to its influences. Most importantly, the authors support what has been known for many years: Greenhouse gas emissions (排放物) are the main driver of changes in the world’s oceans, and the global economy must make a complete change to reduce those emissions.
“Even if we cut carbon emissions right now, we are still looking at 20 to 30 years of change.” Pershing explains. “That means, no matter what we do, we have to work out how we are going to adapt to these changes.”
1. What are the first two paragraphs mainly about?| A．The results of global climate change. |
| B．The increasing frequency of heat waves. |
| C．The cause of heat waves in the oceans. |
| D．The problem ocean animals are facing. |
| A．By presenting research findings. | B．By following the order of time. |
| C．By providing examples. | D．By following the order of importance. |
| A．We should manage to reduce carbon emissions. |
| B．The measures to deal with climate change are useful. |
| C．We have a promising future of the world environment. |
| D．The influences of climate change on oceans are unavoidable. |
5 . Today, we study literature from a young age—learning about our histories, faraway worlds and influential people. Whether we notice or not, these stories—both fiction and non-fiction—guide us throughout our lives. They allow us to see the world through another’s eyes, open up our world and teach us about every subject known to man.
Despite their importance, many people throw out their old books—laying waste the wisdom that lies on each page. In an effort to save this knowledge and share it with those less fortunate, a garbage man in, Bogota, Colombia has been saving thrown-away books for 20 years and sharing them with those in need.
“I hated to see all the books in the dustbins of wealthier neighborhoods. So I started to rescue them,’’ said Gutierrez. The first book he found was a copy of the classic novel Anna Karenina. The Tolstoy book was later joined by The Little Prince, Sophie's World, The Iliad and a number of novels. Today, he has collected around 25,000 books.
His growing collection didn’t go unnoticed. Gutierrez’s neighbors were soon borrowing the books to help with their children’s homework. “There was a lack of them in our neighborhood, so we started to help,”said Gutierrez.
The ground floor of Gutierrez’s home is now filled with books, from floor to ceiling. Over spilling with books, he opened it up as a free library, with the help of his wife Luz Gutierrez and their three children.
Word eventually spread around about Gutierrez and his books. Most of the books now come from donations. He now travels around the country, delivering free books to poor and remote districts. The library, named “The Strength of Words", has donated books to some 235 schools, institutions and community libraries across Colombia.
1. How does the author introduce the topic of the text?| A．By stating some facts. |
| B．By contradicting a theory. |
| C．By describing a scene. |
| D．By referring to documents. |
| A．A heavy financial burden. |
| B．A companion in difficult times. |
| C．The beginning of his charity campaign. |
| D．One of his greatest achievements in life. |
| A．A good book is a light to the soul. |
| B．A bad beginning makes a bad ending. |
| C．Actions speak louder than words. |
| D．One man's garbage is another man' s treasure. |
| A．Tolstoy books recovered from dustbins. |
| B．Literature now appeals to garbage collectors. |
| C．Free libraries popular with neighborhood kids. |
| D．Garbage man builds a library from rescued books. |
6 . Children's average daily time spent watching television or using mobile device increased from 53 minutes at 12 months old to more than 150 minutes at 3 years old, according to an analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. Children aged 7 were more likely to spend the highest amount of screen time if they had been in bad home-based childcare or were born to first-time mothers.
“Our results indicate that screen habits begin early,” said Edwina Yeung, an investigator in National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), “This finding suggests that interventions to reduce screen time could have a better chance of success if introduced early.”
In the research, mothers of 4,000 children responded to questions on their kids' media habits when they were 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36 months of age.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends avoiding digital media exposure for children under 18 months of age, introducing children 18 to 24 months of age to screen media slowly, and limiting screen time to an hour a day for children from 2 to 5 years of age. In the current study, researchers found that 87% of the children had screen time exceeding these recommendations. However, while screen time increased throughout infancy, after 8 years of age, screen time fell to under 1. 5 hours per day. The researchers believe this decrease relates to time consumed by school-related activities.
The study authors classified the children into two groups based on how much their aver- age daily screen time increased from age 1 to age 3. The first group, 73% of the total, had the lower increase, from an average of nearly 51 minutes a day to nearly an hour and 47 minutes a day. The second group, 27% of the total, had the higher increase, from nearly 37 minutes of screen time a day to about 4 hours a day. Higher levels of parental education were associated with the lower odds of inclusion in the second group.
1. Which of the following is a reason for children's addiction to the media?| A．Low economic level. | B．Poor family education |
| C．The media's attraction. | D．The shortage of parents' love. |
| A．To stop children using the media. | B．To help parents care for children well |
| C．To reduce children's screen time earlier | D．To increase intervention to children |
| A．By giving some examples. | B．By showing some data. |
| C．By analyzing some reasons. | D．By concluding some results. |
| A．Probability. | B．Price. | C．Cost. | D．Income. |
7 . Happiness is not a warm phone, according to a new study exploring the link between young life satisfaction and screen time. The study was led by professor of psychology Jean M. Twenge at San Diego State University (SDSU).
To research this link, Twenge, along with colleagues Gabrielle Martin at SDSU and W. Keith Campbell at the University of Georgia, dealt with data from the Monitoring the Future (MtF) study, a nationally representative survey of more than a million U. S. 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-graders. The survey asked students questions about how often they spent time on their Phones, tablets and computers, as well as questions about their face-to-face social interactions and their overall happiness.
On average found that teens who spent more time in front of screen devices — playing computer games, using social media, texting and video chatting — were less happy than those who invested more time in non-screen activities like sports, reading newspapers and magazines, and face-to-face social interactions.
"The key to digital media use and happiness is limited use," Twenge said. "Aim to spend no more than two hours a day on digital media, and try to increase the amount of time you spend seeing friends face-to-face and exercising — two activities reliably linked to greater happiness."
Looking at historical trends from the same age groups since the 1990s, it's easy to find that the increase of screen devices over time happened at the same time as a general drop-off in reported happiness in U. S. teens. Specifically, young peopled life satisfaction and happiness declined sharply after 2012. That's the year when the percentage of Americans who owned a smartphone rose above 50 percent. By far the largest change in teens' lives between 2012 and 2016 was the increase in the amount of time they spent on digital media, and the following decline in in-person social activities and sleep.
1. Which method did Twenge's team use for the study?| A．Calculating students' happiness. |
| B．Asking students certain questions. |
| C．Analyzing data from a survey. |
| D．Doing experiments on screen time. |
| A．By making a comparison. |
| B．By giving an example. |
| C．By making an argument. |
| D．By introducing a concept. |
| A．To draw a conclusion from the study. |
| B．To offer some advice to the readers. |
| C．To prove social activities' importance. |
| D．To support the researchers' finding. |
| A．Quitting Phones Equals Happiness |
| B．Screen Time Should Be Banned |
| C．Teens' Lives Have Changed Sharply |
| D．Screen-addicted Teens Are Unhappier |
8 . While flatmates can bring about stress and difficulty, they can also be great company and develop into wonderful, lifelong friends. Before making the decision to live with a flatmate or to live alone, consider carefully all the accompanying advantages and disadvantages.
Most people join forces with a flatmate primarily due to financial problem. A shared living space also means you're responsible for only half of the rent or shared bills. Additionally, when you're splitting costs, you can afford a better apartment than you could alone. However, money can become a point of argument for flatmates as well. If your flatmate gets laid off or quits his job, you may have to pick up his bill until he's back on his feet. Your flatmate may also insist he owe less because he doesn't use the shower too often.
In addition to bills and the rent, flatmates also typically share responsibility for unpleasant tasks, such as cleaning or doing the dishes. Without a flatmate, cleaning and tidying responsibilities are yours alone. However, flatmates also frequently end up sharing plenty of other things many people would rather not: use of the TV, the bathroom, food and even clothing, for example. You may have to wake up earlier than you'd like to get a hot shower before work or give up watching your favorite show because your flatmate beat you to it.
When you live alone, you get to determine the terms of your social life, and you go home to an empty house or apartment at the end of the day. That can be preferable if you're a serious student or professional, someone who needs to work and rest in the quiet of an apartment. With a flatmate, there are unexpected guests and your social options can expand sharply. Keep in mind, however, that having a flatmate means that he may feel social when you do not, and you may have to deal with wanted house guests.
1. What's the main reason for most people to share a flat?| A．Ensuring safety. | B．Saving money. |
| C．Sharing housework. | D．Reducing loneliness. |
| A．He likes a peaceful life. |
| B．He has excellent social manners. |
| C．He keeps everything in the room tidy. |
| D．He often turns away unexpected guests. |
| A．By describing the process. | B．By stating an argument. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By analyzing the outcome. |
| A．Buying a Flat or Sharing One? |
| B．The Reasons for Sharing a Flat. |
| C．How to Share a Flat with a Flatmate? |
| D．The Advantages and Disadvantages of Flatsharing. |
9 . Casa Heiwa comes from the Spanish word “casa” for house, and the Japanese word “heiwa” for peace. It is a special place to live. People in this apartment building speak twelve different languages. In the building are signs in five main languages—Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and English—for exits and what to do in case of fire.
People exchange different traditions and customs. Trying food from other cultures is an exciting one that people share. The apartment building managers plan parties for special celebrations . On July, 4th, people bring their own traditional food to the apartment party. Korean families bring kimchi, and the South American families bring dishes of roasted peppers. On Thanksgiving, the building managers bring a traditional turkey to every family. Each family cooks the turkey in its own way. Central Americans cook the turkey in orange juice. One Asian family cooks it like a Chinesestyle duck. People learn to eat new foods and to enjoy new customs , gaining an awareness of how much they share.
Casa Heiwa is an apartment building where people can learn some important life skills and how to live in a new environment. The building managers run a service that offers programs to residents. For the children there is a daycare center that operates from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. The children can learn in the same building they live in while the parents are at work. There are educational programs and a jobtraining office for older children and adults. There are also programs like Family Movie Night that give everyone a chance to do something together. Everyone who lives there thinks that Casa Heiwa is a good place to live.
1. What is Casa Heiwa?| A．A homeless shelter. | B．A food building. |
| C．A community. | D．A lifestyle. |
| A．It is home to people from 12 different countries. |
| B．It serves meals in different languages. |
| C．It is popular in 12 countries. |
| D．It has informative signs. |
| A．By making comparisons. | B．By describing process. |
| C．By offering analyses. | D．By giving examples. |
| A．It causes young people to forget their customs. |
| B．It gives people a sense of belonging. |
| C．It leads to cultural shock. |
| D．It is underdeveloped. |
10 . Plastic baby bottles shed microplastics when heated. Should you be worried about its side-effects? We still don’t have enough evidence of health risks posed by microplastic consumptions by infants or adults.
“The last thing we want to do is unduly alarm parents,” said John Boland, a professor at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland and one of the authors of the Nature Food study. While the health effects of microplastics are still unknown, parents can significantly reduce their infants’ exposure by adding some steps to their bottle preparation routine, Boland said. He recommends letting plastic bottles cool completely after sterilization(消毒) in hot water, then washing them out at least three times with water that’s been allowed to cool to room temperature after being sterilized by boiling. Researchers here also found that plastic tea kettles, plastic instant noodle cups and plastic food storage containers all released similarly high levels of microplastics when subjected to heat.
As for what those microplastics may be doing in our bodies, the evidence so far is quite limited and unclear, Schwabl said that points to a need for more research into microplastics released from plastic food storage containers, especially when they are subjected to higher temperatures. He noted some research has found microplastics can cause inflammation(发炎) in the organs, while other studies “show they do not harm.” “The threshold at which they cause problems has not been determined for humans,” Schwabl said. For now, Schwabl agrees we shouldn’t panic. He’s avoiding plastic containers in his daily life – “not so much that I am afraid of the ingestion, but I think thereby I may be contributing to reducing the amount of plastic waste” that makes its way into the environment.
At the moment, there is no need to be afraid, but it is an open question and definitely an unmet need.
1. What does the underlined word “unduly” mean in paragraph 2?| A．Properly. | B．Extremely. | C．Obviously. | D．Specially. |
| A．Temperature. | B．Products. | C．Time. | D．Containers. |
| A．Panic. | B．Caring. | C．Indifference. | D．Critical. |
| A．By providing the examples. | B．By reasoning the readers. |
| C．By analyzing the figures. | D．By comparing the findings. |
