1 . Have you ever heard about Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Surely, they are all about finding the best deals on holiday gifts for yourself and family members. And have you heard about GivingTuesday? Here is something about it!

GivingTuesday is observed annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, which encourages people to help those in need by making financial donations or doing good in their local community. The “Global Day of Giving” was started in 2012 by New York City nonprofit 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation.

Unlike Black Friday, GivingTuesday serves a more altruistic purpose. In its first year, the movement brought in almost $10 million for charities, and things have only improved since. In 2019, many GivingTuesday social media campaigns worldwide helped raise an amazing $ 1.9 billion from 27 million donors! Over the past five years, many higher education institutions have also been using the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to ask alumni for donations. In 2019, the University of Michigan, which calls it Blueday, received 5887 gifts totaling over $4 million, while Pennsylvania State University raised $710 000 to benefit over 85 University programs.

Though donating money certainly helps, there are many other ways to support the great cause, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can video tutor kids struggling with online learning, or team up with an adult to get groceries or medications for an elderly neighbor. Alternatively, call on your peers to help you with a service project that addresses an issue close to your heart, or pick one from the several ideas suggested on the GivingTuesday website. You can also donate your gently-used clothes and toys to local shelters, or mail a handwritten note to a grandparent or a friend you miss seeing.

What are you going to do to make a positive difference in your community on GivingTuesday? Let us know by adding your comments below!

1. Why does the author mention Black Friday and Cyber Monday in Paragraph 1?

A．To make a comparison.	B．To lead to the topic.
C．To arouse readers’ interest.	D．To express his doubt.

2. What’s the aim of GivingTuesday?

A．To promote the development of economy.	B．To attract people to buy more holiday gifts.
C．To call on more universities to donate money.	D．To encourage people to help those in need.

3. What does the underlined word “altruistic” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．Selfless.

B．General.

C．Specific.

D．Complex.

4. What is Paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．Where people can offer their kind help.	B．What people can do on GivingTuesday.
C．How people can stay safe during COVID-19.	D．Why people need to support the great cause.

2 . The joy of giving is real, according to a study. Research presented in the Journal of the Association for Psychological Science shows that those who give gifts are happier — and happier for longer — than those who receive gifts.

Researchers conducted two studies last year. In one，participants were given $5 every day for five days and were required to spend the money on the same thing each day. Some participants were required to spend the money on themselves, while others were required to give to make a donation to charity. In a second experiment that was done online, participants played 10 rounds of a word puzzle game and each won 5 cents per round, which they could keep or donate.

In both experiments, participants reported their overall happiness. Those who donated their money showed that their happiness declined at a much slower rate than those who kept the money or spent it on themselves.

The researchers note that when people focus on an outcome, they can easily compare outcomes, which may diminish their sensitivity to each experience. When people focus on an action, they may focus less on comparison and instead experience each act of giving as a unique happiness-inducing event. Further analyses ruled out some potential alternative explanations, such as the possibility that participants who gave to others had to think longer and harder about what to give, which could promote higher happiness.

The results are especially interesting because according to one of the researchers, Ed O’Brien of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, they conflict with past research. “If you want to sustain happiness over time, past research tells us that we need to take a break from what were currently consuming and experience something new. Our research reveals that the kind of thing may matter more than assumed: Repeated giving, even in identical ways to identical other，may continue to feel relatively fresh and relatively pleasurable the more we do it,” O’Brien said.

So for all the holiday gifts you give this season, expect to feel happy and know that feeling is going to stick around for a while.

1. What’s the function of the first paragraph?

A．To lead to the topic.

B．To highlight the importance of the study.

C．To recommend a journal.

D．To persuade people to give gifts regularly.

2. Why did the researchers do two experiments?

A．To challenge the past research.

B．To rule out different experimental data.

C．To show the benefits of donation.

D．To make the conclusion more convincing.

3. What does the underlined word “diminish” probably mean in the fourth paragraph?

A．Develop.

B．Show.

C．Reduce.

D．Lack.

4. What’s the main finding of the new study?

A．Gift giving will result in longer happiness than receiving.

B．Thinking longer and harder on giving will promote higher happiness.

C．The feeling of happiness will disappear soon if people just give holiday gifts.

D．Taking a break from what were currently consuming will sustain happiness.

3 . A Bridge Linking Art and the Audience

According to a 2018 report, people aged between 16 and 24 make up about 15 percent of the population but only 10 percent of museum-goers. Similarly, people aged over 35 go half as much as you would expect from their population size. We have reached the point of recognising the disconnection between art and the audience but haven’t yet determined how to bridge the gap. Two answers to tackling this challenge lie in telling a greater diversity of art histories and communicating these stories in more accessible ways.

In 2018, a radio program called Art Matters was started with the aim of discussing art from a pop-culture viewpoint with topics that would engage younger and more diverse audience. It offers an accessible pathway to art history with conversations on different topics. Art history is about storytelling; art content shines when there is an effort to bring audience along for the discussion.

More traditional institutions are paying attention. Recently the Getty Museum issued a social-media challenge for people to recreate paintings using items they had at home. Users displayed incredible creativity, and the museum was flooded with submissions. This reaction proves that there is a potential desire for the audience to engage with art topics if the format is appealing. Since many people feel intimidated and think that there’s a base level of understanding required to join the conversation, the Getty initiative serves as a reminder that there are many pathways to engaging with it.

Another result of the Getty challenge was the exposure given to a diversity of artworks. The famous opera singer Peter Brathwaite, for example, made scores of attractive recreations highlighting centuries of black paintings. His efforts opposed the idea that there were not many historical paintings of black figures. It is extremely important that we do a better job of showing the complex and diverse stories that are represented in art.

Social media have offered a platform for people who have not traditionally had a seat at the table. Anyone can recognise a gap in the field and address it. Accounts have gathered tens of thousands of followers. They are the proof that there is hunger to hear these art histories, and these themes work brilliantly for museum programming.

But there is only so much that can be done without the museums and galleries changing meaningfully from within. We need to see a better balance of these stories represented in permanent collections. We also need a much wider diversity of people and interests represented on board. Ensuring that art-and writing and talking about art-is able to continue on the rising generation of storytellers, inside and outside of institutions, getting the funding and support they need to paint a brighter picture for the part.

1. What challenge is the author trying to tackle?

A．People doubt a great diversity of artworks.

B．Fewer and fewer young people go to museums.

C．Art appears too distant from common audience.

D．Adult audience has a different understanding of art.

2. What does the underlined word “intimidated” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Tired.

B．Worried.

C．Annoyed.

D．Surprised.

3. In the author’s opinion, the museums and galleries should ________.

A．make the art history stories accessible in a traditional way.

B．change meaningfully for activities like the Getty challenge.

C．limit the number of storytellers both in and out of institutions.

D．improve the permanent collections by adding famous artworks.

4. We can conclude from the passage that common audience ________.

A．lacks the channels to understand and talk about art history.

B．prefers to view artworks and hear art stories on social media.

C．feels satisfied with people and interests represented on board.

D．refuses to engage with diverse art topics and art history stories.

4 . Cybercrime refers to any criminal offence related to the Internet. Internet crimes have been classified into four categories. First, they can be related to a lack of proper Internet security, such as downloading or deleting other people’s files without permission, and spreading computer viruses. The second are crimes usually committed without a computer, but can occur over the Internet. For some criminals use the Internet to cheat others of their money. Third, websites which offense information or encourage hatred and violence are named. Last, there are related to intellectual property (intellectual property is a design, patent, book, etc. law prevents other people from copying).

All Internet users are affected by cybercrime in one way or another. However, crime against a private organization in the USA, showed that 45.6 percent of the 351 biggest company government agencies had had their security systems broken into in the previous year. Security consultants tell us that cybercrime is costing firms worldwide hundreds of billions of dollars every.

Considering how bad the situation with cybercrime against companies has become, many people wonder why so little is known about this. The main reason is that most cybercrime is not reported. Until now, most companies have been unwilling to report cases of cybercrime. They fear that by doing so, they will lose customers, who may think that the company cannot protect their confidential information or their money.

All of this is made more difficult by the legal situation regarding cybercrime. Cybercrime is so new that many governments have not yet passed laws against it, and there are many holes in the legal systems. In addition, most countries do not have arrangements for dealing with suspects from other countries who may have committed cybercrime. Thus, it is difficult to catch criminals of cybercrime.

The only answer to this problem is international cooperation. Governments must join forces to keep up with the advances in technology used by the criminals. It is also important to draft new laws and negotiate international standards for fighting cybercrime.

1. Which of the following can be considered as cybercrime?

A．Copying others’ public files.	B．Creating computer virus.
C．Sending hatred words to a friend.	D．Stealing from online banks.

2. How does the author prove that cybercrime is worse to large companies?

A．By comparing the changing numbers.	B．By listing the survey data.
C．By analyzing the heavy loss.	D．By adding background information.

3. Which of the following best explains “confidential” underlined in Paragraph 3?

A．Legal.

B．Valuable.

C．Private.

D．Correct.

4. What is the author’s advice to prevent cybercrime

A．Countries work together following the same law.

B．Abroad cybercriminals should be sent back.

C．The lawyers should learn more about laws.

D．The government should flow the law.

5 . A small bowl bought at a yard sale in Connecticut for just $ 35 has been identified as a rare 15th-century Chinese antique.

The blue-and-white bowl was made by China's royal court during the Ming dynasty. It is now expected to sell for up to $500,000, according to Sotheby's auction(拍卖)house in New York, where the auction will take place next month.

The purchase was made last year near New Haven, Connecticut. “I was just hanging around there aimlessly. But when I saw this bowl, I didn't even bargain over the $35 asking price,” the owner said. Shortly after the purchase, he sent photos of the bowl to auction specialists, who identified it as an item of historical significance.

Upon closer inspection, the artifact was found to have originated from the period of Yongle Emperor, who ruled from 1403 to 1424 - a period noted for its distinctive porcelain (瓷器)techniques. It's now valued between $300,000 and $500,000, with the top estimate nearly 14,300 times the amount it was purchased for.

“I was deeply attracted by the techniques. You can see why this bowl is so highly-valued from the very smooth porcelain body, silky glaze(上釉)and special blue coloring, which were never reproduced in later dynasties,” McAteer, an auction specialist, said.

“The Yongle Emperor improved the porcelain techniques and elevated the importance of porcelain from being an ordinary bowl into a true work of art. This small bowl has both practical and artistic value, ”McAteer said.

1. What can we infer about the bowl's owner?

A．He found the bowl by accident.

B．He hesitated during the purchase.

C．He doubted whether the bowl was real.

D．He bought the bowl because it was cheap.

2. What makes the bowl so precious?

A．The blue color on it.	B．The long history it has.
C．The people who made it.	D．The unique techniques used.

3. What does the underlined word “elevated” in Paragraph 6 probably mean?

A．Forsaw.	B．Promoted.
C．Assessed.	D．Acknowledged.

4. What's the best title of the text?

A．An Amazing Bowl	B．A Special Yard Sale
C．The Return of Porcelains	D．A Man Making Fortune

6 . Coca-Cola is to test a paper bottle as part of a longer-term goal to get rid of plastic from its packaging entirely. The prototype (样本) is made by a Danish company from an extra-strong paper shell that still contains a thin plastic liner (衬垫). But the goal is to create a 100% recyclable, plastic free botte capable of preventing gas escaping from carbonated (碳酸) drinks. The barrier must also ensure no fibers get into the liquid.

That may have a risk of changing the taste of the drink — or potentially can't meet the requirements of health and safety checks. But industry giants (巨头) are backing the plan. Coca-Cola, for example, has set a goal of producing zero waste by 2030. Coca-Cola was ranked the world's number one plastic polluter by charity group Break Free From Plastic last year, closely followed by other drink-producers Pepsi and Nestle.

The Paper Bottle Company, or Paboco, is the Danish firm behind the development of the paper-based container. Part of the challenge has been to create a structure capable of standing the forces exerted by carbonated drinks — such as cola and beer — which are bottled under pressure. On top of that, the paper needs to be mouldable to create distinct bottle shapes and sizes for different brands and take ink for printing their labels.

After more than seven years of lab work, the firm is now ready to host a trial in Hungary this summer of Coca-Cola's fruit drink Adez. Initially, this will involve 2,000 bottles distributed via a local retail chain.

But it is also working with others. Absolut, the vodka maker, is due to test 2,000 paper bottles of its own in the UK and Sweden of its pre-mixed, carbonated raspberry drink. And beer company Carlsberg is also building prototypes of a paper beer bottle.

Michael Michelsen, the firm's commercial manager, says the bottles are formed out of a single piece of paper-fiber-based material to give them strength.

1. What is the longer-term goal of Coca-Cola company?

A．To stop using plastic in its packaging.

B．To produce drinks of alternative tastes.

C．To expand business in European countries.

D．To use paper bottles with a thin plastic liner.

2. What can be inferred from the text?

A．Coca-Cola has very strong competitors.

B．Some industry giants are in favor of plastic free packaging.

C．Carbonated drinks are facing stricter health and safety checks.

D．The paper bottle company is under pressure from environmentalists.

3. What does the underlined word “mouldable” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．Being hard to be printed on.

B．Being able to be strengthened.

C．Being able to be made into different shapes.

D．Being able to be mixed with other materials.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Coca-Cola Takes the Lead to Go Green

B．Paper Bottles Are in Place for the Market

C．Drink Industry Is Turning to Paper Bottles

D．Paper Bottle Companies Spring up Worldwide

7 . Chinese Dragon Head-raising Festival is a traditional Chinese festival held on the second day of the second month of the Chinese calendar. It marks the start of spring and farming. Ancient people believed that after this day, rainfall increases because the rain-bringing Dragon King has woken up from his winter sleep. In ancient times, farming highly depended on the weather. Proper rainfall and plenty of sunlight were necessary for a good harvest at the end of the year. The Chinese dragon, besides a symbol of good luck and great power, is also the god managing weather and water. So Dragon Head-raising Day is about honoring the Chinese dragon and praying for good weather in spring.

The festival celebrates ancient agrarian(农耕的) Chinese culture, and while some of traditional ways to celebrate it are no longer practiced, others persist.

The most famous tradition is getting a haircut. A saying warns that cutting your hair in the first month will cause your uncle to die. Although today few pay attention to it, it was once a tradition for people to line up outside barber shops this day after they avoided haircuts for the preceding(前面的)month.

Today Chinese Dragon Head-raising Day is celebrated in many different ways, most of which are still similar to those practiced in the ancient times, including eating spring pancakes and noodles. People eat tofu balls in East China’s Fujian Province during the festival while fried beans are the traditional festival food for people in parts of Shandong Province. Food eaten on this day also gets a lucky name. For example, noodles are “dragon’s beard” and dumplings are “dragon’s ears”.

1. In fact ancient Chinese held Dragon Head-raising Day .

A．to get as much rain as possible.

B．to celebrate the Dragon King's birthday.

C．to wake up the sleeping Dragon King.

D．to wish for good weather for better farming.

2. The underlined word “persist” probably means in this passage.

A．消亡

B．持续

C．改变

D．完善

3. Who was this passage most probably written for?

A．Foreigners interested in Chinese traditional culture.

B．Foreigners learning about agrarian culture.

C．Chinese farmers in need of good weather conditions.

D．Chinese students proud of the long history of our country.

4. What’s the best title of this passage?

A．The history of Dragon Head-raising Day.

B．The development of Dragon Head-raising Day.

C．The celebration of Dragon Head-raising Day.

D．The introduction of Dragon Head-raising Day.

8 . Bangladesh's floating gardens, built to grow food during flood seasons, could offer a continuous solution for parts of the world which are likely to suffer from flooding because of climate change, a new study has found.

Bangladesh's floating gardens began hundreds of years ago. The gardens are made from native plants that float in the rivers and operate almost like rafts (筏), rising and filling with the waters. Historically, they were used to continue growing food during rainy seasons when rivers were filled with water.

The farmers layer the plants about three feet deep, creating a version of raised-bed gardens that float in the water. Then, they plant vegetables inside those rafts. As the raft-plants rot away, they release nutrients, which help feed the vegetable plants.

But as climate change affected the volume of water in those rivers, the researchers wanted to understand whether Bangladesh's floating gardens could be a continuous farming practice. They interviewed farming families and found strong evidence that floating gardens provide stability, both in the amount of food available to feed rural populations and in a farming family's income.

They found that farmers typically use hybrid (杂交) seeds, which must be repurchased each year, to grow a diverse range of vegetables in the floating gardens. The gardens are also sensitive to pests, so farmers end up spending some money on both pesticides and fertilizers. But even with those expenses, they found, benefits outweighed costs. One farmer told the research team that he earns up to four times as much money from the gardens as from traditional rice fields.

However, before gaining profits, farmers often take out high-interest loans (贷款) to cover the investment costs of filling the beds and stocking them with plants. Luckily; there are also lower-interest loans from responsible government or non-governmental organizations, which could ease that burden.

1. How do vegetable plants grow according to the text?

A．By absorbing nutrition from raft-plants.	B．By taking shelter from climate change.
C．By living together with hybrid seeds.	D．By moving up and down with raised beds.

2. What might be a reply from farming families interviewed?

A．“Our life becomes tough when rivers flood.”	B．“Fewer vegetables are planted when water rises.”
C．“We harvest much more food during rainy seasons.”	D．“Climate change has little influence on our income.”

3. What does the underlined word “outweighed” in paragraph 5 mean?

A．Affected.

B．Brought.

C．Beat.

D．Equaled.

4. What can be inferred from the text?

A．A solution to climate problem has been found.	B．The gardens are built with rotted native plants.
C．Farmers earn more from traditional rice fields.	D．Low-interest loans lighten the stress of farmers.

9 . The idea of billions of people going through a few masks a week during this pandemic definitely rings alarm bells, but a team of researchers in Melbourne may have the solution.

They’ve discovered that adding millions of discarded face masks to road-paving (铺路) mixtures would actually lower the cost of the road, while preventing billions of them from landfills. Just one kilometer of road would need three million masks, and the polypropylene (聚丙烯) plastic used to make single-use surgical face masks also increased the flexibility and durability of the road.

The new material is a mixture of about 2% torn masks, with recycled concrete aggregate (RCA)—a material obtained from waste concrete and other minerals from destroyed buildings. This recycled material was found in the study to be ideal for two of the four layers generally required to create roadways. Paving a kilometer of two-way road with the RCA and three million face masks would result in a change of 93 tons of waste from landfills.

The final product then is more resistant to wear than asphalt (沥青), as well as being cheaper too, provided there was a method for collecting masks. The research team did a cost-analysis and found that, at $26 per ton, the RCA was about half the cost of mining raw materials, and as much as a third of the cost of shipping the used masks to a landfill.

The widespread application would be ideal for large infrastructure (基础设施) projects. For example, Washington has the 11th worst roads in terms of unaddressed repairs in the U.S. If the damaged roads in Washington state were repaired with the RCA/mask mixture, it would reuse nearly 10 billion masks, sparing American landfills hundreds of millions of tons of trash.

It’s said that the team is looking for private industry partners or governments willing to give their plastic mask road an opportunity for a large-scale test.

1. What does the underlined word “discarded” mean in paragraph 2?

A．Recycled.	B．Produced.
C．Mixed.	D．Abandoned.

2. What is the new material used to pave ways made of?

A．2% torn masks, concrete and tons of trash.

B．Polypropylene plastic and building materials.

C．Single-use surgical masks and recycled concrete aggregate.

D．Waste concrete and other minerals from destroyed buildings.

3. Why are numbers mentioned in paragraph 5?

A．To tell us what the team has found.

B．To prove this material is cost-effective in paving roads.

C．To explain repairing roads costs a lot of materials.

D．To praise the hard work the team has done.

4. What can we learn from the text?

A．The material used to pave roads is made of masks.

B．Generally speaking, it requires two layers to create roadways.

C．It remains to be tested whether the solution is practical.

D．The damaged roads in Washington were repaired with the RCA.

10 . Yoga originated in ancient India some 5,000 years ago. It has since spread across the world to many cultures. In the last few years, yoga has been offering classes aiming at the hearing impaired(听障者).

Most yoga classes are based on a model in which students learn by listening to their teacher's statements. As many yoga positions limit the ability to see the teacher, hearing-impaired participants who rely on lipreading (唇读) or sign language are left on their own during a class.

Recognizing the hearing -impaired are eager to attend yoga classes, one British yoga studio determined to fill the lack. Bethaney Mouzer, a yoga instructor launched Sign Yoga in 2019, with the goal of bringing yoga to people for whom the practice may have previously been forbidden.

Mouzer, who was born to non-hearing parents, is used to existing two worlds. After becoming a yoga teacher in 2015, she fielded requests from many people who were interested in yoga, but struggled to find teachers to accommodate their needs.

At first Mouzer started out small, holding single-day workshops at local studios in Birmingham and Worcester, where she signed continuously throughout the classes. The sessions were an immediate hit, and Mouzer began posting classes online via a Facebook page called Sign Yoga. Finally, once there was enough demand, Mouzer also started teaching in London.

Today, Sign Yoga is a mostly online company, with live Zoom classes and pre - recorded lessons accessible to students, as well as occasional in-person classes held in local parks. Mouzer ran a Deaf Accessible Yoga Teacher Training workshop in May.

1. How are most yoga classes carried out?

A．By following teachers' instructions.

B．By adjusting yoga positions frequently.

C．By encouraging students to participate.

D．By ignoring the needs of disabled learners.

2. Why did Bethaney Mouzer create Sign Yoga?

A．To satisfy the needs of sign language.

B．To make a fortune by teaching Yoga.

C．To compensate for her suffering while learning Yoga.

D．To make Yoga accessible to the hearing-impaired.

3. What does the underlined word “fielded” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Refused.

B．Answered.

C．Presented.

D．Repeated.

4. Which word can best describe Mouzer according to the last two paragraphs?

A．Kind.

B．Romantic.

C．Grateful.

D．Good-tempered.