1 . Part of the importance of the practice of capacity building is that too many of us think our intellectual capabilities and focus are fixed. However, Benjamin Hardy, a psychologist and author, recently presented groundbreaking research that suggests that we can often change by changing our environment.
“Because people's lives become routine, you begin to see very predictable behaviors and attitudes,” Hardy says. This is why personality is viewed as stable and predictable over time. Hardy's book, Personality isn't Permanent, digs into this concept.
We regard our childhood, teenage years and 20s as our foundational learning periods. It can be common to think we can't learn as effectively as we grow older. But Hardy argues that we really stop learning because we stop trying new things.
In our young lives, we experience a number of “firsts”, ranging from social experiences to leaning opportunities. Absorbing new experiences is crucial to ensuring we keep expanding our minds and changing our personalities.
Learning new things is a great starting point to changing your personality for the better. Also consider making substantial changes to your professional environment. This can manifest in several ways. If you're a successful leader maybe you'd like to share your knowledge with others by coaching, writing or speaking. Anything that pushes you outside the limits of your normal work life can ensure you keep growing and changing.
In Personality Isn't Permanent, Hardy discusses a study from Harvard psychologist Dr. Ellen Langer. In 1981, Langer and her graduate students selected a group of men in their 70s and placed them in an environment modeled to look like the 1950s. It featured a black-and-white television, mid-century furniture and magazines from the era. As Hardy explains, “The goal was to trigger their minds and bodies to exhibit the energy and biological responses of a much younger person.” It actually worked.
1. Why do people think personality is fixed?| A．Because life becomes regular and foreseeable. | B．Because people refuse to read new books |
| C．Because the brain becomes less effective. | D．Because people's intelligence turns stable. |
| A．Reread a fantastic book. | B．Devote fully to daily work. |
| C．Learn a new kind of sport. | D．Talk with an old friend. |
| A．Construct | B．Distinguish. | C．Predict. | D．Appear. |
| A．The facilities in Harvard need improving | B．Younger persons accept new things better |
| C．Langer's study consumed a lot of energy. | D．The participants' performance improved. |
2 . If businesses are to get workers back into the office, finding ways to keep social distancing(社会隔离)will be important. An Israeli company thinks it can help, using smart sensors installed on workplace ceilings.
PointGrab developed its technology before COVID-19 to help workspace managers optimize(优化)how employees use office space. About the size of a smoke alarm, the sensors can record the exact number and location of people in buildings including offices, hotels and restaurants. One of the company's first clients was Deloitte, which installed the system at its London office last year. PointGrab s sensors were connected to screens in the building to show the availability（利用率)of desks and shared areas in real time. PointGrab CEO Doron Shachar says it was one of a series of innovations that helped Deloitte fit 30% more people into 3% less space.
Now to prevent the coronavirus spreading face to face, PointGrab has adapted the technology to some degree so the sensors can also monitor social distancing by keeping track of how far apart people are, and whether they're traveling in one direction around a building. Workspace managers can set up alarm for when two people are closer than two meters for more than 30 seconds, for example. The sensors have been included in the “six feet office” concept created by a company Cushman & Wakefield to encourage employees to practice social distancing. They are currently being used in this way at a university in the Netherlands, and at an innovation centre in Belgium. While the social distancing innovation is new, PointGrab has installed more than 10, 000 sensors for workspace optimization, including in the offices of Coca-Cola, Facebook and Dell.
Workers might not like the idea of being monitored, but PointGrab says no images or identifying features are recorded. Instead, each employee is represented as a dot on a screen. “The sensor does not violate people’s privacy,” Shachar says. This is extremely important in the workspace.
1. What were the sensors used to do before COVID-19?| A．To identify employees. | B．To record locations. |
| C．To keep track of employees. | D．To make better use of office space. |
| A．Introduced. | B．Adjusted. |
| C．Formed. | D．Boomed. |
| A．Smart sensors give away people’s privacy. |
| B．PointGrab is in good conditions. |
| C．Workers are in favor of the company management. |
| D．Worker appearance will not show clearly on the screen. |
| A．How we can get workers back into their office |
| B．How we can improve the employees’ efficiency |
| C．Smart sensors make office social distancing easier |
| D．Smart sensors are a key technological innovation |
3 . As the effects of climate change become more disastrous, well-known research institutions and government agencies are focusing new money and attention on an idea: artificially cooling the planet, in the hopes of buying humanity more time to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
That strategy, called solar climate intervention (干预) or solar geoengineering, involves reflecting more of the sun’s energy back into space — abruptly reducing global temperatures in a way that imitates the effects of ash clouds flowing out from the volcanic eruptions. The idea has been considered as a dangerous and fancied solution, one that would encourage people to keep burning fossil fuels while exposing the planet to unexpected and potentially threatening side effects, producing more destructive hurricanes, wildfires floods and other disasters.
But. as global warming continues, producing more destructive hurricanes, wildfires floods and other disasters, some researchers and policy experts say that concerns about geoengineering should be outweighed by the imperative to better understand it, in case the consequence of climate change become so terrible that the world can’t wait for better solutions.
One way to cool the earth is by injecting aerosols (气溶胶) into the upper layer of the atmosphere. where those particles reflect sunlight away from the earth. That process works, according to Douglas MacMartin, a researcher at Cornell University.
“We know with 100% certainty that we can cool the planet,” he said in an interview. What’s still unclear, he added, is what happens next. Temperature, MacMartin said, is an indicator for a lot of climate effects. “What does it do to the strength of hurricanes?” he asked, “What does it do to agriculture production? What does it do to the risk of forest fires?”
Another institution funded by the National Science Foundation will analyze hundreds of simulations of aerosol injection, testing the effects on weather extremes around the world. One goal of the research is to look for a sweet spot: the amount of artificial cooling that can reduce extreme weather events without causing broader changes in regional rainfall patterns or similar impacts.
1. Why do researchers and government agencies work on cooling the earth?| A．To prevent natural disasters. | B．To win more time to reduce gas emissions. |
| C．To imitate volcanic eruptions. | D．To encourage more people to bur fossil fuels. |
| A．More volcanoes will throw out. |
| B．More solar energy will go into space. |
| C．More disasters will endanger the future of the world. |
| D．People will keep burning fossil fuels to keep warm. |
| A．He thinks more research remains to be done. |
| B．He is optimistic about the effect of cooling the earth. |
| C．He is concerned about the reduction in agriculture production. |
| D．He disapproves of the practice of solar climate intervention. |
| A．The rainfall pattern of a region. |
| B．The modest drop in temperature. |
| C．The number of extreme weather events. |
| D．The injection amount of aerosol. |
4 . Sometimes buying groceries can be an expensive thing. We go in, thinking that we won't be buying any big-expense item, and start picking up small items here and there, in fact, getting practically anything that comes to mind. As we reach the check-out counter, we can't believe the check, But it's too late to do anything by then. Here are a few money-saving tips to remember for the next time you go shopping for groceries.
Being prepared matters a lot when it comes to buying groceries. This means taking the trouble to come up with a list of things you need. Look around the house first and list down things as you go along. After you have your list, add up all the amounts and see if that's what you want to spend. If not, then cross out some items on the list.
Importantly: preparing a List is one thing, but following it to the letter is another. Make sure that once you're in the supermarket, you don't pick up things that aren't on your list. Remember, that's accurately why you came up with the list in the first place.
Choosing the best and most cost-effective store around is also important. Compare prices at different places. Compare quality. Check out the discounts that they are offering. At first glance, the prices of goods may differ by an insignificant value, but adding them all up can burn a hole in your pocket.
Here's another tip from my brother, Leonard. He often eats at home before heading to the grocery. Of course, you know why. Once you get there, there are just so many delicious-looking and fine-smelling treats all over the place that we can hardly resist.
Remember to use these tips to save money when you go to buy groceries.
1. Why do we feel shocked at the check-out counter?| A．We have to wait for long to check out. | B．We find we've spent too much money. |
| C．The goods we buy are more expensive. | D．It is too late for us to select more goods. |
| A．Refer to others' shopping lists. | B．List some unnecessary things. |
| C．Make a list based on your budget. | D．Cross out listed expensive goods. |
| A．Freely. | B．Secretly. | C．Strictly. | D．Traditionally. |
| A．To stress the importance of resisting spending. |
| B．To explain a theory related to commercial ads, |
| C．To show the effectiveness of money-saving tips. |
| D．To introduce a way to avoid blind consumption. |
5 . A new study, published this week in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science, reveals that non-human animals' tears are not so different from our own. The chemical similarities are so great, in fact, that the composition of other species' tears—and how they're adapted to their environments-may provide insights into better treatments for human eye disease.
Previously, scientists had studied closely only the tears of a handful of mammals, including humans, dogs, horses, camels, and monkeys. In the new study, Brazilian veterinarians analyzed the tears of reptiles and birds for the first time , focusing on seven species.
Tears, which are released from tear tubes, form a film over the eye that's composed of three ingredients: mucus, waler, and oil. The mucus coats the eyes surface and helps to attach the film to the eye, the water is a natural salty solution containing crucial proteins and minerals, and the oil prevents the eye from drying out.
Humans are the only known species to produce emotional tears; the expression "crocodile tears," which refers to a person's phony display of emotion, comes from the mysterious tendency of crocodiles to release tears as they eat.
But tears play key roles beyond weeping, notes Lionel Sebbag at Iowa State University, who was not involved in the new research. They help with vision by lubricating and clearing the eye. They also protect the eye against infection and provide nutrition to the cornea, the eye's clear outer layer, which lacks blood tubes, he says.
Learning how reptiles and birds' use tears may also inspire new medications for conditions such as dry eye, which occurs when tear tubes don't produce enough oil. The disease, common in cats, dogs, and people, can sometimes lead to blindness.
1. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?| A．The source of tears. | B．The composition of tears. |
| C．The classification of tears, | D．The definition of tears. |
| A．Tricky. | B．Regretful. | C．Cold. | D．False. |
| A．Weeping contributes to eye disease. | B．The cornea has rich blood tubes. |
| C．Tears oil and clear the eyes. | D．More tears mean better vision. |
| A．Tears, a barrier to eyes | B．A better treatment for eye disease |
| C．Non-human tears promise new cures | D．Other species’ tears are similar to humans' |
6 . Killer whales, or orcas, are known for their severe attacks on sea animals but they have never posed a threat to humans. However, since late July, the normally social animals have been intentionally attacking sailboats off the coasts of Spain and Portugal.
The strange behavior first surfaced on July 29, 2020, when a 46-foot boat was repeatedly attacked for almost an hour by nine orcas, causing the boat to rotate(旋转) 180 degrees and having its engine switched off. Since then, over 30 more similar incidents have been reported. On September 23, 2020, Spain's government banned boats of less than 50 feet in length from sailing in the 60-mile stretch of the Atlantic coastline between Ferrol and the Estaca de Bares Cape, where the attacks have been occurring.
Researchers across the world are trying to explain the orcas' behavior. Some believe it could be a result of the overfishing of the bluefish tuna - the orcas' primary food source -which has left the area's killer whales starving and unable to feed their babies. "I saw them look at boats carrying fish. I think they know humans are somehow related to food shortages, "says Ken Balcomb, senior scientist at the Center for Whale Research in Washington, USA. The environmentalists believe the sudden increase in boat traffic and fishing activities, after months of absence due to restrictions on human activity last spring, could also be contributing to the agitation.
However, Alfredo López, a biology professor in Galicia, Spain, thinks the attacks are defensive measures the orcas adopted to protect themselves against boat injuries. The researcher came to this conclusion after looking at the of the videos of a few incidents and noticing that two of the young killer whales involved had serious injuries. Hopefully, the experts will be able to find a way to restore the harmony between the animals and the humans soon.
1. What do we know about orcas in paragraph 1?| A．They are friendly to humans. | B．They have changed their behavior. |
| C．They are famous for hunting skills | D．They have met tough living conditions. |
| A．Ken Balcomb. | B．The environmentalists. |
| C．Alfredo López. | D．Spain's government. |
| A．The attacks. | B．Food shortages. | C．The overfishing. | D．Human activities. |
| A．How do killer whales attack humans? |
| B．Why Are Killer Whales attacking Boats? |
| C．How can we live in harmony with animals? |
| D．Why are boats banned from sailing on the sea? |
7 . Despite the anxiety that the first digital novel caused in 1993, publishers weren’t too concerned that e-books would one day replace printed books. However, that attitude was changed suddenly in 2007 when Amazon Kindle came onto the market, which led to e-book sales jumping up to 1,260%. Since then, e-books’ popularity has continued to rise steadily. The publishing industry seemed to have lost all possible ability to regain its position. Will printed books eventually become a thing of the past? According to Mike Shatzkin, founder and CEO of the Idea Logical Company, printed books just for reading will, in 10 years from now, be unusual. “Not so unusual that a kid will say, ‘Mommy, what’s that?’ but unusual enough that on the train you’l see one or two people reading something printed, while everyone else is reading on a tablet computer screen.” And Shatzkin believes that the demise of print is sure to happen, though such a day won’t arrive for perhaps 50 to 100 or more years.
Robert Stein, founder of The Institute for the Future of the Book, however, believes that books won’t disappear entirely, at least not anytime soon. “Print will exist, and it may have an artistic value,” he says. He predicts that the distance between writers and readers will be made less obvious by a social reading experience in which authors and consumers can digitally interact with each other to discuss any passage, sentence or line.
Should print really disappear entirely? According to Maryanne Wolf, director of the Center for Reading and Language Research at Tufts University, electronic reading can negatively affect the way the brain responds to the text, including reading comprehension and the ability to pay attention to details like the order of events. “My worry is that we’ll have a short-circuited(短路的) reading brain, excellent for gathering information but not necessarily for forming critical, analytical deep reading skills,” Wolf says. He hopes that we continue to keep a “bi-literate” society — one that values both the digital and printed words. “A full reading brain circuit is a huge contribution to the intellectual development of our species. Anything that threatens it deserves our attention.”
1. How did publishers feel about the rising e-book sales inspired by Amazon Kindle?| A．Worried. | B．Excited. |
| C．Curious. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．rise | B．death |
| C．adjustment | D．popularity |
| A．the artistic value |
| B．the digital interaction |
| C．the growing popularity |
| D．the traditional design |
| A．e-reading will strengthen the power of our brain |
| B．digital books and paper books should not coexist |
| C．e-reading will make us more critical and thoughtful |
| D．we should not risk losing a full reading brain circuit |
8 . That morning, I dropped our eldest at kindergarten and returned home to let our two younger children play while I worked on my medical report. It was a wonderful chance to work from home, but it hit me that my career in hospital wasn't making a difference in anyone's life. I needed something that would stretch my limits and push me to grow. My career enabled me to work from home. I could work from home, and become a foster mother, providing safety for a child who needed it desperately.
On Monday morning. I picked up the phone and dialed the number I had Googled for the nearest Department of Children's Services. The man on the other end was receptive to my questions and explained the next step of training, involving eight weeks of classes designed to prepare and educate foster parents. We continued through all the classes, the home visits, background checks, and seemingly endless steps.
Five long months after we were approved, the phone rang. In the middle of the night, I woke my husband and rushed to East Tennessee Children's Hospital. Our placement was waiting for us in the emergency room, sick and lack of nutrition. It didn't take long for us to realize the full depth of her suffering. Six months later, her half-brother came to us by our request. We now had five children under our care.
On August 12, 2016, our family of seven walked into a small courtroom. The children's lawyer and social worker were there. With just a few words, our adoption was finalized. These two amazing children weren't going home, because they were already home. We are their forever family, and they are our forever children. We may not be able to change the entire world, but we have changed the world entirely for our new children.
1. How did the author feel about her hospital work?| A．Lacking of motivation. | B．Filled with challenge. |
| C．Highly motivating. | D．Unusually Demanding. |
| A．She felt sympathetic for abused children she knew. |
| B．She wanted to make a difference in other people. |
| C．She felt confident about her ability to raise children. |
| D．She experienced training to raise children properly. |
| A．The child to be adopted. | B．The need to get trained. |
| C．The approval of adoption. | D．The official at the hospital. |
| A．To put the adopted kids elsewhere. | B．To receive another adopted child. |
| C．To make the adoption officially legal. | D．To begin the kids' adoption in her home. |
9 . Would you give your Social Security Number to the clerk at the grocery store? Of course not, right? Yet, if you’re like most people, you wouldn’t hesitate to give out a different, but equally important number to the same person.
Experts now say that your cellphone number may be more pivotal than any other personal information in the eyes of spammers and identity thieves. In other words, instead of handing it out, you should guard that cellphone number with your life.
Today, your cellphone number will likely be with you for a very long time. That means if spammers get your cellphone number, it will be much harder to get rid of them. It also means that over the years, your cellphone number will be linked to a lot of personal information—from contact lists to bank card numbers, all information that hackers would love to get their hands on.
A few years ago, German security researcher Karsten Nohl showed in an experiment what he could obtain using only a person’s cellphone number. California Congressman Ted Lieu was given a new cellphone for a day and Nohl was given that cellphone number. Using just that number, Nohl was able to find Lieu’s location and movements throughout Los Angeles, read his emails and text messages, and record phone calls between Lieu and his staff. And Nohl did all of this from his office in Berlin using just a cellphone number.
Still think it’s a good idea to post your number on a noticeboard?
It’s safe to assume that Nohl is an expert when it comes to hacking, but even the ordinary thief can use your cellphone number to cause harm to you. When you sign up for an account online, you usually provide your email address and a password. But if you forget that password, many of these companies will send you a password retrieval code via your cellphone. Let’s say you post something for sale online and you include your name, email, and cellphone number. You’ve now given a potential thief everything he needs to hack into any of your online accounts. Therefore, it just makes sense to protect yourself by guarding that number as closely as you would guard any other personal information.
1. What does the underlined word “pivotal” in Paragraph 2 most probably mean?| A．familiar. | B．vital. | C．accessible. | D．manageable. |
| A．Why people seldom change their cellphone numbers. |
| B．Why people need to take care of their cellphone numbers. |
| C．How to protect our personal information. |
| D．How to get rid of spammers. |
| A．Nohl is a real expert in hacking. | B．Lieu’s new cellphone has powerful functions. |
| C．It’s necessary to fight against hackers. | D．Hacking information via cellphone numbers is not hard. |
| A．It’s a good idea to sell something online. |
| B．It’s necessary to register several accounts online. |
| C．It’s common for people to forget their passwords. |
| D．It’s risky to post your cellphone numbers online. |
10 . Bradley McConachie, a 33-year-old Australian is actually a student in international relations completing his PhD through Griffith University. He came to Beijing for a cooperative research at Beijing University two years ago. Such an academic life was colorful with a chance offered by the cultural exchanges project, “I’m in China”.
Bradley was lucky to win the most “likes” for his photo story about his life in China and became one of 20 winners to visit locations by the project this summer. All the winners’ experiences were filmed to produce a reality show, My Chinese Working Day, which will be broadcast by mid-September.
Bradley was chosen to work as a recreational manager for a Chinese wedding. The film crew took them to many “amazing sites” and the staff at the resort taught them a lot about how to incorporate modern Chinese features while still keeping traditional customs.
“I would have to say two things stick out as the most memorable: the helicopter ride and talking with the staff at the hotel about how they organize weddings here in China,” he said. That was Bradley’s first time to be in a helicopter, and he was too absorbed with the “stunning” view of the coastline.
“I think it is so important to show other Australians the different landscapes China has to offer. I think so many Australians, when they think about China, imagine the historical sites of Beijing and the exciting things to see in Shanghai but have no idea about other beautiful places, like Sanya or the many other places people have been taken to in this TV series. It was nice to experience these little touches. I was happy to be a part of that experience!” Bradley said.
1. What made Bradley’s life more colorful?| A．Obtaining his PhD. |
| B．The cultural exchanges project. |
| C．The research about Beijing University. |
| D．The interest in international relations. |
| A．He produced the reality show. | B．His life in China was interesting. |
| C．He was one of the top 20 winners. | D．He liked photo stories most. |
| A．Fantastic. | B．Confusing. | C．Plain. | D．Extreme. |
| A．It’s difficult to produce moving TV series. |
| B．Beijing and Shanghai are historical sites. |
| C．Bradley was impressed by the view of the coastline. |
| D．Many Australians know little about China. |
