1 . You might think male models lead glamorous lives, filled with endless travel and invitations to socialize with the rich and beautiful. Almost everyone has formed an unrealistic picture of their lives, believing that they spend one afternoon beside the Mediterranean Sea sipping coffee and getting suntanned and the next moment they are on board flying to Rome. However, according to a 2016 documentary made by the pop culture news site Fusion, the financial reality of male models is not very pretty.
The main subject of the documentary, titled Unglamorous, is a male model named Cameron Keesling who went to New York to start his career, hoping to make a fortune in the world of models. Keesling is not a supermodel but he has certainly made his name known in the industry. He was “working in the industry for about a year before landing the cover of Italian Vogue” in 2014. But “Keesling and his companions were paid nothing for the efforts”, Fusion reporter Nikita Redkar wrote.
Keesling also appeared at Paris Fashion Week and won lots of praise, while his compensation wouldn’t even cover the cost of traveling to and from Paris.
According to the documentary the most common way models get paid is by receiving free clothes, rather than money. In order to make ends meet, consequently, many of them have to take another job simply to make a living. Many of these models are in debt. Once they find an agency to represent them, a living income is provided by the agency to accommodate their rent, food, clothing and other expenses. Models are expected to pay off these costs once they find work, but many of the industry’s jobs don’t pay at all. Believe it or not, there is a pay gap between male models and female counterparts. Based on a survey conducted by Fortune.com, female models can make millions more than males, especially if you compare the top ten earners of each gender.
1. In common people’s eyes, male models are living __________.| A．a busy and simple life | B．a tiring and dull life |
| C．an easy and comfortable life | D．a hard and embarrassing life |
| A．To introduce his real life |
| B．To explain why he went to New York |
| C．To illustrate the hardship of male models’ lives |
| D．To encourage models to make a fortune in New York |
| A．Friends | B．Peers |
| C．Schoolmates | D．Opponents |
| A．Supportive | B．Doubtful |
| C．Critical | D．Objective |
2 . ''I'd like to play a game. That is so much fun. It's not so very hard to do.''
As soon as I hear ''Simple Simon says put your hands on your head'', I am back in my grandfather's living room on New Year's Day in the early 1970s. It was our family's favorite song to get the party started.
Grandfather's house was the gathering place for my mum, dad, aunties, uncles and cousins to meet up. My mum comes from a big family, so there was always lots of chatter and laughter. Whenever someone told a story they would get up and do all the actions to illustrate it, which was great fun.
Grandfather had a coal fire, so it was always warm, even if it was freezing outside. He sat in his armchair and happily watched everyone dancing while he smoked a pipe.
Once Simon Says had got the party going, other records would follow, such as Sugar, Sugar by the Archies.
Later there would be a sing-along, with everyone taking turns to sing old folk songs such as A Warship Had Landed. I would put my hands over my ears at this one as it was so sad.
Grandfather drove us home as he didn't drink. The road we travelled on was dark. There was one big bump(隆起物) that made us feel as if we were on a roller coaster(过山车). As we approached it, we would shout, ''Go faster, Grandfather! ''
I've been to many New Year parties, but none can match those family get-togethers at Grandfather's. You can keep your Gangnam Style moves—it's much more fun to dance along to Simon Says!
1. According to the text, the song Simon Says _______.| A．was written by the author's grandfather |
| B．was the only song the author could sing |
| C．was the first song the author learnt |
| D．was often played at the author's family's New Year parties |
| A．Explain. | B．Retell |
| C．Represent | D．Comment. |
| A．They never sang sad songs at their parties. |
| B．They were kept warm by a coal fire. |
| C．The author's grandfather liked drinking alcohol. |
| D．Smoking was forbidden at the author's grandfather's house. |
| A．A Beautiful Song |
| B．My Kind Grandfather |
| C．Unforgettable Family Parties |
| D．My Happy Childhood |
3 . For those who can stomach it, working out before breakfast may be more beneficial for health than eating first, according to a study of meal timing and physical activity.
Athletes and scientists have long known that meal timing affects performance. However, far less has been known about how meal timing and exercise might affect general health.
To find out, British scientists conducted a study. They first found 10 overweight and inactive but otherwise healthy young men, whose lifestyles are, for better and worse, representative of those of most of us. They tested the men’s fitness and resting metabolic (新陈代谢的) rates and took samples (样品) of their blood and fat tissue.
Then, on two separate morning visits to the scientists’ lab, each man walked for an hour at an average speed that, in theory, should allow his body to rely mainly on fat for fuel. Before one of these workouts, the men skipped breakfast, meaning that they exercised on a completely empty stomach after a long overnight fast (禁食). On the other occasion, they ate a rich morning meal about two hours before they started walking.
Just before and an hour after each workout, the scientists took additional samples of the men’s blood and fat tissue.
Then they compared the samples. There were considerable differences. Most obviously, the men displayed lower blood sugar levels at the start of their workouts when they had skipped breakfast than when they had eaten. As a result, they burned more fat during walks on an empty stomach than when they had eaten first. On the other hand, they burned slightly more calories (卡路里), on average, during the workout after breakfast than after fasting.
But it was the effects deep within the fat cells that may have been the most significant, the researchers found. Multiple genes behaved differently, depending on whether someone had eaten or not before walking. Many of these genes produce proteins (蛋白质) that can improve blood sugar regulation and insulin (胰岛素) levels throughout the body and so are associated with improved metabolic health. These genes were much more active when the men had fasted before exercise than when they had breakfasted.
The implication of these results is that to gain the greatest health benefits from exercise, it may be wise to skip eating first.
1. The underlined expression “stomach it” in Paragraph 1 most probably means “______”.| A．digest the meal easily | B．manage without breakfast |
| C．decide wisely what to eat | D．eat whatever is offered |
| A．Their lifestyles were typical of ordinary people. |
| B．Their lack of exercise led to overweight. |
| C．They could walk at an average speed. |
| D．They had slow metabolic rates. |
| A．They successfully lost weight. | B．They consumed a bit more calories. |
| C．They burned more fat on average. | D．They displayed higher insulin levels. |
| A．A workout after breakfast improves gene performances. |
| B．Too much workout often slows metabolic rates. |
| C．Lifestyle is not as important as morning exercise. |
| D．Physical exercise before breakfast is better for health. |
4 . According to a recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research, both the size and consumption habits of our eating companions can influence our food intake. And contrary to existing research that says you should avoid eating with heavier people who order large portions(份), it's the beanpoles with big appetites you really need to avoid.
To test the effect of social influence on eating habits, the researchers conducted two experiments. In the first, 95 undergraduate women were individually invited into a lab to ostensibly(表面上)participate in a study about movie viewership. Before the film began, each woman was asked to help herself to a snack. An actor hired by the researchers grabbed her food first. In her natural state, the actor weighed 105 pounds. But in half the cases she wore a specially designed fat suit which increased her weight to 180 pounds.
Both the fat and thin versions of the actor took a large amount of food. The participants followed suit, taking more food than they normally would have. However, they took significantly more when the actor was thin.
For the second test, in one case the thin actor took two pieces of candy from the snack bowls. In the other case, she took 30 pieces. The results were similar to the first test: the participants followed suit but took significantly more candy when the thin actor took 30 pieces.
The tests show that the social environment is extremely influential when we're making decisions. If this fellow participant is going to eat more, so will I. Call it the “I’ll have what she's having” effect. However, we'll adjust the influence. If an overweight person is having a large portion, I'll hold back a bit because I see the results of his eating habits. But if a thin person eats a lot, I'll follow suit. If he can eat much and keep slim, why can't I?
1. What is the recent study mainly about?| A．Food safety. | B．Movie viewership. |
| C．Consumer demand. | D．Eating behavior. |
| A．Big eaters. | B．Overweight persons. |
| C．Picky eaters. | D．Tall thin persons. |
| A．To see how she would affect the participants. |
| B．To test if the participants could recognize her. |
| C．To find out what she would do in the two tests. |
| D．To study why she could keep her weight down. |
| A．How hungry we are. | B．How slim we want to be. |
| C．How we perceive others. | D．How we feel about the food. |
5 . Returning to a book you’ve read many times can feel like drinks with an old friend. There’s a welcome familiarity - but also sometimes a slight suspicion that time has changed you both, and thus the relationship. But books don’t change, people do. And that’s what makes the act of rereading so rich and transformative.
The beauty of rereading lies in the idea that our bond with the work is based on our present mental register. It’s true, the older I get, the more I feel time has wings. But with reading, it’s all about the present. It’s about the now and what one contributes to the now, because reading is a give and take between author and reader. Each has to pull their own weight.
There are three books I reread annually .The first, which I take to reading every spring is Emest Hemningway’s A Moveable Feast. Published in 1964, it’s his classic memoir of 1920s Paris. The language is almost intoxicating (令人陶醉的)，an aging writer looking back on an ambitious yet simpler time. Another is Annie Dillard’s Holy the Firm, her poetic 1975 ramble (随笔) about everything and nothing. The third book is Julio Cortazar’s Save Twilight: Selected Poems, because poetry. And because Cortazar.
While I tend to buy a lot of books, these three were given to me as gifs, which might add to the meaning I attach to them. But I imagine that, while money is indeed wonderful and necessary, rereading an author’s work is the highest currency a reader can pay them. The best books are the ones that open further as time passes. But remember, it’s you that has to grow and read and reread in order to better understand your friends.
1. Why does the author like rereading?| A．It evaluates the writer-reader relationship. |
| B．It’s a window to a whole new world. |
| C．It’s a substitute for drinking with a friend. |
| D．It extends the understanding of oneself. |
| A．It’s a brief account of a trip. |
| B．It’s about Hemingway’s life as a young man. |
| C．It’s a record of a historic event. |
| D．It’s about Hemingway’s friends in Paris. |
| A．Debt |
| B．Reward. |
| C．Allowance. |
| D．Face value. |
| A．He loves poetry. |
| B．He’s an editor. |
| C．He’s very ambitious. |
| D．He teaches reading. |
6 . When the young donkey Daisy May came to us，she was pregnant. With no donkey experience. I was unprepared for what might come next.
After some difficulty，Daisy’s baby was born. I thought the poor thing was dead. I planned to put the loss behind us and make sure she never got pregnant again. Just then，I heard a little noise. I couldn’t believe that baby was breathing and looking at me!We called him Samson，and of course I became his mother as much as Daisy was.
When Samson was nine months old，I had to separate Daisy and Samson for a few hours a day to wean(使断奶)him，but otherwise he went wherever she did. I think she would be lost without him. His donkey stepdad Bernard taught him to always be ready to have fun. They enjoy playing football together and going for a roll on a hot summer day.
I asked a worker to make a harness(马具)for my three little donkeys. When I brought it home I taught them one by one how to pull a cart. Samson watched and freely followed Daisy. When he was three，I put the harnness on him and he knew exactly what to do.
That was 15 years ago. Now，the most exciting thing about Samson is that he has become a little renowned. People come from all over to see him perform. The neighbors bring their grandchildren，and my sons bring their friends.
Samson shakes hands，unties my shoe，picks up a hat and more. And when I ask him if he has any bad habits，he tries to pick my pocket!He surprisingly learned these tricks himself. I just ask him to do them and he understands.
The relationship I have with my“baby”Samson has been an amazing experience. Every day is a fun day with this superstar donkey.
1. Why was the author at a loss for what might happen next at first?| A．She wasn’t ready to be a mother. |
| B．She never raised a donkey before. |
| C．The donkey was pregnant by accident. |
| D．The donkey gave birth to a dead baby. |
| A．He was surrounded by love. |
| B．He was separated from his family. |
| C．He was unwelcome to the neighbors. |
| D．He was skilled in entertaining people. |
| A．Friendly and courageous. | B．Intelligent and lively. |
| C．Carefree and creative. | D．Patient and fortunate. |
| A．Strange. | B．Proud. |
| C．Humorous. | D．Famous. |
7 . China has entered the cinematic(电影制作的) space race. Wandering Earth, the country’s first blockbuster science fiction film, is on track to be one of the highest grossing (票房收入) films in China’s history.
The film has brought in more than 2bn yuan (£232m) in the six days since its release on February 5. So far, it is the highest-grossing film released over the holiday season, a peak time for the Chinese box office（票房收入）.
Wandering Earth is based on the work of Liu Cixin, the author of the Three-Body Problem series and the first Chinese author to win a Hugo award.
“Wandering Earth fills the gap in Chinese science fiction movies. It means that China’s science fiction movies have officially set sail,” one fan of the film wrote on the review site Douban.
The film is seen by some as the dawn of Chinese sci-fi — a genre(类型；体裁) that has long been led by Hollywood. Several other Chinese-made sci-fi films are due to debut (首映) this year, including Shanghai Fortress, about an alien invasion, and Pathfinder, which follows a spaceship that has crashed on a deserted planet.
Frant Gwo, the director of Wandering Earth, said, “2019 could be remembered as year zero of Chinese science-fiction blockbusters. It is not just about one successful movie but about multiple films.”
Critics of the film have pointed out the plot holes（剧情漏洞） and cloying of sentimentality（刻意煽情） — something Wandering Earth shares with its Hollywood peers.
In response to plot criticisms about the necessity of ejecting (喷射) Earth from the solar system, Liu said: “Of course we don’t need to escape soon. That’s why it’s a movie instead of a real-life crisis.”
1. What’s the Chinese meaning of the underlined word?| A．非常成功的事物 | B．非常成功的人 |
| C．外星人 | D．英雄人物 |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Negative. |
| C．Positive | D．Uncaring. |
| A．Shanghai Fortress | B．Wandering Earth |
| C．Pathfinder | D．Avatar |
| A．The theory. | B．The ending. |
| C．The special effects. | D．The plot holes. |
8 . Recently, TV shows like National Treasure are increasingly popular in China.
National Treasure combines stage drama with a documentary style to tell the stories behind China’s relics. Cultural relics which once laid in museums have come alive. Through new forms of cooperation between China’s museums and television stations, a new way of presenting historic treasures has been created to promote (提升) the protection of cultural relics and traditional culture.
These shows have increased the public’s interest in cultural relics and motivated them to go to history museums and read historical books. They give examples to show Chinese museums’ shift from the protection, collection and research of relics to presenting national treasures and educating the public.
The idea of bringing ancient relics to life was suggested by President Xi Jinping in a speech delivered at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris in March 2014 and has since been made a reality. In addition to television shows, museums are also cooperating with companies to develop creative cultural products based on cultural relics.
To further promote the full use of cultural relics, all fields of society including the government, museums and companies should work together. The government has already come up with a series of policies (政策) in recent years to promote the development of creative cultural products and the proper use of cultural relics. Those working at museums should not only research relics but also communicate the stories behind them to the public.
1. What is the purpose of the show National Treasure?| A．To advise the public to read more. |
| B．To cooperate with China’s museums. |
| C．To present the audience with interesting stories. |
| D．To raise people’s awareness of cultural protection. |
| A．Forced. | B．Reminded. |
| C．Encouraged. | D．Allowed. |
| A．By uniting the whole society. |
| B．By trying to research the relics. |
| C．By building more cultural museums. |
| D．By telling more people the stories behind them. |
| A．Cultural Relics Come to Life |
| B．TV Shows Are Increasingly Popular |
| C．Cultural Relics Will Be Fully Protected |
| D．Museums Are Cooperating with Companies |
9 . What do you do when you need to look something up? Go to the library? Open an encyclopaedia? Click onto the internet? These days, most people go straight to Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia. But how reliable is it?
There’s no denying the popularity and usefulness of Wikipedia. It attracts a massive 78 million visitors every month, and the site is available in more than 270 different languages. It’s one of the most comprehensive resources available, and it’s got much more information than an ordinary encyclopaedia. The site is updated on a daily basis by thousands of people around the world. Anyone with an internet connection can log on and edit the contents or add a new page. And you don’t need any formal training.
Of course, there are some controls. Wikipedia has a team of more than 1,500 administrators who check for false information. But with more than 16 million articles to keep an eye on, it isn’t easy. So, while Wikipedia benefits from being constantly updated with information from all over the world, it’s also open to “destroyers”.
Some of the damage is easy to notice. One prankster(搞恶作剧者) drew devil horns and a moustache on Microsoft chairman Bill Gates’ photo, while another edited Greek philosopher Plato’s biography to say he was a “Hawaiian weather man who is widely believed to have been a student of ‘Barney the Purple Dinosaur’ and to have been deeply influenced by his dog, Cutie.”
But other things are harder to spot. The most common form of vandalism involves adding tiny items of false information into the biography of a famous person. Incredibly, some of this misinformation has appeared in newspapers, with The Daily Mail, The Guardian and The Independent all having fallen victim to the pranks. For example, it was reported that TV theme tune composer Ronnie Hazlehurst had written the S Club 7 hit “Reach”. Of course, not true.
So, if you’re going to use any information from Wikipedia, make sure you double-check it first.
1. According to Paragraph 2, what is right about Wikipedia?| A．It is the most useful look-up tool. |
| B．Only professionals can edit its contents. |
| C．New information is added to it every day. |
| D．You can find information in any language on it. |
| A．To prove Wikipedia is unreliable. |
| B．To tell us what Bill Gate looks like. |
| C．To accuse someone of misbehavior. |
| D．To give an example of people’s pranks. |
| A．Damage. | B．Recovery. |
| C．Repair. | D．Protection. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Cautious. |
| C．Ambiguous. | D．Disapproving. |
10 . Sometimes when we are in our darkest hour, something completely unexpected happens that can give us a little bit of hope and comfort.
Jessica was a healthy woman. One day, she woke up and something was not right. After she was sent to the hospital, her heart rate slowed by nearly 50 percent. It took nine days for doctors to zero in on what was causing her problem.
After several weeks, Jessica was able to move her lips. Staff noticed this and introduced Jessica to Consuelo Gonzalez, a professional lip reader. Consuelo can understand what people are saying by the shape their lips make. She can also understand how annoying it is to not be able to communicate because she has been completely deaf since the age of 8.
For a few hours each week, Jessica could have long conversations with Consuelo, diving into the ocean of words she dearly missed. Through Consuelo, Jessica asked the doctors and nurses questions she had long wanted answers to. She also talked to Consuelo about the vivid dreams she was mixing up with reality.
In fact, there are other ways for Consuelo to earn a living by reading lips, but she says helping patients separate horrible dreams from reality is the most rewarding way she can use her unique skill. “What is really wonderful is being able to use this skill to create healing and to create communication between human beings. That’s what feels good. That’s what’s the best: Love.”
After four and a half months in the hospital, Jessica finally recovered. Consuelo was there, holding Jessica’s hands. Jessica eventually went back to work as a math professor. After her experience she wrote a new living will. One thing she added is that if she ever becomes incapacitated like this again, she is never to be left alone.
1. What did Consuelo do for Jessica?| A．She cured Jessica’s heart disease. |
| B．She helped Jessica communicate. |
| C．She taught Jessica how to read lips. |
| D．She made Jessica’s dream come true. |
| A．Horrible. | B．Confident. | C．Worried. | D．Satisfied. |
| A．Seriously ill. | B．Desperately lonely. |
| C．Less reliable. | D．More fortunate. |
| A．A close friendship. | B．A good living will. |
| C．An unusual skill. | D．A new treatment. |
