1 . With attractiveness in its structure (结构) and in its presence, the Eiffel Tower has become a great site of France and Gustave Eiffel's architectural wonder. Also known as La Tour Eiffel, the Eiffel Tower is climbed by millions of visitors every year. Do you know how tall the Eiffel Tower is? Standing at 1, 063 feet tall, this is the second tallest building in France after the Millau Viaduct, a road bridge across the river Tarn. Nicknamed La Dame de Fer, or the iron lady, this tower is a symbol of France even today.
The tower was built between 1887 and 1889 as the entrance for the World Fair. This event was to mark the 100th celebration of the storming of the Bastille and the French Revolution. Ironically, at first, the tower was considered unpleasant by a lot of art enthusiasts. Several members from the arts community said it only ruined the empty skyline of the Paris city. French novelist Guy de Maupassant expressed his dislike for the tower by eating lunch every day at the tower's restaurant — his explanation was that it was the only place in Paris where one could not see the structure! Whatever may have been the opinion about the structure at the time, the fact remains that it became an object that attracted many people around the world.
The tower, weighing 10, 000 tons, includes several non-metallic (非金属的) parts as well. The metallic parts used in the structure weigh 7,300 tons, which, if melted (熔化), will fill up a 125-meter square with a depth of 6cm. At the time when the tower was built, the great structure amazed lots of engineers and common people. The Eiffel Tower needs 50~60 tons of paint every seven years to keep the rust (铁锈) away.
The structure decorates the Parisian skyline. Being one of the most visited sites in the world, the Eiffel Tower still remains an architectural wonder!
1. What does “the iron lady" refer to in paragraph 1?| A．Gustave Eiffel. | B．The Eiffel Tower. |
| C．Millau Viaduct. | D．The river Tarn. |
| A．impolitely | B．impossibly | C．unexpectedly | D．cautiously |
| A．170 tons. | B．220 tons. | C．5,500 tons. | D．10,000 tons. |
| A．To show how huge the Eiffel Tower is. |
| B．To show the Eiffel Tower is a good entrance. |
| C．To show the materials used to build the Eiffel Tower. |
| D．To show how difficult it is to clean the Eiffel Tower. |
2 . New York City is known as America’s economic and cultural capital. It’s a city where young people want to go, whether to take up a high-paying job on Wall Street, study, or struggle to pay rent while working in the arts.
It’s also the setting of some of America’s most popular TV shows and movies. The best known may be TV series “Sex and the City”. It features four women enjoying the comfortable life of chatting, shopping, clubbing and looking for their Mr. Right.
However, Dunham, 26, said TV shows only touch the surface. “TV shows never get how expensive things are in New York, Manhattan,” she said, adding that she knows a married couple who are in their 30s, have good jobs, and still share a couch because their apartment is so small.
To Dunham, reality in New York means getting a quick lunch at food stands, smelling the piles of rubbish every week on trash day and paying tolls to cross bridges and tunnels—things that TV series rarely show.
Elise Glick, 23, an artist living in Brooklyn, said that while New Yorkers can sometimes be unfriendly, it’s often because of their nature as driven, ambitious individuals. “People here are mostly young and single,” she said, “a lot of people are confident and know what they want.”
25-year-old legal(法律的) assistant Jin Jing agrees. During her three-month experience as a United Nations intern(实习生), Jin found New Yorkers to be friendly and helpful people. But she also learned that the TV show “Friends” were fantasy and unreal. “When I went to America, I realized that ‘Friends’ was not real life,” Jin said. “In New York, people have no time for friends. People have no time to hear you talk.” But she said she didn’t feel like a stranger, thanks to the diversity(多样性) all around her. “Most of the time, I forgot that I didn’t belong there, since there are people of different skin colors,” she said.
While Dunham admits that life in New York can be both good and bad, special moments help her fall in love with the city. She once paused to watch dancers and street musicians performing in a subway tunnel and found herself among many other busy New Yorkers attracted by their show. “People who were clearly in a rush to get home just stopped to watch because these guys were really good,” she said. “From businessmen to mothers—everyone was represented. In that moment we were all together before we went our separate ways.”
1. According to the passage, which of the following views doesn’t the writer agree with?| A．Life there is very busy. |
| B．New Yorkers sometimes are unfriendly because of their nature. |
| C．People find it impossible to make friends there. |
| D．The scenes in “Sex and the City” and “Friends” can hardly be found in New York. |
| A．tickets | B．money | C．fines | D．tax |
| A．People with different nationalities can be found in New York. |
| B．New York is a place where people can have a comfortable and relaxing life. |
| C．The living cost in New York is very low. |
| D．The street dancers and musicians are beggars, only asking money from passengers. |
| A．Unfriendly New Yorkers | B．Busy New Yorkers |
| C．New Yorkers’ Stories | D．New Yorkers’ True Life |
3 . Two years ago, Wendy Hasnip, 47, experienced a brain injury that left her speechless for two weeks. When she finally recovered, she found herself talking with what seemed to be a French accent. “I phoned a friend the other day, and she spent the first ten minutes laughing,” Hasnip said at the time. “While I have nothing against the French, this is not me.”
Hasnip suffered from foreign accent syndrome, a rare condition in which people find themselves speaking their own language like someone from a foreign country. The condition usually occurs in people who have experienced a head injury or a stroke—a sudden loss of consciousness, or movement caused by a blocked or broken blood vessel in the brain.
The condition was first identified during the Second World War in a Norwegian woman whose head was hit by shrapnel during an attack by the German military. The woman recovered but was left with a German-sounding accent, to the horror of fellow villagers who shunned her after that.
Researchers at Oxford University have now discovered that victims of foreign accent syndrome suffer from damage to several parts of the brain. The combined effect of that damage makes victims lengthen certain syllables, mispronounce sounds, and alter their normal voice. Those changes in speech add up to what sounds like a foreign accent, says one of the researchers, Jennifer Gurd, an expert in the scientific study of nerves and relevant diseases.
Another researcher, John Coleman, an expert in language, says victims of the syndrome don’t acquire a true foreign accent. Their strangely altered speech only resembles the foreign accent with which it has a few sounds in common.
1. When Wendy Hasnip spoke her native language with a French accent, she felt ___.| A．upset | B．excited | C．scared | D．satisfied |
| A．who were once hit by shrapnel during a military attack |
| B．who were once attacked by horrible fellow villagers |
| C．whose blood vessels were once blocked or broken |
| D．whose brain was once damaged in several parts |
| A．got rid of | B．laughed at | C．stayed away from | D．laid blame on |
| A．It can’t be cured at present. | B．It helps victims pick up a foreign language. |
| C．It will disappear in the end. | D．It is just a change in the length of syllables. |
4 . The first two years of Stuart Singer’s retirement were pure play, killing time in the New York City by bike and visiting museums and art galleries.
“At some point, I realised I should do more than this,” said Mr Singer, a former high school teacher.
Now Mr Singer, 74, and his wife Madine, 69, are involved in the Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme. Mr Singer volunteers with the Community Health Advocates Programme, which started in 2010. The programme helps consumers to know better about the health insurance coverage(医疗保险). And it helps them to find access to low-cost or free care. Mr Singer’s main task is to answer phones for the Community Health Advocates’ helpline.
“There are lots of calls from different people who need medical care, but they can’t get it because their insurance company won’t pay for it,” he said. “And you got to go through doctors, and get the papers filled out. But when you get it done, yeah, it feels good.”
The helpline helps about 250 callers each week and has saved consumers $12.1 million since it began. Mr Singer comes in once a week, helping 10 callers every shift. In total, he estimates he has saved New Yorkers $443,000.
Despite the challenges, the work is a joy, not drudgery for Mr Singer, which inspired his wife to sign up for volunteer training after she retired in late 2014 as vice president of the Insurance Information Institute. It put her fear of retirement at ease.
Mrs Singer trained with the Advocacy, Counseling and Entitlement Services Project before being placed with the Actor’s Fund, a national human services organization for performing arts and entertainment professionals founded in 1882. “It just seems so unfair that these people have trouble finding housing,” said Mrs Singer. Since she started in early 2015, Mrs Singer has had more than 270 appointments with clients, from ticket takers to screenwriters to dancers. “Having someone help them really means a lot to them,” Mrs Singer said.
Much of her work is helping clients who are applying for affordable housing sort through a variety of income sources they receive. “It keeps the mind going,” Mrs Singer said. “It keeps the social life going, and I’m doing something.”
1. In paragraph 2, this refers to_________.| A．riding bikes in New York City | B．visiting museums and art galleries |
| C．spending Mr Singer’s life purely for fun | D．teaching in a high school |
| A．tiring training | B．boring work |
| C．inspiring training | D．exciting work |
| A．Meaningful. | B．Easy. | C．Affordable. | D．Relaxing. |
| A．Live a Simple Life after Retirement |
| B．Adapt to Social Life after Retirement |
| C．Find Rewards in Volunteering after Retirement |
| D．Overcome Difficulties in Volunteering after Retirement |
5 . If you are a recent social science graduate who has had to listen to jokes about unemployment from your computer major classmates, you may have had the last laugh. There are many advantages for the social science major because this high-tech “Information Age” demands people who are flexible and who have good communication skills.
There are many social science majors in large companies who fill important positions. For example, a number of research studies found that social science majors had achieved greater managerial success than those who had technical training or pre-professional courses. Studies show that social science majors are most suited for change, which is the leading feature of the kind of high speed, high-pressure, high-tech world we now live in.
Social science majors are not only experiencing success in their long-term company jobs, but they are also finding jobs more easily. A study showed that many companies had filled a large percentage of their entry-level positions with social science graduates. The study also showed that the most sought-after quality in a person who was looking for a job was communication skills, noted as “very important” by 92 percent of the companies. Social science majors have these skills, often without knowing how important they are. It is probably due to these skills that they have been offered a wide variety of positions.
Finally, although some social science majors may still find it more difficult than their technically trained classmates to land the first job, recent graduates report that they don’t regret their choice of study.
1. Compared with graduates of other subjects, social science graduates _____.| A．are ready to change when situations change |
| B．are better able to deal with difficulties |
| C．are equally good at computer skills |
| D．are likely to give others pressure |
| A．Willingness to take low-paid jobs. | B．Readiness to gain high-tech knowledge. |
| C．Skills in expressing themselves. | D．Part-time work experience. |
| A．keep for some time | B．successfully get |
| C．immediately start | D．lose regretfully |
6 . Genetic testing offers people insight into the types of diseases they are most likely to develop — but a new study suggests most people do not alter their lifestyles based on this information. These tests — known as genome sequencing — analyze a person's DNA, telling patients about their known risk for diseases like cancer or diabetes. But being told you’re at a higher risk for lung cancer doesn’t seem to motivate anyone to quit smoking or alcohol, this study suggests. Because of this, the scholars argue that genetic testing should be banned as a tool for improving people's health.
Today’s finding came from pulling data from 18 other studies that followed people after they received the results of genetic tests. Receiving information about genetic risks didn’t inspire people to eat differently, exercise more, or stop smoking, "Expectations have been high that giving people information about their genetic risk will empower them to change their behavior, but we have found no evidence that this is the case," study author Theresa Marteau, director of behavior and health research said in a press release.
Genetic testing, which the National Institutes of Health says costs anywhere from $100 to $2,000, has become much more accessible as commercial testing companies such as 23andMe and Sure Genomics have sprung up. These companies are not allowed to share disease risk estimates with consumers thanks to the Food and Drug Administration. However, today’s study didn’t specify whether the genetic testing were purely from academic sequencing, or if any of these companies had had a role in supplying the data.
Genetic testing doesn’t get people to change their behavior for the better, but it doesn't have any known negative effects either. Knowing the results of these tests didn't change people's depression or anxiety levels. And there's no indication that testing inspires people to pick up risky or dangerous health habits either, the study found.
Actually a genetic predisposition to a certain disease is common among people. Some people are born weak in heart. Some are innately vulnerable in digestive system. But these most common risk factors usually don't raise a person's chances of getting the disease by a significant amount. It's possible that some of the patients in the study had substantially high disease risks based on their DNA profile, but those patients tend to be rather rare. "It’s still likely that communicating this type of information is very valuable to some people, but it’s just that there aren’t that many of those people," Zikmund-Fisher from the University of Michigan said. "The idea that providing genetic risk information is going to be transformative to everyone seems unlikely."
1. Why did some experts suggest stopping genetic testing?| A．Genome sequencing aren’t accurate in detecting certain disease risks. |
| B．Genetic testing results fail to encourage people to remove bad habits. |
| C．Genetic testing does neither good nor harm to people’s behaviorial improvement. |
| D．Genetic testing results are offered by commercial testing companies. |
| A．testing on | B．prediction about | C．sensitivity to | D．insight into |
| A．Theresa Marteau believes genetic testing helps to change people’s behaviors. |
| B．Sure Genomics is forbidden to deliver illness risk expectations to patients. |
| C．Genetic testing results are totally coming from academic sequencing. |
| D．Genetic testing results in a way worsen the patients’ moods and emotions. |
| A．getting rid of bad life habits doesn’t do much good to people’s health |
| B．almost all people have certain disease risks based on genetic testing |
| C．providing genetic risk information interferes with the medical treatment |
| D．genetic testing shows few people are at a high risk of getting certain diseases |
7 . Our youngest daughter can be stubborn about receiving gifts, and I told her so.
“Where do you think I get it from?” she asked.
“I’m not stubborn when it comes to receiving gifts,” I said. “I used to be but not now.”
She has a birthday coming up and we want to get her some new cowboy boots.
Cowboy boots aren’t cheap, but we want to do something special and get her something she could use and enjoy for years to come.
But my daughter is pushing back, saying she’s happy with her current boots-which are old and worn-out.
I push back, she pushes back, and we become locked in a mother-daughter match over stubbornness and how much is too much to spend on a special gift.
She thinks my husband and I do too much for her. I used to think the same thing about my parents—my parents weren’t rich, but they were generous.
They kept saying they enjoyed giving me gifts, but all I could think about was how much money they were wasting on me.
Years ago, I mentioned to a friend that I thought my mother overdid it when it came to buying gifts for her children.
My friend, closer to my mothers age than mine, looked at me and said, “Who are you to tell your mother what she can do?”
I wanted to argue with her, but I didn’t. I didn’t fully understand it then but I understand it now—now that I’m a grandmother myself.
The longer you live, the more you see how often things go wrong.
Marriages fail, friendships break down， family members become estranged, and accidents and illnesses cut lives short.
There is a brokenness that fills many of our lives.
So, when you see life going well, families working hard and growing strong, you want to celebrate.
It took a lot of time for me to understand that giving is an expression of joy, as much as it is an expression of love, understand where my daughter is coming from, but I also understand where my parents were coming from—a place of pure and simple joy celebrating those moments when life goes well.
1. Why did the author’s daughter try to refuse her mom’s gift?| A．She had many boots to wear. |
| B．She wanted something else for her birthday. |
| C．She didn’t like the style of the boots. |
| D．She didn’t want her mom to spend too much money. |
| A．listened to her friends’ advice |
| B．experienced brokenness in life |
| C．communicated with her husband |
| D．received gifts from other family members |
| A．lonely | B．distant | C．joyful | D．complete |
| A．It is the best way to express our love to others. |
| B．It is an expression of hope for the future. |
| C．It is a way to show our joy when life is going well. |
| D．It is a way for people to escape bad things in life. |
8 . A new study has found no evidence that sunscreen, commonly used to reduce the risk of skin cancer, actually increases the risk.
Researchers from the University of Iowa based their findings on a review of 18 earlier studies that looked at the associstion between sunscreen use and melanoms(黑素瘤). They said that they found flaws in studies that had reported associations between sunscreen use and higher risk of melanoma.
Most health experts believe that by protecting the skin from the harmful effects of the sun, sunscreen helps prevent skin cancer, which is increasing in incidence (发生率) faster than any other cancer in the United States.
But questions have been raised about sunscreen and whether it may have the opposite effect, perhaps by allowing people to remain exposed to the sun longer without burning.
The researchers said that among the problems with some earlier studies is that they often failed to take into account that those people most at risk for skin cancer—people with fair skin and freckles（雀斑）, for example—are more likely to use sunscreen. As a result, it may appear that sunscreen users get cancer more often.
The studies, which generally relied on volunteers to recall their sunscreen use, were also unable to prove how well the products had been applied, said the new study.
1. What is the meaning of the underlined word “flaws” in the 2nd paragraph?| A．Evidences | B．Facts | C．Faults | D．Failures |
| A．They seldom use sunscreen. |
| B．They are more in danger of skin cancer. |
| C．They can be free from the harm of the sun. |
| D．They often expose themselves to the sun. |
| A．Sunscreen users get skin cancer more often. |
| B．The volunteers have proved the effect of sunscreen. |
| C．The new study was based on the experiences of volunteers. |
| D．The number of skin cancer patients is increasing in America. |
| A．Sunscreen to Prevent Skin Cancer |
| B．Sunscreen to Increase Skin Cancer |
| C．Skin Cancer Caused by Sunscreen |
| D．Skin Cancer Caused by Freckles |
Now rewind this picture 1,839 years. You are in the same seat, only you are watching classical Greek entertainment.
The city of Athens is a fun mix of the old and the new, the classic and the modern. Often a little shop is located next to the ruins of a temple, which is only a block from a large, air-conditioned hotel. The great city of 2,500 years ago is still visible today.
Ruins are the most obvious sign of ancient Athens, and the most famous of these is the Acropolis(卫城). The Acropolis is a large hill that was the center of life in Athens. On its slopes were temples, monuments, and theaters. From the top, you can see how the urban area of Athens stretches out in every direction.
On the top of the Acropolis is the Parthenon. This was once a huge temple to Athena, the city’s patron. It was first completed in 432 B.C., but has been damaged and destroyed several times. However, visitors can still see the “tricks” used in building the Parthenon. The columns along the outside lean inward, and are slightly fatter in the middle. The temple is also higher in the middle than on the sides. All these effects make the Parthenon look perfectly straight from a distance.
Only a block away from the Acropolis is the neighborhood of Plaka. The area, with its little shops and restaurants, is very popular with both tourists and locals, and is an important part of modern Athenian culture. Many great thinkers, writers, and political leaders lived in ancient Athens. The ruins of their homes and favorite spots are scattered throughout the busy port city. The hill where St. Paul addressed early Christian Athenians is located near the Acropolis. Great thinkers such as Perikles and Demosthenes spoke to the civil assemblies held at the Pnyx Hill. Today the Pnyx is an open-air theater for light and sound shows.
Tourism is very important to people who live in modern-day Athens. Thousands of people come every year to see these ruins and to tour the many museums that house artifacts from ancient times. This provides many jobs and brings money into Athens, which helps the city pay for improvements. Athenians take pride in the accomplishments of their ancestors, and people from all around the world come to admire them. By looking around the city today, we can imagine what life was like in ancient Athens.
1. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT about the city of Athens?| A．The culture of the city is a mixture of the old and modern. |
| B．Traces of the ancient city can still be found |
| C．Ruins and modern hotels co-exist in the city. |
| D．All the temples are not far away from air-conditioned hotels. |
| A．naughty acts | B．confusing constructing skills |
| C．skillful constructing methods | D．constructing materials |
| A．offering job opportunities to Athenians |
| B．enriching Athenians by providing accommodation for tourists |
| C．enabling Athenians to improve the infrastructures |
| D．making Athenians proud of their ancestors |
| A．Tourism in Athens | B．Athens: Then and Now |
| C．Historic Interests in Athens | D．The Magic of Ancient Athens |
10 . Have you ever noticed how the recital (叙说) of an adventure always finds ready audience? The man with a story of some stirring adventure always takes the floor Men will stop the most important discussion to listen. Women will forget to rock the cradle. Boys and girls will neglect any sport or game. Try it sometime and see how it grips all kinds and all ages. And the reason is that none of us ever really grows up. We are always boys and girls, a little older in years, but with the same nature—alert to the new, questioning, investigating, growing, living; stirred by martial music; thrilled by the sight of the fire-houses dashing madly down the street; lured by tales of subtle intrigue (阴谋)and splendid daring.
It would be sad if men and women ever lost this capacity to be attracted by tales of heroism. The man whose heart leaps for joy at the sight of a heroic deed is the man who will act the hero when his turn comes. No, the love of adventure will never be lost. It is a fundamental part of human nature, just as sentiment (感情) is.
So we reasoned that a magazine edited for this universal hunger of human nature for adventure ought to have a wide appreciation and appeal, and we decided to publish such a magazine and call it ADVENTURE.
It is published as a magazine wherein thousands of men and women can find adventure without being obliged to read through large amounts of stuff they care little about for the sake of getting a little they care a lot about, which is frankly made for the hours when the reader cannot work, or does not wish to, or is too weary to work and made for the reader’s recreation rather than his or her creative hours. If you care for stirring stories (and who does not?) —if you wish to get away for a brief time from the hard grind of the daily mill so that you can come back to it again with renewed passion and courage to walk through the knotty problems and nagging limitations, get a copy of Adventure.
You can get away for such a trip every month for 15 cents or you can get a season ticket entitling you to twelve trips for $1.50. No other kind of story in the magazine; just Adventure Stories. Fact-stories as well as fiction stories .If you don’t like that kind, don’t buy; but if you do like that kind, Adventure is sure to delight you.
1. Which of the following statement is TURE about man’s sense of adventure?| A．People are increasingly attracted by adventures as they grow. |
| B．The sense of adventure is rooted in a childhood curiosity. |
| C．Adventure stories are more attractive when told with sentiment. |
| D．Only children with curiosity grow into adults fond of adventures. |
| A．to draw a clear line between | B．to capture the attention of |
| C．to affect the way people think | D．to give equal treatment to |
| A．It reminds its work-burdened life driven readers of good old days. |
| B．It helps them regain their adventurous selves lost in tough life. |
| C．It offers a refreshing escape from long weary working hours. |
| D．It encourages them to face the toughness of life and work. |
| A．One can buy one copy for 15 cents. | B．Adventure is available one issue a month, |
| C．It contains fictional and true stories. | D．Season ticket holders can enjoy free tours. |
| A．To instruct publishers in how to produce a popular magazine. |
| B．To explore the psychological cause and impact of adventure. |
| C．To attract potential readers by giving the editorial philosophy. |
| D．To recommend to working people a refreshing way of recreation. |
