1 . Twice every month, Miranda Sam, a 66-year-old Ghanaian, visited the China Traditional Herbal Hospital, a private herbal facility at Pokuase, a suburb of the Ghanaian capital, for treatment.
“I was squeezing lemons, and when I finished, I could not get up or even move my legs, so I went to the hospital and did an X-ray examination, but they saw nothing. Meanwhile, I could not walk and was in a wheelchair,” the retired worker said. Hence Miranda decided to visit the herbal facility. “On two occasions, I had to do acupuncture(针灸), and I have found great relief. Now I walk unaided, so I keep coming for treatment,” she said.
As Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is gaining popularity in Ghana, many acupuncture clinics run by Chinese doctors pop up in the country. However, the China Traditional Herbal Hospital was established by 52-year-old Ghanaian business owner Bediako, after his fruitful encounter with the effects of TCM in 2012. With the help of a Chinese lady, Bediako set up a small clinic specializing in TCM. Years on, the facility has subsequently grown into a bigger herbal hospital. The hospital treats patients with a combination of local and Chinese herbal formulas. It supports this with the application of traditional Chinese medical methods.
Strokes(中风) account for 1.3 percent of all hospital admissions in Ghana, and 6.3 percent of all hospital deaths. But Bediako is confident that as more people with these conditions turn to the natural methods of healing, the pain and death rates would subside. “A gentleman was brought here three weeks ago, who could not sit, stand, or walk. He was first taken through acupuncture. I observed him on camera 30 minutes later, squatting(蹲), standing, and walking. You come here with your pain but will leave with a smile. That is our feature,” he said.
The hospital has started a second facility in Ashaiman near the capital, with plans to open other branches across the country to meet the growing demand.
1. What can we learn from Miranda’s words in Paragraph 2?| A．Her illness is not a bit severe. | B．Squeezing lemons is a risky job. |
| C．She is feeling better now. | D．She is unsure about what to do next. |
| A．It is located in the downtown area. |
| B．It was originally a specialized clinic. |
| C．It was established by a Chinese doctor. |
| D．It uses nothing but Chinese herbs. |
| A．Decline. | B．Remain. |
| C．Climb. | D．Change. |
| A．Negative. | B．Optimistic. |
| C．Uncertain. | D．Concerned. |
2 . In a large survey of people's first memories, nearly 40% of participants reported a first memory that is likely to be fictional, according to findings published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Current research indicates that people's earliest memories date from around 3 to 3. 5 years of age. However, the study from researchers at City, University of London, the University of Bradford, and Nottingham Trent University found that 38.6% of 6, 641 participants claimed to have memories from age 2 or younger, with 893 people claiming memories from age 1 or younger. This was particularly prevalent among middle-aged and older adults.
As many of these memories dated before the age of 2 and younger, the authors suggest that these fictional memories are based on remembered fragments(碎片) of early experience—such as a pram(婴儿车)，family relationships and feeling sad—and some facts or knowledge about their own infancy or childhood which may have been derived from photographs or family conversations.
“Further details may be unconsciously inferred or added, e. g. that one was wearing nappy when standing in the cot(幼儿床)," added Shazia Akhatr, first author on the study and Senior Research Associate at the University of Bradford.
“When we looked through the responses from participants we found that a lot of these first 'memories' were frequently related to infancy, and a typical example would be a memory based around a pram," explained Martin Conway, Director at the Centre for Memory and Law at City, University of London and coauthor of the paper.
“For this person, this type of memory could have resulted from someone saying something like 'mother and a large green pram'. The person then imagines what it would have looked like. Over time these fragments then become a memory and often the person will start to add things in such as a string of toys along the top," he added.
"Crucially, the person remembering them doesn't know this is fictional," Conway noted. "In fact when people are told that their memories are false they often don't believe it. This partly due to the fact that the systems that allow us to remember things are very complex, and it's not until we're 5 or 6 that we form adult-like memories due to the way that the brain develops and due to our maturing understanding of the world.
1. What does the underlined word "prevalent" in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Unique. | B．Crazy. | C．Common. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．Some people have clear knowledge about their own infancy. |
| B．Added details are an important clue to recall the childhood. |
| C．Most people claimed to have memories from age 2 or younger. |
| D．Talks between family members influence the earliest memories. |
| A．By making comparison. | B．By setting examples. |
| C．By analyzing data. | D．By referring to documents. |
| A．Many people's earliest memories may be fictional. |
| B．People's earliest memories can date back to 2 or younger. |
| C．The middle-aged and adults specialize in detailing their first memory. |
| D．Memories develop due to our maturing understanding of the world. |
3 . Researchers believe they have found an unknown kind of whale in waters off Mexico's western coast. If others verify the finding, the new whale will be an important discovery among giant animals.
The team of researchers came upon three unusual whales while following a rare group of beaked whales. The whales were near Mexico's distant San Benito Islands, about 500 km south of the U. S. border. Beaked whales usually avoid meeting humans.
Jay Barlow studies sea animals. He noted that it was a very unusual meeting. "It's very rare to even see a beaked whale, and to find a group of friendly beaked whales, it's even rarer, " he said.
Barlow said he and other researchers did not realize they were seeing a possible new kind of whale until later. The group saw something different about the whales' teeth when they studied the photos they took of the animals. The underwater recordings of the whales' calls also suggested they were different from all others.
The researchers are now waiting for test results on water they collected near the whales. There could be skin cells in the water from the whales. If so, they will examine the DNA to make sure whether the whales are a new species.
Though up to 5 meters long, the whales can be hard for scientists to see. That is because they usually swim and eat at depths of around 914 meters. They only come up at times for air. In the deep water, the animals can stay away from their main enemy—killer whales.
Barlow said that finding a new species is a rare event. His team has evidence about the whales that looks like a new discovery. He said the DNA testing would help determine it and he hoped the whales could be determined as a new species. That would bring the number of known beaked whale species to 24.
1. What does the underlined word "verify” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Value. | B．Refuse. | C．Prove. | D．Research. |
| A．The whales' huge size. | B．The whales' sounds. |
| C．The shape of the whales' mouth. | D．The whales’ friendly behavior. |
| A．To find enough food. | B．To keep themselves safe. |
| C．To avoid meeting humans. | D．To reduce the need for air. |
| A．Uncaring. | B．Doubtful. | C．Worried. | D．Supportive. |
4 . Smith had to drive across the Sahara Desert. It was a journey across hundreds of miles of empty desert.
After he had been driving for a few hours, there was a sandstorm. His car left the road and then broke down.
Smith began walking north across the hot sand under the scorching sun. He hoped he would soon reach the road again. Soon, his tongue was thick with thirst. He needed water, but everywhere he looked there was nothing except sand.
Smith kept walking. Then, about an hour later, a man riding a camel came into sight. Smith waved to him. The man on the camel rode up to him and stopped. “Please,” Smith said, “I am dying of thirst. Let me have some of your water.” The man slowly shook his head. “You can’t have any water,” he said, “but I’ll sell you a necktie.” “I don’t want a necktie,” Smith shouted at him furiously. “I need water.” But the man turned away quickly and rode off.
Smith continued walking. Two hours later, he met another man riding a camel. This time he asked if he could buy some water, but the man refused, saying, “No, but I’II sell you a necktie.” Angrily, Smith turned away from him and continued walking.
Three hours later, by which time he was near death, Smith saw a large luxury hotel in the distance. It stood alone in the middle of the desert, surrounded by palm trees.
Smith managed to reach the main entrance. He was about to enter the hotel when the doorman stopped him. “Hey!” he said. “This is a first-class hotel. You can’t come in here without a necktie.”
1. What happened to Smith at the very beginning of the sandstorm?| A．He became thirsty. | B．He saw two men riding a camel. |
| C．He lost his necktie. | D．There was something wrong with his car. |
| A．slowly. | B．politely. |
| C．angrily. | D．painfully. |
| A．He was thirsty. | B．He was not properly dressed. |
| C．He had no money. | D．He was very sick and near death. |
| A．We’d better not go to the Sahara Desert. |
| B．Your car should be maintained before a journey. |
| C．It’s a good idea to buy neckties during the journey. |
| D．When looking backwards, you can connect many events. |
5 . To develop one’s taste in English, the most effective way is to read English books extensively (广泛地). Yet one may be at a loss to choose the suitable books, especially as a beginner. As a native Spanish, I would like to share some of my experience.
My first English novel was Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, recommended by many English teachers and professors as an ideal book for English learners. But my experience was somewhat disastrous. I had great difficulty in understanding the novel, let alone enjoying it. It's not the vocabulary that troubled me, but rather the way Austen made sentences, and her way of thinking, which seemed too distant to me at that time. My fading enthusiasm was much recovered after reading Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms. No long and complicated sentences. And I particularly liked his brief and simple style. So my first suggestion is, as a beginner, you’d better choose contemporary (当代的) novels instead of classical ones.
However, if you limit yourself to novels you will miss lot of treasures. English essays (散文) can at once inform you, interest you, and improve your taste in English. The best example is Bertrand Russell's work. Its language is plain, yet you cannot help feeling the simplicity and the sense of humor. His simple language enables his philosophy within the reach of ordinary people. Here comes my second suggestion — essays are indispensable.
Never follow others' recommendations and opinions blindly, however famous the person might be. We should open to different ideas, but always think and determine for ourselves. As a saying goes, one man’s meat is another man’s poison. With that in mind, we are sure to find out our favorite writers through reading and develop our fine taste in English.
1. What made the first English novel that the author read hard to understand?| A．Complicated conversations. | B．Sentences and Austen’s thinking pattern. |
| C．The old-fashioned vocabulary. | D．Not knowing the social background. |
| A．Necessary. | B．Challenging. | C．Expert. | D．Responsible. |
| A．Choose books that challenge us most. | B．Read books that are amazing. |
| C．Don't be affected by others’ choices. | D．Compare books before buying. |
| A．Give comments on literature works. |
| B．Tell beginners how to choose English books. |
| C．Encourage people to read more English books. |
| D．Recommend first class books to English learners. |
6 . Last Monday, to prepare a picnic, I decided to go into a superstore which was on my way home.
I parked my car in the big parking lot and went into the superstore. It was a huge one, spread onto 2 stories and 200, 000+sq-ft. After 45 minutes of shopping(which looked like a real escape game)to just get some tomatoes, cheese and 3 toothpicks, I arrived at the cashier line, thoughtful and a bit upset by the time I spent to get 5 articles. I wondered why I did not go to a small local store.
After 15 minutes of waiting in the line, the woman in front of me called me: "Heyyou only have 5 articles? Pass before me; I have many more articles than you!"
It wasn’t the first time it had happened to me. But her initiative(提议)was disarming, as well as was her smile. She did not wear any mask, so I could see it. Not knowing what else to do, I accepted her offering. We chatted a bit waiting for the customers ahead of us to finish-she was very pleasant. Then I thanked her, giving her back my brightest smile although I was wearing a mask.
Getting back in my car, I rethought about that good moment, and realized that she made my day. In the meantime, I wondered how to give it back to her. No doubt it was quite impossible, so I considered how to pay-it-forward to someone else.
While driving, I realized that she saved me 10 minutes. And while I was driving at 70mph, I reduced my speed to 55 mph. The amount of fuel used dropped down by 35%.
As a result, I re-lost part of the 10 minutes that the woman offered me, but it was a way to repay her and do a small thing for the environment.
1. Why did the author regret shopping in the superstore?| A．She found the parking lot was full. |
| B．She thought the superstore was too crowded. |
| C．She spent too much time buying too few things. |
| D．She thought the articles there were too expensive. |
| A．15 minutes. | B．70 minutes. |
| C．60 minutes. | D．25 minutes. |
| A．A little too late. | B．Hard to accept. |
| C．Making people lose ability. | D．Making people feel less angry. |
| A．By wasting 10 minutes. |
| B．By driving a little slower. |
| C．By paying it forward to someone else. |
| D．By asking others to protect the environment. |
7 . Our daughter had a new close friend, one we had heard many good things about, and we couldn’t wait to get to know her. After my husband rolled out his homemade pizza, we sat down to enjoy his hard work as well as learn more about each other.
Wanting to make our guest feel cared for and valued, we showed interest in her life by asking questions to get to know her better. We chatted about hobbies, work and family. When we landed on the topic of holidays, she turned the question on us. “So how do you all celebrate Christmas?” she asked. My husband, our daughter and I waited and looked at one another for a moment.
For some, this question is easy to answer. Their family has traditions they follow year after year. For others, it is more go-with-the-flow. As we pondered which details to share, my daughter spoke first, “For some, Christmas is only about their family. But for us, you never know who will be at our Christmas dinner. We invite in those who might not have a place to celebrate, asking them to join us.”
My eyes became wet with tears as I listened to our girl. I hadn’t really noticed what she had seen as our normal. The way I saw it, inviting someone who needed a family on Christmas day was a natural thing for us. But as I look back, I see it has, in fact, become our holiday tradition. Giving a person a home for the holiday brings my heart joy.
Christmas isn’t naturally a happy holiday for all. I remember that first Christmas without my dad. He died when I was five, and that first year was painful, an emptiness filling the room without his quiet presence with us.
For those whose family lives are less than what they want, the holidays can be a very hard time. If this is you, take a few moments to talk to someone and share how you are feeling today.
1. Why did the author mention the girl’s question?| A．To express the girl’s interest in holidays. |
| B．To introduce the topic of the text. |
| C．To present the friendly atmosphere. |
| D．To show the girl’s excitement of being invited. |
| A．Rejected. | B．Skipped. |
| C．Considered. | D．Emphasized. |
| A．She was moved to tears. |
| B．She took pride in her daughter. |
| C．She didn’t agree with her daughter. |
| D．She felt she had misunderstood her daughter before. |
| A．She had no one to share her feelings with. |
| B．She didn’t feel lonely on Christmas. |
| C．Her family lived a poor life. |
| D．Her father passed away. |
8 . Pengci (碰瓷) has been a disgusting matter for a long time. When driving on a road, if you see an old man or woman walking by the road, you may be afraid that he or she will hit your car on purpose, and then ask you for much money. Even worse, it has been reported that a pupil saw an old woman fall onto the ground, so he walked over to help her. But she grabbed him and said she was pushed down by him. Then she tried to extort much money from the pupil’s parents.
What a shame! How to deal with it? Our authorities have taken aim at pengci.
On October 14, three top judicial (司法的) organs issued a guideline to clarify the application of the law in extortion cases involving deliberately fabricated (捏造的) accidents or similar happenings. The guideline was issued by the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate. For the first time, authorities have defined the pengci trick, in which people pretend they have been harmed by another party and then ask that party for money or property as compensation.
The guideline stipulates (规定) punishment for the two main types of pengci-fraud and extortion. Criminals who intentionally or negligently cause harm to others while carrying out pengci tricks may be charged with the crimes of intentional homicide, intentional injury, negligently (疏忽地) causing others’ death or causing serious injury to others, the guideline said.
The guideline also stipulates that whoever deliberately causes a traffic accident and blackmails the victim, which meets the relating provisions (条款) of the Criminal Law, shall be punished as the crime of extortion by blackmail.
According to this guideline, we can avoid being extorted by ill persons and warm-hearted persons can help those who really need help.
1. What does the underlined word“extort”in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Threaten to get something illegally. | B．Earn something by working. |
| C．Ask somebody for something. | D．Give something for free |
| A．To protect old men and women. |
| B．To punish criminals seriously. |
| C．To help students do good deeds. |
| D．To clarify the application of the law in extortion cases. |
| A．All the criminals referred to in this passage shall be charged. |
| B．The guideline stipulates one who causes a traffic accident by chance shall be punished. |
| C．Those who play pengci tricks usually pretend to have been harmed. |
| D．If a man plays pengci tricks, he may be very poor. |
| A．Help cautiously when necessary. | B．Help without hesitation. |
| C．Look on nearby. | D．Call the police quickly. |
9 . Have you ever wondered why certain pop songs just make you feel so good? Researchers studying the question found that uncertainty and surprise give listeners the most pleasure. The study included 80,000 chords（和弦）in 745 pop songs between 1958 and 1991.
Each song was stripped of its melody（旋律）and lyrics（歌词）so that only chords were left and the results couldn’t be misunderstood by other imaginations of the songs that listeners might have had.
They found two things. Listeners got great pleasure from unexpected chords when they knew what would happen. However, they still found it pleasant to hear familiar chords when they did not know what would follow.
Vincent Cheung, the lead researcher, said, "Pleasant songs are likely those which keep a good balance（平衡）between knowing what is going to happen next and surprising us with something we did not expect. Understanding how music starts our pleasure system in the brain could explain why listening to music might help us feel better when we are feeling blue.”
Cheung told CNN that pleasure in music is connected to expectation. The study before had looked into the effects of surprise on pleasure, but his team's study also paid attention to the uncertainty of listeners' expectations.
1. What does the underlined word in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．Removed. | B．Added. |
| C．Played. | D．Recorded. |
| A．They listened to lots of pop songs. |
| B．They focus on the chords in popular songs. |
| C．They imagined the songs that can make people pleased. |
| D．They found lots of songs and then compared each other. |
| A．Pleasant music can explain human nature. |
| B．Listening to music might make people feel blue. |
| C．Music can improve the pleasure system of people. |
| D．Pleasant music comes from the balance of expectation and surprise. |
| A．His study only paid attention to chords in songs. |
| B．His study focused on the effects of surprise on pleasure. |
| C．His study took time to how music starts the pleasure system. |
| D．His study paid attention to the uncertainty of listeners' expectations. |
10 . Machu Picchu was a city of the Inca Empire （帝国）.It is sometimes called the "lost city“ because the Spanish never discovered the city when they controlled the Inca in the 1500s.
One of the most amazing things about Machu Picchu is its location. It is 8 ,000 feet above sea level on top of a mountain in the Andes in southern Peru. Three sides of the city have cliffs that drop over 1 ,400 feet to the Urubamba River. At the fourth side of the city is a high mountain.
Researchers believe that the city was first built around the year of 1450. Building work likely continued on the site until the empire was controlled by the Spanish in the middle 1500s.
Machu Picchu was built as a place for the ninth Inca King, Pachacuti. Researchers aren't sure why he built it, however. There are a number of ideas as to the reason. One idea is that it was a vacation place for the king. It is in a Vacation place than the capital city of Cuzco. It is also in a beautiful location and would have been a nice hiding place for the king. Another idea is that it was built as a religious site. Machu Picchu was not a large city. Probably only around 1,000 people lived there.
Most of the buildings were built with stones that were fitted together tightly without the use of mortar （砂浆）.This style of building helped the buildings to stay complete during earthquakes. The Inca didn't use the wheel, so most of the hardwork was done by people. It would have taken hundreds of workers to move the large stones around the site.
The city was rediscovered in July 1911 by an explorer Hiram Bingham. He was led there by a local boy named Pablito Alvarez. Later, Hiram wrote a book about the city called Last City of the Incas.
1. What can we learn about Machu Picchu?| A．It's close to the Urubamba River. |
| B．It's controlled by the Spanish now. |
| C．It's surrounded by cliffs from every side. |
| D．It’s on top of an 8 ,000-foot-tall mountain. |
| A．Deep narrow valleys. | B．Long rivers. |
| C．High sharp rocks. | D．Huge mountains. |
| A．To stay safe during earthquakes. |
| B．To make it the capital city. |
| C．To stay cool during the summer. |
| D．To use it for some religious reason. |
| A．The process of building Machu Picchu. |
| B．Some basic facts about Machu Picchu. |
| C．The rediscovery of Machu Picchu. |
| D．The location of Machu Picchu. |
