1 . When photographer Simon Czapp took pictures of a curious five-month-old fox, he soon realized this little fox was attracted by his subject. The clever fox was so curious about the camera equipment that she climbed on top of it. And while she was supposed to be the subject of the shoot, the fox stood on the shutter release button (快门按钮) and took her own frames.
Mr. Czapp visited the New Forest Wildlife Park to capture images of new arrival Jessie. Jessie is a lovely little fox. She has been at the animal park in Ashurst, Hampshire—home to wolves, deer and others in 25 acres of ancient woodland after being abandoned by her mother.
Mr. Czapp said, “Jessie was very playful and curious and not shy at all in front of the camera. Soon after I arrived she was chewing my shoes and everything seemed to be a game to her. Then she started exploring the camera I had set up on a tripod (三脚架). She stood on her back legs to look at the back of the camera. She balanced her front paws on it and at one point knocked it over. ”
He put the camera back on the tripod and Jessie soon jumped back up. At one point she had all four paws on the camera and was keeping her balance. Mr. Czapp added, “She jumped up there several times and I realized it could make a good picture. As I was leaving away with the public’s viewing window (取景窗) behind me, I thought I heard the camera go off but didn’t think much of it. However, when I checked the memory card afterwards, I was amazed to see Jessie had actually taken two frames of me photographing her. I couldn’t believe I had been outfoxed (智取) by a fox! There were some lovely photos of her but she obviously thought the photographer was worthy of a picture too! ”
1. The underlined word “frames” in Para. 1 refers to _______.| A．photographers | B．pictures |
| C．equipments | D．subjects |
a. Jessie pressed the shutter release button, taking her own pictures.
b. Jessie balanced her paws on the camera.
c. Mr. Czapp set up his camera on a tripod.
d. Jessie stood up to look at the back of the camera.
| A．c, d, b, a | B．a, c, d, b |
| C．d, c, b, a | D．b, a, c, d |
| A．Naughty but lovely. | B．Clever but annoying. |
| C．Careful and grateful. | D．Quick but rude. |
| A．Wildlife photographers took photos of wild animals. |
| B．Clever fox took pictures of professional photographer. |
| C．Mr. Czapp showed the fox how to take photos. |
| D．Wild animals enjoy equal rights with humans. |
2 . Some people say that friendship is the only channel through which human beings can ever experience the value of life. In our daily life, it is likely that you share some common interests with others — they may like the same sport, go to the same school or like the same kind of music as you do. Since you often meet them, they become your acquaintances. Although some people develop many acquaintances, only a few become their good friends in their lifetime because there are differences between acquaintances and friends.
It is said that true friendship begins when someone knows what you are really like, but still likes you anyway. A true friend shows loyalty from the very beginning of the relationship. A friend will go through challenges to help you without expecting anything in return. A “friend” today may probably become a “true friend” tomorrow when they get involved in unexpected circumstances together with you — for example, when you are going through a difficult experience and your friend is there to help you out. However, some acquaintances might leave you when you badly need their help. At this time, you can experience what true friendship is.
In our life, some people seem to go through life with plenty of friends. They may be funny or they may have a bright and pleasant personality. For these people, wherever they go, people seem to like them and welcome their company. But when they go through challenging life experiences, some of their friends are not there to help them. Therefore we can say some of their friends are not real friends and their friendship is just skin-deep.
However, others seem to go through life with no friends at all. They like to be alone, to travel by themselves or to do their own things. It’s a pity that few of these people find success in life because they have no friends. They lack the best gift in life — friendship.
1. According to the passage, which of the following statements about acquaintances is TRUE?| A．They have all of the same interests as you do. |
| B．You seldom meet them in your life. |
| C．They are sure to become your good friends. |
| D．Not all of them can become your friends. |
| A．go to the same school as your friend |
| B．get into trouble |
| C．enjoy the same kind of music as your friend |
| D．see your friend often |
| A．it doesn’t matter whether one has friends or not |
| B．people with bright personality are easy to have friends |
| C．people without friends are always unhappy |
| D．it’s easier to lose a friend than to get one |
| A．Very deep. | B．Not deep at all. |
| C．As precious as skin. | D．Hidden under the skin. |
| A．Interested. | B．Angry. |
| C．Hopeful. | D．Regretful. |
3 . Reading is good for more than just entertainment Sparing part of everyday to read printed books can make you a smarter, kinder, more relaxed individual. Involving kids in books, magazines, and more at an early age is a great way to encourage them to be lifelong readers, which means they'll reap these benefits for years to come.
Reading helps understand another personas feelings. Reading books doesn’t just make you smartest can make you a kinder person as well： According to a study in 2013,People who consume literary fiction have an easier time sensing and relating to emotions in other people. Great literature forces readers to step outside themselves and empathize with the characters they’re reading about.
Reading can lower stress. Feel stressed at the end of a long day? Cracking open a book is a good way to wind down. A 2009 study found that reading for just 30 minutes has similar stress-reducing effects to doing 30 minutes of yoga.
Reading is an excuse to put your phone away at night. Reading a physical book before going to bed is a great alternative to scrolling through your phone-something most of us admit to doing. Research has shown that smart phone use at night makes it harder for people to fall asleep and leads to an overall decline in sleep quality, Some experts say reading books, on the other hand ,can have relaxing effects, making it the ideal bedtime activity.
Reading helps families bond. When parents read out loud to their children ,they can pass on the benefits of reading and encourage meaningful interactions. To help kids get the positive effects of reading, parents should stick to physical picture books, A recent study found that printed books, unlike tablets and e-readers, can deepen connections between caretakers and children.
1. What is probably the beat title for the text?| A．Benefits of Reading Printed Books. |
| B．Stress-reducing Effects of Reading. |
| C．Connections between Parents and Kids. |
| D．Significance of Reading Great Literature. |
| A．search. | B．reduce. |
| C．obtain. | D．resist. |
| A．put your phone away |
| B．relax by reading on the smart phone |
| C．read a physical book before bedtime |
| D．do bedtime activities through your phone |
| A．Tablets and e-reader should be made* use of in reading. |
| B．Kids should read aloud to get positive effects of reading. |
| C．Meaningful interactions should be encouraged in games. |
| D．Printed books should be read to improve family connections. |
4 . “Regardless of social class, race and age, men say they hate to shop,” says Zukin, City University of New York sociology professor. “Yet when you ask them deeper questions, it turns out that they like to shop. Men generally like to shop for books, music and hardware. But if you ask them about the shopping they do for books or music, they'll say, ‘Well, that's not shopping. That's research.’”
In other words, what men and women call “buying things” and how they approach that task are different.
Women will wander through several 1,000squaremetre stores in search of the perfect party dress. Men will wander through 100 Internet sites in search of the perfect digital camcorder. Women see shopping as a social event. Men see it as a special task or a game to be won.
“Men are frequently shopping to win,” says Ann, a marketing professor at Loyola University of Chicago. “They want to get the best deal. They want to get the best and latest one and if they do that, it makes them happy. When women shop, they're doing it in a way that they want everybody to be very happy,” says Ann. “They're kind of shopping for love.”
“Teenage girls learn to shop from their mums and elder sisters, and they also learn to shop by examining articles in magazines like Seventeen,” Zukin says. “And although men's magazines such as GQ and Esquire have long had shopping articles, it's TV that has the eye of young male shoppers,” say Ann and Zukin.
“Television shows are used by young men in the same way Seventeen or Lucky is used by girls,” says Zukin, “to help make clothing and toiletry choices.”
“Of course, there are men who love to shop and are proud of it,” Ann says. And that is important no matter whether you buy a car or a frying pan. All men love to buy but don't want to get cheated. Ann adds, “There actually are men who are interested, for example, in cooking or shopping or chinaware or things around the home-they become kind of girl magnets. Women like it.”
1. From the first paragraph we can find that .| A．men like to shop in fact | B．men are all dishonest |
| C．men hate to shop actually | D．men are all booklovers |
| A．honestly | B．frequently | C．seriously | D．foolishly |
| A．only with their sisters | B．often following magazines |
| C．only with their mums | D．often following TV shows |
| A．vegetables that make women beautiful | B．magazines that attract young women |
| C．persons that have a powerful attraction | D．tools that can help housewives much |
5 . The term ''helicopter parents'' refers to ''a style of parents who are over focused on their children''.
Helicopter parents are always making a big effort to provide children with every opportunity to succeed, from baby steps at age I, homework at age 8, college application at age 18, employment issues at age 25 to family problems at age 30, 40 or even older. They constantly (不断地) shadow the child, always directing his behavior, allowing him zero alone time.
Helicopter parenting can develop for a number of reasons. Worries about the economy, the job market, and the world in general can push parents toward taking more control over their children’s life in an attempt to protect them. Adults who felt unloved or ignored as children can overcompensate (对……补偿过多) with their own children. When parents see other over-involved parents, it can cause a similar response. They feel that if they don t involve themselves in their children’s lives, they are bad parents.
The main problem with helicopter parenting is that it can backfire. To give an example, the house where Mary lived with roommates was broken into and things were stolen. Mary called the landlord to install (安装) an alarm system, but before she could finish the negotiations (协商), her mother rushed in and demanded action. ''I felt like my mother ruined my communication with our landlord. We could have gotten it done ourselves. She was well intended but only made me feel annoyed and defeated, '' says Mary.
Obviously, overparenting is motivated with the idea of doing good things but it does the exact opposite. In the long run parents are in fact damaging their child's basic skills to deal with matters independently. It makes the child feel lacking in confidence, less competent in dealing with the stresses of life on their own. They're winning the battle, but in fact losing the war.
1. What's the purpose of helicopter parents’ overparenting?| A．To make their children not ignored. |
| B．To help their children find a good job. |
| C．To do something good for their children. |
| D．To get rid of the pressure from other parents. |
| A．Make an unwanted effect. | B．Get a lot of support. |
| C．Set fire in the backyard. | D．Help to be independent. |
| A．Children who have helicopter parents live a hard life. |
| B．Helicopter parenting only happens to very young children. |
| C．Helicopter parents do their children great harm in the long run. |
| D．Helicopter parents can protect their children against all problems. |
| A．The bad effects of helicopter parenting. |
| B．How we can avoid being helicopter parents. |
| C．Different opinions about helicopter parenting. |
| D．The reasons for the development of helicopter parents. |
6 . It’s normal for teens to want to stay connected with friends and social circle, but what about that happening in the middle of the night? The Journal of Youth Studies recently published new research showing that one in five teens from 12 to 15 regularly wake to spend all night on social media (社会媒体). Not surprisingly, the research also showed that these social night owls were three times more likely than others to feel tired at school and that girls were more likely than boys to be called to office.
The blue light produced by cell phones and computers makes the brain to stay awake, so it's easy to see why a teen might be up all night. A study in Psychological Science showed the same brain reaction: when teens saw large numbers of “likes” on their posts, they stayed awake with excitement as if they had eaten chocolates or won money. Besides not catching up on sleep and interrupting their sleep cycle, teens may never fully enter deep sleep that may be responsible for brain development and learning.
Considering about 72 percent of children from 6 to 17 sleep with some electronic media in their bedrooms, parents need to set rules sooner rather than later.
“Providing access (使用机会) to social media is a favor that children can earn and also lose,” Janie Feldman, an expert who treats sleep disorders (紊乱), reminds parents, “The bad effect is clear. So teens and parents should discuss and agree on its use, timing and access. When teenagers agree to the rules, it’s easier for parents to control how much time they use the phones or computers.”
1. What does the underlined part “night owls” in paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Girls often called to office. |
| B．Teens who stay up late on social media. |
| C．Teens who are busy with their homework at night. |
| D．Boys regularly waking in the middle of the night. |
| A．They are too excited to go to sleep. |
| B．They fall asleep easily and happily. |
| C．They are too excited to go to school. |
| D．They decide to make more good friends. |
| A．Making rules about media access together with their children. |
| B．Getting their children to do homework through computers. |
| C．Encouraging their children to stay connected with online friends. |
| D．Stopping their children from using cell phones. |
| A．Deep sleep makes a big difference to brain development. |
| B．Kids are trying to win back the trust of their parents. |
| C．Social media may have a bad effect on all kinds of people. |
| D．Social media may cause teens’ sleep disorders. |
7 . Elephants on the coast of Thailand are acting strangely. They stamp their feet and signal toward the hills. The sea draws back from the beaches. Fish fall heavily in the mud. Suddenly, a huge wave appears. This is no ordinary wave. It is a tsunami (海啸)!
Tsunami waves are larger and faster than normal surface waves. A tsunami wave can travel as fast as a jet plane and can be as tall as a ten-story building. Imagine dropping a stone into a pond. The water on the surface ripples (起涟漪). A tsunami is like a very powerful ripple. Tsunamis begin when the ocean rises or falls very suddenly. Large amounts of seawater are displaced. This movement causes huge waves.
If a tsunami happens, there must be some kind of force that causes the ocean water to become displaced. Most tsunamis are caused by underwater earthquakes. However, volcanoes, landslides (塌方), large icebergs, and even meteorites (陨石) are able to cause one of these giant waves.
Tsunamis are extremely powerful. Ordinary waves lose power when they break. Tsunami waves can remain powerful for several days. Because tsunami waves are so strong, they can kill people, damage property, and completely ruin an ecosystem in just one hour.
Scientists have no way of predicting when a tsunami will hit. However, if a powerful enough earthquake happens, scientists can send out a warning or a watch. A warning means that a tsunami will very likely hit soon. A watch means that conditions are favorable for a tsunami. When people are informed of a watch or a warning, they have more time to prepare. It is best not to get caught unaware when a tsunami is on the way!
1. Why are elephants acting strangely before the Tsunamis?| A．They dislike the huge wave. |
| B．They are afraid of the big fish. |
| C．They can sense something out of the ordinary. |
| D．They see the ocean drawing back from the beaches. |
| A．Moved out of normal place. | B．Pushed by human force. |
| C．Pulled to great heights. | D．Hung down quickly. |
| A．They are not familiar to most people. |
| B．They are very powerful and long-lasting. |
| C．They break on the coast, unlike normal waves. |
| D．They are caused by underwater earthquakes. |
| A．How to guard against tsunamis. | B．Differences between wave types. |
| C．What to do with tsunami waves. | D．Causes and effects of tsunamis. |
8 . Over the past half-century, North America has lost more than a quarter of its entire bird population, or around 3 billion birds.
“We saw this great net loss across the entire bird community,” says Ken Rosenberg, a scientist in Ithaca, N.Y. “But we also knew that other bird populations were increasing. And what we didn’t know is whether there was a net change.”
Common birds with decreasing populations include dark-eyed juncos and red-winged blackbirds, says Rosenberg. Grassland birds have suffered a 53% decrease, and more than a third of the shorebird population has been lost. Bird populations that have increased include raptors (猛禽), like the bald eagle, and waterfowl.
“The numbers of ducks and geese are larger than they’ve ever been, and that’s not an accident,” says Rosenberg. It’s because hunters who mainly want to see healthy waterfowl populations for sportful hunting have raised their voices.
“People are doing a wonderful effort to try and understand our bird populations with a lot of uncertainty, but the actual systems that we have in place to try and answer really tough questions like this are really far short of what we need,” Ted Simons in North Carolina State University says.
“In all, the conclusions weren’t necessarily surprising,” says Kristen Ruegg, a biologist at Colorado State University. There have been hints (暗示) that the loss was this large from all kinds of sources over the past few years. But in most cases, these were species-specific records of local extinctions or models of projected losses, resulting from things like climate change. This really sort of wakes people up to the idea that this is happening.
Elise Zipkin, a quantitative ecologist at Michigan State University, says the loss can be a big problem. “Just because a species hasn’t gone extinct (灭绝) or isn’t even necessarily close to extinction, it might still be in trouble,” she says. We need to be thinking about conservation (保护) efforts for that.”
1. Which of the following becomes more than before?| A．Dark-eyed juncos. | B．The bald eagle. |
| C．Grassland birds. | D．The shorebirds. |
| A．To hunt for fun. | B．To provide rich foods. |
| C．To escape net loss. | D．To keep people healthy. |
| A．Extra. | B．Interesting. |
| C．Difficult. | D．Official. |
| A．Bird loss can be a big problem. | B．Climate change causes part of bird loss. |
| C．Protecting birds is quite necessary. | D．What is happening is worth considering. |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By showing ideas. |
| C．By explaining numbers. | D．By providing research results. |
9 . “You’ll get square eyes!” my mother used to say as I sat for hour after hour glued to the TV. I ignored her, of course. Past-forward a few decades and now I’m the parent. My 5-year-old lives in a world where screens aren’t fixed pieces of furniture. You can’t even avoid them by going outside. Screens are not only in our pockets; they’re everywhere.
The concerns have grown with the screens. In the past decade, we have heard that they will damage our mental health. Many of us feel more distracted by them, feeling guiltier and more tired as a result.
The apps and websites we can access on our phones have also sparked widespread concern. Big tech companies are also good at making use of our need for social recognition, hooking us on likes, retweets and follower counts. Social media has created a culture of mass narcissism (自恋), which has led many to worry about the emotional stresses on teenagers. A quick online search brings up dozens of papers linking screen use or social media with harmful effects on mental health, including depression and suicide.
Such statements are alarming. They are also widely believed, thanks to popular books like iGen by Jean Twenge, which claims that digital technology has ruined a generation. Yet, Amy Orben at the University of Oxford, who studies the impact of digital technology and social media in particular on mental health, holds different views. She claims that the underlying data can be used to tell different stories. She also spotted shortcomings in several large studies that claimed to show correlations (相关性) between the use of devices with screens and depression in users.
Twenge stands by her own finding, pointing in turn to what she considers flaws in Orben’s research methods. For David Max, at Royal College of Child Health in London, the effect of screen time and social media use on mental health remains speculative. “We cannot regard social media overall as good or bad,” says Davie. “We don’t know whether in individual cases social media is not responsible,” he says.
The explosion of mobile phone use has revolutionized our lives. I can download movies, write articles, communicate with my family and broadcast to the world all at the push of a button. Rather than impose constraints (限制), we should take a look at our use of screens and ask how they fit with the activities and lifestyle.
Every new technology with widespread impact has given rise to new fears. So the best bet may simply be to ask yourself what level of screen use makes you and those around you happy and try to stick to it. If you find yourself over addictive, don’t panic—and certainly don’t feel guilty. Nobody knows anything worth getting scared about.
1. According to the passage, people give likes, retweet or count followers to __________.| A．share one’s lifestyles | B．show respect for others |
| C．seek social recognition | D．relieve emotional stresses |
| A．doubtful | B．specific |
| C．important | D．abstract |
| A．Teenagers are more affected by screen use both physically and mentally. |
| B．Orben claims it is far too early to blame screen use for ruining a generation. |
| C．Big tech companies help to produce many research papers on mental health. |
| D．Twenge mainly introduces the overall benefits of digital technology in her books. |
| A．encourage readers to reduce the time of screen use |
| B．share different opinions on the effects of screen use |
| C．explain why screen use may have negative effects on people |
| D．relieve people’s concerns and worries about the use of screens |
10 . Two of the saddest words in the English language are “if only(要是……就好了)”. I live my life with the goal of never having to say those words, because they convey regret, lost opportunities, mistakes, and disappointment.
My father is famous in our family for saying “Take the extra minute to do it right.” I always try to live by the “extra minute” rule. When my children were young and likely to cause accidents, I always thought about what I could do to avoid an “if only” moment, whether it was something minor like moving a cup full of hot coffee away from the edge of a counter, or something that required a little more work such as taping padding (衬垫) onto the sharp corners of a glass coffee table.
I don’t only avoid those “if only” moments when it comes to safety. It’s equally important to avoid “if only” in our personal relationships. We all know people who lost a loved one and regretted that they had foregone an opportunity to say “I love you” or “I forgive you.” When my father announced he was going to the eye doctor across from my office on Good Friday, I told him that it was a holiday for my company and I wouldn’t be here. But then I thought about the fact that he was 84 years old and I realized that I shouldn’t give up an opportunity to see him. I called him and told him I had decided to go to work on my day off after all.
I know there will still be occasions when I have to say “if only” about something, but my life is definitely better because of my policy of doing everything possible to avoid that eventuality. And even though it takes an extra minute to do something right, or it occasionally takes an hour or two in my busy schedule to make a personal connection, I know that I’m doing the right thing. I’m buying myself peace of mind and that’s the best kind of insurance for my emotional well-being.
1. Which of the following is an example of the “extra minute” rule?| A．Start the car the moment everyone is seated. |
| B．Leave the room for a minute with the iron working. |
| C．Wait for an extra minute so that the steak tastes better. |
| D．Move an object out of the way before it trips someone. |
| A．take up | B．stay away |
| C．run out of | D．give up |
| A．keep her appointment with the eye doctor |
| B．meet her father who was already an old man |
| C．join in the holiday celebration of the company |
| D．finish her work before the deadline approached |
| A．The Peace of Mind | B．The Most Useful Rule |
| C．The Two Saddest Words | D．The Emotional Well-being |
