1 . Papa, as a son of a dirt-poor farmer, left school early and went to work in a factory,for education was for the rich then.So, the world became his school.With great interest, he read everything he could lay his hands on, listened to the town elders and learned about the world beyond his tiny hometown."There's so much to learn," he'd say.“Though we're born stupid, only the stupid remain that way.”He was determined that none of his children would be denied(拒绝)an education.
Thus, Papa insisted that we learn at least one new thing each day.And dinner time seemed perfect for sharing what we had learned.We would talk about the news of the day;no matter how insignificant, it was never taken lightly.Papa would listen carefully and was ready with some comment,always to the point.
Then came the moment-the time to share the day's new learning.
Papa, at the head of the table, would push back his chair and pour a glass of red wine,ready to listen.
Felice, “he'd say,”tell me what you learned today.“learned that the population of Nepal is...”
Silence.
Papa was thinking about what was said, as if the salvation(拯救)of the world would depend upon it.“The population of Nepal.Hmm.Well...”he'd say.“Get the map; let's see where Nepal is.” And the whole family went on a search for Nepal.
This same experience was repeated until each family member had a turn.Dinner ended only after we had a clear understanding of at least half a dozen such facts.
As children, we thought very.little about these educational wonders.Our family,however,was growing together,sharing experiences and participating in one another’s education And by looking at us,listening to us, respecting our input, affirming(肯定)our value; giving us a sense of dignity, Papa -was unquestionably our most influential teacher.
Later during my training as a future teacher studied with some of the most famous educators.They were imparting(传授)what Papa had known all along-the value of continual learning.His technique has served me well all my life.Not a single day has been wasted, though I can never tell when knowing the population,of Nepal might prove useful.
1. What do we know from the first paragraph?| A．Those born stupid could not change their life. |
| B．The poor could hardly afford school education. |
| C．The town elders wanted to learn about the world. |
| D．The author's father was born in a worker's family. |
| A．the news | B．the request | C．the comment | D．the point |
| A．enjoyed talking about news |
| B．knew very well about Nepal |
| C．felt regret about those wasted days |
| D．appreciated his father's educational technique |
| A．Showing talents. | B．Continual learning. |
| C．Family get-together. | D．Winning Papa's approval. |
| A．a wiseman willing to share his knowledge |
| B．a parent insistent on his children's education |
| C．an educator expert at training future teachers |
| D．a teacher strict about everything his students did |
2 . To grow sugary dates in the sand, Siwa’s farmers must first make the desert suitable for farming. An oasis (绿洲) in Egypt, Siwa has been home to humans for thousands of years. Since ancient times, the oasis has hosted farms producing some of the most valuable dates in Egypt, and sugary dates have appeared on Egyptians, tables.
The desert environment in Siwa is not quite fit for plants to grow. For example, the water there contains much salt. However, with local people’s efforts, the Siwa oasis contains complex agricultural fields, where date trees, crops and other plants grow in harmony. That impressed me a lot during my visit to the oasis. To make a new piece of field, farmers first remove the top soil and replace it with a mixture of sand and waste matter from animals. The first plants are medicinal plants. Then, farmers plant date trees and olive trees. These farming skills are passed down from generation to generation.
To grow date trees is demanding. And it takes 10 years for a new date tree to mature, but once it does, the tree produces generous fruit: around 110 pounds of dates per year. Each farmer picks dates with the skilled hands. They climb the trees using nothing more than a belt. In total, Siwa grows more than 25,000 tons of dates from 280,000 trees per year.
The dates can be eaten fresh, or made dry. Every part of the date tree is significant in Siwa, from leaves made into beds and boxes to wood used to build houses. And then, of course, there’s the fruit itself. The dates can be cooked with goat meat or mixed with eggs for breakfast. They can also be mixed with flour, water, and olive oil, and boiled slowly to make a local dessert.
Local farmers once developed many unique date varieties, which their camels carried to Cairo. But later many of those varieties perished. And today only several major varieties remain and some have become quite rare and been at risk. The 1985 construction of a road in the oasis made the survival of local agricultural tradition even tougher.
1. What can we learn about sugary dates from Paragraph 1?| A．They can adapt to tough environment. |
| B．They have existed for a long time. |
| C．They’re introduced to Egypt from abroad. |
| D．They’re the most valuable fruit in Egypt. |
| A．The great variety of plants grown there, |
| B．The hard but happy life of local people. |
| C．The great complexity of the local agriculture. |
| D．The local farmers’ wisdom and contribution to farming. |
| A．It’s worthwhile to make an effort to grow date trees. |
| B．It’s easy for farmers to pick dates from the trees. |
| C．It costs a lot to grow date trees in the basis. |
| D．It’s necessary to develop agriculture in Siwa. |
| A．People’s preference for dates. |
| B．The introduction to local food, |
| C．The usage of date trees’ different parts. |
| D．The locals’ high expectations of date trees. |
| A．Died out. | B．Spread out. |
| C．Got created. | D．Became known. |
3 . As COVID-19 spreads across the globe, people are staying 1.8 meters apart, washing their hands and avoiding touching their faces . Or at least they're trying to. However, ignoring an itchy nose or hair in your eyes is easier said than done. Even professionals who should know better get caught by the impulse. Medical school students being trained in infectious disease prevention, for example, touched their faces 23 times an hour during a lecture, according to a 2015 study in the American Journal of Infection Control.
"Actually, it's one of the most common habits for any human," said psychologist Kevin Chapman. "People are taught to touch their faces often, whether by applying makeup, brushing their teeth, or putting their hair up," Chapman added. These routines carry over to less intentional methods of touching their faces, such as rubbing their eyes in a bacteria-filled grocery store.
This tendency isn't just about repetition. "It's a habit to make sure that our faces are appearing a certain way publicly, " Chapman said. Food around the mouth , for example , could suggest that someone is lazy or doesn’t take care of their appearance. Touching their face allows people to regulate their presentation and also shows others that they're self-aware.
Though touching the face is a bad habit for many people, it can be worse for those with anxiety. To manage stress, they may perform body-focused repetitive behaviors such as biting their nails or pulling their hair. On a less severe level, people may touch their faces to comfort themselves in times of stress.
When people are concerned about touching their faces, they may do it more frequently. To break the habit, you should start by being more aware of what you are doing, but don't punish yourself when you reach out your hand.
1. What does the underlined part "the impulse" in Paragraph 1 refer to ?| A．The desire to touch the face. | B．The hope of staying away from others. |
| C．The desire to wash hands frequently. | D．The wish to accept professional training. |
| A．It is an acquired habit. | B．It is the latest fashion. |
| C．It is an age-old custom. | D．It is the act of self-protection. |
| A．Its typical examples. | B．Its future tendency. |
| C．Its public rules. | D．Its social reasons. |
| A．To keep focused. | B．To stop self-harm. |
| C．To make themselves relieved. | D．To create a strong impression. |
| A．By taking regular relaxation exercises. | B．By paying more attention to the behavior. |
| C．By carrying out severe punishment accordingly. | D．By concentrating on the other parts of the body. |
4 . Faced with a declining population and shrinking workforce, Japan has been increasingly turning to robots for help. Over the years, the androids have been employed to perform a large number of human tasks, including building products and providing care and companionship for the elderly. The latest addition to the Japanese “workforce” may be Model-T. Designed by Telexistence Inc., this seven-foot-tall robot is currently undergoing trials restocking sandwiches, drinks, and ready meals on shelves at select locations of local convenience store chains Lawson and FamilyMart.
Telexistence has received funding from technology investment company Softbank Group and cell phone service operator KDDI in Japan, with overseas investors including European passenger aircraft maker Airbus Ventures. It named its robot Model-T, a nod to the Ford Motor car that began the age of mass motoring a century ago.
Model-T, whose face somewhat resembles that of a kangaroo, is certainly not the first restocking robot. However, the warehouse robots currently being used by companies, like Walmart and Amazon, are only able to accomplish single, repetitive tasks, such as carrying boxes. Model-T, on the other hand, has a wide range of movement and can be used to restock objects of various sizes, making it ideal for convenience and grocery stores, which sell a large variety of items.
“It is able to grasp or pick and place objects of several different shapes and sizes into different locations，” Matt Komatsu, head of business development and operations at Telexistence Inc., told CNN Business. However, Model-T is not autonomous. Instead, it is operated by human “pilots” wearing a virtual reality(VR) headset and special gloves, which allow them to feel the product the robot is holding in their hands and guide it to the right shelf. Since the video connection between the robot and the human operator has a mere 50 milliseconds delay, the navigation process is seamless. Telexistence says the VR-controlled androids are easier to develop and maintain. They are also ten times cheaper than autonomous robots, which require complex programming.
Though Model-T appears to have passed the trials, it is not quite ready to enter the labor force. Besides being a lot slower than human labour, it is also only capable of lifting packaged items, and cannot grasp loose items such as fruits and vegetables. Telexistence hopes to introduce a faster Model-T within the next two years.
1. What is the main driving factor for the invention of Model-T?| A．The demands of senior citizens. | B．The development of technology. |
| C．The shortage of labour force. | D．The appeal of convenience stores. |
| A．It is an updated version of Ford Motor. | B．It may create a new age like Ford Motor. |
| C．Its bond with Ford Motor is inseparable. | D．Its design is as fashionable as Ford Motor. |
| A．It has a cute appearance to attract customers. | B．It can accomplish single and repetitive tasks. |
| C．It is flexible while performing its duty. | D．It comes in a wide variety of sizes. |
| A．It doesn’t need maintenance. | B．It performs tasks automatically. |
| C．It requires complex programming. | D．It depends largely on human’s operation. |
| A．Smooth. | B．Complex. | C．Time-consuming. | D．Annoying. |
| A．Its limitations. | B．Its working principle. |
| C．Its applications. | D．Its exciting prospect. |
5 . In 2016, the world’s population cast aside 49 million tons of electronic waste, known as e-waste. It has been calculated that this number will grow to more than 60 million tons by 2021.
What is causing the upsurge（激增）in e-waste? Technology is becoming more and more widespread, covering almost every aspect of our lives. Meanwhile, the lifespan of devices is getting shorter-many products will be thrown away once their batteries die, to be replaced by new devices. Companies intentionally plan the obsolescence（过时）of their goods by updating the design or software and discontinuing support for older models, so that now it is usually cheaper and easier to buy a new product than to repair an old one. Since prices are falling, electronic devices are in demand around the world.
As more people buy electronic equipment，manufacturers（制造商）are beginning to face shortages of the raw materials needed to make their products, so recycling and reusing materials from discarded（扔掉的）products and waste makes economic and environmental sense.
Recycling e-waste is practiced both formally and informally. Proper or formal e-waste recycling usually involves taking apart the electronics, separating and sorting through the materials and cleaning them. Companies must obey health and safety rules to reduce the health and environmental hazards of handling e-waste by using pollution-control technologies. All this makes formal recycling expensive. Informal recycling is typically unlicensed and uncontrolled. At informal recycling workshops, men and women recover valuable materials by burning devices to melt away non-valuable materials. Usually they do not wear protective equipment and lack any awareness that they are handling dangerous materials.
With the amount of e-waste growing around the world, recycling alone will not be enough to solve the problem. In order to reduce e-waste, manufacturers need to design electronics that are safer, and more durable, repairable and recyclable. The best thing you can do is resist buying a new device until you really need it. Try to get your old product repaired if possible and, if it can’t be fixed, resell or recycle it responsibly. Before you recycle your device, put any broken parts in separate containers and close these tightly to prevent chemicals from leaking. Wear latex gloves and a mask if you’ re handling something that’s broken.
1. Which of the following is the reason for e-waste’s increasing sharply?| A．The results of updating devices. |
| B．The methods of recycling e-waste. |
| C．The causes of devices’ price dropping. |
| D．The shortages of protective equipment. |
| A．To increase the variety of electronic products. |
| B．To lower the costs of technology innovation. |
| C．To relieve the lack of raw materials. |
| D．To improve the poor quality of e-devices. |
| A．Influence. | B．Harm. | C．Limits. | D．Costs. |
| A．Their ways of reusing waste are encouraged largely. |
| B．They are blamed for generating all the dangerous chemicals. |
| C．They aim to discover rare materials from waste for new products. |
| D．Their workers are unaware of the danger from dealing with devices. |
| A．Everyone should take action to reduce e-waste. |
| B．Companies should be mainly responsible for reducing e-waste. |
| C．Fixing a device could cause more pollution than buying a new one. |
| D．E-waste could be broken down by burying it underground for a long time. |
6 . No one is born a winner. People make themselves into winners by their own efforts.
I learned this lesson from an experience many years ago. I took the head coaching job at a school in Baxley, Georgia. It was a small school with a weak football program.
It was a tradition for the school's old team to play against the new team at the end of spring practice. The old team had no couch, and they didn't even practice to prepare for the Game. Being the coach of the new team, I was excited because I knew we were going to win, but to my sadness we were beaten. I couldn't believe I had got into such a situation. Thinking hard about it, I came to realize that my team might not be the number one team in Georgia, but they were depending on me. I had to change my attitude about their ability and confidence.
I stared doing anything I could to help them build a little pride. Most important,I began to treat them like winners. That summer, when the other teams enjoyed their vacations. We met every day and practiced passing and kicking the football.
Six months after suffering our failure on the spring practice field. we won our first game and our second, and continue to improve .Finally, we faced the number one team in the state.I felt that it would be a victory for us even if we lost the game. But that wasn't what happened. My boys beat the best team in Georgia, giving me one of the greatest thrills of my life !
From the experience I learned a lot about how the attitude of the leader can influence the members of a team. Instead of seeing my boys as losers, I pushed and encouraged them. I helped them to see themselves differently, and they built themselves into winners.
Winners are made, not born.
1. Who did the author think would become the winners at first?| A．The old team. | B．Their own team. |
| C．The number one team. | D．The other team |
| A．Before their training. | B．During the spring practice. |
| C．At the start of the vacation. | D．Six months after their failure. |
| A．Interests | B．Fears | C．Excitements | D．Concerns |
| A．By building up their confidence. | B．By giving them a lecture. |
| C．By buying them a book. | D．By changing the leader. |
| A．Time is money. | B．Winners are born. |
| C．Losers are always beaten. | D．Practice makes perfect. |
7 . Recently, a Scottish grocery store employed a robot. The robot, named Fabio, was part of an experiment conducted by the Heriot-Watt University, which explores the combination of men and machines. Elena Margiotta, co-owner of the Margiotta supermarket chain, says, “We thought a robot was a great addition that could show the customers that we are always wanting to do something new and exciting.”
Fabio’s job was to make customers feel welcome and assist them in locating grocery items if asked. Things seemed to start off well. The almost 4-foot-tall humanoid robot greeted customers, talked intelligently about the weather, and even gave hugs and high-fives. Later, its friendliness appeared to wane when a shopper needed help but received a vague answer. Therefore, store visitors began to seek out human employees for help.
Believing it might be better at a job that required more socializing, the shop assigned Fabio to hand out sausage samples. Unfortunately, things did not go well. While a human employee managed to attract 12 customers to try the food in 15 minutes, the robot attracted just two.
Since Fabio was not trained for any other job, the grocery store management decided to “fire” the robot a week after it had first reported for duty. The director of the Interaction Lab at Heriot-Watt says, “When we had to put it back in the box, one of employees started crying because they had become emotionally attached to it. It was good in a way because we had thought they would feel threatened by it as it was competing for their job. ” As he later discovered, the tears were not out of fondness for Fabio, but it was because the robot freed the human employees from the dull task of responding to customers’ questions.
Although Fabio appears to be different within its family, thousands of other quite similar Pepper humanoid robots employed at various Japanese stores and some stores in America seem to be extremely popular with customers.
1. According Elena Margiotta, the shop employed a robot to ______.| A．reduce the cost of running the shop |
| B．carry out an experiment |
| C．show the intention to change |
| D．deliver and place the groceries |
| A．become weaker. | B．become more popular. |
| C．become more obvious. | D．become less sincere. |
| A．didn’t get along well with human employees |
| B．failed to be understood by customers |
| C．couldn’t clearly tell the samples’ strengths |
| D．was no match for human employees |
| A．Fabio performed well in its job |
| B．they benefited from Fabio’s help |
| C．robots competed with them for the job |
| D．robots could respond well to customers’ questions |
| A．Other Pepper humanoid robots are superior to Fabio. |
| B．Robots-based customer service has a long way to go. |
| C．Scottish people are particular about robot employees. |
| D．People’s acceptance of robots may vary from culture to culture. |
8 . Kids spend a lot of time looking at screens, and some parents worry, but a new study argues against the fears parents may feel.
“The danger is that they’re hearing a message that social media, digital technology use is causing very serious and harmful problems like depression（抑郁症) and suicide-related(与自杀有关的) behaviors. And the idea is that if you shut off social media, which lots of kids use to connect with each other, their friends, find out information about health, you could be making a situation worse. Parents are really being sent a message that is not supported by anything scientifically.” Candice Odgers, professor of psychological science at the University of California, said.
Odgers and her colleagues looked at the screen-related behavior of 400 public-school students in North Carolina aged 10 to 14. This group was picked as a representative sample of race and socioeconomic status for the entire U.S. The researchers found that the kids spent between almost five hours to seven hours per day on their devices, with the older kids online the most. That’s a lot of hours, but:
“Overall, what we find is no connection between the amount of time that young people spend online using digital technologies and mental health symptoms like depression and anxiety. When we do find associations, they were actually quite surprising to us. We found that young people who sent more text messages actually reported better mental health.
Now, again, this was a small association, but it reflects what other people have found: that people who are very connected offline and who use technology in the positive ways to stay connected often, are more connected online as well and experiencing better mental health.”
So why the fears about screen time? Odgers argues that the methodologies for older studies may have led to false conclusions.
“One of the issues with the research that’s been done to date has been that youths are, you know, in school.... They have a survey put in front of them, and they’re asked to recall(想), over the past six months, ‘How often are you online?’and ‘Have you ever felt depressed?’And the correlation (相互关系) between those two things has been used to spread a lot of fear around this connection between social media use and things like depression—99.5 percent of the reasons that kids differ in their depression are due to something other than the time they spend online.”
1. According to Professor Odgers, we know that___________.| A．social media is causing serious problems |
| B．digital technology is the cause of depression |
| C．parents are holding wrong ideas about social media |
| D．parents have showed too much concern for their children |
| A．Kids all over America. |
| B．Kids and parents in North Carolina. |
| C．Kids with different family backgrounds. |
| D．A number of public elementary and middle school students. |
| A．The more screen time kids have, the less happy they are. |
| B．Kids who use social media more are not necessarily depressed. |
| C．Using digital technology has nothing to do with one’s health. |
| D．The relationship between digital technology and depression is unclear. |
| A．technology should be put to good use |
| B．kids who make more phone calls might be happier |
| C．we should pay more attention to mental health |
| D．we should enrich our lives by spending more time offline |
| A．Time and effort. | B．Aim and purpose. |
| C．Ideas and dreams. | D．Means and principles. |
| A．the sample is too small |
| B．the respondents are too young |
| C．not considering the time spent offline |
| D．deliberately(故意地) linking the Internet to mental issues |
9 . Take a look at your fingers. Would you believe me if I told you that the length of your fingers in relation to one another can predict your personality? I know that it sounds like one of those silly tests you see on Facebook, but I have to admit that it was spot-on for me.
Look at your three middle fingers of your left hand. Is your index finger（食指）longer than your ring finger? Is your ring finger longer than your index finger? Or are the two the same length?
Category 1: A longer ring finger. If your ring finger is longer than your index finger, research shows that you’re likely a charming type, and you can probably talk yourself out of any situation. Others often find this personality type irresistible and will go to great lengths to help you. You’re more likely to take risks, and you’re good at problem-solving. People in this category make great engineers, soldiers and crossword-puzzle solvers.
Category 2: A longer index finger. If your index finger is longer than your ring finger, chances are you are full of confidence — possibly even to the point of being over-confident and too proud. You are not necessarily introverted（内向的）,but you do enjoy time to yourself especially when you’re trying to complete a project. You are a determined go-getter who can make things happen, but you may be shy when it comes to taking the first step in building up a friendship. You are also probably happy with what you have, but you’re always wishing for more.
Category 3: The two are the same length. If your index finger and ring finger are roughly the same length, you are likely to avoid conflict at all costs and seek to keep the peace in your relationships. You are well-organized, faithful and sympathetic. But deep down under all of that caring and peace-loving, you also have a fiery core（暴躁的本质）and can lash out（猛然怒斥） unexpectedly when you’re pushed too far.
How well did these descriptions match your personality? I was surprised at the accuracy（准确性）in my case.
1. What does the passage mainly tell us?| A．Never believe the silly tests on Facebook |
| B．The length of fingers can reveal personality |
| C．Why your fingers are not of the same length. |
| D．How to find out about one’s personality accurately. |
| A．Very funny. | B．Quite easy. | C．Exactly correct | D．Completely strange. |
| A．cautious | B．catching | C．hard-working | D．warm-hearted |
| A．They are always satisfied with what they have. |
| B．They always feel confident and never feel shy. |
| C．They are not welcome most of the time. |
| D．They prefer to be left alone when working on a project. |
| A．The sweet talker | B．The self-important- one. |
| C．The introvert. | D．The peacemaker. |
10 . Can you imagine being able to remember every single experience of your life, every conversation you have ever had, every meal you’ve eaten, every word in your favorite book and even the feel of the clothes you wore on your very first birthday? That’s what Rebecca Sharrock’s life is like, and as amazing as that ability sounds, she says it can also be quite terrifying at times.
Three years ago, Rebecca Sharrock was reading a newspaper article which mentioned that it was impossible for people to remember details of their lives that had occurred during the first four years of their existence. “What absolute nonsense,” she thought to herself, because she could clearly remember her life all the way back to when she was just 12 days old. She was just one of the only 80 known people suffering from a mysterious condition called Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM) (超忆症).
Like Jill Price, the woman who cannot forget, 27-year-old Rebecca Sharrock, from Brisbane, Australia, remembers all the details of her life but what really makes her special is how far back her memories go: Jill and other HSAM sufferers only remember details of their daily lives from when they were 10-14, but Sharrock remembers specific moments of her infancy. She remembers the dress she wore on her first birthday and how uninterested she was in her baby sister at first.
Rebecca Sharrock’s unusual case was recently featured on “60 Minutes”, where the reporter Allison Langdon put her ability to the test, by asking her questions about her favorite book series, “Harry Potter”. “I tested her on the books because she says she can remember every single word from every single book,” Langdon said. “So I would pick up a book and open a page and read her a line and immediately she would name the book, chapter number, chapter name and could recite every word until I told her to stop.”
Being able to remember every little detail about most of your life is a surprising ability, but as every HSAM sufferer will tell you, it can be very difficult to deal with. Forgetting is one of the mechanisms (机制) we use to get over sad experiences in our lives, but it’s something that people like Rebecca Sharrock or Jill Price are unable to do.
1. We can infer from the passage that _____.| A．HSAM sufferers aren’t bothered by their ability |
| B．having HSAM isn’t always a good thing |
| C．HSAM happens to people commonly these days |
| D．people with HSAM are the dangerous group |
| A．She can remember how uninterested she was in her baby sister. |
| B．She can remember earlier things than Rebecca Sharrock. |
| C．She can remember the dress she wore on her first birthday. |
| D．She can remember something detailed in her teenage time. |
| A．Youth. | B．Success. | C．Babyhood. | D．Hardship. |
| A．Because she was curious about her preference. |
| B．Because she wanted to improve her vocabulary. |
| C．Because she wanted to test Rebecca's ability of remembering. |
| D．Because “Harry Potter” was her favorite book. |
| A．An Introduction to HSAM. |
| B．An Interview about Surprising Woman. |
| C．How to Have an Amazing Memory? |
| D．A Woman Can Remember Everything She Has Experienced. |
