1 . Bradley McConachie, a 33-year-old Australian is actually a student in international relations completing his PhD through Griffith University. He came to Beijing for a cooperative research at Beijing University two years ago. Such an academic life was colorful with a chance offered by the cultural exchanges project, “I'm in China".
Bradley was lucky to win the most "likes" for his photo story about his life in China and became one of 20 winners to visit locations by the project this summer. All the winners’ experiences were filmed to produce a reality show, My Chinese Working Day, which will be broadcast by mid-September.
Bradley was chosen to work as a recreational manager for a Chinese wedding. The film crew took them to many “amazing sites" and the staff at the resort taught them a lot about how to incorporate modern Chinese features while still keeping traditional customs.
“I would have to say two things stick out as the most memorable： the helicopter ride and talking with the staff at the hotel about how they organize weddings here in China," he said. That was Bradley's first time to be in a helicopter, and he was too absorbed with the “stunning" view of the coastline.
“I think it is so important to show other Australians the different landscapes China has to offer. I think so many Australians, when they think about China, imagine the historical sites of Beijing and the exciting things to see in Shanghai but have no idea about other beautiful places, like Sanya or the many other places people have been taken to in this TV series. It was nice to experience these little touches. I was happy to be a part of that experience!” Bradley said.
1. What made Bradley's life more colorful?| A．Obtaining his PhD. |
| B．The cultural exchanges project. |
| C．The research about Beijing University. |
| D．The interest in international relations. |
| A．He produced the reality show. |
| B．His life in China was interesting. |
| C．He was one of the top 20 winners. |
| D．He liked photo stories most. |
| A．Fantastic. | B．Confusing. |
| C．Agreeable. | D．Extreme. |
| A．It's difficult to produce moving TV series. |
| B．Beijing and Shanghai are historical sites. |
| C．Sanya is worth visiting for foreigners. |
| D．Many Australians know little about China. |
2 . "Smile!" I shouted, holding a yellow sign up on a busy street in Seattle. We were three thousand miles away from home on a Random Acts of Kindness and Volunteerism Road Trip. We had two aims. One was to try out our new "Smile!" signs and see how much kindness and joy we could spread in Pike Place Market. The other was to raise $80 by doing street performances, enough for gas to Portland and a small hotel room.
We weren't sure how people would react (回应) to our signs. I nervously raised up our signs and shouted, "Hi, there!" to a young couple. They looked over and felt confused. Then they read our signs and broke into a smile. Before long, some tourists wanted to take a photo with us and some strangers stopped to ask us about our signs.
In fact, we paid so close attention to our "Smile!" project that we forgot the other aim. Before we knew it, the sun was setting, and we had no money for our trip to Portland. We sat down to watch a blind musician play the guitar while thinking about what to do. He was packing up when a passing crowd kicked down his change bowl. He stumbled (绊倒) into the crowd. We rushed to help him, but another man moved more quickly to help him.
Once the musician had his money safely returned, we ran over to meet the strange helper and said, "We just wanted to praise you for your good deed." He smiled, looking at our signs. "Your trip reminds me of something similar I once did when I was young," he said. "Look! I'd like to donate (捐赠)." We told him, "No, thanks! We are fine. We've collected plenty of money." We lied. "Please let me donate. It will make me feel like I'm a part of this adventure," he insisted. And then the stranger opened his wallet and pulled out four $20 bills. The money was exactly what we had intended to raise that day. We were astonished. It seemed as if he had known somehow.
1. What's the main purpose of the road trip?| A．To spread kindness and joy. |
| B．To invite more people to join in the trip. |
| C．To raise money for a trip to Portland. |
| D．To encourage people to take happy photos. |
| A．Disappointed. | B．Worried. | C．Interested. | D．Moved. |
| A．Because he felt pity for the author. |
| B．Because he wanted to join in the project. |
| C．Because he hoped to help the homeless. |
| D．Because he felt sorry for his impoliteness. |
| A．Tired. | B．Satisfied. | C．Frightened. | D．Surprised. |
3 . Perhaps you have ever heard the saying: Change is the only constant. Everyone, without doubt, goes through changes in their life, whether it is a physical state of aging or a mental state of emotional maturity. However, some are afraid to make the conscious decision to move or they think it's too late to have a fresh start.
I have a friend named Jack. At the age of 37, he is a Senior Manager at one of the Big Four. He has a great salary, owns his own apartment and enjoys the fine things in life, but not without the heavy burdens that his job brings. On the surface, it looks like he has got life figured out. Yet when I once asked if he was happy with his work, he answered that he some- times wished to quit his job to do something less stressful. But he’d become accustomed to this lifestyle and felt that it would be too late to give it up to achieve a new ambition.
For him, the risks are too high, so whether he can't abide his present job or not, he has to choose to suck it up. You might have come to a similar situation as Jack’s or you might be a Jack. You're now facing a wall. No matter what it is—the stress of your job or the terrible feeling, it’s time that you had to decide whether you'll tear down that wall or continue to let it enclose you. I suggest pushing back the boundaries and breaking the fixed patterns. Why do you feel it's too late to start over? That is simply because you're comparing yourself with others—younger or more successful individuals. In fact, you should compare yourself with the older version of you.
Don't become that person who lets life pass by only to regret it when you are making your way into old age. Don't let your life plateau（停滞不前）and waste away in the daily chores. Don't give up the potential you still have hidden and be locked away by your current state. Now, you’d better bravely start going after the things you want to do, without abandoning your dreams, ambitions and responsibilities.
1. What kind of people does Jack represent according to the author?| A．Those leading a happy life. |
| B．Those having an easeful career. |
| C．Those thinking it's too late to change. |
| D．Those having a high ambition to work. |
| A．Value. | B．Recommend. | C．Understand. | D．Tolerate. |
| A．Let life stand still. |
| B．Enjoy the present job. |
| C．Have a small goal in life. |
| D．Consider ourselves as a failure. |
| A．Everyone Can Meet a Jack |
| B．Don't Try to Control Yourself |
| C．Never Think Change Is Too Late |
| D．You Should Make Alteration Earlier |
4 . Every year, thousands of teenagers participate in programs at their local art museums. But do any of them remember their time at museum events later in life? A new report suggests that the answer is yes – and finds that alumni (毕业生) of arts-based museum programs credit them with changing the course of their lives, even years after the experience.
The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Walker Art Center and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles recently asked researchers to conduct a study to find out how effective their long-standing teen art programs really are. They involved over 300 former participants of four programs for teens that have been in existence since the 1990s. Alumni, whose current ages range from 18 to 36, were invited to find out how they viewed their participation years after the fact.
Among the alumni surveyed, 75 percent of alumni rated the teen program experience as the most favorable influence on their own lives, beating family, school and their neighborhoods. Nearly 55 percent thought that it was one of the most important experiences they’d ever had, regardless of age. And two-thirds said that they were often in situations where their experience in museums affected their actions or thoughts.
It turns out that participating in art programs also helps keep teens enthusiastic about arts even after they reach adulthood: 96 percent of participants had visited an art museum within the last two years, and 68 percent had visited an art museum five or more times within the last two years. Thirty-two percent of program alumni work in the arts as adults.
Though the study is the first of its kind to explore the influence of teen-specific art programs in museums, it reflects other research on the important benefits of engaging with the arts. A decade of surveys by the National Endowment for the Arts found that childhood experience with the arts is significantly associated with their income and educational attainment as adults. Other studies have linked arts education to everything from lower drop-out rates to improvement in critical (批判性的)thinking skills.
1. What does the underlined phrase “the experience” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Joining in childhood art programs. |
| B．Shifting the course of children’s life. |
| C．Memorizing the time at museum events. |
| D．Conducting arts-based museum programs. |
| A．The aim of the study. |
| B．The result of the study. |
| C．The method of the study. |
| D．The process of the study. |
| A．No other studies about the benefits of arts exist. |
| B．Love for arts may keep long in kids’ whole life. |
| C．Age matters in how people view their art experiences. |
| D．Most kids participating in art programs will work in arts. |
| A．How can Art be Connected to Our Life? |
| B．Can Art Education Affect Our Income? |
| C．Should Kids Walk into Art Museums? |
| D．What Should Art Museums do for Kids? |
5 . How do young people learn best? This is something I think about a lot when teaching foreign languages to young people. I often find that traditional teaching methods are neither always effective nor interesting for young bruins to learn a foreign language.
After moving to southern Italy I was lucky to have had the chance to run a private course teaching English to under 7-year-olds. I was aware that children liked to sing and enjoyed games so I wanted to use these tools to help my students develop English conversation skills. I found some fun and easy songs online, which they loved. I also found the English versions of some nursery rhymes they recognized. All of them were very interesting and helpful but students could still not have a basic conversation in English.
I knew I wanted these guys to he fully immersed in the language I was teaching and I also wonted them to speak it. I was keen to give 90% of my lessons in English but I knew it’d be difficult to get them to speak in a foreign language they have little or zero exposure to outside our lessons, so I had to come up with a simple yet effective plan.
One day I decided to prepare a simple dialogue in English, so that I could get them to sing and chant (有节奏地反复地唱) it, rather than simply getting students to repeat the phrases. I discovered that chanting some conversational sentences was the way to get students to speak in English — it worked!
So when teaching English to young people now, I encourage them to make up their own songs and chants to help them remember expressions or complex sentences.
1. What is the passage mainly talking about?| A．How to make young learners like a foreign language. |
| B．How to teach foreign languages to young people. |
| C．How to run a private course in southern Italy. |
| D．How to help the younger children with studies. |
| A．Amused | B．Buried |
| C．Retaled | D．Informed |
| A．He found it impossible to teach children with little English. |
| B．He tried to be a patient and responsible teacher. |
| C．He realized he was unable to finish the task of teaching. |
| D．He actually kind of discouraged and disappointed. |
| A．Mistakes are an important part of education. |
| B．A teacher can never tell where his influence stops. |
| C．A teacher should understand his students’ needs. |
| D．Confidence is the first step on the way to success. |
6 . If you think that running marathons will help you live a long and healthy life, new research may come as a shock. According to a recent scientific study, people who do a very strenuous workout are as likely to die as people who do no exercise at all.
Scientists in Denmark have been studying over 1,000 joggers and non-joggers for 12 years. The death rates from the sample group indicate that people who jog at a moderate pace two or three times a week for less than two and a half hours in total are least likely to die. The best speed to jog at was found to be about 5 miles per hour. The research suggests that people who jog more than three times a week or at higher speeds of over 7 mph die at the same rate as non-joggers. The scientists think that this is because strenuous exercise causes structural changes to the heart and arteries (动脉). Over time, this can cause serious injuries.
Peter Schnohr, a researcher in Copenhagen, said, “If your goal is to decrease the risk of death and improve life expectancy, jogging a few times a week at a moderate pace is a good strategy. Anything more is just unnecessary, and it may be harmful.”
The implications of this are that moderate forms of exercise such as tai chi, yoga and brisk walking may be better for us than “iron man” events, triathlons and long-distance running and cycling. According to Jacob Louis Marott, another researcher involved in the study, “You don’t actually have to do that much to have a good impact on your health. And perhaps you shouldn’t actually do too much.”
1. The underlined word “strenuous” in Paragraph 1 refers to “______”.| A．hard | B．regular |
| C．practical | D．little |
| A．suggest giving up jogging |
| B．show risks of doing sports |
| C．provide supportive evidence |
| D．introduce the research process |
| A．It may injure the heart and arteries. |
| B．It can make the body tired out. |
| C．It will bring much pressure. |
| D．It consumes too much energy. |
7 . What is technology doing to language? Many assume the answer is simple: ruining it. Kids can no longer write except in textspeak. Grammar is going to the dogs. The ability to compose thoughts longer than a post is disappearing. Language experts tend to resist it, noting that there is little proof that speech is really degenerating, nor is formal writing falling apart.A study by Cambridge Assessment found almost no evidence for textspeak in students’ writing.
Fortunately, the story of language and the Internet has attracted more serious analysts, too.Now Gretchen McCulloch, a journalist of the generation that grew up with the Internet, joins them with a new book, Because Internet, which focuses on what can be learned about language from the Internet. Biologists grow bacteria in a Petri dish partly because they are born and reproduce so quickly that studies over many generations can be done in a reasonably short period. Studying language online is a bit like that: trends appear and disappear, platforms rise and fall, and these let linguists observe changes that would otherwise take too much time.
For example, why do languages change? A thousand years ago, early English and Icelandic were closely related.English has since developed hugely, and Icelandic far less. Linguists have studied the relative effects of strong and weak ties(friends, family) in such patterns, concluding that small communities would host more stable languages. The Internet combines strong and weak ties—and sure enough, drives more language change.
In the end, Ms McCulloch’s book is about the birth of a new medium rather than a new language.Mass reading has now been joined by mass writing: frequent, errorfilled and quickfading.Little surprise that Internet users have created tools to give their writing the gesture, playfulness and even meaninglessness of chat. Mistaking it for the downfall of “real” writing is a category error. Anything that helps people enjoy each other’s company can only be a good thing.
1. What does the underlined word “degenerating” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Strengthening. | B．Worsening. | C．Changing. | D．Refreshing. |
| A．To explain bacteria have a short lifetime. |
| B．To stress the difficulty of researching language online. |
| C．To reveal the relation between language and the Internet. |
| D．To show online language can be studied in limited time. |
| A．A large Englishspeaking population. | B．The lasting effect of mass media. |
| C．A stable languageusing community. | D．The wide application of the Internet. |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Positive. | C．Objective. | D．Cautious. |
8 . One rainy afternoon, I was on a crosstown bus when a young woman jumped on. She had a child with her who must have been about 3 or 4 years old.
The bus was full, bumpy, and it soon got noisy as her kid began crying because he couldn’t sit next to his mother. There were a couple of open seats, but they weren’t together. She was flustered and looked embarrassed.
Then another woman, a little older, stood up and moved so that the mother and child could sit together. The mom smiled as a thank-you. And then three words came out of the older woman’s mouth that elevated the entire energy of that bus ride: “I’ve been there”.
Simple, undramatic and honest. In that moment, it seemed to unite people. Why? Because almost all experiences are shared human experiences. We forget that, as we forge (前进) through life, focused on our own troubles and needs—which are actually less unique than we think. How can these three words create more connection in your life? Ask yourself: “Where am I holding back?
One thing I know for sure is this: Healing others helps heal yourself. I noticed this recently with my friend, Tracy, who took a new friend who had suffered a miscarriage under her wing. Tracy had three of them before having her daughter two years ago. Our intellect needs a doctor to explain the medical side of things, yes. But our souls need human connection to help us along. No one can do that better than someone who has been exactly where you are.
Can the essence of these three words help you make a small difference right now? It can be as simple as volunteering your seat, sharing some helpful advice or even lightening the mood with a joke when you notice that someone’s uncomfortable—because we’re all in this together.
1. The underlined word “flustered” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to _______.| A．angry | B．anxious | C．scared | D．upset |
| A．The woman was on the bus and saw what had happened to the boy. |
| B．The woman got to her destination and was ready to get off the bus. |
| C．The woman once had the similar experience with that mother. |
| D．The woman took the exact seat that the boy was on just now. |
| A．Everyone has his or her own unique problem that is difficult to solve. |
| B．Doctors can help us get through when we have mental or physical problems. |
| C．The author’s friend Tracy felt better after she was comforted by her new friend. |
| D．One can indeed make a difference to those in need of help by doing simple things. |
| A．show a harmonious world by telling some touching stories |
| B．praise those who are willing to help others in emergencies |
| C．appeal to readers to give timely help to those in need |
| D．illustrate some ways of helping others in detail |
9 . A year ago, I decided to create a more environmentally friendly kitchen, focusing on reducing the single-use products such as plastic bags and paper towels. I’m not going to sugarcoat my experience. It takes com mitment and a willingness to change long-held habits. In creating my kitchen, I tried a lot of different alternative products and some plain old com mon sense； the result, however, has been worth the effort. I’m recycling more and relying less on single-use products and I’m saving money too.
I’m not kidding when I say that I used to really love plastic storage bags, so this was, perhaps, the biggest challenge for me. Switching to reusable storage bags is a financial investment, but the cos is reasonable considering that I previously spent at least $ 100 annually on single-use plastic bags and wrap. I willcheck online periodically for recycling updates, where a zero-waste box for kitchen items is offered, from party supplies to mixed-materialfood containers.
I’m a clean freak (怪人) and used to go through an amount of paper towels on a daily basis, butit’s easy enough to take old T-shirts ortowels and cutthem up to use to wipe down surfaces. I’m also a fan of bamboo paper towels, which have the look and feel of traditional paper towels, yet are made from a highly renewable source and also break down in just 45 days. Better yet, they can be reused up to 100 times. As for kitchen sponges (海绵擦), I keep an eye out for those made with natural and recyclable materials.
When purchasing household items online from companies like Amazon or Jet, I will ask to have them shipped in as few boxes as possible or as small a box as possible if a single item is to be sent. I’ll let the company know that they should pay more attention to how It is packaging items for delivery.
1. What is the author’s main purpose of creating her kitchen?| A．To save money. | B．To reduce waste and recycle more. |
| C．To change her long-held habits. | D．To make it cleaner and more practical. |
| A．M ake attractive. | B．Getinterested. |
| C．Show off. | D．Give up. |
| A．Begins to recycle more single-use plastic bags. |
| B．Goes through an amount of paper towels on a daily basis. |
| C．Checks online periodically to buy zero-waste box. |
| D．Chooses to use the recyclable or reusable kitchen items. |
| A．She has strong environmental awareness. |
| B．She is used to traditional paper towels. |
| C．She has a good knowledge of financialinvestment. |
| D．She prefers to have her purchases packed in small boxes. |
Proudly reading my words, I glanced around the room, only to find my classmates bearing big smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes. Confused, I glanced toward my stone-faced teacher. Having no choice, I slowly raised the report I had slaved over, hoping to hide myself. “What could be causing everyone to act this way?”
Quickly, I flashed back to the day Miss Lancelot gave me the task. This was the first real task I received in my new school. It seemed simple: go on the Internet and find information about a man named George Washington. Since my idea of history came from an ancient teacher in my home country, I had never heard of that name before. As I searched the name of this fellow, it became evident that there were two people bearing the same name who looked completely different! One invented hundreds of uses for peanuts, while the other led some sort of army across America. I stared at the screen, wondering which one my teacher meant. I called my grandfather for a golden piece of advice; flip (掷) a coin. Heads—the commander, and tails—the peanuts guy. Ah! Tails, my report would be about the great man who invented peanut butter, George Washington Carver.
Weeks later, standing before this unfriendly mass, I was totally lost. Oh well, I lowered the paper and sat down at my desk, burning to find out what I had done wrong. As a classmate began his report, it all became clear, “My report is on George Washington, the man who started the American Revolution.” The whole world became quite! How could I know that she meant that George Washington?
Obviously, my grade was awful. Heartbroken but fearless, I decided to turn this around. I talked to Miss Lancelot, but she insisted: No re-dos; no new grade. I felt that the punishment was not justified, and I believed I deserved a second chance. Consequently, I threw myself heartily into my work for the rest of the school year. Ten months later, that chance unfolded as I found myself sitting in the headmaster’s office with my grandfather, now having an entirely different conversation. I smiled and flashed back to the embarrassing moment at the beginning of the year as the headmaster informed me of my option to skip the sixth grade. Justice is sweet!
1. What did the author’s classmates think about his report?
| A．Controversial. | B．Ridiculous. |
| C．Boring. | D．Puzzling. |
| A．He was unfamiliar with American history. |
| B．He followed the advice and flipped a coin. |
| C．He forgot his teacher’s instruction. |
| D．He was new at the school. |
| A．annoyed | B．ashamed |
| C．ready | D．eager |
| A．by redoing his task |
| B．through his own efforts |
| C．with the help of his grandfather |
| D．under the guidance of his headmaster |
