1 . According to a new study， teens focus on rewards and have a hard time learning to avoid punishment or consider the consequences of alternative actions.
University College London researchers compared how teens and adults learn to make choices based on the available information. They tracked the way in which 18 volunteers aged 12-17 and 20 volunteers aged 18-32 completed tasks in which they had to choose between abstract symbols.
Each symbol was consistently associated with a fixed chance of a reward, punishment, or no outcome. As the trial progressed ， participants learned which symbols were likely to lead to each outcome and adjusted their choices accordingly. Teens and adults were equally good at learning to choose symbols associated with reward， but teens were less good at avoiding symbols associated with punishment. Adults also performed significantly better when they were told what would have happened if they had chosen the other symbol after each choice， while teens did not appear to take this information into account.
“From this experimental lab study we can draw conclusions about learning during the teen years. We find that teens and adults learn in different ways， something that might be relevant to education," said lead author Dr. Stefano Palminteri. " Unlike adults, teens are not so good at learning to adjust their choices to avoid punishment. This suggests that incentive systems based on reward rather than punishment may be more effective for this age group. Additionally, we found that teens did not learn from being shown what would have happened if they made alternative choices."
To interpret the results, the researchers developed computational models of learning and ran simulations （模拟）applying them to the results of the study. The first was a simple model, one that learned from rewards, and the second model added to this by also learning from the option that was not chosen. The third model was the most complete and took the full context into account, with equal weight given to punishment avoidance and reward seeking. For example, obtaining no outcome rather than losing a point is weighted equally to gaining a point rather than having no outcome.
Comparing the experimental data to the models, the team found that teens" behavior followed the simple reward-based model while adults" behavior matched the complete, contextual model. “Our study suggests that teens are more receptive to rewards than they are to punishments of equal value, ” said senior author Dr. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore. “As a result, it may be useful for parents and teachers to frame things in more positive terms.”
1. It can be learned from the study that .| A．adults made choices faster than teens |
| B．adults understood rewards better than teens |
| C．teens reacted better to reward than punishment |
| D．teens were aware of the outcome of each choice |
| A．They reflected people’s strong desire for punishment avoidance. |
| B．They gave circumstances different degrees of consideration. |
| C．They paid equal attention to reward and punishment. |
| D．They shaped the behavior of people at different ages. |
| A．accustomed | B．opposed |
| C．sympathetic | D．responsive |
| A．“If you insist on doing things in this way， you will lose ten points. " |
| B．“If we had talked about this earlier， you wouldn’t have made the mistake. " |
| C．“ If you hand in your assignment ahead of time， you will get an extra bonus." |
| D．“If you want to approach a problem differently ， you can talk to your parents. " |
2 . As the effects of climate change become more disastrous, well-known research institutions and government agencies are focusing new money and attention on an idea: artificially cooling the planet, in the hopes of buying humanity more time to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
That strategy, called solar climate intervention (干预) or solar geoengineering, involves reflecting more of the sun’s energy back into space — abruptly reducing global temperatures in a way that imitates the effects of ash clouds flowing out from the volcanic eruptions. The idea has been considered as a dangerous and fancied solution, one that would encourage people to keep burning fossil fuels while exposing the planet to unexpected and potentially threatening side effects, producing more destructive hurricanes, wildfires floods and other disasters.
But. as global warming continues, producing more destructive hurricanes, wildfires floods and other disasters, some researchers and policy experts say that concerns about geoengineering should be outweighed by the imperative to better understand it, in case the consequence of climate change become so terrible that the world can’t wait for better solutions.
One way to cool the earth is by injecting aerosols (气溶胶) into the upper layer of the atmosphere. where those particles reflect sunlight away from the earth. That process works, according to Douglas MacMartin, a researcher at Cornell University.
“We know with 100% certainty that we can cool the planet,” he said in an interview. What’s still unclear, he added, is what happens next. Temperature, MacMartin said, is an indicator for a lot of climate effects. “What does it do to the strength of hurricanes?” he asked, “What does it do to agriculture production? What does it do to the risk of forest fires?”
Another institution funded by the National Science Foundation will analyze hundreds of simulations of aerosol injection, testing the effects on weather extremes around the world. One goal of the research is to look for a sweet spot: the amount of artificial cooling that can reduce extreme weather events without causing broader changes in regional rainfall patterns or similar impacts.
1. Why do researchers and government agencies work on cooling the earth?| A．To prevent natural disasters. | B．To win more time to reduce gas emissions. |
| C．To imitate volcanic eruptions. | D．To encourage more people to bur fossil fuels. |
| A．More volcanoes will throw out. |
| B．More solar energy will go into space. |
| C．More disasters will endanger the future of the world. |
| D．People will keep burning fossil fuels to keep warm. |
| A．He thinks more research remains to be done. |
| B．He is optimistic about the effect of cooling the earth. |
| C．He is concerned about the reduction in agriculture production. |
| D．He disapproves of the practice of solar climate intervention. |
| A．The rainfall pattern of a region. |
| B．The modest drop in temperature. |
| C．The number of extreme weather events. |
| D．The injection amount of aerosol. |
3 . If you are a fruit grower — or would like to become one — take advantage of Apple Day to see what’s around. It’s called Apple Day but in practice it’s more like Apple Month. The day itself is on October 21, but since it has caught on, events now spread out over most of October around Britain.
Visiting an apple event is a good chance to see, and often taste, a wide variety of apples. To people who are used to the limited choice of apples such as Golden Delicious and Royal Gala in supermarkets, it can be quite an eye opener to see the range of classical apples still in existence, such as Decio which was grown by the Romans. Although it doesn’t taste of anything special, it’s still worth a try, as is the knobbly(多疙瘩的) Cat’s Head which is more of a curiosity than anything else.
There are also varieties developed to suit specific local conditions. One of the very best varieties for eating quality is Orleans Reinette, but you’ll need a warm, sheltered place with perfect soil to grow it, so it’s a pipe dream for most apple lovers who fall for it.
At the events, you can meet expert growers and discuss which ones will best suit your conditions, and because these are family affairs, children are well catered for with apple-themed fun and games.
Apple Days are being held at all sorts of places with an interest in fruit, including stately gardens and commercial orchards(果园). If you want to have a real orchard experience, try visiting the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale, near Faversham in Kent.
1. What can people do at the apple events?| A．Attend experts’ lectures. |
| B．Visit fruit-loving families. |
| C．Plant fruit trees in an orchard. |
| D．Taste many kinds of apples. |
| A．It is a new variety. |
| B．It has a strange look. |
| C．It is rarely seen now. |
| D．It has a special taste. |
| A．A practical idea. |
| B．A vain hope. |
| C．A brilliant plan. |
| D．A selfish desire. |
| A．To show how to grow apples. |
| B．To introduce an apple festival. |
| C．To help people select apples. |
| D．To promote apple research. |
4 . We recognize our friends’ faces. And we’re not alone. Many social animals can identify individuals of their own species by features of their faces. That's important, because they need to be able to change their behavior depending on who they meet. And a recent research has shown that some species of monkeys, birds, and domesticated (家养的) animals can even tell different faces apart by looking at photographs alone.
Ethologist Léa Lansade of the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment did an experiment to find out how well horses can recognize individual people in photographs.
She and her team first taught the horses how to “choose” between two side-by-side pictures by touching their noses to a computer screen. The horses were then shown photos of their present keeper alongside faces of unfamiliar humans. They had never seen photos of any of the people before. The horses correctly identified their current keeper and ignored (忽视) the stranger’s face about 75%of the time. In fact, even though the horses didn't get it right every single time, they were at least as correct in picking out their earlier keeper as they were at identifying their present one.
The results suggest that not only can horses differentiate between familiar and unfamiliar human faces, they also naturally understand that photographs are two dimensional representations (二维呈现) of real life, without any other intimations such as smell or sound. And they’re even better at this than our oldest animal parter, the domestic dog.
In addition, horses seem to have a strong long-term memory for human faces, like their long lifespan and history of domestication. In future experiments, the researchers would like to test whether looking at photos of people that they have had bad experiences with in the past might cause horses to act anxious or even avoidance. So maybe think twice before doing anything that might give a horse a long face.
1. Why did researchers show the horses both the keeper’s photos and the strangers’?| A．To find out what horses would do in the experiment. |
| B．To see why horses could recognize the keeper in the pictures. |
| C．To test whether horses could recognize the strangers in pictures. |
| D．To study to what degree horses can make out different people in pictures. |
| A．Clues. | B．Differences. |
| C．Photographs. | D．Senses. |
| A．Whether horses can live longer than other animals. |
| B．Whether horses can remember human's faces for a long time. |
| C．Whether horses can show their emotions at the sight of photos. |
| D．Whether horses are better at recognizing photos than other animals. |
| A．To talk about animals’ species. |
| B．To explain animals’ facial features. |
| C．To show animals’ behaviour for adaptation. |
| D．To introduce animals’ ability to identifying faces. |
5 . When the young donkey Daisy May came to us，she was pregnant. With no donkey experience. I was unprepared for what might come next.
After some difficulty，Daisy’s baby was born. I thought the poor thing was dead. I planned to put the loss behind us and make sure she never got pregnant again. Just then，I heard a little noise. I couldn’t believe that baby was breathing and looking at me!We called him Samson，and of course I became his mother as much as Daisy was.
When Samson was nine months old，I had to separate Daisy and Samson for a few hours a day to wean(使断奶)him，but otherwise he went wherever she did. I think she would be lost without him. His donkey stepdad Bernard taught him to always be ready to have fun. They enjoy playing football together and going for a roll on a hot summer day.
I asked a worker to make a harness(马具)for my three little donkeys. When I brought it home I taught them one by one how to pull a cart. Samson watched and freely followed Daisy. When he was three，I put the harnness on him and he knew exactly what to do.
That was 15 years ago. Now，the most exciting thing about Samson is that he has become a little renowned. People come from all over to see him perform. The neighbors bring their grandchildren，and my sons bring their friends.
Samson shakes hands，unties my shoe，picks up a hat and more. And when I ask him if he has any bad habits，he tries to pick my pocket!He surprisingly learned these tricks himself. I just ask him to do them and he understands.
The relationship I have with my“baby”Samson has been an amazing experience. Every day is a fun day with this superstar donkey.
1. Why was the author at a loss for what might happen next at first?| A．She wasn’t ready to be a mother. |
| B．She never raised a donkey before. |
| C．The donkey was pregnant by accident. |
| D．The donkey gave birth to a dead baby. |
| A．He was surrounded by love. |
| B．He was separated from his family. |
| C．He was unwelcome to the neighbors. |
| D．He was skilled in entertaining people. |
| A．Friendly and courageous. | B．Intelligent and lively. |
| C．Carefree and creative. | D．Patient and fortunate. |
| A．Strange. | B．Proud. |
| C．Humorous. | D．Famous. |
6 . Do you think alien beings exist somewhere in the universe? It seems like Mars, our closest neighbor, has inspired the most science fiction as the place where aliens are most likely to come from. Recent Mars probes (探测) have shown us that there is no life on that planet—at least not now. But that does not mean that life does not exist elsewhere—after all, the universe is really big. A lot of scientific research is going on in the search for “extraterrestrial life”.
Think about it—why should the seven billion people on this little planet be the only living beings in the universe? It would, in fact, seem logical that this is not the case. So scientific research in this matter is based around the idea of finding other planets that have environments that can support life —environments similar to the Earth. The search is on for the evidence of the existence, or earlier existence of life: from very wise beings to simple organisms (有机物).
So far, there have been a number of theories as to which planetary bodies may have an atmosphere that can support such life and therefore deserve closer attention. As for places within our own Milky Way Galaxy, it has been assumed over the decades that Mars and Venus, as well as some of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, may have been hosts for life. Now, as technologies have improved and we can obtain measurements of the composition of the atmosphere on extra-solar planets, the chances of finding “alien” life forms are increasing.
There has been a theory that some of the planets in the habitable zone of the red dwarf star Gliese 581 may be able to support life. In 2007, scientists discovered exoplanet Gliese 581c—and felt that its atmosphere was most suitable for supporting life. But further research revealed that it would not. Now, attention has been turned to Gliese 581d, at the outer edge of the star’s habitable zone. The main standards for deciding whether a planetary body can be life-supporting are atmospheric conditions which allow the existence of water. Gliese 581 is about 20. 4 light years away from the Earth, so even if life does exist there, the distance would mean that communication would be unlikely.
Having said this—who says alien life forms (if they exist) need water?
1. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Life existing outside of the Earth. |
| B．The evidence of the existence of life. |
| C．Other faraway planets in the universe. |
| D．Creatures known from science fictions. |
| A．Modern scientific theories. | B．Atmospheric conditions. |
| C．Environments similar to the Earth. | D．Advanced technologies. |
| A．the atmosphere of Gliese 581c was most suitable for life |
| B．it is not certain whether alien life forms need water or not |
| C．the 7 billion people on the Earth are the only beings in the universe |
| D．the distance of 20. 4 light years makes it impossible to find life on Gliese 581d |
| A．Do Aliens Exist? | B．Is Mars Suitable for Life? |
| C．Are Alien Life Forms Various? | D．Can We Communicate with Aliens? |
7 . For some years，my mother worked for a charity as President and Secretary.Selling raffle tickets(兑奖券) was her main means of bringing in the charity’s muchneeded funds.We girls would accompany her，selling tickets with great success.My father made and donated beautiful wooden toys，jewellery boxes and other lovely items as prizes.
Now my sister was always coming up with “good ideas”，most of which didn’t work out to plan.But that didn’t deter her.She had many just waiting to be tested.When she was eight and I was just five，we had a wonderful idea for a business adventure.We decided we would sell raffle tickets for charity，and that charity was us!
So one afternoon，we told our mother we were going to play in the park with our cousins as we did most days after school.But instead，we walked around the streets armed with a raffle book，a pen and a large cloth bag to carry the money.
We’d accompanied our mother many times when she sold tickets，so people were familiar with us when we appeared at their doors.Despite the blank looks they received when asking about the prizes on offer，they were very generous.Although there were no actual prizes，our mother’s previous track record enabled us to sell nearly the whole book of raffle tickets.
Like a little pair of lottery(彩票) winners，we walked home and proudly showed off our takings.But our enjoyment of this sudden wealth was shortlived，and our plans for spending it quickly failed.Our angry mother took us back to every ticket buyer，making us apologise and give the money back.Thankfully，our sweet neighbours didn’t make a big deal of our “clever” misbehavior and thus my mother’s
fundraising career could continue safely.We were taught a good lesson by our mother that day.Also I remember my sister’s entrepreneurial(企业家的) spirit dried up a bit after that.
1. What did the author’s father do?
| A．He got prizes ready. | B．He sold handmade items. |
| C．He was in charge of a charity. | D．He helped design raffle tickets. |
| A．Embarrass. | B．Shock. |
| C．Discourage. | D．Mislead. |
| A．They ran into their mother. |
| B．They met some generous strangers. |
| C．They got lost while walking around the streets. |
| D．They took advantage of people’s trust in their mother. |
| A．Honesty is the best policy. | B．What’s done can’t be undone. |
| C．Misfortune never comes alone. | D．Good advice is beyond all price. |
8 . A sleepover (过夜) program, which is designed to make kids believe that their favorite toys enjoy reading, can help encourage children to pick up more books, a new study suggests.
Toys sleepover programs are designed to get children interested in books. Children take their toys to a library for the night. At this point, workers and volunteers take photos of the toys which explore the library and read books. The next day, the children collect their toys and the photos of what the toys did during the night. They are given the books their toys chose to read.
It was found that before the sleepover the children did not spend time looking at the books in their play area at preschool. Immediately after the sleepover, the number of children who read to the toys was higher than the number who did not, but after three days the effect decreased gradually.
The researchers also tested a method for sustaining the effect. They reminded the children of the sleepover a month later, by hiding the toys and showing them the photos again the next day. This simple method brought an increase in the number of children reading to their toys.
The study proves for the first time that children who take part in sleepover programs read picture books to their toys more. “We wanted to know if there really was an effect, and if so, how long it lasts. Surprisingly, not only did the children show interest in the books, but they also began to read to their toys. This means that a new behavior pattern appeared that the children hadn’t had before. We did not expect anything like this,” said one of the researchers.
Reading is important for the development of children’s language skills and imagination. When parents read to their children, it is a passive way of reading for the child. However, when children read to their toys, it is a more active, self-directed way of reading, helping them develop into more active readers, researchers said.
1. What is the purpose of the sleepover program?| A．To develop children’s language skills. |
| B．To help children to sleep well. |
| C．To encourage children to read more. |
| D．To guide children to form a good sleeping habit. |
| A．Go around the library with their toys. |
| B．Sleep with their toys. |
| C．Read together with their toys. |
| D．Take their toys to the library. |
| A．keeping | B．testing | C．surveying | D．showing |
| A．Children showed no interest in the books. |
| B．The effect of the sleepover program could last long. |
| C．Children began to read to their toys on their own. |
| D．Whether the sleepover program had an effect remained unknown. |
9 . When you were at school, the last thing you probably wanted to do was to spend your weekends going to work. There was homework to do, sport to play and fun to have. But our parents probably persuaded us to find a job to earn some money and get some life experience. When I was a teenager I had a paper round: delivering newspapers to people’s homes.
Today in the UK you are allowed to work from the age of 13, and many children do take up part-time jobs. It’s one of those things that are seen almost as a rite of passage (成人仪式) .It’s a taste of independence and sometimes a useful thing to put on your CV (简历). Teenagers agree that it teaches valuable lessons about working with adults and also about managing their own money.
Some research has shown that not taking up a Saturday or holiday job could be deleterious to a person later on. A 2015 study by the UK Commission on Employment and Skills found that not participating in part-time work at school age had been blamed by employers’ organizations for young adults being ill-prepared for full-time employment, but despite this, recent statistics have shown that the number of schoolchildren in the UK with a part-time job has fallen by a fifth in the past five years.
So does this mean that British teenagers are now afraid of hard work? Probably not. Some experts feel that young people feel going out to work will affect their performance at school and they are under some pressure now to study hard and get good exam result and a good job in the long term. However, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told BBC News that “Properly regulated part-time work is a good way of helping young people learn skills that they will need in their working lives.” In reality, it’s all about getting the right balance between doing part-time work and having enough time to study and rest.
Many young people actually want to work because it gives them a sense of freedom. One 13-year-old girl called Rachel, who has a Saturday job in a shop, told the BBC that “I enjoy my job because I’m earning money and it helps me socialize with people I work with.” That seems like something worth getting up for a Saturday morning. Did you do a part-time job when you were at school?
1. What can we conclude from Para 2?| A．Students taking up part-time jobs are more independent. |
| B．Taking up part-time jobs can help students save money. |
| C．Taking up part-time jobs is good for students in many ways. |
| D．Children over 13 in the UK must take up part-time jobs. |
| A．important | B．harmful |
| C．threatening | D．beneficial |
| A．Students with good grades and no study pressure can do part-time jobs. |
| B．Students should put all their energies into their studies. |
| C．The more part-time jobs they do, the more beneficial it is for students. |
| D．It is good for students to do part-time jobs as long as they are proper. |
| A．Should schoolchildren have part-time jobs? |
| B．What kind of part-time job should schoolchildren do? |
| C．What benefits can part-time jobs bring to schoolchildren? |
| D．Why do British schoolchildren show less interest in part-time jobs? |
10 . The bad health effects of sleep loss during the week can’t be repaid by longer weekend sleep, according to a new study.
Researchers have long known that sleep deprivation (剥夺) can cause weight gain and increase other health risks. But for those who force themselves out of bed every weekday after too few hours of shut eye, they hope turning off the alarm on Saturday and Sunday will repay the weekly sleep debt and remove any ill effects.
The research, published in Current Biology, crushes those hopes. Despite complete freedom to sleep during a weekend recovery period, people in a sleep lab who were limited to five hours of sleep on weekdays gained nearly three pounds over two weeks and experienced disorders that would increase their risk for diabetes over the long term. While weekend recovery sleep had some benefits after a single week of sleep loss, those gains were wiped out when people fell right back into their same sleep deprived schedule the next Monday.
''If there are benefits of catch-up sleep, they're gone when you go back to your daily schedule. It's very short lived'', said Kenneth Wright, director of the sleep and chronobiology lab at the University of Colorado at Boulder. ''These health effects are long term. It's kind of like smoking once was-people would smoke and wouldn't see an immediate effect on their health, but people will say now that smoking is not a healthy lifestyle choice. I think sleep is in the early stage of where smoking used to be.''
Wright said that the study suggests people should put sleep in the first place cutting out the ''sleep stealers'' such as watching television shows or spending time on their phones. Even when people don't have a choice about losing sleep because of child-care responsibilities or job schedules, they should think about getting sleep in the same way they would get a healthy diet or exercise.
1. What does the underlined word ''rushes'' mean?| A．Ruins. | B．Guarantees. |
| C．Deepens. | D．Arouses. |
| A．Smoking is more harmful than sleep loss. |
| B．Weekend recovery sleep has many benefits. |
| C．Smoking and sleep loss have the same bad effects. |
| D．It takes long for people to see the effects of sleep loss. |
| A．Take regular exercise every day. |
| B．Reduce the screen time before sleep. |
| C．Watch some TV shows before bedtime. |
| D．Sleep as long as possible during weekdays. |
| A．To share some unhappy experiences. | B．To show some unknown facts. |
| C．To promote a healthy lifestyle. | D．To introduce a new study. |
