1 . Ever wonder how your brain works when making decisions bigger than medium versus spicy salsa, like buying a car or accepting a job offer? Researchers from the University of Dundee in Scotland conducted a study that clarifies why you may want to have a small bite before making that big decision.
Benjamin Vincent from the University of Dundee’s Psychology department and his co-author Jordan Skyrnka tested 50 people two times: once when they followed their normal eating patterns and once when they did not eat anything during the day. Using three different types of rewards (food, money, and song downloads), the team discovered when presented with the choice of receiving the reward now versus double the award at some point in the future, participants would usually volunteer to wait for 35 days to earn a larger bounty, but when they were hungry, they said they would only wait three days.
“We wanted to know whether being in a state of hunger had a specific effect on how you make decisions only relating to food or if it had broader effects, and this research suggests decision-making gets more present-focused when people are hungry,” Vincent said in a story about the study on the university’s website. “You would predict that hunger would impact people’s preferences relating to food, but it is not yet clear why people get more present-focused for completely unrelated rewards. Hunger is so common that it is important to understand the non-obvious ways in which our preferences and decisions may be affected by it,” he said.
In an earlier study of the subject by a team at Cambridge University in England, the researchers noted that serotonin plays a major role in the decision-making process. “Since the raw material for making serotonin—an amino acid called tryptophan — only comes from diet, levels of the chemical decline between meals,” reports a piece in the Telegraph about the study. “This can lead to aggressiveness and impulsiveness,” say the team.
1. How did Benjamin Vincent and Jordan Skyrnka carry out their research?| A．By analyzing reasons. | B．By making comparison. |
| C．By giving examples. | D．By filling questionnaires. |
| A．bonus. | B．quantity. | C．income. | D．fortune. |
| A．It’s common to make a wrong decision if you are hungry. |
| B．Make sure you are not hungry before making a big decision. |
| C．The more hungry you are, the quicker you will make a decision. |
| D．Being hungry drives you to make a decision connected with food. |
| A．What should be eaten to make a wise man. |
| B．How can we get enough serotonin from our diet. |
| C．What other factors will influence one’s decision-making. |
| D．How does a chemical function in the course of making a decision. |
2 . I worked in a small drug store when I was very small. I worked long and hard because that was my father’s store. I treasured my lunch breaks, not for the food or the rest, but for reading comic books about superheroes. And I could read comic books only during my lunch breaks.
Now I close my eyes and think back, I know what I wanted to be when I was a small kid—a superhero! Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and Iron Man were some of my heroes. In all of the comic books that I read, there were two patterns.
First, there was always a battle between good and evil. The battle was always tough. No matter how strong or how many powers the superhero had, evil could almost defeat him. Second, the superhero was never paid for his contribution to society. Superman made money as Clark Kent, a newspaper reporter. Batman made money as Bruce Wayne, a rich businessman. Spider-Man made money as Peter Parker, a photographer. Iron Man made money as Tony Stark, a rich scientist. None of them was paid for keeping peace or helping others.
The real superheroes don’t get paid for what they do for society!
I clean the local park with my friends every weekend. I help cheer up kids in the hospital. I send food to disabled people. I don’t get paid for doing these in my free time. It’s correct to be fairly compensated but I simply choose not to. I feel my dream has come true!
Volunteering and helping people without getting paid is what superheroes do. You can be a superhero, too.
1. Why did the writer value the lunch breaks?| A．He could take delicious food. | B．He could free from the hard work. |
| C．He could do what he liked to do. | D．He could act as a superhero. |
| A．rewarded | B．refused | C．admitted | D．bargained |
| A．By working hard in the store. | B．By performing voluntary work. |
| C．By doing a lot of reading. | D．By choosing the right job. |
| A．Volunteering is fun. | B．Comic books and my childhood. |
| C．Be a superhero. | D．Do superheroes get paid? |
3 . Have you ever wondered what wild animals do when no one is watching?
Low cost, dependable and small modern cameras offered a big help. Cameras placed in hard-to-reach places have shot everything from small desert cats to larger snow-lowing cats in the northern Rocky Mountains. Scientists have been able to document the “private” moments of wildlife with leading technology.
Grant Harris is a government biologist with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In his words, “there’s no doubt that these wild cameras are important tools to learn new information on wildlife.” Harris said some images help scientists see the influences of climate (气候) change.
Researchers with the Wyoming Migration Initiative, or WMI, are among those using wild cameras along with global positioning systems, or GPS. But WMI director Matthew Kauffman says as those devices (设备) are limited (有限的), so is the amount of information they can gather. However, cameras can be left in very wild areas for days, weeks or even months. They can provide information on how many animals are moving over a given period of time.
Putting those cameras in place requires careful planning. Wild video can show details about animal behavior. However, wild cameras have their problems too. Animals such as wolverines and bears sometimes attack (袭击) them. Scientists do not know if the attacks are the result of anger or interest. Also, the devices have become popular tools to help hunters look for animals. Some people argue that it is unfair to use the cameras that way.
Even with such problems, wild cameras are clearly an important scientific tool in researching wild animals.
1. What does the underlined word “document” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Remind. | B．Enrich. | C．Produce. | D．Record. |
| A．They cannot be left in the wild over a long period. |
| B．They cannot be placed in hard-to-reach areas. |
| C．They provide limited information. |
| D．They might be stolen by people. |
| A．It is difficult to fix the cameras. |
| B．It helps hunters find animals easily. |
| C．It is hard to achieve careful planning. |
| D．It makes animals interested in the cameras. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Supporting. | C．Uncertain. | D．Uninterested. |
4 . If you're out for a run, what difference does it make if you're able to tough it out for another 50 seconds? If you're less than a minute from the top of the hill, that extra time can make the difference between having reached your goal and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
How do you get those extra seconds of energy? A research team at the Texes Tech University developed a study to measure what effect listening to music would have on exercise tolerance. The researchers based the study on a stress testing. As part of the testing, they noted any changes in heart rate and blood pressure as participants underwent physically stressful exercise.
The tests were done on treadmills (跑步机), which increased in both speed and incline (坡度) through three stages. In the final stage, the treadmills moved at 10 miles per hour at a 14-percent grade. Most of these tests were designed to last up to 40 minutes. The average gym-goers lasted 30 minutes. For this study, they divided 127 participants into two groups. One listened to upbeat(快节奏) music, while the other group had earbuds in but did not listen to music.
The group that listened to music was able to outlast the non-music group by an average of 50.6 seconds. Again, being able to go an extra minute may seem like a no-brainer ,but “after 30 minutes, you feel like you are running up a mountain, so even being able to go 50 seconds longer means a lot," said the study's lead author, Waseem Shami, MD.
The study has confirmed something runners and gym-goers have suspected for years: Listening to music during workout can be beneficial to your endurance. "Our findings reinforce the idea that upbeat music can help you exercise longer and stick with a daily exercise routine," said Shami. When doctors are recommending exercise, they might suggest listening to music, too."
1. Why did Shami’s team conduct the research?| A．To test the effect of music on health. | B．To know the cause of failure in sports. |
| C．To improve runners' exercise tolerance. | D．To record the body change of participants |
| A．They ran much faster than average runners. | B．They created a new record of indoor sports. |
| C．They could run a little longer with music on. | D．They all enjoyed extreme physical challenge |
| A．A dull activity. | B．A foolish action. |
| C．A demanding task. | D．An easy practice |
| A．Developing a daily exercise routine. | B．Listening to music while working out |
| C．Participating in physical stress testing. | D．Taking exercise as doctors recommend. |
5 . Confucius, a famous teacher , was a politician and philosopher who lived in “Spring and Autumn Period”. During his lifetime, he planted the seeds for China’s transformation by teaching thousands of people. Today, he is thought to be one of the world’s greatest teachers.
Confucius grew up in a poor family. As he grew up, Confucius worked to help his mother earn money. When he wasn’t working, he would read. His favorite thing to do was to learn. His mother saw this and did her best to help him learn. One day, rich families noticed how smart he was and offered him jobs counting their money and keeping track of their crops.
Confucius did this until he was 30 years old, but he always wanted to do more. He didn’t like the way rulers treated their subjects. He wanted to find a way to help people who were less fortunate than he was. Later, he founded the philosophy “Confucianism”. Confucianism states that by educating yourself, loving your family, and respecting tradition you could become a better person. Confucius believed a person could achieve these things by practicing self-discipline. For the rest of his life, Confucius traveled and taught the people of China about self-discipline and the importance of education. He even opened China’s first school that taught both the poor and the wealthy as equals. Although he became very famous among China’s lower classes, the rulers of China never accepted his teachings. Eventually, his philosophy of self-discipline helped China unite under one ruler and finally find peace. Today, Confucius is celebrated all over the world for his philosophy of education, equality, and peace over war, money, and injustice.
1. What can we know about Confucius from the passage?| A．He was once a farmer guiding people farming. | B．He was born in a politician family. |
| C．He once acted as a math teacher. | D．He devoted himself to social change. |
| A．themes. | B．courses. | C．people. | D．tests. |
| A．Self-discipline. | B．Self-confidence. | C．Respect. | D．Equality. |
| A．Doubtful | B．Supportive | C．Disappointed | D．Hopeful |
6 . As the novel coronavirus outbreak interrupts businesses and everyday life for billions around the globe, massive conferences have moved online. The new form creates numerous technical and organizational challenges, but it also offers opportunities-for reaching wider audiences, reducing the carbon footprint of meeting travel and improving diversity. For some meetings, the switch may be lasting.
The scientific community is “ making lemonade out of lemons,” an expert says. “ Scientists are making use of a situation that’s really quite horrible and providing people a way to connect.”
In many ways, virtual conferences offer a better experience, says Altman, associate director of the Stanford Institute for AI. Altman’s institute had planned an inperson conference in April, but COVID-19 forced organizers to change it. They threw together a virtual conference to discuss how AI can help scientists fight the ongoing pandemic (流行病).The event was a great success. The original conference would have drawn a few hundred attendees, but 30,000 people watched the online version.
Altman says the virtual environment allowed hosts to better control the flow of discussion and questions from the audience. By privately messaging one another behind the scenes, they were able to make adjustments (调整).During the audience question period, the hosts didn’t open up the virtual floor for anyone to speak. Instead, they asked the audience to type their questions and screen the most insightful (有深刻见解的)ones.
Scientists acknowledge that virtual conferences can’t completely replace the conference experience. Virtual meetings might lose some of their appeal once stay-at-home requirements loosen. Even so, the success of some scientists further strengthens the society’s march toward virtual meetings.
1. What does the underlined phrase “ making lemonade out of lemons” refer to?| A．Working tirelessly to fight the pandemic. |
| B．Taking advantage of the difficult situation. |
| C．Doing research on how to make lemonade. |
| D．Committing themselves to their conferences. |
| A．A larger audience. |
| B．Better arrangement. |
| C．Environmental friendliness. |
| D．Beating the ongoing pandemic. |
| A．Provide some advice for the hosts. |
| B．Summarize the previous paragraphs. |
| C．Introduce a new topic for the audience. |
| D．List some advantages of virtual conferences. |
| A．Business. | B．Opinion. | C．Culture. | D．Travel. |
7 . 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? |
8 . Deciding to get her money's worth out of the wedding dress on which she spent over $1,000, an Australian woman has been wearing her wedding dress, a year after her wedding.
43-year-old Tammy Hall adopted a new lifestyle-anti-consumerism (反消费主义) lifestyle in 2016, after a trip to India opened her eyes to how much we as a society consumed. She decided not to buy any new clothes or footwear for a whole year after she returned home to Adelaide, in Southern Australia, and she managed to make it.
But last year, as her wedding day approached, she faced a dilemma. She wanted to look good on the most important day of her life, but how could she spend a small fortune on the wedding dress she would only wear on that day?
"In the end I decided that if I was going to get a wedding dress, I'd make sure I could get my money's worth," Hall tells PA Real Life.
"The first time I wore it after the wedding was to vote in the Australian election in early 2019," the 43-year-old adds. "Since then, it's been to all sorts of places. Wearing it on a crowded train was especially funny, but I've worn it to do housework, to football games and to the gym."
Hall says that she has gotten some strange looks from people, but no irritating comments. It may have something to do with the fact that the dress is not the fanciest, but she believes people are just too reserved to say anything. Anyway, she doesn't really care, because she knows she has to hit the goal she has set and wearing the dress multiple times is the most reasonable way she could think of to make the most of her wedding dress.
Hall now plans to wear her wedding dress on a trip to Iceland that she and her partner will take next summer.
1. Why did Tammy Hall adopt a new lifestyle?| A．To adapt herself to Indian life. | B．To cut down her consumption. |
| C．To save money for her next trip. | D．To get prepared for her wedding. |
| A．She brought fun to people with it. | B．She tried to wear it to earn money. |
| C．She wore it repeatedly in daily life. | D．She got it exchanged again and again. |
| A．Thrilling. | B．Annoying. |
| C．Amusing. | D．Confusing. |
| A．She is determined to turn her ideas into practice. |
| B．She values her wedding dress less than her trips. |
| C．She has been struggling to make the ends meet. |
| D．She has influenced people's lifestyle widely. |
9 . More and more travellers in China nowadays prefer homestays rather than traditional hotels, as they seek private living experiences. The house-sharing model was first introduced by the website Couchsurfing.com in 2003. It is still the largest website for travellers to find accommodation (住宿) without much money to spend.
Encouraged by her great experience of homestays in France, Maggita, 30, considered short-term hire as her first choice in her future trips. She later went back to her hometown Shanghai and ran a "shared accommodation" business.
The short-term hire idea has been a win-win business model. For travellers, they can rent a special room at a reasonable price and also enjoy a firsthand experience of the local culture, compared with traditional hotels. For owners, they can gain much with daily rental. Now Maggita has quit her last job in an IT company and become a host of some 20 homestays, which enables her to earn a monthly income of around 40,000 — 50,000 yuan.
In recent years, China has seen many homestay booking websites such as Xiaozhu and Tujia. Chen Chi, the founder and CEO of Xiaozhu, said the model is to share rooms or apartments that are not in use with people who need them. Instead of the traditional view that Chinese people feel uncomfortable living with strangers, Chen found that a large number of travellers got along well with house owners.
However, experts have pointed out a series of problems brought about by the fashion. Lacking supervision (监管) to those accommodation sharing websites, the service quality and accommodation safety cannot be guaranteed (保障).Experts suggest that the online websites should closely work together with communities and local police stations to improve the services.
1. What can we learn about homestays from the first paragraph?| A．They started in China. | B．They offer the best service. |
| C．They can be money-saving. | D．They are popular with the youth. |
A．Taken up.  | B．Given up. |
| C．Looked for. | D．Gone for |
A．Useless.  | B．Relaxing. |
| C．Well-accepted. | D．Uncomfortable. |
| A．Homestays need to be improved. |
| B．Some experts don't support homestays. |
| C．Lacking supervision is the biggest problem of homestays. |
| D．The police should manage the homestay services. |
10 . Do you know how children in other countries spend their schooldays and what kind of games they always play?
Children in Brazil
| School | The school year runs from February to December. Children attend (上学) school for about four hours in the morning or the afternoon. About a quarter of children in Brazil do not attend school at all. |
| Play | Football is the most popular sport. Brazil’s beautiful beaches also make swimming and volleyball popular. |
| Family | Brazilian families are often large. Nearly a third of the population is under eighteen! |
| School | The school day begins from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, with a two-hour lunch break. Schools close on Wednesday and Sunday, and are closed for a half day on Saturday. |
| Play | Football, bicycling and tennis are favorite sports in France. In some areas, pelote, a traditional ball game, is also very popular. |
| Family | Most French mothers work. The majority of preschool (幼儿园) children attend day care centres known as crèches. France has laws about naming children and all names have to be chosen from an official list. |
| School | Schools in Japan are very competitive (竞争的). Even pre-schoolers may attend “cramming (填鸭式教学的) schools” to prepare for exams. There is a summer break about six weeks, but the children have homework during this time. |
| Play | Comic books have been popular in Japan since the 1700s. Comics now account for about 40% of all published materials in Japan. Kite flying is enjoyed by people of every age. |
| Family | Homes in Japan are small on average. The typical family of four lives in five small rooms. Most fathers in Japan work long hours. As a result, some children only see their fathers on weekends or holidays. |
① Kite flying. ② Bicycling. ③ Football. ④ Pelote.
| A．②③④ | B．①②③ |
| C．①④ | D．①②③④ |
| A．Places with beautiful beaches. |
| B．The name of the place where French mothers work. |
| C．A day care centre for preschool children. |
| D．Cramming schools to improve children’s exam results. |
| A．like to read comic books | B．write their names on an official list |
| C．only see their fathers on weekdays | D．do not attend school |
