1 . Every September, as summer ends and the first day of school approaches, I spend a lot of time thinking about darkness.
Perhaps other teachers would say the same, jokingly. But I teach a high school course on trauma (创伤) literature, and my students belong to a generation described as the most spoiled (宠坏的), stressed and easily hurt in history. So the question of darkness is often on my mind.
In 2016, Collins Dictionary included “snowflake generation” among its Words of the Year, describing young adults of the 2010s as a group “less resilient (适应的) and more likely to feel upset than previous generations.”
But after twelve years of teaching this course, which covers some of the most emotionally difficult texts in contemporary literature — narratives (讲述) of war, slavery and so on — I’m pretty sure the comment on my young students is wrong. In particular, I don’t buy the narrative that this generation lacks the resilience necessary for difficult literature. For years, I’ve watched my students circle tirelessly around some difficult questions that puzzle us. Instead of hiding from that world, they try to change it in a way that will allow them to control it successfully.
This is why every September, I ask my students to read the most difficult books I can find. I don’t do this to hurt them. Literature is practice. And I want my students, through these difficult books, to practice living. I want them to practice recognizing historical gaps and to bridge them.
“But this too is true: stories can save us,” writes Tim O’Brien in The Things They Carried. I believe and stick to that idea, year after year, on the first day of school. Not because these stories will save my students. But because I’m hoping my students will grow up and save the rest of us.
1. What are the young adults of the 2010s like according to the Collins Dictionary?| A．Unsocial and anxious. | B．Stressed but strong-willed. |
| C．Sensitive and greedy. | D．Enthusiastic but self-centered. |
| A．Pay. | B．Believe. | C．Obtain. | D．Suspect. |
| A．The author has no knowledge of the young adults. |
| B．What the author wants is to help the young adults hide. |
| C．The author doesn’t know the meaning of “snowflake generation”. |
| D．The author knows a lot about the young adults from teaching them. |
| A．To comment on the new generation again. | B．To recommend some trauma literature. |
| C．To introduce some teaching experiences. | D．To seek some advice from the public. |
2 . Steven Stein likes to follow garbage trucks. His strange habit makes sense when you consider that he’s an environmental scientist who studies how to reduce litter, including things that fall off garbage trucks as they drive down the road. What is even more interesting is that one of Stein’s jobs is defending an industry behind the plastic shopping bag.
Americans use more than 100 billion thin film plastic bags every year. So many end up in tree branches or along highways that a growing number of cities do not allow them at checkouts(收银台). The bags are prohibited in some 90 cities in California, including Los Angeles. Eyeing these headwinds, plastic-bag makers are hiring scientists like Stein to make the case that their products are not as bad for the planet as most people assume.
Among the bag makers' argument: many cities with bans still allow shoppers to purchase paper bags, which are easily recycled but require more energy to produce and transport. And while plastic bags may be ugly to look at, they represent a small percentage of all garbage on the ground today.
The industry has also taken aim at the product that has appeared as its replacement: reusable shopping bags. The stronger a reusable bag is, the longer its life and the more plastic-bag use it cancels out. However, longer-lasting reusable bags often require more energy to make. One study found that a cotton bag must be used at least 131 times to be better for the planet than plastic.
Environmentalists don't dispute(质疑) these points. They hope paper bags will be banned someday too and want shoppers to use the same reusable bags for years.
1. What has Steven Stein been hired to do?| A．Help increase grocery sales. |
| B．Recycle the waste material. |
| C．Stop things falling off trucks. |
| D．Argue for the use of plastic bags. |
| A．Bans on plastic bags. |
| B．Effects of city development. |
| C．Headaches caused by garbage. |
| D．Plastic bags hung in trees. |
| A．Plastic, Paper or Neither |
| B．Industry, Pollution and Environment |
| C．Recycle or Throw Away |
| D．Garbage Collection and Waste Control |
3 . Education appears to protect older adults especially women, against memory loss, according to a study by investigators at Georgetown University Medical Center.
The Study tested declarative memory in 704 older adults (58-98 years of age). Declarative memory refers to our ability to remember events facts and words, such as where you put your keys or the name of that new neighbor. The investigators found that their memory performance became progressively worse with aging. However, more years of early-life education countered these Tosses, especially in women.
For example, the declarative memory abilities of an 80-year-old woman with a bachelor’s degree would be as good as those of a 60-year-old woman with a high school education. So, four extra years of education make up for the memory losses from 20 years of aging.
“Simply said, learning brings about learning.” says the study’s senior investigator, Michael Unman. “Since learning new information in declarative memory is easier if it is related to knowledge we already have, more knowledge from more education should result in better memory abilities, even years later,” adds the study’s lead author, Jana Reifegerste.
“Evidence suggests that girls often have better declarative memory than boys, so education may lead to greater knowledge gains in girls,” says Ullman. “Education may thus particularly benefit memory abilities in women, even years later in old age.”
The study tested individuals in a non-Western population. Participants varied in the number of years of education, from none at all to graduate studies. Future research is needed to test whether the findings generalize to other populations, Ullman says.
“These findings may be important, especially considering the rapidly aging population globally,” Reifegerste says. “The results argue for further efforts to increase access to education.”
“Education has also been found to delay the beginning of Alzheimer’s disease,” Ullman says. “We believe that our findings may shed light on why this occurs.”
1. The underlined “counter” in Paragraph 2 probably means_______.| A．cancel | B．change | C．replace | D．reduce |
| A．New information. | B．Declarative memory. |
| C．Former education. | D．Better memory ability. |
| A．slow down the process of aging | B．promote the development of education |
| C．advance the study of Alzheimer’s disease | D．ensure the equal rights of women’s education |
| A．declarative memory abilities fail with aging |
| B．women should try to obtain a bachelor's degree |
| C．learning regularly helps improve old adults’ memory |
| D．early-life education helps prevent memory loss in old age |
4 . Good day, everybody …
Just two weeks ago I shared some of my thoughts about the green economy in an event organised by Sciences Po and Ecolo Ethik in Paris. Inevitably my main messages will be repeated, but I hope they will be still fresh for such a young and fresh audience. You are future policy makers, leaders and active members of our society. I believe that you have a very important role to play in shaping this world, your own future.
On 7th June last year a scientific article in the journal Nature stated the following: “Today conditions are very different because global-scale forces including, but not limited to, climate change, have emerged as a direct result of human activities. Human population growth and per-capita consumption rate underlie all of the other present drivers for global change”.
The world’s population is increasing by about 140.000 people per day. In just 30 years - one generation - 2 billion people more will share the planet, which is more than the total amount of the population on the planet at the beginning of the 20th Century. On top of that, in just over 15 years from now, there will be an additional 3 billion middle class consumers, which corresponds to twice the total population at the beginning of the previous century.
Of course, this is great for those 3 billion whose living standards will rise, and for the businesses that will succeed in providing for those demands, but this will put great stress on many resources. We will need three times more resources -140 billion tons annually- by 2050. The demand for food, feed and fiber is projected to increase by 70%.
To put it simply: the world has changed. We are more interconnected and interdependent than ever. Many challenges, like climate change, disappearing biodiversity, scarce resources (like water, land or oceans), potential pandemics, poverty, global security … can only be addressed if we join our forces. Looking to the future, the “business as usual” scenario simply will not work. Transition from our current resource intensive growth model to a resource efficient growth model is absolutely necessary. It is actually inevitable for all our economies. For the first time, we humans, are affecting the balance of our planet.
For the past two centuries we have relied on an economic growth model based on cheap and abundant resources. This great acceleration has been a fantastic achievement of the generations of humans that have so successfully overcome so many obstacles to bring such unimagined health and prosperity. But we cannot go on growing in the resource-intensive way we did in the past; certainly not on a global scale. Today the richest 20% of the world consume about 60 times more than the poorest 20%. Just imagine the stress on the world’s resources if the rest of the world would live the same way as we do.
1. Which of the following statements about the speech is true according to the passage?| A．It plays an important role in shaping young people’s future. |
| B．It is repeated in the event organized by Sciences Po and Ecolo Ethik. |
| C．It’ll hopefully make a difference to our green economy. |
| D．It is the second time it has been given about the green economy. |
| A．human population growth | B．scarce resources |
| C．human activities | D．financial and economic crisis |
| A．better inform us the unbelievable growth of the planet’s population |
| B．better address the global challenges which we all face |
| C．better show us the consequences of our global change |
| D．better explain the result of human irresponsible activities |
| A．standards | B．difficulties | C．resources | D．successes |
| A．to advocate a resource efficient growth model |
| B．to raise our awareness of environmental protection |
| C．to explain effective keys to a green economy |
| D．to offer some advice on human daily activities |
5 . An artificial intelligence that navigates(导航) its environment much like mammals could help solve a mystery about our own internal GPS.
Equipped with virtual versions of specialized brain nerve cells called grid cells, the AI could easily solve and plan new routes through virtual mazes. That performance, described online May 9 in Nature, suggests the grid cells in animal brains play a critical role in path planning.
“This is a big step forward in understanding our own navigational neural circuitry(电路),” says Ingmar Kanitscheider, a computational neuroscientist at. The University of Texas at Austin not involved in the work. The discovery that rats track their location with the help of grid cells earned a Norwegian research team the 2014 Nobel Prize in physiology to medicine. Neuroscientists suspected these cells, which have also been found in humans, might help not only give mammals an internal. coordinate(协同) system, but also plan direct paths between points.
To test that idea, neuroscientist Caswell Barry at University College London, along with colleagues at Google DeepMind, created an AI that contained virtual nerve cells, or neurons, whose activity resembled that of real grid cells. The researchers trained this AI to navigate virtual mazes by giving the system reward signals when it reached its destination.
The AI bested a human expert player at solving the virtual mazes, and proved savvier than other artificial neural networks in planning ways through mazes larger than those traversed during its training. When a door opened to provide a shortcut through the maze, the new AI took the more direct route. By contrast, AI systems without artificial grid cells ignored the open door and took long the way around.
These findings support the idea that grid cells do more than help mammals orient themselves in time and space; they also help animals plan the most straightforward direction to destinations. AI also appears to be “a very powerful tool" for testing other neuroscience theories, Barry says. He and his colleagues suggest that virtual experiments on artificial neural networks that imitate different regions of the brain may eventually replace some animal testing.
But there are limitations to using AI to study the brain. Because the system is meant to learn on its own, researchers can't tell why the system made a specific decision, says neuroscientist Francesco Savelli at Johns Hopkings University, whose commentary also appears online May 9 in Nature.
1. What's the function of the virtual grid cells?| A．Helping animals adapt to the environment. | B．Controlling the growth of nerve cells. |
| C．Assisting the AI in finding a way-out. | D．Promoting the cooperation between AI robots. |
| A．slower | B．nearer | C．earlier | D．wiser |
| A．Animals are as intelligent as humans |
| B．Animal testing on the brain will be reduced in future |
| C．Humans will' be equipped with' the virtual grid cells |
| D．Grid cells are more important than other nerve cells |
| A．How the AI system works. |
| B．Ways of AI learning on its own. |
| C．How effective reward signals will work on a robot. |
| D．The relationship between different regions of the brain. |
6 . Learning a second language is tricky at any age (and it only gets tougher the longer you wait to open that dusty French book). Now, in a new study, scientists have pinpointed the exact age at which your chances of reading fluency in a second language seems to plummet: 10.
The study, published in the journal Cognition, found that it’s “nearly impossible” for language learners to reach native - level fluency if they start learning a second tongue after 10. But that doesn’t seem to be because language skills go downhill. “It turns out you’re still learning fast. It’s just that you run out of time, because your ability to learn starts dropping at around 17 or 18 years old,” says study co-author Joshua Hartshorne, an assistant professor of psychology at Boston College.
Kids may be better than adults at learning new languages for many reasons. Children’s brains are more plastic than those of adults, meaning they’re better able to adapt and respond to new information. “All learning involves the brain changing,” Hartshorne says, “and children’s brains seem to be a lot more skilled at changing.”
Kids may also be more willing to try new things (and to potentially look foolish in the process) than adults are. Their comparatively new grasp on their native tongue may also be advantageous. Unlike adults, who tend to default（默认）to the rules and patterns of their first language, kids may be able to approach a new one with a blank slate（石板）.
These findings may seems discouraging, but it was heartening for scientists to learn that the critical period for fluent language acquisition might be longer than they previously thought. Some scientists believed that the brief window closes shortly after birth, while others stretched it only to early adolescence. Compared to those estimates, 17 or 18 -- when language learning ability starts to drop off -- seems relatively old. “People fared better when they learned by immersion（沉浸）, rather than simply in a classroom. And moving to a place where our desired language is spoken is the best way to learn as an adult. If that’s not an option, you can mimic an immersive environment by finding ways to have conversations with native speakers in their own communities,” Hartshorne says. By doing so, it’s possible to become conversationally proficient -- even without the advantage of a child’s brain.
1. The word “plummet” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to “____”.| A．plunge | B．rise | C．end | D．vary |
| A．Age 10 -18 is the best time to learn a second language. |
| B．Children are too young to grasp a second language. |
| C．Communicating with native speakers enables you to master all the language skills. |
| D．Adults go beyond the critical period for learning a second language. |
| A．Adults are less influenced by their mother tongues |
| B．Adults are only too willing to experience something awkward in the process. |
| C．Adults spend more time responding to new information. |
| D．Adults prefer an immersive environment to a classroom in learning a second language. |
| A．the approaches to learning a second language |
| B．the best age to learn a second language. |
| C．why kids learn a second language more easily than adults |
| D．whether adults can learn a second language like their younger selves |
7 . I’m one of seven children. My three sisters and I grew up in a small bedroom with two sets of beds. We shared a closet, a dresser, and just about everything else. Our bedroom always had stuff hanging about.① How about the life of only children? I looked longingly at their perfect dolls and toys placed carefully on their perfect shelves in their perfect little girl bedrooms. They had bathrooms to themselves. These little girls would come home to everything just perfect.②
Looking back, I had to admit my “only children” friends had nice things. They had designer beds and beautiful bedrooms, but I always had someone to play with and talk to. Even if everyone else hated me, one of my sisters would not and that was all I needed.③
Our house was the center of activity for the whole neighborhood. We had dance shows and baseball games in the street.④ We had everything we ever needed because we had each other. I have come to realize that there are so many reasons that sisters make a difference to your life and I can give you a few here:
They get you. Your sisters have grown up with you so they know the entire back story of your situation and everything leading to it. They may not agree with you all the time but they never wonder why you do what you do or say what you say.
They have suffered with you through awful times. I know that when one of my sisters is unhappy, I am unhappy too. When some non-family member tries to hurt you, the claws of them will come out.
They have cheered you on. Sisters do get jealous at times but, even so, they are happy that you are doing well. They rejoice at your new bonus as long as you take them out for drinks and foods！
They are on the same diet as you. We are women in a world where thinness is equal to beauty. No matter how unjust this is, we are always on a diet. There is nothing like a sister calling and complaining about how she wants an ice cream and can’t ever have one again.
They are aging at the same rate as you. As we get older, we change, and however miserable this can be, it is heartening to know that someone shares your misery. They know what you are going through because they are going through it too.
The last and best thing about sisters is that they stick with us. We can have our upsets and misunderstandings but we always come back to each other.
I know many people reading this may have had upsets with their sisters. All I can say is communication fixes everything. If you miss your sister, tell her so. If you have a BFF (Best Friend Forever)that has stuck with you through thick and thin, adopt her as your sister and keep her close to you.
1. How does the author develop the first paragraph?| A．By making classification. | B．By making comparison. |
| C．By explaining the phenomenon. | D．By providing evidence. |
| A．① | B．② |
| C．③ | D．④ |
| A．They grow old with you. |
| B．They can share the same diet with you. |
| C．They can understand your strange behavior perfectly. |
| D．They stand by you when other family members hurt you. |
| A．feel grateful | B．show great joy |
| C．appear surprised | D．get disappointed |
| A．has adopted her BBF as her sister |
| B．has expressed great sympathy for only children |
| C．had a better relationship with her sisters than brothers |
| D．has given some advice to those who had upsets with their sisters |
| A．Sisters Are My Fortune in Life | B．Family Love Is the Lasting Topic |
| C．Communication Fixes Everything | D．Sharing Things Gives You a Better Life |
“Why pick on my family?” Jessica's father said with anger. “Your family history isn't so good, you know. Wasn't your great-great-grandfather a prisoner who was transported to Australia for his crimes?”“Yes, but people these days say that you are not a real Australian unless your ancestors arrived as prisoners.”“Gosh, sorry I asked. I think I understand now,” Jessica cut in before things grew worse.
After dinner, the house was very quiet. Jessica's parents were still quite angry with each other. Her mother was ironing clothes and every now and then she glared at her husband, who hid behind his newspaper pretending to read. When she finished, she gathered the freshly pressed clothes in her arms and walked to Jessica's closet. Just as she opened the door and reached in to hang a skirt, a bony arm stuck out from the dark depths and a bundle of white bones fell to the floor. Jessica's mother sank in a faint (晕倒), waking only when Jessica put a cold, wet cloth on her forehead. She looked up to see the worried faces of her husband and daughter.
“What happened? Where am I?” she asked. “You just destroyed the school's skeleton, Mum,” explained Jessica. “I brought it home to help me with my health project. I meant to tell you, but it seemed that as soon as I mentioned skeletons and closets, it caused a problem between you and Dad.” Jessica looked in amazement as her parents began to laugh madly. “They're both crazy,” she thought.
1. According to Jessica's mother, “a skeleton in the close” means ________.
| A．a family honor | B．a family secret | C．a family story | D．a family treasure |
| A．They were brought to Australia as prisoners. |
| B．They were the earliest people living in Australia. |
| C．They were involved in some crimes in Australia. |
| D．They were not regarded as criminals in their days. |
| A．She was curious about it. | B．She planned to keep it for fun. |
| C．She needed it for her school task. | D．She intended to scare her parents. |
| A．they were crazy. |
| B．they were over excited. |
| C．they realized their misunderstanding. |
| D．they both thought they had won the quarrel. |
