1 . When someone has deeply hurt you, it can be extremely difficult to let go of your grudge. But forgiveness is possible－and it can be surprisingly helpful to your physical and mental health. Indeed, research has shown that people who forgive have more energy, better appetite (胃口) and better sleep pattern. “People who forgive show less anger and more hopefulness,”says Dr. Frederic Luskin, who wrote the book Forgive for Good. “So it can help save on the wear and tear on our body and make people feel more energetic.”
So when someone has hurt you, calm down first. Take plenty of breaths deeply and think of something that gives you pleasure: a beautiful scene in nature, someone you love. Don’t wait for an apology. “Many times the person who hurt you may never think of apologizing,” says Dr. Luskin. “They may have wanted to hurt you or they just don’t see things the same way. So if you wait for people to apologize, you could be waiting a very long time.” Keep in mind that forgiveness does not necessarily mean accepting the action of the person who upset you. Mentally going over your hurt gives power to the person who brought you pain. Instead, learn to look for the love, beauty and kindness around you. Finally, try to see things from the other person’s perspective. You may realize that he or she was acting out of ignorance(无知), fear, even love. To achieve the perspective, you may want to write a letter to yourself from that person’s point of view.
1. The underlined word “grudge” in the first paragraph most probably means ________.| A．anger | B．forgiveness |
| C．understanding | D．pity |
| A．Forgiveness keeps yourself from being hurt. |
| B．Forgiveness helps stay mentally healthy. |
| C．Forgiving others does good to your health. |
| D．Forgiving yourself is the biggest challenge. |
| A．Try to figure out why you get hurt. |
| B．Writer a letter to the person who hurt you. |
| C．Persuade yourself to accept what others have done to you. |
| D．Think about pleasant things and forget about the hurt. |
| A．people seldom want to apologize |
| B．we’d feel worse accepting others’ apology |
| C．we are not patient enough |
| D．people don’t mean it when they apologize |
2 . The great outdoors: it’s the place to head for when you' re in need of peace and quiet, open spaces, beautiful scenery and exercise. Whether a huge mountain range or a local country park, these natural areas are perfect for us to refresh from our stressed-out lives, and their therapeutic effect is being used more and more to treat mental health.
As an example, in the foothills of the Snowdonia National Park in the UK, specialist therapy sessions are held to help people who suffer from depression, anxiety and stress. Outdoor art-related activities are held for patients, but the setting alone has been credited with improving the mood of patients. Art psychotherapist Pamela Stanley told the BBC that there was a “growing body of evidence” to support eco-therapy.
It’s true that for most of us connecting with the natural world definitely lifts our spirits. But the mental health charity Mind says eco-therapy has been recognized as a formal type of treatment that can sometimes be prescribed to someone by a doctor. It doesn’t involve taking medication, but instead it just develops a person’s relationship with nature. This natural remedy can take on many forms, including doing yoga in a forest, gardening or even hugging a tree.
Evidence has shown there are many benefits of this “green” therapy, including improving social contact, social and work skills and coping abilities. It’s what Dr. Rachel Bragg from the University of Essex calls “psychological restoration”. She told the BBC’s All in the Mind programme that nature-based therapies should be part of a “toolkit” of care for patients.
Of course, eco-therapy won’t cure everything, but it is an option for therapists to use. And as we become more aware of the causes and effects of mental health, it’s good to know that help might lie outside our towns and cities, and that nature can give us a helping hand.
1. In what way does nature work in the therapeutic effect?| A．It helps people get much relieved. | B．It helps people do bodybuilding. |
| C．It is doctorl’s preference for treatments. | D．It can help us fully recover from the illness. |
| A．Option. | B．Contact. | C．Treatment. | D．Effect. |
| A．Tending a garden. | B．Taking medicine. |
| C．Meditating at home. | D．Gathering with friends. |
| A．Unwilling. | B．Negative. | C．Neutral. | D．Positive. |
3 . For much of human history and in many places, girls were considered property, or required to obey their fathers until the day they had to start obeying their husbands. In most of the world that vision of girlhood now seems not merely old-fashioned but unimaginably remote. In field after field girls have caught up with boys. Globally, young women now outnumber (数量超过) young men at university. Girl babies are more wanted than ever before. Even in places, such as China, where the sex-selective abortion of girls has been common, it is becoming less so. Girls are also less likely to be married off in childhood. In 1995 almost six in ten girls in South Asia were married before reaching 18; that has fallen by half.
When societies handle girlhood well, the knock-on effects are astonishing. A girl who finishes secondary school is less likely to become a child bride or a teenage mother. Education boosts earning power and widens choices, so she is less likely to be poor or to suffer domestic abuse. She will have fewer children, and invest more in them. They will be less likely to die in babyhood, or to grow up stunted physically or mentally. She will read to them more and help them with their homework. All this means they will learn more, and earn more as adults. A recent study estimated that, if 100% of their girls completing secondary school is ensured, it could lead to a lasting boost to GDP.
Despite the benefits of nurturing girls, some countries have still failed to grasp them. Only one girl in three south of the Sahara finishes her secondary education. The COVID-19 pandemic could disturb progress for girls in poor countries, or even reverse it. When Ebola forced west African schools to close in 2014, many girls dropped out, never went back and ended up pregnant or as child laborers. UNICEF warns that something similar could happen with COVID-19—but on a larger scale.
1. What's the main idea of the first paragraph?| A．Girls suffer a lot in human history. |
| B．Girls' situation has improved a lot globally. |
| C．Girl babies are more welcomed than ever before. |
| D．Girls do much better than boys in many fields. |
| A．There are more young women than young men at university in China. |
| B．A girl who completes secondary school will have more children. |
| C．Children of the girls with schooling may end up earning more as adults. |
| D．Economy of countries is largely determined by the education level of girls. |
| A．Healthy. | B．Confident. | C．Underdeveloped. | D．Unstable. |
| A．To prove COVID-19 is more serious than Ebola. |
| B．To warn that girls may suffer a lot in COVID-19. |
| C．To appeal to all to pay attention to the poor countries. |
| D．To stress the importance of controlling the disasters. |
4 . Did you know roughly one third of food for human consumption goes to waste? Most of it is fresh fruit and vegetables that go bad. The produce dries out or goes bad, which has led scientists to develop ways of coating or sealing the food to keep it fresher for longer. Now research at Rice University reveals there might be a better way.
Scientists discovered that dipping produce like strawberries and bananas into an egg-based wash is remarkably good for preserving it. The coating is extremely thick, and made from a mixture of powdered egg whites and yolks(70%), and some wood-sourced cellulose to act as a barrier preventing water loss.
What the scientists found was that the egg wash made a significant difference in helping produce stay fresh over a two-week observation period. The appearance of the coated fruits and vegetables didn’t change much, while the uncoated produce ripened and. even rotted within the same time frame. The egg-based coating, as it turned out, reduced each fruit’s chance to get exposed to oxygen.
The non-poisonous coating was found to be flexible and tests showed that it was just as tough as other products, including synthetic films, used in produce packaging. For anyone with an egg allergy, the coating can be removed by thorough washing in water and is tasteless.
The scientists hope this could be a breakthrough in the fight against food waste. "Reducing food shortages in ways that are not related to genetic modification, uneatable coatings or chemical additives is important for better sustainable living ,”said materials scientist and study author Pulickel Ajayan.
What’s great about this discovery is that it fights food waste in more than one way: even the coating was made from eggs that would otherwise have been discarded because they weren’t fit for consumption. The researchers said roughly 200 million of US produced eggs go to waste annually. So if this were scaled up, it could be a win-win situation all around.
1. How does the egg-based wash help keep food fresh?| A．By limiting its oxygen exposure | B．By making its coating less thick. |
| C．By removing its cellulose slowly. | D．By improving its absorbent ability |
| A．To stress the seriousness of food shortage. | B．To offer the method of cutting food waste. |
| C．To show the significance of the discovery. | D．To give brief description of the research. |
| A．Eaten up. | B．Taken in. | C．Picked out. | D．Thrown away. |
| A．How to use eggs creatively. | B．A new way to preserve food. |
| C．How to recycle food waste. | D．A breakthrough in technology. |
5 . Adults perform better when they have a lot to gain or lose. But scientists did not know whether teens did too. To find out, Insel asked 88 people between the ages of 13 and 20. She had them try a game. The participants looked at pictures of planets on a computer screen. They had to click as fast as they could when they saw a planet with designs. They were not supposed to click if a planet had no designs.
The participants could earn 20 cents for right answers but lose 10 cents for wrong ones. In other sessions, they’d get a dollar for right answers, and lose a half dollar for wrong ones. Players of all ages wanted to win the money, and cared more about bigger rewards than smaller ones.
As Insel expected, adults performed better when the stakes were high. But teens 13 to 18 played just as well whether they stood to win 20 cents or a dollar. Only 19- or 20-year olds stepped up their game for the higher stakes.
Insel’s team published this work November 28, 2017, in Nature Communications.
Brains change and mature during adolescence. And not all parts grow at the same rate. Insel was interested in two areas in particular. One is deep inside the brain and just above the ears. Called the ventral striatum (腹侧纹状体), it helps the brain calculate rewards. The ventral striatum becomes mature during the teen years.
The brain’s prefrontal cortex (前额叶) takes longer to mature. This area is important for planning and setting goals. It may not mature until early adulthood.
Nerve pathways - think of them as the brain’s “wiring” - connect the ventral striatum and prefrontal cortex. This lets the two regions communicate to make decisions. But because the prefrontal cortex matures later, the wiring between the two may not be complete until adulthood.
1. Which of the following can explain Insel’s research?| A．Teens ignore key points in many aspects. |
| B．Adults behave better with higher rewards. |
| C．Teens give more attention to exams than usual work. |
| D．Adults behave more maturely than children in every way. |
| A．The final results of games or experiments. |
| B．The things that can be gained or lost in races. |
| C．The ambitions or energies that one experiences in games. |
| D．The powers that make one feel less pressure or pain. |
| A．the experiment aims to find out adults’ behaviour facing high stakes |
| B．teens have better performances in the first rounds |
| C．adults care less about the experiment at first |
| D．adults and teens show differently with high stakes |
| A．Unlike adults, teens don’t perform better with high stakes |
| B．Who perform better, adults or children? |
| C．Stakes are the key points in promoting one’s passion |
| D．Whether low stakes or high stakes, one behaves similarly |
6 . There are some ways to improve your English, but I think the most important thing is to make English all around you. Here's some advice for you.
Listen to the radio in English. If there are no English radio stations at the place where you live, listen to one on the Internet
Watch TV and movies in English. If you have English channels on your TV, watch them. If there are no English channels, you can buy some DVDs of English movies.
Speak English to your friends. You can find a friend who is good at English and speak English with him as much as possible. You'd better find friends whose native language is English. Ask your friend to correct you when needed.
Study in or travel to an English-speaking country. Of course the best way to improve your English is to live in English environments. You'll find yourself surrounded （围绕） with the language everywhere. It can be a more difficult and expensive choice, but you may find it to be a very valuable and helpful experience.
1. If there are no English radio stations where you live, you can ______.| A．buy a new radio | B．buy some DVDs |
| C．listen to one on the Internet | D．find a friend to talk with you |
A．无价值的 | B．有价值的 | C．花费大的 | D．必不可少的 |
| A．You can watch English channels on your TV to improve your English. |
| B．You'd better find friends whose native language is English to talk with you. |
| C．The best way to learn English is to live in all English environments. |
| D．Study in or travel to an English-speaking country is a good choice because it doesn't cost you too much. |
| A．how to improve our English |
| B．the best time to listen to the radio in English |
| C．how to make friends with foreigners |
| D．the suggestions about how to study abroad |
7 . This August, we'll welcome guests from all over the world. Some of them follow their own special cultural traditions. It's important for us to know about them.
In many countries, such as Thailand, India and Malaysia, people believe that the left hand is unclean. So, it's not proper to use one's left hand to hold food, touch others or pass objects. Doing so may offend some guests.
Some Westerners may be offended if you touch them or their personal things-even by accident. If this happens, say sorry politely.
Some elderly Westerners may be offended if you try to help them without their agreement.
People think numbers can be lucky or unlucky. Some Westerners avoid the number 13 because they believe it is unlucky.
Muslims do not eat pork, and words like pigs are not considered proper.
People from Brazil, Italy and Pakistan do not give handkerchiefs as gifts. They believe a handkerchief is closely connected with unhappy feelings.
Wine is not sent as a gift in many parts of western and middle Asia, where most Muslims live.
1. Indians don't hold food with the left hand because they consider it _____.A．unclean | B．useless | C．valueless | D．unimportant |
| A．honor | B．help | C．hate | D．hurt |
| A．People from Pakistan like to send handkerchiefs as gifts. |
| B．All the elderly people in the West like being helped by others. |
| C．The number 13 is thought to be unlucky by some Westerners. |
| D．Westerners do not mind their personal things being touched. |
| A．lucky numbers. | B．Traditional food. |
| C．Culture differences. | D．Hands and handkerchiefs. |
8 . There are hundreds of grape varieties in Japan, but only one can sell for several hundred dollars per grape. The Ruby Roman was cultivated in Japan’ s Ishikawa Prefecture and is considered one of the world’ s most expensive fruits.
The story of Ruby Roman began in 1995, when Ishikawa grape farmers appealed to the government to create a large red grape variety. 400 experimental vines（葡萄树）were planted into a test field. Two years later; they started bearing fruit. However, out of the 400 vines, only 4 turned out to be red grapes, and only one of them was considered large enough to meet the farmers’ expectations. Over the next 14 years, researchers constantly improved its size, taste, color and ease of planting, and today Ruby Roman is considered a “treasure of Ishikawa”.
In 2008, soon after making its commercial debut（首秀）, the Ruby Roman grape variety made international headlines after a 700-gram bunch sold for 10,000 yen（$910）, or $26 per grape. Eight years later, a 26-grape bunch sold for 1.1 million yen（$11,000）, or roughly $370 per grape.
While the Ruby Roman name is used to describe a type of grapes, every bunch must meet very strict standards. For example, every grape in the bunch must weigh at least 20 grams and have a sugar content of at least 18 percent. There is also a Premium class of Ruby Roman grapes—each grape must weigh over 30 grams, and the whole bunch must be at least 700 grams heavy.
Most bunches of Ruby Roman grapes are sold through auctions（拍卖）, but Premium Ruby Rose are extremely difficult to find. For example, in 2010, only six bunches of grapes were certified Premium, and in 2011 no bunches qualified for it.
And if you’ re wondering how the Ruby Roman name came to be, it was apparently voted by local residents（居民）out of 639 different names.
1. The underlined word“cultivated”in the first paragraph can be best replaced by”_________”.| A．discovered | B．preserved |
| C．developed | D．promoted |
| A．is widely planted in Japan | B．does not come easily |
| C．used to be a treasure of Ishikawa | D．is more productive than expected |
| A．To explain how large Ruby Roman grapes are. |
| B．To tell how profitable planting Ruby Roman is. |
| C．To prove how popular Ruby Roman is globally. |
| D．To show how expensive Ruby Roman grapes are. |
| A．It’s named after its birthplace. |
| B．It isn’t available in abundance. |
| C．It doesn’t refer to only one grape variety. |
| D．Its price has nothing to do with its color. |
9 . There are two kinds of memory: short-term and long-term. Information in long-term memory can be remembered at a later time when it is needed. The information may be kept for days or weeks. However, information in short-term memory is kept for only a few seconds, usually by repeating the information over and over. The following experiment shows how short-term memory has been studied.
Henning studied how students who are learning English as a second language remember vocabulary. The subjects in his experiment were 75 college students. They represented all levels of ability in English: beginning, intermediate (中等), and native speaking students.
To begin, the subjects listened to a recording of a native speaker reading a paragraph in English. Following the recording, the subjects took a 15-question test to see which words they remembered. Each question had four choices. The subjects had to circle the word they had heard in the recording, some of the questions had four choices that sound alike. For example, weather, whether, wither, and wetter are four words that sound alike. Some of the questions had four choices that have the same meaning. Method, way, manner, and system would be four words with the same meaning. Finally the subjects took a language proficiency test.
Henning found that students with a lower proficiency in English made more of their mistakes on words that sound alike; students with a higher proficiency made more of their mistakes on words that have the same meaning. Henning's results suggest that beginning students hold the sound of words in their short-term memory, and advanced students hold the meaning of words in their short-term memory.
1. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?| A．Henning gave a separate test on vocabulary to his students. |
| B．Long-term memory can be achieved only by training. |
| C．It is easier to test short-term memory than long-term memory. |
| D．Information in short-term memory is different from that in long-term memory. |
| A．the theme of listening material | B．the student experimented on |
| C．a branch of knowledge studied | D．a native speaker |
| A．advanced students always remember words by their meaning |
| B．beginners have difficulty distinguishing the pronunciation of words |
| C．it is difficult to remember words that sound alike |
| D．it is difficult to remember words that have the same meaning |
| A．an experiment on students | B．two kinds of memory |
| C．short-term memory | D．memory |
10 . When I was a child, I dreamed of becoming many things. Sometimes, I wished I was an astronaut going up into space, finding new planets and jumping around in a cool space suit. Other times, I imagined being a cowboy in the Wild West, wearing stylish cowboy boots. On other occasions, I pretended to be a famous footballer, using my skills to score lots of goals for my team.
Looking back, I realize that imagination is a wonderful thing. I was able to create entire environments and scenarios in my head, using nothing more than my brain, and to be able to adapt things in my everyday surroundings to fit the specific story of the day. Growing up with siblings (兄弟姐妹) also helped, as it meant that even bigger stories could be created, combining our ideas and putting our thoughts into action. It also allowed for more varieties in the stories, as sometimes I could be the hero while on other occasions, I would be the bad guy.
One of my all-time favorite memories as a kid was playing in my back garden. I played the role of Indiana Jones, which cleaned up at the cinema at that time, with my younger sister as my assistant and my brother as a bad person. We used everything in our garden, from the path to the fence, as part of the storyline to create obstacles that needed to be overcome, and we would keep the story going for hours!
My personal favorite game was Indiana Jones and the Stolen Easter Eggs, where my brother hid small chocolate eggs around the garden and my sister and I had to find them by answering questions or solving a puzzle. It was difficult, but eventually we found all the eggs and shared them together.
Since then, I have seen many great things and met many amazing people. The elements of fun and varieties of my creative imaginations are what I try to bring into every part of my positive life. So I can enjoy sharing with and hearing about other people’s stories, too.
1. What do we know about the author from his childhood?| A．He enjoyed living a life full of freedom. |
| B．He was longing to experience adventurous things. |
| C．He was always imagining a bright life for his future. |
| D．He had a clear picture of what he would do after growing up. |
| A．experiences | B．situations |
| C．positions | D．excuses |
| A．an astronaut | B．a famous footballer |
| C．a hot film | D．a very popular book |
| A．My Creative Imagination. | B．My Childhood. |
| C．My Positive Life Today. | D．My Pride in Myself. |
